Oakland A”s Quiz (1968 – ): 1) Most hits, season? [I guarantee
none of you will get it…they have never had one get 200.]
2) Most games won, season? 3) Most games lost, season?
4) Lowest ERA, starter? [Just looking for the pitcher”s name.]
Answers below.
Pearl Harbor
With the release of the movie, and seeing that I am posting this
from Honolulu, I thought that during this current trip of mine I
would read Walter Lord”s 1957 classic, “Day of Infamy.” This
book has come under some recent criticism with the
reassessment of who was responsible for the lack of preparation
on the U.S. side. To me, this is totally ridiculous. Lord set out to
write a chronology of events on December 7. He interviewed
hundreds, on both sides, and the result is a work that will be used
by historians for generations to come. Lord is now castigated for
not shedding the Japanese in a poor light, and, in turn, not fixing
the blame on the American side. The folks casting aspersions on
him are idiots. That wasn”t the point of the book, you freakin”.
Sorry. Anyway, it was amazing how when the attack
commenced, at 7:55 AM Honolulu time, it took most Americans
a while before reality set in. Such was the surprise, as I”m sure
the movie will convey.
At 7:55, Frank Stock and six of his mates from the repair ship
Vestal (moored alongside the Arizona) took a launch for church
services ashore. As they moved through the channel, six or eight
Japanese torpedo planes came in low, about 50 feet above the
water, heading toward the battleships they had just left. The men
were mildly surprised, because they hadn”t seen the U.S. planes
come in from this particular direction before. They were even
more surprised when their launch was sprayed with machine-gun
bullets.
As Walter Lord writes, “Stock recalled the stories he had read
about ”battle condition” maneuvers in the Southern states. This
must be the same idea – for extra realism they had even painted
red circles on the planes. The truth finally dawned when one of
his friends caught a slug in the stomach from the fifth plane that
passed.”
On the deck of the Battleship Nevada, bandleader Oden
McMillan waited with his 23 men as they prepared to play “The
Star Spangled Banner” for colors at 8:00. As they moved into
formation, some noticed a group of planes at the other end of
Ford Island. Lots of dirt and sand went up, but McMillan
thought it was another drill. At 7:58, the same planes started
coming in low towards them, accompanied by heavy explosions.
Right at 8:00, as a Japanese plane skimmed across the harbor and
dropped a torpedo at the Arizona (situated directly behind the
Nevada), the band started playing. The plane peeled off over the
Nevada, with the rear gunner spraying the men standing at
attention. Luckily, the guy was a poor shot and missed the entire
band and Marine guard.
McMillan kept on conducting, his training taking over. Then
another plane strafed the deck. McMillan paused and then
quickly picked up the beat again. The entire band stopped and
started with him. “Not a man broke formation until the final note
died. Then everyone ran wildly for cover,” writes Lord.
And this little incident at Hickam Air Base. As the initial shock
wore off, some began to assemble and fight back. Sergeant
Wilbur Hunt set up 12 .50-caliber machine guns in fresh bomb
craters near the barracks. His gunners turned up from an
unexpected source. A bomb had blown off a corner of the
guardhouse, releasing everybody. Again, Lord.
“The prisoners dashed over to Hunt and said they were ready to
go to work. It was just as he thought – the ones who are always
in trouble are the ones you want with you when the going gets
tough. He put them on the guns right away.”
Hopefully, “Pearl Harbor,” the movie, meets everyone”s
expectations.
Animals Continue Their Rampage
So here I just wrote another little bit about the brown tree snakes
of Guam and, lo and behold, the Herald Tribune has a front page
story Monday titled “Mischievous Species Capitalize on
Globalization.” The lead was our snake, one of the invading
”aliens” which are costing the global economy hundreds of
billions of dollars each year, as well as spreading disease and
causing massive ecological destruction. But since these are
ordinary animals, plants, and insects, rather than, say, martians,
governments are doing little.
Now the article gets something wrong right off the bat. It labels
Guam”s snakes as being “poisonous.” The brown tree snake is
NOT poisonous. But it is large and nasty and can bite the hell
out of you. The story does confirm that they came over from
Indonesia (but also mentions Australia).
Meanwhile, the Indian Mongoose, introduced to the West Indies
as part of a program to control the native rat population, has
instead wiped out native species of birds and reptiles…plus the
mongoose carries rabies. I”ve always told folks I meet in airport
lounges, “Geezuz, remember, never handle a mongoose. It could
be rabid.” This always results in weird looks from my fellow
passengers.
Elsewhere, in Asia and the South Pacific, “crazy ants” are
proliferating, and are largely responsible for destroying the rain
forest on Christmas Island. The ants have exterminated land
crabs that play a vital role in the ecosystem. In one 18-month
period, the ants were estimated to have killed 3 million crabs!
That means only one thing, sell the crabs weapons so they can
fight back! Some surplus flamethrowers, for starters, may do the
trick.
Of course in the U.S., you have the zebra mussels which are
wreaking havoc in the Great Lakes, as well as the Chinese
longhorn beetle which is ruining forests, and New York City as
well. At least the U.S. sent China grass for their golf courses,
and now the grass is growing out of control.
Lastly, this is my final anecdote concerning the brown tree
snake. Yesterday, I was walking along a beach in Guam when I
came across a man cutting back the shrubbery that was about 40
feet from the water”s edge.
“Any snakes?” I asked.
“No. It”s too dry. When it”s wet, they come out,” he said.
“Right at the beach?”
“Sure,” said our gardener turned snake hunter.
As I walked away, I turned and said, “Be careful!”
“You be careful,” he replied. Then with a big smile he added,
“They like white meat!”
NBC
I saw some of the network”s plans for the coming fall season.
Debuting on Thursday”s is “Inside Schwartz,” about a would-be
sportscaster whose dating rituals are punctuated by fantasy-like
sports highlights. Forgetting that this will follow “Friends,”
how long would you give an idea like this? 3 weeks? And how
long before we hear, “He…could…go…all…the…way!” 3
minutes?
Stuff
–I had a great experience at the race track in Hong Kong (more
in “Week in Review”). But not knowing anything about the
horses, I kind of went by name. Yes, is it any wonder that I bet
on “Desert Storm” in one race? Actually, it came in a strong 4th,
and it was moving up in class. Give it another 72 hours and it
would have finished first.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/21/66: #1 “Monday, Monday”
(The Mamas & The Papas) #2 “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”
(Bob Dylan) #3 “Good Lovin”” (The Young Rascals)
Oakland A”s Quiz Answers: 1) Most hits, season: Jose Canseco,
187 (1988). 2) Games won, season: Bob Welch, 27-6 (1990) 3)
Games lost, season: Brian Kingman, 20 (1980…Kingman went
8-20 for a team that was 83-79. But he pitched 211 innings, gave
up just 209 hits…not bad, considering…and he had a highly
respectable 3.84 ERA) 4) ERA: Vida Blue had his fantastic 1.82
ERA in 1971, a year in which he went 24-8, threw 312 innings,
gave up only 209 hits and fanned 301.
Next Bar Chat, Friday.
