Another Legend Passes
The best thing about today is that the President is still with us.
RIP MLB legend Bob Gibson, 84. He played his entire 17-year career with the Cardinals. Fiercely competitive, his accomplishments are staggering: nine-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion (1964, 1967); NL MVP (1968); two-time NL Cy Young Award winner (1968, 1970); two-time World Series MVP (1964, 1967); nine-time Gold Glove Award winner (1965–1973); NL wins leader (1970); MLB ERA leader (1968 — astonishing 1.12, a record); NL strikeout leader (1968); no-hitter on August 14, 1971; St. Louis Cardinals #45 retired; St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame; Major League Baseball All-Century Team. His skills were not restricted to the diamond. He earned a full basketball scholarship to Creighton University and played one season for the Harlem Globetrotters. He won 251 games, 20 or more five times, 19 twice. Upon retirement from playing, he served on the board of a bank, owned a restaurant, and was the principal investor in a radio station. He returned to baseball in 1981, serving as an assistant to Joe Torre until 1984, then hosted a pre and post-game show for the Cardinals from ‘85-’89. In 1990 he did a one-year stint as a color commentator on ESPN. In 1995 he returned to MLB, serving as Joe Torre’s pitching coach with the Cardinals. His frequent catcher, Tim McCarver, often spoke of Gibson’s no nonsense approach to his craft and his dislike of mound trips, quoting Gibson as saying: “The only thing you know about pitching is that it’s hard to hit.” Hank Aaron said: “He’d knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him.” Gibson was no slouch as a hitter, either, bashing 24 homers in his career, batting .303 one year, .206 overall. Awesome, sir. Thank you.
Friday night’s movie fix courtesy of Netflix was a curiosity, Vivarium (2019), a Euro production starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Potts as an unmarried couple in the market for a first house. They visit the suburban community of Yonder and, after viewing a home, can’t find their way out. I was a bit baffled by the proceedings but it has all been cleared up in web research. The title is defined as an enclosure for keeping animals under observation. Expecting to be disappointed by the resolution, the one brought up by a Google search turned out to be one I suspected, which I will not disclose. If it was suggested during the flick, I missed it, perhaps nodding off. My other thought was that it’s commentary on the futility of life, the repetitiveness and pointlessness of it — existentialism. Fortunately, the running time is only 97 minutes. Even at that it became tedious despite its intelligence. Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots are fine as the couple, as are Jonathan Aris as the realtor and Senan Jennings as a creepy kid and Eanna Hardwicke as the kid grown up. This was the second big screen effort of director Lorcan Finnegan, a Dubliner, who co-wrote the screenplay with Garrett Shanley. Although the budget was just $4 million, it recouped less than a quarter of that, so the creators may have trouble finding backing for future projects. 30,000+ users at IMDb have rated Vivarium, forging to a consensus of 5.8 on a scale of ten. I’d go a bit lower. Here are the leads in character:
No luck selling books on the street on this gorgeous day. My thanks to Boris for donating two works of non-fiction, and to Lou, who stopped by to schmooze for the first time since pre-pandemic. Glad to see he’s okay, as he has underlying conditions, having survived cancer. He believes Trump’s diagnosis is a ruse. I pointed out that several of his staff also tested positive. We didn’t argue, moving on to other topics.
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