1962 Baseball Quiz: 1) Name the two Hall of Famers who led
their respective leagues in home runs that year. [The one in the
A.L. hit 48, the one in the N.L. clubbed 49.] 2) Who led the N.L.
in RBI with 153? 3) Who led the N.L. in hitting with a .346
average? 4) Who led the A.L. in hitting with a .326 mark? 5)
Who led the A.L. in wins, initials R.T.? 6) Who led the N.L. in
wins with 25? Answers below.
Play Ball!
I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, and I want to give you
ample opportunity to place your bets in Vegas…or with Vinny.
It’s the Mets all the way, baby! But with the first pitch this
Sunday, the early story is going to be Barry Bonds, 24/7, with a
little A-Rod sprinkled in for New York-area fans.
Sadly, Barry Dirtball appears to be ready to launch his final
assault on Aaron’s home run mark, even as I look to the western
sky for an H5N1-infected mandarin duck to alight on the towel
draped over Barry’s locker.
But switching gears, back in 1962, the New York Mets had
opened their first season with an 11-4 loss at St. Louis before
coming home for the initial contest at the Polo Grounds. I went
to the archives of The New York Times for a sense of the scene
then and came up with this.
“The Polo Grounds, haunted by the ghosts of Giants these past
four years [since the move to California], is now being preened
for a cast of living baseball players. They are called the Mets.
They hope to become a match for the ghosts.
“Forgotten except for football, soccer and religious revivals, the
old ball park has come alive with young grass, green paint and
bright new lights at a cost of more than $300,000.”
$300,000! Why it costs that much to plow the snow at my condo
complex.
It turns out the Mets undertook a whopping six-week spruce-up.
But get this, according to reporter Howard M. Tuckner, “(Some)
may be so satisfied with the repairs that they may accuse the
Mets of being spendthrifts (the management hopes that is the
worst the new team will be called).”
The point was that with the Mets moving to Shea Stadium two
years later, the costs incurred would be lost. But for now…
“In vital areas in and out of the park, fresh coats of paint have
been applied, and the playing field has been rebuilt entirely with
topsoil and 130,000 square feet of lush Merion blue grass (at 12
cents a square foot).”
12 cents a square foot?! Why at that price I’d sod my whole
home with the stuff. Granted, there would be spots that wouldn’t
receive proper sunlight, but I’d learn to live with the brown
patches.
“A $50,000 electronic scoreboard will replace the old clock atop
the center field bleachers, and under construction is the cozy
‘Mets Lounge’ – a bar and grill for season boxholders.”
Yes, even washrooms “are receiving a face-lifting.” Thank god
for that. And the Mets were presenting “a new record of the
Star-Spangled Banner.”
Kind of makes it sound like the Mets were previously thinking of
using an old LP they found lying around from when the Giants
abandoned the Polo Grounds.
Finally, on April 13, 1962, the Mets made their home debut but
lost to the Pirates 4-3. Robert Teague of the Times reports:
“Civic pride erupted in one lusty ovation after another at the Polo
Grounds yesterday as 12,447 baseball fans hailed the return of
the prodigal National League.”
Only 12,000 fans? Well, it turns out “Murky skies, autumn
temperatures and a relentless drizzle kept the welcoming
committee from reaching major league proportions.”
But I loved this account:
“Only a few hundred spectators were in the arena when the Mets
emerged from the clubhouse, but their greeting was only slightly
less than thunderous. Shutter-bugs leaped into action, snapping
their new heroes. Small fry with beseeching eyes, leaned over
the railings, their pencils and autograph pads at the ready.
Thoughtful souvenir vendors had equipment, many of them with
Mets caps and pennants.
“Did the youngsters recognize individual Mets on sight?
“Nine-year-old David Shevelove of Caldwell, N.J. did, aided by
pictures obtained from packages of bubble gum.”
Oh, those were such innocent times. But in case you were
wondering about attendance, Johnny Mac and I talk about this all
the time…just how lousy it was across baseball in those days.
10,000 was a good crowd. In fact, after the 12,400 for Opening
Day, the Mets drew 9,200…11,200…3,100…4,700…9,000…for
the remainder of that first home stand.
In fact, check this out. As the Mets were on their way to a 40-
120 mark that initial season, by mid-September these were the
crowds at the Polo Grounds:
Back-to-back doubleheaders, Sept. 18 and 20, vs. the Houston
Colt 45s drew 3,670 and 1,481. Yikes.
And where did I find such minutiae? Baseballreference.com, the
best site of any kind in the history of the Web. Once you land
here, it’s hard to get off, that’s for sure.
As in I started looking at pitcher Roger Craig’s stats, Roger
going 10-24 for the Metsies that first season. What caught my
eye was just how dreadful Roger was at the plate. 4 hits in 76 at
bats! In fact, for his career Craig hit .085 with just 38 hits in 448
ABs and but two extra-base hits! Then again, he did drive in 12
runs in all those plate appearances, or about the same percentage
as Mets shortstop Buddy Harrelson during his own career.
But on the mound, Roger Craig went 2-2 over four World Series
with Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and St. Louis, including his
appearance in the ’64 Series with the Cards where he struck out
nine in just five innings of work.
So we salute Roger Craig and quaff an ale to yet another
example of why some of us love baseball….it’s about the stats,
more so than any other sport.
Back to baseball autographs, one of my prize possessions is a
ball signed by Bob Feller that my father picked up for me on a
business trip in 1971. I hope to go to Mr. Feller’s museum in
Iowa this summer, by the way.
But you’ll get a kick out of this tale by “the Shu” down in
Arizona (by way of North Carolina), who like yours truly spent
time each summer in western Pennsylvania where our relatives
were from. Shu tells me that in June of 1960, after a Pirates
game:
“My mom, dad and uncle waited to see if any players would
show for autographs. My uncle knew where the Bucs parked,
and it helped that my father knew umpire Paul Pryor, whom Dad
met at the game. Pryor gave me a baseball for autographs which
is what I used.
“One by one they came out and signed the ball….Hoak, Virdon,
Maz, Groat, Skinner, Friend, Smokey Burgess, Cimoli. But the
prize I was waiting for was Roberto Clemente.
“My uncle spotted him at the back of the lot and I took off in a
full sprint, doing my best imitation of Bob Hayes; leaping over
barricades toward a shiny white caddy. Roberto looked like a
god to me when I got there. He was with Diomedes Olivo (a 41-
year-old rookie from the Dominican Republic, if you can believe
that).
“I’ll never forget this. They were speaking in a language that a
small boy from North Carolina had no clue existed and as I
handed him the ball, Clemente nodded, smiled broadly, shook
my hand and returned the ball with his signature. I can’t attempt
to describe it.”
Well, as Shu puts it, in those days kids didn’t exactly think of
their signed baseballs as keepsakes and he and his friends tossed
it around a bit so some of the names are smudged. “But the
Roberto signature is still recognizable and the ball is an absolute
treasure for me.”
That’s what the game is all about, sports fans. So play ball!!!!!
Stuff
–Sports Illustrated selects the Angels to defeat the Dodgers in
the World Series this season. Of the 30 teams, if you are a fan of
Washington or Kansas City, expect the worst…115 losses each.
–I’m going to be focused on Seattle’s Ichiro. He is in the walk
year of his contract and if he can get off to a .350 start for the
month of April, I see him making a legitimate run at .400. Ichiro
is also going after a record-tying seventh straight season with
200 hits. [But he only hit .228 with runners in scoring position in
’06. Ughh.]
–Mark R. says the Phillies’ Ryan Howard will be held in the low
40s for home runs this season. [He hit 58 last year.] Mark says
pitchers will have learned to pitch him high and tight and he
won’t be able to go the other way like he did with such success
in ‘06.
I say Howard hits 105 home runs, assuming he gets off to a good
start….like 15 in his first six games.
Yes, it’s almost time for our EXCLUSIVE statistical projections
following the first week of play.
–NCAA Women’s Final Four:
Rutgers, LSU, North Carolina, Tennessee
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, kind of a strange woman, if
you ask me, has a guaranteed contract at $455,000 and has made
another $98,000 for taking the Scarlet Knights to the Final Four,
according to the Star-Ledger.
–In the Men’s Final Four, USA Today noted the following
percentages for foul shooting, for those of you planning to bet
$500,000 or more on these contests.
Georgetown…71.5% [94th in Div. I]
Ohio State…70.4 [129th]
Florida…68.8 [175th]
UCLA…66.2 [251st]
–Comment on North Carolina’s collapse in the men’s Elite Eight
on Sunday continues to pour in….such as the following via Phil
W. and the Shu.
“Georgetown pried open North Carolina’s psyche on a shocking
Sunday in college basketball history and sent the choking Tar
Heels home from the NCAA tournament….
“Red-eyed and confused (UNC coach Roy) Williams repeated
the mantra over and over after the game. ‘The shots just didn’t go
in,’ he said.” [Ed Hardin / The News & Record]
“Without question, Georgetown richly deserved the win. Down
11 points in the second half, the Hoyas didn’t quit. Instead, they
grew stronger on defense and more aggressive with the ball.
“But it’s also a fact that UNC royally choked at crunch time.
Missing 21 straight shots at the end of regulation and through
most of the extra five minutes, it was one of the ranking
meltdowns in NCAA history.” [Caulton Tudor / The News &
Observer]
Fred Kerber of the New York Post had this bit on the aftermath.
“When North Carolina was being caught and then beaten in
overtime by Georgetown in the East Regional final…Vince
Carter, who played his college ball in Chapel Hill, was bleeding
Carolina blue behind the bench. Probably the only one suffering
more was Tar Heels coach Roy Williams.
“ ‘Coach Williams, he really took it to heart as far as just the way
the whole Carolina tradition is and has been,’ Carter said. ‘After
the game I spoke to him and the first thing he said was, ‘Sorry.’
It was amazing how he puts UNC on his shoulders.”
But he choked!!
–Phil W. related a story from Jim Valvano about his first year at
N.C. State. He lost to Carolina and fans kept telling him he can’t
lose to them. So one day a fan approached to let him know that
the next time he lost to Carolina they’d kill his dog. Valvano
replied he didn’t have a dog. The next day there was a puppy on
his front porch with a note that said, “Don’t get attached.”
–And Phil passed along a story concerning Tubby Smith, who
just left Kentucky to coach at Minnesota. Evidently, Virginia
had a shot at Tubby after the 2005 season, but he was asking for
$3 million a year! For a freakin’ college basketball coach? Dave
Leitao, the current UVA helmsman, is being paid $925,000 per,
by comparison, and certainly has the program headed in the right
direction.
–AP Men’s All-America Basketball Team
First Team…Kevin Durrant (FR-Texas), Alando Tucker (SR-
Wisc.), Acie Law IV (SR-Texas A&M), Arron Afflalo (JR-
UCLA), Greg Oden (FR-Ohio State)
Second Team…Nick Fazekas (SR-Nevada), Tyler Hansbrough
(SO-UNC), Chris Lofton (JR-Tenn.), Jared Dudley (SR-B.C.),
Joakim Noah (JR-Florida)
Third Team…Jeff Green (JR-Georgetown), Al Horford (JR-
Florida), Aaron Brooks (SR-Oregon), Al Thornton (SR-Florida
St.), Aaron Gray (SR-Pitt)
What I found interesting was that Durrant and Oden were the
first freshmen so honored since Chris Jackson of LSU in 1990.
In fact, since freshmen became eligible in 1972, the only other
one selected to the first team was Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale.
–The Jets play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving this year! 4:15
ET. I’m starting on my plans today.
–So by now you’ve all seen the accident that “comedian” Eddie
Griffin had in the Ferrari Enzo that is worth $1.4 million.
But the unfunny Eddie said “Undercover Brother’s good at
karate and all the rest of that, but the Brother can’t drive.”
Ah ha! So that’s why there are no blacks racing in NASCAR!
–GIANT TOAD THREATENS AUSTRALIA!!!!!
From the London Times’ Bernard Lagan in Sydney:
“A cane toad the size of a small dog has been killed by self-
styled vigilantes in Darwin, raising fears over the poisonous
animal’s rapid spread across a swath of northern Austrlia.
“Believed to be the largest toad found in the Northern Territory,
the 8-inch monster was caught by residents dedicated to stopping
the toads from colonizing the north of the country.
“Cane toads, which have deadly poisonous skin, have turned into
Australia’s greatest environmental disaster since they were
imported from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed attempt to destroy the
native cane beetles in the sugar-growing regions of Queensland.
“The toads, which can quickly poison animals, adjusted rapidly
to Queensland’s hot and wet climate, bred in their millions and
have now crossed thousands of kilometers westward across
Australia to Darwin and beyond and are heading for Western
Australia.”
Holy cow! They say that even crocs are threatened by the toads’
poison, and they are astonishing breeders. Why the female can
lay up to 35,000 eggs at a time!
I’m tellin’ ya, the news isn’t good at all for our Aussie friends,
on a variety of levels. For starters, global warming is hitting
them the hardest and in just ten years it’s going to be like 145
degrees…in the shade.
–A woman at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing drew suspicion
over a body search by a female agent. “The woman looked
strangely fat, even though she was veiled and covered,” said a
spokeswoman for the European observers there. “The
policewoman screamed and ran out of the room, and then women
began screaming and panicking when they heard.”
The woman had tied three crocodiles to her body. Not full size,
mind you.
–Uh oh…this isn’t good. “The world’s first cloned wolves have
been created in South Korea, using the same technique that
enabled British scientists to create Dolly the sheep.”
–I see that actor Ken Howard turned 63. That means he was just
33 when “The White Shadow” premiered in Nov. 1978. Now
that was a great show. But I’m thinking; why the hell isn’t he
coaching the Knicks instead of that punk Isiah?
–Five-time All-Star catcher Ed Bailey died. He was 75. Playing
from 1953-66 and in an era when there weren’t too many good
hitting backstops, he hit 20 home runs three times, including a
great year in 1956 with Cincinnati when he had 28 homers and
hit .300 in just 118 games.
–Former Senator Bill Bradley has been making the rounds,
talking up a new book. But he’s told a few folks that he’s going
to need hip surgery soon and the cause is worth noting. In an
interview with the New York Times’ Deborah Solomon, Bradley
said of his hip, “It’s because I did the Stair Master, four days a
week, for 10 years. You take these short steps and you just have
the femur up there in the socket wearing away the cartilage.”
In all seriousness, I never liked the Stair Master for this reason.
Which is another reason why I switched to the good taste of beer
….it comes in a bottle.
–In the latest World Golf Rankings, there are only 17 Americans
out of the top 50.
–Top five college baseball:
1. Florida State
2. Oregon State
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Vanderbilt
–Top five college tennis:
Men
1. Georgia
2. Virginia
3. Ohio State
4. Baylor
5. Notre Dame
7. Wake Forest!!!!!!!!!
Women
1. Stanford
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. Southern Cal
5. Georgia
17. Wake Forest!!!!!!!!
[Just trying to help you parents out with a college selection for
your superstar son or daughter. Personally, you have to go with
the Demon Deacons. In fact, I’ll pay $2,500 for each……….
……………………………………oops, I was just informed I’m
not allowed to do that………..Never mind.]
–Father of the Year…….NOT!
The son of North Carolina State basketball coach Sidney Lowe
was charged with more than 20 counts for armed robbery, drug
possession and assorted other stuff for his role in the shooting of
a man in a campus dorm at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro. [When I was at Wake Forest, we used to go to
parties here. I never had a good time. But G.R. did!]
–50 people were on a whale-watching catamaran off Maui when
a mast broke and everyone tumbled in the water. One died as a
result.
The AP said “It was not immediately clear how the victim died.”
Whaddya mean it wasn’t clear how the guy died?! He was
obviously killed by a sperm whale, just like the fellow in Japan
the other day.
In fact, we’ll soon learn that sperm whales are killing more than
sharks or killer whales, combined. Those people falling off
cruise ships these days? They aren’t just slipping or pushed
overboard. Sperm whales are leaping up and snatching them.
–Former relief pitcher Uggie Urbina has been sentenced to 14
years in a Venezuelan prison for the attempted murder of five
workers on his family’s ranch, dating back to Oct. 2005. We
wish Mr. Urbina luck and eagerly await his return to baseball.
–Breaking developments in “For Better or For Worse.” April’s
friend Gerald showed up with a bottle of wine, Dr. and Mrs.
Patterson being at Michael’s “Party of the Century” and all, and
on Tuesday, the dirtball started making out with 15-year-old
April on the sofa bed in the basement.
But the Pattersons suddenly decided to leave Mike’s party early.
“It’s getting late. I think your dad and I will be heading home,”
Mrs. P. told her son. “Thanks for coming, Mom!” said a clearly
drugged out Michael.
Driving home, Dr. and Mrs. P. remark “That was quite the
party!” Geezuz, unless there’s a lot going on we’re not privy to,
this party has been a total freakin’ bust so far.
Anyway, on Wednesday, with Gerald and April going at it, the
parents show up like two hours before they were supposed to get
home. But April slips Gerald out the back door, though he is
without cab fare. Dr. and Mrs. Patterson at first seem to believe
their lying daughter was doing a history paper or something,
instead of being asleep an hour earlier.
Frankly, Jeff B. and I agree there is just far too much drug use all
around in this strip. Look for an US Weekly expose shortly.
–I just read Rolling Stone’s account of the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame induction ceremony and once again I’m floored at how I
missed everyone. But no confession from Jan Wenner on rigging
the vote and leaving out the Dave Clark Five.
–Elton John turned 60 and to celebrate he did his 60th concert at
Madison Square Garden. David Lettermen added that afterwards
Elton “beat the Knicks, 102-94.”
–Rocker Chris Daughtry, questioned in Rolling Stone as to
whether he drank a lot as a kid.
“No, and growing up I was never exposed to drugs. We drank
beer, and a couple of my good friends were also friends with
Jager. I tried that a couple of times – I had my share of going to
bed with my head in the toilet. On tour now, it’s strictly beer.”
You’re reading Bar Chat.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/28/70: #1 “Bridge Over Troubled
Water” (Simon & Garfunkel) #2 “Let It Be” (The Beatles) #3
“Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” (John Ono Lennon)…and…
#4 “The Rapper” (The Jaggerz) #5 “Love Grows (Where My
Rosemary Goes)” (Edison Lighthouse) #6 “ABC” (The Jackson
5) #7 “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (Hollies) #8 “Spirit In
The Sky” (Norman Greenbaum…dreadful) #9 “Give Me Just A
Little More Time” (Chairmen of the Board) #10 “Come And Get
It” (Badfinger)
1962 Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Harmon Killebrew led the A.L.
in homers with 48. Willie Mays had 49. 2) The Dodgers’
Tommy Davis led the N.L. in RBI with 153. 3) N.L. batting
champ? The same Tommy Davis. 4) Boston’s Pete Runnels led
the A.L. in hitting. 5) Ralph Terry led the A.L. in wins with 23.
6) The Dodgers’ Don Drysdale led the N.L. in wins with 25.
Next Bar Chat, Monday pm. Augusta! And your EXCLUSIVE
Pick to Click!
Bar Chat is sponsored by Saratogapeanutbutter.com; the official
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