Chicago White Sox Quiz (1901-2002): 1) When was the ChiSox
last World Series triumph? 2) Last AL pennant? [Are they one
and the same? Hell, I just don’t know…I’ve been traveling a
long time, I’m punchy.] 3) What White Sox player was AL
MVP in 1972? 4) Who was the last to win the AL Cy Young
award? 5) Who was rookie of the year in 1963? 1966? [Yes,
it’s a two-parter!!!] 6) Who is the only White Sox player to lead
the AL in RBI? 7) Name the 3 ChiSox players to hit 200 career
home runs? Answers below.
You’ll have to excuse me. This Chat is a little more of a mess
than usual, due to the fact I was out in the Pittsburgh area all
weekend and spent a lot of time on the highways and byways, as
well as at a cousin’s wedding.
But let me start out with the fact that every time I drive on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike (beginning at Carlisle), I marvel at how
beautiful the state is, especially when you come out of the tunnel
at Breezewood, milepost 165. My mother’s side of the family is
from the Greensburg / Latrobe area and I always love cruising
around there as well…Arnold Palmer country, after all.
Anyway, in preparation for my trip, I thought I’d buy some
current CDs, so I bought the latest from Jewel and Michelle
Branch to preview last Friday as I headed out.
Now here at StocksandNews we have our exclusive 4-point
scoring system.
“Buy” (self-explanatory)… “D’ayeet” (alright…but you won’t
play it more than twice)… “Eh” (pass)… “Blows” (self-
explanatory)
So here we go….
Jewel’s “0304”……………Eh
Michelle Branch’s “Hotel Paper”….Buy
For the trip home I purchased James Taylor’s Greatest Hits…
and it’s a……………Buy! But geezuz, I got kinda sentimental
listening to some of them.
And now we go directly to another StocksandNews exclusive
…………
Stuff
–So on the drive out to Greensburg I’m following a “Café
Porpoise Lobster Co.” truck out of Maine for about 10 miles on
Interstate 81. Of course I’m drooling, as I think about dipping
giant pieces of lobster in hot, melted butter. Then suddenly, the
truck starts swerving. Oh no, I thought. The lobsters have
broken free and are attacking the driver! I didn’t wait to see
what was really going on, as I floored it past him, almost causing
an accident.
–When I wasn’t reviewing CDs, another free exclusive of
StocksandNews, by the way, I was trying to find something
interesting to listen to on AM radio. I came across G. Gordon
Liddy. Trust me on this, folks, and I know a few of you out there
heard this as part of his show on Friday.
The first caller was a woman describing her bodacious daughter,
who apparently is a real vixen. Guys were constantly hitting on
her, she told G. Gordon. “What kind of gun should I get her?”
G. Gordon recommended a revolver over a semi-automatic,
because a revolver is “inherently more safe.”
OK. Good to know. Then the next caller is Anna May from
Oklahoma City. Now I’ve been out to OKC twice in the past
few years and I love everything about the area, but Anna May
was calling about a refrigerator that had fallen onto one of
Oklahoma City’s highways Friday morning and she thought it
was a “911 call,” but one of her friends said it was a “non-
emergency call.”
Friends, poor G. Gordon was besides himself, but Anna May just
kept going on and on. Liddy finally decided it was a non-
emergency call, recommending that she call the transportation
dept. the next time this occurred. It was then I realized that the
job of a talk show host isn’t always as good as it’s cranked up to
be. I turned the dial, assuming Liddy was pulling out his own
revolver at this point.
–On Sunday I found one of those national medical advice call-in
shows. This fellow from Oakland, California needed help with
the following. He had gone swimming in a man-made lake and
soon thereafter “contracted dandruff, lice and fleas in my 16-
year-old dreadlocks.” The doctor was stumped. I would have
told the disgusting pig, “Cut your head off.”
–Ah yes, one of the joys of heading home from the Pittsburgh
area is stopping in the town of Shartlesville, about 30 miles west
of Allentown, to pick up some Shoo-fly (molasses) pie. I’ll
never forget the look I got one year when I asked the woman for
8 of them as I was sitting at the bar in the Haag Hotel, quaffing a
Rolling Rock.
And now……………..your bear update!!!
At the wedding I attended I asked all my relatives if they had a
big bear problem. In that part of Pennsylvania, bears are all over
the place, but I wowed them with my tales from New Jersey.
Then that evening the NBC affiliate had a piece on bears from
New Jersey! As I predicted, we’re national, sports fans! And
going through the local papers when I got home, I see that the
debate in my home state is heating up in a big way. I’ll have lots
of stuff next Chat on the topic, including some absolutely
ridiculous letters to the editor concerning the geese problem.
But did you see the bear that broke out of its cage in a Siberian
Zoo the other day? It killed one of the workers. Seems that the
bear, that went by the name of “Bourbon,” saw a woman feeding
gophers in a neighboring cage and got more than a bit upset.
“You no feed no stinkin’ gophers before you feed Bourbon,” the
bear is alleged to have said before breaking free and…………
………………….. Well, the main part is true. [AP]
Jason Kidd
Here Johnny Mac and I were getting loaded for bear, all set to
unleash our fury on Kidd as he announced he was going to play
with San Antonio, when lo and behold, Jason said he is
remaining a New Jersey Net. And the Nets are signing Alonzo
Mourning as well.
I haven’t given a damn about the NBA regular season for years
now, but this coming edition is guaranteed to be one of the best
ever, let alone the playoffs. Why? Not only do the Nets look
super formidable and destined for a 3rd straight NBA Finals
appearance, but now you also have the Lakers, with Shaq, Kobe,
Gary Payton and Karl Malone; an unbelievable squad, at least on
paper.
But wait. What about the Spurs? Will they derail the Lakers’
express? Will Nets coach Byron Scott survive, say, a 10-10 early
season start? [No way.]
Speaking of Scott, Jason Kidd was alleged to have demanded his
ouster as a pre-condition for him remaining a Net, though he
denies this. But the Star-Ledger reported the following
concerning the coach.
“All the media can do is report what people inside the Nets
locker room say, and yesterday, someone there told us this: Scott
has never truly embraced the job, and never will.” In other
words, Scott is not known for his work ethic. He’s lazy.
–It’s official; there is no more Russian caviar, as the sturgeon
population in the Caspian Sea is kaput. Now years ago the
Russians and Iranians accounted for more than 90% of the
world’s production, but due to poverty and over-fishing for the
past 150 years, the sturgeon is basically extinct.
But the Russkies hadn’t given up and so they employed a “sniffer
cat,” Rusik, to track down sturgeon smugglers, with Rusik
checking out cargo in the Stavropol region, bordering the
Caspian.
Alas, Rusik was run over and police believe it was a contract
killing. From the BBC:
“The cat was hit by a car in which he had found smuggled
sturgeon some time before.” Sounds like a job for Deputy
Dawg.
–Hero Dog alert. Enough of this cat stuff. You may recall that
one of singer Aretha Franklin’s homes went up in flames last
year in a suspicious fire. Her 19-year-old son, Edward, has long
been implicated, but after six months the case was turned over to
other authorities because the first guys couldn’t crack it. Enter
Swifty, a K-9 dog that tied the accelerant found at the fire with
that on Edward’s clothing. Purina Dog Chow all around!
–Did you see that story of the orphaned killer whale in Puget
Sound that was successfully returned to its relatives? Now that’s
pretty cool. It could be a double agent, however. I’d still keep a
close eye on the harbors and ferry docks.
–A British financier who is as of this writing nameless has just
paid $40 million+ for a 12,600-square-foot apartment in AOL
Time Warner’s new headquarters at the edge of Central Park in
New York. It’s the most expensive apartment sale in city history
and contains the entire 76th floor, including a wrap-around
terrace and a 4,200-sq.-ft. penthouse on the floor above.
–I didn’t know this…………..Sunday marked 80 years for the
Hollywood sign in the hills above Los Angeles. In 1932,
struggling actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by throwing
herself from the top of the letter H.
–The Pirates’ Randall Simon did not show up at the wedding
reception I attended on Saturday as feared. We had guys from
the Latrobe firehouse there just in case. And in case you forgot
already, Bratwurst won the controversial race, handily beating
hot dog, Polish sausage, and Italian sausage, the latter being the
link that was whacked by Simon.
–According to the Wall Street Journal, golfer Raymond Floyd
purchased his 5-BR, 5-bath home in Palm Beach, FL for $5
million in 1997 and just sold it for $11.5 million to Alliance
Capital’s Vice Chairman Roger Hertog. I note this in case you
have a grudge against Alliance and want to write the money
manager.
–North Carolina’s new basketball coach Roy Williams was
attending a camp in New Jersey the other day where he was
asked by reporter Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger the following:
Q: What did you think of the ACC’s raid on the Big East?
Williams: “We handled that like a bunch of third-graders. That
was embarrassing to me.”
Right on, Roy.
–My friend Johnny Mac on Barry Bond’s refusal to participate
in the home run derby as part of the All-Star Game festivities.
“Don’t any of these guys actually think about what it is they do
and why it is they get paid gazillions to do it? They don’t
produce anything, there is no tangible product, they don’t service
anyone, it is simply competition for the sake of the paying
customer, be that customer in the seats or in front of the tube….
Once they succeed in completely disconnecting themselves from
that customer, the jig will be up.”
–Crap, Bonds really is going to break Aaron’s record. “Dear
Lord, please give Barry a hammy that he can’t recover from until
he’s 66.”
–Dave Kingman belongs in the Hall of Fame.
–Ah ha! Slipped that by you for a second, didn’t I?
–Sports Illustrated reporter Rick Reilly just got back from taking
his family on safari in Tanzania. I include one of his anecdotes:
“The guides say that you’re perfectly safe as long as you stay in
the jeeps, but some spacklebrains don’t. We heard about a guy
whose wife insisted that he get out of the Rover and hold the
horns of a sleeping water buffalo for a photo. She was just
getting the shot in focus when the buffalo woke up, pitched the
guy 10 feet into the air with his horns and then caught him on the
way down. Wonder how the picture turned out?”
You can stop laughing now. This is serious stuff, boys and girls.
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/15/72: #1 “Lean On Me” (Bill
Withers) #2 “Too Late To Turn Back Now” (Cornelius Bros. &
Sister Rose…good July group, see last Chat) #3 “Outa-Space”
(Billy Preston)
Chicago White Sox Quiz Answers: 1) Last World Series
triumph: 1917. 2) Last AL pennant: 1959. 3) Dick Allen was
MVP in 1972. 4) Jack McDowell is the last Cy Young winner,
1993. 5) Gary Peters was rookie of the year in 1963. Tommie
Agee, 1966. 6) Chicago has had only one league RBI champ,
incredibly; Dick Allen, with 113 in his ’72 MVP year. 7) 200
home run club (entering 2002): Frank Thomas, 376; Harold
Baines, 221; Carlton Fisk, 214.
ChiSox tidbits: The longest hitting streak is just 27 – Luke
Appling and Albert Belle. In 1953, Bob Keegan came up to the
majors at age 33. In 1957 he threw a no-hitter, finishing 40-36
lifetime. And then there is pitcher Gary Peters. I was looking
into his rookie of the year season of 1963 and came up with the
following.
1959 – Chicago brings him up at season end and he throws one
inning. Peters is 22-years-old.
1960 – 3 innings.
1961 – 10 innings.
1962 – 6 innings. [For crying out loud, Chicago, if there’s
something you see in the guy, give him a chance.]
1963 – 19-8…2.33 ERA
*The Cubs last Series win was 1908. Last pennant, 1945.
I drank Yuengling at the wedding reception; for those keeping
score at home.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. A country music profile. [Haven’t
figured out which one yet, however.]
