Morty & Co.

Here are interesting numbers from today’s NY Post: It seems ordinary Americans are as addicted as politicians to spending beyond their means. U.S. government debt is $22 trillion, consumer debt is $13.7 trillion, near record levels, most of it involving mortgages.

How odd that last night’s Manhattan blackout occurred on the same date as the big one in 1977. A post at Facebook asked “Where were you when the lights went out?” I was in The 46th Street Theater, intermission of the musical Chicago. Jim and Judy, college friends, were in town from Michigan. We managed to get a cabbie to take us to Brooklyn. We haven’t seen each other since the ‘90’s but keep in touch via social media. Their daughters, teenagers on their last visit, are now in their 30’s and parents. I love the pics they post on FB. As for the play, the stars were three Broadway legends: Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon and Jerry Orbach. Also in the cast was Barney Martin. In case you’ve forgotten, he played Jerry Seinfeld’s dad, Morty, retired clothing salesman, in 20 episodes of the classic sitcom. “Cheap fabric, and dim lighting. That’s how you move merchandise.” He appeared in several other musicals, and there at 86 titles listed under his name at IMDb. He was a regular on Tony Randall’s eponymous series, 38 episodes, and also in 20 episodes of Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine. He passed away in 2005 at 82.

In two seasons covering five at-bats, Minnesota Twins leadoff man Max Kepler hit five straight homers vs. the Cleveland Indians’ Trevor Bauer, a solid major league starter. Believe it or not, it had been done before — twice — by Carlos Delgado vs Jorge Sosa (2003–04) and Frank Howard vs Bob Hendley (1963–64). Kepler had a chance to stand alone at six but Bauer struck him out, a pyrrhic victory… Also in pro baseball, history was made in a minor league game last night. Most fans have heard the cliché about fast runners who were not good hitters or not smart about drawing walks: “You can’t steal first base.” A rule change in the Atlantic League now makes it possible: “Any pitch on any count not caught in flight will be considered a live ball, and a batter may run to first base, similar to a dropped third strike.” Tony Thomas of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs became the first to do it when the pitch went to the backstop and he alertly ran to first. It goes into the scorebook as a Fielder’s Choice, which helps the team but hurts an individual’s batting average.

It was a quiet afternoon at the floating book shop. My thanks to the gentleman who bought a pictorial on dog rescue, and to the elderly woman who did a swap of books in Russian. Even the impressive array of cook books failed to attract customers on this hot day.

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