Baseball Quiz: Easy one for some of you. Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena homered in six straight games before being stopped on Sunday. The record is 8 straight. What three players accomplished this? Answer below.
Zenyatta Breaks the Record!
Celtics take 3-2 lead over L.A.
The World Cup
I love the World Cup…but would someone tell the South Africans to get rid of their freakin’ vuvuzelas?!!! The BBC reported on Sunday that organizing chief Danny Jordaan (sic) may ban them from inside stadiums after complaints from broadcasters and supporters.
“The constant sound of the high-pitched horn-like instrument has so far drowned out much of the atmosphere-generating singing usually associated with games.”
Some of the players are beginning to complain as well. The French captain said, “We can’t sleep at night because of the vuvuzelas. People start playing them from 6:00 a.m. We can’t hear one another out on the pitch because of them.”
I’m so tired of idiots. The South Africans fit the bill. Sorry, but the dream of Nelson Mandela hasn’t been fulfilled in the least the past 16 years of black rule. It is a failed country. It’s as corrupt as any in the world. It has a president, for crying out loud, with three wives. Zuma is an embarrassment. This nation, despite the joy you’re seeing in the carefully cropped footage, is a basketcase.
Meanwhile…the United States earned a critical point in its tie with England on a gaffe by England’s goalkeeper Robert Green that the Brits will be talking about for at least the next 100 years. But the U.S. still needs to beat Slovenia (winner over Algeria on Sunday) this coming Friday. Algeria, by the way, has a great looking jersey. [At the end of the day…that’s what it’s all about.]
Back to Danny Jordaan, he will do the right thing and ban the vuvuzelas. He has to.
“In the days of the struggle (against apartheid) we were singing, all through our history it’s our ability to sing that inspired and drove the emotions.”
The vuvuzelas, on the other hand, cover-up the modern shame of South Africa. And that’s a memo…
Ball Bits
“It’s not exactly 1968 again – but we are dealing with something as close to the Year of the Pitcher as we have seen since muscles in the major leagues began growing suspiciously larger.
“The ERA for the NL is 4.11, lower than at any time since 1992. The ERA for the AL was 4.24, the lowest since 1991….Homers per game, at 2.22 as recently as 2006, were at 1.86 this year and have not been under 2.00 since 1993. [Ed. And I’d add this is despite all the new bandboxes that have been built since the early ‘90s.]….
“Before (Saturday’s) games, 25 starters who qualified for the ERA title had ERAs under 3.00 compared with 11 last year, and just one as recently as 2007….
“There still is nearly two-thirds of a season to go, so maybe there will be an offensive rebound yet. But in conversations with more than two dozen players, coaches, scouts and executives, I sensed a feeling within the game of a shift back toward the mound. Here are three reasons why:
“Drugs. (Steroid use) went from mild to wild somewhere around the work stoppage of 1994-95. All of this is educated guess work, but it seems usage began tapering off in 2006 with a three-strikes-you’re-out testing policy and has continued to diminish for a variety of reasons.”
[Yes, pitchers were on steroids but the advantage goes to the hitter. As Sherman notes, a pitcher’s fastball may increase from 91 to 95 mph, and he may strike out more batters, but “hitters on steroids are believed to gain better eyesight, confidence and strength and if you strike out two guys in an inning, but also give up a homer, you have a nice whiff rate but a 9.00 ERA.”]
“Young Guns: Seven of the majors’ 10 best ERAs were by pitchers 26 or younger….No one 26 or under did it in 2006. See a trend?
“The Cutter: More and more pitchers are throwing it. For example (Mariano) Rivera taught it to Halladay at an All-Star Game, and Halladay went from superb to a Hall of Famer. The pitch has been vital (to the Yankees’ Phil) Hughes, and also to the growth of another emerging young star, Jonathon Niese (of the Mets).”
Speaking of Young Guns, there’s Stephen Strasburg, who on Sunday struggled in his second start against Cleveland, but nonetheless emerged the victor to go 2-0. Strasburg went 5 1/3, allowing one run while walking five and striking out 8. So in 12 1/3 thus far, he’s fanned 22. Strasburg should thank reliever Drew Storen for bailing him out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the sixth.
By the way, the Nationals say Strasburg’s season will end after he pitches 100 to 110 big-league innings, even if they make a playoff run. “We’ll shut him down,” said President Stan Kasten. But assuming he averages 6-7 innings a start, he’s going to be around in September, at least.
Until reading a column by Tyler Kepner of the Times, I didn’t realize that when Willie May had his four-homer game, it was not only a nationally televised contest but Hank Aaron hit two himself.
So we go to Baseballreference.com to look at the box score….April 30, 1961. No wonder in the biography “Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend,” Mays calls it his best game in baseball. 4-for-5 with 8 RBI. In fact the Giants hit four other homers that day…Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, and two by Jose Pagan in a 14-4 drubbing at Milwaukee County Stadium in front of 13,000. And here’s a great name from the past…the home plate umpire was Chris Pelekoudas.
The Mets swept the Orioles in Baltimore, sending Baltimore to 17-46, the exact mark after 63 games that the ’62 Mets had.
Houston’s Carlos Lee is being paid $19 million this season and he’s hitting .226.
The Yankees’ Jorge Posada hit a grand slam on Sunday for the second consecutive game; the first Yankee to do so since Bill Dickey in 1937. Babe Ruth did it twice.
I tell my friends I could really live anywhere…though I’m kind of partial to the Deadwood/Spearfish, South Dakota area…and the last two years I’ve come to love the Oregon coast…but it’s so much fun being in the New York area for one reason…sports. It’s nice to be able to read all the out-of-town stories on the Net, but there’s nothing like living and breathing it as we do here thanks to the likes of A-Rod. I mean, not that this is a newsflash, but Alex Rodriguez truly is a piece of work.
Yours truly may have really nailed an issue a few weeks ago when I questioned whether A-Rod is going to beat all the records he’s supposed to. Suddenly, since then, he has been pulling himself out of games with, first, a “slight groin strain” (see Cameron Diaz), but, second, and far more importantly, pain in his surgically repaired hip (though we are assured the surgery hasn’t been compromised).
“Alex Rodriguez turns 35 next month, and it has been a long time since anybody thought that was old in baseball. Rodriguez was as good and big as he ever was last fall for the Yankees and maybe better.
“Understand: He is still a wonderful ballplayer, a star of his team and his sport. It is just that nobody calls him the hands-down best player in the game anymore, or at least not lately. Maybe he will look like a young 35 over the second half of the season. Right now he doesn’t look like a young 34, or act like one.
“For now, he has eight home runs for the season, which is one less than Mark Teixeira, who has been a soft No. 3 ahead of him. Again: Maybe A-Rod picks it up as soon as he gets back into the lineup, and before long his power numbers are as healthy as he wants them to be….
“Barry Bonds, whose home run total A-Rod is supposed to pass eventually, went bat crazy at the plate after his 35th birthday, but his numbers had a needle in them unless you believe the skinny kid he was with the Pirates blew up into the Michelin Man with normal diet and exercise…
“(For) the 12 seasons starting in 1998, Alex Rodriguez averaged – averaged – 43 home runs a season. Three times he hit more than 50 home runs in a season. Now he has eight home runs through the middle of June. With a groin issue that sounds like a hip issue, a year after hip surgery.”
Tim Smith / New York Daily News…on A-Rod, drama queen
“Rodriguez knew he would cause a stir with the new injury revelation. That is the nature of A-Rod. That is why the dude is ‘day-to-day.’
“During Friday night’s game against the Astros, the Yankees announced that A-Rod would be available to the media outside the Bombers’ clubhouse immediately after the final pitch. And a few minutes after Mariano Rivera got Jason Michaels swinging to end the game, Rodriguez showed up there – more to soak up the moment of me than shed any light on his condition.”
“Rodriguez is going to have to manage this injury in a new way. He’s going to have to cut down on his workload, and you can be sure that as a result of all that, his home run totals will decrease.
“Rodriguez, who is signed through 2017, is sitting on 591 home runs. He is the active leader, but he remains 171 home runs behind Barry Bonds and his 762 homers. Will he be able to catch Bonds?….
Lastly, back to the Armando Galarraga/Jim Joyce call and Commissioner Bud Selig’s decision not to reverse it, while not expanding the use of instant replay anytime soon. I like the idea of Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Hire a fifth umpire to view replays and allow him to overturn decisions. Not sure exactly what calls Rosenthal would like to be reviewed, but I’d say the choice would have to be limited.
Prince of the City
The NCAA slammed USC’s football program with the loss of 30 football scholarships over three years and a two-year bowl ban for infractions during a time in which former coach Pete Carroll led the Trojans to two national titles and seven consecutive Pac-10 Conference championships. The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush, is at the center of the investigation for accepting cash and other benefits from marketing agents, along with former basketball star O.J. Mayo, so the USC men’s basketball program was also hit with penalties. Heck, even women’s tennis was slapped around, the NCAA citing lack of “institutional control” of USC’s entire athletic program.
“He was called the Prince of the City, having taken a once-proud but muddling USC football program and charismatically turned it into one of the most successful, profitable and glamorous brands in sports.
“But after the NCAA rocked USC’s foundation by imposing major sanctions on the school’s athletic program, former coach Pete Carroll’s royal legacy is in a state of flux.
“For some, he will always be regarded as the savior of Troy. For others, the one who led to its fall.
“ ‘I wish it didn’t happen like that,’ Carroll said. ‘It makes me sick that everybody has to go through this.’
“When Carroll left USC for the Seattle Seahawks in January, he was questioned about the timing, skeptics theorizing he departed not for a one-of-a-kind NFL opportunity but to escape the NCAA’s posse and impending hammer. Carroll insisted then and continues to now that the possibility of sanctions had no bearing and ‘was never a factor.’….
“Carroll maintained from the start of the NCAA’s investigation in 2006 that the football program had nothing to worry about, that USC would emerge unscathed. Now, the Trojans are almost certainly looking at a long road back to the top.
“ ‘As the head coach, I’m responsible. But it seems so out of balance,’ Carroll said of the severity of the sanctions. ‘To me there is one major issue: Did the university know? We didn’t know.’”
But you might be thinking, what about Athletic Director Mike Garrett? Somehow, he not only survives, but he’s hardly mentioned in the articles on this mess. At least the L.A. Times’ T.J. Simers blasted him.
“Why has another embarrassing day passed without USC demanding Mike Garrett’s resignation?”
Garrett’s response thus far was at a boosters meeting in Northern California.
“As I read the decision by the NCAA…I read between the lines and there was nothing but a lot of envy,” Garrett said. “They wish they all were Trojans.”
Later he said in his speech, “Today I got a purpose for really wanting to dominate for another 10 years….with the penalty we got I know we’re bigger than life.”
Geezuz. Is this guy a jerk or what?
–On June 14, 1775, Congress adopted the American Continental Army. So Happy 235th Birthday!!! On June 15, Congress chose a veteran of the French and Indian War, George Washington, to take command. A little shaky at the start, Washington was a strong finisher and the result is we don’t have bad teeth. [Though we are lacking big time when it comes to our beer and ale….which shows you how there are tradeoffs in life. Teach this lesson to your children.]
–If you expect me to write pages and pages about the realignment in college sports, think again. I told you before, no topic bores me more. Why? Because the whole deal is so freakin’ stupid.
But for now…it’s Nebraska to the Big-Ten (making it the Big-12), while Colorado accepted an invite to the Pac-10, making the Big-12 the Big-Ten.
So…Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech could go to the Pac-10, making it the Pac-16.
Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State would be left in limbo, but the Mountain West would like Kansas, K-State, and Mizzou.
And back to the Big-Ten, now Big-12, they could yet take Rutgers…or Notre Dame, should the Fighting Irish….oh, I just don’t care.
Except as for what this does to the Big East and basketball, let alone basketball with the other conferences. The remaining Big-12 schools, for example, would like to stay together to form a stronger b-ball conference, sans Nebraska and Colorado. But Wake took Colorado’s coach. So what does this say about my alma mater? [FYI…I’m about to go to war with Wake…I’ll fill you in on all the details this Thursday. It’s personal…involving my advertising with the sports publication.]
–One school that has had a rough go of it with its football program, Oregon, said goodbye for good to quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. You talk about an idiot (of which there are so many these days), Masoli, already suspended for the upcoming season but eligible to come back in 2011 (and able to practice with the team today), was dismissed from the program two days after police stopped his car and allegedly found marijuana in the glove box. He was also driving with a suspended license. But while the charges were relatively light, because he was already on probation as a result of his criminal conviction for burglarizing a fraternity house, Masoli is history.
Coach Chip Kelly said, “I had a plan in place for him to follow, and if he didn’t follow it, he was gone. He didn’t follow it, so he’s gone.”
“It’s hard to feel anything but head-shaking sadness in the wake of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli’s dismissal from the University of Oregon football team after his second legal incident in six months.
“There is sadness at the failure of a remarkable athlete and would-be Heisman Trophy candidate to take advantage of a rare second chance in life….
“Make no mistake – it would have been easier for Kelly to have booted Masoli from the program last March. His continued presence on the team served as an inconvenient reminder of the team’s epidemic of discipline problems earlier this year….
“So there is sadness for a coach who extended himself and his reputation by offering that second chance….
“There is sadness for Duck fans who will be deprived of the opportunity of watching an extraordinarily gifted athlete once again play a game he so clearly loved….”
Oh, c’mon…sadness? No. Frustration and anger? Yes. Like in my case. I have a ton of Duck wear! What am I gonna do with it all? It’s not like Goodwill knows what to do with the stuff.
“Beats the heck out of me. Some guy with gray hair walked in last week and said, ‘Here, take my Duck wear.’”
–I’m glad I went to the Adidas Grand Prix track meet on Saturday. For one reason I had never actually been on Randalls Island and had no idea how easy it was to get to by cab. It’s a great stadium and surrounding park.
But as you can imagine, without Usain Bolt, out with an injury, the meet lost its buzz. A New York Times headline the next day summed it up perfectly.
“Fewer Highlights in a Track Meet Lacking in Glamour.”
But, as I’m partial to distance events, the 800 and 1500 meter races were good. In the men’s 800, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1500, Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, ran but finished sixth, as a South African, Mbulanaeni Mulaudzi, the World Champ in the event in 2009, edged out American Nick Symmonds, the guy I saw win the dramatic 800 at the ’08 U.S. Olympic Trials, the best race ever, in my humble estimation.
In the men’s 1500, a Kenyan, Nicholas Kemboi, surprised a field that included Bernard Lagat, who finished fifth.
In the women’s 800, the very cute Laura Januszewski prevailed.
But for me the highlight ended up being the boys’ high school mile…or rather “The Jim Ryun Boys’ High School Dream Mile”…with Jim Ryun himself on hand.
Jim Ryun! Us runners (since I ran in high school I can loosely…very loosely…call myself one) worship the guy and the former congressman looks phenomenal at age 63. I mean consider this. Ryun was the first high-schooler to break 4 minutes in the mile, 1964, and all these years later, he still holds five of the top six high school times in the event…record-holder Alan Webb having the other, though Webb didn’t set his mark (3:53.43) until 2001.
Anyway, an Illinois kid, Lukas Verzbicas, won the mile on Saturday in 4:04.38, a race that included the great Rosa twins from New Jersey, who finished 3rd and 5th.
Thanks for indulging me on this. I was ticked to learn afterwards I missed a Jim Ryun autograph session (just shaking his hand would be enough for me), but I picked up some cool t-shirts (Jamaican, of course). And I indeed had a phenomenal seat right on the finish line…if only Usain had been healthy. DRAT!!!
–So I watched the third period and overtime in the deciding Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals and where have I been the last 40 years or so? I saw the Blackhawks logo with Mr. Blackhawk having a goofy grin and I thought, ‘Oh, they did that to be sort of politically correct. Wouldn’t want to have a mean-looking savage, after all.’ So I go online and that’s been the same logo all these years? It’s stupid. He should have a mean visage, like he wants to rip your face off.
So yesterday, in protest, I wore my University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux shirt around town (a collector’s item as the logo is now history) and at least their chief had a stern look.
Anyway, congratulations to the Blackhawks for capturing their first title since 1961.
–In an amazing self-destruction at the PGA Tour stop in Memphis, Robert Garrigus, who had never won, strode to the 18th with a three-stroke lead. He promptly dumped his tee shot in the water, hit an awful third on the par-4 and ended up with a triple-bogey, sending it to sudden death with Robert Karlsson and Lee Westwood. Westwood prevailed (his first PGA title since 1998). Garrigus went looking for his mother.
—The New Jersey Nets made a great move in selecting Avery Johnson coach.
—The New York Jets slashed the price of 18,000 personal seat licenses in the new stadium by as much as 50%. Heck, the season is three months away! Get movin’…or the rest of us schleps face blackouts. So now some PSLs went from $5,000 to $2,500; $4,000 to $2,500; and $15,000 to $10,000. Fans who already purchased PSLs in the affected sections get the discounted rate.
My friend Pete M. has a quick decision to make, he being a long-time season ticket holder (for business reasons…he’s a Pats fan, actually). So I told Pete, who showed me a letter the team sent, that he shouldn’t bite on the deal until the Jets set up a personal audience with the Flight Crew (the cheerleading squad). Vrooooooom.
–Wide receiver Isaac Bruce, a future Hall of Famer, called it quits after 16 years, 14 with the St. Louis Rams. Bruce retires second all-time in receiving yards with 15,208, and fifth in catches with 1,024. He also helped the Rams win the 2000 Super Bowl.
—Rachel Alexandra won her first race as a four-year-old after finishing second in her first two races of the 2010 campaign by winning a stakes race at Churchill Downs by 10 ½ lengths. That’s more like it, girl! Owner Jess Jackson wants to get her in shape for the Breeders’ Cup in November. This year’s race is at Churchill Downs as well.
But then there’s the aforementioned Zenyatta. What a spectacular race she ran on Sunday at Hollywood Park, winning by a nose. And how big was it? Zenyatta won her 17th straight, breaking the mark of 16 held by Cigar, Citation (1948 Triple Crown winner) and Mister Friskey.
[Look it up on YouTube…the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park. Johnny Mac and I watched it live and it was spectacular given what was at stake.]
So now Zenyatta and Rachel appear destined to face each other in the Breeders Cup, though I’m thinking it might not be The Classic, but rather a pseudo match race. Of course I could be way off on this, but regardless all race fans want these two to finally face each other.
–Update on my Dogs of War piece…the other day in Afghanistan, “Two Australian soldiers and a sniffer dog were killed by a roadside bomb.”
–The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins had a piece on John Wooden and while we’re all John Woodened out…I do like this line of his, as noted by Jenkins, that I didn’t include in all my previous pieces.
–Rats…a United States Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-to-1 that prosecutors attempting to nail Barry Bonds for perjury will not be allowed to use what they claim are positive drug tests and doping calendars because, according to the court, the government can’t authenticate them without the testimony of Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, who has refused to testify about substances he gave Barroid.
Now, a trial is slated to begin in the fall, nearly seven years after Bonds testified before a grand jury that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs and three years after he was indicted for making those statements. Prosecutors still have several witnesses, including Bonds’ former girlfriend, former business manager and former teammates and any good baseball fan should want this to go to trial to get some things down for the record, if nothing else.
As for Anderson, he will be called to testify and the judge, Susan Illston, has already said that if Anderson refuses to talk then, she will place him in federal custody during the trial.
—A horrific crash at New Jersey’s Raceway Park in Old Bridge claimed the life of 58-year-old drag racer Neal Parker. Parker was traveling an estimated 250-300 mph in his Top Alcohol Funny Car when the chute failed to deploy.
“The car ran through a containment area with soft barriers, sand and a safety net and wound up in pieces in front of a wall at the edge of the raceway property.”
While Parker wasn’t known to be a top racer (though he was highly respected), it was two years ago at the same track that one of the best, Scott Kalitta, died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track.
–Aside from the vuvuzela blowers, here’s a big-time jerk. On Friday, the Mets’ Chris Carter hit his first career home run in Baltimore. As reported by Mike Puma of the New York Post:
“The fan who caught the ball was offered autographed baseballs from Wright, Reyes and Francisco Rodriguez in addition to an autographed bat from Carter. The fan declined, saying he also wanted items signed by the Orioles.”
We need his name for “Jerk of the Year” consideration.
–But wait…we have another. 16-year-old rescued teen sailor Abby Sunderland. However, I also have to issue a Hypocrite Alert! When the 16-year-old Aussie, Jessica Watson, completed her quest to become the youngest to circumnavigate the globe solo a month or so ago, I said I had seen an interview with her and thought she was a cute kid and understood why all of Australia was proud.
But notice how America couldn’t give a flying carp about Sunderland or her family. Now Abby tells us, after this huge rescue effort to save her, that “I’m definitely going to sail around the world again or really give it another try,” she told Australian Broadcasting.
What gets me is that the kids doing this, including Sunderland’s brother who accomplished the feat a year ago, launch these efforts and then it’s just expected the world will do all it can to rescue them. Hey, I’m about to get eaten by a killer whale…where is everybody?!
“Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies said a man in the Florida Keys had to call 911 when a stuffed water buffalo’s head mounted on a wall fell on him and pinned him as he slept in a reclining chair….
“The man had apparently woken up when the buffalo head fell on his lap. The head was too heavy for him to lift, but the man was able to reach for his cellphone and call for help.” No word on his status, but I’m guessing Fred Flintstone, or Barney, had something to do with it.
–Congratulations to Jeff B. whose Old Man’s tennis team is 12-0 as it kicks butt on Connecticut competition that includes guys with trophy wives, as he put it. Not that Jeff or I are saying there is anything wrong with trophy wives, you understand.
–Concert tidbit. On Thursday, the Eagles played the New Meadowlands Stadium (no corporate sponsor has emerged as yet). But as Tris McCall of the Star-Ledger noted, the opening act, the Dixie Chicks, ended up being far better. “Never mind that they’re one of the biggest-selling acts in country music history. The Chicks sang and played like they had something to prove.” McCall just felt that the Eagles, by contrast, “hit their marks accurately and methodically,” nothing more.
But for you concertgoers out there, you’ll appreciate this part.
“Sadly, Henley and the Eagles practically threw away their two best songs, playing ‘Take It to the Limit’ and ‘Hotel California’ third and fourth, before they’d gotten warmed up. The crowd seemed surprised: Shouldn’t this monumental work come at the end of the set?”
Goodness gracious. How stupid is that? Personally, I would have used them as a two-song encore, “Hotel California” first.
—Crispian St. Peters, died. He was 71. St. Peters recorded the Top 10 “The Pied Piper” in 1966, which peaked at No. 4 (where it sat three weeks…and over that stretch the songs occupying the slots ahead of it? “Hanky Panky,” “Wild Thing,” “Lil’ Red Riding Hood,” and “Summer In The City.”…and now you know, the rest of the story).
Hey, c’mon babe, follow me, I’m the Pied Piper, follow me….
Top 3 songs for the week 6/10/72: #1 “The Candy Man” (Sammy Davis Jr. with the Mike Curb Congregation…if you knew the Mike Curb angle, pour yourself a frosty) #2 “I’ll Take You There” (The Staple Singers) #3 “Oh Girl” (Chi-Lites)…and…#4 “Song Sung Blue” (Neil Diamond…quite possibly his worst) #5 “Sylvia’s Mother” (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show) #6 “Nice To Be With You” (Gallery) #7 “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (Roberta Flack…from “Play Misty For Me” where Clint is ah, err, err, you know, Donna Mills…as Jessica Walter lies in wait…yet another reason not to be a disc jockey) #8 “Morning Has Broken” (Cat Stevens… terrorist) #9 “Outa-Space” (Billy Preston) #10 “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” (The 5th Dimension…ooh baby…Marilyn)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Homers in eight consecutive games…Dale Long (Pittsburgh, May 19-28, 1956); Don Mattingly (Yankees, July 8-18, 1987); and Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners, July 20-28, 1993).
For Dale Long, he had his streak amidst his best of 10 seasons in the big leagues. That year he finished with 27 homers and 91 RBI. For his career he had 132 roundtrippers.
But here’s an oddity for trivia buffs. He led the National League in triples in ’55 with 13 (tied with Willie Mays); this despite the fact he had a career total of 10 stolen bases! Of course he was playing in cavernous Forbes Field where it was like 786 feet in dead center, with a batting cage to deal with to boot, but still it’s one of the weirder stats in the game.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…the U.S. Open…Tiger Woods is paired with Ernie Els in the first two rounds. Of course it was Els who was particularly critical of Tiger’s behavior. Heh heh.
