Grand Slam Quiz: 1) Who hit the most grand slams in a single
season in the N.L.? 2) A.L.? 3) If those were easy, who is the
only major leaguer to hit a grand slam in their first major league
game? [Hint: Think post-1960.] Answers below.
Johnny Mac”s Baseball – Rube Foster
Continuing our story from Wednesday.
Rube Foster, the “father of black baseball.” Historian John
Holloway put it thusly, “White baseball has never seen anyone
quite like Rube Foster. He was Christy Mathewson, John
McGraw, Connie Mack, Al Spalding and Mountain Landis; great
pitcher, manager, owner, league organizer, czar, all rolled into
one.” Quite a description, huh?
Foster was a semi-pro legend in his native Texas around the turn
of the century. His pitching skills were so refined that McGraw
actually wanted to sign him for the Giants. When rebuffed, he
nonetheless invited Foster to counsel his pitchers and legend has
it that Foster taught Mathewson to throw his famous “fadeaway”
pitch ( what”s called a screwball today).
In an exhibition he bested Rube Waddell of the Philadelphia A”s
and the nickname “The Black Rube” stuck. He played for
numerous teams throughout the country and came to realize that
organization was needed if black baseball was to survive. In
1911 he formed a partnership with Chicago tavern owner John
Schorling (a son-in-law of Charles Comiskey, owner of the
White Sox) and created the Chicago American Giants, one of the
great black clubs ever. He continued to pitch and manage the
club through the decade, winning or sharing a number of
championships. He was an innovative skipper, utilizing the
running game and inventing the bunt and run play.
Fearing that feuds between owners and promoters would doom
black baseball, he joined a number of owners in 1919 and formed
the Negro National League. Foster had the foresight to register
the league as a legal entity in 6 states prior to the meeting. This
so impressed the other owners they named him president and
secretary. He proved to be basically a benign dictator, routinely
shipping some of his own teams” best players to help other clubs
which were in trouble. This is not to say he didn”t take some
advantage of his power…his teams rarely lost a dispute since he
hired and paid the umpires and was the final arbiter in any
protest.
The Negro League thrived and spawned imitators and rivals
around the country. Let us not forget that this was a legitimate
business, drawing good crowds and attracting quality players.
Not every black of the time was pining away for his chance at the
“real” majors.they saw their league as every bit real baseball as
the white game and the melding of the two might have hurt black
entrepreneurs.
In 1926 Foster met with long-time associates John McGraw and
Ban Johnson (founder of the American League) ostensibly to
schedule more games with the white leagues. Unfortunately,
Foster had fallen mentally ill and his behavior became more and
more erratic. Whatever plans might have come to fruition were
lost to the illness. He was eventually committed and died in a
state institution in 1930. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in
1981.
Think of how different history might have been had Foster lived
a long life and Landis had his cut short (sorry to kill you off early
there, Judge). Might those great match-ups mentioned earlier
have taken place? Sadly, we are left only to imagine.
[Sources: Sports Illustrated, Baseball Online Library, Baseball
Hall of Fame, “Total Baseball”]
Scopes Trial
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the trial of Tennessee
high school teacher, John T. Scopes. Scopes told his students
about the theory of evolution, which violated a state law against
teaching stories of human origins that disagreed with the Bible.
Scopes”s law team was led, of course, by Clarence Darrow while
the prosecution”s chief adviser was William Jennings Bryan.
Bryan had been a Democratic congressman from 1891-95 and a
3-time presidential contestant (1896: lost to McKinley in a
campaign where he gave 600 speeches to an estimated 5 million
people; 1900: defeated again by McKinley; and 1908: defeated
by Taft). Woodrow Wilson picked him to be Secretary of State,
a position in which he served from 1913-15. Bryan was a hero to
the nation”s rural folk.
The trial commenced on July 10 and drew international attention.
The climax came on July 20, when Darrow put Bryan on the
witness stand as an expert on creationism.
Bryan didn”t have to testify but, secure in his convictions,
volunteered to do so. You all know the story. Darrow destroyed
Bryan. Or did he?
In a piece for the July / August issue of American Heritage
magazine, Frederic Schwarz points out that while every account
acknowledges that Bryan was “immovable” in his beliefs, all he
did was reiterate that the Bible was unquestionably true, “so
anything to the contrary must be false, whether man could
explain it or not.” [I”m not taking sides here. Just reporting.]
Schwarz writes that, “Intellectuals generally saw Bryan”s
inability to answer Darrow”s questions as proof of the weakness
of his argument. To them the confrontation demolished any
credibility that creationism might have had. By impressing the
highbrows, however, Darrow was preaching to the choir, for
fundamentalists understood Bryan”s don”t-knows and never-
thought-about-its as statements of faith and humility. He saw no
need to seek explanations, because the Bible gave him all the
answers he would need. In the eyes of Bryan”s supporters – who
frequently interrupted his testimony with cheers, applause, and
appreciative laughter – Darrow never laid a glove on him.”
When you think back to the story that every schoolchild reads
today (well, maybe not everyone), you get the impression that
Bryan left the courthouse a broken man. But it needs to be
mentioned that just four days after the trial, Bryan addressed
8,000 cheering supporters at Jasper, Tennessee. These were the
last cheers for a distinguished American. He died in his sleep the
next day. William Jennings Bryan…he served his country well
and fought the good fight.
NCAA Basketball
John Feinstein had an interesting op-ed piece recently discussing
the plight of college basketball. One news item pricked his
curiosity, that being a headline in the Washington Post, “Ex-
DeMatha Star Chooses Syracuse Basketball in 2001.”
The star, Billy Edelin, was a junior this past season and
announced that he planned to enroll at Syracuse in September
2001.
But it turns out that Edelin doesn”t know where he is playing
high school his senior year because DeMatha is denying him
admission. It seems that Edelin doesn”t quite measure up to their
academic standards.
Not to worry, ”Cuse fans. You can be sure Edelin will find a
home somewhere and that his grades will improve enough to
make him eligible.
But as Feinstein points out, is it any wonder that the graduation
rate for Div. I men”s b-ball players is somewhere between 40 and
44 percent? Says John, “This for a group of students who, in
most cases, are guided into the easiest possible courses and given
unlimited tutoring and summer school when needed.”
But things may be about to change for the better. The NBA
recently announced plans for some kind of developmental
league, aimed at those who don”t wish to go to college, and
aren”t ready for the NBA itself.
But the NCAA sees this as a big threat. Explains Feinstein:
“The thinking goes that if too many top players choose to skip
college altogether, the crown jewel of college athletics, the Final
Four, might soon be contested among Princeton, Penn, Lafayette
and Navy. Actually, as much as some of us would enjoy that
(here here!), such a thing would never happen. In fact, the new
league would be good for college basketball because there would
be less academic fraud and fewer players being recruited by
colleges who can”t do high school-level work…Even if the
overall quality of play dropped a little, the essence of the college
game – the drama, the competition and the chance to see your
school have a chance to win – would still be intact.”
So now the NCAA is proposing new rules changes that would,
among other things, allow college stars to borrow money based
on their earnings potential as pros. Oh brother.
*Speaking of college basketball, and my alma mater of Wake
Forest, congratulations, once again, to Tim Duncan, this time for
staying a few more years in San Antonio. A class act.
Mark Messier
And speaking of class.and leadership.I have a reason to be a
hockey fan again as the great Messier has signed to rejoin the
New York Rangers. Forget the fact he”s 39 and his skills are
greatly diminished. This man is one of the great leaders in sports
history. And the Rangers performed a class act by immediately
turning the captaincy over to him. LET”S GO RAN-GERS!
My Mayor
I live in a town of about 15,000 and I can virtually guarantee that
you all don”t have a mayor like we do. Al Morgan. I wrote of
his election last fall because it”s a great story. You see, Mr.
Morgan is not just our mayor, he is also our UPS man.
The other day I go to the door and Mr. Mayor is there. “Here are
your Jets tickets,” said Al. “Thanks, how”s the city goin”?” I
asked.
But I had to cringe this past Memorial Day when I”m standing
next to this stranger at the local parade as Mayor Morgan passes
by, wearing a suit. “Hey, Al. I almost didn”t recognize you
without your uniform!” said the man. I felt like pounding the
jerk. Go get ”em, Mr. Mayor. And I hope your UPS stock soars.
Baseball Tidbits
Just thought I”d throw out some stats that probably wouldn”t be
fair to use in a quiz.
Most RBI accounting for all of a club”s runs, 9-inning game:
8, “Indian Bob” Johnson, Philadelphia A”s, 6/12/38 in an 8-3 win
vs. St. Louis. Also George “Highpockets” Kelly, New York
Giants, 6/14/24, in an 8-6 victory over Cincinnati.
Most RBI, 2 consecutive games:
A.L. – Tony Lazzeri, Yankees, 15. [1936: 4 and 11.]
N.L. – Nate Colbert, Padres, 13. [1972 doubleheader: 5 and 8.
Boy, I still remember this one.] Also, Mark Whiten had 13 in a
doubleheader back in 1993. It was in the second game that he hit
4 home runs and drove in 12 after getting a single ribby in the
first game.
Fewest RBI in a season (150 or more games):
A.L. – 20, Alvaro Espinoza, New York Yankees, 1990. 438 AB.
N.L. – 20, Richie Ashburn, Philadelphia Phillies, 1959. 564 AB.
*And he”s in the Hall of Fame! [Sorry, Phillies fans.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/14/73: #1 “Will It Go Round In
Circles” (Billy Preston) #2 “Kodachrome” (Paul Simon)
#3 “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” (Jim Croce…should be ”Bad, Bad
Bobby Brown”)
Grand Slam Quiz Answers: 1) N.L. – Ernie Banks, 5, 1955.
2) A.L. – Don Mattingly, 6, 1987. 3) Bobby Bonds slammed one
in his first game, 6/25/68.
U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials
Get psyched, track fans! The trials are underway and they are
often better than the Olympics themselves. You may want to
check out the following web site for a complete schedule of
events, ergo, when you need to check out the tube:
www.runnersworld.com/road2sydney/outdoors/
Personally, M W 100m dash on Sat. night the 15th; M W 400 and
1500 late Sunday afternoon the 16th; and the M W 200 and 800
on Sunday the 23rd are the must sees. Set the VCR. Go MJ!!
Next Bar Chat, Monday…we”re going to do a little
carpetbagging.
