Montreal Expos Quiz (1969-2002): 1) What was the capacity of
Jarry Park (1969-76)? 2) What two Expos won the rookie of the
year award? 3) Who are the only two to drive in 120 runs? 4)
Who is the only 20-game winner in franchise history? 5) Which
two won N.L. batting titles? 6) Who is the all-time leader in
wins? 7) Who led the ’69 team in RBI? Answers below.
The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Direct Election of Senators [Proposed May, 1912. Ratified
April, 1913.]
“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six
years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each
State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the
most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the
Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of
election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of
any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary
appointments: until the people fill the vacancies by election as
the legislature may direct.
“This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the
election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as
part of the Constitution.”
This became an issue right after 9/11 and many, such as former
presidential counsel Lloyd Cutler and former senator Alan
Simpson, are focusing on it. Cutler and Simpson wrote an op-ed
last Friday in the New York Times, wherein they said that if
United Flight 93 had reached the Capitol, a possible target, the
Constitution isn’t prepared to deal with the power vacuum that
could have been created in the House.
The 17th Amendment takes care of the Senate, as governors can
fill the vacancies immediately until special elections can be held.
But, from Cutler and Simpson:
“The Constitution requires that a majority of members be present
in order for the House to do any business….
“What if 300 House members had been killed on 9/11? Since
any number less than 218 members would result in the lack of a
quorum, the House would not have been able to function until
replacements had been elected.”
There is some “dubious” precedent towards interpreting the
constitution to mean a quorum exists if a majority of “living
members” are present.
“But this would have posed a problem, too,” add Cutler and
Simpson. “Would we have wanted 50 or 80 House members,
representing less than a quarter of the country, deciding policy
for the whole nation? If the president and vice president were
also killed, would we want such a small number of surviving
legislators to elect a new speaker who, under existing law, could
bring about his own election as president?”
If there was a biological or chemical attack, you then have the
added issue of incapacitated members of both houses. If the
president survives, there are constitutional issues such as his
ability to declare martial law without a functioning Congress.
Bottom line, a new constitutional amendment is needed, giving
the power to authorize legislation for the temporary replacement
of House members in the event of a catastrophic attack. Then,
just as in the Senate, these members would serve until such time
that special elections could be held.
Funny Cide
Switching gears………what other sport in this country unifies
the people like horse racing and the quest for a Triple Crown?
I’m beginning to wonder, though, if I’ll ever see another one in
my lifetime.
I was thinking before the Belmont on Saturday that if Funny
Cide won, I was definitely traveling anywhere in the country to
see him run again. And I would make a pilgrimage to Sackett’s
Harbor, NY.
But even an amateur like me was worried about the weather days
before the race. And Funny Cide’s trainer, Barclay Tagg,
summed it up afterwards. “You never know what they’re going
to do in the mud.”
And therein lies another problem. It’s a horse. And was that
Tuesday speed workout the downfall? Who knows? Again, it’s
a horse.
What I do know is that despite the failure to capture the third leg,
Funny Cide’s run was super for the sport. I, for one, will
definitely go to the track this summer, when I may not have
otherwise. And this fall I’ll head up to Saratoga (when the
crowds are gone) to go to the national museum for the sport.
I also have cracked open “Seabiscuit” and plan on finishing it
before the movie comes out, a flick that is bound to be a box
office sensation and a real tearjerker. All thanks to Funny Cide.
Sammy Sosa
As you saw with the Belmont, as well as with all the golf
tournaments held up and down the East Coast on Saturday, the
weather was dreadful. Perfect for sitting back and watching a
great baseball match-up at Wrigley Field, Yankees vs. the Cubs,
Roger Clemens gunning once again for his 300th victory. I
haven’t been more fired up for a regular season game in years.
Of course all eyes were also on Sammy Sosa. The day after
Batgate, Sosa had proclaimed, “The media, they’ve got me up
there like I’m a criminal.” Well, Sammy, I don’t want you
serving jail time, but you’re no innocent, either.
As broadcaster Tim McCarver put it, Sosa lied. There is no way
a major leaguer doesn’t know what bat he’s taking to the plate. I
also buy announcer Joe Buck’s explanation. Sosa is in a huge
slump, he has just 6 homers, and he was looking for some kind of
edge.
Other players, such as former teammate Todd Zeile and Jeremy
Burnitz, were in the local press expressing amazement at Sosa’s
excuse that he mistakenly took the corked bat to the plate.
But then you have folks like sportswriter Mike Lupica sticking
up for Sammy. One transgression shouldn’t ruin a Hall of Fame
career, is their answer.
Hey, Sosa is going to the Hall, and deserves it. But that doesn’t
mean he won’t be forever tarnished, and he has no one to blame
but himself.
The New York Post’s Kevin Kernan correctly wrote that all of
“society is engulfed by cheaters.” In the case of baseball, it’s
about “corked bodies….cartoon character muscles and big
heads.”
And to those who say that going after Sosa is racist, take a hike.
I, for one, was just as hard on Mark McGwire when he divulged
he was using Andro. [Of course we all knew it before the
admission.] Veteran sportswriter Jerry Izenberg wrote this week
of McGwire’s muscles, “(They were a) blend of Early Popeye
and The Beast That Swallowed Tokyo.”
Oh well, I’ve beaten this topic to death many times before. Back
to Saturday’s game, which turned out to be a classic. Why did
Roger Clemens take himself out after 84 pitches? He wasn’t
sick. His excuse is absurd. [I know, Torre said he was battling a
cold all week. Well, he looked just fine arguing in the dugout
after being pulled.] What it was, though, is classic baseball. It’s
what makes the sport great. The second-guessing by the rest of
us schleps watching at home, or at the game, or listening in your
car.
And finally, poor Juan Acevedo, who will never recover from
giving up the home run ball that denied Clemens #300. Acevedo
works for George Steinbrenner, after all. He’s dead.
Stuff
–Channel-surfing on Sunday: Guess what? I watched the
LPGA championship. Good for Annika. But count me in the
Grace Park fan club. Actually, I was switching between this,
NASCAR and the Senior PGA. To my fellow fans, what was
Terry Labonte doing to Jeff Green at the end? Green is one
lucky guy. His car could have gone anywhere. And wasn”t that
great to see Senior PGA winner John Jacobs quaff a beer
as soon as he got off the 18th?
–So I’m thinking about Clemens and his 84 pitches, and the way
Atlanta’s Greg Maddux only throws 80 these days, and how no
one completes a game any more, and it got me going to the old
record book.
Think about this, since 1920, only three pitchers have thrown
360 innings.
Bob Feller, 1946, started 42 games, completed 36 (he also
relieved 6 times) and tossed 371 innings on the way to his 26-15
record for a 68-86 Indians ball club. That’s an awesome
performance, sports fans.
Mickey Lolich, 1971, started 45, completed 29, 376 innings,
went 25-14 for the Tigers.
Wilbur Wood, 1972, started 49, completed 20, 377 innings, goes
24-17 for the White Sox.
These days it’s unheard of to see a pitcher throw 230 innings,
with the exception of just a few, like Curt Schilling and Randy
Johnson (when they aren’t hurt!).
–The Big East Conference, specifically Rutgers, Connecticut,
Virginia Tech, Pitt, and West Virginia, has sued Miami and
Boston College (but not Syracuse) for threatening to join the
ACC, which will undoubtedly delay the process. One angle I
hadn’t thought of in this whole debacle (I’m an ACC alum who
is big time against expansion) is the money expended on
expanding athletic facilities by some of the Big East schools,
who assumed the conference would be strong for years to come.
Such as:
$37 million for a stadium addition at Virginia Tech.
$90 million to build a stadium at UConn, key to the school going
big time football.
$100 million for a new basketball arena at Pitt.
This suit may not end up in a trial, but it would be a great one if
it did.
–New Jersey high school track roundup. Those of you who
participated in the sport can appreciate this achievement. John
Richardson of Ocean City High School became the first boy in
the state to win both the 800 and 1,600 in the Meet of Champions
(the biggest event in the state combining the best from all levels).
Richardson had a 1:51.6 in the 800 and a 4:09.2 mile.
Personally, I always thought the 800 was the toughest event.
–As of Friday, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City was
threatening to cut off funding for the city’s zoos. The
conservation group responsible for such a move said they would
then have to close the facilities. [I’m not sure this would include
the world famous Bronx Zoo.] Of course you know what would
happen. The animals, who read the tabloids each morning as part
of their routine, would escape before the closures, thanks in part
to sympathetic zookeepers who would slip the lions, tigers, and
bears the keys. This could get ugly. You know who I’m rooting
for.
–But speaking of bears, I’m telling you, New Jersey is about to
burst into the national news because a few deaths by mauling are
just around the corner. In fact, my good friend Jimbo, who lives
at the edge of the Great Swamp, just sent me a note about how
over the last three weeks the family bird feeder, a massive
structure, has been ripped off a seven foot wooden post and
dragged into the woods. After Jimbo reattached everything, it
was ripped apart again one night. Then the garbage was raided.
Jimbo writes, “I’m concluding, ‘raccoon on steroids!’”
But I’m reading this going, “Yoh, Jim, we had this conversation
at your place years ago over mega brews. You have bears!”
Sure enough, his neighbors across the street spotted a bear
walking down the road on Friday. I’m not sure Jimbo told his
wife yet, but he told me he’s letting her walk the dog at night.
[Hey, don’t get mad at me! I’m just the reporter. And I live just
about four miles away!!!]
–More nature stories…and this one is disgusting. From the AP
comes word of the annual run of the “red-sided garter snakes” up
in Narcisse, Manitoba. Each spring, about 50,000, count ‘em,
50,000 snakes emerge from their dens as part of a full-blown
orgy.
“Dozens of sex-crazed males wrap themselves around females in
hopes of getting chosen to mate.”
Thousands of tourists go to see the exhibitionists. Unfortunately,
the 18-36 inch long snakes are harmless. Otherwise this could be
an even better story.
–What’s this? The great Scotty Bowman, coach of 9 Stanley
Cup champions, is thinking about coaching the New York
Rangers? Am I dreaming? Who cares that the guy is 69. He
would own New York City, assuming he could get the team to
the playoffs, after six years of not doing so.
–Sammy Sosa has one HR in 97 at-bats since being beaned by
Pittsburgh’s Salomon Torres.
–From “This Date in Baseball, June 8, 1968.” “Howie Bedell’s
sacrifice fly in the fifth inning ended Don Drysdale’s record
streak of 58 consecutive scoreless innings.”
So I’m thinking, who the heck was Howie Bedell? Well, I went
running (slight exaggeration) to my baseball library and you talk
about a non-productive career. Bedell played just two years,
1962 and ’68. In ’62 he had just two RBI in 138 at-bats. Then in
’68, it turns out that RBI against Drysdale was his only one of
the season. He was a whopping 1 for 7. So, in his major league
career of 145 at-bats, Howie Bedell batted .193 with 3 RBI.
Sorry, Howie, I can’t respect that. Then again, you made the
Major Leagues and I didn’t.
–Back to nature, and this time it’s disease watch. You know,
folks, it was just a few months ago that I reminded you that prairie
dogs are dangerous, yet I couldn’t believe that many in America,
and in Asia, now keep them as pets. I told you how the past few
years I’ve seen the animals in North and South Dakota, and
Wyoming, and there are signs everywhere telling you that a bite
from a prairie dog can give you all kinds of infections. Its mouth
is a walking bio-terror weapon.
So here’s a headline from Sunday’s Washington Post. “Pox-Like
Outbreak Reported.” In a scary, and deadly serious, situation, at
least 19 people in three Midwestern states have come down with
a form of smallpox.
“Officials said there was no indication that bioterrorism was
involved. The disease was apparently spread by rodents known
as prairie dogs, which have become popular as pets. The animals
may have acquired the infection from another creature, known as
a Gambian giant rat, sold by the same dealer of exotic animals,
officials said.”
[Obviously the writer of the story, Rob Stein, has never seen a
prairie dog.]
–Golfer Nick Faldo on Greg Norman’s collapse in the last round
of the ’96 Masters.
“On the second tee that day, I saw him regripping. ‘That’s not
normal,’ I thought to myself. I felt I had a chance.” [Faldo made
up six strokes on Norman that day. Source: Golf Digest]
–David Owen has a hilarious article in the July issue of Golf
Digest. Titled “Does Beer Help?” it’s the true story of Owen and
some golfing buddies testing out the theory of whether or not you
can play better golf while drinking. Of course not. But while
some of the female readers may be upset by the following
description of what happened during his round, I think any guy
who’s ever played will relate to it.
“We caught up with the beer cart in the second fairway, and
made the first of a succession of bulk purchases. While doing so,
we engaged in light-heartedly prurient banter with the cart’s
attractive young female driver, who, like golf-course beer-cart
drivers everywhere, managed to foster the impression that if she
weren’t so terribly busy selling beer, she would love nothing
better than to become romantically involved with a quartet of
tubby middle-aged strangers wearing baseball caps and saddle
shoes.”
Find the story. It’s a good one.
–Here’s an interesting quiz: “How much would a player have
earned on the PGA Tour last year by shooting even par in every
round of every tournament?” Answer below.
–40-year-old Jamie Moyer of Seattle is 10-2.
–“The Sopranos” is not coming back until February at the earliest.
–I didn’t realize they had appearance money in Ben Hogan’s
day. He was given $5,000 to show up at a regular tour stop in
Mexico City back in 1953. He won the event and picked up
about $2,800.
–Wow, this is weird. Davis Love III’s wife’s brother-in-law
(Johnny Mac had to help me with this connection), Jeffrey
Knight, committed suicide a few weeks ago. Love discovered
the body in a Georgia hunting lodge. Compounding the tragedy
is the fact that Knight, one of Love’s business managers, was
under investigation for stealing some of Davis’s money. I
imagine we’ll hear a lot more on this one.
–Sports Illustrated had an article on Tim Duncan titled “The Big
Fundamental.” Earlier in the week, Johnny Mac looked up some
stats for me that echo the theme. Duncan in his career has a high
of 25.5, low of 21.1 for scoring, and a high of 12.9, low of 11.4
for rebounding. He’s also averaged between 15.7 and 18.3 shots
per game. Amazing consistency.
–I caught the Derby at Epsom on ESPN Saturday. What a cool
event, my British friends. That would be neat to check out
sometime, but can you guarantee I won’t get stuck in a gigantic
traffic jam? Can someone in the area put me up for the night?
Please? I’ll do the dishes and take out the beer bottles.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/12/65: #1 “Back In My Arms
Again” (The Supremes) #2 “Wooly Bully” (Sam The Sham &
The Pharaohs) #3 “Crying In The Chapel” (Elvis Presley)
Montreal Expos Quiz Answers: 1) Jarry Park had a capacity of
28,000. 2) Carl Morton, 1970, and Andre Dawson, 1977, were
rookies of the year. 3) Vladimir Guerrero has driven in 120
twice (131 in ’99, 123 in ’00) and Tim Wallach did it in 1987
(123). 4) Ross Grimsley went 20-11 in 1978. [Steve Rogers’s
best total was 19.] 5) Al Oliver (1982, .331) and Tim Raines
(1986, .334) are the batting champs. 6) Steve Rogers is the all-
time leader in wins with 158. 7) Jose “Coco” Laboy drove in a
team-leading 83 in 1969.
Opening Day lineup for the expansion Expos in 1969, a game
your editor remembers vividly as he faked being sick, lying in
bed while letting his mother take care of him. Anyway, my Mets
lost 11-10. But as New York went on to the win the Series that
season, the Expos were going 52-110.
Maury Wills, SS…. hit .222
Gary Sutherland, 2B… .239
Rusty Staub, RF… .302 with 29 HR and 79 RBI
Mack Jones, LF… .270, 22-79
Bob Bailey, 1B… .265, 9-53
John Bateman, C… .209
Coco Laboy, 3B… .258, 18-83
Don Hahn, CF… went 1 for 9, then he was sent to the minors.
Nice managing, Gene Mauch. What the hell did you even bring
this 20-year-old up for? Huh?
Mudcat Grant, P
And who can forget the way reserve catcher John Boccabella’s
name was pronounced in Montreal? Boc-ca-belll-llaaa.
PGA Quiz Answer: $1,361,786.
**Arnold Palmer favors Ketel One vodka.
“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in
the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”
–Frank Sinatra
[Thanks, Mike H.]
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. A little ABA history, and other….
STUFF….if you keep it where it is.
