Baseball Salary Quiz: 1) Who was the highest-paid player in the
game back in 1990? [Hint: Hall of Famer, though most would
consider his #1 ranking in salary a surprise for this time.] 2)
Bobby Bonilla was the highest paid player in the majors from
1992-94 while with the Mets. Who was the highest paid, 1995-
96? [Hint: American League slugger.] 3) Since 1990, who is the
only pitcher to be the highest-paid in baseball? Answers below.
Lefty
These days if you win three of golf’s majors you have to be
considered one of the greats of all time….so put Phil Mickelson
in that category. Look at all the golfers who’ve won just two…
Els, Goosen, Norman, Strange…let alone “stars” like Love,
Wadkins and Kite who won just one.
But with the incredible amount of competition these days it takes
a special man to rise above the rest and that’s Mickelson.
For starters, while the likes of Jack and Arnie beat some pretty
good competition in their day, think of this.
When I started following golf in the late 60s, there was one good
Aussie golfer, Bruce Crampton, and a so-so one, Bruce Devlin.
Look at all the Aussies today who can win.
Gary Player used to be the only South African. Fiji was just a
tourist spot. Only one or two Europeans consistently played the
U.S. tour just 25-30 years ago. But it’s a world game in the
truest sense of the word these days, which is why some of us
really get geared up for the majors; about the only time you
really get the best on one stage and now Phil Mickelson has won
three of the last nine big ones. That’s good enough for me.
And how great was it to see the camaraderie between Phil and
Freddie Couples? How funny was it to see Tiger have to sit next
to Phil while Phil told the world how great a guy Freddie is to
play with….knowing that we all had the same thought about his
own relationship with Tiger.
Maybe the stage is finally set these next few years for some truly
memorable duels between Phil and Tiger. There’s no doubt who
the top two in the world are today and what a treat it would be to
see them paired in the last group at the U.S. Open. It would be a
tension convention, that’s for sure.
Stuff
–Just a follow-up to the golf quiz last time where I asked about
runner-up finishes in the majors. Overall, in terms of PGA Tour
action, here is the all-time list for second-place finishes in all
events.
Jack Nicklaus…58 [73 wins]
Sam Snead…57 [82 wins]
Ben Hogan…44 [64 wins]
Arnold Palmer…38 [62 wins]
Harry Cooper…37 [31 wins]
Gary Player…33 [24 wins]
Tom Watson…31 [39 wins]
Greg Norman…31 [20 wins]
Tiger has 19 seconds to go with his 48 wins…a ratio unlike any
other…and so I also found it kind of funny that he still has just 2
seconds in majors to go with his 10 titles, having finished tied for
3rd on Sunday. It’s also interesting Tiger still hasn’t come from
behind in the final round of a major.
–Uh oh…just watched “The Sopranos.” Ah, Vito is still alive,
technically, I guess, per my note of a few weeks ago.
–And now, your official baseball predictions after watching the
first week of action.
Detroit, Cleveland and Boston are all at 5-1, but it seems unlikely
all three will finish 135-27. Look for Cleveland, though, to
shock the world and go 140-22. [But the Mets will still win the
Series.]
And how about Detroit’s Chris Shelton? Goodness gracious. 5
homers in his first six games, let alone 14 hits. I see Shelton
hitting 104 roundtrippers, obliterating Bonds’s record.
As for Mets sensation David Wright (9 RBI in 5 games to go
along with a .474 average), look for Wright to only get better as
the season progresses….like a final mark of .498 with an
unbelievable 243 RBI. [A very pedestrian 22 homers, though.]
Barry Bonds? Try Barry who? The Human Growth Hormone
has a .167 average with zero RBI! I see Barry collapsing to .135
with just two home runs, thus falling short of Ruth, before he is
indicted and put away on May 15.
And how about the state of Pennsylvania?! Will it win 20 games
all year between the Phillies (1-5) and the Pirates (1-6)? I
wouldn’t be so sure. Look for the Bucs to go 9-152 (one rainout
not made up for obvious reasons), while Philadelphia is 11-151.
All of the above is subject to change, of course. But we’ll check
periodically as the season progresses to see just how well I do.
–2006 Baseball Payrolls
Top five:
Yankees……………..$198.7 mm
Boston………………$120.1 mm
L.A. Angels…………$103.6 mm
Chicago White Sox…$102.8 mm
Mets…………………$100.9 mm
Bottom five:
Kansas City…………$47.2 mm
Pittsburgh……………$46.8 mm
Colorado……………$41.1 mm
Tampa Bay…………$35.4 mm
Florida………………$15.0 mm
This is one year where it’s pretty safe to say none of the bottom
five will make the playoffs. But 6th from the bottom is
Milwaukee and they’re off to a great start. As for the top five,
they all better be contending in September (and they should be)
or heads will roll.
–Tom Verducci has a piece in SI on the superiority of the
American League over the National League.
For example, in interleague play last year the AL went 136-116
against the NL, but the four AL playoff clubs (Boston, Chicago,
Los Angeles and New York) were 47-25; while the four NL
playoff teams (Atlanta, Houston, St. Louis and San Diego) were
31-32.
Additionally, aside from winning six of the last eight World
Series, the AL has won 70% of the games (29-12).
This year, when SI polled the 30 major league general managers
and asked them to rank baseball’s top ten teams, five of the top
six were AL squads.
1. Yankees 2. White Sox 3. Red Sox 4. Cardinals 5. Angels
6. A’s
–Last year the Cleveland Indians lost out to the Chicago White
Sox for the playoffs on the last weekend of the season and I just
saw when I was in Cleveland the other day that the Tribe lost all
nine one-run games to Chicago in ’05. Now that’s pretty
incredible. This year, however, they won their first one-run
contest against the ChiSox.
–Back to the Masters, aside from Ben Crenshaw’s great first two
rounds at the age of 54, you have to take your hat off to 67-year-
old Charles Coody. This is a guy who won just three times on
the PGA Tour, a true journeyman, but he has a green jacket and
Ernie and Retief don’t.
Anyway, Coody had an embarrassing 89 in the first round and I
imagine he entertained thoughts of packing it in, but wouldn’t
you know…Charles Coody shot 74 on Friday. Hell, Charles
Howell III, who is rapidly becoming one of the big busts in golf
history, had an 84! Fred Funk shot 81 on Friday. John Daly, 79!
K.J. Choi, 76. Coody was one-under thru 15, for crying out loud.
But at the end of the round, Charles Coody bid farewell to
Augusta. I was the first one to criticize players like him for
overstaying their welcome, but congratulations to Coody for
going out on his own terms and in a blaze of glory. He had these
final words for the press.
“I’d like to be remembered as a nice guy and a fairly decent
player. I know I’m not a Hall of Fame golfer, but nice guy and
good family man – that would be good enough for me.
“It’s time to quit. I have a lot of respect for the tournament.
That’s one of the reasons I won’t play anymore. I don’t want to
embarrass the tournament.”
You didn’t, Mr. Coody.
–Congratulations to Wisconsin for winning the Frozen Four, the
men’s NCAA hockey championship. Wisconsin’s women won
their own crown a week earlier.
–Gene Pitney
Just a brief follow-up to my note on his passing last chat.
Pitney had a remarkable start to his musical career. Born in
Hartford, Ct, 1941, by the time he was 23 he not only had four
top ten Billboard chart singles (#4 “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty
Valance,” #2 “Only Love Can Break A Heart,” #7 “It Hurts To
Be In Love,” #9 “I’m Gonna Be Strong”), but he had also written
top tens’ “Hello Mary Lou” for Rick Nelson, “He’s A Rebel” for
the Crystals, and “Rubber Ball” for Bobby Vee.
But while success was harder to come by after 1964 and the
British Invasion, Pitney carved out a highly successful career in
Europe, where he recorded songs in Spanish, German and Italian
and had a #1 pop hit in Britain in 1990, “Something’s Gotten
Hold Of My Heart,” a duet with British singer Marc Almond.
Gene Pitney was also the first pop artist to perform at the
Academy Awards when he sang “Town Without Pity,” the title
track of a film by the same name starring Kirk Douglas.
Evidently, this was also the last song he sang the other night in
Cardiff, England. Afterwards, he went back to his room, laid
down, and passed quietly at the age of 65. Just a few weeks
earlier, Buck Owens also died peacefully after a concert
performance. No Nelson Rockefeller endings for these two,
that’s for sure! [Sorry, that was uncalled for.]
–A few years ago I went up to the Norman Rockwell Museum in
Stockbridge, Mass., a great spot, and there was a story the other
day in the New York Times by Carol Vogel about a particular
painting that has been on display there; Rockwell’s 1954 canvas
“Breaking Home Ties” that like so many of his was originally a
Saturday Evening Post cover.
Lately, though, experts mused there was something amiss. Carol
Vogel picks up the story.
“The painting’s provenance was undisputed: Don Trachte,
known as the cartoonist who took over the Sunday edition of the
comic strip ‘Henry’ in the 1940s, bought the painting from
Rockwell for $900 in 1960. It became his prized possession.
“So prized, it seems, that when Mr. Trachte and his wife,
Elizabeth, jointly filed for divorce more than a decade later, the
cartoonist cooked up a ruse, presumably to ensure keeping the
treasure himself, hiding the original in a secret niche behind a
wall in his house in Sandgate, Vt.”
So Trachte made a copy of the painting, as he did with seven
others by local artists, when it came to divvying up possessions
with Elizabeth. Eventually, the eight passed to the children and
Mr. Trachte was allowed to keep the Rockwell, while the wife
got the other forgeries.
Then in 2002, when Mr. Trachte, then in his 80s, moved to an
assisted-living home, his children asked the Norman Rockwell
Museum to store the painting for safekeeping. Soon afterward,
the museum opted to display “Breaking Home Ties” in a show
about Rockwell’s Vermont.
In preparation for the show, though, curators cleaned it up and it
was then they noticed some of the colors in the figures didn’t jive
with the Saturday Evening Post cover.
But it wasn’t until last month that son Dave, 54, “noticed a
strange gap in a wood-paneled wall in his father’s house. When
he and his brother Don Jr., 59, gave it a shove, the wall suddenly
slid open, revealing the Rockwell and the other canvases hanging
on a wall in the hidden compartment.”
“Every divorce is always a little messy,” conceded Don Jr.
It turns out Trachte had an incentive to protect the original works
as he was part of a tightknit group of artists that included
Grandma Moses, all of whom lived and worked in the area.
“Breaking Home Ties” is estimated to be worth at least $5
million.
–So last time I commented on a Peter Vecsey column from the
New York Post, with Vecsey being upset Phil Jackson and Pat
Riley, among others, weren’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame
while UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma was.
It turns out Vecsey was wrong to question this, as he had to
admit in his next column. Talk about embarrassing. [I’m not
embarrassed I included the remarks myself.] As he writes:
“According to Hall of Fame by-laws, candidates cannot officially
be considered for enshrinement unless, if active, they’ve coached
a minimum of 25 years at the high school, college or pro level –
assisting on the sidelines full time counts as well – or have been
retired at least five years.”
–The San Francisco Chronicle reported the other day that Barry
Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, once spilled his guts to an Idaho
judge when the two struck up a conversation in Minneapolis-St.
Paul Airport in 2002.
Judge Larry Boyle has since written a letter to commissioner Bud
Selig, telling him of the encounter; one in which Anderson
confided he was in town per Bonds’ request to help Gary
Sheffield, a close friend of Bonds at the time who was in a
hitting slump. Anderson’s job was to pep Sheffield up.
Sheffield has refused to talk to reporters concerning this latest
allegation.
–Cute story from golfer Jim Thorpe in Golf Digest.
“When I was 48, I was invited to play in a tournament for high
rollers at Foxwoods [Resort Casino] in Connecticut. Carol and I
drove down from Buffalo, and while I was on the range, it started
pouring rain. The tournament was washed out, but instead of
going into the casino – I was too broke to gamble – I stayed out
there hitting balls. The only people on the range were me and
this little chubby boy at the other end. I wandered over and gave
him a little help with his swing. Showed him the right grip and
stuff. After we’d finished, Carol and I drove back to Buffalo.
When we got home the phone rang. It was a lady from
Foxwoods saying Mr. Kenny Reels would like you to come
down and have dinner with him the next day. I didn’t know who
the man was, but I said OK, and we drove back down. When
Kenny Reels arrived, it was like the Red Sea parted for him. It
turned out he was the chief of the Indian tribe that owns the
casino. He shook my hand and said, ‘I want to thank you for
spending time with my son on the range. The only thing he’s
talked about since is how he met Jim Thorpe of the PGA Tour.’
And then he asked if I’d be interested in representing the casino,
and would I put together a proposal and send it to him. I agreed,
but I left the money part blank. I had no idea what to write in
there, but in truth I would have taken it for $3,000 because we
were broke.
“Kenny called, noted that I hadn’t written in a figure, and asked
if I’d like him to fill it in for me. He said, ‘If you like it, fine; if
not, good luck to you.’ When the proposal came back, he’d
written in $100,000. I had it back in the mail to him faster than
you can say Jack Robinson, and the rest is history. It’s turned
out to be a deal that, at the time, pretty much saved my life.
Strokes of luck like that make a man think, you know?”
–Denver Nuggets rookie Julius Hodge (N.C. State) was traveling
on I-76 near Denver at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning when
another vehicle pulled up alongside and a man shot Hodge. He
was hit three times in the legs but has been already released from
the hospital. Hodge did nothing to provoke the attack. No
suspects as yet.
–Great choice by Seton Hall in selecting Bobby Gonzalez of
Manhattan to be its next coach.
–We note the passing of former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Jim
Clack, who appeared on two Super Bowl-winning teams, ‘74 and
’75. He was just 58.
–Marshall Goldberg died. Who was he? Goldberg was an All-
American running back at the University of Pittsburgh, leading
the Panthers to the national championship in 1937. He then went
on to become a six-time All-Pro defensive back for the Chicago
Cardinals, helping them win a NFL title in 1947. It is believed
Goldberg was the first one-way player in the NFL when he
played defense exclusively due to a knee injury.
The New York Times’ Ira Berkow writes:
“Goldberg was captain of his high school football, basketball and
track teams, winning all-state honors in football. [Elkins, West
Va.] He was recruited by numerous colleges, including Notre
Dame.
“ ‘In those days, a Goldberg at Notre Dame would have been a
big thing,’ he once said in an interview, alluding to his being
Jewish and the university’s being Roman Catholic. He chose
Pittsburgh.”
It turns out he rushed for 1,957 yards at Pitt, a record that stood
until 1974, when Tony Dorsett broke it.
Despite his success at the NFL level, however, Marshall
Goldberg was never elected to the Hall of Fame. He was asked
if it bothered him.
“I haven’t thought much about it,” he said. “I know a lot of great
football players who aren’t in there. I don’t worry about that.
There’s an old Italian proverb that says ‘Life begins tomorrow.’
I can’t worry about those things. I worry more about the stock
market than I do about getting into the Hall of Fame.”
–Sports Illustrated has its 2006-07 college basketball selections.
1. Florida…it would appear that all four sophomore starters,
Taurean Green, Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Joakim Noah, are
electing to return.
2. North Carolina…your editor’s pick to win it all. Aside from
Tyler Hansbrough, Carolina’s incoming class is awesome on
paper… “the top-ranked high school point guard (Tywon
Lawson), shooting guard (Wayne Ellington) and power forward
(Brandan Wright).”
3. UCLA
4. Memphis
5. Kansas
6. Ohio State
7. Georgetown
8. Texas
9. Texas A&M
10. Southern Illinois…return top nine scorers.
*I’m already kissing off Wake Forest’s chances and looking to
2007-08.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/10/71: #1 “Just My Imagination”
(The Temptations) #2 “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye) #3
“Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night)…and…#4 “She’s A
Lady” (Tom Jones) #6 “Me And Bobby McGee” (Janis Joplin)
Baseball Salary Quiz Answers: 1) Robin Yount was the highest-
paid in the game back in 1990…$3,200,000. 2) Cecil Fielder
was highest-paid in 1995-96…$9,237,500. 3) Kevin Brown is
the only pitcher to be the highest-paid since 1990….2000
(Dodgers)…$15.7 million.
Currently, Alex Rodriguez remains the highest-paid at $21.7
million.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
