Cleaning out the inbox

The cleaning of the inbox continues with a few notable articles to peruse at your leisure.

Bruce Markusen's Card Corner for the Baseball Hall of Fame starts out with a reference that I should have seen, never have previously, made me howl with laughter and will now never leave me with his comparison of the Phillies slugging outfielder Johnny Callison with the actor Edward Winter- best known to fans of MASH as Colonel Flagg!
Markusen's article made me laugh with the remembrance of some of the best lines of Winter/Flagg. "The Wind just broke his leg" along with the career of Callison, who had the Phillies not blown the pennant in 1964, would have been the likely National League MVP.



SABR is in the middle of an extensive series that looks at ownership history for each team and it is tremendously interesting to read about the attendance and the triumphs and failings of the various teams through the years.
The series has just started, but the Indians and Giants have already been posted.

ESPN writes about one of my favorites in Dale Murphy in a long article.
Dale Murphy seems to be one of the rare people in public life that seems to be exactly as his image portrays and the article also looks at the generation that grew up watching him on WTBS.
Author Wright Thompson has written several terrific articles for the Worldwide Leader.

The Altoona Mirror writes about the history of the team's theme song "Everybody Loves Curve Baseball".
Played every time the Curve scores a run as well as other times during the game, the song is sung by a Slovakian group and the words are written to the music of a Slovakian hit.
I'm not sure that you can go to a Curve game and not hear or remember - Everybody Loves Curve Baseball.


In the Canadian Football League, a huge rivalry was once played for a trophy that now isn't awarded at all.
The Harold Ballard trophy was awarded to the winner of the season series between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts and it was named after the unpopular owner (who named it after himself) of the Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That seems awkward to start with- an owner that owns a team in each city that generally doesn't care for each other with Toronto looking down on Hamilton's working-class status, Hamilton disliking Toronto's metropolitan status along with never forgiving the Leafs for always (along with the Buffalo Sabres) foiling Hamilton's perpetual efforts to bring an NHL team to their town.
Add to that the bombastic and cheap owner, it was almost as if Canada had their own "Mr.McMahon" 30 years before the heel owner existed.

Last Saturday's football game between Texas Tech and Houston left me a little conflicted as the former SWC rivals played in a non-conference game in Lubbock.
While I've been a Red Raider fans since I was a child, I actually watch more Cougars games now with scheduling.
I did watch as a reasonably passive observer, the SWC Roundup did an excellent job at looking back at the series between the schools and their game history.
I would have liked a look at their 1976 game in which both teams entered the game in the top ten in the nation and Houston's 27-19 win would be the tiebreaker in deciding which team would represent the SWC as champion in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl against undefeated Maryland.
Houston would defeat Maryland in that game 30-21.

We wrap with Philadelphia Magazine's ode to Mayonnaise and why it says millennials have killed that condiment.
I sure would not report its demise, but then again I'm not of that age bracket either!
I won't be stopping my use of it, that is a promise that I can easily keep!

Road Trip: Bristol

This edition of Road Trip comes from Bristol VA/TN and a trip for someone other than myself for a change.

A few months back, the Bristol Pirates of the Appalachian League announced plans for a Dale Murphy night, where the former Braves slugger would come to Bristol and sign autographs along with a few other promotional events during his stay.
As soon as I saw this, I asked Ryan, if he would like to go as his birthday present and to my mild surprise, he immediately agreed.
The surprising part wasn't that he wanted to go, but it was more surprising that he agreed so quickly to keep his schedule open for that long.
Ryan works and travels a lot, so for him to make that commitment well in advance showed me he wanted to attend.

The added bonus was Cherie wanted to come along with us.
This wasn't surprising that she wanted to go (She watched plenty of Dale Murphy games on WTBS when we were first married), but she's never been a smooth traveler and the distance on a day trip (5 and a half hours each way) would have normally made me doubt her likelihood to do that type of trip.
However, she wanted to do it and she was a champ all day long.
I had worked all night and crawled into the car just an hour or so after getting off, so I spent much of the round trip "Sleeping" or as close as one could get to such in the backseat of a car.

The drive down was pretty uneventful, lots of fun chatter and a tip for a restaurant stop on my next road trip in Staunton VA before a stop at Shoney's in Dublin, Va for a decent meal before the rest of the Bristol trek.
I stopped into the nearby Pulaski County visitors center to try to find some pocket schedules, but no such luck.
We hit Devault Stadium with an hour to spare before our required arrival and there was a decent sized line that we would wind up being around the middle of by the time we were ushered into the stadium.
I even was able to grab some wi-fi and watch some of the pre-fight of the WBSS (Next post on the results) as I waited.

Now, I have been critical in the past of teams that handle events wrong and botch things that should be easy- BUT I also believe in giving credit when due and let me tell you- The manner in which the Bristol Pirates planned and executed this event was terrific and maybe (I can't think of another, but memory fades) the smoothest I have ever attended.
The team sent out multiple emails with tickets, directions to the stadium, times to arrive and if you did something wrong, it's because you didn't read closely.
At the stadium, there was a table with a large sign telling you where to check in and the employees were friendly-Imagine that!
The line moved reasonably quickly and the team had an employee waiting with Dale Murphy that asked you if you wanted a picture and if so they would take it for you- again keeping things running smooth and not taking time away by each person's fumbling around.

There were thunderstorms in the forecast and the sky was quite gray as we moved through the lane that leads to the actual stadium, so the race was on- Would we reach Dale Murphy before the rain began to fall?
The answer was yes, but barely as we each were able to meet Murph, have pictures signed, and told him how far we drove to meet him with it being Ryan's birthday present.
Ryan was pleased to have his favorite player wish him a Happy Birthday!.
We weren't even able to make the short jaunt to the field to try to get the few cards that I had for the Bristol Pirates to sign before the skies opened.
Dale Murphy was a success, but there would be no more on this day.

We waited through the rain and the announced delay before I threw in the towel.
I really wanted Shane Baz on his top 100, but it would have been at least an hour before they hit the field and with a long drive home, I didn't want to do that to Ryan, who had to drive.
First, though, it was time for dinner at Cootie Brown's.
You may remember Fred Landucci and me hitting the Johnson City Cootie's last year and loving their Key Lime Pie!
I still wasn't super hungry, but the road home is not filled with places to eat for the late night traveler, so I had a Reuben without any sides, so that I had plenty of space for a piece of pie, which each of us had.

The sky cleared as we left Bristol and I was starting to question not sticking around for the few cards that I had, but about ten minutes or so, the rain began to fall again and I felt better!
They would eventually play with the game going extra innings, but the time spent waiting would have meant a long time added to getting home and we wound up arriving at one AM as it was.

It was a great time and one that was a bit of a throwback for us with one more "family" trip for the three of us.
I'm so glad that I was able to do this for Ryan and Dale Murphy might be the nicest player that I've met and certainly the nicest player of his caliber that I've met, so that made it all worthwhile.

I still have to make time to watch the weekend's fights (I've watched one of the three so far) to post the boxing challenge, so look for that soon.

Forgotten Superstars: Dale Murphy

We return to the Forgotten Superstars universe with one of the most popular players of his time-Dale Murphy.

Many would say that Dale Murphy was the National League's version of Cal Ripken and that wouldn't be far off,except I really liked Dale Murphy and never cared for Cal Ripken.
But I look at Dale Murphy as the first favorite player over a national basis and not just because he was a great player.

Dale Murphy was the star of the Atlanta Braves when WTBS was just starting to cover the country and give areas that didn't have a team in their area a team that they could watch every night as if they were the home team.
The station began to market the Braves as "America's Team" and they truly were as can be seen to this day with the large amount of Braves fans between the current ages of 21 and up.
I'll never understand why TBS traded the Braves everyday following in return for a game of the week and a few playoff games,but the WTBS story with the Braves,Hawks and Wrestling will wait for another day because this is about the franchise player in the days before the Braves became the powerhouse that we know them as now.

Dale Murphy played on a lot of bad Atlanta teams,only reaching the playoffs one time on the NL West champions in 1982 and only that team and the 83 Braves finished more than one game over .500 in his tenure (the 1980 Braves finished 81-80).
Eight of Murphy's seasons in Atlanta ended with more than ninety losses,so Dale Murphy can be given credit for much of the fan base that would become hooked on the Braves because more often than not,Murphy was the only reason to watch such a forlorn franchise.
Playing in often in front a sparce crowd in a stadium a quarter full,Murphy was the Braves in those years.
Starting as a catcher,Murphy was moved to the outfield and quickly proved to be the among the best defensive outfielders in the game as he was the winner of six gold gloves as he patrolled center in Fulton County Stadium,a less than visually exciting stadium,unless the sight of Chief Nok-A-Homa and his teepee turns one on.

Murphy started to impress in 1978 with 23 homers,but he did it hitting just ,228,it was the following season when despite missing almost 60 games,he raised his average fifty points and still hit 21 homers.
In 1980,Murphy began a run that lasted through 1987 that one could make a legitimate argument that he was the best player in the game.
During this run,Murph won two MVP's never hit fewer than 29 homers (with 44 as a high) three seasons in a row of 36 homers and followed up with a 37 HR year,over 100 RBI's five times (on a team that he carried on his back far more often than not) and underrated speed,usually finishing in double digits in steals.

That changed dramatically in 1988,when Murphy's batting averaged dipped into the .220's with mid-20's power.
When the following year resulted in similar statistics,Murphy was clearly on the downside.
In the middle of 1990,the Braves shipped Murphy to the Phillies in a mid-season trade and it was hoped that the change would revitalize the bat of the veteran as well.
Murphy's produced a decent 1991,but that proved to be his final stand as he would play just 18 games for the 92 Phillies and another 26 for the 93 Rockies before throwing in the towel for good.

Dale Murphy was the favorite player of so many,including Ryan,so I do get the occasional question-Is Dale Murphy a hall of famer?
His peak was eight years and his dropoff was very quick,but two more homers would have given him 400 for a career in an era where that was far more impressive than it looks today.
The rapid decline hurt his candidacy,but to me if you put Jim Rice in (the numbers are very similar,except for average) and I supported his induction-I would have no problem giving a vote to Murphy.
I know many would argue that Murphy's resume' wasn't long enough at the highest level,but I've written before that I'd rather have seven or eight years at the top of the game rather than 12 to 15 of being good to very good and under that argument,Murphy would earn entry,especially consider the induction of Rice.

Combine on the field excellence,being a great ambassador for the game and being so popular with so many and Dale Murphy still may not make the hall,but he will be welcomed into the forgotten superstars universe with pride!