Baseball Quiz: 1) Name the seven players with 3,400 career hits.
2) Name the top 3 in grand slams. 3) All-time leader in doubles?
Answers below.
**Waylon Jennings, RIP. In case you missed it, I profiled the
country great in this space, 1/25. See archives below.
**And not for nothing, we said the French were at fault
regarding the Olympic pairs fiasco on 2/13 (posted 2/12 PM).
No one else is mentioning the daisy cutter option, however.
Abraham Lincoln
Don”t worry, we”re just going to focus on his pre-presidential
years here. Yes, Abe was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-
room, dirt-floored log cabin, the son of Thomas and Nancy.
Thomas Lincoln owned a small tract in Kentucky and when Abe
was just two, they moved to a larger one, “in the valley of Knob
Creek, surrounded by high hills and deep gorges.” It was a
terrible place to raise crops, what with all the gully washers
sweeping away whatever seeds were planted. Simply put a
peasant life.
Mother Nancy Hanks could read but not write. Thomas could
supposedly only scribble a little. Life back then was non-stop
farm labor, however, and “book learning” wasn”t a priority.
In 1816, Thomas and Nancy set off for better land and ended up
in Pigeon Creek, Indiana. It is said that Thomas was also trying
to get away from slavery, being opposed to it on both religious
and economic grounds. He felt that slave labor was unfair
competition, and this was a feeling that Abe would carry forward
as well.
In 1817, tragedy struck as Nancy Hanks succumbed to “milk
sickness.” Abe was shattered and it is said that the spells of
depression he suffered through the rest of his life can be traced to
this event. But a year later, Thomas remarried the widow Sarah.
Sarah had a pleasant demeanor and she took to Abe and
encouraged what was clearly his passion for reading. And what
did he read back then? Well, you have to remember that very
few books were even available, so it was mostly Aesop”s Fables,
Robinson Crusoe and the Bible.
But because there were so few choices available in those days,
children took to memorizing the texts they could get their hands
on. Historian Jean Bethke Elshtain observes, “All those hours
spent reading by dim firelight the same book over and over (the
way little children still like to be read to) were to contribute to
Lincoln”s being the foremost master of prose among our
presidents.”
In addition, another popular book of the time, John Bunyan”s
“The Pilgrim”s Progress” (published in 1684), “must have played
an important part in shaping Lincoln”s complexity of mind,” says
Elshtain, “through a life of action and of reflection, often
mordant reflection, on that action.”
While still a teen, Abe set off for New Salem, Illinois. He spent
some time working on a flatboat carrying goods to New Orleans.
Then he took a job clerking in a general store, which gave him a
chance to learn how to “politick.” Around town Lincoln was
known as a kind and thoughtful young man. He was also
prodigious with an axe at 6” 4″, often chopping wood for the
ladies, further endearing himself in their hearts. [Note to file: Go
door to door, offering to chop wood.] And in July 1831, he
gained some fame by taking on the town bully, one Jack
Armstrong, fighting him to a draw, at worst (or so the story
goes).
Clerking gave Abe lots of time to indulge in his favorite passion,
reading. Now he was devouring the likes of Thomas Paine,
Voltaire, and Shakespeare (Macbeth being his favorite). He was
also known to be a brooder. Carl Sandburg wrote, “Silence
found him for her own. In the making of him, the element of
silence was immense.”
Lincoln lost his first election to the Illinois State legislature in
1832, but won the seat in 1834. As a popular member, he
hobnobbed with the elite in town and eventually met Mary Todd
of Lexington, Kentucky. Mary was well educated (but high-
tempered) and a marriage was set for 1/1/41. But it is said that
Abe had fallen in love with another woman and so the wedding
was cancelled. Lincoln suffered, emotionally, for over a year,
but by mid-1842, Mary and Abe were back together and they
married 11/4/42. Curiously, however, he concluded a business
letter a week later with the following: “Nothing new here except
my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder.” [Uh
oh.not a great attitude. And they did end up having a rocky
time.]
In 1846, Lincoln was elected to Congress. The Whig Party gave
him $200 for campaign expenses, Abe handed back $199.25,
keeping 75 cents for a barrel of cider he had purchased. So it
should be no wonder, boys and girls, that the future president
was given the moniker, “Honest Abe.”
Lincoln only lasted one term in Congress, clashing with
President Polk over policy in the Mexican War. This represented
another extraordinary moment in the development of Abe
Lincoln”s political character. The U.S. had annexed Texas and
rapidly overwhelmed Mexico. President Polk”s policies were
popular regarding this action, but Lincoln disagreed. He saw the
U.S. as being the aggressor and stated, “Allow the President to
invade a neighboring nation whenever ”he” shall deem it
necessary to repel an invasion.and you allow him to make war
at pleasure.”
Well, Abe Lincoln tired of Washington and sought the simple
life of a lawyer back in Illinois so after two years he packed up
and went home. As he himself later put it, Abe saw “a superior
opportunity” for “being a good man.”
Of course the slavery issue overwhelmed good men like Lincoln
and he soon found himself back in politics, this time as one of
the founders of the new Republican Party. In 1858 he ran for the
Senate against the incumbent, Stephen Douglas. It was during
the Lincoln-Douglas debates that the nation really took note of
Abe”s talents. As described in “The Presidents,” “The language
he spoke and the moral convictions he championed were
memorable.” [Following are Lincoln”s words.]
“The ant, who has toiled and dragged a crumb to his nest will
furiously defend the fruit of his labor, against whatever robber
assails him. So plain, that the most dumb and stupid slave that
ever toiled for a master, does constantly know that he is
wronged.
“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember
when I did not so think, and feel.
“As I would not be a ”slave,” so I would not be a ”master.” This
expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to
the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
“Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has not
hope.”
Well, Lincoln lost the Senate race, but two years later was the
Republican nominee for president. I think you know the rest.
Sources: “The Presidents,” edited by Henry Graff; “American
Heritage: The Presidents,” edited by Michael Beschloss; “The
Second One Thousand Years: The People Who Defined a
Millennium,” edited by Richard Neuhaus.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/15/69: #1 “Everyday People” (Sly
& The Family Stone) #2 “Crimson And Clover” (Tommy James
& The Shondells) #3 “Touch Me” (The Doors.strong Top 3.)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) 3,400 hits: Pete Rose – 4,256; Ty
Cobb – 4,191; Hank Aaron – 3,771; Stan Musial – 3,630; Tris
Speaker – 3,515; Honus Wagner – 3,430; Carl Yastrzemski –
3,419. 2) Grand Slams: Lou Gehrig, 23; Eddie Murray, 19;
Willie McCovey, 18. [Among actives, Robin Ventura has 15,
Ken Griffey Jr. 14, and Manny Ramirez 14.] 3) All-time leader
in doubles is Tris Speaker with 793. [Rose had 746; Musial,
725; Cobb, 724 and George Brett is #5 with 665.surprised?]
–Minnesota Timberwolves ballplayer Kevin Garnett led his team
to victory on Wednesday night and then paid for the first 10,000
drinks. You”re reading Bar Chat.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. And I need to explain this. Aside from
the fact that I”m traveling overseas next week, after three years I
am changing the schedule on Bar Chat to Tuesdays and
Thursdays. This was a tough decision for me to make and I hope
you”ll understand. Unfortunately, I need to open up a little more
time for other ventures.
