**Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers, who won 5 of their last
6 to finish 43-119, a terrific achievement. And for the rest of
my life I will cherish having personally witnessed 2 of the
defeats. Did I ever tell you about the 30-oz. beers?………
Dallas Cowboys Quiz: 1) When was Tom Landry’s last season?
2) Receptions, career? 3) Passing yards, season? 4)
Interceptions, career? 5) Touchdowns, season? 6) Receptions,
game? [Hint: 13, 1960s] 7) Field goals, career? Answers below.
1908…1908…
Let’s face it, while many of us have fun with the past of the
Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, there would be nothing
better for the game of baseball, and probably the country at this
moment in time, then a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Trust me,
I’m pulling for it big time. Now the chances of this happening,
however……………
Anyway, I thought it was a good time to reprise an old piece by
our own Johnny Mac on the Cubs (having covered the Red Sox a
few weeks ago).
The Cubs trace their lineage back to the very beginning of the
National League in 1876. Just for some historical perspective,
Rutherford B. Hayes won the election that year. They were
known as the White Stockings and featured undoubtedly the
greatest player of the 19th century, Cap Anson.
Anson started in the old National Association in 1871 and played
regularly until 1897…27 seasons. This was at a time when
players rarely lasted into their thirties. The money wasn’t great,
so players put in a few years and then went off to find real jobs.
Also, they were more susceptible to injury and disease and
certainly didn’t have the advantage of anything resembling
modern medicine. Thus, for Anson to play until age 45 was
really remarkable. He was also the player / manager from 1879
through 1897. Some recent articles and books have been unkind
to Cap, painting him as a racist who had a hand in banning
blacks from baseball, and while I can’t refute or support these
allegations, they wouldn’t shock me if true. Nevertheless, he
was a hell of a ballplayer and was so loved in Chicago that when
he left the team in 1897, they changed the moniker to the
Orphans, until they became the Cubs in 1903.
Albert Spalding, who later saw some potential in sporting goods,
managed the original teams. They were successful early on,
winning six pennants from 1876 through 1886, and they had
some interesting players, like 300-game winner John Clarkson
and outfielder Billy Sunday, who went on to become a famous
evangelist. The Cubs then fell on hard times in the 1890s, but
put together one of the great teams in history early in the next
century. From 1906 through 1910 they went 116-36, 107-45, 99-
55, 104-49, and 104-50, winning 4 pennants and 2 World Series
titles over that span. That was the Tinker to Evers to Chance
team, but it was the pitching that carried them.
Check out some of these stats from the 1906 squad, which
inexplicably lost the Series to the cross-town White Sox (the
famous “hitless wonders”). Hall of Famer Mordecai “Three
Fingered” Brown…26-6, 1.04 ERA…Jack Pfiester…20-8,
1.51…Ed Reulbach…19-4, 1.65…Carl Lundgren…17-6,
2.21…Jack Taylor…12-3, 1.83…and Orval Overall…12-3, 1.88.
Brown was some pitcher, getting started late (27) due to his
physical problems, but when he mastered that three-fingered
curve, he was unstoppable. He often matched up with Christy
Mathewson, more than holding his own against the great Matty.
Reulbach had a career similar to Koufax…short but extremely
effective. He only had about 8 good years, but ended up 182-106
with a miniscule 2.28 ERA.
Taylor was an ironman even for that era. He once started and
completed 187 straight games. Re-read that…187 straight.
Incredible.
The Cubs won the Series in ’07 and ’08 and a pennant in 1910.
That 1908 victory would prove to be their last to date. They
were basically middle of the pack after that run, but did manage a
pennant in 1918, losing to the Red Sox (coincidentally, that was
Boston’s last championship). That team featured Hippo Vaughn
on the mound and Fred MerKle (of “Merkle’s Boner” fame) at
first. For the unfamiliar, that refers to a base-running mistake,
not….never mind.
The Cubs later made a great decision in 1926, hiring Joe
McCarthy to manage the club. They immediately began to
contend, behind the play of catcher Gabby Hartnett and
outfielder Hack Wilson and the pitching of Charlie Root (off
whom Babe Ruth supposedly called his shot in the 1932 Series).
The team also picked up Kiki Cuyler and Rogers Hornsby and
went on to win the pennant in 1929. Unfortunately, they ran into
a great Athletics team (Foxx, Cochrane, Simmons, Grove) and
lost 4 games to 1.
The next year Hornsby, in the waning years of his career, lobbied
to manage the team and he was accommodated. McCarthy was
let go and the Yankees wisely signed him. In New York, he
would go on to manage 7 World Series winners, including twice
beating the Cubs (1932 and 1938…the ’38 Yanks were
awesome, maybe the best team ever). Meanwhile, the Cubs
realized Hornsby wasn’t the answer and hired a good baseball
man in Charlie Grimm. He led them to 3 pennants in 7 years
(’32, ’35 and ’38), although all ended in defeat. Great young
players like Billy Herman, Stan Hack and Phil Cavaretta
anchored the team for years to come. They next won the pennant
in 1945, but lost a 7-game series to the Tigers. Hank Borowy,
picked up from the Yankees in mid-season, was the surprise
starter in Game One for Chicago and threw a shutout.
Unfortunately, he then got lit up in Game 7 and Detroit, behind
Hal Newhouser, Dizzy Trout and Hank Greenberg, prevailed.
Now the hard times set in. The Cubs consistently finished at or
near the bottom for years to come. In fact, they had only one
winning record in the next 22 seasons, and that was just 82-80,
good for seventh place. Chicago wasted the best years of
perhaps the greatest Cub of them all, Ernie Banks.
Banks managed to win back-to-back MVP’s for teams that
finished 6th out of 8. They had the insanity to trade Lou Brock
for Ernie Broglio…Brock went on to the Hall…Ernie went 7-19
in three meaningless seasons. Nevertheless, the Cubs managed
to assemble a decent club under fiery Leo Durocher and
contended from 1967 through 1972. But they never did get over
the hump, losing a famous race to the Miracle Mets in 1969.
That Chicago squad featured some excellent players…Billy
Williams, Ron Santo, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger, Randy
Hundley, Fergie Jenkins, and Banks.
The Cubs didn’t manage a winning campaign from ’73 thru ’83,
despite developing a decent amount of talent; men like Rick
Reuschel, Burt Hooton, Larry Gura, Bill Madlock, Manny Trillo,
Bruce Sutter, Donnie Moore, Willie Hernandez, and Lee Smith
all eventually went elsewhere in failed trades. They did manage
that magical year in 1984, behind Ryne Sandberg and Rick
Sutcliffe, but having taken a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead
in the best of five playoff against the Padres, then proceeded to
lose three straight.
The Cubbies then stumbled along for a few years before putting
together a young, talented bunch that won the East in 1989.
Forget that they then got hammered 4-1 by the Giants and Will
Clark (he of the .650 batting average), this team looked perched
to contend for years. Greg Maddux (19-12), Mark Grace,
Shawon Dunston, Mitch Williams (36 saves), Jerome Walton
(the rookie of the year) and Dwight Smith (who hit .324)…all 26
or younger…and Ryne Sandberg, just 29 and in his prime.
Unfortunately, it just never worked out. Dunston never fulfilled
his immense promise, Maddux left for greener pastures, Walton
and Smith never reproduced their stats again, Williams was
traded after 1990 and Sandberg took early retirement.
Mark Grace hung in there and the addition of Sammy Sosa did
help them to the wild-card in 1998, but while two last place
finishes followed that mild success, they were also beginning to
develop some pitching. It’s the pitching that carried them this
season, just how far is yet to be determined.
Stuff
–College Football Wrap-up:
And the winner of this week’s StocksandNews “College Game
Ball” goes to……….California, for its stunning 34-31 overtime
victory over #3 USC and their highly vaunted cheerleaders, the
latter representing all corners of America. Personally, I was
aghast the girls let the Trojans down. I just may have to change
my allegiance to the squad at Tennessee.
One ‘Frosty’ goes to Washington State for its 55-16 pounding of
#15 Oregon. The Ducks had 9, count ‘em, 9 turnovers and 2
blocked punts. Talk about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx,
Oregon was on this week and look what happened. Disaster.
And another frosty to Michigan State for its 20-10 win over #9
Iowa. And one to Northern Illinois, 4-0, which has now defeated
Maryland, Alabama and, Saturday, Iowa State. And another
frosty to Rutgers, 3-1 after defeating Navy. You read that right,
New Jersey college football fan (there’s only one…the others
you see in the stands are added digitally).
But here’s my favorite story. With Kansas’ win over ranked
Missouri, the series between these two now stands at 52-51-9
(oops, forgot who is leading it). Now my idea is that the first to
55 gets the other state. Granted, this would cut the size of the
U.S. Senate down to 98, but you’d have some cost savings there
no doubt. I plan on taking this proposal to both state legislatures
over the coming months. Your support would be appreciated.
Bad loss for my Wake Forest Demon Deacons this week, 27-24
to Virginia. True, we officially have a program and should still
come up with a third straight winning season, but it’s not a
stretch to say we could also easily be 5-0 instead of 3-2. Hang in
there guys. There’s a lot of work to do the rest of the way.
–The NCAA denied the ACC’s request for a football
championship game in 2004 following the admission of Miami
and Virginia Tech. The conference would still just have 11
teams and the NCAA, as of now, is saying you need 12 to hold
such a contest which is estimated to bring in $8-$10 million in
revenue. All kinds of rumors about Notre Dame joining the
ACC, which if true would be an automatic win on about 8
schedules the way the Fighting Irish are playing these days.
–Holy Toledo! A story in the Times of London, concerning a
new study of beer drinkers, concludes that the link between beer
and a “beer belly” is non-existent! Researchers studied about
2,000 Czech men and women, Czechs being known for drinking
more per capita than anywhere else in the world, and it was
discovered that “women who drank beer tended to weigh less,
rather than more, than those who didn’t,” with the same
conclusion reached in the case of men. Go ahead, hit the
refrigerator, I’ll wait…………………………….
–In a story by Ian Messer and Jag Dhaliwall of the International
Herald Tribune, both Goldman Sachs and a private Texas firm
continue to buy up distressed Japanese golf properties. Here’s
the tale of the tape.
Japanese golf courses failed at the rate of 2 per week last year
and now owe a collective $20 billion. Japan’s 2,452 courses,
overall, are attracting 30% fewer golfers than a decade ago and
the cost of membership is down 90%.
Now you probably remember the old stories of just how
outrageously high memberships got, but in case you forgot, the
peak was $4 million for an individual one, with 40 courses
charging more than $893,000 to join.
–The world lost some really cool people the last few days,
including Donald O’Connor, but I have to take special note of
Robert Palmer and George Plimpton.
Palmer died of a heart attack at 54 and was best known for 1980s
songs like “Addicted to Love,” which featured leggy models in
sexy outfits. But I didn’t realize Palmer had no idea the video
for “Addicted to Love” was going to come out the way it did; the
models having been edited in.
Palmer was the son of a naval officer and growing up a big fan of
Lena Horne and Nat King Cole. Rolling Stone named him best
dressed rocker in 1990 and by all accounts he really led a down
to earth, sedate life. Personally, I still thought his first hit,
1978’s “Every Kinda People” was his best, and in looking it up
can’t believe it peaked at just #16.
As for Plimpton, he also died of a heart attack at 76. Known as a
dilettante par excellence, the Harvard and Cambridge grad with
patrician roots going back to the Mayflower led a kind of Walter
Mitty existence (except all of Plimpton’s experiences were real),
as he tried being an NFL quarterback (“Paper Lion”), golfed with
Arnie and Jack in an official match, fought Archie Moore,
performed in the circus, once got Willie Mays to pop up in a
1959 exhibition, and was even an extra in “Lawrence of Arabia,”
turning all these into stories for print and some into film.
Richard Severo wrote in the New York Times, “Perhaps
(Plimpton’s) career was best summarized by a New Yorker
cartoon in which a patient looks at the surgeon preparing to
operate on him and demands, ‘How do I know you’re not George
Plimpton?’”
–Back to Palmer, Harry K. notes, “John Entwhistle, Joey
Ramone, Warren Zevon, Robert Palmer. Sure, some of it is
likely due to the high price of excess, but if that was really it,
how do you explain that Keith Richards and Jagger are still
alive? (Well, in Keith’s case, undead is probably more like it).
More to the point, why is it that it is the good ones that die young
(Jimi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Holly) while the Bobby
Goldsboros, Kenny Gs and Barry Manilows of the world just
seem to go on and on and on and on?”
Oh, boy, I know one friend who is going to be super upset
reading the above, the world’s #1 Manilow fan. Duck and cover.
–Incoming!
–But there is another obituary deserving of notice, that being the
death of Stanley Fafara, Beaver’s pal Whitey in “Leave It to
Beaver.” Fafara was just 53 and died of complications from
intestinal surgery. Following his turn as a child actor, Fafara’s
life went into reverse quickly as he entered the drug world,
becoming a dealer at 22 and getting himself arrested for mostly
petty crimes committed to support his habit.
There is a story, back to the more pleasant times, that Whitey
was responsible for the very first line of “Leave It to Beaver.”
Whitey asks, “What did she do to you, Beaver?’ referring to their
teacher as the two emerged from the classroom with Beaver
clutching a note that he was told to bring back to his parents.
And now you know…the rest of the story.
–Althea Gibson also died on Sunday. She was the first black woman
to win both Wimbledon and U.S. Open back in 1957, repeating the
feat in ”58. Later she was the first black to play the LPGA Tour.
Among the more remarkable facts of her life was that she first
won Wimbledon when she was 30, unheard of these days.
–The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols beat out Todd Helton of Colorado
for the NL batting title, .3587 to .3585, the closest race in history.
–A story in Saturday’s Washington Post chronicled further the
ongoing problems with security in preparation for the 2004
Summer Olympic Games in Athens, a topic I have broached in
this space and in “Week in Review” before. One test involved
planting a bomb on a ferry, which was a piece of cake. The
Greek government is spending $1 billion on security and some
are convinced it will be ready in time. All I know is that yours
truly won’t be traveling there for the spectacle. Wouldn’t be
prudent.
–Sports Illustrated has been running top 50 sports figures for
each state as part of their 50th anniversary, with the lists having
been comprised back in December 1999. Thus, there are some
hideous mistakes. Look at Texas.
1. Babe Didrikson Zaharias
2. Ben Hogan
3. Doak Walker
4. Rogers Hornsby
5. Sammy Baugh
6. Nolan Ryan
7. Byron Nelson
8. Jack Johnson (early 1900s boxer, not to insult anyone)
9. Ernie Banks
10. Michael Johnson (my man! 1996 Olympics)
Well, if they could do it all over again, almost 4 years later, do
you think Roger Clemens would be #19? I think not. #18 is
Forrest Gregg, for starters. Not to disparage the Gregg family
and their shining star Forrest, but Roger Clemens, I hate to
admit, is obviously among the top three pitchers of the last 50
years, if not all time. Hell, he’s better than Nolan Ryan, for
crying out loud!!! [Not to disparage the Ryan family name….
you know, “Ryan’s Pub” and all that stuff.]
Geezuz, here I am defending Roger Clemens, but how can you
help it when the guy also goes 17-9 in his last season at the age
of 41!
Back to the top 50 list, Lamar Hunt is #12, while A.J. Foyt is #20
(go ahead, A.J., kick some ass). Sheryl Swoopes (basketball
player) is #28, Raymond Berry, one of the all-time football
greats, is #30. Barf. But I do like the enlightened choice of
David Clyde at #35. Clyde threw nine no-hitters in high school.
Sadly, he was mishandled and bombed in the major leagues, but
it doesn’t detract from his earlier, stupendous accomplishments.
Lastly, again, the list was compiled in 1999. Guess who was
#50? Lance Armstrong. Err, editors? Try moving him up into
the top 20, but not ahead of Foyt, if you value your life.
–I saw an item where only 3 players in major league history
have had 200-hit seasons in each of their first 3 years: Lloyd
Waner, Ichiro Suzuki, and Johnny Pesky. Johnny Pesky?
Goodness, gracious. But sure enough, he is one.
Pesky broke in with the Red Sox in 1942 at the age of 22 and
banged out 205 hits that year. Then, like so many players of his
era, he served in the military from 1943-45, only to come back
and get 208 and 207 hits in ’46 and ’47, respectively. Pesky, a
singles hitter who had only 17 home runs lifetime, finished his
career with a .307 average. He was, shall we say, pesky.
–72-year-old Florida Marlins manager Jack McKeon (I
incorrectly had him at 71 in a recent article) really did a
remarkable job after taking over for Jeff Torborg in May.
Torborg was 16-22, but McKeon went 75-49 the rest of the way
in leading the Marlins into the playoffs.
–This has been a fantastic year on the PGA Tour and this
weekend witnessed another spectacular moment, even if no one
saw it. 43-year-old (soon to be 44) Tommy Armour III set the
all-time mark for 72 holes, 26 under, 254, in winning the Texas
Open. It was just the second tour victory of the playboy’s career.
Yeah, you read that right. Call him Champagne Tommy. He
hobnobs with quite a crowd, including the best of Hollywood and
entertainment. There’s going to be one helluva party this week,
and the rest of the year. Good for him. Wish I was there.
–So the other night, around 8:00 PM, I heard a sound I haven’t
caught in years around these parts. Canada Geese flying…
somewhere. You see, early in the 70s the geese decided to stay
in New Jersey and the surrounding area, but since then you only
see them in the daytime.
Growing up in the 60s, though, we used to rush to the window
when we heard the geese. It was always a spectacular sight,
especially when we knew they weren’t landing on our freakin’
fields, dropping 42 pounds of bacteria filled stuff onto the ground
and into our water system.
But do you see my point? Is it possible, maybe, that word has
gotten out in the geese population, at least here in Jersey, that if
they stick around they’ll be gassed? In my best imitation of
Carrie Bradshaw…
…IS IT POSSIBLE THE GEESE ARE MIGRATING SOUTH
LIKE THE OLD DAYS?….
–The New York Post had a story on a dinner that Secretary of
State Powell threw for Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov and
others this past week at the famous Le Bernardin restaurant in the
city. I only bring this up because the secretary loved the wine,
1999 Domaine Seren from Oregon. Powell thought it was from
France. No word on the cost, but you may want to check it out at
your local liquor store.
–The Jets are dead. Put a fork in ‘em. They are staring at a 3-13
season. So having watched another dismal performance against
Dallas on Sunday, and with the team at 0-4, I have a list of things
for my fellow Jets fans to do in lieu of watching any more games
this fall.
Rotate your summer and winter clothes. [This should be done by
late October, anyway.]
Check born on date for all beer in the house.
Sweep the driveway.
Start preparing your clocks for ‘fall back…’ in about four weeks.
Track down spiders in the basement.
Call in the Air Force if you find any mouse droppings.
–Abe Lemons, former Texas basketball coach.
“Doctors bury their mistakes. We still have ours on
scholarship.” [Sports Illustrated]
–September 28, 1919…the shortest 9-inning game in baseball
history took place, a contest between the New York Giants and
the Philadelphia Phillies, with the Giants prevailing 6-1. 51, yes,
51 minutes. I just can’t fathom this. I mean at a normal pace,
that’s also less than 3 beers. [Unless you are in Ben Hur,
ramming speed mode, in which case you could probably pound
3 ½ lagers in that time frame. But again, kids, don’t try this at
home.]
–As a writer who also has to edit his own material, you can
appreciate how tough it can be sometimes and after proofing my
pieces generally twice, I have to move on, recognizing I may
have left a mistake or two for all to see. But I can’t remember
doing the following, as a letter to the editor in the 9/29 edition of
Barron’s pointed out.
“To the Editor:
“Was Alan Abelson being witty when he said the Big Board
might revive the notion of going pubic, or was this a typo?…
“Your proofreaders and copy editors must have been delayed in
airports as a result of Hurricane Isabel. What other excuse could
there be?…”
Marcia Clark
Darien, Conn.
Barron’s responded:
“In line with the inadvertent slip in Up & Down Wall Street, we
must admit that Marcia Clark has caught our staff with its pants
down. The word that should have appeared was ‘public.’”
You know, I didn’t catch this myself, twice; first in reading
Abelson’s original 9/22 column and then in a first reading of
Clark’s letter.
–Drat! Guess what I missed? The National Sheepdog Finals in
Sturgis, South Dakota. Yup, it wasn’t until I picked up my copy
of High Plains Journal (which I receive a few weeks after
publication due to the fact that I confuse the hell out of all those
handling the mail between Dodge City, KS and New Jersey) that
I discovered the date for the event was September 14-21.
Well, here’s the deal. There is no way I am missing this next
year. Talk about bar chat, this would be a blast.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/26/70: #1 “Ain’t No Mountain
High Enough” (Diana Ross…a mean, wicked woman) #2 “War”
(Edwin Starr) #3 “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” (Creedence
Clearwater Revival)
Dallas Cowboys Quiz Answers: 1) Landry’s last season: 1988
(1960-88…270-178-6). 2) Receptions, career: Michael Irvin,
750 (1988-99). 3) Passing yards, season: Danny White…3,980
(1983). 4) Interceptions, career: Mel Renfro, 52 (1964-77). 5)
Touchdowns, season: Emmitt Smith, 25 (1995). 6) Receptions,
game: Lance Rentzel, 13 (11/19/67). 7) Field goals, career:
Rafael Septien, 162 (1978-86)
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…Phil Spector (hide the kids!) and a
baseball stat wrap-up.
