Baseball Quiz: 1) What active ballplayer is #3 all-time with 17
pinch-hit homeruns? 2) Who are the only 3 hitters with 2,000
career bases on balls? Answers below.
The Grammys
Just thought I”d list some past winners in various categories:
Record of the Year (Single)
1962: I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett
1963: The Days of Wine and Roses – Henry Mancini
1964: The Girl from Ipanema – Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto
1965: A Taste of Honey – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
1966: Strangers in the Night – Frank Sinatra
1967: Up, Up and Away – 5th Dimension
1968: Mrs. Robinson – Simon and Garfunkel
1969: Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In – 5th Dimension
1970: Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
1971: It”s Too Late – Carole King
1972: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack
1973: Killing Me Softly With His Song – Roberta Flack
[You go, girl!]
1974: I Honestly Love You – Olivia Newton-John
1975: Love Will Keep Us Together – Captain & Tennille
1976: This Masquerade – George Benson
1977: Hotel California – Eagles…finally, the voters wise up.
Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Male
1965: King of the Road – Roger Miller
1966: Eleanor Rigby – Paul McCartney
1967: By the Time I Get to Phoenix – Glen Campbell
1968: Light My Fire – Jose Feliciano
1969: Everybody”s Talkin” – Nilsson
1970: Everything Is Beautiful – Ray Stevens
1971: You”ve Got a Friend – James Taylor
1972: Without You – Nilsson
1973: You Are the Sunshine of My Life – Stevie Wonder
1974: Fullfillingness First Finale – Stevie Wonder *Awarded for
album, the others were singles.
1975: Still Crazy after All These Years – Paul Simon (A)
1976: Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder (A)
1977: Handy Man – James Taylor
1978: Copacabana – Barry Manilow [Oh hell, this wasn”t all bad]
Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male
1966: Crying Time – Ray Charles.great tune
1967: Dead End Street – Lou Rawls
1968: (Sittin” on) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
1969: The Chokin” Kind – Joe Simon
1970: The Thrill Is Gone – B.B. King
1971: A Natural Man – Lou Rawls
1972: Me & Mrs. Jones – Billy Paul.we got a thinnnnnng,
going onnnnn.
1973: Superstition – Stevie Wonder
1974: Boogie on Reggae Woman – Stevie Wonder
1975: Living for the City – Ray Charles
1976: I Wish – Stevie Wonder
1977: Unmistakably Lou – Lou Rawls (A)
1978: On Broadway – George Benson.awful tune, you can do
better George. Actually, the Drifters did.
Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female
Aretha Franklin won it 8, count ”em, 8 straight years, 1967-1974
for the following:
Respect; Chain of Fools; Share Your Love with Me; Don”t Play
That Song; Bridge over Troubled Water; Young, Gifted and
Black; Master of Eyes; Ain”t Nothing Like the Real Thing.
[Now I think you”d all agree with me that Aretha”s best single
was “Until You Come Back To Me (That”s What I”m Gonna
Do)” from 1973]
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male
1964: Dang Me – Roger Miller
1965: King of the Road – Roger Miller
1966: Almost Persuaded – David Houston
1967: Gentle on My Mind – Glen Campbell
1968: Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
1969: A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash
1970: For the Good Times – Ray Price.awesome tune
1971: When You”re Hot, You”re Hot – Jerry Reed
1972: Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs – Charley Pride (A)
1973: Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
1974: Please Don”t Tell Me How the Story Ends – Ronnie
Milsap
1975: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain – Willie Nelson
1976: (I”m a) Stand by My Woman Man – Ronnie Milsap
Stuff
–A special meal: For those of you who are wine connoisseurs,
here is what the six chaps from Barclays Capital spent $63,000
on for their famous dinner last year, one that has now gotten five
of the six fired. [The problem was when some of the investment
bankers tried to pass off their share as a client expense.]
1945 Chateau Petrus – $17,500
1947 Chateau Petrus – $16,500
1946 Chateau Petrus – $13,000.Petrus is nearly pure merlot, so
they say.
Chateau d”Yquem dessert wine – $13,000
1984 Montrachet – $2,000
And assorted other drinks, including champagne, bottles of water,
and two bottles of Kronenbourg at $5 each. The owners of the
restaurant, Petrus, named after the vineyard, were so impressed
the lads (including a female or two if I recall) received their meal
free! Such a deal.
[Source: Suzanne Kapner and R.W. Apple Jr. / New York Times]
–Johnny Cash: From an interview with Anthony DeCurtis of the
NY Times. “Sept. 11 broke my heart. I watched it on television,
and I guess I wanted to kill somebody myself. I do love this
country, and I saw somebody take a really good shot at it. It was
a striking blow at our morale. But I”ve recovered from that, just
as this country is recovering. I believe this country will prevail.”
“The Essential Johnny Cash” is getting rave reviews.
–Jayson Williams Update: As reported by Neal Travis and Dan
Mangan of the New York Post, if convicted of the manslaughter
charge, ex-Nets ballplayer Williams stands to lose $34 million
remaining on his contract due to the morals clause, which voids
his pay if he”s convicted of a “serious” crime, and, let”s face it,
killing someone is pretty serious. He is still due $16.5 million
in 2003 and $17.9 million in 2004.
Of course Williams was also suspended from his NBC analyst
gig and he threw away a possible talk show with MSG, which
was in negotiations with him at the time of the “accident.”
[Williams”s agent disputes the Post story, saying the Nets are
obligated to fulfill the contract, regardless of whether or not
Williams is convicted of a serious crime.]
–We”re having a lot of fun these days here in the New York area
with the pitiful New York Knicks. Yeah, I grew up a Knicks fan,
but it”s time to pile on. Actually, I”ll let Marc Berman of the
New York Post do the honors.
The Knicks have the league”s highest payroll at $85.3 million
and they are currently 20-34. Plus, they are saddled with all
kinds of long-term contracts that are poison in this era of the
salary cap. Aside from Allan Houston”s outrageous 6-year, $100
million deal (which pays him $20.7 million the last year, when
he”s 36!), you have Shandon Anderson”s 6-year, $42 million
“monstrosity,” Howard Eisley”s 7-year, $41 million “nightmare,”
and Clarence Weatherspoon”s 5-year, $27 million “ripoff.”
Incredibly, Eisley is the 3rd-string point guard and never plays.
And people complain about Enron!
–Desmond Plunkett, RIP: Plunkett, who passed away recently,
was the British flier who had a hand in a 1944 prison escape that
became the model for the movie “The Great Escape.” He was
first shot down over the Netherlands in 1942, whereupon he was
transferred to a German prison camp south of Frankfurt.
Plunkett and his cohorts attempted 4 prior prison escapes before
the famous 5th one on March 24, 1944, when 76 went through a
360-foot tunnel which ended outside the fence, near some woods.
For his part, Plunkett made it to a train but was captured at the
Czech-Austrian border on April 8. Of the 76, 73 were rounded
up and Hitler, incensed, personally ordered the execution of 50,
against all norms of the Geneva Convention. Plunkett survived
because he was found after the 50 had been killed.
Desmond was the model for “the forger” in the movie, played by
Donald Pleasance. But as he”d comment in later years about the
film, ” ”The Great Escape” was full of lies (like Steve McQueen
leading Germans on a motorcycle chase). Perhaps 10% was
true.” [Source: Richard Goldstein / New York Times]
–I see where former Houston Cougars” coach Guy Lewis
suffered an apparent stroke the other day. We hope he
recuperates quickly.
But, anytime you see the name Guy Lewis, sports fans, you can
only think of one thing. How the hell did he let Clyde Drexler
accumulate 4 first half fouls in Houston”s ridiculous loss to Jim
Valvano”s North Carolina State squad, 54-52, in the 1983 NCAA
championship game? Poor Lewis, he”s long said not a day goes
by when someone like yours truly doesn”t bring it up. He also
says he was trying to get Drexler out when he picked up the 4th.
–And since it is almost March 1st, be aware, my friends, that a
“new ice age” is coming. Yes, that”s right. Courtesy of Trader
George and the February 5 edition of the Sun, “The glaciers and
permafrost of a new Ice Age could reach Key West within the
next 10 years!”
Now understand that George and I are taking all the appropriate
precautions here in New Jersey, because the inestimable “Dr.
Anthony Hastings,” supposedly a meteorologist (hmmm, that”s
funny, I can”t find him on the web), predicts that ice floes will
cover most of the northern United States as early as this spring!
Now all of this is because the “warming North Atlantic Current
is moving and growing cooler.As it cools, it will take much of
our civilization with it.” Hastings”s advice? “Move south.”
We”re gassing up the car now.
[Actually, weren”t these the guys that had the anthrax situation?!]
–On a perhaps more serious note, a former secretary at Bear
Stearns pleaded guilty the other day to charges of using
disappearing ink to make more than $800,000 disappear from her
boss”s bank accounts.
According to the AP, Anamarie Giambrone, of Flushing,
Queens, used “quick-fading ink to write checks that her manager
had requested. After (he) signed the checks, she would easily
erase the name of the payee and rewrite the checks for cash.” Our
little thief used $142,000 of the stolen money for a vacation and
to buy her husband a pizza parlor. Now that was sweet.
**StocksandNews is not responsible for any business losses
incurred subsequent to the publication of this edition of Bar Chat.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/25/67: #1 “Kind Of A Drag” (The
Buckinghams.I think Harry K. and I are the only two who
appreciate the true greatness of The Buckinghams. On the other
hand, I have a friend Ken P. who right about now is reaching for
the trash can) #2 “Love Is Here And Now You”re Gone” (The
Supremes) #3 “Ruby Tuesday” (The Rolling Stones.great year,
that 1967)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) John Vander Wal has 17 pinch-hit
homeruns, placing him 3rd behind Cliff Johnson, 20 (196 overall
for his career) and Jerry Lynch, 18 (115, .277). Gates Brown and
Smoky Burgess, 2 of the all-time favorites for those of us about
43 and older (Burgess for his baseball cards, since I can”t really
remember him hitting), each had 16, along with Willie
McCovey. As for Brown, his two best seasons were 1968 (.370,
34 for 92) and 1971 (.338 with 11 HR). Burgess hit 126
homeruns and had a .295 career BA. 2) Career walks: #1
Rickey Henderson – 2,141 #2 Babe Ruth – 2,062 #3 Ted
Williams – 2,019. [Barry Bonds is #7 with 1,724]
*In case you missed it, my Canadian friends, HBO”s “Real
Sports with Bryant Gumbel” had a show this week on the 50th
anniversary of “Hockey Night in Canada.” You should be able
to catch a repeat. I now wish I had been watching Don Cherry
the past 20+ years.
