Steals & Stuff

RIP base-stealer extraordinaire Maury Wills, 89, whose career spanned 1959-’72. Born in DC, the seventh of 13 children, he was All-City in baseball, basketball and football in his junior and senior years. Drafted by the Dodgers, he spent eight seasons in the minors before getting the call mid-season in ’59, a year that culminated in a world championship, the first of three he would enjoy with the team. He was the NL MVP in ’62 when he stole 104 bases, breaking Ty Cobb’s record of 96 that had stood since 1915. He was a seven-time All-Star, two-time winner of a Gold Glove Award, and led the league in steals six times. Overall, he batted .281, had 2134 hits and 586 stolen bases. He had short stints with the Pirates and Expos before closing out his career in L.A.. After his playing days, he managed in a Mexican league, winning a championship in ’71. In 1980 the Mariners hired him as an in-season replacement, a move that proved disastrous, as Seattle went 26–56 under his guidance. He did analysis for NBC ‘73-’77. And he had a music career, cutting at least two albums, singing and playing banjo, guitar and ukulele. He struggled with substance abuse until getting sober in ’89. In 1992 he published an autobio co-written with Mike Celizic: On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills. He was a father of three. Facts from Wiki, photo from Google Images:

Many in government are gangsters, as this excerpt from a nypost.com editorial shows. It concerns a property owner’s plight: “New York City slapped him with a fee for not having a boiler inspected — before he bought the place, which no longer had a boiler — and allowed no appeal.” Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit.

Political logic 101, headline from newsmax.com: “Pompeo Chides Biden ‘Kicking’ Unvaccinated Soldiers Out After Declaring Pandemic’s End.”

News out of Portland, Oregon often makes the city seem like a third world country. This foxnews.com headline isn’t on that level, but it’s telling: “Art festival event in Dem-run city is free to ‘Black folks’ but ‘$80 for all others’.” I guess there aren’t any poor white or rich blacks there.

Another gem from the Staten Island goombah, photo from FN:

Fodder for sci-fi writers. Mexico has suffered earthquakes on September 19th in 1985, 2017 & 2022. (Info from FN)

The weather was ideal for outdoor activity, but it looked like the floating book would suffer paltry return. Then a couple of customers came along as I was packing up and sent the take to average. My thanks to The Quiet Man, who bought The Addams Family: Wednesday’s Library by Calliope Glass and Alexandra West; and to Ludmila, who purchased three books in Russian, including a translation of The Source by James Michener; and to young Jeff, who took home a mix of self-help and kids fare, including There Is Life After College: What Parents and Students Should Know About Navigating School to Prepare for the Jobs of Tomorrow by Jeffrey J. Selingo.

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