Baseball Quiz: National League / RBIs. 1) Who was the first to drive in 150 in the N.L.? [Post-1920] 2) Who was the first post-1920 National Leaguer to lead the league three consecutive years? 3) What Chicago Cubs player led the league in ribbies, 1943 and ’44? 4) Who is the only National Leaguer to lead the league in RBI twice in the 1950s? Answers below.
Mark Fidrych died at his farm in Northborough, Massachusetts, at the way too early age of 54. It appears Fidrych was working on a dump truck that was going to be pressed into service by the local municipality and his body was found underneath it. Fidrych had a brief major league career and went 29-19 with a 3.10 ERA. At least that’s what younger fans will see…wondering what all the fuss was about as word spread of his death.
Oh, if you had only seen “The Bird” do his thing that magical summer of 1976. Mark Fidrych was a comet, a meteor, streaking across the baseball world like no other character of his generation.
Three years ago, Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press had the following thoughts on the 30th anniversary of The Bird’s arrival.
“The year was 1976, which was perfect. If Mark Fidrych had come along 15 years later, he would not have had such universal appeal. In 1961, many players and fans would have been appalled by his showmanship; in 1991, they would have figured he was a phony, a self-promoter.
“But 1976 was just right for the pitcher they called The Bird. In 1976 a man could be different without being an outcast; he could have long hair and talk to the baseball before he pitched without too much backlash. And ballplayers still were part of the working class. [Fidrych made the major league minimum of $16,500.] They were not the prepackaged image-conscious millionaires who came along later.”
Fidrych talked to the baseball (he said he was just talking to himself), patted and rebuilt the mound like it was a sandcastle, and was famously unsophisticated. But boy could he pitch.
Fidrych made his debut on May 15, 1976, a complete game victory against Cleveland, 2-1, at home in front of 14,583 fans. Thanks to baseballreference.com, though, I can build the story from here.
By June 24, Fidrych was 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA. Momentum was building. Detroit and the nation were beginning to take note of this quirky guy. The next game was June 28 (The Bird pitched a lot on three days rest), a Monday night affair on ABC, home against the New York Yankees. This was the night the legend was born, in front of a large national television audience. 47,855 were in the stands (the team was just 32-35 entering the contest) and Fidrych didn’t disappoint as he easily finished off the Yanks, 5-1. [A game played in 1:51, by the way.]
The next start was July 3, against Baltimore, and this time 51,032 packed Tiger Stadium as Fidrych shut out the Orioles, 4-0, running his record to 9-1 with a 1.85 ERA.
The Tigers then went on a brief road trip and, recognizing the gold mine they had on their hands, the Tigers held Fidrych out of action until the team returned home, July 9, against Kansas City. 51,041 packed the house, but the Tigers lost 1-0.
Then you had the All-Star break, with Fidrych starting for the A.L. squad. His first start back was again at home, July 16, versus Oakland. 45,905 in the stands…Fidrych wins 1-0 and is now 10-2 with a 1.60 ERA.
It went on like this, though Fidrych would go a more pedestrian 9-7 the rest of the way to finish 19-9, while leading the league with a 2.34 ERA. There was July 29 at home against the Orioles. A 1-0 loss, but 44,068 fans in the stands. Or Aug. 17, a 3-2 win at home before 51,822. This proved to be the peak, and with summer drawing to a close the crowds dwindled the rest of the way. Overall, the Tigers sucked, going 74-87. But consider they were drawing 14,000-20,000 for a typical summer game when The Bird wasn’t on the mound.
And then…just as soon as it began, it was essentially over. He suffered a knee injury in spring training, 1977, came back late May and was 6-4 with a 2.89 ERA but “something happened,” in his words, in his second to last start vs. the Orioles. “The arm just went dead.” He gave up six runs in five innings. He made another start and gave up six runs, again, in five. Then he took the mound four days later and walked off in the first. He had torn his rotator cuff.
Some say the 250 innings he pitched in 1976, in just 29 starts, of which he completed a remarkable 24, did him in. It’s possible. He tried coming back and appeared in just a few more games the next three seasons, and later launched a minor league comeback that fell short.
Former Tiger Alan Trammell, who was a rookie shortstop in 1977, said of Fidrych, “He was very genuine. It was not an act.” Actually, you never could get anyone to say a bad word about The Bird. Former opponent Carney Lansford, added, “I don’t think you’ll ever see someone like that come around again. He was just great for the game. That’s what the game needed, more guys like him…He was the man. It’s a shame.”
Monday wasn’t a good day for baseball, what with the loss of Mark Fidrych and Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas. Kalas was gearing up for another ball game as his Phillies took on the Washington Nationals for the latter’s home opener when he dropped dead in the broadcast booth of heart disease.
What a voice. Kalas joined the Phillies in 1971 after six seasons as a member of the Houston Astros’ broadcast team. There’s a great story Harry liked to tell about how he became a baseball fan. At a young age, his father took him to Comiskey Park to see the Sox play the Washington Senators. It was a rainy night and Kalas was with his dad behind the Senators’ dugout.
“Because of the rains, the field was covered,” Kalas told the AP. “There was no batting practice, so the players really didn’t have anything to do. Mickey Vernon popped out of the dugout, saw this wide-eyed kid – me – picked me up, took me in the dugout, gave me a baseball, introduced me to his teammates, and thus began my love of baseball and the Washington Senators.” [ESPN.com] Kind of ironic, then, where he died.
Bill Lyon / Philadelphia Inquirer
“Every time you heard that distinctive baritone, deepened by a million smokes and marinated like fine bourbon aging in oak casks, you felt something soothing and reassuring….
“He was, for generations of Phillies fans, The Voice. If Harry said it, it must be so….
“He…achieved the status of legend, a word that is tossed about far too frivolously but which, in his case, fit like a batting glove….
“His signature line, mimicked by a million imitators over the years, will live on long after. For we all know the lyrics by heart. Cue the chorus, children:
“Close your eyes, and it’s a muggy summer evening, and on the TV in your den and on the radio in your car, you’ve just tuned into the Fightin’s, and all you need hear is The Voice and from the sound of it, without knowing the score, you can tell instantly whether they’re winning or losing….
“Harry the K was an oasis of calm in a roiling sea of nastiness and raging negativity.
“He was, of course, the property of the Phillies, but he never played the role of fawning company shill.”
For years, Harry Kalas was paired with Phillies legend Richie Ashburn to form one of the great broadcast teams in the sport.
“By turns hilarious, wry, dry, irreverent, informative, and unfailingly entertaining, all of it seasoned just right by an exquisite sense of timing.
“Whitey [Ashburn] would, from time to time, drift off course, confident that Harry would reel him back in before he floundered in deep water, and then Whitey would launch into another musing, punctuating it with his own signature line.
“Hard to believe, Harry became as mimicked as Outta here.
“They’re both gone now, and we are all the poorer for their passing.”
Bob Ford / Philadelphia Inquirer
“A simple baseball call like, ‘Swing and a miss, struck him out,’ became a magical victory of the forces of good over evil, the emphasis punching through just as the ball had punched through the batter. That very phrasing was the final play-by-play from Kalas that most Phillies fans will remember, as Brad Lidge ended the 2008 season and Kalas declared the team world champions….
“A couple of years ago, I was in line at the Wawa, getting some coffee, on the way to the airport and an Eagles road game. A dozen others shuffled around the store, getting through another grey morning. And then the voice boomed out, seemingly from the heavens.
“People almost dropped their coffee and their eyes darted to the ceiling and all around. Of course, it was just Harry, three back in the line, holding his coffee, having some fun. And everyone had a story to tell when they finally got to the office….
“ ‘Philadelphia went quiet yesterday afternoon. Harry Kalas died at the ballpark, and the city lost its voice.”
99 & 44/100% Pure…not quite
Marilyn Chambers, who appeared on the box of Ivory Snow but then chose a life of porn, was discovered in her mobile home, dead at the age of 56. While the cause is unknown, foul play is not suspected.
Chambers, who had a bit part in the 1970 Barbra Streisand picture, “The Owl and the Pussycat,” burst into the national consciousness (well, at least those over the age of 18, mostly male) with the 1972 film “Behind the Green Door,” a very loose adaption of “Let’s Make a Deal,” the game show where a prize package often started with the contestant viewing what was behind a curtain or box.
Actually, “Let’s Make a Deal” had little to do with “Behind the Green Door,” if anything.
In 2000, Chambers attempted to explain the transition from mainstream films such as “Owl and the Pussycat” and the porn business.
“Back then in my naïve brain I was thinking that something like ‘Behind the Green Door’ had never been done before and the way our sexual revolution was traveling I really thought it was going to be a stepping stone which would further my acting career,’ she told AdultDVDtalk.com, which right there should tell you just how wrong she ended up being….seeing as she was giving interviews to the likes of AdultDVDtalk, that is.
Ah, but Chambers and fellow actresses Linda Lovelace and Georgina Spelvin shot to fame, ever so briefly, and took porn to a new level. Actually, being 10 years old in 1968, for example, I didn’t really see what the old level was, nor did I know what the new one was, either, in 1972, because I didn’t catch “Behind the Green Door” either. But work with me.
It was while Green Door was in the theaters that we learned Marilyn (who was born Marilyn Ann Briggs, for the record…no relation to former Phillies outfielder Johnny Briggs) was really the Ivory Snow girl, the one beaming at the little baby, who years later was heard saying of his experience being shot with Marilyn, “If I only knew then what I know now.” Procter & Gamble dumped Chambers and pulled the boxes from store shelves. Back in 2004, Marilyn told a Montreal newspaper that because of her, “a Marilyn Chambers clause (was put into) all modeling contracts, saying that you can never have posed topless or nude or been in any kind of adult film or Playboy or anything like that.” [We’ve incorporated the same contract language here at StocksandNews, incidentally. I don’t need any problems with the folks at the International Web Site Association, you understand.]
I must say I’ve been amazed how deeply Marilyn Chambers’ death touched the Bar Chat readership, as it’s been one grieving note after another. Of course in the next breath, the same folks add they are rushing to the video store.
—Ichiro returns from the disabled list, Wednesday, but in missing Seattle’s first eight games, he’s made it that much tougher to have his record-breaking ninth straight season with 200 hits. Currently, he is tied at eight with Wee Willie Keeler, whose first season was all the way back in 1892.
–Jack Curry in the Sunday Times had a piece on those major leaguers who first walked on to their college baseball teams. Like Eric Karros (UCLA), Ozzie Smith ( who walked on at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo), Ryan Howard (Southwest Missouri State), David Eckstein (Florida), John Valentin (Seton Hall), and Darryl Hamilton (Nicholls State). Pretty incredible.
–There have been a few articles on the Oakland A’s Matt Holliday, who becomes a free agent at year end. You see, Holliday made his name with the Colorado Rockies and is suffering from the stereotypical image of a Rockies’ hitter…as in they tend to bat 50 to 100 points better at home than on the road thanks to that thin air out there.
So I thought I’d put together a little clip and save for you junkies… something to keep handy as the current season progresses. Following are his splits at Colorado.
So what will Holliday, just 29, do anywhere else? I’m thinking .290-.300, 90-100 RBI. Still not too shabby, but what do you pay for that?
Thus far at Oakland, thru Tuesday, he is 8-27, .296, zero homers, six RBI.
–Kind of surprising Boston pitcher Josh Beckett got a six-game suspension for throwing at the Angels’ Bobby Abreu; not that it wasn’t warranted.
–The other day I said the Nationals’ Lastings Milledge would strike out 239 times this year. Well, Mr. Milledge, a former Met, like so many around the world these days, was just demoted. Milledge, aside from lousy play, is in need of an attitude adjustment. Bill Ladson of MLB.com writes:
“The team had warned Milledge about a possible demotion since Opening Day. Members of the organization were upset that Milledge was late for a meeting held by manager Manny Acta the day before, and they wanted Milledge to sit out for Opening Day. Acta refused, however, so the team fined Milledge instead.”
It always amazes me how a ballplayer can be late…for anything. It’s your freakin’ job, and it’s not real hard, know what I’m sayin’?
–So I perused the major league salary list and you all have your favorites to pull out. A few just stood out to me. J.D. Drew, $14 million for an oft-injured .283 hitter. I don’t get it. The Mets spending $12 million per on a new contract for Oliver Perez. Johnny Damon making $13 million. Eric Byrnes, nice personality/solid player, but still a .262 career hitter with some pop, $11.666 million per. Torii Hunter, one of the truly classy people in all of sports, but a .272 career hitter nonetheless, $18 million?! Yeesh.
Two others stand out in terms of breaking the bank down the road even more than they already have…Ryan Howard, at $15 million, and Miguel Cabrera, $14.38 million. While they are currently in the midst of multi-year deals, assuming the economy has improved substantially by the time they are negotiating their next contracts, we’re talking stratosphere for these two.
—1969 New York Mets, continued….
The Mets, after opening 2-4 at home, hit the road for two games in Philadelphia.
April 14…Mets lose to the Phils, 5-1, as Woody Fryman goes all the way. Fryman was backed by homers from Dick Allen (his first) and Deron Johnson (2nd), as well as two more ribbies from Don Money, who in Philadelphia’s first seven games now has 12. Jim McAndrew (0-1) allowed all five runs in 5 1/3 for the Mets.
April 15…Mets break 4-game losing streak to defeat the Phillies, 6-3, as Gary Gentry (2-0) allows 3 runs in seven and Cal Koonce goes the final two frames for his 2nd save. The hitting star? Light-hitting shortstop Bud Harrelson with 3 RBI on 3 hits. Buddy wouldn’t have too many more ribbies the rest of the year. For the Phils, Don Money picked up another RBI, while starter Chris Short had a no-decision, allowing 3 runs in six, but then Gary Wagner followed with 3 unearned runs in relief to take the loss. Mets are 3-5. On to Pittsburgh!
[By the way, in the April 15 contest, all of 2,880 attended the game at Connie Mack Stadium.]
—Opening Day, April 14, 1925…Cleveland sets an AL record for the most runs scored on Opening Day in its 21-14 triumph over the St. Louis Browns. So you’re probably thinking, hey, that must have been one long game. Try 2:46. No kidding. [And where did I find out the time of the contest? On baseballreference.com, of course.]
–Sporting News took a look at the last 20 NFL drafts to gauge which position fared worse among first-round selections. Each selection was given a “pass, fail or incomplete grade” based on some of the following criteria. For instance, quarterbacks were 1. Graded as failed if they were drafted before 2006, are not currently starting (at least eight games in 2008) for the team that drafted them and either didn’t start at least four seasons for that team or never started a playoff game for that team. 2. Graded as incomplete if they were drafted in 2006 or later, are not currently starting for the team that drafted them and have not yet started a playoff game for that team.
And the result was quarterbacks have the highest fail rate of first-rounders at 47.7%. Next worst are running backs, 43.9%. The two best selections were centers, with just a 25.0% fail rate, and tight ends, only a 21.7% failure rate.
Ergo, some of us questioning whether Mark Sanchez is a starting QB in the NFL have some support in the numbers.
–Speaking of first-rounders, sorry, but here’s yet another story on Wake’s Aaron Curry; the linebacker who seems too perfect to be true. Johnny Mac passed along a piece I missed from Yahoo Sports that talks of Curry and a 12-year-old leukemia patient he met at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Curry is taking the child to the NFL draft with him. As I told J. Mac, you really hope Curry succeeds at the next level because this is a guy who embraces the role model label. A role model that can also behead running backs and quarterbacks…that’s the perfect combination.
–At 33, Tiger Woods has 14 majors and 66 Tour wins. At 33, after the Masters, Jack Nicklaus had 11 majors and 47 Tour wins.
–Big, big mistake by Sergio Garcia. He ripped Augusta after his 74-75 weekend.
“I don’t like it, to tell you the truth. I don’t think it is fair. Even when it’s dry you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway. It’s too much of a guessing game.”
Sergio then apologized through his management company. “Out of frustration, I blamed the golf course instead of putting the blame where it belongs, on myself. I didn’t get it done this week. Augusta National is one of the most iconic golf courses in the game and playing in the Masters each year is an honor. I apologize to the members of Augusta National and the fans who rightfully treasure this golf course.” [ESPN.com]
Sergio, you are a total jerk, and are now in the December file for recognition of same at year end. We all know you wouldn’t have apologized had your horrified agents not thrown something together to affix your name to. I would hope America’s golf fans boo when you appear on the first tee at the U.S. Open. It being Bethpage, Long Island, you might want to wear some ear plugs. [I would never normally condone such behavior, but Sergio needs to be put in his place. Plus he’s not doing that great beer commercial anymore, yet another reason not to protect him, right guys?]
–The financial problems at Pimlico Race Course continue to worsen and basically the state now owns everything having to do with the running of The Preakness Stakes, including the trophy. Beyond this year, everything appears to be up in the air as to future runnings.
–Sometimes an item in a box score stands out and just needs to be mentioned; like in the case of San Antonio’s 101-72 win over the Grizzlies on Monday night. The Spurs’ Drew Gooden had 20 points and 15 rebounds in just 22 minutes. Pretty darn impressive, if you ask me.
–In the good old days of the NBA, as the playoffs drew near nothing changed in terms of how the teams approached each contest in the regular season. If Walt Frazier was healthy, he played, even if it was against the Kansas City Kings. There was no thought of sitting down to rest. But while I haven’t followed the league that closely the past few years, is it me or should I not question how the stars now routinely sit out games if the playoff position is secure? What kind of bullship is this? You’re Joe Fan and you and your son sit down at the start of a season to try and figure out what might be a neat end of the year game with playoff implications, you shell out $150 for two tickets, and then Dwyane Wade, right after torching the Knicks for 55 points, sits out the next one because nothing is at stake. All the teams now do this. Why isn’t more said about it? This isn’t like the NFL, where if a team clinched it’s stupid to play your star running back more than a series or two the last regular season contest. This is the NBA, for crying out loud. No wonder I hate this game.
–Unbelievably, former Knicks coach/GM Isiah Thomas is the new coach at Florida International. Somehow the school feels this will elevate its profile. Well, to attempt to be fair, it only takes one big recruit, who thinks Thomas can teach him the ropes on preparing for and playing in the NBA, to accomplish this. Otherwise, the school is making a big mistake.
–Finally…Phil Spector is going away for good, having been convicted of murder in the second trial for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson, of Barbarian Queen fame. Spector met Clarkson, then a cocktail hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, the night she was killed when he left her a $450 tip on a $13 drink and took her home in his chauffeured car. That was back in 2003. Since then the only comment he made about the case was to Esquire magazine when he told them: “She kissed the gun.” It’s expected he will now lose his entire fortune to Clarkson’s family which has filed a series of wrongful death suits. As for the photos we saw this week, he is looking more and more like an early Charles Manson.
–So Mel Gibson was married for 28 years and now wife Robyn filed for divorce. Supposedly they had no pre-nup, so ya think Mel is going to get taken to the cleaners?
—Chiles…How Hot Is It? [From Smithsonian…In 1912, chemist Wilbur Scoville invented the scale (measured in Scoville Heat Units, or SHUs) that is still used to indicate a chili’s heat.]
Bell…0; Poblano…1,000-2,500; Jalapeno…2,500-8,000; Serrano…7,000-25,000; Cayenne…50,000; Chiltepins…70,000; Habanero…200,000-300,000; Scotch Bonnet…200,000-300,000; Naga Jolokia…855,000-1,041,427
—Roy Clark turned 76. I know I’ve said this before but his birthday gives me another opportunity to note that Clark is one of the more underrated entertainers of the past 50 years, and his top 20 Billboard tune from 1969, “Yesterday, When I Was Young,” is one of the more beautiful tunes of all time. [Every now and then I have to show my sensitive side. I can also relate because I’m getting old.]
Top 3 songs for the week 4/16/77: #1 “Don’t Give Up On Us” (David Soul) #2 “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (Thelma Houston) #3 “Southern Nights” (Glen Campbell)…and…#4 “Hotel California” (Eagles) #5 “The Things We Do For Love” (10 CC) #6 “Dancing Queen” (Abba) #7 “I’ve Got Love On My Mind” (Natalie Cole) #8 “Love Theme From ‘A Star Is Born’ (Evergreen)” (Barbra Streisand) #9 “So Into You” (Atlanta Rhythm Section) #10 “Rich Girl” (Daryl Hall & John Oates)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Rogers Hornsby was the first National Leaguer to drive in 150 (1922, 152, St. Louis). 2) The Cards’ Joe Medwick led the N.L. in ribbies from 1936-38 (138, 154, 122). 3) Bill Nicholson led the league in 1943 and ’44 for the Cubbies (128, 122). 4) Ernie Banks was the only National Leaguer to lead in RBI twice in the 1950s; 1958 and ’59 (129, 143).
