The Pecan Park Eagle

UH Icon Guy V Lewis, Rest in Peace

November 27, 2015

Guy V. Lewis
UH Basketball Coach
1956-1986

It was one of those unique moments, the kind of moments that might never have happened, but once in awhile do, when we walk into the world of serendipity.

It happened prior to a day football game at old Robertson Stadium on the the UH campus during the 2009 season. I had arrived early at the stadium parking lot to meet a friend at a tailgate party and arrived first at the agreed upon meeting spot.

A small crowd of people had gathered around a man in a wheel chair as a I walked in, but I could not see the man until a couple moved quickly away and gave me a totally open view. It was the great Guy V. Lewis, the 31-season (1956-1986) head basketball coach at UH, the man who put UH and college basketball on the map with the January 20, 1968 game at the Astrodome that featured Cougar star Elvin Hayes and company against Lew Alcindor (better known later as Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and the UCLA Bruins. The game attracted over 50,ooo fans (including your truly) and played a landmark role in the uber-boost it gave to the commercialization of college basketball. UH won the big game for a first place ranking in the polls, 71-69, but UCLA would come back at season’s end to beat out the Cougars and all others for another notch on their string of national basketball championships. Coach Lewis would later add to his fame some other strong runs at the championship with a couple of guys named “Akeem” Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, plus a cast of supporting characters who are remembered best today as Phi Slama Jama.

The long retired Coach Lewis would later find induction into both the collegiate and national basketball Halls of Fame, but only after age and a major stroke had damaged his physical health to a great degree. – I was in awe of even being this close to the man, but stayed mys distance of some ten feet away, as I waited for my Cougar buddy. Coach Guy didn’t need the smothering of an even larger crowd.

All of a sudden, all the people around Coach Lewis went away. There wasn’t even a family member immediately present to help the coach as he waited patiently in his chair. I was drawn like a magnet to the coach’s side. I had known of Coach Lewis since the fall semester of my 1956 freshman year at UH. It was also his first season as the Head Coach of UH basketball, but, of course, we never spoke back then. I was just a dumb bunny freshman who wasn’t even sure I had yet attained the right to even speak to someone as important as Coach Lewis.

Prior to our 2009 chance meeting, our only previous personal contact came in the fall of 1979. Back then, I had brought Babe, the new mascot of the UH Mad Dog Defense, into the athletic department office to meet the athletic director when we simply bumped into the then still active UH Coach, heading out. “That’s quite a bulldog you’ve got there,” Lewis remarked, as he smiled and even held the door open for our entry on his hurried way out. “Thanks, Coach,” I answered, I think so too!”

Back to 2009 – I hurried to Coach Lewis’ side and almost immediately went down on one knee by his chair so we could shake hands and make eye contact. My best feeble effort to eulogize the man is to try sharing what what that very brief exchange was like. For me, it was a gift I shall treasure forever:

“Coach Lewis, my name is Bill McCurdy. I was a freshman at UH during your first season here as head coach. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times over, but I just wanted to tell you that none of us red-blooded Cougars will ever be able to thank you enough for all you’ve done for UH through basketball over the years.”

Our right hands were still grasping when I made that statement, but Coach Guy reached up with his left hand and kept the right hand shake contact in place as he pressed down upon them and spoke. “Why, thank you,” Coach said to me in a gentle smiling voice, before adding: “It means a lot to me that you feel that way because I enjoyed every minute of it – and I just did the best I could.”

A couple approached who were coming there to take Coach Lewis somewhere else. “Thank you for being the best, Coach Lewis! We will never forget you!”

The couple took over. Disengaging the wheel chair brakes and preparing to take Coach Guy elsewhere.

“Go, Coogs!” I said as Coach Lewis wheeled away.

“Go, Coogs” Coach answered as his people rolled him away down the sidewalk and into the sea of recognizing faces who each lit up as they recognized the presence of UH royalty in our midst.

Rest in Peace, Coach Guy! Cougar Nation will never forget you! – And any of us who ever got the chance to know you, even briefly – will always love you!

Here’s a link to the first early story on the career of the great Guy V. Lewis:

UH Mourns The Loss Of Legendary Basketball Coach Guy V. Lewis

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Tags: Guy V. Lewis, R.I.P.
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Grateful Moments in Baseball History

November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving Cornucopia

Grateful Moments in Baseball History

1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings: Grateful that there weren’t any other teams alive in 1869 that could beat them.

19^th Century Baseball Historian Henry Chadwick: Grateful that SABR had not been around to invent the WAR statistic prior to his own inception of the basic game scorecard.

Albert Spalding: Grateful as a 19^th century Hall of Fame pitcher could be that he later had the balls to become rich as any other industrial age robber baron by supplying the game with all of its equipment needs.

Johnny Evers: Grateful as any Chicago Cub 2^nd baseman in that big 9/23/08 game at the Polo Grounds against the Giants could ever be when he noticed that runner Freddy Merkle had failed to complete his run to 2^nd base on what should have been the winning hit for New York in the last of the 9^th.

Cy Young: Grateful that his very name would become synonymous with “excellence in pitching” and that his lifetime total of 511 big league wins would be a figure that far exceeded the number of innings that most men who came after him would ever come close to pitching at baseball’s highest level of play.

Dickie Kerr: Grateful as any 1919 Chicago White Sox pitcher could be that he had an indomitable will to win and not a single chicken-wing bone in his body for any form of dishonesty.

Shoeless Joe Jackson: Grateful that he remains in the record book as a .375 hitter in the 1919 World Series for which he and seven teammates were banned in 1920 from the game for life for fixing the Series in favor of the Cincinnati Reds.

Babe Ruth: Grateful that he had been born with the pure and natural ability to hit a baseball so hard that he could take a bat and send a pitched ball soaring high into the faraway sky beyond the field of play in all of the two seconds it took to convert the sphere into a disappearing pea-sized object beyond the blue horizon.

Hank Aaron: Doubly Grateful – that racism could not stop him from moving the new modern mark for career HR by 1974 to 755– and also grateful later in the knowledge that steroids played no part in his incredible accomplishments.

And my special number (10) guy is Turkey Mike Donlin: Grateful that he died far earlier than today – and that he is most probably unable to hear the good-natured, holiday-fitting doggerel we’ve composed especially for him, on this 2015 “turkey day”. Mike, we’re also hopeful that you may be grateful to know that we love your story of trying, in spite of your forever-unhealed waltz with alcoholism. From all we can tell, you were a good man, a fine athlete, and a talented thespian. You simply couldn’t bear the weight of your compulsion and also hope to fulfill all your dreams:

Turkey Mike Donlin
MLB: 1899-1914
Career BA: .333
Movies: 52, 1915-1933

An Ode to Turkey Mike Donlin

By Bill McCurdy

He strutted like a turkey,

He gobbled like a Tom,

But when he grabbed a trusty bat,

His hitting was the bomb.

A dead ball guy a dozen years,

He got on base quite well,

And every third time he came up,

A hit would ring the bell.

But Turkey Mike had another love,

For movies and the stage,

He later moved to Hollywood,

To live his acting rage.

He stayed and made some fifty films,

But never found his star,

And his dreams crashed hard on Bacchus shores,

Drinking in an LA bar,

And then one night he went to sleep,

And never rose again,

The line ‘tween life and nevermore,

Is sometimes way too thin.

We like to think on Turkey Day,

Of Turkey Mike, the Man!

He went out chasing passion dreams;

I’ll always love the man!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!

____________________

eagle-0range

Tags: baseball gratitude
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Original 1962 Colt .45s Down to 19 Survivors

November 25, 2015

Bobby Shantz, 4/10/1962
Threw 1st Pitch in Houston MLB History
Won 1st Game In Houston MLB History

The 11/21/2015 death of former Houston Colt .45 pitcher Ken Johnson has brought sharp attention to a number of us the fact that all of these figures from the early years of major league baseball in Houston have been disappearing all around us at accelerating rates with the passage of time. After all it’s been a half century, plus one year, since Ken Johnson performed the amazing feat of losing the only nine inning no hitter by a single pitcher in baseball history – and it’s now been 53 years since our city began its foray into the big leagues as the Houston Colt .45s.

The following is a chart which accounts for all 43 of the men who spent time on the roster of the 1962 original Colt .45s. It breaks them down through 10 pitchers, 3 catchers, 12 infielders and 11 outfielders. Those figures added up to the 43 members of the club’s original year player group – and does not include the names of some more famous Colts of the Jimmy Wynn and Larry Dierker ilk who came to Houston after 1962.

This table is totally focused on the first 1962 originals who went out there and established our initially tenuous hold on Houston’s right to call itself a major league city. There were some good players on that club, they just weren’t old enough or young enough to put it all together as a team in 1962, but, look at the bright side. – In spite of having to start out with a bunch of young guys we found drowning in a baseball pool – and a few random other 0lder guys who signed on even though some of their baseball wheels were already falling off, the original Houston Colt .45s were still good enough to finish ahead of their brother expansion club buddies, the New York Mets, and the Chicago Cubs.

The chart is easy enough to follow. If a player is still alive, his age is shown in the “Age in 2015” column. The 19 ages you find belong to the player on tat same horizontal line. Interesting to note: At age 90, Bob Cerv and Bobby Shantz are the two oldest living 1962 alumni. Ernie Fazio is the youngest alum at 73.

These life and death facts were double-checked at both Baseball Almanac and Baseball Reference, the two dot-com giants in our baseball statistical sky. I also checked these figure with the independent work that Darrell Pittman has done on this same subject at Astros Daily and found that we were in complete agreement on the recorded state of things reported and known:

Of the 43 original 1962 Colt .45s, 24 are now deceased and 19 survive. And, as we all know, that’s going to really change at an accelerated rate in the next ten years, but keep in mind your personal recollection of all these guys if you’ve been around long enough to have seen them – or even read about their accomplishments. – Bobby Shantz, for example, will always be remembered as the first guy to throw a major league pitch in behalf of Houston – and who among us elder fans shall ever forget the day that Roman Mejias had at the plate in that same very first opening game.

Remember. Enjoy. Share. And do what you can to preserve your memories of Houston’s first major leaguers. Every man on this list is deserving of your supportive statements and actions.

The Original 43 Men Who Filled the Roster of the 1962 Houston Colt .45s /

LIST #	UNIF #	PITCHERS (17)	BIRTHDATE	AGE IN 2015	DEATH DATE
01	39	John Anderson	1932-11-23		1998-12-20
02	30	Bob Bruce	1933-05-16	Age 82
03	33	George Brunet	1935-06-08		1991-10-25
04	31	Al Cicotte	1929-12-23		1982-11-29
05	36	Dick Drott	1936-07-01		1985-08-16
06	43	Turk Farrell	1934-04-08		1977-06-10
07	34	Dave Giusti	1939-11-27	Age 76
08	35	Jim Golden	1936-03-20	Age 79
09	36,40	Ken Johnson	1933-06-16		2015-11-21
10	39	Russ Kemmerer	1931-11-01		2014-12-08
11	31	Don McMahon	1930-01-04		1987-07-22
12	42	Bobby Shantz	1925-09-25	Age 90
13	33	Dean Stone	1930-09-01	Age 85
14	44	Bobby Tiefenauer	1929-10-10		2000-06-13
15	32,45	Jim Umbricht	1930-09-17		1964-04-08
16	36	George Witt	1930-11-09		2013-01-30
17	46	Hal Woodeshick	1932-08-24		2009-06-14
		CATCHERS (3)
18	9	Jim Campbell	1937-06-24	Age 78
19	7	Merritt Ranew	1938-05-10		2011-10-18
20	8	Hal Smith	1930-12-07	Age 85
		INFIELDERS (12)
21	11	Joey Amalfitano	1934-01-23	Age 81
22	14	Bob Aspromonte	1938-06-19	Age 77
23	27	Pidge Bowne	1929-03-21		1997-06-03
24	18	Don Buddin	1934-05-05		2011-06-30
25	19	Ernie Fazio	1942-01-25	Age 73
26	17	Dick Gernert	1928-09-28	Age 87
27	16	Billy Goodman	1926-03-22		1984-10-01
28	18	J.C. Hartman	1934-04-15	Age 81
29	10	Norm Larker	1930-12-27		2007-03-12
30	15	Bob Lillis	1930-02-02	Age 85
31	26	Johnny Temple	1927-08-08		1994-01-09
32	19	George Williams	1929-10-23		2009-05-14
		OUTFIELDERS (11)
33	4	Jim Busby	1927-01-08		1996-07-08
34	17	Bob Cerv	1925-05-05	Age 90
35	22	Ron Davis	1941-10-21		1992-09-05
36	22	Al Heist	1927-10-05		2006-10-02
37	25	Roman Mejias	1930-08-09	Age 85
38	23	Jim Pendleton	1924-01-07		1996-03-20
39	24	Dave Roberts	1933-06-30	Age 82
40	21	Al Spangler	1933-07-08	Age 82
41	20,24	Don Taussig	1932-02-19	Age 83
42	20	Carl Warwick	1937-02-27	Age 78
43	24	Johnny Weekly	1937-06-14		1974-11-24

____________________

eagle-0range

Tags: List of Surviving 1st Houston MLB Team
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Famed No-Hit Loser Ken Johnson Dies

November 24, 2015

colt45sKenJohnson4

Had it not been for something that happened on April 23, 1964, former Houston Colt .45 right-handed pitcher might today be simply another blurred name on the pages of early Houston big league history. The 6’4″ pitcher had been with Houston since its first 1962 MLB season when he took the mound to face the Cincinnati Reds at Colt Stadium, but it’s unlikely he had any better idea than the rest of us about what was about to happen.

I wasn’t in Houston when this one happened. I was living in New Orleans, finishing up my second year of graduate school at Tulane, but I got hooked on the voice of Gene Elston over the radio at my apartment and, based on what I was hearing, I was in no hurry to go to a social gathering where no one else there would give a hoot for the fates of my Colt .45s.

The game moved scoreless through six and, more importantly, Ken Johnson was pitching a no-hitter. – If only he could keep it up, I thought. – If only we could get him a run, at least.

Through eight, the situation held steady. 0-0, Reds-Colts, and not even whispering the possibility of hits for the Reds off Johnson was in style among Houston fans. Where is this thing going? Short of injury, it wasn’t likely the Colts would take Johnson out with a quiet no-no going. – And we didn’t even know the phrase “pitch-count” back in 1964.

“Where is this thing going to go?” Yes, it had to be the question on all our Colt fan minds. – And, much to our universal astonishment, we were about to find out in the ninth inning.

Top of the 9th

Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall led of the top of the 9^th with an easy 5-3 ground out from Bob Aspromonte to Pete Runnels.

Then Pete Rose reached first base on a bunt that pitcher Ken Johnson mishandled. With Rose hustling to first, Johnson threw the ball down the right field line, allowing Rose to make second on a two-base throwing error.

Rose on second base by any means was never good news. On this special day, however, that impression was about to be marked in bold type.

Chico Ruiz then smashed a ball that ricocheted perfectly off pitcher Johnson’s leg to Aspromonte who then quickly got the ball to Runnels at first for the second out.

Rose advanced to third on the play.

Vada Pinson then reached first on a bobbled routine grounder to the great Nellie Fox at send base. Rose scored on the play. Still no hits for Cincy, but the Reds were now up, 1-0.

Frank Robinson then lofted a fly ball out three to Jimmy Wynn in left field to end the carnage at 1 run, on 0 hits, 2 errors, and 1 runner left on base.

Bottom of the 9^th

Routine stuff. Nuxhall struck out Eddie Kasko and then got Nellie Fox on an easy ground out. Pete Runnels then reached on an error, but Nuxhall then got Johnny Weekly on a called strike three to seal Ken Johnson’s no-hitter as a 1-0 loss.

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Ken Johnson died Saturday, November 21, 2015 at the age of 82 at his home in Pineville. Louisiana. Here is the link to his obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetowntalk/obituary.aspx?n=Kenneth-Travis-Johnson&pid=176602448

Rest in Peace, Ken Johnson!

Here are some nice notes on Johnson’s career from SABR friend and colleague Mark Wernick that I also think you will enjoy too:

“In 1963, he had a 2.64 ERA and a 119 ERA+, yielding 204 hits in 224 innings. His W-L record that year was 11-17. His WAR that season was 4.1, and his career WAR was 20.4. The Colt .45s scored 2.8 runs per game for Johnson in 1963. They scored 2.9 runs per game for him in 1964, and they scored 3.0 runs per game for him in 1962. From 1962 – 1964, Johnson had 20 Ltuf, or tough lossses, according to baseball-reference. com. During those three seasons, he left games in position to record a win 11 times, only to have the bullpen blow the game. The other nine tough losses were quality starts that the team couldn’t win. Johnson is famous for being the only pitcher in MLB history to pitch a complete 9-inning no-hitter and lose it. He lost it in the 9th inning with the help of his own throwing error. I listened to this game on the radio. Johnson had more than his fair share of tough luck pitching for the Houston Colt .45s, but he did quite nicely later pitching for the Atlanta Braves.” – Mark Wernick, SABR Member, Larry Dierker Chapter.

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Here also is a link to Astros Daily and their great coverage of Ken Johnson and the lost game no-hitter:

http://www.astrosdaily.com/history/19640423/

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Tags: Ken Johnson lost a no-hitter he picthed against the Reds in 1964.
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What If Instant Replay Were Built Into Life?

November 23, 2015

“….Sounded like CRUUUUZ to me! … Let’ see the replay!”

Remember the famous Yogi Berra quote about life decisions? It was short, sweet and sure to cause a few double takes and smiles from all who heard it: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Yogi really knew better. He understood that every option we take in life, as we often proverbially attest in moments of fear or faith, closes one door as it opens another. When Yogi decided to drop out of classwork in middle school and try out for a baseball job with the St. Louis Cardinals, he thought that he was trading something he didn’t want to do for something he loved. And he was right about that part of it. He hated the work part of school because he didn’t feel very good at it; he loved baseball because it was more playful than work – and he was good at it.

And it was also physical. And outside. And it was something he did with other guys his age who talked the same language. You didn’t have to sit inside and look for the answers to baseball in books as you felt the pull of your mind and soul constantly floating out the window to play ball among the green of the grass and the blue of the sky after the three o’clock bell finally rang.

About dropping out of school, Yogi never said it, but he could have: “How could I ever get the right answers in school? I couldn’t even get the right questions!”

The usually insightful Cardinals passed on signing Yogi Berra in favor of signing his buddy neighbor catcher from the Hill, Joe Garagiola. Nobody’s perfect, right? Not even the Cardinals, but Yogi had taken his branch of that fork of the road – and the Cardinals had then quickly helped him find another path that would lead him to a Hall of Fame baseball career as a New York Yankee. Had Yogi simply stayed in school – done nothing to change the course he was on – that would have been a choice too. And maybe most of us would have never heard of him today. Maybe he would even be alive today, a little old Italian man, sitting on the porch of the house in “The Hill” section of St. Louis where he grew up, just lazily gazing his way down the street during his still-breathing wait for eternity. – Maybe.

For Yogi, and the rest of us, life unfolds by our active and passive decisions to pursue few or many forks in the road, and all trails lead us to either the destiny we seek for ourselves by the risk of active choice – or to the fate that awaits us from the passive, safest choices we may make about the direction of our lives. The condition that all choices bear with them is a thing called consequence. If we don’t understand that there are real consequences to all we do and fail to do on some gut-level early, we may never get to be – what we always hoped to be.

From watching the constant use of new HD quality stop action and slo-mo video in TV football this past weekend, I noted that each game coach gets two or three challenges on questionable referee calls made on the field. If he challenges and the technology has captured photos that prove him right, the unfavorable play on the field will be reversed, maybe even saving his team directly from immediate defeat and a lifetime of regret. The protesting coach suffers no penalty consequence if the technology proves him to be right.

On the other hand, if the recorded visual evidence cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the referee’s original call was wrong, “the play call on the field will stand” – and the protesting coach will be charged a team timeout – and be denied the right to further protest about anything.

Wow!

I got to thinking. – What if this incredibly accurate replay equipment could be wired to our personal lives? – And what “if” everyone had three protests they could launch with God – or their higher universal power – about issues that have arisen for us in any of these areas:

the things we did, or did not do, in the name of love;
the things we did, or did not do, in the name of money: or,
the things we did, or did not do, with our particular talents and passions.

What if we could use all of our three protests in any way we chose in one or all of these areas, and what if we also possessed access to the human life equivalent high-tech replay equipment that could tell us:

Was our painful reason for protesting due to the fact that life had been unfair to us in this instance; or,
Was our pain largely caused by our own behavior and choices of action or non-action in this matter?

Bottom Line: If the equipment concluded that our pain and disappointment was clearly caused by factors of life outside any contributions from our own behavior, we would be entitled to a 100% reparation payment for our pain and suffering. On the other hand, if the high-tech instant replay found that our own attitudes, thoughts, and behavior made any kind of personal contribution to the consequence of our own misery, our protest would be denied – and we would be forced to recycle over and over through the same protested lesson until we got it right, took full responsibility for our own actions, and made amends to any we had harmed along the way.

Upon further review…wow again!

As it turns out, there is another reason for Thanksgiving gratitude this season. Maybe it’s just as well that this new HD judgment equipment works only on contested sporting games only.

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Tags: Instant Replay in Real Life
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The Real Tal’s Hill Issue

November 22, 2015

TAL’S HILL
MINUTE MAID PARK
HOME OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS

2015 Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros posted a 20-8 record this season. He was 6-8 on the road, but an amazing unbeaten 14-0 at home. The amazement extended to many writers feigning or failing to see why he did so well at home. “What is there about this ballpark that makes for Keuchel’s huge success at home?

If you really want to know, we suggest, pay attention next season to how effectively Keuchel gets batters on long fly outs to CF. Keuchel is the kind of pitcher who was almost tailor-made for Minute Maid Park. He somehow knows the way to use that larger CF portion of the field as the place where would be homers now go to die. Now that a year’s delay in the demolition of Tal’s Hill has been pushed back until after 2016, there is still time to do a really effective study next year of how many extra HR will be leaving the field of play once the proposed new dimensions are in place, bringing the deepest part of cf in closer from 336 feet to 404 feet.

CURRENT FIELD VIEW MINUTE MAID PARK WITH LINE DRAWN IN CENTER FIELD TO SHOW EHERE THE NEW CF FENCE WILL BE AFTER THE REMOVAL OF TAL'S HILL.

CURRENT FIELD VIEW
MINUTE MAID PARK
WITH LINE DRAWN IN CENTER FIELD TO SHOW WHERE THE NEW CF FENCE WILL BE LOCATED AFTER THE REMOVAL OF TAL’S HILL.

The new fence is expected to be curved and not straight across, as The Eagle has depicted in these two views of the same MMP field. That’s not what matters. What matters is that MMP is about to be transformed into the biggest HR band box in baseball, once the removal of Tal’s Hill has finally taken place.

WHEN TAL’S HILL IS REMOVED, THE DEEPEST POINT IN CF WILL DROP FROM 336 FEET TO 404 FEET.

Here are the current MMP fence area distances from home plate:

Left field – 315 feet
Left-center – 362 feet
Center field – 435 feet
Deepest point – 436 feet
Right-center – 373 feet
Right field – 326 feet

Bottom Line: In 16 full MLB seasons, there have been no serious injuries at MMP due to the presence of Tal’s Hill and the flagpole in center field. The primary motivation here is not so much its removal for player safety, but for the creation of more revenue stream space. Nothing wrong with that either, unless it turns MMP into the kind of HR band box that no worthwhile pitcher will want to call “home.”

More detailed study is needed in 2016 of how many additional HR the proposed changes are going to make possible. We think an honest full season look at these numbers will answer the question of why Dallas Keuchel was able to go undefeated at home and finish with a 14-0 record at MMP. Keuchel is one of those guys who uses the “K” in tandem with an uncanny ability for retiring batters on long fly balls to the present death valley distances of MMP’s “Polo Grounds” like configuration.

All we are asking for here is a full season accounting in 2016 – not the one sentence brush off we’ve already received from the Astros that (paraphrasing here) “we’ve checked out the extra homer question and it’s not going to be so bad”. If these fence distance changes will harm the effectiveness of any Astros pitcher like Dallas Keuchel, many of us fans don’t want them.

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Tags: The Real Tal's Hill Issue, The Tal's Hill Issue
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UH Does What It Had To Do

November 21, 2015

UH Football Coach Tom Herman Gets a Raise to $3 Million as 1st Step in Gradient Annual Increases in His Pay from Donor Sources.

When UH Board of Regents Chair, Tillman Fertitta, spoke of Cougar Football Coach Tom Herman‘s raise to $3.0 million dollars a year, he described the action as essentially “a good start” in a plan for annual increases from private donors that would both enhance the university’s prospects of keeping their present “hot prospect coach,” but to also establish, once and for all, finally, that the University of Houston no longer has any intentions of being a stepping-stone position for talents like their two previous head men. Former Cougar player Art Briles used his UH coaching tenure to land his current successful gig at Baylor. And Briles, of course, was followed by Kevin Sumlin who rode his Cougar horse, aka an inherited UH QB named Case Keenum into the “hot coach” limelight. Jumping from UH to College Station, Sumlin walked into the presence of another QB inheritance at Texas A&M in his first season on the job there. Freshman QB Johnny Manziel would lead the Aggies to an impressive start in their first year in the SEC . In the process, Manziel would win the 2012 Heisman Trophy.

By comparison, Tom Herman didn’t inherit any “ready-to-go” national talents when he took over this year, 2015, at UH, but he came here from his National Championship year as offensive coordinator for Ohio State as being something akin to a “quarterback whispering” mentor with young talent like the Cougars’ Greg Ward, Jr. Herman’s talent for teaching, and his wisdom of what college age players do not yet know about themselves, have been almost as amazing as a magic show. In less than a full season, Ward has learned the joys and dangers of being a running QB who could also pass with skill and accuracy into one of those rare bird leaders who almost compiles as much running yardage per game as he does passing. And what happens if Ward gets hurt? We found that out last Saturday night in a most amazing way. Back up QB Kyle Postma came on in relief when Houston got way behind Memphis, 34-14, and he led the Coogs to a crazy, but exciting 35-34 win at the wire.

Houston is now 10-0-0 and ranked as high as #13 in the country by AP. They may or may not go undefeated, but the jury is already in on the man who established the winning focus culture at UH. It’s like none we’ve really seen since the days of our revered Bill Yeoman, but even Yeoman never tasted this kind of success this early in his first season at the helm.

Tom Herman appears to be one of those once-a-generation phenoms. And, even if that impression is something of a waltz into hyperbole, we will happily settle for the next level of appraisal: There may be other young coaches out there who are just as talented as Tom Herman, but “nobody does it better!”

UH knows it – and so does every other big school looking for magic at their own place. Hopefully, the difference this time is both the actual character of Tom Herman and all he said at his UH hiring about wanting to be part of Cougar Nation and that special thing we are building, plus, this time, UH donors are finally putting their money where their mouths always are.

Words are beautiful, but action is the real speaker of the house in all lands of opportunity..

OK, we know that Herman can get more than the $3 million we will be paying him, but this increase, as Fertitta made clear, is just the first step in an annually increasing plan for making sure that Tom Herman’s salary remains competitive with the rest of the field. The other part, of course, is our man’s passion for being the Moses who leads UH out of the desert of football’s second tier competition.

The following is simply a table which compares Tom Herman’s old salary to some of the top head coaching salaries, coming into the 2015 season. The new “3 mil” starting point figure will give UH a position that fits the company of all others. And, to borrow our university motto, – “in time” – we will reach that goal of being on parity with all others.

My source for the other salary data in is this chart is the Dallas Morning News. Unfortunately, this source does not include data for private schools like Baylor or TCU:

http://res.dallasnews.com/graphics/2015_04/collegesalaries/

Some of the Highest Paid Coaches in College Football in 2015

#	School	Head Coach	Annual Salary
1	Alabama	Nick Saban	$ 6,870,000
2	Oklahoma	Bob Stoops	$ 6,000,000
3	Texas	Charlie Strong	$ 5,100,000
4	Texas A&M	Kevin Sumlin	$ 5,000,000
5	LSU	Les Miles	$ 4,300,000
5	Ole Miss	Hugh Freeze	$ 4,300,000
7	Auburn	Gus Malzahn	$ 4,100,000
8	Arkansas	Bret Bielema	$ 4,000.000
8	Miss. State	Dan Mullen	$ 4,000,000
8	South Carolina	Steve Spurrier *	$ 4,000,000
11	Oklahoma State	Mike Gundy	$ 3,700,000
12	Missouri	Gary Pinkel *	$ 3,525,000
13	Florida	Jeff McElwain	$ 3,500,000
14	Georgia	Mark Richt	$ 3,203,600
15	Texas Tech	Kliff Kingsbury	$ 3,100.000
16	Kentucky	Mark Stoops	$ 3,000,000
17	Houston	Tom Herman **	$ 1,350,000

Steve Spurrier resigned during the 2015 season.
Gary Pinkel resigned after the 2015 season.

** Tom Herman’s salary for 2015 was the first one above $ 1 million a year for UH. His raise to $3,000,000 is a major competitive jump for UH..

The above tabular chart is not intended as an accurate display of all the national salaries in this range from top man Nick Saban. It leaves out the west coast schools, the Big Ten, Notre Dame, Baylor TCU, and Stanford from the private school sector.

Bottom Line: The Herman raise had to take place for UH to become the serious force in college football they were becoming prior to the collapse of the Southwest Conference in 1995.

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

____________________

Tags: UH Replaces Words with Action.
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Houston SABR Names Award for Bob Dorrill

November 19, 2015

The monthly meeting of the Larry Chapter of SABR met in Houston on Monday, November 16, 2015 at the Spaghetti Western Ristorante on Shepherd Drive three days ago. Astros veteran play-by-play broadcaster, baseball historian and author Bill Brown entertained the members with a personal report of his years of service to the “Big Red Machine” days of the mid-1970s Cincinnati Reds. Bill was followed by a rousing positional report from our also treasured former FOX SW broadcaster, baseball historian and author Greg Lucas on the need for simpler, more meaningful attention to stats that are both easier to grasp and more informative as to what each player actually contributed to victory. – The point could easily be made in Greg’s behalf that Babe Ruth’s then record 60 HR in 1927 might have meant nothing to victory – had they hypothetically all occurred in the bottom of as many 9th inning laughter-margin run losses with non body in a futile cause. – Tony Cavender also delivered one of his always-timely book reports and we concluded the meeting with a trivia quiz prepared by Greg Lucas. Tom White and Herb Whalley tied as the nights quiz champions. Because Tom has prepared the next quiz more recently, Herb Whalley will prepare the quiz for our next meeting. – All in all, it was another fine program, thanks to our chapter producer, Jim Kreuz.

Member Notes:

Bob and Peggy Dorrill were absent due to a family cruise trip

Marie “Red” Mahoney was absent due to her ongoing recovery from a serious fall.

The young redheaded “wunderkind” of baseball history (whose name I unfortunately cannot recall) was present with his father to say goodbye. The family is moving to the State of Washington and promising to re-connect with SABR there.

Jo Russell was present and looking well, even though she has been through own health challenges recently. No matter what, the spirit of Jo Russell shines through all adversity and her connection and passion for Houston baseball history never wanes.

Mike McCroskey did a great job filling in for Bob Dorrill as the evening’s MC. He also led the successful presentation of a proposal we had discussed prior to the meeting. Our 19 attending members gave unanimous straw vote approval to our proposal that the second annual SABR Award to someone who represents the fulfillment of our organizational ideals and service, henceforth, shall be known as “The Bob Dorrill Distinctive Service to SABR Award.” In the interest of keeping this column short of dissertation length, let’s just say that the man’s energy in all areas of Larry Dierker Chapter work speaks for itself.

Had it not been for Bob Dorrill, it’s doubtful that we would have found the mobilizing focus to research and write “Houston Baseball, The Early Years: 1861-1961” (2014) nor would we have been awarded the very successful SABR National Convention in Houston that same year – and that doesn’t even include all the effort he puts into managing our SABER-soaked vintage base ball club, the Houston Babies. – The man’s a cyclone of social accomplishment – and most deserving of our recognition of him in this light.

Our last note is about Larry Miggins. Sadly, Larry had serious fall at his voting site a couple of weeks ago. He broke a femur and has had to undergo surgery and the placement of a metal support rod in his leg. He is also now at St. Dominick’s Rehab Center on Holcombe, but his state of being and the intensity of his current rehab plan leave no time or space for visitations until the Miggins family gives us the signal. In the meanwhile, feel free to drop him a note or card. – I’m sorry, but I have neither the address nor the correct full name of St. Dominick’s as I write this morning. And I will do my best to let you know more – as I learn more, but start the prayers and positive thoughts for Larry’s full recovery now.

Thanks!

Next SABR Meeting Date:

Our next SABR meeting is set for Monday, December 7, 2015 at the Spaghetti Western Ristorante on Shepherd.

We could not meet on December 14th because the restaurant already had our usual room at the place reserved for a Christmas Party that week.

Note to Bob Dorrill, Jim Kreuz: I am presuming that one of you will confirm 12/07/15 with Spaghetti Western.

COME SEE THE HOUSTON BABIES THIS SATURDAY AT GEORGE RANCH STATE PARK. – We have a definite vintage base ball game scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday, November 21st and we may even have a 12 NOON game, if all our opponents show up. – We would love to have your support.

_____________________

Tags: SABR NOV. 2015 Report
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Freeze the Heartaches, Burn the Tears

November 18, 2015

BUG SAYS: "Hey, Astros! Remember the Top of the 8th in Game 4 of the ALDS?- That's why this litle song is about getting better in ways the club can be better in 2016. If we don't, fans are ging to be asking, Uh..... Ejat's up, Doc?' "

BUG SAYS: “Hey, Astros! Remember the Top of the 8th in Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS?- That’s why this new little song by The Pecan Park Eagle is about getting better in ways the club can really be better in 2016. – If we don’t, fans are gonna to be askin’, ‘Uh…. tsk…tsk…tsk.What’s up, Doc?’ “

Freeze the Heartaches, Burn the Tears

By Bill McCurdy

~ A C&W Tribute to Our New and Improved Astros Team and Hope ~

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Ain’t been this damn good in years,

Need a starter with strong gears,

Just a tad ‘bove Mikey Fiers!

We could use some corner men,

With good bats and fielding skin,

Contact pop in bats so thin,

Good for goosin’ runners in!

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Ice man closer – welder nears,

Bat on shoulder ice – is nice,

Bring that burner, roll the dice!

Fill the bunkhouse – load the ‘pen,

Do not fear – your own – brung in,

Must have good stuff – not just motion,

Just to git us – ‘cross this ocean!

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

‘Stros can win for years and years,

Juice our club from fore to aft,

Next time Royals – git the shaft!

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Set ‘em all back on their rears,

Angels’ dust and Rangers’ dangers,

Are to live as – Series strangers!

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears,

Freeze the heartaches, burn the tears!

____________________

Tags: An Astros C&W Song of Hope
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The Odds of a Daydream/Nightmare Comeback?

November 17, 2015

In Time.

What Are The Odds of a Daydream/Nightmare Comeback? The answer in sports, of course, is dependent upon our ability to specify the key details of the “comeback” situation we are trying to evaluate. The situation that vividly came to light in college football this past Saturday, especially for two universities in the cities of Houston and Memphis, was this one:

What are the odds of a college football team that is trailing by twenty points in the 4th quarter of coming back to win the game?

Playing at home last Saturday night, the Houston Cougars fell behind, 34-14, when the Memphis Tigers scored early in the 4th quarter. From that point, the improbable unfolded. Kyle Postma, an untested back up quarterback for the Cougars, then led his team to 21 points on three unanswered touchdown drives that gave Houston a 35-34 lead over Memphis with about 1:27 minutes left in the game. When UH then survived a desperate Memphis drive that only expired when the Tigers missed a 42 yard field attempt goal with seconds to go, the Cougars had performed the near-impossible, coming back from a twenty point deficit in the 4th quarter to win, 35-34, in a stunning expansion of their season record to 10-0-0, vaulting Houston the next day to an AP ranking of #13 in the nation.

According to one game story, UH was the 343rd college football team this season to trail by 20 or more points in the 4th quarter, but only the first this year to launch a comeback rally that actually won the contest, 35-34.

Reference was also made to the fact that once Houston fell to a 20-p0int deficit, that they then had only a 2.7% probable chance of winning the game. Assuming that this percentile appraisal was not simply pulled from the air, it means that someone had to research the entire history of college football and calculate all of the times in history that a “20 plus point deficit in the 4th quarter” got turned around and converted into a victory.

Bottom Line: It only happens 2.7% of the time in all of college football history and, this year, UH was the first in 243 such 4th quarter deficit situations (0.oo4%) that it has happened in 2015. That translates into extremely rare, extremely joyful for winning UH; and extremely painful for losing Memphis.

Not so fast, Cougar-Haters! – This is not a mere disconnected UH gloat from one of the elder mountain lions of 1946, who saw the first Cougars play football during the early times of his own cub days. None of us ancient ones need to gloat when the soulful satisfaction of such a win generates an inner glow of fandom joy.

And besides, this past weekend came bearing karmic qualities. Older Cougars already knew the taste of the “Memphis yang” that emanates from this “Cougar yin”. – We learned it bitterly on the frozen tundra of the January 1, 1979 Cotton Bowl – when the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and Joe Montana came back in the last seven minutes of the minus eight degrees day to reverse an identical by score 4th quarter deficit of 34-14 to snatch an identical 35-34 final score comeback win on the last TD and extra point in the game.

We already knew exactly how the Memphis Tigers and their family of fans were going to feel Sunday when they got home and awakened from the stunning upset of the night before. A casual Internet search of the Memphis newspaper sports pages since Saturday bore out all assumptions. The Memphis people were going through the same shock, denial, self-blame, and disappointment that we Cougars tasted in the Notre Dame collapse of 36 years ago.

The Memphis people will also soon enough pass through a delusional period in which they swear to never forget the lesson of their stunning loss to the Cougars. The problem with this consolation is that wisdom absorbed from pain is always an individual soul experience. When the success of your team athletic efforts are so dependent upon absorbing the lessons of painful experience, it gets pretty tricky to maintain that “wisdom” when your club also needs to absorb dozens of new 18 year old players who weren’t there with you to absorb the major lessons of catastrophic disappointment.

The best way to summarize my point here is to simply tell you what happened Saturday night as we were all joyously filing out of the stadium after the game. As we awaited an elevator in the company of a young (all decked out in red UH gear) Cougar couple and their pre-school son, I couldn’t wait to share the story I’ve tried to tell here today. When I led off with a statement about how much the Memphis game struck me as an exact reversal of our 1979 “ice bowl” loss to Notre Dame, I was stopped by the young Cougar dad’s first question:

“What’s an ice bowl?” The young UH man quickly asked.

About that same time, the elevator door opened.

“After you,” I motioned to the young man and his family.

A two-level elevator ride wasn’t enough time to condense via adrenaline into the kinds of words I’ve tried to use here.

____________________

Tags: The Agony and The Ecstasy
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