Baseball Quiz: 1) Name the top five all time in runs scored. [All
finished up their careers post-1920] 2) Name the top five all
time in games played. [Again, all finished up post-1920…and…
four of the names appear in both questions 1 and 2.] 3) Name the
top five all time in doubles. [All post-1920…three are different
from 1 and 2.] Answers below.
Booooooo…Booooooooo…Boooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
If there’s one person in the country I’d most like to tell off to his
face it’s Barry Bonds. Of course Barry Dirtball, in a fit of rage
propelled by the myriad of foreign substances in his body, would
proceed to smash me to a pulp…so I’ll continue just to pray he
self-destructs and melts away like Margaret Hamilton in “The
Wizard of Oz.”
Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are two reporters for
the San Francisco Chronicle who broke the BALCO steroid
scandal, first noted in this space in October 2003. After taking a
sabbatical from the paper to do extensive further research on the
topic, the two have authored “Game of Shadows” which hits the
bookstores on March 27 and is excerpted in the current issue of
Sports Illustrated.
Any true baseball fan should buy this book, as I will. Not
because I’ll immediately sit down to read it, already knowing
much of what’s inside, but as a show of support for the authors
who have done so much to help clean up the game we love. I
wish them the best and hope they sell millions.
What we’ve learned is that Bonds started on his steroid regimen
back in the fall of 1998, after Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
had enthralled the nation with their spectacular home run derby.
“According to the book, Bonds, in comments to his mistress,
Kimberly Bell, often dismissed McGwire with racially-charged
remarks such as ‘They’re just letting him do it because he’s a
white boy.’ But Bonds looked at McGwire and his hulking
physique and decided he needed to dramatically increase his
muscle mass to compete with him.”
[Sports Illustrated]
Bonds then hooked up with trainer Greg Anderson and with the
help of BALCO began a regimen that included designer steroids,
“referred to as the Cream and the Clear, as well as insulin,
human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting
steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid
created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.”
[SI]
He injected them, either himself or with the help of Anderson,
swallowed them, placed drops of liquid on his tongue or applied
it topically. And according to Fainaru-Wada and Williams,
Bonds was taking as many as 20 pills a day.
“Game of Shadows” also chronicles Bonds’ personal behavior.
“In addition to detailing the drug usage, the excerpt portrays
Bonds as a menacing boor, a tax cheat and an adulterer given to
(probably because of the rampant steroid use) sexual
dysfunction, hair loss and wild mood swings that included
periods of rage. The authors report that Bonds gave Bell, with
whom he continued his affair after his second marriage in
January 1998, $80,000 in cash in 2001 from memorabilia income
not reported to the IRS….Bell retained answering machine
recordings of him after he threatened to kill her, remarking that if
she disappeared no one would be able to prove he even knew
her….
“According to the excerpt, Bonds put his hands around her
throat, pressed her against a wall and whispered, ‘If you ever
f—– pull some s— like that again I’ll kill you, do you
understand me?’
“A few weeks later, the authors write, Bonds told Bell, ‘You
need to disappear.’”
This is sickening and an outrage. Why he’s still allowed to suit
up and pursue Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron is beyond me. But
I’m also upset with the reaction of some fans to the latest
revelations, like ‘what’s the big deal?’ Idiots…all of them.
For now, however, here are the thoughts of some of the better
sportswriters in the land.
Tony Kornheiser / Washington Post
“Whoa! Bonds was taking all of Aisle 7 in the Rite-Aid! But no
flaxseed oil? A few months back didn’t Barry say the only thing
he took was flaxseed oil? And that one of the creams was for his
arthritis ?
“I’d like to get some of that cream, and then start hitting my
driver 450 yards. And while we’re at it, give me a side order of
Mexican beans!
“The book also alleges Bonds injected himself with drugs, or was
injected by his trainer, or swallowed pills, or placed drops of
liquid under his tongue, or rubbed the Cream and the Clear on
himself. Bonds could have just walked through the Giants’
dugout attached to an IV pole.
“When did he have time to play baseball? A few months back,
didn’t Barry say if he took steroids, he took them
‘unknowingly’? Really? What did he think he was injecting into
his body, a ham sandwich?”
Gene Wojciechowski / ESPN.com
“In the end, there is only one question that needs to be asked:
“Do you believe Barry Bonds, or the book?
“If you believe Bonds, then you believe the third-leading home
run hitter in the history of Major League Baseball is the victim of
an unrelenting federal and media conspiracy designed to frame
him for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
“If you believe the excerpts of ‘Game of Shadows,’ then you
believe that Bonds and his mind-boggling, bloated numbers of
1998-2004 (he missed most of last season with an injury) are a
fraud.
“I believe the book. I think Bonds is – or was – a human
Walgreen’s, a grotesque and insulting example of better baseball
through chemistry. And I think he should slither away, joining
Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro in forced
baseball exile.”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“Barry Bonds’ shame is complete now, his disgrace permanent,
his infamy eternal. Bonds officially has assumed the title of
baseball’s greatest scourge, a cheater and a liar whose misdeeds
now bookend his misanthropy as his greatest dual, and dueling,
legacies.
“He cannot run away this time. He cannot summon crocodile
tears and play the victim, or plant one of his children in front of
the cameras to try to deflect the slings and arrows of public
scorn. He cannot sneer at the devil media and stir up that
scalding pot, defiantly slaughtering the messenger.
“Not now. Not this time. Not anymore.
“They’ve got the goods on Barry now.
“No hiding from any of it.
“Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are the reporters who
broke all those BALCO stories…, a net into which Jason Giambi
and Gary Sheffield quickly became entangled. But as thick as
the outrage was that attached itself to the Yankees’ steroid
stepchildren, they always have been guppies in the pond of
performance enhancement.
“Bonds always was Moby Dick….
“Fueled by jealousy, Bonds allegedly began ingesting junk as if
he were first in line at the Sizzler buffet…
“Bonds is no stranger to media carpet bombing, and his usual
defense usually takes two tacks: I Didn’t Know, and They Made
It Up. The first was a sweeping insult to the intelligence of an
entire nation; it wouldn’t fly then and certainly will be grounded
forever now. The second won’t work, either, because the authors
have a meticulously listed pile of sources and documents; they
have him dead to rights.
“Believe this: in a post-James Frey world, no book is published
unless it’s been lawyered to within an inch of its life.
“If it’s in there, it’s solid. And it’s murderous. The authors can’t
arrest him, or subpoena him, or guilt him out of baseball so he
can disappear before the sacred numbers belonging to Babe Ruth
and Henry Aaron do.
“But they can hang him in the court of public opinion, and they
have done that with an executioner’s cold-blooded competence.”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has no choice now but to
appoint an independent prosecutor, maybe even John Dowd
himself, the one who got the goods on Pete Rose, to investigate
every single charge made against Bonds, and about his insane
drug use, in this book. If a bimbo like Jose Canseco can get
Congress to convene hearings about steroids in baseball, if
Canseco’s book can take down Mark McGwire, another whose
home run records came out of a bottle, then the reporting of
Fainaru-Wada and Williams ought to at least give us another
Dowd….
“Take a good look at this guy now. Then remember that Henry
Aaron was 6 feet tall and 180 pounds when he was hitting 755
home runs for the Braves and the Brewers. If Bonds doesn’t
have the good grace to walk away from baseball after this
season, if he somehow does stick around long enough to get to
756, someday Aaron will have to stand on a field next to him and
congratulate him. It will be as much a shame as any of this.”
—
Kirby Puckett, RIP
Fellow Hall of Famer Dave Winfield remarked on the passing of
Kirby Puckett the other day at the age of 45, “He’s the only
player in the history of baseball everybody loved.” Yes, his
years after baseball were rocky and filled with controversy and
pain, but we’re going to focus on the positive.
Puckett was raised in a Chicago housing project, the youngest of
9 children. At 5’8” he was deemed too small for basketball so he
focused on baseball instead. Unsigned out of high school, he
went to a local college and the Minnesota Twins made him their
pick in the first round of the 1982 draft. Two years later, on May
8, 1984, Kirby made his major league debut, banging out four
hits.
Puckett would go on to play in 10 consecutive All-Star games,
win six Gold Gloves for his play in center field, and a batting
title. From 1986-89, he hit .328, .332, .356, and .339 with over
200 hits in each season. For his career, shortened by glaucoma,
Puckett had 2,304 hits, a .318 average, 207 home runs and 1,085
RBI.
But aside from the infectious smile and his attitude towards the
game, he’ll forever be known for his role in bringing two World
Series titles to Minnesota in 1987 and 1991.
Tim Kurkjian of ESPN The Magazine:
“To appreciate the greatness of Kirby Puckett’s 12-year career,
all you had to see was 11 innings.
“They came in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, perhaps the
greatest World Series ever played. The Twins were behind, 3
game to 2, when Puckett almost single-handedly beat the Braves
with one of the best one-game performances in postseason
history. He hit the game-winning home run that sent the Twins
to a 4-3 victory – it was his fourth hit and third RBI – and he
made a fabulous leaping catch against the center-field fence in
the third inning.
“ ‘This isn’t the first time he’s had that kind of game,’ Twins
manager Tom Kelly said after the game.
“He had many games like it, but very few players have ever had
a game like that in the World Series or the postseason, especially
in an elimination game….It was the kind of unforgettable
performance that elevates a player to legendary status….
“And the best part is, Puckett basically predicted it.
“ ‘I went to the clubhouse and I gathered (everyone) up. I said,
“Everybody together, we’re going to have a short meeting,”
Puckett said, retelling the story years later. ‘Everybody comes in
and I said, “Guys, I just have one announcement to make: You
guys should jump on my back tonight. I’m going to carry us.” ’”
“And then he did.
“ ‘We were in a bad way; we needed someone to step forward in
a major way,’ said Twins teammate Gene Larkin. ‘He told us to
jump on his back. Not many guys can talk the talk and walk the
walk, but Kirby always could.’”
[The next night in Game 7, Jack Morris bested John Smoltz 1-0
in 10 innings in perhaps the greatest clutch pitching performance
in Series history.]
Following are further thoughts on Kirby Puckett’s passing.
“He played every game as if an ice cream sundae were the
reward for hustling and having fun. Kirby Puckett was a Little
Leaguer all grown up, chasing after fly balls as if he could almost
taste that cherry on top.”
[Editorial in USA Today]
“This is like Mickey Mantle dying in New York for Minnesota.
There are people in Minnesota who never were within 10 miles
of that guy who are crying right now.
“This guy was the Twins. You were proud to have played with
Kirby Puckett. There was no question the game was going to be
played right, because Kirby was standing on second base on
every pop-up to shortstop.”
[Pitcher and former teammate Roy Smith]
Joe Mauer, the Twins catcher and a Twin Cities native, met
Puckett in the summer of 2001, when Mauer visited the Twins’
office after signing his contract.
“I was 18 years old, and he gave me his cellphone number,” he
said. “He didn’t have to do that. I’m running around with Kirby
Puckett’s cellphone number.”
[Dave Campbell / AP]
“(When) you watched Kirby Puckett play baseball on all those
wonderful days and nights of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he
did more than compile a first-ballot Hall of Fame resume. He
played the way we would have played, if we could have changed
places with him. He was Our Representative. Too many great
players would sooner spit on their fans than speak with them.
“Puckett went another way. He knew that, due to the grace of
whoever determines these things, he got to play baseball every
day for a living. And he played like a man determined never to
forget that great good fortune.
“ ‘I played every day like it may have been my last,’ he said
once… ‘I think I was one of the few guys who can say I left all
my blood, sweat and tears on the field. I thank God that I played
that way, because when I retired, I never once looked in the
mirror and said I wish I had done something different. And I
never once looked and said, ‘Why me?’”
[Mike Vaccaro / New York Post]
“On the day Kirby Puckett retired from baseball, he tried
reassuring everyone that the sadness of losing sight in his right
eye wouldn’t diminish the spirit fans had seen him show for 12
seasons in a Twins uniform.
“ ‘Kirby Puckett’s going to be all right,’ he said in 1996. ‘Don’t
worry about me. I’ll show up, and I’ll have a smile on my face.
The only thing I won’t have is this uniform on. But you guys can
have the memories of what I did when I did have it on.’
“A 7- or 8-year-old kid watching the game would pick him out,
and he just looked different,” sportscaster Bob Costas said. “He
had an affection for the game, and there was a kind of energy
about it that was fun.”
[Joe Christensen / Star Tribune]
Andy MacPhail, current Chicago Cubs president, was the Twins
general manager for their two championships.
“He made the players around him better….
“You could never dog it around Kirby. Kirby’s running 4.2
(seconds) to first base in exhibition games that are going to get
rained out! He’s always going full tilt, and how are you going to
dog it when the best player on the team is going full speed all the
time? He just had a tremendous impact.”
[Sid Hartman / Star Tribune]
Puckett commented at his induction ceremony into the Hall of
Fame, Aug. 5, 2001:
“I had a lot of help getting here today. I had some great role
models along the way. My on-field heroes were the great Ernie
Banks, Billy Williams and Willie Mays. I wanted to be like
them on the field and I am so damn proud to join them in the
Hall….
“There may be a few people out there who remember a time
when the word on Kirby Puckett was that he was too short or
didn’t have enough power to make it to the big leagues. Well
despite the fact that I didn’t get to play all the years I
wanted to, I did it.
“And to any young person out there, if anyone tells you that you
can’t do what you want to do and be what you want to be; I
wanted to play baseball ever since I was 5 years old. And I want
you to remember the guiding principles of my life: You can be
what you want to be. If you believe in yourself, and you work
hard because anything, I’m telling you anything, is possible.
It doesn’t mater if you’re 5-8 like Kirby Puckett or you’re 6-6
like my man Winnie (Dave Winfield), you can do it.
“And don’t feel sorry for yourself if obstacles get in your way.
Our great Twins World Series teams faced odds and we beat
‘em. Jackie Robinson faced odds and made this game truly the
national game.
“And I faced odds when glaucoma took the bat out of my hands.
But I didn’t give in or feel sorry for myself. I’ve said it before
and I’ll say it again: It may be cloudy in my right eye, but the sun
is shining very brightly in my left one.
“And I just think how the sun has shined. Right up to the door of
this great Hall, the shrine for the greatest game in the world and
the greatest players in the world, baseball.
“We call it the national game because of its great and unique
history. And it doesn’t matter where you came from. From the
projects like me, in Chicago, or the gated communities of
Beverly Hills. And because it doesn’t matter what race, creed or
national origin you are: Black, white, Hispanic, Japanese or
whatever. It just matters how you play the game. And I played
it with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my might.
“I played the game and tried to live my life in a way that would
make the people that I love and care about proud….I have been
blessed with so much….And I have been blessed to play the
greatest game for the greatest fans in the world. And now I join
the greatest players in the Hall of Fame. For all of this, I say
thank God and thank you.”
Kind of makes you wonder what Barry Bonds would say, doesn’t
it?
Kirby Puckett was the second-youngest person to die already a
member of the Hall of Fame, the youngest being Lou Gehrig.
And to the fathers out there with kids interested in the sport,
make sure they learn the history of the game. Start by telling
them about Kirby Puckett. There is no finer example.
Stuff
–I’d like to revise and extend my remarks on the Oscars, even
though it appears no one watched them, according to the ratings.
First off, I still say Jessica Alba needs to eat a steak, but on
Monday I watched “Extra” instead of “Hardball” and the word
on “Extra” was that Alba was ‘best dressed’. So like I’m
beginning to question whether I’m losing it. My brother, by the
way, couldn’t believe I didn’t mention Salma Hayek. Probably
because at the time I mixed her up with the other one who hails
from down that way. [No, not Charo….Penelope Cruz.]
But let’s talk about “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” which
captured ‘best song’. Of course a lot of folks are complaining
about this, and I have to believe most African-Americans
wouldn’t hold it up as a positive example, at least during a job
interview, but have you looked at past winners in the “Original
Song” category? It’s not like there have been a lot of classic
tunes in the bunch. Certainly not in the last 20 years.
1985, for example, Lionel Richie won with “Say You, Say Me”
from ‘White Nights.’ That’s OK. And in 1981 Burt Bacharach,
Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross won for “Arthur’s
Theme.” Otherwise, the last two decades’ worth of winners suck.
But the best period, in terms of songs everyone has heard of, was
probably the 60s. [It always comes back to this decade, sports
fans.]
1960 – Manos Hadjidakis, “Never On Sunday” from ‘Never on
Sunday’
1961 – Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer, “Moon River” from
‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
1962 – Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer, “Days of Wine and
Roses” from ‘Days of Wine and Roses’
1963 – James Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn, “Call Me
Irresponsible” from ‘Papa’s Delicate Condition’
1964 – Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, “Chim Chim
Cher-ee” from ‘Mary Poppins’
1965 – Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster, “The Shadow Of
Your Smile” from ‘The Sandpiper’
1966 – John Barry, Don Black, “Born Free” from ‘Born Free’
1967 – Leslie Bricusse, “Talk To The Animals” from ‘Doctor
Doolittle’
1968 – Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, “The
Windmills Of Your Mind” from ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’
1969 – Burt Bacharach, Hal David, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On
My Head” from ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’
And in 1971 you had “Shaft” and “I’m Easy” from ‘Nashville’
back in 1975.
But the best has to be 1952; Dmitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington,
“High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” from ‘High
Noon’.
The bottom line on this year’s winner? I’m not getting too upset
over it. It’s a dumb category. And how can Best Director and
Best Picture not be one and the same? That’s pretty stupid, too.
In fact, the whole deal is stupid.
–Speaking of “Shaft”, its director, Gordon Parks, died the other
day at 93. In fact Parks was Hollywood’s first major black
director. His son Gordon Jr. directed “Superfly,” which had the
#4 Billboard hit “Freddie’s Dead” by Curtis Mayfield. [The song
“Superfly,” also by Mayfield, hit #8 but wasn’t nearly as good as
the first one…at least in the eyes of your humble reporter, gettin’
down with the bros.]
–Yikes…Yanni (a k a John Yanni Christopher…no relation to
former New York Mets outfielder Joe Christopher…nor former
Sec. of State Warren Christopher), was arrested after a dispute
with his girlfriend. Yanni asked Silvia Barthes (the ‘h’ is silent)
to leave his Manalapan, Fla., home. Can’t say I’ve ever felt
compelled to get one of his albums. Nor did I ever buy a
“Zamfir: Master of the Pan Flute” 8-track, come to think of it.
–Cobra Golf is off to a solid start with wins by J.B. Holmes and
Geoff Ogilvy, as well as two seconds from Camilo Villegas.
–According to USA Today, long bomber Bubba Watson (who
plays a Ping driver), hit consecutive drives of 363 and 356 yards
on Saturday.
–So I’m glancing at the latest AP College Baseball poll and see
that the ACC has four of the top five slots.
1. Georgia Tech
2. Florida State
3. Clemson
4. Rice
5. North Carolina
Well, this isn’t that unusual except come crunch time the ACC
always chokes in the NCAA championship. How badly? Your
intrepid reporter just looked it up and you’re not going to believe
this but the last year an ACC school won the NCAA baseball
title was 1955!!!!!
[For those of you quickly checking the list, remember, Miami,
winner in 2001 and other years, was not then a member of the
ACC.]
Oh, and what school won in 1955? WAKE FOREST!!!!!!!!!!!!
[It’s been a long year for me….allow me to stretch for past
glory.]
–I have no idea what the NFL’s labor argument is all about.
Couldn’t begin to tell you. The salary cap makes my head hurt.
–I’m watching “The Sopranos” and taping “Desperate
Housewives.”
–And let’s finish up this generally depressing chat, if you’re a
baseball fan, with a good old-fashioned dog story…hero dog
story, that is.
A South Brunswick, NJ, family, adopted a Norwegian elkhound,
a hunting dog, about two weeks ago when on Sunday evening,
John Cramer was stirred by the dog’s barking. He went
downstairs to calm Toby and found fire creeping up the walls
from the basement, with the flames just a few feet from the dog.
Cramer opened up Toby’s crate and ran upstairs to wake his wife
and their 9-year-old daughter. Another elkhound, Casey, was
sleeping with the family.
So the family and the two dogs rushed out to safety. By the time
firefighters arrived and brought the blaze under control, the
house was basically destroyed.
Footnote: The Cramers had three cats. They died in the fire.
But then us dog lovers aren’t surprised.
[Star-Ledger]
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/11/78: #1 “(Love Is) Thicker
Than Water” (Andy Gibb) #2 “Stayin’ Alive” (Bee Gees) #3
“Sometimes When We Touch” (Dan Hill)…and…#4 “Emotion”
(Samantha Sang…backed by Barry Gibb) #5 “Night Fever” (Bee
Gees) #9 “I Go Crazy” (Paul Davis…liked this guy…needed a
haircut though) #10 “How Deep Is Your Love” (Bee Gees)
Aaghhhhhhhh! Geezuz, Bee Gee this and Bee Gee that. In fact
starting with the week of 3/18, “Night Fever” and “Stayin’
Alive” occupied the first two slots on the charts for five
consecutive weeks and “Night Fever” was #1 for 8 straight.
What were we thinking, people?!
Baseball Quiz Answers:
1) Top five runs scored
1. Rickey Henderson…2295
2. Ty Cobb…2246
3. Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron…2174
5. Pete Rose…2165
6. Barry Bonds…2078….Booooo Boooooooooo!!!
2) Top five games played
1. Pete Rose…3562
2. Carl Yastrzemski…3308…remember Big Yaz bread? Ya
think that was loaded with all kinds of toxic chemicals? It
certainly tasted like it.
3. Hank Aaron…3298
4. Rickey Henderson…3081
5. Ty Cobb…3034
3) Top five doubles
1. Tris Speaker…792
2. Pete Rose…746
3. Stan Musial…725
4. Ty Cobb…724
5. George Brett…665
11. Craig Biggio…604…two more years and he’s top five!
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. All about the NCAAs, point spreads,
and the Barry Bonds Bird Flu Watch.
