Baseball Quiz: Name the top 5 all-time in RBI. Answer below.
Wendell Ladner
Among the great characters of the old American Basketball
Association was Wendell Ladner, a 6” 4″, 220-pound forward,
who in five seasons played for four teams – Memphis, Kentucky,
Carolina and New York. He averaged 11.6 points and 8
rebounds and also made two All-Star teams.
Ladner was attending Southern Miss when the scouts came
calling. But he was drastically out of shape and only Memphis
took a flyer on him. While he was listed as being much taller,
Ladner made up for his lack of stature by being incredibly strong
and a great hustler. He was one of the better offensive
rebounders in the game. And oh the stories. Following are some
snippets from Terry Pluto”s classic, “Loose Balls,” the definitive
history of the old ABA.
There was the time Wendell went diving for a loose ball and
smacked into a glass water cooler, head first, requiring 48
stitches. This was Game 6 of the 1973 playoffs. A reporter
remarked to Ladner”s coach, Babe McCarthy, “It seems Wendell
doesn”t know the meaning of the word ”fear.”” McCarthy said,
“That”s right; of course, he doesn”t know the meaning of many
other words, either.”
Once when the team was flying into Washington, D.C. Ladner
looked out the window and spying the Washington Monument
said, “I bet that”s the Washington Post.”
Ladner was known to be a big fighter, as well. Former ABA
player and current commentator, Steve Jones, recalls that
Memphis was playing the Pittsburgh Condors and their tough
man John Brisker. Brisker came up to Jones and said, “I hear
you”ve got this tough white kid on your team.” Jones said,
“Ladner can fight. I wouldn”t mess with him.” Brisker replied
that they would find out that evening. Jones describes the
ensuing action:
“(After the selfish Brisker got his 30 points) he decided it was
time to go after Wendell. John threw an elbow at Ladner, who
didn”t pay any attention to it and just ran down to the other end
of the court. The next time down the court, Brisker threw
another elbow, and Ladner went crazy. It became more like two
bulls trying to gore each other than a basketball fight. In their
next game, they got into a fight at the jump ball to start the
game.”
Former player and coach Tom Meschery related his own tale.
“He had a two-track mind – basketball and sex. He used hair
spray before games and at halftime so he”d look good for the
ladies.”
And then there is this related story. Wendell went to see a doctor
and said he had a discomfort in his groin area. Ladner was single
at the time. The doctor said, “It looks like you”ve been having
sex too much.”
Wendell said, “You think so?”
Doc: “Well, how many times a day do you have sex?”
Wendell: “I don”t know, three or four times.”
Doc: “Wendell, that”s too much.”
Wendell: “Well, it”s never with the same girl.”
Ladner died in a plane crash in 1975 at the age of 26.
More on Chechnya and the Russians
Details emerged at the end of last week of a disastrous episode
for the Russian army in its fight against the Chechen rebels.
84 elite Russian paratroopers (out of a total force of 90) were
killed on February 29. The government had been trying to
conceal the battle that took their lives because they didn”t want to
ruin Vladimir Putin”s chances at winning the upcoming
presidential election. The truth finally came out because many of
the victims were from the city of Pskov and word had been
spreading of the ambush. It also turns out that many of the
soldiers were killed by friendly fire.
The Russians had been trying to keep 600 rebel fighters from
breaking through a pass into the neighboring republic of
Dagestan. Here”s what the Associated Press and Russian
reporters were able to piece together.
The paratroopers were guarding a mountain pass when the
Chechens radioed the Russians and asked for safe passage.
According to one of the survivors, the request was denied and the
rebels attacked.
The rebel force overwhelmed the federal forces and burst into
their trenches, where the two sides fought hand-to-hand.
Russian Col. Mark Yevtukhin, seeing the battle was lost, ordered
his battery officer, Capt. Viktor Romanov, to call in artillery on
their own position. Romanov, who had lost both legs and was on
the verge of losing consciousness, obeyed and shells began hitting
the area. Both officers died. Before the artillery began firing,
about 30 of the paratroopers were still alive. It is unclear how
many of them were killed by their own side.
“There was simply no other choice,” a commander of the
Airborne troops in Pskov told the newspaper Segodynya. “A
small company that clashed with a huge group of fighters was
doomed anyway. So they just drew fire.”
Real Estate Deal of the Century
I just had to pass this along from the March 20 issue of Business
Week. Noted corporate raider and Reliance Holding Group
CEO, Saul Steinberg, recently sold his New York apartment for a
record $37 million (the previous record was $21.5 million for a
Fifth Avenue penthouse).
Steinberg sold his 20,000-square-foot Park Avenue pad to
Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Group. The 34-room
mansion once belonged to John D. Rockefeller Jr. It has a dining
room that seats 48, five master bedrooms, a 60-foot entry gallery,
a gym, a billiard room, a screening room, and space for servants.
The estimated monthly charges are $23,000. Steinberg purchased
the place in 1971 for just $285,000. As for Schwarzman, all I can
think of is the 1980s, when at the peak of the real estate cycle
back then, the Japanese took a bath on such trophy properties as
Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach.
NCAA Tidbit
In 1981, the term March Madness really came to the fore. In a
single day, Arkansas guard U.S. Reed heaved a 49-foot buzzer
beater to give the Razorbacks a one-point, second round upset of
Louisville; Rolando Blackman of 8th-seeded Kansas State hit a
16-foot turnaround as the Wilcats nipped #1 seed Oregon State;
and St. Joe”s Bryan Warwick (I think…my memory is growing
fuzzy) drives the lane for a layup at the horn to defeat DePaul,
then #1 in the nation.
*This year I”m going with Stanford to run the table.
Rickey Henderson
This guy is a total pain-in-the-butt. Having said that, he is also
on the way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He enters the 2000 season
on the cusp of some awesome records and, since he is driven to
achieve baseball immortality, barring injury he should get them in
the next one to two years.
Currently Henderson is 3rd all-time in bases on balls. He has
1,972.with only Ted Williams (2,019) and Babe Ruth (2,056)
ahead of him. [He had 82 walks in 1999]. And Rickey is 4th on
the all-time runs scored list with 2,103. Ruth and Aaron each had
2,174 while Ty Cobb scored 2,245. [Henderson scored 89 in
1999].
On the stolen base front, Henderson enters the season with 1,334.
Lou Brock is second with 938. Ty Cobb is third, 892. When
people talk of records that may never be broken, this should be
right at the top.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/9/68: #1 “Love Is Blue” (Paul
Mauriat) #2 “(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls” (Dionne
Warwick) #3 “(Sittin” On) The Dock Of The Day” (Otis
Redding).
Quiz Answer: 1) Hank Aaron, 2297 2) Babe Ruth, 2212
3) Lou Gehrig, 1995 4) Stan Musial, 1951 5) Ty Cobb, 1939
.and the next five.6) Jimmie Foxx, 1921 7) Eddie Murray,
1917 8) Willie Mays, 1907 9) Cap Anson, 1879 10) Mel Ott,
1860.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. The next two will focus on St.
Patrick”s Day and an Irish tale or two.
