It’s been written that Mosconi would chew his tongue bloody while sitting in the chair at the 14.1 championship tournaments. I have also read that he said “a monkey” could play the game well. But I believe that was just cover for the thousands of hours he put in, his natural talent, and the absolute mastery he had over the game.
I wonder: how many of us who are truly passionate about the game, would have the same ardor for it if winning was the difference between just a great war story, maybe a few bucks and a trophy, instead of food on the table, the rent, and sending your kids to school. Meanwhile of course you are playing against a slew of world caliber 14.1 mechanics. And then, in our later years, how would we feel having to crisscross the country driving to a new pool room every night to put on an exhibition where every single person was waiting to see, “the best there ever was,” “the legend,” and a 100 ball run followed by a dazzling trick shot echibition.
I saw Mosconi play several times and he did make the game look like child’s play. Brunswick was paying the bills and 14.1 — played exclusively on their tables — was the job, forget about 9ball or 1pocket, which Mosconi could play with equal ease.
He was our sport’s legend, on a par with Ali, Jordan, DiMaggio, Ruth, and Gretzky. Mosconi didn’t set up the balls on his favorite table to shoot. No, instead, dressed in coat and tie, he’d walk into a different pool room every night for 300 days of the year, take a couple of warm up racks, and then show everyone in attendance just how beautiful the game could be.
Lou Figueroa