---

Bar Chat

07/14/2016

The Big Fundamental Walks Away

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Baseball Quiz: Each year at the All-Star break, USA TODAY Sports Weekly looks at the leaders in baseball for the one-year period, July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016.  1) Who are the two major league leaders with a .343 batting average during this time?  2) What two players lead with 48 home runs?  3) Who has the most RBIs at 135?  4) Who is the leader in wins at 27?  5) Who is the leader in ERA at 1.42?  Answers below.

Tim Duncan Retires

Monday, the following statement was released:

“San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan today announced that he will retire after 19 seasons with the organization.  Since drafting Duncan, the Spurs won five championships and posted a 1,072-438 regular season record, giving the team a .710 winning percentage, which is the best 19-year stretch in NBA history and was the best in all of the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB over the last 19 years.”

Other pertinent statistics...19 seasons with one team.  19 playoff seasons.  Only one season where the Spurs didn’t win 50 games (the benchmark for every team heading into a new season), and in that, the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the Spurs went 37-13 (.740) and won the first of five championships.

Duncan made 15 All-Star appearances, 15 All-NBA teams (including 10 appearances on the First Team) and 15 All-Defensive teams (eight First Team). 

He was regular season MVP twice, MVP in three Finals.

Duncan is one of two players to have 26,000 points, 15,000 rebounds and 3,000 blocks; the other being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Duncan is one of just three players to spend at least 19 seasons with one team, John Stockton (19) with the Jazz, Kobe Bryant (20) with the Lakers.

He was a model of consistency.  His first eight seasons, he averaged 20+ points and 11+ rebounds.  His first 13, 17.9 or more ppg, 10+ boards.

Gregg Popovich once said: “Before you start handing out applause and credit to anyone else in this organization for anything that’s been accomplished, remember it all starts with and goes through Timmy.  As soon as he [retires], I’ll be 10 steps behind. Because I’m not stupid.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: “Tim Duncan is one of the most dominant players in NBA history.  His devotion to excellence and mastery of the game led to five NBA championships, two regular-season MVP awards and a place among the all-time greats, while his underrated selflessness made him the ultimate teammate.”

Kevin Arnovitz / ESPN

“The magnitude of Tim Duncan’s contributions over his 19-year career are every bit as remarkable as the announcement of his retirement on Monday was understated: Duncan collected five titles with the San Antonio Spurs and 1,001 regular-season victories [Ed. with Popovich], all with the same team in a small basketball outpost held over from the ABA-NBA merger.  In an era defined by athleticism, Duncan was a master of mechanics.  While contemporaries built careers on defying gravity, Timmy deked opponents with jab steps, shoulder fakes and line-drive bank shots, with both feet on the ground.  He didn’t captivate fans or sponsors with his exploits or charm them with charisma.  He was wholly uninterested in the salesmanship required to build a personal brand and didn’t give the NBA and its marketers much to work with as the league harnessed its star power to expand its global reach.

“For Duncan, the postgame podium wasn’t a platform, but a sentence.

“Yet something improbable happened while he was slinking out of the Spurs’ locker room and dodging the spotlight:

“Inside the league, Tim Duncan became the most influential player of his generation.  Though he had little public appeal outside central Texas over his two decades in the league, Duncan ushered in cultural change in NBA practice facilities, locker rooms and executive suites.

“The present-day NBA has become singularly consumed with the adoption and implementation of organizational culture. Forever looking for competitive advantages, franchises have turned to workplace culture as a bulwark.  We might not be able to attract a top-line free agent, or hit the jackpot in the draft, but there are 44 games in an NBA season that can be won if we value the right things.

“This is the league’s guiding principle in 2016, from Atlanta and Salt Lake City to Oklahoma City and Brooklyn, where disciples of the Tim Duncan era learned the art and science of team-building in San Antonio.  They’ve applied the findings and sculpted them to suit a particular roster or market.  Some have enjoyed modest success while others are just getting started.  But try as they might to replicate the Spurs’ recipe, all of them are forced to concede at a certain juncture that they’re missing one essential ingredient:

“They don’t have Tim Duncan.

“Blake Griffin, who has admired the way Duncan carries himself even while recognizing they’re completely different creatures of basketball, sought out Duncan’s counsel a few years back.  Griffin was part of a team that now had several loud voices and wanted to glean how quiet leadership could make a difference.

“ ‘The thing I took away the most was this idea that a leader isn’t the guy who’s pounding the chest, or huddles, or giving motivational speeches,’ Griffin says.  ‘It was really reassuring to me as a younger guy that you don’t have to be something you’re not.  Of many things you can say about him, that’s the thing that sets him apart – he never tried to be who he wasn’t.  And it works.

“ ‘At any time, there’s always the one guy they’ll use as an example.  Maybe it’s Russell Wilson for a year or two. Then they move onto Tom Brady or [Kevin Garnett].  But [Duncan] has been the guy you constantly hear about, who’s constantly doing it right.  He’s the guy who deserved the shine, but was riding underneath it.’

“Duncan rode beneath the shine, but everyone around him got to bask in its glow.  The Spurs’ tree extends through executive offices and coaching ranks across the league.  It’s often referred to as Pop’s tree, and while he might be the trunk, Duncan was the seedling.

“ ‘We walk into our houses and thank Tim Duncan,’ Atlanta Hawks head coach and longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer says.  ‘You think about all the coaches and all the GMs and even the assistant video guys who are now assistant coaches, all the people who have climbed the NBA ladder – we all owe our success, our place in the league to Timmy....

“Kevin Durant was a credible leader during his tenure with the Thunder – a founding father of the program, in the words of general manager Sam Presti.  Begrudging a first-rate star like Durant the opportunity to forge his own professional path is unwarranted, but his departure from Oklahoma City underscores a truth that owners and execs learn sooner or later.  An organization’s culture can shield it from disaster, but that culture is only as strong as its leading player....

“Tim Duncan invented the NBA’s vision of team culture.  Now the rest of basketball is trying to imitate the guy nobody found fashionable.”

Ken Berger / CBSSports.com

“Somehow, you always knew it would happen like this.  One day, we’d wake up and Timothy Theodore Duncan would be gone.

“Without taking a bow.  Without making a peep.

“Just the way he played.

“Duncan, 40, retired from basketball Monday, with a press release that didn’t even include a quote.  After five championships and 19 years of quietly, professionally and methodically carving out a resume as the best power forward of all time, what else was there to say?

“Duncan always did his talking between the lines, and when he walked off the floor, he left it all there....

“He was a gentle giant who was also fierce, yet never had the ego or inclination to let anybody know about it.  He was a forever portrait of class and competitiveness that will never be replicated....

“ ‘We know that it can’t continue forever, because that’s not the nature of the beast,’ Gregg Popovich told me once, on one of the Spurs’ many postseason drives.  ‘But to look ahead and mourn when that day comes is kind of a waste of time.  So we just try to be the best team that we can each year, and that doesn’t mean you’re going to win a championship every year.  Those are pretty tough to win.  A lot tougher than people think.’

“A lot easier, though, when you have a foundation like Duncan, just putting in the work day after day, year after year, while barely saying a word.

“The greatest power forward of all time walked away for good on Monday, and he didn’t get a farewell tour or a parade.  He didn’t need one.  Tim Duncan’s farewell tour lasted 19 years, and wow, it was something to behold.”

Dan Devine / Yahoo Sports

“Tim Duncan...announced Monday morning that he is retiring after 19 seasons in which he defined consistent brilliance and served as the cornerstone of the Spurs’ rise into the model NBA franchise.

“Well, technically, he didn’t announce anything. The news came down, quietly, in a Spurs press release trumpeting the team’s sterling record since Duncan’s arrival out of Wake Forest with the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA draft: a 1,072-438 regular-season record, a .710 winning percentage, the best 19-year run in NBA history, the highest-such mark in any of the four major American professional sports over the duration of Duncan’s career....

“Duncan started all 82 games as a rookie, averaging 21.1 points on 54.9 percent shooting, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.5 blocks in 39.1 minutes per game, earning Rookie of the Year honors, an All-Star berth, a spot on the All-NBA First Team and a top-five finish in MVP voting in his first pro season.  He teamed with (David) Robinson and first-year head coach Popovich to lead the Spurs to 56 wins and the second round of the playoffs.

“The following season, with Duncan in the unquestioned primary role as San Antonio’s top offensive option and defensive stopper, the Spurs stampeded through the league en route to the first title of his career, and the first of two for Robinson, who proved both an ideal mentor for Duncan and the perfect model for how to move gracefully from No. 1 superstar to complementary player in order to continue competing at the highest level as one’s career progresses.

“ ‘If I shot more than 12 times a game, I could, yes [average 25 points a game],’ Robinson said.  ‘But that’s all about ego.  Now it’s about winning.  You’ve got to decide what’s going to make your team the best and then go for it.’....

“Since 1997, Tim Duncan has given the Spurs a base from which to operate, and more often than not, that base resided at the very top of the NBA.  He is one of the very greatest players this game has ever seen.  We will not see his like again.”

Frank Isola / New York Daily News

“We never really got to know Duncan and that’s just how he wanted it. The one time we saw a different side of him was two years ago after he won the last of his five NBA championships with the Spurs.  It was Father’s Day and as Duncan’s teammates strained to touch the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Duncan embraced his young daughter and son and began crying.

“ ‘For whatever reason, it is sweeter than any other,’ Duncan said at the time.  ‘Whether it be because of the time frame, because I’m coming toward the end of my career, because I can have these two here (children Sydney and Draven) and really remember it and enjoy the experience, all of those things make it that much more special.’

“It was the one time the immensely private Duncan let his guard down.  Monday’s retirement announcement was classic Duncan: a simple press release issued by the team.  He always hated those long goodbyes.

“There is nothing wrong with Kobe Bryant’s recently completed farewell tour.  He, the Lakers and the league got what they wanted.  Duncan was never going to subject himself to be honored in visiting arenas from October to April....

“It’s interesting that Duncan left the small-market Spurs exactly one week after Kevin Durant abruptly left the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook to chase championships with the Golden State Warriors. If Durant honestly believed he could never win in OKC, how does he explain Duncan and San Antonio?

“Unlike Duncan, Durant wasn’t drafted to a team that had an established superstar in David Robinson and a cast of savvy veterans. By Duncan’s second year, he and the Spurs won their first title and over the years Duncan would win championships with a different cast of characters every time....

“Duncan’s credentials put him as the greatest power forward the game has known. But in many ways he holds a more important title: the quintessential franchise player of the last 30 years.  Think about it. He spent his entire career with one team, captured five championships, two MVPs, three Finals MVPs and toward the end he sacrificed money, minutes and shots to keep the Spurs competitive.  Who else does all of that?

“The Spurs Way, as it is called, was made possible because of Duncan.  Michael Jordan left the Bulls. Twice.  Kobe’s final contract badly hampered the Lakers’ rebuilding plan. Dirk Nowitzki comes close, but he’s only won one title.  John Stockton made two NBA Finals, but lost both.

“Dwyane Wade was on that path, but instead of finishing what he started in Miami, Wade took $7 million more to uproot his family and head to Chicago.

“And now Durant joins the team he nearly beat in May.

“It only reaffirms what we already knew, that Duncan is the last of a dying breed – a four-year college man beloved by his teammates, his employers and a city.

“That’s a pretty good brand.”

Harvey Araton / New York Times

“(Duncan) played without seeking fanfare and retired on his wordless terms with no explanation posted on The Players’ Tribune, no tear-stained news conference and, most characteristically, no farewell tour....

“If the Spurs could have sent out an order to the basketball factory to build them the perfect leading man for their delightfully unsexy market, it would have been Duncan. His poker face gave away nothing to opponents or to news media critics, who always gave him his due, admitted he was great, but occasionally lamented his standoffish off-court persona.

“Derek Jeter, a high school basketball star who counted himself among Duncan’s ardent admirers, heard similar complaints that in 20 major league seasons, he never said anything.

“But didn’t Jeter and Duncan do enough – or more than most – between the lines to fill their entertainment quota?  Or did we at some point reach a point of celebrating only players who preen?”

Jason Gay / Wall Street Journal

“Tim Duncan retired Monday morning, and his retirement announcement was so appropriately Tim Duncan-like it almost made one misty: not a ceremony, or a television interview, or a gooey letter in Derek Jeter’s star-cozy Players Tribune, but a 538-word press release. From the only NBA team he ever played for, the San Antonio Spurs.  A press release!  It was so modest and charmingly retro it may as well have arrived by fax, or better yet, snail mail.

“Would anyone have wanted it any other way? Duncan’s exit was always going to happen like this.  No one who loved Duncan ever thought he’d engineer a final-season vanity lap through the league, standing through awkward midcourt celebrations among opponents bearing unwanted gifts.  No way.  I believe Duncan would have rather spent a season curled in the baggage hold of the team bus than collecting personalized rocking chairs and electric guitars from teams he tried to bury.

“He went quietly, humbly, much as he arrived, out of Wake Forest the first pick in the draft 19 seasons ago to the Spurs, who soon became a team transformed.  San Antonio was a factory of consistency, winning the first of five NBA championships in 1999, a young Duncan pairing with a towering predecessor, David Robinson, and a coach, Gregg Popovich, who put himself on the bench after leaving the general manager’s office.   Back then, Spurs basketball was unfairly maligned as a bit of a snooze, disciplined and unflashy, a departure from a star-driven game.  But nobody denied they were ruthlessly good....

“Toward the end, Duncan was used less, but he always mattered.  He would have mattered if he played until he was 60.  He was the center of that selfless Spurs universe. He fit in with whatever San Antonio wanted to do, with whomever they brought in, and he departs his franchise in very competitive condition.

“It is a close-to-perfect career.

“If you saw him play, it will be your job to remind the generations who did not.  Basketball is a tantalizing game of individual creativity, and it is easy to get caught up in the momentary dazzle, and ignore the genius of consistency. Even if Duncan never was the flashiest or the noisiest or the most celebrated, in his play you saw true NBA greatness, for nineteen uninterrupted years.  You saw history.  You saw Tim Duncan.”

Tuesday, Popovich showed up at a brief press conference wearing a black shirt emblazoned with a picture of Duncan, saying he plans to make a pitch to keep him working with the organization in some capacity in the future.

“It’s not a show of humility in any sense or form.  People who grew up with me know me,” Popovich explained.  “I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Tim Duncan.  I’d be in the Budweiser League someplace in America, fat and still trying to play basketball or coach basketball.  But he’s why I’m standing.  He’s made livings for hundreds of us, staff and coaches, over the years and never said a word, just came to work every day.  Came early, stayed late, was there for every single person, from the top of the roster to the bottom of the roster, because that’s who he was, in all those respects....

“You don’t see Timmy beating his chest as if he was the first human being to dunk the basketball, as a lot of people do these days.  He’s not pointing to the sky.  He’s not glamming to the cameras.  He just plays, and we’ve seen it for so long it’s become almost mundane.  But it’s so special that it has to be remembered.”

He sure as heck made Wake Forest proud.  He’s right there with another Demon Deacon.  Arnold Palmer.

MLB

--The American League won the All-Star Game 4-2, thus ensuring home-field advantage for the A.L. in the World Series for the fourth year in a row.  There was a minor issue at the end of the game, locally, with Mets closer Jeurys Familia seemingly miffed he didn’t get in, held back by his own manager, Terry Collins; though Collins told Jeurys beforehand he would be used only in a save situation.

--Nice touch by MLB to honor Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn. 

--At the break....these fan bases are generally hopeful....

A.L. East

Baltimore 51-36
Boston 49-38
Toronto 51-40

A.L. Central

Cleveland 52-36
Detroit 46-43
Kansas City 45-43
Chicago 45-43

A.L. West

Texas 54-36
Houston 48-41

*Yankee fans, at 44-44, give up...become a seller!

N.L. East

Washington 54-36
New York 47-41
Miami 47-41

N.L. Central

Chicago 53-35
St. Louis 46-42
Pittsburgh 46-43

N.L. West

San Francisco 57-33
Los Angeles 51-40

--Can’t help but note the Mets’ pitching staff has done what it was supposed to.  The Mets, with a 3.39 ERA, are third in baseball behind 1. Washington, 3.29 and 2. Chicago Cubs, 3.36.

But the Mets are 28th in runs scored, and last in baseball by a mile when it comes to hitting with runners-in-scoring position, a putrid .213.  St. Louis is No. 1 in this category at .296, followed by Texas, .292, and Boston, .287.

--Mets fans...want to get really depressed?  Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post notes that with the Mets six games back of the Nationals in the N.L. East:

“Only four teams since 1995 have overcome first-half deficits larger than five games to win their division: the 2003 and 2006 Minnesota Twins, the 2012 Oakland A’s, and the 2015 Texas Rangers.  Many more have made the playoffs but, according to Fangraphs, the Mets have just a 39 percent chance at making the postseason this year.”

Peter Gammons notes this season looks like 1987 for the Mets, the year following their title.  During the title run, Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Bobby Ojeda and Rick Aguilera gave New York 147 starts.  The following season they were limited to 108 because of injury and failed to make the playoffs.

Now the Mets are without Matt Harvey the rest of the way and who knows about Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.

As for Washington’s Daniel Murphy and his personal demolition of his old team, my Metsies, according to Elias, Murphy’s seven home runs and 21 RBI are both the most for a player at the All-Star break against a team for which he played in the previous season.

What Murphy is doing overall is astounding.  As most baseball fans know, you just can’t find a case where an established veteran of many years suddenly flips a switch and becomes a power-hitter overnight (save for Brady Anderson, which didn’t last, and we’re giving Big Papi and a few others a pass for today).

I mean there is nothing suspicious concerning Murph and he’s gone from 14 home runs all of last season to 17 at the break (17-66, .348!).

It is now a fact that last year in the postseason, after working with Mets hitting instructor Kevin Long, who had been encouraging him to pull the ball more to unlock his home run power, he suddenly found it and hit those seven postseason homers in 58 at bats.

Then he signs with Washington (I’m not blaming management for letting him go) and continues with the power surge.  It’s real.  Good for him.

--So with 57 extra-base hits in 87 games at the break, David Ortiz is still on pace for 100+ XBH for the season, a super feat, but as I always say in these matters, whether it is a guy going for a triples record or a doubles one, come the dog days of August, triples becomes doubles and doubles become singles.  [Which is why I learned long ago not to waste your time with guys on a doubles or triples record pace in June.  In the case of the latter, modern day...as in no one is ever going to approach Chief Wilson’s 36 triples set in 1912....but now I’m rambling...]

--The flip side of Ortiz is Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who is the final year of a $25 million per contract (but with a $10m buyout), and hitting .154!  One-five-four. 

--How does Edwin Encarnacion have 80 RBIs?  Astounding, because he is hitting just .248 with runners-in-scoring position.

--And after a season where he had six home runs and 34 RBI, how did Arizona’s Jake Lamb suddenly become a slugger with 20 home runs and 61 RBIs?

--I owe Mark Trumbo and his family an apology.  On 4/11/16 in this space I said it was “absurd” that the Orioles were paying him $9.15 million.  Well, not exactly, as Mr. Trumbo has hit 28 homers and driven in 68!

--For the record, in winning the Home Run Derby over Todd Frazier, Giancarlo Stanton had two 497-foot shots and of his 61 homers over the three rounds, 39 traveled over 440 feet.

--My brother passed on this tidbit from the Jaffee Report, a political newsletter here in New Jersey, with this item pertaining to a minor league team in Lakewood.

“Come for the fastballs, stay for the furballs. That was the hope of the Lakewood Blue Claws on Saturday, luring fans over the weekend to the ballpark by allowing them to bring cats.  The marketing department had fun with this one, renaming Saturday at the park as “CATurday.’  Unamused players were even given new uniforms, featuring dozens of orange, black and gray cat faces.  (If that’s not enticement to hit over .300 and get the heck out of Lakewood, nothing is.)”

Eegads!

June 28, 1976

The other day I wrote how Randy Jones and Mark Fidrych squared off as their leagues’ respective starting pitchers in the 1976 All-Star Game.  ‘76 was the summer of “The Bird.”  I wrote the following in Bar Chat, 4/16/09, three days after the death of Fidrych.

---

Mark Fidrych died at his farm in Northborough, Massachusetts, at the way too early age of 54.  It appears Fidrych was working on a dump truck that was going to be pressed into service by the local municipality and his body was found underneath it.  Fidrych had a brief major league career and went 29-19 with a 3.10 ERA.  At least that’s what younger fans will see...wondering what all the fuss was about as word spread of his death.

Oh, if you had only seen “The Bird” do his thing that magical summer of 1976.  Mark Fidrych was a comet, a meteor, streaking across the baseball world like no other character of his generation.

Three years ago, Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press had the following thoughts on the 30th anniversary of The Bird’s arrival.

“The year was 1976, which was perfect. If Mark Fidrych had come along 15 years later, he would not have had such universal appeal.  In 1961, many players and fans would have been appalled by his showmanship; in 1991, they would have figured he was a phony, a self-promoter.

“But 1976 was just right for the pitcher they called The Bird.  In 1976 a man could be different without being an outcast; he could have long hair and talk to the baseball before he itched without too much backlash.  And ballplayers still were part of the working class.  [Fidrych made the major league minimum of $16,500.]  They were not the prepackaged image-conscious millionaires who came along later.”

Fidrych talked to the baseball (he said he was just talking to himself), patted and rebuilt the mound like it was a sandcastle, and was famously unsophisticated.  But boy could he pitch.

Fidrych made his debut on May 15, 1976, a complete game victory against Cleveland, 2-1, at home in front of 14,583 fans.  Thanks to baseballreference.com, I can build the story from here.

By June 24, Fidrych was 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA.  Momentum was building. Detroit and the nation were beginning to take note of this quirky guy. The next game was June 28 (The Bird pitched a lot on three days’ rest), a Monday night affair on ABC, home against the New York Yankees.  This was the night the legend was born, in front of a large national television audience.  47,855 were in the stands (the team was just 32-35 entering the contest) and Fidrych didn’t disappoint as he easily finished off the Yanks, 5-1.  [A game played in 1:51, by the way.]

The next start was July 3, against Baltimore and this time 51,032 packed Tiger Stadium as Firdych shut out the Orioles, 4-0, running his record to 9-1 with a 1.85 ERA.

The Tigers then went on a brief road trip and, recognizing the gold mine they had on their hands, the Tigers held Fidrych out of action until the team returned home, July 9, against Kansas City.  Another 51,041 packed the house, but the Tigers lost 1-0.

Then you had the All-Star break, with Fidrych starting for the A.L. squad.  His first start back was again at home, July 16, versus Oakland.  45,905 in the stands...Fidrych wins 1-0 and is now 10-2 with a 1.60 ERA.

It went on like this, though Fidrych would go a more pedestrian 9-7 the rest of the way to finish 19-9, while leading the league with a 2.34 ERA. There was July 29 at home against the Orioles.  A 1-0 loss, but 44,068 fans in the stands.  Or Aug. 17, a 3-2 win at home before 51,822.  This proved to be the peak, and with summer drawing to a close the crowds dwindled the rest of the way.  Overall, the Tigers sucked, going 74-87.  But consider they were drawing 14,000-20,000 for a typical summer game when The Bird wasn’t on the mound.

And then...just as soon as it began, it was essentially over.  He suffered a knee injury in spring training, 1977, came back late May and was 6-4 with a 2.89 ERA but “something happened,” in his words, in his second to last start vs. the Orioles.  “The arm just went dead.”  He gave up six runs in five innings. He made another start and gave up six runs, again, in five.  Then he took the mound four days later and walked off in the first. He had torn his rotator cuff.

Some say the 250 innings he pitched in 1976, in just 29 starts, of which he completed a remarkable 24, did him in.  It’s possible. He tried coming back and appeared in just a few more games the next three seasons, and later launched a minor league comeback that fell short.

Former Tiger Alan Trammell, who was a rookie shortstop in 1977, said of Fidrych, “He was very genuine. It was not an act.”  Actually, you never could get anyone to say a bad word about The Bird.  Former opponent Carney Lansford added, “I don’t think you’ll ever see someone like that come around again. He was just great for the game.  That’s what the game needed, more guys like him...He was the man.  It’s a shame.”

---

In USA TODAY Sports Weekly the other day, Bill Dow had a story on the summer of Fidrych.  Regarding June 28, 1976, and ABC’s Monday Night Baseball that introduced The Bird to the nation, Bob Uecker was doing the game along with Bob Prince and Warner Wolf.  Uecker warned new Bird watchers.

“He’s one of the funniest guys I have seen come along in baseball in a long time,” Uecker said.  “He has outstanding stuff, and you’re going to see a lot of antics from this young right-hander tonight.”

At one point Prince declared, “He’s giving me duck bumps, and I’ve watched over 8,000 games. He’s some kind of unbelievable.”

At the end of the game, Fidrych shook hands with his teammates, umpires and a police officer standing on top of the Tigers dugout.  Fidrych remained in the clubhouse for several minutes before teammates persuaded him to go back to the field for a curtain call.

The crowd would not leave.

“I’ve been in baseball 35 years, and I have never in my life seen anything to equal this,” Prince said.

Well you could hear the crowd chanting “We want The Bird!” and it grew and grew and finally, Warner Wolf yelled into his microphone, “Here he comes!  Here he comes! This is unbelievable!”

It’s said Fidrych drew 901,239 fans in his 29 starts and almost single-handedly outdrew the Twins, Athletics, White Sox and Indians.

Mickey Stanley played left on that magical night, June 28.

“He was so great for baseball, the biggest draw there was, and the amazing thing is he filled the stadiums when we were on the road,” Stanley says.  “He challenged the hitters, even though he didn’t know who they were. It was, ‘Either I beat him, or he beats me.’  But more importantly to me, Mark was simply a great human being, honest and sincere.  He was such a good kid.” 

Bill Dow:

“Former outfielder Willie Horton was one of the eulogists at Fidrych’s funeral service.

“ ‘I told everyone that Mark was a beautiful young man, a special human being who loved life and people,’ Horton says.  ‘He is one of my heroes.  Mark really helped baseball by bringing attention back to the game, and I think he should be recognized in some way at Cooperstown.’

“With tears welling up in people’s eyes, Take Me Out to the Ball Game was played near the end of The Bird’s funeral.”

**MLB Network is airing a documentary on Fidrych at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Golf Balls

--On to Troon and The Open Championship.  Some of the odds....

Jason Day 7/1
Rory McIlroy 8/1
Jordan Spieth 8/1
Dustin Johnson 12/1
Shane Lowry 40/1
Hideki Matsuyama 40/1
Bubba Watson 50/1
Zach Johnson 50/1!  Boy, I’d snap that up.

Source: Westgate Sports Book

But I think you’ve gotta love DJ’s chances.

--Rory McIlroy made news on Tuesday, saying in a press conference: “I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all,” by not participating in the Olympics.  “I didn’t get into golf to try to grow the game, I tried to get into golf to win championships and win major championships....

“I’m very happy with the decision I’ve made, I have no regrets about it.  I’ll probably watch the Olympics, but I’m not sure golf will be one of the events I’ll watch.”  Ouch.

When asked which events he would watch, Rory then said, “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving – the stuff that matters.”

McIlroy’s comments are classic Rory.  Blunt, unvarnished.  But the Irish press is all over him for in essence dissing two Irish legends – Padraig Harrington (who will replace Rory), and Paul McGinley – who masterminded the 2014 Ryder Cup win and will be the Irish team captain.

Both have expressed how much the Olympics means to them and Rory just trashed them.

As the Irish Independent editorialized: “A lesson for Rory McIlroy: you can be honest without being insulting – you aren’t living in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

--Meanwhile, I understand why Jason Day, DJ and Rory opted to withdraw from the Olympics, citing the Zika virus, and in the case of the first two plans on having more children, while Rory said he would soon be starting a family as well, McIlroy being engaged.

But the single Spieth withdrew, also citing Zika, as well as security concerns, and some of us just find this lame.  I also think it hurts Spieth’s Q-rating some.

Matt Kuchar is replacing Spieth, joining Bubba, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed, and, just as in the exposure gained by playing in the Ryder Cup, these guys will no doubt come back more popular than ever.

Speaking on Tuesday, Spieth anticipated the inquisition.

“This was something I very much struggled with,” but he avoided mentioning Zika, and asked reporters not to refer to it as the cause of his Olympic exit.  “It’s strictly health concerns as a whole.  That’s not the only one.”  But he didn’t elaborate.

Most believe Spieth has major security issues with Rio.

“This decision will loom over me throughout the Olympic Games,” he said. “I will be, I’m sure, at times pretty upset I’m not down there.”

Unlike Rory, Spieth said he would watch, adding he was more committed than ever to Tokyo in 2020 and future Olympics, but after all the top players who’ve pulled out of Rio, it is unlikely golf will be an event after Tokyo.

International Golf Federation president Peter Dawson didn’t mince words on all those who have dropped out of the Games.

“There’ no doubt that the number of withdrawals hasn’t shown golf in the best light, but we do understand why these individual decisions have been taken.  Personally, I think there’s been something of an overreaction to the Zika situation, but that’s for individuals to determine.”

Dawson, who recently retired as chief executive of the R&A, did add that he believes players’ health concerns are genuine.  But clearly he doesn’t feel it’s the strongest excuse to withdraw, as he made a point of noting that only one female (out of a 60-woman field) has pulled out of Rio, while 18 of the original 60 in the men’s field did so.

“It’s certainly disappointing that we’ve had so many withdrawals on the men’s side, and wonderful that all of the women have been very supportive,” he said.  [Kevin Casey / Golfweek]

--NBC/Golf Channel is doing The Open, the first time since 1962 it’s not ABC (ESPN).  But former ABC/ESPN host, Mike Tirico, has his first official gig for NBC under his new contract. 

To handle the long days, there will be three in rotation at the 18th tower; Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo and Frank Nobilo.  Dan Hicks remains lead play-by-play man.

--Last Sunday the U.S. Women’s Open ran late out in San Martin, Calif., and I didn’t have a chance to comment on it as Brittany Lang won her first major in a playoff with Anna Nordqvist.

But for the second straight USGA event, the story was complicated by a rules infraction captured by a high-powered telephoto lens.

Whereas in last month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, Dustin Johnson was eventually issued a penalty when it was judged he had caused his ball to move on a green, last Sunday, a video replay showed Nordqvist grounded her club in a fairway bunker on the second hole of a three-hole aggregate playoff; her 5-iron seen by the Fox television camera to have touched the sand as she began her backswing.

Nordqvist was told of the penalty as she played the third hole and she lost the playoff to Lang by three shots.

So Lang, a former star at Duke, picked up her second Tour win in 11 years.

Nordqvist was classy in defeat; she just wished the USGA had told her earlier.

--But after Lang won, USGA president Diana Murphy referred to her on more than one occasion as “Bethany”.

In a statement after, Murphy said: “I would like to apologize to the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open champion, Brittany Lang.  During the prize presentation, I mistakenly called her by the wrong name repeatedly. I have expressed my regret to Brittany personally and explained that in the heat of the moment, I became nervous and made these mistakes.”

Ms. Murphy was most unimpressive, you’ll recall, at Oakmont, too.

U.S. Olympic Trials

--I was cramming things in at the end of my last chat, with late-breaking news at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., and while I wrote that 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin made the U.S. team in the 400 meter hurdles, setting an American high school (and world junior) record in the process, I failed to note she is a rising senior at a school just about fifteen minutes from here, Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains, N.J.  Needless to say her fellow students were beyond thrilled, as some of the news clips had it the next day.

But as Sara Germano of the Wall Street Journal wrote, McLaughlin almost didn’t run once she got to Eugene because of all the pressure she felt.

“ ‘The first day, I got here and I had a nervous breakdown and I wasn’t going to run because I was just so nervous,’ she said.  Hoards of cameras and the weight of expectations were almost too much for the teenager. But McLaughlin said her coaches gave her the last-minute confidence boost she needed....

“She is also part of a track-and-field youth movement.  Of the more than 100 athletes who will comprise the U.S. track-and-field delegation to Rio, 84 will be the first-time Olympians, according to USA Track & Field, the sport’s governing body.”

Stuff

--UFC was sold for $4 billion in a deal announced Monday.

Talent agency WME-IMG revealed it is partnering with its owner Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and MSD Capital, the investment firm of Michael Dell, to take over the mixed martial arts company.

The $4 billion represents the highest price ever paid for a sports organization.

Understand that the brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the UFC in 2000 for $2 million.  I had to read that a few times.

The price paid is roughly seven times revenue, which Lorenzo Fertitta told CNN was about $600 million in 2015.

The Fertittas will no longer be involved aside from retaining a minority interest, while president Dana White will stay on and be given a stake in the new business.

The Abu Dhabi government still owns 10 percent of UFC as well.

--The Jerry Sandusky / Joe Paterno issue just goes on and on and Tuesday we learned through unsealed court documents that a man testified in 2014 that Paterno ignored his complaints of a sexual assault committed by Sandusky in 1976 when the man was a 14-year-old boy. The victim was attending a football camp at Penn State.  The alleged act perpetrated is too graphic for here.

The significance of this instance, and many others by accusers who contend they reported abuse to Paterno or members of his staff in the 1970s and ‘80s, is because it is long before 1998, the time established by an independent investigation as the earliest date that Paterno and other officials knew or should have known about reports that Sandusky was abusing children.

--There was a story in the BBC that at first was hard to believe, but I saw the photos...it’s true.

“A wedge-tailed eagle tried to fly away with a terrified boy at a popular wildlife show in central Australia.

“A crowd of stunned onlookers watched the enormous bird latch its talons on to the screaming boy’s head during a show at Alice Springs Desert Park.

“Witnesses said the bird attempted to pick him up ‘like a small animal.’

“The boy – believed to be between six and eight years old – escaped with a ‘superficial’ gash to his face.

“Christine O’Connell from Horsham in Victoria state was visiting the park with her husband on 6 July when the attack occurred.

“She told the BBC the eagle flew straight for the boy from about 15m away.

“ ‘A fellow who was sitting closer said the little boy kept running his zipper up and down,’ said Mrs. O’Connell, who caught the attack on her camera.

“Distracted by the noise, the eagle grabbed the boy’s green hoodie and attempted to lift him away before park staff moved in.

“The attack left the boy crying and bleeding, but his injuries were not severe.”

Park officials said “the eagle will be removed from the show while this investigation is ongoing.”

As Bob and Ray used to say, “In a moment....the results of the trial.”

--Finally, just last Sunday, in light of the recent takedown of five poachers in Zimbabwe by a pride of lions, I issued a new All-Species List Top Ten that continued to feature ‘Beaver’ in the 7 slot.  I said the rodent with the homebuilding skills was “long off prior suspension for PED use.”

So 24 hours later, Brad K. alerts me to a headline from the Citizen-Times of Asheville, N.C.

“Possibly rabid beaver attacks paddle boarder on Beaver Lake”

As reported by John Boyle:

“ ‘I saw a big splash, but I didn’t see what the splash was from,’ said Betsy Bent, 67, who has used Beaver Lake for 22 years.  ‘It came up under my board and knocked my board over, and then it latched onto my leg and wouldn’t let go.  I didn’t know what it was at that time.  I didn’t think there was any ‘Jaws’ in Beaver Lake.’

“Once Bent fell in the water, the beaver kept attacking.”

A nearby angler helped beat the beaver off Ms. Bent and brought her to shore.  She was transported to the hospital and treated for multiple lacerations.  An Asheville Police Department Animal Control officer helped the Beaver Lake warden catch the animal after the incident was called in.

Ms. Bent has begun a rabies protocol, while the beaver was to be tested for same.

And this just in...I checked out the Citizen-Times web site and the beaver did test positive.  Repeat...the beaver was rabid, the first one in memory for the region.

So this forces me to go to the All-Species List tribunal at The Hague for a snap judgment.  Granted, they’ve been busy these days, having issued a crucial ruling Tuesday morning on China and its territorial claims in the South China Sea (denied!), but Petr (sic) Rembrandt gathered a quorum and the verdict is in.

‘Beaver’ is out.  As in “three strikes and you’re out.”

Stunning development.  For starters, Oregon State may need to find a new mascot.  And what to do with my Beaverwear?

Well, I’m reordering the ASL from 7 on down.

7. Pig
8. Octopus
9. Gibbon
10. Wolverine!  Yes, sometimes big lobbying efforts pay off.

‘Man’ slides up to 322 by default.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/14/79: #1 “Bad Girls” (Donna Summer...not her best...)  #2 “Ring My Bell” (Anita Ward...this one isn’t aging well...)  #3 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer...better than #1...Pastor Michael is a big fan of Ms. Summer’s...awaiting his judgment...)...and...#4 “Chuck E.’s In Love” (Ricky Lee Jones...talk about a shooting star...)  #5 “She Believes In Me” (Kenny Rogers...whatever...)  #6 “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions...you know, I love these guys but I used to think this was one of their worst ‘hits’...however, it’s holding up better than I thought it would...)  #7 “Makin’ It” (David Naughton)  #8 “I Want You To Want Me” (Cheap Trick...not a fan...)   #9 “Shine A Little Love” (Electric Light Orchestra)  #10 “Gold” (John Stewart...so just YouTubed it and like it’s not as awful as I thought it was, but you need 4 beers before you listen to it...not that this is what I’m doing...anyway, back to the Sixties because I know reader Jim D. is having conniptions...)

Baseball Quiz Answers: For the one-year period, July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016.  1) Jose Altuve and Xander Bogaerts lead at .343.  2) Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Davis had 48 home runs.  3) David Ortiz leads with 135 RBIs.  4) Jake Arrieta had 27 wins over that year.  5) Arrieta also led with an ERA of 1.42. [Clayton Kershaw was next at 1.50 and then you have to go down to Stephen Strasburg and Jon Lester at 2.43.]

Here’s a surprise.  Who was the leading outfielder in all of baseball in batting average at .327?  Miami’s Christian Yelich.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

---