Baseball Quiz: OK, kids…who holds the team record for home runs for the following? 1) Florida…42. 2) Mets…(2) at 41. 3) San Diego…50. 4) Los Angeles (A.L.)…47. 5) Tampa Bay…46. Answers below.
Just Stuff
–So here’s my reaction to the NFL lockout being over. Of course I’m fired up that the season will start on time, and that they’re sticking with a 16-game schedule for the duration of this new 10-year collective bargaining agreement.
But the player movement the next few weeks will leave some of us with our heads swimming in trying to sort it all out. So I just want someone to tell me what the rosters are a few days before the season begins. Until then, I just don’t have the time to keep up with it.
Actually, I couldn’t agree more with the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay:
“Football will never be bigger than its fans. With the lockout over, players and teams need to hustle into shape. But the audience doesn’t need to hurry.
“If you are on the beach, stay on the beach. If you’re into baseball, stay into baseball. It’s still July, there’s no frozen tundra in Green Bay.
“And if you finally decide to let football back in the door, make it sleep on the couch for at least a week.”
–Entering Wednesday afternoon’s contest against the Mariners, the Yankees are a stunning 29-6 in day games this year, the best day-game winning percentage (.829) since teams began playing regular night baseball, as reported by Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal. “The two next-best teams in day games, the 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, won at a .759 and a .747 winning percentage, respectively.”
Of course this means the Yankees are mediocre at night. Only a .476 winning percentage. The day-night difference is also the biggest in baseball history.
Derek Jeter is hitting .354 during the day but only .241 at night.
–Speaking of the Mariners, their 17-game losing streak (as of Tuesday’s play) is just four short of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles and their 0-21 start to the season, and six shy of the 1961 Phillies and their record 23-game skid. On Tuesday night the Yanks’ CC Sabathia allowed but one hit through seven, striking out 14, and then two New York relievers finished up, fanning another four, so 18 Ks in all.
As I noted last time, Seattle was 43-43 before this hideous run. But as I’m watching the Mariners-Yanks on Wednesday afternoon, they have a 3-1 lead in the seventh!!!
–This just in…the Angels’ Ervin Santana threw the third no-hitter of the season, Wednesday, 3-1 over Cleveland. A run scored in the first for the Indians, as the leadoff runner reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Santana fanned 10 and walked only one.
–Tyler Kepner of the New York Times has a story on Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins, whom I have written of more than once due to his eight-year, $184 million contract that is paying him $23 million this season, an outrageous sum considering in an injury-plagued year he has zero home runs and 16 RBI in 45 games. It was in 2009 that Mauer had an MVP season for the ages; 28 homers, 96 RBI and a .365 batting average as a catcher.
But that was in the Metrodome. In 2010, the Twins moved to Target Field, where the dimensions and the outdoor air have done a number on offense, especially Mauer’s, who saw his home run total drop to 9, with just one at home in 239 at-bats. 1 in 239! And now 0 in another 98 ABs in 2011. Yes, it’s like David Wright of the Mets when they moved from Shea to cavernous Citi Field.
And now Mauer, the hometown, St. Paul boy, is being booed, even though he’s been hot recently and has his average up to .283. But no long balls. He also had knee surgery and his future behind the plate is uncertain, but back to the Target Field dimensions, Mauer observed:
“It can play into your head. Baseball is unique that way, where all the parks are different, and some can inflate your numbers a little bit and some can maybe deflate. I hit 28 home runs (in ’09), and I think I can do that again.”
–Steve G. noted that he met Jim Palmer in the Scottsdale area back in the 1980s at a restaurant and Palmer could not have been more gracious, giving Steve an autograph to give to his girlfriend, which from what I understand made for a very nice evening for Steve all around. [Chicks dig gym rats like he was. Steve was my next door neighbor years ago, like 40 (yikes, Steve!) and he could drain jumpers from Maravich range.]
–Boy, I don’t blame some in the Big 12 Conference for complaining about the Texas Longhorns’ $300 million, 20-year deal with ESPN. Yes, it tilts the recruiting game in favor of Texas, big time. Commissioner Dan Beebe said, “If we want to get into this and have everybody draw their swords, nobody’s going to be left standing. I understand we’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt.”
One of the big issues is ESPN said it would televise several Texas high school football games on the Longhorn Network. Gee, you think that gives them a recruiting edge?
Beebe did then put the high school plans on hold. Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing some of those contests. I remember traveling through San Angelo, Texas years ago and their high school stadium beat a few Division I-A sites.
–Here I told you the other night I watched this lightweight fight on HBO and how I could just listen to Michael Buffer read anything, and I forgot to mention the death of boxing promoter Butch Lewis, whose passing Buffer noted.
No doubt, Butch Lewis was flamboyant. Former champion Michael Spinks said he had been reluctant to fight professionally after his gold medal in the 1976 Olympics (where brother Leon also won gold), but it was Lewis who persisted, calling Michael “over and over.”
“He’d call and say, ‘You about ready to go pro?’” Spinks told the New York Times. “I’d say, ‘No, not yet.’ It took six months before I said, ‘Come on, I’m ready.’”
Lewis was born in Woodbury, N.J., 1946, and then grew up in Philadelphia. He once told the Times that “he hustled essentially worthless rings he bought from a friend who worked at a jewelry store. The friend would appraise the rings at $1,500 for skeptical would-be buyers, and they would be ‘happy to give me $50 for a ring that’s worth $1.25.’” [Richard Goldstein / New York Times]
Lewis would later get involved in the boxing game and promoted some fights for Ali later in his career, and then signed Leon and Michael Spinks, in tandem with Bob Arum.
Lewis helped Leon defeat Ali for the title in 1978 and left Arum to promote on his own.
But it was his move in getting Michael Spinks a fight against Mike Tyson on June 27, 1988, that was a stroke of genius, especially since it got Michael (and Lewis) a $13.5 million payday. Tyson then proceeded to pummel Spinks in 91 seconds. Spinks retired, fat and happy, if a bit woozy.
–I apologize to cycling fans, many of whom I almost run over on a daily basis in these parts, for not noting that Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour de France. Supposedly this was the first authentic steroids-free Tour and was one of the most exciting finishes, not that I caught a single minute of it.
–Character actor G.D. Spradlin died at the age of 90. Spradlin is best known for his roles in “The Godfather: Part II” and “Apocalypse Now.”
Pretty cool life, for G.D. (Gervase Duan). He was a millionaire independent Oklahoma oil producer and lawyer who didn’t begin acting until he was in his 40s. Spradlin was also a pro football coach in the classic 1979 film “North Dallas Forty” and a basketball coach in the ’77 flick “One on One.”
But his breakthrough came as corrupt Nev. Sen. Pat Geary in “Godfather II.” Five years later, he was an Army general in “Apocalypse Now.”
Heck, I had no idea how much I should have respected G.D. The guy retired at age 40 because of his oil riches. How cool is that? Of course some would say the current occupant of the White House might not welcome such success…but others would say that’s a cheap shot and that it is a totally inappropriate comment for Bar Chat.
–The film version of “Golf in the Kingdom” is finally, after decades of failed attempts, coming out this Friday and I just don’t see this working, having like many of you read the book. But, they did spend 20 days filming at Bandon Dunes so if you haven’t been there yet (I haven’t) it’s a cheap travelogue, I guess. If I hear the reviews are OK, maybe I’ll buy the DVD.
“A 50-year-old South African man thought to have died woke up in a chilly morgue and shouted to be let out, scaring off two attendants who thought he was a ghost.
“ ‘His family thought he had died,’ health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo (don’t know him) told the Sapa news agency.
“ ‘The family called a private undertaker who took what they thought was a dead body to the morgue, but the man woke up inside the morgue on Sunday at 5pm and screamed, demanding to be taken out of the cold place.’
“This caused two mortuary attendants on duty to flee the building in the small town of Libode.
“An ambulance was sent to fetch the man, who had ‘been exposed to extreme cold for nearly 24 hours,’ Mr. Kupelo said.
“He said the public should not assume that a sick person had died and call the mortuary, the report said.
“ ‘Doctors, emergency workers and the police are the only people who have a right to examine the patients and determine if they are dead or not.’”
–So the Washington Post’s Norman Chad has the $1.25 “Ask the Slouch Cash Giveaway.”
Q: Why do we continue to allow fans to select all-star teams? Could you believe some of the starters for the WNBA’s mid-summer classic? (William Murray; Chicago…ya think? The Bill Murray?)
–Right after I posted last time word began to filter through of the grizzly bear attack on a group of teens participating in a survival skills course in mountains north of Anchorage, Alaska. The grizzly was with her cub(s). [I also saw the beast described as a brown bear, which is just as bad up there; brown bears being as vicious and about twice the size of your basic black bear.]
“The teens told troopers the attack occurred as they were lined up in front of each other for a river crossing. Those in the back of the line heard someone scream about the presence of the bear, with the two at the front of the line taking the brunt of the attack, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.” [Rachel D’Oro / AP]
It didn’t appear the injuries were life threatening, though it was really three who were severely mauled, and this from a group of seven teens with four being attacked in total. So much for the old story to never hike alone, you should always have a partner.
Then earlier this summer the advice was you should hike in a group of at least three. Now a bear attacks a party of seven.
–Incredibly, the mountain lion long rumored to be stalking Greenwich, Conn., before being killed by an SUV last month, has now been proved to have come from the Black Hills of South Dakota, 1,500 miles away! The lion was killed on June 11 and since then researchers have been trying to figure out its origins and genetic testing (including animal droppings) matched that of an animal spotted in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The 1,500 miles is “more than twice as far as the longest dispersal pattern ever recorded for a mountain lion….Many believed that the animal must have been released or had escaped from captivity.”
The Connecticut official responsible for Environmental Protection said there was no evidence that mountain lions were returning to the state but all I know is that when I’m jogging through the woods, I’ll be on full alert. Heck, on Tuesday, my town of Summit, N.J., received another reverse 911 call about a bear just a mile from me. I was extra careful this morning going to Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m also making sure my door is locked.
But I’ve told you about how in my many trips to the Black Hills, which includes Deadwood, I would never, ever, hike alone there. There are a ton of mountain lions in the area and this Connecticut episode further proves it is a terror cell. [They just need to teach the recruits to look both ways before crossing the street.]
Actually, it’s estimated that overall there are 100,000 of the killers in the United States. 100,000!
And not for nothing, but because of this incredible feat of travel, the mountain lion could vault into the top 20 of the All-Species List. However, getting hit by an SUV definitely precludes any top ten action.
–Normally I refuse to post stupid human stories but this one from the AP just has to be mentioned to prove a point.
“A Southern California man stuck a butter knife into his stomach in a failed bid at self-surgery to remove a painful hernia, police say.
“The wife of the 63-year-old Glendale man called emergency services on Sunday night and told the emergency operator… ‘he had impaled himself with a knife,’ Sergeant Lorenz said.”
Officers found the guy on a patio lounge with the butter knife sticking out of his stomach.
“While waiting for paramedics, the sergeant said, the man pulled out the knife and stuffed a cigarette he was smoking into the bleeding, open wound.”
So if any of you are thinking, hey, Editor, how can you keep Man at around #148 on the All-Species List, the above is Exhibit A.
–Denise D. passed along a story from beatofhawaii.com that notes killer whales have joined the usual humpback whale migration to Hawaiian waters from Alaska and by November, there could be real trouble. A veritable whale tension convention.
But did you know 18,000 humpbacks descend on Hawaii every year? Goodness gracious.
—Dan Peek, one of the original members of the soft-rock band America, died in his sleep at the age of 60. Peek sang lead and backup vocals, and also played guitar, bass and keyboards. After leaving America in 1977, he recorded Christian pop, including a successful solo album “All Things Are Possible.”
3/72…A Horse With No Name…#1
5/72…I Need You…#9
11/72…Ventura Highway…#8…I guess my favorite of the bunch
9/74…Tin Man…#4
1/75…Lonely People…#5
4/75…Sister Golden Hair…#1
8/82…You Can Do Magic…#8…least favorite
In Peek’s obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis notes what every one of us was thinking with the release of “A Horse With No Name.” “Many listeners initially mistook it as a new Neil Young song. Young was on the chart at the time with his yearning hit ‘Heart of Gold,’ which ‘Horse With No Name’ bumped out of the No. 1 slot.”
Top 3 songs for the week 7/28/73: #1 “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” (Jim Croce…god this song is dreadful) #2 “Yesterday Once More” (Carpenters…ooh wahhhh… ahhhh…ahhhh… ahhhh …..ahhhh…ahhhh… ahhhh…. ahhhh ….uh oh….wrong song….never mind) #3 “Shambala” (Three Dog Night…you know what my favorite of theirs is? “Out In The Country”…got the organ thing goin’…that kind of [stuff]….for you younger folk out there, this is what happens when you get older….you mellow… unless you want to launch a coup against the government …so here’s your exercise from your Uncle Bar Chat….go ahead…type the Web address ‘weneedacoup.com’…. and what do you see?)…and…#4 “Smoke On The Water” (Deep Purple…not to state the obvious…but for those of us growing up then, what was so revolutionary was that this climbed into the top ten…peaking at #4 for two weeks) #5 “Will It Go Round In Circles” (Billy Preston… solid tune) #6 “Diamond Girl” (Seals & Croft…had a real problem with these guys) #7 “Kodachrome” (Paul Simon…not aging well; the song, that is) #8 “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (Bette Midler…talk about blowdom…I mean, c’mon…it’s one thing to hear this with Rita Hayworth posters all over your barracks…it’s quite another to make this a pop tune in ’73) #9 “The Morning After” (Maureen McGovern…song title later adopted as the name of a pill, so they tell me) #10 “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” (George Harrison…my man…the best!)
*I apologize to the Amy Winehouse fans out there for not really giving a hoot upon her passing. It’s just that I couldn’t stand the ‘rehab’ song…ranking it alongside anything Laura Branigan did; her work having caused me on countless occasions to consider jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Ditto anything by Blondie.
Baseball Quiz Answers: Club home run records. 1) Florida…Gary Sheffield, 1996, 42. 2) Mets…Todd Hundley, 1996, and Carlos Beltran, 2006, 41. 3) San Diego…Greg Vaughn, 1998, 50. 4) Los Angeles (A.L.)…Troy Glaus, 2000, 47. 5) Tampa Bay…Carlos Pena, 2007, 46.
