Baseball team visiting with a Louisiana legend

The red-hot Demon baseball team heard about the past and present of professional baseball, and got some great advice about life, Monday from legendary major league executive and scout Mel Didier.

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame member was visiting north and central Louisiana over the weekend to promote his engaging book, “Podnuh, Let Me Tell You A Story” co-authored by Fort Worth-based baseball writer T.R. Sullivan.

J. Michael Kenney, proprietor of the fabulous "The Book Merchant" on Front Street in Natchitoches, hosted a book signing for Didier Monday around the lunch hour.

Coach Jon Paul Davis and many of his players came by the signing to visit with Didier, a Marksville native who grew up in Baton Rouge, played football and baseball at LSU, and has led a fascinating life.

He is on the move constantly in his continuing role as assistant to the general manager of the Texas Rangers, a position he's held for the last five-plus years. Last week he was in the Dominican Republic evaluating players. Most often, he's watching big league games to evaluate potential trades and scout upcoming opponents, but he also evaluates the Rangers' minor league prospects.

He took time to tell the Demons that hard work, determination and heart are what vault players to the major leagues more so than talent. Raw talent isn't enough, he said. Guts and tenacity go farther.

He also proudly pointed out that in his two years as head baseball coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he was also athletics director in 1981-82, the Ragin' Cajuns graduated all 27 players. He was impressed that 13 Demon baseball players got their diplomas last Friday, including current players Jordan Nipp, Jimmy Heard, Kyle Broughton and Ben Rodriguez.

Didier also enjoyed meeting new Demon football coach Bradley Dale Peveto, who was enthralled by the stories from Didier's many years with the Los Angeles Dodgers during the glory days of "Dodger Blue" with manager Tommy Lasorda, general manager Fred Claire and owner Peter O'Malley. When the O'Malley family sold the club in the 1990s, Didier departed the same day.

Peveto grew up a huge Dodgers fan as a boy in the 1970s, and fondly recalled a family vacation to Los Angeles where his dad took the boys to two games at Chavez Ravine, along with visits to Disneyland, Knotts' Berry Farm and all the other SoCal attractions.

He happily plunked down $20 for an autographed copy of "Podnuh, Let Me Tell You a Story." So did NSU history professor and avid NSU supporter Dr. Charles Pellegrin, husband of NSU sports information administrative assistant Ronnette Pellegrin.

The book, like Mel Didier, is a winner. Or in baseball parlance, a "plus plus."

Writes Peter Finney of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Mel Didier tells many stories, from a treasure trove of memories, in an engaging book by someone who snapped the football to Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle when they were LSU teammates, who coached basketball Hall of Famer Bob Pettit when Pettit was a Baton Rouge schoolboy and who was an assistant LSU football coach on the staff of Charles McClendon.

“That was the Mel Didier before he put football aside and became one of baseball's most respected scouts, before he signed and developed some of the top talent in the game, something he accomplished during two tours of duty with the Los Angeles Dodgers along with stops with the Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers.

“Didier, 82, still is at it as special assistant to the general manager of the Rangers, still searching for gems to add to a long list of players whose careers he influenced, like Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Luis Gonzalez, Eddie Murray, Mike Scioscia and Kirk Gibson.

"I don't know of anyone who has been in more baseball parks throughout the world," said Fred Claire, one-time GM of the Dodgers.

That includes ballparks in Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

Didier's trip to Cuba, when he was in the employ of the newly minted Expos, was not only illegal, but a state secret…”

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Sounds intriguing, and it is. He told that story Monday morning while visiting the Coffee Club, the group of local retirees including NSU legend Walter Ledet, several former faculty members and local businessmen.

It was great to see the joy in the reunion of Ledet and Didier, two proud Cajuns whose paths crossed often many years ago.

If you're interested in a copy of the book -- and if you're a sports fan, or appreciate excellence, or just enjoy a great bunch of stories -- e-mail me at ireland@nsula.edu.

Doug Ireland, SID