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Baseball’s 100 Most Important People

November 11, 2014
Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, and Walter Johnson are three of the few greats that I would have paid $60.00 to see play in an otherwise W/L meaningless spring training game.

Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, and Satchel Paige are three of the few greats that I would have paid $60.00 to see play in an otherwise W/L meaningless spring training game. (photo: Musial & me, St. Louis, 1996)

 

John Thorn: Baseball’s 100 Most Important People

The Pecan Park Eagle simply wants to alert of all of you to the refreshing treatment that great historian John Thorn pays to this subject on his current website. The way Thorn handles the matter needs no amplification from anyone, although, as he owns from the start, the establishment of a list n any order of the 100 most important people in baseball history is in itself an invitation to much subjective disagreement and arbitrary exclusion of 18,000 or so other legitimately deserving candidates.

Who would you pick as the most important person in baseball history? Would it be Babe Ruth? Jackie Robinson? Or someone else?

Would your list really include Abner Doubleday, a man whose connection to early kid baseball was now dubious, at best?

Please check it out and leave your comments in the space below this connecting article:

http://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2014/11/10/baseballs-100-most-important-people/

And Thank you, Bob Dorrill, for tipping me off to the presence of this new material. It is something we all should review in relation to the variability of standards applied, the credibility problems encountered with rank ordering anything to this extent on a list of 100 people,  and the immeasurably difficulties any decision-maker shall encounter in traveling too far down this list.

Thank you, Bob Dorrill, for pointing me to the current “Our Game” reflections of the estimable John Thorn.

______________________________

Astros Are Raising the Cost of  Florida Spring Training Game Tickets from $20.00 to $60.00 each:

Play Ball! In our minds. It’s that time of year that we all sit staring out the window, waiting for spring, except for those of you going to see the Astros in spring training in Florida prior to the 2015 season, we will not see any big league baseball until the regular season starts next April. Also, another little bird told me today that the Astros are raising their ticket prices for spring games in Florida from $20.00 to $60.00 a ticket. So, if you plan to go down there, you had better take a bigger wallet, or else, find something else to do. We hear that ocean cruises are nice in late winter and early spring.

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Kaelin Clay: The Next Wrong Way Riegels

November 10, 2014
Kaelin Clay of Utah drops the ball on the one-yard line, negating a TD run and setting up a 100 yard Oregon return of the fumble for the TD that ties the game at 7-7.

Kaelin Clay of Utah drops the ball on the one-yard line, negating a TD run and setting up a 100 yard Oregon return of the fumble for the TD that ties the game at 7-7.

Kaelin Clay, a wide receiver for the Utah Utes, will now take his place forever alongside Wrong Way Corrigan for committing one of the most unforgettable mistakes in the history of college football in an important game his university played last Saturday night against the now 4th-ranked-in-the-coaches poll Oregon Ducks.  The upset-minded Utes already had a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter hen Clay caught a wide-open pass that he quickly converted into a runaway waltz into the end zone for a 79-yard play that should have made the score 14-0, Utes, with the momentum for an upset digging its way in.

There was just one problem. As Clay almost slow-pranced his way into the end zone, he had also taken the additional cool step of simply dropping the ball in the end zone as if to say, “nothing to it.” As his Utes teammates finally caught up with Clay near the back of the end zone to physically congratulate him in boundless joy, a couple of Ducks stopped short at the goal line to stare at the now motionless ball. They each had notice something about Clay’s deposit in their pursuit of him.

Kaelin Clay had not crossed the plane of the goal line when he casually let go of the “touchdown” ball. He had dropped it somewhere near the one-yard line by geometric miscalculation and, even though it now rested a good yard inside the end zone, it had to roll to get there.

The two ball-studious Ducks soon had company around the ball as one Ute player also then arrived, apparently harboring his own frightful apprehensions. A brief two on one scramble ensued before Joe Walker of the Ducks won out for another ambulatory speed journey in the opposite field direction. A platoon of Oregon defenders gathered up field in front of Walker’s almost totally clear path chase to the goal line of quacking Duck aspirations. The protection force knocked out one last poor “Oh No!” Ute defender around mid-field and Walker took it on his own run from there as an all-the-way 99 yard fumble turnover touchdown that produced a swing of 14 points and a 7-7 tie.

From there, the Oregon Ducks added momentum to their already superior talent and rolled to a 51-27 victory in the Salt Lake City home of the #17 Utah Utes.

Roy Riegels takes off on a 69-yard wrong-way run in the 1929 Rose Bowl.

Roy Riegels takes off on a 69-yard wrong-way run in the 1929 Rose Bowl.

Roy “Wrong Way” Riegels of the California Golden Bears once got twisted in a gang tackle during the January 1, 1929 Rose Bowl and ran the wrong way to score a 69-yard safety for the opposing Georgia Tech Yellow jackets. Riegels was tackled on his own team’s one-yard line by his own teammates, but when California tried to punt out of that terrible location, the punt was blocked for a safety that gave Tech a 2-0 lead. That tw0-point safety would later prove the difference that gave Georgia Tech an 8-7 victory and the 1928 National College Football Championship. Riegels never lived it down from that much higher stakes game, but this one from 2014  is likely to follow Kaelin Clay, as well.

For those of you interested in more on the story of Wrong Way Riegels, check out this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Riegels

We haven’t seen any quotes as of this writing, but young Kaelin Clay has to be totally stunned by his now permanent association with one of the biggest bonehead plays in college football history. We have to wonder if yet realizes that this was not a common house mouse error that people will forget by the next games. No Sir. And No, Maam. It’s much more lasting – as in forevermore.

Unfortunately, whatever the young man does next in life, whether it’s on the field or someplace down the line in his professional life, he’s going to be remembered for this one dumb moment beyond anything else he does. Kaelin Clay will have to get used to people he meets over the years who hear his name and then launch immediately into questions that begin with something like: “Say, aren’t you the former Utah Ute player who once dropped the ball on the one after a long TD pass catch and run? – And didn’t the other team pick it up and run it back for a 100-yard TD run of their own?”

Here’s one of numerous short clips already showing on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUx69EzR8XA

The Fate of Kaelin Clay which follows is most humbly dedicated to the young man who made this memory possible:

Kaelin Clay – had his say:

“Shall I act to leave – or stay?”

Will you think of me someday?

Now we will! – In what a way!

It’s quite a toll you now must pay!

Nothing tops complete dismay!

 

In your opinion, who created the most egregious football  error? Roy Reigels in 1929? Or Kaelin Clay in 2014? Please leave your yote as a comment in the section that follows.

 

 

 

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TDECU Stadium: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

November 9, 2014

 

~ THE GOOD ~ TDECU OFFERS A GREAT VIEW OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON!

~ THE GOOD ~
TDECU OFFERS A GREAT VIEW OF DOWNTOWN HOUSTON!

~ THE BAD ~ ~ INSIDE TDECU, A BAD TULANE TEAM TAKES A LEAD OVER A MEDIOCRE UH CLUB THAT THEY WILL NEVER SURRENDER.

~ THE BAD ~
~ INSIDE TDECU, A BAD TULANE TEAM TAKES A LEAD OVER A MEDIOCRE UH CLUB THAT THE GREEN WAVE WILL NEVER SURRENDER.

~ THE UGLY ~ CHECK OUT THE CONCRETE BACKGROUND WALLS THAT KEEP SHOWING THEIR UGLY FACE OF TEDECU ON TV. - TOO BAD OUR UH CONSTRUCTION BUDGET DID NOT INCLUDE FUNDS FOR SOME FOR SOME KIND OF ALL WEATHER PAINT.

~ THE UGLY ~
CHECK OUT THE CONCRETE BACKGROUND WALLS THAT KEEP SHOWING THEIR UGLY FACE ON TV. – TOO BAD OUR UH TDECU CONSTRUCTION BUDGET DID NOT INCLUDE FUNDS FOR ALL WEATHER PAINT.

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Jose Altuve Earns AL Silver Slugger Award

November 7, 2014
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros ~ 2014 Al Batting Champion Wins Silver Slugger Award at 2nd Base.

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
~ 2014 Al Batting Champion Wins Silver Slugger Award at 2nd Base.

By now you almost certainly know that Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros has won the annual Silver Slugger Award for players at each fielding position in the American and national League. Altuve took the award for American League second basemen; Neil Walker of the Pittsburgh Pirates took the corresponding honor for second sackers in the National League. These awards have been given out since 1980 on the basis of players selected by managers and coaches in each league.

In taking the respected AL honor, Altuve became the first Houston Astro to make the team since Carlos Lee won it in 2007 for NL left fielders. Craig Biggio previously won the NL equivalent of this award four times as an Astro during the club’s much longer tenure in the senior circuit.

As you also undoubtedly know, if you follow baseball, the Astros moved to the American League in  2013.

Going back in time, the complete list of nine previous Astros to have won this award for their positions, of course, all did so as National Leaguers. In Houston’s brief two-year history in the American League, Jose Altuve is the first and only winner in the AL.

Previous all-NL winners among the Astros include: Carlos Lee, left field (2007); Morgan Ensberg, third base (2005); Mike Hampton, pitcher (1998); Moises Alou, left field (1998); Jeff Bagwell, first base (1994, 1997, 1999); Craig Biggio, second base (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998); Glenn Davis, first base, 1986; Jose Cruz, left field (1983, 1984); and Dickie Thon, shortstop (1983).

In taking the 2014 award for American League second basemen,Jose Altuve has unseated Robinson Cano from the four consecutive season grip he held on that same honor from 2010 through 2013.

Congratulations, Jose Altuve!

Now here’s a look at all the winners over the years for American League second basement:

Year Player Team AVG OBP SLG HR RBI Ref
1980 Willie Randolph New York Yankees .294 .427 .407 7 46 [17]
1981 Bobby Grich California Angels .271 .377 .408 22 61 [18]
1982 Dámaso García Toronto Blue Jays .310 .338 .399 5 42 [19]
1983 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers .320 .380 .457 12 72 [20]
1984 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers .289 .357 .407 12 72 [21]
1985 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers .279 .362 .456 21 73 [22]
1986 Frank White Kansas City Royals .272 .322 .465 22 84 [23]
1987 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers .265 .341 .427 16 59 [24]
1988 Julio Franco Cleveland Indians .303 .361 .409 10 54 [25]
1989 Julio Franco Texas Rangers .316 .386 .462 13 92 [26]
1990 Julio Franco Texas Rangers .296 .383 .402 11 69 [27]
1991 Julio Franco Texas Rangers .341 .408 .474 15 78 [28]
1992 Roberto Alomar† Toronto Blue Jays .310 .405 .427 8 76 [29]
1993 Carlos Baerga Cleveland Indians .321 .355 .486 21 114 [30]
1994 Carlos Baerga Cleveland Indians .314 .333 .525 19 80 [31]
1995 Chuck Knoblauch Minnesota Twins .333 .424 .487 11 63 [32]
1996 Roberto Alomar† Baltimore Orioles .328 .411 .527 22 94 [33]
1997 Chuck Knoblauch Minnesota Twins .291 .390 .411 9 58 [34]
1998 Damion Easley Detroit Tigers .271 .332 .478 27 100 [35]
1999 Roberto Alomar† Cleveland Indians .323 .422 .533 24 120 [36]
2000 Roberto Alomar† Cleveland Indians .310 .378 .475 19 89 [37]
2001 Bret Boone Seattle Mariners .331 .372 .578 37 141 [38]
2002 Alfonso Soriano New York Yankees .300 .332 .547 39 102 [39]
2003 Bret Boone Seattle Mariners .294 .366 .535 35 117 [40]
2004 Alfonso Soriano Texas Rangers .280 .324 .484 28 91 [41]
2005 Alfonso Soriano Texas Rangers .268 .309 .512 36 104 [42]
2006 Robinson Canó New York Yankees .342 .365 .525 15 78 [43]
2007 Plácido Polanco Detroit Tigers .341 .388 .458 9 67 [44]
2008 Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox .326 .376 .493 17 83 [45]
2009 Aaron Hill Toronto Blue Jays .286 .330 .499 36 108 [46]
2010 Robinson Canó New York Yankees .319 .381 .534 29 109 [47]
2011 Robinson Canó New York Yankees .302 .349 .533 28 118 [48]
2012 Robinson Canó New York Yankees .313 .379 .550 33 94 [49]
2013 Robinson Canó New York Yankees .314 .383 .516 27 107 [50]
2014 Jose Altuve Houston Astros .341 .377 .453 7 59 NA

 

T.G.I.F. Everybody! ~ And have a nice weekend!

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Patrick Lopez: Times Square Visionary

November 6, 2014
Times Square "Crossroads of the World"

Times Square
“Crossroads of the World”

 

An Overdue Honor

Patrick Lopez At Home in Galveston 2013

Patrick Lopez
At Home in Galveston
2013

For many of us, Patrick Lopez, now of Galveston, is both our fellow SABR  member and the brilliant artistic illustrator of our recently published work, “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961.” For others of us who have come to know him better, he has also only grown in our eyes from the experience as an incredibly modest,  giving, creative, and valuable good friend – and a person who never seems to place the recognition for his own gifts above the goal of the larger group purpose.

In our SABR book case, we have done all we know how to do express our appreciation for Patrick’s invaluable  contributions to our Houston baseball history book,  but that doesn’t always happen in “larger purpose” projects, as our friend also knows from personal experience. Fortunately, an egregious omission of credit given to Patrick Lopez for his considerable contributions to New York City’s “Times Square, 1984″ project.”

The gist of it is this: From 1984 to 1989, Patrick Lopez was one of the total 550 architects and artists who submitted design ideas and plans to the management group that handled the several ideological and technical problems that arose during the lifetime of the project. Those who made contributions to the final outcome were then honored by the inclusion of their graphic work for display in the new Times Square Museum that opened in 2013.

One of the several drawings that Patrick Lopez submitted that were credited with helping correct some small, but important design issues with changes in the Times Square Tower work were placed among these major examples of architectural contribution in the new museum. The problem was – there was no credit extended to Patrick on site with the display.

Patrick wrote the powers-that-be and, after the passage of some time, he received an apologetic notice that the omission had been corrected to include the name of Patrick Lopez with the drawing on display. It is also added that some, if not all, of the other Lopez drawings will be added to the display at some point in the near future and fully credited to him as well.

And that’s pretty fair redemption for someone whose earlier life work included illustrative input to the design and construction of the Sears Tower in Chicago and the ITEL Building in San Francisco.

Times Square, 1984

“The Times Square, 1984” from the start was about putting an end to the seedy decline of that big window neighborhood on the world views New York City, but it was never an easy go. At one point, the project ran into trouble for moving too antiseptically with their ball for change and people protested that cleaning up Times Square should not extend to destroying its character as the center of light in the city of light. Somehow, they worked it out for the sake of not not losing their investment in healing the biggest sores of prostitution, pornography, and other street crimes that had taken over the area. On that score, we are not in position from Houston to know how well they have succeeded, but we hear that things are now better and far more attractive than they were in 1984. Further detailed discussion of the Times Square project goes beyond the scope of what we could ever hope to cover fully in a single day’s column, but you may check out this link to The Skyscraper Museum to see what something of what the buzz was all about what the deeper buzz was all about:

http://skyscraper.org/home.htm

Who The Man Is

All Saints Little League Team ~ Houston, TX, 1950 ~ Patrick Lopez, 2 players to the left in your view of the coach in the white shirt.

All Saints Little League Team
~ Houston, TX, 1950
~ Patrick Lopez, 2 players to the left in your view of the coach in the white shirt.

Patrick Lopez & Friend

Patrick Lopez & Friend

Patrick Lopez is a true Renaissance man – and we simply are grateful for his association and contribution to our history of baseball in Houston. Born in Houston at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1937, Patrick Lopez grew up in his native hometown, cutting his teeth of interest in baseball as a kid fan of the Houston Buffs and an “often as possible” member of the crowd at Buff Stadium on game day. He graduated from St. Thomas High School in 1955, a year before me, and then went on to study architecture at the University of Houston. He and his lovely wife, Barbara, have been married since 1960 and they three grown children: – son Patrick and daughters Claudia and  Sarah. The senior Lopez couple now lives in a quiet historic Galveston neighborhood.

Patrick Lopez is only semi-retired. People like Patrick Lopez have too much to give to ever shut down the roaring fire of creativity and their aim to give of themselves.

Pictures Worth Far More Than a Thousand Words

Five of the Patrick Lopez Drawings for the Time Square Tower Project ~ "A" is the one on display with credit now extended to the artist.

Five of the Patrick Lopez Drawings for the Time Square Tower Project
~ “B” is the one on display with credit now extended to the artist.

 

A SINGULAR SHOT OF LOPEZ DRAWING "B" ~ THE ONE WHICH FIRST WENT ON DISPLAY UNCREDITED IN NYC, BUT NOW IS IDENTIFIED AS THE WORK OF PATRICK LOPEZ.

A SINGULAR SHOT OF LOPEZ DRAWING “B”
~ THE ONE WHICH FIRST WENT ON DISPLAY UNCREDITED IN NYC, BUT NOW IS SHOWN AS THE WORK OF PATRICK LOPEZ.

 

"Buffalo Watching" ~ The original piece that Patrick Lopez did for me by request. ~ Thanks, Forever, Patrick!

“Buffalo Watching”
~ The original piece that Patrick Lopez did for me by request.
~ Thanks, Forever, Patrick!

 

Have a nice Thursday, everybody. There’s a seminal lesson or two for us all in this brief story of Patrick Lopez, if we are ready to receive it.

Meanwhile, thank you again, Patrick Lopez, for being both a genuine and generous soul. You give of yourself above the appetite level of the personal ego, but you are also strong enough to stand up for yourself if people sometimes take advantage of your gentleness by accident or design. The world could use more people like you.

 

 

 

 

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Steven Wright Quotes That Fit the Photos

November 5, 2014
"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." ~ Steven Wright

“Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." ~ Steven Wright

“I intend to live forever – so far, so good.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." ~ Steven Wright

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"Many people quit looking for work when they find a job." ~ Steven Wright

“Many people quit looking for work when they find a job.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism." ~ Steven Wright

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive." ~ Steven Wright

“You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory." ~ Steven Wright

“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard." ~ Steven Wright

“The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research." ~ Steven Wright

“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”
~ Steven Wright

 

"Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?' ~ Stteven Wright

“Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?’
~ Steven Wright

 

If these don’t help you get through hump day, look elsewhere. They were the best shot I had in me when I finally woke up to them  this Wednesday.

 

 

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Not-So-Famous Sports Quotes

November 3, 2014
""All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives, 'See, there's a fat guy doing okay. Bring me another beer.'" ~ Mickey Lolich, Detroit Tigers Pitching Star of the 1968 World Series

“”All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives, ‘See, there’s a fat guy doing okay. Bring me another beer.'”
~ Mickey Lolich, Detroit Tigers Pitching Star of the 1968 World Series

There’s nothing like old friends to help get or keep the ball running. In our never-ending search for the humorous side of anything, or anybody, Pat Flynn, a friend from back in the Days Just After Eden;’s Fall, when it was simply prime time for sampling the nectar quality of the juices that were designed to buzz, but rarely escort the partaker down the path to old age, that same old friend – came up with this collection of slightly less than everyday memories of humorous quotes by sports figures. – Thank you, Pat, for remembering that it’s Monday – and that Mondays have a way of remaining on the grid at any age as “kick-start” days:

“Last year we couldn’t win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure as a coach was that I couldn’t think of anyplace else to play. – Harry Neale, professional hockey coach

“Blind people come to the ballpark just to listen to him pitch.” – Reggie Jackson commenting on Tom Seaver

“I’m working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can just die after lunch Tuesday, everything will be perfect.” – Doug Sanders, professional golfer

“When it’s third and ten, you can have the milk drinkers; I’ll take the whiskey drinkers every time.” – Max McGee, Green Bay Packers receiver

“I found out that it’s not good to talk about my troubles. Eighty percent of the people who hear them don’t care and the other twenty percent are glad you’re having them.” – Tommy LaSorda , LA Dodgers manager

“My knees look like they lost a knife fight with a midget.” – E.J. Holub, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker regarding his 12 knee operations

“My theory is that if you buy an ice-cream cone and make it hit your mouth, you can learn to play tennis. If you stick it on your forehead, your chances aren’t as good.” – Vic Braden, tennis instructor

“When they operated, I told them to add in a Koufax fastball. They did, but unfortunately, it twas Mrs. Koufax’s.” – Tommy John N.Y. Yankees, recalling his 1974 arm surgery

“I don’t know. I only played there for nine years.” – Walt Garrison, Dallas Cowboys fullback when asked if Tom Landry ever smiles

“We were tipping off our plays. Whenever we broke from the huddle, three backs were laughing and one was pale as a ghost.” – John Breen, Houston Oilers

“The film looks suspiciously like the game itself.” – Bum Phillips, New Orleans Saints, after viewing a lopsided loss to the Atlanta Falcons

“When I’m on the road, my greatest ambition is to get a standing boo.” – Al Hrabosky, major league relief pitcher

“I have discovered in 20 years of moving around the ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats.” – Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox owner

“Because if it didn’t work out, I didn’t want to blow the whole day.” – Paul Hornung, Green Bay Packers running back on why his marriage
ceremony was before noon.

“I have a lifetime contract. That means I can’t be fired during the third quarter if we’re ahead and moving the ball.” – Lou Holtz , Arkansas football coach

“I won’t know until my barber tells me on Monday.” – Knute Rockne, when asked why Notre Dame had lost a game

“I tell him ‘Attaway to hit, George.'” – Jim Frey, K.C. Royals manager when asked what advice he gives George Brett on hitting

“I learned a long time ago that ‘minor surgery’ is when they do the operation on someone else, not you.” – Bill Walton, PortlandnTrail Blazers

“Our biggest concern this season will be diaper rash.” – George MacIntyre, Vanderbilt football coach surveying the team roster that included 26 freshmen and 25 sophomores.

“The only difference between me and General Custer is that I have to watch the films on Sunday.” – Rick Venturi, Northwestern football coach

Have a great Monday and brand new week, everybody! Looks like we’re in for some rain in Houston before it’s all done. So, stay dry, friends, – in whatever ways you need to stay dry. 🙂

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Dual Cool: Steven Wright and Our MFAH

November 2, 2014
The Jung Center 5200 Montrose Blvd Houston, TX 77006 Tel: 713-524-8253

The Jung Center
5200 Montrose Blvd
Houston, TX 77006

Yesterday, Saturday, November 1st, I spent most of that beautiful and briskly cool periwinkle blue sky day in a Jungian Psychology seminar at the Jung Center on Montrose. During the lunch break, I walked across the street to spend some time in the MFAH Statue Garden at the intersection of Binz and Montrose – which becomes Bissonett and Montrose on the west side of the latter named street.

What a cool place that is, the MFAH Statue Garden. I had not seen it in about a decade, but it was like  a homecoming visit with some art pieces I’ve known almost my entire life. I simply enjoy the visceral sensory experience of being in the company of art sculpture and beauty in a really natural setting that is quiet and peaceful – especially in the noon day sun of a fresh Houston autumn day.

For whatever reason, I’ve almost always associated the ironic thoughts of visionary comedian Steven Wright with these beautiful images in the Houston Museum district. Here are a few photos I took yesterday, along with a quote from Wright, following each. If the quotes are connected to images at all, I’m not conscious of what their connections may be. I simply believe that both Steven Wright and the MFAH Statue Garden are both extremely cool and pleasing to the creative blood that passes through all our veins – and that they are both true givers, no false givers, of all they’ve got to give.

Life is good. Live in the moment as much as possible. Enjoy life. Discover your gifts and give them back to life without concern for your reward. It will come from the giving, but only if we give our hearts to whatever it may be that we fully choose to do without resentment. People who create great works of art give that beauty to us. And people who can make us smile with their everyday observations of life are like the donors of a great curative tonic for the soul and spirit of our being. Whatever we have that is our gift, we need to find it and give it back to life too, even if it means leaving our comfort zone to do so, because it very well may. As an aging Marlon Brando character once uttered in the Don Juan movie he made with Johnny Depp: (paraphrased here in greater detail for even greater clarity):  “No fire, no heat.-  No heat, no warmth. – No warmth, no love. – No love, no life.”

Enjoy your trip to the MFAH Sculpture Garden with Steven Wright, everybody:

 

"On Halloween, I went to a party dressed as The Equator. When anyone came near me, they got warmer."

“On Halloween, I went to a party dressed as The Equator. When anyone came near me, they got warmer.” – Steven Wright

 

"I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder." - Steven Wright

“I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.” – Steven Wright

 

"All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand." - Steven Wright

“All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.” – Steven Wright

 

"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met. " - Steven Wright

“I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.
” – Steven Wright

 

#What happens if you get scared half to death twice?" - Steven Wright

“What happens if you get scared half to death twice?”
– Steven Wright

 

'I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums." -- Steven Wright

‘I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums.”
— Steven Wright

 

"When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, "Well, what do you need?" -- Steven Wright

“When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, “Well, what do you need?”
— Steven Wright

 

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good." - Steven Wright

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.”
– Steven Wright

 

"Change is inevitable....except from vending machines. - Steven Wright

“Change is inevitable….except from vending machines.
– Steven Wright

 

"A fool and his money are soon partying." - Steven Wright

“A fool and his money are soon partying.”
– Steven Wright

 

Party Hardy, Everybody!

 

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Nightmare on Crawford Street Nears End

November 1, 2014
"BETTER STAY AWAKE, HOUSTON! - GO TO SLEEP FOR A SECOND AND YOU COULD GO BACK TO COMCAST AS YOUR ONLY LOCAL SPORTS CHOICE FOR ASTROS AND ROCKETS!"

“BETTER STAY AWAKE, HOUSTON! – GO TO SLEEP FOR A SECOND AND YOU COULD GO BACK TO COMCAST AS YOUR ONLY LOCAL SPORTS CHOICE FOR ASTROS AND ROCKETS!”

Irony is a wondrous bird, whenever and wherever it lands. David Barron’s article on the possible breakthrough in the legal dissolution of Comcast’s CSN Houston, the network plan that has blocked 60% of the Houston market from watching either the baseball Astros or basketball Rockets for two whole seasons each, may now be near its completion. The irony is in the fact that the old-fashioned ink print version of David’s story did not reach publication until Halloween morning, October 31, 2014. Here are the salient lines, but you still need to read David Barron’s whole article at

http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014/10/judge-approves-csn-houston-bankruptcy-plan-clears-way-for-new-network/

__________

“A federal bankruptcy judge approved Thursday a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that will allow AT&T and DirecTV to purchase Comcast SportsNet Houston and relaunch it in November as Root Sports Houston.

There was no immediate indication, in the wake of Judge Marvin Isgur’s ruling, when the new network will launch with expanded carriage on DirecTV and AT&T U-verse in addition to Comcast.

However, CSN Houston has posted a broadcast schedule through Nov. 9, so the new network is not likely to launch until after that period.

Judge Isgur’s ruling does not mean that the case is concluded. Comcast, in fact, filed notice of appeal late Thursday night, alleging the judge erred on six grounds in his decision.”

~ David Barron, Houston Chronicle (Chron.Com version), October 30, 2014

__________

The whole thing has been the sports fan horror equivalent of  a horror movie classic that will be easily recognizable by the parody title we chose to assign to this piece and the featured photo of Freddie Krueger. It truly has been Houston fans’ and team owners’ bad dream and easiest remembered horror that we choose to think of now as “The Nightmare on Crawford Street.” For you out-of-towners who don’t know,  “Crawford Street” is the physical address for both our baseball and basketball venues, Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center.

Unless you want to strain your brain beyond all hope for reason, caring, or creativity, it is best to not wade into the details of what this whole struggle is all about. When matters are all about greed in the first place, the only homes for the grief produced are always either war or the courts. In this case, the litigants need to be confined to the combatant lawyers who feed their own soulless pie-holes on the fallen follies of greed put in motion earlier by the pride and avarice of the high and mighty forces that long ago took control of our entire economic culture – including the presentation and marketing of all sports with any television appeal.

Hopefully, we Houston fans who have been denied access to the televised home team games of the Astros and Rockets will soon be able to resume or restore our former viewing addictions and exposure to all the items the sponsors of these telecasts wish to sell us!

Note on Yesterday. Thanks to all of you too who responded privately and positively by e-mail that you enjoyed yesterday’s presentation of the starting nine for “The Ghoulville Goblins!” And thank you, especially, Rick B., for suggesting we should add Al “The Mad Hungarian” Hrabosky to the club as an ace reliever – and without a direct invitation from here to do so!

Ten players alone do not a whole team make.

C’mon, people! – This is still Halloween Weekend – and we put a lot of work into that holiday piece! If you have any suggestions for horror figures, real players or not, animal, vegetable or mineral, living or dead, whomever or whatever, – that we should add to the roster – … please go back to yesterday’s column and post your suggestions there as public comments in the easy entry space that follows each publication of The Pecan Park Eagle.

Here’s the link to the Ghoulville Goblin column:

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/the-ghoulville-halloween-baseball-all-stars/

Have a great weekend, everybody! _ And don’t forget to roll your clocks back for an extra hour of sleep before you go to bed this Saturday night!

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