Baseball Quiz: Name the three National Leaguers and four American Leaguers who hit 10 or more home runs in the month of May. Answer below.
PGA Golf Quiz: From the 2007 Masters through Jack’s event this weekend, The Memorial, name the four to win seven events during that stretch. Answer below.
PGA Career Titles
Sam Snead 82
Jack Nicklaus 73
Tiger Woods 73
Propelled by an incredible birdie on No. 16 in the final round at Jack’s tournament, The Memorial, Tiger Woods tied Jack Nicklaus for second all time in terms of PGA Tour victories.
The performance was out of nowhere, Tiger having finished T-40 at The Masters (a tradition unlike any other), a MC at the Wells Fargo, and then T-40 at The Players Championship. Plus he had a 102-degree temperature on Saturday.
But earlier in the year he won Arnie’s tournament at Bay Hill.
So suddenly the intrigue at the upcoming U.S. Open, in two weeks, jumps ten-fold.
[Meanwhile, Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, was arrested for DUI in New York State Saturday night. Steinberg claims “it’s a medical issue that I was dealing with. It’s not what you think.” New York State police said “It was alcohol related.”]
July 9, 1969…June 1, 2012
I’ve written of it before, where I was on July 9, 1969. But now it bears repeating. I was 11 years old, sitting in the TV room, enjoying my slush mug filled with Hawaiian Punch, watching my hero, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets, twirl a gem against the rival Chicago Cubs before 50,000+ at Shea Stadium. The rest of the family was scattered about. My brother wasn’t around and my parents were elsewhere doing their thing.
Seaver was mowing the Cubbies down, one by one, and had a perfect game in the seventh, then into the eighth, and then it was decision time. Do I tell Dad when the top of the ninth rolled around, he being a good baseball fan who’d want to see history, or do I not tell him because I don’t want to jinx Seaver.
I told him…and the rest is history. It was clearly my fault that with Dad watching, Jimmie Qualls singled with one out to break up the perfect game as Seaver went on to finish the one-hitter and the Mets won, 4-0, to move to within 3 ½ games of first-place Chicago. The season was exactly half over. The Mets were 47-34. They would go 53-28 the rest of the way and you know how the story ends.
But I had unfinished business. I wrote Tom Seaver, explaining that it was my father’s fault he didn’t get the perfect game and that I felt awful about it. A short while later I received a note back from Tom Terrific, saying it wasn’t Dad’s fault. I don’t know what I did with the letter (I was otherwise good about keeping such things, even as a kid), but I have the card with Seaver’s autograph that he included. Only looking back, for what we know now about autographs in those days, let alone today, it could have been a clubhouse attendant signing it.
Seaver would go on to take no-hitters into the ninth inning two more times as a Met, the last one being 9/24/75, but he couldn’t seal the deal. He ended up being the last Met to go that far, until this Friday night.
Most of you know what I do on Fridays. I’m working on that other column. Normally it’s not a big deal. It’s not like NFL playoff games are on Fridays, and the baseball playoff games end so late I normally catch most of the action anyway.
But if the Mets are playing decent baseball, as has surprisingly been the case this year, I’m at least checking the score and so I saw after four innings that Johan Santana had a no-hitter and put the game on in the background. Fifth…sixth…seventh…eighth…I called my brother (but not my father…he goes to bed early these days) and Bro was already watching.
And so it was that with the final out…in the Mets’ 8,020th game, Santana tossed the first no-no in franchise history in blanking the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals 8-0. No team in the history of baseball has ever gone that long without a no-hitter. More than a few of us Mets fanatics thought it would never happen in our lifetimes.
As it turns out there was quite a buzz in the City that night as the game progressed and I’ve heard more than a few accounts of people flooding the streets afterwards.
But here’s the thing. Of all the pitchers to throw the first one, Johan Santana was the perfect choice. This is a guy, after all, who has come back from surgery for a torn anterior capsule in his shoulder that few ever do, and certainly not with the success Santana has.
So for the archives…just a reminder. Santana was a two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Minnesota Twins that the Mets acquired after the 2007 season and then signed to a six-year, $137.5 million dollar contract, the richest in team history. There was a lot of pressure on Johan but the first year he produced and finished third in the Cy Young voting. But then you see some issues come up.
2008…34 game starts, 16-7, 2.53 ERA
2009…25 GS, 13-9, 3.13
2010…29 GS, 11-9, 2.98
2011…out with injury
2012…11 GS, 3-2, 2.38
2013…last year of contract
What Mets fans have learned over the years with Santana is that there is no greater competitor in the game…but in his second season the injury bug came up and by 2010, fans were disgruntled. We liked the guy, but $20 million+ a year for this? A .500 pitcher with a nice ERA?
Then end of the 2010 season, Johan needed the drastic surgery and rehabbed all of 2011. There were rumors he was going to pitch last September, but both fans and management were like, why? See what happens in 2012 during spring training.
And he had a good spring…and suddenly there was Johan on the mound for Opening Day. I wrote more than once expressing the opinion of 90% of Mets fans, I can guarantee you, that we expected little. I was thinking a guy who went 10-10 with a 4.00 ERA would be pretty good given what he had gone through.
But eleven starts into the season, one in which he has received little run support, witness the six no decisions, here we are. A guy who is pitching as well, if not better, than he ever has. It is truly remarkable. Frankly, a medical miracle. This wasn’t ‘simple’ Tommy John surgery. And yet here he is…not only having tossed a no-hitter, but having completed his second straight shutout!
The Mets have two terrific broadcasters, Gary Cohen on TV (SNY) and Howie Rose on radio. Both grew up in the area as die-hard Mets fans and their passion shows.
Before Saturday’s day after contest against the Cards, Cohen made a great point. For Mets fans, Santana’s no-hitter was a “cathartic moment” and it “exorcised a lot of pain.”
Consider that during the game, former Met Carlos Beltran had the phantom ‘hit’ that was ruled foul. It was Beltran, who despite some terrific seasons in New York, will forever be known for one thing…keeping his bat on his shoulder as the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright (in another irony Friday night’s starter) froze him with strike three in the ninth of Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, thus preventing the Mets from going to the World Series.
Friday, Beltran smoked one over the third base bag that umpire Adrian Johnson ruled foul…but replays clearly show the ball kicking up chalk line. Rules are rules. It’s not like it was reviewable and becomes part of the lore of the game.
[Imagine going back to all the no-hitters before instant replay…you’d find a mistake, I’m sure, in at least 50% of them…including scoring mistakes.]
Beltran’s hit that turned into an out was in the sixth.
In the seventh, Met killer Yadier Molina (who had the deciding home run in Game 7 of that 2006 NLCS nightmare) smashed a ball to left field that outfielder Mike Baxter, who grew up in Queens and channeling Endy Chavez, Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee, made a spectacular play on, crashing into the wall and holding onto the ball. He gave up his body for Johan. Baxter is out six weeks as a result of injuries to his shoulder and ribs. His reward, though, is that he is going to be a Met favorite forever after.
And even catcher Josh Thole has a special story. Imagine. This was his first game back after suffering a concussion!
But back to Santana…us fans watching or following the game on computers around the nation weren’t just looking at the ‘0’ in the hit column as the innings went by. We were looking at the pitch count.
Johan is on a strict count, post-surgery, of 115 pitches, max. More like 105 in a normal contest. We kept wondering what manager Terry Collins would do as the count grew, reaching 122 after eight innings. You could see Collins in the dugout, agonizing. In the old days, there’d be no decision to make…just keep the guy out there. But the Mets still have a substantial investment in Santana, at least through 2013, and it would kill Collins if Johan reinjured himself by going too far.
It added to the excitement in a huge way in the ninth inning…123…124…125…only once in his career had he ever thrown 125…126…127…128…finally the 3-2 change that struck out 2011 World Series hero David Freese…pitch number 134!
Terry Collins said the day after, as initial reports on Johan’s health were positive (but we’re all still crossing our fingers to see what happens the next few days):
“My heart told me to take him out due to the fact that I’m playing with a huge piece of the organization. If this guy goes down, it’d be pretty drastic for us.”
“Santana, for his part, allowed himself to get lost in the moment, deciding on the mound to chase the achievement and accepting the future repercussions, whatever they might be.
“ ‘You can spend your whole career and never have a chance to do it,’ Santana said. ‘When I had that situation there, I knew I had to take the most out of it, and then we’ll figure it all out tomorrow.’”
On Saturday, Collins said that GM Sandy Alderson and the team’s chief operating officer, Jeff Wilpon, supported his decision. Even former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called to offer encouragement, which is pretty cool.
So Terry Collins, too, picked up a huge number of new fans on Friday.
But I can’t finish the story without talking about Saturday’s game, another shutout of the Cards, 5-0, this one tossed by knuckleballer R.A. Dickey who moved his record to 8-1, 2.69 ERA.
R.A. Dickey…yet another growing legend in these parts. Over the course of 2011-2012, Dickey has had a quality start in 22 of 23 games. [Six innings allowing no more than three earned runs.] Easily the best in baseball. In his last four starts he has struck out 38 and walked but two. A knuckleballer with that kind of control.
I have purposefully said little about the Mets’ start this year because with each bad loss I kept thinking that ‘this will be the one to send them spiraling downward.’ It was for good reason I said the Mets would win just 43 games this year. No one expected what we’re getting out of Santana, and we had no idea how some of the younger guys would perform.
But here we are…30-23 entering Sunday night’s contest against St. Louis. Stranger things have happened. Look at 1969.
Ball Bits
–One other item on the no-hitter regarding pitch count. From the New York Post’s Mark Hale:
“Of the 64 no-hitters thrown since 1988, just two were produced with more pitches than the 134 Santana delivered…Former Diamondbacks right-hander Edwin Jackson threw the most with 149 on June 25, 2010…. [Ed. with no aftereffects.]
Randy Johnson had the other, 138 pitches for Seattle back on June 2, 1990.
But on Sept. 3, 2001, 21-year-old lefty Bud Smith tossed a no-hitter for the Cardinals. Smith’s pitch count was 134. He was out of baseball a year later at 22.
–The Dodgers were without superstar Matt Kemp for 15 days due to a hamstring injury, survived (going 9-5), he came back, and promptly reinjured his left hammy and is now slated to be out a month. Huge blow, selfishly for your editor who has L.A. in the World Series against the White Sox.
–San Francisco’s Melkey Cabrera had 51 hits in May (batting .429), the first to have 50 in a month since Carl Crawford hit the mark in August 2007 while with Tampa Bay. Consider there have been four perfect games in between but no 50-hit months.
Melkey, who had his breakout season last year with Kansas City when he hit .305 with 18 HR and 87 RBI, is a free agent at the end of the season. He only turns 28 in August.
–June 1, 1992…Dorothy and Charles Jeter get a phone call at their house in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dorothy answered and told her son, Derek, it was the Yankees and that they wanted to talk to him. The rest is history. The scout was Dick Groch.
Some in the Yankees organization believed Jeter would be the first pick in the draft. Instead that honor went to Phil Nevin, selected by Houston. Jeter dropped to sixth. The Yankees snapped him up.
At an organization meeting before the draft, there was talk Jeter was going to accept a scholarship to Michigan. Groch was asked how serious Jeter was about becoming a Wolverine. As Yankee lore has it, Grouch then delivered an impassioned message to his bosses, as reported by George King of the New York Post.
Jeter received an $800,000 signing bonus. By 2000 he was working on a one-year, $10 million contract and then that offseason signed a 10-year, $189 million deal.
–Attention Yankees fans. It seems the definitive history of the team is now out; Marty Appel’s “Pinstripe Empire. The New York Yankees From Before The Babe To After The Boss,” spanning the 1903 inaugural season through the 2009 World Series victory. 620 pages.
–Speaking of Yankees history, Don Larsen is selling the jersey he wore for his perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series to pay for his grandchildren’s college education. The uniform catcher Yogi Berra wore in the game went for $565,000. The auction starts Oct. 8 (the day Larsen threw the perfect game) and ends Dec. 2 at steinersports.com.
–I’m already psyched for an April 2013 release, a Jackie Robinson biopic, “42,” starring Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey and, as Robinson, Chris Rock…..just kidding! Chadwick Boseman, who played Floyd Little in 2008’s “The Express” has the title role. Director Brian Helgeland is filming at three of baseball’s oldest ballparks…all minor league venues.
–With my Rangers out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I just can’t get fired up at all about the Devils-Kings final, with L.A. now up 2-0 after two, 2-1 overtime triumphs in New Jersey. They head home where they should clinch their first title.
–I’ll also be largely a no-show if, out of nowhere, it’s Oklahoma City-Boston in the NBA Finals. I would barely half watch that one.
I want Spurs-Heat! I watched every minute of Saturday’s Spurs-Thunder contest and every now and then Tim Duncan looks very old, but then he shows you one of his moves from his MVP years. He has enough left to help San Antonio get the job done. Tony Parker just needs to dribble the ball a lot less. Geezuz, I thought I was watching Jeremy Lin or Baron Davis, amazing ball hogs in their own right at the point.
–Meanwhile, the 2012 NBA Draft lottery was held and conspiracy theorists are out once again as New Orleans nailed the first pick despite having only a 13.7% chance of getting it, while the Charlotte Bobcats, with a 25% chance, gained the second selection, which to many of us feels light years away.
You see, the NBA owns the bankrupt Hornets (until Saints owner Tom Benson’s purchase formally goes through) and now they’ll pick surefire superstar/difference maker/franchise changer Anthony Davis of Kentucky, while the Bobcats will probably select Kansas forward Thomas Robinson or Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
But in looking at some mock drafts, I can’t believe North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes is tabbed as high as fifth. He proved to be a stiff last year. The other three projected Carolina first-rounders, center Tyler Zeller, forward John Henson and point guard Kendall Marshall will all prove to be better pros than Barnes. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
And boy do I feel like an idiot. I see on one list, USA TODAY’s, that guard Damian Lillard of Weber State is projected to go sixth. I hope I’m not the only one who has no idea who he is. “A prolific scorer with a consistent jump shot. Arguably the top point guard prospect in the draft. Impressive character.”
I promise to do a better job of following the sport next season.
At least I nailed Kawhi Leonard last year, writing on 6/27/11 in this space, “Leonard is perfect for the San Antonio system. He’ll thrive there.”
Cleveland, by the way, has four selections in the top 34. As Ronald Reagan would have said, not bad, not bad at all.
Lastly, pity the Brooklyn Nets, who needed to be in the top three in the lottery to retain their pick and instead had to send their selection, No. 6, to Portland. As a result it is looking bleak that they’ll be able to retain star point guard Deron Williams, an impending free agent.
–We note the passing of NBA Hall of Famer Jack Twyman, 78. Back in 1959-60, Twyman and Wilt Chamberlain became the first players to average more than 30 points a game in a season. I remember him for being an NBA analyst on the game of the week on ABC.
But Twyman, who was born in Pittsburgh and went to the University of Cincinnati, is perhaps best known for his friendship with Cincinnati Royals teammate Maurice Stokes.
“On March 12, 1958, the Royals were playing their season finale, against the Minneapolis Lakers. Stokes went over the shoulder of an opponent and hit his head on the floor so hard that he was knocked out. In those days, teams had no trainers, much less doctors, and scant knowledge of head injuries. He continued to play.
“Three days later, Stokes, who was 24, went into a coma. When he came out of it, he could not move or talk. The diagnosis was brain damage. Stokes, whose family lived in Pittsburgh, had to stay in Cincinnati to be eligible for workers’ compensation.”
Stokes was destitute. So Jack Twyman became his legal guardian and “raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for medical care, partly through organizing an annual charity game of basketball superstars; and helped him learn to communicate by blinking his eyes to denote individual letters.”
Twyman also pressed the Basketball Hall of Fame to induct Stokes (who was a three-time All-Star), which the Hall finally did in 2004. Stokes had died 40 years before and Twyman accepted the award on behalf of his friend.
But I didn’t realize that when Jack Twyman retired in 1966 he trailed only Wilt in points scored, with 15,840.
Years after his accident, when Maurice Stokes had recovered enough finger flexibility to type, his first message was: “Dear Jack, How can I ever thank you?”
Twyman in turn said that whenever he felt down, he would visit the cheerful Stokes. “He never failed to pump me up,” he said.
—Orlando Woolridge died. He was just 52. Through 13 NBA seasons he electrified crowds with his slam dunks, one of the more exciting forwards in the game, 1981-94, while playing for seven different teams. Woolridge, 6 feet 9, starred for Notre Dame and was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 16 points a game for his career, one that also involved major issues with substance abuse.
—Phil Mickelson dropped out of the Memorial this weekend after shooting a first-round 79, saying he was heavily fatigued from traveling all over the world (very true if you saw his schedule) and that he needed to get recharged for the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in two weeks. Mickelson has a record five runner-ups in the event, but no victory.
Mickelson’s playing partners at the Memorial, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler, said the prevalence of cellphones in their massive gallery (talk about a grouping), may have played a role in Lefty’s decision.
Watson said the phones have been “pretty bad ever since they made the rule” that allows fans to take phones on the course, although pictures are not allowed and there are designated areas to make calls.
Of course golf “fans” can be some of the biggest jerks on the planet and they’re breaking all the rules.
Watson, who has no problem speaking his mind, added, “Ever since they made that rule that cellphones are allowed, it’s just not fun playing.”
–According to the AP and Yahoo Sports, the NFL is in possession of a ledger detailing payments for Saints players for “cart-offs” and “whacks,” which, if true, provides more than enough evidence in bountygate.
Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin said in a radio interview this week that he does not hire an assistant coach until he has seen his wife to determine whether she looks like a “D1 recruit.”
“I’ve been saying it for a long time; I will not hire an assistant coach until I’ve seen his wife. If she looks the part, and she’s a D-1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That’s part of the deal.”
Uh, Mr. Franklin issued a few apologies, as you can imagine, acknowledging he was trying to be humorous but “fell a few yards short.”
–John Zenor of the AP had an extensive piece on football in the SEC and penalties for testing positive for drugs. Basically it’s pathetic.
“In the most successful league of the BCS-era, players routinely get third, fourth and even fifth chances before they’re booted from the team; failed drug tests administered by the NCAA result in the automatic suspension [Ed. one year.]
“The finding comes from an Associated Press examination of the drug policies at 11 current members of the SEC. Vanderbilt, a private institution, declined to make its rules available [Ed. they’re more focused on coaches’ wives]….
“(Several) SEC standouts have been in the news recently.
“Former Auburn running back Mike Dyer testified in an April court case involving a teammate that he consistently smoked synthetic marijuana during his Tigers career, LSU star Tyrann Mathieu was suspended one game for violating the team’s drug policy last year and Georgia All-America safety Bacarri Rambo could miss a game or two next season for failing a drug test.”
“Athletes at Georgia and Auburn who test positive for marijuana a second time face the prospect of losing half their season to suspension.
“Arkansas and Florida, by comparison, suspend athletes for 10 percent of a season for a second positive.
“The NCAA said 90 percent of Division I schools have their own drug-testing programs, while the governing body tests some 13,500 athletes a year….
“Six of the schools (in the SEC) have a three-strikes-and-you’re-out method. At Florida, you might get a fifth strike. At Arkansas, four. And Ole Miss doesn’t have a defined number.”
The last NCAA report on drug use in college football, released in January, found 26.7 percent of football players saying they smoked pot in 2009 – or five percentage points higher than in 2005.
–I watched some of the track action from the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. I’m getting pumped. The Olympic Trials there start June 22nd. Just hope the weather is good as my seat isn’t under the roof.
But I’m in the fourth row on the main straight and going to see the love of my life Alysson Felix! Guys, if you haven’t seen Ms. Felix…do yourselves a favor. Look her up.
And she performed like a true champ on Saturday, winning the 200m as she preps for both the Trials and then London.
I love the women sprinters. Not only are they beautiful, but talk about role models, these athletes can actually speak English! [In comparison to many an NBA ballplayer.]
Then there are the women high-jumpers. I’ll save that discussion for Eugene and “Web Sweepsweek.”
And if you are a fan of track and field, it would have been very cool to be in Eugene last Friday night. As reported in the New York Times, the Kenyan national team held their 10,000m Olympic Trials there at Hayward Field.
Yes, some fans back home in Kenya aren’t real happy about this, but Kenyan running officials wanted their athletes to experience weather similar to that of London, so they took 15 runners to Eugene and had a race to see who the three qualifiers would be. 7,800 fans got a real treat.
I love the distance races…the longer the better…just fun following the strategy and trying to get into their heads.
“With four laps left, the audience took to its feet, increasing the roar of clapping and stomping in the bleachers.”
–Once track star Lolo Jones said she was a virgin, it was all over for Tim Tebow in the Jets locker room. His new teammates are trying to match the two up. “Lolo! Lolo!” they chant.
Lolo tweeted: “Ask Tebow if he wants a glass of milk. If he says yes, ask him if he prefers chocolate. If he says no, then no more Tebow date suggestions.”
–The 20 fastest men’s times in the marathon over the past year have all been run by Kenyans. More than half of the world’s fastest 100 marathon men today are Kenyan. [The Economist]
–Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson said she is retiring due to her damaged knee, which she tore apart in a 2010 ski accident. Johnson is concerned if she continues she’ll mess with her long-term health. Smart girl.
–One week until the Belmont Stakes, but I’ll Have Another’s bid for the Triple Crown was almost ruined in a scary incident on Thursday. The horse entered the main track with his stable pony, when a loose horse came within inches of crashing into I’ll Have Another, “an accident that could have ended the colt’s career or possibly taken his life.” [Jerry Bossert / New York Daily News]
Can you imagine how awful this would have been? Horse racing is barely hanging on these days amid the terrible publicity the sport has been receiving and it desperately needs I’ll Have Another to win the Triple Crown.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said, “Normally, when a horse hears another horse coming up on him, they look over and if he did that he would have been T-boned by that horse. I’ve seen accidents like that and they’re ugly.”
–The NFL announced it will hold the Pro Bowl again in Honolulu next Jan. 27, a week before the Super Bowl, after Commissioner Roger Goodell was assured by the players union that those participating will try and give a s—.
Why bother?! I haven’t watched a second of this garbage since I was a kid. I still like my idea of putting an electric football game on the tube, with the players on the board substituting for the real All-Pros. I’d watch that. Get a case of beer…
–I’m reading a piece on North Korea in the New York Post and did you know there are only three Western flicks that have been approved by the country’s censors? “The Sound of Music,” “Titanic,” and “Home Alone.”
“Moose attacks are on the rise this month as the powerful animals give birth around Southcentral Alaska. Biologists are warning residents to watch out during the calving season when moose become more protective and aggressive.
“The words of caution come after a cow moose stomped on a 6-year-old girl Monday in Eagle River, breaking the girl’s clavicle and cutting her back, according to the girl’s mother. The same day, a moose struck a man outside Rabbit Creek Elementary [Ed. didn’t go there], but he was uninjured, police said. Over the weekend, a moose charged and injured at least two mountain bikers…
“ ‘Cows are dropping calves all over town right now. If you’re walking through a wooded area, you need to be extra vigilant… Those cows are so defensive of their little babies. They will literally stand there on the edge of the woods watching you, and if you take one step into their personal bubble, they’ll come out hooves flying.’”
—Actress Zhang Ziyi, who has starred in films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” slammed as “a complete lie” a Hong Kong newspaper’s allegations she was paid millions of dollars to sleep with disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai (and others). The tabloid Apple Daily claimed she had sex with Bo at least 10 times between 2007 and 2011, including one time when she was paid $1.6 million (10 million yuan).
I’m just wondering why you’d pay $1.6 million for a girl who is leaping all over the place, climbing the walls. “Geezuz, woman, would you calm down!”
[How to deal with a martial arts prostitute…another free feature of Bar Chat.]
–The voice of Speedy Alka-Seltzer, Dick Beals, died. He was 85. Beals was one of the great voice actors of all time. He needed to be because he was all of 4 feet 6 inches, and weighed less than 70 pounds due to a glandular condition. His voice hadn’t changed since grade school.
Beals did everything, including the voice of Gumby, and the first Davey in the early 1960s television series “Davey and Goliath,” one of your editor’s favorites. [I did a great Goliath.]
But it was as Speedy Alka-Seltzer that Beals earned fame and fortune. Between 1954 and 1964, he did some 200 commercials for the product. He would do other work for Oscar Mayer, Campbell’s Soup, and Bob’s Big Boy.
–I thoroughly enjoyed the “Hatfields & McCoys” on the History Channel, and it seems I wasn’t the only one as the ratings were huge given the outlet. I’ve also decided there is no cooler actor around than Powers Boothe.
–Speaking of family feuds, we note the passing of one of the greats in American culture, Richard Dawson at the age of 79. How could you not love this guy?! For starters, he was a hit on “Hogan’s Heroes,” which ran from 1965 to 1971 and was consistently one of the top-rated comedies, and then he got into the game show world, appearing as a popular panelist on “The Match Game” before getting his own show, “Family Feud.”
Dawson had fun with what is a pretty moronic show, when you think about it, but his caustic sense of humor and randy manner set him apart from other TV quizmasters.
And he insisted on kissing every female contestant, some 20,000 it is estimated during his main run, 1976 to 1985.
Plus think about the tone he set when he was kissing all people, regardless of race. Dawson once said in an interview for the Archive of American Television:
“It sounds crazy, but when I first came here (Dawson having been born in Britain), Petula Clark was on a show with Nat King Cole, and he kissed her on the cheek and 81 stations in the South canceled him. I kissed black women daily and nightly on ‘Family Feud’ for 11 years, and the world didn’t come to an end, did it?’”
Richard Dawson is one of those people who forever after when you hear his name you’ll just smile. Not a bad legacy.
–As expected Andy Samberg is leaving the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” joining Kristen Wiig and, probably, Jason Sudeikis. I liked all three…hard to replace…but they always seem to come up with new talent.
—Jessica Simpson has signed on with Weight Watchers for a reported $4 million as she sheds her baby weight after giving birth to a 9 lb. 13 oz. behemoth in early May.
–The Rolling Stones are looking to do one live concert this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, but sources tell Rolling Stone magazine they are still considering a 2013 tour. Keith Richards, the key, said, “We’re open for anything. It all seems that things are moving forward.”
It turns out the group had a full week of rehearsals in New York in early May. Richards said the sessions went great. They also rehearsed in Weehawken for a spell and allowed themselves to be filmed for an upcoming documentary. Richards and Mick Jagger evidently got along well.
As for Richards’ physical condition, the main previous concern, he says he is fine. We’ll see.
–If you have Sirius XM Radio, you may want to check out one of the BBC stations because I’m assuming they will be broadcasting the concert for Queen Elizabeth II, which will begin I think around 2:00 p.m. ET, Monday. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder…even Shirley Bassey singing “Diamonds are Forever.” Love it. I love the Queen!!!
Top 3 songs for the week 6/6/81: #1 “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes…god I hated this one) #2 “Being With You” (Smokey Robinson) #3 “Medley” (Stars on 45…ghastly)…and…#4 “Sukiyaki” (A Taste Of Honey) #5 “Take It On The Run” (REO Speedwagon…cut your hair, boys!) #6 “Living Inside Myself” (Gino Vannelli…this guy was kind of underrated…decent albums…but like the previous boys, needed a haircut badly) #7 “A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)” (Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio…eh) #8 “Just The Two Of Us” (Grover Washington, Jr. with Bill Withers…incredibly boring) #9 “America” (Neil Diamond… “America the Beautiful” is better) #10 “Sweetheart” (Franke & The Knockouts… music beginning to turn into an era of total blowdom save for the likes of the Eagles and Hall & Oates)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 10 or more home runs in May. N.L.: Giancarlo Stanton, MIA, 12 (he had one in April, 4/29); Carlos Beltran, STL, 10; Carlos Gonzalez, COL, 10. A.L.: Josh Hamilton, TEX, 12; Adam Dunn, CHW, 11; Adam Jones, BAL, 10; Josh Reddick, OAK, 10. [To me, Reddick was the tough one….talk about under the radar.]
PGA Golf Quiz Answer: The four to win seven events since the 2007 Masters are Tiger Woods (17); Phil Mickelson (10); Steve Stricker (9); and Zach Johnson (7).
