The Pecan Park Eagle

Congratulations, Eddie Gaedel!

August 28, 2014

Eddie Gaedel
St. Louis Browns
Sportsman’s Park
August 19, 1951

Great News for You, Mr. Eddie Gaedel!

The Pecan Park Eagle has just received an unsolicited comment from Mr. Tom Keefe, the founder and President of The Eddie Gaedel Society. President Keefe discovered your modest ballad while perusing the archives of this esteemed Eagle history patron and now hopes to get his group to sing it at their fifth annual meeting next year at O’Doherty’s Bar in Spokane, Washington. Of course, we gave Mr. O’Keefe our best wishes in the the fond hope that they, indeed, shall do so. Sung to the theme and choral notes that back “Rudolph the Reed-Nosed Reindeer,” the song is both exalting in praise for you, Eddie, and also factual. It is also easy to sing if people have the words in front of them in the company of good friends, a shared love of you, a few beers, and a tavern state of mind.

Thank you too, Tom Keefe! “The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel” deserves to be immortalized by the group that now bears his good name and accomplishments down the hall of celebratory nights and far into the corners of all places that exist through the ages as memorials to the great ones! – To not get it done next year would be tantamount to Eddie having struck out back on August 19, 1951. We cannot allow that to happen!

That being said, here it is again, “The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel!”:

The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel
(All verse stanzas are in regular shade type and are sung to the main tune of “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The two chorus stanzas, shown in bold type, are sung to the chorus tune from “Rudolph” that goes with “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, etc.”)

by Bill McCurdy, 1999.

Bill Veeck, the Brownie owner,
Wore some very shiny clothes!
And if you saw his sport shirt,
You would even say, “It glows!”

All of the other owners,
Used to laugh and call him names!
They wouldn’t let poor Bill Veeck,
Join in any owner games!

(chorus)
Then one humid summer day,
Bill Veeck had to – fidget!
Got an idea that stirred his soul,
He decided to sign a – midget!

His name was Eddie Gae-del,
He was only three feet tall!
He never played much baseball,
He was always just too small!

(chorus)
Then one day in Sportsman’s Park,
Eddie went to bat!
Took four balls and walked to first,
Then retired – just-like-that!

Oh, how the purists hated,
Adding little Eddie’s name,
To the big book of records,
“Gaedel” bore a blush of shame!

Now when you look up records,
Look up Eddie’s O.B.P.!
It reads a cool One Thousand,
Safe for all eternity.

"I'll be listening for you next year at O'Doherty's in Spokane and my hearing now is just as great as my perfect OBP career was in 1951!"!"

“I’ll be listening for you next year at O’Doherty’s in Spokane – and my hearing now is just as great as my perfect OBP career was back in 1951!”!”

Tags: The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel, The Eddie Gaedel Society
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Kathleen Miggins’ Astrodome Telephone Tale

August 27, 2014

They are two of my dearest friends in the whole world – and Irish Catholic as any married couple of a thousand years and twelve children later could ever possibly hope to be. Their devout Faith has born them through the greatest most core values of joy – and it has also carried them through the grief of every loving parent’s worst nightmare come true, the loss of their two oldest sons, Rory and Larry Joe, before them. The Miggins family is very close, God’s Love in motion at all times, if you please. They have, what we all may have, if we choose to live as the Miggins family does – in humble strength – always working to do the right thing in their contacts with the world, but sometimes encountering the jaded side of life that is not their normal contact patter between family, friends, and other close acquaintances.

As a Houston Buff in 1951, Larry Miggins once refused to escort a beauty contestant to home plate for an introduction because he felt she wasn’t modestly dressed. That young lady, Kathryn Grandstaff, was later best known as actress Kathy Grant and the wife of singer Bing Crosby. But to Larry, back in 1951, she was a woman who was making a public appearance “almost naked.” – She was wearing a one-piece early 1950s women’s bathing suit.

Most of you from SABR, and those of you who are longtime readers here, also know Larry’s story about the time at Columbus, Ohio in which he helped an umpire reverse a double call and turn it into a HR against his own club because the doubtful umpire asked him as the left fielder” “Did that ball bounce off the wall in play – or did it go over the fence and bounce back on the field. It cleared the fence Larry told the umpire. He could not tell a lie – even if it meant absorbing the unhappiness of his own manager and teammates.

We could go on and on, but the point is made. Larry Miggins is a great storyteller, but guess what? “You ain’t heard nothing yet” until you have had a chance to hear of one of his dear wife Kathleen Miggins express in her own brogue and Irish point of view. She sent me a story a couple of days ago that I begged her permission to share with the readers here. She needed some reassurance that the two new words that were added to her vocabulary by a stranger from this experience would not reflect upon her own soul by committing them to public print. As best I could, I shared my view with Kathleen that she was merely reporting the words chosen for use by the man in this story. And that he any negative reflection, if there was any, was upon him. – It was our best answer. We are The Pecan Park Eagle, not the Vatican, but our reasoning made good sense to dear Kathleen. – There is nothing wrong about sharing a funny story publicly if it makes some people smile and harms no one.

The “I Love Lucy” writers would have loved this scenario for their classic sit-com. I can just see Lucy Ricardo suddenly finding herself in the same situation that Kathleen Miggins is about to describe and behaving pretty much the same way. She would try to be of help. But let’s allow Kathleen to tell the story in her own words. If you enjoy the story, please leave a comment upon this column so that Kathleen may know that you did::

_________________________________________________________________________

My Astrodome Telephone Tale

By Kathleen Miggins

Bill, my gift today is to relate a true incident at the Astrodome, where I think I saved a marriage.

It was late August and the baseball season was winding down so Larry and I decided to treat Ourselves to a trip to the Dome to enjoy a game. Michael was our youngest child and a student at St.Thomas High school and on the football team. At some time during the Astros game, I realized that I had not left a note for Michael and, as many of us still remember, cell phones were not so much the property of the general public in those days.

There was a bank of public telephones in the casual area of the section where we had our seats, so I decided to call home and leave a message for the lad. When I got to the phone I gave instructions to Michael — “Dad and I are at the Dome — your dinner is in the warm oven — lock the door — turn on the lights in living room — get on with the home work — write down all phone messages — call your sister Eileen if you have any problem —- we should be home promptly after the game —”

Meanwhile, there was a young man at the next phone cubicle and he was very loud and agitated, seemingly having a flaming argument with someone. I had no interest in eavesdropping, but I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was listening to my narrative because he was looking at me rather quizzically!!!

Brace yourself, Bill, for a rather indelicate turn of events.

As soon as I had finished speaking with Michael, I hung up the receiver and turned to walk away. That is when he tapped me on the shoulder and in a very gruff voice he said to me, while handing me the receiver of his phone, “Lady,” he says, “will you tell my wife that I am not at a TITTY BAR!!!”

I could hardly refuse, calling to mind the parable of the Good Samaritan,

It took me a few seconds to compose myself as I absorbed this new two-word addition to my general vocabulary.

“This ‘lady in distress’ must be rescued at all costs,” I thought.

I took the phone and introduced myself, explaining that I, a total stranger to this man beside me at the Domed Stadium had asked me to reassure his Wife of his innocent whereabouts!!!

“Many a word at random spoken may sooth or wound a heart that’s broken.”

I hope I convinced her that he was, indeed, at the Dome, but who knows for sure?

Why did the man pick me? Was I just conveniently available? And what was the final outcome for this marriage?

I often wonder if the man might have detected a trace of the brogue upon my tongue.

Do you think they kissed and made up, as in — “All is forgiven?” Or did they go the way of — “Have fun and stay in touch?”

” Nothing is denied well directed effort “.

________________________________________________________________________________

You did the right thing as far as I’m concerned, Kathleen. I’ve often wondered about the hundreds of people I saw professionally during my career as a therapist, although I never had anyone pull me into a marriage conflict as your stranger at the Astrodome phone bank did in this instance. In general, none of us have the power to help people who don’t want our help – and neither can we help those who say they want help, but still refuse to take responsibility for their own behavior in a problematic relationship.

As for your lady in this case, all I can think of at this moment is Jimmy Durante’s great old and mysterious sign-off message:

“Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!”

Tags: Kathleen Miggins' Astrodome Telephone Tale
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Insults with Class by the Egos of Fame and Power

August 26, 2014

Margaret Dumont: "I've never been more insulted in my life!" Groucho Marx: "Relax, Madam! The evening is young!"

Margaret Dumont: “I’ve never been more insulted in my entire life!”
Groucho Marx: “Relax, Madam! The evening is young!”

Thanks to a good friend who sent this item to me this Tuesday on a slow news day, one filled with uninspiring visitations with the Muses and far too many laborious home chores to sit long enough into the delightful glide that is research and writing. …

Insults with Class by the Egos of Fame and Power

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.” “That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.”“He had delusions of adequacy.” – Walter Kerr“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” – Winston Churchill

“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” Clarence Darrow

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” – William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.” – Moses Hadas

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” – Mark Twain

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends..” – Oscar Wilde

“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one.” – George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second …. if there is one.” – Winston Churchill, in response.

“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” – Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright

“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.” – Irvin S. Cobb

“He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.”– Samuel Johnson

“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” – Paul Keating

“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily. – Charles, Count Talleyrand

“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” – Forrest Tucker

“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” – Mark Twain

“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” – Mae West

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.”– Oscar Wilde

“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.” – Andrew Lang

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” – Billy Wilder

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I’m afraid this wasn’t it.” – Groucho Marx

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Do Major Sports Team Owners Feel Entitled?

August 25, 2014

We make no claims here for financial genius. We live among the ranks of those who simply try to make sure that we keep whatever money we do have invested in accounts that either pay a good interest rate, or else, have a good history for nice periodic dividend payments.

Owners of major league baseball, football, and basketball teams, however, seem to possess a genius for profit that resides well beyond the rest of us mortals. It seems as though major American sports club owners can lose money for years and never win anything, but in the end, sell their clubs for a something that feels and sounds like a gazillion per cent profit for whatever they paid for it – even if they sell it in the middle of one of the worst financial recessionary periods in recent American history.

Two simple examples speak to the point.

In Baseball – John McMullen bought the Houston Astros in 1979 for $ 18 million dollars. Thirteen years later, after twice coming close to a pennant in 1980 and 1986, he sold the franchise and its ancillary interests to Drayton McLane, Jr. for $ 117 million dollars. Under McLane, the Astros got a new stadium downtown in 2000 and their only pennant ever in 2005, but, after nineteen years of ownership, Drayton sold the club and all its baggage to Jim Crane for – what? – $ 680 million dollars and a forced move to the American League. – That $ 680 million may have come down a little as a result of the “AL or Else Nothing” ultimatum from the Commissioner’s office, but it still closed by a healthy dollar neck above $ 600 million – even with the television network albatross that continues to block 60% of the market from seeing the team play at home still in effect through late August 2014, the third season of baseball black out on the home screen for the majority of local Houston fans.

In Basketball – In 1981, Donald Sterling bought the San Diego Clippers for $ 12.5 million dollars and moved them to Los Angeles. In 2014, Sterling was forced to sell his NBA holdings as a result of some blatantly stupid racist remarks and, even though he fought accepting the biggest profit in the history of American professional sports, Sterling finally was forced by the courts to accept the $ 2 billion dollar bid from new owner Steve Balmer.

I sort of get it. – At what point do major sports franchises come home to roost under the normal rules of reality that apply to the rest of other businesses? Seems to me it will only be when they lose all of their big revenue sources from television dollars – and that factor seems to have less to do with actual game attendance than it does with the notion that, as long as advertisers are selling their wares in some measurable way as a result of TV commercials, the networks will want to keep the TV money flowing. – That only ends when – people stop buying those TV-advertised products and services in a measurable way that then causes advertisers to pull their money away from, let’s say, baseball game advertising – and into pouring it elsewhere – and not necessarily into another sport. Advertisers and networks would pour the money into the reincarnation of “I Love Lucy” with a new cast, if they thought they could get more bang for their buck in so doing.

If you are in business for yourself in a non-sports product or service area, imagine what it would be like to have a revenue stream like sports television advertising. Think what you could do. – You could afford to pay your key employees top dollar salaries and bonuses while continuing to charge high prices to your customers for whatever you were selling – regardless of quality – and whether you were getting many store calls or not. As long as the advertisers and the networks thought their deal with you was helping them, you might even get sucked into the entitlement cycle yourself – and start treating that TV money as though you could always count on it being there.

Watch out! As soon as the advertising begins to measure out as failure, it’s gone. And so is the possibility of a franchise increasing in value over time simply because the clock moved.

Tags: tv and entitlement
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Mike McCroskey 1 – Roseanne Barr 0.

August 24, 2014

“I BELIEVE I CAN FLY …
I BELIEVE I CAN TOUCH THE SKY …”
– MICHAEL McCROSKEY.

Thanks to a delightful, if unexpectedly submitted in the guise of an e-mail to this editor, the following account from surprise guest columnist Greg Lucas supplies The Pecan Park Eagle with the heartwarming story of our own SABR brother, Mike McCroskey, and his National Anthem singing debut last night before a real professional baseball game at a real baseball venue, courtesy of Ira Liebman and the Sugar Land Skeeters at Constellation Field in Sugar Land. Prior to last night, the deserving Mr. McCroskey has only sung The Star Spangled Banner at vintage baseball games of the Houston Babies before crowds of, perhaps, 35 to 40 fans, tops.

Way to go, Michael – and thank you, Greg Lucas, for penning your own name to this small, but important piece of Houston area baseball history!

MIKE McCROSKEY SINGS PRE-GAME NATIONAL ANTHEM AT CONSTELLATION FIELD PRIOR TO A SUGAR LAND SKEETERS GAME

By Greg Lucas, Guest Columnist of The Pecan Park Eagle

Spread the word… Mike McCroskey is available for more of those high paying national anthem singing gigs. He wowed the crowd at Constellation Field Saturday–and gave his discoverer, Ira Liebman, a great sigh of relief–when he showed up and whipped out all the right notes and words.

Said Liebman, “Mike underwent a grueling audition process and, in my judgement, he was ready for the big stage. We had him sing some of Julie Andrews parts from “The Sound of Music” to gauge his range. He knocked it out of the park, excuse the pun, with “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music.” We knew he could handle the high parts in the Anthem.”

Dressed in a Larry Dierker-like Hawaiian shirt, McCroskey confidently tore the microphone from the hands of the Skeeter intern who was helping him and strode confidently in front of home plate. When his rendition of Francis Scott Key’s song ended, McCroskey had to work his way through a crowd of admirers holding autograph books and pleading to have him pose for photos. “I can’t handle all this now folks,” McCroskey was heard to say,”These folks have a game to play.”

So, the legend begins. …

“Hey! We need a little help back here” That blonde-headed feller just blew out one of the light towers with his high notes!”

“He didn’t really blow out all the lights with his singing, but he did just about explode both my ear drums!”

“Wish I’d have been there to have seen that arch light blow out!”

“IT DON’T MATTER WHAT YOU DID, OR DIDN’T DO, McCROSKEY! – I’M COMING FOR YA! – YOU GOTTA BE A BETTER PICK THAN TOM ARNOLD!”

“AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO, MIKE McCROSKEY!
~ OUR LITTLE GROUP AT THE HALL OF FAME REGRETS WE CANNOT BE THERE IN PERSON THIS SUNDAY, 8/24/14, TO WISH YOU THAT SPECIAL SALUTATION, BUT WE ARE ALSO SURE YOU UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE OUR COMMON REASON FOR NOT BEING PRESENT LAST NIGHT FOR YOUR BALLPARK SINGING DEBUT!”

Tags: MIKE MCCROSKEY SINGS NATIONAL ANTHEM AT CONSTELLATION FIELD.
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Ed Delahanty and the Power of Gravity

August 23, 2014

Ed Delahanty: The 1903 death of this future Hall of Famer remains one of the great unsolved cold cases in baseball history.

As a matter of course in reading all kinds of ancient baseball history, enough of it, done continuously over time, and you eventually will form your own orbital-steady contact with the story of Ed Delahanty, the ancient Hall of Fame left fielder who died tragically in 1903 after being put off a train for being “drunk and disorderly” at Fort Erie, Canada, at the International Bridge near Niagara Falls that leads to Buffalo, New York. Some said he was brandishing a knife on the train after having consumed several whiskies that night and threatening other passengers.

At any rate, after the ejection, “Big Ed” as he was often called, apparently decided to cross the expansive rail ridge on foot, but never made it. About a week later, they found his body a short distance downstream, but were never able to determine if Ed Delahanty slipped, jumped, or was pushed off the bridge into the waters below. One account from a later secondary witness suggests that he was last seen being followed by another mysterious figure who was never identified.

Since Delahanty’s body was found without the wallet and jewelry he was known to have had on him at the time of his disappearance, the cause heats up for robbery/murder, but that suspicion alone does not rule out the possibility that he was simply relieved of these personal valuables after his dead body was first discovered. The Ed Delahanty Death lives on as a cold case for the ages. Back then, they either could not, or did not try to determine his exact cause of death. Was it caused by the impact trauma of his fall? Was it the result of drowning? Or was there any evidence of prior trauma from an assailant that might lend credence to the possibility of murder? No one knows today because nothing was ever determined back then.

On July 2, 1903, an investigative writer named Mike Sowell published an investigative study of the Delahanty conundrum in a work entitled “The Mysterious Death of Big Ed Delahanty.” It was published again by McMillan Publishing Company in 1992. The Sowell Study considers the evidence for all possibilities, but, as it stands to this day, nothing was ever determined that approaches certainty.

The death remains a big confirmation of one rule of wisdom that many people have to learn to survive the delusion of immortality and indestructibility that often accompanies the narcissistic vision of their young adult years. That is – that “being in the wrong place at the wrong time under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol can get you killed.”

Big Ed Delahanty didn’t make it. That’s all we know for sure.

Ed Delahanty was most deserving of his Hall of Fame induction in 1945. In sixteen seasons as a big leaguer (1888-1903), Ed batted over .400 on three occasions, winning two batting championships and finishing with a career lifetime batting average of .346. It’s just too bad, as always is the case, that his own vulnerability to cutting his life short won out over his talent for hitting a baseball.

Willis A (Papa) Teas
San Antonio, Texas
1938

I can never think of Ed Delahanty without thinking of an answer my maternal grandfather, Willis Teas, once gave me to a question I asked him when I was about ten years old. We had just met “Pappa” at Union Station in downtown Houston on one of his train trips to visit us from San Antonio. He and I were walking ahead of Mom and Dad on the short trip from the track area to the same great depot hall that now serves as the grand foyer of Minute Maid Park.

“Papa,” I asked, “would a fall from the top of Union Station over there absolutely kill you every time?”

“No,” Papa said with a chuckle as he responded to my early life search for absolute answers with a sense of humor that often embarrassed me for asking what then felt like a stupid question. “It wouldn’t kill you every time, just the first time. Remember, Billy, we only die once. Remember too, it isn’t the fall from a high place that kills the person falling. – It’s the sudden stop when the body hits the pavement that does him in.”

Papa Teas Reincarnate
Houston, Texas
2008

I loved Papa Teas, but it’s a small wonder that I didn’t grow up to be a smart ass too.

Tags: Ed Delahanty
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A Seems Like Yesterday 1993 Astros Game

August 22, 2014

CRAIG BIGGIO
SECOND BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

There is nothing particularly historical about this brief report on an Astros game from a recent Astros yesteryear summary. It’s just another reminder to all of us, even to us buried-to-the-nose Houston Astros fans, how fragile our time here is and how quickly, as the old C&W song reflects, that “it’s funny – how time slips away. Like all memories that eventually fade into this category, once we are old enough to have the experience, it bears the oscillating qualities of seeming both like ancient history as well as only yesterday in a matter of mere nanosecond change, moving forward through time.

Yesterday, Last Night, our local baseball hopes rode on the back of this community-shared recognition: Craig, Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Ken Caminiti, ages 27, 25, and 30 in 1993, are all very good ballplayers. Just watch our progress as they each mature and the Astros add a few more talents like them. For that matter, the club already had variable degrees of hope too for roster mates Mark Portugal, Luis Gonzalez, Scott Servais, and Eric Anthony

Re-live the dream that was still in motion when the following very ordinary game unfolded in the Houston Astrodome on July 2, 1993.

We Astros fans didn’t mope. – We had hope. – Miles and miles and miles of hope.

________________________________________

JEFF BIGGIO FIRST BASE 1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

JEFF BAGWELL
FIRST BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

July 2, 1993 ~ The Astrodome ~ Houston Astros 7, St. Louis Cardinals 1.

Astros cool off Cardinals

Associate Press

HOUSTON ~ Things finally fell apart for (St. Louis Cardinals pitcher) Joe Magrane.

Magrane (7-7) held Houston hitless until the fourth, when the Astros scored five runs on four hits. Magrane, who had a five-game winning streak snapped, gave up five runs on four hits in four innings.

Magrane was making it look easy on us early,” manager Art Howe said. “But then we put the big inning together.”

The big hit was Scot Servais‘ three-run homer.

Mark Portugal (6-3) was the winner, giving up one run and eight hits while striking out eight in seven innings.

Craig Biggio opened the fourth with a walk and moved to second on a single by Luis Gonzalez. Jeff Bagwell drove in Biggio with a single and Gonzalez scored from third when Ken Caminiti’s grounder forced Bagwell at second.

Servais hit his eighth home run of the season after a walk to Eric Anthony.

“I had a decent breaking ball and it was sinking well,” Magrane said. “I had a walk to start the inning, but I was thinking that a double play ball would get us out of it. The way I’ve been throwing and the way I’ve been holding runners, I was confident. I was in a situation where I thought I made the big pitch. I made a bad pitch to Servais – I got the change-up up. I didn’t execute.”

It was only the Cardinals’ second loss in their last nine games.

~ Associated Press, Altoona (PA) Mirror, Saturday, July 3, 1993, Page 24.

________________________________________

KEN CAMINITI
THIRD BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

The Box Score, Courtesy of Baseball Almanac.com:

St. Louis Cardinals	ab	r	h	rbi
Gilkey lf	4	0	1	0
Alicea 2b	4	0	0	0
Jefferies 1b	4	1	2	0
Zeile 3b	4	0	1	0
Jordan cf	4	0	3	1
Brewer rf	4	0	0	0
Pagnozzi c	4	0	0	0
Oquendo ss	3	0	0	0
Magrane p	1	0	0	0
Woodson ph	1	0	1	0
Lancaster p	0	0	0	0
Pena ph	1	0	0	0
Guetterman p	0	0	0	0
Olivares p	0	0	0	0
Perry ph	1	0	1	0
Totals	35	1	9	1

Houston Astros	ab	r	h	rbi
Biggio 2b	3	2	0	0
Gonzalez lf	3	1	1	0
Bagwell 1b	2	1	1	2
Caminiti 3b	4	1	1	1
Anthony rf	2	1	0	0
Cedeno ss	4	0	0	0
Servais c	4	1	1	3
Finley cf	4	0	1	0
Portugal p	3	0	0	0
Jones p	0	0	0	0
Edens p	0	0	0	0
Totals	29	7	5	6

St. Louis	0	0	0		0	0	1		0	0	0	–	1	9	2
Houston	0	0	0		5	1	0		1	0	x	–	7	5	0

St. Louis Cardinals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO

Magrane L (7-7)	4.0	4	5	5	2	1
Lancaster	2.0	1	1	0	2	2
Guetterman	1.0	0	1	0	1	0
Olivares	1.0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	8.0	5	7	5	5	3

Houston Astros	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Portugal W (6-3)	7.0	8	1	1	2	8
Jones	1.0	0	0	0	0	1
Edens	1.0	1	0	0	0	0
Totals	9.0	9	1	1	2	9
E–Jordan (2), Guetterman (1). DP–Houston 1. PB–Pagnozzi (6). 2B–St. Louis Jordan (2,off Portugal). HR–Houston Servais (8,4th inning off Magrane 2 on, 2 out). SF–Bagwell (7,off Guetterman). SB–Jefferies (22,2nd base off Portugal/Servais); Caminiti (6,2nd base off Magrane/Pagnozzi); Biggio 2 (11,2nd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi,3rd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi); Gonzalez (13,2nd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi). WP–Portugal (5). U-HP–Ed Montague, 1B–Mark Hirschbeck, 2B–Mike Winters, 3B–Bruce Froemming. T–2:36. A–35,582.

Baseball Almanac Box Score |

Tags: ASTROS 7 - CARDINALS 1 (7/02/63)
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1991: Houston Dinner Honors Darwin Twice

August 21, 2014

BY 1991, MILO HAMILTON WAS WELL ON HIS WAY TO BECOMING A LEGENDARY MC OF BASEBALL DINNERS IN HOUSTON.

Preface – Thanks to Bill Gilbert, the Houston Baseball Dinner historical columns are back in the saddle again. With the information Bill Gilbert has contributed from his 1991 dinner program, we are able to describe the 1991 Houston Baseball Dinner with all of its baseline information, except for the cost of tickets. The price had gone to $25 per dinner place in 1989, but we cannot presume what they may have been in 1991. And remember too, we are still searching for data on any dinners held in 1986 and the one we know for certain happened in 1990. In the meanwhile, we have put those two years aside until either a later library research or the sudden appearance of programs for 1986 and 1990 falls into our laps.

The 1991 banquet was formally identified in Bill Gilbert’s copy of the 1991 event program as the “1991 Houston Baseball Dinner” (HBD). The event was co-sponsored by the Houston Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), the Astro Orbiters Booster Club and the Houston Sports Association (HSA). John Kelley served as General Chairman of the event and Milo Hamilton again served as Master of Ceremonies for the dinner and evening of baseball award presentations.

The 1991 HBD was held at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Houston on February 7, 1991.

Names of the sponsorship of tickets purchased by table order were included in the program and one of those identified sponsors was our very own SABR and Baseball History National Treasure – Mr. Larry Miggins.

(And by the way, for those of you who may not have known, Larry Miggins celebrated his 89th birthday yesterday, August 20, 2014. God Bless You again, Larry!)

Here is our list of award honorees for the 1991 Houston Baseball Dinner without the addition of unavailable timely quotes or further comment from us beyond the headlined one. It appears that Danny Darwin became the first honoree in the entire history of the HBD to take two awards at the same dinner.

Here’s what we have to report, with thanks again to our invaluable partner in this research effort – Mr. Bill Gilbert. – Thanks, Bill!

1991 Houston Baseball Dinner (HBD) Award Winners:

WAYNE GRAHAM
RICE BASEBALL COACH
1991 WINNER
COLLEGE COACH OF THE YEAR

BILLY HATCHER
HOUSTON ASTROS
1991 WINNER
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

DANNY DARWIN
HOUSTON ASTROS
TWO 1991 AWARDS
(1) NL 1990 CONSORT CONTROL PITCHER
(2) 1990 ASTROS MVP

ROGER CLEMENS
BOSTON RED SOX
1990 AL CONSORT CONTROL PITCHER

ALLEN RUSSELL
1991 WINNER
LONG AND MERITORIOUS SERVICE
TO BASEBALL

DOUG DRABEK
HOUSTON ASTROS
1990 HOUSTON AREA
MLB PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Tags: 1991 HOUSTON BASEBALL DINNER
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My Baseball Bucket List

August 20, 2014

(1) Attend the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction of Craig Biggio and then spend a month in Cooperstown, soaking up the library, exhibits, workshops, lifestyle, and culture of baseball’s symbolic birthplace.

(2) Attend the College World Series in Omaha, preferably in a year which featured my UH alma mater or my home town kid favorite, Rice, but I will be realistic here. I may be too old to wait for UH to get there, but things do look promising for Cougar baseball out on Cullen Boulevard.

(3) Attend the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, hopefully, like this year, at a time which features a team from the Greater Houston area.

(4) Watch all home games of an Astros trip to the World Series in a winning effort against any other team, but I would prefer the opposition to be either the Yankees or Red Sox, if my wish for a return of Houston to the National League would only come true. (Thanks for the reminder oft that rather major technicality, Greg Lucas: If the Astros don’t return to the NL, there can never be a Houston World Series against those two more famous “other” AL clubs). Beating either the storied Yankees or Red Sox would simply make an Astros World Series championship taste even sweeter and, of course, it would also make the victory feel more official to some of us. Amend this wish again. If our foe is Boston or New York as a born again Astros NL club, I’d like to see the away games too!

(5) Visit the “Field of Dreams” site in Iowa. (Stole this one straight from the above featured baseball bucket list illustration.).

(6) Visit the old St. Mary’s School site in Baltimore where Babe Ruth spent quite a few of his later childhood years and really started playing baseball. I saw the Babe’s downtown home site on a brief family wedding guest trip to Baltimore in 2007, but didn’t have time to find a way to se whatever remains of the St. Mary’s site where the Babe lived and went to school.

(7) Find and recover for copying the 78 rpm record album that contained the remarks of all who spoke at the first Houston Buff Banquet that celebrated the 1947 Dixie Series championship that the club had just captured. As far as dinners go, this one was really the first organized dinner in Houston baseball history, although we would have first rule out the possibility of earlier banquets during the Fred Ankenman years as president – or even earlier. In the case of the 1947 album, which included the voice of Solly Hemus, the item somehow ended up in the hands of former Buff pitcher Pete Mazar and his wife Eleanor. Long after Pete Mazar died, Jo Russell and I tried to “borrow” it long enough to make a copy, but we could never earn the trust of the family that we might either break one of the records or simply keep the album or lower its commercial value as an only recording by making a copy. Sadly, the value of this item is more to history than anything else. Now it stands to rot away in storage until someone comes along later and decides its trash and throws it away. This one may be on my bucket list, but my real wish is that someone could find a way to track it down and save it for our local baseball history. That’s what really matters. Eleanor Mazar has also now died, leaving the album, if anywhere, in the possession of their descendants.

(8) Find the survivors and organize a reunion of the remaining “kids” who played on our Houston East End sandlot team, The Pecan Park Eagles, back in the summer of 1950.

(9) Live to see the re-establishment of another annual Houston Baseball Dinner that is tied to the goals of again connecting the average fan to baseball in Houston and also to raising money over time that keeps dinner ticket prices affordable while offering high end dollar items at auction as the money-raising wing of the annual activity for the establishment or support of a Houston Baseball Hall of Honor and History.

((10) To live to see the thriving existence of a Houston Baseball Hall of Honor and History alive and well downtown and done the right way.

That’s my list. If you have one, please leave a comment and share with the rest of us what it contains.

PS: No further developments are available on the temporary research problem we have with acquiring data on the more recent history of Houston baseball dinners, but we shall return to that subject as soon as we are able.

Tags: my baseball bucket list
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Dinner Reports Delayed; LLWS Roars On

August 19, 2014

2014: MO’NE DAVIS OF PHILADELPHIA IS THE ONLY GIRL IN LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES HISTORY TO THROW A COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUT.

For the foreseeable future, the absence of a column on the Houston Baseball Dinner history (by year) in The Pecan Park Eagle simply means that something has happened to stall our efforts.

Such was the case today. The lettered name variable phrase combinations that were bidding us good success in the early years (1961-73) of our digital site search have suddenly drawn blanks on most of what has happened from as early as 1986 through 2000. We are working on alternative plans to derive the facts from previous sinner program collections and research at local news file histories, but neither of those sources are available to us this afternoon.

We shall resume the theme columns on the more recent history of the “HBD” as soon as we are again plugged into a date source, but, for now, we are stuck on what happened in 1986, if anything, and 1990, with the years ahead of them through 200o also yielding nothing viable to us on the event through 2000.

Bear with us. We won’t go away. And neither will the data that’s out there in some form.

Meanwhile, I’m taking the rest of the day off, I think. In about an hour from no, the Pearland Little Leaguers (2-1) are taking on that very tough Little League club from Chicago (2-1) in an elimination game for both clubs and we don’t want to miss it for anything in the world. Both of these clubs have given mighty accounts of their talents and both teams are already winner – no matter who wins tonight.

The team from Chicago of the Jackie Robinson West Little League is playing as the “Great Lakes” region while Pearland, TX of the Pearland East Little League is playing as the “Southwest” area representative. They will most probably be referenced on the digital scoreboard as “ILLINOIS” and “TEXAS”.

Chicago represents a successful attempt to resurrect interest in baseball among the kids of inner-city urban America. This all-black team exists as a shining example today of success and deservedness among the talented kids of inner city Chicago who previously would have missed baseball as a response to baseball’s missing attention to their needs-and not an intentional return to the days of segregated baseball.

Tomorrow night, Philadelphia (2-0) and Las Vegas, NV (2-0) meet in a contest between the only two remaining undefeated American teams left in the tournament. Las Vegas got there with s surprise runaway win over Chicago and Philadelphia arrives as the team that edged Pearland, 8-7, in the bottom of the sixth and final inning to get there. Philadelphia will also feature starting pitcher Mo’Ne Davis, the only girl in history to throw a complete game shutout in the 75 year-old Little League World Series history.

See you tomorrow, folks – when we will be around again, hopefully, to write about something of interest to some.

Tags: Houston Baseball Dinner, Little League World Series (LLWS)
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