Pinch-Hit Quiz: Who is the all-time leader in pinch-hit HRs?
[Hint: A post-1960 player.] Answer below.
Boxing…The Fix Is In
Of course we all know so much of boxing is fixed. While I didn”t
watch the Lewis-Grant title fight Saturday night, from a
description of the action I had to wonder about Grant”s true
qualifications.
Here in New Jersey, an interesting trial is taking place involving
Robert Lee, the president of the International Boxing Federation
(IBF), his son and others in a large bribery case. Basically, if you
were a fight promoter or manager and wanted the boxers in your
stable to move up in the rankings, you paid a bribe to Lee and his
boys. [I first highlighted this case in the 2/4 edition of Bar Chat.]
For example:
Vaughn Bean was an unknown 21-year-old when he first showed
up as a No. 12 heavyweight. Shortly thereafter he had moved up
to No. 5 in the IBF ratings and found himself in line for two title
bouts.
When Bean first showed up on the charts in April 1995, his
record read 18 wins, 13 by knockout, and no losses. But many of
his opponents were highly suspect, like the 40-year-old who had
not fought professionally in 15 years and another who had a
record of 6 wins and 23 losses. Bean”s promoter was Butch
Lewis who has been identified along with Don King as an
unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
Doug Beavers was the IBF”s former ratings chairman who has
turned state”s evidence. He said he once extorted $100,000 from
a South African promoter, Cedric Kushner. Beavers said Lee
told him to pressure Kushner to make a payoff in the late 1980s in
return for an IBF agreement to rank South African fighters at a
time when no other sanctioning body would do so because of
international athletic boycotts against the country”s apartheid
policies.
Kushner gave Beavers the $100,000 at Cedric”s home on Long
Island. That same day, Beavers said he passed the Lees” share of
the money to the younger Lee at the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop
on the New Jersey Turnpike. [For those not familiar with the
area, this is a notorious place for all kinds of mischief, as well as
the world”s worst food.] Beavers was shocked when Lee pulled
into the rest area wearing a yellow sport coat and all kinds of
jewelry.
“I was afraid someone was going to jump out of the bushes
thinking this was a drug deal,” Beavers said. [Now you know
where “The Sopranos” gets some of its story lines.]
Beavers and Lee were involved in George Foreman”s surprise
knockout of IBF champion Michael Moorer. He has no comment
as to whether or not that fight was fixed. [I saw that one and I
don”t think it was.]
On another occasion, Beavers took $20,000 in a Nevada hotel
room in 1994 from Ron Weathers, the manager and promoter of
then unranked heavyweight Joe Hipp. The following day, Robert
Lee, Sr. gave Beavers his cut – $4,000 – and the next month Hipp
was ranked No. 5.
Beavers has also told the jury that he once got $5,000 as his share
of a payoff involving Don King. But King later wanted the
money back. Beavers refused.
“I”m thinking, ”Don King”s a street guy, he”s not going to be
asking for the money back,” Beavers said. “If you”re running an
illegal business, you don”t ask for a bribe back. I told Bob Lee,
”What”s Don King going to do, sue me?”
So, who wants to shell out $60 for the next pay-per-view?
[Source: Guy Sterling and Robert Rudolph, Star-Ledger]
NCAA
In the last week, the NCAA has decided to reduce and eventually
eliminate summer basketball recruiting by barring college coaches
from attending the summer camps that are so popular these days
with the rising high school stars.
Last week, former janitor and crack dealer Myron Piggie was
indicted on 11-counts for paying out $35,000 in cash to high
schoolers Corey Maggette, Jaron and Kareem Rush, Andre
Williams and Koeleone Young while they played for his summer
league team. In return, Piggie expected money back from the
players once they secured NBA contracts and endorsements.
But eliminating the coaches from the summer league scene
doesn”t seem to be the answer. Guys like Piggie (who received
$750,00 in funding for his team from Nike) will only have more
control as long as the kids want to participate in the summer
events.
And then there”s the case of Myron Anthony who is to play for
TCU this coming season. Anthony was a member of the
University of Kentucky team that won the 1998 NCAA
championship. He transferred to TCU after that season.
Anthony decided to put his championship ring up for sale on the
Internet and bidding supposedly was last at $7,800. But the
NCAA feels that by peddling his ring, he may be ineligible to play
his senior season. The position being that college athletes risk
their amateur standing if they sell sports-related items. As
sportswriter Sid Dorfman says, “What difference does it matter
what they sell, if they own it? Myron Anthony”s ring is sports
related, but it is also an earned personal possession he has a right
to do with as he pleases. It was not an agent”s bribe or a gift
from an admiring booster club when no one was looking.”
Meanwhile, Anthony”s mother recently underwent surgery for
cancer and there are bills to be paid.
Rubber Band Man
No, not the Spinners hit, but a 9-year old Plainsboro, NJ boy who
got in a heap of trouble because he threatened to use a rubber
band to shoot a wad of paper at a classmate.
The boy”s father said two uniformed officers arrived at their
house at 12:30 in the morning, after the parent of the student who
was threatened complained to a school administrator. The police,
who are automatically called with a threat of any kind in
Plainsboro, did not know it involved a rubber band. The next day
the police conducted a daylong investigation involving both
students. No punishment was deemed necessary.
Elsewhere in New Jersey, four Sayreville kindergartners were
recently suspended for playing “cops and robbers” in their school
playground.
Said one school administrator, “All we did was respond to a
threat of implied violence…Implied violence in today”s world
has a very different meaning than it probably did five years ago.”
The problem with the above statement is, as I have written about
in my Week in Review columns, the fact that school violence is
decreasing, not increasing. Geezuz, everyone just calm down!
David Merrick
The legendary Broadway producer died last week at age 88.
Merrick is responsible for such hits as “Fanny,” “Gypsy,”
“Oliver,” and “42nd Street.” I was reading an article on him and I
had no idea what an a-hole he was. To wit:
Recalled lyricist Tom Jones (not THAT Tom Jones), “He was one
of the funniest people I ever knew, but also one of the meanest.”
One of his plays, “Look Back in Anger,” was imported to the
U.S. from Britain. It received good reviews but was foundering
at the box office, so Merrick hired a woman to jump on stage
during a matinee and slap the unsuspecting lead actor in order to
get some press.
His worst ploy was probably in 1961, when he was in Boston
with his new musical, “Subways Are for Sleeping.” Suspecting
that New York critics would not like the show, according to
reporter Peter Filichia “He found men with the same names of the
seven reviewers and invited these ringers to see the musical. He
then printed their positive reactions (and his own) in a full-page
ad in the New York Herald-Tribune, which ran it for one edition
before editors discovered the ruse.”
Merrick will be best remembered for an incident on August 25,
1980. It was the opening night for “42nd Street” and the director,
Gower Champion, had died hours before the show. Merrick told
no one. After the curtain call, he announced the death onstage,
thus ensuring front-page treatment. Jerk.
Labeled “The Abominable Showman,” Merrick was also
notorious for not paying bills, leading many to believe they”d
never see their money. He then settled with them for far less than
they were owed, knowing they”d prefer the cutback to dealing
with him further.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/2/64: #1 “Can”t Buy Me Love”
(The Beatles) #2 “Hello, Dolly!” (Louis Armstrong)
#3 “Do You Want To Know A Secret” (The Beatles).
Vicki Sue Robinson: While NBC is doing their min-series on the
70s, and trying to sell the soundtrack, we note with sadness the
passing of Vicki Sue who is responsible for the disco hit, “Turn
The Beat Around.” She died of cancer the other day at 46.
Toronto”s Hot Dog Blaster: According to Sports Illustrated, at a
recent Toronto Blue Jays game at the Sky Dome, fans were
showered by fragmenting franks from the Hot Dog Blaster. The
promotional projectile launcher propelled the dogs with too much
force, causing the wieners to explode in midair.
Quiz Answer: Here is the top five all-time for pinch-hit homers.
1) Cliff Johnson, 20. 2) Jerry Lynch, 18. 3) Smoky Burgess,
Gates Brown and Willie McCovey, 16.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…Kent State and Tommy James.
