The Astrodome
Our Once Proud and Still World-Recognized
Eighth Wonder of the World
Born: April 9, 1965
Died: November 5, 2013
Rest in Peace
… and thank you, Houston voters, for once again showing up with your usual deep appreciation for unique world-class architecture and local history, as long as we don’t go back too far – or pass on the opportunity for creating more parking space.
If you haven’t yet read this eloquent Mike Vance article from yesterday, please do so – because it speaks to the heart of today’s election business in Houston and to the center of the referendum which will determine the resurrection or death of our beloved and iconic Astrodome:
Then please, please, please: Go to the polls TODAY and cast your vote FOR the approval of Harris County Proposition 2 that will transcend our world-acclaimed architectural symbol of Houston into a new and vital and profitable life.
“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes Today on Harris County Proposition 2.”
“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
More Than 8 Reasons to Save the 8th Wonder of the World
by Mike Vance
Mike Vance is a native Houstonian, an historical researcher of the first order, the author and creator of several written and film treatments of local and Texas history, and the Executive Director of Houston Arts and Media (HAM), “where local writers, film makers, and media artists bring knowledge, education and local history to life.” ~ For more information about the non-profit organization HAM, please click this link: http://www.houstonartsandmedia.org
I’m not quite old enough to recollect the first time I walked into the Astrodome, but I know it was in April 1965 for a contest against the Baltimore Orioles that was part of the inaugural five-game exhibition series that also included the famous Mickey Mantle home run. My earliest memories do include a barrel full of moments at the Dome, though. It’s where I saw the great Bob Gibson and Willie Mays, where I can still visualize Roberto Clemente rounding third to beat a throw to the plate. And it’s where Jimmy Wynn and Rusty Staub became my first favorite ball players.
Our sports memories, however, are not created in a vacuum. I was at that 1965 baseball game with my dad. He’s the guy who took me to hundreds of other games there. It was with my parents that I saw the fabled UH-UCLA basketball game in 1968. The All Star game played there that same year? I saw that one with my dad and my cousin. When I earned a pair of free Astros tickets for being a straight-A student, I took my grandfather, a man who helped stoke my early fire for baseball. In the 1980s, my best friends and I were regulars for the Astros and Oilers, and experts at heckling the Dodgers and Steelers. By the last decade of the Astros’ Dome days, I was taking my own daughter to her first baseball games. As wonderful as the sports portion of my Dome visits might be, the warm memories of the people with which I shared them is far more important.
All of those people are among the reasons that I helped organize a coalition of history and preservation groups. Running a campaign to educate voters about Harris County Proposition 2 has given all of us involved a chance to interact with literally thousands of other Houstonians who can’t wait to share their own memories. Places can touch lives, and the Astrodome is a place that is part of Houston’s DNA.
The Astrodome cost $37 million to build in the early 1960s, and it quickly became the most important building in the history of our city. Nothing else even comes close. It is our icon. Houstonians could travel the world over, and at the mention of their hometown, people would say “Astrodome!” It symbolized Houston as surely as the Eiffel Tower meant Paris or the Empire State Building meant New York.
But if passion and pride don’t move you, then maybe good economic sense will. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, one of the primary partners in the Our Astrodome coalition, initiated an outreach tool called “8 reasons to save the 8th Wonder of the World.”. With input from coalition partners, they were refined, and I’m paraphrasing them here because they’re damn good reasons.
Over the years, since the initial public money used to construct it, the Dome has benefited from many more millions in maintenance and upgrades, and would cost almost $300 million to replace in 2013. We’re sitting on an enormous investment of public money. Why throw that away?
And what would physically throwing it away mean? In a word- Waste. If demolished, the Astrodome would contribute thousands of tons of waste to local landfills, and result in an embodied energy loss of 1.38 billion MBTU. It’s even more wasted energy to tear it down and haul it away –10.5 billion BTU. And the monetary cost to tear it down, haul it off and fill the hole? Well, that’s been estimated from $40 million to as much as $100 million. It’s a well-documented fact in construction that the greenest building is the one that’s already built, so it makes infinitely more sense to fill the Astrodome with people than fill landfills with the Astrodome.
The New Dome will serve all of Harris County – from high school football, graduations and swimming championships, to international festivals, the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show, special events and expanded fan tailgating experiences. The Dome will be a vital part of the experience at Super Bowls and Final Fours held here. It will be a true destination, and just as the original stadium did for decades, a repurposed Astrodome will foster memories and experiences for generations of Houstonians and visitors to our city.
For those who still have questions, here’s one you need to ask: Does Houston really need one more surface parking lot? The answer is no. Without getting too deep into the amazing selfishness that makes Houstonians believe they are entitled to a close parking space anywhere they go as the sole occupant of their private cars, I can give this one an absolute no. A large percentage of people at the Texans games are using multiple spaces already for tailgating, and the option of a parking garage has been floated and turned down before. If we truly wish to continue to spurn sensible public transportation, then at least we could use our space more wisely and build a garage. A couple of hundred more surface spaces benefits only the guy pocketing the parking money.
Another common and completely specious refrain from naysayers is “if they can tear down Yankee Stadium, they can tear down the Astrodome.” First off, how is that a logical argument at all? It’s metaphorically like saying if they can shoot Lincoln, they can shoot McKinley. For one thing, the original Yankee Stadium was pretty much torn down in the mid-1970s. All that was left was a piece of façade. It was such a complete replacement that the ball club played at Shea for most of two seasons. Secondly, and most importantly, Yankee Stadium wasn’t the first of its kind in any way whatsoever. It was a completely indistinctive architectural work. But don’t take a Houstonian’s word for it. Earlier this year, the New York Times called the Astrodome “the most important, distinctive, influential stadium ever built in the United States.”
Sometimes it seems as if people outside of Houston recognize the importance of this building more than we do ourselves. An engineering marvel and an icon of Modernist architecture, it was the largest domed structure on Earth when it opened, eclipsing the previous largest dome by almost twofold. The Astrodome set the standard for decades of design and construction of arenas and stadiums around the world. The Dome literally changed the way we watch sports. It had the first luxury boxes. For better or worse, it had the first artificial turf. It was the first stadium in the world to defy weather. The Astrodome was the first domed stadium. in the world. EVER.
The repurposing will once again position the Astrodome as a one-of-a-kind special events venue, allowing for more column-free exhibition space than any other facility in the world. For the last several years, our largest convention, the Offshore Technology Conference, has been forced to operate partly out of tents in the parking lot. The OTC enthusiastically supports prop 2 because they know the New Dome will make their event even bigger, and that comes from a conference that already draws more than 100,000 attendees to Harris County with an estimated annual economic impact of $160 million. The addition of a revitalized Astrodome will enable Houston to attract the biggest of the big conventions and meetings. That, my friends, means money.
The last reason I’ll list is my personal favorite, and it’s this: The Astrodome symbolizes Houston’s ingenuity and innovative spirit, which is stronger than ever today. A repurposed, reimagined, living Astrodome will once again shine a national spotlight on Houston and be a tangible example of our can-do character. It would qualify as the largest critically endangered structure ever saved.
This Tuesday, Harris County votes. A YES vote on County Prop 2 saves the Astrodome and makes it a living building once again. A no vote, and it gets demolished. Let’s make some more memories for future generations of fathers and daughters, grandfathers and grandsons. Let’s show the world that Houston is capable of taking the long-term view, that we don’t tear down all of our history. Let’s make a smart decision. Vote YES on Harris County Prop 2.
“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
Case Keenum #7
Starting Quarterback
Houston Texans
Most of us from UH have been waiting for this day from the moment that the Houston Texans signed Case Keenum to their taxi squad as a non-drafted free agent after the 2011 season. We knew from his career in college that, if he ever got his chance, he would shoot past Yates and Schaub into the driver’s seat as the Texans’ best leadership shot at climbing out of their “good enough to fail” malaise and start making the real move on the Super Bowl.
The modest, always humble but trenchant student of the game did just what we thought he would do. After almost disappearing from print last year, Case went to work learning the Texan system as a member of the practice squad, finally getting some critical game time in the 2013 pre-season. He quickly proved himself too valuable to be left off the active players’ roster at the start of the season. The Texans knew that he had shown enough to have been gobbled up fast by some other quarterback-desperate NFL club had they not protected him.
Then came the four-game stretch of Schaub “six-picks” and a fifth game extension of this offensive black plague by Yates for another loss and the Keenum ascension into the “starter tryout seat” as the QB to go up against Kansas City and one of the best defenses in the NFL set the stage for long-term change. Case acquitted himself beautifully, even though the Texan inability to protect Keenum from the blitz and conservative play-calling contributed greatly to Houston’s one-point loss. Case had shown what he could do, winning his promotion to the starter’s job for the balance of this fading away season. Schaub has no future here – and Yates appears to be little more than a younger version of Schaub. The Texans need to be convinced that Keenum is their guy for the future before the next draft and the only way to do that is to play him out there as the starting QB for the rest of the season.
A comparison of the college career numbers for Case Keenum and Andrew Luck is quite interesting on many levels. Take a look at the following chart. Please note the staggering difference that exists in their cumulative numbers. Only some of that chasm of difference is due to the fact that Case played four plus seasons from 2007 to 2011 due to an early season injury in 2010 that allowed him to return for his banner year in 2011. Luck, on the other hand, only played three seasons in a much less pass oriented offense at Stanford (2009-11) before coming out early as a Heisman candidate on his way to becoming the No. 1 pick in the same NFL draft that avoided Keenum altogether.
A Brief Comparison of the Collegiate Football Statistics of Case Keenum and Andrew Luck:
| STAT CATEGORIES | CASE KEENUM | ANDREW LUCK |
| PASS COMPLETIONS | 1,546 | 713 |
| PASS ATTEMPTS | 2,229 | 1,064 |
| PASSING YARDAGE | 19,217 | 9.430 |
| PASS COMPLETION % | .694 | .670 |
| PASSING TD TOTAL | 155 | 82 |
| PASS INTERCEPTIONS | 46 | 22 |
| PASSER RATING | 160.6 | 162.8 |
| RUSHING ATTEMPTS | 300 | 163 |
| RUSHING YARDAGE | 897 | 957 |
| RUSHING AVERAGE | 3.0 YARDS PER CARRY | 5,9 YARDS PER CARRY |
| RUSHING TD TOTAL | 23 | 7 |
| AGE/HEIGHT/WEIGHT | 25/6’1”/205 | 24/6’4”/239 |
Case had the best answer to an oft-thought, if not always asked question from Channel 13’s Bob Slovak yesterday. Slovak wanted to know how Case felt about going up against the No. 1 Draft pick in today’s Cots@Texans game as the guy with all the new college passing records that no NFL team claimed in any round.
“When all is said and done,” Keenum answered in slow deliberate words: “This league is not about past awards or records. It’s about football. It’s not about the draft and all the externals that come with it,” Keenum added. “When the whistle blows, and that ball snaps, it’s about football.”
Case Keenum is not about ego, or keeping track of records, or getting his feelings hurt. He’s about playing the game with all his heart, mind, soul, and intelligence; he’s about learning from his mistakes and getting better; and he’s about knowing that the learning process never stops and that nothing worthwhile in life is ever possible without effort and a willingness to take nothing for granted.
Case Keenum could fail in his new opportunity with the Texans, but I, for one, wouldn’t bet against him. By season’s end, unless he gets hurt, God forbid, my guess is that the Texans are going to be counting their lucky stars that they gave this great young man from the University of Houston a chance at a time when everyone else was willing to write him off as a “too small, systems-assisted quarterback”. He’s so much more than that gross misunderstanding of the man who starts today for the Houston Texans.
Go Get ‘Em, Case! Your jury can hardly wait!
“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
My son Neal and I attended the UH game with the University of South Florida at Reliant Stadium on Thursday night. By the time we got there for the 6:00 PM nationally televised kickoff, our rainy day in Houston had cleared into a wispy high cloud twilight of bright skies and beautiful formations in the heavens above. The air was crisp and clear and still at ground level – and the temperature hovered somewhere in the high 60s. It could not have been more pleasant for Halloween.
It was also a beautiful day for photography of the old architectural icon that so many of us are hoping to save from the wrecking ball next Tuesday by a majority vote in favor of Proposition 2 in the General Elections, but this is not a piece on that issue. The Pecan Park Eagle is expecting a much more closely informed guest columnist to do that for us in the next couple of days. – This is simply a brief photo exposition of a few new Halloween 2013 pictures that yours truly took prior to the Cougars’ 35-23 win over USF that evening – and what their images say to us about saving the Astrodome.
Halloween 2013, 5:45 PM: Cougar Fans at Reliant Stadium Get a Taste of the Astrodome’s Massive Grandeur Prior to Kick-Off.
Photo One above is a sight that deserves to be there forever while it also serves a useful purpose to both Houston and the world. Those skies burst forth with hope, joy, vision, fulfillment, and a big taste of Houston’s legacy to everyone in the generations that shall follow us as the people of this vast city of Houston at large.
Halloween 2013: 5:00 PM. Reliant Stadium and the Astrodome. Houston History, Joined at the Hip.
These two Houston venues could be enhancing each other with the Astrodome restored through a new and relevant business plan. It does not have to be another lost battle for preservation in which only the new survives while the old gets torn down and turned into parking space.
Halloween 2013: From Reliant Stadium, Looking West, Near Sundown.
We need to stay bullish on Houston, even when the sun goes down.
“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
Have a nice weekend, everybody!
If Kids Were Like Football Referees and Could Throw Penalty Flags at Home …
If American kids were like American football referees and could throw the penalty flag on their parents whenever they felt wronged, here’s how a few penalty terms would re-translated into everyday life at home:
(1) Encroachment: “Mom, you came into my room to search through my stuff without asking my permission. That’s going to cost you 15 hours of cooperation.”
(2) Unnecessary Roughness: “Dad, you came home and spanked me for drinking your last beer after Mom had already grounded me for the afternoon on the same charge. That offense is going to cost you one mowed lawn this coming Saturday morning.”
(3) Off Sides: “Sis, you leaned too far to the left at dinner tonight and ate my apple pie when I wasn’t looking. Next time you come home late through a window, don’t expect me to cover for you.”
(4) Pass Interference: “Dad, you knocked me down just as I was about to catch the keys from my brother and take the car downtown on the getaway.” Just for that, no car wash for you.”
(5) Intentional Grounding: “Just for trying to take the car without your permission, you sent me to my room for the weekend – and you did it on purpose too. Just don’t bother me. I’ll be texting and Tweeting to the world about how unfair you are.”
(6) Illegal Use of the Hands: “Grabbing me by the hair and throwing me against the wall for what I just said was uncalled for. – I’m calling CPS.”
…. Wait a minute! ….. The parents are grabbing the red flag from the kid! …. And they are throwing down a penalty flag of their own:
(1) Delay of Game: Son, as a result of all the things that your previous penalties upon us say about you, our parenting, and our family life, we have decided upon the following measures:
(1a): You, your brother, and your sister will immediately turn over to us all your cell phones, Internet-wired computers, iPads, Game Boys, radios, music playing devices, and credit cards;
(1b): You will cancel and desist from all of your current social plans until we can figure out if a genuinely loving and trusting relationship with each other as a family is even possible;
(1c): We will enter into an intensive plan for family therapy on all the issues that keep us from being the strong American family we always hoped we would be;
(1d): We now see that strong families cannot be bought with bigger houses, more cars, more electronic stuff, or with kids calling the shots on what we do next;
(1e): The game of life for our family must be delayed until, if and when, we come up with a winning family script; and,
(1f): If we cannot save our families without changing the culture of excess, than we had better change the culture before it destroys the kinds of families that got us through several major wars and one consuming Great Depression.
We can only wish that the examples parodied in this column were not so prevalent today, but they are this bad, and far worse, in many cases. If we don’t seek active solutions, in the Name of God, who will?
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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
Congratulations to the World Champion Red Sox! – “B” STRONG – YOU ARE!
What a World Series! With Big Papi seeing the ball as if it were a grapefruit, the passionate talented Boston Red Sox took the World Series in six games – and winning one at home for the first time in 95 years. Any last vestige of the Bambino Curse is now removed. These guys played like the best team in baseball’s two great cities and deserved to take home the gold. I loved Big Papi’s post-game remarks, especially his dedication of the MVP award he took hands down to the people of Boston.
The following is just a little quick thumbnail I did overnight (with the help of Baseball Almanac) on the result records in the World Series for both the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. I hope you find some things of interest in this data.In each separate team report, there are three tables for your inspection:
Table One shows the linear, year by year results record for each team, by series won and lost game totals and locations (home or away) for the start and finish of each series.
Table Two shows how each team fared in each contest by total games played.
Table Three shows how each team did when they variously started and ended at home or away.
Please feel free to comment or question. I’m hoping my words here are as clear as bottled water.
Here we go, starting with the 2013 World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox:
TABLE 1: BOSTON RED SOX RECORD IN WORLD SERIES: 1903 – 2013:
| Team WS # | YEAR PLAYED | WINNER OF SERIES | LOSER OF SERIES | GAMES W & L | BEGAN WHERE? | ENDED WHERE? |
| 1 | 1903 | RED SOX | PIRATES | 5-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 2 | 1912 | RED SOX | GIANTS | 4-3 | AWAY | HOME |
| 3 | 1915 | RED SOX | PHILLIES | 4-1 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 4 | 1916 | RED SOX | ROBINS | 4-1 | HOME * | HOME * |
| 5 | 1918 | RED SOX | CUBS | 4-2 | AWAY | HOME |
| 6 | 1946 | CARDINALS | RED SOX | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 7 | 1967 | CARDINALS | RED SOX | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 8 | 1975 | RED S | RED SOX | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 9 | 2004 | RED SOX | CARDINALS | 4-0 | HOME | AWAY |
| 10 | 2007 | RED SOX | ROCKIES | 4-0 | HOME | AWAY |
| 11 | 2013 | RED SOX | CARDINALS | 4-2 | HOME | HOME |
TABLE II: RED SOX RECORD IN WORLD SERIES BASED UPON VARIOUS MULTIPLE GAME OUTCOMES:
| POSSIBLE OUTCOMES/ GAMES W OR L | RED SOX SERIES WINS & LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 0 LOSSES | 2 WINS – 0 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 1 LOSS | 2 WINS – 0 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 2 LOSSES | 2 WINS – 0 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 3 LOSSES | 1 WIN – 3 LOSSES |
| 5 WINS – 3 LOSSES | 1 WIN – 0 LOSSES |
| TOTAL WINS – LOSSES ————-> | 8 WINS – 3 LOSSES |
HISTORY NOTE: TO BEAT THE RED SOX IN A WORLD SERIES, A CLUB HAS TO TAKE THEM TO THE FULL 7 GAMES. – THROUGH 2013, THAT’S THE ONLY WAY THEY LOSE.
TABLE III: RED SOX RECORD IN WORLD SERIES BASED UPON HOME/AWAY STARTS AND FINISHES:
| RED SOX BEGAN/ENDED | SERIES W-L RECORD | W % |
| HOME/HOME | 3-2 | .600 |
| HOME/AWAY | 2-0 | 1.000 |
| AWAY/HOME | 2-0 | 1.000 |
| AWAY/AWAY | 1-1 | .500 |
| TOTALS 1903-2013 | 8-3 | .727 |
The Boston “Americans”/Red Sox appeared in 5 of the first 15 World Series played from 1903 to 1918, winning them all, but never again after 1918 until 2004. Most fans held to the belief that the “Curse of the Bambino” was respomsible for the club’s inability to win after owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth the New York Yankees prior to the 1920 season. More also added that the curse had been totally erased once the Red Sox repeated their victory in the 2007 World Series, but a few still held to the belief that the long shadow of the Lost Babe would not be truly, fully gone until the Red Sox again won a Series at home. Their 2004 and 2007 victories wrapped up on the road.
Last night, October 30, 2013, the Boston Red Sox won it all at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918. That last hangnail stigma has now been impressively and decidedly breached for the first time in 95 years. That low hum you may still be hearing this morning is nothing more than the last few remaining solar gurgles in the final death rattle of the “1918 Curse of the Bambino” that once kept a lid on further Red Sox victories in the World Series for 86 years (1918-2004).
“Ding! Dong! – The Witch is Dead! – And ‘Boston Strong’ is Alive and Well!”
Now let’s take a look at the same details as they apply to the St. Louis Cardinals, starting with the fact that there’s no cause for curse here that we know of:
Table I: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS RECORD IN WORLD SERIES, 1926-2013:
| Team WS # | YEAR PLAYED | WINNER OF SERIES | LOSER OF SERIES | GAMES W & L | BEGAN WHERE? | ENDED WHERE? |
| 1 | 1926 | CARDINALS | YANKEES | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 2 | 1928 | YANKEES | CARDINALS | 4-0 | AWAY | HOME |
| 3 | 1930 | ATHLETICS | CARDINALS | 4-2 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 4 | 1931 | CARDINALS | ATHLETICS | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 5 | 1934 | CARDINALS | TIGERS | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 6 | 1942 | CARDINALS | YANKEES | 4-1 | HOME | AWAY |
| 7 | 1943 | YANKEES | CARDINALS | 4-1 | AWAY | HOME |
| 8 | 1944 | CARDINALS | BROWNS | 4-2 | HOME * | HOME * |
| 9 | 1946 | CARDINALS | RED SOX | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 10 | 1964 | CARDINALS | YANKEES | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 11 | 1967 | CARDINALS | RED SOX | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 12 | 1968 | TIGERS | CARDINALS | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 13 | 1982 | CARDINALS | BREWERS | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 14 | 1985 | ROYALS | CARDINALS | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 15 | 1987 | TWINS | CARDINALS | 4-3 | AWAY | AWAY |
| 16 | 2004 | RED SOX | CARDINALS | 4-0 | AWAY | HOME |
| 17 | 2006 | CARDINALS | TIGERS | 4-1 | AWAY | HOME |
| 18 | 2011 | CARDINALS | RANGERS | 4-3 | HOME | HOME |
| 19 | 2013 | RED SOX | CARDINALS | 4-2 | AWAY | AWAY |
TABLE II: CARDINALS RECORD IN WORLD SERIES, BASED UPON VARIOUS MULTIPLE GAME OUTCOMES:
| POSSIBLE OUTCOMES/ GAMES W OR L | CARDINALS SERIES WINS & LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 0 LOSSES | 0 WINS – 2 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 1 LOSS | 2 WINS – 1 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 2 LOSSES | 1 WINS – 2 LOSSES |
| 4 WINS – 3 LOSSES | 8 WIN – 3 LOSSES |
| TOTAL WINS – LOSSES ————-> | 11 WINS – 8 LOSSES |
TABLE III. CARDINALS RECORD IN WORLD SERIES BASED UPON HOME/AWAY STARTS AND FINISHES:
| CARDS BEGAN/ENDED | SERIES W-L RECORD | W % |
| HOME/HOME | 6-1 | .857 |
| HOME/AWAY | 1-0 | 1.000 |
| AWAY/HOME | 1-3 | .250 |
| AWAY/AWAY | 3-4 | .429 |
| TOTALS 1903-2013 | 11-8 | .579 |
A few facts jump off the page. For one, look at the Cardinals’ history of seven game World Series. 11 of their 19 Series trips have gone to seven – and the Cards have won 8 and lost 3 – totals alone that match the whole record for the Boston Red Sox in all 11 of their World Series appearances. – Also, watch out when the Cards get to start and finish a Series at home. They are 6 wins and only 1 loss in that column.
Both the Red Sox and the Cardinals will be back to The Show. They are each too well-organized and dedicated to winning to stay away long, but I did get the feeling last night that the Cardinals may be starting to play old. Beltran, Molina, and Holiday are no spring chickens. Age and dead spots in the batting order will need to be addressed. As for the Red Sox, I really loved David Ortiz’s post-game declaration, “I’M BACK!” Also, that Dustin Pedroia is great – a real old school firecracker. The Red Sox need to rattle his family tree and childhood neighborhood for the possibility of more like him.
Finally, I would really like to see the Red Sox stage a very special throwback uniform night at Fenway in 2014. – Just call it “House of David Memorial Night.”
| 1903 World Series Game 8 Line Score / Box Score |
||||||||||||
| 1903 World Series Game 8 Capsule | ||||||||||||
|
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|
Pittsburgh |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh Pitcher(s) | Boston Pitcher(s) | |||||||||||
|
Deacon Phillippe (L) |
Bill Dinneen  |
|||||||||||
| Pittsburgh Home Runs | Boston Home Runs | |||||||||||
| None | None | |||||||||||
Line Score Courtesy of Baseball Almanac.
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The date was October 13, 1903. The Boston Americans (not yet Red Sox) had just polished off the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0, at Huntington Field in the Hub City to take the first World Series of the modern 20th Century Era of major league baseball before a crowd of 7,456 fans that had braved the threat of rain to be there for a chance to croon in a victory chant with a few alcohol-inspired choruses of the team’s love song, “Tessie”.
Here are a few snippets of how the Boston Globe reported this first explosion of “World Series Winner’s Joy and Jubilation the following day in their October 14, 1903 edition:
HEADLINES: — “OUT WITH THE CROWD, — IT WAS A GLORIOUS DAY FOR THE FANS, — ENTHUSIASM RAN RIOT IN FOURTH. — ROOTERS AND THEIR BAND IN EVIDENCE. — CHEERS AND MELODY FOLLOW EACH OTHER. — GREAT GAME IS REPLETE WITH THRILLING SITUATIONS. — WILD SCENE AT THE FINISH OF THE CONTEST. — PLAYERS CARRIED ON THE SHOULDERS OF ADMIRERS.”
——————–
“Tessie” Was the First Reported Word: “Tessie,” an obscure maiden whom somebody loved in a ragtime melody, wasn’t much in the place (yesterday) which the librettist and composer built for her. But she has a place in history. She will go tunefully tripping down the ages as yhr famous mascot that helped the Boston Americans win three out of four at Pittsburg(h), capture the final game at Boston and with it the title – champions of the world.”
“Sung by the thundering ensemble at the Huntington av(enue) baseball grounds yesterday afternoon, “Tessie” was there when anything worth doing was done. “Tessie” was never carolled for any four-flush proposition; her chaste salutes were only for that which wins the laurel wreath.”
——————–
Threat of Rain Held Crowd to only 7,456: “Last night more than 10,000 men from Boston and its distant environs were saying, as they heard the score, ‘If I only had been sure they would play, I would have been there.’ There were nearly 8,000 people there who took the chance, whose confidence would not be shaken by the lowering sky, the threatening overcast or the possibility of slippery grounds. They were there to see the world’s championship won, and to participate in the spectacular demonstration in honor of the ‘greatest team of ballplayers on earth.’ ”
——————–
Pre-Game Fun: From 12-2 PM at the grounds, fans started showing up, including the privileged “Royal Rooters” and their band of musicians and copies of the lyrics to “Tessie”. Singing, drinking, eating, and adrenalin-pumping were the order of the day prior to the field arrival of the players.
——————–
2 PM, Boston Players Arrive: “About 2 o’clock, the first good excuse for melody and cheers came with the appearance of Parent, Stahl, and Dougherty, all of whom cavorted about chasing balls for some minutes. Then came Collins. When he appeared, the mighty Rooters arose in a bunch and chanted that gurgling reminiscent masterpiece, ‘Down Where the Wurzburger Flows.’ ”
“There were cheers and more cheers.”
“Enter Cy Young in a red sweater, followed by a great noise. Cy got down to work in the field chasing grounders.”
“As each player made his appearance on the field, the Rooters gave him a cordial greeting.”
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2:15 PM, Pittsburgh Players Arrive: “When, at 2:15, the Pittsburg(h) Pirates ran upon the field with Capt. (Fred) Clarke and Hans Wagner at the head, Charlie Lavis (of the Royal Rooters) called for three cheers for Clarke. Three lusty ones were given and the Pittsburger lifted his cap.”
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Warm Up and Picture Time: “The limbering-up process went on for 20 minutes. Every battery of each nine was out taking the kinks out of their arms.”
“Then for 10 minutes the players of both nines posed for group photographs for several artists.”
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The Game: Boston scored 2 in the bottom of the 4th and one more in the 6th to win, 3-0, and take the first World Series from Deacon Phillipe and the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3. Bill Dineen pitched Boston to victory with a 4-hit shutout, getting Honus Wagner on a swinging strike three to wrap up the game and the series.
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Post-Game/Fans Carry Players Off the Field. Like it or not, the Boston players were grabbed by fans and carried off the field by the insanity that reined on this rain-scary championship day . Only Ferris escaped their grasp and Jimmy Collins almost became a human wishbone: “Jimmy Collins was nearly dismantled because the crowd that had his right leg insisted on going in a different direction from the party that held possession of his left one.
Once rescued, the players did not linger for another ovation any longer than they had to, slipping away or into the clubhouse until the coast was clear. ~ “But the great crowd stayed, cheering until the rooters formed in line behind their band and uncovered while ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was being played. Then they marched across the field and out of the backfield gate.”
It is highly probable that the saloons and bars of Boston did a fairly brisk evening of business during the evening hours of October 13, 1903. After all, those were fairly intemperate times when it came to celebrating great victories and there was no Dr. Oz Show around in those days to advise Bostonians in advance on the healthiest ways to celebrate great victory and joy.
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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
Grantland Rice at Work.
Grantland Rice was the caviar of sportswriters back in the 1920s, in the days prior to television, readily available next day sporting event movies, or all the other visual media we have built into our smart phones and our Internet-wired lives of today. That culture of the 1920’s pulled upon the man’s artistic talents to write for the newsprint reporting sources about the games that people play in stadiums for big money as if he were the eye of all who could not be there to witness that particular event in person. And he did it with words. But he did it with words that rapidly connected in the mind’s eye of readers as pictures in the present tense. Over time, Rice’s story of the crushing Notre Dame victory over Army at the Polo Grounds in 1924 may be his second most famous surviving example:
“Outlined against a blue-gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.”
~ Grantland Rice, October 18, 1924, describing the Notre Dame backfield that buried Army in a football game at the Polo Grounds.
Rice has been honored by some and criticized by others for being a myth-maker for his tendency to write about sports figures he liked in ways that actually embellished upon their actual accomplishments. As best I can tell, this disagreement rag on Rice’s powerful writing ability bore little wind from critics in his own era. And that makes sense. Rice wrote about people like Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and Knute Rockne – figures who were perfectly capable of inspiring mythology in the words of almost any writer who took them on as contemporary subjects.
On the other hand, one could reasonably argue that comparing four undergraduate Notre Dame football players to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was slightly overstated. But it was pure Rice. And Rice could not take an event like that Saturday afternoon ND-Army blow-out and put it in words that read like house paint on the side of an old barn from the very start.
The talent and style of Rice in typed form was a visual medium. Ironically, when Grantland Rice was asked to try his hand at early baseball game broadcasting, he behaved more like a financial savant who could figure out a company’s equities from observing the stock market prices on a given day, but couldn’t balance his own checkbook any given day. On the air, he lapsed into past tense reporting, waiting until a play had been completed before reporting it in bare bones past tense words over the air. Broadcasting was not his medium and he soon gave it up.
But give him the dramatic moment, like the time Grover Cleveland Alexander came out of the bullpen for the Cardinals in Game Seven of the 1926 World Series with the bases loaded and two outs to fan Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees and protect a 3-2 Cardinal lead that would hold up as the final score, and Rice became the best next day friend to the hinterlands as their version of a moving picture account:
“Yankee Stadium, New York – Oct 10 (1926) – For just one brief moment in the seventh inning the screeching and the roaring gave way to a sudden hush, gripping in its intensity as the straining eyes of the crowd looked out across left field.
“Under the heavy shadows of this silence that seemed to be part of a dark day, the Yankees had the bases full, there two out and the Cardinals were leading 3-2 with Tony Lazzeri waiting at the plate. And then as suddenly as it had stopped, the screeching and the roaring broke into a new wave of greater sound as an old, familiar sight came shuffling in from a hidden bull pen in left field. He came on shuffling side by side as the same old badly fitting cap cocked on top of his head as if balanced there by a trick.
“He paid no attention to the emotional salvo of thousands who had turned from cheering a Yankee rally to pay tribute to an old arm that was on its way to put the home club down.
“So it was that Alexander, 10 years in the service, last of the grenadiers, came to the mound again to send his ‘whoos!’ ball whizzing through at the vital moment of the seven-game series. Here was the spot where $50,000 rode on every pitch and every swing, where a base hit meant a Yankees victory and the end of Lazzeri meant the end of Yankees hopes.
“Jess Haines had just given way to the old master who now stood looking at Lazzeri before he began to pitch. Without a quiver or tremor, unhurried and unworried, old Aleck started back to work. Strike – strike – ball – strike – and the old timer started to the bench again with the winner’s end rolled up inside his tobacco-soaked glove.
“It was upon this last pitched ball that struck Lazzeri out that the young, hard-fighting Cardinals rose to the baseball championship of the world. Needing both games on New York turf to reach the peak of fame and the top of the golden pyramid, they beat the Yankees 3 to 2 in the seventh and decisive game in spite of the brilliant pitching of Waite Hoyt and Herbert Pennock that, with even fair support, would have shut the Cardinals out.”
~ Grantland Rice, October 10, 1926
Grantland Rice is arguably best remembered for these lines from his poem, “Alumnus Football”:
“For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes – not that you won or lost –
But how you played the Game.”
Times change, but true genius transcends time. I’ll take Grantland Rice and his beautifully descriptive prose and poetry over Tweet-Script any time. By the same token, I’ll also take our own gem, Mickey Herskowitz over all the self-anointed generals and the several house-paint dabbers who pass themselves off as sportswriters out there today.
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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
Maybe Game 5 will produce the first 40 run inning in World Series history!
Honestly. Have you ever seen anything like the endings they’ve put on World Series Games 3 and 4 in St. Louis?
Game 3 was really something wild. It’s been forever since I last saw an “obstruction of the base runner” call – and I’ve never seen that call end any game, let alone, a World Series game.
Then young Mr. Wong comes along in Game 4 and gets picked off as the base runner at first with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and Carlos “Playoff Hitting Legend” Beltran coming to bat as the potential tying run for the Cardinals!
OUCH!
How would you have liked being rookie Kolten Wong as he returned to the Cardinal clubhouse after the game? If, indeed, he did return?
Yeah, I know. Stuff happens. But, Geez-us! You just don’t get picked off base, or make the last out any other way as a base runner to end a World Series game with a serious power threat coming to the plate as the potential tying run. That is, unless your name is Babe Ruth – and it’s Game 7 of the World Series and your Yankees are only down 3-2 to the Cardinals, but Pete Alexander just walked you because you are Babe Ruth and the potential tying run, even if it brings up one of your dangerous “Murderers’ Row” mates, Bob Meusel, to the plate as the potential game and World Series winning team batter.
What did Ruth do in that circumstance back in 1926? He got himself thrown out trying to steal second base, ending everything. The Game. The Series. The New York fan cheers. The post-season winner’s share. All was lost on an easy out Hornsby tag at the bag of a sliding slow runner.
Yankee fans were livid, but they would get over it. Babe Ruth had the kind of power and persona that made it easy for fans to forgive and forget his failings. It wasn’t too long before a large percentage of the fans seemed to have forgotten Ruth running the Yankees to the bitter end of the 1926 World Series. Instead of Ruth’s ill-considered play, Game 7 in 1926 would be remembered as the time old Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander came out of the pen in the bottom of the 7th to strike out Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees with the bases loaded and two outs to protect and eventually batten down the St. Louis 3-2 margin of victory.
Poor Mr. Wong. He doesn’t have the Ruthian formula for promoting mass fan amnesia. And this is the social media era, a time when people possess both the ways and means for stirring up hostile lamentation. On the right side for Wong, this also is an era in which many people suffer from short attention spans and a dedicated stand against learning much of anything from the pain of personal experience. In effect, he has a good shot at slipping through the wormhole of bad memory and. if manager Matheny’s memory is also awful, maybe even getting picked off again as a World Series pinch runner.
Wonder if a pinch runner has ever been picked off base to end two consecutive World Series games?
If not, we still get to wonder all day this Monday. – What kind of weird ending, if any, awaits us tonight in Game 5?
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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”
The Pecan Park Eagle 