Baseball Quiz: Who are the six who have scored 2,000 runs?
Answer below.
Baseball Hall of Fame
Final thoughts on last week’s Veterans Committee vote. Hall of
Famer Joe Morgan is vice chairman of the Hall and he was
shocked that players’ union head Marvin Miller didn’t make it,
especially since he “changed the landscape for players.” Miller
only received 44% in the ‘composite’ (non-player) category. For
his part, Marvin said the Hall made such a big deal of revamping
the committee, which had been known for its cronyism, that for it
not to elect anyone looks stupid (my term).
What’s interesting is that of the 85 eligible to vote for the players
(including 58 living members), 4 didn’t turn in their ballots.
Those abstaining can remain anonymous if they choose, but
Reggie Jackson is one who didn’t submit his ballot, saying, “I
don’t see how you get in after being on the baseball writers ballot
for 15 years. It’s gotten too easy to get in the Hall.”
I don’t think any true fan would dispute that, and Morgan
himself said that maybe the selection process hasn’t been that
bad after all, because how many are in that really don’t deserve
to be? Well, you have some obvious ones, including the more
modern examples of Richie Ashburn and Don Drysdale, in my
humble opinion, but when it comes to those getting in off the
writers vote the recent choices have all been deserving. But back
to the Veterans, each voter could select up to 10 candidates from
the ballot and the average ended up being 5.4. [Someday we
need a Hall member to spill the beans on who voted for whom.]
So knowing that the average was 5+ on each ballot, how the hell
did Gil Hodges not get in? He received the most votes, 62%, but
still fell shy of the 75% required. Hodges not only had 370 home
runs and 1,274 RBI in his career, he was an outstanding fielder
and his managerial job with the 1969 Mets has to weigh heavily
in his favor. His poor widow, Joan, who was interviewed by all
the New York media in the days leading up to the vote, was so
distraught she couldn’t answer the phone last week. Hodges and
all the other players like Tony Oliva and Ron Santo now have to
wait another two years before there is another vote.
As for Santo, I repeat his figures again…342 HR 1,331 RBI and
a slew of Gold Gloves, all while playing with diabetes, a disease
that eventually led to the amputation of both his legs. And by the
way, what the hell is third baseman George Kell doing in the
Hall if Santo can’t get in? Sorry, Detroit fans, but he only had 78
HR 870 RBI and 2,054 hits…though he was a great fielder and
hit .306 to Santo’s .277. Bottom line, someone in Chicago let
Ron know that here at Bar Chat, we’re still pulling for him.
Stuff
–USA Today”s 10 Hardest Things to do in Sports
10. The Downhill
9. Saving a penalty kick
8. Tour de France
7. Running a marathon
6. Landing a quad
5. Returning a serve
4. Hitting a long straight tee shot
3. Pole vaulting
2. Race car driving
1. Hitting a baseball
I totally agree with the order of the first two, though I imagine
many of you don”t think racing is a sport. You obviously
haven”t attended one in person then. Hell, at least go to a
NASCAR race for the barbecue sandwiches!
–It was on March 5, 1973 that New York Yankee pitchers Fritz
Peterson and Mike Kekich arrived at spring training and
announced to the world that they were swapping wives, children
and even family dogs. Peterson went 8-15 that season, Kekich 2-
5, spending most of the year with Cleveland where the Yankees
shipped him out. As for the marriages, Kekich and the former
Marilyn Peterson broke up shortly after getting together, but
Peterson and Susan Kekich are still married, I believe.
–I have been hesitant to write much about my Wake Forest
Demon Deacon basketball team this year because I didn’t want
to jinx them (even though I’m advertising in the Wake sports
publication). But suddenly, Wake can win its first outright ACC
crown since 1962 if they capture their remaining two games
against North Carolina and North Carolina State. Coach Skip
Prosser, in just his second season, has to be in the top three when
it comes to selecting a coach of the year and I liked this comment
of his following the Deacs latest win over Clemson.
“We told them about a week ago, ‘You’ve got three weeks to
work and you’ve got the rest of your life to remember.’ For the
rest of your lives you’ll remember you were part of a group of
guys that not a whole lot was expected of. When you get out in
the real world you will be able to point to this experience. For
the rest of your life no one should be able to tell you you can’t do
something.’ In my humble opinion, life lessons is what this is all
about.” Brilliant, Skip. [Source: AP]
–I didn’t see the bout, but congratulations to Roy Jones Jr. for
his victory over John Ruiz, thus becoming the first boxer in 106
years to have won both the middleweight and heavyweight
crowns, an incredible achievement. [He also was light
heavyweight champ.]
–Well, poor New Zealand. They got smoked by Switzerland’s
Alinghi in the America’s Cup, 5-0. It’s hard for most Americans
to understand just how disappointed, and depressed, this nation
must be, but trust me, they’re shattered. After seeing 1999
skipper Russell Coutts bolt to the Swiss team for $5 million, and
then watching Coutts extend his winning streak to an incredible
14 races, it’s a giant blow to the national ego. As for yours truly,
I appreciate even more that I had a chance to see the actual cup
in Auckland just a few weeks ago. Hang in there, friends.
–Rutgers University has been the brunt of many a joke the past
decade or so due to its futility in some major sports, but on
Saturday the men’s basketball team captured its first win over a
Top Ten team in 21 years in beating Notre Dame.
–My Hawaii correspondent, Dan D., tells me that golfing
phenom Michelle Wie is not neglecting her school work,
Michelle being in the 8th grade. Dan is convinced, though, that
she’ll have to transfer to a mainland school where she can face
more top competition on the course. The heck with school, this
kid is potentially Tigeresque when it comes to endorsements
down the road, let alone tour winnings.
–Baseball legend Don Zimmer had his first hole-in-one in
February ’01 while playing with Rich Gossage, Mel Stottlemyre
and Ron Guidry. Zimmer was so fired up that when his playing
partners told him to save the ball, he said no way, it would keep
bringing him good luck, whereupon he promptly dribbled it into
a pond. Zimmer shot 135 for the round. [Source: Links Magazine]
–I was watching the special night the New York Knicks had for
Patrick Ewing on Friday and everyone was going on and on
about the great warrior. Hey, I have been a diehard Knicks fan
all my life (until I realized I needed to get a life two years ago
and abandoned them) and you can never convince me that
Patrick was one of the Top 50 players in NBA history, as he was
so awarded a while back. I saw him his freshman year at
Georgetown in the classic NCAA Final versus Michael Jordan
and North Carolina and Ewing’s dominance in the first two
minutes of that game was unbelievable, as he blocked something
like 7 shots (most of them goal-tending, though). But you know
what? He never really got much better. That’s just my opinion, I
could be wrong.
–Title IX: The last word on this topic for hopefully ten years.
As you may have heard the federal commission released its final
report last week and the gist of it is Title IX is highly popular
but it is unfair to men. As I noted last week, two female
members of the 15-member panel, Julie Foudy and Donna de
Varona, complained that the commission’s work was slanted.
Bottom line, the schools have been granted more flexibility (if
Education Secretary Rod Paige approves the recommendations),
but girls shouldn’t be sweating bullets over all this. There is no
way the gains made since this act became law in 1972 (another
pragmatic act by that “evil man,” Richard Nixon, incidentally)
are about to be rolled back.
–Sports Illustrated had its annual poll of PGA Tour pros.
Following are a few of the questions:
Should women be allowed to play in PGA Tour events? No –
72%.
Should the U.S. go to war with Iraq? Yes – 72%
Will Colin Montgomerie ever win a Major? No – 77%
Will Mickelson? Yes – 86%
Biggest whiner on Tour? Loren Roberts…and it wasn’t even
close. That surprised me a bit.
Nicest guy on Tour? Nick Price and Joey Sindelar.
Have you ever played a Tour round while hung over? Yes –
41%
Most underrated? David Toms
Most overrated? Jesper Parnevik
Hottest wife / girlfriend? Dana Byrum (Tom’s wife). She beat
out Elin Nordegren (Tiger’s babe) and Sonya Toms.
–According to another story in SI, Bill Clinton recently played a
round at the famed Teeth of the Dog course in the Dominican
Republic with Pete Dye’s son, who said afterwards, “He’s still
cheating as if he were president.” That’s sad.
–Reporter Jim Gray is one of the biggest a-holes in sports. His
interviews with Tiger this weekend were obnoxious and I was
looking for Tiger to slug him. [Actually, I didn’t watch every
second of Sunday’s action, but was Gray canned? He was nowhere
to be found.] As for Tiger, he chalked up win #36! Goodness,
gracious.
–Supersize: So you think McDonald’s, Burger King et al are
supersizing everything these days? How about at home?
According to High Plains Journal, back in 1977 the average
hamburger cooked at home was 5.7 ounces (as measured by the
burger police). Today it’s an astounding 8.5 ounces. During that
same time, however, the average fast-food burger grew from 6.1
to just 7.2.
–A lot of us in the New York area are tired of pitcher David
Wells and his soon to be released book, excerpts of which are
leaking out. In it Wells says 25-40% of major league ballplayers
are juiced. Now he may be right, but then Wells describes how
he was half-drunk while pitching his perfect game back in 1998.
As Johnny Mac says, “Admitting you were drunk (or hungover)
when you pitched the perfect game is as self-serving as it is
immature. Who really gives a (rat”s ass)…and for the record,
Pittsburgh’s Dock Ellis was tripping on LSD when he pitched his
no-hitter, which sorta trumps your act.” [Two things…Ellis
finished with a career 138-119 record, lasting nine years
following his no-no, and the Yankee organization is now
thinking of disciplining Wells for conduct unbecoming a
Yankee, plus he”s running scared and looking to rewrite
portions of it.]
–J. Mac also informed me that J-Lo (no relation) used 6 stretch
limos in London to go about 100 yards the other day. His advice
to Ben Affleck? “Get out while the gettin’ is good, son.”
–Ouch! From Monday’s Times of London comes the headline
“Harpoon is fired into boy’s face.” It’s all more than a bit gross
so I won’t get into the details of the injury, but 20 men got
involved in a disagreement over crowd noise and the 15-year-old
stupidly got in a fight, accompanied by two of his older friends,
at which point one guy was stabbed. Well, the stabbee (bar chat
new word of the week) returned with the harpoon and…presto!
Headline.
Beer Bits
–Eddie J. passed along the story of the German priest who has
taken to brewing his own beer in a washing machine, up to 40
pints in 10 hours. So I’m thinking, in terms of homeland security
perhaps each ‘safe room’ should have a washer.
–Robin Shepherd in the Times of London reports that beer is
rising in popularity in Russia so fast that it will surpass vodka by
the end of the decade. Consumption has doubled in just 7 years,
though the average Russian still only drinks ¼ the amount of
your average Czech, the Czechs being the world’s biggest
guzzlers of hops, barley and water clear.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/4/78: #1 “(Love Is) Thicker Than
Water” (Andy Gibb) #2 “Stayin’ Alive” (Bee Gees) #3
“Sometimes When We Touch” (Dan Hill)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 2,000 runs
Rickey Henderson…2,288
Ty Cobb…2,245
Babe Ruth…2,174
Hank Aaron…2,174
Pete Rose…2,165
Willie Mays…2,062
Barry Bonds has 1,830…no other active player has 1,500.
*I just saw where the Hall of Famer Ross Youngs, who died at
the age of 30 in 1927, hailed from Shiner, Texas…home of
SHINER BEER!
You’re reading Bar Chat…next one Thursday.
