Baseball 30/30 Quiz: The Yankees Alfonso Soriano just became
the first second baseman in baseball history to have 30 home
runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season, a feat which has
now been accomplished 42 different times. 1) Who was the first
to go 30/30 in the AL? [Hint: He was also the first AL player to
hit 2 home runs in one inning and 3 home runs in a single game.]
2) Who was the second AL player to achieve the feat? [Hint:
Sometime between 1965 and 1975.] 3) Who was the first NL
player to go 30/30? 4) What player with the initials D.B. had a
30/30 season? Answers below.
Rich Beem 1…Phil Mickelson 0
You know, when you think about it, Mickelson is one, big
failure. Oh sure, he has the titles, the money, a gorgeous wife
and family…but he doesn’t have a major. Read the article in the
current Sports Illustrated on him and see what you think.
Beem? He’s another inductee into the Bar Chat Hall of Fame for
his performance at the PGA, that’s for sure. After all, we were
told he was a “regular” guy who enjoyed a brewski or two, so
why shouldn’t he be? The fact he stared down Tiger makes it all
the better, and makes Mickelson look like a wimp. Don’t get me
wrong, I still like Lefty and hope he wins one soon, but he’s a
loser until he does.
As for Tiger, you have to give him credit for the finish, and did
you catch his act in the scorers hut as Beem’s putt on 18
dropped? He actually showed some humanity with that little girl
in the trailer. Too bad he’s not more comfortable exhibiting it
elsewhere.
Britain…The Middle Ages
So I bought this new book, “Making a Living in the Middle
Ages: The People of Britain 850-1520” by Christopher Dyer,
thinking it would make for some decent Bar Chat fodder. I had
no designs on actually reading the whole thing, mind you, but
suddenly here we are, near a deadline, and I’m committed to the
damn tome. Aaghhh! Anyway, here are a few tidbits. I’ll make
it up to you some other time.
–By 1050, bears had been hunted to extinction throughout
Britain, and in the following century beavers were virtually
wiped out. No, no…not the beaver! But wolves survived
(yess!), while deer and boar (valued as food and sport) were
protected.
–Kings, bishops, monasteries and nobles demanded food rent
from the households in their control. The typical rent consisted
of hundreds of loaves of bread, many barrels of ale, cattle, sheep,
bacon and “dozens of cheeses.” The monks were into the ale in a
big way.
–By the year 850, attacks by the Danes were quite frequent.
Consequently, the locals who lived in areas of Scandinavian
colonization in northern England were known to hide
tremendous amounts of coins. 18 piles from the years 868-75
have already been uncovered, and the author believes that many,
many more lie undisturbed, due to the sudden social disruption
that took place in those days. Following is an actual dialogue, as
told to StocksandNews by a descendant.
“Look, it’s the Vikings! Run for your lives!”
“But the coins!”
“Leave the freakin’ coins. We’ll come back for them later.”
They never did. I mention this in case you are in search of new
adventures for yourself. Take the left path up to the knob…or
was it the right?
–Now this is half interesting…seriously. Each king managed
their own currency and by the year 1000, there were some
seventy mints established throughout the land. “No one could
claim that they could not pay their taxes because coins were
unobtainable,” writes Dyer, “as almost everyone lived within 15
miles of a mint. Kings ensured that only their coins were
available by insisting that any foreign currency that entered the
country was handed in for minting.”
Thus, only new money was in circulation and every six years or
so all the old money was called in and the pennies were recoined,
with the king taking a little off the top of each one as profit.
While this was a royal pain in the ass, it at least reassured the
users because all of the coins of the realm had a standard
appearance. Anyone caught trying to cheat was severely
punished.
–Sanitation wasn’t real good back then, ahem, as rubbish
disposal on each plot led to the accumulation of “middens”
(refuse heaps) and cesspits. Some attempt was made to contain
the smell by shoveling sand over the middens, but inhabitants
had an amazing tolerance for all things disgusting, as they would
also just let food rot on the floors of the houses, where all
manner of insects, mice, rats, “jackdaws” (a kind of crow) and
ravens cleaned up.
–William the Conqueror of Normandy conquered England and
forever changed English history. In 1066, when King Edward
the Confessor of England died childless, William said, “Hey, I
can claim that throne,” and so when he learned Harold had
become king, William raised a few francs, gathered up a fleet
and set sail for England. On October 14, 1066, William then
defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, with Harold
dying in the conflict. William then marched on to London.
And so it came to pass that on Christmas Day 1066 – 777 years
before Charles Dickens completed “A Christmas Carol – the
Archbishop of Canterbury crowned William king of England in
Westminster Abbey.
William then spent the next twenty years instituting reforms
throughout both England and his domain in Normandy. He also
ordered an extensive survey of England, which was completed in
1085-86 (the Domesday Book) from which much of today’s
knowledge of the era exists. William was fatally injured in a
riding accident during a military campaign in France, 1087.
There now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Next Chat, Robert the
Bruce, William Wallace and the Black Death…if you keep it
where it is.
[Additional source: “The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages,”
Norman F. Cantor, editor]
Stuff
–On Friday, Rapid City, SD hit a record high of 101 degrees.
The next day it had a record low of 39.
–Denver’s Terrell Davis is retiring at age 29 due to numerous
knee injuries. Actually, you have to feel a little sorry for him,
since the poor guy probably won’t be able to walk when he’s 40.
The debate has already started as to whether or not Davis should
be in the Hall of Fame. With 7,607 yards, that alone doesn’t
qualify Terrell, and his awesome 1996-98 stretch probably
doesn’t either. But there will be those who point to inductee
Gale Sayers and his brilliant but short career and say, what’s the
difference? To which I’d reply, there are a ton of great backs
these days, but there was only one Gale Sayers.
–A giant fault beneath the sea near Japan could create enormous
waves, tsunamis. We await the first one.
–A survey in Golf Magazine revealed that the average score by
the average golfer is 91.9. Coincidentally, the last two rounds by
your editor were both 92 (but the one before that was far higher).
–Golf Digest had its latest survey of golfing CEOs. #1 is Sun
Micro’s Scott McNealy with a 0.3 handicap. Other figures you
may recognize are Jim Morgan of Applied Materials (6), Charles
Schwab (8), Roger Penske (9), Jeff Immelt / GE (10), Lee
Raymond / Exxon Mobil (11…a surly guy if ever there was one),
Michael Armstrong / AT&T (11…no word on the extent of the
missile technology he gave the Chinese while he was at Hughes),
Steve Ballmer / Microsoft (16) and Warren Buffett / Berkshire
Hathaway (21).
Separately, Starwood Hotels did its own poll and concluded that
82% of CEOs cheat on their golf scores.
–I don’t listen to the “Opie and Anthony” radio show, #1 in the
country, I believe, but I’m well aware of their program and
format, which rips off early Imus and Howard Stern. But the
other day they pulled a stunt where a couple had sex in a
vestibule at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, while a 3rd phoned it into the
studio. The three were arrested and it caused quite a stir in these
parts. I have a pretty good sense of humor, but this was way,
way over the top. I hope Opie and Anthony are punished big
time.
–Kyle Rote died the other day at age 73. Rote was a star wide
receiver for the NY Giants from 1951-61, accumulating 300
receptions for a 16.0 avg. and 48 TD. Rote was a runner-up for
the 1950 Heisman Trophy (won by Vic Janowicz of Ohio St.),
while at SMU. Originally, he was a running back, but a serious
knee injury forced him to receiver, where despite a lack of speed,
he carved out a successful career. I’ll always remember his days
at NBC and some of the first football games I watched as a kid.
Rote struck me as a super guy, a fact borne out by the fact that 14
teammates named sons after him. One of his own kids, Kyle Jr.,
was a star in the North American Soccer League of the 70s.
–Willis “Ace” Hudlin, RIP. Hudlin gave up Babe Ruth’s 500th
homer on August 11, 1929. He also had a pretty fair career
himself, going 158-156. Hudlin was 96. Oh, I wish I had been
able to slug a few beers with Ace and listen to those great stories
from yesteryear.
–The New York Mets, whose season can’t end soon enough,
held a special 40th anniversary celebration this past weekend (as
the current Mets edition saw its losing streak extended to 8),
wherein the team announced its all-time squad.
1B – Keith Hernandez
2B – Edgardo Alfonzo
SS – Buddy Harrelson
3B – Howard Johnson
C – Mike Piazza
OF – Mookie Wilson, Lenny Dykstra, Darryl Strawberry
PH – Eddie Kranepool, Rusty Staub
SP – Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman
RP – Roger McDowell, John Franco
*No big complaints here, except Jesse Orosco or Tug McGraw
should be there instead of Roger McDowell. Also, Danny
Napoleon should have been in the outfield. Others slighted were
Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee, but Agee was just selected for
the Mets Hall of Fame.
–Alex Rodriguez matched the AL record for 6 home runs in 3
games on Sunday, joining Tony Lazzeri, 1936; Gus Zernial,
1951; and Manny Ramirez, 1998. [Lazzeri actually only had 14
the whole season in 150 games for the Yankees. Zernial led the
league in HR (33) and RBI (125) in ‘51 while with Philadelphia.]
–Bill Carter of the New York Times reports that Phil Donahue’s
ratings have plunged 40% since his initial solid debut. In just a
month the average audience has slid from 660,000 viewers to
393,000. We shed no tears for this communist.
–Great news on the beer front. Harry K. reports that Molson
Canada has created a new mini-keg, the “Bubba,” which contains
14 cans worth of pure ale. Harry also told me about the days of
his youth, when Doran Brewery in Thunder Bay used to sell draft
Northern Ale in a round plastic “tig” they called a “beer sphere.”
This was quite different from the Bubba, holding the equivalent
of 3 cases of 24. “My brother-in-law had his fishing boat
adapted to hold one right in the middle of the boat, in a holder
you could fill with ice. Mind you, that boat seldom left the
dock.” Wish I was there, Harry.
–You’ve probably seen the sad tales from the Prague Zoo, which
has lost a few animals due to the flood. But at least Slavek the
hippo was saved. It was feared that Slavek had drowned, but
they just discovered him on the second floor of the elephant
enclosure. Said the zoo director, “He’s quite hungry and
therefore quite angry. He was in attack mode.” Wohhh, but no
one was hurt. Unfortunately, Slavek’s mate and a 35-year-old
Indian elephant did not survive the worst floods in 175 years.
The rhinos made it, however, proving that they aren’t quite as
dumb as we were led to believe. [Times of London]
**Just In: A black bear killed a 5-month-old girl in New York”s
Catskill Mountain region on Monday. It is the first known attack
of its kind in this area, just 70 miles from New York City. We
have fun with animal stories on this site, but with little kids,
I draw the line.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/18/73: #1 “Touch Me In The
Morning” (Diana Ross…what if I don’t want to?) #2 “Live And
Let Die” (Wings) “Brother Louie” (Stories)
*Madonna turned 44 last Friday.
Baseball 30/30 Quiz Answers: 1) Ken Williams of the St. Louis
Browns had 39 HR and 37 steals in 1922. A late bloomer,
Williams didn’t become a regular until age 30, but nonetheless
finished his career with 196 HR 914 RBI and a .319 BA. 2) The
second 30/30 AL player was Tommy Harper…31 HR and 38
steals for Milwaukee in 1970. 3) First NL 30/30 was Willie
Mays in 1956, 36 HR 40 SB. 4) Dante Bichette had 31 HR 31
SB in 1996 for Colorado. That same season, teammate Ellis
Burks had 40 HR and 32 SB. Bichette drove in 141, Burks 128
(142 runs scored) and Andres Galarraga 47 HR 150 RBI…
as Coors Field’s reputation was cemented in its second season.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
