Indy 500 Quiz: 1) How many wins does the Unser family have at Indy? 2) What year did Mario Andretti win? 3) What two Formula One champs crossed the pond to win in 1965 and ’66? Answers below. [Must get all three to be able to drink the post-race milk.]
Ball Bits
–Even after a 3-2 win over the Royals on Tuesday, the 22-21 Yankees are 8 for 79 in their last ten games with runners in scoring position and the players and manager Joe Girardi keep making the same lame excuses, like Girardi’s, “It’s not from lack of effort. If I saw a lack of effort, that would upset me. But I’m not seeing that.”
Aside from the severe lack of clutch hitting, they are 0-10 when they don’t hit at least one home run; the only team in the majors with that mark.
And after 43 games, A-Rod has five homers and 15 RBIs. I just love posting this each chat. $30 million for a punch-and-judy hitter. $23 million for Mark Teixeira, who also has just five homers.
–Drat! Albert Pujols homered on Tuesday but still just has 4 and 20 RBI, to go along with his .213 average, in the Angels’ first 44 games.
“(Detroit Tigers hurler Justin) Verlander has gone at least six innings in 51 consecutive regular-season starts, a streak that puts him in an exclusive club alongside some of the greatest pitchers in history. Since 1921, only four other players – all Hall-of-Famers – have accomplished this feat: Bob Gibson (who did it three separate times), Steve Carton, Catfish Hunter and Dazzy Vance.
“Since his streak began in August 2010, Verlander has compiled a 34-7 record with a 2.34 ERA.”
But get this… “Gibson, who went at least six frames in 78 straight outings from Sept. 12, 1967, through May 2, 1970, averaged a remarkable 8.8 innings per start during that span. Gibson was 46-24 with a 1.73 ERA over that time period, not including his six complete games and 1.33 ERA in the 1967 and 1968 World Series.”
Goodness gracious. I thought I knew my Bob Gibson…didn’t know this. My two favorites to watch growing up were Seaver and Gibby. [I was too young for Koufax.]
And for this body of work, as well as his entire career, it’s time to put the great Bob Gibson in the “Bar Chat Hall of Fame.”
–Gotta love this one…since no one was hurt. The other day I wrote of Cincinnati fireballing reliever Aroldis Chapman, he of the 100 mph unhittable fastball who may end up with the greatest strikeout ratio in a single season and, as of this writing still hadn’t given up an earned run. [Thru Tuesday, 23.1 innings, 0 earned runs, 7 hits, 7 walks, 41 strikeouts.]
Early Monday, though, in Ohio, he was clocked doing 93 mph in his Mercedes S63, so he didn’t quite have his best stuff, plus he had a suspended Kentucky driver’s license, which is kind of illegal.
–Who is Larry Corcoran and why should you care? The other day when Justin Verlander flirted with his third career no-hitter, I was reminded that aside from Nolan Ryan’s 7, Sandy Koufax’s 4, and Bob Feller’s 3, the only other two hurlers in the history of the game with 3 no-nos are Cy Young and Larry Corcoran.
So I looked up on baseballreference.com and saw that Corcoran pitched only five full seasons, 1880-1884, with the following record for the Chicago WhiteStockings.
1880…43-14…63 games (60 starts, 57 complete games), 536 innings…1.95 ERA
1881…31-14…45 (44 GS, 43 CG), 396…2.31
1882…27-12…39 (39 GS, 38 CG), 355…1.95
1883…34-20 …56 (53 GS, 51 CG), 473…2.49
1884…35-23…60 (59 GS, 57 CG), 516…2.40
Well, Corcoran played sparingly another three seasons and retired at the ripe age of 27 in 1887, with a record of 177-89, 2.36…268 starts, 256 complete games. So, needless to say, the pitching coach wasn’t overly concerned about pitch count.
Then again, Corcoran died at the age of 32. He’s buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Orange, N.J., which for those of you in the area is that massive cemetery around exit 145 on the Garden State Parkway.
In other words, I’d love to try and find Larry, except I probably wouldn’t make it out of the place alive…it ain’t a particularly nice neighborhood, if you catch my drift.
“Hi, Mr. Drug Dealer with two guns in your waistband. I’m looking for Larry Corcoran’s gravesite. You ever hear of him? He had three no-hitters!”
—Babe Ruth’s 1920 gray wool road jersey sold at auction Sunday for $4.4 million, nearly quadruple the previous high for a piece of Ruth memorabilia: the bat he used to hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923. That went for $1.265 million. The previous record for a Ruth jersey was $1.025 million.
So as Richard Sandomir of the New York Times points out, the $4.4 million exceeds the $2.8 million paid for a T206 Honus Wagner card, the $3 million for Mark McGwire’s record 70th home run ball in 1998, and the $4.3 million paid for James Naismith’s 13 rules of basketball set down on two typewritten pages which were sold at auction in 2010.
And get this…also on Sunday…a size 7 Ruth cap owned by former Yankees pitcher David Wells sold for $537,278 – more than a 1927-28 Ruth bat, which fetched $491,007. Wells wore the 1930s-era cap in the first inning of a game in 1997. I remember that…can’t freakin’ believe it was 15 years ago!
–Speaking of David Wells, in his two, 2-year stints with the Yanks, he was 68-28. As Ronald Reagan would have said…not bad, not bad at all.
–Former trainer Brian McNamee spent 26 hours on the witness stand in the Roger Clemens perjury trial, often under brutal cross-examination. But when Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin went perhaps a little too far, the judge ruled that McNamee could name others aside from Clemens that he allegedly provided human growth hormone to, which wasn’t expected; the judge having previously ruled it could prejudice the jury against Clemens.
So McNamee named Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, and Mike Stanton; the judge ruling McNamee could use them to establish his “credibility as a witness” but could not be used to “infer Mr. Clemens’ guilt.”
Separately, McNamee’s life is pathetic. He has been out of work, his marriage is over, in part due to the fallout over the trial, and the jury learned during the proceedings he has to take breaks to take his insulin due to the fact he is a Type 1 diabetic, a situation he had wanted to keep secret.
NBA Playoffs
–After the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers 106-90, taking the series 4-1 and making Kobe and Co. 9-13 the last two postseasons since their last title, a confused Bryant said:
“I’m not fading into the shadows…I’m not going anywhere…We’re not going anywhere… We’ve built title teams pretty quickly…We just have to do it again…Come hell or high water, we’re going to be there again.”
But as the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke then noted, in another moment, when asked about his future, Bryant said:
“I’m not really sure, I don’t really know, that’s a loaded question…This is kind of unfamiliar territory…It’s pretty odd for me, I’m not the most patient of people.”
Then he added, “I’m sure we’ll figure it out, we always have.”
–As for Chris Paul of the Clippers, he called General Manager Neil Olshey around midnight after the team’s 102-99 Game 4 playoff loss swept the Clippers’ from the board and said “this isn’t going to happen again.” Paul explained, “I didn’t think we should have been swept. I told him, ‘I’ll get better.’”
As for coach Vinny Del Negro, no way he survives.
–The freakin’ Miami Heat are up 3-2 over Indiana, while I haven’t watched a second of Boston-Philly, the Celts also up 3-2. Oklahoma City doesn’t face off against San Antonio until Sunday. That should be a good one.
And then it’s hopefully Timmy Duncan and Tony Parker taking out LeBron and Dwyane. I won’t miss a minute of that one…should it come to pass.
–The Orlando Magic fired coach Stan Van Gundy and let GM Otis Smith go. Bye bye! And thank you, Dwight Howard. Van Gundy had a fine 259-135 mark in five seasons, but was just 31-28 in the playoffs.
–And we note the passing of former NBA star forward, Bob Boozer, 75. A member of the 1960 Olympic basketball team out of Kansas State, Boozer played 11 years in the NBA with Cincinnati, Chicago and Milwaukee, among others. He retired after winning the 1971 title with the Bucks and averaged 14.8 points and 8.1 rebounds for his career.
–As opposed to the scintillating Rangers-Ottawa, Rangers-Washington series, this Rangers-Devils one for the Eastern Conference title has sucked. Game 5 tonight…series tied at 2 but way too chippy. The winner faces the Los Angeles Kings for the Stanley Cup, the Kings having closed out Phoenix in 5.
—I’ll Have Another won’t have to deal with Bodemeister in the Belmont, June 9. Bode, when asked if he wanted to go the mile-and-a-half, said “Neighhhh!” Meanwhile, Union Rags and Dullahan from the Derby are back after sitting out the Preakness, so I’ll Have Another will still have his hooves full.
–I just saw this in one of my golf publications from Phil Mickelson’s induction ceremony to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“I want to thank the fans because the fans have made this such a fun ride. There have been a lot of highs and a lot of lows that we’ve shared together. There have been a lot of times where I’ve struggled, and it’s been their energy that’s helped pull me through. I’ve tried to reciprocate by launching drive after drive in their general direction.”
In case you were still wondering why the fans love Lefty.
“A man has survived falling 54 meters over Niagara Falls – only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.
“Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing over the Horseshoe Falls and ‘deliberately jump’ into the Niagara River.
“Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.”
The local police chief said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He had chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung. At first it was thought he had life-threatening injuries, but was later expected to survive…and last I saw he was in stable condition.
The attempted suicide came just weeks before daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope after convincing United States and Canadian authorities to grant an exception.
–Check this out…from Michelle Theriault Boots of the Anchorage Daily News:
“Howard Meyer saw it and his heart sank.
“It was a brown bear, down on all fours in the woods. It looked like it could stand 7 or 8 feet tall, he said.
“ ‘Unprintable,’ he said two days later from a hospital bed. ‘I thought that it was the end of my life.’
“It was around 6 p.m. on Saturday afternoon [May 12], on a raw spring day in the high reaches of the Eagle River Valley.
“Meyer, a 57-year-old attorney, was walking around his 66-acre property on Mariah Drive, which borders the wilderness of the Chugach State Park.
“He said he had gone out at around 4 p.m. in moccasins, jeans, a flannel shirt and a nylon jacket, not hoping for a hike in particular but looking for marks that denoted his property lines. It was a good time of year for such an expedition, Meyer said, because the leaves were not yet out, making it easier to see. He was maybe a half-mile away from his house.
“Meyer said he was aware of the bears and moose that frequent the land, so he broke pieces of dead wood and hit trees with a stick to make noise.
“He was traversing the side of a slope – one foot down, one foot up – when he spotted the brown bear.
“Meyer said he shouted swear words and turned away to run, even though he knew that experts advise holding your ground. The sight of the giant bear coming at him simply propelled him away, he said.
“Suddenly the weight of the grizzly was on top of him, the bear clawing at his back through his flannel shirt and nylon jacket.
“ ‘I just curled in and said, ‘This is the end,’’ he said.”
But then the bear abruptly broke off the attack. Meyer stayed calm and was able to get hold of a 911 operator. He knew he was bleeding but didn’t try to figure out how serious it was. The operator told him to stay where he was and paramedics arrived shortly thereafter.
Meyer had major puncture wounds in his back and some scalp wounds but didn’t need a rabies shot at least.
Anyway, experts maintain that if a brown bear charges, stand your ground. Said wildlife biologist Jessy Coltrane, most charges stop short or end with a single swat.
“Once that bear knocks you down and knocks you around typically the bear walks away. Just like what happened with Mr. Meyer.”
Yet another excuse to also remember to lock your screen door.
–And on Tuesday, police were forced to shoot and kill a young mountain lion that had made its way into downtown Santa Monica and into an office building courtyard. Authorities say they made multiple attempts to tranquilize it before taking him out.
Bob Cougar, representing the mountain lion community in the Santa Monica Mountains, said to number at least ten, declared, “There will be blood” and scampered off.
—Four climbers were killed on Mt. Everest and a fifth was missing during a 36-hour period that ranks among the deadliest in the 59 years climbers have been scaling the peak. All four were killed in separate incidents after good weather turned bad, with high winds.
They also all were making the descent from the summit. One collapsed and died of altitude sickness and the organizers of the trip said, “If the family wants the body to be brought down we will try, but it is very difficult to do so from that altitude.”
That would kind of suck. Two others appeared to have died of altitude sickness, while a Nepalese mountain guide is missing as I write. Should he be confirmed dead, the loss of five climbers on Everest in a single 36-hour period would rank among the worst ever. The worst was May 10, 1996, when eight climbers died, an episode made famous by Jon Krakauer’s book “Into Thin Air.”
It seems the good weather encouraged “hundreds” to attempt the summit, as reported by the London Times. This is hard to believe, but 150 are believed to have reached the top on Saturday, but then high winds late in the day surprised the climbers.
—Attention dog lovers…from High Plains Journal.
“Humans aren’t the only ones who can benefit from daily exercise. A Kansas State University veterinarian says dogs need it, too.
“ ‘Dogs should get exercise at least twice a day, generally around 15 to 20 minutes each session for small dogs and 30 to 40 minutes or more for large dogs,’ said Susan Nelson.”
Now here’s the thing. We aren’t talking about letting Snoopy out in the yard to run around and do his business. We’re talking real exercise, depending on what the dog can do. Running is good for dogs that are bigger and in good shape, but you can’t exactly run a basset hound like you can a border collie.
And small dogs can’t do as much as bigger dogs. Plus heat is an obvious factor, as well as the surface. Don’t ask Barney to run a half-marathon on gravel.
–Just a note to those of you who watched “Mad Men” on Sunday. Remind me not to join Hare Krishna and then fall under the spell of Lachsmi.
–And regarding the passing of Robin Gibb, 62, I have to admit I was a fan of the early Bee Gees, not the disco version. “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You” (#8, 1968) and “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” (#1, 1971) were great tunes.
I also kind of get ticked that the Bee Gees “are second only to Lennon and McCartney as the most successful songwriting unit in British popular music.” That’s like comparing Mariah Carey to Elvis because she has more #1s.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/27/78: #1 “With A Little Luck” (Wings…awful…do do do doo do do doooo…do do do doo do do doooo…) #2 “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (Johnny Mathis / Deniece Williams…always liked Vanessa Williams…just sayin’) #3 “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John…now we’re not so sure if Travolta wanted Olivia or Oliver…very confusing)…and…#4 “Shadow Dancing” (Andy Gibb… during this time of mourning, family gets some slack) #5 “The Closer I Get To You” (Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway…now that’s a song…though not quite as good as their “Where Is The Love” from ’72) #6 “Feels So Good” (Chuck Mangione…never a fan) #7 “If I Can’t Have You” (Yvonne Elliman…if you had to listen to disco, what the hell) #8 “Imaginary Lover” (Atlanta Rhythm Section… very underrated group, but this wasn’t their best) #9 “Count On Me” (Jefferson Starship…eh) #10 “On Broadway” (George Benson…some incredibly boring gaps in this one…then again, good time to get a beer, hit the W/C…)
Indy 500 Quiz Answers: 1) The Unsers won nine times…Bobby (1968, 75, 81); Al (1970, 71, 78, 87); Al Jr. (1992, 94). 2) Mario Andretti won in 1969. 3) Jim Clark won in 1965; Graham Hill 1966. Hill had won the F-1 title in 1962 (and would win again in ’68), while Clark won in ’63 (and would win in ’65).
