Excerpt from the Victoria (TX) Advocate, July 24, 1998:
As the Astros sign to remain in Minute Maid Park through 2050, here’s another timely historical contribution by the always keen researching mind that is Darrell Pittman.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Wednesday, Wednesday, July 11, 2018: “Manifest Destiny” by fine artist Opie Otterstad nears completion for its grand display at Minute Maid Park.
Remember the night all our ancient Houston Baseball Dreams came true? It was a starry, starry night in Los Angeles on November 1, 2017. The Houston Astros had just defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven game World Series as the the 4-3 play from Altuve to Gurriel drove the final nail into the heart of all there was to any remaining blue hope as the final play.
A half second later, the scene depicted in “Manifest Destiny” cut loose, winding itself forever into our Houston psyche in so many similar and diverse ways. Houston baseball destiny had finally done it, sailing far above – and far over – the glorious rainbows of our own creation.
We may have still been “strangers in a strange land” emotionally – as far as the business of Houston and World Series victory were concerned – but now we had all the time in the world to get over that limited and forever from this day forth refuted limited perception of ourselves. All had now changed forever. And our challenge as Houstonians is to give everything right, loving, passionate, and creative we now do our best effort for as long as we draw the breath of life.
The 2017 Houston Astros are now the World Series Champions of Baseball – and in serious contention for a repeated crown in 2018. As fans of our local teams – and as industrious survivors of “Harvey” – we are Houston.
Being all he could be as Astros manager AJ Hinch’s bench coach in 2017 got Alex Cora the job of manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2018. That seems to be working out pretty well for him.
“Houston Strong” needs to thrive as a way of life, even when we are not working together to survive the immediate threat of a weather crisis. And our job is to give everything we do our best effort for as long as we live.
As a fiery phrase, Manifest Destiny gained popularity in 1845 from its use by journalist John L. O’Sullivan, who used the term to strongly advocate the annexation of Texas and Oregon into the Union, and in great alignment to the principles put forth earlier in the Monroe Doctrine.
Opie Otterstad has done well to choose Manifest Destiny for his title on the work that now, soon, and forever lives in glorious visible testament to that greatest moment in the history of Houston and Houston Astros joy. Houston is now free of a 55-year separation from its ultimate goal. The Houston Astros are – now and forever – the 2017 World Series Champions of the baseball world. And now we have tasted baseball goals accomplished to their point of highest completion. Our manifest destiny for this attainment has been harvested and tasted.
That painting is the picture of the very first delicious bite.
I also like the idea that our big World Series moment in Los Angeles on the night of November 1, 2017 also personifies our “manifest destiny” as individuals to simply live our lives to the fullest while we’re still here. And if we are not doing things in the name of love, to realize that we are missing out on our greatest possible personal destiny we could ever engage.
We need to be – all that we can be – and never settle for less. We all can’t be – or need to be – Jose Altuve. We just need to be all of who we are – and nothing less.
Thank you, Houston Astros and artist Opie Otterstad – for showing all of us both the way – and the light that shines forth from those paving the road.
Godspeed.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Darrell Pittman
The following item was found in the July 19. 1896 edition of the Houston Daily Post by crack baseball researcher Darrell Pittman and donated for our notation and use in The Pecan Park Eagle:
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BUYING A HOME RUN
A Spot Cash Offer with a Quick Delivery of Goods
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There was a great deal of life in the grand stand yesterday. Of course, the people of Houston were interested in the home team and each successive play of advantage made by the Buffaloes was loudly applauded. Kline’s home run raised a howl of delight from them all, but when little Charlie Becker put it over the fence two separate times, the applause was deafening. Everybody went wild. Paris did not seem to have an admirer in a hundred yards of the plate. But they did, nevertheless.
There was a party of traveling men grouped in one corner of the grand stand. The traveler is always on the side of the stranger in a strange town. He is a stranger himself and always believes he gets the worst of it, but he don’t, and so this aggregation of good-natured drummers began to root for the visitors. Every good play made by the Midlands was given a good strong hand.
In the fifth inning, Payne and Mulkey were on bases (for Houston). Van Dresser had struck out and Cathey came to the stick. “Five dollars for a home run,” called out one of the drummers. Cathey tried to make it, but he only hit to Kline. He got first, however, filling the bases.
When Zeis walked up to the plate, stick in hand, the drummer raised his bet: “Seven dollars for a home run.” It looked like it would be a safe proposition as Zeis had two strikes on him but he got an easy one. He caught on the nose and lifted it above the heads of the scattered ballplayers Barker went back to the fence to pull it in, but he couldn’t. It lifted a little, made a down shoot, and dropped just without the enclosure.
Zeis had called the bet.
He had an easy walk around and then went to the grand stand. Of course, the drummers put up. They made the proposition and when they were called, showed their hands. They “went south”, as the expression goes and “dug up the coin.” It was unexpected to them. They were trying to enthuse matters. They did.
After the home run they quieted down and mentally figured the profits as Ivory soap and groceries from Marlin and Galveston. Will Richards, a prominent traveling man who makes Houston his headquarters and roots for the Buffaloes then went after them. He brought about forty small boys into the grand stand and they made life miserable for those (Houston-foreign) drummers.
There probably will be no more cash offers for spot home runs. The delivery is too sudden.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Baseball Reliquary Presents
Date & Time: Sunday, July 22, 2018, 2:00 p.m.
Location: Donald R. Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Central Library Address: 285 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, California
Information: (626) 791-7647 or terymar@earthlink.net
The Baseball Reliquary will present the 2018 Induction Day ceremony for its 20th class of electees to the Shrine of the Eternals on Sunday, July 22, 2018, beginning at 2:00 p.m., at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium in the Pasadena Central Library, 285 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, California. Doors to the auditorium will open at 1:30 p.m. Admission is open to the public and free of charge, with seating on a first come, first served basis. The inductees will be Nancy Faust, Rusty Staub, and Tommy John. The Keynote Address will be delivered by Dan Epstein. In addition, the Baseball Reliquary will honor the recipients of the 2018 Hilda Award, Bart Wilhelm, and the 2018 Tony Salin Memorial Award, Ross Altman. Former Shrine of the Eternals inductee Ted Giannoulas (aka the San Diego Chicken) will make a special appearance.
Following is a brief preview of the afternoon’s festivities:
The program will commence with an Induction Day tradition: the ceremonial bell ringing in memory of the late Brooklyn Dodgers fan Hilda Chester; everyone who attends is encouraged to bring a bell to ring for this much-anticipated sonic cacophony. The National Anthem will be performed by NANCY FAUST on the Hammond B3 organ.
HILDA CHESTER
The Brooklyn Bell Girl Fan
The first presentation will be the Hilda Award, established in memory of legendary Brooklyn Dodgers fan Hilda Chester to recognize distinguished service to the game by a baseball fan. The 2018 recipient, BART WILHELM has, since his first visit to Tiger Stadium in 1984, attended over 1,100 games in 270 different professional ballparks. The second presentation will be the Tony Salin Memorial Award, named in memory of the late baseball author and historian, and established to recognize individuals for their commitment to the preservation of baseball history. The 2018 recipient, ROSS ALTMAN has, over the past thirty years, composed and performed musical tributes to many heroes of the national pastime, ranging from Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and Sandy Koufax to Shrine of the Eternals inductees Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Piersall, and Steve Bilko.
TED GIANNOULAS
aka
The San Diego Chicken
Following the award presentations, the 2018 Keynote Address will be delivered by DAN EPSTEIN, a Chicago-based journalist, historian, and raconteur. Epstein is the author of the acclaimed baseball books Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s and Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76, both of which examine baseball’s most colorful and tumultuous decade and its overlap with American popular culture. Following the Keynote Address, 2011 Shrine inductee TED GIANNOULAS (aka THE SAN DIEGO CHICKEN) will offer his comments in celebration of the 20th anniversary festivities of the Shrine of the Eternals.
NANCY FAUST
The 2018 inductions will lead off with NANCY FAUST, the most famous ballpark organist of the past half-century, who entertained Chicago White Sox fans at Comiskey Park between 1970 and 2010. Following her acceptance remarks, Faust will play a musical selection on her Hammond B3 organ. Her induction will be introduced by MIKE DOWNEY, an award-winning newspaper columnist who has written for the Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Tribune.
RUSTY STAUB IN HIS HALCYON NEW YORK TIMES
The second inductee, the much-beloved RUSTY STAUB (1944-2018), was one of the outstanding hitters in baseball. When he retired after the 1985 season, he had played for 23 years and is the only player in baseball history to have 500 hits with four different teams.
RUSTY STAUB
As a 1963 Houston Rookie Hope
We would be remiss not to mention that Rusty Staub was the original rookie star of hope for the new Houston NL franchise (1963-68) and that his departure from the Astros via the infamous commissioner-forced completion trade to the Montreal Expos prior to the 1969 season lives on as a nightmare memory of historic regret for surviving long-of-tooth-and-term Houston fans.
After retiring as a player, Staub worked as a broadcaster for the Mets, opened a successful New York restaurant, and established two foundations to raise funds for charitable and humanitarian purposes. Staub’s induction will be accepted by his sister, SALLY JOHNSTON, on behalf of the Staub family. His induction will be introduced by ALBERT KILCHESTY, the Baseball Reliquary’s Historian and Archivist.
TOMMY JOHN
The third inductee is TOMMY JOHN, who won 288 games over a 26-year career, notched 20 victories in a season three times, appeared in three World Series, was named to four All-Star teams, finished in the top eight for the Cy Young Award four times, and – through his courageous example – is responsible for a surgical procedure that has now prolonged the careers of countless pitchers and position players. John will be introduced by his son, DR. TOMMY JOHN III, a chiropractor and sports performance and healing specialist, and author of the recently-published book Minimize Injury, Maximize Performance: A Sports Parent’s Survival Guide.
Free parking is available in the University of Phoenix underground parking structure, which is located just north of the Pasadena Central Library on the corner of Garfield Avenue and Corson Street. The entrance to the parking structure is on Garfield.
Before and after the ceremony, we invite you to visit the Baseball Reliquary exhibition, Shrine @ 20, which is being presented through July 30 in the display cases in the North Entrance, Humanities Wing, and Business Wing of the Pasadena Central Library. Included in the exhibition are all 57 Shrine of the Eternals inductee plaques from 1999-2017.
TOMMY JOHN
and
THE CHICKEN
For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791- 7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net. The 2018 Induction Day is cosponsored by the Pasadena Public Library and is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Rest In Peace
JOE HARDY
Born: July 11, 1931 in Hannibal MO
Died: July 09, 2018 in Bethesda, MD
Age: 86, 2 Days Shy of 87th Birthday.
Batted: Right ~ Threw: Right
Height: 6’1” ~ Weight: 185
Position: Center Field
Major League Batting Record, One Season ~ Washington Senators:
| AGE | YEAR | G | AB | R | H | RBI |
| 23 | 1954 | 100 | 423 | 105 | 178 | 122 |
| 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | HP | CI | SB | BA |
| 57 | 11 | 59 | 76 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 23 | .421 |
Shoeless Joe ~ He ain’t, no mo!
The legendary Joe Hardy passed away at his home in Bethesda, MD earlier today from apparently “natural” causes. In so doing, his death turns out to be about the only observable thing that has come about naturally from Joe before our curious eyes during his lifetime in the Washington DC area.
Are you old enough to remember the 1954 season? That was the year that the Cleveland Indians played most of the AL season as the heir apparent to the benefits now befalling to another good team as a result of an age crack that seemed to be opening up in the five-year (1949-53) championship run of the New York Yankees.
The Washington Senators, as expected, were busy in the early season, simply settling into their usual cellar door spot and squat work, and probably wondering if the relocation of the St. Louis Browns to Baltimore as the Orioles might result in an over-supply of losing baseball in the now closer-to-each-other general physical area – generating concern that a saturation of losing might hurt the home crowd gates in both neighboring cities.
Little Benny Van Buren was the Sens manager in 1954, but he really didn’t have much talent on that club. All he could tell the fans is what he told his players: “Boys and Girls, this game of baseball is only one part talent. – The rest is heart. – You gotta have heart! ~ Miles and Miles and Miles of Heart!”
The Senators seemed doomed to their usual doldrums spot at – or very damn near – the absolute lowest spot in the American League cellar. But then, one day in late May, a magical thing happened.
A very powerful, swift, and athletic young man named Joe Hardy showed up with his agent ~ a sinister, but always smiling and polite fellow named Applegate. Applegate wanted an impromptu tryout for Joe Hardy and – given the fact that the Senators were still reeling from a live and ongoing 13-game losing streak, it didn’t take much to convince Benny Van Buren that he had nothing to lose by giving Joe Hardy a look-see.
Long story short. – Joe played like a direct gift from the baseball gods. Even though they weren’t much for talent, Hardy killed everything the Senator pitchers threw him at the tryout over the fence. Not a single pitch stayed at home. They all left the yard and disappeared into the dark capitol night.
Joe Hardy had a great season before he mysteriously disappeared. His 9th inning home run to deep center field at the Polo Grounds won the 1954 World Series for Washington over the New York Giants. Willie Mays was inches away from a “catch” that would have been celebrated forever, but … you just don’t catch flying balls that seem to defy the laws of both gravity and inertia.
Hardy also caught Willie Mays’ game and series ending long fly to center and kept right on going to the clubhouse. It was probably a half hour later that the Senators all returned to their dead center clubhouse under those stands and realized that Joe was missing. A couple of bat boys were sent out the back stadium exit to look for Joe and they came back with a curious report.
“We didn’t find Joe,” one of the boys said, “but we did find this old guy about two blocks down the street, hobbling away in a Senators uniform. He looked enough like Joe to have been his grandfather, but it could not have been Joe. That guy looked like he was older than dirt.”
How Joe disappeared for a half century and was discovered living in Bethesda about twenty years ago is another story for another day, but we plan to seek out a follow-up interview with Joe’s wife, Mrs. Lola Hardy, and see what she’s willing to tell us about the mystery of her now late husband, after a reasonable period of mourning.
This just in. – One of our reporters says he earlier today went to see Mrs. Hardy at her home and was turned away for an interview. While he was there, he snapped a photo of Mr. Applegate as he was coming out of the Hardy home from his own meeting with Mrs. Hardy.
Mr. Applegate’s new photo now simply fans the flames of mystery. – The guy doesn’t look a day older than he did back in the mid-20th century, when he and Joe Hardy showed up for the latter’s 1954 tryout with the Senators.
Rest in Peace, Joe Hardy (if possible)!
And Rest in Peace too, Tab Hunter! You did a great job as Joe Hardy in the movie version of “Damn Yankees” and you should be remembered favorably for it forever.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Brown University Baseball Team,
1879 National Champions.
One of these players is now regarded as the earliest black baseball player in big league history.
His name was William Edward White.
William Edward White
Is sitting directly behind the manager in the team photo.
“An answer commonly given to the question of who was the first black man to play major-league baseball is still Jackie Robinson in 1947. Knowledgeable baseball people know that Robinson was preceded by the Walker brothers, Moses and Weldy, for Toledo in 1884. Recent research, led by SABR’s Peter Morris, has uncovered evidence of still earlier African American participation in the major leagues. Morris’s detective work reveals that William Edward White, a former slave, had a one-game career for the National League’s Providence Grays on June 21, 1879.”
To read the balance of this most informative brief article by John R. Husman, please click the following link:
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-21-1879-cameo-william-edward-white
The Pecan Park Eagle also wants to thank reader/colleague/friend, Bill Hickman for calling our attention to the deeper meaning of the same Browns baseball photo that we used yesterday in a much lighter look column on the sport in the “good old summertime days” era. In irony, Bill’s mention of William Edward White “to have been (documented as) the first Afro-American (to play) in the majors, preceding Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Weldy Walker by five years,” as a far more accurate display of the zeitgeist of post-Civil War America.
So-called “people of color” simply didn’t have the same rights and opportunities as white people in America and, like almost all other avenues of possibility, baseball was busy signing on to the idea that our country could go from slavery ending with the Civil War to a “separate, but equal” society that divided people on the basis of color. ~ What a pile of crock that was!
Today we, at least, have a game in which everybody who plays well enough, will play. In fact, these are the good old days – the only ones we’ll ever have. – Smack dab in the here and now. – The only place anything ever gets done.
Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance once had a nice ring, but I like our Houston Astros 6-4-3 play better, especially when all three of our main guys are in the lineup for the Astros. It’a a long one. It goes from “Puerto Rico-to-Venezuela-to-Cuba-Ole!”
Enough rambling. Racism is the human race cancer. And it needs to die. In all forms. As this man did, no one ever should have to pass for white, just to get a foot in the door. And that’s why it’s important to remember people like William Edward White, even if others suffered far more by comparison. No one among us should have to go through what he encountered to hide his true identity for the simple sake of avoiding someone else’s need to hate.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
WON BY THE BOYS.
_______________________
Livingston, Texas, July 15. – The married
men and the boys played a game of ball
here today, the losing side to pay for an
ice cream supper, given at the school
house tonight, resulting in a score of 44
to 16 in favor of the boys.
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Houston Daily Post, July 15, 1896.
_________________________
Contributed by Darrell Pittman.
After receiving Darrell’s 1896 story, we looked for a team photo of “the boys” club, but came up empty. So, even though the actual club shown here is one of the 19th century Brown University teams, we have prevailed upon these silent thespians from baseball’s history to portray for us a sidebar note in the Livingston game story. We received no complaints from any of them to the exercise. – So, here we see “the boys” cooling their heels down at the school house after the game, as they patiently await the “married men” to show up and pay for the ice cream.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Yuli Gurriel
Robbed of a Double by the official scorer at MMP on Friday night.
In the Friday night big 7-run 8th inning for the Astros, Chicago right fielder Avisail Garcia was charged with an error when he allegedly misjudged a fly ball hit by Yuli Gurriel and it bounced behind him, just inside the line fair, and sailed into the near side lower right field stands. The bases were loaded at the time and two more Astros runs scored as a result. Even the Astros broadcast crew spoke what almost all our eyes first told us as we watched the tough play unfold – that Gurriel would be credited with a ground rule double and two runs batted in.
Not so, according to the official scorer, whomever that dubious authority may be. He or she ruled the play as an error on Garcia for misjudging the descent of the ball, taking away Gurriel’s double and 2 RBI, and earmarking the two runs as unearned.
The MLB office needs to both review the “E” call and also look into the MMP official scorer’s general readiness to carry out the charge that goes with this important scoring assignment. I can think of a lot of outfielders who could have made this play, but all of them are either Astros or players who are much more familiar with MMP than Avisail Garcia.
A larger point – anyone who has actually played the outfield, especially the two corner spots, would know that Garcia was not guilty of an error on that fluke play and that Gurriel has now been deprived of the ground rule double and other accolades that go with it. The call needs to be reversed and our local official scorer either needs a continuing education seminar or a replacement in this role. The integrity of the game deserves the best – and this call wasn’t even close.
Even if we don’t talk about it enough in these terms, those of us who’ve played enough outfield at any level understand this much about fly balls:
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
A Hometown Pennant
The Face of Minor League America. A Houstonian friend of mine from Syracuse brought me this pennant from his recent vacation home to the old ball park there and a game in which he watched the Syracuse Chiefs play their big rivals, the Rochester Red Wings. The halcyon days of bitterness between the two upstate New York clubs must be all but done. We did not even discuss the game or the eventual outcome. I also couldn’t name half the clubs I saw on the pennant by logo, but, of course, like most observers, Kevin Costner included, I did recognize the Durham Bulls and the Hollywood Stars in there. – The old Houston Buffs did not even make the layout cut. Maybe you had to be a living club to make the canvas. – At any rate, the pennant now has a decorative place on my Wall of Honor. – Thanks again, dear friend.
Yuli Gurriel
Now Hitting .300
Gurriel BA on the Upward move. Yuli Gurriel’s game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th last night not only gave the Astros a 4-3 comeback walk-off win over the White Sox in the their four-game series opener at MMP, it also boosted his batting average to .300. The surreal bat of Jose Altuve, at .332, good enough for second place in the current AL batting average chase, is the only other .300 mark among qualifying Astros hitters. Altuve’s recent dip has opened the door for Mooky Betts of Boston to take the lead with a .338 BA, as Jean Segura essentially ties Altuve for 2nd place at .332 also. Gurriel at .300 is currently sitting just outside the Top Ten.
Please kill my former PO Box mailing address from your records. I have terminated my use of that box and will receive nothing you mail to me there. Please e-mail me for my usable US Mail address.
Please Discontinue the Use of PO Box 940871 immediately! For future necessary contact between us by US Mail, please e-mail me at houston.buff37@gmail.com and I will supply you with an alternative (snail) mailing address. Thank you.
Simply do not send anything to any PO Box number attached to my name at this time. It will be given the Elvis Presley “Return to Sender” treatment without any explanation by our most uncaring United States Postal Service.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
Bobby Bragan
Double your pleasure?
Double your fun?
Don’t ask Bobby Bragan,
He’d rather play one!
Few, if any, of these reasons offered by the late Bobby Bragan had anything to do with the disappearance of the planned doubleheader on the MLB season schedule. As with all things, follow the money for the best current answer.
Two games for the price of one was never going to be a big seller for club owners as they moved into areas of operational cash need that have grown like wildfire since this simple little interview with writer Murray Olderman back in 1965 revealed the regard Bragan held for the impact that these twin bills had upon the players and the playing of the game itself.
Thank you again, Darrell Pittman, for this submission from the July 14, 1965 edition of the Victoria Advocate. Like the fiery old manager of the Fort Worth Cats himself, it speaks for a man who cared about the game and the best interests of the men who played it – and way earlier then the MLB clubs’ needs for gazillions to make payroll.
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The Pecan Park Eagle 