Baseball Quiz: [Just trying to cover all skill levels with the
following] 1) Who had the most 200-hit seasons? 2) Name the 7
active players who enter the season with 400 lifetime HRs. 3)
Name the two active players with 14 career grand slams.
Answers below.
#3
Folks, as I mention in the current “Week in Review,” I watched
the first half of the Daytona 500 before heading overseas and
didn”t know until the next day that Dale Earnhardt had been
killed. I hope you”ll excuse me for the lateness of this but I
couldn”t do anything sooner.
Readers of “Bar Chat” know that I consider myself to be a pretty
good fan of NASCAR and The Intimidator”s sickening death left
a real void in the sport. So herewith a few quotes I gleaned from
the various publications I was able to get my hands on in Rome.
Fan: “He had his ways, but he was the best damn race-car driver
ever.”
Darrell Waltrip on Earnhardt”s popularity. “Did you ever look in
the grandstands? What did you see? [A bunch of hard-working
people, havin” a good time.] There”s your answer. He was one
of them.”
Earnhardt, my own personal favorite, was a genuine American
hero, great with his fans, and, along with Michael Jordan, perhaps
the fiercest competitor of the last 20 years in sport.
Observed one writer (whose name I forgot to jot down), “If you
ever stopped by a backwoods southern courthouse and stared at a
statue of a Confederate soldier – lanky, brooding, a glint of
menace in his eyes – then you had met Earnhardt. He could have
ridden with J.E.B. Stuart”s hellraisers or walked into the guns at
Gettysburg with George Pickett.”
Dale Earnhardt was the real deal. Up from poverty, he earned
everything in life. And there was the softer side of him as well,
one which he didn”t really like others to know about. Chip
Williams, a NASCAR public relations spokesman, recounted, “I
saw Earnhardt one time spend 15 minutes on a pay phone at
Talladega talking to a boy who was dying of cancer. It was the
late 1980s and someone had called the NASCAR offices about
the boy. I told Earnhardt about it and he went straight to the
phone and called. I wanted to make a big deal out of it, but he
insisted I not say anything to anyone. ”I didn”t talk to him for
that, and I don”t ever want him to think that I did,” he told me.
The boy died two weeks later.”
I noticed in yesterday”s Sunday Times that the Phoenix Suns”
Rodney Rogers had some thoughts on Earnhardt”s death. Rogers
grew up a NASCAR fan and visited with Dale during his trips to
racetracks around the country. He had first met him while he was
playing ball at Wake Forest.
“If he could help you, he would just treat you like family. That”s
how the NASCAR family is…But when they get out on the
track, it”s war.”
Rogers”s favorite Earnhardt memory involved a race in Charlotte
where Davey Allison and Kyle Petty were closing in on Dale.
“Allison came alongside Earnhardt and Earnhardt kind of bumped
him and Allison spun. When he spun around, the back of his car
went right across the finish line, right before Earnhardt. He lost
the race but it showed how competitive he was.”
Concluded Rogers, “Without Dale Earnhardt, it”s just like a
whole big piece of the puzzle is missing.”
And some final thoughts. It”s come to light that Earnhardt”s lap
belt broke, causing him to slam onto the steering column, and, I
saw quite a few replays on the tube in Italy and those who blamed
Sterling Marlin in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy were
way off base.
As for Dale Earnhardt Jr., the poor guy is putting himself under
way too much pressure, witness Sunday”s crash at Rockingham.
As a fan of the sport, I kind of wish he would take a few weeks
off. You don”t get a real good feeling about the whole situation.
Stuff
–Duke”s Shane Battier became the 10th Blue Devil to have his
number retired the other day, joining this rather illustrious group:
Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, Danny Ferry,
Johnny Dawkins, Mike Gminski, Jeff Mullins, Art Heyman, Dick
Groat. But when you glance at the list, how many really turned
out to be great NBA players? Compared to, say, Carolina
grads. and let the emails begin!
[Battier, who should be awesome at the next level, is one of only
4 in NCAA history to get 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 steals,
200 assists, and 200 blocked shots; the others being Danny
Manning (Kansas), Lionel Simmons (LaSalle), and George Evans
(George Mason).
–In Romania, packs of wild dogs, a vestige of the Ceaucescu era,
ravage the capital of Bucharest, biting 23,000 city residents each
year. The mayor is under major fire from animal rights activists
for his plan to round them up and dispose of them (though
owners have 10 days to claim them).
–Japanese television postponed its airing of “Godzilla” because
scenes of the monster attacking fishing boats could bring back
bad memories of the U.S. submarine accident. In the opening of
the film, Godzilla emerges from the ocean to do his thing. I
didn”t see if they were substituting “Rodan” or “Mothra.”
–I saw where the NBA”s Charles Oakley said 60% of the players
in the league are on marijuana. “There”s no respect for the game
no more.” Just another reason to get fired up for the new
baseball season!
–But then baseball has its own problems. Alex Rodriguez”s 10-
year, $252 million contract is upsetting guys like Frank Thomas
who make a mere $9.9 million. Thomas, Sosa, Sheffield, and
Bonds have all asked for contract extensions. Said Thomas,
“You can”t have the top actor making $25 million and the rest
$10 million.” We here at “Bar Chat” truly feel for Mr. Thomas
and the rest.
And there, boys and girls, is why this is probably the last baseball
season we”ll all have for quite some time. I imagine that it”s
going to get awful gloomy come August when the realization sets
in that the owners and the players are miles apart when it comes
to putting together a new contract. [The current one expires after
this year”s Series.] Plus the individual owners are so far apart
themselves.
–A week ago I listed America”s “Greatest Presidents,” as
selected by a poll of scholars. Then I see that a Gallup Poll of
ordinary Americans had Reagan, JFK, and Lincoln as the top 3,
but they were followed by Clinton, FDR, Truman, Washington
and Jimmy Carter (in that order). The stupidity of the American
people continues to amaze me…and it”s a rather scathing
indictment of our education system. Now if you voted for the
two chaps whose last name begins with ”C,” well, no Sports
Illustrated swimsuit issue for you. [Holy cow, you think SI got
letters in the past!.]
–The World Boxing Organization had a dead man ranked in the
Top Ten of its super middleweight division for months. Darrin
Morris died in October of HIV-related meningitis at 32. In
January, he was still No. 5 before the error was discovered.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/22/75: #1 “Pick Up The Pieces”
(Average White Band) #2 “Best Of My Love” (The Eagles)
#3 “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (Grand Funk)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) 200-hit seasons: Pete Rose, 10. Ty
Cobb had 9. 2) 400 Home Runs: Mark McGwire, 554; Barry
Bonds, 494; Jose Canseco, 446; Ken Griffey Jr. 438; Fred
McGriff, 417; Cal Ripken Jr. 417; Rafael Palmeiro, 400. Sammy
Sosa has 386. 3) 14 career grand slams: Robin Ventura and Ken
Griffey Jr.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. More wildlife stories.
