Baseball Quiz: Name the Top Ten all-time in RBI. [Since
certain lists don’t have his name due to the fact he played from
1876-1897, I’ll give you #9 in my version, Cap Anson.] Full
answer below.
Ben-Hur
As some of us go to see “The Passion…,” back in 1880 the book
“Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” became the biggest seller in the
fiction category for the entire century and was the most requested
book in America’s libraries as readers were fascinated by the
author’s descriptions of the Holy Land and “message of divine
salvation through faith.” [Historian Victor Davis Hanson] By
1883 it was selling 750 copies a month, 4,500 by 1886, and its
aggregate sales were not surpassed until “Gone with the Wind”
in the late 1930s. The last recorded sales figure was in the 1940s
and was somewhere in the 3 million range (including one million
copies ordered by Sears, Roebuck in 1912, which it then sold for
39 cents each), though the actual number is undoubtedly far
higher. Of course as you tune into the Academy Awards on
Sunday evening, most of you know that there is an Oscar tie-in
as well. The 1959 film version of ‘Ben-Hur’ was nominated for
11 awards, winning 7 including for Best Picture and Best Actor,
Charlton Heston.
So who wrote it? Lew Wallace, one of the more fascinating
figures in American history, aside from being the most
successful novelist of his time.
But Wallace may never have written ‘Ben-Hur’ were it not for
taking a wrong turn during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh
(Pittsburg Landing to some).
Wallace was an up and comer in the Union Army; a political
appointee, not a West Point graduate, who had nonetheless
acquitted himself well at Harpers Ferry and Bull Run before he
found himself elevated to Major General at the age of 35, the
youngest of such rank on the Union side.
In February 1862, General U.S. Grant led his Union Army of the
Tennessee to victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson but by early
April, Grant found himself pinned up against the Tennessee
River where he was surprised on the morning of April 6 by
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston’s troops at Shiloh
Church (Hardin County, Tennessee).
[Note to Civil War buffs. Understand that for reasons of time I
need to gloss over some events in this narrative.]
Early that morning, Grant had warned Lew Wallace, whose
7,000 troops were a few miles upriver from Grant’s main force,
that he might be calling for his assistance later that day. But
when Grant returned his men were getting demolished by the
Confederates. Grant sent word back to Wallace around 11:30
AM that he was needed immediately and that he should march
the six miles south to join him. But as Victor Davis Hanson
writes in an essay for the book “What Ifs? of American History,”
Grant’s orders were oral, not written and Wallace had trouble
figuring out what to do. You see, there were two roads to Shiloh.
Grant thought Wallace should have reinforced him by 2:00 PM
and when there was no sign of Wallace by then, Grant sent two
messengers to find out why. When they finally got back to Grant
late in the day, Ulysses learned of one of the big mistakes in
American military history. Grant was close to losing the battle,
and his own future place in history, because Wallace was running
around in circles.
[Luckily for the Union, Confederate General A.S. Johnston was
mortally wounded the afternoon of the 6th (the poor fellow bled
to death when a bullet hit a key artery in his leg) and the
Confederates were suddenly leaderless. For the Union, another
general, Don Carlos Buell, had his 20,000-man Army of the Ohio
on the other side of the Tennessee River, but they wouldn’t
arrive in time to save Grant either, or so Ulysses thought.]
As Wallace struggled with the unsigned verbal orders around
noon on April 6, he not only questioned whether Grant knew
there were two roads to Shiloh, but he had also been told by
Grant’s aide that the Union was “repulsing the enemy” when in
truth they were being routed. The course along the Tennessee
was swampy and under water in spots, thus nearly impassable for
his wagons. The other route, the Shunpike, was two miles
shorter to William Tecumseh Sherman’s men, where Wallace
suspected he was to be, along with being a far better road.
Wallace had reconnoitered it earlier for this very purpose. The
decision to take the Shunpike was one that changed Wallace’s
life forever.
Victor Davis Hanson: “Had Grant’s orders been written, signed,
and precise – or had Wallace on his own chosen to take the river
route that Grant preferred – Wallace would either have been
lauded as a heroic deliverer or relatively ignored as a dutiful
subordinate who did what he was told; but either way, he would
never have emerged as Shiloh’s scapegoat.”
Wallace did end up making great time on the Shunpike, only to
find that instead of meeting up with Sherman, he was in the rear
of the Confederate army. In essence he was no closer to Grant
and Sherman than he was before. So Wallace took his men all
the way back (8-10 miles, round trip) to the original camp before
advancing south along the river. Grant’s messengers were in a
state of distress, as you can imagine, with thousands of Union
troops dead and wounded at this stage, and they returned with
wild tales of incompetence.
Finally, long after dark, Wallace arrived at Pittsburg Landing.
His men had marched 14 or so miles in a circle to arrive at a
place less than 6 miles away from their original camp.
Thankfully for the Union, the next morning Wallace was able to
throw his 7,000 men in with General Buell’s 20,000 and the
Union forces beat back the equally tired and decimated
Confederates. Grant was victorious but the Union was in no
shape to chase after what were now General Beauregard’s forces
in full retreat. The casualties were staggering…some 24,000
killed, wounded, or missing on both sides. [By most accounts up
to 3,500 dead.]
When the media got hold of the full story, however, Lew
Wallace was at the center of the storm. For starters, General
Henry Halleck took over for Grant amidst rumors, ill-founded,
that Grant had been drunk on the battlefield. [President Abraham
Lincoln later dismissed Halleck and put Grant back in charge as
Halleck proved to be a lousy leader, saying of Grant, “I can’t
spare this man, he fights.”]
But as the press cut up Grant amidst a reexamination of Shiloh
that was unprecedented, Grant turned his wrath on Wallace. If
the latter’s 7,000 had shown up by 2:00 PM as expected, the
Confederate onslaught would have been stopped and thousands
would have been spared.
For his part, Wallace would still go on to distinguish himself in
the war, particularly in helping to defend Washington from Jubal
Early’s raid in July 1864, and he not only served on the
commission examining Lincoln’s assassination, Wallace was
also responsible for the decision to hang Major Witz, the
notorious commander of Andersonville prison. Even later
Wallace had more than a few run-ins with outlaw Billy the Kid
while governor of New Mexico territory.
But for the rest of his life, until his death in 1905, Lew Wallace
sought to clear his name for the mistake at Shiloh. He visited the
battlefield every year and when it was being commemorated and
memorialized, he sought to make sure the official tourist
literature had his version of events.
Wallace turned to writing in his spare time and after some earlier
efforts came up with the novel ‘Ben-Hur.’ Victor Davis Hanson
notes that there was a tie between Shiloh and the leper colony in
the book, taken from Wallace’s own experience in running a
detention center as well as the inquiry into the horrible
conditions at Andersonville. But mostly, Hanson writes, “Ben-
Hur is…the saga of a young, brilliant Jewish hero whose entire
life is devoted to seeking revenge for an injustice done him and
his family – by a friend who knew better and would benefit from
this duplicity.”
[Judah Ben-Hur, for example, while watching from his veranda a
triumphal procession below, accidentally loosens a roof tile that
nearly kills Gratus – the ancient Grant? – the Roman procurator
of Judea, surmises Hanson.]
At one low point, Ben-Hur philosophizes, “Death was preferable
to shame; and believe me, I pray, it is so yet.” There are
countless other examples, though once-published Wallace used
his connections, including with veteran generals such as
Garfield, Grant and Sherman, to ensure that they treated him
fairly in their own memoirs when it came to the topic of Shiloh.
Garfield, in his few months as president in 1881, was particularly
useful in Wallace’s attempts to promote the book.
But as Hanson notes, it all comes down to the issue of Grant’s
original orders. If they had been in writing and unambiguous,
“Wallace would have led a happier but little-known life – and we
would all be the poorer for it.”
[Additional sources: “The Growth of the American Republic,”
Morison, Commmager, Leuchtenburg; “A History of the
American People,” Paul Johnson; “A Great Civil War,” Russell
F. Weigley]
Academy Awards
Best Picture…..Best Actor…..Best Actress
1928. Wings…Emil Jannings (The Way of All Flesh / The Last
Command)…Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven / Street Angel /
Sunrise)
1929. The Broadway Melody…Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona)
…Mary Pickford (Coquette)
1930. All Quiet on the Western Front…George Arliss (Disraeli)
…Norma Shearer (The Divorcee)
1931. Cimarron…Lionel Barrymore (A Free Soul)…Marie
Dressler (Min and Bill)
1932. Grand Hotel…Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
and Wallace Beery (The Champ)…Helen Hayes (The Sin of
Madelon Claudet)
1933. Cavalcade…Charles Laughton (The Private Life of Henry
VIII)…Katharine Hepburn (Morning Glory)
1934. It Happened One Night…Clark Gable (It Happened One
Night)…Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night)
1935. Mutiny on the Bounty…Victor McLaglen (The Informer)
…Bette Davis (Dangerous)
1936. The Great Ziegfeld…Paul Muni (The Story of Louis
Pasteur)…Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld)
1937. The Life of Emile Zola…Spencer Tracy (Captains
Courageous)…Luise Rainer (The Good Earth)
1938. You Can’t Take It With You…Spencer Tracy (Boys
Town)…Bette Davis (Jezebel)
1939. Gone with the Wind…Robert Donat (Goodbye, Mr.
Chips)…Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind)
1940. Rebecca…Walter Brennan (The Westerner)…Ginger
Rogers (Kitty Foyle)
1941. How Green Was My Valley…Gary Cooper (Sergeant
York)…Joan Fontaine (Suspicion)
1942. Mrs. Miniver…James Cagney (Yankee Doodle Dandy)
…Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver)
1943. Casablanca…Paul Lukas (Watch on the Rhine)…Jennifer
Jones (The Song of Bernadette)
1944. Going My Way…Bing Crosby (Going My Way)… Ingrid
Bergman (Gaslight)
1945. The Lost Weekend…Ray Milland (The Lost
Weekend)…Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce)
1946. The Best Years of Our Lives…Fredric March (The
Best…) …Olivia de Havilland (To Each His Own)
1947. Gentleman’s Agreement…Ronald Colman (A Double
Life)…Loretta Young (The Farmer’s Daughter)
1948. Hamlet…Laurence Olivier (Hamlet)…Jane Wyman
(Johnny Belinda)
1949. All the King’s Men…Broderick Crawford (All the King’s
Men)…Olivia de Havilland (The Heiress)
1950. All About Eve…Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac)…Judy
Holliday (Born Yesterday)
1951. An American in Paris…Humphrey Bogart (The African
Queen)…Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire)
1952. The Greatest Show on Earth…Gary Cooper (High Noon)
…Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba)
1953. From Here to Eternity…William Holden (Stalag 17)
…Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday)
1954. On the Waterfront…Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront)
…Grace Kelly (The Country Girl)
1955. Marty…Ernest Borgnine (Marty)…Anna Magnani (The
Rose Tattoo)
1956. Around the World in 80 Days…Yul Brynner (The King
and I) …Ingrid Bergman (Anastasia)
1957. The Bridge on the River Kwai…Alec Guinness (The
Bridge…) …Joanne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve)
1958. Gigi…David Niven (Separate Tables) …Susan Hayward
(I Want to Live!)
1959. Ben-Hur…Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur)…Simone Signoret
(Room at the Top)
1960. The Apartment…Burt Lancaster (Elmer Gantry)
…Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8)
1961. West Side Story…Maximillian Schell (Judgment at
Nuremberg) …Sophia Loren (Two Women)
1962. Lawrence of Arabia…Gregory Peck (To Kill a
Mockingbird) …Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker)
1963. Tom Jones…Sidney Poitier (Lillies of the Field)
…Patricia Neal (Hud)
1964. My Fair Lady…Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) …Julie
Andrews (Mary Poppins)
1965. The Sound of Music…Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou) …Julie
Christie (Darling)
1966. A Man for All Seasons…Paul Scofield ( A Man…)
…Elizabeth Taylor (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
1967. In the Heat of the Night…Rod Steiger (In the Heat…)
…Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner)
1968. Oliver!…Cliff Robertson (Charity) …Katharine Hepburn
(The Lion in Winter) and Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl)
1969. Midnight Cowboy…John Wayne (True Grit) …Maggie
Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie…aka The Prime of QB
John Brodie)
1970. Patton…George C. Scott (Patton) …Glenda Jackson
(Women in Love)
1971. The French Connection…Gene Hackman (The French
Connection) …Jane Fonda (Klute)
1972. The Godfather…Marlon Brando (The Godfather) …Liza
Minnelli (Cabaret)
1973. The Sting…Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger) …Glenda
Jackson (A Touch of Class)
1974. The Godfather, Part II…Art Carney (Harry and Tonto)
…Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore)
1975. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest…Jack Nicholson (One
Flew…) …Louis Fletcher (One Flew…)
1976. Rocky…Peter Finch (Network) …Faye Dunaway
(Network)
1977. Annie Hall…Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl)
…Diane Keaton (Annie Hall)
1978. The Deer Hunter…Jon Voigt (Coming Home) …Jane
Fonda (Coming Home)
1979. Kramer vs. Kramer…Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs.
Kramer) …Sally Field (Norma Rae)
1980. Ordinary People…Robert De Niro (Raging Bull)
…Robert Redford (Ordinary People)
1981. Chariots of Fire…Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond)
…Katharine Hepburn (On Golden Pond)
1982. Gandhi…Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) …Meryl Streep
(Sophie’s Choice)
1983. Terms of Endearment…Robert Duvall (Tender
Mercies)…Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment)
1984. Amadeus…F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) …Sally Field
(Places in the Heart)
1985. Out of Africa…William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider
Woman)…Geraldine Page (The Trip to Bountiful)
1986. Platoon…Paul Newman (The Color of Money) …Marlee
Matlin (Children of a Lesser God)
1987. The Last Emperor…Michael Douglas (Wall Street)
…Cher (Moonstruck)
1988. Rain Man…Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) …Jodie Foster
(The Accused)
1989. Driving Miss Daisy…Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot)
…Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy)
1990. Dances With Wolves…Jeremy Irons (Reversal of
Fortune) …Kathy Bates (Misery)
1991. The Silence of the Lambs…Anthony Hopkins (The
Silence…) …Jodie Foster (The Silence…)
1992. Unforgiven…Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) …Emma
Thompson (Howards End)
1993. Schindler’s List…Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) …Holly
Hunter (The Piano)
1994. Forrest Gump…Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) …Jessica
Lange (Blue Sky)
1995. Braveheart…Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) …Susan
Sarandon (Dead Man Walking)
1996. The English Patient…Geoffrey Rush (Shine) …Frances
McDormand (Fargo)
1997. Titanic…Jack Nicholson (As Good As It Gets) …Helen
Hunt (As Good As It Gets)
1998. Shakespeare in Love…Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful)
…Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love)
1999. American Beauty…Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)
…Hillary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry)
2000. Gladiator…Russell Crowe (Gladiator) …Julia Roberts
(Erin Brockovich)
2001. A Beautiful Mind…Denzel Washington (Training Day)
…Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball)
2002. Chicago…Adrien Brody (The Pianist) …Nicole Kidman
(The Hours)
Stuff
–Another ‘Ben-Hur’ bit. The prime time television debut in
February 1971 (I remember this) achieved the highest rating of
any movie presented on television up to that time.
–Former major league umpire Al Clark just pled guilty to selling
fake sports memorabilia here in New Jersey. Clark, fired in 2001
for breaking Major League Baseball’s rules on use of airline
tickets, was in cahoots with a dealer whereby they sold baseballs
allegedly used in famous games in which Clark was part of the
umpiring crew, such as the contest where Cal Ripken broke Lou
Gehrig’s consecutive game streak, Nolan Ryan’s 300th win and
the one-game, Bucky Dent playoff between the Yanks and Red
Sox in 1978.
Clark and his partner actually rubbed up regular balls in the
Rubbing Mud that MLB uses and then Clark would fake the
signatures as well as sign the certificates of authenticity. I didn’t
see what the baseballs were then sold for but Clark will probably
receive 6-12 months in jail and face a stiff fine. [Source: Rudy
Larini / Star-Ledger]
So, sports fans, just another example of where you are more than
a bit foolish to buy any of these kinds of things without seeing
the celebrity sign it right in front of you.
–Speaking of baseball, you should have seen the Yankees’ Jason
Giambi when he reported to training camp the other day. First
off, it looked like he had lost 20+ pounds of muscle, though he
claimed he had removed just 4 pounds from eliminating fast
food. Bull. He also was incredibly uncomfortable handling
questions on his alleged steroid use, Giambi being a key figure in
the BALCO investigation for which he was compelled to give
testimony that obviously helped lead to the indictment of the 4
that have been arrested thus far. Jason is one scared puppy
because remember, sports fans, if the grand jury ever gets hold of
the actual drug tests taken last year by MLB that showed 5-7% of
the players were on steroids (at least), and knowing that Giambi
is probably among this group, if he then gave false testimony
that’s lying to a grand jury and he could in turn be indicted.
**This is unlikely, though, for the simple reason that MLB and
the Players Union will definitely do all they can to keep the tests
private.
In the meantime, Barry Bonds showed up chiseled as ever,
bloated face blocking the television screen, and proclaimed
“They can test me every day.” Of course science has advanced
to the point that there are designer steroids and human growth
hormone that hide behind masking agents so it’s going to be
awful tough to prove anything in a court of law, that’s for sure.
But in the court of public opinion these guys are toast.
And heck, track and field just banned British sprinter Dwain
Chambers for life from competing in the Olympics due to his
testing positive for THG (the designer steroid in question in the
BALCO deal). If we banned Bonds for life from baseball, today,
he’d be stuck at 658 home runs! How sweet would that be?!
–Uh oh…the New York Post’s Page Six reports that Anna
Kournikova is packing on the pounds now that she has retired
from tennis. Anna, say it ain’t so? Try that new low-carb beer
or something, will ya?
–Joe Viterelli was a character actor who recently passed away,
appearing in “Analyze This” and other flicks, but the AP
obituary failed to mention something very important. From
looking at a picture of the guy he’s clearly the fellow in the new
Staples commercial where the one fellow lords over the supply
room, getting donuts and other sweets in return for paper clips
and various office items. Viterelli’s character comes in at the end
and demands a cream puff. In real life, Viterelli died while
undergoing heart surgery. The plot thickens.
[The preceding was just another example of what we like to call
“The Bar Chat Advantage.”]
–The New York Jets are NOT going after Keyshawn Johnson.
Praise the Lord! We’ll pick up a great receiver in the draft, I’m
convinced. Speaking of which, last I saw USC’s Mike Williams,
who I think will be a superstar in his first year in the NFL, is
waffling on going pro. He was a sophomore last fall but with
Maurice Clarett’s decision to go pro he could as well, though
coach Pete Carroll is trying to convince him otherwise.
**Update: Oops…Mike Williams is heading to the draft. C”mon,
Jets! And nice going Jamal Lewis…facing a rather major federal
drug charge.
–FREE JUSTIN REYES! [The 12-year-old who was suspended
from an Ohio school for bringing in the Sports Illustrated
swimsuit issue. The superintendent claimed he had never seen
one himself, the jerk.]
–AP Men’s Basketball Rankings
1. Stanford
2. St. Joe’s
3. Pitt
4. Gonzaga
If you had these 4 in the beginning of the season, go to the head
of the class.
*I bet Southern Illinois, #16, goes further than St. Joe’s in the
tourney. But then I’m getting ahead of myself. Just 3 more
weeks until MY EXCLUSIVE NCAA POOL PICKS…
guaranteed to lose you mega bucks.
–And now for something not in the least bit profound, but I was
watching the Villanova – Syracuse hoops game the other night
and Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas were commenting on the fact that
Nova wasn’t playing defense with its hands up. Isn’t it amazing,
college basketball fans, how often you find yourselves screaming
at the TV when your team doesn’t execute this simple
fundamental that not only makes it tougher for the offense to
score, but is something we all learned in 2nd grade? Heck, watch
Jason Kidd play defense. How do you think he gets so many
steals? That’s just my opinion…time for a beer.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/26/66: #1 “These Boots Are Made
For Walkin’” (Nancy Sinatra) #2 “Lightnin’ Strikes” (Lou
Christie) #3 “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” (SSgt. Barry
Sadler)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top Ten all-time RBI…
1. Hank Aaron…2297
2. Babe Ruth…2213
3. Lou Gehrig…1995
4. Stan Musial…1951
5. Ty Cobb…1939
6. Jimmie Foxx…1921
7. Eddie Murray…1917
8. Willie Mays…1903
9. Cap Anson…1879
10. Mel Ott…1860
16. Barry Bonds…1742
20. Rafael Palmeiro…1687
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
