Baseball Quiz: 1) Who has the all-time record winning percentage for a pitcher, minimum 200 wins? [Post-1900] 2) Who holds the major league record for most seasons leading his league in wins? 3) Everyone remembers Cy Young won 511 games. But how many of you remember how many No. 2, Walter Johnson, won? 4) Who am I? I led the National League in innings pitched a record five consecutive seasons, 1951-55. Answers below.
Kim Kardashian’s Butt Is Real!!!…details below…
Ball Bits
–The College World Series final begins on Monday and it’s an all-SEC affair…South Carolina vs. Florida; the first time since 1998 two teams from the same conference are matching up for the title.
–No doubt, what Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman did the other day was crazy. After the Nats suddenly won 11 of 12 to creep over .500, a huge accomplishment for this franchise, Riggleman resigned because he hadn’t received a contract extension. “I’m 58,” he said. “I’m too old to be disrespected.” The move was a huge surprise to the Nats’ organization. Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post called it “one of the more bizarre midseason managerial moves in baseball history.”
As the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner pointed out, you have players like Prince Fielder and Jose Reyes saying they will not negotiate new contracts while the season is going on because they want to focus on their jobs.
“So when a manager says he simply cannot work without a contract beyond the one he already signed, it can seem beyond bizarre….
“Effectively, Riggleman told the Nationals, ‘I can’t manage this team in 2011 if I’m not signed for 2012.’
“You can understand the sentiment: clubhouse credibility is important for a manager, and Riggleman was savvy enough to know where he stood with management. But it is hard to justify the timing….
“Maybe (winning 11 of 12) should have prompted General Manager Mike Rizzo to pick up his option for 2012. But it didn’t. Rizzo would not even agree to meet with Riggleman to talk about the issue. Riggleman had a right to be offended. But to issue an ultimatum when his team was winning like that? It just seemed selfish….
“How would Riggleman have reacted if a player had said he could not do his job for 2011 without a contract for 2012? Not well, you would think….
“At this moment in the Nationals’ history, it is more about the present. They have top-quality talent in the majors, in the minors and on the disabled list. Riggleman should have known that his best (and probably his only) chance to be a part of that future was by managing the 2011 team to the best record he could.
“If that still was not enough to convince management, then Riggleman could have at least been satisfied that he had done all he could. Instead, he quit, and it is hard to envision another opportunity for a manager with this on his record.”
Let alone, according to the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell, Riggleman has the worst record of any 12-year manager in baseball history. [662-824]
[Former Mets manager Davey Johnson is going to take the helm. Johnson, who last managed in 2000, had long said he didn’t want to manage again, but as a senior adviser to the Nationals he is said to be close to Mike Rizzo. Johnson has a helluva track record, taking three teams to the playoffs while compiling a super 1,148-888 record in 14 seasons. Lastly, I should add for the record that Riggleman and another manager who resigned a week ago, the Marlins’ Edwin Rodriguez, were the lowest-paid managers in the majors; Riggleman receiving $600,000.]
–The Phils’ Roy Halladay is 10-3 with a 2.40 ERA as he goes for another Cy Young Award. In 127 innings, Halladay has struck out 123 and walked only 16 (no more than two in a game).
–My man Adam Dunn of the White Sox is in one of the great slumps of all time for a former All-Star. And never was an appendectomy more ill-timed. Dunn started his ChiSox career with a bang on opening day, hitting a home run and driving in 4, thus putting him on track for over 600 ribbies. But after game four, he was shelved for a week with the surgery and after his return he hasn’t been the same, to say the least.
Like try a batting average of .173, with a staggering 100 strikeouts in 231 at-bats…13 Ks in his last 22 ABs! Yikes.
But wait…there’s more! Adam Dunn has one hit in 52 at-bats vs. lefthanders. You are reading that right. .019. He’s a good guy and obviously no one is more frustrated than he is. Here’s hoping he gets his act together soon before Chicago fans, err, you know…find a way to make him disappear.
–Speaking of stupefying performances, the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton is 6 for 53 (.113) in day games, but hitting .377 at night.
–The Wall Street Journal, in light of the possibility the Mets may trade star shortstop Jose Reyes, who is having a super season, by the July 31 deadline, took a look back at The Massacre, June 15, 1977, when the Mets traded Tom Seaver to Cincinnati for Doug Flynn, Pat Zachry, Steve Henderson and Dan Norman (while also dealing Dave Kingman to San Diego the same day). But while it was indeed a horrible trade, especially in light of the fact the Mets were trading “The Franchise,” Flynn, Zachry and Henderson were at least serviceable for four years.
No, the worst Mets trade in history is still Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi, hands down; though Jeff Kent, Jose Vizcaino, and Julian Tavarez to Cleveland for a washed up Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza is pretty close given what Kent did afterwards.
–Speaking of the now, once again, .500 Mets, Johnny Mac summed it up best for us Metropolitans fans. Just when you think the season is being flushed down the drain, and we can find something else to do in August, let alone September, they win a few and recapture our interest.
–Congratulations to Shu and Jeff B. for their 39-38 Pirates. Of course the Bucs have a North American professional sports record of 18 consecutive losing seasons so this is potentially big.
–Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, 1941…continued
Game 39…June 27…Philadelphia…2 for 3…1 HR 2RBI
Game 40…June 28…Philadelphia…2 for 5
Game 41…June 29 (1)…Washington…1 for 4
Game 42…June 29 (2)…Washington…1 for 5…1 RBI
1. Cleveland: Kyrie Irving, G, Duke
2. Minnesota: Derrick Williams, F, Arizona
3. Utah: Enes Kanter, C, Turkey
4. Cleveland: Tristan Thompson, F, Texas
5. Toronto: Jonas Valanciunas, C, Lithuania
6. Washington: Jan Vesely, F, Czech Republic
7. Sacramento: Bismack Biyombo, F, Congo
Charlotte took UConn’s Kemba Walker with the ninth selection and my man Kawhi Leonard of San Diego State slipped down to No. 15, picked by Indiana, but then traded to San Antonio for guard George Hill. Leonard is perfect for the San Antonio system. He’ll thrive there.
And the Nets got a steal at No. 25 with Providence guard MarShon Brooks.
As for the Knicks, the more I think about it the more I like their selection of Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert. I mean this was a weak draft to begin with, and you’re seldom going to get an All-Star at No. 17, but this was departing Knicks president Donnie Walsh’s last move for the team and he has quite a track record.
Talking about Knicks fans’ reaction to the Shumpert pick, a chorus of boos, Walsh said:
“I feel good about it, I really do. I kind of came into this league with everybody booing me when I took Chuck Person, who was rookie of the year, and Reggie Miller the next year. And I’m going out with everybody booing me, and that’s a good sign.”
“Jimmer Fredette (selected No. 10 by Milwaukee) told me that the most surprising question he was asked leading up to the NBA draft came during his interview with the Jazz. Fredette was asked what came to mind when he heard the phrase ‘three and three.’ Larry Bird? Jimmer’s shooting range? A dramatic playoff series leading to Game 7? Fredette scrambled and came up with ‘three-peats,’ as in Michael Jordan. Turns out he was overthinking it. Said the Jazz executive, ‘Usually people just say six.’”
And so we hereby nominate the unnamed Utah executive for “A-hole of the Year.” I mean if that isn’t an example of what the category is all about it, I don’t know what is. Better yet, cue Jeff Spicoli.
–From SI’s “They Said It,” we have the case of former high school basketball star Jeremy Tyler (selected No. 9 in the second round by the Bobcats), who has been playing abroad for two years, responding to a question about the Trail Blazers’ coach during a workout in Portland:
And so Jeremy Tyler gets thrown in the December file for “Idiot of the Year” consideration.
–Houston, we have us another “Jerk of the Year” candidate, too. The Lakers’ Ron Artest is changing his name to “Metta World Peace,” though the move, last I saw, is pending before the Los Angeles courts.
Earlier in the event, 19-year-old amateur, Patrick Cantlay, out of UCLA, had a 60 in the second round, the lowest ever by an amateur in a PGA Tour event. But he finished up 72-70 for a T-24. The last amateur to win on tour is Phil Mickelson in 1991. Cantlay has said he is staying in school to get his degree. Recall he was low-am at the U.S. Open.
–And now, another installment of Grunt Watch. As Donal (sic) Lynch of the Irish Independent writes:
“She shows her behind, winks at the camera and at the moment of truth lets out a long squeal of feminine exertion. We’re talking, of course, about any number of female players at Wimbledon….
“In the last decade the sport has become incrementally more pornographic – noted feminist Venus Williams actually wore nude hot pants under her barely-there skirt earlier this year – and in the meantime the women have managed to convince the All England Club to give them equal prize money to the men. Even tennis toffs could not ignore the marketing appeal of a hot piece of ass….
“The sunglasses-wearing grifters who scout junior tennis players for sports marketing agencies like IMG and Octagon would not be pushing scholarships and endorsement contracts on (old-time conservatives such as Lindsay Davenport).
“Their preferred quarry has long been leggy, tanned stunners like Maria Sharapova or Ana Ivanovic – women who continue to rake in millions for their agents even when they can’t put a serve in the court. As former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich said a couple of years ago: ‘The women are there to look good…that’s a big part of it.’”
—Track and field is gearing up for the World Championships this summer in Daegu, South Korea. But sprinter Tyson Gay, the second-fastest man in the world to Usain Bolt, won’t be there after withdrawing with an injury at this weekend’s U.S. National trials. Former Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin is set to return, however, after a four-year drug ban as he made the team.
But for you track junkies, it would have been pretty cool to be at the Jamaican team trials. Bolt did not compete because he has a wildcard bye as the defending champion in both the 100m and 200m.
So former world record holder Asafa Powell took the Jamaican 100m finals, edging out Bolt’s training partner, Yohan Blake, with from what I’ve read the world’s best thus far in 2011, Steve Mullings, also claiming a berth for Daegu. Ergo, forget the U.S. winning the 4X100 relay with Gay missing. [There’s a slight chance he could be added to the team for this event only if he proves he’s healthy. The Worlds start Aug. 27.]
I also recognize maybe two other readers gave a damn about the above…but as Ronald Reagan once said at a debate in New Hampshire, “I paid for this site!” Or something like that.
—Actor Peter Falk died, age 83. ‘Columbo’ had been treated for Alzheimer’s in recent years.
Falk had a wide-ranging career in movies and the stage but he’ll always be remembered for his portrayal of the disheveled detective in the long-running police drama of the same name.
“A lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, Columbo was a comic variation on the traditional fictional detective. With the keen mind of Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe, he was cast in the mold of neither – not a gentleman scholar, and not a tough guy. He was instead a mass of quirks and peculiarities, a seemingly distracted figure in a rumpled raincoat, perpetually patting his pockets for a light for his signature stogie….
“In the detective-story niche where Columbo lived, whodunit was hardly the point; the murder was committed and the murderer revealed in the show’s opening minutes. How-it-was-done was paramount. Typically, Columbo would string his suspects along, flattering them, apologizing profusely for continuing to trouble them with questions, appearing to have bought their alibis and, just before making an exit, nailing them with a final, damning query that he unfailingly introduced with the innocent-sounding phrase ‘Just one more thing…’ It was the signal to viewers that the jig was up….
“When Columbo, the ordinary man as hero, brought low the greedy and murderous privileged of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Brentwood, they were implicit victories for the many over the few.
“ ‘This is, perhaps, the most thoroughgoing satisfaction ‘Columbo’ offers us,’ Jeff Greenfield wrote in the New York Times in 1973, ‘the assurance that those who dwell in marble and satin, those whose clothes, food, cars and mates are the very best, do not deserve it.’”
Falk had a glass eye, resulting from an operation to remove a cancerous tumor when he was just 3 years old, but this would only add to his character later on. He was born in Manhattan but grew up mostly in Ossining, N.Y.
“In one story he liked to tell, after being called out at third base during a baseball game, he removed his eye and handed it to the umpire. ‘You’ll do better with this,’ he said.”
–Actor Toby Maguire of “Spider-Man” fame is among those caught up in a series of lawsuits seeking to reclaim $4 million won during unlicensed Texas Hold ‘em matches played between 2006 and 2009 at upscale Beverly Hills hotels, according to court records. The reason why Maguire and others are being targeted is that the players won hundreds of thousands from Bradley Ruderman, who ran a Ponzi scheme now making its way through the courts.
Maguire himself is being sued for $311,000, with others such as Nick Cassavetes being implicated. Anyone receiving a check from Ruderman is at risk.
And one more being sued is poker expert and “Welcome Back Kotter” star Gabe Kaplan, who is being asked to return $62,000.
–USA TODAY has a story on weight gain and the chief culprit in the entire universe, more so than soda, candy and ice cream, is potato chips.
According to a long-term weight gain study (a combination of three separate ones) by Harvard University scientists that was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades.”
All of the 120,877 people looked at were health professionals and not obese at the start. On average, participants gained nearly 17 pounds over the 20-year period.
“Potato chips were the biggest dietary offender. Each daily serving containing 1 ounce (about 15 chips and 160 calories) led to a 1.69-pound uptick over four years. That’s compared to sweets and desserts, which added 0.41 pound.”
–This is very cool…if you’re into this kind of thing. The reclusive heiress, Huguette Clark, who died last month at age 104, bequeathed one of Monet’s Water Lilies series, worth $25 million, to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. The painting has been out of public view for 86 years. It seems Clark’s father at one stage was the largest landowner in Nevada, as well as a big art collector, and had earlier donated his entire collection to the gallery, while Huguette had a few of her own.
–Huge news the other day when Kim Kardashian allowed her famous derriere to be X-rayed to prove it is all real and not surgically enhanced, a prime topic for men and women in bars all over the world.
And this bit from Helena de Bertodano’s interview with Kim for the Sunday London Times.
“We meet on her home turf of Beverly Hills, as she touches down for a couple of days between trips to Miami and Las Vegas. She totters into the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel – near her multimillion dollar, gated faux-Tuscan style mansion – in sky-high Jimmy Choos, an Hermes bag slung over her shoulder, head down as she clickety-clicks on her BlackBerry with perfectly manicured fingers. She is wearing a flimsy chiffon vest that shows off her famous cleavage, tight faded jeans and more make-up than I have ever seen on a real person. Her eyelashes extend about an inch from her face and the gloss on her lips almost reaches her nose. As she makes her way across the patio outside, a vaguely familiar-looking British man wearing a black leather jacket – everyone in this celebrity-saturated restaurant looks vaguely familiar – spots this scantily clad apparition and says, ‘You must be cold, love.’ Kim glances up from the BlackBerry and giggles, ‘I’m fine.’”
[Actually, the interview in whole is fair to Ms. Kardashian. Don’t ask me why I read it.]
1. Alana Blanchard / surfing
2. Leryn Franco / javelin….ooh baby….J. Mac, I’ve seen them all
3. Heather Mitts / soccer…she’ll be heavily featured at the Women’s World Cup
4. Niki Gudex / mountain biking
5. Lokelani McMichael / triathlon
6. Blair O’Neal / golf
7. Lolo Jones / track…Go Lolo, Go!!!
8. Kim Glass / volleyball
9. Allison Stokke / pole vault…good lord!
10. Anastasia Ashley / surfing
And, as any track fan knows, any women’s high-jumper from Europe could qualify for the list. Just sayin’.
–Men’s Health “5 Best Summer Beers”
Paulaner Hefe-Weizen
Anchor Summer Beer
Saison Dupont (Belgian farmhouse ale)
Yuengling Lord Chesterfield
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale…ya know, haven’t had Sierra Nevada in a while. But guess what? This particular ale is “Soon to be available in cans”! [At home I prefer cans. But in a bar, only bottles, sports fans.]
–Jeff B. agrees. There is no way Courtney Alexis Stodden is 16, Ms. Stodden, as noted last Bar Chat, having married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson. She has to be 30.
–A lot of you probably saw the story of the emperor penguin that found itself on a New Zealand beach, 2,000 miles from Antarctica after taking a wrong turn somewhere along the way. I can only imagine being the first one to be strolling there, mindlessly looking at the waves, when suddenly, “What the [heck]?”
Initially, officials were just going to make sure that everyone stayed clear of the penguin, especially dogs, and assumed it would hop back in the water. Except he decided to stay.
Then, as wildlife experts were monitoring it, they noticed it eating sand, the penguin thinking it was snow, and that’s when Man rushed in and sent the penguin packing to a zoo to save it.
Well, this is how we treat such an occurrence when it comes to the All-Species List. Man, finally doing something good, moves up a notch from 147 to 146, while the Emperor Penguin, which I long thought was relatively smart, though clearly no Beaver, who himself is smarter than any Afghan (except for Abdullah Abdullah…the only guy worth a damn in the entire country), plummets from 23 to 74. I mean c’mon, Chumley. You’ve gotta be able to differentiate between sand and snow.
–We note the passing of CNN sports anchor Nick Charles, 64, who died after a two-year battle with bladder cancer.
Charles began on the network’s first day, June 1, 1980, where he was paired with Fred Hickman for most of two decades on “Sports Tonight.” It was a great move for CNN to put these two together. As a network obituary noted, “(They) were revolutionary for their time, a white and black man sitting side-by-side live every night in studios from the once-segregated South.”
Hickman commented: “We just clicked from the very beginning. In television, you always have personality conflicts. Nick and I never had one.”
–When you’re in Ireland, you can’t help but note that Neil Diamond is very popular. How popular? He gave a show in Dublin on Saturday night at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and promoters were concerned that two days before, 3,000 tickets were still available. But 37,000 were sold! The 70-year-old Diamond has more fans per capita in Ireland than anywhere in the world, so they say.
—Fred Steiner, a television and film music composer, died. He was 88. All he did was create the theme for the “Perry Mason” TV series, as well as music for “Gunsmoke,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Star Trek,” “Have Gun, Will Travel,” “Rawhide,” “Hogan’s Heroes” and other TV series.
–Note to Dr. John: I forgot to mention I did buy your suggestion, Ron Sexsmith’s “Long Player Late Bloomer.” Outstanding.
–And very sad news this week as we learned Glen Campbell has Alzheimer’s. Campbell himself made the announcement but said he still hopes to do a farewell tour in the fall.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/27/64: #1 “A World Without Love” (Peter and Gordon…they had the worst teeth of all time) #2 “I Get Around” (The Beach Boys) #3 “Chapel Of Love” (The Dixie Cups)…and…#4 “My Boy Lollipop” (Millie Small…sorry, LT…this one has not aged well) #5 “People” (Barbra Streisand…a great tune, in my all-time top 30…but she peaked early) #6 “Memphis” (Johnny Rivers…talk about underrated, go ahead and get his greatest hits…you won’t be disappointed) #7 “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” (Gerry And The Pacemakers…another superb one) #8 “Love Me With All Your Heart” (The Ray Charles Singers…this is what is so great about this era…songs like this one, or a Dean Martin tune, could still make the top ten) #9 “Bad To Me” (Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas) #10 “Walk On By” (Dionne Warwick…I’d have to give it more thought but I think this is my favorite of hers…and Bacharach and David)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Whitey Ford has the all-time winning percentage, 200 wins, at .690 (236-106). Christy Mathewson holds the N.L. mark at .665 (373-188). 2) Warren Spahn led the National League in wins 8 seasons, 1949-50, 53, 57-61 (this being the record for most seasons in a row, 3) Walter Johnson won 417 for Washington, 1907-27. [Personally, I always remember Grover Alexander and Christy Mathewson at 373 and forget Johnson’s number…but never again, kids!] 4) Robin Roberts of the Phillies led the National League in innings pitched a record five consecutive seasons, 1951-55.
Hall of Famer Roberts’ #’s
1951…21-15…315 innings [Phils record…73-81]
1952…28-7…330 [87-67]
1953…23-16…346 [83-71]
1954…23-15…336 [75-79]
1955…23-14…305 [77-77]
