TOM HERMAN
~ 2014 Frank Broyles Award Winner
` 2014 Offensive Coordinator, The Ohio State University National Champions of College Football
~ 2015 Head Football Coach, The University of Houston
SOMETIMES A PICTURE REALLY IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!
HOPE AND POSSIBILITY ARE A SPECIAL JOY UNTO THEMSELVES!
RESPECTFULLY PARTISAN HERE ~ THE PECAN PARK EAGLE!
WELCOME AGAIN TO HOUSTON, TOM HERMAN!
AND GO UH COUGARS!
That 42-20 whipping that the Ohio State Buckeyes put on the Oregon Ducks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas last night in the first NCAA Division 1 Football Playoff-based Championship Series also came home with the cachet of that win spilling into Houston too, once the man, the now and finally departing offensive coordinator Tom Herman wakes up, even as we may be writing, and gets on the road to his new job at UH off the Gulf Freeway at Cullen Boulevard here in Houston as head football coach at UH. – Come on home, Tom, we Cougars welcome you for as long as you will have us. We are just fortunate that UH hired you when they did – and did not wait until after the game last night to tender an offer. Winning a national championship tends to promote second thoughts about leaving any job associated with the effort – and certainly could have added a few rings to the bell or digits to the bottom line of what it might now take to get your name on a brand new coaching contract.
As a Cougar family, we’ve got to thank our lucky stars for your decision to come here as our new football coach – and for the way UH snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Armed Forces Bowl against Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago. – What a setup this is turning out to be at UH – both for recruiting and season ticket sales. The Cougar Den is all abuzz this morning – as it used to be and that’s as it should be.
Some of Herman’s early hires for his coaching staff look great too. Thanks, Tom, for bringing in Major Applewhite as your first offensive coordinator. We’ve always liked this guy at our house for his record at UT, his intelligence, and for that Longhorn cachet from their long winning winning history – the same one they are on the way to regaining if the “good ole boys” among the old school UT powerful alumni will simply be patient with now-moving-into-his-second-year as head coach, Charlie Strong. Welcome, Major! Just remember who you are now recruiting for when you hit the door bells at each signee-prospect’s house.
I don’t have much time or anything else that really needs to be said this morning. I’m just happy with the way things seem to be shaping up for UH today. Who knows how how long we will be able to keep Tom Herman, if he’s as successful as he probably is going to be, but we Cougars will take the honey for as long as it drips. (Wait a minute! It’s bears that go for the honey – not Cougars. That’s why UH lost former coach Art Briles to Baylor and …. I guess the Texas A&M coach (old whatz-his-name) is a bear in disguise too.)
We seem to have awakened at UH to the fact we will need to pay more to get more and keep what’s good in the new coaches we find. Tom Herman will be getting more than any coach the university has ever paid. And we can only hope that a strategy and future money round-up plan is already in place for trying to keep him when the time comes, as we know it will, when some other NCAA Division 1 Daddy Warbucks school comes along to wrestle him from our always-in-the-past fleeting, feeble, and under-financed grasp.
Even if that happens again, we’ve come around after this past season to our agreement with the long of tooth UH alumnus who expressed this reason for wanting to fire Tony Levine after UH opened the new stadium in 2014 with an embarrassing loss to UTSA. He said it on the elevator, on our way to going down after the game, after I reminded him that there didn’t seem to be any point to overpaying at UH for a good coach who was going to leave us, anyway, when the right offer came along from a big name school.
“That’s OK,” said the wizened UH fellow alum. “Let him go when the time comes. I’d rather see us have a good coach for two years than a bad coach for ten.”
Welcome to Houston and UH, Tom Herman – and please – don’t ever accept any phone calls from Steve Patterson over in Austin.
“I’ll be glad to help you find out about the mysterious post card, Mr. Blair, but just remember, I get fifty dollars a day, plus expenses.”
“The manila envelope from some stranger in California named ‘A Goheen’ arrived at the home of Houston Babies vintage baseball pitcher Robert Blair on a Tuesday in early January 2015 – or maybe it was late December of 2014. The arrival time doesn’t matter. – Mystery No. One in this case was simple. Mr. Blair didn’t know know anyone named A. Goheen, nor did he believe in the existence of a goheen, or any family pack of a (‘a’ for ‘any’) goheen species that might be capable of addressing or mailing a letter or package of any kind. Mr. Blair wanted my help.
“We met in my office, pretty close to Joe DiMaggio’s old neighborhood last Friday, January 2nd. ‘Mr. Blair,’ I said, ‘this is all well and good, but I think you need to know up front. I get fifty dollars a day, plus expenses, for my work.’ He didn’t bat an eye. He just slapped a c-note on my desk for starters and I was immediately all ears.
“Mystery No. One was pretty weak as a reason for paying a guy like me the big bucks, but Mystery No. Two smelled as bad as we always think it does when we are so inclined to even think of #2. Mystery No. Two was an old post card from 1911. It had a picture on one side of a bunch of men playing baseball in what appears to be a small town lot or country field – and a message from some guy to a girl on the other:
“The card was ‘posted’ in Winters, California on July 7, 1911 and it was addressed to Miss Lelia Hollingsworth in Woodland, California. It read, errors and all, as follows: ‘Dearf friend – did you get home all right dance was to much crowd – yours truly Eddie’
“Who were these people? Did simple small town Eddie ever find the stones to make a stronger rush on Lelia? And where did he ever get the idea that asking a dame by post card if she got home all right from a dance that he attended too was a good strategy for getting to first base with her? Then it occurred to me that he may have tried to pick her up at the dance and been turned down – and that the stupid post card was just a lame try for a second chance that he probably didn’t deserve in the first place.
“Then Mr. Blair informed me that he didn’t give a damn about Lelia and Eddie. – All he wanted to know was – is there any way to find out where this photo was taken – and by whom?
“Blair also filled me in yesterday that he solved the ‘A Goheen’ part of this mystery. Goheen turned out to be some kind of antique pop culture materials dealer. Blair’s brother Daryl had bought the post card for his brother, Robert, and then had Goheen send it to Blair on the Q.T. as some kind of surprise gift. Daryl Blair had not figured on it causing enough mystery stir to chase his brother all the way to San Francisco to seek my help.
{Addendum: “As it turns out, we do know where the photo was taken. Mr. Goheen has written the following: ‘Real photo postcard cancelled July 7, 1911 of baseball game. Several of the players are wearing suits (not uniforms), the rest more casual clothing including bib overalls. Photo taken in Winters, CA as evidenced by signs painted on surrounding warehouses. Post mark is also Winters, CA. The postcard is in very good condition although the photo has darkened edges which don’t affect the photo. Winters, CA is a small agricultural community in Northern CA specializing in producing.’}
“I’m asking you readers here, as a guest columnist for The Pecan Park Eagle, to help me out, if you know anything – or if you have any bright ideas about the baseball game picture itself – or its photographer! Please help a guy out by leaving your tips or ideas as comments on my column as you also try to keep in mind a big reason for helping me and Mr. Blair out of what’s left of the unsolved mystery. Remember, I get fifty dollars a day, plus expenses. – We could both strike it rich.
“Why, I haven’t had this much fun since a good looking woman, a fat man, and a little guy that smelled like a bottle of cheap perfume all came at me at one time to help them find a mysterious statue of a black bird. That one turned out to be the the stuff that dreams are made of and – who knows – with your help – maybe this one could too.”
By Sam Spayed, Private Detective, San Francisco, California and Special Correspondent to The Pecan Park Eagle
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Jan. 12, 2015: Further explanation now comes in via an alleged letter to Sam Spayed and an actual letter to Robert “Shirtless Bob” Blair, both from a man named Andy Goheen, the supplier of the mysterious baseball game post card from 1911. – Remarkably, Sam Spayed received this welcome help without having to divvy up the c-note that he had received from Robert Blair to gumshoe the matter. What a coincidence. Tuesday is Sam’s drinking night out with Iva Archer, the widow of his late partner, Miles Archer, down at the Blue Parrot, near Fisherman’s Wharf. I guess we know who’ll be buying the booze tonight. – Editor, The Pecan Park Eagle.
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Alleged Letter from Andy Goheen to Sam Spayed
Dear Mr. Spayed,
My name is Andy Goheen. I only know your client, Robert Blair, as “Shirtless Bob”, the brother of an E-Bay customer of mine named Daryl Blair. Here’s a copy of the letter I wrote to “Shirtless Bob” shortly after the New Year – or, perhaps, it was just short of Christmas. I’m no longer sure. I’m now only certain of one thing – his name was “Shirtless Bob”. Be sure of that.
Respectfully, Andy Goheen
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Actual Letter from Andy Goheen to Robert “Shirtless Bob” Blair
Good Afternoon, Shirtless Bob
I received your letter of a few days past expressing some confusion about the vintage baseball game postcard which I recently sent to you. To demystify the event; I put this card on an e-bay auction several weeks ago and it was purchased by one Daryl Blair. The winning request was for me to send it directly to you with no receipt or invoice which would tip you off to the purchaser. He was positive that you would enjoy the card as, according to his description, you are a baseball FANATIC.
Your letter included interest in my knowledge of the card’s history. I will attempt to answer your questions; I have had the card since about 1980. I grew up in Winters, CA (where the card is from) and lived there for about 28 years (1955 – 1982). I am a postal history buff originally more interested in the postmark on the card than the photo although it is of interest to me. I purchased the card from a postal history dealer in Sacramento, CA. I was looking through his inventory, noticed the card was from Winters, looked the photo over and was surprised to see that I could identify the actual location where the baseball game was being played. Winters is still and has always been a small town. When I lived there it was about 1600 people in size and likely much smaller in 1911. The photo was taken in the Warehouse District of Winters on the east side of a major street named Railroad Ave. The location of the game when I lived in that town is still very much like the original location in 1911, only a lot more run down as a lot of the warehouses fell into disrepair in later years. I wish I knew more about the guys playing but, unfortunately, do not. It appears to be the epitome of a Saturday pick-up game, but I do know that the town of Winters had a town club at that time as did all of the other small towns around there. They played amateur league ball with a vengeance locally and took it pretty seriously although this card doesn’t seem to be of that team. The players would have had uniforms on if it were that team.
I have recently been down-sizing some of the many things I have collected over the years. This card was one of those down-sizes. I figured that someone more into baseball might like it more than I. It turns out that that’s you. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any further questions, I would be glad to try and answer.
Regards, Andy Goheen
“HAIL TO THE REDSPINS!”
~ BY ALLOWING RED SPINNING TOPS TO BECOME THE NEW MASCOT OF THE WASHINGTON NFL CLUB.
Will the Washington Redskins eventually bow to the pressure of political correctness and change their hallowed and historical nickname from “Redskins” to something that doesn’t offend those with an ounce or two of Native American blood in their veins? Of course, I’m also one of those people who’s got so much Irish blood rampaging through my body that hardly anything offends me along these lines about Ireland or Irishmen. If enough of us Irish-Americans were so offended, we would have stormed the academic and athletic walls of Notre Dame University long ago.
Fighting Irish? You bet!
I do very much get the Native American objection to the skin color reference in the Washington mascot name, even though I really think that any racist intention behind the word “Redskin” disappeared long ago, but that doesn’t matter. What was once intended still brings dishonor and hurt – to those who caused it – and those it targeted. The word is literally offensive to many Native Americans and, for that reason, not political correctness to keep from getting yourself or company in trouble, but you really don’t care, anyway, the name needs to go. We are fifteen years deep into the 21st century now and everything we can do to stay vigilant and oppositional to racism in any expressed form is important. The trick is to accomplish just and fair change without trampling all over freedom of speech. It isn’t easy to do when two causes like racism and the heritage identity of an old NFL franchise collide, but the matter still needs positive and active resolution.
As anyone who’s been to UT Law School knows, Former Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: “Your freedom to throw your fist ends where my chin begins.” That’s a long time rule of thumb on culpability in issues of physical damage and emotional assaults that extend to slander, libel or harassment, but Holmes would have a damnable time keeping it as simple today. He and the courts of his time didn’t have to deal with the Internet, Facebook, and Twitter – to say nothing of political correctness zealotry.
Let’s simply try not to lose our respectful sense of humor or freedom of speech in the process – and that’s what Sunday’s column here is all about.
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The “Proposal”
There is a way for Washington to almost keep their treasured nickname by changing the “k” in “Redskins” to a “p” – a move that alters the word to read “Redspins” – their suggested new nickname for the spinning red tops that now shall serve as their new team spirit bearer. The featured graphic is little more than an inartistic graphic of how the helmet logos and team flag will appear once the transition to the full name of Washington Redspins is fully approved, functional, and in stores for commercial use on all new retail merchandise.
How wonderful are those red tops as a new mascot? Just as wonderful as the delusion that anything in Washington that gets set in motion could ever move forth with great and united energy in one for-the-good-of-the-people direction toward a national success that is enjoyed by everyone. Remember, anything that starts in Washington with strings attached is never free to move under the force of its own expedited energy. It can only spin for the ambiguous and misleading reasons it was set in motion by politicians in the first place – and it will only spin for as long as it takes the public to forget whatever it was set in motion to help people dis-remember from the git-go.
“Hail to the Redspins” would be the new fight song – with lyrics similar, but appropriately different from the ones that were in place for the original:
Original Lyrics ~ Hail to The Redskins
Hail to the Redskins!
Hail, victory!
Braves on the warpath!
Fight for Old D.C.!
Scalp ’em, swamp ‘um — We will take ‘um big score
Read ‘um, Weep ‘um,
Touchdown! — We want heap more
Fight on, Fight on – ‘Til you have won
Sons of Wash-ing-ton. Rah!, Rah!, Rah!
New Lyrics ~ Hail to The Redspins
Hail to the Redspins!
Hail, Re-cov-e-ry!
Tops on the Table!
Spinning – for old D.C.!
Borrow from the future, yes – but we want a whole lot more!
Twist ’em up, Turn ’em down,
Touchdowns? Absolutely none!
But keep on spinning ’till our credit’s done!
Sons of Wash-ing-ton. Rah!, Rah!, Rah!
Hail to the Redspins!
Hail, Re-cov-e-ry!
Tops on the Table!
Spinning – for old D.C.!
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Fortunately for us Houston sports fans, people who live here, or come here, seem to be happy to call themselves “Texans” in the “Space City” where “Rockets” are revered and where baseball lovers seem to enjoy following a team that is named innocuously for some kind of extraterrestrial space material that most of us had never even heard about prior to 1965. Try rubbing two sticks together and building a fire for mascot name changes in Houston in the name of political correctness, but, if you do, don’t hold your breath waiting for the smoke to rise.
Craig Biggio barely had time to catch his breath from a whirlwind trip to New York circles, which included a Top Ten List appearance on the David Letterman Late Show, when he was whisked over to the Grand Rotunda of Minute Maid Park’s Union Station for the first of many jubilant Houston parties that are sure to come through all the time that lays ahead of us on the way from here to his late July 2015 formal induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY.
Fortunately for The Pecan Park Eagle, our roving Astros-Event-Ubiquitous reporter, Mike McCroskey, was there at 5:00 PM this Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, to take it all in and then file this special exclusive story for this Saturday dateline column. Good timing for McCroskey too. He got to try out one of the earliest color cameras ever used back in the 19th century. Mike purchased this historic piece at a private auction in December because it was once the personal working property of iconic Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. He’s been aching to try it out on something big and contemporary ever since – and today, he got his chance.
Also thanks to Mike McCroskey, here’s a link to the Craig Biggio and other HOF inductees and their appearance on the David Letterman Late Show Wednesday, January 7, 2015, as presenters on “The Top Ten Things I Said When I Learned I Had Been Selected for The Baseball Hall of Fame”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W817X4DVJMI&app=desktop
Thanks, Mike. – The words and pictures here are both wonderful. You have succeeded in keeping our readers in the loop!
Editor, The Pecan Park Eagle
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Craig Biggio Joyfully Toasted by Astros President Reid Ryan and Others at Friday’s Big(gio) Bash at MMP!
~Photo by Mike McCroskey
Biggio HOF Announcement Homecoming Party is MLB Hit # 3.061
By
Mike McCroskey, Special Assignment Writer for The Pecan Park Eagle
Several thousand fans packed Union Station and overflowed into the stands and gift shop of Minute Maid park to honor Craig Biggio on what was the first of several celebrations to honor Craig Biggio’s first ever Astro elected to the Hall of Fame. Reid Ryan began the ceremony by stating that owner Jim Crane wanted to make Biggio’s election a first class celebration all season for the Houston fans. There will be several special Biggio days at the ballpark this season before and after the Cooperstown induction.
HOF member Nolan Ryan heads to the podium to introduce Craig Biggio as Alyson Footer snaps his image.
~ Photo by Mike McCroskey
Nolan Ryan welcomed Biggio to the stage. Saying he remembered when he came up they thought he might be the batboy. Wasn’t sure if he was even shaving yet.
Houston Mayor Anise Parker was introduced to a smattering if applause and a few boos. She admonished the fans to respect the recipient and class prevailed. She read a proclamation declaring today officially Craig Biggio day in Houston.
Astros Owner Jim Crane describes Biggio as the “Heart of the Astros” as Alyson Footer (red head, lower right) also takes his picture.
~ Photo by Mike McCroskey
Then Reid Ryan read a proclamation from a Harris County judge which declared today Craig Biggio Day in Harris County. Then State rep Sylvester Turner came to the stage and said that there were 29 million Texans who were proud of Craig Biggio and presented him with a framed Texas flag, which had been flown over our Capital. Not bad for a kid from New York.
HOF Inductee and Houston Hero Craig Biggio thanks all the fans for their support over the years.
~ Photo by Mike McCroskey
Craig said how proud he was to have played in Houston. That he played hard everyday to earn respect. And you had to keep earning it everyday. He said “we had a mediocre team in 2007, but when I announced my retirement, 40,000 filled the ball park every game for the rest if the year. It was very humbling. Thank you Houston fans. You’re the best!”
Larry Dierker was one of the most recognizable famous faces in the crowd. We assume that Alyson Footer also was taking this shot off camera.
~ Photo by Mike McCroskey
Faces in the crowd included former managers and players Phil Garner and Larry Dierker, MLB charmer Allison Footer and Minute Maid’s Fred Arnold. Amazingly I was able to leave the event without being asked for a single autograph.
“30”/ Mike McCroskey
Mike McCroskey
Special Correspondent
The Pecan Park Eagle
~ How on earth could this man possibly have left the building Friday without a single autograph request? ~
Thanks for sending this portfolio to me, Sam Quintero! This one was irresistible to any “pass” motion I may have feigned with my electronic finger in the past. I’ve never written in any long form about my lifelong love for the cars of the 1950s, but this one column changes that limitation for all time, with one big exception. – Unless you are old enough to have been coming of age when all these sights were everyday drooling stimuli for just about every teenage guy in America, these sights are far more powerful as pictures in the recreation of a loving thrill that sums up for some of us our eternal attraction to that style of automobile design. Ask us what we think of all those familiar oval shaped gray and tan plastic cars that today are barely distinguishable from one another, or from themselves over one model year to the next. They all look pretty much the same these days. Without their attached manufacturing brand logos, they are all too similar to be distinctively identified – and they all lack that shiny substance that once distinctively adorned our great American muscle cars. Ask us wizened ones what we think, and we will unitedly tell you, in parody of the lyrics from a great old swing era big band number from an even earlier time, that, when it comes to cars:
“It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got Chrome Bling!”
Feast your eyes and feed the soul on a small sample of what were once the great American cars for each of us who wanted to rumble down the pavement of our own street of dreams. We didn’t always get there, or end up exactly where we thought we were going with the map plans and partners we started out with, but that’s life. Our job isn’t to be right about everything we think is out there when we start the journey, but to learn and adjust to our mistakes, and to celebrate and be grateful for the people and experiences that came along to teach us what we needed to learn to reach our best destination.
In the end, it’s all about us coming to understand this much about time. – Today is where we live, but that isn’t limiting. It’s very powerful. It’s where we get things done with those things that are possible. The future and the past exist only in the mind. We cannot capture what is yet to be with our promises. We cannot regain what might have been with our regrets. In baseball, as in life, we are all day-to-day, taking each game and each day – one breath at a time.
Our journeys are each our own, but, once upon a time, we could always make sure the chrome was bright and shiny before we gassed up to go!
IT WASN’T JUST THE CHEVYS ~ THAT FED US ALL THE HEAVIES!
The 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers
~ Jim Russell’s Last MLB Stop thru 1951
~ courtesy of the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame
Funny how the stars align. At a time we celebrate the induction of our great Houston star Craig Biggio and three others’ 2015 inductee selections for the Baseball Hall of Fame, a story of a really good ballplayer, Jim Russell, comes our way by virtue of his son Stephen Russell’s contribution of that rare 1988 rookie photo of Craig Biggio with the younger Russell after or before a game in Montreal.
Later this same day, Stephen Russell sent me a story about his father’s career that was written in 2013 by George Von Benko of South Connellsville, PA that The Pecan Park Eagle will now share with you here.
Jim Russell was not one the greats who light the fire of our fan passions, but he, indeed, was one of that larger cast of good ballplayers who keep the infrastructure going from one era to the next as a living thing to be enjoyed by baseball fans all over the world. Jim Russell played for ten seasons in the big leagues with Pittsburgh (1942-47), Boston, NL (1948-49) and Brooklyn (1950-51). As a tall right-handed switch-hitting outfielder, Russell batted .267 over his career, with 67 HR. His best season for average was 1944 when his 181 hits translated into 34 doubles, 14 triples, 8 homers and a .314 batting average. His 12 homers in 1945 were his biggest long ball season. A native son of the famous Monongahela Valley in the baseball rich region of western Pennsylvania, Jim Russell passed away of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 69. His deserving memory is worthy of our preservation. It always has been the role of actors like Jim Russell to keep the baseball theater lights going on a non-stop run from history to forever. If they do not, the stars that come along will have no place to shine.
Thank you Stephen V. Russell too for making this article possible. We appreciate the 1988 photo you had made with Craig Biggio and today shared with us, along with your keen observations about the man as a rookie and future great. May your work as Director of the Mid Mon Valley Historical Society and Sports Museum also continue to flourish in the land of Stan Musial and the two Ken Griffeys far beyond our shared limited time on this wonderful place on earth we know as America.
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Posted: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 2:00 am
Russell added to region’s rich baseball history
By George Von Benko
For the Herald-Standard, Uniontown, PA
Western Pennsylvania has a very rich baseball history, one of the standouts from the past was former Fayette City native Jim Russell.
Russell was born on Oct. 1, 1918, in Fayette City, Pa., the son of James and Lillian Russell. His father was of Irish-Welsh descent and his mother was Swedish. As a child, Russell had rheumatic fever, and an infection developed in his heart, but he recovered. He dropped out of school and went to work in the mines like his father.
Russell honed his baseball skills playing sandlot baseball and caught the attention of baseball scouts. He signed his first professional contract with the McKeesport (Pa.) Little Pirates in 1937 and for the next five seasons played minor league ball in several towns, including Butler, Beaver Falls, Youngstown, Springfield (Ill.), and St. Joseph of the Michigan State League.
In 1941 Russell moved up to Class B, playing 125 games for Meridian of the Southeastern League where he led the league in stolen bases with 51 and established a new single-season record. He finished the ’41 campaign with the Memphis Chicks of the Class A Southern Association, and batted .383 with 10 doubles in 24 games, but was displeased with his salary.
Jim Russell
Pittsburgh Pirates
1942-47
He was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the minor league draft and assigned to Toronto of the International League (AA) for the 1942 campaign. He batted .295 and was a September call-up by the Pirates and appeared in five games. He had one hit in 14 at-bats.
Russell played six years for the Pirates and batted .277 with 40 home runs, 288 RBI and 51 stolen bases. Russell’s manager in Pittsburgh was future Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch. The “Fordham Flash” liked what he saw in the 24-year old outfielder, commenting that Russell had a chance to be as good “as he wants to be.”
Frisch was a hard-nosed player in his day and liked Russell’s speed and ability, and taught him to drag bunt to take advantage of his speed.
“Why, that fellow Russell ought to bunt .300 in any league! He actually overtakes and beats the ball when he pulls a bunt down the line!” Frisch said in a newspaper article at the time.
Jim Russell
Boston Braves
1948-49
During the offseason in 1947, Russell was traded to the Boston Braves along with catcher Bill Salkeld and pitcher Al Lyons for outfielder Johnny Hopp and second baseman Danny Murtaugh.
Russell at first embraced the move to Boston. Here is what he had to say about the move in a 1947 newspaper story.
“The best thing about coming to Boston,” Russell claimed. “Is that I won’t have to bat against Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn.”
The switch-hitting Russell reflected on his career with the Pirates.
“Being a hometown boy,” he said. “I probably pressed a little too much trying to do well before the fans. I know my dad used to come out to see me, and I tried too hard to get some hits for him.”
Braves Field was also a favorite park for Russell.
“The best day I had all last year was in Boston,” he stated. “I got five hits in six times at-bat, including two doubles and a triple.
“Another thing about Braves Field, I’ll get hits on drives they used to catch off me in deep right-center in Pittsburgh. I know that every time I hit a ball on the nose in Braves Field it went against the fences. My best power is to right center and I lost a lot of hits in Pittsburgh, because of the long distance to the fences in that part of the park.”
Russell played two season for the Braves and hit .246 with 17 home runs and 108 RBI. On June 7, 1948, in a game against the Cubs in Wrigley Field, Russell had a career moment when he tied a National League record with four extra-base hits in a single game. He homered and doubled from both sides of the plate, and also drove in six runs as the Braves defeated the Cubs, 9-5. He was a big part of the Braves’ drive for the pennant.
His season came to an end on July 22, 1948, when he was admitted to Christ Hospital in Cincinnati with an infected tooth and decaying jaw bone which were believed to have caused a fever he had for two weeks prior to entering the hospital. On August 30, it was announced that Russell would miss the remainder of the season. The Braves received permission to add outfielder Ray Sanders to the World Series roster to replace Russell.
In 1949, Russell and teammate Earl Torgeson got into a fight at a Chicago hotel and both combatants came away injured. Torgeson suffered a sprained thumb, while Russell came away with two black eyes. This was the tip of the iceberg and manager Billy Southworth soon left the club.
Jim Russell
Brooklyn Dodgers
1950-51
Russell was traded to Brooklyn on Christmas Eve 1949, along with Ed Sauer and cash for Luis Olmo. Russell’s contract was assigned to the Dodgers’ top farm club, the Montreal Royals of the International League. He balked and threatened to retire, he was given a shot at the big league club and made it.
He was Dodgers fan favorite with nicknames like “Bing-Bango, Sock and Slub.” In 1950, four home runs won games outright and five home runs came against their archrival St. Louis Cardinals. He played for Brooklyn in 1950 and part of 1951, batting .216 with 10 home runs and 32 RBI.
Russell finished his playing career in 1952 and 1953 with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League and then retired back to Pennsylvania. He was a scout for the Dodgers and Senators, and owned Russell Brothers Beer Distributing. He became a salesman for Smith-Corona and moved to the Tampa, Fla., area. He experienced health problems and died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 69.
Russell was inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1952.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Tuesday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Rookie Craig Biggio with educator/historian Stephen Russell in Montreal, before or after a game in 1988.
The Pecan Park Eagle is just now in receipt of a rare photo of Craig Biggio from his 1988 rookie season. It came to us from Pennsylvania writer friend Ron Paglia who lives heart-deep in the Monongahela Valley country where Musial and the Griffeys started. Ron got it from Stephen Russell, Executive Director of the Mid Mon All Sports Hal of Fame. It features a picture that Russell had made with Biggio in 1988, but Ron Paglia’s own words describe it best.
Thanks for making this photo available to us, Ron!
Here are the words of writer Ron Paglia about the Biggio induction and this particular photo:
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Close Up: Historian Stephen Russell meets rookie Craig Biggio in Montreal, 1988.
Bill:
I forwarded your material about Biggio to Steve Russell, the retired educator and area historian who heads the Hall of Fame here. Steve, whose father Jim Russell, played 13 years in the Majors with Pittsburgh, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves, has a huge collection of memorabilia. Among those archives is the attached photo of Steve with Biggio in 1988. Just thought you might like to see it
Thanks again for keeping us in the loop with your daily essays.
Ron Paglia
About Steve Russell: Stephen V. Russell, executive director of the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame, was with the election January 6 of Craig Biggio, former star with the Houston Astros, to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Russell is shown here with Biggio at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in 1988, when Biggio was initially called up to the Major Leagues. “His facial enthusiasm emphasized what was ahead of him – a stellar Major League career,” Russell said. “He was always a class act.” The photo is part of the MMVAPHOF archives.
Ron Paglia
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Addendum: Plus these three photos from today’s New York presentation of all four 2015 inductees, compliments of Sam Quintero and the Houston Astros:
New York, 1/07/15: 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, and Pedro Martinez.
New York, 1/07/15: 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, and Pedro Martinez.
New York, 1/07/15: 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, and Pedro Martinez.
THE KO-KILLER BEES
~ ONE’S NOW IN
~ THE OTHER STILL WAITS
The Boogie Woogie Baseball Boy, The Ko-Killer Bee
(Sung to the tune and beat of “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”;
If only Bette Midler or The Andrews Sister were here now.)
Song parody and lyrical misappropriation by
Bill McCurdy of The Pecan Park Eagle
He was a famous second baseman out in Houston way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number was called, and he took off for The Hall
He’s bound for Cooperstown, as we sound Reveille
He’s the boogie-woogie baseball boy, the Ko-Killer Bee
They made him wait three years because they don’t give a damn,
The writers think that they’re the gods, but they’re just sliced ham
We Astro fans all understand
Because this day he’s now in, pass the gin, hire a band
Craig’s in at Cooperstown, as we sound Reveille
He’s the boogie-woogie baseball boy called Craig Biggio!
B! B! B! B! “B” for Biggio-nee!
Not-nam-ing-Bagwell-too’s – the-on-ly-ba-LON-ey!
JEFF BAGWELL FOR THE HALL OF FAME
~IN THE NAMES OF JUSTICE AND EQUITY
THANK YOU, KPRC-TV FOR A TRIBUTE TO 2015 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE CRAIG BIGGIO THAT JUST ABOUT SAYS IT ALL!
Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros finally got his just due today, Tuesday, January 6, 2015. The BBWAA announced that he had been selected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the basis of his 82.7% support from those electors who voted on this year’s ballot. His 454 votes place him 42 votes above the minimum 412 votes he needed and a full 7.9% above the 75.0% he needed for a passing grade.
Biggio achieved his overdue induction in the third year his name has been on the HOF ballot. He was joined on the approval list by three pitchers who were making their first eligible appearances for consideration, lefties Randy Johnson and John Smoltz and right-hander Pedro Martinez.
Notable to Houston fans is the fact that their great former 1st baseman, Jeff Bagwell, fell far short of the numbers needed with only 306 votes (55.7%), ending the long held dream of Houston fans for a Biggio-Bagwell tandem induction. Now everybody, including Craig Biggio, will be getting behind Bagwell’s release from the unfair steroids era stigma against all sluggers from that first decade of the 21st century. Jeff Bagwell is very much a deserving candidate for the HOF too in his own right.
Sadly notable too is the fact that a 7-time Cy Young winner of 354 MLB games named Roger Clemens received only 206 votes (37.5%) for the HOF. Hopefully, our American baseball culture eventually will reach a point in which a fair and realistic treatment of the steroids stained masses are not simply treated as though they never existed or did great things on the field, but that’s a story for another day that just gets clearer as one we currently ignore. Ignoring Clemens and the others is not the final answer to our treatment of accomplishments that are impossible to ignore. If that matter is left up to the BBWAA voters, their apparent answer is to treat any muscular power game achiever from that era as guilty by appearance and association and stewed for 15 years on the HOF ballot until the disappearing ink that wrote their names there in the first place quietly disappears.
At any rate, here’s a table on voting for the four 2015 inductees whose names were written on the ballot with permanent ink, but with some getting the blurry print treatment that only resolves to clarity over variable years passage of time. It took Craig Biggio’s name three years to become clear to 82.7% of the voters. There is otherwise no logically objective reason why it took him three years to get voted in. Unless the writers/voters suffer from some form of egoistic snootiness, there is no other plausible reason we can think of why it took Craig Biggio even this long to get voted into the Hall. Unless the writers are giving Head Coach Biggio extra credit for the two state championships in baseball that his St. Thomas Eagles won in Texas private school play since 2007 retirement, we can’t think of anything else baseball-related that’s made him more worthy in 2015 than he was in 2013 and 2014.
As we were saying, here’s the chart on votes for our four new HOF inductees:
| INDUCTEE | POS. | 412 VOTES NEEDED | 75% NEEDED |
| RANDY JOHNSON | LHP | RECEIVED: 534 | REC’D: 97.3% |
| PEDRO MARTINEZ | RHP | RECEIVED: 500 | REC’D: 91.1% |
| JOHN SMOLTZ | LHP | RECEIVED: 455 | REC’D: 82.9% |
| CRAIG BIGGIO | C/2B/CF | RECEIVED: 454 | REC’D: 82.7% |
Craig Biggio’s field achievements are almost legendary:
1) He played 20 seasons of MLB ball, all with the Houston Astros, from 1988-2007.
2) He batted .281 lifetime, collecting 3,060 hits along the way.
3) As member of the 3,000 hit club, Biggio ranks 21st on the total current list of 28 players who have done so.
4) His 668 doubles are the most ever achieved by an MLB right handed batter – and fifth all time for all hitters.
5) Craig Biggio is the only player in MLB history to have compiled 250 homers, 400 stolen bases, 600 doubles, and 3,000 hits.
6) His 53 game-starting homers as a lead off hitter is the record for NL batters.
7) Craig Biggio holds the modern day MLB record with 285 career Hit By The Pitcher (HBP) events.
Thank you too, Craig Biggio and family, for being the stellar contributors to our community you have been over the years. All of your work with the Sunshine Kids is the stuff of appreciative legend in the hearts and minds of Houstonians. And you’ve probably forgotten this one, but please allow me to remind you of something I said both to you and about you back in 2004 during my time as Board President of the Texas Baseball of Fame and you were one of our inductees. It didn’t take any psychic powers on my part to state the obvious when I observed from the podium that “you should think of your induction tonight as little more than a dress rehearsal for that bigger Hall that lays in waiting for you down the road.”
Congratulations, Craig! You made it. You deserved it. You’re there. And you’re our guy too – Houston’s Craig Biggio! What a glorious day this is!
The Pecan Park Eagle 