Hey There:
First of all, a big thank you to all of you who reached out to wish me a Happy Birthday on Friday. The countdown has now begun to a half-century of Wild Bill. Pretty unbelievable. I also always feel like the summer, which always seems to go by a little faster than the rest of the year, really starts to fly here in August. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way, especially if you're a teacher, (or a student) So hopefully, we can really enjoy this last month of summer.
We start off with some obituaries...
Bill Russell- Considered by many to be the greatest winner in American sports history. You'll get no argument from this corner. He led the University of San Francisco to 2 NCAA Championships, won an Olympic Gold Medal for the US Men's basketball team in 1956, and then won 11 NBA Championships in 13 seasons for the Celtics, the last two as a player/coach, becoming the first African American coach in a major professional sport in the US.
He accomplished all his professional success in a city that at the time wasn't known for it's racial tolerance. He once told Bill Simmons in an interview for ESPN that the Celtics conducted a survey about how to improve their attendance. Their Boston Garden co-tennants, the Bruins regularly sold out their games, even in the pre-Bobby Orr days, while the perennial champion Celtics did not. According to Russell, 50% of the respondents said that the problem with the Celtics was that they had too many black players. That's the kind of hostility this man not only had to face, but that he obviously succeeded in.
Russell had a reputation as somewhat surly, which given what he faced in his life was understandable, but I remember when he was in the studio for the NBA on NBC and I actually thought he was great. Laid back, cracking jokes, with that cackling laugh that he had. And of course he knew his stuff.
A couple of years ago, right before the Nathan’s 4th of July hot dog contest, ESPN put up a list of all time championship winners in North American sports. Yogi Berra in baseball, Henri Richard in hockey, Tom Brady in football, Serena Williams in tennis. And of course, Bill Russell in basketball. The most decorated of them all.
Nichelle Nichols- Lt. Nyota Uhura from Star Trek. And one of the first African-American women to play a major role in a television series.
Nichols was already a successful singer and Broadway stage performer when she landed the role that would define her career.
And of all the stories I've read about her this week, this one is my favorite.... She had gotten an offer to return to Broadway, and since that's where she felt most comfortable, she handed in her resignation letter from Star Trek to producer Gene Roddenberry. He urged Nichols to take the weekend to think about it, but it seemed her mind was already made up.
That weekend, she attended NAACP banquet, and was told that a fan wanted to meet her. She agreed, but saw that Martin Luther King was coming over, so she said she would meet the fan later on. Turns out Dr. King was the fan that was looking to meet her, and also urge her not to leave the series. He told Nichols that because of her "for the first time we will be seen as we should everyday. As beautiful intellegent quality people, who can sing, dance and even go into space." He told her if she left the show, the role could be filled by anyone, including an alien. So she decided to rescind her resignation. And even though the show didn't last much longer on network TV, the rest as they say is history. It became one of the biggest TV/Film franchises of all time even to this day. And Nichols place in history as an TV pioneer is etched in stone.
Vin Scully- A few years ago I was away on an overnight trip. The Mets were playing the Dodgers out in Los Angeles. The only way I could get the game was on the SiriusXM app. And you could only get the home team’s announcers.
So that meant that I got to hear Vin Scully for the first time in a long time. As a kid, listening to him call the NBC game of the week every Saturday afternoon, I would ask my father “Why does he always say ‘If you’re wondering…. what if I’m not wondering?” I mean don’t get me wrong I liked Scully enough, but I always found that a little bit annoying.
But hearing him again that night calling that Dodgers-Mets game was such a joy and a treat. When NBC lost their baseball contract after the 1989 season, we also lost the privilege of listening to the greatest baseball play-by-play man in history.
One of the calls that’s been played over and over again since Scully‘s passing last week was the call he made of Mookie Wilson’s ground ball through the legs of Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. I have another favorite moment from that same series involving Vin Scully and his color man Joe Garagiola.
In Game 7, Davey Johnson sent relief pitcher Jesse Orosco up to hit in the 8th inning. Garagiola, like almost anybody else who followed baseball, assumed Orosco was gonna lay down a bunt. “You can bet the house Orosco’s gonna bunt here”
When Orosco swung away and got an RBI single, Scully said “Well Joe, you just lost your house.”
Classic.
And when I was listening to him call that game against the Mets a few years back, he was talking about Nelson Figueroa, a pitcher for the Mets that year. “And if your looking for someone to fix something in your house, Nelson Figueroa might be your guy. Apparently he is very handy.” I couldn’t believe how good it was to hear him call a baseball game.
He called Dodger games for 67 years. Imagine having the same job for that amount of time? To put it perspective, the guy who took over after Scully retired in 2016, would have to call Dodger games all the way til 2083.
Crazy
RIP to all 3 pioneers.
BASEBALL: What a weekend!
So on Tuesday, I was all set to come on here and discuss what a horrible trade deadline the Mets had. All the previous week I saw the moves they were making and wondered what the hell, but was assured by the so called experts that a big move was coming. Surely we’d get another catcher, or more importantly, some left handed bullpen help. Neither of those things materialized. What made it worse, the night after the deadline passed, was Jacob deGrom’s season debut, and he was done in by a leaky bullpen.
But all that has been rendered irrelevant, at least for now.
For the Mets took 4 out of 5 from the 2nd place Braves this weekend, including a classic game Sunday afternoon, a game us Met fans all hoped and prayed we’d see at some point this year. deGrom carrying a perfect game into the 6th inning, our bullpen somehow holding up till we got to our lights out closer Edwin Diaz. Throw in some clutch hitting, smart base running and yeah even a little luck, and we got perhaps the most feel good win in a season full of them.
And as much as I bitched about the deals the Mets did make, so far they have all come up roses. The three bats they got, Daniel Vogelbach, a Hoss Cartwright look-a-like from the Pirates, Tyler Naquin an outfielder from the Reds, and Darin Ruf, an OF/1B from the Giants, have all contributed to wins last week. The relief pitcher they got from the Cubs has been a bit shaky, but it’s been hard to complain about anything happening in Flushing right now.
The Yankees had a rough weekend in St.Louis, though I think they will get back on track soon. I’m not going to lie though, I found their trading away Jordan Montgomery to the aforementioned Cardinals to be a head scratcher. If any Yankee fans want to weigh in on this, I’m all ears. All the ones I’ve spoken to didn’t understand the point of it either. Hopefully the guy they got from the Royals, Andrew Benintendi, turns into a solid pickup.
Again thank you for all the birthday shout-outs.
Season Finale next week
Stay Safe,
and Have a Great Week
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