Saying goodbye to "Tony Clifton"

It's funny how things work sometimes.
On Wednesday,I took my lovely ladies out to lunch and as we walked out of the restaurant,I saw a familiar face and commented "Look,Cherie,Tony Clifton's here".
It wasn't "Tony",just someone that looked like him,but Cherie and I talked for a few minutes about the small extended family that we have at the Hagerstown Suns.
You don't see them from September to April,but it's always nice getting to see them again,catching up and settling in for the season.
It's people that have become good friends,people that become Facebook friends,people that are casual acquaintances to say Hi as you walk by and people that you just see from a distance at the games.
We agreed that as small as the Suns crowds can be getting to know the faces has been quite a positive through our term with the team.

It turned out that one day later,the man I knew as "Tony Clifton" passed away as Jack Hill suffered a fatal heart attack.
Bob Parasiliti pays tribute to his friend and colleague here and since I never shared more than a hello with Jack,I don't know enough about him to write about other than it won't feel the same at the Muni without the color coordinated outfits with the colored softball shorts from the early 80's matching a colored shirt that was far too small.
No one that I knew had a bad word to say about Jack Hill.

I'm sure that you are wondering how Jack was dubbed as "Tony Clifton",so here goes.
When we started to become regulars at Suns games,Jack would show up for games wearing these big dark sunglasses and combined with the short hair and tight shirts,there was a resemblance to Tony Clifton the hated lounge singer portrayed by Andy Kaufman,although Kaufman would never admit it.

It's funny the characters that you become accustomed to seeing.
I often wonder what happened to "Hum Baby" a guy that sat at the top of the grandstand and heckled with a monotone that said "hum baby swing" to opposing batters.
And there have been others too,makes you wonder if anyone would miss me if I was gone or to the casual person,am I "someone" else.
It'll be a different deal for sure in a month when the Suns begin their 2015 season because for the first time in years,I won't lean to the person next to me and say as Jack Hill climbed the grandstand "Tony Clifton in the house this evening".
He'll be missed.