Afraid of the Dark...?

Hey, things are getting kinda boring here in Pittsburgh. You can only spend so much time pondering if the Pirates will sign Mark Loretta or Derrick Turnbow, if anyone will take Jack Splat, John Grabow, or Ronny Paulino off Neal Huntington's hands, or if the Bucs will set a league record for special assistants for the GM.

GW knows that Halloween is pretty far back in the rear view mirror, but still, these cold, dark nights are perfect for gathering around the internet campfire and swapping spook stories. How about this one from Dan Gordon and Mickey Bradley's Haunted Baseball...?

An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to the ghost stories from players staying at the Vinoy in St. Pete, home for teams playing the Tampa Bay Rays. Reds relief pitcher Scott Williamson told of running into a ghost at the Vinoy in 2003, as did some Pirates and Blue Jays reliever John Frascatore.

Water faucets turning on by themselves. Doors opening and closing mysteriously. Money flying through the air and midnight visitations. All these pranks and more are supposedly the results of mischievous spirits floating through the Vinoy. In fact, several Bucco's sighted one old, well-traveled spook during their stay.

Here's the chapter featuring the things going bump in the night and the 2003 Pirates, Stompin' at the Vinoy.

Andrew Stockey of Channel 4 Sports even did a spot on the spooks and the Great One's death premonition:


As that old Danish skipper Hamlet said "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." And somehow, it's not at all surprising that this all happened under Dave Littlefield's watch, hehe. Pretty spooky, hey?