Baseball Quiz: Name the top ten all time in strikeouts. [Hint:
There aren’t any trick / pre-1900 pitchers here.] Answer below.
**Adam Scott**
What a win for the 23-year-old Aussie at The Players
Championship, the 5th major. This is no mere pretender to
Tiger’s throne. Adam Scott is obviously the real deal and great
for the sport. So quaff a pint in honor of his gutty performance.
Wild Bill, Part I
I know a few of you are watching the new HBO series
“Deadwood,” something I’m partial to as some of you know I
have been to the real life Deadwood, South Dakota twice in the
past three years. I stick by my prediction of a few weeks back,
however, that the series won’t take off among the masses like
“The Sopranos” has. Americans, for the most part, aren’t fans of
westerns these days but believe me, “Deadwood” is accurate
history.
Some reviewers have written of the overly excessive foul
language, but what you need to understand is that the town of
Deadwood has the best historical museum for a small
municipality that I’ve ever been in and the producer of the show,
David Milch, undoubtedly relied heavily on the tremendous
archives there. Yeah, in 1876 people out there swore a lot, but
enough on whether “Deadwood” will be winning any Emmys, let
alone be renewed. Wild Bill Hickok is a key figure in the early
episodes and his story is a classic.
James Butler Hickok was born on May 27, 1837 in Homer,
Illinois (later Troy Grove). His father was the operator of a
general store that was used as part of the underground railroad
where runaway slaves were hidden and smuggled to “safe”
farms. Hickok, as a youth, helped guide slaves to freedom.
He was a big kid and at 18 almost killed another man in a fight.
It was a very ugly incident and he fled with his brother to St.
Louis and then Kansas. Hickok joined the Redlegs, a group of
anti-slavery men, and became town constable of Monticello in
Johnson County. But there was little work for him so he hired on
as a stagecoach driver on the Santa Fe Trail. One day he was
attacked by a bear and badly mauled, but Hickok killed it with a
knife and 2 guns.
While recuperating in Kansas City, he met William Frederick
Cody, Buffalo Bill, and the two became fast friends. But by July
1861, Hickok was taking up with a rancher’s mistress, Sarah
Shull. The rancher, David McCanles, confronted Hickok at his
cabin on July12, asking him to “come out and fight fair!”
Hickok refused. McCanles said he would come in and drag him
out. “There’ll be one less s.o.b. if you try that,” shouted Hickok.
McCanles entered and Hickok shot him through the heart. [It’s
never been shown whether he confronted him directly, shot him
from behind a curtain, or whether McCanles was even armed.]
Two of McCanles’s friends came to his aid and Hickok shot
them both, though they managed to flea before they were in turn
chased down by Hickok’s associates and finished off.
Well, it was time for Hickok to move on, again, and for a while
he worked as a spy for a Union general in the Civil War during
which time he’s also credited with having been a sharpshooter at
the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. It was during the Civil War
that he earned the nickname “Wild Bill” (which is why I haven’t
used it until now). There are various stories, but one has it he
stopped a lynch mob from hanging a youth and a woman shouted
“Good for you, Wild Bill!”
In the summer of 1865, the war over, Wild Bill moved to
Springfield, Mo. He was well known in the streets and always
armed with 2 revolvers. David Tutt, a friend, accompanied him
everywhere and he also carried 2 guns.
At this time the two were courting the same woman, Susanna
Moore, and this led to trouble. Following is the account of Jay
Robert Nash in his book “Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen &
Outlaws,” from which my piece is also adapted. For those of
you watching “Deadwood” it gives you a sense of the
authenticity behind the series.
“Hickok and Tutt…met in a Springfield saloon and gambling
hall on the night of July 20, 1865. Hickok beat Tutt at cards and
Tutt threw down his cards, snarling that Hickok owed him $40
for a horse trade. Hickok paid him. Then Tutt recalled another
old debt, one for $30. Hickok said no, it was only $25 he owed
Tutt and he said he would settle that matter later. Tutt grabbed
Hickok’s valued Waltham watch from the gaming table, telling
him he would wear it the next day on market square. Hickok
told Tutt that if he tried that, he would pay with his life.
“The gunfight was set for 6 a.m., and half the town was up to
witness the duel between Hickok and Tutt. Both men appeared
on opposite sides of the square and slowly advanced toward each
other. When they were separated by about 75 yards, Hickok
yelled: ‘Don’t come any closer, Dave!’ Tutt kept moving toward
Hickok. He pulled his six-gun and fired a shot that went wild.
Hickok then drew his gun with his right hand and steadied it with
his left, slowly squeezing off a round that smashed into Tutt’s
heart, killing him instantly. Hickok promptly turned himself into
Union authorities and was charged with murder, a charge later
reduced to manslaughter. He was tried Aug. 5-6, 1865, and was
found Not Guilty.”
After the trial, Wild Bill was a scout for General George
Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry, though he left in 1869.
He next moved to Hays City, Kansas, where he was elected
sheriff of this rather rough place. And this is where we stop.
The conclusion of the Wild Bill Hickok story next time,
including his last days in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Final Four
Well, let’s see, your editor correctly picked, err, one school,
Duke. But Johnny Mac had three! (all but Kentucky), so I still
supplied you with winning material, even if the editor saddled
you with Gonzaga to take it all.
But I have to comment on Billy Packer, and long-time readers
have to forgive me for repeating something, but we’re always
getting new viewers (thank God…I need to replace those who
died or killed themselves after reading Bar Chat, after all) and I
have to set the record straight.
Yes, Billy Packer is a Wake Forest grad and led the Deacons to
their last appearance in the Final Four, 1962, but the rest of us
alums can’t stand the guy! While this is a most unusual
relationship between a school and a celebrated graduate, well,
just understand that when I was at Wake (1976-80), the story that
was most prevalent then was that Packer was pissed at the school
for not being selected head coach a few years earlier and for that
reason he had never supported his alma mater. Trust me, when
we used to sit on the wall in the middle of campus and Packer
would be walking around, we booed him. [Granted, this doesn’t
reflect very well on both the school or, more importantly, your
editor and I’d like to assure prospective students that Wake now
has more class than I showed while I was there…but I digress.]
So when Packer said during the selection broadcast that St. Joe”s
didn’t deserve a #1 seed, and then when St. Joe’s hooked up with
Wake Forest in the Sweet 16, he didn’t want Wake to win
because he’s a big fan as an alum; it was only to protect his
reputation as a hoops maven.
Heck, truth be told I didn’t think St. Joe’s was a #1 seed, either,
but I went to the game on Thursday and between that contest and
their terrific battle vs. Oklahoma State on Saturday, anyone who
doesn’t now think they deserved it is full of it.
But what got Packer in trouble was the certainty of his
declaration on selection night. All he had to do was say, “I
would have made them a #2, with Oklahoma State a #1” and left
it at that. Instead, he made it seem like St. Joe’s was a #4 or 5,
by his disdainful remarks, and now he pays the price. And to
wrap up this rambling diatribe, it was pitiful listening to his
broadcast partner, Jim Nantz, try and bail Billy out on Saturday.
Packer’s a jerk, and now you know what most alums at Wake
Forest believe.
[One final side note: As Philly area resident Mark R. tells me,
this city will never forgive Packer for the way he dissed the
Hawks. But speaking of St. Joe’s (see, it’s tough for me to let
the whole thing go), their mascot’s costume is the most pitiful
excuse for one of the animal kingdom’s truly great species that
I’ve ever seen. Hopefully, with the money the program made
this year, they can afford a new costume, one without the Fred
Bird legs…Fred Bird being the St. Louis Cardinals’ own
ridiculous excuse for a mascot.]
Stuff
–It was a channel clicking frenzy on Sunday (as well as
Saturday) with the The Players Championship, NCAA
basketball, and even the LPGA’s Nabisco Championship, the
women’s first major of the year. I’ve expressed before that while
I don’t watch much of the ladies, I’m a big fan of Grace Park.
[So it has to do with her looks… does that make me a bad
person?!]
–Speaking of women’s sports, I forgot to catch even a little of
the World Figure Skating Championships, but we nonetheless
congratulate Shizuka Arakawa of Tokyo for taking the gold.
Michelle Kwan took the bronze, to go with her five golds and
three silvers in her previous 10 world championships. [Sasha
Cohen scooped up the silver, by the way.]
–Buffalo meat sales were up 40% in 2003 over the previous
year!!!
–Kurt Busch won his 3rd straight NASCAR race at Bristol
Motor Speedway.
–We note the passing of Peter Ustinov, one of the greats, at
the age of 82. He won Oscars for his roles in “Spartacus” and
“Topkapi.”
–50-year-old Jay Haas, a Wake alum liked by all, as opposed
to the aforementioned Packer, finished tied for 6th at the TPC,
continuing his remarkable play.
–14-year-old Michelle Wie finished 4th to Grace Park at the
Nabisco. 17-year-old Aree Song was 2nd. 6-year-old Britney
Burkholder finished 8th.
–OK, here’s the deal with killer bees, as I learned in my High
Plains Journal. They were brought from Africa to Brazil in 1956
in the hope of breeding a bee adapted to the South American
tropical climate. The bees reached the Brazilian wilds in 1957
and then spread south and north until they arrived in the U.S. in
1990. So you’ve probably been wondering, if you haven’t
already had to deal with them in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico,
southern California and Nevada, just when will they be attacking
me as I play wiffle ball in the street?
Well, take heart that in 14 years killer bees haven’t advanced any
further and one entomologist thinks he has the answer. Jose D.
Villa (no relation to Bob or Pancho, that I’m aware of), said there
is a correlation between rainfall of more than 55 inches,
distributed evenly throughout the year, and an almost complete
barrier to the spread of the killer bees. [By the way, if you want
to wow your friends at the neighborhood tavern, use the label
AHB (Africanized honey bee). For you guys out there, I hear the
women eat this stuff up. “You’re so smaaart!”]
–Did you see that Elle McPherson turned 40 on Monday? She’s
our favorite Aussie around the halls of StocksandNews, next to
Prime Minister John Howard, of course.
–Rip currents off Florida’s east coast recently killed 4 in one
week. The average death toll, statewide, is 19, but last year 23
died off the Florida Panhandle alone. Remember, if you get in
one, swim parallel to shore and don”t panic when you see a
shark.
–Pleasantly Perfect beat out Medaglia d’Oro to win the $6
million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race, and
took home first prize money of $3.6 million (after clearing
customs). But I’ll tell you what sucks; the horse won’t see one
cent of it.
–LeBron James torched the Nets for a career best 41 on
Saturday. Boy, I never thought he’d be this good, so soon.
–So I’m reading this story in the L.A. Times the other day by
Carla Hall and I learned that Caesar, a lowland gorilla that has
called the Los Angeles Zoo home for 26 years, was recently
shipped to the Atlanta Zoo because of Caesar’s lack of success
with the babes in L.A. Male gorillas have low libidos, it turns
out. “The females have to get the fires going,” said one of the
zookeepers. Huh.
–So the other day I have a blurb on Japan’s latest craze, the mare
Haru-Urara, “Splendid Spring,” which has lost 106 consecutive
races. Wouldn’t you know this was a front page story in
Saturday’s Washington Post. But you heard it here first. We call
this the Bar Chat Advantage.
–In case you were wondering where Jim Furyk was during this
weekend’s TPC, he’s out for 3 months following wrist surgery.
–I saw where former Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy
was hired by Southern Mississippi. Eustachy was the fellow who
disgraced himself and the university by getting ripped with
campus co-eds, not a real smart thing to do. Look, I believe in
second chances and all, but couldn’t Southern Miss have found
someone else, like giving a young assistant at some other school
a shot?
–Rod N. gave me the great news that Fred McGriff, just 9
homers shy of 500, was reassigned to Tampa Bay’s minor league
camp. We don’t want McGriff getting to 500, you understand.
Nice career, but he doesn’t deserve to be in a category with the
greats.
–So you think you’re corrupt and gaming the system? Not so
fast. According to Transparency International’s Global
Corruption Report (via Harry K.), former President Suharto of
Indonesia (1967-98) is #1 all time, glomming onto $15-$35
billion during his reign. #2 is the Philippine’s Ferdinand Marcos
who is estimated to have scarfed up $5-$10 billion. But the
report doesn’t mention those running the U.N. oil-for-food
program in Iraq, which was right up there with the likes of
Marcos.
–The NFL is vowing to penalize any group of two or more
players that partakes in premeditated showmanship, not just with
a fine, but a 15-yard penalty. But on a totally unrelated topic,
have I told you about my war with the meter ladies in the town
where my office is? It’s getting ugly…time to take ‘em to court.
I’ll let you know of my coming conflict with City Hall next time.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/29/75: #1 “Lady Marmalade”
(LaBelle) #2 “Lovin’ You” (Minnie Ripperton…chirp chirp) #3
“Philadelphia Freedom” (The Elton John Band)
–We note the passing of Jan Berry, part of the duo Jan & Dean.
I’ll have more on the two of them Thursday.
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top Ten Strikeouts –
1. Nolan Ryan…5,714
2. Steve Carlton…4,136
3. Roger Clemens…4,099
4. Randy Johnson…3,871
5. Bert Blyleven…3,701
6. Tom Seaver…3,640
7. Don Sutton…3,574
8. Gaylord Perry…3,534
9. Walter Johnson…3,509
10. Phil Niekro…3,342
Remember, don’t drink alcohol in excess when taking Cialis
…you’re reading Bar Chat…next one Thursday…Wild Bill, Jan
& Dean…and other assorted stuff.
