PGA Golf Quiz: Phil Mickelson won his 25th career title the
other day, tying him for 21st on the all-time list with Tommy
Armour, Johnny Miller and Vijay Singh. How many of the 20 in
front of him can you name? Actually, I’m going to give you
five; Henry Picard (26), Leo Diegel (30), Harry Cooper (31),
Horton Smith (32), and Lloyd Mangrum (36). Now you’re on
your own with the other 15. Answer below.
Congratulations to Jeff Gordon for winning his 3rd Daytona 500.
I know a lot of you aren’t NASCAR fans, but despite all the
caution flags near the end it was a helluva race. If you’re new to
the site, though, I just have to tell you I was at Daytona last year
for the first time and one word of advice. If you don’t have good
seats, I’d think twice about going. [I am glad I went that once,
however.] I used to go to Rockingham and North Wilkesboro
(both North Carolina tracks now shut down in favor of the
bigger, more modern venues) and that was good old-fashioned
stock car racing where you could also easily view the action
around the entire course.
Iwo Jima
Sulphur Island, Iwo Jima, was a volcanic pear-shaped piece of
land about 650 miles southeast of Tokyo. Roughly five miles
long it contained three airstrips and was a vital link in Japan’s
inner ring of defenses. At the southern end lay Mt. Suribachi, a
500-foot high extinct volcano, and volcanic ash at the northern
end made foxholes too hot to occupy. The whole place stank of
sulphur, but it was also full of rocky ridges, caves and deep
ravines. As one historian noted, “It is probable that no other
given area in the history of modern war has been so skillfully
fortified by nature and by man.”
Iwo Jima was strategic because of its radar installation. The
island was directly in the flight path of American bombers
heading towards missions over Japan and when the radar picked
up the U.S. planes the homeland had ample warning to prepare
and scramble fighters to head off the attack.
21,000 Japanese forces were already entrenched on the island
and taking Iwo Jima was not going to be easy. The Japanese had
an elaborate network of tunnels and fortified bunkers so
beginning in November 1944, the Army Air Force bombers and
Navy warships pounded the island for an unprecedented nonstop
74 days. But the Japanese simply waited it out.
Finally, on February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions of
5th Amphibious Corps landed on Iwo Jima. Eventually 110,000
went ashore and what was expected to take 14 days turned into
36 days of hell. When it was over, 6,000+ Marines had been killed
and literally all but a few of the Japanese. One fortified feature,
Hill 382, caused so many casualties it became known as “The
Meat Grinder” and on one day alone five Congressional Medals
of Honor were awarded to men of the 5th Division. Japan’s last
stand was in a rocky canyon known as “Bloody Gorge.” Only
700 yards in length, it took ten days to eliminate its occupants.
But I thought I’d take a moment to honor those athletes who
fought at Iwo Jima.
Like former Olympic shot putter Harry Bluett Liversedge, who
won the bronze medal at the 1920 Games and returned to the
Olympics in 1924. He was the regimental commander for those
Marines who took Suribachi.
Dayton Gold Gloves champion Tony Stein acquired a .30-caliber
machine gun from a Navy fighter plane and adapted it so he
could brace it against his hip and obliterate anything in his way.
On March 1, however, he was killed by an enemy sniper. Stein
received the Medal of Honor posthumously.
Oklahoma Sooners football player Dee Andros was awarded the
Bronze Star for knocking out enemy machine-gun nests on Iwo.
Harry O’Neill played one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in
1939. He was killed here.
Angelo Bertelli, Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame, took
some shrapnel in the shoulder. But Jack Chevigny, a fellow
Fighting Irish and running back, was killed in the invasion.
Marine Sergeant Bob Nanni, a tackle on Duke’s 1942 Rose Bowl
team, was killed in March.
Rodeo cowboy Fritz Truan was killed when he crawled back to
the battlefield to find his treasured Cowboys Turtle Association
pin.
Philadelphia Eagles guard Jack Sanders lost part of his left arm.
Still hoping to play again, Sanders later said, “If Pete Gray can
do it, then damn, so can I.” [Gray was the one-armed outfielder
for the St. Louis Browns who played in 1945.]
And then there was the story of Jack Lummus, an all-American
at Baylor who played on the New York Giants as an end on both
offense and defense. On March 8, 1945, 13 days after the flag-
raising on Mount Suribachi, Lummus was leading his rifle
platoon toward the northern coast of Iwo. Richard Goldstein of
the New York Times picks up the story.
“When the advance stalled, Lummus charged ahead of his men
and stormed the Japanese positions alone. He was knocked
down by the explosion of a hand grenade, but he moved forward
once more, firing into a Japanese emplacement and destroying it.
“He was hit by another grenade, this time sustaining a shoulder
wound. He rose again, killed the defenders in a second Japanese
outpost and implored his men to follow him as he continued to
fire.
“Then came a fearsome blast, and when his fellow marines
reached Lummus, they found him on the ground, both legs blown
away by a land mine. He ordered his men to keep moving.
Inspired and enraged, the marines swept ahead and reached their
coastal objective.”
Lummus was carried to the Fifth Division field hospital where he
received 18 pints of blood. The next afternoon, despite
excruciating pain, he joked to one of the surgeons, “Doc, it looks
like the New York Giants have lost a damn good end.” He died a
few hours later. His mother was presented with the Medal of
Honor for her son the following year.
Next chat a look at some figures who fought at Okinawa.
[Source: “Duty, Honor, Victory: America’s Athletes in World
War II,” Gary Bloomfield]
Baseball’s Veterans Committee, continued
More bios of those eligible for the March 2 vote on enshrinement
into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Click on the archive link below if
you missed the first three parts in the series. To refresh your
memory on those eligible
Dick Allen, Bobby Bonds, Ken Boyer, Rocky Colavito, Wes
Ferrell, Curt Flood, Joe Gordon, Gil Hodges, Elston Howard, Jim
Kaat, Mickey Lolich, Sparky Lyle, Marty Marion, Roger Maris,
Carl Mays, Minnie Minoso, Thurman Munson, Don Newcombe,
Tony Oliva, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre,
Maury Wills, Smoky Joe Wood.
From our contributor, Johnny Mac:
Roger Maris: As I mentioned in my preamble, Maris, while not
possessed of overpowering career stats, nonetheless had a major
and lasting impact on the sport. Certainly the more we learn of
the “juicing” scandal, the more fans will regard Roger’s 61 home
runs as the real benchmark. Lost in the mania surrounding his
historic 1961 season, though, was the fact Maris was already
considered a prime talent, having won the MVP and Gold Glove
the year before.
World Series also just seemed to follow him around as he
appeared in 7 of them from 1960 thru 1968. Maris was a valued
member of the ’67 champion Cardinals, hitting .385 in their
seven-game win over Boston.
Unfortunately, a hand injury suffered back in 1963 had taken
much of Maris’s power away and he retired at the age of 33. He
had only three top notch seasons and his career numbers are well
short of Cooperstown, but his 61 in ’61 will live on.
[Maris – Lifetime: 275 HR 851 RBI .260]
Carl Mays: the man most remembered for killing Ray Chapman
with a pitch, Mays was a helluva pitcher for a long time; one of
only a handful to win 20 with three different clubs. A member of
some great staffs (1917 with Ruth, Dutch Leonard and Ernie
Shore 1922 Yanks with Bob Shawkey, Waite Hoyt and Joe
Bush), Mays could also handle the bat, hitting .268, lifetime,
with a remarkable .343 in 1921. His career won-loss record,
winning percentage and four World Series compares very
favorably to Hall residents Stan Coveleski, Chief Bender and
Jack Chesbro. However, I doubt he’ll get much support as he’s
borderline at best, but he still should be remembered for more
than that one pitch.
[Mays – Lifetime: 207-126, 2.92 ERA]
Minnie Minoso: In many ways the Latin Jackie Robinson since
because he was a ‘black’ Cuban he suffered from the same
segregation as his American born counterparts. Not getting his
chance until 1951, when he was already 28 and an accomplished
player, Minoso hit .326 (second in the league), scored 112 (also
second), hit 34 doubles and had a league-leading 14 triples and
31 steals. He finished 4th in the MVP balloting behind Berra and
two pitchers but somehow lost the rookie of the year award to
Gil McDougald.
Minoso was what we would call today a five-tool player. He
made 7 All-Star teams, had five top eight MVP finishes, won
three Gold Gloves, led the league three times in steals and triples
and an astounding 10 times in getting hit by a pitch, the latter
helping him to a solid .389 career on-base percentage.
The White Sox traded him before the 1958 season to Cleveland
for Early Wynn, who then helped the ChiSox to the ’59 pennant,
but owner Bill Veeck awarded Minoso an honorary ring anyway.
In fact, Veeck brought him back for the ’60 season, trading Norm
Cash, among others, to reacquire him. Then Chicago put him in
a few games in 1976 when he was 53 and two more in 1980 so
he could be a five decade guy.
Frankly, I’m surprised Minoso isn’t in the Hall of Fame,
especially since it’s made adjustments for other players like Larry
Doby and Monte Irvin, thus why not Minnie? Considering he
lost five good years to segregation, his career numbers should
really be in the 2850-3000 hit range, 1400-1500 ribbies, 1500
runs, 225 home runs and around 300 steals. That’s Hall material.
[Minoso – Lifetime: 186 HR 1023 RBI, .298]
Thurman Munson: The first Yankee captain since the passing of
Lou Gehrig, the squatty Munson was the guts of the “Bronx
Zoo” teams. A seven time All-Star, Munson won an MVP and a
rookie of the year award along with three Gold Gloves. There
has been a raging debate over his Hall credentials, fueled as
much by emotion as fact. Thurman was an immensely popular
player in the New York area; a blue collar guy who connected
with the bleacher types. His feud with Reggie Jackson only
made him more so.
But let’s put that aside and stick to the facts. Few like to
remember it but he was already slowing down prior to his
untimely death. His power numbers were lackluster in 1978 and
’79 and he was already playing a little DH and some outfield
because his defense behind the plate was on the decline. There is
no reason to believe that this would in any way have reversed so
his peak years are on the record and his career totals, even had he
lived, would make him borderline at best. I won’t win any
friends with the Yankee fans but I say “No.”
[Munson – Lifetime: 113 HR 701 RBI .292]
Don Newcombe: He remains the only player in history to win a
rookie of the year award (1949), a Cy Young (1956) and an MVP
(1956). An imposing 6’4”, 225 lbs., Newk was the first great
black hurler in the big leagues, anchoring the Dodger staff in the
early 50s. He lost two prime years to the Korean War and took a
year to work back into form. Although not known at the time, he
also had a serious drinking problem which robbed years from his
career and Newk was thus basically finished by age 31. [He did
manage a decent 13-8 with Cincinnati a few years later in what
would be his swan song.]
Newcombe eventually beat the bottle and has been involved
helping others for decades. His career mark is quite similar to
Dizzy Dean, but he is hurt by his World Series failures, never
winning a game in the Fall Classic, and losing Game 7 in 1956.
He was also the starter in the pivotal playoff game in 1951
against the Giants, nursing a 4-2 lead into the ninth. After
putting two on, he was relieved by Ralph Branca and I trust you
know the rest.
[Regarding the ’51 pennant race, what is forgotten are the
preceding games leading up to the playoff. The Dodgers are in
the process of blowing a 13-game lead to the hated Giants.
Brooklyn is scheduled to finish the season in Philadelphia where
just the year before they lost the pennant to them in the tenth
inning of the final game, with Newcombe giving up a 3-run
homer to Dick Sisler. But this time, with the Dodgers and the
Giants tied with two to go, Newk shut out the Phils on Saturday,
going the distance. The Giants also won so the two were still
tied. The final game started poorly for the Dodgers as they fell
behind 6-1. Manager Charlie Dressen emptied his bullpen and
the Dodgers ended up crawling back into the game, eventually
tying it at 8-8 with three runs in the top of the 8th. Meanwhile,
the Giants had already won, so Brooklyn had to win to force the
playoff or go home. Out of options, Dressen turned to
Newcombe on no days rest. Newk is now going mano-a-mano
with Philly’s Robin Roberts, also called on to relieve. Newk
shuts the Phils down in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th but in the 12th
the Phils loaded the bases with one out and a run would end the
season. Newcombe K’s the dangerous Del Ennis, bringing up
Eddie Waitkus who lines one up the middle, a sure hit but
Jackie Robinson goes parallel to the ground, snaring it in the air
and saving the season. Robinson would eventually win the game
with a homer in the 14th, Newk having gone 5 2/3 scoreless
innings. Without this dramatic game, there is no shot heard
around the world, no “the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win
the pennant,” no lifetime of Branca and Thompson bound
together by that moment. On such fragile things history is made.
Remember, after this Herculean effort by Newcombe, he came
back to start the playoff game on two days rest and went into the
ninth.]
The above aside, I’m not putting Newk into the Hall and the
committee won’t either, but for a little while there he was as
good as it got.
[Newcombe – Lifetime: 149-90, 3.56 ERA. .271 career hitter,
including a .359 average with 7 home runs in 1955.]
We’ll wrap up the Veterans Committee ballot bios next chat.
Stuff
–Woh! I’ve been to the Vienna Zoo three times in my life and
it’s one of the better ones in the world, but on Sunday a 4-year-
old bull elephant pinned its trainer to the wall and speared him
with its tusks, killing zookeeper Gerd Kohl, 39, who had cared for
the elephant since its birth. Evidently, the zoo’s oldest elephant,
46-year-old Jumbo, died just last week and undoubtedly the 4-
year-old blamed Gerd .at least that’s my story and I’m sticking
to it. [AP]
–For us college basketball fans, March can’t get here soon
enough. My Wake Forest Demon Deacons certainly didn’t
acquit themselves very well in a loss to Duke on Sunday. But
they should still be a #2 seed, at worst.
–Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings of the top conferences in
men’s basketball.
1. ACC
2. Big East awful loss by Georgetown to St. John’s, by the way
3. Big 12
4. SEC
5. Big Ten
6. Pac-10
7. Missouri Valley huh
8. Conference USA I think I’d have them higher
–We note the passing of actress Sandra Dee at age 62. Now
there was a cutie. I didn’t realize she was born Alexandra Zuck
in Bayonne, NJ.
–And in the ultimate copout, author Hunter Thompson
committed suicide. Thompson was best known for his self-
proclaimed “gonzo journalism” and the work “Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas.” Time constraints prohibit me from anything more
extensive than this at the moment.
–I couldn’t give a damn about Paris Hilton, but it is scary what
just happened to her and is a warning to all of us. Some creep
hacked into her cellphone and put the contents on the Web,
including the numbers for her friends. So, within minutes, many
were receiving 100s of calls. Nicolas Jacobsen, the 22-year-old
who perpetrated the crime, had already pleaded guilty to an
earlier offense and an associate of his says that Jacobsen also
obtained candid photos that Hilton and her celeb friends had
snapped with their cellphone cameras.
–Harry K. alerted me to the 2004 recipients of the Darwin
Awards, the annual salute to those who accidentally kill
themselves in really stupid ways. Such as the guy who decided
to heat his lava lamp on the stove inside his trailer in Kent, Ohio.
Let’s just say he created one helluva explosion and the shrapnel
pierced his heart. Now some of the other nominees’ stories are
just too gross for bar chat; we have our standards, after all, and I
don’t want to lose my International Web Site Association
license. Which is why I didn’t report on the Welsh rugby fan
who recently, err, cut off his, err, you know, after losing a bet.
But here’s one Darwin award tale I can report; the young
Canadian man who mixed gasoline with milk in a cheap attempt
at getting drunk. You shouldn’t be surprised he then got sick,
only he let loose in the fireplace and burned his house down.
And then you have the three Brazilian men who were flying at a
low altitude when another plane approached. They chose to
moon the occupants and promptly lost control of their own
aircraft and crashed. Now that’s pretty stupid.
While I can’t tell the ultimate 2004 winner’s story because it’s
just about the grossest tale I’ve ever seen, there was the case of
another nominee, a man from Alabama, who died from
rattlesnake bites. Seems he and a friend were playing a game of
catch, using a rattlesnake as a ball.
–OK time to move on and talk about the Borgata Babes of the
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Women’s rights advocates are all
up in arms because of a new casino policy whereby any babe
gaining more than 7% of the weight they were hired at could be
subject for dismissal. Vice president of talent, Cassie Fireman,
said, “Our costumed beverage servers are a huge part of our
marketing and our branding image. We’re a fun, upscale,
energetic and sensual environment, and these positions are a
large part of that.”
Now wait a second. Cassie Fireman?! No way that’s her real
name, know what I’m sayin’?
–According to British researcher IWSR/GDR, by 2008 the U.S.
will be the world’s leading wine-drinking nation, besting the
current top three; France, Italy and Germany. Aussie wines,
incidentally, now account for a full third of U.S. imports, up 64%
in 2004 alone, while both French and Italian wines were off 7%.
U.S. producers supply three-quarters of domestic consumption.
[Business Week]
–Pitcher Roger Clemens was miffed when reporters kept asking
him the other day about the veiled steroids accusations in Jose
Canseco’s book. Basically, Clemens didn’t really deny them,
saying only “I could care less. I think if you focus on the
negative, it could be a negative or a distraction for baseball.”
–Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly has a good piece on soon to be
47-year-old Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves, the oldest regular
position player in at least 75 years. What I learned is that “Four
times in baseball history a player 43 or older has hit .284 or
better in a season (and) Franco accounts for three of them.” And
I loved Reilly’s take on the age question.
“Hell, (Franco) might be 58 for all we know. One, he’s
Dominican, and a birth certificate to a Dominican is like an
odometer to a used-car salesman.”
According to Franco himself, one of the reasons behind his
longevity is he eats 24 egg whites a day.
–As if the Yankees / Red Sox rivalry wasn’t heated enough, in
just the past week a number of Sox players have been taking
shots at the Yankees, including former Yankee, now Red Sox
hurler David Wells. Now far be it for this Mets fan to even
contemplate defending anything having to do with the Bronx
Bombers, but Wells, as the New York Post’s Joel Sherman put it,
is simply an “idiot.”
But what’s interesting about the latest dialogue, including from
Boston’s Trot Nixon, are the charges being leveled at Alex
Rodriguez. More surprisingly, from Joe Torre on down the
Yankees aren’t exactly leaping to A-Rod’s defense. As Sherman
notes, Torre and Derek Jeter, among others, have offered
stronger backing of Jason Giambi than A-Rod. A-Rod’s
problem? He’s a phony. Jose Canseco blisters him in his book
and here’s a passage from a story by Selena Roberts of the New
York Times.
A-Rod’s contract is at the root of the issue. “It’s not how others
handled his $252 million deal, but how A-Rod responded to his
riches,” writes Roberts.
“In December 2000, Rodriguez was handed the record-breaking
deal by the na ve owner of the Texas Rangers, Tom Hicks. In
February 2001, Jeter signed the second-biggest deal, for $189
million with the Yankees.
“At that point, Jeter began wearing his contract as a
responsibility, while Rodriguez started to treat his deal as a
stamp of superiority. Once they began playing side by side, the
differences between those two philosophies began to surface,
with Jeter doing the small things that count in big moments, and
with A-Rod pulling off big moments at insignificant times.”
But wait, there’s more! A-Rod showed up at Yankee camp on
Sunday and addressed the charges in his own smarmy way. Dan
Graziano of the Star-Ledger reports:
“What A-Rod did yesterday, when he put on his trademark look
of false sincerity and spent 16 minutes spinning clich s, was the
verbal equivalent of going 2-for-17 in the final four games of the
ALCS when your team needs to win only one.”
It’s going to be a long season for Rodriguez. A very nasty, long,
unproductive season.
–The New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica echoed in his column
on Sunday what anyone else watching had to surmise. The way
the New England Patriots’ Teddy Bruschi walked out of the
hospital following his minor stroke the other day; you just don’t
see him playing again. This is a sad story. Any fan of the sport
should pray he has a full recovery and is able to lead a normal,
productive life. Football should be way down the list of
priorities for him.
–So we’re at the all-star break in the NBA season and aside from
wondering if anyone bothered to watch the telecast on Sunday (I
sure as heck didn’t), can anyone think of even one reason to see
one of the following the rest of the way?
Charlotte 11-39
Atlanta 10-41
New Orleans 11-42
Frankly, you’d have to be nuts.
–As of this writing, an exotic cat, possibly a lion, remained on
the loose in the area of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in
Simi Valley, CA. Several sets of tracks, far too large for a
mountain lion, have been spotted and trappers are now on the
case. According to the AP, pet owners were advised to keep
small animals inside and secure large animals. Heck, what about
us? I’m staying inside too until this potential ‘liger’ is captured!
–Samuel W. Alderson, the inventor of crash-test dummies,
passed away at the age of 90. But in his obituary for the New
York Times, Margalit Fox writes “the first crash-test dummies
were cadavers. While useful in collecting basic data, they lacked
the durability required for repeated trials. And because no two
cadavers were exactly the same size and shape, no two tests were
strictly comparable.”
Kind of like snowflakes, I guess you could say.
–Speaking of snow, and the melting of same, global warming is
going to be in the news big time this week as President Bush
travels about Europe. It’s a pet issue for Britain’s Tony Blair,
among others. And this past Friday a number of American
studies were released from major players ranging from the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography to Woods Hole.
Dr. Ruth Curry of Woods Hole has reached the conclusion “that
vast amounts of fresh water, more than 20,000 cubic kilometers,
have been added to the northernmost parts of the ocean over the
past 40 years because the Arctic and Greenland ice sheets are
melting.”
You know what this means, don’t you? This process “threatens
to shut down the Ocean Conveyor Belt, which transfers heat
from the tropics towards the polar regions through currents such
as the Gulf Stream.” [Financial Times]
Yup, the premise behind the film “The Day After Tomorrow.”
Aughhhh!
–The defending Masters champion picks the menu for the
champions dinner. This year Phil Mickelson has selected lobster
ravioli in a tomato cream sauce, Caesar salad and garlic bread.
As he put it “It’s very basic.”
–Speaking of “Lefty,” there is a nasty rumor floating around out
there concerning Mickelson’s gambling habit. All of you know
of his propensity to wager on big-time sporting events and some
of his big scores, and losses, in this regard. But the rumor, which
I haven’t seen in any publication, is that he owes a Las Vegas
casino mucho dinero. I won’t say anything more than this, not
believing the figure I’ve heard until I see it in print. But for now,
know that Mrs. Mickelson is supposedly part of the problem as
well and according to my source Phil has told the PGA Tour to
shove it when they asked him to get help. So if this tale is
anywhere close to being true, it’s then even more amazing he’s
been able to play at the level he has the past few weeks.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/22/69: #1 “Everyday People” (Sly
& The Family Stone) #2 “Crimson And Clover” (Tommy James
& The Shondells) #3 “Build Me Up Buttercup” (The
Foundations)
PGA Golf Quiz Answer: Top 20 all-time career victories.
Sam Snead, 82
Jack Nicklaus, 73
Ben Hogan, 64
Arnold Palmer, 62
Byron Nelson, 52
Billy Casper, 51
Walter Hagen, 44
Tiger Woods, 41
Cary Middlecoff, 40
Gene Sarazen, 39
Tom Watson, 39
Lloyd Mangrum, 36
Horton Smith, 32
Harry Cooper, 31
Jimmy Demaret, 31
Leo Diegel, 30
Gene Littler, 29
Paul Runyan, 29
Lee Trevino, 29
Henry Picard, 26
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
