Tate-LaBianca Murders

Baseball Quiz: 1) Since 1950, name the six pitchers to win 27 games in a season. 2) Since 1950, name the six pitchers (starters) to compile an ERA under 1.70. Bonus Question: For a premium beer…name the hurler to do this twice. [Hint: Neither Koufax or Pedro Martinez are on the ERA list.] Answers below. 

Just Stuff …Warning: some rough language ahead. 

—Aug. 9, 1969…Actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, her boyfriend, plus two others, were brutally murdered at the Los Angeles home of Tate. Tate, 8 ½ months pregnant, begged for the life of her unborn child, but was told by one of the female assistants, “Look, bitch, I don’t care about you. I don’t care if you are having a baby. You are going to die and I don’t feel a thing about it.” 

As Howard Chua-Eoan put it later for Time magazine, “Tate’s blood was used to write the word PIG on the home’s front door. The next day supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife were killed in a similar fashion, a fork used to carve the word WAR on his belly left sticking out of his corpse. This time, the leader of the gang took part in the slaughter. Authorities would take nearly five months to track down Charles Manson and his so-called Family. And when they did, America discovered a terrifying mix of a libertine counter-culture and stupefying mind-control. Manson sent out his mostly female agents like the Furies of Greek mythology, to take down those whom he saw as his enemies. His trial ended in 1971 with a death sentence which was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s declaration of the penalty’s unconstitutionality.” 

Warren Beatty remembers the carnage like it was yesterday. Commenting in Los Angeles magazine recently, he said, “This hit the movie community very deeply. On the 10-point scale, it disturbed me at around a 27.” Beatty was one of those who helped fund a $25,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the killers. “They were friends of mine. It was something that happened, and no one knew why. Everybody was trying to come up with a reason. The collective response to these killings was what you might expect if a small nuclear device had gone off.” 

Beatty, now 72 (geezuz, time flies), said that in those first moments, Polanski was unfairly suspected of having a link to the case. 

“In their rush to assess what had happened, some of the mainstream press brought the nature of Roman Polanski’s movies into the nature of the crime and held the movies responsible. Roman was a total innocent. Neither his life nor his movies had anything to do with this. But because he’d made ‘Repulsion’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ he was made to seem responsible.” 

Of course for his part, Manson tried to pin the blame on everyone but himself, citing the Beatles, for one, as Manson claimed they sent him messages to kill through their songs “Helter Skelter” and “Piggies,” the latter of which told of wealthy husbands and wives in need of a “damn good whacking.” 

–Well, let’s hope a big feud going on today in the music biz doesn’t turn any uglier than it already is, because it’s gotten so bad, violence is the next step. We’re talking the feud between Mariah Carey and Eminem. From the Sydney Morning Herald: 

“Mariah Carey’s husband says Eminem will be punished by God for insulting his wife. 

“Nick Cannon is furious with the rapper for recording the track The Warning, in which he crudely talks about his brief relationship with Mariah in 2001, and has posted several bible verses on his Twitter page attacking Eminem. 

“Nick wrote: ‘Quote of the day, ‘Never argue with fools because from a distance people can’t tell who is who.’’ 

“He later added: ‘Never take your own revenge, but rather give place unto the wrath. For it is written vengeance is mine, I will repay…PREACH! ‘I will bless those that bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.’ Genesis 12:3.’” 

“Nick’s response continued: ‘Be patient in the moment of anger and escape a hundred days of sorrow! People who project negativity ultimately are crying out for their own broken souls. Trying to save a hater is like trying to teach astrophysics to a wino!’ 

“In The Warning – recorded as a response to Mariah dressing up as Eminem in the video for her song Obsessed – the hip-hop star talks graphically about his relationship with Mariah and threatens to release intimate voice messages and pictures of them together. 

“Lyrics to Eminem’s The Warning include: ‘B***h, shut the f**k up before I put all them phone calls out you made to my house.’ ‘Better shut your lying mouth if you don’t want Nick finding out.   You probably think since it’s been so long if I had something on you I woulda did it by now. On the contrary, Mary Poppins, I’m mixing our studio session down and sending it to mastering to make it loud. Enough dirt on you to murder you. Mariah, it ever occur to you that I still have pictures? Call my bluff and I’ll release every f***ing thing I got including the voicemails right before you flipped your top?’” 

Believe it or not it gets worse as Eminem details their sexual escapades. Mariah denies Eminem was the subject of the Obsessed promo. 

–Sporting News had an interview between the great Jim Brown and today’s superstar running back, Adrian Peterson. Peterson asked Brown, “How do you think the game has changed over the years?” 

Brown: “I think it’s a great entertainment spectacle. They’ve done a fantastic job of promoting it. I think it’s exciting, I think the playoff system is good, and I think that you have certain players who are great because they love the game. But I think money has affected the game, cheapened it, and I think the buffoonery has taken a lot of dignity out of the game, cheapened it. A lot of players think those antics are amusing, but it’s buffoonery. If you’re conscious about images and history, African Americans had to fight off the caricatures of buffoonery all through history; they made a mockery of watermelon eating, big eyes, shuffling, dancing, shaking your booty. We had to fight to get rid of those stereotypes, then the modern-day football player comes out and shakes his butt and all that (expletive), excuse my language, but it’s embarrassing because the population likes it in one sense, they laugh at it, but then they ridicule it. So if you’re Ochocinco, he thinks he’s cute, but in essence it’s a lack of dignity. 

“But I’ll tell you this: If you look at Troy Polamalu, that kid’s a player. You look at Ray Lewis, that’s a player. You look at Shawne Merriman, that’s a player. Peyton Manning, that’s a player. The real players don’t deal with a lot of foolishness. Polamalu just gets ready for the next play. 

“The money has obviously affected the game. The agent worries about the money; he’s not looking for what you call quality of life, your whole being, family, social life, your happiness. And the union has to keep itself going, so there’s a selfishness there. And, of course, you have the ownership. In essence, I don’t think that players are different; I think the circumstances are different. And you don’t have a lot of legitimate people dealing with the players. Who tells a player the truth? It’s like the tail wagging the dog.” 

—Mets manager Jerry Manuel, commenting after another loss, said, “We have to keep the faith. We have to keep up the fight.” But Tuesday night was as bad as it gets as Mets closer K-Rod blew a 7-5 lead in the ninth against St. Louis, the Cards tied it, and then in the tenth, reliever Sean Green hit a batter to force in the winning run, after which Albert Pujols hit a grand slam…a devastating 12-7 loss. As Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post observed afterwards: 

“This one, even the most pie-eyed true believer has to acknowledge, officially ended the competitive portion of the Mets’ schedule. Everything from here is filler.” 

And to top it off, Jose Reyes’ tender hamstring has the team thinking it will put him on the shelf for the rest of the season to concentrate on next year.  

But here’s something even more pitiful. Arizona’s Mark Reynolds just hit four homers in three games at the Mets’ new Citi Field, said to be a pitcher’s ballpark. Reynolds crushed all four and they went out handily. But after the Mets first 54 home games, no Met had more than five homers at Citi. Again, Mark Reynolds…4 in 3 games…Gary Sheffield and Fernando Tatis…5 in 54. What a bunch of losers. 

–From USA Today: “How angry would you be if you had mashed 573 home runs in your baseball career only to see yourself being put in the statistical rearview mirror by chemically enhanced players? 

“Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew suggested fans be more outraged. He told XTRA 910 AM in Phoenix. ‘They don’t hold it (baseball’s history) sacred. I was shocked to read an article…saying ‘so what’ about steroids.’”  

Damn straight, Harmon. A USA TODAY.com poll revealed 52% didn’t think the Boston Red Sox’ 2004 and ’07 World Series titles were tainted by the revelation Ortiz and Ramirez had tested positive. 

–And Hank Aaron weighed in again in an interview with the Associated Press. Aaron wants Major League Baseball to release the full list of names of those who tested positive in 2003 to help the sport get past the “Steroid Era.” Aaron also reiterated he believes it’s time for baseball to reinstate Pete Rose and vote him in the Hall of Fame. 

“How long does a person have to die?” Aaron said. “I think the thing that bothers me is that he is missing out on a lot of things. He made a mistake. I don’t know what else can be done, or what else can be said. I just think at some point he needs to start enjoying being a Hall of Famer.” 

—1969 Mets, continued…we pick up the story with the Mets 55-44, 6 ½ back of the Cubbies. 

Aug. 1…home to Atlanta, Mets win 5-4 as Cal Koonce (5-3) gets the win with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief of starter Don Cardwell. Jerry Grote hits his 3rd homer as New York roughs up Phil Niekro (15-9). Ron Taylor picks up his 10th save with 2 1/3 innings himself. 

Aug. 2…Mets win 1-0 behind Jim McAndrew (3-3) and Tug McGraw; McAndrew going 7 innings. Cleon Jones, who had been benched a few games back for lackadaisical play by Manager Gil Hodges, drives in the only run with a pinch single in the 7th. Ron Reed (9-8) takes the loss for the Braves. 

Aug. 3…Mets complete the sweep, 6-5 in 11 innings. Gary Gentry gets hit hard, 5 runs in 5 innings, but the Mets fight back from a 5-0 deficit as Cleon Jones once again delivers a key pinch-hit, 2-RBI single. Grote, with a sudden power surge, then wins it with his 4th home run in the 11th. Ron Taylor (6-2) gets the win with 3 scoreless innings of relief. Claude Raymond takes the loss. 

Aug. 4…Mets travel to Cincinnati and lose 1-0 as Jim Maloney (5-2) and Wayne Granger combine on a 2-hitter. Jerry Koosman (8-7) takes the loss. 

Aug. 5…Mets lose to the Reds, 8-5, in the first game of a doubleheader as Tom Seaver (15-7) gets shelled, allowing 4 runs in 3 innings. [Afterward, Seaver complained of stiffness in his shoulder. Uh oh.] Gary Nolan (2-3) wins it for Cincinnati as Tony Perez hits another homer vs. the Mets, his 28th, and Pete Rose clubs his 12th. Perez and Bob Tolan drive in 3 apiece, while for the Mets, Art Shamsky and Cleon Jones have 3 hits each, including Shamsky’s 9th homer. Shamsky is now up to .348; Jones is batting .351. 

Aug. 5…in the nightcap, the Mets win 10-1 behind a complete game effort from Nolan Ryan (4-1), who scatters 7 hits, fans 7, and walks only 2. Donn Clendenon hits his 7th and drives in 3, while Tommie Agee smashes his 17th homer. Gerry Arrigo (2-3) takes the loss. Afterwards, Ryan reports to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for two weeks of reserve duty. 

Aug. 6…Mets lose to the Reds, 3-2, as Jim Merritt (11-5) outduels Jim McAndrew (3-4). Johnny Bench hits his 14th; Ron Swoboda has 3 hits for New York. 

So the Mets are 59-47 and suddenly 9 games back of the Cubbies. Now I know there are some out there (like Phillies fan Mark R.) who persist in saying, ‘Hey, Editor? Why are you putting us through the torture of this exercise…going back to the 1969 Mets, 40 years later?’ It’s because I just have a good feeling about this team; even with all the ground they now have to make up. [Plus, if not now, when? I may not be around in ten years….could be joining the Foreign Legion, you understand.] 

–As expected, the PGA Tour had to announce that after 51 years, the Buick Open in Warwick Hills, Michigan is finis as Buick pulls out of its sponsorship of the sport. Next year there will be a new tournament to replace it, played at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, “sponsored by StocksandNews.com and Bar Chat, creators of the All-Species List.” OK, Johnny Mac and I are working on this…we recognize it’s kind of long right now. As for the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, no telling who is sponsoring that one but I can’t do both…of this I’m certain. 

–Phil W. points out that Bill Clinton had permission from the White House to offer Kim Jong-il the Mets in return for the two journalists, but Kim, ever the shrewd operator, passed. 

[I’m writing this as the Mets are playing Wednesday afternoon against the Cardinals and they’ve lost another couple players to injury. Kim must have foreseen this. Incidentally, instead of the Mets, Kim accepted a bottle of cognac and the DVD of “Last Tango in Paris.”] 

–Florida football coach Urban Meyer has been granted a new contract paying him $4 million a year for six years. He had four years left on a contract for $3.5 million. The school, though, had just announced $42 million in budget cuts and the layoffs of nine faculty members and 49 staff members, according to the AP. 

But…the school doesn’t pay Meyer’s salary directly. The money comes from the University Athletic Association, a separate arm that funds the athletic department. Since 2005, the UAA has actually given the school over $17 million.  

Alabama’s Nick Saban and LSU’s Les Miles are supposedly a shade under $4 million, while outside the SEC, USC’s Pete Carroll and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops earn in excess of $4 million. 

–Phil W. points out that with the exception of Darryl Strawberry, the Mets haven’t developed a pure power hitter in their own farm system…ever. [John Milner is hardly in this mold. Todd Hundley could qualify, for two seasons, if you forget he, err, was putting some strong stuff in his body, if you catch my drift.] Yes, as Phil so aptly put it, “What a crappy franchise.” 

*I\’m down on David Wright….can\’t call him a power hitter any more.

–You think the PGA Tour is easy? Check out the performances of veterans Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon in 2009. 

Then take into consideration travel expenses, caddy, etc., and, you get the picture. 

–Speaking of the Tour, though, I have to congratulate Roland Thatcher for his second-place finish last week at the Buick Open. I wrote of Thatcher almost five years ago when I attended Q School and got to spend some time with his father as we walked around with Roland and Bill Haas for two rounds. Roland is a good kid who has been injured a ton. Last week was his best finish ever and boosted his winnings to $643,820…good for 101st on the money list. He’ll need to pick up about another $200,000, though, to make the Top 125 and get his Tour card for 2010. 

–From AFP: “An elderly man out for a morning stroll in western Canada has apparently been gored and killed by a bison at the weekend. Keith Conrad, 71, was found dead along a gravel road near Pincher Creek, Alberta, that runs through grasslands used for grazing. 

“There were no witnesses, but the victim suffered trauma to his head and a large penetrating wound to his abdomen consistent with goring by a horned animal.” 

Goodness gracious. “The owner of the bison in this case plans to euthanize the beast, said reports.” 

Which bison?! Is there a trial beforehand? Grand jury proceedings?  

–Director of Shark Attacks for Bar Chat, Bob S. (forgot if I previously made you a senior vice president, Bob…but you need to know that due to the economy, I’ve eliminated your health care), passed along a most troubling piece from Eric Scott Campbell of the Atlantic City Press, Sunday, Aug. 2. 

“Reports of bull sharks in the Mullica River have prompted the owner of an Egg Harbor City fishing shop to warn customers who would consider swimming or rowing there. 

“These reports do not come from the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, which has confirmed no bull sharks this year…But Howard Sefton, of Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle, trusts the folks who tell him their friends or neighbors have hauled in a 4-footer, a 6-footer and a 7-footer in the past several weeks. 

“ ‘I’ve had a couple people call me about it and tell me there were sharks in the Mullica. They’re not going to swim there anymore.” 

Now while bull sharks supposedly have not been seen so far up the river, it was back in 1916 that one or two such sharks launched a series of attacks in New Jersey’s freshwater estuaries that killed four. [Later serving as the inspiration for Peter Benchley’s “Jaws.”] 

Some in the area are highly skeptical of the latest reports, however. “I think it’s ridiculous,” said Bill DiFilippo. “Bull sharks live in very, very warm water, and I can’t see the water being that warm to support them.” 

Said Captain Sefton, “I guarantee you if the water’s warm, they’re there….They’re opportunistic. They’ll take a meal if it’s thrown in their face.” 

But wait, there’s more! The above forced me to pull out my copy of “Encyclopedia of the Sea” by Richard Ellis and I found the following on bull sharks. 

“A stocky, heavy-bodied carcharhinid shark that can reach a length of 10 feet and a weight of 500 pounds….The upper teeth are broadly triangular and serrated, while the lowers have narrower cusps on a wide base. [Now get this….emphasis mine…] It penetrates easily into freshwater, and has been found far upstream in the Mississippi and the Amazon….The bull shark may be the most dangerous of all shark species, having been responsible for attacks on people in South Africa, Australia, India, North America and elsewhere. It is now believed that bull sharks were responsible for the four fatal attacks along the New Jersey shore during a ten-day period in July 1916.” 

Ah Ha!!! Someone pass this along to Mr. DiFilippo before it’s too late. 

–According to a story in the New York Daily News, a script has been laid out for a “Sopranos” movie but James Gandolfini is balking. Can’t say I blame him. I maintain the ending was perfect. 

But wait… “chatty Lorraine Bracco” says Tony, err, Gandolfini, is just looking for a better script. And get this, Sil (Steve Van Zandt) is “still alive,” according to Springsteen’s bandmate himself. 

“The Yankees’ two biggest stars didn’t act like friends the other night. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, in Chicago to play the White Sox, both ended up at Sunda Asian restaurant Saturday night. ‘They sat at separate tables,’ said one onlooker, ‘and didn’t speak to each other at all.’ After Reggie Jackson stopped by both players’ tables to say hello, Jeter left and, ‘He gestured to A-Rod, but never said ‘hi.’” 

Seriously, Jeter just hates A-Rod, while A-Rod, despite all his records, has a major inferiority complex because Jeter has the four rings and A-Rod has none. 

–So much for Paula Abdul. She was making $4 million a year to be a judge on “American Idol,” asked for $20 million [Simon Cowell reportedly has a new deal paying him about $45 million per, while host Ryan Seacrest signed a $30 million, 3-year contract], then dropped her demand to $12 million. Producers instead offered Paula a 30% increase to a little over $5 million and she walked away. 

Now I think we can all look at some of the numbers and understand Paula wanting to get a little closer to parity with the others, but for crying out loud, girl. Who else is going to pay you $5 million?! 

–I didn’t realize some of the details of the following, from an op-ed in the New York Times by Nancy Sinatra. 

“Songwriters and publishers are paid when their tunes are played on the radio, but none of the artists or musicians who bring the music to life receive even a penny. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing today on legislation that will right this wrong, which dates back to the early days of sound recordings.” 

I knew this much, having acquired the rights to use the 1968 classic “Green Tambourine” when I did my first radio commercials for StocksandNews. I had to pay the songwriter and publisher. But I guess I just naively thought the Lemon Pipers, the group, got something (or as was more likely the case, I probably didn’t give it a thought at all). 

Now we’ve all heard the complaints from the radio station owners over the years, and as Ms. Sinatra points out, they “argue that artists receive free promotion from airplay of their records. This is simply untrue. Most of the music played on AM and FM radio is at least two years old. And the practice of ‘backselling’ – mentioning the name and performer of the song that was played – has fallen into such disuse that a decade ago the nation’s largest radio station operator, Clear Channel, asked for $24,000 per title to mention the song’s artists on the air. It’s no surprise that companies unwilling to even recognize artists on the air would also be averse to paying performance royalties.” 

“Terrestrial radio is the only radio platform that still doesn’t have to pay these royalties.   Internet radio and satellite radio pay artists when they play their records, so do cable television music channels. In fact, AM and FM radio stations that stream their signal online pay performance royalties. 

“The United States is one of a small number of countries where artists and musicians are not compensated when their music is played on over-the-air radio.” 

Of course the record industry has always been as dirty a business as there is, particularly when it came to the early rock acts not getting their fair share of royalties off actual sales, but the above only compounds the issue. The radio stations, on the other hand, argue they can’t afford any increased fees and these days, with the depression in advertising, they’re right. 

Top 3 songs for the week of 8/7/65: #1 “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” (Herman’s Hermits) #2 “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones) #3 “What’s New Pussycat?” (Tom Jones)…and…#4 “Save Your Heart For Me” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys…always have to note they were underrated) #5 “I Got You Babe” (Sonny & Cher) #6 “Yes, I’m Ready” (Barbara Mason) #7 “I Like It Like That” (The Dave Clark Five) #8 “Cara, Mia” (Jay & The Americans…favorites of John Gotti; Jay Black, that is) #9 “I Can’t Help Myself” (Four Tops) #10 “Don’t Just Stand There” (Patty Duke…another great week) 

Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Six pitchers to win 27, post-1950.