*I posted the following before learning of the death of Bob
Hope. You may want to scroll through the archives and check
out my 5/29/03 edition of “Bar Chat.”
Texas Rangers / Washington Senators Quiz (1961-2002): 1)
Who was the AL home run champ in 1970? 2) Who was the AL
ERA leader in 1961, the first season for the Senators. [Hint: He
was the opening day pitcher for the franchise as well…..actually,
anyone who gets this is damn good.] 3) Who threw the first no-
hitter? 4) Who is the only AL batting champ? 5) Who was the
first 20-game winner? [Hint: Texas] 6) Who is the only rookie of
the year? 7) Who leads in career wins? And our bonus question
for $1,352,000 (or six bottle tops, whichever is less)…Who led
the Senators in HR in 1961? Answers below.
Lance Armstrong
I have to be honest; I don’t really appreciate his greatness like I
should. But one thing is certain. When Armstrong goes for the
record-breaking #6 next year, the media circus will be
unbelievable. And once again the challenge will be to keep those
boorish crowds off the course.
Animals Mount An Assault
Friends, it’s really getting serious now. A herd of 25 elephants
killed two villagers in northern Bangladesh the other day,
destroying 10 huts in the process (source: AP), while Johnny
Mac passed along a piece from Reuters that 200 monkeys
invaded a tea plantation in India and have been wreaking havoc
and basically making it impossible for the 1,700 workers to get
their job done. Look for the monkeys and elephants to join
forces shortly, a deadly combination since the monkeys are great
scouts and guerrilla fighters.
And then you have the tragic tale of British researcher Kirsty
Brown, 28, who died at the hands, err, jaw of a leopard seal in
Antarctica. Brown and a companion were snorkeling in the
waters, photographing the sea life, when the seal suddenly
dragged her under.
This was the first known fatal attack by a leopard seal on a
human, as far as anyone can ascertain, though these vicious 12-
15’ animals have attacked others.
Leopard seals are supposedly second only to the killer whale in
power and stealth, according to Stefanie Marsh of the London
Times. And you probably recall from your nature shows that the
seal’s favorite food is the Adelie penguin. “Once a penguin is
killed, it is thrashed from side to side until it is flung out of its
skin.” [Kind of like flinging off a tuxedo when the action on the
dance floor at a wedding reception gets too steamy.]
Well, my brother passed along some news from the Sun on other
dangerous animals, as reported by Sally Brook.
Funnel-web spider: The most dangerous spider in the world, with
a body up to 2 inches long. Found in Australia, its massive fangs
are powerful enough to penetrate a fingernail and a male’s
venom can kill a human in one day.
Asian Cobra: Most of India and Asia’s 20,000 annual snake
victims are at the hands of this killer, the world’s largest
poisonous snake. Each one carries enough venom to kill 150
people.
Cape Buffalo: You know, you forget that this docile looking
animal is really a vicious beast. In fact, it’s one of the deadliest
in Africa and uses its horns to stab you. Humans are considered
predators and the Cape buffalo charges on sight. This is why it’s
very important to follow the state and local budget situation in
America very closely, because as some cities close the zoos, the
Cape buffalo are thrown into the street, unemployed and
extremely pissed off.
But to wrap up “Animal Chat” for this week, in Sunday’s Star-
Ledger (N.J.), there is the following on our burgeoning black
bear problem.
“In West Milford a few weeks back, a bear climbed through a
kitchen window, ate 2 pounds of biscotti and 8 pounds of
chocolate, then washed it down with a half-gallon of margarita
mix before leaving. In Vernon, a man sleeping on his porch
woke up to find a bear licking his toes.”
Obviously, this last guy was rather startled and did what you all
should do when faced with this situation, make yourself look big
and start yelling. The bear ran off.
But get this, some bears in New Jersey have “learned to open car
doors.” As wildlife expert Ross Shramko put it, “They’re
learning these skills and they’re not as afraid anymore.”
Goodness, gracious. You could be carjacked by a freakin’ black
bear. Then what would you do? And you all laughed at me the
other day when I said I was going to be more careful answering
the doorbell, didn’t you?
More 1968
My piece on baseball’s year of the pitcher elicited some
comments from you all, so I thought I’d elaborate a bit more.
While the focus was on Denny McLain, 31-6, 1.96 ERA, and Bob
Gibson, 22-9, 1.12 ERA, here are some of the others who also
had ERA’s below 2.00 that season (minimum 162 innings).
AL
Dave McNally (Baltimore), 22-10, 1.95
Sam McDowell (Cleveland), 15-14, 1.81
Luis Tiant, “El Tiante,” (Cleveland), 21-9, 1.60
Tommy John (Chicago), 10-5, 1.98
NL
Bobby Bolin (San Francisco), 10-5, 1.98
Tiant and McDowell were quite a formidable duo that year.
Tiant fanned 264 in 258 innings, McDowell 283 in 269.
And while last time I gave the example of Pittsburgh’s Bob
Veale as a guy who pitched much better than his record (13-14,
2.06 ERA), consider San Francisco’s Ray Sadecki, who went 12-
18, yet had a 2.91 ERA in allowing just 225 hits and 70 walks in
254 innings.
And since we’re talking about ERA’s under 2.00, since 1960 the
following have led their respective leagues with a sterling mark.
AL
Dean Chance (Los Angeles Angels), 1964, 1.65
Vida Blue (Oakland), 1971, 1.82
Luis Tiant (Boston), 1972, 1.91
Ron Guidry (New York), 1978, 1.74
Roger Clemens (Boston), 1990, 1.93
Pedro Martinez (Boston), 2000, 1.74
NL
Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles), 1963, 1.88
Sady Koufax (Los Angeles), 1964, 1.74
Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles), 1966, 1.73
Phil Niekro (Atlanta), 1967, 1.87…this surprised me.
Tom Seaver (New York), 1971, 1.76
Steve Carlton (Philadelphia), 1972, 1.98
Nolan Ryan (Houston), 1981, 1.69*…strike-shortened
Dwight Gooden (New York), 1985, 1.53
Greg Maddux (Atlanta), 1994, 1.56
Greg Maddux (Atlanta), 1995, 1.63
Kevin Brown (Florida), 1996, 1.89
Pedro Martinez (Montreal), 1997, 1.90
There. Now take this to the local watering hole and win some
cash and prizes.
Stuff
–I forgot that our own Harry Trumbore (“Lamb in Command”)
is a big Bruce Lee fan. After all, my brother is up to a green belt
himself (though his daughter has a brown one). Anyway, as a
follow-up to my piece last time on Lee’s death of mysterious
causes in 1973, big bro said that Van Williams (who played Britt
Reid in “The Green Hornet”) claimed Lee (Kato) didn’t smoke
cigarettes or pot, so rumors that he died from an allergic reaction
to the latter are false in Williams’ mind.
And writing in Black Belt magazine, Jake Seal notes the
following.
“(Upon Lee’s death,) speculation abounded as to the cause. The
rumors ranged from Lee being killed by Hong Kong triads
(gangsters) because he refused to pay them protection money –
something that was common for Chinese movie stars to do at that
time – to his being killed by an angry martial artist’s dim mak
(death touch) strike. Some people claimed Lee was cursed – he
had just bought a house in Hong Kong that was supposed to be
haunted – or that he had died while making love to actress Betty
Ting-pei, or that he had angered the Chinese martial arts
community by teaching foreigners, and that he had been killed in
a challenge match.”
But in the end, Seal concludes Lee died from a reaction caused
by the painkiller Equagesic (a super aspirin) that Betty had given
Lee when he complained of a headache.
Green belt Trumbore adds that among Bruce Lee’s students were
James Coburn, Steve McQueen, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
–Johnny Mac said it’s time to call golfer David Duval the Steve
Blass of his sport and bid him farewell. This week Duval shot an
83 in the first round at Hartford and withdrew. Club pro Suzy
Whaley had a 75, by comparison.
Blass, many of you may recall, was the star hurler for the
Pittsburgh Pirates in the 60s and early 70s who suddenly couldn’t
find the plate. To wit:
In 1972, he was 19-8, 2.48 ERA, 250 innings, 84 walks, a solid
ratio.
Then in 1973, Blass walked 84 in just 89 innings to go with his
9.81 ERA. In ’74 he walked 7 in 5 innings and bid the sport
farewell, leaving with a 103-76 mark. He was only 32.
[I just realized Blass and I share the same birthday……….
wfsgdyeurkfiyutirop…….wohhhh, just lost control of the
keyboard for a second there. This bears watching.]
As for Whaley, I give her a lot of credit. She legitimately
qualified for the PGA event, as opposed to Annika’s special
invitation, and her 75-78, even though 13 off the cut line, wasn’t
that bad by my way of thinking. Whaley was the first woman to
qualify for a men’s event since Babe Zaharias in 1945.
–Great stuff on the PGA Tour the last two weeks with the
victories by 50-year-old Craig Stadler and 49-year-old Peter
Jacobsen. And Tom Watson’s win at the Senior British Open got
him into the PGA.
–A BBC team of researchers says it has surveyed Loch Ness 600
different ways and come up with nothing. Bull. Nessie is down
there, and some day I’ll prove it. Really.
–So I saw Bruce Springsteen for the first time Saturday night at
the Meadowlands. Special thanks to Steve D. for the invite. It
was everything the rest of you have told me it would be. I’m
officially a convert. But I also have to mention that one of the
highlights was seeing Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts from “The
Sopranos”) walk down the aisle next to us, accompanied by his
security detail. The reaction from the Jersey crowd was great.
–Happy 60th Birthday to Mick Jagger. Yikes. We all should feel
old ourselves at this news. Kind of depressing for us 60s music
fans, quite frankly. I have to admit, though, I never really got
into the Stones, except for the “Hot Rocks” era.
–I was driving past Union, N.J.’s city hall on Sunday and saw a
banner that got my attention, “Polish Festival!” I mean to tell
you, I slammed on the brakes and opted to check it out. You’d
have to be an idiot not to buy some fresh pierogies, after all. I
couldn’t spend much time there, but it’s now on the calendar for
next year and a full-blown Bar Chat special would seem
appropriate at that time.
–The other day I was talking about baseball bats and Jeff B.
wrote to tell me he has a real Willie McCovey model he picked up
in 1973 from an ex-scout for the Giants. Damn, I’m jealous.
The most feared hitter I ever saw. Jeff keeps it next to his bed
for protection.
–J. Mac passed along that the Philadelphia Phillies are actually
selling “souvenir” seats from Veteran’s Stadium following its
demolition. As Johnny put it, “those miserable, hard plastic seats
from possibly the worst freakin’ ballpark known to man.” Two
for $280. Don’t get shut out!
–Here’s something of note from “This date in baseball, July 27.”
Brooklyn rookie Henry Heitman entered a game for the first time
and promptly gave up 4 consecutive hits and left the game.
Didn’t get an out. That was it. His whole career. Kind of sad,
actually.
–Denver Broncos safety Lee Flowers was suspended for 4 games
for violating the NFL’s steroid policy. Supposedly, Flowers
‘only’ had ephedra in his system. You read this and you can
think of but one thing…baseball, and what a joke it is that this
sport has no real drug policy of any kind.
–NBC announced it is going to have a “Friends” spinoff in 2004,
“Joey,” with character Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), and I’m
thinking, boy, that will suck. I mean “Frasier” worked as a
“Cheers” spinoff because he is a complex character, but Joey?
Then I read the new show”s premise and, what the heck, it just
may work. Struggling actor Joey moves from New York to L.A.
and hooks up with a new group of friends. We’ll give it a shot.
[What a sorry life your editor leads…thinking about the 2004 TV
schedule.]
–Last week David Kelly of the Los Angeles Times (not to be
confused with the British weapons inspector of the same name
who recently took his own life), had a piece on goats and the
valuable role they are playing in Colorado and other western
states. All kinds of businesses have sprung up where you hire
out the goats to kill weeds. They’re being used at everything
from country clubs to parks, even highway medians, plus they
are great at clearing brush in areas susceptible to fire.
Now if you want to hire out these “lawnmowers with legs,” they
generally set you back $1-$1.50 per goat, per day. An electric
fence is laid out to keep them in line and most companies also
have a dog to help maintain order. Since I’m in charge of
approving landscapers for my townhouse development, I’m
thinking it would be cheaper to just have some goats around.
Time to ask the board.
–New York Mets announcer Bob Murphy formally announced
his retirement this weekend, effective at the end of the season.
Some of us have been fearing this for years now, Murphy and
partner Ralph Kiner being 2 of the 3 original Mets broadcasting
team since the club’s inception in 1962. Simply amazing. I’ll
have a full tribute on Murphy later in September. For now, I’m
more than a bit bummed. [Kiner hasn’t said if he’s hanging it up
yet.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/31/65: #1 (I Can’t Get No)
Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones) #2 “I’m Henry VIII, I Am”
(Herman’s Hermits) #3 “What’s New Pussycat?” (Tom Jones)
Texas Rangers / Washington Senators Quiz Answers: 1) AL HR
champ in 1970 was Frank Howard with 44. He also led the
league with the same total in 1968. 2) Dick Donovan was the
opening day pitcher in 1961 and also led the league in ERA with
a 2.40 mark, barely attaining the minimum for innings pitched as
he threw 169 en route to a 10-10 record. 3) Jim Bibby tossed the
first no-hitter in 1973. 4) Julio Franco is the only batting champ,
1991, .341. 5) Fergie Jenkins was the first 20-game winner, 25-
12 in 1974. 6) Mike Hargrove the only rookie of the year, 1974.
7) Charlie Hough is the career leader in victories with 139. *And
your bonus question for $1,352,000 (or six bottle tops, whichever
is less)…Gene Green led the Washington Senators with 18 HR in
their first season, 1961.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. *I’m going to have something a little
different, a travelogue from my friend Ken S. and his motorcycle
trip to Alaska from Nebraska. I think you’ll enjoy it.
