Play Ball! One of my regular baseball stat books just came out
so from time to time over the coming two months I’ll be running
down the lifetime #s before the season starts.
Baseball Quiz: Name the 20 members of the 500 home run club.
Answer below.
Super Bowl
Patriots 24…Eagles 21
Bar Chat Guarantee
Patriots 27…Eagles 10
As the New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica put it, the Patriots
are “one of the great money teams in any sport, in any era.”
Regarding the Eagles, he said they were responsible for the
“dumbest clock management in the history of the Super Bowl.”
Ain’t that the truth.
And no doubt many criticized the choice of Paul McCartney for
the halftime show. I thought he was terrific, as did all my 40-
something friends.
Max Schmeling
The great boxer from the 1930s died the other day at the age of
99 in Germany. What an incredible life.
Schmeling was born in Klein-Luckow, Germany, on Sept. 28,
1905, the son of a Hamburg sailor, gravitated to boxing and had
his first professional fight in 1924. After winning a few German
and European titles, Schmeling then found his way to New York
where a Jewish manager, Joe Jacobs, took him under his wings,
promoting him tirelessly.
By 1930, Gene Tunney had abdicated the heavyweight title and
Schmeling, now known as “Der Max” and “The Black Uhlan”
for his jet black hair, fought Boston’s Jack Sharkey for the crown
at Yankee Stadium on June 12, 1930. After taking some
punishment in the first three rounds from Sharkey, Schmeling
told his corner he could still win.
He won, alright, but not in the fashion he would have expected.
Near the end of round four, Sharkey pinned Schmeling against
the ropes and pounded him below the belt.
Schmeling went down in a heap, screaming in pain. But as
referee Arthur Donovan started to count he was distracted by a
commotion in the corner and the bell saved Schmeling.
As Schmeling was carried to his stool, cries of “foul” began to
ring out and as the punch was illegal under the rules, Schmeling
was ruled the winner. Max hated to take the crown in this
fashion but in their rematch two years later, Sharkey won on
points in another controversial bout; many believing Schmeling
should have retained the title.
But, strangely, Schmeling’s popularity soared as Germans back
home saw him as a martyr. It was 1933. The rise of Adolf
Hitler. In Schmeling Hitler saw someone he could exploit and
when the boxer married Czech actress Anny Ondra that same
year, Hitler sent them a Japanese maple.
Schmeling’s career hit a rough patch but by late 1935 he was
once again deemed a contender. His fights in Germany were
said to be like great Nazi pageants.
Then in June 1936, Schmeling, now 31, got a shot at 22-year-old
Joe Louis, “The Brown Bomber,” who was making a shambles
of the heavyweight division. For some reason, though, Louis
took Schmeling lightly and the 10-1 underdog beat the crap out
of him, with Louis having to be carried into his dressing room at
the end of the 12th round. The Brown Bomber would say later he
didn’t remember anything after the second round. Back in
Germany, the nation went wild with millions listening on radio.
After Schmeling’s triumphant return to his native land, he dined
with Goebbels and Hitler, later watching a film of the fight with
the Fuhrer. Hitler ordered the film be shown in all the theaters,
labeled “A German Victory.”
James Braddock was actually the champion in the heavyweight
division at the time but anti-Nazi groups threatened to boycott
the fight and so Louis instead got the shot. Louis beat Braddock,
thus setting the stage for a Louis-Schmeling rematch…June 22,
1938. The anticipation was incredible.
“White Americans – even while some of them were lynching
black people in the South – were depending on me to K.O. a
German,” Louis wrote in his autobiography. “I knew I had to get
Schmeling good. I had my own personal reasons, and the whole
damned country was depending on me.”
Louis predicted he would knock Schmeling out in two rounds.
In 1938, Germany was on the march, as was Italy. Hitler made
the fight out to be Germany vs. the United States.
70,000 rabid fans packed into Yankee Stadium. Schmeling had a
tough time just getting into the ring as he was pelted with banana
peels, cigarette packs, soda cups and spit.
What happened next is perhaps best chronicled by the great
sportswriter of the Star-Ledger, Jerry Izenberg.
“That night Yankee Stadium was a seething cauldron split
between patriotism and racism.
“German American Bund units and KKK members from
Yorkville and New Jersey crossed the Hudson to root for
Schmeling. There was a large Klan influence in the Garden
State, much of which was centered on two Nazi training camps
in Sussex and Somerset counties. Conversely, there was genuine
outrage on both sides of the Hudson turned against Schmeling
because of the feeling he was an arch-Nazi.
“President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had implored Louis to win
for America. Anny Ondra, the gorgeous Czech film star to
whom Schmeling was married, was ‘invited’ (ordered is a better
word) to listen to the fight from Goebbels’ apartment.
“Most of the media and the fans at Yankee Stadium…attributed
the enraged expression on Louis’ face when he entered the ring
to pro-American sentiment. It was not. Louis knew little of
Hitler and even less of politics.
“The fury pent up within him was due to the fact that Schmeling
had humiliated him in the first fight – the only fight Louis had
lost at the time.
“Louis caught him with a ferocious left hook to the body at the
start that broke a rib. Schmeling retreated in pain and Louis was
determined to end it then. He knocked down Schmeling four
times and knocked him out in 2 minutes, 4 seconds of the first
round.”
The New York Times reported referee Arthur Donovan “could
have counted off a century and Max could not have regained his
feet.”
Schmeling was taken to a Manhattan hospital where he was
found to have two broken vertebrae. He was under care there for
two weeks and when he finally left for Germany it was on a
stretcher. This time there was no heroes welcome, but as
Schmeling would later confess this was a blessing. “A victory
over Joe Louis would have made me forever the ‘Aryan Show
Horse’ of the Third Reich” he wrote.
And thus you begin to gain a better insight into Max Schmeling the
man. For it was in November 1938, during Kristallnacht, that he
sheltered two Jewish children, the sons of an old friend, in his
suite at a hotel in Berlin. One of the two was Henri Lewin, who
would go on to become president of the Sands Hotel in Las
Vegas. At a dinner in 1989 honoring Schmeling, Lewin said “If
we had been found in his apartment, I would not be here this
evening and neither would Max.”
Schmeling was inducted into the army and in 1941 was injured
jumping into Crete. Obituaries appeared in many American
papers. After the war, a British military court cleared Schmeling
of any Nazi taint. But he was poor and destitute, like most in his
country, though he did manage to buy a farm. Then James A.
Farley, former postmaster general and New York State Athletic
commissioner during Schmeling’s glory years, gave him several
Coca-Cola distributorships in Germany and Schmeling made a
fortune. With few heroes from the Nazi era to promote,
Schmeling became a symbol of hope for his people, though he
seldom spoke of his Nazi experience.
But what few also knew is that over the years Max Schmeling
and Joe Louis developed a terrific friendship. In 1954, Max
managed to get a visa and paid a surprise visit to Louis and the
relationship blossomed from there.
In fact they met several times before Louis’s death in 1981 and it
has been reported that Schmeling gave Louis, who always had
money problems, $5,000 here and $5,000 there. But as Izenberg
points out, few Americans knew of this generosity and thus never
saw the other side. When Louis died, Schmeling paid for the
funeral. “I didn’t only like him, I loved him,” he said.
[Sources: New York Times, New York Daily News, New York
Post, Star-Ledger]
Stuff
–I mentioned the other week that former baseball slugger Jose
Canseco is coming out with a book on his career and steroids that
is going to be absolutely explosive. Michael O’Keeffe of the
New York Daily News reports in the Sunday edition that it is due
to hit the bookstores Feb. 21 and as I previously noted, “60
Minutes” will be doing an exclusive with Jose in the next two
weeks.
The title is “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits,
and How Baseball Got Big” and Canseco names names. Said
one top major league executive, “Hoo boy. This is going to be
bad.”
The book promises to be particularly damaging to the legacy of
Mark McGwire. According to O’Keeffe, Canseco will claim “he
introduced steroids to the game and injected fellow Bash Brother
Mark McGwire (they were teammates in Oakland) in the rear
end numerous times in clubhouse bathroom stalls.”
“(Canseco) also describes watching disgraced Yankee slugger
Jason Giambi and McGwire injecting each other when they both
played with the A’s, and says he personally taught All-Star and
potential Hall of Famers Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and
Juan Gonzalez to use ‘roids after he was traded to the Texas
Rangers in 1992.”
And then there is this.
“Canseco claims the team’s general managing partner at the time
– an aspiring politician named George W. Bush – had to have
been aware that his players were using performance-enhancing
drugs but did nothing about it.”
Regarding the names above, if true, I’m most disappointed by
Palmeiro. From the looks of him I thought he was one guy who
didn’t use. As the truth comes out, this could seriously damage
his Hall of Fame bid, I imagine. As for McGwire, any serious
fan has known this all along, McGwire himself having admitted
to using Andro before it was banned. But these new charges
could force baseball over the coming years to take a serious look
at how the home run record is treated.
[Notice how I left Barry Bonds out of this one. Don’t worry,
he’ll get his all season long.]
Finally, regarding Canseco’s book, some of you may remember
when he was reportedly going out with Madonna. Well, Jose
says he never slept with her. “They made out in her Manhattan
apartment one night, he claims, but that’s as far as it went.”
[O’Keeffe]
[More on the steroid issue, Thursday.]
–Congratulations to American skier Bode Miller. Miller and
teammate Daron Rahlves took the top two spots in the downhill
at the World Alpine Ski Championships on Saturday in Bormio,
Italy. It is the first 1-2 finish for United States skiers at a world
championship and Miller became the first American to win a
world downhill title. [This doesn’t include the Olympics.] The
Austrians, who have dominated the downhill for years, including
winning the last three, are pissed. Miller also won the super-G
title last week.
–Piece in USA Today on Savannah State, whose men’s
basketball team is 0-25 and threatening to become the first
Division I team to lose every game since Prairie View A&M
went 0-28 in 1991-92; this being the only other time it has
occurred since 1955.
Savannah State (GA) made the jump from Division II to D-I a
few years ago and it has been an unmitigated disaster. All sports
are suffering as the school has a budget about 1/3 the size of
others in what is known as the mid-major bracket. It doesn’t
help that the basketball coach’s son was playing last year when
he wasn’t even enrolled in class. Over at the football team, on
top of a steroid scandal 11 players quit because they weren’t
receiving money for books, part of their full scholarships.
–You know what? This has been a dull college basketball
season thus far, as much as it pains this huge hoops fan to say it.
March Madness can’t come soon enough…..assuming my Wake
Forest Demon Deacons receive a #2 seed at worst.
–St. John’s lost to UConn the other day, 68-46, and the Redmen,
err, Red Storm, shot 27% from the field. But not one account of
the game noted that they also shot 27% the previous game
against Rutgers…yet still won that one. Folks, that’s 27%…two
straight games! I mean that has to be a record.
–Also in the Big East, West Virginia upset Pitt on Saturday with
the Mountaineers hoisting 40 shots from 3-point range…out of
65 overall field goal attempts. Why even show up if you’re the
coach?
But I’m reading a report from the AP and I learn that West
Virginia’s Kevin Pittsnogle scored a career-high 27, though there
was zero mention of the irony in this kid’s name. Now I know
it’s the stuffy AP and all, but how can you not say something
about a Pittsnogle beating Pitt?! I mean, c’mon. Granted, this
would take you out of contention for a Pulitzer Prize forever….
…….uh oh………doh!
–It’s time for the editor to show his sensitive side. Gotta tell ya,
love hearing the robins chirping away but like many New
Jerseyans I’ve wondered why it seemed so many now stick
around through the winter. Growing up you always looked
forward to seeing the first one in March, another sign baseball
was just around the corner!
So I have to pass along a comment from Pete Bacinski, director
of the New Jersey Audubon Society.
“We remember robins leaving in late fall and returning in mid to
late March as our initial beacon of spring. So, fear not – the
American robin remains a very migratory species. The robins
that visit in summer are not the same robins that spend winters
here. Our nesting and summering robins depart south in the fall
and probably spend their winters in the southeastern United
States, while our winter robins most likely nested and summered
in Canada before venturing south in late fall to be a visible
member of New Jersey’s winter avifauna.”
Of course you know why I just included that passage, don’t you?
It’s for the Bar Chat ‘word of the week,’ “avifauna.” Go ahead;
use it on your spouse or significant other. It’s a guaranteed turn-
on.
But here’s the real deal with the robins. I’m hoping they begin to
mutate, developing a killer instinct that makes them want to go
after the Canada geese that opted to stay in these parts some 30
years ago. Now that would be special.
And guess what? Picture this very normal townhouse
development that I live in and this awesome hawk that has
decided to call it home, too. I’m hoping he’s on geese patrol but
admittedly I have to be concerned when I go get the mail or pick
up the paper.
–Speaking of wings….last Friday at the Wachovia Center in
Philadelphia, over 20,000 fans were jammed in to witness an
event that is exploding in popularity. It’s “Wing Bowl.” As in
chicken wings.
“It’s over the top, it’s politically incorrect, it’s theater of the
absurd,” said Al Morganti of WIP-AM, the all-sports station that
created the event. I mean we’re talking the festivities start at
5:00 AM.
“Strippers, booze, the Eagles and fat guys eating wings,” said
one fan. “There’s nothing like it in the country.”
Granted, this year’s event was helped by the Eagles participation
in the Super Bowl and the total fever that has gripped the City of
Philadelphia, but still…20,000 people at 5:00 AM!
As to the event itself, which good friend Mark R. kept updating
me on by phone – while I was trying to write another column for
this site…but thanks anyway, Mark – Bill “El Wingador”
Simmons, 312 pounds, was the winner; 162 wings in 32 minutes.
Actually, Philly fans being Philly fans, the account I read made it
out to be a mini-riot. In other words, I wouldn’t be taking the
young ones to this. [Source: Mike Garafolo / Star-Ledger]
–We note the passing of Canadian-born actor John Vernon, a k a
Dean Wormer from “Animal House.” Director John Landis was
criticized for not picking a comedian for the role but he had seen
Vernon in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and was impressed by his
screen presence. Landis’s selection was bang on. Vernon was
72.
–RIP, Ossie Davis.
You know, it’s only appropriate that actor Ossie Davis passed
away the other day at 87; this being Black History Month and all.
I just wonder how many of our nation’s African-American youth
appreciate this great actor / activist. After all, you didn’t have to
agree with his politics (I generally didn’t) to still admire the heck
out of the guy.
Davis was born on Dec. 18, 1917, in Dogdell, GA. According to
Matt Schudel in the Washington Post, “His given name was
meant to be Raiford Chatman Davis, but the registrar of births
recorded what were supposed to be the initials, ‘R.C.,’ as
‘Ossie.’”
Davis rose up from poverty, spent time serving in a medical unit
in Liberia during World War II, and by the late 1940s was
studying playwriting at Columbia University and getting roles on
Broadway.
Over time Ossie also became very politically active and was one
of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington at which
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
When King was assassinated, Davis gave one of the eulogies.
Davis was also a friend of Malcolm X and when he was
assassinated in 1965, Ossie delivered a eulogy at his funeral as
well.
“Malcolm was our manhood, our living black manhood,” he said.
“We shall know him…for what he was and is – a prince, our own
black shining prince – who didn’t hesitate to die because he
loved us so.”
Director Spike Lee included Davis in many of his pictures,
including reprising his eulogy for Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X.”
Davis was honored at the Kennedy Center just last December.
Talking about the struggles of being a black actor, particularly
when he was getting into the film and theater industry, he noted:
“We knew that every time we got a job and every time we were
onstage, America was looking to make judgments about all black
folks on the basis of how you looked, how you sounded, how
you carried yourself. So any role you had was a role that was
involved in the struggle for black identification. You couldn’t
escape it.” [Richard Severo and Douglas Martin / New York
Times]
But what I’ll most remember when thinking of Ossie Davis was
his incredible marriage to actress Ruby Dee. Now that was one
classy couple…and what role models.
–Watched “Emeril” the other night and he was making a salad
dressing. Remember, “You can always add…but it’s tough to
take it out.”
–Congratulations to Dan Marino and Steve Young for being
elected to Pro Football’s Hall of Fame. Marino and Young were
joined by two pioneers of the game, Fritz Pollard, the first black
head coach in the NFL (1921), and quarterback Benny Friedman
who played all the way back from 1927-34.
–I’d like to thank Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown for
dressing guard Horace Jenkins the other day when the Pistons
played the Nets in New Jersey. Jenkins is the 30-year-old rookie
I’ve written of from William Paterson University, a Division III
school, and at least he got on the court for his home town fans.
Last time Detroit was in Brown didn’t dress Horace. [Jenkins had
two points and two assists in six minutes.]
–Not for nothing but is that a terrific picture of Teri Hatcher on
the cover of People magazine or what? And since we’re
mentioning babes, I forgot to note in another column on this site
that Laura Bush looked spectacular at the State of the Union
address the other night.
–Yes! “Deadwood” returns March 6. “The Sopranos” is slated
for sometime in 2012.
–Sports Illustrated has a story on the nation’s top sports bars.
Frankly, I was surprised how few I’ve been in but maybe you’ll
recognize some of these names yourself.
1. The Fours – Boston
2. Ricky’s – San Leandro, CA
3. Nemo’s – Detroit
4. Major Goolsby’s – Milwaukee
5. McDuffy’s – Tempe, AZ
6. Jack & Dan’s – Spokane
7. The Cubby Bear – Chicago
8. Griff’s – Houston
9. Green Valley Ranch – Henderson, NV
10. Chappell’s Restaurant and Museum – Kansas City, MO
11. Majerle’s – Phoenix
12. Rusty’s Last Chance Saloon – Manhattan, KS
13. State Street Brats – Madison, Wis.
14. Houndstooth – Tuscaloosa, Ala.
15. Joe Senser’s – Bloomington, MN
16. Three Dollar Café – Atlanta
17. Bulldog Lounge – Berwick, PA…I’m checking out this one
18. Scholz Garten – Austin
19. Sports Column – Denver
20. Crystal City Pub – Crystal city, VA
21. Corner Club – Moscow, Idaho
22. Orlando Ale House – Orlando
23. Playmakers – Fargo, ND
24. Bear’s Lair Pub – Berkeley, CA
25. The National – Anaheim
*Regarding the Bulldog Lounge in Berwick… “On high school
game days the staff sets up a tent, pours Yuengling and puts out a
spread of meatball and sausage hoagies, soups and pierogi.”
Baby, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Yogi Berra was known to frequent Toots Shor’s, a New York
watering hole / institution that closed in 1971, and supposedly
met Ernest Hemingway there one night. According to legend,
Hemingway was introduced to Yogi as “an important writer.”
Berra replied, “What paper you with, Ernie?”
Legendary writer Dan Jenkins once wrote of “Runyon’s Stages
of Drunkenness,” referring to another New York landmark bar.
1. witty and charming
2. rich and powerful
3. philosophical
4. against the designated hitter
5. f— dinner
6. witty and charming, part II
7. for the designated hitter
8. morose and despondent
9. invisible
10. bulletproof
[Source: Chris Ballard / Sports Illustrated]
–Goodness gracious, sports fans. Did you see the photos of
Serena Williams in Sports Illustrated? I mean to tell you, her
butt is, shall we say, err…..I better not go there. But as a friend
said, who will go nameless just this once, “I wouldn’t want to
face her in a steel cage match.”
–According to the High Plains Journal, there is a serious
problem in Floyd, New Mexico. Tumbleweeds. A combination
of high moisture and the lack of grazing on nearby Cannon Air
Force Base has produced a fertile ground for them. For cryin”
out loud, the tumbleweeds are stacked 10 to 15 feet high in
some spots. It took one farmer an hour to clear a path just 20
feet from his home.
–Hey Ken S., out in Nebraska. Looks like your Cornhuskers got
themselves a great recruiting class. Wake – Nebraska…coming
in September. Be there. [I am.]
–Great start to the PGA Tour this year. First five winners…
Stuart Appleby, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard and,
this weekend, Phil Mickelson…his 24th career title.
–Tom Verducci of SI had a super bit on Sammy Sosa and
Chicago fans.
“Rick Telander wrote in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times, ‘Never in
my life have I seen an athlete go from being the heart and soul
and spirit of a team to an utter pariah – without point-shaving or
outright felonious crime involved – as swiftly as I have with
Sammy.’
“The Cubs grew tired of his act – never mind that his act is
essentially the same as it was when he served as baseball’s
cuddly ambassador during the Great Home Run Race of 1998:
the entourage, the boom box monopolizing clubhouse air space,
the late spring training arrivals and the constant need for
pampering. The maintenance of his celebrity grew burdensome
as Cubs culture lost its lovableness; Wrigley fans demand wins
with their beer now.”
–A good friend of Bar Chat and the editor, Jeff B., had a little
operation the other day……..but he’s back, rooting on his
beloved Connecticut Huskies. Before he went under the knife,
though, he passed along this vital story.
“Woman Accused of Giving Lethal Sherry Enema”
Tammy Jean Warner gave her husband “two large bottles of
sherry on May 21, which raised his blood alcohol level to 0.47
percent, or nearly six times the level considered legally drunk in
Texas, police detective Robert Turner in Lake Jackson, Texas,
told the Houston Chronicle.”
Michael Warner “was said to have an alcohol problem and
received the wine enema because a throat ailment left him unable
to drink the sherry,” Turner told the newspaper.
Geezuz, I really don’t know what to say after this tale.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/8/75: #1 “Fire” (Ohio Players) #2
“You’re No Good” (Linda Ronstadt) #3 “Boogie On Reggae
Woman” (Stevie Wonder)
*Great to see Earth Wind & Fire on pre-game, but c”mon, give
them more time. Verdine White is a riot. By the way, LT,
Philip Bailey is 53.
Baseball Quiz Answer: 500 home run club…
1. Hank Aaron…755…should be #1 forever
2. Babe Ruth…714…wish I saw him just once
3. Barry Bonds…703…..boooo booooo……booooooooo!
4. Willie Mays…660…best ever
5. Frank Robinson…586…best competitor next to Bob Gibson
6. Mark McGwire…583….booooo boooooo
7. Sammy Sosa…574………boooo booooooooo!
8. Harmon Killebrew…573…..you da man!
9. Reggie Jackson…563…hot dogs….get yer hot dogs
10. Rafael Palmeiro…551…boooooo booooooooo!
11. Mike Schmidt…548…gotta love him
12. Mickey Mantle…536…rah rah, for Mic-key…saw his 500th
13. Jimmie Foxx…534…liked beer
14. Ted Williams…521…now headless
…..Willie McCovey…521…loved this guy
16. Eddie Mathews…512…anonymous, unfortunately
…..Ernie Banks…512…great ambassador for the game
18. Mel Ott…511…incredibly underrated
19. Eddie Murray…504…quietly prodigious
20. Ken Griffey Jr. …501…jerk
29. Dave Kingman…442….should be in the Hall…really
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…a look at the Hall of Fame Veterans
Committee as Bar Chat celebrates a milestone.
