Baseball Quiz: [As I continue to plow through the “2011 Elias Book of Baseball Records”] 1) Lee Richmond and Monte Ward threw the first perfect games in baseball history, both in 1880. There was a long gap before the next one. Who threw it? [Hint: A Hall of Famer] 2) Who is the only hurler to throw a perfect game in the 1980s? 3) Who is the only one to author a perfect game in the 1990s? 4) Hugh Daily (1884) and Grover Alexander (1915) threw four one-hitters in a season, the latter in the N.L. Who is the only American Leaguer to throw three in a season? [Hint: post-1970] Answers below.
Rory, part deux
Because of time constraints, it wasn’t possible to comment further last time on Rory McIlroy’s spectacular U.S. Open performance. Last year’s Open champion and fellow countryman, Graeme McDowell, said:
“It’s been waiting to happen. He’s been this good for a long time, and it’s great to see him fulfill his potential.
“Nothing this kid does ever surprises me…He’s a breath of fresh air for the game, and perhaps we’re ready for golf’s next superstar, and maybe Rory is it.”
“Thinking of moving to Northern Ireland,” tweeted Luke Donald, the No. 1 ranked player in the world.
“Even before Rory McIlroy formally won the U.S. Open at Congressional, doffing his cap and raking his fingers through that rampant black hair as he accepted the roars as his due, the comparison had started. How does he measure up to Tiger Woods? Where do his numbers stack up historically? What champion of the past does he most resemble? But the more relevant point is that he doesn’t particularly remind you of anybody. He’s not a copy, there’s not a hint of imitation in his game or his demeanor. He’s a newly minted brand, a McIlroy….
“ ‘He never hit a bad shot,’ NBC’s Johnny Miller said. ‘Playing against him, a guy that hits his that perfect and that far every time, it’s almost demoralizing. You look at how he strikes the ball, and you wonder if it made Mickelson want to throw his clubs in the water.’ Or better yet, Miller added, ‘maybe caddie for him.’….
“Off the course, he was generous with his galleries, conversational and steadfastly real. ‘He’s very courteous, well-mannered and gives people time,’ (lifelong teacher Michael) Bannon said.
“His agent Chubby Chandler said, ‘He remembers to thank his Mom.’
“Will that change, as he becomes a calibrated public brand, and perhaps even commodified within an inch of his life? His friends doubted it. He still lives in the village of Holywood (sic), his home town just east of Belfast, where he dates a university student he has known since his school days. He owns a six-room house, where he stocked the garage with a Ferrari….
“None of this is to say he is ordinary. Just that, as Padraig Harrington observed, McIlroy may be well-equipped to deal with the extraordinary success that seems to be his future.”
“We should have seen this coming. All the signs were there: the major leads, either on his own or shared, at the previous three Grand Slam events; the dignified manner in which he handled his Sunday debacle at the Masters; his fearlessness in talking publicly about the decline in Tiger Woods’ game; his humanitarian trip to Haiti while almost everyone else was practicing for the U.S. Open – and the resulting dose of perspective that it gave him, as if he needed it.
“Now that it has happened, now that Rory McIlroy has won the U.S. Open in record fashion and announced his arrival as one of the best players in golf, his timing is almost too good to be true. With the game searching for someone to fill the significant void left by the injured and reeling Tiger woods, temporarily if not permanently, along comes a smooth-swinging, engaging, well-rounded 22-year-old from the new and unlikely launching pad of U.S. Open champions: Northern Ireland.
“If McIlroy is the future of golf, the sport is in extremely good hands. He’s no Tiger Woods; Tiger is (or was) a cultural phenomenon with 14 major titles, while Rory is a very promising golfer with one. But he also is so much that Tiger is not: refreshing, approachable, grounded.”
Meanwhile, we’ve now had five consecutive majors without an American winner.
And the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay, on the recent plethora of “good guy” winners in sports.
“Twenty-two-year-old Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland wins the U.S. Open in a record-setting rout, and our country swoons like a hopeful parent cracking the door on prom night. Aw honey, wouldja just look at that kid: so cuuuuute! And did you hear him talk? So humble, so polite, so wealthy – hugs his father on the 18th and thanks his mama on TV. Who isn’t impressed? Rory, by all means, take the keys to the Prius – and get our daughter home by August 2014.
“Then you have your Dallas Mavericks, who did Earth a karmic favor in defeating The Great Spaceship of Outrage, the Miami Heat, in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks now have a stronger claim to being ‘America’s Team’ than any of the sputtering clown cars Jerry Jones has rolled out of his Texas garage in recent year. Who doesn’t admire big Dirk Nowitzki, who plays with the heart of a gladiator and the grace of Don Knotts? And give it up for the ancient point guard Jason Kidd – the man finally wins a title after 62 seasons, and on Monday, he is named the new manager of the Florida Marlins….
“Days later, the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972. It was hard not to pull for Boston after the Vancouver Canucks knocked out a Bruin with a concussion, flopped with bogus injuries after brush contact and the Canucks goalie whined that Boston’s goalie hadn’t complimented his goaltending abilities or the brand new loafers he bought on Gilt.com.
“Then of course Vancouver reacted to its Game 7 loss the way any civilized sports society should – with a flaming car tantrum. The universal condemnation of Vancouver’s criminal hissy fit showed that nobody has patience for this outrageousness anymore. Sports jerks – those love-to-hate basket cases with dubious interpersonal skills – are under siege. Prima donna behavior isn’t being tolerated like it once was….
“(But) every so often, sports needs a new supreme villain, a powerhouse champion that everybody else can rally against. It’s not going to be the Tampa Bay Rays. Once more, it’s up to the Yankees and Red Sox. Both have plenty of enemies, and either would be happy to play that underappreciated part.”
Speaking of the Bruins, Jeff B. passed along a piece from the Boston Globe on the team party at Foxwoods Casino on Saturday night. As in the team racked up a bar tab that totaled $156,679…which included a $100,000 bottle of Ace of Spades “Midas” champagne, and a built-in tip of $24,869 for Danielle (the server whose name is on top of the tab), which she undoubtedly split with a number of her associates.
The “Midas” bottle, by the way, was 30-liters and one of just six in existence. The champagne was poured into the Stanley Cup. The bottle was then signed by all the Boston team members in attendance and will be auctioned off later to benefit the Bruins’ foundation.
But I found the beer selection interesting as a look at the tab revealed.
1 Heineken Light
4 Heineken
2 Blue Moon
1 Corona
1 Amstel Light
2 Coors Light
136 Bud Light
You’d think Bud would find a way to use this in an ad.
Lastly, the Game 7 contest was the most-watched NHL game on American television since 1973 and Montreal vs. Chicago. I have to admit I’m surprised how well the game did. Great sign for the future health of the league.
Ball Bits
—College World Series
North Carolina vs. Vanderbilt winner (Wed. after I’ve gone to post) vs. Florida
The two winners that emerge out of these brackets then face off, best of three, for the NCAA title. Can the ACC do it? Ain’t gonna be easy.
–After Florida Marlins skipper Edwin Rodriguez resigned on Sunday, the team named 80-year-old Jack McKeon (not Jason Kidd, as alluded to above) to serve out the rest of the season on an interim basis. It was back in 2003 that McKeon, who earlier was involved in the original negotiations with France for the Louisiana Purchase, came out of retirement at 72 to take over the Marlins 38 games into the season and by the end of the year, there was Florida, World Series Champs after beating the Yankees.
The only manager in baseball history older than McKeon is Connie Mack, who finally gave it up at age 87.
Prior to McKeon’s initial stint with the Marlins, which ended following the 2005 season, “Trader Jack” (a moniker from his days as a general manager) had managed Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego and Cincinnati to a career record of 1,011-940.
“The newest manager in baseball is older than Willie Mays. He is older than Wilford Brimley and Casey Kasem and Yoko Ono and Regis Philbin….When he managed his first game in the minor leagues, in 1956, the Brooklyn Dodgers were the reigning champions.”
And the first thing McKeon did on Monday was bench All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who has been slumping all season. On Tuesday, McKeon reinstated Ramirez and Hanley responded with two hits in a win.
—Albert Pujols is out for 4-6 weeks in this his key probable walk year after fracturing his wrist on a play at first the other night. Despite a very slow start, he was still on pace for 35+ home runs and 110 RBI.
—Phillies starters are on pace to shatter the all-time record for strikeout-to-walk ratio, striking out 4.37 batters for every batter walked, thru Sunday, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Salfino. No starting staff has ever broken the 4:1 ratio, the best being the 2002 Arizona Diamondbacks, which finished at 3.88, thanks largely to Curt Schilling (6.06) and Randy Johnson (4.63).
–And in Dodger Land, Commissioner Bud Selig rejected a proposed broadcast deal between the team and Fox Sports that would have provided owner Frank McCourt with the wherewithal to meet payroll and hang onto the team. Selig’s decision in essence also invalidates last week’s divorce settlement between Frank and ex-wife Jamie, which had been predicated on both parties receiving a slice of the Fox deal.
Selig said it “would have the effect of mortgaging the future of the franchise to the long-term detriment of the club and its fans.”
Now McCourt has to somehow meet the June 30 payroll and as I go to post, this is very much in doubt. Major League Baseball won’t seize the team until payroll is missed.
The Fox deal was to pay the Dodgers “in excess of” $3 billion over 17 years. MLB execs valued the deal at closer to $1.7 billion. Fox was to pay $385 million in upfront payments. “The league wanted all of that money funneled exclusively to the team, but last week’s divorce settlement earmarked up to $173.5 million for the McCourts and their attorneys.” [Bill Shaikin and David Wharton / Los Angeles Times]
Meanwhile, the product on the field isn’t exactly drawing fans. Thru Tuesday’s play, the Dodgers are 34-41 and after the first 35 home games are down almost 8,400 per game from this point last year. That’s a huge drop. The major league average is down 460 per game in 2011. 19 of 30 teams are down, but 14 of them are down less than 3,000 per game, according to USA TODAY and baseball-reference.com.
Of course at Dodger Stadium, the announced crowds are nowhere near the actual ones. Like 10,000 less than announced.
–Mark R. wanted to make sure I noted the 40th anniversary of the single best performance in the history of baseball, at least for a pitcher, that being June 23, 1971, when Phillies hurler Rick Wise not only no-hit the Reds, 4-0, walking just one, but he also slammed two home runs. No one had ever hit a home run in their own no-hitter (or has since), let alone two. So come up with a better all-around effort…you can’t.
And it’s not as if Wise was facing a weak lineup. The Reds started off that day with Pete Rose, George Foster, Lee May, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Hal McRae.
As for Wise’s career, he had a good one…a very solid one, actually, as he went 188-181 and hit 15 home runs to boot (six in 1971).
But he’ll forever be known as being traded one-up for Steve Carlton. It’s not fair to Wise, but Carlton of course went on to have a spectacular stretch for the Phils and would win 329 in his Hall of Fame career.
–June 23 is also known for a special minor league contest. It was back on April 18, 1981, that the Pawtucket Red Sox took on the Rochester Red Wings, in Pawtucket, R.I. A “cold, crazy night,” as former Red Sox pitcher Bruce Hurst would recall years later.
You see, it became the longest contest in baseball history, going well into the wee hours on April 19, before being halted, and then concluding June 23.
33 innings, 882 pitches, and 156 baseballs used over 8 hours 25 minutes.
The game began on a Saturday night (delayed at the start by a power failure) with 1,740 fans in attendance. When it was stopped, after 32 innings, at 4:09 Easter morning, with the score tied at 2-2, 19 fans were left in the stands.
And the weather was freezing. All the players who participated estimated it was in the 30s, and the wind was blowing at 15 mph making it feel like the 20s.
As the New York Times’ Ira Berkow wrote back in 2006 (I’ve been holding onto the article all these years for just this day):
“The game was stopped after repeated calls to Harold Cooper, the president of the International League, in Columbus, Ohio. Cooper had been at a wedding and did not get home until 3 a.m. Hurst said, ‘I heard that he said: ‘You idiot, this is absurd. Call the game.’’
“The game was amazing to a lot of people, including the wife of Luis Aponte. (Aponte pitched four scoreless innings in relief for Pawtucket.) She had locked the door of their home when he returned at 5 in the morning. ‘She didn’t believe his excuse,’ (teammate Marty) Barrett said.
“The game resumed in June, when the Red Wings were back to play in Pawtucket. The major league players had gone on strike, so there was a great deal of coverage. Almost 5,800 fans were in the stands.
“ ‘Before the game,’ said Joe Morgan, then the Pawtucket manager, ‘some guy from Australia came over to me and said, ‘Sir, do you think this match will be resolved today?’’ It was, in 18 minutes. The Red Sox loaded the bases against Steve Grilli, who was relieved by Cliff Speck. The next batter, first baseman Dave Koza, lined a hit into left field, and Barrett scored the winning run at long last.”
—Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, 1941…continued.
Game 36…June 24…St. Louis…1 for 4
Game 37…June 25…St. Louis…1 for 4…1 HR 3 RBI
Game 38…June 26…St. Louis…1 for 4
–So after Serena Williams’ first-round win at Wimbledon, the media was fawning all over her again as she expressed emotion in her first match back from injury and illness. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of this major league jerk.
But on a different topic, grunting, the head of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club said female tennis players who grunt too loudly are putting off their opponents and spoiling the game for the millions of spectators. Bar Chat had its microphone on Court No. 2 as Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, one of the loudest of the wailers, played her first round match against Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.
[Oops, got Azarenka’s tape mixed up with a Ginger Lee audio.]
“If you’re an NCAA rules junkie, reading the Notice of Allegations handed down on North Carolina’s football program Tuesday must be like unwrapping the latest iPhone.
“Academic fraud? There’s an app for that. Extra benefits? More different types from more different people than you could possibly fit on one screen. Agents? Oh, so many agents – both real and wannabes. And then there’s John Blake, the assistant coach who was secretly working for a sports agent while employed by the university. He might get his own page in the next NCAA manual.
“For all the tawdry scandals that have tarnished college football over the past 12 months – from USC to Tennessee, from Cam Newton to Jim Tressel – one can easily argue that the nine major violations levied against Butch Davis’ program Tuesday contain more filth and more blatant disregard for the rule book than any of them.”
But Davis’ name doesn’t appear anywhere in the 42-page report, so, unlike Tressel, he’s likely to stay, and it’s clear UNC doesn’t face the death penalty.
“(Investigators) apparently felt the school did the best possible job it could in monitoring its rogue defensive line coach/agent runner; its tutors who not only wrote players’ papers but helped pay their parking tickets; and 10 of the 11 individuals (most of them agents, financial advisers or former players) who provided more than $27,000 in benefits to stars like Marvin Austin.”
The charges against Carolina are egregious at virtually every level, but it seems they will escape with relatively minor penalties, though a hearing isn’t scheduled to address it all until October. [The school has 90 days to put together a response.]
–I couldn’t care less about the NFL talks. A deal is struck when it is struck, is the position around here. But I am happy talk of an 18-game schedule is dead.
–You know your sports program is in trouble when the school sports publication, in this case Wake Forest’s, has an interview with the athletic director, Ron Wellman, and while admitting the only two sports most alums care about, football and basketball, had godawful seasons, the AD then chooses to focus on some guy who helped out in a North Carolina community following a tornado.
I mean that’s great, and all, and I’ve done a few good things in my life, too, but for crying out loud…we want to know if the basketball or football teams are going to get better and what the heck you’re going to do about it! Not whether there are some good citizens on either squad. If you just wanted good citizens, I could have played basketball at Wake. Not very well, but you could have said, “The Editor was a good citizen.” Then again, all I did in school was drink beer so this is a very bad example.
[And now you know why I think this was the last time I’ll be advertising in this particular paper. Sure enough, my ad for StockandNews was right below the interview.]
–You know it’s serious when in the current issue of Army Times, of all places, there is a story titled “Black Bear Attacks”.
“Wildlife officials have chased black bears from populated areas in Washington state, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina recently amid reports that deadly attacks are on the rise. A study in the Journal of Wildlife Management revealed that lone male black bears hunting people as food are to blame for the growing number of deadly maulings – the great majority of the 63 fatal black bear attacks* since 1900 occurring after 1960. Researchers suspect the number is rising ‘because there are more people pursuing recreational and commercial activities in black bear habitat,’ said Stephen Herrero, professor emeritus at the University of Calgary.”
*The official Bar Chat figure for fatal bear attacks is 49,865.
And wouldn’t you know, on Monday in Union Township, ten minutes from the global headquarters of StocksandNews, “Police shot and killed a small black bear that was racing around this Union County town,” authorities said. It was near the high school and two grade schools and police felt they had to act.
I alternate my running between the high school track and this big park nearby and when running in the park I’m more concerned with coyotes than bears. Coyotes, which New Jersey has an exploding population of, are nasty.
But what’s this? I kid you not…I just got a recording from the city warning of a bear roaming the streets of Summit! I’m going to stand watch by the elevator just in case. We have little children in the complex that need to be protected, after all. [Now where’s my cooler….]
—Director of Shark Attacks, Bob S., notified me of a significant warning for those of you thinking of hopping on a plane from the New York area today to go swimming at Stinson Beach in Marin County, Calif. “The U.S. Coast Guard has reported spotting a Great White Shark just a few hundred yards off the coast” there, as reported by San Francisco’s CBS affiliate. “Lifeguards will prevent beachgoers from swimming in deep waters for the next four days as a precaution. Wading into shallow water will still be allowed.”
I told Bob that it’s really unfortunate the Coast Guard found Whitey, as it’s been kind of slow around here in the shark attack arena. Bob S. has reason to be concerned, personally, because part of his yearend bonus is based on the number of confirmed hits.
–Actor Ryan Dunn died in a fiery car crash in suburban Philadelphia. The “Jackass” star was 34. Frankly, I couldn’t care less, but as a friend in the area (who I’ll protect, name-wise) said, “The sad part is the guy took out a lot of trees.”
I mean not only had Dunn been drinking up a storm, as he had earlier tweeted pictures of himself doing so, but police suspect he was doing in excess of 100 mph. A passenger was killed, a Navy SEAL.
Movie critic Roger Ebert tweeted, “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.” He later apologized under pressure from creeps like blogger Perez Hilton, who makes my skin crawl. Ebert needn’t have.
“Actor Doug Hutchinson, 51, whose TV and film credits include ‘The Green Mile,’ ‘Lost’ and ‘24,’ said ‘I do’ to 16-year-old aspiring country star Courtney Alexis Stodden in Las Vegas. While the couple’s 35-year age difference has already raised eyebrows, the newlyweds insist they are truly in love.”
Good lord. I know girls can look older and older these days than their actual age, but look up Courtney. She’s 30. Has to be.
Stodden’s mother, Krista, said she is fully supportive.
“The young bride’s mother even went as far as revealing some personal information that would make most children cringe from embarrassment.
Well, at least the kid has that thing going for her, I guess, mused your editor as he banged away haphazardly at the keyboard.
Courtney’s mother added one other piece of information we didn’t need.
“She is a beautiful girl [Ed. yes she is]. She has real breasts, real lips, she’s not plastic.”
—A Stradivarius violin sold in an auction to benefit disaster relief in Japan for $15.9 million. The instrument was made in 1721 and is known as the Lady Blunt after Lord Byron’s granddaughter Lady Anne Blunt (didn’t know her) who owned it for 30 years, as reported by BBC News. “The price is more than four times the previous record for a Stradivarius.”
Somewhere in my parents’ house I have a trumpet that I haven’t played in 35 years. I wonder what that is worth?
Back to Antonio Stradivari, the above-noted violin is one of 600 known to be still in existence. Next time you’re at the Smithsonian in D.C., be sure to check out their musical instruments room. Pretty cool stuff in there, including a bunch of Antonio’s handiwork.
–Liz S. told me when she was a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band came through and played for $6.00. In her humble opinion, without Clarence Clemons and his sax, it’s just another rock band. “He made it what it was.”
Liz is like me. She saves all her ticket stubs…and match books. I have coffee cans full of match books at my parents’ house, assuming Mom didn’t trash them…which may have caused a small conflagration at the local dump, come to think of it, if she did.
Lastly, Liz (an old friend from my PIMCO days…back when you could entertain someone for lunch and drink beer…right, Liz?) notes how those of us of a certain age held real lighters aloft and yelled for more music at concerts. Now kids hold their iPhone up and use the flame app. “How lame is that?!” The whole world is increasingly lame, come to think of it. Just look at the success of Perez Hilton, if you need an example.
Top 3 songs for the week 6/22/63: #1 “Sukiyaki” (Kyu Sakamoto…one of the issues at the end of World War II was whether the United States would grant a Japanese artist a #1 Billboard slot within the succeeding 20 years. President Truman, at the time, acquiesced…and now you know, the rest of the story…at least the Bar Chat version…just sayin’) #2 “It’s My Party” (Lesley Gore…one of my favorite artists…underrated…love her “California Nights”) #3 “Hello Stranger” (Barbara Lewis)…and…#4 “You Can’t Sit Down” (The Dovells) #5 “Blue On Blue” (Bobby Vinton…another incredibly underrated career) #6 “Da Doo Ron Ron” (The Crystals) #7 “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer” (Nat King Cole…guy was simply awesome…best cigarette voice of all time…of course that killed him…but he left us with more than enough) #8 “Still” (Bill Anderson) #9 “I Love You Because” (Al Martino) #10 “One Fine Day” (The Chiffons…height of girl group time…but next Bar Chat we’re in the middle of the British Invasion and with just a few exceptions, girl groups took a header)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) After the two perfect games in 1880, the next one wasn’t thrown until 1964, Jim Bunning, for the Phillies against the Mets on Father’s Day. Koufax followed in ’65. 2) The only perfect game in the 1980s was thrown by Cincinnati’s Tom Browning, 9/16/88, vs. the Dodgers. 3) Dennis Martinez threw the only perfecto in the 90s, 7/28/91, while pitching for Montreal. It was also against the Dodgers. 4) Dave Stieb threw three one-hitters in 1988 while with the Blue Jays, including back-to-back efforts that September. He is the only pitcher since 1966 (Sam McDowell) to perform this last feat.
