Baseball Quiz: 1) Who was the last A.L. rookie to get 200 hits?
2) Who was the last N.L. rookie to get 200 hits? [Hint: Think
1960s] 3) Most hits by a switch-hitter, season, N.L.? 4) Most
hits by a switch-hitter, season, A.L.? Answers below.
Baseball Tidbits
And, as always, we try to honor those whose baseball cards may
not be of much value today, as well as the stars of yesteryear.
It”s amazing how many start off with a bang, only to fade.
–April 14, 1936: Cardinals” rookie Eddie Morgan pinch-hit and
homered on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues for his only
home run in a 39-game career. He finished it 14-for-66, .212.
–April 19, 1938: In the top of the 1st inning at Philadelphia,
Dodger Ernie Koy homered in his first major league at bat.
[“Chief” Koy ended up with 36 homers over his 5-year career.]
In the bottom of the same 1st inning, leadoff man Emmett
Mueller also hit a home run in his first time up in the majors.
Mueller hit 17, total, in his 4-season career.
–April 15, 1946: Mel Ott hit his 511th – and final – career home
run. Ott closed out his career with a miserable 5-for-68, .074
average in that last season. What”s astounding about the
collapse in productivity is that he hit .308 with 21 home runs the
previous year.
–April 17, 1947: Jackie Robinson got his first major league hit.
–April 20, 1948: Detroit”s George Vico hit a home run in his
first major league at bat. He finished his career with 12, in parts
of two seasons.
–April 20, 1949: Philadelphia”s Willie Jones hit 4 consecutive
doubles, tying a N.L. record. “Puddin” Head” finished that
season with 35 2Bs, along with 19 HRs and 77 RBIs. For his
career, Jones slammed 190 homers in 15 seasons. A pretty fair
player that I”m embarrassed to say I knew little of.
–April 21, 1971: Pirates” Willie Stargell had his second 3-homer
game in 11 days. He finished the month with a record 11 for
April. This mark has since been equaled by 4 others in the N.L.
Undoubtedly, it will be exceeded this year.
–April 17, 1976: Phillies” Mike Schmidt had 4 home runs and 8
RBIs as the Phillies rallied from a 12-2 deficit to beat the Cubs
18-12 in ten innings. Yes, the wind was blowing out. Schmidt
led the league that season with 38 homers.
–April 16, 1983: Steve Garvey (Padres) played in his 1,118th
consecutive game, breaking the N.L. record held by Billy
Williams. Garvey”s streak ended at 1,207 when he injured his
thumb. And Garvey, despite the All-American Boy image he
loved to portray, was a dirtball.
*Not for nothing, but aren”t you tired of 9-8 ballgames from
Coors Field?
The Animal Kingdom…it”s war!
Where to begin. Geezuz, I”m tellin” ya, forget U.S. / China
relations, folks, the bigger issue is how do we prevent all out
global conflict with the animals? To wit.
Johnny Mac passed along a Reuters story from eastern India
where 60 elephants have been rampaging through some villages.
Said one official, “Close to two dozen people are staying in the
treetops with family members because they are afraid of them.”
And what is the problem? Well, of course there is deforestation,
which is taking away the pachyderms” homeland. It also doesn”t
help matters that the beasts aren”t receiving fair value for the
property. But, in this particular case, the elephants are attracted
to the smell of alcohol, specifically, handia…a local brew made
of fermented rice. [Which reminded me of a trip I took to India
back in 1985. The beer was awesome, as was the Indian food,
then, after three weeks I made the near fatal mistake of eating an
American meal. Word to the wise…never eat chicken a la king
that has been sitting out in 90 degree heat for hours. But I
digress.]
It turns out that 6 people have been killed by elephants in the
region in just the past 18 months. Now if these animals hook up
with their brethren in Africa (and who”s to say the lines of
communication are not already open), look out.
Sharks!
And then there are the sharks off the eastern Florida coast, which
this week attacked seven people, though none of the bites were
deemed to be life-threatening (how many are now confined to
scooters, though, I couldn”t ascertain). Most were surfers, but
one was a wave-boarder. As to this latter instance, the kid was
obviously in very shallow water, i.e., the sharks could be moving
inland before we know it. And this particular group of killers,
each only about 5-ft. long (but it”s early), is migrating northward,
meaning they will be off the coast of New Jersey in a month or
two. As a Jersey resident, all I can do is sound the alarm. Our
StocksandNews helicopter will be monitoring the beaches
closely.
…And Bears, Oh My!
Well, just a little while ago I wrote with excitement that New
Jersey”s black bears would soon be emerging from their dens.
Alas, one 500-pounder has wreaked incredible damage in the
northwest part of the state. Farmer Greg Galfo saw that one of
his sheep had been attacked, but when he looked in the barn it
was a scene out of a horror movie. This bear had broken in and
killed 7 future lamb chops (actually, probably about 70 servings
worth, but you get my point). As the Star-Ledger”s Greg Saitz
reported, farmer Galfo said, “I think he went in there and just
wound into a killing frenzy. It”s like a massacre.”
Unfortunately for bears in my state, there is a one-strike-and-
you”re-out policy. But as of this writing, this particular bruin has
eluded capture. Galfo added, “He”s a killer…whether he”ll hurt
a person, who”s to know.” [It does need to be pointed out that in
the history of my state, no human has ever been killed by a black
bear.]
A state wildlife official added, “Now we”re really in the most
active period (with them) coming out of their dens.” Since
StocksandNews will be busy on shark patrol shortly, the editor
has to rearrange the work schedules to accommodate bear watch
as well. So many responsibilities.
Da Whales
But then there are the protests over the Japanese and their
penchant for whaling. One of their big boats came into harbor
this week with the latest catch and it created quite a stir. One
proponent said, “I think it would be better for all if more people
around the world ate whale meat. [It”s being promoted as a beef
alternative for those worried about mad cow and foot-and-
mouth.] People eat kangaroo meat. Kangaroos are cute too,
aren”t they?”
Save the whale! Give them feet! Mothra vs. Orca!
Fresh Fish
On a different topic, I bet you didn”t know that water from
abandoned coalmines is being used in Appalachia for the
purposes of harvesting fish. Nationwide, fish farming is a $1
billion industry and in the case of West Virginia and Kentucky, it
could start to boom.
According to the AP, the water that once needed to be pumped
out of mines, in order for the miners to work, is perfect for
raising coldwater fish. Said one expert, “Mines act as sort of
natural cisterns, as clean mountain water continually seeps in.”
The water is low in sulfur content (which is why the area”s coal
is so attractive because it is cleaner burning) and the groundwater
has a constant temperature.an important element of successful
farming. Currently, about 400,000 lbs. of arctic char (like
salmon) and rainbow trout are being produced in West Virginia.
The state thinks they can increase that to 10 million pounds in
just a few years.
Smiley
Harvey Ball died last week. Harvey was the creator of the
“smiley face” of 60s fame. Yes, he is the man who brought
misery to the rest of us with that infernal yellow circle, outlined
in black with two dots and a “loopy grin.”
In the early 60s, a Worcester, MA insurance company acquired
an Ohio outfit. Evidently the merger went poorly and morale
was low. So the Massachusetts company proposed a “friendship
campaign” to boost spirits. The marketing director turned to
Ball, who was working as a commercial artist and had done some
work for the director before. Ball then came up with Smiley, as
he called it, in 10 minutes. The company put the face on 100
buttons, but they became so popular that they began to reorder
them in batches of 10,000. And then they really took off.
But guess what? Harvey didn”t profit one bit because he failed
to copyright it. He actually collected all of $45 in fees. $45.
Obviously, Ball was miffed over the years when others claimed it
as their own. There”s a big lesson here, boys and girls, copyright
everything.
Good News
Skier Bill Johnson, profiled last week in this space, has come out
of his coma and is responding to simple commands. He is a
long, long way from recovery, however.
Arizona
Yes, all of that love generated between the Arizona Wildcats and
their coach Lute Olsen has run its course. 4 of the players have
declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft; Arenas,
Jefferson, Gardner, and Wright. Actually, it seems like about
600 players have announced they are coming out early.
Absolutely ridiculous. 99% will end up Europe, not that there is
anything wrong with that. It”s just that they are idiots to think
they can make the jump to the NBA.
I receive a Wake Forest sports publication that does a good job
of keeping track of the athletes once they leave the program and I
saw where 7 of our former b-ball players are playing for teams in
Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Hey, that”s a solid career and
they can make good money. But you know what? Each one of
them stayed 4 years. The point being that these jerks going early
will end up in Europe anyway. Why not hang out at school until
the eligibility runs out? Oh well, in the case of Arizona, Olsen”s
graduation rate is something like 25% anyway. After these 4,
make that 22%. [I do think that out of the lot, Jefferson has the
potential to be a great player.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/13/68: #1 “Honey” (Bobby
Goldsboro) #2 “Young Girl” (The Union Gap) #3 “(Sittin”) On
The Dock Of The Bay” (Otis Redding).
Baseball Quiz Answer: 1) AL rookie / 200 hits: Nomar
Garciaparra, 1997, 209. 2) NL rookie / 200 hits: Dick Allen,
Phillies, 1964, 201. 3) Switch-hitter / NL: Pete Rose, Cincinnati,
1973, 230. 4) Switch-hitter / AL: Willie Wilson, K.C., 1980,
230.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…Steve Earle, and, maybe
MacArthur! Sorry, animal stories took precedence today.
