Golf Quiz: 1) Name the 6 players who have won 50 or more
PGA tournaments. 2) Who is the all-time LPGA leader?
Answers below.
June 30, 1959
The Cubs were playing the Cardinals at Wrigley field when Cub
pitcher Bob Anderson threw a 3-1 pitch to Stan Musial which
goes all the way to the backstop. Ball 4. Musial jogs to first
base.
But Cub catcher Sammy Taylor then claimed the ball had hit
Musial”s bat and therefore was foul. That”s why he didn”t chase
it back to the screen and instead started arguing with umpire Vic
Delmore. Cubs” manager Bob Scheffing joined the argument at
home, contending that the ball had either grazed Musial”s arm or
hit his bat. Delmore claimed the ball glanced off Taylor”s glove.
Meanwhile, our ball is sitting at the backstop behind home and
Musial”s teammates alert him to this fact. Musial can advance
beyond first if he wants. The ball is in play.
At the same time, Cubs third baseman Alvin Dark recognizes this
so he starts running in full force toward the screen. But batboy
Bob Schoenfeldt picked up the ball and tossed it to field
announcer Pat Peiper.
Peiper later said he never touched the ball and instead let it drop
to the ground. Schoenfeldt wasn”t sure if Peiper had touched it.
Dark yelled, “Gimme the ball.” “There it is,” Peiper explained.
Dark then grabbed the ball and fired it to shortstop Ernie Banks
covering second base. But at this very same moment, another
ball flew out toward second. As you can guess, umpire Delmore,
while listening to the arguments of Taylor and Scheffing,
reached into his pocket and handed Taylor a new ball.
But pitcher Anderson, seeing Musial head for second, grabbed
the ball out of Taylor”s hand and threw it toward the base.
Anderson”s ball – ball #2 – and the one thrown by Dark were in
the air at precisely the same moment.
Dark”s throw was low. Banks came in and fielded it on one hop.
Anderson”s throw, however, was high and sailed over second
baseman Tony Taylor”s head into center field. While this was
happening, Musial slid safely into second.
But Musial didn”t know two balls were now in play. He only
saw the one that went into center so he picked himself up and
headed for third.
Well, he took all of two or three steps when Banks tagged him
with the original ball. Ball #2 was then picked up by Bobby
Thomson in center, who tossed it toward the Cubs dugout.
Imagine the umpires now. They huddled up and sent Musial
back to first. Cubs” manager Scheffing continued to squawk and
the umpires huddled again and ruled Musial out.
Cardinals” manager Solly Hemus then protested, claiming that
two balls were in play simultaneously and that there had been
interference on the part of the batboy, who admitted that he had
picked up the ball when it rolled back to the screen.
Alas, the protest wasn”t warranted as the Cardinals won the
game, 4-1. Afterwards, the umpires decided to talk and ruled
that Hemus”s protest would not have stood up because of rule
3.15, which states that when a qualified person (such as a batboy)
unintentionally interferes with a ball on the field, then the ball is
still in play.
[Source: Jerry Holtzman / Sporting News…from a 1959 article.
I wonder if Holtzman is still alive? If you ever go to the
Baseball Hall of Fame, ask to go to the library there and pick out
a year of the Sporting News. They will set you up with the
microfiche. I could”ve spent days looking through it.]
And the above is just another reason why baseball is such a great
sport. When you go to a game, you just never know what you”re
going to see. Those attending Wednesday”s Orioles – Red Sox
contest certainly didn”t expect Hideo Nomo to throw a no-hitter,
that”s for sure. And forget the no-no, Nomo hadn”t thrown a
shutout since 1996.
Marjan the Lion
I recently read a piece from the Herald Tribune that was pretty
depressing concerning the last remaining animals in the Kabul,
Afghanistan zoo. You would have thought that the Taliban and,
before them, the other Islamic forces, would have destroyed the
place but somehow, through individual acts of kindness, there are
some who survive.
The abuse that is hurled at the survivors is severe. Kids who are
homeless and obviously have had zero education, hang out and
throw rocks at the inhabitants. Evidently there is an elderly
gentleman who has been with the zoo for decades and he tries to
shoo the kids away, while an aid group supplies what food can be
spared. But over the last ten years or so, most of the animals
have become target practice for the soldiers.
So with this in mind, we salute the zoo”s most famous inhabitant,
Marjan the lion, who survived the Afghanistan war with the
Soviet Union. It seems that a rural guerrilla commander, fresh
from combat, climbed into Marjan”s cage for a “heroic picture.”
Marjan mauled him to death. [If StocksandNews had been
around back then, we would have granted Marjan the “Animal of
the Year Award.”]
Alas, the victim”s brother sought revenge and hurled a grenade
inside Marjan”s cage, blinding him in one eye. Yet all these
years later, Marjan is still alive and the elderly zookeeper is
allowed into his cage to feed him. There is a kind of mutual
respect between the two, as the man says. We can only hope that
Marjan is putting together a rebel force of his own to destroy the
Taliban.
New York”s Bears
In the past when I have mentioned hunting statistics, it is only for
the purposes of pointing out to those who may not live in areas
where bears are common, just how the bruin population is
exploding in the Northeast.
For example, in New York State, 728 bears were bagged in the
Adirondacks (which encompasses the Lake Placid area if you
aren”t too familiar with it) last year. And 287 were taken in the
Catskills, which is a very small mountain range less than two
hours from New York City.
Because of the late spring in these parts, the bears are just
emerging from their dens and war councils are being held,
particularly at Woodstock (in the Catskills region).
StocksandNews has sent its representative to entice the bears
with free subscriptions to the site. “Hey, if you want your name
in this space,” said the editor to one group, “get to work.”
Golf Endorsements
With Tiger Woods”s recent signing of a mammoth endorsement
deal with Nike (5 years, $100 million), the war is on between the
equipment manufacturers to line up the stars. David Duval,
despite already having a contract with Titleist (Acushnet), also
signed with Nike for 4 years at $28 million. [Duval has since
been sued for breach of contract by Titleist.]
Woods and Duval have what is known as “head-to-toe” contracts
with Nike, meaning the ball and everything they wear must carry
the swoosh. Also, Duval has been testing some new Nike irons,
which could be their next step into the golf wars. As for Woods,
since he signed just one year ago, Nike”s ball sales have risen
from zero to between 6 and 10 percent of the market.
Titleist still has its supporters. 5 of the top 10 in the world
(Love, Mickelson, Els, Singh, and Darren Clarke) use Titleist
balls. And at the recent Players Championship, 53% of all
entrants played Titleist while 17% used Nike. Some of the
others were Callaway, 6%; Strata, 5%; 1% Spalding SuperFlite
(the personal ball of your StocksandNews editor because it only
costs about $10 per dozen); 1% Pets.com; 1% Range; and 1%
Wham-O.
Titleist also still accounts for 38% of all ball sales in pro shops,
with total sales projected to be $300 million this year. Nike is far
behind with an estimated $100 million. [Source: Mark
McLaughlin / CNN]
John Croce…Dirtball
The Philadelphia 76ers basketball players were wondering why
money was increasingly missing from their lockers this season,
both home and away. So management authorized a videotaping
system to try and catch the thief. It turns out it was the brother of
team president and part-owner Pat Croce, John. While the club
is mum about most of the revelations on the surveillance tapes, in
one instance John Croce is shown taking money out of Allen
Iverson”s pants. [Bad move…very bad move…know what I”m
sayin”?]
All of this has just come to light even though John Croce
resigned back in January from his position as the Sixers” strength
and conditioning coach, a job he held for five seasons. As for
Iverson, he actually seemed to be cool about it all when apprised
of the situation.
The Arctic Rose
It”s easy to forget, even after “The Perfect Storm,” just how
dangerous the fishing industry is. This week, 15 lost their lives
as The Arctic Rose (based out of Seattle) went down in the
Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. Why do they keep going
out? “Money,” replied a sailor back in Seattle. In a good season,
fishermen can make up to $100,000. [Source: New York Times]
Medical Tidbit
I just thought I”d pass on an item I saw from the British Journal
of Sports Medicine (no, I don”t subscribe to this). Symptoms of
depression dropped by about a third after only 10 days of aerobic
exercise. The exercise appeared to work faster than most anti-
depressant drugs. The message being, if this site depresses you,
a good jog or walk should help restore some semblance of
balance in your life. The editor is heading outside himself right
now.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/3/71: #1 “Just My Imagination”
(The Temptations) #2 “Me And Bobby McGee” (Janis Joplin)
#3 “For All We Know” (Carpenters…any peas, Karen?)*
*That last comment was cruel and the editors wish to express
their regret, but no formal apology will be extended.
Golf Quiz Answers: 1) PGA tour wins, career: Sam Snead, 81;
Jack Nicklaus, 70; Ben Hogan, 63; Arnie, 60; Byron Nelson, 52;
Billy Casper, 51. [Walter Hagen and Cary Middlecoff each had
40.] 2) Kathy Whitworth won 88 times on the LPGA tour.
Next Bar Chat, Monday…Hank Aaron hits #715.
