Baseball Quiz: Stan Musial had 20 triples in each of 1943 and 1946. Name the only three National Leaguers to have 20 in a season since. Answer below.
Ralph Houk
I didn’t have a chance to acknowledge the passing of former Yankees manager Ralph Houk last time; Houk dying Wednesday at the age of 90. But in looking back over his managerial career (he was also a third string catcher for the Yanks, 1947-54, who hit .272 in just 158 career at bats), I had forgotten that he won two World Series and a pennant in his first three years as Yankee skipper, 1961-63. His time afterwards, 1966-73, Yanks; 1974-78, Detroit; and 1981-84, Boston; was nowhere near as good…no further playoff appearances, and he finished up 1619-1531 record, .514. But oh that beginning stretch.
As noted in one of his obituaries, when he was getting ready to manage in his first World Series contest in ’61 vs. Cincinnati, he was asked if he was nervous. “Why, is somebody going to be shooting at me?”
You see, Ralph Houk was awarded a Silver Star for combat in World War II as an armored corps officer, thus earning his later nickname, “Major.” There was no better replacement for Casey Stengel, a man who had won 10 pennants and 7 World Series, than the unflappable Houk, it seemed, and Houk delievered.
Houk was a players’ manager. “I don’t think you can humiliate a player and expect him to perform,” he used to say.
He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, the son of a farmer, and was drafted by the Yankees. But after three years in the minors, World War II called and he would take part in the invasion of Normandy as well as the Battle of the Bulge. When he finally got home, he had a souvenir; a helmet he wore at Omaha Beach with holes in the front and back, a bullet having narrowly missed his skull.
Dave Anderson of the New York Times recalled an interview he did about 50 years ago with Houk’s commanding officer in the 9th Armored Division, Col. Caesar F. Fiore.
“The day I remember best was Dec. 21, 1944,” Fiore said. “We were holed up in the snow in Luxembourg. Five days earlier, the Germans had begun their famous Rundstedt counteroffensive, the Battle of the Bulge. They had attacked with some 250,000 men and nearly 1,000 tanks on the 85-mile Ardennes Front. At Beaufort, where we were, they had engulfed our A Troop. They had shoved the rest of the battalion back three miles through rock-ridged hills to the picture-book medieval town of Waldbillig.
“Houk, then a second lieutenant in B Troop, had taken charge at Waldbillig. Two adjacent platoon leaders had been killed. He was in control of 60 men. They were trying to stay warm. They also were trying to stay alive. From behind the artillery-rubbled stone houses of Waldbillig, Houk could see some 200 Germans in their blue-gray uniforms sneaking through snow-crusted ditches. Then, one by one, six huge Tiger tanks poked their long black snouts out of the fog and clanked down the road toward Houk and his men.”
“Deliberately exposing himself to the withering fire, although the fire was so intense that his clothes were torn by enemy machine-gun bullets, he calmly moved from one position to another, directing his men. As enemy tanks continued to advance, realizing that his guns were ineffective against them, he secured a tank destroyer from an adjacent unit, and personally directing its fire, he forced the enemy to withdraw from the area. Through his gallant leadership, he was directly responsible for repelling the enemy attack.”
Five days later, the day after Christmas, Houk was handed a sealed envelope.
“Get these orders into Bastogne,” Fiore recalled that Houk was told, referring to the Belgian city where the 101st Division was surrounded. “Take a Jeep and two armored cars. If you’re captured, destroy the orders. Burn them. Swallow them. Anything.”
Houk got the orders into Bastogne. The enlisted men idolized “Major.” Once, one was flattened with a bullet-riddled leg. Houk dragged him to safety. The leg had to be amputated, writes Dave Anderson, but he was alive.
Houk was hit with shrapnel in his left leg and was notified he’d be awarded a Purple Heart. “What the hell is this for? I only got a little scratched up.”
Anderson quotes his ages old interview with Col. Fiore.
“I guess I’ve bragged a bit about his being in my outfit,” Fiore said. “Some people have given me a suspicious look as if to say, ‘You’re just talking about him because he’s famous.’ They forget that, in the 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Ralph Houk was famous a long time ago.”
Ralph Houk’s first season as manager was of course a memorable one, aside from the title. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs. With Houk’s passing I have an excuse to go through some of my baseball books and in Daniel Okrent’s and Steve Wulf’s “Baseball Anecdotes,” there is a good description of the pressures Maris faced.
Maris hit his 50th homer on Aug. 22. [Ruth had hit his 50th on Sept. 4, 1927, matched later by Jimmie Foxx in 1932.]
Mickey Mantle pulled to 53-51 at one point but Mickey was nursing a sore forearm and would finish with 54.
“Fifty reporters crowded around Maris’ locker every night, asking the same questions over and over. The Japanese press sent an 18-quesiton questionnaire for him to answer. With 20 games left in the season, 12 before the artificial limit imposed by (Commissioner Ford) Frick, Maris needed four to tie, five to break. Maris started losing his hair. ‘I can’t take it anymore,’ he told Mantle. ‘You got to,’ his teammate answered.
“Tony Kubek, the Yankees shortstop that year, wrote in his book Sixty-One that the Maris home run he most remembered was his 58th. ‘We were playing in Detroit, and I was on second base. Roger was at the plate and stepped out of the batter’s box. He seemed to be staring at the upper deck in right field. I looked out there, but I didn’t see anything. Suddenly, a flock of about 250 Canadian geese appeared on the horizon, flying right over the right-field roof in Tiger Stadium. Roger took off his cap, wiped his brow, and just watched the geese. I know it couldn’t have been more than a minute, but it seemed like about 10 before he put his cap back on and got into the batter’s box. Nestor Chylak was the umpire, and I could see he was getting a little nervous because Roger was holding up the game, but Chylak let Roger stand there looking at the geese. Terry Fox was the Detroit pitcher, and he wasn’t thrilled with the delay. But like Chylak, Terry never said a word. The game just stopped because Roger Maris wanted to watch some geese.”
Years later, Kubek asked Maris about that day and Roger said, “Tony, I can still see those geese. Watching them was so peaceful.” Duly soothed, Maris deposited Terry Fox’s first pitch into the upper deck in right, just below where the geese had flown.
“Maris still had 58 homers the day of the 154th game in Baltimore. While he publicly said he was only concerned about breaking the record in 162 games, he was very nearly a basket case. According to Houk, ‘He came to me and said, ‘Ralph, I don’t feel good. I’m not playing.’ He looked awful….He said, ‘I’m not playing,’ and he was kind of crying. It was sad. It was just we two in the office alone. He said, ‘Ralph, why don’t you just get me out of there?’”
Houk told Roger about all the people that had come to see him and calmed Maris down. Roger proceeded to hit No. 59 against Milt Pappas in his second time up.
“A 32-year-old Baltimore native named Bob Reitz caught the ball, and he was ushered under the stands to meet Maris, who came off the field between innings to get the ball. Reitz didn’t give it to him, though. He wanted money. ‘How much?’ said Maris. “$25,000,” said Reitz. Maris just shook his head. “Are you really going to keep the ball?” asked Maris, and Reitz nodded. “Good luck to you then,” said Maris.
The Yankees clinched the pennant that night and Maris, who hit a few loud fouls the rest of the game, was on 59.
On the Tuesday before the end of the regular season, Maris hit No. 60 off Baltimore’s Jack Fisher. Just 19,000 were on hand in Yankee Stadium and they asked for a curtain call, which Maris reluctantly granted. Mrs. Babe Ruth was there to congratulate him.
“Maris asked Houk for the next day off because his wife was in town, and Thursday was also an off-day, and the manager agreed although he wondered why Maris would forgo a chance for No. 61 with only four games to play.
“Maris showed up on Friday looking like a new man. He went hitless that night, though, and homerless on Saturday, so he still needed one homer to break the record with one day left to play. The crowd numbered only 23,154, small considering the occasion and an offer of $5,000 from a Sacramento, California, restaurateur to anyone who caught the home-run ball. Maris flied out the first time up against Boston’s Tracy Stallard, but in the fourth inning he connected with Stallard’s 2-and-0 pitch, lifting a high fly that landed in the lower portion of the right-field stands.”
Back to Houk’s managerial career, after the 1963 season, he was elevated to general manager, replaced by Yogi Berra on the field. Berra, though, didn’t get along well with the players and was fired after the season, replaced by Johnny Keane, who had managed the Cardinals to the Series title and then quit.
But the Yankees were getting old and the team finished sixth in 1965. After a 4-16 start in ’66, Houk fired Keane and returned to the dugout. From ’66 to ’73, though, wasn’t a good stretch for the Yanks and he quit on the final day, saying “I blame no one but myself.”
Ball Bits:
–How badly do my New York Mets suck? Check this out. In their last 16 games, they’ve scored more than four runs once. Since the All-Star break, they are 2-9, all on the road, and are 10-for-65 with runners in scoring position. On the year, the Mets are 0-38 when trailing after 8 innings, while the opposition already has 12 walk-off wins, just two shy of the club record. I’m going to the game on Tuesday, their first contest since their disastrous road trip, and I will be participating in a riot as we boo the crap out of this sorry excuse for a franchise with a mammoth payroll and tear up Citi Field.
–Then you have the San Diego Padres, 58-39, the best record in the National League. If you thought in March that this would be the case at this point in the season, treat yourself to premium for the balance of the year.
[The Mets started the season with a payroll of $134.4 million, according to USA TODAY Sports Weekly, while the Padres were at $37.8 million.]
–Long ago Yankees fans placed the label “Donnie Baseball” on Don Mattingly for his supposed smarts and knowledge of the game, which is why a mistake he made the other day is garnering so much attention.
It’s long been thought that Mattingly, who has zero managerial experience, would nonetheless replace Joe Torre in Los Angeles, the two having been together for years, first in New York and now L.A., with Donnie as bench coach.
But as Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times picks up the story from last week:
“Subbing for the ejected Torre, Mattingly’s inattention led to the Dodgers’ demise when he inadvertently stepped on the mound twice on one visit in the ninth inning, forcing the removal of closer Jonathan Broxton, which led to a San Francisco Giants comeback against George Sherrill and Travis Schlichting in an 7-5 Giants win.
“After talking with Broxton and positioning the infield, Mattingly briefly left the mound, then stepped back on to the dirt to clarify instructions for first baseman James Loney.
“It was the sort of mistake that one can make in Santo Domingo or Chattanooga. It was the sort of teaching moment that takes place in San Bernardino or Ogden.
“It is not something that should happen on a mound at Dodger Stadium in the middle of a pennant race.”
Mattingly had also screwed up earlier during a spring training split-squad contest in which he was manager, failing to check the lineup card filled out by bench coach Bob Schaefer, “resulting in the umpires receiving a different lineup than the one in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. The Dodgers then batted out of order, chaos ensued and, well, it was all very understandable for a guy making his debut in Midland.
“Not so cool for a guy who could soon sit in the seat once occupied by two guys with plaques in Cooperstown.”
Mattingly insists he doesn’t need to manage in the minor leagues first, but today, even Torre admitted, “That could be a thought.”
–David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal pointed out the stunning season Texas pitcher Cliff Lee is having in terms of his strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is now 14.42…101 strikeouts and 7 walks. The next best in baseball history in Bret Saberhagen, who in 1994 for the Mets had 143 strikeouts and just 13 walks, or a ratio of 11. Only one other pitcher, ever, had a ratio of 10, Jim Whitney of the 1884 Boston Beaneaters…270 Ks / 27 BBs.
[In 1881, Mr. Whitney was 31-33, tossing a cool 552 innings…your basic workhorse. And goodness gracious, ten years later he was dead at the age of 33! It seems “Grasshopper Jim” was hit in the chest by a batted ball, developed TB, and died. He’s buried in Spring Forest Cemetery in Binghamton, NY. Huh, could be an excuse for a little road trip to pay my respects…plus it’s near Cooperstown. But as David Biderman points out, for much of the 1880s, there were also eight balls per walk.]
–And now…A-Rod’s quest for 600…as he finished the weekend at 599.
“There are three great mysteries of life in New York City. The first is, ‘Where are all the baby pigeons?’ The second is, ‘Why aren’t there any awesome tacos?’ The third, of course, is ‘When is Broadway going to make a musical out of ‘Adventures in Babysitting?’
“To this trio of famous New York riddles we can now add a fourth: ‘Why doesn’t anyone care about Alex Rodriguez’s 600th home run?’….
“(The) Yankee third baseman is on the cusp of becoming the youngest player to reach the 600 mark, and there’s more electricity about John Mayer’s Friday concert at the Today show….
“There’s been a lot of misguided speculation about what’s really behind the A-Rod 600 ennui. It’s the pennant race. It’s the long, hot New York summer. It’s the city’s fixation with trying to see Al Pacino in ‘The Merchant of Venice.’
“As always, there’s the hurdle of Mr. Rodriguez’s own personality. He’s a gifted superstar who doesn’t inspire a swell of empathy. Even after finally guiding the Yankees to a championship, Mr. Rodriguez often orbits like an independent spaceship flying high above planet earth, along with his reported co-pilot, Cameron Diaz.
“But let’s not be ridiculous. There’s only one real reason New Yorkers are ambivalent about home run 600. It’s the juice. The PEDs Mr. Rodriguez admitted to using earlier in his career, back when ‘it was a different culture,’ as he told Peter Gammons a couple winters ago.
“For those who felt Mr. Rodriguez deserved a punishment, this is it.
“This is the Scarlet Letter. Mr. Rodriguez’s admission was narrow but its impact is sweeping and severe. One of the game’s great players is closing in on one of the game’s most meaningful records, and the public can hardly contain its disenchantment.”
—Speaking of steroids, Major League Baseball announced it would immediately expand its drug-testing program to include drawing blood from random minor league players in order to test for human growth hormone. It’s the first time a professional league in North America is doing so. The MLB players union, however, isn’t too happy, but there is little it can do as most minor leaguers are not subject to collective-bargaining rules. The union does say, though, that if a verifiable test can be developed, it will be considered.
And on drug testing in general, this year there have been 54 suspensions under the minor league program, with Cincy pitcher Edinson Volquez suspended under the major league deal.
–Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated had the following chart on the number of starts in which a pitcher threw 120 pitches, beginning with 2003, the year Kerry Wood and Mark Prior carried the Cubs to within one game of the World Series, only to be hurt the next season, which changed the way teams thought of extending their starters. But it appears the tide is finally turning back the other way.
2003: 226 starts of 120
2004: 186
2005: 135
2006: 120
2007: 81
2008: 73
2009: 92
2010: 119 [projected]
–Appearing on ABC’s “Nightline,” Floyd Landis was asked, “Did you see Lance Armstrong receiving transfusions?” Landis answered, “Yes.” More than once? “Yes, multiple times.”
Asked whether he thought Armstrong’s performances were fraudulent, Landis said, “Well, it depends on what your definition of fraud is. I mean it – look – if he didn’t win the Tour, someone else that was doped would have won the Tour.”
—Rachel Alexandra won her stakes race on Saturday at Monmouth Park (N.J.) but unfortunately the temperature was over 100 and it had to impact her performance, which was so-so given her standards, plus the heat held the crowd down. It was so bad on Saturday that neighboring tracks in Delaware and Philadelphia canceled their programs. Rachel is probably running next in Saratoga, Aug. 29.
–After the British Open I mentioned that one American seemed to benefit the most, Rickie Fowler, and then in reading my golf magazines afterwards, I saw this in Golfweek.
“Darkness was falling and Rickie Fowler’s Open Championship had been over for more than seven hours. But he just had to walk the Old Course one more time Sunday night.
“No surprise, he went right to the 17th hole and the spot where earlier in the day he had rolled in a birdie.
[This weekend, Bernard Langer won the British Senior Open at Carnoustie, incredibly the first senior major for him.]
–We note the passing of former Steelers coach Bill Cowher’s wife, Kaye, after a battle with skin cancer. She was just 54. The Cowhers met while classmates at North Carolina State in 1976. Bill was on the football team and Kaye was on the women’s squad. She was actually one of the first women in her home state to receive a college athletic scholarship and she was on the team that won the inaugural ACC women’s basketball title in 1978.
Kaye Cowher was a constant presence in the press box, always supportive. But she also convinced Bill to walk away from coaching and get back with his family. Notice how he obeyed, recognizing his marriage was in jeopardy otherwise.
–Long-time readers know how I feel about Chris Paul. He may be a fellow Demon Deacon, but he betrayed the school, in more ways than one…especially in denying us a #1 seed in 2005 (through his stupid, vicious action against Julius Hodge in the last regular season game that year). Frankly, I can’t stand the guy.
So now Paul is bitching about playing in New Orleans and how he wants out. I’m probably the only Knicks fan in America who doesn’t want him, Paul talking about the potentiality of coming here, though his No. 1 choice is Orlando, it seems. But what I didn’t know is that LeBron’s ‘people,’ Maverick Carter et al, have a major influence on Paul’s career, Chris being a friend of the overrated James.
Well now the rest of America is seeing the real Chris Paul. As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports points out, “All this saga promises to do is cast Paul as an insolent star, and James’ group as the ultimate powerbrokers. Paul doesn’t want to hear this, but they’re preying on his insecurities. They’re using him.” Paul should stay in New Orleans.
“(Paul’s) always been better than this, and he needs to be again. As much as ever, the NBA needs Chris Paul to be true to his upbringing and character. Commitment always mattered to him, and it still should with the Hornets.”
Commitment? Bull. Chris Paul has never been about commitment…anyone saying so doesn’t know the full story.
—Dogs score again! From the Star-Ledger:
“For the second time in three weeks an ATM inside of a commercial office building…was the target of a burglary.
“Quinn Fulston, 29, of Newark was charged with burglary and resisting arrest Wednesday night (in Morris Plains, N.J.)….
“Fulston entered the building as a cleaning crew was departing around 11 p.m.”
Police from three towns responded to a call “and set up a perimeter around the building.”
“Confronted inside the building, Fulston evaded police and escaped outside. Police dogs from the Morris County Sheriff’s K-9 unit were released after Fulston. A German Shepherd named Jax captured Fulton after a brief chase in the surrounding forest.”
Needless to say, Jax helps solidify Dog’s No. 1 ranking in the upcoming All-Species List as Man plunges deeper into obscurity.
–Follow-up to a story the other day that an effective way of dealing with baboons is to put out a snake sandwich. I did a bit more research on the topic and I was naïve to the fact that preferably the snake is alive when placed in a hollowed out loaf of bread. “When they grab the bread and find the snake inside, they get such a fright they take good care not to return,” according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, part of the UN. Which is why when you find a loaf of bread on the sidewalk, it’s probably best not to bite into it…for a number of reasons. Actually, I try very hard to avoid baboons at all costs as well.
–It’s official. There is going to be a bear hunt in New Jersey later this year, the first since 2005. It is hoped the state’s bear population will be reduced from near 3,400 to 3,150. Of course the bears know what’s up. Some will either just turn themselves in, hoping for humane treatment, while others no doubt are rapidly stocking their dens with ammunition and provisions for the coming siege.
–Did you see that a world record catfish was caught last week in the Missouri River? Greg Bernal, a laid off land supervisor from Florissant, Mo., was already the state recordholder with a 103-pound catch 20 years ago, but this one weighed in at an even 130 lbs., six pounds heavier than the world record landed about four years ago.
It took a half hour for Bernal and his girlfriend to haul it in. But get this.
“Janet says they were hit by a school of Asian Carp that jumped into their boat. It was a fortunate thing because they used the carp as bait. ‘We took one that jumped in and we said, ‘That’s it. You’re in the boat.’ So, we filleted it and he put it on the hook,’ said Ms. Momphard.”
Yikes. Sounds like you don’t want to piss off Greg and Janet. As in the last thing I’d do would be to trespass on their property, know what I’m sayin’?
—Paul the Octopus is now the subject of a dark comedy, The Murder of Paul the Octopus, with a Chinese film company involved in the effort. China is trying to take advantage of its two obsessions…soccer and gambling. It seems Paul’s exploits really took the nation by storm. But I’m doubting Paul had any real input into the script.
–Australia is now in the midst of a big political campaign to see who its new prime minister will be as current PM Julia Gillard called for a quick election in August. So Gillard and opponent Tony Abbot were to have their only debate, Sunday, but the time was changed to make way for the most watched television program in Aussie history…the MasterChef finale.
Heck, this sounds like something even I would have gotten into. “After 14 weeks of watching 50 contestants steam, fry, bake and cry their way through a series of elimination challenges, up to 5 million Australians are expected to tune in.”
So they moved the debate forward an hour and shortened it by 30 minutes.
–Speaking of eating…a New York restaurant, Serendipity 3 on E. 60th Street, is offering the world’s most expensive hot dog. Actually, I’m not sure it’s a regular thing on the menu but in celebration of National Hot Dog Day, Friday (how the hell did I miss this?), owner Stephen Bruce asked a tourist to spend the dough for a Guinness World Record. “It was great,” said Trudy Tant.
Truffle oil, a salted pretzel bed, truffle butter, duck foie gras, Dijon mustard, Vidalia onions and ketchup…plus the foot-long, of course. Turns out the restaurant also holds the record for the most expensive ice-cream sundae ($1,000). [Just went on their Web site to check the menu… country meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy…I’m drooling…]
—Bill Murray hates doing interviews but is forced to because of his new movie, “Get Low,” and gave the New York Post this interesting comment:
[He’s done four detailed interviews in 10 years and is in the current issue of GQ…where the highlight evidently is Murray’s explanation for how he ended up doing the voice in the “turgid film” Garfield: he thought the scriptwriter, Joel Cohen, was one of the Coen brothers. “So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, ‘Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What the f— was Coen thinking?’ And then they explained it to me: it wasn’t written by that Joel Coen.”]
“I just saw this band the Rascals the other night. They hadn’t played together in 40 years, and seeing them I realized that there’s no other band ever like these guys. The combination of theatricality and vocals and feeling, just feeling, and the ability to rock ‘n’ roll. It was maybe the best thing I’ve ever seen.”
Boy, what an endorsement. [I have a 1970 autographed picture of the group that is very cool.] But what I love about the comment is here I told you what a great show Hall & Oates put on the other month when I saw them (and others have told me how much they enjoyed the joint James Taylor/Carol King shows), and just this week, I purchased tickets to see Todd Rundgren and Tommy James and the Shondels within four days of each other in mid-Sept. at this great theater in Morristown, N.J. Todd Rundgren sang my #1 song all time, “Hello It’s Me,” which rotates in the top slot with “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (Tommy James) and “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” (Elvin Bishop…really Mickey Thomas of Starship). So how pumped am I? I’ve heard that Tommy James sounds great all these years later…I’m about to find out.
[Actually, Tommy James is only 63…the voice could indeed still be pretty good. And now I’m pumped to hear “Sweet Cherry Wine,” too, which has one of the better openings in rock history.]
—The Rolling Stones are starting a farewell tour next year that will last into 2012. I think it’s safe to say this will be a hot ticket. Charlie Watts will turn 70 on it, Ronnie Wood is 63, and Jagger and Richards are 66.
Top 3 songs for the week 7/27/63: [British Invasion mere months away…Rock ‘n’ Roll about to change forever…your editor can’t wait…] #1 “Surf City” (Jan & Dean) #2 “So Much In Love” (The Tymes) #3 “Fingertips – Part 2” (Little Stevie Wonder)…and…#4 “Easier Said Than Done” (The Essex) #5 “Wipe Out” (The Surfaris) #6 “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” (Rolf Harris) #7 “(You’re the) Devil In Disguise” (Elvis Presley) #8 “Blowin’ In The Wind” (Peter, Paul & Mary) #9 “Memphis” (Lonnie Mack) #10 “Just One Look” (Doris Troy)
Baseball Quiz Answer: National Leaguers with 20 triples since 1946…Willie Mays, 20, 1957; Lance Johnson, 21, 1996; Jimmy Rollins, 20, 2007.
