Baseball Quiz: 1) Name the seven to have scored 2,000 runs
lifetime. 2) Name the five to have stolen 750 bases. Answers
below.
Army Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall
Crandall, 74, was awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday for
his heroism in the famous Vietnam battle of Ia Drang. Most of
you are familiar with this one as Crandall was among those
featured in one of the great books of all time, Lt. Gen. Harold G.
Moore and Joseph L. Galloway’s “We Were Soldiers Once…and
Young.” Greg Kinnear played Crandall in the movie version.
From Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
“On Nov. 14, 1965, Crandall, then a major and the commander
of an assault helicopter company, set off at sunrise to fly about
450 U.S. soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment – the
same regiment once led by the ill-fated George Armstrong Custer
– to a 100-yard clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. The landing
zone was code-named X-Ray. Unexpectedly, the clearing was
virtually in the middle of an encampment of 2,000 North
Vietnamese troops, and by the time three lifts of troops had
landed, the North Vietnamese attacked from the surrounding
hills, forcing the Americans into a fight for survival.
“On the fifth and final flight ferrying the battalion in, Crandall
was in the lead of eight Hueys and landed ‘almost on top of
enemy soldiers,’ who unleashed a barrage of rifle, rocket and
machine-gun fire upon the helicopter, according to an official
account. Two infantrymen aboard Crandall’s helicopter were
wounded and a radioman was killed before they could get out.
Crandall’s crew chief was shot in the throat.
“ ‘I looked back and he wasn’t communicating. His right hand
was up on his throat, with his thumb in the hole on one side and
his finger on the other, plugging it himself. There was a dead
guy in the middle. It was awful,’ Crandall recalled.”
Crandall, along with his partner Capt. Ed “Too Tall” Freeman,
went on to fly 22 missions over 16 hours, bringing out 70
wounded that day which helped avert what would have been the
heaviest U.S. casualties of any battle in the war.
But it wasn’t until the 1992 publication of Moore and
Galloway’s book that attention was brought to Crandall and
Freeman. Freeman received his Medal of Honor in 2001 and
then it was just a matter of time before Crandall received his.
What is truly pitiful is how the Pentagon’s bureaucracy resulted
in the further six-year delay. Hopefully, those responsible were
fired.
In leafing through “We Were Soldiers….” myself I was
reminded of this passage.
“Bruce Crandall was still steaming over the refusal of the
medevac pilots to return to X-Ray to haul out the wounded. ‘The
officer commanding the medevacs looked me up to chew me out
for having led his people into a hot LZ, and warned me never to
do it again. I couldn’t understand how he had the balls to face
me when he was so reluctant to face the enemy. If several of my
pilots had not restrained me, that officer would have earned a
righteous Purple Heart that night. From that day forward, I
planned every mission in such a manner that the infantry would
never have to rely on anyone but my unit for evacuation of their
wounded.’”
In the appendix of Moore and Galloway’s book there is also a
note that Crandall served a second tour in 1967 and ended up
flying lead on 756 separate missions in Nam. In January 1968,
Crandall’s Huey was blown out of the sky by an air strike while
flying a “nap-of-the-earth” search for a downed helicopter.
Crandall broke his back and spent five months in an Army
hospital recovering.
So we toast Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, hero.
Stuff
–Once again Baseball’s Veterans Committee opted not to select
anyone for the Hall of Fame. Being named on 75% of the
ballots, 62 of 82 submitted, was necessary for enshrinement and
Ron Santo came tantalizingly close with 57 votes, or 69.5%. Jim
Kaat received 63.4% and Gil Hodges 61%. Back in 2005, both
Hodges and Santo received 65.0%.
I’ve expressed my sentiments before on this, being a Santo man
myself, and it remains a shame Hodges isn’t in the Hall as well
for a variety of reasons. But I’m not going to rant and rave, only
hope that the regular selection committee adopts the Veterans’
tough standards, especially with the slew of steroid-tainted
candidates to come. I suspect the baseball writers will. The Hall
is also going to explore the process for the Veterans committee,
seeing as how no one has qualified the last three votes since it
was tightened up.
In fact the last time a Vet got in was 2001, Bill Mazeroski. Now
you may not believe Ron Santo deserves to get in (you’re nuts if
you think that), but Mazeroski? Richie Ashburn? C’mon. Hell,
Vada Pinson deserves to be in there over Ashburn. Tony Oliva,
too. But then I just said I wouldn’t rant and rave.
–It sucks when men of character like Ron Santo get shafted (I
can’t let go of this) while the likes of Gary Matthews Jr. are
juicing and being rewarded with outrageous contracts, in his case
$10 million per year. Matthews was a solidly mediocre
ballplayer who suddenly at age 31 had a career year in 2006,
batting .313 with 19 homers and 79 RBI. The Angels then
signed the free agent.
Well it would appear Mr. Matthews was purchasing steroids
from an illegal network. On Tuesday an Albany County (NY)
district attorney announced that four had been arrested for
criminal sale of controlled substances and insurance fraud. The
Times Union of Albany had earlier disclosed the steroid
investigation and the customers included Matthews. Supposedly,
a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers has also been interviewed
as part of the case for allegedly using a personal credit card to
purchase $150,000 in testosterone and human growth hormone in
2006. The doctor, Richard A. Fydze, told investigators the drugs
were for his private patients. [Source: AP]
–In the new afterward to the book “Game of Shadows,” reporters
Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada disclose the following
concerning Barry Bonds. In the last few years:
His cleat size has grown from 10 ½ to 13.
His jersey size has ballooned from a slim 42 to a hefty 52.
And his cap size has expanded from 7 1/8 to 7 1/4.
The two write, “The changes in his foot and head size were of
special interest: medical experts said overuse of human growth
hormone could cause an adult’s extremities to begin growing.”
[Pat Reichart / New York Post]
–Wake Forest gave our football coach, Jim Grobe, a 10-year
extension, after being four years into an earlier 10-year deal
signed before the 2003 season.
–I just saw where two Picassos were stolen from the Paris
apartment of a relative of his; the paintings having an estimated
combined value of $60 million. This is outrageous. Picasso is
soooo overrated. Now you want a good art buy? My favorite,
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (17th century), has a work going at
auction this year for a projected $3.4 million. Buy that one.
‘Old Masters’ tips…another free feature of Bar Chat.
–An unidentified California collector has paid a record $2.35
million for what is reputed to be the best of the 28 T206 Honus
Wagner baseball cards out there. The 1909 “holy grail” of
trading cards was first purchased by Wayne Gretzky and Bruce
McNall for $451,000 in 1991 and last sold for $1.265 million in
2000.
–A 28-year-old was driving on a California highway when his
car crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a Hummer.
The two occupants of the Hummer escaped serious injury, but
the other fellow died.
And why is this a story? Because California Highway Patrol
officers found the victim’s computer still running and plugged
into the cigarette lighter. “The screen itself shattered from the
impact, so we can’t be sure if he was working on it or not, but we
think from the way it was found that he might have been.”
Serves the guy right…..and this is one passing I will not mourn.
–I have some advice for Lynn Johnston, creator of “For Better or
For Worse.” If you’re not interested in doing your job anymore,
spare your readers and just quit now instead of waiting until
September. It is clear you are merely mailing it in with this
stupid series of dog walk strips. If I want dogs, I can get them
from a myriad of other comics.
–Researchers studying Africa’s elephants say 5% are being
slaughtered for their ivory each year; this despite a global ban on
the sale of ivory put in place back in 1989. More than 23 tons of
it were seized between August 2005 and August 2006, with
scientists estimating the true weight of smuggled tusks to be ten
times greater, according to a story in the London Times.
Samuel Wasser, of the University of Washington, led the study
and he concludes organized crime is increasingly involved. The
black market price of a kilogram of good quality ivory was about
$100 in 1989, but last year the same amount fetched $750.
We need mercenary forces to blow the poachers away, this much
is clear. Otherwise, the African elephant is headed towards
extinction.
[The elephant population on the continent was 1.3 million in
1979 and now stands at 500,000.]
–The breakup of the Larsen ice shelf in Antarctica is leading to
the discovery of about 1,000 species of animal and plant life on
the seafloor, 20 of which were previously unknown to science.
Thus far, however, no sign of Godzilla, who some of us
presumed could be hiding out underneath the shelf.
And let me tell ya, friends. If you think Tuesday was ugly in the
financial markets, wait ‘til you see the reaction when Godzilla
suddenly emerges from Tokyo Harbor to take out a city full of
erector set quality buildings. All the more reason for Japan to
step up its defense spending, incidentally.
–From USA Today: “Two planes preparing to land at O’Hare
International Airport aborted their landings after another pilot
spotted coyotes near the runway, the FAA said Tuesday.”
The planes successfully did ‘go-arounds’ and landed safely on
their second attempts.
Actually, the FAA reports that the number of incidents where
planes hit wildlife skyrocketed from 1,744 in 1990 to 7,136 in
2005.
As I’ve written recently, coyotes are an increasing problem in the
Chicago area overall, and it’s assumed they are responsible for
up to 75% of all break-ins in the parking lots at O’Hare. Then
the coyotes fence the stolen stereo equipment to unsuspecting
and largely clueless suburban youth.
–Steve G. sent me a disturbing note from the Denver Post
concerning the breeding of yaks. Michelle Steiner, owner of
High Prairie Yaks in Elbert County said “We’ve had a lot of
ranchers talking to us about breeding yak with their cattle to get
the larger animal with the attributes yak have.”
But I read this and think of science messing where it shouldn’t,
though Professor Jennifer Keeling Bond of Colorado State notes
yaks have a lot of upside. Which is why one day your editor is
going to open up a chain of Yak shaks; yak burgers and the
tastiest shakes this side of the Rockies.
–Speaking of fast food, great little story from Paul Clark of the
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Lou Groen operated the first McDonald’s franchise in the
Cincinnati area back in 1962 and he had a problem. The area
around his restaurant was 87% Catholic so during Lent,
especially in those days, many went meatless, let alone on
Fridays year round.
Groen, now 89, told Clark, “Frisch’s (the local Big Boy chain)
dominated the market, and they had a very good fish sandwich. I
was struggling. The crew was my wife, myself and a man named
George. I did repairs, swept floors, you name it.”
On Friday’s he took in only $75 because everyone was going to
Frisch’s.
“So I invented my fish sandwich, developed a special batter,
made the tartar sauce and took it to headquarters.”
Groen met with McDonald’s chief Ray Kroc who had his own
meatless idea. Believe it or not, it was a cold bun and a slice of
pineapple…that was it. He called it the Hula Burger. So Groen
and Kroc made a bet. “Lou, I’m going to put your fish sandwich
on (a menu) for Friday. But I’m going to put my special
sandwich on, too. Whichever sells the most, that’s the one we’ll
go with.”
Groen sold 350 fish sandwiches that day and never did hear how
many Hula Burgers Kroc sold.
And so the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was born and is now
consumed at the rate of 300 million a year.
But a side note is that Groen originally used halibut, only the
company insisted on something less expensive, thus he had to
fall back on Atlantic cod. The fish sandwich was the first
addition ever to McDonald’s original menu and not only did it
save Groen’s franchise, when he sold out in 1986 he owned 43
franchises in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Is that a great American story or what?! Groen never did earn
anything off Filet-O-Fish sales nationally, however, but you can
see he did just fine otherwise.
One final thing, though. Imagine in 1958, $950 would have
bought Groen exclusive McDonald’s franchise rights in Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana and parts of Pennsylvania. But he didn’t have
$950 so he invested a few hundred instead and got the district
franchise centered around Cincy.
–The New Jersey Nets’ Jason Kidd really is remarkable. This
season the point guard is averaging 8 rebounds and 8.9 assists
per game. No other player in the league is averaging 6 and 6 in
those two key categories.
–The Dallas Mavericks have become the first team in NBA
history with three separate 12-game winning streaks in a season.
Three others had three streaks of 10 or 11.
–As if the NFL doesn’t already have enough problems, Atlanta
Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux is suspected of
having beaten his live-in girlfriend’s dog to death. According to
Judy Battista of the New York Times, PETA has sent a letter to
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “asking that Babineaux be
suspended for a year if he is found guilty.”
“It’s the kind of thing people can’t identify with,” said a PETA
official. I couldn’t agree more. Throw the guy in jail. The dog
died from blunt force trauma. But, for his part, Babineaux is
claiming the dog became disoriented and smacked its head into a
wall. An autopsy will determine who is right.
–Did you see who is #1 in College Baseball? Try Vanderbilt.
Now that could be a good story.
–AP Men’s College Basketball Poll
[Just to give you a sense of how wide open it is]
1. Ohio State…26-3
2. UCLA…25-3
3. Kansas…25-4
4. Wisconsin…26-4
5. Florida…25-4….doh, 25-5; lost on Tues. to Tenn.
6. Memphis…25-3
7. Texas A&M…24-4
8. North Carolina…24-5
9. Georgetown…22-5
10. Nevada…26-2
11. Southern Illinois…25-5
12. Pittsburgh…24-5
And, if the poll extended beyond No. 25, Winthrop would be
27th. Go Eagles! [They’re in the midst of their conference
tournament this week, which they must win to get into the
NCAAs.]
–Golf bits
I see where Tom Watson, who played terrifically at the AT&T
Pebble Beach Pro-Am the other week, even at age 57, will miss
the British Open this summer as it returns to Carnoustie, scene of
his triumph in 1975. Why? Because his daughter, Meg, is
getting married that Saturday and Tom is going to walk her down
the aisle rather than play in the event. That’s just great, Meg.
Why didn’t you think of your father first, who’s paying for what
I’m sure will be a rather lavish spread?! Tom is not a happy
camper. “I will be thinking a little about it,” he admitted. “I
won’t tell her that, though.”
Here’s another tidbit from GolfWorld, and the San Antonio
Express-News. Britton Martin aced a par-3 during a Kerrville,
Texas charity event, winning a $50,000 hole-in-one prize. But
playing partner Mike Neutze sued, claiming he was entitled to
the payout because he sponsored Martin in the competition. The
two ended up splitting it. Boooooooooooooo.
Maybe Mike Neutze is marrying Meg Watson.
How much are golfers paid for wearing corporate logos on their
shirts and hats? Ernie Els pockets $2-$4 million for shilling for
SAP. Then you drop down to the next level, someone like Jim
Furyk, who takes home $1-$2 million. But not many are in
either of these groups….just a handful.
Most of the better golfers earn $450,000 for clothing
endorsements. [Tiger is obviously in a totally different league of
his own.]
Finally, here are two golf tales coming out of the pro-am season
on the PGA Tour; events like the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and
Pebble Beach.
According to GolfWorld, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally
came under fire for playing in the Hope five days before Ford
announced it had lost $12.7 billion in 2006. Three weeks later,
Mulally played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, prompting
Detroit Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez to note, “Mulally
has played in more PGA Tour events this year than Tiger
Woods.”
Then there is Indiana Republican Congressman Dan Burton. In
January he missed 20 of 73 House votes, including on the war in
Iraq and financial aid for college students, because he was
playing golf, including in the Hope. An editorial in the
Indianapolis Star said in part: “(Burton) shows up for work less
often than a 20-year-old slacker who refuses to move out of his
parents’ basement.” Burton apologized for his absence, saying
he did not expect votes to be scheduled so early in the year.
–I watched 30 minutes of George Lopez’s special on HBO the
other night. If there is a guy who has made more from not being
in the least bit funny, I’d like to see him. There is also absolutely
no reason for him to throw in f-bombs as much as he does, but
that’s just a further indication of his dreadful act.
–I’m all caught up on ‘24’ after taping some episodes while I
was away recently. Doesn’t Phil Bauer bear a resemblance to
director James Cameron? Both are real a-holes.
–I can’t help but comment on Suze Orman and her little
interview in the Sunday Times Magazine with Deborah
Solomon. In case you missed it, Ms. Solomon asked Orman,
“Are you married?” Orman replied: “I’m in a relationship with
life. My life is just out there. I’m on the road every day. I love
my life.”
Solomon: “Meaning what? Do you live with anyone?” Orman:
“K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We’re
going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole
life. I’m still a 55-year-old virgin.”
Personally, I always loved the name Travis. You know, Col.
Travis from the Alamo was a cool dude, and they don’t get any
better than Randy Travis himself, that’s for sure.
–Speaking of life partners, did you see the outfit Ellen
DeGeneres’ partner, Portia de Rossi, was wearing at the Oscars?
Goodness gracious.
I also have to admit my comments concerning the Oscars were
written under some duress last time…like a hard deadline…and
perhaps I wasn’t fair on the women’s dresses, especially after I
caught “Extra” on Monday. Yes, Reese Witherspoon’s was quite
lovely, but Cameron Diaz’s was dreadful. As for Penelope Cruz,
us guys just love hearing her talk, know what I’m sayin’? The
rest of the package is icing on the cake………………..or can’t I
write that?
Finally, I haven’t seen “Dreamgirls” and I definitely won’t buy it
after the three crappy songs they sang on the Oscars. I’m also
big time tired of Jennifer Hudson. Enough, girl! Great story, but
give us a break, will ya?
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/4/78: #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….sung sang song….suis suis suis….sorry, just
conjugating in Latin) #5 “Night Fever” (Bee Gees) #6 “Dance,
Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” (Atlantic…one of
the stupider tunes of all time…but then back then we were all
idiots) #7 “Lay Down Sally” (Eric Clapton… ‘Layla’ far better)
#8 “Just The Way You Are” (Billy Joel…his best, down hill
from there) #9 “I Go Crazy” (Paul Davis…. “Cool Night” and
“ ‘65 Love Affair” also good ones) #10 “How Deep Is Your
Love” (Bee Gees…they were just cleaning up back then)
Baseball Quiz Answers:
1) 2,000 runs scored
1. Rickey Henderson………2295
2. Ty Cobb……………………2246
3. Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron…2174
5. Pete Rose………………..2165
6. Barry Bonds……………..2152
7. Willie Mays……………..2062
2) Top five stolen bases
1. Rickey Henderson……….1406
2. Lou Brock…………………938
3. Ty Cobb…………………..892
4. Tim Raines………………..808
5. Vince Coleman……………752
Next Bar Chat, Monday pm.
