Baseball Quiz: 1) Most consecutive seasons 300 or more innings
pitched since 1920, N.L. and A.L. [Hint: N.L. hurler did it
either in the 50s or 60s. A.L. answer was profiled in Bar Chat
recently.] 2) Most wins by a teenager, season, A.L. and N.L.
[Hint: A.L. pitcher accomplished this in the 60s. N.L. chucker
was either 70s or 80s.] Answers below.
Nigerian Scams
The U.S. Secret Service has had its hands full the past few years
with what they describe as the “Mount Everest of Fraud,”
swindlers residing in Nigeria who prey on Westerners,
particularly in the U.S. Total take is now in the $billions. One-
quarter of all fraud cases that the Secret Service investigates
involve Nigerians, who are perpetrating insurance and bank
scams, as well as credit card and identity theft.
Now I bring this up because, until I read a recent story in U.S.
News, I had no idea as to the scope of things. I”m sure you all
have received the e-mails, as I have, from Nigerians promising
riches of all sorts, with the unsolicited letters containing
letterheads lifted from Nigerian banks or government agencies.
The solicitation normally offers “inside” deals on crude-oil sales,
or real estate, and they ask for “advance fees.” Just a tiny
response can net millions.
As the report said, “Some scammers simply empty their victims”
bank accounts at the first chance, but smoother operators play
their victims for weeks, months, even years, wheedling one fee
after another.”
Lawrence Siler of Portland, OR was asked for help in processing
$25 million in proceeds from a “steel plant.” He would receive
20% if he would just pay for “shipping and insurance.”
Siler refused, but after turning down rendezvous in Spain or
England, he agreed to meet the businessmen at a hotel in
Houston. There, a Nigerian produced two suitcases full of cash
with a “U.N.” marking. Ahh, but he would need to buy a special
chemical to remove the stamp, at a cost of $18,500. Alas, Siler
was working for the Secret Service, at which point the Nigerians
went “Dohh!”
There is an even more serious angle to this ongoing story, as 15
businessmen have been killed by the scam artists over the past
few years.
Baseball Tidbits
–Joe Sewell: Sewell was part of a quiz the other day, but I came
across some other little items concerning this Hall of Famer who
struck out only 114 times in 7132 at bats. Throughout his entire
career, Sewell used only one bat, a 35-inch, 40-ounce Ty Cobb
model Louisville Slugger that he kept in condition by seasoning
it with chewing tobacco and stroking it with a Coke bottle. As a
youth, Sewell developed his fabulous hand-eye coordination by
continually tossing rocks and lumps of coal into the air and
slamming them with a broomstick.
And another piece of trivia, Sewell was brought up to the majors
in Sept. 1920 to replace Ray Chapman at shortstop for the
Indians. On August 16 of that year, Chapman was beaned by
Carl Mays and died the next day, still baseball”s only outright
fatality.
–June 11, 1952: Hank Sauer of the Cubs hit 3 home runs off
Philly”s Curt Simmons in a 3-0 win. Sauer would tie for the
league lead with Ralph Kiner in home runs that season, 37, and
lead the N.L. in RBIs, 121. For his career, Sauer clubbed 288
homers. Simmons had a lifetime mark of 193-183 in 21 seasons.
–June 4, 1953: The Pirates trade Ralph Kiner to the Cubs in a 9-
player deal that also brought the struggling Pirates” franchise
$150,000. Kiner would hit 28 home runs in 117 games for the
Cubs that season.and 369 for his career. Kiner was only 32
when he retired in 1956.
Of course, Ralph”s real claim to fame is the fact that he led or
tied for the National League lead in home runs 7 straight seasons,
1946 (his first season) through 1952, twice hitting 50+. In ”46,
though, he led the league with just 23. That year was clearly a
year of the pitcher (even though Hank Greenberg led the A.L.
with a more respectable 44), as all 16 major league clubs had
team ERA”s below 4.00.
–Here at Bar Chat, we like to honor the unknowns, like Jim
Wilson, who on June 12, 1954 pitched a no-hitter for the Braves
against Philadelphia. Wilson finished up 86-89 in a career that
saw him pitch for 7 teams.
–June 12, 1957: The Cardinals” Stan Musial set a new N.L.
record for consecutive games played, 823, breaking the record
held by Gus Suhr. Can”t say I ever heard of the “Suhrster,” who
played 10 years for the Pirates and the Phillies, hitting .279 with
1446 hits.
–June 17, 1960: Ted Williams hit his 500th career home run.
–June 16, 1961: Kansas City”s Lew Krause, 18 years old and just
two weeks removed from his high school graduation, tosses a 3-
hit shutout in his major league debut. Krause also gets two hits
in the contest. But, like so many phenoms, that was just about
the highlight for Krause, who ended up just 2-5 that season,
didn”t throw for the big league club again until ”64, and then
finished 68-91 for his career.
–June 15, 1964: In one of the two or three worst trades in
baseball history, the Cardinals traded pitchers Ernie Broglio and
Bobby Shantz, along with outfielder Doug Clemens to the Cubs
for pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth, plus outfielder and future
Hall of Famer, Lou Brock.
Broglio went 4-7 the rest of ”64 for the Cubs, following that with
1-6 and 2-6 marks the next two seasons before he left baseball.
Shantz retired after the ”64 season (he was 38) and Clemens hit
.221 with 4 HR and 26 RBI in 340 at bats for the Cubs in 1965.
[Clemens ended up with 920 total ABs in the big leagues.]
For the record, Spring and Toth finished their undistinguished
careers with a combined 21-17 record. It didn”t matter. The
Cardinals pulled off the heist of the decade.
–June 8, 1965: Baseball holds its first free agent draft. The
Athletics chose ASU outfielder Rick Monday with the overall
first pick and signed him for a $104,000 bonus. Monday was an
OK player, managing to stick around for 19 seasons while
accumulating 241 HRs and 1619 hits to go along with his .264
average.
–June 9, 1966: Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don
Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew all hit home runs for the Twins
in the 7th inning of a game against Kansas City. The editor”s
mother had a crush on Rollins, growing up in a coal mining
community of western Pennsylvania, and dated him once…or so
the story goes. The editor could have been a ballplayer.
Stuff
–AOL Time Warner is building a massive office / shopping /
condo complex next to Central Park in New York. An ad in the
Sunday Times this week states that “apartments” will be
available for $10 million and up. I think I”ll wait for the real
estate crash before exploring these units.
–Rip currents, better known as “riptides,” kill anywhere from
100-200 a year in the U.S. Remember, if you feel yourself being
pulled under, relax your body and let the wave action take you
out to the sharks.
–Bing Crosby”s last words: “That was a great game of golf,
fellas.” Crosby had just shot 85 at La Moraleja Golf Club in
Spain, when he succumbed to a heart attack.
–Howard Brant, who writes the outdoor column for the Star-
Ledger here in New Jersey, had a piece the other day on Anna
Kochel of Arizona, who was mauled by a bear last year. [I think
I have the date right.] Anna sued the state of Arizona and ended
up winning a judgment of some $2.5 million because the
offending bear had just been trapped and moved elsewhere, only
to turn up at his original grounds. So the bear should not have
been given a second chance, according to the jury. Here in New
Jersey, if you kill some livestock (and you”re a bear…almost
forgot to mention that), you go straight to bear heaven.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/9/73: #1 “My Love” (Paul
McCartney & Wings) #2 “Frankenstein” (The Edgar Winter
Group) #3 “Pillow Talk” (Sylvia…uh…uh…uh…yah yah yah
yahhh). *Oops…forgot to put the warning label on those lyrics.
Sports Blurbs
–Congrats to Ray Bourque, who proved that nice guys CAN
finish first.
–And to John Daly, whose obituary has been written many
times, both here and elsewhere, for his excellent play this week
down in Memphis. He was back to his old self, hitting 3-irons
255 yards (pin high) and exciting the crowd more than anyone
can…including Tiger…because he is so talented, and reckless.
But, geezuz, the PGA Tour has to look into intelligence testing
before anyone is allowed into the galleries. These idiots who
cheer awful bogies deserve some kind of punishment. Take
away their drivers license, on the spot, perhaps. It seems to have
become an epidemic on the tour this year.
–And we extend our congratulations to Jennifer Capriati, only I
can”t get into women”s tennis when some of the matches are
clearly fixed (or at least tanked). As for the men, I couldn”t
name the champion of the French Open to save my life. [Actually,
I confuse the guy with that great skier of yore, Gustavo Thoeni.]
–More importantly, Johnny Mac has just sent me the exciting
news that his alma mater, Xaverian (sic) High School in
Brooklyn, took the Catholic “A” baseball championship of New
York City on Saturday, thus putting an end to the curse of J Mac,
one that had been in place for 29 years. A pint of Guinness for
all! [All except the kids, that is.]
–I saw a little clip of the weekend”s Ali-Frazier women”s boxing
match. Man, that was absolutely sick. The first congressman to
sponsor national legislation that gets put into law banning female
boxing will receive a campaign contribution from the editor.
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Consecutive seasons 300 or more
innings since 1920: N.L. – Robin Roberts, 6, Philadelphia (1950-
55). A.L. – Wilbur Wood, 4, Chicago (1971-74). 2) Wins by a
teenager: A.L. – Wally Bunker, 19-5 for Baltimore in 1964. But
Bunker only went 60-52 for his entire career and was out of
baseball at age 26. N.L. – Dwight Gooden, 17-9 for New York
in 1984. Gooden then tossed all kinds of stuff up his nose, thus
throwing away automatic enshrinement in Cooperstown.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday.
—
Sunday PM: Last fall I made my pilgrimage to Oklahoma City. To
the great people of that city, and the entire state, you are in all of
our thoughts and prayers.
