The Pecan Park Eagle

McCullers Pictures Worth Thousand Words

June 4, 2015

Thanks to the ROOT Sports Network and the fine people who do the Astros Games,, we have some pictures that truly do say more than a thousand words about the joy of 21-year old Lance McCullers after he pitched a complete game, 3-1, win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park, June 3, 2015, retiring 16 of the last 17 batters, while giving up only 1 run on 4 hits, while walking none and striking out 11. The victory boosted McCullers’ early MLB career record to 2-0 with an ERA of 1.88. McCullers now has 29 Ks in 24 innings pitched.

Even Rockets star Dwight Howard was on hand to stand in support of young Lance McCullers when he went out to finish the O’s in the top of the 9th. – Dwight Howard’s fan appearance at the Astros game last night was made possible by the Golden State Warriors.

Lsnce let out some kind of a war growl as his last pitch of the game was strike three, ball game, and his 11th K of the night!!
WA-HOOOOOO!!!!!!

Lance's post-game interview with ROOT Sports field reporter Julia Morales began with the usual laid-back baseball-speak we hear a lot from many players.

Lance’s post-game interview with ROOT Sports field reporter Julia Morales began with the usual laid-back baseball-speak we hear from a lot of players, even from some who make it all the way to the Hall of Fame..

Things lightened up once Astros teammates Jonathan Villar and Luis Valbuena doused pitcher McCullers with buckets of ice water. – Interviewer Morales gives the boys se splash room in the process.

Rookie McCullers recovers in good humor, ready to resume the interview. He simply makes the mistake of thinking that hist cold shower of warm affection is over.

Rookie McCullers recovers in good humor, ready to resume the interview with Hula Morales. He simply makes the mistake of thinking that his cold shower of warm affection and appreciation s over.

THIS TIME – IT’S ALL ICE!!!
WOOOOOOOOOSH!
BURRRRRRRRRRRRR!

“ARE THEY OUT OF BUCKETS OVER THERE?” McCULLERS ASKED OF MORALES AFTER THE SECOND BATH. WE CAN’T SPEAK FOR JULIA MORALES, LANCE. ALL WE CAN SAY IS: “IF YOU KEEP PITCHING LIKE YOU DID TONIGHT, THEY WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF BUCKETS – AND THAT’S A GOOD THING. AND. OH YEAH! WELCOME TO THE SHOW! ASTROS FANS ARE VERY GLAD TO HAVE YOU ON OUR TEAM!

Tags: 2005 World Series Replay, Lance McCullers strikes out 11 in his first complete game win
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Bill Gilbert: Astros Still Flying High

June 3, 2015

Another Fine Astros Monthly Seasonal Comment from Veteran Astros Evaluator and Special Writer for The Pecan Park Eagle, BILL GILBERT.

Another Fine 2015 Astros Monthly In-Season Comment from Veteran Houston Baseball Evaluator and Special Writer for The Pecan Park Eagle,
BILL GILBERT.

Astros Still Flying High after Two Months

By Bill Gilbert

At the end of April, the Houston Astros surprisingly led the American League West Division by 4 games with a record of 15-7. During the month of May, the lead briefly increased to 7 games before settling back to 4 games with a record of 31-20 at the end of May, the most wins of any American League team.

With almost one third of the season now behind us, it is time to consider what has happened to account for this improvement and to attempt to determine whether or not it will continue. While the 16-13 record in May was not as strong as April’s 15-7 the team has continued to play well in most respects. Relief pitching has been the strong point with an ERA of 2.28, third best in the major leagues. The Astros lead the major leagues in home runs with 84 and are tied for fourth in stolen bases with 43. The team has a positive run differential, scoring 4.38 runs per game and allowing 3.86.

On the other side, Astro batters are second to the Cubs in striking out with 464 and are 25^th in batting average at .237 and 23^rd in on-base percentage at .305. The ERA for Astro starting pitchers is 4.16 compared to the major league average of 4.06. This is where the team is most vulnerable, particularly with the loss of No. 3 starter, Scott Feldman to a knee injury which will keep him out for about six weeks. The starting pitching stats are buoyed by the work of Dallas Keuchel, who leads the American League with an ERA of 1.76 and is a strong candidate for the AL Cy Young Award at this point. In May, the Astros No.2, 3 and 4 starters, Collin McHugh, Feldman and Roberto Hernandez, all had ERAs over 5.00.

The Astros must fortify the starting rotation to stay in contention. So far, management has chosen to use the farm system with positive results. Lance McCullers Jr. was promoted from AA Corpus Christi in May and had three solid starts with an ERA of 2.40. Two other minor leaguers, Jake Buchanan and Michael Feliz, have also been promoted but have seen only limited action. Other possibilities are available in the minors but a trade for an established major league starting pitcher may be required if the team is to be a serious contender.

Individually, results were mixed in May. Evan Gattis overcame his April struggles, hitting .276 in May with 9 home runs and 22 RBIs. Chris Carter also improved in May with six home runs and 21 RBIs. Rookie, Preston Tucker, promoted from AAA Fresno, had some timely hits and batted .306. Jose Altuve had a down month, batting only .231, and third baseman, Luis Valbuena and backup catcher, Hank Conger were well below the Mendoza line (.200).

Astros minor league teams have performed very well in the past two years and that trend is continuing in 2015. All four of the full-season teams have winning records. Three of the four are leading their divisions and the other is in second place as Astro minor leaguers continue to build a winning tradition. However, the two top prospects do not appear to be quite ready for the major leagues. Carlos Correa, after tearing up the Texas league at Corpus Christi is batting .241 in his first 19 games at Triple A Fresno and pitcher, Mark Appel is 3-1 with a 5.85 ERA at Double A.

The Astros need to start strongly in the month of June after dropping their last two series in May. The schedule gets tougher later in the month with a trip to the West Coast to play Seattle and the Angels, followed by home series against the Yankees and Royals. By the end of June, we should know if the team is likely to be competitive in the season’s second half.

Bill Gilbert

bgilbert35@yahoo.com

June 2, 2015

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How Bud Selig Got His Way in 1997

June 2, 2015

an original cartoon creation
by
The Pecan Park Eagle

Back in 1997, the American and National Leagues each had 14 teams in three 5-5-4 club division set-ups per league. MLB also had approved two new franchise clubs late in the year that would add a new team for each league, bringing the MLB total club membership up from 28 to 30 teams.. The Tampa Bay Rays were slated for the American League in 1998; the Arizona Diamondbacks would be headed for the National League, also in 1998.

Now, unless my math is wrong, those changes for 1998 should have given both leagues what they have now had since 2014: 30 clubs; two 15 team leagues; and three divisions per league of a 5-5-5 franchise distribution – and the perfect formula for ongoing inter-league play during the season.

The league alignment change we now have didn’t happen in late 1997, but why not? I may be wrong here, but I’m guessing that Bud Selig, the owner of the American League Milwaukee Brewers, who just happened also to have been the magnanimous acting Commissioner of Baseball and his car salesman-style interpersonal power and marketing abilities had something to do with it.

Here comes the magnanimous part. The acting commissioner apparently spoke with the Milwaukee Brewers owner and convinced him that one of the now 30 major league clubs in 1998 needed to change leagues so that both the AL and NL could continue to maintain an even number of teams for balanced scheduling. Brewers owner Selig volunteered to Commissioner Selig that he, with some considerable regret, would offer to allow the Milwaukee franchise to be the club that sacrificed their place in the American League to become a member of the National League – and all to save the day for everyday balanced scheduling.

Brewers owner Selig admitted in a November 7, 1997 AP article that “for the Milwaukee Brewers, switching to the National League is like ‘coming home’, but he also acknowledged that Milwaukee’s return to the National League, where they played as the Braves from 1953 to 1965, was a mixed bag. “There is sadness over the prospect of ending a 28-year relationship with the American League and its member clubs and anticipation over returning Milwaukee to its root in the National League.”

“Those of us old enough remember the glory days of Aaron, Mathews and Logan, and Spahn and Burdette, review this as coming home,” uttered the humbly pleased owner Selig.

But let’s also be clear, Selig listened to a lot of polling among Milwaukee fans before he made this generous offer to move the Brewers from the American to the National League. Once 75% of the Milwaukee fans polled said they supported the move to the National League, owner and commissioner Selig noted that this display of public support was an important factor in the offer and approval of Milwaukee’s move to the National League.

Isn’t it amazing how things work out over time. The cruel ironies overflow from those agreements between the Commissioner of Baseball and the Owner of the Milwaukee Brewers back in 1997:

(1) Milwaukee’s sacrificial decision to move to the National League in 1998, we suppose, “for the greater good of baseball”, simply was a time bomb in the chain of events that would eventually force the Houston Astros to surrender their place in the National League and move to the American League as a late condition placed upon the sale of the franchise to the Jim Crane group by a now fully empowered Commissioner Bud Selig who apparently didn’t give a twit this time about what the Houston fans wanted or didn’t want.

(2) And Houston was ostensibly moved out of the National League for a similar reason given for moving Milwaukee into the National League back in 1998. It was to help with scheduling. Now, with the Houston move to the AL, each league now would have 15 teams, making it essential that there always be room on the schedule for one inter-league series for the sake of avoiding long lay offs for all teams during the season.

(3) In the end, MLB is what it is – until the commissioner says it’s something else. – Then, everything that used be be thought of as permanent – changes again.

Thanks, Bud Selig, for all of your brilliant contributions to baseball. It’s too bad we fans couldn’t have given you a few of our own ultimatums before you went to pasture. We should have tried, at least, to get you to take that “All Star Game Winner Determines Home Field Advantage” rule with you back to Wisconsin. No team in baseball should be given any direct advantage that they did not also earn directly for themselves. And that idea expands to include not having any owner, who by the “smoke and mirrors, it’s perfectly legal” route also finds him or herself wearing another hat that says “Acting or Permanent Commissioner of Baseball” written all over it.

Tags: Bud Selig in 1997
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Marlin Nine Regulars 37 – Marlin Fat Club 0.

June 1, 2015

The club that gave up 37 runs and was too exhausted to even finish the game at Marlin, Texas on June 13, 1888 could have used the lp of a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia...maybe.

The club that gave up 37 runs and was too exhausted to even finish the game at Marlin, Texas on June 13, 1888 could have used the help of a big hard-throwing pitcher like C.C. Sabathia…maybe.

______________________________

AN AMUSING GAME: Fat Men Shut Out.

Marlin, Tex., June 13 – An amusing game of base-ball was played here yesterday afternoon between the Marlin Base-ball club and the Fat club of the city, composed of the following business men: George Schultz, catcher; P.P. Norwood, pitcher; Lawyer Charles Bartlett, first base; District Clerk C.F. King, second base; Tom Massengale, third base; E.W. Hammons, short stop; C.H. King, left fielder; Charlie King, center fielder; Wm. Shelton, right fielder, mayor of the city, all weighing over 165 pounds.

The game was to be a shut-out, and at the end of their ninth inning they had made no runs, the Marlin nine making a score of 37 at the end of the eighth inning. The fat club reinforced their nine in the field for the last four innings, which did no good. The Marlin club called for their ninth inning, but the other side would not ante; they were completely fatigued. The game was then called — the score standing 37 in favor of the Marlin nine to the Fat club a goose egg – amid the cheers of the spectators.

~ Galveston Daily News, June 14, 1888. (Another fine contribution from the arcane baseball research files of Darrell Pittman.)

______________________________

Wow! Apparently all you had to do to qualify for the roster of the City of Marlin’s Fat Men Base Ball Club back in 1888 Texas was be a white male weighing in excess of 165 pounds! – We do have to wonder how tall these guys were back in the late 1880s? Were they three feet seven inches, ala Eddie Gaedel, – or did the culture of those times see obesity with an even more inscrutable eye than we do in 2015? By those minimal weight standards, we would certainly have little trouble putting together enough fat folk teams, and without the mean-spirited racial and gender exclusions that settled on just about everything back then. Today we could start own rainbow round of many human fat player teams, enough to start our own “Organization for the Professional Growth and Spread of Obesity Baseball” .

Tags: as their bottom line on obesity., baseball fat man club in 1888 used 165 lbs
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St. Thomas Sports HOF Class of 2015 Shines

May 31, 2015

MIKE MULVIHILL (L) AND RICHARD QUESADA, THE DYNAMIC DUO IN BASEBALL AND FOOTBALL FOR THE STHS CLASS OF 1956 ARE NOW BOTH INDUCTED MEMBERS OF THE ST. THOMAS HIGH SCHOOL (HOUSTON) SPORTS HALL OF FAME. MULVIHILL AND 9 OTHERS WENT INTO THE HALL, BRINGING THE TOTAL MEMBERSHIP UP TO 48 FOR THE FIRST 115 YEARS OF THE EAGLES’ S RICH PRIVATE SCHOOL HISTORY OF EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMICS, ATHLETICS, AND VALUES-CENTERED LEARNING..

The induction banquet was held last night, Saturday, May 30, 2015 for the ten inductees and a few hundred guests in the Reckling Gymnasium at St. Thomas High School at 4500 Memorial Drive in Houston. As an alumnus of St. Thomas and a friend and former Class of 1956 schoolmate of both Mike and Richard, I’m a little based in favor of the St. Thomas high school experience, but check it for yourself at the school’s website:

http://www.sths.org/

Now, if you have the time and interest, here is a quick look and summary of the ten quality men who were inducted into our Sports Hall of Fame last night. That first on the list was an American icon in the sport of bowling, but all of these guys have done major things in their own fields of life beyond sports as well.

Congratulations. Inductees! The St. Thomas High School’s worldwide community is proud of you all!

GO, TOMS! – KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT!

ONCE AN EAGLE. – ALWAYS AN EAGLE!

AND THE PECAN PARK EAGLE WISHES ALL OF YOU

AND YOUR FAMILIES OUR FRIENDLIEST TALONED “4500 FOREVER” CONGRATULATIONS ON JOBS WELL DONE AND LIVES WELL LIVED!

LOVE AND LOYALTY ARE FOREVER!

EDITORIAL NOTE: Thanks to the St. Thomas HS Alumni Staff! – They are due all the credit for the graphics and script that we used here to make this information reach an even larger audience. Thanks to all of you in general, but especially to those of you who prepared this very attractive material as a residual benefit to those who were unable to attend the ceremony.

All The Pecan Park Eagle (STHS Class of 1956) wants is to help this information move along to the larger interested readership these tem fine inductees deserve to reach.

Regards, Bill McCurdy

STHS Class of 1956

Publisher and Editor

The Pecan Park Eagle

______________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE

Tags: 2015 Sports HOF Induction Class, St. Thomas High School
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Greg Lucas: On Today’s Sports Talk Radio

May 30, 2015

The commentary response by veteran sports broadcaster Greg Lucas to yesterday’s Pecan Park Eagle column, “It’s Finally Baseball Season for Local ‘Experts’ “ was simply too eloquent to be left in the shadows of our featured piece. That being said, Greg’s thoughts stand alone today on their own legs as our featured follow-up column on this subject.

And just to think of how this all was set in motion is interesting. It started because 790 AM sports talk radio host Matt Thomas in Houston distracted me long enough once I got in my car yesterday morning to keep me from changing the radio dial to Sirius Satellite and music from the big band era. That’s when I heard Thomas express this now paraphrased thought:

“The Astros are doing a little better this year. The question here is – now that the Rockets season is finally over – are the Astros going to be good enough to hold our attention until the Texans begin their training camp for the next NFL season?”

The commentary material reaction from Greg Lucas to my published thoughts now follows this link to yesterday’s column:

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/its-finally-baseball-season-for-local-experts/

______________________________

Reflections on Today’s Sports Talk Radio

By Greg Lucas, Former Broadcaster for FOX, the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers and Numerous Other Radio and TV Assignments Covering Baseball, Football, and Basketball, Sports Talk Radio, and authorship of one book, so far, plus his numerous articles and Internet commentaries on sports. Greg Lucas also is a media member of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.

Greg Lucas
Texas Baseball Hall of Fame
Media Member

Although it has been a number of years since I hosted sports talk radio the philosophy was far different than today. The object then was to lead the direction into what was significant NOT just what callers wanted to talk about. That was before 24 hour sports talk existed and four or five stations competing with each other. However, the only way that worked was for the host to work very hard and become knowledgeable (and interested) about all the sports of the day. He needed to be far more than just a casual fan with far more insight and knowledge than the casual fan. The majority of hosts in Houston are perceived to be less than fully interested or knowledgeable about little other than football. Since the majority of callers are in the same boat that is what has resulted.

In the olden days when I worked radio sports talk caller totals were not important. Putting on good shows were. In fact, it was believed at the time that a good show would actually restrict callers since they would be so interested in what was being said (by the host and/or guests) they would be reluctant to try and interrupt. Success of the shows was not by caller counts but by ratings and sales numbers.

Of course in those days sportscasters, like newscasters, to keep their credibility in part had no role in reading live commercials or doing commercials. They were separate. This also kept the hosts from earning extra money, but also kept them “above the fray” of being required to endorse services or products they may have little real confidence. The point was to keep those “voices” as that of authority and knowledge and not pitch men.

The shows were on a far more intelligent and almost “teaching” level. The hosts didn’t talk down to the listeners or callers but tried to inform BECAUSE they had the depth of knowledge to do just that. The DID know more than the average caller. They were professionals who had worked their way up in both broadcasting, but also in their sports expertise. Opinions were based on real fact and experience, not something that just popped into their head.

In Houston right now the one announcer who would have fit in that mold is Charlie Pallilo. He was well trained in college and during his early years in Houston at KTRH. I suspect he would love to be a sports talk host as his local mentors like Jerry Trupiano once were and the voices he heard growing up in the NY area. Things are just different now. Charlie almost apologizes when he mentions the Astros or local college sports or anything of national note. He shouldn’t. He should tell his listeners what they need to know and not pander to the lowest common denominator for easy caller numbers. But so should everyone else and I suspect those days are long gone around here.

NEXT: A question whether the teams themselves care at all about who/how the pre/post games shows surrounding their games are handled.

Tags: Greg Lucas: Sports Talk Radio Today
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It’s Finally Baseball Season for Local “Experts”

May 29, 2015

“What kind of ball do you want to talk about? The regular kind? Or the deflated ones?”

Late this morning, I left the house to run some errands when the 11:00 AM “Matt Thomas Show” started up on 790 AM radio. I would not have heard even the start of it, but Matt started talking before I could hit the button and go to the 1940s and 1950s music stations on Sirius satellite radio. Does anyone really listen to sports talk radio other than those habitual pattern times they are in their cars, driving alone? I do the “long time listener” thing once in a while, when the host is Charlie Pallilo, but most of the time, I much prefer listening to Tex Beneke singing “I Gotta Gal in Kalamazoo”, et cetera on satellite.

Today I got a quick reminder from marketing genius Matt Thomas as to why my own preferences away from the general genre are only now stronger than ever. Before I punched out 790 in favor of Sirius today, Matt Thomas had the floor just long enough to get my attention.

Thomas led off with a little book-ends statement about the distance in time that now exists between the end of the Rockets basketball season and the start of the Texans football season. I’m paraphrasing here because I was driving alone when Matt first spoke – and I had not prepared myself in advance with pen, paper or electronic transcriber to record what probably a large number of other disinterested-in-baseball people feel, but we baseball people are out here too. Maybe big stars like Matt Thomas don’t need us.

What the man said was something along these lines:

Good enough, Mr. Baseball-Not-So-Much Thomas? – Good enough … you have to ask? C’mon, Matt! Even the sports jocks who don’t like baseball, or simply tolerate it as a time-compensatory air space filler, should be expected to already know what we are about to tell you.

Going into the games of May 28th, and approaching the traditional June 1st contender status date verifier, the Houston Astros now lead the American League West by six games, the largest divisional lead in all of baseball. Their 30 wins is the highest total for any American League club and ranks only one win behind the National League St. Louis Cardinals for the Major League Baseball lead. The club possesses commanding ability in their starting pitcher rotation, effective and durable relief pitching, great team speed, good defensive ability, hitting that, so far, makes up in power and timeliness what it lacks in overall percentage work, a cool managerial hand, plus talent on the farm that seems ready to hatch at the big league level.

And those are the things that excite us baseball fans, even if our sport is only talking-time-filler for radio hosts like yourself.

You have helped me with one thing today. When I go out in the late morning for my next drive time run, I will remember to have my radio already set to pick up my Sirius stations – even if I had been listening to my guy Charlie Pallilo the previous night come home.

“Pardon me. Matt, let’s have a chat and choose my station!

Forties are fine! – You help me get there on time!

Tags: Sports Talk Radio in Houston
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Two Guys Who Wouldn’t Hurt a Fly

May 28, 2015

TY COBB OF THE DETROIT TIGERS

NORMAN BATES OF THE BATES MOTEL

Tags: TWO GUYS WHO WOULDN'T HURT A FLY
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Review of New Cobb Bio Rings Ancient Bells

May 28, 2015

“Hurt somebody? – Me?
Why, I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

A new book on Ty Cobb, “TY COBB: A Terrible Beauty,” by Charles Leerhsen now rises as a defense of Ty Cobb the man, according to reviewer John Williams of the New York Times, but the reviewer pretty much denigrates the effort by his assessment of the author as a clumsy defender who relies too much on “rhetorical furniture” in an excessive defense of Cobb on the positive side of things. That may well be. I haven’t yet read the book to argue things point-by-point, but my experience with the literate treatment of people known fairly equivalently for their professional accomplishments and their personal detestabilties is that no names come to mind when it comes to those who have been written out of the jerk mode and into the beloved superhero level of things.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/books/review/ty-cobb-a-terrible-beauty-by-charles-leerhsen.html?_r=1

________________________________________

Back on March 21, 2010, I wrote a column entitled, “Did Ty Cobb Get Away with Murder?” It was one in which I did rely upon my considerable professional experience working with impulsive violent personality disorders who had been convicted of felonies for violent acts ranging from simple bar-room battery to first degree murder into writing the following conclusion about Ty Cobb:

“Ty Cobb also was a violent personality disorder who just happened to have also been the arguably greatest ballplayer of all time. Society just never pinned a murder conviction on him. Even these kinds of people come with variable levels of intelligence. Ty Cobb had the intelligence, power, influence, and money to have bought his way out of much trouble along the way. We don’t know if he did, or not, but the possibility is there. It can neither be proven nor dismissed.”

– “Did Ty Cobb Get Away with Murder?”, The Pecan Park Eagle, March 21, 2010

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/did-ty-cobb-get-away-with-murder/

________________________________________

My conclusions were never intended as a judgment of guilty for Ty Cobb on a murder charge, but as a considered opinion that he could have killed someone easier than most people under the right circumstances, given the tendencies seen all the time in his behavior under the influence of anger toward others.

As for the new book, the old bells it rings are always he same, regardless of the author’s perspective on Ty Cobb:

(1) Should Ty Cobb’s character and violent behavior have kept him from the Hall of Fame, regardless of his unparalleled batting accomplishments? If not, how are Joe Jackson and Pete Rose any worse than Cobb for that matter. Sure, Rose bet on his team to win, committing the great mortal sin of baseball, but Ty Cobb and fellow Hall of Famer allegedly were rescued by Commissioner Landis in the late 1920s for supposedly arranging a game bet that could have proved quite embarrassing to the game had the old judge, as some think, not found a quiet way of sweeping everything under the rug. And this was the same commissioner who banned Joe Jackson from baseball for life from baseball for allegedly having participated in a fix of the 1919 World Series, even though he batted .375 in the Series for the White Sox and was later found not guilty in a court of law.

(2) Get this: We don’t think anyone should get a walk for betting on baseball, but given the individual circumstances of each case, and the obvious compulsive/addictive behavior of Pete Rose, hasn’t he repaired his life and suffered enough infamy from his conviction by the court of baseball? What good purpose does it serve to keep the greatest hit total leader and one of the greatest hustling forces in the game’s history out of the Hall of Fame and the recognition he deserves for his accomplishments?

(3) Should character and felonious behavior block any player from the Hall of Fame? If so what do we do with all the dirty members who got into the Hall in spite of their personal records as members of society?

Those are old, old bells, friends, but they never seem to attract any new answers that are broad enough in support to pass muster for any kind of positive change in the Hall of Fame criteria or their positions on certain currently banned or ignored groups of players.. All it takes to resurrect the questions is for someone to write a new book on Ty Cobb – or a few other obvious player subjects.

Tags: new ty cobb book rings old bells
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1921: Baseball in Germany

May 27, 2015

Submitted by Darrell Pittman
Galveston Daily News
June 6, 1921

Maybe we should have kept the games and leagues and all American sports going in Germany for a tad bit longer than we did back in the post-World War I era. We might have redirected history in a lot more favorable direction than the route we ended up forced again to travel. The lessons of history aren’t always that hard to – just hard to pick up. As human beings, with human egos, we most often seem to have a tendency to overestimate our own immunities to lessons that apparently rest in waiting for all those lesson-deserving others, but not for us.

Arrogance is forever our downfall. It’s born again as ego with each physical birth or rebirth of the soul in human form.

The charge of life is always the same, but the outcome for each of us, from time to time, and dependent upon where we are in the learning stream, is quite variable: Each painful experience in life contains a gradient-measured, but large or small learning opportunity for each of us. If we get the lesson, we don’t have to see that particular pain again, but, if we refuse or find ourselves simply disregarding the message because we are still blinded by our arrogance, or, in other words, the absence of sufficient life-seasoning, we will get to see the pain again until we either get the lesson, go insane in denial, or find our way into jail, or on our way to the cemetery.

“I didn’t come here (to do this car commercial) for a history lesson! _ I came here to WIN!””
~ Blake Griffin
Los Angeles Clippers

So, the next time you watch a TV commercial and see some hotshot NBA player dressed as a Roman conqueror, but he is standing in a Chevy convertible, instead of a chariot, and responding to his director’s reality objections with “I didn’t come here for a history lesson! – I came here to win!”, remember the formula for how this thing works that we have tried to express here today. – If we don’t get the lesson, we don’t get the win – and we get to see the same pain in recurring ad nauseum until we either get the lesson – or the pain gets us.

Speaking of lessons, if you didn’t get the lesson in Houston on Monday about the risks of optional driving in this city on flood days, it’s back for those who missed it today on Wednesday. – 48 hours is all the time some of us will need to conclude that nothing happened to them who drove Monday because of their special immunity to dangerous weather.

This is Hump Day, all right, but the hump in Houston is fairly saturated this morning under the falling of more steady rain.

So be it – and “Happy Trails to You!”

Tags: baseball in post WWI Germany, the lessons of pain
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