[Posted early Wed. a.m.]
Baseball Quiz: The other day the Mets’ announcers were talking about this record so…post-1900, Ron Hunt holds the record for most hit by pitches in a season at 50, 1971, and I know a few of you will know Nos. 2 and 3, modern day, but who are they (hint: at 35 and 34 times)? Answer below.
NBA Free Agency…Kevin Durant
As one sportswriter put it, ‘way to give us a day off on our national holiday, Kevin,’ with Durant’s announcement he was leaving Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors.
Let me start out by saying I totally do NOT respect this.
Here’s my attitude about those in any team sport wanting to get a championship before they retire. It’s one thing if you were stuck on, say, New Orleans, and you’ve been a perennial All-Star but the team’s future looks bleak and you have maybe three big years left. No one would begrudge someone in that position making a move.
But Oklahoma City is obviously very close and why wouldn’t Durant wait just one more season, potentially Russell Westbrook’s last year, with an improving Steven Adams, especially since if you hadn’t choked yourself in key moments, Kevin, you might have gone all the way this past June!
So as I noted a while back, Durant was going to sign a two-year deal (in this case for $54.3 million), with an opt-out so he can renegotiate a bigger, longer-term contract when the salary cap rises further next summer.
Durant wrote on the Players’ Tribune website (which then crashed): “I am at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth….
“It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career.”
You can’t beat ‘em, so join ‘em. Weak.
Or as the New York Times’ Harvey Araton put it, “If you can’t beat ‘em, befriend ‘em.”
“In the era of the NBA’s elite bonding abroad during Olympic and world championship tournaments, Durant became best buds with Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala, both of whom attended the Warriors’ meeting with Durant in the Hamptons.
“What about his supposedly brotherly relationship with his Thunder co-star Russell Westbrook? Durant apparently decided he could live without Westbrook’s solo theatrics and could genuinely be interested in curtailing his own.”
Stephen A. Smith / ESPN
“I’m viewing (KD’s) move as the weakest I’ve ever seen from a superstar….
“Don’t give a damn what anyone says: weak move by KD. You go to GSW, the team who beat you, when you’re already on a title contender? Please!….
“Kevin Durant is one of the top three players in the world. And he ran away from the challenge that he faces in order to jump on the bandwagon of a team that’s a little bit better.”
J.A. Adande / ESPN
“Let’s start by eliminating the notion that Kevin Durant is taking the easy way out by joining the Golden State Warriors. There’s nothing easy about becoming one of the greatest basketball players in the world.
“And there’s nothing easy about winning an NBA championship. Nothing. No matter how much talent is on the roster….
“(Ask) LeBron James how easy things went that first year in Miami, when the chorus of outraged fans took so much pleasure in his shortcomings in the NBA Finals.
“LeBron, of course, is the template for modern-day superstar free agency, a player fully aware of his ability to shift the landscape and willing to prioritize his individual desires. Maybe Durant would be less inclined to take this bold step if LeBron’s move to Miami had not worked out so well.
“Still, Durant is a pioneer in that we’ve never seen an MVP-caliber player join a team that just knocked him out of the playoffs in a hard-fought series. LeBron never faced the Heat in the postseason. Shaq hadn’t played the Lakers before he joined them in 1996. LaMarcus Aldridge did join the Spurs a year after losing to them in the playoffs but (A) that series ended in five games, hardly enough time to build up any animosity and (B) there’s no such thing as a ‘contentious’ series with the Spurs anyway. (Seriously, when was the last time there was bad blood between the teams after a Spurs series?)
“The risk for Durant is that there will be little credit for victory and a torrent of Crying Jordans the likes of which the world has never seen should the Warriors lose. But what characterizes every great player is they are unafraid of failure.”
Whatever.
As for OKC GM Sam Presti, he could trade Westbrook if it seems unlikely he’ll sign a long-term deal before he reaches free agency after next season; the Lakers being a likely destination since they have some young talent they could send to the Thunder in return.
Harvey Araton:
“Durant’s departure is unfortunate for Presti and a city that has zealously supported its team since it moved there in 2008. But if the franchise could jilt basketball-loving Seattle, let’s spare Durant any kneejerk criticism for leaving a place ‘that raised me,’ as he wrote, and not long after gushing with affection for it in a Sports Illustrated article.
“Players earn and deserve their freedom of movement. It’s business. And despite the cogent argument that the formation of so-called super teams at the expense of diligently constructed outfits like the Thunder is damaging to the league’s competitive balance, the most recent finals television ratings – the highest since Michael Jordan’s last Chicago title run in 1998 – practically scream that it’s also good business.”
The impact of Durant’s decision to join the Warriors means that small forward Harrison Barnes was expendable, and he is signing a four-year, $95 million contract with Dallas, while Golden State is trading center Andrew Bogut, also to the Mavs, to clear cap space.
I could see if Durant went to the Los Angeles Clippers (or the Celtics), which would have been a challenge, but the Warriors? C’mon. If they now win it all, are we going to respect Durant more? No freakin’ way.
I’m just a typical fan, whose team is the Knicks but there are other teams I found likable, like San Antonio and, yes, Golden State. But not anymore re the latter.
Neil Greenberg / Washington Post
“In essence, the Warriors improved on a squad that won an NBA-record 73 games last season while simultaneously weakening their top rival in the Western Conference in the process. But the questions now become, how much more can Durant help Golden State? And where will he have the most impact?
“Golden State must cut ties (with Barnes and Bogut) to make room for Durant’s deal….
“If those are indeed the casualties from the signing, it is clear the Warriors get an upgrade.”
Greenberg, who is the Post’s stats guy, says when you use Mike Beuoy’s win probability metric, “Durant is worth between eight and 10 more wins than the combination of Barnes and Bogut, but that production is possible because Durant uses over 30 percent of the Thunder’s offensive possessions.” [And he won’t get that with GS.]
Hell will freeze over before I give a damn about some of the new hoops stats, but I know some of you out there like ‘em.
–Meanwhile, San Antonio signed the Bulls’ Pau Gasol to a two-year, $30 million+ contract and, coupled with Durant’s signing, as first reported by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Tim Duncan is “strongly” leaning toward retirement. [The Spurs are also trading Boris Diaw to the Jazz to free up cap space.]
–The Knicks continued their fascinating offseason, signing point guard Brandon Jennings to a one-year, $5 million deal to backup newly acquired Derrick Rose. Jennings, 26, has had some solid seasons (albeit with a hideous shooting percentage), but when he came back last midseason after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon a year earlier he clearly lacked his old explosiveness.
But, just as in the case of Rose and Joakim Noah, if Jennings can stay on the floor he makes the Knicks better. They also re-signed swingman Lance Thomas, a solid bench player.
On paper, Knicks fans have to like the moves the team has made. If Kristaps Porzingis just makes minimal strides from his solid rookie season, it could be a fun team. But as I said last time, they aren’t better than 44-38…and only if they’re reasonably healthy.
MLB…Ball Bits
–The Mets treated their fans to a stirring Fourth of July win, coming back from down 6-0 to the Marlins to win 8-6 on a Yoenis Cespedes two-run double in the eighth off reliever Fernando Rodney, who had given up one earned run all season. The Mets aren’t known for this…only the fourth time this season that they have rallied to win after trailing in the sixth inning.
But the Metsies got a dreadful performance out of starter Matt Harvey, who is lucky not to have picked up his 11th loss as he gave up all six runs (five earned) on 11 hits in just 3 2/3; Harvey’s season mark at 4-10, 4.86. After some recent positive efforts, it’s back to the drawing board for the one-time ace. At least his velocity was as good as it’s been all season.
Anyway, the Mets were on a roll and then, inexplicably, they called up Jose Reyes for Tuesday’s game when we had been told by manager Terry Collins the day before Reyes wasn’t coming up yet. Plus Reyes himself has said he didn’t want to join the big club until he was ready. He’s going through his own spring training, after all, and was just 6-for-34 in the minors.
So why did he make his return to the Mets on Tuesday? Who knows (actually, only GM Sandy Alderson knows). Reyes went 0-for-4, batting leadoff and playing third, and the Mets lost to Miami 5-2 as Giancarlo Stanton drove in all five with two monster home runs. End of momentum.
–Last time I pointed out how lousy Yankees starter Nate Eovaldi has been in his last six starts. Monday, manager Joe Girardi demoted the hurler to the bullpen, replaced in the rotation by Chad Green.
And to all Yankees fans, I apologize that in noting Mark Teixeira’s two home runs Sunday, I failed to add the first was the 400th of his career.
–I have to note Arizona hurler Zack Greinke was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday because of a left oblique and the team expects him back after the All-Star break, but you know how these things go. Greinke is 10-3 with a 3.62 ERA after a horrendous start.
–On the issue of home runs in baseball….
Bob Nightengale / USA TODAY Sports
“There’s something strange happening out there in the baseball universe, but despite all of baseball’s advancements in technology and analytics, there’s no clear explanation.
“The baseballs have been checked, re-checked, and checked again, and nothing funny has been detected.
“The players are being checked and re-checked themselves, undergoing more drug tests than ever….
“Yet, it’s as if we’re back in time, with baseballs flying out of ballparks like it’s the golden days of the steroid era, back when Barry Bonds was hitting a record-setting 73 home runs and Sammy Sosa was hitting at least 50 a year four consecutive seasons.
“Major League Baseball is on pace to produce the second-most home runs in history, trailing only the 2000 season. Teams are averaging 1.15 home runs per game this year, up 145 from a year ago, and 34% from two years ago when baseball’s power was at a 20-year low.
“Just two years ago, we had only one 40-homer hitter, Nelson Cruz, and 11 who hit at least 30. Now, we may quadruple that amount.
“There are 49 players on pace to hit 30 or more home runs, with 12 already eclipsing the 20-homer mark one week before the All-Star break.
“Two years ago, the Orioles were the only team that finished with 200 homers. Now, nearly half of the 30 teams are on pace to hit the mark, with the Orioles again leading the way with an eye-popping 128.”
But the strikeout rate of eight per inning is also at an all-time high. Five players have already struck out at least 100 times, and 51 players have struck out at least 70 times.
“We’re now on pace to have more than three times as many players strike out 140 or more times than we had in 2001.
“This may be the height of the Three True Outcomes Era – home run, strikeout, walk.”
And you can also blame the power surge on the power pitchers.
“There are 35 pitchers alone who are averaging 97 mph on their fastball this season….
“ ‘You don’t see a lot of guys who are just picking at the corners, trying to nibble,’ says Oakland Athletics left-hander Rich Hill. ‘You see guys going right after hitters. Hitters know that, and it makes the game fun.
“ ‘It’s your best against their best.’”
–Maria Guardado of NJ.com had a piece on a study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports which showed that 28.5 percent of all MLB players on 2016 Opening Day rosters were Latino, yet despite such a sizable contingent, there are no Latino managers, and only two of the 30 managers are minorities; the Nationals’ Dusty Baker and the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, both African-American.
Of the 697 men who have ever served as major league managers, only 15 have been Latino.
I think baseball, especially since the adoption of the Selig Rule in 1999, that was aimed at diversifying MLB”s workforce, is making a sincere effort, it’s just going to be cyclical.
But Alex Cora, who played 14 years in the majors and has interviewed for two manager jobs with the Padres and Rangers, says the Selig Rule simply yields token interviews for minority candidates.
–Talk about a dirtball, that’s Zack Hample, the guy who got a lot of notoriety for holding Alex Rodriguez’ 3,000th hit ball hostage. Hample showed up at the Marlins-Braves game Sunday night in Fort Bragg, tweeting pictures from there and showing a ball he got (they are specially marked and I guess worth something down the road).
The problem is, he shouldn’t have been allowed in because tickets to the game were non-transferable and limited to Department of Defense employees or those of MLB, i.e., soldiers and their families on the base, plus Pentagon employees. Hample claims a base member gave him a ticket that wasn’t being used, but Hample was shown earlier on Twitter looking for tickets. Just a jerk.
–I couldn’t care less about who made the All-Star teams. I don’t watch the home run derby either. It’s a good break for me.
–Finally, back to the story of Tony Horton, who I mentioned briefly last time. I was talking about the Indians’ Rajai Davis, who hit for the cycle last weekend, and others who had done it in an Indians uniform and I just had to look up Horton, who accomplished the feat in 1970, and I was kind of startled to see he retired that year at age 25, my remembrance as a 12-year-old fan at the time being his career lasted a lot longer.
In reading Horton’s page on baseballreference.com, I saw a piece from SABR by Mark Kanter and Mark Armour.
“In 1970, the stress of the game grew more difficult for Horton. After a three-homer game against the Yankees on May 24, a game the Indians lost, Horton was visibly down on himself for his failure to deliver in his last time up, angrily calling himself a ‘blockhead.’ He did not homer again for three-and-a-half weeks. He did go 4-for-5 with a grand slam on June 21, and hit for the cycle against the Orioles on July 2.
“On June 24 against the Yankees’ Steve Hamilton, Horton swung and missed on one of Hamilton’s famed eephus pitches, so-called ‘folly floaters,’ then fouled the second one to the catcher. Returning to the dugout, Horton threw his cap and bat into the air, and crawled the last few steps to the dugout. The crowd roared, and everyone assumed it was a joke. Later, people wondered if it was.
“In early August, a briefly slumping Horton began to be booed by the home fans, but he turned the crowd around with a home run. Afterward, Tony admitted being bothered by the booing. He worked himself tirelessly to overcome his hitting drought, and reportedly stopped eating and drinking before finally suffering what was later believed to have been a nervous breakdown sometime after his last game, which was on August 28. The Los Angeles Times on September 9 reported that Horton was sent home to Santa Monica due to ‘physical exhaustion.’ The slump was not just a slump, though. By season’s end, Tony had hit .269 with 17 home runs in 115 games, numbers very much in line with his fine statistics in 1968 and 1969.”
He never played again.
The great Bill Madden attempted to interview Horton about his breakdown and retirement from the game in 1997 and Horton wouldn’t talk about his baseball career. In an article in Baseball Digest, Madden wrote that Horton had tried to commit suicide while with the Indians, “as reported by a Cleveland hotel owner where the attempt allegedly took place.”*
* In all sincerity, I feel bad writing this last bit as Mr. Horton is still alive, but to me it is part of the story and I assume at age 71 he is in a much better place.
In 2006, Madden asked Horton if he could be interviewed for his book on the 1967 Red Sox, who Horton played with before being traded to the Indians on June 4 of that year. Horton, as is the case to this day, refused to talk about his time in the game but it seems clear his breakdown, according to Bill Madden, was “due to the pressure of never living up to his father’s expectations.”
So I bring all this up because I wrote this a year ago in Bar Chat, 6/29/15:
This past Wednesday represented the 45th anniversary of a special date in New York Yankees history, June 24, 1970, a doubleheader with the Indians, and your editor was there.
My childhood buddy Jeff’s father took us to Yankee Stadium, school having just ended for the summer (and even though Jeff and I were Mets fans). I think Mr. Williams got the tickets through his employer, which is why we got to go because I recall the seats being very good.
Well, in the first game of a 7-2 Cleveland win (a complete game by Sam McDowell, though he struck out just four in running his record to 10-4), Bobby Murcer homered in the ninth for the Yankees.
Then in the second game, which the Yanks won 5-4, Murcer homered his first three times up for four in a row.
But the doubleheader was memorable because in the top of the ninth inning of game one, Yankee reliever Steve Hamilton threw his lobbed pitch, the Folly Floater (where he came to a complete stop before tossing it high in the air), inducing Cleveland’s Tony Horton to foul out meekly, after which Horton, as he approached the dugout, crawled into it.
What’s kind of funny is that I looked up Hamilton’s obituary in the New York Times, the pitcher having died at an early age in 1997, 62, and the account says Hamilton struck out Horton on three pitches. Just not true. You can see the at bat on YouTube.
But in the articles last week on the doubleheader, with Murcer’s exploits and Hamilton’s, there was nothing on a stark remembrance of mine. A spectator threw an ash can at Indians catcher Ray Fosse that exploded at his feet. [He was OK.]
These were wild times. Fan misbehavior was rampant, witness how Mets fans tore up the Shea Stadium turf twice in the 1969 post-season, though the second time didn’t matter.
I was listening to the Mets-Reds game on Saturday night on radio and the Mets broadcasters were reliving the drama of the 1973 Mets-Reds playoff at Shea, the game where Pete Rose barreled into Bud Harrelson at short and started a huge brawl.
Afterwards, you wouldn’t believe what the Mets fans were throwing at Rose in the outfield. I sure remember…lots of big batteries, for starters. It got so bad that four Mets had to go out to calm the faithful, or the Mets risked having to forfeit.
Anyway, back to June 24, 1970, it brought back great memories, including of Mr. Williams, a classic in the Ward Cleaver mold who died way too young himself just a few years after.
Wimbledon
Normalcy returned to the All England Club following the historic takedown of No. 1 Novak Djokovic by American Sam Querrey. Roger Federer equaled Jimmy Connors’ Open-era record by reaching his 14th Wimbledon quarterfinal, winning his first four matches in straight sets.
So with Djokovic out, Federer is on a collision course with Andy Murray, who is in the other bracket.
Federer faces No. 9 Marin Cilic, who advanced when 5-seed Kei Nishikori retired in the second set.
Murray reached his ninth Wimbledon quarterfinal, defeating Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios in straight sets, as he’ll face 12-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday.
Querrey suffered no hangover in beating Nicolas Mahut to become the first American man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Mardy Fish in 2011 and the first to make it that far at any Grand Slam since John Isner and Andy Roddick at the 2011 U.S. Open. [It is also Querrey’s first Grand Slam quarterfinal.]
On the women’s side, Serena and Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals, with Venus getting there for the first time at Wimbledon since 2010, which is kind of shocking. A five-time champ here, Venus last won in 2008. At 36, she is the oldest to advance to a major quarterfinal in 22 years, when Martina Navratilova made the final at the age of 37.
And then on Tuesday, Venus made it to the semis, which is rather phenomenal, defeating Yaroslava Shvedova.
So Venus is going to go up against 4-seed Angelique Kerber, while sister Serena also made the semis and will go against unseeded Elena Vesnina. [Oh yeah, I know a lot about Vesnina and Shvedova.]
Ergo, Serena and Venus could face off in the finals for the first time since 2009.
Serena is seeking her seventh Wimbledon title and, once again, looking for Grand Slam No. 22. Last year’s Wimbledon was her last GS triumph.
But back to the Murray-Kyrgios match, I caught the second half of it and Kyrgios’ behavior was just flat out weird.
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Nick Kyrgios has long craved admiration for being a maverick. It is not enough, at this rarefied level of competition, to be convinced you are the next big thing in tennis simply by virtue of flair and flamboyance.
“Not if you insist, as Kyrgios did during this inexplicably absent-minded defeat to Andy Murray, on rushing points, refusing to sit down at changeovers, and generally cursing the unfairness of the universe.
“The Australian’s first thought, upon taking his seat for the warm-ups yesterday, was to send a text message. In its way, it was a refreshing antidote to Wimbledon’s starchy codes of decorum. But Kyrgios proceeded, over the next hour and 43 minutes, to demonstrate the flipside to this too-cool-for-school attitude.
“He was a cat on a hot tin roof, muttering, flouncing and offering, according to John McEnroe during a crazy blow-out of a second set, no better than 80 percent. Aptly, given his melodramatic nature, he rounded off his day with a press conference of the most extraordinary fatalism.
“ ‘I don’t love this sport,’ he said. ‘But I don’t know what else to do without it.’ He spoke like a man on the edge of some psychological precipice, with a sense of resignation so acute it was possible to feel slightly sorry for him….
‘He is crying out for the counsel of an expert like McEnroe, who would tell Kyrgios for nothing that he is never going to be the player he thinks he is without resilience and discipline.
“But in spite of his latest unraveling, the adolescent rebellion goes on. Ultimately, there is no helping one who shows no interest in being helped.”
U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials
–Boy, Monday night’s 800 meter women’s final was rather tragic. A collision in the final curve took out two of the race favorites, Alysia Montano and Brenda Martinez, allowing Kate Grace to claim the upset victory, ahead of Ajee Wilson and Chrishuna Williams.
Officials reviewed the tape and deemed the crash the result of incidental contact. I saw it the same way. No one was disqualified.
Montano is a woman I’ve followed for years and she finished fifth at the London Games, but should receive a bronze soon because two of the Russians who finished with medals have since had their samples from the Games retested and they came back positive. The accident was just one of those things that happens. It’s like the time Tyson Gay blew out his hamstring at the Trials.
–When I was posting Sunday night, I didn’t have a chance to mention a very cool deal. Former NFL quarterbacking great Randall Cunningham’s daughter, Vashti, made the high jump team for Rio at the age of 18, 14 years younger that Chaunte Lowe, who won the Trials. Vashti’s brother, Randall Cunningham II, as best as I can ascertain, is still entered in the upcoming men’s qualifier.
–You know what event I’m looking forward to at Rio. The men’s and women’s 4X100 relays against Jamaica (assuming Usain Bolt is healthy).
The leader of the U.S. men’s team, Justin Gatlin, who in winning the 100m Trials’ event on Sunday ran a 9.80, the fastest time in the world this year, said, “We wanna win gold medals in our individual [races], but we wanna bring that gold medal back home for America, and I think these guys will help carry the torch forward.”
But I liked what my girl (hey, I did predict her success), English Gardner, the women’s 100 meter champion, said of their upcoming race against the Jamaicans. “Our relay is going to be nasty, I promise you that.”
Teammate Tianna Bartoletta said, “I’m so excited. This is the first time I’m really looking forward to relay camps.”
Bartoletta is also the reigning world champion in the long jump and will do both in Rio.
Euro 2016
3:00 p.m. ET / ESPN
Wed. Portugal v. Wales…Ronaldo v. Bale
Thurs. Germany v. France
—Leicester City signed a top winger/striker, Ahmed Musa of Nigeria and CSKA Moscow. The 23-year-old scored 54 goals in 168 games and scored twice in Nigeria’s 3-2 loss to Argentina at the 2014 World Cup.
—Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud in Spain, while his father received 15 months. I have written of Messi’s tax travails before and while this seems like a stunning development, it is highly unlikely Messi will actually serve any time, assuming he loses his appeal. But the story is just breaking and I haven’t had a chance to fully delve into Spanish law.
Golf Balls
–It’s going to be a strange weekend, with no PGA Tour event, the Greenbrier Classic having been canceled due to severe flooding at the resort and the surrounding area, with 15 dead in Greenbrier County and thousands of lives impacted. CBS is showing old tournaments on Sat. and Sun., and while I am a huge golf fan, I won’t watch a second of it, except I may tune in at the start of coverage on Sat. just to see what they show in terms of the condition of the Greenbrier.
We’ve all seen the pictures and they aren’t good. Lee Trevino, who lives there and is the resort’s golf pro emeritus, witnessed the rain from his porch and when it finally ended walked to the club, where he bumped into Bubba Watson, who also has a place at the Greenbrier. “I was devastated,” Trevino said later. “I could not believe what I was looking at.”
Tim Rosaforte of Golf World wrote: “The Old White TPC, host course to The Greenbrier Classic, was completely covered by floodwaters that had risen seven feet above the banks of Howard’s Creek. The debris included refrigerators, dishwashers and cars….
“(Josh Pope, superintendent of Old White said), you can’t really explain the magnitude of this event unless you see it with your own eyes….It just left us all in a daze or shell-shocked. We really didn’t understand what was happening at that time…We’re still assessing the damage. It seems like we might find something new every time we take a look.”
Those in charge of the course still hope they can hold the championship there next year, but here is the key, as described by Rosaforte:
“They have until Sept. 15 to clean up the property, dredge and reline the lakes, clear the silt off the fairways and get the irrigation system operable, hoping that the soil and water isn’t contaminated, in order to be able to regrass areas of the course so that they can be tournament ready come next summer.”
That sounds monumental…just ten weeks to get it done.
–For the record, Dustin Johnson, with his win at the WGC-Bridgestone, passed Jordan Spieth as No. 2 in the world, a high for D.J. Johnson, by the way, had nine drives of 350 yards or longer last weekend. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
Stuff
–Congratulations to one of the great athletes of any generation, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who upset Matt Stonie to regain the Mustard Yellow International Belt in scarfing down a world record 70 hot dogs and buns at Nathan’s Famous annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest in Coney Island. Stonie only ingested 53 in finishing second.
In the women’s division, Miki Sudo defended her championship in downing 38 ½ dogs and buns in 10 minutes, swallowing 4 ½ more wieners than one-time title holder Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas.
Back to Chestnut, in a qualifying event prior to Monday, he ate a record 73 ½ hot dogs.
Chestnut and Sudo each won $10,000 for their efforts, while Stonie and Thomas take down $5,000 apiece.
–As reported by the Daily Telegraph, “A Chinese businessman is suing an Australian escort agency to which he paid more than $2.5 million, believing he was going to get to spend the night with Hollywood stars including Megan Fox, it has been claimed.
“The man paid (the sum) for supposed encounters with Ms. Fox along with Victoria’s Secret model Candice Swanepoel [no relation to former Met Ed Kranepool] and Chinese model and actress Yang Ying. Named as Yu Xu, the businessman believed he had arranged for the women to meet him in China….
“There is no suggestion that Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel or Yang Ying, known by her nickname ‘Angelababy,’ are escorts.”
I’m really not sure what the heck happened. I’m guessing the agency took the money and sent him some web links. “Here, enjoy.”
–Long time readers, like way, way back, will remember how I used to talk about the mighty wolverine, No. 28 on the All-Species List (with the standing being reevaluated), and so I have to note a story from the Los Angeles Times by William Yardley, where he talks of the efforts of researchers to track one of these vicious warriors, that, shockingly, “number fewer than 300 in the contiguous United States,” including one captured and tagged around Christmas 2008 in Wyoming.
Actually, they placed a transmitter inside the critter, M56, or Male 56, the label given to him by wildlife biologist Bob Inman.
“At 32 pounds, M56 was one of the heavier males captured. He was believed to be about 18 months old.”
So picture, with fewer than 300 in the U.S., finding a mate each spring is a challenge. Many wolverines travel hundreds of miles in search of Megan Fox, err, a female of the same species.
Through tracking, Inman and his team know that M56 has climbed 10,000-foot peaks in a few hours, but also endured arid lowlands.
“On Memorial Day weekend 2009, he crossed Interstate 80 and by June entered Colorado, the first confirmed wolverine there in 90 years.”
The state fell in love with his story. It provided momentum for a push to reintroduce wolverines in Colorado.
But the wolverine didn’t become a protected species until 2013. Then in Aug. 2014, the decision was reversed. The wolverine wasn’t protected. Lawsuits followed in both cases.
Then a federal judge threw out the Fish and Wildlife Service decision and it was protected again. The judge made his decision on ‘evidence’ that with global warming, the snow-dependent species was indeed in danger.
But what the service nor the judge made note of in their decisions was that the last confirmed sighting of M56 had been in October 2012. After that, his signal went silent and sightings ceased.
And then, as William Yardley writes, on Sunday morning at the end of this past April, “Jared Hatter, a ranch hand in North Dakota, jumped in his truck and rushed to a pasture. Something was stirring up his father-in-law’s cattle.
“The family owns about 200 head of black Angus cattle, and each year they sell about 150 calves for $600 to $1,000 a head….
“ ‘Them cows raise our kid, pay our pickup payments, pay our maintenance,’ he said.
“The cows, protecting their calves, had surrounded a furry intruder. They broke their circle when Hatter pulled up. The intruder tried to flee. Hatter aimed his .223 caliber rifle and fired a single shot into the back of its head.
“That evening, he and his wife, Jena, scoured the Internet to identify the creature. They learned of efforts to track wolverines and the push for federal protection.
“Hatter called the state the next morning to report the shooting. Biologists came out the same day….
“Stephanie Tucker, North Dakota’s furbearer biologist, conducted a necropsy and was surprised at how healthy the animal was, given its apparent age, 10. “No parasites, organs intact. She found a transmitter sewn inside the abdomen. She called Inman.
“ ‘Honestly, I didn’t even think about M56 in Colorado,’ Inman said. ‘But when I looked up the number, bam, there it is, M56.’
“Hatter would face no charges; it is legal in North Dakota to shoot a furbearing animal perceived to be threatening livestock.
“But he did face a backlash. He had posted five pictures on Facebook with a caption: ‘Killed this here critter out tormenting the cows yesterday.’
“Before he made his account private, he received what he said were 4,000 friend requests, few of which were actually friendly.
“ ‘You killed so-and-so wolverine,’ he said, summarizing some of the messages. ‘We’ll come kill you.’”
Hatter points out, aside from the fact he has no regrets, that he reported it instead of dumping M56 in a creek, to be eaten by vultures.
But at the same time, M56 did not harm any of the cattle – “and there were no reports of him doing so in Colorado.” However, had Hatter not reported it, “no one would have known that M56 could demonstrate enough restlessness and resourcefulness to travel not only from Wyoming to Colorado but all the way to North Dakota, where no wolverine had been confirmed since statehood in 1889.”
Understand M56 was 700 miles from the Colorado Rockies. That’s incredible.
Then again, a few years ago you had the case of the mountain lion in Connecticut that was later proved to have come from the Black Hills of South Dakota.
By the way, M56 is supposedly being stuffed and put on display in a museum in Bismarck.
Our sympathy to his extended family and his wives. May his memory never die.
Top 3 songs for the week 7/2/77: #1 “Gonna Fly Now” (Bill Conti…I’m sorry, if you think this one has aged well, then you probably think Vladimir Putin would make for a good next door neighbor…) #2 “Undercover Angel” (Alan O’Day…I’m sure he’s a nice boy, but this is dreadful…) #3 “Got To Give It Up” (Marvin Gaye…I loved Marvin…but this was one of his worst…)…and…#4 “Da Doo Ron Ron” (Shaun Cassidy…eegads…) #5 “Looks Like We Made It” (Barry Manilow…sanity…actual music…) #6 “Dreams” (Fleetwood Mac) #7 “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” (Andy Gibb) #8 “Angel In Your Arms” (Hot…makes me cold…) #9 “Jet Airliner” (The Steve Miller Band) #10 “Margaritaville” (Jimmy Buffett)
Baseball Quiz Answer: HBP, post-1900…
Ron Hunt, 50, 1971
Don Baylor, 35, 1986
Craig Biggio, 34, 1997
Steve Evans, 31, 1910
Jason Kendall, 31, in both 1997 and ‘98
Now for many Mets fans, Ron Hunt was a huge favorite, a two-time All-Star in ’64 and ’66, but he set his HBP mark with Montreal. I always have to also mention his on-base percentage, .368 lifetime, which is darn good.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
