Friday
Another day on the NYC subway. Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images, posted at the guardian.com:
Headline from nypost.com: “US concludes Nicolás Maduro lost Venezuela’s presidential election: ‘Overwhelming evidence’.” Election denial? I doubt the creep will be shamed into stepping down.
The prisoner swap is a political win for Biden-Harris. The main question is if it will encourage Putin to arrest more Americans on phony charges.
Par for the political course, headline from foxnews.com: “Harris points finger at former President Trump for latest dreadful jobs report.” Why haven’t the wonderful policies of the past four years even begun to correct DT’s alleged errors?
This headline negates the belief that people are rejecting the idea: “Despite tough times for Tesla, EV sales set new record in second quarter.” Or is it just Tesla that is prospering in this regard?
I hadn’t read a book on sports in decades. When I was unable to find a work of fiction falling into my parameters — circa 350 pages by an author I hadn’t read — I decided to give Our Tribe by Terry Pluto a shot. The author grew up in Cleveland and became a respected sportswriter in his hometown. The book covers the history of the Indians up to the pennant winning team of 1997, which came within a couple of outs of winning the World Series, losing to the Florida Marlins in extra innings of Game Seven. In ’95 the team lost to the Braves, four games to two. Until then it had been 41 years since its last appearance in the post season. Most folks would identify with the trials and tribulations of the Indians, even those who have no right to feel shortchanged, such as fans of the Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals and Giants. Since my dad wasn’t a baseball fan, I don’t share the feeling of bonding many men do regarding baseball, which I loved until the wild card era. This afternoon Sam, a baseball fanatic, shared one of his earliest memories — lying on the couch with his head on his father’s abundant gut, watching a game. Beautiful, my friend. Pluto had a similar relationship with his dad, who brought him to many games. The Indians won championships in 1920 and 1948, but a great deal of the time they struggled mightily. The ’20 season featured the death of Ray Chapman, struck by a pitch from Carl Mays. He remains the only MLB player to have died from an injury sustained in a game. The most eye-opening fact in the book is that eventual Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau became player/manager at 23! Are you kiddin’ me? He was not regarded highly as a strategist, but he was so popular management didn’t dare replace him. He was at the helm of the ’48 championship. The great Bob Feller was the anchor of that team. He won 266 games despite missing three-plus years, his early 20’s, in WWII service. He saw combat as a navy gunner. The fact that he never won a World Series game bothered him. In 1954 Cleveland won a then record 111 games — and were swept by the heavy underdog Giants. That series featured “The Catch” in Game One, Willie Mays running down Vic Wertz’s blast to dead center, making an over the shoulder grab after covering so much ground. Of course, Wertz was devastated at the time, but through the years he realized he had become part of MLB’s wonderful lore. After that season things went downhill for The Tribe. Pluto refers to it as The Curse of Rocky Colavito. Herb Score, who was expected to be the next pitching great, was struck in the head by a line drive by Gil McDougall. He was never the same. GM Frank Lane traded Bronx-born Rocky Colavito, who had more than 40 homers in consecutive seasons; Roger Maris, who did not distinguish himself during an injury plagued rookie season; and Norm Cash, who had yet to ascend to the big leagues and who would hit 377 homers for the Tigers. That has to be as bad as management gets. In 1970 things appeared to be getting better, but Bob Fosse was clocked by Pete Rose, who chose to barrel into rather than slide past the helpless catcher. Fosse continued for several seasons but was never the same. In ’94 the Indians were in contention, but the season was ended by the players’ strike. Yes, a tale of woe. There’s an interesting chapter comparing Shoeless Joe Jackson, who played several seasons with the tribe, and the enigmatic Manny Ramirez, who led the renaissance. Pluto also goes into great detail about his father’s stroke, which I glossed over. At this stage of my life, the possibility of the same happening to me is frequently in my thoughts, so I avoid reading about it. 23 users at Amazon have rated Our Tribe, forging to a consensus of 4.4 on a scale of five. The writing is rock solid, the 253 pages reading like a lot less. 69, Pluto is of Slovakian descent. He has received several local awards and written more than 20 books on sports, including basketball and football, and four on faith. Well done, Sir. Photo from Google Images:
Brutal humidity and air quality today at the Anti-Inflation Book Shop. My thanks to the gregarious woman who bought Les Chiens by André Pittion-Rossillon & Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a huge pictorial on dogs — in French, and CD’s by Berlioz, Haydyn and one on Baroque, music known for being dramatic, energetic and grand, and for its stylistic diversity. It’s also heavily ornamented and instrumental, with a particular emphasis on expressing emotions, especially tragic ones.” Info culled from a Google search.
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