Baseball Quiz: George Will has an annual column that consists of a quiz, so from time to time I will borrow a few of them this year. To wit: 1) Who had the most hits in the 1950s? 2) Who had the most hits in the 1990s? 3) Who holds the career record for grounding into double plays? [Hall of Famer] 4) Who has the most career hits without winning a batting title? [3,000-hit club] Answers below.
College Basketball
–Not much to say about Saturday’s games, except what all of America is saying. “How freakin’ good is Anthony Davis?!!” My word, I knew he was great, I just didn’t fully understand I was watching a player who is destined to be the greatest of his generation!
Thomas Robinson of Kansas didn’t hurt his draft chances, either, with his effort in the Jayhawks’ comeback against the Buckeyes.
But Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger went down a few pegs on the draft board, I imagine, with his 5-19 from the field effort.
Lastly, we give Rick Pitino credit for keeping his overmatched Cardinals in the game (thus preventing the TV audience from switching to something else). But as Steve Kerr first brought up, what the heck was Louisville thinking in going with orange jerseys when their color is red?!
—Kentucky fans showed their class by rioting in Lexington following the win over Louisville, overturning cars and setting fires. At Wake Forest, when we won something big (and it actually happened, back in the day), we’d paper our entire quad and then exclaim the next morning, ‘Hey, I need some toilet paper!’
[The consensus among Louisville fans appears to be that even though Kentucky is in state, they’ll root for Kansas.]
—North Carolina’s team was decimated with the announcement that junior forward John Henson and sophomores Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall are all entering the NBA draft, joining senior Tyler Zeller. Tar Heel coach Roy Williams said:
“It’s a great day for three youngsters who are taking another step toward their ultimate goal of playing professional basketball.”
Yeah, but they did nothing for you, Roy, except win some meaningless ACC titles! And don’t you know Roy is seething inside, especially in the case of Harrison Barnes, who was one of the great underachievers this past year. If you haven’t followed him, ignore the scoring average. The guy sucked. In all seriousness, he only had about ten real good performances in two years.
Reader Shu passed along a good piece on how going back to high school, Harrison Barnes was concerned about his “brand,” seeing himself as another M.J. What a freakin’ joke. For his two years at Carolina, that apparently was all he cared about, obsessed with it.
So what does he have to show for his two campaigns? Nothing. Oh, no doubt, he’ll be a very good pro, but every NBA team has 3-5 “very good players.” Is Harrison Barnes going to be one of the elite, like top ten in the league, with endorsements to follow? At this point I’d bet strongly against it, unless he ends up in New York or L.A., where the media can elevate one above their deserved status.
As for Henson, he’s ready to go, and to me has more potential to be a very good NBA ballplayer than Barnes does. Ditto Marshall.
In 2005, UNC juniors Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, Sean May and freshman Marvin Williams all left early and were all selected in the first 14 picks.
After North Carolina’s 2009 championship run, juniors Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington were both first-round draft picks. [Matt Brooks / Washington Post]
Not exactly any superstars in the bunch, though Lawson is turning into a very solid player.
—Kansas State did a curious thing in hiring former Illinois coach Bruce Weber to replace the departed Frank Martin (South Carolina). Weber had just been fired by the Illini and now Kansas State fans are not happy. I can’t believe K-State gave the guy five years, paying him $1.5 million plus a season; though Weber did have a solid 210-101 record over nine seasons and six trips to the NCAAs, including a runner-up in 2005, at Illinois. I also still can’t believe Frank Martin left.
–It would appear UConn’s men’s basketball team will be barred from next season’s Big East tournament because the Huskies haven’t qualified academically for the 2013 NCAA tournament. Big East presidents have agreed the step must be taken. The Huskies learn in May if they are officially banned from NCAA postseason play next year as expected. Jim Calhoun should walk away now so the program can begin to move on.
–Some of my friends and I have been reminiscing this weekend, it being the 30-year anniversary of our outrageous trip to New Orleans for the Final Four, to which I attached a golf segment in Biloxi afterwards. Four of us flew to Jacksonville from Newark on Peoples’ Express for $29, hopped in a rental, and arrived in New Orleans later the next day. Let’s just say it’s a wonder we all survived the week. And as for our memories of the game, I’ve mentioned before we were either in the top row or next to last of the Superdome and the players looked like ants. But I do have vivid memories of Patrick Ewing blocking everything imaginable in the opening minutes and we did see Jordan’s historic jumper. We also were confused on the set-up of the men’s restrooms, but we’ll take that part of the story offline, OK? And regarding a fishing trip in Biloxi, where the four of us chartered a small boat, it didn’t hit us until later that the captain and his son were picking up garbage bags of drugs floating in the Gulf, and not mere trash, until we analyzed the situation years later.
–Reminder…Sports Illustrated’s preseason Top Ten:
1. UNC
2. Kentucky
3. Ohio State
4. UConn…doh!
5. Duke
6. Florida
7. Pitt…doh!
8. Syracuse
9. Vanderbilt
10. Louisville
12. Kansas
15. UCLA…doh!
Did I go with Carolina to win it all, too? Mmmmm…that makes me about 3-44 in picking major sports winners.
[Steve G., I’m going to save your 1970 Jacksonville story for next year…not enough time to do it justice today…but for now, anytime you can mention Pembrook Burrows III, you take advantage of that opportunity….brings back great memories.]
Talkin’ Baseball
–As Sports Illustrated noted, no doubt, Albert Pujols’ numbers his first 11 seasons are remarkable.
1. Pujols…445
2. Eddie Mathews…399
1. Al Simmons…1379
2. Joe DiMaggio…1344
3. Pujols…1329
1. Pujols…1291
2. Ted Williams…1275
1. Pujols…3893
2. Hank Aaron…3692
And top five in the MVP voting in 10 of the 11 seasons as well!
Man, didn’t know it was that high! Mets fans are hoping pitcher Johan Santana’s fine spring is a harbinger of things to come after his serious arm issues. [And Giants fans are hoping catcher Buster Posey returns to form.]
–Looking at the new playoff format with two wildcard entries, since 1996, the average wins by first wildcard winners in the A.L. was 94.7; 91.5 in the N.L.
For the second wildcard winner it would have been 88.8 in the A.L. and 89.1 in the N.L.
–Pretty incredible that 49-year-old Jamie Moyer not only made the Colorado Rockies starting rotation after sitting out 2011, but he’s the No. 2 starter! Moyer has 267 lifetime victories and can become the oldest pitcher in baseball history to win a starting assignment.
–Nice to see 39-year-old reliever Jason Isringhausen make the Angels roster. Hope he has a productive season. The ex-Met is a likeable guy.
–So the Major League Baseball season is actually already off and running, with Seattle and Oakland splitting two contests in Japan. Ichiro went 4 for 5 in the opener. Now many of you immediately said, gee, that means Ichiro is going to bat .800! I, on the other hand, would have told you, “That’s ridiculous. Ichiro should end up the season at .488 or .489.” It’s this kind of incredible insight that will be part of our “EXCLUSIVE projections based on the first 7-8 games of action,” April 12, if you keep it where it is.
–Sports Illustrated’s L. Jon Wertheim calls Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey’s memoir, Wherever I Wind Up, “the finest piece of nonfiction baseball writing since Ball Four.” Dickey is one of the few Mets worth rooting for. I’d love to see him have a terrific season.
Al gore was a head of his time. I miss him rest in peace buddy hug for u
Sorry al you need to make some more noise. Keep fighting for us I believe in your and i am with you
Clowns if you don’t stop your mass consumption we will have no polar bears soon need to recycle or else no more bears
Emmanuel…if you see anymore wisdom from Jose, please pass it on. It’s yet another public service from your friends at Bar Chat.
And your OFFICIAL PREDICTION for 2012….
Dodgers over the White Sox!!!!
N.L. playoff teams…Braves, Nationals, Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants
A.L. playoff teams…Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, Rangers, Angels
Tigers will be wracked with injuries…sorry, Detroit fans. Phillies’ starting staff will have an ERA of 2.30, but the team will score 184 runs all season as the fans are rioting by mid-May over the lack of run support for their sterling hurlers.
The Mets will go 43-118 (one game not being made up). If Santana’s arm falls off (admittedly, a gruesome possibility), the Mets go 38-123.
Adam Dunn will return to form…hitting at least 30 home runs.
I wish I was a Washington Nationals fan. You guys have an exciting product to follow.
–I readily admit to watching a ton of Knicks action this season; the most since the 1990s. It’s been an incredible up-and-down ride for the 27-26 squad, with Linsanity, the fall of Linsanity, the ouster of the coach, and now a 9-2 rebound under Mike Woodson as Lin himself is on the shelf for six weeks as a result of knee surgery; meaning he’ll miss the regular season and then some, if the Knicks were to advance in the playoffs.
The team is just entertaining, and generally likeable, which is rare for the sport. But now they have a brutal five-game stretch with away games at Indianapolis, Orlando, Chicago, Milwaukee and a home game vs. the Bulls.
–Did you see Kobe Bryant’s effort Saturday against the Hornets? He started off by missing his first 15 from the field, something he’s never done before, but then came through in the clutch to lead the Lakers to an 88-85 win.
–You know who is playing great ball? Tim Duncan. [I know this is only like the fifth time I’ve mentioned this in three weeks.] And The Big Fundamental, never a good free-throw shooter, has hit at least his last 18 from the line as the Spurs just keep getting it done, now 36-14.
–I totally agree with those who say the NBA stumbled onto something in trying to come back from the lockout. The compressed schedule makes it much easier to keep fan interest. Now there’s no reason to believe the league will learn from this and shorten the regular-season in the future, going back to 82 instead of the 66-game schedule we’re in the midst of, for financial reasons, but it was a fun experiment.
33-year-old businessman Peter Kurmann died while diving with his brother off the southwestern coast of Australia, the victim of a “13-foot shark” and the fourth shark-related fatality since September in the region which encompasses Perth. Police said Kurmann was killed instantly, while the brother was unharmed. It could be an oceanic whitetip (others said it was a great white), which just the day before, nations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission had agreed in Guam to protect. It’s this species that is thought to be the killer in the deaths of three tourists in the Red Sea awhile back, if I recall correctly. Whitetip are listed as being globally extinct.
Anyway, you can’t begin to imagine what the surviving brother went through as he pulled Peter from the water with the help of those on a nearby boat.
—Hunter Mahan became the first multiple winner on the PGA Tour as he captured the Shell Houston Open. It was his fifth career triumph.
–Johnny Mac and I watched the Florida Derby on Saturday as we gear up for the Kentucky Derby in five weeks. At one point about 30 minutes before the race, Derby favorite Union Rags was at 1-9, but then NBCSports (the old Versus) showed Rags rearing up earlier in the day and then throwing a shoe about 30-minutes before post, and the odds came down to about 2-5, if I recall correctly.
But three-time Derby winner Calvin Borel once again proved he is something special when it comes to big events as he rode Take Charge Indy to a wire-to-wire triumph, with Union Rags finishing a disappointing third; not because Rags isn’t any good, but because its jock, Julien Leparoux, sucks! J. Mac concurred Rags was given an awful ride and trainer Michael Matz was clearly ticked at the end. If the name Matz sounds familiar to the casual observer of the sport, think Barbaro. [Mention of whose name requires one to bow their head in a moment of silence.]
“If you need Tim Tebow to make you a better person, you sort of need to take another look at how your life is working out.”
That’s not fair…not fair at all. Seriously. Whether it’s in New York or on some other football stage in a few years, I hope Tebow proves his detractors wrong, as well as continuing to be a terrific role model.
It’s funny. I was participating in an Easter Egg Hunt for little kids on Saturday as part of a civic group I belong to and you’ve got 20 guys chatting beforehand about everything, from Obama’s open mike to the Jets’ quarterback situation, and the consensus was, we all liked Tebow!
As to Tebow’s role with the Jets, his former college coach Urban Meyer said, “Let him play. Just let him play.” Meyer argues the Broncos didn’t do that enough and when they did let him open it up, Tebow had success.
And talk about being the Master of Defusion (my new word of the week, just made it up), Tebow defused new teammate Antonio Cromartie’s remark that the Jets didn’t need the QB because Mark Sanchez was already the leader by saying, “I think it’s great (Cromartie said that) because he had his quarterback’s back, which is what you want. I commend him for doing that. I’ve been friends with Cromartie even though he is an FSU guy – it’s hard to say – but I’ve been friends with him for two or three years back from the ESPYs. I have a lot of respect for him. I feel he has respect for me…He was sticking up for his quarterback. And good for him.”
—Lindsey Vonn said she is not romantically involved with Tim Tebow, but she’s friends with his brother, Robby.
“I talk to Robby all the time and we’re like, ‘This is really weird. Just tell Timmy I’m sorry and I don’t know what’s going on.’”
Meanwhile, an Austrian newspaper has tied Vonn to U.S. pole vaulter Brad Walker. I’m going to be seeing Walker at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene in June so I’ll ask him then what the deal is. [Or maybe not.]
–Assuming Bill Parcells takes over the coaching reins for Sean Payton at New Orleans (once Payton’s appeal runs its course), he’d be only the third man in league history to manage a NFL team as a 70-year-old, the others being George Halas and Marv Levy.
–Something about Philadelphia and ruptured Achilles tendon injuries among their stars. Last fall it was the Phillies’ Ryan Howard. The other day, it was Eagles Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters who ruptured his Achilles while training and could easily miss the season. As one scribe pointed out (I apologize for forgetting the name), Peters’ injury will have a big impact on the two Philly-New York games, given the Giants’ pass rush.
—Ron Stewart died. He was 79. Stewart played 21 seasons in the NHL and was on three Stanley Cup championship teams with Toronto, before ending up with the Rangers (and Vancouver and the Islanders). One of the best defensive forwards to ever play the game, Stewart also scored 276 goals. Rangers fans of that era will remember him as a terrific penalty-killer, with coach Emile Francis calling him “one of the best ever” at this facet of the sport.
But as Richard Goldstein of the New York Times wrote:
“(For) all of his achievements, Stewart…was overshadowed by a moment away from the rink: a ‘tragic, senseless, bizarre’ incident, in the words of the Nassau County district attorney, William Cahn, that led to the death of a Rangers teammate, the Hall of Fame goalie Terry Sawchuk.
“On the evening of April 29, 1970, after the Rangers’ regular season had ended, Stewart and Sawchuk were preparing to close up a house they rented in East Atlantic Beach on Long Island. Before they did, they went to a bar, where they got into an argument. Shouting soon turned to shoving.
“After they returned to the house, the dispute resumed, and they pushed each other on the lawn, witnesses said. Sawchuk fell and injured his gallbladder and liver. He underwent surgery three times, but died of a blood clot on May 31 at a Manhattan hospital. He was 40.
“Precisely how the fight started and how Sawchuk incurred his injuries remains murky, but a Nassau County grand jury found the death to be accidental, absolving Stewart of blame….
“Recalling the Stewart-Sawchuk fight in an interview on Wednesday, Francis said that when he visited Sawchuk in the hospital, ‘He said: ‘It wasn’t Ron Stewart’s fault, don’t blame him. I was the aggressor in the whole thing.’
“By Sawchuk’s account, Francis said, the arguing began when Sawchuk told Stewart that he owed him $8 on a phone bill. But Dr. Denis F. Nicholson, a physician for a number of Rangers families, said at the time that Sawchuk had told him that he punched Stewart at the bar because he ‘had been bugging him all year’ and that he jumped Stewart at the house ‘and I fell on his knee.’
“Francis said Stewart never spoke to him about the incident….
“Stewart visited Sawchuk at least twice while he was hospitalized. He was an honorary pallbearer at Sawchuk’s funeral….
“ ‘I told him, ‘ You’re coming with us,’’ Francis recalled. ‘‘You’ve got nothing to hide from.’’”
–Yikes…awful situation at the University of Montana and its football program, they being a I-AA power. The athletic director and coach were both fired on Thursday following a series of sexual-assault allegations leveled against members of the program, including accusations against the quarterback and lead running back, though it doesn’t seem police have filed charges as yet. Bottom line, there are nine separate allegations of assault against players on the team.
–Err, in light of the above, I need to handle this carefully but, err, “A Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleader was indicted Thursday for allegedly having sex with a student when she was a teacher at suburban Dixie Heights high.”
Now discuss among yourselves because I’m afraid that if I say anything in this space, I could lose my International Web Site Association license.
–Legendary ultramarathoner Micah True’s body was found after he had vanished four days earlier in the rugged wilderness of New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. There was no obvious sign of trauma, according to authorities, after earlier fears he could have fallen victim to a mountain lion.
True’s distance prowess was detailed in the book “Born to Run.” He had set out on a standard 12-mile training run and knew the area very well. However, you can still get lost there and the last person to see him at the lodge he was staying in said True didn’t give a route for his run.
–We note the passing of bluegrass banjo legend Earl Scruggs, 88. Scruggs and guitar-playing partner Lester Flatt had a pair of signature songs: “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1949…and used as the getaway music in the film ‘Bonnie and Clyde’) and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme song for the television sitcom “Beverly Hillbillies.” [I’m embarrassed I forgot this tidbit…killed that brain cell in Reno, 1986.]
Scruggs was born in Flint Hill, N.C. Earl picked up the banjo at an early age and also the guitar and one day he found himself using the three finger style – the thumb, index and middle finger, a style indigenous to North Carolina, that he then mastered.
Back in 2004, Porter Wagoner said of Scruggs at his 80th birthday party, “Earl was to the five-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball. He is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.”
—Paul McCartney warned One Direction that being compared to The Beatles could be the “kiss of death” for the British boyband that debuted in the States at No. 1, the first British group to do so. McCartney reminded the four boys that “Oasis were ‘the next Beatles’ once, if you remember.” McCartney admitted he liked One Direction. Well, seeing as I have no idea who they are, I’ll check ‘em out.
—Bruuuuuuuce! “The legendary singer grabbed a stranger’s beer and chugged it in less than 10 seconds in between verses of ‘Raise Your Hand’ during a recent concert (in Philly).” It’s on YouTube. Springsteen fan Steve G., he of the rainbow jumper from back in my youth, said he hoped it was a Red Stripe, Steve’s personal favorite these days.
OK, that was a shameless plug for the brand, as it is unlucky Red Stripe was on tap in Philly, but it is one of the more underrated premium beers on the planet.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/6/63: #1 “He’s So Fine” (The Chiffons) #2 “Our Day Will Come” (Ruby and The Romantics) #3 “South Street” (The Orlons…hasn’t aged well)…and…#4 “The End Of The World” (Skeeter Davis…coming up on the Mayan calendar) #5 “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” (Andy Williams…homework assignment…YouTube this…I’m tellin’ ya, this is a great tune…real music for real people…peaked at No. 2 for four weeks) #6 “Baby Workout” (Jackie Wilson) #7 “In Dreams” (Roy Orbison…this guy was so freakin’ good) #8 “You’re The Reason I’m Living” (Bobby Darin…died way, way too young) #9 “Rhythm Of The Rain” (The Cascades) #10 “Young Lovers” (Paul & Paula)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Richie Ashburn had the most hits in the 1950s. 2) Mark Grace had the most hits in the 1990s. 3) Cal Ripken Jr. grounded into the most double plays. 4) Paul Molitor had the most career hits without winning a batting title. [He finished second twice.]
