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Fans: Heads Are Where Their Hearts Are

December 30, 2014

“We ain’t exactly crazy,
But we ain’t exactly sane!
If our team don’t win.
We’re gonna complain!”

The writers and athletes don’t call us sports “fans” for no reason. As you must certainly know by now, the original slang word “fan” was short for “fanatic”, or “fanatical”. It did not take long use for the the three-letter word to encompass all the insanity rapped up in the longer noun and adjective versions of the idea. Before the word “fan” took over for supporters, 19th century baseball partisan ticket buyers were known as “cranks” – a word that still fits our moods pretty well when things don’t go our way for our team on the field. Our behavior can often ascend above all mean-meanings of the adjective “cranky”. In fact we may sometimes rise to cantankerous heights of objection to bad results.

At any rate, it’s all part of our involvement is supporting “our team” – whomever they are – at whatever level they play – in whichever sport comes to mind. It’s just sadly true, sometimes, that the 21st century media pundits forget why we come to the games.

Over this past weekend, a couple of Sports Center talking heads on ESPN were waxing their way through one of of those year-ender searches for meaningful retrospection on what we all may learn from the big news in sports for 2014. One of these wizened observers jumped almost immediately upon the fact that fans seemed ready to dismiss their concern over domestic violence that came to light in the separate, but dual “bad boy” cases of running backs Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson. Rice was videotaped knocking out his then fiancee and now current wife in an elevator – and Peterson was convicted of parental abuse for tree-branch switching his young son on the legs until the skin was broken.

Together, the two cases have launched a new national attention upon the serious problem of domestic abuse in our American culture in general, but, as the ESPN guy observed, paraphrasically, “the fans seem to have already put the reality of domestic violence behind them with the approach of the playoffs. All they seem to want to talk about now are the prospects for their various teams making the cut of those few that will be playing soon for a chance to reach the Super Bowls. – What does that say to us as a culture about the priority of NFL fans – or sports fans in general?”

Well, all the NFL playoff spots got settled on Sunday, but the fever goes on in football for the Super Bowl quest – as well as the upcoming first NCAA Division 1 college football tourney for a champion among the surviving “Final Four”. – That said, The Pecan Park Eagle will “risk” an answer to that ESPN wise men query about the priorities of sports fans with a compound question of its own. Since the expert observers keyed upon the NFL fans, we shall answer primarily for those fans, but these same observations slide easily to baseball, basketball, hockey, or even soccer, in some rarer USA instances:

Do NFL Fans, or sports fans in general, spend big money going to games to get closer to reality – or do they show up all the time at games to escape reality as much as possible for the sake of hoping their team can succeed for them in ways that never seem to come up so reachably – and so clearly attainable – and in ways that never seem to arise for them personally – at home, the office, the store, school, or shop? Several corollaries come into the picture here which support the over-identification of fans with their teams, but we shall note only one here as a question, in the interest of time and space: How many fans are as blessed to have the equivalent of a “J.J. Watt” defending them from the obstacles that oppose the accomplishment of their personal goals at home, school, or work?

The following is a pictorial answer to the central question, now expressed in simpler terms: Do sports fans attend the games of their favorite teams to get closer to the realities of everyday life? Or do they show up to escape reality as much as possible?

Based upon the following NFL fan pictures, you decide. 🙂

Minnesota Vikings Fan

Green Bay Packers Fan

New Orleans Saints Fans

Cleveland Browns Fan

Denver Broncos Fan

Miami Dolphins Fan

San Diego Chargers Fan

Indianapolis Colts Fan

Oakland Raiders Fan

Houston Texans Fan

Tags:Sports Are the Fire that the Fans Desire.
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Bill Gilbert: HOF Candidate Ratings by Win Shares

December 29, 2014

Veteran SABR Baseball Researcher/Writer Bill Gilbert today rates the 2015 Hall of Fame Candidates on the basis of their Win Share numbers. – Thank you, Bill Gilbert, for another of your fine analytical contributions to The Pecan Park Eagle.

Rating the 2015 Hall of Fame Candidates Based on Win Shares

By Bill Gilbert

One of the first items of business in baseball each year is the announcement of players elected to the Hall of Fame. This leads to lots of speculation and a little analysis prior to the announcement which is scheduled for January 6, 2015.

Many systems exist for evaluating player performance. One such system, the Win Shares method, developed by Bill James in 2002, is a complex method for evaluating players which includes all aspects of performance – offense, defense and pitching. James has stated that, “Historically, 400 Win Shares means absolute enshrinement in the Hall of Fame and 300 Win Shares makes a player more likely than not to be a Hall of Famer. However, future standards may be different. Players with 300-350 Win Shares in the past have generally gone into the Hall of Fame. In the future, they more often will not”.

The 2015 class of Hall of Fame candidates consists of 17 holdovers and 17 players eligible for the first time. Thirteen holdovers have over 300 Win Shares, Barry Bonds with 661, Roger Clemens 421, Craig Biggio 411, Tim Raines 390, Jeff Bagwell 387, Mark McGwire 342, Fred McGriff 326, Alan Trammell 318, Sammy Sosa 311, Mike Piazza 309, Larry Walker 307 and Edgar Martinez 305. Three newcomers have over 300 Win Shares, Gary Sheffield 430, Randy Johnson 326 and Carlos Delgado 303.

In 2014, three players received the necessary 75% of the vote for election by the Baseball Writers of America (BBWAA), Greg Maddux (97.2%), Tom Glavine (91.9%) and Frank Thomas (83.7%).. The 2014 ballot included 19 newcomers and 17 returning candidates. Other than the three players elected, only two others, Mike Mussina (20.3%) and Jeff Kent (15.2%) received the necessary 5% of the votes required to remain on the ballot. Rafael Palmeiro with 569 home runs and 3020 hits dropped off the ballot in his 4^th year with only 4.4% of the votes. Jack Morris (61.5%) dropped off the ballot after failing to win election for 15 years.

With the relatively strong incoming class last year, only Craig Biggio (74.8%) and Mike Piazza (62.2%) received more votes than in the previous year. Biggio missed being elected by just two votes. With another strong, incoming class this year, predicting the results is more difficult than usual and holdovers will have a hard time picking up more votes.

Several players on the ballot have the numbers to be elected but remain tainted with the steroid cloud. Many voters are likely to wait until more is known about the extent of steroid usage before giving them a pass. This, along with the number of strong newcomers on the ballot the last two years has resulted in the ballot becoming quite crowded. A total of 571 ballots were submitted last year and each voter could vote for up to 10 players. Over the years, voters have typically voted for 5 or 6 candidates but last year they voted for an average of 8.4. This increase is likely to continue since there at least 20 candidates on the ballot for which a reasonable case can be made for induction.

The Hall has made one significant change in the voting since last year. Players will now only be kept on the ballot for 10 years rather than 15 years. The immediate impact is that 3 players who have been on the ballot for more than 10 years, Don Mattingly (15 years), Allen Trammell (14 years) and Lee Smith (13 years) will be removed from the ballot next year if they fail to receive 75% of the vote. None of them have been close in the past.

Earlier this year, a panel of Hall of Fame players, sportswriters and baseball executives voted on a group of ten players and executives from the “Golden Era”. All ten candidates had strong credentials but none received 75% of the vote. I was disappointed that two of my boyhood favorites, Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso and my late good friend, Bob Howsam failed to get elected.

Following is a list of Win Shares for the 34 players on the ballot. Players on the ballot for the first time are shown in bold type. Voting results for 2013 and 2014 are shown for the holdovers.

PLAYER	WIN SHARES	2013 VOTES	2013 %	2014 VOTES	2014 %
Barry Bonds	661	206	36.2	198	34.7
Gary Sheffield	430
Roger Clemens	421	214	37.6	202	35.4
Craig Biggio	411	388	68.2	427	74.8
Tim Raines	390	297	52.2	263	46.1
Jeff Bagwell	387	339	59.6	310	54.3
Mark McGwire	342	96	16.9	63	11.0
Jeff Kent	338			87	15.2
Fred McGriff	326	118	20.7	67	11.7
Randy Johnson	326
Alan Trammell	318	141	24.3	119	20.8
Sammy Sosa	311	71	12.5	47	7.2
Mike Piazza	309	329	57.8	355	62.2
Larry Walker	307	123	21.6	58	10.0
Edgar Martinez	305	204	31.2	144	25.2
Carlos Delgado	303
John Smoltz	289
Brian Giles	287
Mike Mussina	270			116	20.3
Don Mattingly	263	75	13.6	47	8.2
PedroMartinez	256
Curt Schilling	227	221	38.8	167	29.2
N. Garciaparra	219
Lee Smith	198	272	47.8	171	29.9
Cliff Lloyd	191
Tom Gordon	179
Rich Aurilia	177
Jermaine Dye	175
Darin Erstad	161
Tony Clark	128
Troy Percival	125
Jason Schmidt	120
Aaron Boone	111
Ed Guardado	100

The 22 players elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers since 2000 have averaged 356 Win Shares, a figure exceeded by six players on this year’s ballot.

PLAYER	INDUCTION YEAR	WIN SHARES
Dave Winfield	2001	415
Kirby Puckett	2001	281
Ozzie Smith	2002	325
Gary Carter	2003	337
Eddie Murray	2003	437
Paul Molitor	2004	414
Dennis Eckersley	2004	301
Wade Boggs	2005	394
Ryne Sandberg	2005	346
Bruce Sutter	2006	168
Cal Ripken	2007	427
Tony Gwynn	2007	398
Goose Gossage	2008	223
Rickey Henderson	2009	535
Jim Rice	2009	282
Andre Dawson	2010	340
Roberto Alomar	2011	375
Bert Blyleven	2011	339
Barry Larkin	2012	347
Frank Thomas	2014	405
Greg Maddux	2014	398
Tom Glavine	2014	314
AVERAGE		356

Win Shares are fundamentally a quantitative measure of a player’s accomplishments. A measure of the quality of a player’s offensive performance is OPS+ which compares his OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) adjusted for park effects and era with the league average during his career. An OPS+ of 120 suggests that his performance is 20% better than that of a league average player. A similar approach (ERA+) can be used to compare a pitcher’s ERA against the league average during his career.

The following is a rank order of OPS+ and ERA+ for the 34 candidates on the 2015 ballot (First year candidates are shown again in bold type.):

OPS+ rank order of batting candidates on the 2015 HOF Ballot:

BATTERS	OPS+
Barry Bonds	182
Mark McGwire	163
Jeff Bagwell	149
Edgar Martinez	147
Mike Piazza	143
Larry Walker	141
Gary Sheffield	140
Carlos Delgado	138
Brian Giles	136
Fred McGriff	134
Sammy Sosa	128
Don Mattingly	127
N. Garciaparra	124
Tim Raines	123
Jeff Kent	123

ERA+ rank order of pitching candidates on the 2015 HOF Ballot:

PITCHERS	ERA+

STARTERS	ERA+
Pedro Martinez	154
Roger Clemens	143
Randy Johnson	135
Curt Schilling	127
John Smoltz	125
Mike Mussina	123
Jason Schmidt	110

RELIEVERS	ERA+
Troy Percival	146
Lee Smith	132
Tom Gordon	113
EddieGuardado	109

The Win Shares system favors players with long productive careers like Sheffield, Raines and Biggio, although it appears to under-rate pitchers, while OPS+ rewards strong offensive players who had shorter, more dominant careers like Martinez and Mattingly. ERA+ favors relief pitchers since their ERAs are generally lower because they are not charged with runs scored by inherited runners.

Conclusions:

Four players will be elected in 2015, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio.

Mattingly, Trammell and Smith will fail to win election in their final year on the BBWAA ballot.

Bagwell, Piazza, Raines and Schilling will move up but will fall short of 75%.

While the 2015 class is very strong at the top, it is weak at the bottom. As many as 10 newcomers may not receive even one vote. Five or six newcomers should receive enough votes to remain on the ballot.

The incoming class in 2016 is not as strong as the last two – Ken Griffey, Jim Edmonds, Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner. This could provide an opportunity for some holdovers to get elected.

There will not be a groundswell of support for Rich Aurilia, Aaron Boone, Darin Erstad, Tom Gordon or Eddie Guardado, among others.

If I had a ballot, I would cast votes for Johnson, Martinez, Smoltz, Biggio, Bagwell, Piazza, Raines, Schilling, Trammell and Mussina.

Bill Gilbert

12/27//2014

Tags:Bill Gilbert's HOF Candidate Ratings by WIn Share.
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Jayson Carter, The Little Big Man of Rice Football

December 28, 2014

Jayson Carter got his 2nd ball carry in two years for Rice in their 30-6 win over Fresno State on Christmas Eve 2014 at the Hawaii Bowl. – He gained two yards.

Now in his fourth season with the Rice Owls football team, Jayson Carter stands as the best kept accidental secret in Houston.

At only 4’9″ in height, Carter is qualified for membership in the Little People of America group that so valiantly fights for equity and respect for the rights and opportunities in this often unfair and disrespectful world, but, like Eddie Gaedel before him, Jayson has shown the brain power and ability to do an excellent job of seeking out his own chances for passionate pursuit. In Carter’s case, it was finding earned acceptance as a walk-on member of the Rice Owls’ NCAA Division 1 football team for some kind of contributing life on the gridiron.

In Carter’s case, it wasn’t just the urge to satisfy a one-time game entry that drove him. The little running back actually wanted to carry a ball against those timbering hunky and athletic oppositional lineman who lay in waiting to squash him like a bug. – How in the world did he ever get as far as to even hope for such a wonderful opportunity?

First, let’s take a look at the actual run and hear from Bleacher Report’s featured columnist Kyle Newport on Carter’s second career carry. He had another carry last year against UTEP:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2310524-49-rice-running-back-jayson-carter-gets-special-carry-in-hawaii-bowl

Jayson Carter and taller Rice teammate watch a game from the sidelines.

Jayson Carter and a much taller Rice teammate watch a game from the sidelines.

A 2013 article by Greg Doyel of CBS Sports.Com explains in detail how Carter quietly worked his powerful compact force in that first 2013 carry against UTEP and explains further how this little mighty man fulfilled one on his dreams:

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/24160988/rices-4foot9-tailback-sensation-has-a-big-future-ahead-of-him

Don’t ever sell Jayson Carter “short.” The young man owns a measurable IQ of 169. He’s bound to have other aspirations that mere normal mortals might stumble to even see, let alone reach.

The Pecan Park Eagle wishes you the best, Jayson Carter. – We also thank you for being a giant among men.

Elvin Hayes (as Jayson Carter) and Bill McCurdy (as Eddie Gaedel).

Perspective Notes on Carter’s Size. Jayson Carter is 4′ 9″ tall. Baseballs Eddie Gaedel was 3’7″ inches tall. That’s a difference in height of 1’2″ – the same difference that approximately exists between NBA Hall of Famer and UH Cougar icon Elvin Hayes and me. If it were possible for Jayson Carter (Elvin Hayes) and Eddie Gaedel (Bill McCurdy) to stand side-by-side for a photo, their height differential would show up pretty much as ours does in the above photo.

Have a Happy rainy Sunday, Houston!

Tags:Jayson Carter, the 4'9" running back rom Rice.
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How Far Has Houston Come on Race in 100 Years?

December 27, 2014

"n the Houston Heights historic districts, named streets run north and south. East-west streets are numbered, beginning with 4th St just north of I-10 and continuing to 20th St on the north side of Heights East. Sixth Street is also known as White Oak Boulevard. Numbered streets are named ‘West’ on the west side of Heights Blvd are ‘East’ on the east side of Heights Blvd. " ~ http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/HistoricPreservationManual/historic_districts/heights_boundaries.html

“In the Houston Heights historic districts, named streets run north and south. East-west streets are numbered, beginning with 4th St just north of I-10 and continuing to 20th St on the north side of Heights East. Sixth Street is also known as White Oak Boulevard. Numbered streets are named ‘West’ on the west side of Heights Blvd are ‘East’ on the east side of Heights Blvd. “
~ http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/HistoricPreservationManual/historic_districts/heights_boundaries.html

While searching for something memorable about Houston from the New Years Eve reports of 100 years ago that remain lodged in the news sources available to The Pecan Park Eagle, the following short story in The December 31, 1914 edition of the Galveston Daily News simply jumped off the page:

____________________

AGED NEGRO WILL ENTERTAIN SEVERAL FORMER SLAVES ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

Special to the Galveston Daily News, Dec. 31, 1914 ~

Houston, Tex., Dec. 30 ~ A novel dinner will be given New Year’s in honor of several ex-slaves who live in Houston by John Brant, an aged negro of Houston Heights. The ages of his guests will range from 80 to 116 years. Bob Holmes is the oldest man to whom an invitation has been sent. J.B. Marmion, mayor of Houston Heights, will deliver a short message to the negroes, as will W. Oliva.

~ Galveston Daily News, December 31, 1914, Page 3.

____________________

That’s it? We are left to wonder what was said? What was the Houston Heights mayor’s message to those former Houstonian survivors of slavery a mere 59 years after the end of the Civil War? As far as we have come since then, we now know this much. – It would still be another half century from 1915 before the heavy walls of segregation fell that separated local blacks and whites well into the 1960s – and another half century for Houston to become a world class economically diverse and international community in which all Houston citizens have a much more balanced opportunity to rise or fall on the basis of their individual abilities and activity energies for success against all obstacles.

Has the issue of “race” improved in Houston over the past century? Of course, it has. It’s way better today. Could it be better than it is? Absolutely! When the day comes that no one in Houston is hired or not hired because of race or skin color is as non-existent as discrimination by sex, sexual preference, or age, we will be a stronger community. When being Black, Hispanic, White, Asian, Native American, Straight, Gay, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Old no longer counts for you as an entitlement – or against you as a basis for negative profiling – things will be much better.

Will that kind of ideal ever be seriously possible? Probably not.

The self-serving interest of the human ego is not going away – and the human ego thrives strongest in a world in which it is possible to polarize all people into camps of “us” and “them” – those who are “for us” and “against us”. To this day, I cannot imagine how the southern Protestant ministers and southern Catholic priests prior to the Civil War got up in the pulpit each Sunday and preached anything about brotherly love in oversight of the fact that a few million of our brothers and sisters were providing the slave labor that built their churches. Yes, it was a different time, but slavery was just as wrong then as it is now.

And that depressing thought raises an even scarier one: What are we ignoring today that is just as wrong as our culture’s ability to ignore slavery until the 1860s?

Flip quickly to the brighter side. – With the power of all races and ethnic groups working today, side by side, Houston has a chance to be one of those points of light that former President George H.W. Bush used to talk about during his term as our 41st President. The more Houstonians drop the “us” and “them” mentality of hate, fear, and acted-out animus that some parts of the country seem to be feasting upon recently, the better our chances grow for a strong and bonded one-people of America.

God Is Love. ~ You, of course, are equally free to believe what you believe. For me, I just hold to the idea that life’s too short to devote one’s energies to hate. All we peacefully can do is wake up each day and give life our best run possible in the name of love. Everything else we do is ego – and being human, we all have one that’s just waiting for us to slip it on like a favorite Halloween costume.

The fact is, unlike the ego demands, we don’t really have to be perfect in what we do. All we can do is hit the wind-up handle each morning and keep on moving in some positive and giving direction for as long as possible. If we make mistakes, those are our lessons. We can either learn from them and move on in greater wisdom – or wait to see the lessons we refused again down the road – in some similar form.

(In my case, nap times, of course, are included in my daily plan these days. They didn’t used to be there on the calendar, but they sure are now.)

Happy New Year Again, Everybody! ~ Go out and – do that thing you do – the one that feels good to you and some others – without causing injury to innocent bystanders.

And may God Bless the memory of two Houstonians from 100 years ago that we should learn more about and never forget. John Brant and Bob Holmes, two Houstonians who spent parts of their early lives as slaves. Based on the report we read today, the 116-year old Bob Holmes was a former slave, for sure. We are simply assuming here that John Brant was a slave as well based on his story description as the “aged negro” host of this gathering in the Houston Heights.

Anyone who knows more about either man is invited to leave a written informational comment below. Also, anyone who knows the exact spelling of the Houston Heights mayor’s last name in 1914 could really help us out there too. The old type on this story made his last name beyond the reach of my abilities to decipher blurred print. Thank you. Mike Vance for answering the call. Now corrected above, the mayor of Houston Heights in 1914 was J.B. Marmion.

Have a great Saturday too, everybody. Looks like Houston is in for another rainy day.

Tags:ex-slaves gather in Houston on New Year's Day
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Seinfeld Says It All About Our “Stuff”

December 26, 2014

Jerry Seinfeld
~With Funny and Sage Thoughts on Stuff on the Day Of and After the Biggest Gift Day in Our American Culture ~

On the Tuesday night before Christmas 2014, 12/23, comedian Jerry Seinfeld did a stand up routine for Jimmy Fallon’s NBC Tonight Show that pretty much said it all about the “stuff” we accumulate in our homes, especially at Christmas time. As you look around the room at your Christmas Haul, and at the Halls and Garages of Christmases Past, remember these words from the sage comedian prophet of Christmases Future that is the one and only Jerry Seinfeld:

____________________

We have too may things. That’s the problem. There’s too many things. You have things. I have things. How many times do you want more things? I don’t like having too many things. I’m a “thrower-outer” That’s my personality type. I’m a “thrower-outer”. If I have something, I really don’t want it. I wish there was a store where I could just buy something, print it, and then just throw it down a chute into the incinerator, walk out, no bags. – That’s my perfect shopping experience.

Now my wife, of course, is the opposite. This is marriage. This is the beauty. The concept itself is the beauty of marriage. My wife is a “saver”. She’s a “keeper”. She grips and grabs. Everything is organized. Every Styrofoam peanut is numbered, cataloged, filed. I don’t throw anything out at any time.

“Where’s the wedding album?” (She asked)

“I thought you were done with it.” (I said.)

I was wrong. I admit that now. Those were special memories, and they’re gone now, but the point is this: All things on earth – only exist in different stages of becoming garbage. OK? Your home is a garbage processing center where you buy new things, bring them into your house, and, slowly crapify them over time. OK? This is your life.

Oh, you’re all excited when you get something, right? You bring it in. You open it on the kitchen table, the place of honor for the new arrival. You read the instructions, fill out the registration card. – You may even join the club of other idiots who have this thing. And then some time goes by – and it suddenly begins to dawn on you that maybe you’re not going to be quite so keen on drying out fruit and storing it in your basement as you thought. – So, what are you going to do? You have to demote it.

Objects start at the highest level, visible in a living area. From there, it goes down to a closet, cupboard, or drawer. That’s why we have those – so we don’t have to see all the huge mistakes we’ve made. That’s the way it is.

From the closet, it goes to the garage – one of the longest phases in trashification, but the most definite. – No object has ever made it out of the garage and back into the house.

The word “garage” seems to be a form of the word “garbage”. That’s what it is.

Once you are living in the same room with the garbage can, well, it won’t be much longer now.

Really, E-Bay is the only thing that can save the object at this point. E-Bay is another great step forward in modern culture. Hey! Why don’t we mail our garbage back and forth to each other? Why talk to your family at night when you could be bidding eight to ten dollars on a troll doll from Thailand? Or a personal storage unit – This is the saddest of all. Now, instead of free garbage, you pay rent to visit your garbage.

It’s like a prison visit when you go there, isn’t it? Everything is locked up; everything is rusted and broken; you gotta bust into that lock. You lift up that rolling steel door, (and you just want to say to your stuff): “Look, I’m trying to get you guys out of here, OK? I’m working on it. And I’ll be back to see you guys again soon.”

My point is simple: Everything is thrown out in the end. We, my friends, are thrown out in the end and, when I hear that someone has died and wants certain important possessions put in with them when they’re buried, I’m all for that.

Take your crap with you!

~ Jerry Seinfeld, The NBC Tonight Show, December 23, 2014.

____________________

Tags:erry Seinfeld on Our Stuff as Garbage
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Former Astro Brett Myers Now a C&W Singer

December 25, 2014

Brett Myers
Former Houston Astro
Brand New C&W Singer

If you drink alcohol long enough, and hard enough, sooner or later, you end up in one of five places: (1) the insane asylum; (2) jail; (3) the cemetery; (4) Alcoholics Anonymous; or (5) finally trying to make it big in that Country and Music career that you always thought in your wildest dreams that you could have.

Now, to be totally honest about it, The Pecan Park Eagle doesn’t know diddly about former Houston Astro pitcher Brett Myer’s drinking habits, but we did just learn from media veteran and good friend Greg Lucas that the 34 year-old Myers has now launched a new post-baseball career as a C&W singer, as all of us can now sample for ourselves at his new website:

http://www.brettmyersmusic.com

Brett has a nice whiskey-husky voice that he brings to this new task – and Brett, or somebody with him, plays a pretty mean guitar as his talent back up. I give him an A for even trying. The world is an oyster, all right, but only for those who are willing to try new things – and Brett Myers suffers no shortage of the courage it takes to keep the door open on new possibilities. Moving from the big league stage to the Country and Western music circuit seems to me like a bigger challenge than becoming a bullpen or pitching coach in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for example.

How about his music? It’s probably too soon to tell, but his first big number comes off pretty well for the genre.

Brett’s first big offering apparently flows from his longtime love of beer. Its called “Kegerator” – and any of us can hear it for free at his website. I just heard it for the first time about twenty minutes ago and its the reason I’m now inspired to write one more short pre-Christmas Day Break piece about the man and his music – and the potential that now exists before Brett Meyers to write songs about painful cowboy-cowgirl relationships that are described, aided, or abetted by our rich baseball lingo as future song titles or hurting-bad themes.

A few themes feed directly off pitch types. I’ll try to describe those here and let it go from there as our Christmas gifts to the old pitcher.

____________________

Baseball Theme Hurting-Bad-Songs About Cowboy-Cowgirl Love

1) Fast Ball Fever, Falling Out Fast. For cowboys who have to hit the bars to find their true love before the sun comes up on tomorrow, the ride is rougher than a ten second trip through the sky off the back of the meanest bull at the rodeo.

2) The Change of Pace. This type of cowboy lover thinks that drinking faster will help him find true love quicker. What kind of bad hurting blues could possibly come from that kind of thinking?

3) A Curve Ball Cave In. For drunk cowboys who think they are slipping a few lies past a lady when they can’t even keep all the letters in a single sentence separated as different words as they try to speak.

4) The Screw Ball Screw Up. There was a young cowboy from Denton, who loved a sweet girl down in Sinton. But he couldn’t resist, all the girls that he kissed, so he’s still stuck in Denton, not Sinton.

5) The Pitching Machine Cowboy Blues. The daring young man on the pitching machine, he worked through three wives, ’cause they all were so mean. He never let go, til another one came, and each time he did, his old wife was to blame.

____________________

Merry Christmas again, Everybody! And this time, we really mean it when we say – God Willing – that we’ll be back on Friday!

Good Luck, Brett Myers!

Tags:Brett Myers is now a C&W singer
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Christmas Eve, 1914: McGraw Wants Buffs

December 24, 2014

100 years ago this Christmas Eve 2014, John McGraw was still eager to buy the Houston Buffs as a “farm” club for his surplus players.

One hundred years ago today from this Christmas Eve 2014, a brief article appeared in The Galveston Daily News about a potential impact on the future of Houston baseball. It seems that John McGraw of the New York Giants had a hot interest in purchasing the Houston Buffs for his use as a “farm” club for his National League club. It didn’t happen, of course, but what a change it could have made on the future face of baseball in our area, had it occurred.

If you are looking for the best, most singularly comprehensive book ever written, edited and published on the early history of baseball in Houston area as a last day Christmas gift, drop by your nearest Barnes and Noble in Houston and ask for “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961”. If they have any copies left in stock, it’s the perfect baseball history gift for the fan in your family. Researched and written by several Houston members of SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research, including iconic writer Mickey Herskowitz, and brilliantly edited by Houston historian Mike Vance, this 368-page, beautifully illustrated history by artist Patrick Lopez, is also a hard copy photo and text gallery of how Houston grew into a major league city. The work is one for the ages, prepared carefully and assembled with nothing less than first class materials and book assembly craftsmanship that are up to the task of preserving all copies as our legacy to the generations of Houstonians that will be reading it one hundred years from now and beyond. Prepared and published by Bright Sky Press of Houston, this book is an informative and entertaining reference work that belongs in the libraries and homes of all entities and individuals who care about the full history of Houston. Bob Dorrill, Chair of the Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR, was our administrative project director. We could not have done a quality job without his involvement and relentless enthusiasm.

If you miss out on an available copy today, place your order with either Barnes and Noble or Amazon.Com. You will not be disappointed.

At any rate, here’s a brief look at a story that ran exactly one hundred years ago on Christmas Eve. It didn’t happen as John McGraw hoped it might, but you can find out what did happen with the book we just described. And yes, for the record, this editor of The Pecan Park Eagle was the book project originator and one of the principal researchers and writers of the text. Cut me a little slack for personal bias in favor of this book, but this was no throw-it-together piece. Editor Mike Vance held us all to a standard of research that went as far as we needed to go to report only verifiable factual events and their complex connections to all that followed. Here’s a couple of reviews that will give you some idea of the impression our book is making with people who critique baseball research publications:

http://chapters.sabr.org/hornsby/research/reviews/353-book-review-houston-baseball-the-early-years-1861-1961

http://jhvonline.com/houston-baseballs-early-years-come-to-life-p17326-256.htm

Finally, here’s our Christmas present – the exactly 100-year old story of John McGraw and his interest in the Houston Buffs:

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M’GRAW WANTS FARM IN TEXAS

New York Giants May Make Another Effort to Purchase Houston Baseball Club for Surplus Players

Special to The News ~

Otto Sens and Doak Roberts were co-owners of the Houston Buffs 100 years ago today.

Houston, Tex., Dec. 23. ~ That John McGraw will again make an offer for the Houston baseball club when spring training begins in 1915 is believed to be a certainty. With the new rule of prohibiting the carrying of more than twenty-one men, effective May 1st, the Giants, as well as other big league teams, find themselves in need of a baseball “farm” more than ever.

McGraw himself has indicated that the purchase of the local club would be a welcome step. By buying a franchise in Texas, he would be able to save for himself many of the players he would otherwise be forced to part with. An effort was made to purchase the Houston club last year, but, negotiations were broken off when Otto Sens set his price, which was in the neighborhood of $50,000. It is likely that the negotiations will be resumed.

~ Galveston Daily News, December 24, 1914, Page 2.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

...and Merry Christmas too from the Land of Houston Astros Memories and Dreams!

…and Merry Christmas from the Land of Astros Memories and Dreams!

The Pecan Park Eagle will resume publication on Friday, December 26, 2014.

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One Hundred Years Ago: 12/23/1914

December 23, 2014

Did the ride on Mr. Appel’s Galveston County Courthouse elevator back in 1914 really feel this good? ~ What do you think?

A hundred years, these were a few of the stories floating through our Houston-Galveston neighborhood, dateline 12/23/1914, on the way to Christmas Day 1914. All of these brief column reports appeared on Page 6 of the 12/23/1914 edition of The Galveston Daily News:

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COOMBS WILL VISIT HOUSTON

Former Iron Man Pitcher of Philadelphia Athletics Writes Letter to Otto Sens of Buffs

Special to the News ~

Houston, Tex., Dec. 22 ~ Jack Coombs, late iron man of the Philadelphia Athletics, probably will be in Houston within a few days for a visit. Otto Sens, president of the local baseball club (The Houston Buffs), received a letter from him today in which he expressed a desire to enjoy the party of baseball men who are contemplating a hunting expedition near Carrizo Springs. Coombs is spending the winter with relatives in Palestine.

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FOOTBALL AND BASEBALL EARN

Princeton Report Shows Only Two Athletic Branches Make Money

Princeton, New Jersey, Dec. 22 ~ Football and baseball are the only two self-supporting branches of athletics at Princeton, according to the annual report of the Athletic Association, which was made public today. The report covered the period from July 11, 1912 to July 10, 1914. The figures for the past football season are not yet complete, but in 1913, football netted the association $38,341, while in baseball last spring $9,318 was cleared. The $48,000 from these two sports had to be applied to track, crew, and the minor sports which do not make their running expenses.

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VOLUNTEERS READY FOR SPLASH

Captain of Christmas Day Swim Receives Offers of Aid by Galvestonians

Galveston, Dec. 23 ~ Since Walter Mayer, Cashier of the Galveston Commercial Association, called for volunteers to take a dip with him in the surf on Christmas morning, able-bodied and hardy citizens have been stopping him on the street to tell him they are prepared to take a chance. Mr. Mayer himself is somewhat uncertain, but if the sun shines that morning, he will lead his recruits into the sparkling waters. One city fireman wrote him a letter pledging his services on the ground that it was a patriotic duty no Galvestonian should refuse. “It would be a big boost to Galveston,” he wrote, “and it pays to advertise.”

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SANTA’S SLEIGH IS AT WORK

Christmas Elevator Is Decorated to Harmonize with the Christmas Spirit, Like Oaring with Santa

Galveston, Dec. 23 ~ To take a make-believe trip with Santa Claus in his sleigh is an easy matter in Galveston. Just step into the courthouse and then inside the elevator and say to the elevator man:

“To the top floor, please,” and lo, you will experience all the sensations of skimming through the air and over housetops with Kris Kringle.

The cause of it all is the desire of the veteran courthouse elevator man, Richard Appel, to symbolize the spirit of the season with appropriate decorations in the cage whose orbit is from the basement to the top floor of the Galveston County courthouse. Everything but the toys is there, and one could imagine he saw even those among the many colored lights, fluttering evergreen and pictures showing the Christ in various stages of his life.

Mr. Appel says he believes in one’s showing his appreciation of the season by brightening things up a bit. He has succeeded admirably.

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~ Galveston Daily News, December 23, 1914, Page 6.

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Pecan Park Eagle Note: As we all know, technology has done a lot to alter the volume and course of our imaginations over the past century. Can you imagine talking today’s kids into putting down their “Apples” long enough to go ride the decorated courthouse elevator with “Mr. Appel” in 2014?

Happy last minute shopping, everybody who waited until now. ~ Tomorrow is Christmas Eve day.

Tags:Christmas Time in 1914
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All I Want for Christmas is Two Talking Dog Stories

December 22, 2014

Story # I: MONTANA DOG FOR SALE

COCOA THE TALKING LAB
~ IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS ~

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: “Talking Dog For Sale” reads the sign. Curiosity is too great. The guy gets out of his car and walks over to knock on weather-worn front door. The owner comes to the door to hear of his interest and, without saying much, he motions for the guy to walk around the house to see the dog for himself in the backyard.

The guy opens a rickety old wooden gate and goes into the backyard from the left side of the house, where he is greeted by a very nice looking Labrador Retriever. The dog is just sitting there, apparently staring into the Montana big sky with one of those dogs-only panting smiles on his face, lulling away another quiet afternoon in God’s Country .

“You talk?” the visitor asks as he calmly and quietly approaches the handsome chocolate-haired Lab.

“Yep,” the Lab replies, and my name’s ‘Cocoa’. Please don’t laugh at the moniker. Creativity is in short supply in this valley.

“Who the heck are you?” Cocoa asks.

After he recovers from the brief shock of hearing a dog talk, he answers: “I’m just a guy named Joe who was passing through here. I only stopped when I saw the sign out front that said your owner had a talking dog for sale. How in the world did you ever learn to speak?”

The Lab looks up and says, ‘Well, putting aside the whole question of whether any hick rancher from Montana has a right to sell a talking dog, or any dog, for that matter, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all, they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.

“I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running … but the jetting around really tired me out. I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.

“I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.”

Joe is amazed. He goes in the house through back screen door and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

‘Ten dollars,” the dog owner says.

‘Ten dollars? Are you kidding? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?”

“Because he’s nothing but a liberally educated BS talker, who, other than four collegiate years at UC Berkley, Cocoa, otherwise, has never been out of the backyard.”

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Editorial Note: Thanks again to Father Gerald Beirne for the basic storyline. The Pecan Park Eagle takes complete responsibility for certain storyline embellishments.

Story #2: BUYER’S REGRET

WC FIELDS AND FIDO

Egbert Souse (pronounced Sue-SAY and portrayed by the inimitable W.C. Fields) is a man of the 1930s who likes his drinks. He simply isn’t always flushed with the moolah he needs to pay for them. As things go, however, the man is blessed with certain compensatory skills that often make up for the absence of honestly earned cash. In a way, “Buyer’s Regret” is little more than the story of a poor carnival ventriloquist who learned to rely hard upon his natural talents in balancing his own accounts in a way that did not vary one inch from the low shelf position of his personal integrity as an infrequently sober member of the community.

On one of those common summer nights in which Souse is attacked by an alcohol thirst that is inversely proportionate to his available pocket cash, the broke, but always optimistic man starts out on the two block walk from his cold water flat to his favorite saloon, “The Pink Pussycat.” On his way, he finds a small and docile dog on the street. He picks it up and takes it with him into the bar.

“Oh, Ted,” Souse shouts to the bartender as he sidles up to the drinking rail and deposits the little dog on the bar. “Did I spend a twenty-dollar bill in here last night?”

“You sure did, Mr. Souse!” Ted answers.

“Thank God,” Souse exclaims. “I was afraid I’d lost it!”

“What’s you got there, Mr. Souse?”

“Oh,” Souse utters casually, “are you talking about Fido?”

“Yes, exactly, Mr. Souse, Ted exclaims. “What’s the idea of bringing a dog into the saloon?”

“Oh, Fido,” Souse asks, “would you care for a drink too when I order?”

“No thanks,” Fido seems to answer in a voice much deeper than Souse’s. “I’m good for now.”

“Holy Moley!” Ted exclaims. “Did that dog just talk?”

“Of course, he did,” Souse says. “You heard him speak, didn’t you? Now pour me a shot of Jack D and I’ll have him talk some more for you.”

Excited to hear Fido speak again, Ted the bartender pours the drink for Mr. Souse – and even leaves the bottle out in Souse’s comfortable reach.

For about ten minutes, Fido and Ted get into a big discussion about how the Giants blew a game, 5-4, to the Pirates earlier that day at the Polo Grounds.Souse hardly seems to speak at all during this time, but his hands and mouth are still quite busy regardless.

“How much do you want for this dog?” Ted suddenly explodes. “I’ll give you twenty-five bucks for him right now!”

“Couldn’t sell him,” Souse says. “It would be like selling family to me – and I could never do that.”

“How about fifty bucks?” the bartender counters.

“Well, OK, since you want him that badly,” Souse says, “I will let you have Fido for fifty bucks – even though it breaks my heart to part with him.”

Ted quickly retrieves a fifty from his register and places it in Souse’s eager hand. Souse picks up the bottle of JD with the money and turns to leave with a goodbye tip of the cap to Fido.

“Just for selling me,” Fido seems to say to Souse, “I’ll never speak another word for as long as I live.

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Editor’s Note: The Pecan Park Eagle apologizes for certain liberties we’ve taken with the WC Fields character Edgar Souse. We do know that Edgar Souse was the henpecked drinking husband from “The Bank Dick” and not the man we’ve described in this story. The purpose here was not history, but for our chance to take a quick look at the humor of Fields from another film segment that we were unable to place by its actual movie appearance from memory. Fields was magnificent.

Tags:two talking dog stories
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