The Pecan Park Eagle

Robot Call Receivers: A Menace to Sanity

February 18, 2016

“Thank you for your patience. Your call is very important to us.”

Let’s face it, there are no “right” places in this world for robotic incoming call reception services, especialy when you are the frustrated supplicant caller-customer. They simply are put there by corporations and government entities for the dual purpose of saving salary money – and making you, the caller, reconsider, whether or not, your question or complaint is even worth the ride down the slippery slope to the land of the mechanized and digitized lost. And the context of your call resource explains it all. You are attempting to communicate a human concern through machines that eventually may hang up on the terminal binary winds of an abrupt “goodbye”.

Some of us have learned to compensate for this everyday growing sad evidence that civility in our culture is rapidly disappearing altogether. We use our daily trial by this digital curse of automated imbecility by dropping our loads of pent up aggression on the very obstacles that stand in the way of human contact by phone.

For a few us, it becomes a step out of normal character in our relations with real people, but isn’t that really the only therapeutic defense we have against the phony smiling robot voices that stand in the way of us speaking to a live person about an issue? Anything that isn’t as black and white as our bank balance is most often settled better and quicker with real person answers.

The “us versus the machine” game comes down to a very simple playing field with one goal in mind: Do whatever it takes to get the robot to pass you on to a live “customer service” person before the machine wins the contest with its classic electronic kiss ~ “Goodbye! And thank you for calling the Acme Weapons of Mass Distraction Supply Company!”

Here’s a hypothetical example of such an exchange between a typical caller and a robot employee of the Acme Produce Company:

Robot: Hello! Welcome to the Acme Produce Company! Please pay close attention to these instructions as our options have recently changed!”

Caller: I don’t want options, Robot! I want to speak to a live person!

Robot: I’m sorry. I didn’t quite understand you. Would you mind repeating your selection in fewer words? Otherwise, press the correct number of your choice on your telephone keyboard from among our five indicated service options.

Caller: Yes, I would mind, ***hole! – As for buttons, I’d rather press your nose, if you had one! Let me speak to a live person. you smiley voice sucker!

Robot: I’m sorry. I am still having trouble understanding your request.

Caller: I said, “LET ME SPEAK TO A LIVE FREAKIN’ PERSON, YOU DIGITAL DODO! ~ I’M TRYING TO BUY SOME BANANAS! ~ A BUNCH OF BANANAS! ~ NOT GO BANANAS! ~ AND YOU SAID NOTHING ABOUT BANANAS-AVAILABILITY IN THE FIVE CHOICES YOU GAVE ME!”

Robot: Yes, I said nothing. I said nothing because, “yes, we have no bananas. – We have no bananas today.”

Caller: Oh, REALLY? WELL, I WILL BELIEVE THAT NEWS ONLY WHEN I HEAR IT FROM A LIVE PERSON, YOU CHICAGO CUB OF MENTAL MIDGETS!

Robot: Please allow me to transfer your call to one of our customer service representatives.

CLICK. BEEP.

Robot #2: All of our service representatives are currently busy helping other customers. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.

Next: Music starts playing over the phone. It is a musical version of Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life.”

15 Minutes Later: More instrumental music. Now it’s a version of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello! Is It Me You’re Looking For?”

20 Minutes Later: More music without words. This time it’s “Yes, We Have No Bananas! We Have No Bananas Today!”

3 Minutes Later/Robot #1 is back on the line: “See there? – I told you so!”

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: the robot reception call experience in a nutshell
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Houston Ballpark Site from 1870s at Travis and McGowen to be Marked by Historic Plaque in Public Ceremony, This Sat., Feb. 20th at 11 AM

February 17, 2016

Copyright Art by Patrick Lopez

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Come on out, Houston! This is a big deal in the rich history of Houston Baseball – and do as your invited to do – wear vintage base ball uniforms – or any kind of baseball attire – or 19th century clothing for the occasion.

Mike Vance, Executive Director of Houston Arts and Media and active member of the Harris County Historical Commission, will be on hand to serve as Master of Ceremonies and also talk about our reasons for honoring the physical block that is now occupied by a restaurant and other commercial interests.

Built in the early 1870s, the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park served as home to the first professional baseball team in Houston from 1888 to 1904. It was replaced by West End Park, nearer downtown Houston, and that site was honored in 2015 with an historical plaque for its service as the home of Houston baseball from 1905 to 1927.

Buffalo Stadium, about 4 miles southeast of downtown Houston at the site of the old now closed Finger Furniture Store on the Gulf Freeway at Cullen, took Houston the rest of the way through its minor league history from 1928 to 1961.

1962 marked the start of Houston’s major league history. The original name for the Houston MLB club was “Colt .45s” and these Houston MLB pioneers played their games at a temporary venue on the grounds of the future Astrodome from 1962 to 1964 in a place called (guess what?) Colt Stadium. Then when the MLB club moved into the first indoor air-conditioned multiple purpose home, the club name changed to “Astros” as the Eighth Wonderland park became even more famous as the “Astrodome.” The “dome” was home to Houston MLB from 1965 to 1999, when the Astros moved to their current retractable roof downtown park at Crawford and Texas. From 2000 to the our 2016 present, this same downtown venue has been, and remains, the home of Houston big league baseball. The current park started as Enron Field, became Astros Park while the Enron scandals were going on, and then, finally, settled into squeezable OJ comfort as “Minute Maid Park.”

And all of this started with the Fair Grounds Baseball Park some 145 years ago.

Two other very, very good reasons to attend:

Limited Edition Prints of the Old Houston Baseball Parks by Patrick Lopez will be for sale – as will the magnificent 368-page hard cover, with artful dust jacket, history researched and written by members of the Larry Dierker SABR Chapter, and published in 2014 by Bright Sky Press as “Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961.” Income from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) book sale go to the support of other local research, historic enactment, and preservation activities chosen by the non-profit Larry Dierker chapter.

Come join us. Think of it as another day of celebrating the fact that spring and the 2016 baseball season are just around the corner. They are already getting closer with our wishful sighs and internal smiles, but the time passes even sweeter in the close company of others who also care about baseball and the active preservation of Houston history!

Hope to see you Saturday.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: Historic Plaque in Houston will honor 19th century ballpark
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Keuchel and McHugh, The Dynamic Astro Duo

February 17, 2016

DALLAS KEUCHEL, LHP
HOUSTON ASTROS
2016

Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh were the dynamic duo as the ace and near ace of the 2015 Houston Astros:

(1) Keuchel was 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA on the year; McHugh was 19-7 with a 3.89 ERA;

(2) Keuchel’s W/L differential with the Astros over 2014 was 8-1; 8 more wins 1 fewer losses in 2015;

(3) McHugh’s differential with the Astros over 2014 was 8-2; 8 more wins and 2 fewer losses in 2015;

(4) Keuchel started 33 games, completing 3; McHugh started 32, completing none;

(5) McHugh needed only one more starting win and he could have tied Keuchel in starts and also reached the 20 win bar;

(6) Keuchel was the power guy (236 K in 232.0 IP) over McHugh at 171 K in 203.2 IP;

(7) Keuchel gave up 185 hits in 232.0 IP; McHugh surrendered 207 hits in 203.2 IP;

COLLIN McHUGH, RHP
HOUSTON ASTROS
2016

(8) McHugh hit 9 batters in 2015; Keuchel hit only 2;

(9) Keuchel threw 9 wild pitches; McHugh threw only 2;

(10) Keuchel pitched to 911 batters in 2015; McHugh faced 859 batters;

(11) Dallas Keuchel won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award for pitching and also the NL Gold Glove Award for fielding;

(12) No other pitchers on the 2015 Astros roster, starters or relievers, won more than 7 and that closer Luke Gregerson;

(13) The Astros need Keuchel and McHugh to maintain, at least, their productivity from last year in 2016; and,

(14) Double digit win production, at least, from two of the other three 2016 starters would be extremely helpful to the club’s goal of winning everything.

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: Keuchel and McHugh, The Dynamic Astro Duo
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Houston Buffs’ Upcoming 1947 Season

February 15, 2016

Manager Johnny Keane was optimistic going into the 1947 Houston Buff season, but did worry a little about the club’s lack of power and the absence of any left-handed pitching prospects.

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In the spring of 1947, MLB club control of players at all levels through the reserve clause was the dynamic that determined what minor league city fans could hope to see from their local teams from year. The Houston Buffs of the AA Texas League had the good fortune of being not only a farm club, but a 100% property of the St. Louis Cardinals since the early 1920s – and the beneficiaries of a talent deep organization, as you probably know, that was the base of General Manager Branch Rickey when he put together the first working model for using a controlled minor league farm club system for meeting the Cardinals’ ongoing needs at the major league level.

So, the primary movement of players during the reserve clause era was up and down, and much less so laterally from one organization to another. Players lost their free agency for all time, or until they were released from the total control bondage of the reserve clause by the team that owned their most recent contract.

The major direct suppliers of talent for the AA Buffs were the Cardinals and their two AAA clubs at Columbus, Ohio and Rochester, New York. Players coming down came primarily from these places – and they included younger players who simply needed more seasoning at a level of play they could handle – and also older players whose diminishing skills at the major league and AAA levels were forcing them down baseball’s established competition level system. Others came up to Houston from the Cardinal talent pool at the Class A and lower levels in the St. Louis chain.

The following report was written by long-time Houston Chronicle sports writer Dick Freeman prior to the 1947 season. Freeman didn’t know it at the time, of course, but the 6th place Buffs from 1946 were about to transform into the 1947 team that would go on to win the Texas League pennant and the Dixie Series under future Manager Johnny Keane of the 1964 World Series Championship St. Louis Cardinals. But this piece was written prior to 1947. It would be a Houston Buffs club that also included another future Cardinals player and manager, a fellow named Solly Hemus.

At the conclusion of the article, we have added a link to the “1947 Houston Buffs Roster Page” at Baseball Reference. If your interest is sufficient, you may go there and see for yourself who contributed to the total success of the ’47 Buffs at the AA level – and also note which players from Freeman’s article seemed to disappear from the face of baseball’s hallowed earth in 1947 or shortly thereafter.

Hope some of you have some fun with this information. Just a word of caution. If you’ve never done this sort of thing before, be careful. Baseball research is a very addictive pastime.

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Houston Buffs Offer Potent Pitching Staff,

One of Best Defense Clubs in Texas Loop

By Dick Freeman of the Houston Chronicle

For the Associated Press

HOUSTON, April 2 (1947) ~(AP)~ The Houston Buffs will not be a doormat of the Texas League this season, unless they get plenty of tough breaks.

They are better, much better, than they were in 1946 when they wound up in 6th place.

Looking back at the 1946 Buffs, it’s hard to imagine why they finished in the league. They started with some 100 players in camp, and not a single one of them lasted through the season. It was one of those trial and error periods, with accent on the error. The Buffs do have a glaring weakness they have to overcome, but Manager Johnny Keane and President Allen Russell are convinced that the Cardinals will come to the rescue, if at all possible.

They won’t have a single left-handed pitcher, and believe it or not, they didn’t have one in camp last year.

They were pretty glum when they found the seasoned catcher on whom they were leaning on so heavily, Gerry Burmeister, the big power-hitter who had eye trouble last year, but who looked swell in spring training until he hurt his ankle so badly that he was laid up for some six weeks, wouldn’t be available for season opening. But Buff hopes were bolstered along this line when came from Rochester that Joe Niedson, hustling and capable receiver, was being returned to Houston. Joe did the major part of catching for the herd last year, and although his batting average was none too high, he has power.

Gregory Masson, a nice receiver, but not too much at the plate, has been holding down the job.

The outfield is Keane’s pride and joy. It includes three guys who are Speed Demons, who can hit, but who don’t have too much power. They are Hal Epps, Eddie Knoblauch (both familiar figures in the Texas League) and Vaughn Hazen, who comes down from Columbus in the American Association, and can hold his own in this loop.

Backing them are Gil Turner, who wound up as a Buff last season, and Joe Muzzo, who hit a lusty .413 for Johnson City, Tenn., last season.

The regular infield probably will find Jim Halkard at first, Lou Ortiz at second, Billy Costa at short and Solly Hemus at third. Halkard, Ortiz and Costa all were with the Buffs last season and should be better with a year’s experience. Hemus is a sound player, hit .363 with Pocatello last season, and looks as if he will be a big help to the team.

The pitching staff is also impressive. Roman Brunswick, 17-game winner last year; Clarence Beers, Charlie Sproull, Art Nelson, Don Shuchman, are back from the 1946 team. Addition(s) include Jack Creel, former Columbus and Cardinal hurler; Hugh East, formerly with the Giants and Jersey City; and some fine looking youngsters, with Bob Elsiminger, who 14 games for St. Joseph last season despite the fact that he pitched home tilts while going to college, and Floyd Thierolf among the most promising.

“We believe we can go with any of them defensively, but we are little short on power,” Keane says. “The league is going to be tougher, but we look tougher, on paper anyway.”

~ Dick Freeman, Houston Chronicle, for the Associated Press, Brownsville Herald, April 2, 1947, Page 35.

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Link to the 1947 Houston Buffalos Roster and Statistical Report Page:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=8dfd3b06

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Epilogue, 2/17.2016:

Of the 31 players who shuffled through the roster of the 1947 Houston Buffs, 11 of them logged some past or future big league service time, with most of them being of the “cup-of-coffee” history file of former big league players. These included:

1) Hal Epps (1938, 1940, 1943-1944)

2) Jack Creel (1945)

3) Roy Lee (1945)

4) Charlie Sproull (1945)

6) Bill Endicott (1946)

7) Clarence Beers (1948)

8) Grady Wilson (1948)

9) Al Papai (1948-1950, 1955)

10) Tommy Glaviano (1949-1953)

11) Solly Hemus (1949-1959)

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: Dick Freeman Pre-Season Article on the 1947 Houston Buffs
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Our 2016 Valentine’s Day MLB Lineup

February 14, 2016

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Rolling out of our Valentine’s Day morning meditations comes this special 2016 Valentine to Baseball All Star Team. How each man-made the roster will be about as obvious to the aims of love as the current presidential debates are to the service of self-interest and the cacophony of rancor:

Our Team of Seasonal Love is dedicated as a tribute to the Game of Baseball that we love!

Manager ~ “Candy” Cummings, a 19th century pitcher who claims to have invented the curve ball. Cummings is a member of the Hall of Fame, but could not qualify for the playing roster here because “Candy” was only a nickname and his legal surname “Cummings” is not synonymous with love, unless you have a dirty mind.

P1 ~ Slim Love (1913-1920) (28 W, 21 L, 3.04 ERA)

P2 ~ Corky Valentine (1954-1955) (12 W, 11 L, 4.45 ERA)

P3 ~ John Valentine (1883) (2 W, 10 L, 3.53 ERA)

P4 ~ Joe Valentine (2003-2005) (2 W, 4 L, 6.70 ERA)

P5 ~ Vincente Amor (1955, 1957) (1 W, 3 L, 5.67 ERA)

C1 ~ Rick Sweet (1978, 1982-1983) (.234 BA, 6 HR)

C2 ~ Bob Valentine (1876) (.000 BA, 0 HR)

1B ~ Ed Hug * (1903) (.000 BA, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1.000 OBP)

2B ~ Pete Rose (1963-1986) (.303 BA, 4,256 Hits, 160 HR)

3B ~ Jim Ray Hart (1963-1974) (.278 BA, 170 HR)

SS ~ Jake Flowers (1923-1934) (.256, 16 HR)

LF ~ Bobby Valentine (1969-1979) (.260 BA, 12 HR)

CF ~ Fred Valentine (1959-1968) (.247 BA, 36 HR)

RF ~ Ellis Valentine (1975-1985) (.278 BA, 123 HR)

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Ed Hug played only one MLB game as a replacement catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas on June 6, 1903. He drew a walk in his only career time at bat. We cannot prove that Ed was capable of playing first base, based on his limited career experience, but, conversely, there is also no way to prove that he could not have handled that critical first corner sack – and the fact that we really wanted to add a guy named “Hug” to our Valentine’s Day team was the deciding factor here. We also figured that a guy named “Hug” might be pretty adept at keeping runners close to the bag at first.

Happy Valentine’s Day again, dear friends! ~ We hope your day is going along happy, peaceful, loving, well and …. well, what else is there to wish for?

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: 2016 Valentine to Baseball All Star Team
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Houston, Be Glad It’s Not Valentine’s Day 1895

February 14, 2016

Main Street in Houston February 14/15, 1895 Courtesy UH Digital Archives

Main Street in Houston
February 14, 1895
Courtesy, University of Houston Digital Archives

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everybody!

If you are a Houstonian, be happy too that our Valentine’s Day 2016 is set to be relatively balmy, and maybe a little rainy, but nothing like it was on this same candy and love sweet day in 1895.

According to the National Weather Service, Houston experienced a 20″ standing snowfall on February 14/15 of 1895, a margin of difference over the next largest measured snowfall in Houston. 1895 was the “Secretariat” of snowfall in Houston history. The second largest snowfall in the city since that time occurred on February 12, 1960 when 4.2 inches fell. Almost all other infrequent snowfall in Houston has been of the “trace’ level variety.

Market Square in Houston February 14, 1895 Courtesy of University Houston Digital Library

Market Square in Houston, Travis & Prairie Avenues
February 14, 1895
Courtesy, University of Houston Digital Archives

Link to Snowfalls in Houston Chart:

http://www.wxresearch.com/snowhou.htm

Thanks again to Twitter-watcher/tenacious researcher Darrell Pittman for alerting us to this historical imprint on our history with Cupid’s special day.

Hope you all have a special day with the loved ones in your own lives, even if snowball endearment fights will not be probable for you this year in southeast Texas.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

Hot Times are Great,

But only Real Love is True!

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: 1895: 20" snowfall in Houston
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Sports Quotes with the Memphasis on Funny

February 13, 2016

Dan Conaway Entrepreneurial Writer And Today's Guest Contributor to TPPE

Dan Conaway, Memphasis Columnist &
Entrepreneurial Writer, Memphis TN
And Today’s Guest Contributor to TPPE

Writer Dan Conaway is a friend of Rob Sangster, my writer friend since we worked together on “The St. Thomas Eagle” in high school, sometime after the Civil War.

Today Rob sent me a link to a weekly column that Dan writes. It’s called “Memphasis” – a catchy name for an apparently “most things Memphis” approach to column writing that we try to do here in allegiant support of our own sweetheart affectionate love for our dear city of Houston.

We could have identified ourselves here from our 2009 start as “The Houstoner” in tribute to our addictive support of “most things Houston,” but we fear that might have left the door open for too many wrong ideas about who we are – and what we do around here. We are happy to be simply who we are, the lifelong seeker who survived his flight to a larger world, but never forgot or lost his connection to Pecan Park, the southeast Houston neighborhood where he grew up. Hail Houston! Hail Pecan Park! They are the same to me. And I am of them and always will be. And that includes liking the work of others as I stumble or am led to its discovery.

Dan Conaway writes a really nice weekly “Memphasis” column for the Memphis Daily News. Rob Sangster, my cool author brother of such really fine international action/intrigue novels, like “Ground Truth” and “Deep Time”, just happened to think I might enjoy a column that Dan Conaway did this week on sports quotes, since The Eagle also had done something along those lines too, only a few days ago.

I not only like Conaway’s selections, but I told Dan that I liked them even better than the ones I used in my own piece. He’s given me permission to use them here, but I simply wanted to make sure that these independently selected copyright-free by quotation lines were credited to Dan Conaway. He’s the one who wove them into a really fine column. I will also close Dan’s list here with a quote by Memphis-born and bred Paul Berlin, the 85-plus years old radio disk jockey who still works the weekend FM airways with a selection of songs he once played for a lot of us Houston kids in the early to late 1950s during the birth years of sweet ballads shifting to rock and roll. You will also find the link to Dan Conaway’s website at the end of this column, with a parting question for Dan.

Paul Hornung’s plans always contained a Plan B for recovery from early morning disappointments.

SPORTS QUOTES YOU HAVEN’T HEARD

By Dan Conaway for The Memphis Daily News

February 12, 2016

Talking-head post-game/primary/poll analysis:

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

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

“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.

“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.

“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.

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

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

On game/campaign plans:

“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 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, then Arkansas football coach.

“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.

Player/candidate interviews/profiles:

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

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

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

And Dan Conaway’s favorite: “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.

And our TPPE Additional Quote: “Memphis is a town of great ingenuity. It’s the only town in the country that’s both built on a bluff – and run on one too.” ~ Paul Berlin, Native Memphian, Lifelong Houstonian, and Houston’s Iconic Radio DJ.

The link to Dan Conaway’s column site:

http://www.wakesomebodyup.com/ranting/

Addendum from Dan Conaway, Saturday, 2/13/2016:

A Parting Question for Dan Conaway: Houston once had a print news writer and early TV commentator named Ray Conaway. – Are you related?

Addendum from Dan Conaway, Saturday, 2/13/2016:

“Thanks, Bill, for the kind words. I’m not related to Ray but I’m glad the name has positive Houston history and no outstanding warrants. I’d also like to leave your readers with one more quote a friend reminded me of – from former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, “He’s the kind of player you can give the ball to and a band starts playing. Whether it’s our band or theirs, you never know.” ~ Dan Conaway.

____________________

Thanks for the inspiration, Dan! On the rocky road search for everyday column freshness, this one was a twenty-foot can-kicking hoot of fun!

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: Dan Calloway, Funny Sports Quotes, Memphasis
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

The MLB 300 Wins Club and Roger Clemens

February 12, 2016

Roger Clemens is the only member of the 300 Plus MLB win club that is not in the Hall of Fame.

Roger Clemens is the only member of the 300 Plus MLB win club who is not in the Hall of Fame.

Rank Order of Totals for the 23 Pitchers with 300 Plus Career Wins:

RANK	PLAYER	LH/RH	WON	LOST	PCT.	MLB SPAN	AGE AT 300
1	Cy Young	RH	511	316	.618	1890-1911	34
2	Walter Johnson	RH	417	279	.599	1907-1927	32
3t	Grover Alexander	RH	373	208	.642	1911-1930	37
3t	C. Mathewson	RH	373	188	.665	1900-1916	32
5	Warren Spahn	LH	363	245	.597	1942-1965	40
6t	Pud Galvin	RH	361	310	.541	1875-1892	31
6t	Kid Nichols	RH	361	208	.634	1890-1906	30
8	Greg Maddux	RH	355	227	.610	1986-2008	38
9	Roger Clemens	RH	354	184	.658	1984-2007	40
10	Tim Keefe	RH	342	225	.603	1880-1893	33
11	Steve Carlton	LH	329	244	.574	1965-1988	38
12	John Clarkson	RH	328	178	.648	1882-1894	31
13	Eddie Plank	LH	326	194	.627	1901-1917	39
14t	Nolan Ryan	RH	324	292	.526	1966-1993	43
14t	Don Sutton	RH	324	256	.559	1966-1988	41
16	Phil Niekro	RH	318	274	.537	1964-1987	46
17	Gaylord Perry	RH	314	265	.542	1962-1983	43
18	Charles Radbourn	RH	309	194	.614	1881-1891	36
19	Mickey Welch	RH	307	210	.594	1880-1892	31
20	Tom Glavine	LH	305	203	.600	1987-2008	41
21	Randy Johnson	LH	303	166	.646	1988-2009	45
22t	Lefty Grove	LH	300	141	.680	1925-1941	41
22t	Early Wynn	RH	300	244	.551	1939-1963	43

Two Observations:

(1) Count The Pecan Park Eagle among those who think that Cy Young’s 511 career wins is the most unbreakable important record in baseball. Today’s great pitchers make too much money to pitch themselves over the two decades it would take to even challenge Young. Twenty wins over twenty years only brings a guy to 400, still 111 wins short of the Cy-Master.

(2) Of the 23 men who have crossed the Rubicon mark of greatness by attaining 300 wins, only Roger Clemens of this totally retired group has been ignored by the Hall of Fame. – How long will Roger Clemens and others be denied this honor for merited accomplishment by the smearing shadow of allegations from the steroids era that were never proven in a court of law? Denial sucks and is no solution for anything – and treating someone like Clemens as a pariah on the basis of suspicion, without a trial, except for the one that many people carried out in their own minds, based on Clemens’s congressional testimonials, is not enough, nor is it fair or a real solution. If a player has not been convicted in a court of law, give him the honors he’s due for his accomplishments. – Treating people as though they no longer exist does not solve the problem.

We also think that baseball is guilty of enormous hypocrisy here. Back in 1998, baseball celebrated McGwire and Sosa for the way in which their incredible battle for the MLB home run title had helped the game and its fans forget the bad taste of the 1994 shortened season and cancelled World Series. We have always felt that they were implicitly giving other MLB players the unofficial green light to compete with McGwire and Sosa for the money and attention they also could earn by joining the wrecking ball attack on the power hitting record marks. Intended or not, Barry Bonds saw what he needed to do to outshine McGwire – and what do you know? Down came McGwire’s 7o HR mark and up went Bonds’ new 73 HR standard, as a few others also greatly improved their performance numbers – and pitchers learned that certain HGH products made for quicker recovery from arm injuries. I even remember an article about McGwire in which a reporter caught him rubbing something in his arm in the clubhouse as they were about to begin an interview and the “what’s that?” question came up. In words that read innocently, McGwire just told the guy that it was a cream he discovered that helped heal the soreness in his body quicker. I cannot remember what it was, only that it sounded like a topical HGH product.

Then what happened? The practice got too widespread to escape the attention of reporters who fed on stories of wrongdoing. Baseball leaders were soon pressured to publicly comment on the growing reports of illegal use of steroids by some of the biggest stars in the game. And baseball leaders responded as they often do under public pressure. They responded as Captain Renault did in “Casablanca” when he was ordered by the Nazis to shut down Rick’s Casino. When asked by Rick for his reasons, Captain Renault answered, “I’m shocked – shocked to find that gambling is going on here.” About the same time, a casino employee shows up with a handful of chips that he wants to deliver to the Free French police captain.

“Your winnings, sir!” says the casino employee.

“Oh, thank you very much!” says Captain Renault, as he quickly places the chips in his side jacket pocket.

That’s precisely how it struck me at the time. Baseball seemed to be feigning shock for a problem they had to have known was going on when McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds took the home run record into the stratosphere a few years earlier.

The players hadn’t changed. The owners had changed, at least, superficially. They did it under the force of public articles that were starting to surface about the use steroids in baseball. The leaders of the game could no longer practice denial in that other direction. Once they got past the public media rattles over Bonds, McGwire, Palmiero, Clemens, and, finally, Alex Rodriguez, baseball simply revealed that they had not really changed at all – they simply changed the direction of their preferred public position:

Before public exposure of the HGH issue, baseball simply pretended it did not exist. After its media exposure, baseball had to do some public saber-rattling as a goodwill gesture approach to the idea of problem-solving. By the time the problem fell from much public attention, baseball had installed some more stringent player use testing measures and penalties, but was left with the unfinished business of what to do with the suspected abusers during the HGH halcyon abuse days.

Baseball simply went to its always easiest card. Whereas, before the media blast, baseball had pretended the problem did not exist, they now pretend that all high profile suspects no longer exist. Baseball may not see it that way, but psychologically, that is exactly what MLB is doing.

Under this plan of action, players like Roger Clemens will not be banned from baseball, but it is unlikely that he or any other highly suspected high achievers will be admitted to the Hall of Fame because of what was never proven or disproven. We are hoping that Jeff Bagwell will prove us wrong in the 2017 Hall of Fame, but if Bagwell does, it will only be cause all that MLB has on him is that he had the arms of Popeye during his latter playing years.

As for the recognition that people like Clemens deserve, they will show up on lists like the table we’ve prepared for this article, but that’s about it.

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Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: MLB 300 Wins Club and Roger Clemens
Posted in MLB 300 Wins Pitcher Club, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Raymon Lacy Column from July 2014 Goes Viral

February 11, 2016

Matt Rejamaniak of SABR greets 91-year Raymon Lacy to the latter’s speaking engagement at SABR on 7/14/2014.

Today is Thursday, February 10, 2016. In the last four days, a Pecan Park Eagle column on former Negro Leaguer and Texas public school coach and educator, then 91 year old Raymon Lacy, and his talk to the Houston SABR Chapter on July 14, 2014, has gone viral among the now very apparently widespread population of lives who have been touched by this wonderful and wise subject and recorder of history.

91-Year Old Lacy Rocks at Houston SABR Meeting

Check it out for yourselves, and make sure to read the handful of posts that people from all over the countryside have left in praise of their personal lessons from this man. The recorded comments are but a small number from the 1,221 people who have cyber-stopped by our place to read our 18-month old story on the man only this week, since Monday, February 8, 2016.

Unlike the direct access national media, FOX, and CNN, The Pecan Park Eagle news delivery is more like a note in the bottle that has been cast into the ocean of all cyber possibilities and distractions from delivery. The bottle has to finally wash ashore on the beeches of the people who care about that particular column subject, then be found and opened, and then spread like a wildfire to others who care. Such is the case here.

“Ladies and Gentleman from the World of Raymond Lacy, The Eagle has landed!”

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Raymon Lacy SABR Speaker July 14, 2014

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The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: A Man for All Seasons, Christian, Coach, Educator, Lee Lacy, Negro Leaguer, Role Model, Wise Man
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Quotes on Baseball as Love and Labor

February 11, 2016

“If it wasn’t for baseball, I’d be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery.”
~ Babe Ruth

“Love and work … work and love, that’s all there is.” ~ Sigmund Freud. As one of the few Freudian ideas that have survived over time under lighter intellectual assault, the so-called “Father of Psychiatry” also noted that we all have only one emotional energy tank for fueling the needs of both love and labor, and that implicitly, things go better for us when we love the work we do.

Here is a small collection of quotes from baseball people, direct hits and side swipes, about love and labor, and work and play, in baseball:

“Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it’s business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don’t love what you’re doing and you can’t give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You’ll be an old man before you know it.” ~ Al Lopez.

“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” ~ Yogi Berra.

“Nothing in baseball can bring me down to the level where I was growing up in Pine Bluff, crying and broke. This is fun for me. Whenever you see me slumping, nah, I don’t get upset; I’m all right.”~ Torii Hunter.

“You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.”~ Cal Ripken, Jr.

“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.”~ George Will.

“Baseball is a lot like life. It’s a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life.”~ Ernie Harwell.

“When baseball is no longer fun, it’s no longer a game.”~ Joe DiMaggio.

“I ain’t ever had a job, I just always played baseball.” ~ Satchel Paige.

“The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It’s the only thing I know.” ~ Mickey Mantle.

“If it wasn’t for baseball, I’d be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery.” ~ Babe Ruth.

“If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.” ~ Yogi Berra.

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Thank for for being a great selective source, BrainyQuote.Com.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/baseball_8.html

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/

Tags: Quotes on Baseball as Love and Labor
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »