Hanks, Howard pay visit to GABP
07/19/2006
CINCINNATI -- On Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park, actors Tom Hanks and Dennis Miller and director Ron Howard were just three regular guys killing time during a long rain delay.
They just happened to be three guys who have film and television credits that have earned them millions of fans.
In an impromptu gathering with the media in a room adjacent to the press box, the three entertainers talked baseball and worked the room a little, too.
"Will you please stop being the jaded media?" Hanks jokingly bellowed. "You are here to entertain us. It's not the other way around."
The trio and some of their friends recently rented a bus and have been on a tour of some Major League ballparks. They'd been to Baltimore's Camden Yards and Pittsburgh's PNC Park before reaching Cincinnati to watch the Reds play the Mets.
"It was Tommy's idea," said Miller, a comedian and former talk show host and "Saturday Night Live" cast member.
"I turned 50 about 10 days ago," said Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner famous for such films as "Apollo 13," "Forrest Gump" and "Saving Private Ryan." "This was the dream that you have, gosh, all the way back. Wouldn't you love to be able to go to a bunch of ballparks with a bunch of guys? The requisite was you had to be a baseball fan and funny to make it on the bus."
Hanks, Howard and Miller aren't just novice appreciators of baseball. All are longtime fans with plenty of detailed and nostalgic memories.
"I grew up with the Dodgers," said Howard, an Academy Award-winning director responsible for such films as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Apollo 13," and star of the TV show "Happy Days." "I fell in love with them in '63, and Vin Scully taught me everything about baseball. I loved it. All last year, I was out of the country. I missed the entire season. I heard about Tom's deal, and signed up."
Miller grew up in Pittsburgh loving the Pirates, and Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski.
"I remember when Bob Prince used to call games at Crosley [Field]," Miller said. "Somebody would hit a home run, and it was only like 303 feet. He would say, 'It was out over the moon deck and into a pickup truck on I-75 and on its way to Dayton.' "
"I sold peanuts and soda in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum," Hanks said. "Until, quite frankly, I got robbed a few times too many. It was a money-losing proposition, so I stopped that."
"Tough room out there," Miller said. "Rickey Henderson was not the only one stealing things in Oakland."
Where does the caravan go next? It's not a movie-promotion junket, so there will be no advance billing.
"Should we divulge our top secret? So far we've been under the radar," Hanks said.
"Tom is so important that he's arranged for a St. Louis Browns game," Miller said.
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
CINCINNATI -- On Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park, actors Tom Hanks and Dennis Miller and director Ron Howard were just three regular guys killing time during a long rain delay.
They just happened to be three guys who have film and television credits that have earned them millions of fans.
In an impromptu gathering with the media in a room adjacent to the press box, the three entertainers talked baseball and worked the room a little, too.
"Will you please stop being the jaded media?" Hanks jokingly bellowed. "You are here to entertain us. It's not the other way around."
The trio and some of their friends recently rented a bus and have been on a tour of some Major League ballparks. They'd been to Baltimore's Camden Yards and Pittsburgh's PNC Park before reaching Cincinnati to watch the Reds play the Mets.
"It was Tommy's idea," said Miller, a comedian and former talk show host and "Saturday Night Live" cast member.
"I turned 50 about 10 days ago," said Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner famous for such films as "Apollo 13," "Forrest Gump" and "Saving Private Ryan." "This was the dream that you have, gosh, all the way back. Wouldn't you love to be able to go to a bunch of ballparks with a bunch of guys? The requisite was you had to be a baseball fan and funny to make it on the bus."
Hanks, Howard and Miller aren't just novice appreciators of baseball. All are longtime fans with plenty of detailed and nostalgic memories.
"I grew up with the Dodgers," said Howard, an Academy Award-winning director responsible for such films as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Apollo 13," and star of the TV show "Happy Days." "I fell in love with them in '63, and Vin Scully taught me everything about baseball. I loved it. All last year, I was out of the country. I missed the entire season. I heard about Tom's deal, and signed up."
Miller grew up in Pittsburgh loving the Pirates, and Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski.
"I remember when Bob Prince used to call games at Crosley [Field]," Miller said. "Somebody would hit a home run, and it was only like 303 feet. He would say, 'It was out over the moon deck and into a pickup truck on I-75 and on its way to Dayton.' "
"I sold peanuts and soda in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum," Hanks said. "Until, quite frankly, I got robbed a few times too many. It was a money-losing proposition, so I stopped that."
"Tough room out there," Miller said. "Rickey Henderson was not the only one stealing things in Oakland."
Where does the caravan go next? It's not a movie-promotion junket, so there will be no advance billing.
"Should we divulge our top secret? So far we've been under the radar," Hanks said.
"Tom is so important that he's arranged for a St. Louis Browns game," Miller said.
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
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