Boston Red Sox Quiz (1901-2003): 1) Who was the A.L. MVP
in 1958? 2) Who was the first to win the Cy Young award?
[First instituted in 1956] 3) Who was A.L. rookie of the year in
1961? 4) What four uniforms are retired? 5) Who holds the
single season RBI mark with 175? 6) Who has the longest
hitting streak at 34? 7) Name the five with 1,000 RBI in a
BoSox uniform? 8) How many World Series have the Sox won
since 1918?…..sorry…Answers below.
Animal Chat
Let’s face it…the week is only half over and it’s been a rather
depressing one, to say the least. So your editor has decided to
open with some animal chat.
Now there has been a lot of talk concerning the African clawed
frogs that were introduced to southern California and have now
been found in San Francisco. But what isn’t being said is that
these tongueless creatures, capable of devouring lizards and even
birds, moved to San Fran because of the city’s liberal social
benefits. You’ve probably noticed they’re really just hanging
out, making a nuisance of themselves as the rest of us step over
them on the way to Fishermen’s Wharf.
But in a far more violent vein, did you hear about the Sumatran
Tigers that mauled 3 people in the jungles of Indonesia the past
two weeks or so? Supposedly, the victims were all illegal
loggers. This is great news, if you’re a lover of the tiger race.
Sadly, only 400-500 of the Sumatran species remain, with around
50 a year being poached, but they’re now fighting back and
deserve our support. My friend Johnny Mac had a possible
explanation, seeing as how neither one of us has been able to
contact the animals directly (even though I was right across the
water while in Singapore). J. Mac says the tigers have been
spurred on by the revamped offense of, yes, you guessed it, the
Detroit Tigers! It’s as good an explanation as any I’ve seen thus
far.
Johnny also weighed in on the Reuters story about a farmer in
Poland that was fatally bitten by a “sexually aroused stallion.”
“Never, ever,” J. Mac says, “mix in Cialis with the oats.”
But there was a sad story on the shark front, as if my recent bowl
of shark fin soup wasn’t enough. At Jenkinson’s Aquarium in
Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., six Atlantic sharks died “when a
malfunctioning valve resulted in too much oxygen being pumped
into their tank.” [Star-Ledger]
Oh, you know what this means. Look for multiple shark attacks
this summer off the Jersey coast as the victims’ Atlantic shark
brethren seek revenge. Personally, I’m staying inland. I suggest
you do the same.
The Mile
I forgot to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of Roger
Bannister’s historic feat May 6, 1954; Bannister being the first to
break the 4-minute mile barrier. Courtesy of Runner’s World,
here’s a timeline.
May 31, 1913…Cornell student John Paul Jones runs 4:15.4 in
Cambridge, Mass., setting the first official one-mile record
recognized by the IAAF.
August 23, 1923…The “Flying Finn,” Paavo Nurmi, runs the first
of many mile world records in Scandinavia, clocking a 4:10.4 in
Stockholm.
June 16, 1934…Kansas miler Glenn Cunningham lowers the
mile record to 4:06.8 in Princeton, New Jersey.
July 17, 1945…Finland’s Gunder Hagg runs 4:01.4 in Malmo,
Finland. The new mile record lasts almost nine years.
May 6, 1954…Arguably the greatest day in track-and-field
history. Bannister breaks the 4-minute barrier with his 3:59.4 in
Oxford, England.
August 6, 1958…History’s only undefeated miler, Australian
Herb Elliott, lowers the mile record to 3:54.5 in Dublin, Ireland.
February 10, 1962…American Jim Beatty runs the first sub-4
mile indoors, recording a 3:58.9, in the Los Angeles Times
Indoor Games.
June 5, 1964…Kansas’s Jim Ryun runs 3:59.0 in Compton,
California, becoming the first high school student to break 4
minutes.
August 12, 1975…New Zealand’s John Walker becomes the first
to break the 3:50 barrier, running a world record 3:49.4 in
Gothenburg, Sweden.
July 7, 1982…Steve Scott sets the still-standing American record
for the mile, 3:47.69, in Oslo, Norway’s Bislett Stadium.
September 5, 1993…Algerian Nourredine Morcelli runs the first
sub-3:45 mile, a 3:44.39, in Rieti, Italy.
February 20, 1994…Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan becomes the first
40-plus runner to break 4 minutes, clocking a 3:58.15.
July 7, 1999…Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj sets the current
mile world record, 3:43.13, in Rome, Italy.
May 1, 2004…Your Editor, hot and sweaty after walking a mile
in Singapore, stops at an outdoor café to drink some Tiger Beer.
Stuff
–Speaking of running, for those of you running 10-Ks these
days, just know the world record in this event is 26:22.75 (on the
track) and 27:02 for a road course, both held by Ethiopian Haile
Gebrselassie. [The women’s world record is 11-years-old,
29:31.78 by China’s Junxia Wang. Britain’s Paula Radcliffe set
the 10-K road mark last year, 30:21.]
–Runner’s World has its “most famous face-plant”: President
Jimmy Carter’s dehydration-driven prefinish-line flop in a 10-K
race near Camp David in 1979. [I don’t recall if that was also the
attack rabbit event.]
–Two weeks ago I wrote of my trip to Macau, so I was amused
to see a piece by Steve Friess in the 5/17 issue of U.S. News and
World Report on the same place. Friess was writing primarily
about the opening of the new Sands casino on Macau, but one
thing I learned from his piece concerns the demographics of the
place. As I told you before, Macau’s casinos generate the 3rd-
highest revenues in the world behind Las Vegas and Atlantic
City. But consider this. Macau is just a 5-hour flight for some 3
billion people, compared to Las Vegas which can draw from
‘only’ 450 million within that range. Ergo, the Macau market
will explode when some of the big projects are completed.
Friess also mentioned the Hotel Lisboa (Casino Lisboa) that I
wrote of, but he said nothing of the girls there, which kind of
makes me wonder if he really went because you can’t write about
Macau and Casino Lisboa without discussing the lovely ladies…
…………the editor is pausing to remember the scene when he
first walked in…………..
–And this Friday, tell your kids that it was 200 years ago that
William Clark, leader of the U.S. Corps of Discovery, left camp
north of St. Louis and started up the Missouri River. Meriwether
Lewis joined the boys a few days later in St. Charles, at which
point they gassed up the SUVs and headed west.
–Yogi Berra turned 79 on Wednesday.
–Roger Clemens, 41, is 7-0 for the Houston Astros. Geezuz, I
still can’t stand the guy but you have to kind of respect the hell
out of his performance, don’t you? [Especially since I have the
Astros going all the way…which as long as they’re in first place
I’ll have to remind you of this fact.]
–Attention Mets fans…they are back to 5 games below .500 as
of May 12. You know what that means when you write each
other. And I just read a review of Jeff Pearlman’s new book on
the 1986 World Champs, “The Bad Guys Won!” It’s all about
the incredibly boorish behavior of Backman, Hernandez,
Strawberry, Gooden, Dykstra and the boys. Sports Illustrated
says parts are tough to read…as in players exposing themselves
to airline stewardesses.
–Brad Thompson, a Class AA pitcher in the Cardinals chain, has
a scoreless string of 46 innings. The minor league record is 54,
held by Toronto’s Urban Shocker from way back in 1916. But
what a USA Today story failed to tell you is that Shocker was
called up later that year by the Yankees and went 5-3. He
finished his career with a major league mark of 188-117.
–45-year-old Rickey Henderson still can’t get baseball out of his
blood and so he signed up to play another year with the Newark
Bears. So how’s he doing? Rickey is 5 for his first 11 at bats
with 3 home runs. What a great story.
Ted Williams
Pat Tillman was killed just a few days before I took off on my
trip to Asia, but the legacy of the former Arizona Cardinals star
and American hero reminded me again of the sacrifice many of
the star baseball players of yesteryear made during both World
War II and Korea. Back in June 2001 I had my own thoughts
and now share them again.
The following 8 players are all Hall of Famers.
Pitchers
Ted Lyons: Finished his career with a 260-230 mark while
toiling for the Chicago White Sox.
1941: 12-10
1942: 14-6…Lyons was 41-year-old and also had a 2.10 ERA.
1943-45: military service. Granted, Lyons wasn’t young, but in
1946 he returned at the age of 45 to go 1-4 for the Sox.
However, consider this. In 43 innings, he walked just 9 and had
a 2.30 ERA. Thus, for the 3 seasons Lyons missed, I give him an
additional 25-30 victories, minimum. Does he get to 300?
Red Ruffing: 273-225…spends most of his career with the Red
Sox and Yankees.
1941: 15-6
1942: 14-7…at age 38.
1943-44: military service.
1945: 7-3
1946: 5-1, at age 42. Does Ruffing squeeze out 27 victories to
reach 300 during the two seasons he lost?
Warren Spahn: 363-245. Spahn came up in 1942 with the
Boston Braves, appearing in just 4 games with no W/L record.
1943-45: military service.
1946: 8-5, pitching just half the season.
1947: 21-10. Would Spahn have blossomed in ’43 or ’44? We’ll
never know. But consider this. He lost 3 ½ seasons to the army
and still finished with 363 career victories, #5 on the all-time list.
He certainly would have passed #3 Christy Mathewson (374) and
maybe #2 Walter Johnson at 417.
Bob Feller: To me this is the most intriguing case. Feller
finished his sterling career with a 266-162 mark.
1940: 27-11 with 261 Ks…at the age of 21!
1941: 25-13 with 260 Ks.
1942-44: military service.
1945: 5-3 in half a season.
1946: 26-15 with 348 Ks!
1947: 20-11. Feller conservatively wins 70 over the time he lost.
He then moves past #10 John Clarkson (327) and #9 Steve
Carlton (329). He also fans 700+ to move comfortably into the
Top Ten in that category.
Hitters
Joe DiMaggio: Lifetime – 361 HR 1537 RBI .325 BA 2214 H
1941: .357 BA with 30 HR 125 RBI
1942: .305, 21-114
1943-45: military service.
1946: .290, 25-95…plagued by injuries ’46-’47
1947: .315, 20-97
1948: .320, 39-155. Joe D. accumulates another 500 hits during
the time he lost, possibly finishing with 420 HR and 1850+ RBI.
[Mel Ott is #10 with 1860.]
Hank Greenberg: Lifetime – 331 HR 1276 RBI
1939: 33 HR 112 RBI
1940: 40-150
1941: Just 67 at bats.
1942-44: military service.
1945: 13-60…only 85 games.
1946: 44-127. Greenberg is easily over 440 lifetime homers,
possibly up to 480 or so.
Johnny Mize: Lifetime – 359 HR 1337 RBI
1941: 16 HR 100 RBI
1942: 26-110
1943-45: military service.
1946: 22-70…101 games.
1947: 51-138…age 34
1948: 40-125. What happens with him? 450+ homers? And
1650 RBIs would put him #22 lifetime even today. You don’t
normally think of Mize as an all-time great, but he was.
And then there’s…
Ted Williams: Lifetime – 521 HR 1839 RBI .344 BA 2654 H
2019 walks 1798 runs scored.
1941: .406 BA 37 HR 120 RBI
1942: .356, 36-137…Triple Crown
1943-45: military service.
1946: .342, 38-123
1947: .343, 32-114…Triple Crown
And then Williams missed basically all of 1952 and 1953 to the
Korean War! [He had just 14 homers in 43 games over those
two seasons.]
So for 1943-45, let’s give him 105 HR and 360 RBI, then
another 45 HR and 200 RBI for the rest of ’52-’53.
Williams then ends up with 670 HR and 2400 RBI. In the latter
category, Hank Aaron is #1 all time with 2297.
As for hits, because Williams walked a ton, he would have
averaged about 160 a season…so let’s give him 480 for ’43-’45
and another 250 for ’52-’53. 3380+ hits lifetime would put him
#8.
Walks? Williams and the Babe defined the term, long before
Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds. Ted is currently #4 all time
with 2021. He had 145 walks in both ’41 and ’42. So let’s tack
on 390 for ’43-’45 (just being conservative) and another 225 for
’52-’53. That’s 2600+, a mark perhaps only surpassed by Bonds
if he plays beyond the 2005 season. [Rickey finished at 2190,
assuming he doesn’t get one final call up. Bonds entered 2004 at
2070.]
Finally, runs scored. Ted led the league in ’41 and ’42 with 135
and 141, respectively. Let’s give him 125 per for ’43-’45 and
175 for ’52-’53…for another 550. With 1798 lifetime, he is
currently #15. Getting him up to 2350 places him first. [Rickey
Henderson is at 2295…Bonds, 1941 entering ’04.]
Bottom line, not only was Ted Williams a great American for his
incredible service to his country, but Ted Williams is possibly
the Greatest Ever…and the numbers would have proved it.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/12/73: #1 “Tie A Yellow Ribbon
Round The Ole Oak Tree” (Dawn featuring Tony Orlando) #2
“You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” (Stevie Wonder) #3 “Little
Willy” (The Sweet… “She was blaaack…as the night”)
**And this just in…John Whitehead, of the duo McFadden and
Whitehead that produced the 1979 hit “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us
Now,” was shot to death in Philadelphia. Whitehead and his
partner McFadden also wrote the tunes “Wake Up Everybody”
for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and “Back Stabbers” for
The O’Jays. Interestingly, “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now” peaked
at just #13. I bet most people would tell you it was a #1 tune.
Boston Red Sox Quiz Answers: 1) 1958 MVP: Jackie Jensen. 2)
1st Cy Young winner: Jim Lonborg, 1967. 3) Rookie of the year,
1961: Pitcher Don Schwall, 15-7…though only 49-48 for his
career with three teams. 4) Retired uniform #s: Bobby Doerr,
#1, 2B; Joe Cronin, #4, SS; Carl Yastrzemski, #8, OF; Ted
Williams, #9, OF. 5) Jimmie Foxx had 175 RBI in 1938. 6)
Dom DiMaggio has the longest hitting streak at 34 in 1949. 7)
1,000 RBI: Carl Yastrzemski…1,844; Ted Williams…1,839; Jim
Rice…1,451; Dwight Evans…1,346; Bobby Doerr…1,247.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
