Baseball Quiz: 1) When Ralph Kiner retired after the 1955 season he was sixth all time in home runs. Name the five ahead of him. 2) Kiner hit a record 215 home runs in his first five seasons. Who is the only other player to have 200 in his first five? Answers below.
A-Rod Punts
On Friday, Alex Rodriguez dropped his lawsuits against baseball and the players union over his doping suspension. He has now accepted the longest suspension in baseball history, 162 games, and will be sidelined for the entire 2014 season.
Without admitting guilt, he filed papers in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss two lawsuits he had filed in recent months, both of which named M.L.B. (one including Commissioner Bud Selig), claiming they engaged in a “witch hunt” as they investigated his use of banned substances.
Looking back, in mid-January he did clearly signal he might be willing to cut his losses during that press conference in Mexico City, saying the coming season gave him a chance to “rest physically, mentally and to prepare for the future and to start a new chapter of my life.”
M.L.B. and the Major League Baseball Players Association applauded A-Rod’s decision.
“We believe that Mr. Rodriguez’s actions show his desire to return the focus to the play of our great game on the field and to all of the positive attributes and actions of his fellow major league players,” Major League Baseball said in a statement. “We share that desire.”
The union in its statement said: “Alex Rodriguez has done the right thing by withdrawing his lawsuit. His decision to move forward is in everyone’s best interest.” [Steve Eder / New York Times]
Despicable lawyer Joe Tacopina said A-Rod will not go to spring training with the Yanks, but plans to rejoin them in 2015, when he’ll still have three years left on his contract and be owed $61 million.
Of course Rodriguez will be 39 then and with all his health issues few really expect him to play again.
So, just as in the case of Jose Canseco, who at first was ridiculed when he made his steroid charges, only to be vindicated, it would certainly appear Biogenesis’ Tony Bosch told the truth to M.L.B. investigators, which led to 14 suspensions, including those accepted by Ryan Braun and Nelson Cruz. A-Rod had been the only one to appeal.
“Boil everything else down. Let all the nonsense fall away, put on noise-reducing headphones and focus simply on what matters when it comes to Alex Rodriguez.
“When the time came to tell the truth, under oath, for real, he decided to punt. Twice.
“All along, Rodriguez yearned for a moment to tell us his side of the story. All along, he railed about the process of arbitration, about vendettas and witch-hunts and selective prosecution and unrelenting persecution. All along, he told us he looked forward to his hour on a witness stand, when we would see how he had been wronged, how he had been hunted, how he had been haunted.
“And now we’ll never see. We’ll never hear. Twice he had the opportunity to clear his throat, raise his right hand, tell us the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help him God.
“The first time, in the worst bit of acting by an athlete since Joe Namath’s run ended in ‘Damn Yankees,’ he stormed out of the arbitration hearing room, angered he wouldn’t be able to face M.L.B commissioner Bud Selig, even though under the rules of arbitration – rules he, as a union member had agreed to, rules that have heavily favored players for decades – Selig wasn’t compelled to testify.
“ ‘No fair!’ A-Rod shouted, and he stomped his feet, and he went on the radio and started crying about missing his daughter’s birthday while trying to clear his name, and he tried to invoke the spirit of New York as he declared Selig had it in for the Big Apple, as if Rodriguez had suddenly become a more beloved New York icon than Grand Central Terminal.
“ ‘This,’ he declared that day, ‘has been a disgusting process for everyone.’
“It was a laughable display by both Rodriguez and his legal dream team.”
But A-Rod had a second opportunity and “you figured his lawyers had to believe there was at least a chance for A-Rod to take a witness stand and tell his side.
“You don’t pay that many lawyers that much money to be given the dreadful advice of walking away from the arbitration hearing unless you’re going to fight another day, right?
“Did A-Rod simply tire of throwing good money after bad? Maybe. Had he grown weary of the fight? Perhaps. Did he finally realize the folly of trying to find a federal judge as utterly egomaniacal as he is, one who would have ignored binding arbitration? Sure. That’s possible.
“But he already had his chance….He wanted us to believe he was standing up for something in November when he abandoned the arbitration hearing, when he forfeited his right to face his accuser (M.L.B., not the commissioner), when he was told it would be a good idea to test the public’s gullibility by choosing a radio studio over a witness stand….
“We’d find out the truth in time, he swore, and in the end he was right. We did. The truth is, Rodriguez never had any interest in sharing the truth. Not under oath. Not when it counted. Not ever.”
“By comparison, Seahawks-Broncos was a more competitive contest compared to Alex Emmanuel Rodriguez v. Major League Baseball.
“Rodriguez spent a fortune, lost any lingering credibility he had and became even more of a pariah among his major league brethren, all to pick up 49 games – the difference between the 211-game suspension levied by Bud Selig and the ultimate 162-game ban imposed by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz.
“As victories go, it is like winning a weed garden. This couldn’t really be the strategy that all of Rodriguez’s lawyers, public relations men, crisis managers and private investigators suggested to him, could it? Cajole, bully, torture the truth, promise an endless fight and then slink from the legal battlefield a coward – telling your ‘truth’ only to Mike Francesa, but never during the two opportunities to raise your right hand and swear to do so….
“A-Rod’s side turned out to be really good at bluster and arrogance and really bad at, you know, the law and sound advice. Rodriguez probably had an opportunity in the early portion of the Biogenesis investigation to work out a suspension with M.L.B for perhaps somewhere in the 100-150-game range, which would have saved him the GNP-like expenditure he incurred on his phalanx of lawyers, spokesmen, etc….
“(The) Yankees are huge winners. They got $25 million back in Rodriguez’ salary this year, it didn’t get them under the $189 million luxury tax threshold, but it helped defray the cost of Masahiro Tanaka. Now, they also find out Rodriguez is not coming to spring training and they can begin a transition without him.”
“Is there anyone in or around the game – owners, executives, players and fans alike – who hasn’t been wearied by this six-month exercise in self-absorption, lies and denial on A-Rod’s part? An exercise in which he and his predator lawyers dragged everyone in their path into court in spite of the fact that he never denied under oath the charges against him and never took the stand in his own defense in front of baseball’s arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz?
“So A-Rod goes away now after dropping all his lawsuits….His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, who made a fortune off him* with six months of legal sound and fury meaning nothing, confirmed he would not be showing up at Steinbrenner Field.
“Of course, knowing A-Rod, we will probably be hearing sometime this summer about how much he’s looking forward to staging a grand comeback in 2015….
“Only now, A-Rod goes for good. He knows that. The Yankees know that. M.L.B. knows that. The only thing left is the contract buyout negotiation. There were reports Friday that A-Rod is eyeing a future in television, that he dropped his lawsuits out of fear he’d be blackballed in baseball. He should know he’s already blackballed himself with all the crap he dragged baseball and the Yankees through these last six months.
“One of the ugliest chapters in baseball history is finally over, and out of it, Rob Manfred – commissioner Bud Selig’s drug sheriff – emerges as the biggest winner, if only slightly bigger than A-Rod’s lawyers, who played to his vanity, gave him terrible advice, made a fortune off him and doomed him to being the baseball pariah he will quickly discover he has become.”
*It’s estimated had A-Rod continued with his lawsuits, he would have been shelling out another $10 million to his legal team.
“There’s an old story that musicians like to tell about a gifted concert pianist who was approached by a fan. The fan tells the pianist with brimming delight, ‘I’d give my life to play like that!’
“We think of that story whenever Alex Rodriguez comes up. The one thing you could never question was his love for the game, which he excelled at like no other, but that passion turned destructive and drove him to inject junk into his veins….
“No one doubts how much (A-Rod) loves the game. We have little choice: He keeps talking about how much he loves and respects the game, and sure, he usually loved fame and attention more than the actual playing part.
“But he has the resources to have a real impact somewhere, perhaps using the game itself for constructive purpose rather than as a truncheon. He can start by mending bridges with advocacy groups that lecture kids about PEDs, since he had abandoned them a long time ago.
“Just one request: Do it while none of us are watching. We all need a break.”
Ralph Kiner
As my friend Ken P. wrote, the death of long-time Mets broadcaster and Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner at the age of 91 was another nail in our childhood. Few titanic figures from the New York area sports scene remain, pre-1976 when my friends and I graduated from high school….Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Willis Reed, Tom Seaver, Joe Namath and Eddie Giacomin. [Earl Monroe doesn’t figure in this elite group because he was there for only one Knicks title….and Yogi Berra is in a totally different category. He belongs to America.]
Imagine, Ralph Kiner, after his Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, was a Mets broadcaster from 1962 through last season. As you’ll see below, he was truly a beloved figure. Everyone who met him says the same thing; he was as charming in person as he was on television.
And he had a charmed life, being linked to several Hollywood stars over the years, including Janet Leigh and Liz Taylor.
“At that time, few players got a shot at dating the movie people,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2004. “One of the reasons I was able to was that Bing Crosby was one of the owners of the Pirates.”
But oh those years in Pittsburgh weren’t easy. They never finished higher than fourth in the eight-team National League while he was there. In 1952, Kiner’s last full season with the Pirates, the team finished last with a 42-112 record, 54 ½ games out of first.
But Pittsburgh was profitable and fans flocked to Forbes Field* to watch Kiner hit home runs, twice hitting more than 50, leading the league seven consecutive seasons. Because he was often the only threat in the lineup, he was also walked a lot and finished with a career .398 OBP.
*The Pirates had not drawn more than 650,000 fans since they won the pennant in 1927. But they drew 749,962 in 1946. And they drew more than 1 million the next four years, including 1,517,021 in 1948, a franchise record that stood until 1960. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Born Oct. 27, 1922, in Santa Rita, N.M., a town that no longer exists, Kiner grew up in Southern California. His father, a baker, died when he was 4 and his mother brought him to the Los Angeles area. After graduating from Alhambra High School, he signed with the Pirates for a $3,000 bonus and a promise of $5,000 more when he made the majors.
But he was drafted in 1943 and served for two years in the Navy as a pilot, stationed in the Pacific though seeing no combat action. As he put it, in his flights he never even saw a whale.
After being discharged in 1945, he hit 14 home runs in spring training of ’46 so Kiner made the big league squad and responded with 23 homers, which led the league as a rookie.
By the early 1950s, though, Kiner was making $90,000 and the Pirates had hired cost-conscious Branch Rickey to be their general manager. Rickey told Kiner he was getting a pay cut. Kiner wondered why. After all, he had led the league a seventh consecutive season in home runs. Rickey famously said: “We finished last with you. We can finish last without you.”
So 40 games into the ’53 season, he was traded to the Cubs in a 10-player deal that included Joe Garagiola.
Mets broadcaster Ron Darling said: “He was one of those people who we were always better off knowing. I’m only 53, but I’m every bit of 53, and I have never met anyone like Ralph.”
Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez: “Ralph was universally liked. He was very articulate. When you’re up there as an analyst, your job is to analyze, not criticize. But Ralph had a way of doing it that wasn’t offensive to the player. He just didn’t have an abrasive tone when someone made a bad play in the field. That’s what I’ve tried to do. I’ve tried to be a little more like Ralph.
Darling: “He was just so unique. He could be witty, beautiful, and he would give you the shirt off your back – and then he could be occasionally profane. If you were trying to put together a quintessential American man, it would be Ralph.”
Darling, who is special in his own right, looked up an Auden poem as he thought of Ralph’s passing.
“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone / Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone / Silence the pianos and with muffled drum / Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.” [Andy Martino / New York Daily News]
I wrote the following in this space, July 16, 2007
So Saturday, the New York Mets honored Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner for his 46 years as a Mets broadcaster and you’ll have to excuse my getting a little personal here but I took my father,
brother and his son to the event and what a special time for us.
Dad grew up watching Kiner when he was a student at the University of Pittsburgh, attending a ton of Pirates games at Forbes Field at a time when Kiner was the only attraction. So it was great that he was able to be there Saturday.
And the Mets did a super job in having representatives of key eras in attendance, including Ed Charles, Ed Kranepool, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, Tom Seaver and Keith Hernandez.
But a big surprise was the great Bob Feller’s appearance, plus Yogi, and then, of all people, especially after all I’ve written the past few weeks, there was Bob Friend! My man! It was all very cool.
As for Kiner, in just ten years, before a bad back forced him into early retirement, he amassed 369 home runs, leading the league a record seven consecutive seasons, and had 1,015 RBI on his way to Cooperstown.
Kiner became a broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox in 1961 before the expansion Mets plucked him away to team with Bob Murphy and Lindsey Nelson in New York’s first season in ‘62. While Kiner’s work has been limited due to health issues the past decade or so (he’s now 84, after all), he’s still best known for his terrific stories of the old days, as well as his malapropisms, such as:
“We’ll be right back after this word from Manufacturers Hangover.”
Or this one, “All of his saves have come during relief appearances,” which Ralph said about relief pitcher Steve Bedrosian. He also said “All of the Mets’ road wins against Los Angeles this year have been at Dodger Stadium.”
Kiner used to say of his slugging prowess, “Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, and singles hitters drive Fords.”
Ralph was also the first to say, “Two-thirds of the earth is covered by water, the other one-third is covered by Garry Maddox.”
Then there is this anecdote from his famous post-game show, Kiner’s Korner, as told by Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf in their book “Baseball Anecdotes.”
“Choo Choo Coleman was supposed to be a catcher, but he moved around so much behind the plate that when pitcher Chuck Churn, who had been his occasional battery-mate with the Phillies*, was asked who was the toughest man in the league to pitch to, he said, ‘Coleman.’
“With the Mets, it was more of the same. Choo Choo was something of a laughingstock even on this woeful club, a situation he generally shrugged off with his notably taciturn nature. A sample of his conversational style became clear in a dialogue with Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner.
“ ‘Choo Choo,’ Kiner began his interview, ‘how did you get your nickname?’
“Coleman: ‘Dunno.’
“Kiner was forced to grope. ‘Well, what’s your wife’s name, and what’s she like?’
“Coleman: ‘Her name is Mrs. Coleman, and she likes me.’”
Kiner said of those pitiful early Mets teams, “The first year, we lost our first nine games, then the next year our first eight, then our first seven, then our first six. Then the next year, we got rained out our first three games and that was our best start.”
Current broadcaster Howie Rose relates this story.
“The closest I ever came to seeing Ralph get angry was in San Diego about 10 years ago. He used to smoke cigars all the time, and somebody came in and said very apologetically: ‘I’m sorry Mr. Kiner, but there’s a state ordinance that says you can’t smoke this in public, I’m going to have to ask you to put the cigar out.’ And Ralph just gives the guy a look and says, ‘You know, California used to be a great state.’ That’s the closest he ever got to losing it.’”
Last Saturday night was a big one for Old Bortrum, who was taken back to his youth attending Pittsburgh Pirate games at the late Forbes Field from 1946 to 1950. As discussed at some length in Bar Chat (7/16/2007), it was Ralph Kiner Night at Shea Stadium. I must thank our Editor Brian Trumbore for his generosity in taking me, Harry Trumbore and my grandson to this memorable event. I was shocked that, when I mentioned to a half dozen or so fellow mall walkers that I was going they had never heard of Kiner! This despite the fact that for over four decades he’s been a New York Mets broadcaster, not to mention a Hall of Fame homerun hitter with awesome slugging statistics in a 10-year career shortened by a severe back problem.
Kiner averaged 7.1 homeruns for every 100 times at bat, second only to Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire in the retired player category. And I’m not sure we even knew the word “steroid” in those days! At the ceremonies honoring Kiner, I enjoyed seeing players such as Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, Ed Kranepool, Bob Friend, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, Keith Hernandez and Yogi Berra in attendance. However, I was blown away when it was announced that walking onto the field with his wife was “Rapid Robert”. I thought, “Surely, this can’t be.” But it was indeed 88-year-old Bob Feller and his wife all the way from Iowa!
Seeing him brought back one of the stupidest things I’d ever done – turn down an opportunity to meet and talk with Feller! In 1966, I was at a meeting of The Electrochemical Society in Cleveland and Feller was at the hotel in some sort of public relations capacity. I saw in the hotel gift shop that one could buy a baseball autographed by Feller and decided to buy one for Brian. The clerk asked me if I wanted to meet Feller when he signed it. I refused, saying I didn’t want to miss some of the talks at the meeting. I don’t have the foggiest idea as to the content of those talks but I surely do remember my stupidity!
Prior to that, I had seen Feller up close at an event I’ve mentioned in an earlier column. In April 1951, when I was employed in Cleveland at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), General Douglas MacArthur was on his way back to Washington from the Korean conflict after being fired by President Harry Truman. MacArthur, with his wife and son, stopped briefly at the Cleveland airport, which borders NACA (now NASA). We heard MacArthur would stop and went over to see him. Cleveland’s mayor was there, as was Bob Feller, who presented MacArthur’s son with an autographed ball and/or a glove. I was surprised to see that MacArthur’s hands were shaking quite noticeably during his brief remarks. I believe it was the next day that he gave his eloquent “Old soldiers never die” speech before Congress.
In retrospect, I am surprised that I only went to one baseball game in the two years I was in Cleveland and never saw Feller pitch. This was in contrast to my preceding 4 years (1946-1950) in Pittsburgh, when I attended well over a hundred games at Forbes Field and got to see Kiner hit many of the home runs that were his trademark. Kiner spent his last year as a player in Cleveland, where I presume he met and became friends with Feller, which would explain Feller’s appearance at Shea Stadium last Saturday.
Darryl Strawberry morphed into Marv Throneberry…Dwight Gooden became Greg Goosen.
“If Casey Stengel were alive today, he’d be spinning in his grave.”
“On Father’s Day, we again wish you all Happy Birthday.”
Tim McCarver, Ralph’s TV partner for 16 seasons (these two together were simply the best), recalls how Kiner was supposed to introduce a pitching change with the name of the sponsor, American Cyanamid. But Kiner said the relief pitcher’s entrance was “brought to you by American Cyanide.”
The Mets have really screwed things up over the years, but they had the smarts to keep Kiner around, well after Bell’s palsy impaired his voice. As announcer Gary Cohen said, “All I can tell you is that there was no time that he worked a game when we didn’t think it was the best day of the week.”
“The Baseball Encyclopedia presents players’ annual stats in bold type for having led their league. Kiner’s listings – a mere 10-year-career ended by a bad back – showed him covered in boldly typed ink. Do yourself right and look him up. He was spectacular.”
Ed: Use baseballreference.com…and see who is sponsoring Ralph’s page. He still ranks sixth all-time with a home run every 14.1 at-bats, with McGwire and Bonds ahead of him, so, you know…he should be even higher.
“Kiner preferred to watch and call ballgames, not to take them apart, dissect them, perform autopsies on them. He wasn’t a homer, he was an observer, a cigar-blowing favorite uncle who could be reminded of someone or something he would be moved to talk about by any ground ball down either line.”
“He was as comfortable hanging out in Palm Springs with his friend Bob Hope as he was hitting in front of Hank Greenberg at Forbes Field.”
To say ‘it’s the passing of an era’ with regards to any big figure is often a gross cliché, but think of Ralph Kiner. He hung out with Hope, Sinatra, and Crosby, dated Liz Taylor and Janet Leigh, and also shook hands with Babe Ruth, talked ball with Ty Cobb, and while in high school, hit a home run off Satchel Paige during a barnstorming tour.
“Ralph was one of the greatest players to ever wear a Pirates uniform and was a tireless ambassador for the game of baseball. He was a treasured member of the Pittsburgh community during his seven years with the Pirates.”
Howie Rose / New York Daily News…Rose an all-time Mets fan and broadcaster.
“In 1999, when I was Ralph’s partner on Mets telecasts, the Mets honored the 1969 team on the 30th anniversary of their epic World Series win. I was honored to serve as the master of ceremonies on the field at Shea Stadium, introducing my boyhood idols, and when I made it up to the broadcast booth to open the game telecast, Ralph was waiting for me with an almost paternal smile that recalled Ward Cleaver.
“He said, ‘Did you ever think when you were in high school that someday you would stand on the field at Shea Stadium introducing the 1969 Mets?’ I told him that during the entirety of the ceremonies, that was all I could think of, and he seemed as genuinely happy for me to have had that experience as I was for myself.
“That was Ralph. He got it. He made you feel at ease and created a connection that came naturally, honestly, and left impressions that will last forever. Tom Seaver was a great pitcher. Mike Piazza was a great hitter. Gil Hodges was a great manager. I would submit, however, that you could make a very strong case that Ralph Kiner, who never played for the New York Mets, is the most beloved figure in the history of the franchise. Having known him, having worked with him, and having seen and heard him introduce us to what was the new National League franchise in New York, chronicling the euphoric highs and disappointing lows with the genuine warmth of a treasured family member, how can I be sad? I’m thrilled to have been even the tiniest, peripheral part of this wonderful man’s life. A life truly worth celebrating.”
Editorial / New York Post
“Long before there was ESPN and its glitzy interview shows, New Yorkers had ‘Kiner’s Korner,’ the Mets’ televised post-game program on WOR/Channel 9.
“There, broadcaster Ralph Kiner would hold court with the stars of the game (rarely a Met in the early years) and rehash the just-concluded contest in a civilized chat far removed from today’s trash talk and hyperbole.
“Kiner…quickly became a fan favorite, as much for his frequent malapropisms as for the plain-spoken way in which he called the balls and strikes.
“Ralph Kiner was a credit to baseball and one of the few remaining links to the original Mets. As he steps into eternity, he takes a piece of New York with him. RIP.”
Mets owner Fred Wilpon said: “No one knows more about baseball than Ralph Kiner.”
“I enjoy being at the ballpark,” Kiner said. “I get the best seat in the house and I get paid to do it. It is as good as you can get.”
“There have been other long runs in baseball. But tell me a more wonderful one than this, from those first shots over the wall at Forbes Field in 1946 to this gentleman of baseball still showing up for Mets games on television when the man was past 90. All those summers from Ralph Kiner. All those summers with him as such splendid company. Finally, after all this time, after more than a half-century of Mets baseball, comes one without him. And without his voice.”
Ball bits
Howard Bryant / ESPN The Magazine…on the lack of black ballplayers in the big leagues.
“MLB is sinking billions into the Japanese market, most recently evidenced by the Yankees’ seven-year, $155 million deal with Masahiro Tanaka (and the accompanying $20 million posting fee to Tanaka’s Japanese team). All 30 teams invest heavily in Latin America, still the world’s cheapest, most plentiful source of talent. Meanwhile, for various reason, teams are turning away from high school prospects and toward college ones. In 2013, 68% of draft picks came out of NCAA or juco programs, up from 53% in 1995. This trend cuts against minorities; in a sport in which full rides are increasingly hard to come by, African-Americans comprise fewer than 5% of D1 players, according to the NCAA. That problem is only going to get worse under the new CBA, which drastically limits the signing bonuses teams can offer draft picks, which in turn discourages elite two-sport athletes from choosing baseball.
“The good news is that MLB believes the black player is an endangered species worth saving…The bad news is that in its 10-month existence, (a special) committee has waded into a socioeconomic swamp where no easy answers lie. Along with the inequities of the judicial system, the instability of the black family is the most debilitating remnant of slavery. As Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins has said, baseball, more than other sports, is a father-son game, and the game is too complex and slow to be immediately appreciated without a strong male presence. Black men need to stick around and step up. No task force can address that. At the same time, the cost of travel teams has turned the game into a rich-kid sport. The public school system, which produced Willie Stargell, Rickey Henderson and Kirby Puckett [Ed. and Willie Wilson], is threadbare, as is the public infrastructure that ran programs and maintained fields….
“(Most imperative), M.L.B. needs to overhaul a draft system that provides no incentive for individual teams to develop American talent of all races.”
Bryant wants to see a Latin-American-style academy in the U.S.
–Us baseball fans have been wondering where free-agent pitcher Bronson Arroyo would end up. I was hoping he would sign with the Mets, Arroyo being a proven innings eater. Arizona ended up giving him a two-year deal.
–Awhile back I mentioned a famous Babe Ruth autographed baseball was going on the auction blocks, what’s known as the “Little” Johnny Sylvester ball. Sylvester was the kid kicked in the head by the horse he fell off during the summer of 1926, Ruth heard the story, signed a ball, writing “I’ll knock a homer for Wednesday’s game” and proceeded to do so; actually clubbing three homers against St. Louis in Game 4 of the World Series, his first career three-homer game.
Three days later, Ruth sent a handwritten note to Johnny, saying he’d try to hit him another home run, “maybe two.” Ruth hit that homer in Game 7 of the Series, which the Cardinals eventually won.
A few months after Ruth personally visited Johnny and he eventually recovered.
Well, this is one artifact that is real but the final auction price was $250,000. I think that was a bit disappointing. A Ruth ball sold for $388,000 in Baltimore in 2012.
Final bids were placed on Feb. 6 and I wonder if that Eli Manning story from a week earlier impacted things any.
Sage Kotsenburg…Gold Medal Dude
“Nations of the world, please listen carefully: Some of you might top us in education, in health care, even in industries we once owned, but know this about the old U-S-of-A.
“You will never out-dude us.
“Jeff Spicoli. Jeffrey Lebowski. Keanu Reeves. The Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. We are a nation of dudes, united in our dudeliness, and while that sometimes means we are stuck looking for our cars, it usually means we are so much cooler and better than you.
“Add Sage Kotsenburg to the Dudes List. He is 20 years old and has long bleached-blonde hair streaming out of his hat. He has a shiny silver jacket and a gold medal around his neck, the first ever in the new snowboarding slopestyle event at the Olympics and the first for anyone in Sochi.
“ ‘I’m so stoked to be here, representing the USA, for sure,’ he said, the first of 14 times he used the word stoked during a 22-minute press conference – which has to be an unofficial Olympic record.
“This is a dude who, the night before the biggest race of his life, wisely skipped the Opening Ceremonies to rest up…and then spent that night in his room eating any junk food he and his pals could find.
“ ‘I was eating mad snacks,’ he said. ‘Chocolate. Onion rings. Chips. We were chilling really hard. Then we fell asleep watching Fight Club. Getting stoked, you know?’
“This is a dude who, when told a side-by-side photo of him and Spicoli, Sean Penn’s character from ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ was making the rounds on social media, let out a big laugh.
“ ‘That is sick,’ he said. ‘I’m so down with that. That is so awesome that somebody did that. Good old Spicoli!’”
“When his parents wanted to come to Sochi to watch, (Sage) told them they stress him out too much. ‘I was kind of like, ‘Hey, if you guys could just kind of hang out at home.’’
“He had won nothing since he was 11 years old before qualifying for the Olympics, a duration of losing he called ‘a mega drought.’ After qualifying Saturday morning, he tweeted, ‘Whoa how random is this I made finals at the Olympics!!!’
“In the time it took to type this, Kotsenburg’s Twitter followers grew by 5,000, his Q-rating spiking the moment he pulled off something called ‘the Holy Crail’ to win the first slopestyle snowboarding competition in the Olympics….
“ ‘That was the best run of my life, hands down,’ Kotsenburg said. ‘I said to my coach, ‘Hey, Bill, I might do a 1620 Japan. It’s never been done before and I had never tried it before. He was like, ‘You’re in the finals of the Olympics. You might as well go all out.’
“ ‘And I just threw it and it ended up coming around just like the 1260, but a full 360 more,’ he said. ‘I could not believe riding out of that that I landed that in the first try.’
“After he won, Kotsenburg called his father and, by association, 50 people watching live in his house back home.
“ ‘He was like, ‘WHAAAAAT!’ And then I was on speakerphone, and hearing their voices was just the coolest thing ever….It could be a dangerous night in Park City.’
“Somewhere, Shaun White was probably thinking, ‘That used to be me,’ before he became a corporate leviathan no longer resembling the onion-ring-eating creativity that forced the International Olympic Committee into an uneasy alliance with a bunch of long-haired, teenagers who began doubling as IOC cash cows almost 12 years ago.”
“Blaze Kotsenburg was partying with friends at 3 a.m. in Salt Lake City on Saturday, all of them gathered around a television set moments before his little brother Sage was scheduled to fly his snowboard down a mountain in Russia.
“ ‘Blaze, it’s Sage,’ said the scratchy voice on the other end.
“ ‘Hey everybody, shut up, it’s my brother calling from the Olympics!’ Blaze shouted to his friends.
“Sage…had phoned his brother and mentor 10 minutes before his run because he wanted some last-minute advice. He wanted to know about the worthiness of a trick he was considering for the first time in his career in the finals of this new Olympic slopestyle event.
“ ‘What do you think, man, should I go for it?’ Sage asked.
“Blaze looked around the room at their snowboarding friends and thought back to the times they would slide down mountains strictly for fun. He thought about how Sage wasn’t even supposed to be an Olympic contender, and now maybe he had one run for a chance at an Olympic medal?
“Dude, you’re at the Olympics, what do you have to lose?’ Blaze told his bro. ‘Why not?’
“Why not, indeed? Why not a shaggy-haired kid who looks and sounds like Jeff Spicoli turning this increasingly corporate sport back into Fast Times at Goofy-Footed High?
“ ‘OK, I’m down with it,’ Sage said.
“About 10 minutes later, down and sick Sage Kotsenburg twirled through the cold air with a Backside Double Cork, 1620 Japan, soaring not only into the cheers of a Utah party house, but also into history as winner of the first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics….
“When Sage finally called Blaze after his post-race interviews and podium visit Saturday, their conversation was randomly short, yet pointedly perfect.
“ ‘I said, ‘Dude, you just won,’’ Blaze said. ‘And my brother just laughed.’”
College Basketball
—No. 5 San Diego State (21-1, 10-0) had just four turnovers in a 73-58 win over Nevada (12-12, 7-4).
—SMU (19-5, 8-3 AAC) blasted No. 7 Cincinnati (22-3, 11-1) 76-55.
–On Sunday, No. 9 Michigan State (20-4, 9-2) lost to Wisconsin (19-5, 6-5) 60-58 in Madison as Badger Traevon Jackson hit a jumper with 2 seconds to go.
–In their 89-68 win over Boston College, No. 11 Duke’s Jabari Parker had his best game of the season, 29 points and 16 rebounds. The Blue Devils go to 19-5, 8-3.
—No. 13 Saint Louis (22-2, 9-0) had another squeaker, edging La Salle (12-11, 4-5) 65-63 in Philadelphia.
—No. 16 Iowa State (18-4, 6-4 ) defeated TCU 84-69 as senior Melvin Ejim had a game for the ages. A Big 12-record 48 points on 20 of 24 shooting from the field, plus a career high 18 rebounds. At one point in the second half, Ejim scored 20 straight Iowa State points.
—No. 17 Iowa (18-6, 7-4) easily handled No. 10 Michigan (17-6, 9-2) 85-67 in Iowa City.
—No. 20 Virginia (19-5, 10-1) will continue climbing up the ranks after a 64-45 road win against Georgia Tech.
–My “Pick to Click” VCU Rams (19-5, 7-2) stumbled, losing in Philadelphia to Saint Joe’s (16-7, 6-3) 69-62. So no Top 25 for VCU this week.
—No. 19 Oklahoma State (16-7, 4-6) is in freefall, losing its fourth straight to Texas Tech (12-11, 4-6) 65-61 in Lubbock. But the bigger story was Cowboys star Marcus Smart being not-so-smart when near the end of the game he went careening into the crowd behind the basket, got upset, got in the face of a Texas Tech fan and shoved him with two hands. The man stumbled backwards but didn’t fall.
Smart was a preseason All-American who could go No. 1 in the upcoming draft but he’s acted up a number of times this season. He will now undoubtedly be suspended for at least a game by the Big 12.
[This just in…Smart was suspended three games. More next chat. It doesn’t seem like a simple story, as in the guy he shoved may be a real a-hole in his own right.]
–In case I needed an excuse to honor one of my all-time faves, Clint Eastwood, he handed us an easy one. All he did was save a life at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Eastwood, who has had a huge role in the tournament over the years, being from the area and former mayor of Carmel, attended a volunteer party on the eve of the event when he noticed tournament director Steve John choking on a piece of cheese. The 83-year-old actor quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver Wednesday night at the Monterey Conference Center.
“I was drinking water and eating these little appetizers, threw down a piece of cheese and it just didn’t work,” John said Friday. “I was looking at him and couldn’t breathe. He recognized it immediately and saved my life.”
Eastwood told The Carmel Pine Cone, “I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their eyes. It looked bad.”
Kind of like the look on the faces of those Clint was about to blow away in his spaghetti westerns.
Eastwood said it was the first time he had used the Heimlich.
You rock, Mr. Eastwood! Suffice it to say his name is being put in the December file for yearend award consideration.
–In the tournament itself, I did write on Jan. 16 of this year after the Sony Open, “Jimmy Walker won his second tour title and is one to watch for 2014.”
Then on Sunday, starting the fourth round with a six-shot lead, Walker held on, barely, for win number three in 8 starts this wraparound season.
As Ronald Reagan would have said to me, “Not bad, not bad at all.”
–Congratulations to Wake Forest alum Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, for her first major professional win in taking the Australian Ladies Masters. She previously had a mini-tour victory.
College Football
–Florida State’s Jameis Winston announced he would play another two years. Part of the reason why we might be able to believe the Heisman winner (two years rather than just one more), is he loves baseball and is slated to be the Seminoles’ closer this season. Now that would be pretty cool to attend a FSU ballgame and have him come through in the clutch.
Another reason why we can possibly believe him is he said he plans on playing baseball next year as well and that would interfere with preparing for the NFL combine at the same time.
–New Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson has made a super first impression on the Wake community as he backs up his talk…of the 27 recruits the staff got on campus, 22 signed letters of intent.
The Deacs signed two promising quarterbacks, one, John Wolford out of Jacksonville, Fla., was a Parade All-American, the other, Travis Smith, is out of Ithaca, Michigan. Another potential star down the road, 6-4, 215-pound wide receiver Kameron Uter was ‘turned’ from Vanderbilt after James Franklin left to go to Penn State.
–Sad story at Cal as football player Ted Agu died Friday morning after collapsing during a training run with teammates. There were members of the team’s medical staff on the scene and they noticed Agu had difficulty completing the workout so they put him on a cart to transport him to the medical facility when he collapsed. He was given CPR, then transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death may take weeks but the defensive end had never had problems before.
Agu was a walk-on who earned a scholarship last year and was going to be a fifth-year senior. California coach Sonny Dykes said in an emotional news conference hours after, “This is one of those tragedies that no one can understand and comprehend. Ted was a very special young man.”
–As Gregg Doyel notes on CBSSports.com, it would be absurd if the Houston Texans don’t select Johnny Manziel with the No. 1 pick in the draft. He’s a national phenomenon, but most importantly a state legend. No way the Texans can risk Manziel becoming a superstar elsewhere.
Any other team, outside Texas, it’s an entirely different situation. Everyone knows that.
“Best-case scenario for the Texans? Johnny Manziel is a more dynamic Russell Wilson.
“Worst-case scenario for the Texans? Johnny Manziel is a more dynamic Russell Wilson…for Cleveland.”
—Premier League Standings…25 matches down…13 to go
Chelsea 56
Arsenal 55
Man City 54
Liverpool 50
7. Man U 41 (12-5-8…W-D-L)
Liverpool crushed Arsenal on Saturday, 5-1, to stay in the mix. A stunning 4 goals in the first 20 minutes.
–The Nevada Gaming Commission said the sports books made a record $19.7 million profit, the largest ever, on the Super Bowl.
For 2015 (2014 season), Seattle is a 9-2 favorite, the Broncos 5-1, 49ers are at 6-1, and the Patriots 8-1.
—Two weeks to Daytona, the only NASCAR race I don’t miss. It is interesting starting the season with the Super Bowl as this sport does.
But the other day I wrote of how NASCAR changed the rules for the Chase for the Cup 10-race finale, and how I liked the new format with its emphasis on winning rather than points, and then I read a piece in ESPN The Magazine and I have to admit I wasn’t thinking about the format in essence being an attempt to “Jimmie-proof” the season; as in preventing Jimmie Johnson from winning another championship (he already has six, after all).
I don’t see it that way, but you’re going to have to be in the final four in the last race to have a chance for the Cup and then it’s best finisher among the four in the finale. I love it.
For his part, JJ is brushing off the cynicism. “I don’t think NASCAR is picking on me or trying to keep me from winning the championship.”
NASCAR Chairman Brian France is right. He wants to lure casual fans through “Game 7 moments” and wants to compete with football, which each autumn sucks away the spotlight from his sport. It’s going to work, boys and girls. It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!
–Congratulations to one of the great drag racers in history, John Force, 64, who on Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif., set a record in qualifying for this weekend’s Circle K Winternationals at 317.72 mph over the 1,000-foot distance (3.983 seconds). Man, that takes guts. It then turns out in his second round of qualifying Friday night, he hit 324.12 mph!
Last year Force won a record 16th title in NHRA drag racing’s funny car class. [Jim Peltz / Los Angeles Times]
[I glanced at Garlits’ Wiki page and forgot about his political aspirations. Kind of funny. But I’ll let you look it up yourself. Some of it I don’t want on Bar Chat’s permanent record.]
And I just saw that Alexis DeJoria became the first woman in NHRA drag-racing history to make a pass under four seconds in a funny car, 3.997 seconds for the 1,000 feet, 318.32 mph. DeJoria is the daughter of billionaire John Paul DeJoria of Paul Mitchell haircare products fame, as well as tequila maker Patron Spirits.
“A man-eating tiger on the prowl in northern India has claimed its ninth victim, defying hunters and wildlife officials who have been trying to gun down the animal, an official said on Friday.
“Since December 29, the same tiger is believed to have been on a killing spree in a densely forested area near Jim Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh….
“While tiger-hunting has long been illegal in India, the Uttar Pradesh state government has licensed six hunters to either capture or kill the tigress who has terrorized local villagers.
“India is home to half the world’s dwindling tiger population which now stands at around 3,000….
“Even conservationists say that once a tiger has tasted human flesh more than once it is almost impossible to rehabilitate it and that killing the animal is the only responsible option….
“The hunters have employed a variety of tricks to lure their prey, including traps and even a live goat as bait….
“Hunter Nawab Shafat Ali Khan had warned that the tigress was hungry and would strike again soon.”
If you live in the area, it is best not to venture too far from your home, particularly early in the morning or after sunset. As a precaution here at Bar Chat, I am staying inside as well after I get my Dunkin’ Donuts large black coffee and chocolate donut at 5:00 AM, eyes focused on the parking lot just in case the tigress had hopped on an Air India flight to Newark.
“In the annals of prisoner of war videos, this seems to be a first. A slightly befuddled Belgian Malinois appears on a tight leash, surrounded by heavily armed, bearded men boasting of their battlefield loot.
“Donning a black protective vest, the dog wags its tail at certain points and appears more confused than terrified as its captors showcase specialized rifles and a global positioning device with a blinking light they say came attached to the dog.
“ ‘Allah gave victory to the mujahideen!’ one of the fighters exclaims…. ‘Down with them, down with their spies!’”
Yes, the Taliban captured a dog after a lengthy firefight between U.S. forces and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan’s Laghman province in late December.
A video that was posted on a Twitter account used by a supporter of the Taliban was just discovered by U.S. officials and in a phone interview on Thursday, the man aligned with the Taliban said the dog carried the rank of colonel and “high significance to the Americans.”
An army spokesman in Afghanistan confirmed the coalition lost a military working dog during an operation in December and provided no further details.
Army intelligence analysts can’t remember seeing a dog used as a hostage. U.S. Special Ops prefer Belgian Malinois for their light weight, agility and endurance. They are trained to parachute in with their handlers and are used to sniff out explosives and find narcotics. They can also be used to search compounds that might be rigged with explosives before humans move in.
When President Obama visited Fort Campbell to personally thank the elite troops that took down Osama bin Laden, the name of only one of the Special Forces was disclosed: Cairo, the team’s Belgian Malinois.
–A Burmese python measuring 18 feet, 2 inches was found in Florida’s Everglades by engineers during a routine inspection of levees. The monster was killed. The record is 18 feet, 8 inches. It’s estimated the python population has exploded to as many as 150,000 in the Everglades. 150,000!!!
Note to Shu…hope you are staying inside while at your convention.
–Update: The 300-year-old Stradivarius that was taken in a robbery in Milwaukee the other day was found inside a suitcase in the attic of a Milwaukee home. Three were arrested in connection with the theft. The violin had been appraised in 2012 at $5 million. One of the three negotiated with police for details on the location. It also appears the robbery was not part of an international ring.
–So I know Ireland real well and I am shocked by a concert development there this coming July. Garth Brooks was to play three dates in Dublin at Croke Park and demand was so huge, it’s now five nights, July 25-29, Brooks having sold 400,000 tickets! That’s amazing. It’s not as if he has been on the radar the past few years and while I knew he was popular, I just had no idea the extent of it.
[It also seems local officials may have royally screwed up. There are key football matches scheduled for Croke on either end of the concert schedule and the field could be a mess for the second one, like a day after, I think, the last concert.]
–Speaking of Brooks, who appeared on Jay Leno’s last show, that was quite touching. I had forgotten how Leno had lost his mother, father and brother in each of his first three years doing “The Tonight Show” so it was quite understandable how he adopted the crew as his family.
It was also ironic he had his biggest audience for the last show since the night Seinfeld ended in 1998; the fourth-biggest ever for Leno.
–I mentioned this in my “Week in Review” but bears repeating here. We all know how important it was for the Beatles to make a great first impression in America, and how Brian Epstein was very careful to wait until he thought the 4 lads were ready and enthusiasm was at a fever pitch before he unleashed them. The guy proved to be a genius.
According to data from RIAA, Apple Records and EMI, the following tells you how important America was to the Beatles. They’ve sold 7.5 million albums in the U.K., but 209.1 million in the U.S. [U.S. News Weekly]
Top 3 songs for the week 2/10/68: #1 “Love Is Blue” (Paul Mauriat) #2 “Green Tambourine” (The Lemon Pipers) #3 “Spooky” (Classics IV)…and…#4 “Judy In Disguise” (John Fred & His Playboy Band) #5 “Chain Of Fools” (Aretha Franklin) #6 “I Wish It Would Rain” (The Temptations) #7 “Going Out Of My Head / Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (The Lettermen) #8 “Nobody But Me” (The Human Beinz) #9 “Woman, Woman” (The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) #10 “Bend Me, Shape Me” (The American Breed)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 1) The five ahead of Ralph Kiner on the career home run list when he retired after the ’55 season with 369 home runs were Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams. 2) Kiner had 215 home runs his first five seasons and Albert Pujols, 201, is the only other player to exceed 200. Eddie Mathews is third with 190.
Two last tidbits on Kiner…for now. It’s amazing to think he didn’t reach the Hall of Fame until his 15th and final year of eligibility in 1975 and with just one vote to spare, but then he only had a ten-year career and that was held against him.
And as for “Kiner’s Korner,” the postgame show, it’s hard to describe for folks who didn’t see it but especially in the period of the 1960s thru ‘80s, it was one of a kind. Just a real laid back review of the game with the stars of that particular contest and the thing was Ralph got everyone to come on. Guests would receive $50 and a watch (later $100), but for the visiting teams it was great exposure in the New York market.
You also have to remember that games in those days were super quick, normally in the 2:30 range, so it wasn’t that late when the show was airing and the players could still hit the town after, if that was in their plans.
But here’s the sad part. Picture how Ralph had all the greats on in a unique format (until it became frowned upon, the players openly drank beer on the show, for example), but some idiot at Channel 9 taped over all the early shows except for a few episodes in the ‘80s. What a travesty. Had they been saved, with today’s cable selections, fans of the sport from all over would be watching them nightly. A real shame.
[New York Daily News sports reporter Gary Myers got his start interning on “Kiner’s Korner” and says it was easily the best job of his career. He also only had the kindest things to say about his old boss.]
* I also can’t help but shamelessly promote my sis-in-law, Cindy Kane, who has won multiple awards already for her children’s book, “Parrots over Puerto Rico,” co-authored by Susan L. Roth. So pick up a copy for your K-8 kids and Cindy may cook me a delicious meal like she did Saturday night! [Take pity on me…it’s the only good food I eat. Plus my Bro and Cindy always have a great selection of beer for moi…while I’m responsible for bringing the wine.]
