[Posted early, Tuesday PM, due to scheduling issues.]
Alabama Quiz: Name the quarterback for each of their last five national championship teams…2015, 2012, 2011, 2009, 1992. Answer below.
College Football
I am not wasting my time or yours on needless prattle about the CFP Selection Committee’s final four, specifically Washington over Penn State. Tough. Decision made. Move along, people. No controversy here.
Some sportswriters I respect, though, are saying that the 4-5 decision is another reason why the playoffs should be expanded to eight teams.
No freakin’ way. Of course then you’d have an 8-10 controversy, and another week on the calendar when most hard-core sports fans are ready for the college football season to be over so we can focus on college basketball, spring training (before you know it), March Madness, and then a tradition unlike any other…The Masters…on CBS. [Those arguing for eight teams say you hold the first round of playoffs two weeks after the conference championship games, thus the season wouldn’t have to go beyond when it already does. I still don’t want it.]
Look, there were five really deserving teams for four slots this year. Merde happens.
Anyway, New Year’s Eve should be fun, especially if Washington can put up a fight against Alabama in the 3:00 ET opener. You just know Clemson-Ohio State will be a ballgame well into the second half at least.
And the New Year’s Day+1, Jan. 2, bowls should be entertaining, with all eyes on the Rose Bowl, USC-Penn State.
Oklahoma-Auburn in the Sugar does not interest me in the least as the Sooners deserved a far better opponent, but I will have long gone to bed at the half, as will all of America after 72+ hours straight of football, including the NFL’s last regular-season contests on Jan. 1.
Other potentially interesting games ….
Dec. 17…Houston-San Diego State…Donnel Pumphrey goes for the all-time rushing record.
Dec. 26…Maryland-Boston College in Detroit…you have to at least flip this one on for laughs for two minutes to count the number of fans in the stands. Maybe turn it into a drinking game. I’m guessing the attendance will be 124.
Dec. 27…Temple-Wake Forest…I think the Deacs will put up a good fight.*
Dec. 28…Pitt-Northwestern…Yankee Stadium…Pitt deserved a better opponent, but still good for recruiting.
Dec. 28…West Virginia-Miami…in all honesty, this is an outstanding bowl matchup, and I hope my boy Michael Badgley kicks the game-winner for Miami.
Dec. 29…Oklahoma State-Colorado…should be a solid contest.
Dec. 30…Stanford-North Carolina…ditto.
As for all the other games, I swear, you won’t find me tuning in.
*Temple coach Matt Rhule won’t be on the Owls’ sidelines as he is taking the Baylor head coaching job. Jim Grobe will still coach the Bears in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl, a prickly affair, on Dec. 27 against Boise State. Temple will have an assistant coach, Ed Foley, serving as interim head coach against Wake.
Rhule’s first season at Temple was 2013 and the Owls, with a program in pathetic shape, went 2-10. Temple then went 6-6 in his second season before breaking out last year with a 10-4 campaign and this year they are 10-3.
—Purdue hired Western Kentucky coach Jeff Brohm on Monday to take over their program.
Brohm was 30-10 in three seasons with the Hilltoppers, transforming them into a passing machine. He succeeds Darrell Hazell, who was fired in October after posting a 9-33 record in three-plus seasons. The Boilermakers have had one winning season in the last nine.
NFL
Last I heard, 24 Jets fans committed hari-kari watching Monday night’s historically bad debacle at MetLife Stadium, the Jets falling to 3-9 in a 41-10 loss to the Colts as Andrew Luck sliced and diced the Jets’ secondary, going 22/28, 278, 4-0, 147.6 rating in his first start after being out with a concussion. We just can’t take it anymore.
After the game, Jets coach Todd Bowles ripped his team.
“For the first time this year, we got our ass handed to us,” he said. “That’s very disappointing from a physical standpoint. I thought they kicked our ass. I don’t think we had a lot of effort.”
When asked if he saw any signs during practice last week that this might happen?
“You don’t see signs of getting your ass kicked,” Bowles said. “You just get it kicked.”
Bowles said his players were “prepared.” So why was the effort lacking?
“I don’t know if they did or didn’t [lack effort],” he said. “I just know we got our ass kicked.” [Darryl Slater / NJ.com]
Bowles also announced that Bryce Petty would replace Ryan Fitzpatrick for the final four games.
That’s Todd Bowles, ladies and gentlemen! Todd will be back for a second show later.
This guy is a bumbling, mumbling, arrogant and selfish dolt.
Defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson said after the game: “Guys have to play harder. We all played like s—.”
Which would describe Wilkerson’s own play this season, after the team gave him a five-year, $86 million max deal, $54 million of which is guaranteed, $37 million the first two years. He simply robbed the bank and has laid down ever since.
Ditto Darrelle Revis. Dude, just retire.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“These are the kinds of games that get head coaches fired, with cause, without an ounce of regret. That has to be crossing Woody Johnson’s mind this morning. If it isn’t, it should be. And if Todd Bowles isn’t worried, he should be.
“ ‘I coached for my job the first day I took this job,’ Bowles said in the middle of a postgame speech, in which he seethed throughout and no fewer than two dozen times described his team’s latest effort with a variation of this: ‘We got our ass kicked.’
“It isn’t just that the Jets were smeared by the Colts on Monday night, 41-10. It wasn’t just that the guys wearing green jerseys disgraced themselves up and down this 60-minute slog, looking so disinterested you almost wanted politely to ask the crowd to quiet its booing because it seemed to be giving the poor players headaches.
“ ‘We didn’t have a lot of effort,’ Bowles said, about as damning a summary as a coach can ever attach to his team – or himself.
“Yes, coaches get fired for games like this, and Bowles ought to get fired for a game like this because this was the inevitable culmination of what we already have seen from these Jets: shamefully porous defense and shockingly inept offense. Sprinkle in a no-show effort? It’s a sadly easy call….
“ ‘All of it falls on me,’ Bowles said. ‘I’m the head coach.’
“And he has to answer for it. There was talk he was afraid of losing his locker room if he benched Fitzpatrick, and that looks like a laughably minor worry since it so clearly is a locker room stuffed with losers. A coach ought to want to shed a burden such as that.
“This would have been bad enough if it had been hidden amid a pile of 1 o’clock Sunday games, without anyone of note in attendance, maybe without broadcasters, the way the networks treated another meaningless Jets game back in the day. That’s the fate bad teams deserve: play out the string, don’t get hurt, don’t get in anyone’s way.
“Like America’s.”
Brian Costello / New York Post
“Everything is on the table after the Colts’ 41-10 shellacking of the Jets. This is the kind of mortifying loss that should make (owner Woody) Johnson question every aspect of his organization. Coach Todd Bowles oversaw a disinterested Jets team that looked overmatched by a mediocre Colts team from the start. General Manager Mike Maccagnan’s roster looked inept. The $12 million quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was benched at halftime. Bryce Petty, one of the quarterbacks of the future, threw two interceptions during his appearance….
“As Johnson was exiting MetLife, The Post asked him for his reaction to the game.
“ ‘I’ll talk to you later,’ a clearly agitated Johnson said.”
–Meanwhile, the other team in New York, the Giants, isn’t without controversy, which is what follows Odell Beckham Jr. While Beckham had a fine game in the Steelers’ 24-14 win on Sunday against the Giants, 10 receptions, 100 yards, it was his reaction on the sideline to buddy Antonio Brown’s 22-yard touchdown reception that caught everyone’s attention.
You see, err, Brown is on the other team and I don’t care how good a friend he is off the field, you don’t want your own teammates to see you clapping and smiling for a guy who just torched one of them!
Beckham said afterwards: “I didn’t admire the points going on the board, but I admire him, so it’s a tough balance. I would have liked for him to score next week and not this week, but the guy’s great.”
Oh brother. Of course it was a terrible optic. Beckham went on and on in his praise of Antonio, concluding, “Unfortunately we lost, but hey, that’s how the cookie crumbles.”
Beckham then complained bitterly about the officiating, which he does incessantly.
[I won’t get into Beckham and Brown being out together the night before the game, which I’m told isn’t an issue anyway.]
Here’s the thing about Beckham. He’s not changing. Along with Brown and A.J. Green, he’s also as good as they come at his position. But he is such an unbelievable jerk.
Yet you’ve no doubt noticed how advertisers are starting to buy into his act for their own purposes, because he appeals to that certain group of people best known as….Fellow Jerks!
–Playoff Standings
AFC
1. Oakland 10-2
2. New England 10-2
3. Baltimore 7-5
4. Houston 6-6
5. Kansas City 9-3
6. Denver 8-4
AFC North
Baltimore 7-5
Pittsburgh 7-5
AFC South
Houston 6-6
Tennessee 6-6
Indianapolis 6-6
NFC
1. Dallas 11-1
2. Seattle 8-3-1
3. Detroit 8-4
4. Atlanta 7-5
5. New York 8-4
6. Tampa Bay 7-5
NFC South
Atlanta 7-5
Tampa Bay 7-5
–Update: The man who fatally shot ex-NFLer Joe McKnight outside New Orleans last Thursday has been arrested and jailed on a manslaughter charge. Police took in Ronald Gasser, 54, after he was released without being charged over the weekend, pending further investigation.
The sheriff in charge angrily defended his methods and it makes total sense. They knew Gasser would cooperate and they used the extra time to interview 160 of 250 potential witnesses, as identified through license plates captured on video and what emerged was a story different from Gasser’s original one. It turns out the argument had been going on for some time between the two and it escalated until McKnight got out of his car and was shot by Gasser. [McKnight did have a gun in his car but it’s not part of the case.]
College Basketball
AP Poll (Dec. 5)
1.Villanoa 8-0 (57),,,beat LaSalle 89-79 on Tues.
2. UCLA 9-0 (2)
3. Kansas 7-1
4. Baylor 8-0 (6)
5. Duke 8-1
6. Kentucky 7-1
7. North Carolina 8-1
8. Gonzaga 8-0
9. Indiana 7-1
10. Creighton 8-0
12. Saint Mary’s 6-0…huh
–Nice 91-74 win for Wake Forest (7-2) over Charlotte (6-3) Tues., as John Collins had another superb game, 22 points and 15 rebounds. His production per minutes played is off the charts. We just have to keep him on the court.
NBA
—Klay Thompson had 60 points on Monday night in the Warriors’ 142-106 rout of the Indiana Pacers….60…in three quarters…29 minutes.
Yes, 60 points in 29 minutes, Thompson with a performance for the ages, 21 of 33 from the field (8 of 14 from three), 10 of 11 from the free throw line. He was the first Warrior to score 60 since Rick Barry had 64 in a game way back in 1974.
Recall, Thompson also holds the NBA record for points in a quarter, 37.
As for Indiana’s defense, just imagine, it was 80-50 at the half. 80!
–Also Monday, Russell Westbrook had his sixth straight triple-double, 32 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in a 102-99 win by the Thunder over the Hawks. It is the NBA’s longest such streak since Michael Jordan’s seven in a row in 1989.
So Westbrook continues to average a triple-double for his first 22 games… 31.0, 10.9, 11.3.
–Hey, former Demon Deacon Al-Farouq Aminu finally returned for my “Pick to Click” Portland Trail Blazers on Monday and he played 17 minutes in a 112-110 win over the Chicago Bulls, Portland now 12-10.
–The Knicks won their fourth in a row Tuesday, 114-103 in Miami behind Carmelo Anthony’s 35. James Johnson was among the Heat’s walking wounded and didn’t play.
MLB
–Right after I posted last time we learned that Bud Selig and long-time baseball executive John Schuerholz were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the restructured veterans committee; both deserving. To get in you needed to receive 12 of 16 votes (75%) and Schuerholz received all 16, while Selig got 15. Lou Piniella was next at 7, or 43.8%.
Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Mark McGwire and George Steinbrenner each received fewer than five votes.
No one else deserved to get in out of this group, with perhaps one exception. It’s also pretty telling that McGwire received fewer than five of 16.
As to Steinbrenner, ESPN’s Buster Olney said: “No owner in North American professional sports has made a bigger dent in the public psyche than the polarizing Steinbrenner, and whether you loved him or couldn’t stand him – and for most baseball fans, it was the latter – you couldn’t possibly ignore him. This is why it’s somewhat incredible and more than a little ridiculous that the late George Steinbrenner is not acknowledged with a plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.”
As ESPN’s David Schoenfield added: “If you tried to explain the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s in Major League Baseball – if you tried to tell the history of the sport – you could not do it without talking about the role of George Steinbrenner, unless you chose to willfully ignore his impact.”
The new committee is made up of eight Hall of Fame inductees, five M.L.B. executives and three writers and historians.
As for Selig, for all the grief he got over the 1994 strike and the steroids issue, he also introduced innovations like the wild-card playoff system, realignment, interleague play and television replay of umpires’ decisions, as well as the creation of baseball’s lucrative internet business. Selig’s revenue-sharing policies also redistributed $millions from larger market teams to smaller ones. And it’s largely worked. [Granted one or two of the small-market teams don’t spend their extra bucks like they are supposed to.]
It was Selig who also made a big move in 1997, the year Jackie Robinson was honored for breaking the color barrier 50 years earlier, by having all teams retire Robinson’s No. 42, which keeps his vital legacy in the spotlight.
[Selig’s detractors say it’s a crime he gets into the Hall while the likes of Bonds, Clemens and McGwire are passed by, seeing as commissioner he oversaw the game…and in essence was an enabler.]
Schuerholz, 76, was the general manager of the Royals from 1981 until 1990, presiding over their 1985 World Series championship, after which he moved to Atlanta, where he rebuilt the last-place Braves, quickly, to the point where they went on to 14 consecutive National League East titles (not including the strike year of 1994), five National League pennants and the 1995 World Series.
The regular annual election to the Hall of Fame is to be announced on Jan. 18.
–In some early moves during the Winter League meetings….
The Dodgers gave free-agent pitcher Rich Hill a three-year, $48 million deal, this for a guy who pitched 100 innings (110) for just a second time in his career, the other being 2007! Hill will be 37 next spring and admittedly pitched well last season, 12-5, 2.12 ERA, for both Oakland and then the Dodgers down the stretch, but still…this is nuts! As Johnny Mac wondered, this for a guy who just a year earlier was playing for the Long Island Ducks?!
For Mets fans, it just makes you appreciate the situation we have with our pitching staff, assuming they can get, and stay, healthy…Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz and Wheeler…Harvey being the closest to free agency but not until after the 2018 season. That’s why the Mets need to win soon before they have to start paying some of these guys at the expense of filling needed holes elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers are still hoping to re-sign free agents Justin Turner and closer Kenley Jansen.
The Giants agreed to a four-year, $62 million contract with free-agent closer Mark Melancon, which breaks a record for most lucrative contract by a closer, though the deals Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman eventually sign will exceed his.
Melancon converted 17 of 18 save opportunities for the Nationals after Washington acquired him from the Pirates, for whom he converted 30 of 33.
Speaking of Aroldis Chapman, he wants a six-year deal, which just ain’t gonna happen. Chapman also said he wants to stay with the Cubs, but there hasn’t been any word that they are interested in retaining him. I’m guessing the Marlins sign him.
The Yankees, having missed out on bringing back Carlos Beltran to DH (Beltran signing with the Astros), went out and signed Matt Holliday to a one-year contract for $13 million.
Holliday, who turns 37 next month, has had his share of physical issues the past few years and he did hit a career-low .246 last season with the Cardinals, but if you assume he bounces back even just to .270 (he’s .303 lifetime), this is a nice move by the Yanks. He still has a lot of pop, especially for The Little Bandbox That Was Formerly the House That Ruth Built.
I can’t believe I have liked virtually every move Brian Cashman has made the past 12 months or so. I’ve been way too complimentary of a team I otherwise can’t stand. Maybe I’ve found Christmas in my heart 365.
Oops, just had a Todd Bowles flashback. Never mind….
–Tuesday morning, it seemed that Washington was at the top of the list for making a deal for the White Sox’ Chris Sale, who Chicago wanted to deal for the right price, namely oodles of prospects as they try to reboot.
But by this afternoon, Sale was headed to Boston! A major blockbuster deal has the 27-year-old lefty with a 74-50 career record heading to the Red Sox, where he’ll join David Price and Rick Porcello, along with Clay Buchholz, Steven Wright and others in a very deep rotation.
But to get a pitcher the quality of Sale you have to give up a lot and the Red Sox parted with top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech plus two other minor leaguers. At least Boston didn’t compromise their major league roster.
Moncada, a switch-hitting second baseman, ranks as the top prospect in baseball by some, Boston having spent $63 million to sign him out of Cuba in 2015. Kopech is a 20-year-old flame thrower who reportedly has touched 105 mph and who has posted a 2.61 ERA in 134 minor league innings.
Two years from now, you’ve gotta believe the White Sox will be very pleased, if not sooner.
It seems that the Nationals were unwilling to give up shortstop Trea Turner in a deal for Sale.
Sale is such an attractive commodity because he is under club control for the next three years at just $38 million. [It’s all relative, boys and girls.]
–Boston also picked up a quality reliever, Tyler Thornburg, from Milwaukee for first baseman/third baseman Travis Shaw and two minor leaguers. Thornburg, who had a 2.15 ERA with 13 saves and 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings last season, will be the eighth-inning bridge to Craig Kimbrel.
–The Cubs are wasting no time in taking advantage of their World Series championship, hiking 2017 tickets prices an average 19.5 percent, with increases ranging from 6 percent for upper deck reserved seats to 31 percent for infield club box seats. By one estimation, Team Marketing Report, the Cubs’ raised prices an average 14.6 percent following the 2015 season as well.
Pearl Harbor, Baseball and the War
[The following is from a piece I last did in October 2009, but I also did earlier versions. I have tried to update some of the lifetime stat projections, like with career RBIs.]
In the Fall (’09) issue of “Memories and Dreams,” the magazine for Baseball Hall of Fame members, there is a story on ballplayers and missed time as a result of World War II and Korea. Well, I first broached this topic back in 2001 and most recently ran the following over two years ago, but it’s worth repeating.
Gabriel Schechter writes for the Hall that of 427 players listed in the Neft-Cohen encyclopedia who played at least one game before World War II and lost at least one season to military service, 213 missed three or more seasons.
Back on April 14, 1942, World War II was not going well for the United States and the Allies, but it was Opening Day for the baseball season nonetheless. What followed was the fact that over the ensuing four seasons the sport, like other American enterprises, saw its rosters decimated as players were drafted for the war effort.
The Times’ Michael Shapiro once wrote of the first game in ’42 between the Washington Senators and New York Yankees. “When the game was done, people left quickly, anticipating the air raid blackout set for 9 o’clock that night.”
So let’s take a look back at some Hall of Fame baseball careers and the years lost to World War II.
Pitchers
Ted Lyons: Finished his career with a 260-230 mark while toiling for the Chicago White Sox.
1941: 12-10
1942: 14-6…Lyons was 41 years old and also had a 2.10 ERA.
1943-45: military service.
Granted, Lyons wasn’t young, but in 1946 he returned at the age of 45 to go 1-4 for the Sox. However, consider this. In 43 innings, he walked just 9 and had a 2.30 ERA. Thus, for the 3 seasons Lyons missed, I give him an additional 25-30 victories, minimum. Does he get to 300?
Red Ruffing: 273-225…spends most of his career with the Red Sox and Yankees.
1941: 15-6
1942: 14-7 at age 38.
1943-44: military service.
1945: 7-3
1946: 5-1 at age 42.
Does Ruffing squeeze out 27 victories to reach 300 during the two seasons he lost?
Warren Spahn: 363-245. Spahn came up in 1942 with the Boston Braves, appearing in just 4 games with no W/L record.
1943-45: military service.
1946: 8-5, pitching just half the season.
1947: 21-10.
Would Spahn have blossomed in ’43 or ’44? We’ll never know. But consider this. He lost 3 seasons to the army and still finished with 363 career victories, #5 on the all-time list. He certainly would have passed #3 Christy Mathewson (374) and maybe #2 Walter Johnson (417).
Bob Feller: To me this is the most intriguing case. Feller finished his sterling career with a 266-162 mark.
1940: 27-11 with 261 Ks at the age of 21!
1941: 25-13 with 260 Ks.
1942-44: military service.
1945: 5-3 in half a season.
1946: 26-15 with 348 Ks!
1947: 20-11.
Feller conservatively wins 70 over the time he lost. He then moves past #12 John Clarkson (327) and #11 Steve Carlton (329). He also fans 700+ (easily) to move into the Top 12 in that category.
Hitters
Joe DiMaggio: Lifetime – 361 HR 1537 RBI .325 BA 2,214 H
1941: .357 BA with 30 HR 125 RBI
1942: .305, 21-114
1943-45: military service.
1946: .290, 25-95 plagued by injuries ’46-’47.
1947: .315, 20-97
1948: .320, 39-155
Joe D. accumulates another 500 hits during the time he lost, possibly finishing with 420 HR and 1850+ RBI. [1860 RBI is #12 all time, Mel Ott.]
Hank Greenberg: Lifetime – 331 HR 1276 RBI
1939: 33 HR 112 RBI
1940: 40-150
1941: just 67 at bats.
1942-44: military service.
1945: 13-60 in just 85 games.
1946: 44-127.
Greenberg is easily over 440 lifetime homers, possibly up to 480 or so.
Johnny Mize: Lifetime – 359 HR 1337 RBI
1941: 16 HR 100 RBI
1942: 26-110
1943-45: military service
1946: 22-70 in only 101 games.
1947: 51-138 age 34.
1948: 40-125.
What happens with him? 450+ home runs? 1650 RBI? The latter would have gotten him in the Top 30 lifetime in that category. You don’t normally think of Mize as an all-time great, but he was.
And then there’s….
Ted Williams: Lifetime – 521 HR 1839 RBI .344 BA 2654 H 2019 walks 1798 runs scored.
1941: .406 BA 37 HR 120 RBI
1942: .356, 36-137 Triple Crown.
1943-45: military service.
1946: .342, 38-123
1947: .343, 32-114 Triple Crown.
Williams then missed basically all of 1952 and 1953 to the Korean War. [He had 14 homers over those two seasons.]
So for 1943-45, let’s give him 105 HR and 360 RBI, and another 55 HR and 200 RBI for ’52-’53. [His power numbers were trailing off by then.]
Williams then ends up with 680 HR and 2400 RBI. In the latter category, Hank Aaron is #1 all time with 2297 (Ted’s 1839 ranks him #14).
As for hits, because Williams walked a ton, he would have averaged about 160 a season so let’s give him 480 for ’43-’45, and another 250 for ’52-’53 (he did play 37 games in ’53 with 37 hits). 3380+ hits lifetime would put him #10.
Walks? Williams and the Babe defined the term, long before Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds. Ted is currently #4 all-time with 2021. He had 145 walks in both ’41 and ’42, so let’s tack on 390 for ’43-’45 (just being conservative) and another 225 for
’52-’53. That’s 2600+, a mark even Barry Bonds didn’t reach.
Finally, runs scored. Ted led the league in ’41 and ’42 with 135 and 141, respectively. Let’s give him 125 per for ’43-’45 and 175 for ’52-’53 for another 550. With 1798 lifetime, he is currently #19 lifetime. Getting him up to 2350 places him first.
Bottom line, not only was Ted Williams a great American for his incredible service to his country, but he’s possibly the greatest ever and the numbers would have backed it up.
And regarding one of my favorites, Bob Feller, following are a few excerpts from a 2007 interview by Jeff Idelson of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
HOF: Talk about your childhood and baseball.
Feller: We played on the hog lot and in the barn, before my dad built a field a quarter mile from the house on top of the hill overlooking the Raccoon River and all the Oak trees.
I played four years of American Legion ball, where I used to face Nile Kinnick, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1939 with Iowa. I became the first Legion graduate to make the Hall of Fame. I had a great childhood, and the neighborhood kids would catch me before school started. I also liked to throw a rubber ball off the roof of the barn and house and catch it when it came back down.
HOF: You made your major league debut at age 17 in an exhibition game against the Cardinals in Cleveland, one month after your junior year of high school ended.
Feller: I was living in a rooming house the Indians paid for, and pitching in an amateur league, about Class-A level, for Rosenbloom’s clothing store at 321 Euclid Avenue. In those days you could buy a three-piece suit, two pairs of pants and a coat for $25, and have the suit tailored when you went out. The Cardinals came to town and (Cy) Slapnicka [who discovered Feller] told Steve O’Neill, the Indians manager, that he wanted me to pitch the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, or at least give it a try. O’Neill came out and caught me. I struck out eight batters and allowed a couple of hits, walks and a run. I met (Dizzy) Dean and had my picture taken with him.
I was then supposed to go to Fargo to start my career for $75 per month. Instead, I went to Philadelphia and joined the Indians, the day before the All-Star Game. I got dressed that first day and was in the dugout when Connie Mack walked across from the other dugout. We met behind the batting cage. He stuck out his hand and said, “Welcome to the American League, Mr. Feller. I hope you have a good career.”
HOF: You made your first start against the St. Louis Browns in August and struck out 15 batters. Three weeks later, you struck out 17, breaking Rube Waddell’s American League record and tying Dean’s major league mark. Were you surprised with your success?
Feller: I never had any idea that I would not be a major league player, from the time I was nine years old. I played third, short and second and had two left feet and 10 thumbs, but I had a pretty good arm. If I could catch the ball, I could throw it from one cornfield to the next. I practiced long-distance throwing with my dad out in the pasture. I would take a beamish – a grain bag – to school full of catcher equipment, bats and balls, and we would play at the noon hour. Baseball was my life, and it still is.
HOF: You threw your first of three no-hitters on Opening Day in 1940. You thought you were lucky.
Feller: I didn’t have all that great stuff that day. It’s not tough to pitch a no-hitter if you hang around long enough and pitch enough games. You will always pitch an inning when you don’t allow any hits – you just have to string nine of them in a row. There’s a lot of luck in this game. Whether its 10, 50 or 90 percent. I don’t know. But there’s a lot of luck in this game and in life. Life’s not always fair.
HOF: How did you learn about Pearl Harbor, and did you hesitate when you chose to enlist?
Feller: I was leaving the farm to go to the Palmer House hotel in Chicago to sign my contract for the 1942 season. Most of my contracts were signed based on how many fans we would draw at home, and how many games I would win. Starting at 15 wins, I would get $2,500 for every five wins. As I crossed the river on Route 6 outside of Davenport, Iowa, I heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio. I had known this day would come since 1939.
I knew Gene Tunney, athletics director for the Navy, Jack Dempsey, athletics director at the Coast Guard, and I knew Frank Knox, who was secretary of the Navy. Instead of going to see Slapnicka, I called Tunney at home on Sunday. He flew to Chicago Monday, and I was sworn in on that Tuesday. I reported to boot camp the next day.
HOF: You served aboard the Battleship U.S.S. Alabama. Did playing baseball, a team sport, help?
Feller: Being in sports had nothing to do with being a good sailor. We had a baseball team aboard the Alabama. We played other ships and had the best team in the Pacific. We played in places like New Hebrides, the Fijis, Ulithi, Kwadule, Eniwetok and other islands across the Pacific.
In 1944, we crossed the equator 28 times. I was a gun captain. We did a lot of practicing, like in sports. You play like you practice. So when we got into a conflict, we had practiced. We had a lot of very good anti-aircraft gunners. We never lost a man to enemy action, and we were decorated eight times.
Admiral Nimitz, who ran the Pacific War for the Navy and did a great job, radioed our ship and asked the captain if I would play in the Army-Navy World Series in Honolulu. Nimitz wanted to beat the Army. Well, we were far into the Pacific, stopping in places like Guam. I told the captain that I wasn’t really in condition, that we had more important things to do, and I wasn’t going to go. I asked the captain to wire Admiral Nimitz and thank him for the invitation, but I told him that I would see him when the war was won.
HOF: That 1946 season, all 26 wins came on three days’ rest, pitching for a team that finished 18 games under .500. In your 15 losses, the Indians scored 16 runs and you were shutout six times. You pitched your second no-hitter and had two one-hitters. You struck out 348 batters.
Feller: I pitched 10 shutouts and was shutout six times. The motto was, “Hey Bob, we got you a run, hold ‘em!” And then everyone on the bench would laugh. I walked out to the mound, won some and lost some. I didn’t lose 162 games in my career by accident. Good competition is what it’s all about, and baseball is a great game.
HOF: What did you think of Bill Veeck, your owner?
Feller: Bill was not money hungry. He loved baseball, and he loved the attention. He knew the game, and he brought all the minor league promotions to the big leagues. He never took himself too seriously. He loved life. He was a good baseball man, and he paid his players very well. He didn’t have any enemies at all. The only mistake he ever made in my book was putting (3-foot, 7-inch midget) Eddie Gaedel in a game, which made a mockery of the competition.
HOF: You knew Ronald Reagan for nearly 75 years.
Feller: “Dutch” was recreating games in Des Moines for WHO Radio, and Wheaties was the sponsor. The year before that, he was with WOC in Davenport. I got to be very friendly with Nancy and him over the years. We’d go out for dinner in California after exhibition games in October. I’d watch him on location making movies for Republic and Warner Brothers. I didn’t really care for Jane Wyman, who was a big deal in those days. She didn’t treat “Dutch” as well as I thought she should. I visited him many times in the White House, too.
He once sent me a letter from the hospital, after he had broken his leg playing in a game among actors at Gilmore Field in Hollywood. He had laid a bunt down and the pitcher tagged him and knocked him down. He (Reagan) asked for an autographed baseball for a 9-year-old kid whose dad had committed suicide. I sent him one signed by the team.
About 30 years later when he was president, I sent him the letter. He sent a note back asking why I had sent it to him and not kept it, and I wrote back and said, “Mr. President, I thought you might make something out of yourself. Someday.” He got a big laugh out of that.
Golf Balls
–In analyzing Tiger Woods’ return to golf after 15 months, it needs to be noted he did have 24 birdies, the same number as the winner of the Hero World Challenge, Hideki Matsuyama. Seven double bogeys are what kept Tiger from being in contention. He has reason to be upbeat. “Big picture? It feels good,” Woods said. “I missed it. I love it.”
And very importantly, Woods’ short game was solid. No sign of the chipping yips, for example. [He chunked two but they were from difficult lies.]
Tiger also seemed to be enjoying himself. Granted, this was a different kind of venue and tournament. No cut, easy course, His tournament, lots of eager staff, as Golf World’s Jaime Diaz noted. And his peers were very encouraging, which can’t hurt.
All in all, it is way too soon to say Tiger is back, but I’m assuming he’ll play in about three events prior to The Masters and his first full-field test will be telling.
Meanwhile, Hideki Matsuyama is the hottest golfer on the planet, with four victories in his past five worldwide starts (he finished second in the other event). And, gee, he’s just 24. Jordan, Rory, Jason, Rickie (he hopes), now Hideki…with Justin Thomas knocking on the door, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka….let alone the young veterans like D.J., Adam Scott, and the figure from Europe to watch this season, Alex Noren, who lit up the Euro Tour.
–Congratulations to Harold Varner III, who won last weekend’s Australian PGA Championship. Coupled with Jordan Spieth’s victory at the Australian Open, Americans hold the two biggest titles Down Under for the first time since Hale Irwin and Jack Nicklaus did so in 1978. [John Huggan / Golf World]
Aside from Tiger, Varner is the only African-American on the PGA Tour.
–The LPGA released its 2017 tournament schedule and, encouragingly, there will be 35 events, up from only 25 back in 2011. Players will be competing for $67.35 million in prize money, up from $63 million in 2016. This year a record 15 players earned more than $1 million in official money. [107 earned $1 million on the PGA Tour for the 2015-16 wraparound season.]
Premier League
So last time I brought up a topic few have…the very real prospect that defending champion Leicester City could face relegation this season. It seems unfathomable, but the facts speak otherwise, even if it is early.
Middlesbrough defeated Hull City 1-0 on Monday to complete Round 14 of 38 in the Premier League. I’m always giving you the top of the table…here’s the bottom, remembering that the bottom three are sent packing at season’s end…which is what I wish we could do with the New York Jets, I can’t help but add.
16. Leicester 13 points
17. West Ham 12
18. Sunderland 11
19. Hull City 11
20. Swansea 9
The year before Leicester’s Cinderella run, they finished 14 in the PL and were on the verge of relegation until a late surge, if I recall correctly.
So how can Leicester play so poorly this season, while it is performing mightily in Champions League play?
The BBC had a story on Monday addressing the topic and two things jump out at you. N’Golo Kante made 175 tackles and 156 interceptions for Leicester last season, more than any other player in the league in either category. But he then moved on to Chelsea, where his 44 tackles and 39 interceptions are second only to Everton’s Idrissa Gueye.
Second, Jamie Vardy. After 14 games last season, Vardy had 14 goals on his way to 24 for the season. This year he has 2 in the club’s first 14.
Stuff
–I glanced at the NHL points leaders just to see who was on top these days and it’s Connor McDavid, the 19-year-old (he’s 20 on Jan. 13) sensation for Edmonton. McDavid was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft who scored 48 points in 45 games as a rookie last season, and now this year he has 34 in 27 for the Oilers.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, American Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, captured the national spotlight back in October when he scored four goals in his very first NHL game. But Matthews then slumped and has ‘just’ 11 for the season now, however, he has 5 in his last 5 games.
Bottom line, these two are the face of the NHL for the next 10-15 years. It’s also good for the sport that Edmonton is back. That part of the world deserves to have a contender.
–Brad K. passed along a tale from Tanveer Mann for Metro.uk:
“A massive stray goat has gone on a huge rampage through a town in Ireland, head-butting locals and jumping on cars.
“Staff at a local store in Carrickfergus were shocked when the unusual visitor appeared at the front door on Saturday morning.
“The goat started eating flower baskets outside the shop and then jumped on two cars as frightened staff tried to get into the building.
“The store manager said the stray goat charged at one of his regular customers, named Billy, who luckily was not injured.
“He told the Carrickfergus Times: ‘I was on my own in the store at around 6:20am and thought it was the bread man knocking.’
“As he looked up, he saw the goat outside the door staring straight at him.
“The manager added: ‘It was into the baskets eating all the plants and running round the car park, I thought, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me!’….
“The terrifying incident only ended when a man, believed to be the goat’s owner, showed up at the shop and dragged it off by the horns.”
–Steve G., he of the rainbow driveway jumpers from back in the ‘60s, just sent me a terrific picture of himself with Springsteen, and as you all tell me, he’s a great guy in person. [Steve is OK, too. But be careful in Medellin, S.G.!]
Top 3 songs for the week 12/8/62: #1 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (The 4 Seasons) #2 “Return To Sender” (Elvis Presley) #3 “Bobby’s Girl” (Marcie Blane)…and…#4 “Don’t Hang Up” (The Orlons) #5 “Ride!” (Dee Dee Sharp) #6 “The Lonely Bull” (The Tijuana Brass Feat. Herb Alpert…the formal title for them then) #7 “Telstar” (The Tornadoes…has not aged well…) #8 “Limbo Rock” (Chubby Checker) #9 “All Alone Am I” (Brenda Lee…great tune…) #10 “Release Me” (Esther Phillips ‘Little Esther’…waiting for British Invasion…)
Alabama Quiz Answer: Quarterbacks for last five national championship teams: 2015 – Jake Coker; 2012 – A.J. McCarron; 2011 – A.J. McCarron; 2009 – Greg McIlroy; 1992 – Jay Barker.
I am out-of-pocket a lot the next five days and I’m only going to have time to put a few paragraphs together for next Monday.
Fingers crossed, Jeff B.
