NFL Quiz: Name the first three to catch 100 passes in a season. Hint: Two are old AFL. Answer below.
New York Football
I told you last time the next two Sundays were as big as it gets for New York football fans and the Jets and Giants games were absolutely spectacular entertainment…only the Giants’ loss to the Eagles is potentially one of the 2 or 3 most crushing losses in franchise history. I mean to blow a 24-3 halftime lead, and then 31-10 late in the 4th quarter is unfathomable, even if it is Michael Vick. I mean this was a Philly team that saw their coach, Andy Reid, make what seemed at the time to be the ultimate bonehead play in not challenging a fumble with the game 24-10 and his team driving. I thought that ended it. Instead the climax came when the Giants’ punter made a bonehead play of his own in not kicking away from the Eagles’ spectacular imp, DeSean Jackson. Get this, it was only the 9th time in NFL history a team had come from down 21 in the 4th quarter to win, and it was the first time in Eagles history the team scored 28 in the final quarter…and compounding everything was the importance of the game.
As for the Jets, us fans had rightly buried them after the prior two weeks and out of nowhere they put forth a superb effort, particularly the defense in clutch situations, to defeat the Steelers in Pittsburgh, 22-17. So now the Jets just need to either defeat Chicago in the Windy City next week or Buffalo at home the following one to make the postseason. The team’s confidence should have soared back to mid-season levels after Sunday’s exciting finish.
The Giants, though, must travel to Green Bay and beat the Packers to stay in the hunt. Great stuff for the holidays for this area. [Pssst…also, guys, good time to be single…ahem ahem… cough cough.]
Bob Feller…a Great American
I’ve written a ton on Mr. Feller over the years, particularly as it pertains to his years lost in service to his country during World War II and how he left 60-70 wins on the table at the peak of his career, though he himself never saw it that way. I have an autographed baseball from Rapid Robert that my father picked up in 1971 when he was attending a conference in Cleveland and Feller just happened to be in the hotel doing something else, if I recall correctly. What I love is it’s a Cleveland Indians baseball. He was the ultimate Indian, after all.
I’ve also been to Feller’s museum in Van Meter, Iowa (2007) and look forward to going back there this coming summer. I was hoping he’d still be alive then because I was going to buy up all the autographed cards, pictures and baseballs that were available, but, alas, Bob Feller passed away the other day at the age of 92.
“Nobody lives forever and I’ve had a blessed life,” he said in September. “I’d like to stay on this side of the grass for as long as I can, though. I’d really like to see the Indians win a World Series.”
“Few players have ever broken into the majors with the flash of Feller in 1936, and most of those who did eventually lacked the staying power of the 6-foot, 185-pound high-kicking righthander out of Van Meter, Iowa.
“Blessed with a fastball that was clocked at 98.6 mph shortly after his release from the Navy, Feller honed his skills under the watchful eye of his father, Billy, on the family’s own field, hewed out of their 360-acre farm. In July of 1936, Feller caught the eye of scouts as a 17-year-old when he struck out eight of the ‘Gas House Gang’ St. Louis Cardinals in an exhibition game. By then, however, Indians chief scout Cy Slapnicka, upon being alerted to the five no-hitters Feller had pitched for Van Meter High, had secretly signed him to a minor-league contract with Fargo-Morehead of the Northern League.
“At that time, only minor-league teams were permitted to sign high school players, and when Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis learned of the Indians’ violation of the rule, he declared Feller a free agent. Feller, however, elected to re-sign with the Indians for $1 and an autographed team baseball. He never played a game in the minors, instead joining the Indians in the middle of ‘36. After a couple of relief appearances, Feller made his first start against the St. Louis Browns in mid-August and struck out 15 in a 4-1 victory. A month later he struck out 17 Philadelphia Athletics, tying the major-league record and setting an A.L. mark.”
Feller would go on to win 266 games, lead the league in wins six times, strikeouts seven times, and throw three no-hitters and a staggering 12 one-hitters. In looking back at his stats, though, on baseballreference.com, I forgot he also walked a ton. Like try 208 one year. That season, 1938, the 19-year-old threw 277 innings, struck out 240 and walked the 208. Imagine the pitch counts in those games! And boy, the pitching coaches certainly weren’t babying him, were they? [I also just checked because I was curious…Nolan Ryan had seasons where he walked 204 and 202 in his career.]
Ralph Kiner said of Feller, “He was the best pitcher I ever saw. He set strikeout records in an era when nobody struck out.” Very true.
By the way, when Madden mentions Feller throwing one 98.6, understand that as Madden notes that was after Feller had been in the Navy for over three years. Everyone knows he was throwing over 100 before he went into the service. It also needs to be noted that Feller refused to have his speed checked in ’46 unless he was paid (this being before radar guns) so he negotiated a $700 fee. He’d become the consummate promoter. Feller told the New York Times in 1986, “People say, ‘Well you’re out promoting Bob Feller.’ Well, who else would I be promoting?”
When I was at his museum in Van Meter, there was a display of the products he endorsed while pitching with Cleveland and there was an article from the Des Moines Register, circa 1940.
“For ball playing alone, not counting indorsements (sic), Feller probably received between 20 and 25 thousand dollars this year. He is having a new $25,000 home built for his parents at Van Meter. Bob neither smokes nor drinks and has refused money to indorse (sic) cigarets (sic).”
I also noted at the time of my trip that Feller endorsed the kids’ holy trinity of those days: Popsicles, Fudgsicles and Creamsicles. And there was no doubt as to the dedication Bob and his father had for the sport. As Feller told an Akron paper in 2007: “We started out as Catholic but the priest told my father not to play baseball with me on Sundays. We became Methodists.”
In 1940, Feller went 27-11 and pitched a no-hitter on opening day against the White Sox at Comiskey Park, still the only one to accomplish the feat.
Ted Williams once said: “Three days before he pitched, I’d start to think about Robert Feller…I’d sit in my room thinking about him all the time.”
But for all his accomplishments in baseball, in 2007 his wife, Anne, told Sports Illustrated, “I still think Bob’s more proud about his service in the Navy.”
“Heroes don’t return from war,” Feller told USA TODAY in 2007. “It’s a roll of the dice. If a bullet has your name on it, you’re a hero. If you hear a bullet go by, you’re a survivor. There are millions of survivors.”
Ah yes…Bob Feller and the war. In an interview for the Hall of Fame, he was asked how he learned of Pearl Harbor and did he hesitate before enlisting?
“I was leaving the farm to go to the Palmer House hotel in Chicago to sign my contract for the 1942 season. Most of my contracts were signed based on how many fans we would draw at home, and how many games I would win. Starting at 15 wins, I would get $2,500 for every five wins. As I crossed the river on Route 6 outside of Davenport, Iowa, I heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio. I had known this day could come since 1939.
“I knew Gene Tunney, athletics director for the Navy, Jack Dempsey, athletics director for the Coast Guard, and I knew Frank Knox, who was secretary of the Navy. Instead of going to see Slapnicka, I called Tunney at home on Sunday. He flew to Chicago Monday, and I was sworn in on that Tuesday. I reported to boot camp the next day.”
Feller would serve in the Pacific and win five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars. “We were getting the hell kicked out of us,” he once said. “I thought we needed some help.”
With the war over, he would return to the Indians and make nine starts in ‘45 and then in 1946, after being out all those years, he went 26-15 for a team that won only 65 games. Feller pitched 36 complete games, including his second no-hitter, and came out of the bullpen six times. Picture a modern-day ballplayer doing that. [371 innings, 348 strikeouts…and get this, that year he gave up just 11 homers!]
Bob Feller was more than a great pitcher and patriot, however. He was also very outspoken and was often politically incorrect by today’s standards. Once, in complaining about his Hall of Fame plaque making no mention of his war service, then commissioner Peter Ueberroth told him it would be “inconvenient” to change it. Feller replied, “Well, it was inconvenient to get shot at, too.”
“Indeed, when baseball honored Ali by having the former heavyweight champ throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 2004 all-Star Game in Houston, Feller, ever the super patriot, railed: ‘I object strongly to Muhammad Ali being here to throw out the first pitch and you can print that. This is a man who changed his name and changed his religion so he could get out of serving his country and I find that disgusting.’
“After the war, Feller arranged offseason barnstorming baseball tours in which his team of All-Stars, including Stan Musial, Bob Lemon and Mickey Vernon, played exhibition games against Satchel Paige’s Negro League All-Stars. It was in one of those games when his feud with (Jackie) Robinson was set off by another blunt comment. After striking out Robinson in one game, he said of the man who would break baseball’s color barrier in 1947: ‘He’ll never make it because he’s too muscle-bound to handle the high hard one.’
“Robinson never forgot, and years later, when the Dodgers star began speaking out about the baseball establishment’s alleged discrimination in management roles, Feller outspokenly defended the owners. But those who would accuse Feller of being a racist didn’t know that, behind the scenes, he was also one of the biggest proponents for Paige and other Negro League stars’ admission into the Hall of Fame. Coincidentally, Feller and Robinson were inducted into the Hall in the same year, 1962.”
In 1956, as Feller was preparing to retire, he was elected president of baseball’s Players’ Association (which tells you something about the respect his fellow ballplayers had for him), where he advocated for higher minimum salaries and against the reserve clause that bound a player to his team for life. The clause wasn’t lifted until 1975.
“They call baseball the great American pastime but what is more un-American than tying a player to a club against his will?” he said after testifying before Congress in 1957.
Feller was also highly critical of contemporary players, viewing them as spoiled and felt they didn’t work as hard at their craft as the players of Feller’s era did. And he never softened on his stance that Pete Rose should remain banned for betting on baseball and, to say the least, he was adamantly against anyone who cheated by taking steroids from ever getting enshrined into Cooperstown.
And by the way, while Feller himself was often ridiculed for all his appearances on the baseball card show circuit, he gave all his money back to his museum in Van Meter:
“This museum can show kids you can come from anywhere and make it if you have good parents and good people around you – and if you work a little now and then.”
Death of a Funny Man
We note the passing of the great film director, Blake Edwards, at the age of 88. Wife Julie Andrews was at his side. What a legacy he leaves, beginning with the “Pink Panther” movies, and including “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Great Race,” “10,” and “Victor Victoria.” Edwards also created “Peter Gunn,” the television detective series.
But I’ll remember him for one of the most depressing flicks of all time, though also one of the best, “Days of Wine and Roses,” which contains like many of Edwards’ films the music of Henry Mancini (and in this case the lyrics of Johnny Mercer). I was shocked to see that Andy Williams’ version of the title song only hit No. 26 on the Billboard chart. ‘Sup wit dat? Since Edwards’ death, I haven’t had this tune out of my head for more than a few minutes.
The lonely night discloses
Just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you
The film starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick (one of the sexiest women of her time…she died of cancer in 1991 at age 55) as an alcoholic couple and Lemmon said the material was so bleak, it needed a director who could inject humor. Lemmon (and Edwards) were both drinking hard in 1962 when the film was made and a year later Lemmon stopped, saying the movie “had as much to do with it as anything did.”
Edwards himself was a lifelong depressive and he told the New York Times in 2001 “that at one point his depression was so bad that he became ‘seriously suicidal.’ After deciding that shooting himself would be too messy and drowning too uncertain, he decided to slit his wrists on the beach at Malibu while looking at the ocean. But while he was holding a two-sided razor, his Great Dane started licking his ear, and his retriever, eager for a game of fetch, dropped a ball in his lap. Attempting to get the dog to go away, Mr. Edwards threw the ball, dropped the razor and dislocated his shoulder. ‘So I think to myself,’ he said, ‘this just isn’t a day to commit suicide.’ Trying to retrieve the razor, he stepped on it and ended up in the emergency room.”
Yes, black farce. The movie “10” was largely personal for Edwards as he was going through his own midlife crisis, a la Dudley Moore in the flick.
[Bo Derek told the Los Angeles Times, Thursday, that while making “10,” she would “watch him, see this wicked, mischievous expression had come across his face and know that he had thought of something hilarious. It was a very nurturing environment, and I’ve never had that since.”]
As for his relationship with Ms. Andrews, the two talked about their courtship in a joint interview for Playboy in 1982. Edwards, “who had never met Ms. Andrews, wowed a party crowd that was speculating on the reason for her phenomenal success. ‘I can tell you exactly what it is,’ he said. ‘She has lilacs for pubic hair.’ Ms. Andrews sent Mr. Edwards a lilac bush shortly after they started dating, and their marriage lasted 41 years.” [Aljean Harmetz / New York Times]
Edwards once said, “My entire life has been a search for a funny side to that very tough life out there. I developed a kind of eye for scenes that made me laugh to take the pain away.”
Julie Andrews issued a statement: “He was the most unique man I have ever known – and he was my mate. He will be missed beyond words and will forever be in my heart.”
I’ll make a prediction. Ms. Andrews, who handily makes my top ten list for “Great People on Earth,” will introduce a moving (and funny) tribute to her husband at The Oscars.
College Football
–Well, I imagine Johnny Mac and I are the only ones in the area (Penn../N.J.), who have Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawkwear, but I have to admit while I watched the entire Division III championship game between the Warhawks and the Purple Raiders of Mount Union, I didn’t have it on. [Couldn’t find it because of all the Duckwear in the drawer.] But the Warhawks won their third national championship in four years, 31-21, in a highly entertaining contest, which also happens to be 3 titles in four years of coaching for Whitewater’s Lance Leipold, who also now has a 30-game winning streak. [Mount Union coach Larry Kehres has 10 titles.]
It’s really amazing that these two schools have matched up for the championship a staggering six consecutive seasons! I mean think about that…there are a ton of schools in Division III. Imagine Duke and Michigan State playing for the NCAA basketball title six straight years.
Anyway, Whitewater running back Levell Coppage had 299 yards rushing.
–The Division I-AA title game on Jan. 7 will feature Eastern Washington vs. Delaware. I’m kicking myself because when I went out to Idaho for the Boise State game last month, I drove past the exit for Eastern Washington and should have made a quick detour. You need to grab these opportunities when you can, kids!
–Johnny Mac passed along the story that the new head football coach at Vanderbilt is none other than James Franklin, who had been the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Maryland, but, more importantly in terms of J. Mac, he was a former quarterback at East Stroudsburg University, Johnny’s hometown team these days as yours truly writes this column in his own ESU Warriorwear fleece.
But while Franklin was heir apparent to Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, now it appears that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will replace Friedgen as Maryland rolls the dice. Leach, you’ll recall, was the ultimate control freak and it cost him his job as he was fired for insubordination for allegedly mistreating receiver Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James. Leach is all tied up in legal proceedings involving both Tech and ESPN, the latter being sued for slander. I think Maryland is making a huge mistake.
“Hey, great news, only three more weeks to the BCS championship game!”
NFL Bits
–What a mess the whole situation with Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi turned into, simply because the Jets, and coach Rex Ryan, didn’t tell the truth.
“It has all the ingredients of a scandal in the making: Higher ups plead ignorance while a subordinate accepts total blame for an egregious act.
“Whether it was Watergate, Iran-Contra, an episode of ’24,’ or a James Bond movie, we have seen this kind of thing before, only never in football.
“We may never know if (Alosi) was acting alone when he instructed several inactive players to stand shoulder-to-shoulder along the sidelines during Sunday’s game against the Dolphins. We only know that Rex Ryan and the Jets have egg on their face yet again….
“What seemed like a moment of really bad judgment now has conspiracy theorists throughout the NFL wondering who knew what and when? For those growing bored trying to figure out whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, now they have Salgate to contemplate.”
An ‘in-house’ investigation confirmed Alosi had instructed the players to stand side-by-side, “forcing the gunner (on punt return teams) to run around them,” said GM Mike Tannenbaum.
But Tannenbaum said Alosi acted alone and neither Ryan nor special teams coach Mike Westhoff had any knowledge of what was going on.
“Sorry, but it isn’t just about Sal….Apparently, this has been going on for a while. If Ryan is as close to his players and coaches as he portrays himself to be, how could he not have known – and condoned – what was happening?
“ ‘Certainly, it was something I was not aware of, so I don’t see how anybody else was aware of it,’ Ryan said yesterday….
“In a span of a few months, they have gone from the Hard Knocks Jets to the Hard Luck Jets. From eating cheeseburgers on the field during warm-ups in the preseason to being investigated by the NFL for harassing female reporter Inez Sainz in their locker room to Braylon Edwards being charged with DWI to a coach tripping an opponent during a game, the Jets have become football’s version of ‘Animal House.’
“Ultimately, Ryan is responsible for what goes on along his sidelines.”
“Coach Rex Ryan and (Mike Westhoff) both tried to distance themselves from the controversy, claiming that Alosi acted unilaterally. So they expect us to believe that a strength and conditioning coach, a guy at the bottom of the coaching-staff food chain, was doing something illegal and they knew nothing about it.
“(This) story transcends Alosi because it underscores the Jets’ image as an undisciplined franchise.
“The head coach flips the bird to drunken fans at a wrestling match. The star receiver gets arrested for drunk driving. Players and coaches act like fraternity boys when an attractive TV reporter from Mexico attends practice. A coach trips a player. The team tries to cover up an illegal sideline tactic.
“What’s next, a coach impugning another team by claiming it does the same thing?
“Oh, wait, that actually happened. Westhoff…accused the New England Patriots of employing sideline walls. Later, in the Jets’ interview room, he didn’t back down, saying ‘Just watch the tape. You tell me.’
“That’s just wrong. Maybe Westhoff is right – maybe the Patriots have done it – but it was downright reckless to bring them into the mess. The way their season is going, the Jets should worry about scoring a touchdown, not napalming the enemy to the north.”
Thankfully, the Jets win on Sunday will negate much of the coverage of this incident until perhaps after the regular season when Alosi spills the beans to Sports Illustrated.
–The Donovan McNabb situation is classic. The 34-year-old, six-time Pro Bowl quarterback, was benched for the remainder of the season by Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan in favor of the incredibly mediocre (if even that) Rex Grossman. Shanahan added that he told McNabb, “I cannot guarantee him that he will be back next year.” McNabb has already thrown for a career high 15 interceptions and is the 25th-ranked QB in football.
Well, that’s what your editor said awhile back after McNabb signed his highly-publicized $78 million contract extension earlier this season. The thing is, Washington only guaranteed him an extra $3.5 million this year. The team can cut him before next season and not be on the hook for another cent! Ergo, Donovan will be back out looking for work.
But I got a kick out of Mrs. McNabb, who on learning of her husband’s demotion canceled an interview with the AP in which she had planned to promote a charity event involving NFL wives. If I wasn’t in such a forgiving mood this holiday season, I’d throw her in the file for “Jerk of the Year” consideration.
[As for Rex Grossman, he threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns (but also two interceptions) in Washington’s 33-30 loss to Dallas.]
–NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expressed optimism a new labor agreement could be in place by the Super Bowl, but players’ union chief Kevin Mawae said the two sides are far apart on revenue sharing as the owners plead poverty even though the league has never been more profitable. Plus, the players are hardly fired up about expanding the season to 18 games.
“It’s nearly an impossible sell for the players,” Mawae said this week. “It’s not about the finances, it’s not about the payment. It’s about the body and the wear and tear a player takes…There would have to be a lot of give from the management and the NFL side to get the 18 games.”
–Among Sunday’s other contests, the Jets win looms even larger as their opponent on the final week, Buffalo, is playing inspired ball down the stretch and will be a tough squad to face on Jan. 2; the Bills defeating Miami 17-14 to go 4-10 and eliminate the Dolphins from the wildcard picture. Detroit dealt Tampa Bay a huge loss, 23-20, sending the Bucs to 8-6. The Colts tied up the Jaguars in the AFC South at 8-6 as they defeated Jacksonville in their big matchup, 34-24.
And…I’m handing out another Bar Chat Medal of Merit (yet to be minted…actually I don’t even have the raw materials yet) to Phil W., who all year has been working the sidelines of Carolina Panthers games doing things such as coordinating press conferences and making sure the visiting team is taken care of. In other words, Phil has seen some of the worst football in the history of the sport, up close and way too personal. But he was there Sunday for Carolina’s thrilling second win of the season, a 19-12 affair over equally hideous Arizona. Phil is shellshocked over his experience in Charlotte. Pray for him. As a fellow Demon Deacon alum, it’s been doubly tough.
College Basketball
My San Diego State Aztecs stayed undefeated in beating UC Santa Barbara 90-64. Whereas SDSU was 0-for-18 from three the last game, this time they were 12-of-24 from downtown as their two sick starters returned. But conference foe BYU suffered its first loss, losing to UCLA 86-79, while a mediocre Gonzaga team upset undefeated Baylor 68-64. Another upset of note, Illinois-Chicago defeated No. 14 Illinois 57-54. No. 24 Florida beat No. 6 Kansas State.
And…Wake Forest lost to Xavier 83-75, but at least the Deacs showed up; this after barely defeating 0-9 UNCG, 69-67, in what would have been the most embarrassing loss in the history of the program.
NBA Bytes:
–The Knicks had their version of Dream Week…games against Denver, Boston, and Miami, and proved they are a playoff caliber team in defeating the Nuggets, taking the Celtics down to the final second, and playing Miami (which sadly now has its act together) even for a half before getting blown out in the second. The NBA is full of awful clubs and for this reason the Knicks should finish about 44-38 and then lose in the first round of the playoffs.
They aren’t any better than that because on Saturday night, obviously spent from their tough week, including the Heat on Friday, the Knicks lost to the lowly Cavaliers in overtime.
Believe it or not, for the first time in years I had the entire Saturday game on (in the background at least) and now I can finally conclude as others have been saying that it’s time to get Carmelo Anthony. What the Knicks have today is exciting, especially compared to the prior nine seasons, but Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton could use a running buddy like Anthony and then the Knicks could suddenly call themselves legitimate contenders. They’ll have to give up a lot to get Melo, no doubt, but the time to pull the trigger is now. Go for it.
–Interesting transformation down in Orlando (I’m faking interest) with the acquisition of Gilbert Arenas and his arsenal from Washington, as well as Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson from Phoenix, with Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis and others being shipped out. After making the NBA finals two years ago, Orlando has been a huge disappointment. At least now if Arenas doesn’t work out on the court, he can do some kind of Buffalo Bill Wild West Show at halftime.
–You have to feel sorry for Houston’s Yao Ming, who by all accounts is just a great guy, aside from being a talented 7’6” center, as it appears he is finished for another season with a fracture in his troubled left ankle. Granted, Yao’s pain is assuaged by his $17.8 million contract, but he is a terrific goodwill ambassador for the sport.
Yao’s best stretch was 2005-08 when he averaged over 22 points and 10 rebounds a game, but he also just appeared in 57, 48, and 55 games during that period. And he sat out all of 2009-10. For his career he’s averaged 19 and 9.
Ball Bits:
—Phil Cavarretta, the longtime Chicago Cub and 1945 N.L. MVP and batting champion died. He was 94. Cavarretta played for the Cubbies from 1934-53, and then finished up with the White Sox in ’54-’55, accumulating 1,977 hits and a .293 career average. But it was in 1945 that he shined as he led the Cubs to the World Series where they lost to Detroit. That season, Cavarretta hit .355 and had a .449 on-base percentage with 97 RBI.
Cavarretta played in three World Series (1935, ’38 and’45) and hit .317 (but .462 and .423 in the last two). In case you were wondering, he was exempt from military service because of an ear problem.
In 1951, Cavarretta was named player-manager of the Cubs mid-season, replacing Frankie Frisch, and lasted through ’53. But on March 29, 1954, he gave the Cubs’ owner a frank assessment of the team’s chances and was fired for his “defeatist attitude,” making him the first modern manager to be canned during spring training. Later he was the Mets’ minor league hitting instructor. [“The Biographical Encyclopedia of Baseball.”]
–And we note the passing of former ballplayer Walt Dropo at the age of 87. Dropo had an interesting career. As a 27-year-old rookie for the Boston Red Sox in 1950, he had far and away his best season, winning the Rookie of the Year award over the Yankees’ Whitey Ford as he hit .322 with 34 home runs and a league-leading 144 RBIs in just 136 games. But the next year he broke his wrist and wasn’t the same afterwards, hitting .270 in a career that would take him to five clubs, belting 152 homers and driving in 704 with 1,113 hits. I do have to note, though, that after being traded to Detroit in early 1952 as part of a 9-player deal, Dropo had 12 hits in consecutive at bats over a three-game stretch. Finally, lefty Lou Sleater of the Senators got Dropo to pop up to the catcher. The next day Dropo had three hits to tie an A.L. record of 15 in four consecutive games.
What I also didn’t know was what a star at the University of Connecticut Dropo was, particularly on the basketball court, where according to a Yahoo Sports obituary he still ranks second in career scoring at 20.7 points per game.
—Pedro Feliciano, ex- of the Mets, signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Yankees. Feliciano has an MLB-leading 344 appearances the last four years out of the bullpen. And Kerry Wood, who was such an important late-season pickup in 2010 for the Yanks, returned to the Chicago Cubs.
–The Twins signed one of those intriguing Japanese ballplayers, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, a second baseman/shortstop who was a Japanese league batting champion. And what’s this? The Brewers shocked the world (well, it is a surprise) by trading for Zack Greinke of Kansas City as part of a multi-player deal. Can Greinke regain his Cy Young form of 2009? If so, the Brewers can make some real noise and certainly challenge in the N.L. Central.
–Can’t say I blame San Francisco’s Edgar Renteria for feeling insulted by the team’s $1 million contract offer after he was named World Series MVP. True, the guy has been injury-plagued but he’s still obviously valuable when healthy.
Albert Pujols, that is, with the slugger being eligible for free agency after the 2011 season unless the Cardinals can work out an extension beforehand. I mean look at the absurd money the likes of Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford are receiving, $18 million and $20 million per, respectively. So USA TODAY polled a number of baseball officials and the average deal for Pujols, who turns 31 next month, would be eight years, $209.8 million, or $26.23 million per season.
Will the Cardinals say they just can’t afford, say, $24 million for seven or eight years? Now that the Jeter situation has been resolved, what to pay Pujols becomes the most fascinating contract issue in the game.
—Barry Bonds is trying to stop the government from calling Benito Santiago and Jason Giambi as witnesses for his trial on obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury, slated to begin in March. Giambi and Santiago are supposedly going to testify they received performance-enhancing drugs from Bonds’ former trainer.
Stuff, part deux
–Congratulations to the UConn women’s basketball team for tying UCLA’s men’s team and its all-time 88-game winning streak from 1971-74 in defeating Ohio State on Sunday. They will break the streak on Tuesday. [I’ll comment on coach Geno Auriemma’s post-game remarks next time.]
—Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is clearly a tool shed; he having been responsible for the incredibly moronic names of “Leaders” and “Legends” for the conference’s two new six-team divisions. Days after selecting these monikers, Delany said they might not be “sustainable” and that change could be in order.
“We’ve had enough experience with names and expansion and development of divisions that we know that you rarely get a 90% approval rating,” Delany told a Chicago radio station. “But to get a 90% non-approval rating was really surprising. It showed that we didn’t connect with our fans in a way that we wanted to. It’s humbling, to say the least.”
[Just go with East/West, for crying out loud, even if it doesn’t quite match up geographically.]
–So I’m getting a kick out of the stories I’m reading on the possibility that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson may pardon outlaw Billy the Kid by the time Richardson leaves office at yearend. [Right now Richardson is tackling the weightier topic of North Korea.]
Kid is reputed to have killed 21 men and his exploits are well known for fans of the Old West, but at issue is whether then New Mexico territorial Gov. Lew Wallace promised Kid a pardon if he’d testify in a murder trial.
This is pretty cool, and totally appropriate for Richardson to pursue (it can’t all be about preventing nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula), but what gets me is none of the many stories I’ve seen includes a very interesting fact. As long-time readers of this space know, this is the same Lew Wallace who was a controversial Civil War general (deemed a failure famously at Shiloh), and…he’s the author of Ben-Hur!
Oh well…here’s yet another sign of the apocalypse. The Daily News ran the following headline, sic:
[I have been to the excellent General Lew Wallace Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana and had the opportunity to look through the very bible he used in his research for Ben-Hur (and throughout which Wallace scribbled notes in the margins). Trust me, it was cool. Few get to do this.]
–The organizing committee for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics said it broke even, announcing on Friday that it spent $1.86 billion to stage the games. A government report showed the Olympics have so far generated as much as $2.5 billion for British Columbia. In the first three months of 2010, hotel revenues in Vancouver were $128 million higher than they normally would be for the city and Whistler that time of year. Revenue from restaurants and bars was up $127 million in the same time frame. [AP]
–The other day the local NBC station had a story on the woman who was the victim of the savage chimp attack and her return for the first time to the Stamford, Ct., hospital that treated her. The victim’s face is veiled and let’s just say that I’d rather be struck by lightning than attacked by a chimp, who doesn’t stand a chance of being in the top 50 at the unveiling of the next All-Species List. I hate chimps. Total a-holes.
–I saw this in Sunday’s New York Post and just pass it on…I’ll point out the facts that are wrong on the other side.
“A Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt – by accidentally killing a shark with his butt while drunk.
“Dragan Stevic was soused to the gills while partying at the Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh when he inadvertently felled the beast that had been terrorizing tourists for weeks.
“Stevic cannonballed into the water from a high-diving board, according to a Macedonian news agency.
“Instead of making a splash, he came down right on the shark’s head, killing the toothed terror instantly.
“The fun-loving party boy was immediately touted as a local hero who saved tourist season, which had dried up after the shark had injured three people and killed one vacationer.
“Stevic swam to shore and is currently in the hospital recovering from alcohol poisoning.”
Well, this is really careless reporting (Annie Karni) and is missing all kinds of important information, including what kind of shark it was (oceanic whitetip, Ms. Karni?). Where was the diving board? On a boat? Was it part of a long jetty?
But after a cursory look at some Middle East papers, I didn’t see anything to corroborate this tale. Trust me, the killer is still out there.
–A survey of online flirting by dating website Badoo.com has found that the best internet chat-up line for men to use is: “You have beautiful lips.” Another that works, particularly with Italian or Brazilian women, is “You dress beautifully.” Brits like to be complimented on their legs. Spaniards respond to compliments about their hair. I don’t see anything about butts. Just sayin’.
—Pamela Anderson’s cover shot for the January 2011 Playboy is her 13th since her debut in 1989…in case you were wondering.
–I watched the Ricky Gervais comedy act on HBO, Saturday night, and after a weak opening he was pretty good. I especially liked his bit on spiders. “I —-ing hate them! They’re always ready!” [Granted, you have to see this bit for the proper context.]
–Sorry, never got into Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet, and his music in the 1960s but as I know a few of you did we note his passing at the age of 69. Van Vliet in recent years had devoted himself to painting and drawing and his work was good enough that it was on sale for $40,000 at the Michael Werner Gallery in New York earlier this month.
So I just went online, where you can see Captain Beefheart’s work at the Michael Werner website. [michaelwerner.com] It’s ghastly!!!
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/24/83: #1 “Say Say Say” (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson…these collaborations were just pathetic) #2 “Say It Isn’t So” (Daryl Hall-John Oates…did you get their new box set yet? It’s awesome…really) #3 “Union Of The Snake” (Duran Duran…never got into these guys)…and…#4 “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” (Yes) #5 “All Night Long” (Lionel Richie) #6 “Uptown Girl” (Billy Joel…eh) #7 “Love Is A Battlefield” (Pat Benatar…wasn’t into her look then…but I am now!) #8 “Twist Of Fate” (Olivia Newton-John) #9 “Undercover Of The Night” (Rolling Stones) #10 “Break My Stride” (Matthew Wilder…the sound of this one kind of reminds me of Richard Simmons…not that there is anything wrong with that)
NFL Quiz Answer: The first three to catch 100 passes in a season are…Lionel Taylor, Denver, 1961 (100); Charley Hennigan, Houston, 1964 (101) and Art Monk, Washington, 1984 (106).
Jerry Rice was No. 4 with 100 in 1990 and then the following year, Haywood Jeffires, Houston, also with 100. If the question was who was the first to have back-to-back seasons, it would be Sterling Sharpe, Green Bay, 1992-93 (108, 112).
