Video of Mosconi shooting some Straight Pool in 1980

I'm a little slow with these things but I finally got it. My regular browser is Chrome Google and it wouldn't play for me. I pasted the url into Internet Explorer and it played fine. That fella Mosconi seems to have a little elbow drop and on a couple of shots he didn't stay down as he should have. Other than that he did pretty good.

Dave Nelson
 
questions about this clip.

I've watched this over and over and no doubt Willie was one of the all time greats. I was wondering if anyone else thought the first break was cut and reshot. The reason I say this it the 7 ball is headed into the kitchen with nothing else headed that way then they cut away and come back the 7 is not up table but a light colored ball rolls up to the top rail. Before anyone starts to bust my chops on this. I have nothing but respect for Willie and if they did have a retake on the break I'm sure it was just for t.v. and not that he was trying to put anything over on anyone. Any thougts on this?
 
TheWizard said:
Hey DJ, thank you very much for the info buddy, I really appreciate it :)

I understand that it is a big ask, but I was wondering if it is possible that you could find some way to upload the entire video footage online, like in the Videos section of the Forum? :)

I imagine that quite alot of straight pool players and pool fans would enjoy the interview and gettomg some insight from Willie's views and experience over the years :)

Hey-

I don't have that ability, but if you like, PM me your address and I will send you the tape and you can perform the magic.

-dj
Click to expand...
 
I saw Mosconi in an exhibition in the early 70's twice, and to this day I've never seen anyone who could run balls as effortlessly as him. Like a previous poster commented, he really did seemed to know exactly where all balls in a cluster where going to end up. The only comparison I can think of that's even close is that watching Mosconi play 14.1 was like watching Efren Reyes play one pocket.
 
Mr441 said:
I saw Mosconi in an exhibition in the early 70's twice, and to this day I've never seen anyone who could run balls as effortlessly as him. Like a previous poster commented, he really did seemed to know exactly where all balls in a cluster where going to end up. The only comparison I can think of that's even close is that watching Mosconi play 14.1 was like watching Efren Reyes play one pocket.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree. I saw an exhibition in New Brunswick NJ and he ran 187 without even breaking a sweat. He never hit the cue ball very hard, but it always did exactly what he needed it to.
 
DJKeys said:
I would have to agree. I saw an exhibition in New Brunswick NJ and he ran 187 without even breaking a sweat. He never hit the cue ball very hard, but it always did exactly what he needed it to.
Click to expand...

Yes, I do remember that he never hit a ball hard at all. He ran 125 in one of the exhibitions and if my memory isn't faulty I could swear he never once pocketed a ball up table, just the front four pockets. It's like he owned the table completely, he was in total control....I don't sense that with todays top 14.1 players.
 
this is the stark difference in styles between "old-school" "putters" and "hot-shot" "blasters". a top pro commented on his vid that he called mosconi a "putter" to his face, and was surprised when mosconi took offense. LOL! you can't argue with success though.
 
DJKeys said:
TheWizard said:
Hey DJ, thank you very much for the info buddy, I really appreciate it :)

I understand that it is a big ask, but I was wondering if it is possible that you could find some way to upload the entire video footage online, like in the Videos section of the Forum? :)

I imagine that quite alot of straight pool players and pool fans would enjoy the interview and gettomg some insight from Willie's views and experience over the years :)

Hey-

I don't have that ability, but if you like, PM me your address and I will send you the tape and you can perform the magic.

-dj
Click to expand...

Thank you dj I really appreciate it buddy :)

Well, I'll certainly try although most the magic I used to have was on the pool table and not with gadgetry :) lol

It's easier than it sounds buddy, all you need is to find somewhere local to you, that can record the video footage and convert it from analogue to digital, and then have the video file converted into avi or mp4 format :)

If you're unable to find somewhere local to you that can do this, then let me know and I'll be happy to PM you my address, although I'm in the Uk and so mailing costs will probably be a little higher than expected :)

Willie
Click to expand...
 
Mr441 said:
Yes, I do remember that he never hit a ball hard at all. He ran 125 in one of the exhibitions and if my memory isn't faulty I could swear he never once pocketed a ball up table, just the front four pockets. It's like he owned the table completely, he was in total control....I don't sense that with todays top 14.1 players.
Click to expand...

I think you're right on the money about Willie's pattern play as I have heard that same thing over the years :)

From what I remember of what I'd read about or heard is that Willie was somewhat notorious for having the ability to run the balls of the table only using the 2 bottom corners and the side pockets and would rarely have to travel upstrairs to clear any loose ends, and usually he would usually find a way to weave the cueball around amoungst the balls, playing shape on each shot :)

It would have been awesome if there is some video of Willie running 100+ balls, but from what I remembered, he was never keen on his tournament matches being filmed because he didn't want any possible opponents to be able to study his patterns, but whether this is true or not is something that I can't answer knowledgeably :)

Willie
 
TheWizard said:
I think you're right on the money about Willie's pattern play as I have heard that same thing over the years :)

From what I remember of what I'd read about or heard is that Willie was somewhat notorious for having the ability to run the balls of the table only using the 2 bottom corners and the side pockets and would rarely have to travel upstrairs to clear any loose ends, and usually he would usually find a way to weave the cueball around amoungst the balls, playing shape on each shot :)

It would have been awesome if there is some video of Willie running 100+ balls, but from what I remembered, he was never keen on his tournament matches being filmed because he didn't want any possible opponents to be able to study his patterns, but whether this is true or not is something that I can't answer knowledgeably :)

Willie
Click to expand...

Well I do know he has had taped matches in the 50's, there was one that was uploaded a while ago with Jimmy Caras. Caras won, and I don't think Willie ran more than 15 or 20. But they mentioned that they played before and Willie won. I can't say whether there is 100 ball run on tape though. But a 50-70 ball run would be enough to study him.

There is plenty more video of players from the 50's to 70's it's just in a vault somewhere. I know ABC has bunch from Wide World of Sports. Accu-stats would have a field day if they could get a hold of this stuff.
 
I played Willie an exhibition game in the early '60's and he ran 85 perfect balls out on me. I also saw in person Irving Crane run a 141 balls in a tournament and while Irving was a great player he just did not run the balls as pretty as Willie. Just did not seem as they were both on the same level.
 
Cameron Smith said:
Well I do know he has had taped matches in the 50's, there was one that was uploaded a while ago with Jimmy Caras. Caras won, and I don't think Willie ran more than 15 or 20. But they mentioned that they played before and Willie won. I can't say whether there is 100 ball run on tape though. But a 50-70 ball run would be enough to study him.

There is plenty more video of players from the 50's to 70's it's just in a vault somewhere. I know ABC has bunch from Wide World of Sports. Accu-stats would have a field day if they could get a hold of this stuff.
Click to expand...

Yes, I remember that match, I believe it was from 1963 and Jimmy was playing strong in that match, but neither player seemed to really be able to really get into 3rd gear :)

I agreed totally and I reckon that ABC could easily make alot of money from having the footage of all those old billiards championships matches and various other sports events, have it remastered and transfered onto DVD sets :)

There are bound to be TONS of sports fans that would happily buy a shit load of DVD's of previously unreleased sports footage of their sporting heroes, etc, and I reckon there is so much that modern day players could learn by being able to watch guys like Mosconi, Carras, Greenleaf, etc, in their prime, especially for those of us who love to shoot straight pool :)

Willie
 
TheWizard said:
Yes, I remember that match, I believe it was from 1963 and Jimmy was playing strong in that match, but neither player seemed to really be able to really get into 3rd gear :)

I agreed totally and I reckon that ABC could easily make alot of money from having the footage of all those old billiards championships matches and various other sports events, have it remastered and transfered onto DVD sets :)

There are bound to be TONS of sports fans that would happily buy a shit load of DVD's of previously unreleased sports footage of their sporting heroes, etc, and I reckon there is so much that modern day players could learn by being able to watch guys like Mosconi, Carras, Greenleaf, etc, in their prime, especially for those of us who love to shoot straight pool :)

Willie
Click to expand...

I suspect if pool ever gets any poker like exposure, these old matches will surface. But probably not before then :(.

I wonder though, how did Irving Crane 150 ball run come out? Obviously it was available before Accu-Stats got a hold of it.

I really want to see vids (or at least one) of Jersey Red in his prime. I have the accu-stats dvd of a One Pocket match from the early 90's, but that's it.
 
it's funny you asking about the 150 and out by Crane being available because I have wondered that same question many times as well, including whilst typing out my previous reply :) lol

I can't help thinking that Willie Mosconi must've had ran a fair few 100+ run outs, including a few 150's, but we may never really know for sure.

1 thing I do remember vaguely though and I'm almost sure of it, that Accu-Stats had some Straight Pool high run series VHS's/DVD's and I think one of them included a 100+ ball run by Willie Mosconi, perhaps Pat Flemming could confirm if I remembered correctly?... if Pat still has any of those videos available, I'd love to get a copy of each Video/DVD to enjoy some high run action :)

Watching a series of high runs being knocked in is kinda like the straight pool version of the Home Run Derby in a way :)

Willie
 
JUSTABANGER 2 said:
I've watched this over and over and no doubt Willie was one of the all time greats. I was wondering if anyone else thought the first break was cut and reshot. The reason I say this it the 7 ball is headed into the kitchen with nothing else headed that way then they cut away and come back the 7 is not up table but a light colored ball rolls up to the top rail. Before anyone starts to bust my chops on this. I have nothing but respect for Willie and if they did have a retake on the break I'm sure it was just for t.v. and not that he was trying to put anything over on anyone. Any thougts on this?
Click to expand...

Yes, it was cut and re-shot because right after the break Willie says "Now that's better!". Better than the previous break on the cutting room floor, I reckon. But that's the only discontinuity I noticed.
 
Hey Dennis, how are ya buddy? :)

If you could do that to upload the video somehow, that would be brilliant since it would also be a little look back a part of billiards history and to get a little more insight on Willie Mosconi as a player and a person :)

Willie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top