The Pecan Park Eagle

2013 College Football Season Arrives Thursday

August 28, 2013

College Football Returns This Week!

Big time college football returns tomorrow night with a slate of 17 games for Thursday, August 29, 2013, at various times. The two earliest get our nod as season openers for their 6:00 PM ET kickoffs, one featuring North Carolina at #6 AP/#7 USA Today South Carolina and the other down-sliding to Liberty at Kent State. – No question here where the spotlight shines brighter between these two.

At any rate, here are the fairly comparable pre-season AP and USA Today rankings of the Top 25 teams in the nation. What a job these ranking experts face each pre-season. How can they possibly come close to picking who will be the best among teams that have yet to play a single down?

It’s easy. Just check out their names. Their bank accounts. And their conference affiliations. Then, it’s about as difficult as the job facing Casablanca Police Chief Captain Renaud, once he witnesses the murder of German Nazi Major Strasser shortly before the former’s gendarmes forces arrive to get their arrest orders:

“Round up the usual suspects!” Renaud exclaims.

Well, round ’em up, they did in these cases too – and here they are – starting with a couple of wild guesses in favor of Alabama to repeat as the 2013 season national champions.

At least, we can still get college football over the tube.

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Alabama (58)	0-0	1498
2	Ohio State (1)	0-0	1365
3	Oregon	0-0	1335
4	Stanford	0-0	1294
5	Georgia (1)	0-0	1249
6	South Carolina	0-0	1154
7	Texas A&M	0-0	1104
8	Clemson	0-0	1083
9	Louisville	0-0	1042
10	Florida	0-0	894
11	Florida State	0-0	845
12	LSU	0-0	802
13	Oklahoma State	0-0	755
14	Notre Dame	0-0	748
15	Texas	0-0	677
16	Oklahoma	0-0	579
17	Michigan	0-0	531
18	Nebraska	0-0	382
19	Boise State	0-0	328
20	TCU	0-0	323
21	UCLA	0-0	286
22	Northwestern	0-0	199
23	Wisconsin	0-0	185
24	USC	0-0	134
25	Oregon State	0-0	129

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 95, Baylor 92, Virginia Tech 86, Miami (FL) 85, Arizona State 53, Kansas State 43, Fresno State 36, Vanderbilt 19, Washington 17, Northern Illinois 16, Ole Miss 11, Utah State 8, Georgia Tech 6, Cincinnati 3, Arizona 3, North Carolina 3, Penn State 2, Brigham Young 1

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Alabama (58)	0-0	1545
2	Ohio State (3)	0-0	1427
3	Oregon	0-0	1397
4	Stanford	0-0	1262
5	Georgia	0-0	1250
6	Texas A&M (1)	0-0	1215
7	South Carolina	0-0	1136
8	Clemson	0-0	1047
9	Louisville	0-0	1010
10	Florida	0-0	930
11	Notre Dame	0-0	872
12	Florida State	0-0	844
13	LSU	0-0	797
14	Oklahoma State	0-0	726
15	Texas	0-0	622
16	Oklahoma	0-0	620
17	Michigan	0-0	589
18	Nebraska	0-0	426
19	Boise State	0-0	420
20	TCU	0-0	400
21	UCLA	0-0	202
22	Northwestern	0-0	186
23	Wisconsin	0-0	172
24	USC	0-0	165
25	Oregon State	0-0	135

Others receiving votes: Kansas State 113, Miami (FL) 101, Michigan State 89, Baylor 80, Virginia Tech 65, Fresno State 62, Arizona State 51, Ole Miss 32, Vanderbilt 29, Utah State 23, Brigham Young 20, North Carolina 19, Northern Illinois 19, Tulsa 9, San Jose State 8, Ohio 8, Arizona 5, Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 3, Mississippi State 3, Kent State 3, Washington 3, UCF 2, Tennessee 1, Toledo 1, Rutgers 1, Arkansas 1, Arkansas State 1

Tags: 2013 college football, pre-season polls
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

2013 Astros? Biggest Profits in Sports History?

August 27, 2013

Jim Crane
Owner
Houston Astros

Talk about lighting a bond fire!

That Forbes Magazine story that came out yesterday showing the 2013 Houston Astros as the biggest profiting team in all of sports history has started both a forest fire of attention and a sand storm of protest from Astros owner Jim Crane in the past 24 hours . As simply another little pea in the Houston Sports Pod, The Pecan Park Eagle doesn’t even pretend to know the truth in this matter.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2013/08/26/2013-houston-astros-baseballs-worst-team-is-most-profitable-in-history/

According to Forbes, the worst team in baseball, the 2013 Houston Astros, are on their way to pulling in $99 million dollars in profit from the current season, an amount greater than the combined profits of the last six World Series winners. Forbes says that a slashed payroll and skyrocketing income from television revenues is making the difference for the game’s biggest losers, but that conclusion begs the obvious questions: With Astros tied into the Comcast TV deal, only 40% of their market is now receiving all televised games. – Where’s the income skyrocket? Is the club share in the national TV contracts that great? And, even with the payroll scratched to next-to-nothing by today’s standards, the gate is way down. – Where’s the income source that justifies the Forbes conclusion?

Luhnow Better Be Right!

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow better be right in his rebuild-with-babies approach because, if this team isn’t winning competitively by 2015, or 2016, at the latest, there is going to be a wholesale order placed by the club for executive-strength guillotines that far exceeds the demand for annual season ticket sale renewals.

With the Astros’ payroll now at $13 million, the attached article puts this face on the club’s situation:

“Sixty-four major leaguers make more individually than the Astros’ current 25-man active payroll makes collectively. The New York Yankees pay nine players more than the Astros payroll. Twenty other teams pay at least one player more. And Jason Bay, who is not even on a team, earns more than the all of the Astros, thanks to an old contract with the New York Mets.”

Then, if the plan does work, it still fails if the Astros don’t come up with the money by that time to lock in the stars of tomorrow to long term contracts, but Reid Ryan says the club is counting on the Comcast deal getting settled in time to provide that dough.

Oh well, if Forbes is even close to being right on their estimation of Astros profitability, money for salaries won’t be a problem. We’ll just need to see signs from the club that the will is there to pay out salaries on a sustained championship competitor basis. And that’s a whole other realm.

Meanwhile, let’s hope that the Astros never get too comfortable making big money as a loser. My initial guess after hearing him talk last Saturday is that President Reid Ryan isn’t going to let that kind of sloppy entitlement mind set to slip into the saddle as the Astros operational plan.

Tags: Forbes report on 2013 Astros
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Baseball’s Little Moments

August 26, 2013

CASTROS' 2ND 8/24 HR HITS IN SABR SEATS: Herb Whalley (top center) and Bill McCurdy (top right, with star cap) watch the pursuit.

JASON CASTRO’S 2ND 8/24 HR HITS IN SABR SEATS: Herb Whalley (top center) and Bill McCurdy (top right, with “H” cap) watch the pursuit.

The easiest remembered moments at a baseball game are not always the walk off homers in the bottom of the ninth or the strike out of the other team’s big hitter with two outs and the sacks loaded with the tying runs on base in the top of the final stanza.

Sometimes it’s just the little moments that bring the game we’re watching close to us personally in a way that sticks in our conscious minds forever. I may have added two or three of those memories to my own rather full, but grateful pail of happy times at the old ballpark site this past Saturday from my seat in the right center field stands at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

I was sitting with several members of our SABR chapter members after our annual meeting at the ballpark, a meeting which provided most of us with the opportunity to meet and hear from new Astros President Reid Ryan for the first time – and that one was a baseball-memorable moment in itself, but not quite on the everyday thing level I’m talking about here.

The above picture from Sunday’s 8/25/13 Houston Chronicle shows fellow SABR member Herb Whalley and yours truly simply watching the descent of Jason Castro’s second homer of the game into the grasping hands of fans sitting in front of us. We never had a shot, but now we have the memory – helped along by an e-mail from our SABR Chair, Bob Dorrill, that this photo made the papers.

Other memories for me on Saturday included:

(1) The little toddler dressed in Astros gear who got passed for holding time to about ten adults in the apparent close family group that was attending the game together;

(2) SABR member Herb “The Quiet Man” Whalley as he religiously kept score of the game. Herb is keeping score of games for a very special reason this season, but only he is free to divulge his motives;

(3) Those two Castro home runs that landed to the left and right of me, just in time to remind me of the time in 1950 I tried to catch a long foul ball in the Knothole Gang at Buff Stadium with a mustard-heavy hot dog in my glove hand – only to end up with a lost ball, a memory, and no meal;

(4) The confectionary vendor who both sold me the Cracker Jack box I purchased and then soulfully blessed it as guaranteed fresh by his powers as a “Reverend”; and,

(5) The row of six or seven ladies down near the rail who performed synchronized arm dance routines every time the loud speakers blared out loud rock music as player introductions; they were having a good time as performers – with acts that included movements that ranged from fisherwomen pulling in fish to some moves that looked like very serious palates sequences.

That’s only five for me, but think about it. If you could attend all 81 Astros home games and pick up 5 new memories each time, that would multiply up to 405 new memories for that season.

Of course, you could also save your money by dreaming up the whole thing from an easy lawn chair as you listened to the game’s radio broadcast in your own backyards, but you’d have to imagine the blessed baby, the blessed Cracker Jack, the rain of homers, the dancing girls, and also do the scorekeeping – all by yourself.

Have a nice Stormy Monday, everybody!

Tags: little moments at the ballpark
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Astros Prexy Ryan Addresses Houston SABR

August 25, 2013

REID RYAN
President, Houston Astros
August 24, 2013

Pull out all the stops in nailing down who Astros President Reid Ryan really is: Son of Nolan, Alvin Guy, One of Us, Fellow Who Walked Out on UT, TCU Pitching Ace, Former Minor Leaguer, Founder of the Round Rock Express, Strong Character, Family Guy, fairly new President of the Houston Astros, and genuinely nice and articulate human being. – All of these and many more like them apply, but we need to stop here with the identity attributions and get to what we recall of what he said yesterday when he addressed and took questions from the membership of the Houston Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR, the Society of American Baseball Research, in the Union Station Conference Room at Minute Maid Park. The meeting took place at 4:00 PM on Saturday, August 24, 2013 prior to the 6:00 PM game between the visiting Toronto Blue Jays and our home Houston Astros.

(PLEASE NOTE: All quotes below are paraphrased. My literal memory is not that good.)

On The Early Years: “I grew up in a baseball family in Alvin, Texas. Everything that happened to me came with a touch of baseball and it was all good. From early on, I wanted to be a baseball man too when I grew up.”

His Father’s Advice: “If you have the talent for it, getting to the big leagues is not the hard part. – The hard part is having the strength of character that will allow you to stay there.”

His Own Experience: “As a minor leaguer, the hard part for me was simply trying to find a way to move up to the next level. By age 24, I had found my player mountaintop and it was Class A+ Visalia. I was out of the game and looking for a new start.”

The Round Rock Express: “Fortunately, I had finished my degree by the time my playing career ended, I also had the best advisor in the world available to me in my dad and all his contacts. Since I wanted to own a baseball club, I was able to put that all together for the sake of establishing the Round Rock Express, where I have served as part owner and CEO since the turn of the century.”

The Houston Astros: “When Jim Crane offered me the job as Astros President last spring, I couldn’t wait to say yes. I saw it both as an exciting challenge and a comforting invitation to go home to Houston. I believe in Jeff Luhnow and what this organization is planning to do.

The Comcast TV Standoff: “We (The Astros) are doing all we can to press for resolution, asap. The problem is on the power sides in this argument. The Astros and Rockets are the guys with the plastic spoons. – Comcast is the giant with the nuclear cannon. – And, unfortunately, we, the Astros, need that lost TV money to be ready for the day we have to pay to keep the talent we are raising now.”

(Unfortunately, we found no way around or through this problem in our brief touch upon it at the SABR meeting. As “The Pecan Park Eagle” pointed out to Ryan, his analogy suggests that we are not engaged here in a money war, but a “siege” in which the ultimate winner is already known to be Comcast. All they have to do is wait out the Astros and Rockets to claim victory – and if that happens – will the Astros be left short of the funds to sign the “keepers” now under development? No answer was forthcoming. And it really could not have been expected in this situation, even if the facts dance fairly close to the truth.)

The 2014 SABR National Convention in Houston: “Yes, I want to be involved.”

Future of the Astrodome: Ryan’s many words boil down to these. ~ The Astros will have no organizational response on the issue of restoration versus demolition. Reid Ryan personally thinks the cost of restoration for an asbestos-loaded facility like the Astrodome is both impractical and not viable. If it is preserved at all, Ryan likes the “save the stadium structural beams as a memorial for a park area”.

An Astros History Museum at Minute Maid Park: Ryan says that idea is under active consideration for either MMP or some nearby property that would be appropriate to this purpose. We’ve heard this kind of talk from the old Astros for years. Again, we will have to wait to see if there’s anything new to an old politically acceptable answer on the museum question.

The Game Itself, Astros 8 – Blue Jays 5: At the game, Astros catcher Jason Castro went crazy with the bat, banging out 2 home runs and a double as the Astros took the Blue Jays, 8-5, for their second win in a row and a wrap on the series victory.

One Burning Question Remains: From our seats in right center field, we came close to being the “incoming” sites for both of Jason Castro’s homers – and we also had the chance to study the contrasting uniform-wearing styles of the two starting right fielders.

Please respond with a comment vote!

Regardless of which team, if either, that you support, which player appears to be more in uniform for baseball as he wears his uniform pants? Or does the idea of “uniform” even matter to you?

Here they are:

RAJAI JAMES, RF Toronto Blue Jays August 24, 2013

RAJAI DAVIS, RF
Toronto Blue Jays
August 24, 2013

L.J. HOES, RF
Houston Astros
August 24, 2013

Have a peaceful Sunday, everybody. ~ And please comment on Reid Ryan and/or the uniform question.

Tags: Reid Ryan Addresses SABR, uniform pant leg styles
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Black Heritage Night Was a Thing of Pride

August 23, 2013

Two Men of Appropriate Pride and Life-Leveling Humility: Charlie Pride (L) and Jimmy Wynn.

Men of Appropriate Pride and Life-Leveling Humility: the great Charlie Pride (L) and the great Jimmy Wynn.

And you can definitely take the headline of this column in the two ways it’s intended. The “Black Heritage Night” program of the Sugar Land Skeeters at Constellation Field that was offered as a pre-game feature on August 22, 2013 was both a night a pride in the unifying goal quality of black baseball players over the years and also a tribute to the program’s special guest, the great Charlie Pride, a country and western singing star who also spent his early years in pursuit of that same dream of the others as a professional baseball player.

Bill McCurdy (#15) of The Pecan Park Eagle Press was on hand to covers things.

Bill McCurdy (#15) of The Pecan Park Eagle Press was on hand to cover things. – In this photo, the players read this way, left to right: BACK ROW: Kevin Bass, J.C. Hartman, Scipio Spinks, J.R. Richard, Cecil Cooper, Bob Watson, Trenidad Hubbard, Brian Williams, Anthony Young, and Chuck McElroy. FRONT ROW: Ralph Garr, Deacon Jones, Charlie Pride, Sylvester Cooper, Jimmy Wynn, and James Mouton. – This one terrific photo was contributed by good friend Darrell Pittman.

Charlie Pride & Company posed for a number of group photos this summer afternoon and beautiful summer evening.

The guest list was long and celebrated. The crowd was first entertained by a concert performed by the “Ocean of Soul” band from Texas Southern University. Then, as a fun introduction at home plate, each of the former players arrived in his own personal chauffer-driven luxury car to be introduced and given his own named and numbered Sugar Land Skeeters jersey by Skeeters host Deacon Jones.

The home plate arrival scene at Constellation Field.

The group of former players on hand for the honor included Kevin Bass, Cecil Cooper, Ralph Garr, J.C. Hartman, Trenidad Hubbard, Chuck McEroy, James Mouton, Charlie Pride, J.R. Richard, Scipio Spinks, Bob Watson, Brian Williams, Jimmy Wynn, and Anthony Young, (If I somehow missed your name, please let me know by e-mail and I will make sure that it is included in this column. There was a lot to keep up with last night and I may have missed someone. – houston.buff37@gmail.com

Charlie Pride took about 25-30 practice swings from the BP tosses of Scipio Spinks while he was on the field. He hit the ball hard, lining several for clean hits into the outfield gaps. – Pretty darn good for a man in his middle to late 70’s. Oh yeah, Charlie also threw out the first pitch prior to tonight’s Skeeters-Shellacking of the Camden Riversharks by a 10-1 mark.

Watching Charlie Pride pound the ball are: Michael Point, a writer for the Corpus Christi Hooks, Deacon Jones, Skeeters Manager Gary Gaetti, and Skeeters Special Advisor Tal Smith. The hits just rang and rang and rang.

One of the "Red Tails", that famed African-American group of fighter pilots from WWII was present too. Here we see him pictured with Marie Wynn. Now all we need is his name to give him the full credit he deserves.

One of the “Red Tails”, that famed African-American group of fighter pilots from WWII, was present also. Here we see him pictured with Marie Wynn. Now all we need is his name to give him the full credit he deserves.

Dick “Lefty” O’Neal and a large contingent of former Negro Leaguers were also present last night and I would be happy to also include their names here too, if someone could pass on an attendance roster to me. We would like to give everyone their personal nod for their participation in this beautiful evening.

The first 2,000 fans also got this handsome, welcoming bobble head of Deacon Jones to take home with them.

The Deacon Bobber does one thing that the real Deacon NEVER does. He turns his back. The REAL Deacon never turns his back on justice, family, friends, or baseball - and that pretty well allows him to touch all the bases, 24/7.

The Deacon Bobber does one thing that the real Deacon NEVER does. He turns his back. The REAL Deacon never turns his back on the needs of justice, family, friends, or baseball – and that pretty well allows him to touch all the bases, 24/7.

Keep it up, Deacon Jones. Black Heritage Night needs to be thought of as the first offering of an annual event.

Tags: Black Heritage Night, Charlie Pride, Deacon Jones, Jimmy Wynn, Sugar Land Skeeters
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

MLB Pitchers: Youngest of the Youngest

August 22, 2013

Thanks to a link-alert from dear Shirley Virdon yesterday, I was reminded of the role that World War II played in bringing the youngest pitchers to win and play in the big leagues into the box scores during the last great global conflict. Stating the most obvious factor, the shortage of manpower for homeland baseball league play was critical. Older players with lesser abilities and too much experience were getting to play MLB ball due to the scarcity of talent, as were younger kids with glimpses of talent and zero professional time on their resumes.

Youngest Pitcher to Appear in an MLB Game … Joe Nuxhall

Joe Nuxhall Youngest Pitcher to Appear in an MLB Game June 10, 1944

Joe Nuxhall, Age 15
Youngest Pitcher to Appear in an MLB Game
June 10, 1944

As is most commonly misunderstood, Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds was not the youngest player in MLB history to win a big league game. The 15-year old Nuxhall was only the youngest pitcher to actually perform in a major league contest. It all happened on June 10, 1944 in the top of the 9th inning of a game at Crosley Field, a game in which the hometown Reds already trailed 13-0 and needed an arm to hopefully get them through to the end at the least cost to tired arms and future games. The ball passed to 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall (DOB: 07/30/1928) – who was still several weeks shy of his 16th birthday when he got the call.

Was it too much for the kid?

“I was pitching against seventh, eighth and ninth-graders, kids 13 and 14 years old… All of a sudden, I look up and there’s Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation.” – Joe Nuxhall.

Scary and costly, had the Reds really still been in the game. Nuxhall pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up 5 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks before he was taken out by veteran Manager Bill McKechnie in favor of 22-year old Jake Eisenhart, who used his only appearance in an MLB game to get the final out. Neither Nuxhall nor Eisenhart, of course, were tagged with the losing decision.

Nuxhall would get the first of his 135 career MLB wins, but it would not come for another eight years in 1952. Nuxhall’s mark in the big leagues for 16 seasons (1944, 1952-66) was 135-117 with an ERA of 3.90.

Youngest Pitcher to Win an MLB Game in the Modern Era … Rogers McKee *

Rogers McKee, Age 17
Youngest Pitcher to Win an MLB Game
October 3, 1943

Lefty Rogers Hornsby McKee (DOB: 9-16-1926) was 17 years 2 weeks, and 3 days old when he won his first and only decision as a big league pitcher on the last day of the season as a complete game pitcher for the visiting Philadelphia Phillies over the home team Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on October 3, 1943. THe score was 11-3, Philles. McKee worked the whole 9, giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits. He also walked 5, struck out 1, and never won again in the bigs. In fact, the breadth of his MLB CAREER (1943-44) consisted of 5 games and a 1-0 record with a 5.87 ERA..

McKee hurt his pitching arm in 1944 and shifted mainly to the job of playing first base as a minor leaguer for 12 seasons (1944, 1946-57), achieving a career minors batting average of .287 with 157 home runs.

Joe Nuxhall passed away on November 15, 2997 at the age of 79. Rogers McKee lives in retirement at the age of 86.

* 8/24/13: As “accuracy police chief” Cliff Blau has duly inferred and noted in his comment on the original presentation of this data, TPPE was remiss in not clarifying two factors in the Rogers McKee mark: (1) (unstated) There is no official baseball mark for the earliest age pitching win in baseball, and (2) (stated) “Willie McGill (1890, pre-modern era) won 11 games for the Cleveland Players League team ay the age of 16.”

Therefore, Rogers McKee, at best, can only be credited with the unofficial earliest pitching win in the modern era. That is, for all players in the Modern Era, beginning with the advent of either the first year of the American League (1900) – or the first season of the 20th century (1901). Even that beginning date is sometimes debated among purists.

Tags: Joe Nuxhall, Rogers McKee, youngest pitchers to play and win
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Last Chance! Vote Today For George Springer!

August 21, 2013

VOTE TODAY, WED., AUGUST 21ST! VOTE FOR GEORGE SPRINGER AS MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR!

Last Chance! Vote Today, Wed., August 21st, 2013, For George Springer as the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year!

I just found out about the deadline from Darrell Pittman or I would have written all of you earlier. Right now, Springer is nip and tuck behind a fellow named Archie Bradley, but a late campaign in Springer’s behalf is pushing him hard toward the top.

Vote for George and get your friends to vote for him too. Right now, Bradley has a 49% to 45% lead, but Springer is riding hard as we come to the stretch.

Let’s put him over the top. The Astros could use the win – and so could we fans.

Here’s the link to the voting booth:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/08/13/minor-league-player-of-the-year-finalists-xander-bogaerts-archie-bradley-byron-buxton-miguel-sano-george-springer/2646791/

Tags: MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER VOTING 2014, USA TODAY VOTING BOOTH, VOTE FOR GEORGE SPRINGER
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Buff Biographies: Bob Mabe

August 21, 2013

Bob Mabe (5’11”, 165 lb,) (BR/TR) will always hold the distinction of having been the last 20-game winner for the Houston Buffs. He attained that 20-win plateau when he led the 1956 Texas League and Dixie Series Champions to glory with a personal pitching record of 21 wins, 10 losses, an ERA of 2.83 and 195 strikeouts in 264 innings pitched. Many great and lesser known men found 20 wins on the Houston Buff staff over the years, but after Mabe in ’56, none found that magic again in the five remaining seasons (1957-61) of the club’s existence. 1956 was also the only 20-win year in the 10-season minor league history (1950-51, 1953-1960) of Bob Mabe. His minors career mark concluded with a total of 93 wins, 70 losses, and an ERA of 3.31.

Bob Mabe voluntarily retired from baseball in 1952, but he came back in 1953.

As a member of the 4th place Houston Buffs in 1955, his first of two total seasons in Houston, Bob Mabe put up his 2nd best record in history by going 16-10 with an ERA of 3.31.

As a 3-season big leaguer (St. Louis Cardinals, 1958; Cincinnati Reds, 1959; and Baltimore Orioles, 2 innings in 1960), Bob Mabe posted a light duty MLB tote board of 7 wins with 11 losses and a 4.82 ERA. Nevertheless, Bob Mabe did it in the twilight of those 16-team MLB days in which it was far less probable that any young aspiring pitcher would get there and see action at all. In that light, 142 total innings worked as an MLB pitcher is a pretty shiny accomplishment along the way.

Thank you, Bob Mabe, for being the last 20-game winner in the history of the Houston Buffs!

We don’t have much on the personal side of Bob Mabe’s life here at The Pecan Park Eagle beyond the monumental dates story, nor do we know if he had anything to do with organized baseball beyond his active career retirement at the end of the 1960 season. We do know that we was born in Danville, Virginia on October 8, 1929 – and that he also passed away in the city of his birth on January 9, 2005 at the age of 75.

Bob Mabe is buried at Highland Burial Park in Danville, Virginia.

God rest his soul in peace.

Tags: Bob Mabe, Houston Buff Biographies
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Buff Biographies: Al Lary

August 20, 2013

Al Lary fell far short of being the greatest pitcher in Houston Buff history, but he still left his mark with that 4th place last Buffs club of 1961. The Buffs finished with a 73-77, .487 mark in their last minor league season in the American Association and Al Lary was their last double-digit wins leader for the year. His 15-9, 3.58 ERA mark paced the 1961 club.

In 1960, Lary’s first year with the Buffs, he went 12-8 with a 3.53 ERA – making it 27-17 for his two seasons in Houston. His 12 wins in 1960 also paced all Buffs pitchers in another mediocre year.

At 6’3″, 185 lb., the BR/TR Lary had come to professional baseball from the University of Alabama. He lasted for 12 minor league seasons (1951-52, 1955-64), compiling a career mark of 103-100, 3.76 ERA. He also had a two-cups-stop background with the Chicago Cubs as a major league pitcher for an 0-1, 6.53 ERA mark over 16 games in 1954 (1) and 1962 (15).

At 15-9, Al Lary was the last big winner for the Houston Buffs in their final season of 1961.

Lary was out of baseball in 1953. Although we are lacking confirmation this morning, our first guess is that his absence had to do with military service, rather than injury. The Korean Was was just ending in 1953 and Lary was age 24 in that last year of the war. We will attempt to get confirmation of military service or injury for 1953 and plug it in here as it arrives.

My memories of Lary are of a guy who had pretty good form, a pitcher who did well when he could get the batters to hit the ball on the ground to his fielders. He overpowered very few batters, depending greatly upon batters hitting playable and catchable balls. When the balls were hit hard, the hits fell, and Lary lost, but, for the last 1961 Buffs, he mainly won.

The next season, 1962, Houston’s first in the big leagues, Al Lary was in the other dugout on Opening Day as a reliever for the Chicago Cubs for his second and last season in the big leagues.

Al Lary was born in Northport, Alabama on September 28, 1928. He passed away in the same place on July 9, 2001 at the age of 72.

Tags: Al Lary, Houston Buff Biographies
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

C&W Songwriting 101

August 19, 2013

Charley Pride, the C&W star who will be here for Black Heritage Night in Sugar Land this coming Thursday night, also played some minor league baseball before his singing career took off like a rocket.

Just doing a little background research on Charley Pride led me back into the fun regions of my own earlier dabbling with writing a few unpublished country and western songs and even way more titles and song lines. In my younger days, most of the ideas I got came from bars, but I am now four decades removed from that scene. Now I still get them from things I hear people say on TV or in conversation snippets at the ballpark – or anyplace else where people are willing to engage in speech without a lot of thought about what they are saying and who is listening.

I heard a snippet on the streets of Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago I could have used for today’s exercise, but I forgot it until now. This young man was saying to his apparent girl friend as he stopped her on the street to look her straight in the eyes and say: “They don’t need him. – They’ve got us.”

Wrap your mind around that one. There’s a song title and song in there somewhere for sure. It’s just waiting for someone to hear it and write it.

As a change of pace subject this morning, here are ten titles and/or first line lyrics as ideas that are brand new to me this morning. They all floated in on the whispers of the muses that are always with us, if we are but open to hearing them.

At the end of the list making, I’ve chosen one to develop into a one-stanza song. If you would like to take any of the others and develop it into a song too, all I ask is that you post your work here as a comment upon this column. The one I did also has a melody that I just developed for it. I just don’t know how to present that part of the produce without going to You Tube and I’ve never done that on any previous occasion. Maybe someday.

Anyway, it’s just for fun. Here’s my list, followed by the development work I did on entry # (9):

My 10 Best C&W Song Titles or First Line Lyrics (that haven’t had a song written about ’em yet):

10) “Please Drop That Stiff, and Come Over Here – I Think We’ll Find Love in a Cool Glass of Beer”

9} “You Shoulda’ Knowed – She Was No Good For You – No How”

8) “Life’s Real Good, But It Pulls Where It Should, When You’re Sittin’ in Your Truck, So All Alone”

7) “Kiss Me on the Lips, Darlin’ – Kiss Me on the Neck – But Please Git Rid of that Dry Old Chicken Peck”

6) “I Can’t Give You – The Keys to the Car – ‘Cause I lost It Shootin’ Pool at the Shoot-Em-Up Bar”

5) “Don’t Blame Me – I Didn’t Know You Were Comin’ Home Early – Don’t Blame Me – And Please Be Nice to Shirley”

4) “Cows and Bulls – And Blue Bluebonnets – Are Takin’ Me Back – To The Land That I Love”

3) “My Cheatin’ Eyes – Won’t Let My Heart – Be Hopeful – ‘Cause I Seen – Everything – You Done Last Night”

2) “I Ain’t Got Much – And I Ain’t Good Lookin’ – But I Sure Love – My Big Girl’s Cookin'”

1) “Left Out – On the Range – Were the Beer – And the Cantaloupe – Today”

And here’s my development of # (9) above:

“You Shoulda’ Knowed” (music and lyrics by Bill McCurdy)

You shoulda’ knowed – she was no good for you – no how

She fired that shot – that left that scar – upon your brow

And every time – that you came in – just stinkin’ drunk – of too much gin

She banged you hard – for every sin – and that is how

You shoulda’ knowed – she was no good for you – no how

Tags: C&W Song Writing
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »