Baseball Quiz: Name the top ten all time in doubles. [Hints:
Only one also hit 500 home runs, all ten are in the 3,000 hit club
and 6 retired post-1960.] Answer below.
Tiger Wins #9
If you went through the Bar Chat archives you’d probably find
that I’ve written virtually the same thing after any major golf
championship…how it’s what us sports fanatics live for. And
year in and year out no single event produces more excitement
than Sunday at Augusta.
I’m not a big Tiger Woods fan but I love seeing the great ones
come through. Every sport, after all, needs a few figures that
stand out above the rest, whether it’s Willie Mays, Joe Montana,
Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Jack Nicklaus.
And so it is with Tiger. Before he came along the sport was in a
big time drought; years in which the Player of the Year won two,
maybe three events, and was somehow considered a real star.
But each generation seems to produce the one superstar that gets
even the most casual of observers actually talking about that
sport around the office water cooler.
Yup, we’ll remember that chip shot on #16 forever. Now I can’t
wait for the U.S. Open to see if Phil or Vijay or Ernie…or maybe
gutty Chris DiMarco…can rise to the challenge. Tiger is back in
a huge way and, love him or hate him, it’s great stuff.
Major Wins
Jack Nicklaus…18 (6 Masters, 4 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 5
PGAs)
Walter Hagen…11 (2 U.S. Opens, 4 British Opens, 5 PGAs)
Tiger Woods…9 (4 Masters, 2 U.S. Opens, 1 British Open, 2
PGAs)
Ben Hogan…9 (2 Masters, 4 U.S. Opens, 1 British Open, 2
PGAs)
Gary Player…9 (3 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 3 British Opens, 2
PGAs)
April 12, 1945
On March 20, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt held his last
White House press conference. He seemed mentally alert but
had trouble lighting a cigarette. Visitors in the last days of
March had noticed that FDR was repeating himself a lot, telling
the same anecdotes over and over. His physician, Dr. Bruenn,
advised rest and on March 29 he was transported to his retreat at
Warm Springs, Georgia. Historian David M. Kennedy writes,
“He was deadweight limp when the Secret Service men
transferred him to an automobile at the railroad siding in Warm
Springs, and observers gasped when the president’s head lolled
strangely.”
Nonetheless, FDR seemed to be rallying a bit but on April 12 he
awoke complaining of a headache yet went to work on a
Jefferson Day speech he would be giving in a few days. The last
words he wrote were:
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts
of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”
It was about 1:00 p.m. FDR passed his hand jerkily over his
forehead and slumped forward, unconscious. At 3:35 p.m., Dr.
Bruenn pronounced him dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. At his
deathbed was Lucy Mercer, the lover he had promised to forsake
27 years earlier.
Harry Truman wrote of the day:
“Sam Rayburn, the speaker of the House, had asked me to come
over to his Capitol office that afternoon and discuss some bills on
which the Senate and the House weren’t seeing eye to eye, and
when I got there, Sam was sitting and talking with two other
men, Jim Barnes, a White House legislative assistant, and Lew
Deschler, the House parliamentarian. Sam started to mix us
some drinks, and then mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that
Steve Early, the President’s press secretary, had called and asked
that I call him as soon as I got there. Sam obviously didn’t think
it was anything important, and neither did I, but I returned the
call, of course. And Steve told me, ‘Please come over here’ – to
the White House, that is – ‘as quickly and quietly as you can.’
“I went over immediately, stopping only to get my hat and tell
one of my secretaries where I was going, and I walked out to my
car and driver so quickly that the Secret Service didn’t know
where I was and spent some frenzied minutes catching up with
me. But I still didn’t have the faintest guess of what had
happened. And I wrote to my mother and to my sister, Mary, a
few days later, ‘I thought that the President had come to
Washington to attend the funeral of the Episcopal Bishop
Atwood, for whom he was an honorary pallbearer, and who was
his good friend. I thought that possibly he wanted me to do some
special liaison work with the Congress…’ Then I was taken up to
Eleanor Roosevelt’s study on the second floor of the White
House, where she was with Steve Early, her daughter Anna, and
Anna’s husband, John Boettiger. And then I knew, from the look
on their faces, what had happened even before Eleanor put her
hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Harry, the President is dead.’
And when I asked her, ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ her
answer was, ‘Is there anything we can do for you? You’re the
one in trouble now.’”
[Sources: “Where the Buck Stops: The Personal and Private
Writings of Harry S. Truman”; “Freedom From Fear” David M.
Kennedy“]
Stuff
–Sex chat:
Congratulations to Bai Yun and Gao Gao, giant pandas at the
San Diego Zoo, for mating last week, according to zoo officials.
Bai Yun will give birth in about 4 ½ months.
Yes, it seems that Bai Yun was getting a little frisky so zoo
officials opened the gate that normally separates the two for most
of the year (guess they don’t have a lot in common) and the
pandas “spent about 15 minutes mating in the same spot…where
they mated in 2003.”
A zoo official then said “They pretty much ate and slept
(afterwards). They were pretty content to sleep most of the day,
and try it again this morning.”
No word on whether Bai Yun lit up a Lucky Strike….or whether
Gao Gao put on the Masters golf tournament.
But check this out. Under our loan agreement with China, all
pandas born at zoos outside it must be returned to China after the
animals mature. So this little tyke will eventually be sent back to
the Commies; I imagine kicking and screaming. [Los Angeles
Times]
Meanwhile, continuing with sex chat, a professor at the
University of Queensland confirms what others have long felt;
sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run could help ward off
dementia. A chemical called prolactin appears to promote new
cells in the brain.
“Prolactin levels also go up during sex…So one could think of a
number of more entertaining events than running in order to
regulate the production of nerve cells,” or so says Professor Perry
Bartlett.
Huh.
–So here’s what I’d do about the past champions wanting to play
in the Masters well past the time when they can be competitive
(as in having a shot at making the cut). There was Billy Casper,
73, shooting a 106 (49-57…with a 14 on the par-3 16th) as part of
his final walk around Augusta. And then you had Charles
Coody’s 88-83. But Gary Player had an 88-79 and Tommy
Aaron 79-82. So I’d say if you’re over 60 and can’t break 80 in
either of the first two rounds you can no longer compete. I love
seeing the old champs, especially if there is that ever slight
chance they can make the cut, but you have to draw the line
somewhere and thus my 80 solution.
–Congratulations to Jack Nicklaus for his respectable 77-76 in
his final Masters. He could keep coming back but he refuses to
make an embarrassment of himself. Jack will be making his
final appearance in a major this summer at St. Andrews. That
could be another tearjerker.
–Ahem….my pick to win the Masters, Adam Scott, finished +6.
But he made the cut!!!!!!! [This extends my winless streak on
sports predictions to about 58 ever since my last triumph, picking
Maryland to win the 2002 NCAA basketball title.]
–Lots of talk on tour about Ernie Els and his travel schedule. As
laid out in a piece for Golfweek, the “Big Worldly” has already
played this year “in South Africa and Australia, picked up a
couple of victories in the Middle East and hop-scotched a bundle
of time zones to the States. After the Masters, he will be bound
for China for a couple weeks…then Texas for the Byron Nelson;
home to England for the PGA at Wentworth; title defense at The
Memorial in Ohio; a return to Congressional for the Booz Allen
Classic; and then to Pinehurst for the Open.”
Els’s good friend Nick Price says his travel is keeping him from
peaking for the majors. After a poor performance at Augusta this
week, there’s obviously some truth to that.
–Golf Digest ranks the greatest courses in America every two
years. Here is the new top ten.
1. Pine Valley
2. Augusta
3. Shinnecock
4. Cypress Point
5. Oakmont
6. Pebble Beach
7. Merion
8. Winged Foot
9. National Golf Links (Southampton, NY)
10. Seminole (Juno Beach, FL)
The top ten public courses are:
1. Pebble Beach
2. Pinehurst #2
3. Shadow Creek (Las Vegas)
4. Pacific Dunes (Bandon, OR)
5. Whistling Straits
6. Bandon Dunes
7. Bethpage Black
8. The Ocean Course (Kiawah)
9. Spyglass Hill
10. Arcadia Bluffs (Arcadia, MI)
And the top ten courses ‘outside’ the U.S.
1. St. Andrews (Scotland)
2. Royal Melbourne (Australia)
3. Royal Portrush (No. Ireland)
4. Royal County Down (No. Ireland)
5. Royal Dornoch (Scotland)
6. Muirfield (Scotland)
7. Ballybunion (Ireland)
8. New South Wales (Australia)
9. National G.C. (Woodbridge, Canada)
10. St. George’s (Islington, Canada)
I was fired up….a course I belong to, Lahinch (Ireland), is #27
…the locals will be partying for weeks.
–Golfer / television analyst Johnny Miller was a good friend of
Charles Schulz and a big fan of ‘Peanuts.’ One of Miller’s
favorite golf related strips has Charlie Brown caddieing for
Snoopy, when Charlie Brown asks the dog what he thinks about
before each shot? Snoopy’s response:
“Just before I swing, I think to myself, ‘You haven’t hit a good
shot all day…what makes you think you’re going to hit one
now.’”
–Golf Laboratories Inc. of San Diego tested different golf balls
under controlled circumstances with a robot. The robot used a
10-degree Callaway driver and Titleist NXT golf balls.
So here’s the total carry and roll yardage on a fairway of the
following.
New ball…250.3 yards
Scuffed…244.5
Grass on it…250.3
Mud…246.3
One round…250.6
Range ball…251.8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Golf Digest]
OK, folks. I know you’ll now be tempted to rip off a range ball
or two for your next big-money match. Just remember you still
have to deal with the embarrassment of your partner seeing what
you’re playing with.
By the way, range balls can be purchased for about 22 cents a
ball vs. $3.75 for one Titleist Pro V1.
–Tiger Woods had the following comment in Golf Digest in
response to the question, “You had such great years in 1999 and
2000. Do you ever think that even if you play well, you might
not reach that level again?”
“Honestly, I think I can be better. My marriage is only going to
help me. I found a person I can talk to and a person who is going
to be by my side through thick and thin. Elin has instilled a lot
of confidence in me in all aspects of my life.”
Hot Swedish nannies have a way of doing that, I always say;
witness Sunday at Augusta.
–How psyched is Nike this week after Tiger’s chip?
–How stupid is Jockey’s ad campaign “What’s in your comfort
zone?”
–For the record, Mark R. and I have a big bet on baseball
attendance this year (not including the new franchise in
Washington). Mark says it will be down 10% from last year’s
pace. I’m counting my money already and plan on buying a Park
Avenue condo (after the real estate crash, of course).
But on a different topic, Mark R. has a good point concerning the
woman who found a finger in her chili at Wendy’s. [She’s now a
suspect.] It could be Frodo’s.
–Congratulations to the University of Denver for winning the
collegiate hockey crown over North Dakota, 4-1. NHL Hall of
Famer Peter Stastny’s son, Paul, scored two goals for Denver.
That’s pretty cool.
–Mets Win! Mets Win! They will not go 0-162 after all. 9-153
is still a possibility, however.
–Top payrolls / Major League Baseball
1. Yankees…$206 million
2. Boston…$121mm
3. Mets…$105mm………..Booooo! Booooooooooooooo!!!!!
4. Philadelphia…$95mm
5. L.A. Angels…$95mm
27. Milwaukee…$40mm
28. Pittsburgh…$38mm
29. Kansas City…$37mm
30. Tampa Bay…$30mm
Mike Piazza, bum, is making $16 million this year. Tom
Glavine is earning $10.8 million. [The two main whipping boys
for us Mets fans this year, I imagine.]
–Philadelphia’s Pat Burrell has 15 RBI after just 6 games. We
can now safely project 287 for the full season.
–The Yankees’ Mariano Rivera has blown 10 of his last 19 save
opportunities against the Red Sox.
–Have you seen those swarms of spinner and blacktip sharks off
the Florida coast numbering in the thousands? They have been
known to attack humans (mistaking them for Charlie Tuna) and
they are migrating north, to New Jersey! Aaghhh!
–Not that I give a damn about the NBA, but I do have to make
note of the fact the Nets’ Vince Carter outscored the Boston
Celtics 24-19 in the first quarter of their game Saturday. Carter
finished with 45.
–What a tragedy. Al Lucas, a lineman for the Los Angeles
Avengers of the Arena Football League, died Sunday after
making a tackle on a kickoff return…the victim of a spinal cord
injury. Lucas was the first player in the league’s 20-year history
to die during a game and is the first professional football player
to die since Detroit Lion receiver Chuck Hughes suffered a fatal
heart attack in a 1971 game.
–A new study, this one by the New York Times, reveals that
most of the salmon being marketed as “wild” is really farm-
raised. 6 of 8 leading New York stores, for example, lied about
the origin.
–George Will: “Taxing beer at all is a seriously bad idea, like
taxing the elemental necessities of life, such as bread or salt. Or
beer pretzels, which are just bread and salt.”
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/12/69: #1 “Aquarius / Let The
Sunshine In” (The 5th Dimension) #2 “You’ve Made Me So
Very Happy” (Blood, Sweat & Tears) #3 “Dizzy” (Tommy Roe)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Doubles –
1. Tris Speaker…792
2. Pete Rose…746
3. Stan Musial…725
4. Ty Cobb…724
5. George Brett…665
6. Nap Lajoie…661
7. Carl Yastrzemski…646
8. Honus Wagner…643
9. Hank Aaron…624
10. Paul Molitor…605
16. Rafael Palmeiro…572 [Entering 2005]
17. Craig Biggio…564
18. Barry Bonds…563…Booooooooo Booooooooooooo!!!
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
