The Pecan Park Eagle

A Couple of Baseball Queens

May 4, 2013

While doing a little IMDB surfing research on the major actors from the ABC television series “Once Upon A Time”, I learned that Lana Parrilla, the actress who plays “The Evil Queen”, is the daughter of Sam Parrilla, a career minor league outfielder who also earned short time MLB service as a Philadelphia Phillie back in 1970.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/parrisa01.shtml

My thoughts jumped immediately to another daughter of baseball, former Speaker of the House Nancy (D’Alesandro) Pelosi. Her father was Thomas D’Alesandro, the Mayor of Baltimore who successfully fought to acquire the St. Louis Browns for his city so that he could bring them home in 1954 as the reincarnation of the half century-lost Baltimore Orioles.

“I AM (or was) THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!!!”

Then I had to think deeper: What else, besides having baseball-connected fathers, does this former Speaker of the House really have in common with an actress whose major claim to minor TV fame is playing the role of “The Evil Queen” in a clever tale of story book characters now gathering in reality in a little New England town called, what else, “Storybrooke”?

We all have to decide for ourselves, but let’s see. ….

(1) The “Evil Queen” only cares about her own needs. Nancy Pelosi only has the same retirement and health care plan as the other members of Congress.

(2) The “Evil Queen” possesses the magical power to instantly travel anywhere she wishes. As Speaker, Nancy Pelosi had a private jet that we taxpayers provided for her regular and/or whimsical flights home or anywhere.

(3) The “Evil Queen” destroys whole villages when the people do not give her what she wants. Nancy Pelosi treats the same situation by apparently staring into space without blinking.

(4) The “Evil Queen” rips people’s hearts out. Nancy Pelosi has no fear of that sad fate ever happening to her.

(5) The “Evil Queen” just lies and lies and lies. – Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand, just does what she does what she does.

“I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All.”

Tags: Nancy Pelosi Parody
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Bill Gilbert: Astros Off to Rough Start in April

May 3, 2013

Houston Astros 2013
~ Not exactly the Cat’s Meow and All That Jazz. ~

Seasoned observer Bill Gilbert of the Rogers Hornsby Chapter of SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research, is our guest columnist at The Pecan Park Eagle this morning. Today’s thoughts are Gilbert’s first monthly analysis of the Houston Astros’ first season in the American League. We shall be looking forward to his next take on the fate of our local big league baseballers about this same time in June.

Bill Gilbert

“Astros Off to Rough Start in April” by Bill Gilbert, SABR: The first month for the Astros in the American League was not a good one. There were a few bright spots such as a 9-1 win in Yankee Stadium and taking two series from the Seattle Mariners but the Astros were on the losing end in most of the other games finishing with a record of 8-19 for the month.

At the end of last season, I put together a blueprint to get the team back to respectability and then to contention. The first step, this year, was to be a slight improvement with a win total in the 60s. They will have to pick up the pace to make it. A continuation of the April performance would result in a record of 48-114.

The team has several problems but the biggest is the pitching, both starters and relievers. Three of the five starters had an ERA over 7.00 in April and the staff ERA was 5.42, by far the worst in the major leagues. Three of the starters were unable to survive the first inning in one of their starts. The only bright spot was Lucas Harrell who pitched well in 5 of his 6 starts and picked up 3 wins. Bud Norris was inconsistent and the other 3 starters compiled a record of 1-11. Starting pitchers have pitched as much as 7 innings on only 3 occasions.

The bullpen has been overworked and largely ineffective. It will probably be a revolving door all year as it was in April. The bullpen recorded only three saves, two by inconsistent closer, Jose Veras, and the other by starter Eric Bedard on opening night.

The offense has been a little better, ranking close to the league average in most categories rather than at the bottom as they were last year. The top offensive performer has been Jose Altuve with a batting average of .330 and an on-base percentage of .374. Astro management brought in Carlos Pena, Chris Carter and Rick Ankiel to provide some power in the lineup and they contributed 13 home runs but piled up 109 strikeouts. Carter fanned 46 times and will easily surpass the major league record if he continues at his current pace. Ankiel has struck out in 32 of his 54 plate appearances. The team is also on pace to break the major league record for strikeouts.

All four of the Astros full-season minor league clubs had winning records in April, which reflects favorably on the plan to build up the minor league system with a series of trades. However, the players received in the trades have not yet had a significant impact in the major leagues and there is concern that there are few players in the system with high ceilings.

Bill Gilbert

5/2/2013

billcgilbert@sbcglobal.net

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Honest Larry Miggins

May 2, 2013

To fully appreciate this brief story, you may first need to either know the man or to have heard this story which I wrote about three years ago. Others have written about it too:

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/larry-miggins-honesty-is-the-only-policy/

To have been such an honest man, it’s helpful to also see his face as he appeared in 1950 as a Columbus Redbird.

Larry Miggins, LF
1950 Columbus Redbirds

Another present Houstonian and former Houston Buff that played in the “1950 Columbus Honest Man” game is Solly Hemus, shown here also as a Redbird shortstop. To no avail, Solly was on the “index-finger-over-the-lips-keep-your-mouth-shut-Larry” side of things that day.

Solly Hemus, SS
1950 Columbus Redbirds

Larry Miggins is the most honest man ever. He told the truth, even though it wasn’t what his teammates or the home town Columbus fans wanted to hear him say that day in left field.

What a privilege it is to be the friend of Larry Miggins and a fellow member with him in SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research. This coming Saturday, we are going together to the Sugar Land Skeeters game with a group of fellow SABR members.

Hope to see you there. The baseball climate and ambience at Constellation Field comes pretty close to portraying what it was like to watch baseball at old Buff Stadium (1928-1961). If only we had more organ baseball park music and less “modern” stuff, but that’s probably just my antique patina soul dimming the lights a little.

Tags: 1950 Columbus Redbirds, Larry Miggins, Solly Hemus
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Sandlot Baseball Joy is Still Forever

May 1, 2013

Eagle Park
Japonica @ Myrtle
Pecan Park, Houston
(now Japonica Park)

The sandlot baseball way of life was pretty much the same for generations. As kids, we played the game of baseball for as long as we could, each summer day, from dawn to dusk, wherever the grounds were empty, or the streets were not too busy, using whatever equipment we had, or could find, or could repair back into service.

The foot wear needs were the easiest, most natural acquirement. We all played shoeless, working against the early pain of converting our shoe-bound school feet into the calloused bare ground-talons that could handle both the heat and hard banging that awaited us in everything from concrete, street tar patches, rocks, and all those slivers of discarded glass and metal trash on our field of glory, Eagle Field at Japonica and Myrtle in Pecan Park, in the Houston East End, just south of Griggs Road on the left of the Gulf Freeway as you drive toward Galveston from downtown.

We used everything we could find for home plate: concrete chunks, tee shirts, two by fours, old license plates, and once only, a pillow case that someone’s mom left hanging on a clothes line. The last option quickly proved itself a bad choice, particularly for our donor teammate. It was back to concrete and larger rocks. I personally preferred the flat concrete items. They often looked more like the real home plate and they stayed in one place. Tee shirts were too easy to kick toward third base for a closer plough into home by some people of lesser character.

We had no uniforms or caps – and real team jerseys and tee shirts just weren’t available to us teeming mass kids, if to anyone of the post World War II era. One time, a friend of mine from school came over for a visit in the summer after his family had returned from a vacation trip north that took them through St. Louis. He was wearing a Cardinals cap – a real Cardinals cap. The Pecan Park Eagles were simply green with envy. How does anybody from anywhere near our little corner of the world manage to get a real Cardinals cap? “My dad got it for me” didn’t seem to solve the mystery for any of us. How does even a dad from our place get the Cardinals to sell him one of their real caps?

Our gloves were the cheap or hand-me-down kind, although some of us worked and saved the eight dollars it took for a Rawlings Playmaker at Holt’s Sporting Goods in downtown Houston. That’s what I did. I just wish I could have saved it before my dad threw it and other things away while I was in college, but I didn’t wake up to their absence soon enough to save the items of my childhood that were important to me.

Our baseballs were the cheapo type that didn’t stay round for long. When we got hold of a real baseball, it stayed with us until the cover practically wore away. In came the black electric tape to keep the ball in play forever, if possible. We also used the tape, along with small nails and hammers, to repair broken bats that still had hits in them. Of course, we did. Every sandlotter did.

Today is May 1st. Sixty-five years ago, we would have been about a month shy of the everyday sandlot season and I still miss it. Guess I’ll just dive into the memories that make me grateful that it launched my association between baseball and joy.

The joy of baseball is forever, something to be protected against the assaults of ego and greed that crawl all over the walls of our adult world meanderings, offering nothing sweet, and everything sour.

Thank you, memories of the sandlot, for always reminding me where so many of us fell in love with the great game of baseball. May you live on forever in our hearts – in the company of those who share that same incomparable joy.

Tags: sandlot baseball joy
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The Baddest of the Old Western Bad Guys

April 30, 2013

James Anderson

(6) In this “Six-Star Salute to the Baddest of the Old Western Bad Guys, my sixth chamber selection is the mostly anonymous and virtually nameless James Anderson. In his later years, he once played it for comedy. As the master slave-driving warden of a Georgia Chan Gang in “Take The Money and Run”, Anderson first delivers the hopeless and threatening orientation speech to new inmate arrivals and then asks the expected impassive inquiry: “Any questions?”

Woody Allen (as armed robber Virgil Starkwell) quickly asks: “Do you think young boys and girls should kiss on the first date?” Solitary confinement at this camp, by the way, consisted of being locked all night in a hole-in-the-ground with an insurance salesman and being forced to hear his sales pitch until dawn.

Dan Duryea

(5) Dan Duryea was just plain nasty back in the 1930s through 1950s. He was a snaky kind of guy who would just as soon stab his own mother in the back as to pass on an opportunity for some quick gain of any kind. As kids, we would clap and shout our approval of his death on film.

Lee Van Cleef

(4) Think Sergio Leone. Think Spaghetti Western. Think Clint Eastwood. Then you’re close. It’s Lee Van Cleef, the guy who could outdraw any man, but the man with no name. Think close up of those eyes looking at you on screen. Think the sound of gun shots. Think those eyes closing as the body falls forward and out of screen shot. It ran into an Eastwood bullet that got to him faster.

Jack Elam

(3) Jack Elam was the craziest looking, funniest western bad guy of all time. He once came after Susan Hayward in an old western cabin, with those wild eyes and a crazy smile flashing as we see him closing in on the gun-toting actress from her point of view. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you, girlie?”, Elam asks, as his diabolical face begins to fill the screen.

KA-BOOM goes the gun, as Elam’s eyes close and his body falls out of screenshot, ala Lee Van Cleef. Susan Hayward was taking down bad guys this way when Clint Eastwood was still a kid.

Bruce Dern

(2) Bruce Dern did it. In the movie, “The Cowboys”, that dad gum Dern shot and killed John Wayne. It was the only time in his long movie history as a hero that the Duke got taken out by a bad guy until his last film, “The Shootist”, but in that one, the real killer was cancer and our forever American hero was choosing to go out guns blazing. A bad guy can’t shoot John Wayne and stay off my list.

Jack Palance

(1) Jack Palance as Jack Wilson, the ruthless hired killer in “Shane” is forever the baddest of them all on my list. After terrorizing the homesteaders and cold-bloodedly gunning down poor little Stonewall Torrey (Elisha Cook, Jr.), Shane (Alan Ladd) meets up with Wilson late one night at Ryker’s Saloon. And the following ensues:

POV: Shane is drinking alone at the bar. Fearing action, everyone else has either left the place or peeled into the shadows. Wilson drinks alone at a table near the wall, about 30 feet behind Shane. There is dead silence, even as an old range dog wakes up from the space between the two and walks slowly out the swinging front doors.

SHANE: “So, you’re Jack Wilson!

WILSON: “That’s right!”

SHANE: “I’ve heard about you!”

WILSON: (rises to standing position, facing Shane) “What have you heard, Shane?”

SHANE: (turns around, facing Wilson) “I’ve heard you’re nothing but a low down murdering Yankee skunk!”

WILSON: “Prove it!”

BANG! BANG! Both men fire.

The blast from Shane’s gun blows Wilson dead back against the wall. Shane is also shot in the back by another bad guy from upstairs, but manages to move enough to save his life thanks to a warning shout from Joey (Brandon DeWilde) the little farmer kid who worships him. Shane, of course, then quickly dispatches the shooter from above.

His work now done, Shane then rides off to the hills, but not before leaving behind some very dead bad guys, including Walter Jack Palance, the baddest of them all.

Your own six-gun salute to the bad guys may fire some different names and memories. If so, the Pecan Park Eagle hopes you will share them with the rest of us.

Have a nice Tuesday!

Tags: my 6 favorite western bad guys
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Argo Redux: A 1979 Review

April 28, 2013

Back in 1979, there were no home computers; no cell phones; no microwaves; fewer barber shops; but plenty of disco. (And yes, in case you wonder, this is, indeed, a picture of the younger Pecan Park Eagle. during his doctoral student days. Back in the day, chess and darts kept us busy with no electronic enhancement along the way. Thank you old friends Serge and Ginette Masse, for sending it and the others to me. I’m trying to recall what happened to that chess set.

Here’s a brief look at how some things went down that year of the “Argo” movie:

January

6th – The Village People’s Y.M.C.A becomes their only UK No.1 single. At its peak it sold over 150,000 copies a day.

12th – 6th American Music Award: Barry Manilow and Linda Ronstadt are the big winners.

21st – The price of gold increases to a record $875 per troy ounce.

21st – Superbowl XIII: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31 in a Miami-based Superbowl. The MVP award goes to Pittsburgh QB Terry Bradshaw.

23rd – Willie Mays is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

27th – 36th Golden Globes: Midnight Express is named best picture; Jon Voight and Jane Fonda are named best actor and actress for their roles in Coming Home.

29th – The 9th Annual NFL Pro Bowl: the NFC beats the AFC, 13-7.

29th – President Carter commuted Patricia Hearst’s 7 year prison sentence to 2 years

February

1st – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 15 yrs in exile.

1st – Patricia Hearst is released from a San Francisco prison for bank robbery.

3rd – The Minnesota Twins trade Rod Carew to the California Angels for 4 players.

7th – Pink Floyd premiered their live version of “The Wall” in Los Angeles.

10th – “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart peaks as it climbs to #1 on the chart.

14th – In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

15th – 21st Grammy Awards: Just the Way You Are, Taste of Honey wins.

22nd – Billy Martin is named manager of the Oakland A’s.

March

7th – Warren Giles and Hack Wilson are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

9th – Bowie Kuhn orders baseball to give equal access to female reporters.

23rd – Larry Holmes TKOs Osvaldo Ocasio in 7 for the heavyweight boxing title.

26th – The 41st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Michigan State defeats Indiana State, 75-64, in the year that pitted Magic Johnson against Larry Byrd competing at the apex of college basketball. The Spartans victory brought an end to the 33-game win streak of Byrd’s ISU Sycamores.

26th – The Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt begins.

April

1st – Iran proclaims itself an Islamic Republic following the fall of the Shah.

7th – Houston Astro pitcher Ken Forsch no-hits the Atlanta Braves, 6-0.

9th – 51st Academy Awards – The “Deer Hunter” takes the best picture award as Jon Voight and Jane Fonda get the nods as best male and female actors in leading roles for “Coming Home”.

10th – Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard throws a major league record 6 wild pitches in the Astrodome.

15th – The 43rd Golf Masters Championship in Augusta, Georgia: Fuzzy Zoeller wins, shooting a 280.

May

5th – 105th Kentucky Derby: Ron Franklin on Spectacular Bid wins in 2:02.4.

10th – John J. McMullen of New Jersey becomes CEO of the Houston Astros NL baseball club.

13th – The Shah of Iran and his family are sentenced to death in Teheran.

16th – The National League approves the Astros sale from Ford Motor Company to John J. McMullen for $19M.

June

18th – Billy Martin becomes Yankee manager for the second timed time, replacing Bob Lemon.

July

16th – Premier/President al-Bakr of Iraq is succeeded by Saddam Hussein.

17th – The 50th All Star Baseball Game: The NL wins 7-6 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

August

2nd – New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson dies at the Akron/Canton Regional Airport in Ohio when he crash lands his Cessna Citation I/SP Jet and is overwhelmed by the ensuing fire. Two passengers, instructor Dave Hall and friend Jerry Anderson are seriously burned, but escape certain death in the plane after finding themselves unable to free the cockpit-trapped and unconscious Munson. Munson’s last words to his companions before the crash were these, “Are you guys all right?”

5th – Willie Mays, Warren Giles, and Hack Wilson are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

8th – Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executes 22 political opponents.

12th – Iran press censors start massive book burnings.

13th – Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the 14th player in history to get 3,000 hits in his career.

September

12th – Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox becomes the 15th to get 3,000 hits in his career.

15th – Bob Watson of the Boston Red Sox is the 1st to hit for cycle in both the AL and NL (Astros).

30th – The Houston Astros finish in 2nd place in The NL West under manager Bill Virdon. Their 89-73, .549 record is their best in franchise history for most wins in a single season, even though they only equaled their best wining percentage of .549, a milestone they previously achieved in 1972 with an 84-69 mark.

October

17th – The Pittsburgh Pirates take the World Series in seven games over the Baltimore Orioles.

18th – Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini orders mass executions to stop.

23rd – Billy Martin is involved in a barroom altercation with Joseph Cooper, a Minnesota marshmallow salesman. Cooper requires 15 stitches.

29th – Billy Martin is fired as Yankee manager for the second time.

November

4th – 500 Iranian “students” seize the US embassy in Tehran, taking 90 hostages that they will hold for 444 days.

5th – Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini declares the US to be “The Great Satan”

6th – Ayatolla Khomeini takes full control of Iran.

8th – ABC broadcasts “Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage” with Frank Reynolds as the original host. It will always be remembered as the forerunner to “Nightline” and the big career bump for newsman Ted Koppel.

12th – President Carter announces the immediate halt to all imports of Iranian oil.

15th – ABC-TV announces that it will broadcast nightly specials on the Iran hostage situation.

17th – Khomeini frees most of the black and female US hostages.

18th – Ayatollah Khomeini charges the US ambassador/embassy with espionage.

19th – The Houston Astros sign Nolan Ryan to a record 4 year, $4.5 million contract.

30th – Ted Koppel becomes anchor of the nightly news on Iranian Hostages for ABC.

December

3rd – 45th Annual Heisman Trophy Award: Charles White, Southern Cal (RB).

15th – The deposed Shah of Iran leaves the US in ill health for Panama.

16th – QB Roger Staubach plays his last regular season game for the Dallas Cowboys

27th – Soviet troops invade Afghanistan; President Hafizullah Amin is overthrown.

If you care for more items from 1979, check out this site:

http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1979/january

Tags: 1979 and a few highlights
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Roman Caesar at the Bat

April 27, 2013

Caesar at the Bat
~ New Version ~

The Outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Roman nine that day:
The score stood IV to II, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Brutus died at first, and Seneca did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go, entrapped in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Caesar could get but a whack at that –
We’d put up Roman numerals now, with Caesar at the bat.

But Nero preceded Caesar, as did also Julius VIII,
And the former was a fiddler and the latter was his date;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Caesar’s getting to the bat.

But Titus let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Caligula, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was “Cali” safe at second and fleet Titus a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the streets of Rome, it rang the senate bell;
It rattled the Coliseum and recoiled in nothing flat,
For Caesar, mighty Caesar, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Caesar’s manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Caesar’s bearing and a smile on Caesar’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Caesar at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands in yoga;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his toga.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Caesar’s eye, a sneer curled Caesar’s lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Caesar stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
“That ain’t my style,” said Caesar. “Strike one,” the umpire said.

From the benches, white with Romans, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a Roman-vanquished shore.
“Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they’d a-killed him had not Caesar raised his hand.

With a smile of Saturn’s time gift great Caesar’s visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Caesar still ignored it, and the umpire cried, “Et tu.”

“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and an echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Caesar and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Caesar wouldn’t let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Caesar’s lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel-eyed violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Caesar’s blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Rome today – mighty Caesar has struck out.

Tags: Caesar at the Bat
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Speaking of Mediocrity

April 26, 2013

John Gouchnaux, SS, Cleveland, 1901-1903.

John Gouchnaur, SS,
Cleveland, 1901-1903.

Speaking of mediocrity, yesterday I forgot to mention what had awakened me to our work on Al Doyle’s Baseball Hall of Mediocrity over the years. It was brought to light by an e-mail I had received only a couple of days ago from fellow SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) member Tony Cavender about an early 20th century Cleveland shortstop named John Gouchnaur (sometimes spelled earlier as Gouchnauer).

Unless everyone at his position from his era was comparable, and they weren’t, John Gouchnaur was the epitome of mediocrity and mysteriously terrible play on both offense and defense. In 1903, Gouchnaur hit .185 for Cleveland as he also committed 98 errors at shortstop in 134 games, finishing his 3-year MLB career (1901-03) with a .187 BA. In the field, he compiled 146 career errors in 264 MLB games. Two years later, as a 1905 minor leaguer for San Francisco, he batted .156 (106 for 678) in 215 games. I’m not sure what the record low for one-season batting averages is for minor leaguers with over 600 season times at bat, but Gouchnaur has to be near the record holder in that category.

John Gouchnaur simply did not play long enough in the big leagues to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Mediocrity. If he could have doubled his time to include six full seasons of performance at the same low levels, he would have been a “shoo-in” for induction in my book.

As for the change of his last name spelling from Gouchnauer to Gouchnaur over time, we may only suggest that it probably came down to being the only way that a kind reporting world finally got around to helping beleaguered John Gouchnaur get at least one “E” out of his system.

John Gouchnaur’s Career …

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gochnjo01.shtml

Mediocrity survives best where excellence is neither required, provided, or expected. Remember that little aphorism the next time you are standing in line at the post office and growing impatient. If you will just lower or eliminate your own great expectations, everything will seem to be normal and all right.

For mediocrity to survive over time in baseball in areas of play and relevant performance that normally require singular excellence, establishing a Baseball Hall of Mediocrity to those who have shot that gap seems appropriate.

Who knows? Maybe we will even find a radio play-by-play guy who did games for half a century without ever giving the score until the game had concluded. – Do you suppose that’s ever happened? If it has, John Gouchnaur is innocent of all charges. As far as we know, he never called any games. Blowing them on the field was his area of expertise.

Tags: Baseball Hall of Mediocrity, John Gouchnaux
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An Old Proposal: The Baseball Hall of Mediocrity

April 25, 2013

Ray Oyler (MLB, 1965-70): Poster Boy for the Proposed Baseball Hall of Mediocrity.

Ray Oyler SS (MLB, 1965-70): Poster Boy for the Proposed Baseball Hall of Mediocrity.

The Baseball Hall of Mediocrity is a concept first suggested nearly ten years ago by a Wisconsin-based writer friend of my mine named Al Doyle. In Al’s wild imaginings, The “BHOM”, if created, would serve to recognize all of those big leaguers whose contributions to the game over time fell about 3,000 hits or 300 pitching wins short of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

We never developed any stringent guidelines for membership, but these kinds of variable mixes find each other often in our discussions of specific players who might qualify: Do something bad (like average .200 +/- .010 points over time (5 seasons or more) and still get picked up by a club for a sixth year MLB roster in spite of your past because of something you do well that somewhat compensates for your obvious inadequacies.

In other words, as a player, you average out as mediocre, but good enough about something to have some MLB staying power.

Shortstop Ray Oyler of the Detroit Tigers (1965-68), Seattle Pilots (1969), and California Angels (1970) sort of jumps out as a poster boy for the kind of BHOM candidate that Al has in mind: Oyler was there six years, batting .175 in 542 career regular season games, but providing exceptional defense and morale support as a guy off the bench. (It’s doubtful that Ray’s teammates felt much of a morale boost when they saw him advancing to the plate as a hitter, but he apparently made up for that mostly bad new transaction by his behavior on defense and on the bench.

If there were a BHOM, we could find an appropriate location that helped the theme of the place, mediocrity, take on some brighter, fresher hues, Detroit, Michigan, Terre Haute Indiana, Newark, New Jersey, and Cleveland, Ohio jump to mind.

As for mediocre commissioners, how about excepting Bart Giamatti, and inducting the rest of them from Landis to Selig, in a Bugs Bunny conga-line coronation ceremony, as Bugs did with those HR hitters in the old “Umpire State Building” cartoon about baseball in New York?

Here’s where all of you come in: What should we use as the induction standards for a Baseball Hall of Mediocrity? Al and I have wanted to create a digital version of such a place, at least, but we don’t want to take the word “mediocrity” for granted.

Short-term, mediocrity in the short-term usually either means (1) back to the minors; (2) go play independent league ball; or (3) go find a regular job.

But not always.

Sometimes, players like Ray Oyler make it over time in spite of themselves.

Who do you think should qualify for a Baseball Hall of Mediocrity? And who else should it includes, besides players? And where do you think it should be located?

Postscript: This is a light, playful subject. Please don’t take Al Doyle, me, or yourself all that seriously. Just have fun with the questions and your responses: what is a workable definition for mediocrity in baseball? And how do we honor those who bring it to the table over time in the big leagues. For now, it seems, we do our best to simply ignore mediocre contributors while they are with us and then forget them completely once they are gone. (Sort of like Exxon, Texaco, or Shell might do with their employees.)

And what about mediocre team owners, general managers, field managers, announcers, and writers? Do we recognize them too? If so, who are your candidates and why?

Go for it. Please post your ideas as comments here, not as e-mails to me.

Tags: the baseball hall of mediocrity
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Wanted: One Houston Restaurant Museum

April 24, 2013

San Jacinto Battlegrounds: near the home of the once famous San Jacinto Inn on the south bank side of the Lynchburg Ferry dock.

Overnight, I received a comment from Griff “The Griff” Richardson on an article I wrote a long while back on “The San Jacinto Inn.” It read as follows:

“Bill, I just found your story here…and guess what? I have the Books. Along with blue prints, menus, payroll receipts, etc. (of The San Jacinto Inn). Lol! Would love to share them with someone who would appreciate them. Please contact me. Would love to find a way to get them displayed. 832-577-4380”

Do any of you know of any local museums or local establishments or organizations that might be already engaged or interested in starting an approach to the preservation of Houston’s rich restaurant history? If so, please get in touch with Griff to see if he might be open to either joining the effort or loaning his artifacts as a display item in the cause.

Griff, I’m going to suggest that you get in touch with Mike Vance, the Executive Director of HAM (Houston Arts & Media) a local non-profit organization that promotes research and preservation in numerous historical areas and talk over the possibilities with him while you are waiting to hear from others.

http://www.houstonartsandmedia.org/

Mike Vance can be reached at pccowboy@swbell.net

Tags: San Jacinto Inn artifacts
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