Baseball Quiz: Which four teams were in the postseason 4 or
more times in the 90s? Answer below.
PLAY BALL!!
So did you ever wonder how the hand signals umpires use to call
balls and strikes started? It is commonly thought that the
practice came about because of one William “Dummy” Hoy, a
deaf mute who played from 1888-1902.
Hoy was quite a player. An outfielder with great speed, he
accumulated over 2,000 hits in his career, a .291 average and 607
stolen bases. [This latter tally is not included in the all-time
stolen base lists because of the era. Most records go back only to
1898.]
In the book “The Glory of Their Times,” by Lawrence Ritter,
outfielder Tommy Leach, who played with Hoy in the outfield,
said “The thing was that you never called for a ball. You
listened for him, and if he made this little squeaky sound, that
meant he was going to take it.”
The great Sam Crawford described the whole umpire issue.
“(The umpire) would raise his right hand for a strike. (Dummy)
would be up at bat and he couldn”t hear and he couldn”t talk, so
he”d look around at the umpire to see what the pitch was, a ball
or a strike. That”s where the hand signs for the umpires calling
balls and strikes began.” And that has been the common
wisdom.
But wait, back in 1935 Guy Smith, writing for the Sporting
News, said that balls and strikes using hand signals started with
Paul Hines, a solid outfielder with a .301 career average. In 1886
or 1887, while with Washington, Hines was beaned which led to
at least a partial loss of hearing. Smith wrote that he had
witnessed “umpires.holding up their fingers to indicate balls or
strikes to [Hines].” Now again, Hoy didn”t play in the majors
until 1888. [Source: “Baseball”s Forgotten Heroes,” by Tony
Salin]
And here”s some trivia for you. Hines was baseball”s first Triple
Crown winner in 1878, although he led the National League with
just 4 home runs. In 1922, however, Hines was arrested for
pickpocketing at the Department of Agriculture.
Back to Hoy. At the age of 99, he threw out the first ball in the
1961 World Series. He died two months later. [Thanks to J Mac for
bringing Dummy”s story to my attention.]
Jimmy Page Wins Judgment
Last January 31 I wrote about Led Zeppelin. In 1980, drummer
John Bonham had choked to death at Page”s mansion. It was
later learned Bonham had 40 shots of vodka over a 12 hour
period.
Page, the former guitarist for Zeppelin, just won a “substantial”
but undisclosed damage award from a British magazine that
reported he stood by while Bonham was choking.
Page”s lawyer said the story claimed Page was more concerned
about keeping vomit off his bed than saving the notoriously hard-
drinking Bonham. The article in the August-September 1999
issue of Publishers Ministry Magazine said Page stood over
Bonham casting a spell in Satanist robes and, by doing so,
“selfishly and stupidly caused or contributed” to his death.
The magazine now accepted that the allegations were not true.
Page was going to donate the money to charity. [Source: Reuters]
Johnny Gray
If you”re a track and field fanatic, undoubtedly you have heard of
Gray. This amazing athlete turns 40 on June 19 and he has a real
shot at making his fifth U.S. Olympic team this summer. As an
800-meter specialist, Gray has run the five fastest 800s ever by
an American. His record of 1:42.60 has stood since 1985.
Gray says, “The key to my success is leading a clean, decent
existence. I have a simple, stable life, and I appreciate my
success. I married young and had children early. A lot of people
thought that would hurt my track career. Instead it slowed down
my lifestyle and prevented me from partying and staying out late
on the track circuit. That”s why I”m still around today.” [Your
Editor is depressed. He didn”t follow any of this advice.]
[Source: Runner”s World]
NCAA Final
I apologize for Monday”s diatribe. It”s just that the college game
is suffering from massive corruption involving the agents and the
sneaker companies. Over the coming months you will read a lot
more about this. And my frustration also has to deal with an
issue I addressed in this space the last few months, that being the
recruitment of foreign high school ballplayers in my home state
of New Jersey. It”s also a problem in Florida and other locales.
The NCAA and the coaches are now fighting over some
remedies. As for the coaches, I just get tired of the constant
glorification of most of this fraternity. Recall the great Clem
Haskins, who was lionized when Minnesota made it to the Final
Four a few years ago only to discover that some of his players
were having their schoolwork (like term papers) done by an
advisor, and with Haskins” knowledge. This is why I am so
cynical.
As for the Monday telecast, Packer was the same but his comments
about Florida”s Mike Miller and Teddy Dupay were right on. As
for comparing Mateen Cleaves and his ankle sprain to the Thrilla
in Manilla, ah, I don”t think so. Bottom line, hopefully, the
NCAA begins to get its act together but as long as you see Nike
Bracketville ads, with its hypocrisy in hyping coaches who have
huge sneaker dealers with them, I”ll continue to be pessimistic.
[I do have to add, Magic Johnson is a class act and Michigan
State is fortunate to have him so involved in their program.]
Sammy Sosa
Guess what? Sammy may need some lessons in class from
Magic Johnson. It turns out that Sosa”s charitable foundation in
the Dominican Republic is near bankruptcy and Sosa, himself,
has hardly given it any cash, this according to Fortune magazine.
Sosa gave a building, appraised at $2.7 million, to the not-for-
profit foundation, earning a federal tax deduction of at least $1
million. Fortune says that there is no evidence Sosa has given
any substantial funds to the foundation while Mark McGwire
contributed $100,000.
Many of the tenants in the building, including Sosa”s sisters,
haven”t paid rent. The sisters run a boutique, a disco and a
beauty shop in the building.
Fortune also notes that Chase Kaufman, a member of the
foundation”s board, said he once bought Sosa”s brother, Jose, a
sports car with money from the foundation. Kind of makes you
look at Sammy in a different light, doesn”t it? [Additional
source: Associated Press]
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/5/75: #1 “Lovin” You” (Minnie
Ripperton) #2 “Philadelphia Freedom” (The Elton John Band)
#3 “No No Song” (Ringo Starr).
Quiz Answer: Atlanta (8), Yankees (5), Cleveland (5), Boston
(4). Houston, Texas and Toronto each appeared 3 times.
Next Bar Chat, Friday…Lee Elder and the Masters.
