No. 5…

Baseball Quiz: Name the six National Leaguers to win four or more batting titles. Bonus Quiz: Who is the last to win two in a row? Answers below.

 

 

There’s only one problem for North Carolina now, they are a 3-seed in the upcoming NBA playoffs and, frankly, probably a little whipped after their stirring performance in the NCAA tournament; one in which they beat all six opponents by at least 12 points. Heck, even though they were thought to have underachieved by losing four regular season games, the defeats were by a combined 16 points. It’s easy to forget they had more than their share of injuries. Nothing is said about the loss of Marcus Ginyard, for example, let alone Tyler Zeller for most of the campaign.

 

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a conference guy, first. I also fully understand that if I actually lived in North Carolina, some of my attitudes would be different, no doubt. If you went to Wake like I did, it’s tougher to root for Duke, N.C. State, or UNC when they steal all the local press. But from afar, a basketball purist can’t help but appreciate the Tar Heels’ accomplishment, and also can’t help but honor one Tyler Hansbrough for being a warrior game in and game out for four years.

 

Steve Serby / New York Post

 

“If Blake Griffin is Alex Rodriguez, then Hansbrough is Derek Jeter.

 

“ ‘This is the best way to go out,’ Hansbrough said. ‘I couldn’t picture it any other way.’

 

“Hansbrough, over the course of four wondrous years, had played every game as if it were his last. Fans at opposing ACC schools loved to hate the notorious Psycho T, if only because his maniacal relentlessness ran roughshod over their heroes more often than not.

 

“Only now this was his last game. He stood, arms behind his back, wearing his championship hat, and watched One Shining Moment on the overhead scoreboard, and when he stepped down from the podium, I asked him what that was like.

 

“ ‘It’s the best feeling in the world,’ he said.”

 

So what now for Psycho T? The other day us Wake Forest fans learned that one of our super sophs, forward James Johnson, is heading for the draft. He didn’t accomplish anything from a team standpoint (see also Chris Paul), but he’s going to go at least ten spots higher in the draft than Hansbrough. I still say Johnson could be a lottery pick.

 

Thayer Evans had a piece in the New York Times on the draft (June 25) and Tyler.

 

“In last year’s, he would have probably been selected between No. 18 and No. 28 in the first round, Chad Ford, a draft analyst for ESPN.com, said. [Ed. Ford has Johnson at No. 14 currently] Hansbrough is now projected to be picked between No. 25 and No. 35, which would put him in the late first round or early second round in June’s draft, which is considerably weaker than last year’s.

 

“Ford attributed the decline in Hansbrough’s NBA stock to what he described as ‘the curse of college seniors.’

 

“ ‘The longer you stay, the more your draft position begins to slip, because people draft in part on upside,’ Ford said. ‘Right now, the thing about Tyler is they don’t see any upside to him. He is what he is. He’ll play hard. He’ll be strong and an aggressive player in the league, but the upside isn’t there.’”

 

I say it all depends on where he goes. Have you noticed just how many dreadful teams there are in the NBA? Even as a second-rounder, Hansbrough probably starts on about ten squads, at which point he’s a 15 point, 9 rebound player his first year. Nothing wrong with that. Regardless, I see Hansbrough having at least a 10-year career. Heck, look how long Darius Songaila is hanging around. The two are virtually identical in size but Hansbrough is a superior talent. Or look at the stats put up by the Knicks’ David Lee. Psycho T is a superior talent to him as well.

 

Meanwhile, those already discounting Carolina for next year are forgetting that should Ed Davis indeed come back (as he’s currently telling people), they are right back in the Top Ten. Davis is my early pick as Player of the Year.

 

 

The Lady Huskies completed their third undefeated season in winning their sixth national title under Coach Geno Auriemma, downing Louisville 76-54. The Huskies became the first team to beat every opponent by double digits…astounding…and they won their six tourney games by an average margin of 25!

 

 

–Pretty funny how on Opening Day, the Yankees two $340 million (collectively) signees, C.C. Sabathia and Mark Texeira, choked big time. 

 

–As for the Mets, they are now an incredible 31-9 their last 40 Opening Days…after losing the first eight in their history.

 

–Back to the Yanks, big story in New York on Wednesday. A video of a drunk Joba Chamberlain has emerged following his Oct. 18 incident in Nebraska. In it he takes a lot of pot shots at New York, like how rude the people are. Nothing disastrous if you or I said it (much of it being true), but should he get off to a poor start, Yankee fans may not be so forgiving. 

 

It’s too bad because by all accounts, Joba is a good guy. But there are some things in his background, such as his mother being a drug abuser, and his own rapid rise to stardom, that make you wonder how well he’ll handle the pressure in the future. Strictly as a baseball fan, I’m just thinking he shouldn’t be a starter. The Yankees should have kept him as a set-up man until Mariano retires.

 

[Separately, the Selena Roberts /  A-Rod book, complete with new, juicy tales, so we’re told, is now slated for May 12.]

 

—Pirates fan Jeff B. is praying that with the Bucs’ 1-1 start, Pittsburgh is on its way to a stirring 81-81. I had to warn him that I need a full week’s data before I can guarantee such an outcome. For example, as I go to post the Phillies are 0-2, yet I’m not ready to say the World Champions will then regress to 15-147 until I see another few games.

 

Yes, next week, my EXCLUSIVE projections for all of 2009 based on my proprietary model for one week’s play.

 

—Masters Bits:

 

I didn’t know this. Did you know 1969 champion George Archer was functionally illiterate? Archer died in 2005 and his wife chronicled his condition in Golf for Women magazine (sorry, I hope you’ll understand when I say I don’t subscribe to this one) and evidently some fellow pros weren’t happy with Donna Archer.

 

“Maybe…some of the players thought we shouldn’t have talked about it, because George himself was so ashamed,” she told Bill Fields of GolfWorld. “But the family and I decided to [reveal it] because we talked and he said, ‘Go ahead, if you think it will help others.’”

 

It seems that Archer almost didn’t defend his title in 1970 because he feared having to personalize an autograph if the name was long, which would have revealed his problem. 

 

“He could write his signature,” said Donna. “He learned to recognize the names on the leader board. But he could not read his contracts, could not read the Wall Street Journal…The only book he ever read was Where the Red Fern Grows [a children’s book].”

 

Meanwhile, this year all eyes are on Greg Norman…along with Tiger and Rory McElroy and amateur Danny Lee and Phil and Freddie….What a great, great field. Now if the golf course will only cooperate and let us cheer some birdies again, we might actually enjoy the telecast.

 

As for Norman, here is his tale of woes at Augusta, which will be well-chronicled this coming weekend should he make the cut.

 

1986…T-2…birdies 14-17 but bogeys 72nd to fall to Nicklaus’ magical charge

 

1987…T-2…eyes birdie putt on second playoff hole as Larry Mize holes 140-foot chip to win

 

1989…T-3…Final round 67 misses playoff by shot as Nick Faldo triumphs

 

1996…2nd…Loses a six-shot lead with final round 78 to lose to Faldo

 

1999…3rd…briefly takes lead with five to play but gets passed by winner Jose Maria Olazabal down the stretch

 

*The loss in ’96 is the biggest collapse in major-championship history by a 54-hole leader. Faldo was actually up two after just 12 as he made up six shots in five holes and eight overall.

 

[Courtesy: GolfWeek]

 

The great Gary Player, now 73, is touring Augusta for a final time. As is Fuzzy Zoeller.

 

–Nice game for the New York Islanders on Tuesday…the worst loss in their history, 9-0, to the Hurricanes.

 

–You know Bemidji State…a Frozen Four finalist for the NCAA Division I hockey title? Pat Borzi of the New York Times had a piece and for starters, Bemidji is pronounced (Be-MIDGE-ee) and it actually has an enrollment of 5,000. The town of Bemidji is only 13,500. Ya think the school is important to the local economy?

 

Bemidji didn’t play D-I hockey until 1999 and now has a new arena seating 4,700…very cool. However, Bemidji is without a conference, though it’s applied to play in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which includes Minnesota’s other four Division I programs.

 

Bemidji plays Miami of Ohio on Thursday, while in the other Frozen Four semi it is BU vs. Vermont.

 

Go Bemidji Beavers!!! [Man, I want to take a road trip here.]

 

–Here’s a sign of the times. I was on the Kentucky Derby site, trying to get the latest on my man, err horse, Dunkirk, and I see an article that Freehold Raceway in New Jersey is dropping seven stakes races in an effort to save $250,000. It must have been like 30 years ago when I went here for my first and only time and I recall back then seeing only 1,000 in the crowd, so I can’t imagine what it’s like today.

 

Then again I can, because Johnny Mac and I were among about 40 others, total, at Monticello Raceway last fall.  

 

–So the other day I pick up the Star-Ledger sports section to read bits on the Mets and Yankees and the reporters are from the Daily News! The Ledger, it seems, doesn’t have their own beat writers any more. [Thank god they still have Steve Politi, one of the best…period.] Boy, if that doesn’t tell you something about this dying industry, I don’t know what does.

 

Actually, Russell Adams and Tim Marchman had a piece in the Wall Street Journal the other day further quantifying matters. For example, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America is down to nine from 20 in 1988. And a ton of papers just aren’t going to cover road games due to expenses. The sports editor of the Times says it cost $6,500 a month to have a reporter cover the team on the road, or more than $50,000 per season.

 

This year the Baltimore Sun is letting the Washington Post cover the Nationals, while the Post is letting the Sun cover the Orioles.

 

–“Number of miles a hot-dog vendor will walk during the course of a Minnesota Twins game.” 5. [Wall Street Journal] Who says vendors aren’t athletes?!

 

–USA TODAY ranked the running backs/fullbacks for the coming NFL draft.

 

1. Knowshon Moreno / Georgia

2. Chris Wells / Ohio State

3. Donald Brown / UConn…wow, looks like he made the right decision in leaving early

4. LeSean McCoy / Pitt

5. Andre Brown / North Carolina State…interesting

 

–And now, the 1969 New York Mets…the season begins [If you missed the other day, this will be a continuing series]

 

Mets Opening Day Lineup

 

Agee, CF

Gaspar, RF

Boswell, 2B

Jones, LF

Charles, 3B

Kranepool, 1B

Grote, C

Harrelson, SS

Seaver, P

 

Boy, that is one weak lineup. I don’t see how the Mets can go 70-92, even with their pitching riches!

 

Norm Miller, New York Daily News, April 9, 1969 [Game April 8]

 

“Opening Day 1969 for the Mets was historic, hysterical and downright embarrassing. It wasn’t bad enough that they blew a season opener for the eighth straight year of their existence yesterday at Shea. To blow it 11-10 to the expansionist Montreal Expos, a grab-bag team resembling the Mets of yesteryear, was something else.

 

“At that, the Mets gave the 44,541 [ed. nowhere near capacity at Shea Stadium] first-day show-ups a whooping good time for their money in this first international major league game ever played. They rallied for four runs in the ninth, three coming on a pinch homer by rookie catcher Duffy Dyer, and put runners on first and second before Expo reliever Carroll Sembera fanned Rod Gaspar to end the three-hour 35-minute duel on a beautiful afternoon.”

 

Mets starter Tom Seaver left with a 6-4 lead after throwing 105 pitches in five innings and obviously the Mets bullpen got blasted.

 

The next day, though, the Mets beat Montreal 9-5 before just 13,827 fans as Tug McGraw pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief for the win. You wouldn’t see that today, but it turns out McGraw developed a sore arm in the contest and didn’t pitch for two weeks after. Nolan Ryan picked up the save in Game 2, by the way.

 

Then on April 10, the Mets beat Montreal 4-2 behind rookie Gary Gentry. [Only 8,608 in the stands for this one.] Gentry pitched 8 2/3 with Cal Koonce coming in for the save.

 

Tommie Agee, who had but 17 RBI in all of 1968 after being acquired from the White Sox, had six in the Mets first three contests, homering twice in Game Three.

 

But one of these home runs was historic. The longest homer ever hit at Shea Stadium, all the way through its last season, 2008. Larry Fox wrote in the Daily News at the time:

 

“Tommie Agee (hit) two home runs in one game for the first time in his pro career, including an unprecedented smash into the upper deck in left.”

 

Two years ago I went to my last game at Shea with my father, brother and nephew, and we sat a few rows from a marker for Agee’s blast. It was unbelievable to think he hit one in this spot. Dave Kingman never approached it. But one problem. That game wasn’t telecast so there is no formal record of it. Just the memories of the fans and players that day. Ron Swoboda said after the contest that it would have gone “into the parking lot in left if it hadn’t hit the seats.”

 

Agee spoke of his hot start, pointing to manager Gil Hodges’ office. “Not many managers would have had enough faith to go with me after the year I had.” [Tommie actually then went back into a slump…but this is the last time I give you a hint of what is to come.]

 

So the \’69 Mets are 2-1 as they prepare to entertain the Cardinals at Shea.

 

 

Turns out Sophie swam “six miles through shark-infested seas to an island, where she survived for more than four months by hunting wild goats for food.”

 

It’s a long story but Sophie had ended up on a sparsely populated island and when locals eventually caught her, Sophie was taken back to the mainland, where Jan got her first look, she having been notified that there was a very slim chance this was her lost pet.

 

“They waited at the marina as the rangers’ boat came in – and there in the cage was a grey and black dog.

 

“ ‘We called her name and she went crazy – whimpering and banging on the cage, so they let her out and she ran over to us and almost knocked us over with excitement,’ Jan said.”

 

NBC National News showed film of Sophie back at home and things have returned to normal.

 

–Run for your lives! From the Star-Ledger:

 

“After the second death of a bear in Morris County in the past month, authorities are warning homeowners that bears have awakened from hibernation and are on the prowl for food.”

 

Sounds like it could get exciting in these parts, sports fans, though I say this every year at this time and end up being disappointed. [Not that I want anyone to read anything extra into that last statement.]

 

Sadly, one bear was killed by a car, bruins still being a bit careless when crossing the street, while another bear was shot because it had entered the property of a rabbit breeder and was about to launch a full frontal assault on said compound. Authorities considered the bear a nuisance and it was not deterred by police efforts to get him to take correspondence school courses, or something like that.

 

–Uh oh. Dogs are man’s best friend, but a dingo is a different story. Unless you are Ken Norton, as I wrote a few chats ago, and befriend one such as he did in Mandingo, they are to be treated carefully.

 

In Australia, we’ve learned, “A teenage girl was attacked by a dingo while she walked with a group of school friends on a beach at Fraser Island off northeastern Australia on Monday.

 

“The dingo, one of three of the rogue native dogs which were harassing people on the beach at Eurong, ripped the shorts off the 16-year-old girl, before it was chased away.”

 

Turns out it was the second dingo attack at Eurong since September. Yikes, I hate to report this but eight years ago, a nine-year-old boy was killed by one. It turns out that idiot tourists on this popular island have been feeding them.

 

–I forgot to pass along a story from Brad K. last time from the AP in Sao Paulo.

 

“Inmates have devised an innovative way to smuggle in cell phones into a prison farm in Brazil: carrier pigeons. Guards at the Danilio Pinheiro prison [haven’t been there] near the southeastern city of Sorocaba noticed a pigeon resting on an electric wire with a small cloth bag tied to one of its legs last week.” Turns out the bag contained components for a cell phone.

 

“One day later, another pigeon was spotted dragging a similar bag inside the prison’s exercise yard. Inside that bag was the cell phone’s charger,” said officials.

 

Seems the birds were bred and raised in the prison for this task. As Brad pointed out, “Have they no shame, working for criminals?!” Well, pigeons never had a shot at the Top Fifty on the All Species List anyway. As for man, his spot is no longer ensured either.

 

–My brother passed along some exciting news. Double Cross Vodka is coming to New Jersey. Yes, Double Cross Vodka, the only Slovakian vodka to be released in the U.S. Seeing as Harry and I are part Slovak, this fills us with pride. And the story he forwarded notes that Double Cross “is the only vodka brand in history to ever win ‘Gold Medal’ awards for both taste and package design at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.”

 

Oh baby, get this. “The brand’s co-founder and CEO, Dr. Malcolm M. Lloyd, worked with a master distiller in Slovakia to create a unique filtration process, using diamond-dust, to create an exceptionally pure, clean and crisp spirit.”

 

We asked Homer Simpson for a reaction. “Mmmm, dia-mond dust.”

 

Top 3 songs for the week 4/5/75: #1 “Lovin’ You” (Minnie Riperton…chirp chirp…tweet tweet…) #2 “Philadelphia Freedom” (The Elton John Band) #3 “No No Song” (Ringo Starr)…and…#4 “Express” (B.T. Express) #5 “You Are So Beautiful” (Joe Cocker) #6 “Poetry Man” (Phoebe Snow) #7 “Lady Marmalade” (LaBelle) #8 “(Hey Won’t You Play…Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song)” (B.J. Thomas) #9 “Have You Never Been Mellow” (Olivia Newton-John) #10 “My Eyes Adored You” (Frankie Valli)

 

Baseball Quiz Answers: Six to win four batting titles – Tony Gwynn and Honus Wagner, 8; Rogers Hornsby and Stan Musial, 7; Roberto Clemente and Bill Madlock, 4. Bonus: Larry Walker, 1998-99. [FYI…Pete Rose, Walker, and Paul Waner won three.]

 

Next Bar Chat, Monday.