NOTE: This is being posted Sunday afternoon as I’m heading
overseas shortly; in case you’re wondering why I’m not
commenting on the Grammys or certain sports results. My travel
plans got all screwed up, as I’ll detail at a future date (and as I
allude to in “Week in Review”), but I should pick up some
interesting material in my new destination ….Casablanca.
Baseball Quiz: Name the top ten all-time in wins. You deserve
help on this one…so I’ll give you the two tied at #6, with 361
wins, Pud Galvin and Kid Nichols, plus #9, Tim Keefe at 341.
Now give me the other seven. Answer below.
Hank Bauer
The former baseball great died on Friday. He was 84.
A hard-nosed, hard-hitting outfielder, Bauer played on nine
Yankees teams that went to the World Series, winning seven, in a
New York career that spanned 1948-59. He set a mark that still
stands, hitting consecutively in 17 World Series games, and
overall had a career .277 batting average with 167 home runs and
703 runs batted in. Bauer would also go on to manage the
Baltimore Orioles from 1964-68, winning the Series in ’66, and
he managed both the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics.
But Hank Bauer was also a true war hero. After graduating from
high school, he played American Legion baseball and joined a
pipe fitters’ union, repairing furnaces in a beer-bottling plant. It
was in 1941 that his brother arranged for a tryout with the
Chicago White Sox and they signed him to a minor league
contract.
World War II interceded, however, and he joined the Marines in
January 1942. Assigned to the Pacific theater, Bauer fought at
Okinawa, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal, sustaining 24 attacks of
malaria, shrapnel wounds in his back and thigh, and winning two
Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. At Okinawa, 58 of Bauer’s
64 platoon mates were killed in action.
“We landed Easter Sunday morning (March 26, 1945),” Bauer
recalled. “They gave us 72 hours to take that airfield over there,
and we took it. We walked across it in 15 minutes. Boy, they
were waiting for us up in the hills. There wasn’t no one around.
We set up our defense around that airfield.
“About 5:00 or 5:30 that evening a goddamn Jap airplane tried to
land on that airfield. I don’t know what he was thinking about
with all of them ships out there. He knew them weren’t the Jap
ships. Well, hell, he never got out of the cockpit.”
It was days later that Bauer’s platoon was shot up. “The only
thing they ever told us was, ‘Keep your head and your ass
down.’” [Source: “Duty, Honor, Victory: America’s Athletes in
World War II,” Gary Bloomfield]
After the war Hank was signed by the Yankees who eventually
brought him up in 1948 at the age of 26.
In 1955, Bauer again showed what kind of man he was. The
Yankees had just called up their first black player, Elston
Howard, and as both were from St. Louis and had served in the
military, they became good friends.
Howard was harassed quite a bit and whenever somebody would
yell slurs at Elston, Hank Bauer was the first to come to his
defense. Asked to explain why he did, Bauer would simply reply
“because he is my friend.”
Later during the ’55 season, the Yankees were in Chicago when
a group of them were eating breakfast at a big table. “Elston
came in the room and there was an empty seat right next to me,”
Bauer recalled. “He saw the seat and hedged a bit. I motioned
for him to come sit with us. When he sat down I told him, ‘You
play with us, you eat with us. You’re one of us.” [Ralph
Wimbush / New York Post]
Bauer was also known for his partying, as Mickey Mantle on
more than one occasion confessed he learned everything about
drinking from Hank. And Bauer was a central figure in the
famous brawl involving six Yankees and patrons at the
Copacabana, on May 16, 1957. Six of them were celebrating
Billy Martin’s 29th birthday when, according to various reports,
“members of the party at the table next to them began heckling
entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. and a fight broke out, with one of
the patrons, a delicatessen owner named Edwin Jones, suffering a
broken nose.” [Bill Madden / New York Daily News]
Jones filed suit, claiming he was smashed in the face by Bauer,
but charges were dropped when no witnesses came forward.
Bill Gallo of the Daily News told of the time in 1958 when he
took his two boys to Yankee Stadium, promising both they
would meet Mantle.
Standing outside the clubhouse, out came Mickey and the boys,
“shy with stars in their eyes, asked for his autograph. ‘Mickey,
Mickey,’ they said.
“To my surprise, Mickey walks right by them and never even
looks in their direction. Just then, two young boys’ hearts were
broken.”
But suddenly Bauer appeared. “I told him how we were treated
by Mickey and he quickly apologized for him. ‘Don’t be sore at
Mickey, it’s just that he’s not feeling good today. He’s a good
guy who’s having a bad day.’
“Without me asking for one, he gave the boys an autograph,
talked to them and posed for a picture. My older son, who
always wore No. 7 on his Little League uniform [Mantle’s #],
switched to No. 9, which happened to be Bauer’s.”
“Hank Bauer was one of those good Americans who never forgot
what it was like to be a little boy looking up at his idols.”
“Semper Fi, Hank.”
—
And another death from the baseball world to report on; that of
Max Lanier, 91.
Lanier, father of former major leaguer Hal, led the National
League in earned run average in 1943 and was a two-time All-
Star. [Note: Johnny, help me on this one. Howie Pollett is listed
as the leader, yet he didn’t pitch nearly enough innings.]
But it was in 1946 when Lanier, off to a 6-0 start, was offered a
five-year deal by the fledgling Mexican League that would pay
him $20,000 a year plus a bonus. Lanier had been earning only
$10,500. Other major leaguers followed.
Lanier and the others soon learned, though, that promises were
broken and the playing conditions were awful.
“We had one ballpark where a train ran right through the middle
between the outfield and the infield,” Lanier told a newspaper
back in 2001. “In Pueblo, they didn’t mow the outfield. They
had sheep there. They’d just let them eat grass before we
played.”
Lanier tried to return to the St. Louis Cardinals, but
Commissioner Happy Chandler had levied a five-year suspension
on all those who had left for the Mexican League.
Lanier and teammate Fred Martin then filed suit in federal court,
maintaining that baseball had violated antitrust laws by depriving
them of their livelihood; a challenge to the reserve clause (years
before Curt Flood did so) that tied players to their teams for as
long as the owners wanted. Lanier sought $1.5 million in
damages. Chandler later lifted the suspensions in June 1949 and
the lawsuits were dropped as Lanier returned to pitch a few more
years and finish up with a 108-82 lifetime mark. [Richard
Goldstein / New York Times]
Stuff
–More on the NFL and head injuries, as reported by E.M. Swift
in the Feb. 12 issue of Sports Illustrated. 53-year-old former
Giants and Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson was diagnosed
with postconcussion syndrome after he had trouble concentrating
while doing television commentary. A 2001 study conducted by
the University of North Carolina found that 24% of retired NFL
players had sustained at least three concussions.
–Bob Verdi in GolfWorld had a story about former NFL
offensives lineman Conrad Dobler. It just so happens Dobler is a
huge fan of Phil Mickelson, though he’s never met Phil, or even
talked to him. What makes this unusual is the fact Phil has done
a ton for Dobler and his family.
One day Mickelson’s lawyer called Conrad and told him Phil
wanted to pay for daughter Holli’s college education. You see, it
was Fourth of July in 2001 when Conrad’s wife, Joy, fell out of a
hammock and has been a quadriplegic ever since. The Doblers
had to sell many of their assets and downsize their home to pay
for Joy’s ongoing care and as you know from all my pieces the
past few months, the NFL doesn’t pay its retirees squat when it
comes to disability and retirement benefits, despite in his case
Conrad having played for 10 years.
Joy Dobler’s rehabilitation has cost the family $500,000 and
when Phil Mickelson’s lawyer called to help, the Doblers asked
Glenn Cohen why Phil was doing this. “Because he can,” said
Cohen. Mickelson has even been including a cost-of-living
increase in his checks to pay for Holli Dobler’s tuition. As
Bob Verdi wrote, “Quietly, Mickelson has invited the Doblers to
the Memorial tournament in late May. At last, Conrad and Joy
will be able to give thanks in person.”
Mickelson is also donating $100 per birdie and $500 per eagle to
Birdies for the Brave, which funnels money to Homes for Our
Troops and Special Operations Warrior Foundation – both of
which support wounded soldiers and families who lose a member
in combat. The more he promotes the causes, the more corporate
cash comes in.
–Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News:
“The grizzly bear that fell dead, almost miraculously, inches
from the feet of Doug White last fall changed his life, possibly
forever. Near-death experiences have a way of doing that.
“When the bear came seemingly out of nowhere near Dillingham
and the shooting started, White thought he and moose-hunting
partner Reed Thompson were dead.
“In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in the center of a
chaotic reality that seemed more like some crazy dream. There
was the dead moose they had shot on the ground, a grizzly bear
that wanted the moose almost on top of them, and only a .44-
caliber Magnum handgun with which to defend themselves.”
It seems the two had already killed the moose, returned to their
riverboat to retrieve their backpacks and mentally shifted from
being hunters to packers.
“As they headed back to their moose kill, it was mainly out of
habit that the two Dillingham men grabbed Thompson’s pistol
along with the knives they would need for butchering, game bags
and backpacks for hauling 600 or 700 pounds of food. Adding
heavy rifles to the burden seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort.
But the .44-Mag was light enough and compact enough they
grabbed it as a precaution: Better to be safe than sorry.”
But for all the animals Alaska’s hunters kill over the course of a
year, rarely does a grizzly try and take it from them. It’s only
now, though, that Doug White has decided to write about his
incident from last September.
“With darkness approaching, we decided to remove the top front
and rear quarters of the moose, tie them to our pack frames, gut
the moose out, and then roll the behemoth over to cool through
the night. We would return in the morning to finish up.”
But as they were taking out the internal organs, and “As Reed
pulled the heart out [oops…sorry…I didn’t warn you
beforehand] and tossed it behind us, a loud ‘HUFF’ snapped us
to our feet.”
“Turning around, we saw standing before us, on hind legs, a
large, chocolate-brown grizzly bear. The next minute seemed to
last an eternity. The term surreal is so overused, but it was
dreamlike, bizarre, fantastic and unreal.
“The bear was standing next to the tree where the pistol was
hanging. We both started shouting and waving our arms back
and forth as we moved somewhat to our right toward the tail end
of the moose. The bear came down off his back legs, onto all
fours and started circling to his right – toward the head of the
bull. My only thought was to get to the gun so that we could
scare him off.
“I sensed that he charged from the head of the moose as I broke
for the gun. Reed commented later that the bear vaulted over the
moose and went straight for him. Halfway to the tree, I tripped
on a fallen log and went down on all fours.
“From my peripheral, I saw the bear going after Reed, who had
moved into the tall grass. It appeared that the bear had knocked
Reed down and was standing over him. My worst fear was that
my friend was being mauled.
“I grabbed the holster but was unable to remove the revolver
regardless of how hard I tugged. As I looked up, I saw the bear
charging toward me.
“I started backing up as I continued screaming and hollering at
the bear….With the bear almost on top of me, I fell over another
log. I did a back drop and felt him grab my left leg. His huge
head was above my lap, just out of reach of my holstered club.”
White tried to shoot through the holster but that failed.
“Just when I thought all was lost, the bear rose up, pivoted 90
degrees to his left and was gone. The grizzly had charged back
in the direction of Reed as he had jumped up and yelled once
again.”
Reed dropped back down into the tall grass and he could hear the
bear sniffing for him, as Doug White was finally able to get the
gun out of the holster. But now the bear was charging back at
him again.
“I pointed the revolver and fired at center mass. The .44
magnum boomed in the night and the bear fell straight down, his
head three feet away from I stood.”
But if you thought the two’s troubles were over, that night a
wicked storm hit the area, with winds of 60-70 mph. Cold and
wet, they rigged up a tent and weathered it. Two days later they
made it back to Dillingham. And the biggest mystery remains
how it was that the bear was felled with just one shot from a .44.
–U.S. military officials are concerned that Jack Bauer’s
interrogation techniques in “24,” including shooting someone in
the leg, will be copied so they’ve asked Jack to knock it off.
Bauer then gave them one of those looks and the officers said
“OK… OK…do what you want!”
–Jim Dolan has been running Madison Square Garden since May
2001, meaning neither the Knicks or Rangers have won a playoff
game under his tenure. [The Knicks last won on April 29, 2001;
the Rangers all the way back in May 1997.]
And as the Daily News’ Mike Lupica points out, “Dolan this
season is still paying the following players a total of around $63
million: Allan Houston, Jalen Rose, Maurice Taylor, Shandon
Anderson, Jerome Williams. [None of whom are on the roster.]
To give you a little context on this, there are 24 teams in the
league with a total payroll of $67 million or lower. So not only
do the Knicks still have the highest payroll in the league, at $130
million, they have another payroll, like a taxi squad, that includes
injured players or retired players or ones that Isiah Thomas just
made disappear. So Dolan is absolutely right to chafe at the
notion of being called unpopular by NBA players. The smart
ones don’t just want to play for him, they want Dolan to adopt
them.”
–WANTED: Editor at Parade Magazine for Walter Scott’s
Personality Parade. In the Feb. 11 issue, we see the following.
Q: What’s the latest on Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro?
A: “The fractured right hind leg healed so well, he was out of his
cast and walking daily,” says Dr. Dean Richardson of the
University of Pennsylvania, Barbaro’s chief surgeon. “But he
developed a condition in his left hind hoof requiring surgery on
Jan. 13. Since then, his comfort has improved, and he’s stable.”
Well, I guess when you’re dead you are indeed stable. Never
thought of it that way.
–The PGA Tour looks bush league for the first time in quite a
while due to the International having to pull out of its July 5-8
slot this year for lack of a sponsor. The Tour is now scrambling
to fill the date. What it boils down to is the fact so many
tournaments struggle if Tiger doesn’t at least make an occasional
appearance at the event and Tiger hasn’t been at the International
in years.
–It’s going to be interesting to see how Toyota fares in the world
of NASCAR as the automaker makes its first foray onto the
Nextel Cup circuit. Bill Bagwell, a 22-year employee of GM,
has started a website called Fans Against Racing Toyotas. “I
believe in having competition,” Bagwell told USA Today. “But
Toyota is stealing our industry. This is selling out to a foreign
manufacturer with unfair advantages” in the auto marketplace.
Legendary race car owner Roger Penske, whose autogroup
operates the country’s largest Toyota dealership, said “One of the
toughest things for them to communicate to the public is that
they employ many, many Americans.”
For its part, Toyota is now going after the big truck market,
heretofore dominated by the Big Three that garner 90% of the
sales in this particular segment.
–Goodness gracious. John Cheesman, 44, underwent eight hours
of surgery to remove shrapnel from his face after being shot in
the head when he was mistaken for a swimming rodent. William
Roderick, 60, was charged with assault, being a felon in
possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine and
marijuana. Roderick told authorities he thought Cheesman was a
nutria swimming in the Smith River south of Eugene. Roderick
and another man did call 911 and drove Cheesman to an
ambulance. Meanwhile, it goes without saying that the real
nutria was hiding behind a bush, laughing his head off.
–Bob S., resident sharkologist, warned that the sharks now
congregating in the Palm Beach area could be propelled into the
large population bases of the Northeast during the upcoming
coastal storm. I’m thinking the bull and lemon sharks head for
the Potomac River Basin. Or the bull sharks could split off and
move on to Washington, while the lemon sharks create a
diversion 30 miles offshore that occupies the resources of the
Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. [Since our military is
stretched thin, the Merchant Marine, in case you didn’t know,
has now been equipped with tactical nukes to help fill the
breach.]
–Cranbeary, the 5-year-old female polar bear, is said to be
recovering reasonably well after she was pushed off a 14-foot
cliff by 3-year-old Payton at the Memphis Zoo. Payton was
attempting to mate with Cranbeary when she accidentally slipped
on a half-eaten mackerel and went over the edge; at least that’s
his story and he’s sticking to it.
However, we have exclusive information that Jack Bauer is
being enlisted to question Payton. Expect Payton to then break
under the pressure and admit he did indeed intentionally push
Cranbeary.
Cranbeary had two steel plates and 26 screws to repair a broken
leg, which means she’ll need a special pass to get through
security at most airports without setting off all manner of alarms.
–“For Better or For Worse” update: Once we get finished with
Grandpa Jim and the recovery from his stroke, Jeff B. suggests
we’ll see Michael having an affair with Becky, the drug-addled
lead singer now without a band. Stay tuned.
–Harry K. passed along his Joe Namath story. Years ago he
went down to the Miami area with a bunch of Canadian buddies
and happened to see Jerry Lee Lewis perform at Bachelors
Three.
“We greased the maitre’d for a table near the stage. The three-
drink minimum was a little much, but before Jerry went onstage I
was heading to the men’s room when I saw Namath standing
near the kitchen, looking over the crowd.
“ ‘Hey, Joe, how ya doin’?’ I said. ‘I’m good, man, how’re
you?’ he responded.
“Jerry Lee came on a little while later, pissed as a newt (in the
Canadian vernacular, drunk, not angry), and barely played
anything. He picked up his microphone stand and started
pounding the piano keys with it. All in all, saying hi to
Broadway Joe was definitely the high point.”
–Pete M. scolded me for not knowing that the Patriots’ Patrick
Pass has been playing in the NFL for a number of years; Pass
being part of the 1996 Parade All-America team that I
commented on last time. My apologies to the Pass family.
–Johnny Mac and I had the same thought that undoubtedly many
of you must have had in watching the PGA event this Saturday
from Pebble Beach. Just who the heck is Danny Gans ? I know,
I know; he’s been “Entertainer of the Year” in Las Vegas 10
times, or something like that, but we’ve never seen him until
now. It just goes to show you how far the Crosby Clam Bake has
fallen when instead of Hope and Crosby, Martin and Lewis,
Lemmon and former presidents, we have Danny Gans. And it’s
not as if this guy’s ‘trademark impersonations’ are any good.
–I saw where some Impressionist pieces of work by Gauguin
didn’t sell at auction last week. No surprise here, because we all
know Gauguin is overrated.
–I can’t say I’m a big fan of rapper Ludacris, but for the Wall
Street Journal he did have a strong list of albums that influenced
his work.
Sly & the Family Stone… ‘Stand!’
Earth, Wind & Fire… ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’
Marvin Gaye… ‘What’s Going On’
Curtis Mayfield… ‘Superfly’
Parliament… ‘Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome’
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/9/74: #1 “Love’s Theme” (Love
Unlimited Orchestra) #2 “The Way We Were” (Barbra
Streisand) #3 “You’re Sixteen” (Ringo Starr)…and…#5 “Until
You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) (Aretha
Franklin) #7 “Spiders & Snakes” (Jim Stafford…saw this guy
perform in Branson, Mo., underrated performer) #8 “Show And
Tell” (Al Wilson…super, super tune) #10 “Jungle Boogie”
(Kool & The Gang)
*I’m taping the Grammys so I figure I’ll comment in, like, April.
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top ten in wins, lifetime.
1. Cy Young…511
2. Walter Johnson…417
3. Christy Mathewson…374
4. Pete (Grover Cleveland) Alexander…373
5. Warren Spahn…363
6. Pud Galvin, Kid Nichols…361
8. Roger Clemens…348…..Boooo Boooooooooooo!
9. Tim Keefe…341
10. Greg Maddux…333
Actives
Tom Glavine…290
Randy Johnson…280
Mike Mussina…239
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…from Morocco, hopefully.
