Baseball Quiz: Basics everyone should know…1) Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, April 15, 1947. On July 5 of that year, Larry Doby became the first American Leaguer to do so with Cleveland. Hank Thompson was third, St. Louis Browns, A.L. Who was No. 4, the second National Leaguer, who broke in together with the same Hank Thompson (who had signed as a free agent) with the New York Giants on July 8, 1949? 2) The Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate when Pumpsie Green took the field. What year was that? Answers below.
Grete Waitz, RIP
The woman who single-handedly popularized distance running for women worldwide, Grete Waitz, died of cancer on Tuesday. She was just 57.
Imagine. In 1978 she set a world record of 2 hours 32 minutes 30 seconds in winning the first marathon she ever ran in, New York, and then went on to win that race another 8 times. She also won the London Marathon twice and was silver medalist in the event at the 1984 Olympics. But before that she twice set the world record at 3,000 meters and set world records at distances of 8 kilometers, 10 km, 15 km and 10 miles.
In her first New York City Marathon, however, women made up just 938 of 8,937 entrants. In 2010, 16,253 of 45,350 entrants were women.
When she ran in 1978, she had never done more than 13 miles in training.
“(Waitz) was lionized in this country, and especially in New York, and the image of her on the road – a quick, efficient stride, her pigtails slicing back and forth like metronomic windshield wipers – became familiar.
“She won her victories as the popularity of the New York marathon itself surged, and she became a celebrity in the city. Cabdrivers and the homeless called her by her first name.”
“She was slender and elfin, a wood sprite in appearance, not the brash and hardy species normally found around New York’s First Avenue.
“She was repelled by the noise, the bluster, the first she descended from the Queensboro Bridge into the maelstrom of Manhattan. Her first instinct was to recoil. Yet Grete Waitz kept going – set a world record, out of fear, perhaps – and then came to own the city as no female athlete ever has.
“The tennis players who dominated the United States Open out in Queens, the basketball players who thrilled Madison Square Garden, the soccer players and golfers and runners who passed through, no female athlete ever had an era the way Waitz did from 1978 through 1988 when she won nine New York City Marathons….
“Year after year, Waitz mowed down the ‘vimmen,’ as (the late Fred) Lebow said in his lush Romanian accent, and she also passed scores of men, some of whom applauded her, some of whom turned away in shame.”
George Hirsch, chairman of the New York Road Runners, said, “Every sport should have a true champion like Grete. A woman with such dignity and humanity and modesty. New York adopted her as one of its true heroes.”
In 1992, rather than go for her 10th New York City marathon, Grete ran side-by-side with the cancer stricken Lebow, who meant so much to the race himself, and they finished in about 5 ½ hours. Some say it was the best marathon performance ever.
–Us Knicks fans are frustrated. We go up to Boston and lose two games we should have won, 87-85 and 96-93. In the second contest on Tuesday, Carmelo Anthony made up for his first-game choke job by scoring 42 and hauling down 17 rebounds in a superb effort as Amar’e Stoudemire was sidelined early with back spasms.
“Carmelo Anthony took on the entire Celtics franchise last night and nearly beat it by himself in one of the great individual Knicks playoff performances.
“With Chauncey Billups out with a left knee strain and Amar’e Stoudemire leaving the game late in the first half, Anthony did everything but part the Red Sea to try to tie this playoff series.
“But there was no miracle in the end. Trailing by one in the frantic final seconds, Anthony, after a double-team came, passed up on a final shot and passed inside to Jared Jeffries. With Kevin Garnett closing hard on him, Jeffries, the Knicks’ offensively challenged big man, committed a turnover, his nervous pass to Billy Walker knocked away.”
I’ve never understood the fascination with Jared Jeffries (like I’ve never also understood the fascination with center Jason Collins).
Oh, and nice game, Billy Walker…0 for 11 from the field, and with some of the stupidest tattoos on his neck.
–The April 25 Sports Illustrated has a poll of 166 NBA players who were asked, “Who do you want shooting with the game on the line?”
Kobe Bryant got 74%, with Kevin Durrant a distant second at 8% and Dwyane Wade third with a whopping 3%. Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki each had 2%.
I just had to laugh seeing as how you don’t see LeBron here, do you?
–The North Carolina Tar Heels will return all five starters and their top seven scorers from last season (plus welcome two incoming McDonald’s All-Americans) with the announcement that Harrison Barnes is joining teammates John Henson and Tyler Zeller in not going out early for the NBA draft. They will thus run the table…go undefeated. And so as much as it pains me to say this, being a Wake Forest alum, UNC is going to be the big story and barring injury they have the potential to go down as one of the top three or four teams of all time.
Barnes was the key and in a statement on Monday said, “As a team, we’re preparing for a special season. My offseason plans are to diligently work on honing my basketball skills in all areas with one team goal in mind – to bring the 2012 national championship home to UNC.
“As an 18-year-old, I’m in the early stages of my life journey. I’m honored and blessed for the chance to play in the NBA. And because of my family, teachers, passion, and work, I have the ultimate dream of one day playing and experiencing a fulfilling career in the NBA.”
I wrote before the season started last year that it was absurd Barnes was the first freshman named to the preseason AP All-American team and he got off to a very slow start. But by end of January he was indeed playing like an All-American and he’s destined for superstardom in the NBA.
For now, though, Carolina fans have reason to be pinching themselves. I’m jealous as hell. I just read an interview with Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik, who led the Deacs to the worst record in ACC history, 1-15 in conference play in his first season, and all I can say is this guy is weird. Very, very weird.
—Ball Bits:
What an embarrassment. 23-year-old Cincinnati pitcher Mike Leake, who is off to a 10-4 start in his major league career and is making $425,000 in this his second season, was arrested for shoplifting six t-shirts from a downtown Macy’s store. The retail value of the merchandise was $59.88.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, police said Leake removed security tags from the shirts and left the store but security personnel detained him.
Speaking of embarrassments, you have my New York Mets. Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal summed up their plight.
“They’re off to a worse start than ‘Spider-Man’ on Broadway. They’ve been more gruesome to watch than the first 15 minutes of ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ They’re the 2011 Mets, and in just 16 games, they have somehow achieved the impossible.
“They’ve managed to play even shoddier than expected. At 5-11, the Mets entered Monday tied for the most losses in the majors. It is their worst start to a season since 1996….
“It is a remarkable feat for a team to make a season feel so utterly over so early.”
Make that 5-12 through Tuesday’s play, the worst mark in the major leagues. The last loss, 6-1 to the equally pitiful Houston Astros, saw the Mets make two more errors, balk in a run, and go 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They are tied with the 1974 Mets for the third-worst record after 17 games, besting only the 1962 and 64 teams that lost 120 and 111 games, respectively.
Carlos Beltran said after Tuesday’s debacle, “This has to stop. We are better than this.”
No you aren’t. Not at all. Look at the face of the franchise, David Wright. His first four full seasons, he struck out 113-118 times each year, but in 2009 he fanned 140 times and last year 161. So far in his first 17 games of 2011, Wright has struck out 20 times while hitting .239.
Meanwhile, as David Waldstein of the New York Times notes, “As of Monday afternoon, thousands of tickets for (Tuesday night’s game at Citi Field) were available on StubHub…including 33 directly behind home plate for $69 and service charges. Face value for those tickets is $134….
“In fact, if you’re not picky about where you sit or who is playing, you can get into the ballpark for as little as $3 a seat.”
“(You) have a brand of baseball that is as unwatchable as anything that is spawned from a no-hope cellar-dweller in late August.
“Already it has come to this: The Mets are giving away ‘complimentary tickets’ to a game against Pittsburgh from May 30-June 2 to any of the 27,032 fans who had a ticket to Tuesday night’s Astros game.
“This was the first in a set of three-game series that presented the Mets with a golden opportunity to change the vibe around the team. Six games at home against Houston and Arizona and three games at Washington. Nine games to put a winning glide back in their stride.
“One problem with this scenario: The Mets don’t know how to win.
“The Mets are 1-7 at home. Citi Field is no sanctuary. The ballpark would play in their favor with good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting. But right now, it’s a mausoleum. It will get emptier, ticket giveaways notwithstanding, if they keep playing like this.”
Back to David Wright, he isn’t the only high-profile player off to a miserable start. Look at the 6-11 Twins, a small-market team that is shelling out $15 million for Justin Morneau this year and $23 million for Joe Mauer.
So how’s that working out? Morneau (thru Tuesday) is hitting .208 with no homers and 3 RBI, while Mauer, he of the 8-year, $184 million contract, is on the DL with a bum leg after opening the season 8 for 34 with no homers and 4 RBI.
In 2009, Mauer hit .365 with 28-96, got the giant contract, the Twinkies making a huge commitment to a hometown boy, and his power numbers dropped precipitously in 2010 in the new park, hitting just nine homers.
So everyone is asking, how long should the Twins allow the 28-year-old Mauer to catch?
Others earning big money and having disastrous starts….
Vernon Wells, Angels, $26.6 million, hitting .169, no homers, 2 RBI. This is beyond obscene.
Carl Crawford, newly signed by Boston, 7-years, $142 million, .133 (8 for 60), no homers, 2 RBI.
Jayson Werth, newly signed by Washington, 7-years, $126 million, .200, 2 homers, 2 RBI.
On the positive side, you have the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, .438, 3-13.
And it’s nice to see Kansas City’s Alex Gordon get off to a great start, .361 with 13 RBI. Since coming up in 2007, he’s been a huge disappointment.
Of course Gordon’s play is one reason why the Royals are a very surprising 11-6.
But how ‘bout them Indians?! Johnny Mac and I, desperate not to have to watch the Mets, are looking for a new team. We had picked out the Twinkies but that’s out the window. Thought about the Orioles because they finished strong last year and they have that stone crab thing goin’ down there, plus the birthplace of the Babe, but they’re below .500.
So we’re going to go Chief Wahoo Nation! Cleveland is 12-5 (tied for best record in baseball with Colorado), has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and great German/Slovak food. Just sayin’. Give me schnitzel, spaetzle and beer and I’m a happy camper.
–Is there an uglier looking group of people than your average golf gallery at a PGA Tour event?
“Roger Goodell wakes up every morning with the weight of the world – or at least ESPN – on his shoulders. The NFL – the lifeblood of America, our annual distraction from economic woe, political quagmire and two wars (or is it three?) – is on the brink of a season lost to a multibillion-dollar labor dispute, and Goodell’s legacy may rest on his ability to break the gridiron gridlock before a single kickoff is missed….
“Here now, a rare inside look at a typical day in the life of the NFL commissioner, grappling moment by moment with the fate of Sports Nation:
7:35 a.m.: Arises, gazes into bathroom mirror and says out loud, “I am Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League.”
7:45: Daily breakfast of strawberries, truffles, a Crepe Suzette and champagne.
8:13: Sets up TiVo for “Around the Horn” and “The Borgias.”
8:27: Cancels weekly foot massage due to minor fungal problem.
9:10: Alphabetizes file of players currently on suspension for drug violations.
9:20: Alphabetizes file of players fined last season for illegal hits.
9:30: Alphabetizes file of players detained by law enforcement in the past 12 months.
10:02: Fires gardener when he catches him watching MLS games instead of watering lawn….
11:53: Calls Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, tells him off the record that a settlement is “impending.”
11:59: Calls back SI’s Peter King, tells him off the record that he meant a settlement is “improbable.”….
2:21: “Get Mubarak on the phone – we’re thinking of playing a game in Cairo!”….
6:33: Asks personal assistant to book him on “Larry King Live.”
6:55: While nobody’s looking, pours a shot of Louis XIII cognac into his cup of tea.
–Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times had a story on 10-time NFL Pro Bowler and Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott, soon to be 52, or “between the days when the crippling hits occurred and the days they actually become crippling. He says he expects to really feel them in his 60s. ‘I know what’s coming,’ Lott says.”
“They make the Hall of Fame for players such as Lott.
“More specific to the topic is that Lott was not just a hard hitter, but a fearless warrior. The stories are legendary:
“Lott tackling Washington Redskins star receiver Art Monk, in Monk’s 15th season, so hard that, as Monk told the Sporting News, the hit ‘pretty much messed me up for my career.’
“Lott coming to the sidelines in the 1989 Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals and telling teammates he would put a stop to Ickey Woods running all over the 49ers. That he did, according to defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes, with one massive hit that took the steam out of Woods the rest of the way.
“But the pinky finger story remains the image that has stuck.
“Late in the 1985 season, he was involved in such a brutal hit on running back Tim Newsome that it literally tore off parts of Lott’s left pinky. Legend has it that part of his skin and bone fragments were left on the field. He played the rest of the game, taped it up for the next (and final) game of the season and played that one, too.
“Then, in the off-season he faced the choice of intricate finger surgery and possibly missed playing time, or amputation of the tip of his finger. He chose amputation and played on for six more years.”
These days, aside from running a successful foundation and owning a number of auto dealerships under the umbrella of Lott Automotive, he works with NFL retirees and has been a member of the NFL Safety Committee. When it comes to the post-career health issues, Lott says:
“I did know what I signed up for. But we didn’t know all the danger signs then. The signs are pretty dramatic now.
“The old players played a role, took a risk, and I think some restitution for that is fair. We need to give those guys a sense of peace….
“Some guys don’t have a chance to have a quality of life as they get older, and that’s not right. We’ve got to find a way to take care of our own. If I’m an NFL owner, I think of these guys as the pillars of what’s been built.”
—Bob Knight had to apologize for comments he made about the 2009-2010 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, specifically in blasting coach John Calipari’s habit of recruiting players who spend just a year on campus before bolting for the NBA. Knight claimed several players that year didn’t attend class during the spring semester.
“Kentucky the year before last started five players in the NCAA tournament games that had not been to class that semester. That’s that one-and-done philosophy.”
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said the school took “great offense” to Knight’s “blatantly erroneous” accusations.
“Academic performance has always been a priority at UK,” said Barnhart.
Turns out one of the five graduated and some finished up the semester. But Knight just hates Calipari and will take any opportunity to dig at his seeming lack of integrity.
–Wednesday night, the New York Rangers host the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series, the Caps up 2-1.
But I thought it was funny how Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau trashed Madison Square Garden, which is in the midst of a massive renovation.
“Well, the one thing, its reputation is far better than the actual building. I mean, it’s nothing. The locker rooms are horrible. The benches are horrible. There’s no room for anything. But the reputation of being in Madison Square Garden is what makes it famous. Also, our building’s a lot louder, too.”
–Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin died of cancer. He was 70. Sarrazin was born in Quebec City, grew up in Montreal, and then signed a contract with Universal in the mid-1960s. Sarrazin was in films like “The Flim-Flam Man” with George C. Scott and then “They Shoot Horses,” which was nominated for nine Academy Awards. He also appeared in “Sometimes a Great Notion,” “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” “Harry in Your pocket,” and “For Pete’s Sake,”
But he lost out for the part of Joe Buck in “Midnight Cowboy” to Jon Voight when the film’s producers wouldn’t agree to Universal’s demands for borrowing Sarrazin.
–A grand jury indicted 23-year-old George Huguely, the former Univ. of Virginia lacrosse player, on murder and other charges in the May 3, 2010, death of Yeardley Love. Love died of trauma to the head. Huguely has been held in jail since his arrest.
–Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai ran the fastest marathon ever in Boston on Monday, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds, but it isn’t being recognized as a world record. I saw this and wondered why and then David P. supplied me with the answer. Turns out it is ineligible for world records because USA Track and Field only recognizes course that meet specific criteria about elevation changes as record-eligible. The course must drop less than one meter per kilometer to fit the standard. For a 26.2-mile race, that’s about 137 feet. Boston, however, has a total drop of 459 feet.
–So I was reading a story on “Most coveted basketball cards” in ESPN The Magazine and No. 6 is the 1969 Topps Lew Alcindor card that I’ve mentioned from time to time I am a proud holder of. [No. 1 is a 1948 Bowman George Mikan]
But I looked up a value for my card and it’s only $225. Geezuz. Back around 1990, it was at least $750, which gives you an idea of how the entire card collecting business has gone to hell because I know baseball cards have seen similar declines.
No. 9 on this ESPN list is a 1969 John Havlicek and it’s all of $24.95. Like whoopty-damn-do.
[For you card collectors, the 1969-70 Topps cards were the long ones and looking back, it covered an era that was simply the greatest in the sport in terms of future Hall of Famers.]
72% of women are turned off by picky eaters [gotta remember this one]
45% of women have incorporated food into sex play
50% of women say they love men who know a lot about food [uh oh]
Only 1% of women say they’d use butter in the bedroom
More than 80% of women said they like a little heat in their dishes [oh baby]
Top 3 songs for the week 4/22/72: #1 “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (Roberta Flack…from “Play Misty for Me,” the scary Clint flick) #2 “Rockin’ Robin” (Michael Jackson…one of his worst) #3 “I Gotcha” (Joe Tex)…and…#4 “A Horse With No Name” (America) #5 “In The Rain” (Dramatics…underrated) #6 “Betcha By Golly, Wow” (The Stylistics) #7 “Day Dreaming” (Aretha Franklin…one of my favorites of hers) #8 “Heart Of Gold” (Neil Young) #9 “A Cowboys Work Is Never Done” (Sonny & Cher) #10 “Doctor My Eyes” (Jackson Browne…first hit)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Monte Irvin, along with teammate Hank Thompson, became the second National Leaguer to break the color barrier on July 8, 1949 with the New York Giants. Unfortunately, Irvin was 30 when he came up but nonetheless had time to have a solid career, hitting .293 with 99 home runs and 443 RBI, leading the league in the latter with 121 in 1951, a year in which he finished third in the MVP voting. Hank Thompson also had some solid years. After coming up in 1947 with St. Louis, Thompson played from 1949-56 with the Giants and banged out 129 homers while driving in 482 to go along with a .267 average. 2) Pumpsie Green integrated the Boston Red Sox in 1959. Green played five seasons in the big leagues, 1959-63, and in 796 at bats hit .246, including a .278 stint to finish his career with the ’63 Mets.
