Cleaning out the inbox

Time for a quick cleaning of the inbox and we start with the passing of former Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouqette at the age of 78.
"Monbo" was the best pitcher on some really bad Boston teams of the early to middle 1960's with a 20 win season in 1963 on a 7th place squad and a no-hitter in 1965 as well.
Monbouquette also was special to me for another silly reason-the card pictured to the left is the first ever 1965 card that I ever owned.
The card was for sale at the "top of the mall" a now demolished area of the Valley Mall for bingo players and small specialty shops.
I don't remember the price,but it was not overtly expensive,but more than I had on this day.
The next week (I remember going there roughly once a week),I went and Monbo was gone.
A few days later,as I played basketball with a friend down the street (remember this,readers?) and he was my envy because he was always able to buy these old cards because he had loads of spending money because his dad had passed away.
Anyway,Christopher was bragging about his latest conquests at the top of the mall and showed me his stack,which of course had Monbo.
Enraged (on the inside),we bet cards on some basketball games that we play and when it was over Monbo was coming home with me.
That card is around here somewhere still,but I still remember that every time I read or saw Monboquette's name or card.
For a better story on Monboquette by Gordon Edes,click here      

My friend,Krista Anderson,posted this story of a bear,lion and tiger that live together in one enclosure as family.
The three were found in deep physical distress in Atlanta by policemen during a drug raid and by being around each other at young ages,look at each other as buddies,not rivals.
It's a very sweet story and I always fall for stories like these.
Thanks to Krista for posting it.....

More from the film Red Army as Larry Brooks (Not usually my hockey writer of choice) writes about the Devils signing Vlacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov in the late 80's.
My fandom of those Soviet teams and their top defensive pair signing with the Devils cemented the Devils with me as my favorite NHL team.
The story discusses the former best friends,how they lost their friendship and how they would play in the same defensive pairing as Devils without speaking to each other.
Interesting and surprising coming from Larry Brooks,who often writes with a anti-Devils bias,since he used to work for the team and was fired.....

We finish up with Grantland's look at the great actor Gene Hackman and his career.
Hackman is retired now at 85,but what a great career and Hoosiers ranks as one of my favorite films ever.
A funny note is that Hackman almost got the role of Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch.
Bet his career would have been far different,had he taken that role and I wonder if that show would have been different with Hackman and Shirley Jones as the Brady parents as originally hoped for my the shows creators......