The World According To Bump

The Rockies take on the Diamondbacks tonight, the start of a 6-game home stand. Three versus Arizona and then the Dodgers make their first appearance of the season at Coors Field for three over the weekend.
Rockies fans and their manager Jim Tracy would probably be happy with a 4-2 home stand. If they can take two of three from both teams that would lift them to two games above .500 when they hit the road again.
This got me to thinking about Bump Wills, the former Major League second baseman and the son of Dodgers legendary shortstop Maury Wills.
Bump was the manager of the Hudson Valley Renegades for two of the seasons I announced their games. I remember the time the team was beginning a long, 9-game road trip. Before the first game of the trip I asked Bump how many wins would he be happy with. He said, "Nine". I then asked him if he would be happy with an 8-1 trip. He said, "No, nine."
Bump explained if he said he would be happy with an 8-1 trip, that means he is willing to lose a game and he said he never wanted to have that mindset. He never wanted to concede a loss.
By the way, here is a strange Bump Wills story.
When he was playing for the Texas Rangers in 1977, he and Toby Harrah hit back-to-back inside the park home runs at Yankee Stadium one afternoon. It is the only time this has occurred in baseball history. I told Bump I was at that game and I asked him what he remembered about it. He had very little recollection. He said, "Really? Back to back? I kind of remember it."
If I hit an inside the park home run in the big leagues I certainly would remember it. Furthermore, if it was in back-to-back fashion it would be burned into my memory bank.
He did remember his lead off home run for the Cubs against the Reds in the season opener at Riverfront Stadium in 1982. This was when the Reds used to be the traditional opener in baseball. Bump liked to say, "After that game I was leading the majors in home runs." He finished the year with 6 homers, some guy named Sandberg took his job, and the next season he was playing in Japan.
While with the Hankyu Braves, Bump didn't fare so well. One of the reasons was the lengthy pregame workouts they had. Bump said he was burned out by the time the game started. So he went to the manager and told him that he was tired by game time because of the several hours of pregame drills and practice. The manager told Wills, "Bumpy, you out of shape. You run 10 poles tomorrow." Ten poles meaning ten sprints from foul pole to foul pole on the warning track. Not a very sympathetic manager I would say.
Bump was a character who finished his Major League career with 36 home runs. He was happy with that total because, "It's more than the old man!" Maury hit 20 lifetime homers.
I still stay in touch with Bump from time to time. He lives in Spokane, Washington and coaches youths.
Back to my original point. While people might say a good home stand for the Rockies would be 4-2, I know one guy who is thinking, "Why would you be willing to accept two losses?"