It's that time of year again to reflect on another victory over father time with the "Bulldog" of Ball Four fame, Jim Bouton, receiving the honors to represent 56.
It's been a different year since last July.
My work issues were settled in my favor but I've had a few changes in schedule since then, and while I really enjoy the new schedule as far as time off, I can't say I don't miss the solitude of the overnight shift.
I don't travel like I did previously because most of my autographing days are finished.
Baseball doesn't play on Mondays in the minors, and I work Fridays and Saturdays now, which makes me unavailable for those nights.
I miss the camaraderie of the group but I've found that I don't miss netting around the field, overly officious club employees right out of college, and I don't miss players that act more like businessmen than baseball players.
I still go on the occasional trip but they have to be planned even more now than in the past and when I do go, I find myself having more fun doing anything but going to the game!
My family has gone through a change or two but I'll save most of that for the road trip series that I am in the middle of writing.
I still have the love of my life happy and healthy, who always takes care of me and asks for next to nothing in return.
I'm blessed to have Cherie here with me and our crazy dog, Posey, brings so much joy to my life.
Rachel is doing her work with video editing and YouTube and is doing very well with her job.
Ryan lives in Omaha, Nebraska and while I miss him, I'm lucky enough to live in an age where I can talk to him for free anytime I wish.
Sometimes, I think we all wish for the simplicity of times past and there is much to be said for those days.
However, when you have family and friends around the country, the current technology allows almost the contact and everyday comfort of living a few miles away.
I couldn't be prouder of either of my kids, I worry as all parents do but I couldn't be prouder.
I still enjoy sports and writing about them but my time is limited compared to what it once was and it has affected the blog a little.
I worry like everyone else about the everyday things that affect us all and as we all age, our aches and pains that used to come and go now come more frequently and take longer to leave.
I worry about my weight and wonder how this got to this point yet I move around like a far smaller man and I feel fortunate for that.
I am a fortunate person with family and friends who care about me as I care for them.
Could things be better?
Of course but most of the things that could be better aren't life-changing, they just make life a little easier and a little more fun
Thanks to all of you and I wish I could name everyone but it's getting late and I really want to finish up.
When you think about it that way, life at 56 isn't so bad.
We start something different for the next few days and with the Covid-19 pandemic, there certainly is plenty of time available to do something different.
I reached out to my family and friends and asked them to come up with something from each of them that they would like me to write about for Friends and Family week.
I haven't heard back from all of them, but I do have a few requests returned and I'm looking forward to working on these this week.
We'll start Friends and Family week with Fred Landucci.
Fred's been a great friend and fan of both the blog and the defunct podcast, so it was an easy choice for Fred to participate in this week.
Fred decided to ask five questions of me to answer and hopefully you'll find my answers as interesting in his questions!
Fred: What is your favorite sitcom since 1980?
TRS; This is difficult as I'm sure there will be a few shows that when Cherie reads this that she'll say "I can't believe you forgot X, you love that show'!
And we delete a bunch of shows that I love from the 60s that I grew up watching in reruns and some 70s shows that I grew up with but are outside Fred's timeline
But when I looked at the lists by decade, I was surprised to see that I didn't like a lot of these shows!
I'm also not a huge fan of what many consider classic sitcoms from the period.
I like Cheers, especially the Shelley Long years, but Seinfeld has always been a meh show and I cannot stand either of two Nielsen giants in Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond.
Before I go with my choice, which narrowly nipped their toughest opponent, here are a few that make me laugh.
ALF is just one of those silly 60s style sitcoms that just makes me howl, Coach is very funny with the Craig T.Nelson-Jerry Van Dyke pairing and they have longtime TRS favorite, Shelley Fabares, as well, I love King of the Hill via animation and two shows that didn't have a long run and are seldom remembered that I really like are Buffalo Bill and Unhappily Ever After.
Wings and Newsradio were terrific shows that should have been bigger hits than they were, but the winner is The Office in a photo finish over Parks and Recreation.
The Office put together seven great years, a lousy eighth, and finished well in the ninth and final year.
Parks is very close, but despite my love for the show, I'm not a huge Amy Poehler fan.
That makes the difference.
Fred: Who do you consider the best pound for pound fighter in boxing history?
TRS: This is a lot easier- it's the welterweight Sugar Ray Robinson.
If Robinson had never moved to middleweight, where he won the championship several times and was an all-time middleweight but not the greatest ever, and spent his entire career at welterweight, I think he would have rolled up a record that would be talked about to this day.
The welterweight Robinson had explosive power and dazzling speed that as a complete fighter cannot be matched.
As a boxer, Robinson couldn't be surpassed even by greats like Ray Leonard or Floyd Mayweather and while as a pure puncher he wouldn't be ranked at the top of punchers at 147 such as Thomas Hearns, Pipino Cuevas, or Felix Trinidad, he would fit comfortably in the group of well above average bangers such as Sugar Ray Leonard.
In many sports, you watch old films and ask questions like would Willie Mays be as great against the stars of today, would Jerry West be an all-time great guarding the athletes in today's NBA and would Jim Brown be the best running back ever? (Answers: Leaning towards yes, would be very good, but maybe not all-time great, and definitely)
Some of the great boxers of all-time would suffer under the same glass- Rocky Marciano would have little chance against Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua, but there are a few that clearly would have been great against anyone of any time.
Sugar Ray Robinson is that fighter.
Fred: Do you believe the "cheaters" belong in the baseball Hall of Fame?
This includes the game-fixers, gamblers, and the steroid players, both accused and confirmed.
TRS: This subject comes up a lot and I really don't have a firm opinion, but I suppose I'm OK with Joe Jackson and Pete Rose being voted in- as long as the HOF makes sure that the scandals involved with the two are mentioned on their plaque and as part of anything involving the two in the facility.
I give Jackson a break because if he took money in the Black Sox scandal, it didn't seem to affect his play and for Rose, his gambling as a manager shouldn't outweigh his play as a player.
The steroid players are a different matter as some of those players wouldn't have posted the statistics
needed to get to Cooperstown without them, so my stance on this is as follows- Take the line of when the use was suspected and/or confirmed.
Was the player in question a Hall of Fame level player before that timeline?
If so, I'm Ok with induction-if the steroid links are notated as with the foibles of Jackson and Rose above.
Under this rule- Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens would receive my vote while Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro would not.
Fred: What is your favorite book?
TRS: Almost all of my reading is non-fiction and most of the reading is either sports, history, or political history, but the winner is clear- Jim Bouton's 1970 Ball Four.
From childhood to the present day. I've read that book well into three digits.
I have my original battered copy somewhere, I have the book in its final edition with updates on Bouton's life, have the ebook, the book on CD, and I have it on Audible with Jim Bouton reading it.
One of the most fun things that I do with Ryan is swap lines from the book and we each know just where it is in the book and who said various quotes.
I'm not sure you can be a true baseball fan and reader without reading Ball Four as a snapshot of the game just before the free agency period's arrival, but as players were beginning to challenge authority.
Honorable mention to Terry Pluto's "Loose Balls" a hilarious oral history of the ABA and outside the world of sports, I'm a big fan of the Robert Caro written series on the life of Lyndon Johnson.
Fred: Who is the best "heel" in the history of Pro Wrestling?
TRS: I'm not quite sure how to answer this one.
The best heel could be who consistently put on the best matches, who drew the most money to see them wrestle or it could be just who my favorite heel could be.
I'm going to answer it as my favorite heel and there are a few that I'm a huge fan of.
Very few could anger a crowd like Roddy Piper, but as time passed too many fans started liking Piper and the promotion felt that they were forced to turn him "babyface".
Piper wasn't nearly as effective or likable in that role but remained a huge star.
I always was a fan of Ken Patera as an arrogant heel that due to his world-class strength looked down on the inferior fans in a role that didn't seem to take very much acting!
Tully Blanchard was a tremendous heel that not only was excellent in the ring but his ability to express disdain as the 'Chicken' heel that kept the Four Horsemen as a hated group despite fans wanting to cheer Ric Flair and to a lesser extent, Arn Anderson.
However, there is one that ranks as my favorite above all, the Magnificent Muraco.
I've written before about Muraco as a major influence growing up and when Muraco was motivated as he was in his two WWF runs with the Inter-Continental title- he ranked with the top wrestlers in the world as an all-around performer both in the ring and verbally.
Muraco's promo work could be tremendous and his work in the first half of the 1980s made him the best wrestler in the WWF and arguably (especially in 82-84) the best in the country.
I hope these answers for Fred were interesting enough and I'll be back next time with the next installment of Friends and Family Week.
Sad news as former pitcher and author Jim Bouton passed away recently at the age of 80.
Bouton, a twenty-one game-winner for the New York Yankees in 1963 would injure his arm two years later and find himself looking to hang around the game using any means necessary- even transitioning to a knuckleball pitcher.
Bouton's attempts to stay in the major leagues were chronicled in my selection for the best baseball book ever written by anyone, but hands down the best by a player or former player- Ball Four.
Ball Four was Bouton's diary of the 1969 season, a season that saw expansion inflate the league by four teams, therefore, giving a large number of journeymen a chance to hook up in the bigs rather than triple a baseball.
Considering the four-team expansion (baseball has never expanded by more than two teams in one season before or since), anyone that played on one of those teams was going to have some stories (I've often wished someone on the 69 Montreal Expos would have written a similar book, considering baseball's first Canadian team and in a predominantly French culture at that, it could have been hilarious) and with the articulate Bouton keeping track of the happenings, it had a chance to be a good book under the constraints of sports books of the time.
Instead, it became a classic as Bouton let loose on many of the daily antics of the clubhouse that had never been written about before and gave the reader a look at just how one-sided baseball was at the time between the organization and the player.
Players today have a huge advantage over the team when it comes to contractual issues and it's not all great for the game, but in the pre-free agency days, the scale was all in favor of the team and with Ball Four now at fifty years of age, it's really interesting to scan the grid for a day when contractual issues were controlled by the team.
Ball Four was a controversial book for its time, although it seems almost tame today, but Bouton paid the price for that controversy as by the time the 1970 season was over, Bouton had been demoted by the Houston Astros and after two starts for the Astros AAA affiliate in Oklahoma City, Bouton decided to exit baseball before the decision was made for him.
Bouton's retirement was justifiable by his performance (4-6 and an ERA just shy of five and a half), but adding that to the attention from the book from people in and out of the game, the message was easy to see- If you are going to violate the code of clubhouse- You better be good enough to be worth the hassle and at that stage of his career, Bouton simply wasn't.
However, there was a time that Jim Bouton's eccentricities were worth that hassle and more.
The Yankees could live with those when Bouton won 21 games in 1963 and added 18 more in 1964 along with two or the Yankees three victories in the World Series that they would lose to the Cardinals in seven games.
They couldn't when he injured his arm in 1965 and trying to pitch through it, finished 4-15 with an ERA of almost five as the Yankees decline from the top of the American League occurred all at once.
Bouton's record didn't bounce back (3-8) for a bad Yankees club in 1966, although he would have respectable stats otherwise (2.69 ERA in 19 starts), but spent 1967 and 68 between the majors and AAA and with name value, Bouton made sense to be brought into Seattle for their expansion voyage with the Pilots.
In the expansion summer of 1969 and as he wrote Ball Four, Bouton would spend time with three teams, the expansion Pilots, the Pilots AAA affiliate in the Vancouver Mounties and the Houston Astros, who obtained Bouton for the memorable (If you read the book) Dooley Womack, who was a Bouton teammate with the Yankees.
It's the stories of three teams, three cities and the ensuing escapades that made the book such a classic and I'm not sure it would have been the same had a star player written the book.
It's the fading player that's trying to hang on and the empathy you feel that makes the book timeless.
You find yourself connecting with Bouton and his family with the money concerns that come with a player with an uncertain future.
After retirement, Bouton continued to dabble in various fields.
Bouton moved into local sportscasting in New York with some success as his full-time job, but Bouton would be a delegate to the 1972 Democratic convention for their nominee George McGovern,
would be the villain opposite Elliott Gould in the 1973 film "The Long Goodbye" and attempt to bring Ball Four to television as the star of a CBS sitcom that lasted just five weeks.
Bouton's most surprising of all of his eclectic careers would come when Bouton limbered up his fingers and bringing the knuckleball off the shelf for a baseball comeback.
Bouton had a benefactor in Ted Turner, who put the word out to his baseball people in Atlanta that Bouton was to be given an opportunity and would make 21 starts in the Southern League for the Braves AA affiliate in Savannah.
Bouton would pitch well and it just so happened that a young Terry Pluto happened to be working for a Savannah newspaper and would write his first book on the season, although Bouton didn't fully cooperate, it's still an interesting look at the comeback- if you can find the long out of print book.
Bouton would make five starts for the 1978 Braves in September, finishing 1-3 with an ERA of just under five, but in three of those starts pitched very well including a win over the division contending Giants and a 2-1 loss to Sparky Anderson's Big Red Machine in which he pitched eight strong innings and might have had a chance to return for the Braves, who finished last in 1978.
Instead, Bouton decided to retire for good and move onto other things including being a co-inventor of Big League Chew bubble gum, attempting to save a Massachusetts ballpark from demolition and writing updated books on Ball Four before a stroke in 2012 damaged his memory and speaking.
Jim Bouton was always a fan-friendly player, but it was the writing of Ball Four that cemented his legacy as more than just an otherwise average career.
Writing that book not only made Jim Bouton a key part of baseball history, but it is also likely what keeps the memory of the only one year team in modern baseball history alive in the Seattle Pilots.
An otherwise forgettable bad baseball team manages to be remembered because of Ball Four and the wonderful stories from a time gone by and yet to any baseball fan worth their salt, they've read Ball Four at least once and so many can remember a name of an otherwise undistinguished player or a phrase from the book and connect it with "Seattle Pilots" or "Ball Four" without batting an eye.
I'm not sure if Ryan and I could spend more than an hour without a line from the book or a reference to a player or an event from it, even today!
Ball Four might have been hated by the baseball establishment of the time, but its contributions to generations of baseball fans and historians cannot be underestimated.
If you are a fan, Bouton's book likely almost locked you in as a fan and allowed us to lean in and feel like you were a part of something special- even if just through words and paper.
Thanks for everything and as always Smoke 'Em Inside.
The usual cleaning out the inbox begins with whatever this is to the right.
I've written before about my go-to site for Buckeye news and analysis being Eleven Warriors (located in the links section) and they did a great look back at the history of our favorite mascot-Brutus Buckeye.
Well,rather how we got to the current lovable Brutus from the beginning in 1965 with what looks like a lump of crap,to a friendly apple to a frowning apple,back to the friendly apple until 1975 when someone thought whatever the hell this hybrid of Popeye the Sailor and the Maryland Terrapin was a good idea.
Thank the lord that this was a one year experiment before the apple returned for a year and was followed by the eventual Brutus that we know and love today with gradual refinements.
Just looking at that thing makes me shake my head!
The New York Times writes about Jim Bouton,who disclosed at a recent SABR convention that he has cerebral amyloid angiopathy,a brain disease that has been connected to people that have dementia.
Bouton did the convention to discuss Ball Four,but the article talks about the book,his post baseball career,what he battles with the disease and much of the article is done through Bouton's wife,Paula.
I bet Jim Bouton has made more appearances in the inbox than any other person or topic...
We've been a booster of the Hall of Fame chances of Dick Allen-particularly with the continuing use of advanced stats that show Allen is a better choice than many already in Cooperstown's claim to fame.
Baseball Prospectus,one of the more progressive statistical groups,writes about their take on the career of Allen and his case for the Hall in an excerpt for the new book by Jay Jaffe-Cooperstown Casebook.
The book looks really interesting and one I might be buying soon!
FanRagSports (which this is my first time reading) gives a lot of facts that I wasn't aware of on why there isn't a hockey presence in Houston (NHL or AHL).
Apparently the Rockets owner,Leslie Alexander,has a massive grudge against the NHL and the article discusses all of these factors that have kept hockey out of Houston.
Since Alexander has placed the Rockets for sale,perhaps the door has been cracked for a return to the largest city in Texas..
The Big 10 network is giving Lisa Byington,a long time sideline reporter on the network,a shot on play by play this season with the Bowling Green-Northwestern game.
Byington will be the first woman to do the play by play on the network and follows in the steps of ESPN,who has used Pam Ward in the past and currently uses Beth Mowins for college games.
I'm fine with giving Byington a chance as I've never minded Mowins,although I thought Pam Ward was really bad when she did her games.
We wrap up with a quick look back at the 20 year anniversary of the Tennessee Titans spending a year in Memphis before their move to Nashville.
It's from the Memphis perspective since it's from a Memphis based newspaper,but I understood why Memphis was so bitter at the time.
It was Memphis that sold out NFL exhibition game and was mentioned as an expansion candidate and it was Memphis,not Nashville that supported both the Southmen (WFL) and Showboats (USFL),when Nashville couldn't even rate getting teams in new leagues.
However,Memphis made a huge mistake in not making the best of the temporary arrangement like Oklahoma City did with the NBA in supporting the New Orleans (then) Hornets in their pit stop in Oklahoma after Hurricane Katrina.
Oklahoma City earned massive league goodwill for the help and proved their market value and the NBA returned the favor when the owners of the Seattle Super Sonics wanted to move there.
Memphis may have done the principled thing,but not the prudent thing and the NFL will never forget that-Memphis was one of the first cities mentioned for the NFL for years and now they are highly unlikely to get a team ever....
I wanted to get this finished before the Browns start of free agency later today and then boxing over the weekend,so here is a quick and mostly non-sports cleaning of the inbox.
Vulture.com (which I had never heard of) landed a great interview with David Letterman.
The wide ranging feature does discuss a lot about Donald Trump,but more than you would think about Letterman's home life along with his thoughts on television,late night,his life after retirement and more.
If you even are a mild Letterman fan,this is a fascinating read.
The New York Times as part of their series "Vietnam 1967" writes about Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam and how the former President and master politician wound up immersing himself in what the Times describes as an "Unwinnable War'.
The article discusses Johnson's fear of appearing weak,the domino theory and the various reasons that Johnson got into Vietnam and how he couldn't get out...
The Comeback writes of the finding of the "Chase Car" of one of the famous chase scenes in film history from the 1968 film "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen.
Apparently,car customizers often make replicas from the 1967/68 Mustangs to make replicas from a car used in the film "Gone in Sixty Seconds".
I've never seen that movie,so I wouldn't know much about it,but people in that industry seem to be looking for those models for the above reason.
The car was found in a Mexican junkyard and upon some research and the handy VIN number managed to trace it back to being one of the two"Bullitt' cars.
Instead of being processing for its original intention,the car will be fixed up in true Bullitt style.
An estimate in the Los Angeles Times has the car perhaps reaching one million dollars if the owner chose to sell it after renovation.
The article says Steve McQueen,who died in 1980,reportedly tried in vain to find the car before his death.
Wonder if his son,Chad McQueen (as in Dutch from Karate Kid) might be interested in obtaining the car?
Sorry to hear of the death of Robert Osborne at the age of 84.
Osborne was the host of Turner Classic Movies,who appeared at the beginning and end of each TCM offering,giving some interesting facts and anecdotes on the film.
I remember first seeing Osborne in a similar position for the Movie Channel when Cherie and I were first married and we had that channel.
Osborne was so knowledgeable about film history and seemed like a pretty nice person in the years that he was in that position.
I wrote recently in an edition of the inbox about Ball Four and saw another piece to mention today.
Mark Armour of SABR brought this article of his about the book back on a tweet honoring Jim Bouton's birthday.
Bouton turned 78 yesterday and I hope it was a good one.
The article is a comprehensive one that mainly looks at Bouton,co-author Leonard Shector,the book and its aftermath.
It's a very deep look at the topic and very well written.
Time to clean out the inbox with a few notes from the world..
Most of you should know that Jim Bouton's Ball Four ranks with my favorite books of all time.
I've mentioned it (and Bouton) here many times and my fondness for the book goes back to childhood through current day.
I have the book,the audiobook and the first book that I bought for my Kindle on Christmas Day was Ball Four,so I'm a big fan.
The soon to be 78 year old Bouton has suffered a stroke in recent years and isn't as strong as he used to be,so interviews with him of late are somewhat rare,but the family has decided to auction off the original notes and cassettes that Bouton used to compile Ball Four.
The best part of this collection is that there is so much that didn't make it into the book!
Think of it as the Director's Cut!!
Now,these will fetch a large amount,but I'm hoping someone will buy and donate to an organization that will make them available to the baseball public or even somewhere that allows baseball researchers access to them.
The New York Times talks about the sale and items here,while the Los Angeles Daily News takes a swing at things here.
Former Devil David Clarkson was always one of my favorite Devils and I never held it against him that he left the Devils via free agency after his career year (and a half) that saw Clarkson score 45 goals in that span.
A player has the right to cash in,especially when the numbers appear to be an aberration and the team that signs him is the player's hometown team,so I had no problems with Clarkson leaving.
Clarkson never even approached those Devils numbers after leaving and has been inactive with back problems that likely have ended his career.
A sad ending for a hard nosed player that loved the game as the Columbus Dispatch writes....
Here is my favorite Clarky commercial from his Devils days!
Politico writes about South Carolina congressman Mark Sanford and his political future,which surprisingly is still around.
Sanford is most remembered by non-residents of the Palmetto State for being their Governor and disappearing for a bit while he cheated on his wife outside the country.
Sanford was elected after that to congress and looks to be one of the main members of the GOP to be willing to take on Donald Trump,which considering the baggage of Sanford might not be the easiest water-carrier inside the party..
Why do Americans refrigerate their eggs?
The New York Times writes about why the Europeans prohibit washing eggs,while here in the U.S.washing eggs are mandatory.
Turns out the reason is that eggs have a natural cuticle that protect the inside of the egg from bacteria that gets washed away when they are washed.
The Europeans think the cuticle is more important and the Americans think the washing away is better.
In any event,once the egg is washed,it then needs to be refrigerated...
Five Thirty Eight discusses the Marshall basketball program under coach Dan D'Antoni,the older brother of the more famous Mike and a former NBA assistant.
D'Antoni is bringing the fire up the three offense to the mid-major circuit and this article takes a look at the analytical side of the game with values for where each shot is taken and how many should be taken.
I'm not sure how much that I agree with some of this,but it's a very interesting read on basketball...
Time for an inbox cleaning and we'll start with an ESPN article on the final victory of the career of Sandy Koufax 50 years ago on the final day of the 1966 baseball season.
The victory over the Phillies gave the Dodgers the National League pennant by one game over the Giants and the article discusses the game along with the impact on the 1966 pennant race...
The card to the left,is my actual Koufax card from 1965....
I've written many times about Jim Bouton's book Ball Four,but I've rarely,if ever mentioned the failed TV show based on the book and starring Bouton in 1976 on CBS.
Vice sports goes into detail on the show that lasted just five episodes.
I remember watching it as an eight year old,but honestly don't remember many specifics,other than former Raider Ben Davidson had a co-starring role.
The show takes place just before Bouton decided to make his big league comeback in 1977/78 and I would think that would have been unlikely to happen had the show been a success...
The New Jersey Devils season is a little over two weeks away and the Devils made a move to upgrade the defense as the team signed Kyle Quincey from the Red Wings to a one year contract.
The 31 year old Quincey played with the Wings for the last five years and scored four goals with seven assists last season in Detroit.
Quincey should challenge for one of the third pairings on the blueline.
A surprising,but welcomed move saw the Milwaukee Brewers moved their High A affiliate to Carolina with the Mudcats.
The Brewers had been with Brevard County of the Florida State league,but that team was sold to the Atlanta Braves and then moved.
Most observers thought that of the two remaining teams,the Colorado Rockies would win out with their low A (Asheville) and AA (Hartford) being closer to Carolina making more sense for the Rockies than being in the California league.
However,the Brewers won out and gave guys like me another new team to graph in the CL next season....
Joe Plum sends this from Atlas Obscura of a 40 year old Hermit Crab.
I used to try to keep Hermit Crabs and as much as I liked them,it was very hard to keep them alive for long.
If I remember right,I think I even had a few given to us by Joe!!!
Time to clean out the sports inbox with a few articles that caught my eye.
Bleacher Report catches up with former first rounder Adam Morrison in an article titled Life as an NBA draft bust.
The article is quite extensive as the Gonzaga star tells where he is today and some of his NBA career.
I thought it was quite good and a nice look behind the scenes of a player that didn't quite pan out.
Former Cleveland native Joe Posnanski is one of my favorite sportswriters and his article for NBC Sports on what it meant for him for the Cavaliers to have finally won a title for Cleveland.
The article features quite a few names from Cleveland past and made me think back to my past quite a few times....
The New Yorker spends a day with Jim Bouton watching the Old Timers game at Yankee Stadium on television.
Bouton,who gets plenty of notice here for the book that he penned as one of our favorites in Ball Four,has suffered a stroke in recent years.but still gets around well and converses with some ease.
Bouton discusses some of his teammates from his Yankee days and of course,tells some stories...
Boise Weekly interviews the interviewer as they wrote as they chat with Boise resident and my favorite sideline reporter Heather Cox.
Cox,who is rumored to be headed to NBC from ESPN, discusses life in Boise and talks about some of the people she interviews during games with an interesting point on San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich.
Two drafts in the next two days-the Cavaliers do not have any picks in tonight's NBA draft,while the Devils pick eleventh in Friday's NHL draft.
If the Cavaliers make any deals,we'll cover here as well as the Devils pick on Friday....
Still more to come from the non-sports inbox,my road trip with Ryan,podcasts and more!!!
Before I begin,it's been tough for motivation this week and the month of November is very busy.
As in three days off for the month-busy.
So,I've been missing games,no recaps and a phone issue at the road office hasn't helped either.
I've had two podcast guests delay appearances and the podcast suffered for the week.
However,even if things won't be slowing down from the road office (I'm off Sunday and Monday and not again until December 1st),I've started with some ideas to perk things up and I think I have a good idea for a podcast-assuming I have time to get it "on the air".
Just an update....
I've written before that Jim Bouton's 1970 best seller Ball Four is my favorite sports book of all time.
Many agree as Bouton's book was the only sports book to make the top 100 books of the 20th century as voted on by the New York Public Library.
Hardball Times did a two part series on the teams (Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros) to see what happened to the Men of Ball Four-45 years after the book hit the printers.
Click here for the Pilots and here for the Astros.
If you are a true baseball fan,I highly recommend this book for baseball in the 60's and to understand dozens of "code" as others have called it between Ryan and I,but it also comes through as a look at society in the late 60's as things began to turn in sports,media and so many other things in our time...
Betamax is dead? Sony announced that in March,the last of Betamax tapes will roll off the line.
Which brings me to this question? Who was still buying Betamax blanks?
As someone (the only person I know) that hangs on to VHS, who is hanging onto Betamax,which was the clear loser in the 80's home video war?
The interesting note brought here by the Guardian,discusses the turning point in the VHS vs Betamax war was the porn industry!
Yes,the porn industry decided that VHS served their purposes better and that nod began to turn the tide.
Still sad though and someday that will be me and VHS too....
We wrap up with the Cleveland Plain Dealer's coverage of Jeff Ruetter's talk on Lake Erie and how to fix it.
Five things to focus on the lake after a record setting algae bloom on continuing to rehab the shallowest of the Great Lakes.
Reutter was also the leader of the attack to rid Lake Erie of invasive species and pollution to become the Walleye capital of the world.
Love that Lake Erie perch and walleye!
I'm planning a podcast from the road office today.
Wish me luck!
