Baseball Quiz: 1) Who was the last N.L. player to win the triple
crown? 2) Who was the last N.L. rookie to get 200 hits? [Hint: It
happened over 20 years ago.] 3) Who holds the all-time record
for hits by an A.L. rookie? 4) Before Mike Cameron of Seattle
hit 4 homers in a game last season, who was the last A.L. player
to hit 4? Answers below.
Leopold Karpeles
I imagine quite a few of the American troops who fought in Iraq
will receive the Medal of Honor, but did you know the first ones
were handed to the surviving members of “Andrews Raiders”?
Back in April 1862, 25 volunteers were assigned to steal a
Confederate locomotive and ride to Union lines, destroying the
track along the way. But there was a clash before they could
achieve their objective and only 8 of the 25 escaped.
According to the book “Medal of Honor” by Allen Mikaelian,
after 6 others were exchanged in a prisoner swap the following
March (the rest went missing or were hanged, including the
leader James Andrews), the survivors met with President
Lincoln.
“(Lincoln) praised their bravery and daring, and promised they
would be celebrated as heroes. Then he stepped into the next
room, returned with a small medal in his hand, and told the party
that Congress had just passed a law ordering medals to be minted
and awarded. The raiders would be the first to receive this
honor.”
Technically, the first presentation was to Private Jacob Parrott. In
all, some 1,520 Medal of Honor citations were awarded for the
Civil War and of these, 467 were given to men who either
defended the flag of their side or captured a flag of the
Confederates. Some of the official citations were brief, as in the
one for John Simmons. “Capture of flag.” Mikaelian writes:
“Such citations hardly do justice to what happened to these men.
The flag – the regimental colors, in this case – was at the center
of the storm, and the man who held the colors was often the most
vulnerable in the regiment. He carried no weapon, fired no
bullets, and was always at the head of a charge. His mission
was to give his comrades an indication of where the line stood,
and whether they were advancing or retreating. All sets of eyes
kept one eye on the flag, one on the enemy. And the enemy, of
course, kept the flag and flag bearer in their sights.”
To bring down the flag bearer was the quickest way to turn the
tide. It was demoralizing to a unit, as well as confusing. But
imagine the courage it took to be a color bearer, rushing ahead
without a weapon, knowing your chances of survival were slim.
Leopold Karpeles, though, was one who did survive and for his
actions at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, he won the
Medal of Honor.
Back in March 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant was given control
of Union forces. Grant’s stated strategy was to destroy the two
remaining Confederate armies; Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
and a consolidated Western army under Joseph Johnston. Grant
sent Sherman after Johnston, while he attached his own
command to George Meade’s Army of the Potomac.
For his part, General Lee had set up defensive positions near
Richmond, which Grant knew would be too tough to dislodge at
the time, so he sought to draw the Confederates out a bit by
putting two Federal armies on the move. Franz Sigel was
ordered up the Shenandoah Valley to deprive Lee of food and
rail support from the west, while Benjamin Butler moved up the
James River to deny Lee support from the east as he looked for
an opportunity to join Meade.
All told, Grant had about 118,000 troops available to him, while
Lee had 61,000. But Lee knew the territory and picked great
defensive positions, along rivers and roads, which restricted
Grant’s freedom of movement.
Lee concentrated his forces in what was known as the Wilderness,
a heavily forested region with scrub pines outside of Fredericksburg.
May 4th found the Confederate and Union armies within miles of
each other.
Grant didn’t want to fight in the Wilderness, so he tried to flank
around it, but events got a bit out of hand and fighting started
across a broad front that day. The problem was that Federal
ordnance wagons and artillery pieces clogged up the few narrow
roadways and the open fields were too overgrown for effective
movement.
Meanwhile, Leopold Karpeles had been given the colors of the
57th Massachusetts Infantry. The Battle for the Wilderness was
variously described as one “no man saw or could see,” “a battle
of invisibles with invisibles,” and, in the words of one
Confederate, a fight between “howling mobs.” It was, in
essence, what General Lee wanted, as he hoped to drive off
Grant’s forces while inflicting heavy casualties.
The Wilderness was a jungle and as Karpeles remembered:
“To make matters worse, as shells ricocheted through the
woodland interior toward the troops, they sliced through the
trunks and branches, setting them ablaze. In turn, the brittle
undergrowth received sparks that ignited it like thousands of
matches. As the foliage burned, large and small branches
became disconnected from the trees and crashed to earth, often
trapping the men below. Rescue was next to impossible because
of the separation of the men. Wounded comrades often were
knocked to the ground and burned hideously, helplessly alone in
their agony.” [Mikaelian]
Karpeles’s 57th would end up taking more casualties, percentage
wise, than any other regiment in the entire Civil War outside of
the 2nd Wisconsin and almost half of the 548 men that fought in
the Wilderness either died or were severely wounded.
At one point in the battle, amidst the total chaos, the 57th was
crumbling under a Confederate assault. Karpeles was not about
to give up, though, and he climbed up on a stump. As one
general described it, “(the colors were) floating proudly and
defiantly amid the sulphurous smoke in the face of the advancing
foe.” Karpeles exhorted the men to re-form and make a stand.
Lieutenant Colonel Chandler, seeing Karpeles’s profile in
courage, shouted to his own retreating men, “For God’s sake
boys, don’t forsake your colors!” 34 men of the 57th, along with
remnants from routed Pennsylvania and New York regiments,
formed a line and advanced on the rebels. It gets pretty
complicated at this point, as Confederates eventually advanced
past them and then retreated again in the ebb and flow of the
fight, but Karpeles survived to take the colors to the next stop,
Spotsylvania. Amazingly, he survived that horrific battle, as
well, only to be wounded at North Anna on May 24.
Here, in an ill-advised charge, the 57th attacked across open
ground and was chewed up by artillery and musket fire.
Karpeles was hit in the leg and knocked to the ground, but he
recovered and rose with the flag, continuing the charge.
Lieutenant Chandler, seeing Karpeles’s injury, tried to pull the
flag from his grip and send him to the rear, but Karpeles refused
until his loss of blood made it impossible to continue on.
Chandler was struck soon thereafter, mortally wounded.
Karpeles lay unconscious for several days, but recovered. He
blamed himself for Chandler’s death and wanted to return to the
fight. The doctors grudgingly allowed him to but he reopened
his wounds and, though he survived, his military service to his
country was over.
On April 30, 1870, Leopold Karpeles was rewarded for his
actions. As today is Passover, it’s also appropriate to note that
he was one of six Jews granted the Medal of Honor for service in
the Civil War.
[28,000 Union and Confederate forces were killed or wounded in
the Wilderness. Spotsylvania was even worse.]
Stuff
–I forgot to mention last time in my Masters comments Tiger
Woods’s classless remark concerning caddie Steve Williams.
Sportswriter Mike Lupica reminded me of this in his column the
other day. You’ll recall that in his interview following the last
round, Woods was asked about his disastrous 3rd hole and he said
Williams had convinced him to hit driver, when Tiger’s
inclination was to go with an iron. Tiger’s a good guy, but there
was no need to do this. Separately, the final round was the 3rd
most watched in the history of the event, bested only by 1997
and 2001, both years in which Tiger won.
–An emu was hit and killed by a car on Route 80 in New Jersey
the other day. One problem; nobody knows where it came from,
since no one is raising emus in the surrounding area, nor did it
escape from a zoo or game farm. But did you know that emus
can run up to 40 mph? Maybe it was drag racing.
–Allen Iverson is back under scrutiny. Monday morning, at 2:30
(a school night, boys and girls), Iverson’s friend was shot outside
a nightclub, so the guy used Iverson’s car to get to the hospital.
Evidently, Allen was standing nearby when this all happened and
he visited the fellow in the hospital later. And what kind of car
was Iverson driving that evening? A silver Bentley, of course.
Actually, Iverson can’t be long for this world if he insists on
messing with the wrong crowd.
–Speaking of Philadelphia, former Eagles’ owner Leonard Tose
died the other day at age 88. Tose, who built his fortune in the
trucking business, purchased the Eagles with some partners back
in 1969 for $16 million. But he was forced to sell the team in the
mid-80s for around $65 million. Why? Well, Tose was an
admitted alcoholic and compulsive gambler. In fact his stints at
the casinos of Atlantic City are legendary.
Basically, Tose may have been the worst blackjack player in the
history of gaming. The casinos, though, loved him, as you can
imagine, sending limos to Philadelphia to fetch Tose, while
giving him his own table, waitress, basically anything he wanted.
Tose often played seven hands simultaneously, $10,000 a pop.
In one stretch of 72 nights at the Sands, he lost about $15
million. By his own estimation, he lost another $20 million at
Resorts.
Tose once sued the casinos, saying they plied him with too many
drinks, but that didn’t wash. Finally, the NFL, properly worried
about its image as Tose’s gambling debts soared, forced him to
sell the Eagles. He lived in a Philly hotel his last few years,
broke, with his bills paid for by Dick Vermeil, among others.
–What the heck is going on in Chicago? For the second time in
a year a fan attacked someone on the field. Last season a father-
son team ganged up on Kansas City’s first base coach. This year
a nutcase attacked the first base umpire. 3 other times in
Tuesday’s game fans jumped onto the field. And here I was
complaining the other day about the fans in Puerto Rico?
–We congratulate the following ball clubs for their quick starts
(through Tuesday’s action).
Kansas City, 11-1
San Francisco, 12-1
Detroit, 1-11
Yankees, 11-2
Wait….how did Detroit get in there?
–Your New York Mets!!!
Even though I’m a huge fan, for the sake of Bar Chat I have to
take advantage of their lousy start. After all, we could have
some fun with this team all season long.
Following Tuesday’s win over the Pirates, the Mets, with the
second highest payroll in baseball, have a 5-9 record. Now that’s
bad enough, but it’s the way they’re hitting that is downright
laughable.
14 games…team batting average .216. Two stolen bases.
Roger Cedeno .156
Mike Piazza .147 [No RBI in 34 at bats.]
Mo Vaughn .152
Rey Sanchez .140
So it brings back memories of the 1963 and 1965 Met squads,
both of which were far from loveable like the original, ’62
version was.
1963…Mets went 51-111 and hit .219 as a team. They scored
just 501 runs and stole 41 bases.
1965…Mets go 50-112, hit .221, score 495 runs and steal 28. Ed
Kranepool is the top hitter at .253.
This is what we are looking at this season, Mets fans. Good seats
will be available all year.
–It’s been an ugly ending for Michael Jordan, with all of his
teammates sniping at him. Basically, Jordan was an angry, old
man this year. Not that you can blame him. He always gave a
100% effort on the court, while today’s players more or less just
show up, and that has driven him crazy. And despite the
detractors, like yours truly early this season, Jordan averaged 20
points and 6 rebounds. But now he can gamble to his heart’s
content. Hold on to the money, Your Airness!
–Rodney King, who has never been confused with Michael
Jordan, crashed his car at 100 mph the other day. Luckily, he
didn’t kill anyone, because his Ford Expedition hurtled into a
house. King was drunk. Here’s hoping he spends the rest of his
life mumbling to himself in a cold cell.
–But to end on a more upbeat note, there is the future of 13-year-
old golfing phenom, Hawaiian Michelle Wie. Dan D. tells me it
looks more and more likely that Wie will be fleeing to the
mainland for more opportunities to play against top competition.
Recently in Hawaii, her application to play in the Mid-Pac Open,
where all of the best golfers in the state compete, was turned
down. She was told to wait for the women’s event.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/17/65: #1 “I’m Telling You Now”
(Freddie & The Dreamers) #2 “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
(The Supremes) #3 “Game Of Love” (Wayne Fontana & The
Mindbenders)
*So I’m listening to “The Essential Sly & The Family Stone,”
now available at a record store near you. Not bad.
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Last N.L. player to win the triple
crown was Joe Medwick, St. Louis, 1937 (31 HR 154 RBI .374
BA) 2) Last N.L. rookie to get 200 hits was Dick (back then,
Richie) Allen, 201 for Philadelphia in 1964. 3) The all-time
record for hits by an A.L. rookie is Ichiro, with 242 for Seattle
in 2001. [Just testing your short-term memory.] Before this,
Tony Oliva had the mark, 217 for the Twins in 1964. [’64 was a
big year, obviously.] 4) The last A.L. player to smack 4 home
runs in a single game prior to Mike Cameron was Rocky
Colavito, 1959, Cleveland.
This just in…Foster’s is closing its 168-year-old Sydney brewery
because Aussies are drinking less beer. It’s a scary world we live
in, folks.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. A familiar story, for long-time readers,
as I seek to fulfill my Earth Day requirement before I lose my
International Web Site Association license.
