Baseball Quiz: Sunday, the Yankees’ Brian McCann became the sixth catcher in baseball history to hit his 200th home run by his age-31 season (90% of the games at the position). Name the other five (four of them are in the Hall of Fame and/or are likely to be). Answer below.
Jordan Spieth, Part II
[Since I posted right after the Masters concluded, wasn’t any time to include the commentary of others.]
Christine Brennan / USA TODAY Sports
“When Jordan Spieth won the Masters on Sunday, we won too. People who have grown sick of self-absorbed athletes won. Parents and coaches preaching sportsmanship in youth sports won. Those young athletes won, too.
“They won because they witnessed something we don’t see every day on our grandest cultural stages. They saw a young American, not even 22 years old, win one of the great U.S. sporting events with a kind of unspoken class and grace that would seem to come from another era.
“If Spieth’s victory becomes the eventual changing of the guard in American golf, it’s a big win for the good guys.
“Once there was another youthful American, just a few months younger at the time than Spieth is now, wining this same tournament at 18-under-par, just as Spieth did Sunday. That, of course, was Tiger Woods in 1997. Spieth doesn’t succumb to the uber-fist-pumping and extracurricular swearing of Tiger, so he is far less flashy and outwardly intimidating than Woods. But he’s even more impressive as a person because he knows he doesn’t need the window-dressing and the nonsense to play the game. I think they call it respect….
“This week, Tiger again showed he simply cannot stop himself from swearing into open microphones when he said a particularly bad word after a terrible snap-hook off the tee into the trees on No. 13.
“A couple of hours later, Spieth made his way to No. 13, to the same spot, and also hit a poor tee shot into the trees.
“In some ways, there seems to be a little Phil Mickelson in Spieth.
“ ‘He’s just a classy guy,’ Mickelson said of Spieth on Saturday. ‘He just represents the game very well and at a very young age, and he’s just got a lot of game. So if he were to come out on top, it would be wonderful for the tournament, wonderful for the game.’
“He did come out on top, beating Phil and Rose by four shots. One never knows what the future holds for anyone, even someone who appears so genuine and real and grounded as Jordan Spieth.
Gene Wojciechowski / ESPN.com
“So final-round drama took a vacation day. Big deal. That’s the trade-off for watching Spieth leave tank tracks over the rest of the field. History doesn’t always require a cliffhanger ending.
“Spieth won by 4 strokes and was never truly threatened. Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson made their little runs, but it was like watching two guys try to scale a 20-foot wall with a 5-foot ladder. They tried, but they needed help – and Spieth never lowered them a rope….
“If you’re looking for the next great American player, Spieth is a nice place to start. Soon, he might be a nice place to finish – if he isn’t already.
“The search has gone on for years. From Arnie to Jack to maybe Tom Watson to Tiger to…?
“Let’s see. It was going to be Hank Keuhne, Ricky Barnes, Charles Howell III, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson – the list goes on. But none of those guys has won a major. Not even Arnie or Jack left Augusta National with a four-round total of 18-under. It was, as Mickelson put, ‘just astounding.’
“It was, wasn’t it? Everything about Spieth’s 2015 Masters (sure, you might as well include his T-2 in his Masters debut last year too) was beyond amazing….
“The list of his early career accomplishments is beginning to stretch longer than the flagstick Spieth’s caddie, Micheal Greller, kept as a keepsake. Spieth has already won more than $14 million in his brief professional career. He has three PGA Tour victories, but in his past four tournaments, he has gone win, second, tied for second, win. He has played in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.
“ ‘Obviously, you could put him in that classification of phenom,’ said Zach Johnson, who won this tournament in 2007. ‘But given that, I don’t think you want to ordain him anything yet.’
“The truth is Spieth and his game are easy to like. He’s 21, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he plays. He thinks older. He carries himself older. Even his hairline is older. If you’re American golf, you want him on that tee box. You need him on that tee box.
“There’s a reason there was a conga line of players and caddies waiting to congratulate Spieth as he made his way to the scorer’s room. Jim Mackay, Mickelson’s caddie, hugged him and said, ‘I’m happy for you, buddy.’ Johnson told him, ‘I’m so proud of you, man. Well done.’
“On the CBS broadcast, three-time Masters champ Nick Faldo told viewers, ‘America wanted its superstar, and it got one very quickly.’….
“Tiger Woods turns 40 in December. He remains the face of golf, but even he would say he isn’t the future of golf. That title belongs to McIlroy.
“But for now, in this country, Spieth is the present and future. Of course, Johnson respectfully disagrees.
“His point: There are other young American golfers in the superstar pipeline.
“He’ll get no argument here. But Spieth is the only young American golfer to move from the pipeline to Butler Cabin for the green jacket presentation. He’s the only one to thank the food and beverage people at Augusta National during the awards ceremony. He’s the only one to say, without reservation, that he wants to win another Masters and unseat McIlroy as world No. 1.
Mark Cannizzaro / New York Post
“McIlroy, the current No. 1 ranked player in the world, came to this Masters chasing history, trying to become only the sixth player ever to complete a career Grand Slam. Soon, he might find himself chasing Spieth, whose resounding Masters victory Sunday elevated him to No. 2 in the world.
“Nick Faldo, on the CBS telecast Sunday, spot-on nailed the state of the game when he called the Spieth victory ‘a momentous moment in the history of our game,’ calling Spieth ‘a new man who could carry our game on for decades – along with Rory.
“ ‘With these two guys, golf is in very, very strong hands,’ Faldo said….
“ ‘As far as with Rory, he’s got four majors,’ Spieth said. ‘That’s something I can still only dream about; and just numerous wins. I’ll never hit it as far as he does and I have to make up for that somewhere else. He’s an unbelievably nice guy. Carries that World No. 1 with class.
“ ‘I don’t know as far as a rivalry right now. I look forward to getting the heat of the moment with him a couple times in the near future and see if we can battle it out and test our games.’….
“McIlroy marveled at how much better Spieth handled himself after his 2014 Masters disappointment, failing to convert a 54-hole lead, compared to his experience when he blew that four-shot lead to lose the 2011 Masters.
“ ‘He’s way more mature than I was at 21, and a hell of a golfer and a great person as well,’ McIlroy said. ‘It’s nice to get your major tally up and running at quite an early stage of your career. I’m happy for him. It’s great to see, great for the game, and I’m sure he’ll win many more.’
“If we’re all lucky, Spieth and McIlroy will be battling it out in major championships for the next decade or two.
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“Golf never needed a splendid, record-matching, era-opening, semi-runaway Masters win more than it did this one. A marvelous 800-year-old game, in the midst of rugged hard times with its popularity declining for years and American golf in the doldrums, got exactly what it needed: very likely the next true great. How good is he? In the last 100 years, who are some of the youngest golfers to win a major? Gene Sarazen at 20; Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and now Spieth at 21; Rory McIlroy, Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros at 22. So is that self-evident enough? Together, they may constitute almost half of golf history.
“Such greatness is not absolutely inevitable. For example, Jerry Pate won the U.S. Open at 22, and that was his only major title. But such a win, by such a margin, with so many records linked to it, is the best career predictor in existence….
“Golf – and especially American golf – desperately needs a next great star to pair against and contrast with McIlroy. The entire floundering industry craves a new and appealing face as Phil Mickelson, 44, and much-injured Tiger Woods, 39, approach the inevitable end of their age of miracle shots and vast popularity.
“Spieth is it. Just enjoy it. Probably for a long time….
“Finally, we should try to grasp the weight on Spieth on Sunday. We may never see a day when an entire sport – a whole industry – was more emotionally and financially invested in one young player holding on to a precarious lead.
“Pro golf is stars. Always has been. And to date, American stars have mattered most. Right now, the U.S. gets drubbed regularly in the Ryder Cup by Europe, then whines about it. Two of the most talented American players may be jerks. Fellow pros just voted Bubba Watson the player they would be least likely to help if he was in a fight. Dustin Johnson just returned from a long PGA Tour suspension to get his ‘life together.’
“What golf needs, not to return to the top of Tiger Mountain a decade ago but to get back where it has always belonged, is an appealing gentleman who, at an extremely young age, may have a career that falls somewhere along the arc of the greatest. Someone like Hagen, Sarazen, Jones, Ballesteros, Nicklaus, Woods and McIlroy.
Jaime Diaz / Golfworld
“Spieth is above all precocious, which usually goes hand in hand with fast learning. The son of two former college athletes, he’s been the sports-obsessed kid who is expert at figuring out the effective ways to play games, and then doing whatever it takes. Never the fastest or strongest, but nearly always the most dogged and smartest….
“When it was over Sunday, it hadn’t been a work of art. Spieth had made four bogeys, three three-putts (two of them from the fringe) and hit a bunch of ‘slap-shotting’ drives. But his 70 was definitely a work of winning.
“It followed what is becoming Spieth’s signature, both statistically and anecdotally. This year, just like his rookie year, he’s in the middle of the pack in driving distance and greens in regulation. Yet through some kind of alchemy, he is fifth in strokes gained/tee to green, which nearly matches his standing in his supposed strength, strokes gained/putting (where he ranks fourth).
“At the Masters, Spieth upped his iron game to put himself among the leaders in greens in regulation with 54 out of 72. From good positions on the putting surfaces, no one came close to converting as often, as Spieth was third in total putts with 108.
“More than the numbers, old-school stars love the nuance and poetry in Spieth’s game. ‘There’s nothing about his swing that’s beautiful,’ says Johnny Miller. ‘He just knows how to score. It’s something intangible.’ Adds Lee Trevino, ‘Jordan’s got it upstairs. He knows how to play golf.’
“Agents say (Spieth) likely tripled his off-course earnings power and will make around $25 million this year – a figure surpassed only by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Arnold Palmer. Why is Spieth worth so much? He hits all the benchmarks that endorsement partners are looking for: believability (he’s a genuine talent), longevity (he’ll win for many years) and likability (he has a squeaky-clean image). Plus he won the right major. The Masters is golf’s most-watched tournament and, because it comes early in the year, it gives his agent, Jay Danzi of Lagardere Unlimited, time to capitalize on his greatly increased appearance fee for overseas events.”
Spieth has current endorsement deals with the likes of Under Armour (so prominently displayed the past week) that bring in about $6 million now, but bonuses and new deals will make it closer to $20 to $25 million.
—How did Michael Greller, a fifth- and sixth-grade school teacher, get to carry Jordan Spieth’s bag? From Tim Rosaforte / Golfworld:
“Now 37, Greller grew up in Michigan, played NAIA golf for Northwestern College in Iowa and moved to the Pacific Northwest to be near his sister. When the U.S. Public Links came to Gold Mountain G.C. near his Gig Harbor home in 2006, he approached a player that was carrying his own bag, Matt Savage of Florida State.
“After helping Savage advance to the quarterfinals, Greller changed school districts to be closer to Chambers Bay, where he could moonlight as a caddie. Savage knew Justin Thomas and recommended Greller when the course hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur. Through their success, Greller begged Thomas to set him up with Spieth for the 2011 U.S. Junior Amateur at Gold Mountain. They won, and when Spieth finished low amateur at the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, Greller locked down the job.
“ ‘I took a one-year leave of absence from teaching, thinking (Spieth) had no status anywhere,’ Greller said. ‘Yes, he was the No. 1 amateur in the world, but that means nothing out here. I was getting married, had a house. To go chase this kid caddying was kind of a big risk. And then he went crazy.”
–Phil W. and I agree this Masters was missing one thing…shaved fronts at Nos. 13 and 15. Few balls rolled back into Rae’s Creek as in Masters’ of yore and the players felt confident in risking going for these two par 5s, whereas in the past there would certainly at least be hesitation and more than a bit of doubt the ball would stay up.
Masters officials know this. The course was too lush and you can be sure this situation will be rectified next year, at least at these two holes.
–I told you before the Masters that if Tiger Woods made it to the weekend, ratings would soar. While no one can tell just how much his presence mattered, or how many were turned on by Jordan Spieth’s opening 64-66, the fact is Saturday’s television ratings were up 45% from last year’s, while Sunday’s rose 26%. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
—So with all the talk of the state of golf…here are the Top Ten in the current World Golf Rankings, along with their ages.
1. Rory McIlroy, 25…26 within a month
2. Jordan Spieth, 21
3. Henrik Stenson, 39
4. Bubba Watson, 36
5. Jason Day, 27
6. Dustin Johnson, 30
7. Adam Scott, 34
8. Justin Rose, 34
9. Sergio Garcia, 35
10. Jim Furyk 45…soon to be 46
13. Rickie Fowler, 26
14. Patrick Reed, 25
15. Hideki Matsuyama, 23
19. Billy Horschel, 28
20. Brooks Koepka, 24…soon to be 25
33. Keegan Bradley, 28
46. Russell Henley, 26
55. Harris English, 25
69. Daniel Berger, 22
91. Justin Thomas, 21…soon to be 22
When folks talk of the future, of course it’s about Rory and Jordan, but also Day, Fowler, Reed, Matsuyama, Koepka, Berger and Thomas (these last two should rocket up the ranks the next 12-18 months), with Henley and Harris English more than capable of joining this group. And obviously Horschel and Bradley have had their moments.
But then you still have Stenson, Bubba, Dustin, Scott, Rose and Garcia very much in their prime, though Garcia is largely dismissed when it comes to the big events.
Heck, Dustin has won a tournament eight years in a row, despite his issues. Now he is clearly refocused. The next decade could easily be his.
And what if Tiger begins to consistently compete in the majors again?
My personal top five the next five years is Rory, Jordan, Reed, Matsuyama, and Koepka, among the under 30 set.
NBA Fever…cough cough….
—What were the Knicks thinking?! On Monday, entering their game in Atlanta, they were tied with the Timberwolves for worst record at 16-64, the goal being to win the NBA draft lottery…to get the most ping-pong balls.
Instead of losing, though, the Knicks upset the 60-21 Hawks, 112-108. Idiots. Guard Langston Galloway had a career night, 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-6 from three.
Minnesota lost 100-88 to New Orleans so with one game left for each, the T’Wolves lead in the race for worst.
But if the Knicks win their finale and the Sixers lose, both would finish 18-64 and the Knicks, who just a week ago seemed locked into the worst record, and thus being assured of a top-four pick (the way the lottery works), could finish third (if they lost a coin flip with Philadelphia), and thus potentially fall as low as the sixth selection! That would be unbelievable, given what a dreadful season it was…for which there was supposed to be a reward at the end.
–Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets had won 10 of 12 to take a seemingly secure lead for the 7th or final playoff spot in the East, but then proceeded to lose 4 of their next 6, including Monday night against the Bulls at home, 113-86. The Nets finish the season 12-31 against teams .500 or better.
So entering Tuesday night’s play it was Indiana at 37-43 and the Nets at 37-44, Brooklyn owning the tiebreaker. Indiana then defeated Washington 99-95 to move to 38-43.
–So last time I hinted that the Atlanta Hawks’ Thabo Sefolosha may have suffered his leg injuries at the hands of the NYPD outside a New York City nightclub last week. Tuesday, Sefolosha went public for the first time in a statement.
“On advice of counsel, I hope you can appreciate that I cannot discuss the facts of the case. Those questions will be answered by my attorney in a court of law. I will simply say that I am in great pain, have experienced a significant injury and that the injury was caused by the police.’
The Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD is investigating. Officers involved in the arrest have retained legal representation.
Like I said last time, a big blow for the Hawks as Sefolosha was a key figure off the bench for them. Like I also said, he was stupidly out at 4:00 a.m.
–For us Mets fans, just one man matters….Matt Harvey and his return from a 17-month layoff due to Tommy John surgery. Tuesday night’s 6-5 win over the Phillies was stirring in more ways than one.
“They had chanted ‘Har-vey, Har-vey’ right at the start, and they were chanting it again after he drilled Chase Utley with a diabolical fastball in the middle of the back – payback in the fifth inning for Wilmer Flores (bruised hand) and Michael Cuddyer (bruised hand) plunkings.
“New York loves stars, and it loves stars who have their teammates’ backs and won’t stand by idly when the law of the baseball jungle calls for retaliatory justice.
Harvey wasn’t great…six innings, three earned, but the Mets beat the Phillies 6-5 in front of 39,500 at Citi Field, a huge crowd for a non-home opener, April weeknight.
None of the players could remember a game like it. Four hit batters, atrocious umpiring, stupid managing. Many fans wearing Batman masks in honor of the Dark Knight (Harvey).
And then the Mets lost captain David Wright for probably 4 weeks or so with a hamstring injury. Oh brother. The Dark Knight can only do so much himself.
–The Washington Nationals are off to a sort of shocking 2-6 start after being picked the favorite to win the World Series by a majority of ‘experts,’ including yours truly. They still have the best rotation in baseball, however, and they’ll be fine.
Except they do have shortstop Ian Desmond, who has committed a startling six errors in the first eight games; seemingly all six very costly.
This is a guy who turned down a $100 million contract extension because he thinks he should be paid far more. Max Scherzer won his gamble when he was in a similar situation last season with Detroit. Desmond seems bound to be a major loser.
Nonetheless we can now project Desmond will have 84 errors this season, but the Nats will somehow still win the World Series.
—Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals have started out 7-0. But if you’re looking for good signs, that last year’s World Series loser could be this year’s winner, since 1996, not a single WS loser came back to win the following year, as reported by the Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Helliker. Only one loser, the 2011 Texas Rangers – returned to the Series (to then lose again).
The 2003 Royals started 9-0 but finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs.
I’ll say the Royals go 134-28 and their division rival, the Detroit Tigers (currently 7-1), will go 133-29, but neither will be in the Series. It will still be the Angels, who sneak in as a wild card. [I’m already bemoaning my selection of the Halos.]
–It’s clear after one week the N.L. Central will be super exciting this summer and through September. Talk about parity.
Pirates 82-80
Cubs 81-81
Cardinals 81-81
Reds 80-82
Milwaukee 40-122…sorry, Brewers fans. But you have Usingers and terrific domestic goin’ for ya.
1. Texas A&M
2. LSU
3. UCLA
4. Louisville
5. Vanderbilt
11. UC Santa Barbara
15. Dallas Baptist
Just thought nothing says ‘college baseball’ like UC Santa Barbara…cutting class, catching some serious rays…err, going to the game after class, catching some rays….
College Basketball
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Virginia…but huge blow. Justin Anderson is heading out.
4. Iowa State
5. Maryland
6. Villanova
7. Kansas
8. Notre Dame
9. Gonzaga
10. Duke…USA TODAY is assuming Tyus Jones goes out
14. SMU
Doh….San Diego State isn’t listed in their top 25. But just you wait, folks! [OK, we have to wait about seven months, for starters.]
1. SDSU
2. Duke…assuming Jones stays
3. Virginia
4. Maryland
5. Iowa State
I still don’t know what I’m missing in terms of the looming hammer coming down on the North Carolina sports program. Some of Carolina’s players may be allowed to transfer without penalty, right? After all, you’d think they’ll be banned from postseason play for a year or two.
–Duke’s Justise Winslow made it official in declaring for the draft.
–Wichita State’s super backcourt duo of Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker will return for their senior seasons. Both were viewed as second-rounders had they entered the draft.
Baker has already graduated and was preparing to leave but after Gregg Marshall opted to stay rather than take the Alabama head coaching job, Baker changed his mind. Good for him.
–Hey Wake Forest fans…cornerback Kevin Johnson is rated the fourth best in the nation behind Trae Waynes (Michigan State), Jalen Collins (LSU), and Marcus Peters (Washington). It looks like a pretty good bet Johnson will go in the first round of the draft (or early second).
*Wake alum Allan Dykstra finally made the major leagues thanks to an injury at first base for the Tampa Bay Rays. Dykstra has his big shot…but he’s off to a 1-for-12 start.
–Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer parlayed the Buckeyes’ national title into a new contract extension. He will now be paid an average of $6.5 million through 2020.
Alabama’s Nick Saban, at $7 million per, is the only coach in the college game being paid more than Meyer.
–Yikes…former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips is suspected of killing his cellmate at Kern Valley State Prison in California the other day. Phillips is serving a sentence after he was convicted of domestic violence, false imprisonment and vehicle theft. The fellow he allegedly killed was serving 82-years-to-life in prison after being convicted of murder.
Phillips, you’ll recall, helped lead Nebraska to two national championships, but was cut from several NFL and Canadian football league teams for a range of disciplinary problems.
He was arrested at least five times on suspicion of assaulting women, and in 2006 drove a car onto a field near the Los Angeles Coliseum and struck three teenagers.
—Lou Holtz is leaving ESPN by mutual agreement. The 78-year-old has been with the network since 2005. His partner, co-analyst Mark May, could also be on the way out. Host Rece Davis is moving over to fill Chris Fowler’s shoes on “College GameDay.”
–I got a kick out of Couch Slouch’s comments in the Washington Post on ESPN.com’s new web site.
“I’m in the information business, my friends, which means I’m in the business of staying informed most of the day online, so you can imagine my dismay when ESPN, the worldwide leader for everything that counts in my life, recently overhauled its Web site.
“”That’s right – in the middle of the night, like those moving vans the Colts used when they snuck out from Baltimore to Indianapolis 31 years ago, ESPN whisked away my fits-like-an-old-pair-of-slippers ESPN.com and wheeled in a spanking new ESPN.com…
“In the interest of fairness, it should be pointed out that ESPN.com’s redesign has been lauded by most people. Alas, I am not most people.
“By nature, a Web designer looks at a Web space and thinks, ‘That needs to be redesigned.’….
‘Now, as much as I disdain the new ESPN.com, it’s not nearly the calamity that occurred when those bumble heads at Sports Illustrated redesigned SI.com. I mean, these days you don’t go onto SI.com without a flashlight, a Rand McNally map and a Costco-sized bottle of antacid….
“So what exactly is wrong with the contemporary, cutting-edge ESPN.com?
“There’s just too much going on – it feels like I’ve walked into a pinball machine.
“The old ESPN.com seemed manageable, almost homey. Now it’s as if I’m wandering through a shopping mall that never ends….
“The redesign, we’re told, is weighted toward mobile users; in January, 61 percent of visitors to ESPN.com accessed it on a mobile device….
“So, yes, the new ESPN.com is for people on the move. This does not include Couch Slouch – I’m only on the move between the beanbag chair and the bathroom.
I am not a fan of the new ESPN.com either. Their old baseball scoreboard was infinitely better, for starters.
—Richard L. Bare died. He was 101. Bare was the longtime director for “Green Acres,” the immensely popular CBS comedy that ran from 1965 to 1971; part of CBS’ successful country-themed sitcoms of that era that included “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Petticoat Junction.”
But in reading Bare’s obituary by Daniel Slotnik in the New York Times, I liked this bit.
“Mr. Bare recalled that in 1955 he was preparing to shoot the first episode of ‘Cheyenne,’ a western series starring Clint Walker, when he met a young actor named James Bumgarner in a Hollywood bar. Mr. Bare, impressed with Mr. Bumgarner’s stature, called him in to read for a bit part on the show, and Warner Bros. executives were so impressed that they offered him a contract (provided he shorten his name). Mr. Garner went to star on ‘Maverick’ – and Mr. Bare directed him in several episodes – and, later, ‘The Rockford Files.’”
–From the Associated Press: “A woman was dangling her two-year-old son over a railing at the Cleveland zoo when he fell about three meters into a cheetah exhibit, zoo officials said.
“The toddler’s parents jumped in and pulled him to safety Saturday afternoon. He was treated at a hospital for a few bumps and bruises, said Cleveland Fire Department spokesman (Sparky McLighter).
“The cheetahs didn’t go toward the boy or his parents, said Chris Kuhar, executive director of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo….
“Cleveland Metroparks plans to seek child endangering charges against the mother, he said.
“A similar incident at a Pittsburgh zoo left a two-year-old boy dead in 2012. The child was fatally mauled after falling into a wild African dogs exhibit.”
Well this is an easy one for the All-Species List executive committee. ‘Man’ drops another notch to No. 299. ‘Cheetah’ moves up from No. 28 to 26.
–From the Associated Press: “A golfer has been bitten on the leg by a crocodile while playing at an Australian tourist resort.
“The man, aged in his 70s, had two puncture wounds in his left calf after he was bitten by the 4-foot saltwater crocodile on Monday at the Palmer Sea Reef Golf Course in the tourist town of Port Douglas on Queensland state’s Great Barrier Reef…
“The man was taken to the Mossman Hospital in stable condition. Crocodile bites often become infected.”
Game officials in Australia said it was unusual for a small croc to interact with people. Saltwater crocs, No. 25 on the ASL, incidentally, can grow to 20-feet in length.
–Tuesday night I did something different. A friend had a spare ticket to see Stevie Wonder at the Pru Center in Newark. I had heard Wonder was touring, doing the entire 1976 “Songs in the Key of Life” album, and this was actually the last stop.
You know, he still has it (he’s actually ‘only’ 64), and the band and backup singers were terrific. Great show. Thank you, Jim and Ellen.
[But I’m running on fumes this morning…very late night.]
–Finally, Percy Sledge died. He was 74. His 1966 No. 1 Billboard hit “When a Man Loves a Woman” was his debut single, “an almost unbearably heartfelt ballad with a resonance he never approached again,” as an obituary from the Associated Press put it. It was the first No. 1 hit from Alabama’s burgeoning Muscle Shoals music scene, where Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones recorded, among others, and it was the first gold record for Atlantic Records.
AR executive Jerry Wexler later called the song “a transcendent moment” and “a holy love hymn.” While he had three other tunes that reached the top twenty, “When a Man…” was the standard that sustained a long touring career in the U.S., Europe and South Africa. Sledge performed it at Steve Van Zandt’s wedding, and the song often turned up in movies like “The Big Chill” and “The Crying Game.” It was re-released in 1987 after being featured in Oliver Stone’s “Platoon.”
Before he became famous, Sledge worked in the cotton fields in northwest Alabama where he grew up, and he took a job as an orderly at a hospital in Sheffield. Weekends he played with an R&B band called the Esquires. A patient heard him singing while at work and recommended Sledge to record producer Quin Ivy.
Top 3 songs for the week 4/14/62: #1 “Johnny Angel” (Shelley Fabares) #2 “Good Luck Charm” (Elvis Presley) #3 “Slow Twistin’” (Chubby Checker w/ Dee Dee Sharp)…and…#4 “Mashed Potato Time” (Dee Dee Sharp) #5 “Love Letters” (Ketty Lester) #6 “Young World” (Rick Nelson…the one and only…) #7 Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You” (Connie Francis) #8 “Lover Please” (Clyde McPhatter) #9 “Midnight In Moscow” (Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen) #10 “Hey! Baby” (Bruce Channel…20 months to the British Invasion…some of these folks had no idea their careers were about to take a massive hit…)
Baseball Quiz Answer: The other five catchers to hit 200 home runs by their age-31 season are: Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez and Lance Parrish.
Parrish is interesting. He was an 8-time All-Star and in his career (1977-95) ended up with 324 home runs and 1,070 RBI. But in just looking him up, it’s unbelievable he received only 1.7% of the vote in his first, and only, year of Hall of Fame eligibility. And he wasn’t posting his big numbers during baseball’s steroid era.
