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Old Houston on You Tube

August 6, 2011

Thanks to two old friends, both fellow St. Thomas High School Alumni from different eras, and also independent thinkers, to boot, I received separate day links this past week to some very interesting and nostalgic U Tube videos of Houston as it was a half century ago, when some of us were still growing up or just starting out in this wonderful city of ours.

Vito Schlabra is our first contributor, with some help from Roy Bonario, the long-time Houston historian and collector who first sent it to Vito, who then sent it to me so that I could then pass it on to all of you. “Houston at Night 1960” plays as an in-motion pictorial on restaurants and night spots that used to be. As I viewed it, here are the places I was able to recognize and note in the order of their appearance in the film: (1) Prince’s Drive In, appearing to me as the Fannin Street location in the area of the city we now call Mid-Town; (2) La Louisiane Restaurant & Court; (3) The Red Lion, a wonderful old English style steak house on South Main; (4) a Polynesian restaurant whose lights glared out the name. I recognized the place, but could not jump-start the identity of the fancy eatery into consciousness; perhaps, you may be able to do so; (5) Ye Old College Inn, on Main, near Rice University and for decades, a Houston tradition; (6) Maxim’s swanky downtown restaurant; (7) Martini’s Lunch & Dinner, but I don’t recall its location; (8) Ding How Fancy Chinese, with KC Steaks in neon to make sure they didn’t miss the real Texan diners, on South Main, near the Prince’s-Stuart Drive Ins burger war field; (9) Leo’s Mexican Restaurant on Shepherd, north of Fairview; (10) Alfred’s Delicatessen on Rice Boulevard in the Village; (11) C Kelley’s Restaurant, Steaks & Seafood, on Main, just south of downtown; (12) Valian’s Italian & Pizza Restaurant on Main at Holcombe, our lamented lost shrine to the greatest pizza of all time, even though they also served up delicious shish-ka-bob, barbecue, and steaks too; (13) a little burger joint known as “Someburger,” but I forget it’s exact location in the OST, South Main, Kirby Drive triangle; (14) Gaido’s Steak & Seafood, on South Main; (15) Toddle House, the first one was also located on the popular South Main street site, I think; (16) Lott’s Grill (I forgot its location); (17) Paul’s Sidewalk Cafe (ditto on the failed memory page); (18) Cokin’s (blank screen on the location again; I didn’t have a lot of memory-making money back in the day); (19) Kaphan’s Seafood on SOuth Main; we all knew this one; it was both good food and affordable; (20) two guys buying tickets for a movie at the Loew’s State, downtown on Main Street; (21) several other movie theatre marquees; (22) Carrousel Motor Hotel, next to Gulfgate Mall on the Gulf Freeway; (23) Tidelands Motor Hotel & Floor Show, on South Main, next to Rice U; (24) Cruising on Main Street, with a quick stop at Bill Bennett’s Grill on Main for some sobering late night/early morning coffee. – The whole short film uses an instrumental version of “Caravan” to take us on a tour of old Houston. Someone did s nice job here – and, speaking of here – here’s the link that is your first movie ticket:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OxoiRz6SgA

We have Larry Joe Miggins to thank for this next one, but, as Mike Vance so aptly points out in his supplemental critique of the facts in the comment section, we need to give credit to KTRK-TV for the original production and to the availability of it that has been made possible by the UH Special Collections program via JR Gonzales’ Bayou City History blog from the Chronicle. That little mouthful now being said for purposes of clarity, I would also add by first name amendment that this little clip features Rodney (not Roger) Crowell singing his “nailed it” song about Telephone Road and how things were in the East End back in the day. The only thing Rodney gets wrong here, which is far better than I can allow for my own first draft errors and omissions, is the inclusion of the Astrodome in his lamentations about the wrath of Carla. Carla came in 1961; the Astrodome wasn’t finished and open until 1965. We simply have to cut him some slack for poetic license here. He may have just been talking about the storms of life – of which there once were many – along a street named Telephone Road.

Here’s the link to film clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSU145Cr9So&feature=youtu.be

Now, to enjoy it even more, here’s a link to the lyrics of “Telephone Road” that Rodney Crowell wrote and now sings as the soundtrack to this show of life along Telephone Road. If you care to print these out, it may help you follow the narrative even better on your second listening to the song.

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rodney_crowell/telephone_road.html

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Tags:Houston History, You Tube Links
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Economics For Dummies Like Me

August 5, 2011

What happened? Here we sit on another morning with news that the stock market dropped another five hundred (500) points yesterday and there’s renewed talk of another recession in double-digit percentage figures. What is that supposed to mean? Anything we have is falling away from us like Monopoly game play money while most of the pundits in the media sit back in apparent opulent splendor and tell us just to stay cool as we quickly convert at least fifty per cent of our holdings into something liquid and away from stocks.

I’m one of those economic dummies who doesn’t quite understand all the laws of flight and gravity that effect our cash flows and real wealth in this world, if there is such a thing. When the market goes up, the gains never seem real to me – and that may be the front load on my problem because, when the market crashes, that also hardly seems real. And, in my lifetime, at least, if we have the ability to leave a stable, but still dynamic investment package on its own for a while, in time, the ship rights itself and everything is fine again.

Did some people ride out the Great Depression that way? Or were most people hit with stock losses that never recovered? I sure don’t know. I just have a hunch that our current problems stem from these fairly apparent factors: (1) We no longer make the things we and the rest of the world needs. Our manufacturers have either folded, sold out to foreign concerns, or else, they’ve out-sourced the making of things to cheaper working forces of other countries. (2) Our American cost of living has been inflated by the matching greed of management and labor. High level bonuses and salaries for CEOs and labor union pay scales have created a need for more in dollars than we actually have. (3) Add to the debt pile our preference for running up a mind-boggling tab to pay for all the costs of entitlement programs, military budget rip offs, the high cost of running two and one half wars overseas concurrently while also serving in currently “peaceful” areas as the world’s policeman, the cost of education on a lifetime marriage of our children to student loan debts, the cost of transportation and home heating bills, the eventual trap to medical and drug bills that awaits us all and – what can we do to make things better?

Last week’s debacle between the forces of liberalism and conservatism was the most embarrassing display of special interests in conflict with each other that we have ever been forced to endure. Those people weren’t fighting for us – neither of them. They were battling to set this country up for the next presidential election in 2012. I can no longer abide either camp, but, like the res of you, what good choice do I have beyond either?

In my simple way of thinking, we got into this mess years ago when we started operating as a nation like a young adult or married couple with a brand new credit card. What we thought we wanted, but lacked the cash to purchase, we simply put on the tab with no real plan for how we were going to pay these bills over time. This growing tab, plus interest, came to be known as our national debt. Getting new programs for one’s vested interest constituents came to be the important thing a congressman could do to gain support for reelection – and getting reelected was far more important than the extra damage that was being done to our national solvency by a growing national debt.

Pretty soon, somewhere in the early 1960s, we simply became a whole society living on credit cards. Whereas, some of us are old enough to have grown up in families who bought only what they could pay cash for, we became a nation which didn’t stop at home mortgages and car loans. Now it’s everything. The other day, I found myself in the movie concession line behind a woman who was buying a bag of pop corn with a VISA card.

I may be wrong on this next step, but I don’t think I am. When a nation lives on credit, spending money they don’t actually have, it becomes necessary to print up paper money that is isn’t actually backed by gold or any real existing form of wealth. This “federal note” money represents little more than a promise to repay the redeemer with actual value, if the demand is made, but even governments like the USA have to back up their words with something tangible. – The USA does it with loans of real value from China.

What would happen if China called in their notes today? Would the USA be forced into foreclosure? Or would we just have to go into a war we always have said we never wanted?

I don’t have the answer, but I think we need to take these steps: (1) Go to a balanced budget in which we only have expenditures that we pay for with real income; (2) Do what we have to do to make sure that everyone pays their fair share; (3) Stop acting as the world’s policeman and stay out of wars as much as possible. We are not going to resolve thousands of cultural feuds with brute force, nor are we going to make every country we occupy democracy-ready before we leave. The more frequent result from that policy is that we shall end up in places we feel we ca never leave. (3) Stop foreign aid payments, except in the case of specific disaster relief payments. We buy neither love nor support from foreign aid. It is nothing more than a form of international extortion. (4) Adjust our corporate costs and labor-controlled income levels so that we again can afford to make things that produce real income from American companies and labor. (5) Get back to educating our children through colleges with systems that are affordable to young people. As things now stand, university fees and student loans make most students little more than the cash cows of the universities that exist first to serve their own self-aggrandizing interests.

That’s all I’ve got. In a sick world, it’s time for America to take care of America.

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Forever in the Wind

August 4, 2011

Forever in the Wind

Kicking tin cans clanging down a dusty red dirt road,

Tromping through the pine light, specks of sun and shade explode.

Quiet, steamy wind stirs the needles at our feet,

Sending up a sometimes roar that quells the summer heat.

We’re walking in our bare feet, but our soles are tough as leather,

We rise each day to play the game – in any kind of weather.

We’re on our way to the Sweet Lake Field – down by the Pokee River,

It’s time to pound the baseball ’round – and crush it to a sliver.

The sound of bats in metered bang – upon the rock-hard dirt,

It’s something just to do in time – we are warriors on alert,

As we jog and march and muscle and hop – our way to Saddler’s End,

The sandlot we are seeking – lays awaiting – ’round the bend,

And we are fast approaching – a day that has no end.

Where life on the summer sandlot – rolls on – forever’s friend.

Come home with your mind and soul – to the sandlot, even now,

If only for ten minutes – or so – let reverie be your plough,

Do it – and inhale, once more – the precious fragrance – of eternity.

Tags:Baseball, poetry
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A Couple of Personal Astro Firsts

August 3, 2011

Aug. 1, 2011: Jimmy Paredes is 1st Astro to triple in 1st MLB time at bat.

I wasn’t aware of both these examples at the time, but the Astros game I witnessed Monday night in the company of the amiable Mike McCroskey came about with a couple of personal records for me. I was aware that it marked the first time in my sixty-four years of going to professional baseball games in Houston that I’d ever walked away with an authentic game-used ball, but I had no idea that the second inning two RBI extra base hit to right center by young Jimmy Paredes had registered as the first time in history that an Astro had tripled in his first time at bat in the big leagues. That was quite an accomplishment for Paredes, especially in view of the fact that his two driven-in runs from the blow eventually proved to be the deciding score differential in a 4-3 Houston win over the Cincinnati Reds. The alleged 22,000 of us that showed up were thus privileged to witness a small club record night in the history of the Houston Astros. That’s a;ways a pretty cool deal.

Triples are the toughest, most exciting hit in baseball, short of an inside the park home run, and I’ve never seen one of those away from the sandlot, but you would think that some Astros rookie would have done it before now. After all, the club has had 49 years to produce its first triple hitter on the first try, but no, it didn’t happen. It didn’t happens until Jimmy Paredes came along and punched it out on his first time up in the leagues on August 1, 2011 – and I was one of the lucky fans who got to see it. In spite of the fact that we now continue to spiral on the way to our first 100-loss season in history, you still never know when something good is going to happen when you go to the ballpark.

I’m proud of that picture at the start of this feature, It shows Jimmy Paredes, getting ready to slam the next pitch he sees from Branson Arroyo into the right center field gap for his ultimately game deciding club record triple in a virginal time at bat. Thanks also, Jimmy, for lifting the lid of hope just a crack on our vision of a happier general time on the field for the Houston Astros in the seasons to come.

Aug. 1, 2011: My Carlos Lee Game Ball.

My second treasure from Monday night’s game was that game ball I took home with me for the first time in all my years. When I was a Knot Hole Gang kid at Buff Stadium, the players didn’t pass out balls as they do today. The clubs treated them like horsehide-bound gold, in fact. You could keep one that came into the stands, but in some money embattled venues, they even tried to make you give those captured balls back to the team. For a while, the St. Louis Browns even placed attendants around SPortsman’s Park to retrieve and reclaim the foul balls and home runs captured in the stands by fans. Can you imagine what would happen today if clubs tried that tactic on this generation of fans?

SABR friend Bill Gilbert reminded me yesterday that the Astros used to reclaim lost baseballs by issuing fans a paper contract for good plays on foul balls. In other words, the old “sign him up” call for good fan catches simply became an opportunity for regaining possessions of these lost club properties. Gilbert has a contract going back to the 1981 season that he was awarded by the Astros in exchange for the return of the ball he caught. It was signed by General Manager Tal SMith and Field Manager Bill Virdon. It’s even dated, farmed, and still hanging from a wall at home. And that raises the question: Would he still have the baseball in some identifiable form, had he not been “signed” by the Astros?

The closest I came til Monday happened in 1950 in the Houston Buffs Knothole Gang down the left field line. I was 12 years old and had just come back with a mustard-soaked hot dog and a coke. As I was walking down the bench aisle toward my friends, I heard a loud crack of the bast behind me. I turned just in time to see a high foul ball coming straight down at me.

Instincts took over, even though I had no free hands. I reached up with my hot dog-loaged left glove hand and made a catch play on the ball. Had it been my glove, and not a hot dog, that assisted me, I know I could have made the play on something that was little more than a “can-of-corn” catch, but that’s not what happened.

SPLAT!

The ball destroyed my hot dog and went crazily bouncing near my feet. Dozens of other kids descended upon it before I could recover from the shock of my failed catch. The next thing I know, up from the pile of greedy flesh came this gloating stranger kid. He’s smirking – and waving a mustard stained baseball in my face, as if to say: “Thanks, dummy! You saved me a lot trouble!”

I just stood there. I had lost my supper, half my coke, and the only baseball I ever touched from a stadium foul ball play. I was very sorry – and for all the reasons I’ve just stated and implied. I’ll never forget the face of that kid who got the ball. I’d know if I saw him today. I’m sure of it.

The ball I finally got Monday night came too easy. On what became the fourth pitch by Branson Arroyo for a 2-2 count on Carlos Lee to lead off the second inning, El Caballo swung hard and dribbled a little foul down the third base line. Reds third baseman Miguel Cairo came over to pick it up and toos it out of play, but, as he did, Mike McCroskey stood up and yelled something like, “HEY MIGUEL! OVER HERE! THROW IT TO ME!”

Miguel quickly adjusted his sites on Mike and lobbed the ball into Mike for an easy capture. The next thing I know, McCroskey is turning to me and asking, “Want a game ball?”

“Game ball?” I thought. “Of course I want a game ball!”

“Thanks, Mike,” I said. Good old Mike waved it off as no big deal. He spoke as a man with much confidence that he will have many more future opportunities from these prime sideline seats to grab other balls – and I have no doubt he will. And I was going home with a Branson Arroyo/Carlos Lee authentic game used baseball – and one with no mustard stains or probability of heavy play on the sandlot. It will simply take its marked place in my collection of souvenirs.

Thank you, Jimmy Paredes! And thank you, Mike McCroskey! You both helped make my evening this past Monday night at Minute Maid Park a quietly happy one. Sometimes the little treasures of life are the most unforgettable ones.

Tags:Astros triple record by rookie, souvenir baseball joy and srrow
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Rookie Row Rips Reds, 4-3!

August 2, 2011

Field View from the Season Seats of SABR's Mike McCroskey.

Thank you, Lance Berkman! – And thank you Ed Wade for pulling the trigger on the deal that sent the Big Puma to the New York Yankees last year in exchange for the two men who proved themselves difference-makers in a much-needed homecoming victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Minute Maid Park Monday night. Mark Melancon pitched the 8th and 9th, giving up nada, for the win; Jimmy Paredes also made his MLB debut as a switch-hitting third baseman by cracking a 2-RBI triple in the 2nd inning as a lefty to provide the eventual difference=maker on the scoreboard.

Luis Durango takes his first at bat as an Astro.

It was a fun night with an Astros lineup filled with rookies and lots of future hope. Just look at the ages at game time on the Houston starting lineup: (1) Luis Durango, cf, 25; (2) Jose Altuve, 2b, 21; (3) Jason Bourgeois, rf, 29; (4) Carlos Lee, 1b, 35; (5) J.D. Martinez, lf, 23; (6) Clint Barmes, ss, 32; (7) Jimmy Paredes, 3b, 22; (8) Humberto Quintero, (31); and (9) Bud Norris, p, 26.

The average age for last night’s starters was 27 – and that’s including the fact that Lee (35), Barmes (32), and Quintero (Q turns 32 today, August 2nd) take the age level way up as symbols of the older era plan. That plan includes all those other precedent variations from Plans 1 through 8. We are now as a franchise well into the early stages rebuilding – working on something like Plan 9 from Outer Space.

It will take some time, but last night was exciting. Now, if we had been ready to return Jason Castro (24) to catcher last night; and to have found Jiovanni Meir (20) ready for his big league debut at shortstop (which he isn’t); to have placed the infantile Jonathan Singleton (19) at 1st base (which he in no way is); and to have placed Brian Bogusevic (27) in right field, just to knock off two more years of age, we could have theoretically started a lineup last night with these other rookies and Jordan Lyles (20) pitching that averaged only 22 years of age.

Jimmy Paredes hit a 2-rbi triple in his 1st Astros at bat.

Let’s not go insane with age, but it is a big factor now. Preparation for a new winning core has to be something works in three to five years, but you can’t do that with players who are peaking, but ready to go downhill from there. And that may have been a primary concern that helped the movement of Pence and Bourn elsewhere this past weekend. In five years, Hunter Pence will be 33 and Michael Bourn will be 34. They could be slowing down fast from there. We’ll see. I’m just betting that Hunter Pence has another good brain-bashing years left in him as a hitter and a hustling team leader.

I like the fact that Brett Wallace now has some age contemporary competition from the younger Jonathan Singleton as our future first baseman. The younger man’s power potential seems greater than Wallace’s at this point and could be the differential on future decisions, but, of course, it all hinges on what these guys actually do on the field and what other options arise in the near term of player acquisitions and development. As much as I like to parody my grief over the loss of certain players from the Astros roster, I really respect and do not envy the job that Astros General Manager Ed Wade has on his hands.

Jose Altuve, the Astros' new Pepper Pot 2nd Sacker.

No matter how intelligent your scouting reports may be, we are still talking about raw talent in most instances – and you never know for sure how well these kids are going to adjust to playing and improving once they leave their high school comfort zones. That’s also why my personal draft preference is for players who have shown they can do it at the collegiate level. With the college kids, you at least can see the pool of players who have adjusted to learning and improving away from home. That’s important, I think, as a primary indicator that they will be able to learn quicker and move up faster at the professional level too than the younger kids straight out of high school.

Most young men on their own for the first time have to find their balance with money management, drug and alcohol use, and their relationships with women. When you need to get those primaries down as manageable issues at the same time you’re learning a new profession or trade, the outcome is sometimes a problem that upsets the long-term apple cart. To a certain extent, genuine student athletes at the collegiate level have been through that ringer and already faced up to their potentials for immaturity flame out of career goals for all the wrong reasons.

J.D. Martinez patrolled LF for Astros on Monday.

Maybe I’m wrong on this next observation because I have no data to back it up, just a gut feeling from long-term observation. I think that young players from Latin American countries have less trouble with drugs, alcohol, and relationships getting in the way of their goals for becoming big league ball players. If I’m right, I think it may be because Latin American countries raise kids with deeper loyalties to baseball over any other sport. Unlike most American young people, baseball is not simply “a way” of getting ahead in life. It is THE way of living your dream.

Hope I’m right. I see a lot of Latin America in the future of the Houston Astros. Unless I miscounted, six of the nine Astros starters last night were from Latin American countries by either birth or ethnicity.

Go. Astros. Rock the cradle.

Astros Season Ticket Holder Mike McCroskey Was On Hand Monday Night to Demonstrate His Unabridged Support for the Club's Recent Roster Moves.

Tags:2011, Astros Rebuilding Progrom
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The Astros Trading Deadline Songbook

August 1, 2011

The Astros Trading Deadline Songbook contains only parodies I wrote this morning in response to some muse that fought its way out of me to see the light of day as a release of tension from frustration over the current plights of my only team, the Houston Astros. Any resemblance by reference to actual persons, living or dead, is possibly coincidental, but probably is not. I might add that no malice is intended. Parody is just one of my ways to heal from frustration over the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that we fans cannot control. Those of you who actually have to pull the trigger on deals and other decisions affecting the future of the franchise have the tough job during these hard times, so, please bear with us too in our own regret over the losses of Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn over the weekend. I kind of expected us to lose Bourn, anyway, due to the year he’s having and the agent that represents him. This way, we, at least got something for him. Hunter Pence is another story. He’s younger, under wraps for two more years, and a great spiritual force. I wish we had kept him, even if it slows the recovery process. – Bill McCurdy.

"Pardon me, Ed, is that the Union Station Choo Choo?"

The Astros Trading Deadline Songbook

Bourn We Lose

(Sung to the tune from “Born to Lose.”)

Bourn we lose,

We give up Hunter too.

Bourn and Pence,

We take the double screw.

In return,

It’s no-names – which we get.

Born to lose,

In last place – with no net.

Union Station Choo Choo

(Sung to the tune from “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”)

Pardon me, Ed,

Is that the Union Station Choo Choo?

Track 29! – But can you trade it in time?

We’re deep into,

A special season at the station,

Hitting last place! – A fall to total disgrace!

We’re going to finish this sad season

With a hundred or more,

Outcomes known as losses,

Worse than poor Baltimore!

Winning games was finer,

Losing made us whiners,

Listen to the grumbles

From the Diamond Club diners!

I’ll never roam – far from those mem-ries

Of a sweeter – taste of home,

When Houston almost won it,

And put the ‘Stros on the throne!

Pardon me, Ed! – Pardon me, Ed!

All aboard!

It was sweet, Ed! – It was sweet, Ed!

Get on board!

In time – we’ll get there, Edward!

Don’t trade away the good times!

Let’s Trade Another Face

(Sung to the tune from “Put on a Happy face.”)

Gray skies are gonna clear up,

Let’s trade another face!

Brush off the clouds and cheer up,

Let’s trade another face!

Take off that gloomy mask of tragedy,

It’s – not our style.

You’ll look so good that you’ll be glad you decided to smile!

Pick out a pleasant outlook,

Trade off all double chins!

Wipe out that full-of-doubt look,

Trade off old C Lee’s grin!

And spread sunshine – all over the place,

And trade off – another face!

Trade off another face!

Make the team picture erase!

And if you’re feeling cross and bickerish

Don’t – sit and whine.

Think of the faceless mess you’re picking up,

And you’ll feel fine!

Knew a GM so gloomy,

He’d never laugh or sing,

He wouldn’t listen to me,

Now he’s a mean old thing!

So spread sunshine – all over – the place,

And trade off – another – face!

Tradin’ in the Wind

(Sung to the tune of “Blowin’ in the Wind.”)

How many trades must a GM mark down,

Before you call him a man?

How many stiffs can a GM acquire,

Before hope just melts into sand?

And how many times must a knee-jerk deal fly,

Before that GM IS – banned?

The answer, I tease – just whispers in the breeze,

The answer – just whispers – in the breeze.

How many years – can a bad club exist,

And play to fans who still put out for tickets?

How many years will some people still come,

Before they ask to just – walk in free?

And how many times can an owner turn his head,

And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

The answer, I tease – just whispers in the breeze,

The answer – just whispers in the breeze.

How many times must a manager look up,

Before he sees the blue sky?

And how many ears must one manager have,

Before he can hear his players cry?

And how many losses will it take till we know,

That too many seasons have died?

The answer, I tease not – is raging hot as snot,

The answer – is raging hot as snot.

Tags:baseball parodies
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Hunter Quickly Home in PENCE-ilvania

July 31, 2011

Hunter Pence greets Phillies Mate Ryan Howard after Homer.

Hunter Pence got something from his new club, the Philadelphia Phillies, that he never could have gotten had he been traded to the New York Yankees. He got uniform number 3. No further explanation should be necessary. If it is, stop reading right now. You’re in the wrong house.

The very believable early coverage of Hunter Pence walking onto the field in a Phillies uniform in Philadelphia for the first time on Saturday were quite convincing of the young man’s matching desire and capacity for being at home with his change of teams. As he walked into the pre-game foray, he waved at fans in the stands, signed autographs at the railings, and generally hobnobbed with his new Phillies teammates as though he had been with them for five years.

The telling comment on Pence fell easily from his lips at the early media conference held to welcome him in one of the stadium’s internal meeting rooms. In expressing his thrill to be playing for a contender, Pence remarked that it was also good now to be with a team “that really wants me.” Stretch that sub-message out for proper size. In spite of what ball players say about baseball being business and trades being a part of the game, players are also human beings. Getting traded, especially the first time, also feels like abandonment on one side and redemption on the other.

Hunter Pence is going to do just fine in Philadelphia. He was only one for five in his first Phillies game, but he also picked up an RBI on his first Philadelphia single from the number five hole in the lineup. Phillies clean up hitter Ryan Howard ought to be especially glad to see Hunter Pence hitting behind him now. Hunter’s presence there probably helped Howard get that pitch that he drove out of the park.

Good luck to the rest of the National League contenders from this point forward, With the addition of Hunter Pence, the Phillies now look even more like the team to beat.

Tags:HUnter Pence, Philadelphia Phillies
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Welcome to Los Astros, Texas!

July 30, 2011

What do Nolan Ryan, Hunter Pence, and Roy Oswalt now have in common?

Today’s column is purely emotional. Most of us understand why popular, productive players get traded. We simply don’t like the quick and easy “it’s a business” explanation for why baseball does what it does. Logically, we all know too that the benign aim here is to replenish the talent in the farm system pipeline, but we also understand why that problem exists. It exists because the club allowed the farm system to miss on talent judgments and high choice signings for, what, about a decade? An MLB franchise cannot operate that ineffectively for that long without paying a serious price and – here it is.

Last night, the Astros lost Hunter Pence in a trade for high potential younger players of the Philadelphia Phillies, but we didn’t simply lose him to the need for rebuilding. We lost him due to the sorry past decision-making that left our club’s farm system in shambles. With the right people and mindset, we could still rebuild our farm system without trading away the heart and face of the franchise, but the club is still looking for the shorter corner on change – even if it means trading away their best, most popular player to get there.

Back in 1956-57, a fellow everyone called Trader Frank Lane because of his propensity for dealing away anybody and everybody was serving as General Manger of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1957, Lane tried to trade Stan Musial to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Robin Roberts. When Cardinals owner found out about it, he quickly snuffed the trade and soon got rid of Lane. The Cardinals kept the heart of their club and preserved his iconic place in Cardinals history.

Well, sure, Hunter Pence is not Stan Musial, but he was the heart of the Astros lineup. He looked like ballplayer, He dressed like a ballplayer. And he played like a ballplayer. But he is an Astro no more. There was no one in place to stop this trade. That sad trek of Pence back to the Astros dugout in the fifth inning last night is a visual that will burn in the hearts of all fans who care about him forever. We could see Hunter fighting back the tears as he accepted the goodbye hugs of his teammates on his way back to the clubhouse and out the door on the way to Philadelphia.

The clip of that sweet-sorrow parting plays on in my head.

As a result of this latest stinging loss, I have created a reliquary of Astros Sad Departures in my own head, I’m christening the place this morning as “Los Astros, Texas,” the spiritual hall of all traded, lost, and driven away Astros. The list includes only those true Astros who made the mistake of speaking back to management or ownership, or for resenting their devaluation by ownership, or being caught up in the whirlwind of Astros GMs that made trades to see what differences they might make, or of being caught up in the tide of trades that some GMs prefer to make with any club known as the Philadelphia Phillies.

Los Astros, Texas: The Astros Sad Departures Reliquary, so far, includes these select resident members: Rusty Staub, Joe Morgan, Mike Cuellar, Jimmy Wynn, Bob Watson, Nolan Ryan, Billy Wagner, Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, and Hunter Pence.

Please note that each of these losses has inflicted universal stomach pain and heartache upon all orange-souled Astros fans. Unlike the trade of Brad Lidge, a deal largely influenced by the closer’s history of major chokes in the post-season, or the minor deal that sent an injured and older Larry Dierker to St. Louis, these other listed icons were snatched from our arms at moments they represented hope for the future.

Hunter Pence: On a happier night at the Houston Baseball Dinner, 2008.

I finally got to meet Hunter Pence at the June 24th dedication of the Jimmy Wynn Baseball Training Center on the near north side. Hunter showed up in jeans and his firebrick red Astros jersey. In a brief conversation with Pence and Bob Watson, I asked Hunter if he knew that Bob Watson held a place in baseball history as the man who scored the game’s one millionth run.

“Wow,” Pence said, as he turned that intense, full interest, awesome stare upon the older retired Astro icon, “I didn’t know that! That’s really something.”

Watson sort of deflected the credit. “They are scoring runs at a faster clip and playing more games these days,” said Bob Watson. “In your lifetime, you now have a chance to become the man who scores baseball’s two millionth run.”

“That would be sweet,” Pence said quietly as eyes and smile lit up to do most of the talking.

Hunter may get that two millionth run someday too. It just won’t be as an Astro.

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The Mr. 3,000 Club

July 29, 2011

When Derek Jeter of the New ¥ork ¥ankees checked into Major League Baseball’s “Mr. 3,000 Club” back on July 9, 2011, he became both the twenty-eighth member of the society, but only the second man to turn the elite group’s “members only” door with a home run. A current HBO documentary, “Derek Jeter 3K”, chronicles the stress that reaching this significant and widely revered baseball plateau can place upon an individual player, even upon a “cool-as-a-cucumber” guy like the Jeter-Man.

Heck! All Jeter had to do was get enough hits to go where no other great Yankees before him had ever gone. Not Babe Ruth. Not Lou Gehrig. Not Joe DiMaggio. Not Mickey Mantle.

Whoa! – None of these other 100% pure Yankee Immortals ever got there with 3,000 Yankee hits – and here was little Derek Jeter from New Jersey, by way of Michigan – beating on the golden door of an unimaginable other-level immortality as the only pure New York Yankee member of the club.

WOW! – Just think about that a minute and what it means. The most recent other new member prior to the Jeter-Yankee breakthrough was Craig Biggio in 2007. – Our Texas boondocks-moored Houston Astros reached the gates of the “Mr. 3,000” club a full four years ahead of the New York Yankees. Biggio collected his 3,000th hit, a single that died when Biggio tried to stretch his landmark hit into a persona; trademark double, did the deal at Minute Maid Park in Houston on June 28, 2007 – a full four years and eleven days prior to Jeter’s accomplishment of same.

What follows is the complete list, although the numbers for its only active playing member, Jeter, could be different by this time tomorrow.On the morning of Friday, July 29, 2011, is in 25th place with 3,017 hits, but only three hits back of Wade Boggs, the only other man to reach the peak with a homer.

The Mr. 3,000 Club shows each player by his rank on the list, his name, hit totals, career batting average, and the team in played for on the day he reached 3.000:

(1) Pete Rose (4,256) (.303) Cincinnati Reds

(2) Ty Cobb (4,191) (.367) Detroit Tigers

(3) Hank Aaron (3,771 (.305) Atlanta Braves

(4) Stan Musial (3.630) (.331) St. Louis Cardinals

(5) Tris Speaker (3,514) (.345) Cleveland Indians

(6) Carl Yastrzemski (3,419) (.285) Boston Red Sox

(7) Cap Anson (3,418) (.334) Chicago Colts

(8) Honus Wagner (3,415) (.328) Pittsburgh Pirates

(9) Paul Molitor (3,319) (.306) Minnesota Twins

(10) Eddie Collins (3,315) (.333) Chicago White Sox

(11) Willie Mays (3,283) (.302) San Francisco Giants

(12) Eddie Murray (3,255) (.287) Cleveland Indians

(13) Nap Lajoie (3,242) (.338) Cleveland Naps

(14) Cal Ripken, Jr. (3,184) (.276) Baltimore Orioles

(15) George Brett (3,154) (.305) Kansas City Royals

(16) Paul Waner (3,152) (.333) Boston Braves

(17) Robin Yount (3,142) (.285) Milwaukee Brewers

(18) Tony Gwynn (3,141) (.338) San DIego Padres

(19) Dave Winfield (3,110) (,283) Minnesota Twins

(20) Craig Biggio (3,060) (.281) Houston Astros

(21) Rickey Henderson (3,055) (.279) San Diego Padres

(22) Rod Carew (3,053) (.328) California Angels

(23) Lou Brock (3,023) (,293) St. Louis Cardinals

(24) Rafael Palmeiro (3,020) (.288) Baltimore Orioles

(25) Derek Jeter (3,017) (.313) New York Yankees *

(26) Wade Boggs (3,010) (.328) Tampa Bay Devil Rays

(27) Al Kaline (3,007) (.297) Detroit Tigers

(28) Roberto Clemente (3,000) (.317) Pittsburgh Pirates

* Derek Jeter is the only active player on the list. His 3,017 career hits to date is virtually certain to change. Craig Biggio has been retired since the end of the 2007 season and will soon be eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame with the exception of Jeter and Biggio, most of the rest are already members of the Hall of Fame, (1) Pete Rose is not in the Hall because of his involvement in gambling on baseball and then lying about it for over twenty years, (24) Rafael Palmeiro is one of those players who is currently held in prejudice from the HOF honor due to his tainted, even if alleged, involvement in the steroids era scandal.