The Battered Bastards of Baseball

Todd Field:
Reggie lived at the Mallory Hotel, which is literally one block from Civic Stadium. And before every single game, a car came down the back ramp, and as that car came down the ramp to go underneath, our announcer would yell "Here comes Reggie!" And people went nuts. And people, rightly so, would ask Bing "Why the f*** do you get a car for Reggie? He lives a block away!" And he said, "Because Reggie needs that."

Frank Peters:
I once asked him, "Bing, how come you have such a variety of people around you?" And he says, "Frank, life and the Mavericks are like a movie. And a movie has one key scene, maybe it's only three minutes." I think he talked about the chimney sweep scene in Mary Poppins. "Everything builds up to that, and everything comes off of that. And you never know who's going to come up with that magical idea at that magic moment."

Todd Field:
Bing would keep guys on the roster that had no business being there. He would keep a thirty-man roster or something. That's f***ing nuts, for a Class A baseball team with no funding. What's he doing, keeping thirty guys on a roster? What he did was, he personalized the game in a way to where if you couldn't find yourself as a fan in one of those players, you didn't belong at the ballpark. There was somebody there for everyone. Bing knew he was giving the town of Portland a show, and he was going to give them the best show he could.

Todd Field:
When I think about the Mavericks, I don't really think much about baseball. I think about those guys. I think about those characters, and the fact that they enjoyed themselves more than I'd ever seen grown men enjoy themselves. I remember thinking I hope I feel that way when I grow up. And that was as profound a guiding light as I would ever get.