Baseball radio has a way of wandering into great stories. During today’s Cubs spring training game out in Mesa, Arizona, Pat Hughes told Ron Coomer about the time he snuck into the Cubs clubhouse as a kid and met Billy Williams and Ernie Banks.

I included the full broadcast audio as Hughes deftly moves between calling the game and moving his story along. He’s the best.

Transcript (edited slightly for readability):

Pat Hughes: Former Cub and All-Star Ron Coomer. It's Pat Hughes at Sloan Park in Mesa. We thank you for joining us. Lots of action today. 9-5 the Giants lead. Let's see if the Cubs can stage a late, dramatic rally and come back. as we go to the bottom of the eighth inning. Ryan Vanderhay is on the mound. Casey Opitz is batting for the first time, and he took outside for ball one. Vanderhay coming back, and Opitz fouls it away. Thinking about those days as a kid of watching big league games and just a thrill to be down low. Like you said, Ron, it's a whole new game once you get down to, say, box seat level. You see how big and strong and how fast the guy is pitching, how high the balls are hit. It's amazing. You're just in awe as a kid.

Ron Coomer: It really is. I remember being like a 10-year-old and watching guys pitch and just think how fast the game moves.

Pat Hughes: Swing and a foul off to the left out of play. I remember a foul ball home run that Billy Williams hit. Towering drive right down the right field line at Candlestick Park. I thought, that's as high as a human being can possibly hit a baseball. You cannot hit it any higher than that. And my brothers and I were laughing. We said, they ought to give him a home run just because it was so high. It was amazing.

Ron Coomer: There is a rumor that the Whistler, Billy Williams, is going to be in camp here in the next couple days.

Pat Hughes: Speaking of legends, here's a pitch inside for a ball to Casey Opitz. My brother and I, we snuck into the clubhouse all the time. And every time except once, we were chased away. Kids, beat it. You have no business in there. Get out of here. Okay. No harm, no foul. Yeah, right. We're not troublemakers. We know we don't belong here. Yeah. Not a big deal. So, ground ball to second, throw to first in time. Opitz is out number one. But this one time, we made it through the line of security. We followed. It was the Cubs, in fact. The Cubs, after their batting practice, we snuck down and followed the big athletes and hid behind them as we snuck right into the clubhouse. And here we are. We're in the Cubs clubhouse. We got no business being there. We're 10 and 13 years old, but I saw Billy Williams. We went over to talk to Billy. They had played the day before on television against the Dodgers. I think Drysdale had pitched, and we're peppering Billy with questions. Hey, what's it like facing John Drysdale and Sandy Koufax and how about Juan Marichal? And he was very nice. He was very patient, and he was reading his newspaper, and he said, yeah, they're pretty tough. And he could have just said, hey, security, get these guys. But he didn't. And at any time, Billy could have called the security people to get us out of there. But he did not do it. And I've loved him ever since.

Ron Coomer: Have you ever told Billy that story?

Pat Hughes: Oh, many times. Yeah, he smiles. He does not remember the incident, which is very shocking. I know. 2-2 on Hayden Cantrell. Swing and a miss on a changeup. The ball in the dirt necessitating a throw to first in time, and that's going to be out number two. But we saw Ron Santo. Ron looked so big, he looked scary. Really? He wore his uniform real tight. I remember seeing him. Little did I know I'd spent 15 years as a broadcasting partner with him in the future. But I'll never forget he looks so big and tough, and I thought, man, I wouldn't want to tangle with that guy. Lookout, pitch inside almost hits Brian Calmer. And we saw, you know, all the Cub ball players there, just kind of relaxing, getting ready for a ball game. Might have been a doubleheader against the Giants at Candlestick. But Billy was the one guy we actually sat and talked to. Oh, yeah, Ernie Banks. Ernie Banks, too, he saw us. Hello, boys. How you doing? Couldn't have been nicer. Couldn't have been more friendly. And we knew he had those famous strong hands just from being baseball fans. Sure enough, he grabbed your hand. You felt it. You knew it. Yeah.

Ron Coomer: That's for sure.

Pat Hughes: But Ernie was great. Here's a pitch bounce to short. And the throw to first is going to be low. Scooped out very skillfully by the first baseman, Parker. Nice play. Cubs go 1-2-3. It's on to the ninth inning. Giants 9, Cubs 5 on the score and the Cubs Radio Network.