Philadelphia Phillies Quiz: 1) What Philly was MVP in 1950? 2)
Who won the Cy Young award in 1983? 3) Which four had their
uniform retired? 4) Who holds the single season RBI mark? 5)
Mike Schmidt hit 548 home runs as a Phillie. Who is second? 6)
Who was the last 20-game winner ‘before’ Steve Carlton?
Answers below.
The Curse of the Bambino…the Red Sox
I’m in Boston for a few days, so I thought it was a good time to
resurrect a piece that our own Johnny Mac did a little over two
years ago.
—
This bunch can break your heart, I will grant you that. They
have managed to lose some of the best pennant races and series
in history. They have lost spectacularly, they have lost
courageously, they have lost comically, but they have lost. New
Englanders have adopted an almost fatalistic approach with this
team, rooting as hard as possible, yet always expecting the worst
in the end. Tom Boswell recounts the scene in 1986, Game 6,
Sox up 2 runs, Mets have 2 outs and nobody on; one out from the
elusive championship. The player’s wives are whooping it up
pretty good, all standing and cheering…all except one, that is.
Sherry Gedman, wife of catcher Rich Gedman, is sitting quietly,
almost expecting the carnage that is about to unfold. Why is
that? Because Sherry is the only native New Englander of the
bunch…she knew, she just knew.
It wasn’t always this way, you know. The Sox are an original
American League franchise, starting play in 1901. They won the
first ever, modern World Series in 1903. Led by player /
manager and Hall of Famer Jimmy Collins, Boston beat
Pittsburgh behind the pitching of Bill Dineen and Cy Young.
They then won the pennant in ’04, but the Giants of John
McGraw, winners of the National League, refused to play the
upstart American Leaguers.
The Red Sox began to show their age and fell from contention
for the next 8 seasons; turning the roster over in that span and
assembling a young, talented bunch that would then dominate the
‘Teens, winning four titles in 7 years. One of the greatest
outfields in history – Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy
Lewis – supported the pitching of Smokey Joe Wood, Buck
O’Brien and Hugh Bedient. In 1912, Wood had one of the great
seasons ever, going 34-5 with a 1.91 ERA and 258 strikeouts.
Boston met the Giants in the Series and won a thriller, 4-3-1.
The ‘1’ refers to Game Two, which ended in a 6-6 tie due to
darkness. The Sox scored a run in the bottom of the tenth off
Christy Mathewson to tie it, which would eventually prove
critical.
In the deciding Game 8, the Giants took a one-run lead in the top
of the tenth, but the Sox scored 2 off Mathewson to win the
Series despite batting only .220. Joe Wood won three games.
[Wood is an interesting guy, putting up great pitching numbers
before blowing his arm out in 1915. He didn’t play in 1916, but
came back as an outfielder with Cleveland and had 5 pretty good
years.]
The Red Sox won titles in 1915, 1916 and 1918 despite trading
the great Speaker to the Indians. Pitching was the key,
assembling a staff of Babe Ruth, Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore
and Carl Mays. But we all know what came next…the team was
bought by Harry Frazee, a Broadway producer of some repute.
Needing cash to finance his production of “No No Nannette,”
Frazee sold off many of his best players, notably Babe Ruth, to
the Yankees. The dreaded “Curse of the Bambino” took hold
and the Sox have not won a Series since 1918.
What is generally not remembered is just how many players the
Sox contributed to the Yankees during that span. It was not just
Ruth; they sold or traded Herb Pennock, Waite Hoyt, Sam Jones,
Everett Scott and Jumpin’ Joe Dugan, all major contributors to
the first Yankee dynasty.
The next twenty years or so were miserable, the team rarely able
to get near .500. Boston posted years of 47-105, 46-107, 51-103,
52-102 and 43-111. Picking up future Hall of Famer Joe Cronin
as player / manager in the mid-Thirties turned things around,
though, as did acquiring aging but still effective stars like Jimmie
Foxx and Lefty Grove. The Sox at least contended but never
won, coming in second to the Yankees in ’38, ’39, ’41 and ’42; a
pattern that would haunt them for years.
Boston did develop some great young players during that time,
bringing up Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio in
successive years. The war would interrupt things for everyone,
and would especially affect Williams, who would serve in
combat in Korea as well as WW II.
Reassembling the team in 1946, they added veteran Rudy York
and shortstop Johnny Pesky and won the pennant by 12 games.
Facing a good Cardinals squad, the Beantowners grabbed a 3-2
lead going back to St. Louis. Harry “The Cat” Brecheen, a crafty
lefthander, stifled the Sox in Game 6, setting up the deciding
contest. Trailing by 2, Boston scored twice in the eighth to tie it
up. That set the stage for heartbreak. With Enos Slaughter on
first, Harry “The Hat” Walker lined one to the outfield. The
relay came into Pesky, who hesitated slightly. Slaughter didn’t,
as he attempted to score all the way from first. Pesky’s throw
was just late and the Sox lost. That was but the first in a series of
near misses for Boston.
The Sox lost a playoff to Cleveland for the 1948 pennant. They
also then lost a thrilling race to the hated Yankees in 1949. [That
Boston squad had 2 players, Williams and shortstop Vern
Stephens, who each drove in 159.] And then the Sox assembled
one of the great hitting teams in history in 1950, only to finish 3rd
with the Yanks again winning it all.
Let’s look at that 1950 squad. Boston added Rookie of the Year
Walt Dropo to an already potent lineup. Dropo hit 34 homers
and drove in 144, Stephens posted 30-144, Bobby Doerr 27-120
and Williams, in just 89 games, hit 28 homers and drove in 97.
Billy Goodman, who wasn’t good enough to play regularly for
this club, nonetheless led the league in hitting at .354. That had
never happened before or since. Goodman played outfield, third,
first and short, with no more than 45 games at any one position.
The Sox scored a total of 1,027 runs and batted .302.
Boston never quite managed to get the pitching necessary to
challenge the Yankees and stumbled through the Fifties playing
.500ish ball, wasting the remainder of Teddy’s career. They then
hit bottom in the early Sixties, resulting in 8 losing seasons.
But Boston had their share of interesting guys, from 2-time
batting champ Pete Runnels to minor league home run legend
Dick “Dr. Strangeglove” Stuart to the hulking reliever Dick “The
Monster” Radatz. And they did start laying the groundwork for a
solid club, bringing up the likes of Carl Yastrzemski, Tony
Conigliaro, Rico Petrocelli, Jim Lonborg, George Scott, Joe Foy,
Mike Andrews, Sparky Lyle and Reggie Smith.
Boston went from 9th in 1966 to winning a thrilling, four team,
last weekend, last game pennant race in 1967. The oldest regular
was Triple Crown winner and MVP Yaz, who was all of 27.
Lonborg was just 25 and went 22-9 on the way to the Cy Young
award.
But in the Series they ran into a buzz saw named Bob Gibson and
the Sox lost in seven. Gibson was 3-0 for the Cardinals, with an
ERA of 1.00. Lonborg, who was unable to start Game One
because he pitched the last game of the season, won Games 2 and
5 before finally matching up with Gibson in Game 7. The
fatigue showed and the Sox went meekly at Fenway, 7-2, with
Gibson hitting a homer for good measure.
Enthusiasm was high in Beantown nonetheless. The team was
young, talented, and exciting. Then it all started to fall apart.
Lonborg was injured in a skiing accident and went only 6-10 in
’68. Tony C., badly hurt by a beanball thrown by Jack Hamilton
in 1967 (he didn’t play in the Series) missed the entire ’68
campaign. Although he was to have some success in ’69 and
’70, Conigliaro’s eyesight was never the same and he was
basically through by age 25.
And Boston never developed any quality pitching, compounding
matters by trading away Lyle for the forgettable Danny Cater.
Then they screwed around with Petrocelli, moving him to third in
favor of Luis Aparicio, who was about 60 at the time (well, 38,
anyway). Future stars George Scott, Reggie Smith and Ben
Oglivie were traded. Yet despite all this, the Sox were never
terrible, they just didn’t make it back to post-season play from
1968-74 and never fulfilled the great promise of ’67.
But that’s where we’ll end…for now. Heh heh.
—
Animal House…the movie
This August represents the 25th anniversary of the release of the
all-time comedy classic. The screenplay was written by National
Lampoon writers Chris Miller, Harold Ramis, and Doug Kenney,
none of whom had any idea how to write one.
Set in 1962 at a small New England college, with Vietnam, the
civil rights movement and the sexual revolution about to take
over public debate, “Animal House” represented the last days of
innocence… ahem.
Originally, the cast was to be comprised of the stars of “Saturday
Night Live,” with John Belushi playing Bluto, Chevy Chase /
Otter, Bill Murray / Boon and Dan Akroyd / D-Day. But
because of contractual restraints with SNL, only Belushi was
able to perform. [Meat Loaf was actually lined up if Belushi
couldn’t do it.]
Bruce McGill replaced Akroyd, Peter Riegert – Murray, and Tim
Matheson – Chase, and for Belushi, still obligated to perform
with the SNL troupe, filming was particularly difficult because
he was constantly going from Oregon (the movie was filmed at
the University of Oregon – Eugene) to New York, then back out
to Oregon.
Director John Landis was worried about the no-name cast so he
called in Donald Sutherland to play Professor Dave Jennings,
with Sutherland taking $50,000 for his efforts.
When Lampoon publisher Matty Simmons first shopped the
project, Warner Brothers turned it down and Universal was about
to do the same but acquiesced as long as the total budget came in
at $2 million. It proved to be a huge home run, grossing in
excess of $120 million (and far more since).
And this note on Otis Day, courtesy of Lisa Rose of the Star-
Ledger. Actor Dewayne Jessie almost didn’t take the role.
Jessie had just won accolades for his performance in “The Bingo
Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” and thought the part
was beneath him. But then he had second thoughts and the rest
is history.
Jessie is lip-syncing in the film to session singer Lloyd Williams’
voice, but following the release of the picture, Jessie stuck with
the name Otis Day and has been singing and touring himself ever
since. For you musicologists out there, Otis’ backup band in the
movie was comprised of University of Oregon students,
including the great guitarist Robert Cray.
Harry K’s Beer World
We Canadians have always been smug about our beer. Sure, our
politicians are a joke, our military has past glories but couldn’t
field a platoon these days, and despite our having invented
hockey, baseball and basketball, these days we don’t have a team
that’s a contender in any of those sports. British Columbia’s
forests are burning; the Prairies are suffering through drought
and locusts; Ontario had SARS and the Blackout, not to mention
Dalton McGinty; there are no cod fish left in Newfoundland;
West Nile Virus is everywhere; and Jean Chretien won’t retire
until February. While our version of football is still a superior
game, no one watches it, and half the teams in the CFL are
perennially on the verge of bankruptcy.
It’s enough to drive you to despair. Still, while our American
cousins are richer, more powerful, have way more stuff, lower
taxes, higher productivity, the NY Yankees, whatever – we could
always be proud of our beer. Why, that anemic swill they drink
down in the States is hardly worthy of the name.
Up here, we live in Beer World, the place that is the setting for
all those beer commercials. Beer World, where all the women
are nubile, none of the men have a beer gut, and no one ever
throws up. Where moose and bears roam free and you can buy a
mini-draft keg the size of a small pig with Don Cherry’s picture
on it. Where a manly brew is the sine qua non, and all the brews
are pure amber nectar brewed lovingly from the best hops, malt
and barley and the purest mountain spring water. We Canadians
still speak reverently about having a “Barley Sandwich” up here,
and our beers have no-nonsense names like Moose Head, Red
Cap, Black Label, Blue, Ex, Northern, and Kakabeka Cream.
Yes sir, no matter how lame our political masters, how inept our
sports franchises, how awful our weather, we could always
depend on our beer. Alas, that may no longer be the case.
Sleeman’s Breweries, the oldest brewer in Ontario, and makers
of some of the finest pints in the Great White North, has gone
over to the Dark Side (actually, they’ve gone over to the Lite
Side). Yes, friends, they’ve done the unthinkable. I mean, “lite”
beer was bad enough, an American marketing travesty that
managed to make its way across the 49th parallel, corrupting
innocent brasseries, pubs and taverns across the land. But now
they’ve gone beyond “lite” – Sleeman’s has just introduced
“ultra-lite” beer. Diet beer. Beer without carbohydrates.
They’re launching a new beverage called “Sleeman Clear.” It
has only 2.5 grams of carbs per bottle, compared to the 6-9
grams of carbs in Canadian Lite beer and 11 grams in regular
beer. Seems they’ve done market research, and discovered that a
majority of the tofu-eating, Birkenstock-wearing, Volvo-driving,
tree-hugging urbanites in Trawna (the Center of the Universe)
surveyed were concerned with living “healthy lifestyles”
featuring reduced carbohydrates and fat in their diets.
The company probably figured, what the hell, it’s just another
niche market to fill, but I tell you, it’s the thin edge of the wedge.
Soon you’ll walk into your local Beer Store (that’s what they call
them here in Ontario, Beer Stores, a no-nonsense name for a no-
nonsense beverage) and there will be a vast display of new
brands of “Healthy Lifestyle Malt-flavoured Beverages.” Perrier
Beer. Labatt Turquoise. Pink Cap. Carling Beige Label.
Poodle Head. Tofu Ale. Molson “XL.” Dozens of beer-
flavoured sparkling waters, none of them with a trace of
carbohydrates, fat, color, aroma or flavour. You’ll ask the clerk
where the real beer is, and it’ll be stacked over in a dusty
cobwebbed corner, and the cases and bottles will all have
warning labels on them – “Danger: Contains Carbohydrates and
Alcohol.” Gee, I thought that was the whole point.
It’s just not fair. I mean, California’s getting Arnold for
Governor, and we’re getting girlie-man beer. I am appalled. I
need a drink. Bartender, bring me a Barley Salad.
[Harry K. and your editor clearly enjoy a cold one from time to
time. Beer……bringing the world together.]
Stuff
–I forgot to make note the last time of former major league
pitcher Rick Rhoden’s performance in the weekend’s Champions
(Senior) PGA tour event. Rhoden, who has been eating up the
celebrity golf tour since he retired from baseball in 1989 with a
151-125 lifetime mark, turned 50 in May and it appears he’s the
real deal. Could be a fun story the next few years.
–So I’m watching the local news yesterday and they have this
guy on talking about the “perfect shave.” Men, you are supposed
to only use a “pure badger hair brush” in applying the shaving
cream. Make sure the animal has been skinned and cleaned,
first, is probably my best advice. And never, ever, mistake a
wolverine for a badger.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/28/76: #1 “Don’t Go Breaking
My Heart” (Elton John & Kiki Dee) #2 “You Should Be
Dancing” (Bee Gees) #3 “Let ‘Em In” (Wings)
Philadelphia Phillies Quiz Answers: 1) Reliever Jim Konstanty
was league MVP in 1950, going 16-7 with 22 saves. He allowed
only 108 hits in 152 innings. 2) John Denny won the Cy Young
in 1983 (19-6, 2.37 ERA). 3) Retired uniforms: #1 Richie
Ashburn, #20 Mike Schmidt, #32 Steve Carlton, #36 Robin
Roberts. 4) Chuck Klein drove in 170 in 1930, the year of the
hitter. Klein also hit .386 with 40 home runs. So he won the
Triple Crown, right? Wrong, didn’t win anything. Hack Wilson
led with 56 HR, 191 RBI and Bill Terry hit .401. 5) Del Ennis is
second in career homers as a Philly with 259 (1946-56). 6) Chris
Short went 20-10 in 1966. Carlton then won 20, 5 times (’72,
’76, ’77, ’80, ’82).
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. Some Boston history.
