Lost MLBPA Ring: Rest of Story

December 29, 2011

9-Year Old Drew Maxwell holds the MLBPA ring of his late grandfather Jerry Witte on 12/28/11. Drew came along after his granddad died. Now he has another reminder of the man that Jerry Witte was.

Most of you have read the column I wrote last week as “A 2011 Baseball Christmas Story.” (See the link below if you have not.)

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/a-2011-baseball-christmas-story/

Today’s news is simply the rest of the story.

Yesterday I met Dr. Zita Witte Maxwell and her family at the Westheimer Road address in Houston of The Gold Rush, the Rodriguez family gold buying business that recently came across late St. Louis Browns and Houston Buffs first baseman Jerry Witte’s Major League Baseball Players Alumni ring and pulled it out of the meltdown path it quickly found itself.

None of us really knew about the ring nor when it had vanished, nor how it had come to be sold bt parties unknown to the Rodriguez family, but we were all happy that it had fallen into the hands of people who cared enough about family and the ring’s small place in history to find us and make sure that it at least would have its chance for survival.

Robert Rodriguez found me through Google, connecting me to Jerry Witte through my past role as his co-author on “A Kid From St. Louis.” That connection led straightaway to the Witte family and the reclamation meeting we held yesterday at the business office of the Rodriguez family. Dr. Zita Witte and her husband, Dr. John Maxwell, had made a special trip up from Lake Jackson yesterday, along with their two children, Mary Elizabeth, age 11, and Andrew, age 9. All the Maxwells had to do was pay The Gold Rush the meltdown value of the ring to get it back.

Back Row: Thomas Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Zita and John Maxwell, Dominic Rodriguez; Front Row: Mary Elizabeth and Andrew Maxwell (holding the ring).

Zita and I both independently brought copies of “A Kid From St. Louis” for the Rodriquez Brothers. Robert Rodriguez shares full credit with his three brothers, two of the brothers, Dominic and Thomas, were present for the business of the ring return, and all three of the guys showed their honest concern and joy over the ring’s return to family care. A fourth brother, Vincent, who is the twin of Thomas, was home recovering from an emergency appendectomy performed shortly before Christmas.

During our time together, we talked about everything under the sun for close to an hour and made all kinds of connection commitments to stay in touch beyond this date of our certain business. For my side, I have that commitment covered easiest. The Rodriguez Brothers are now members of my daily blog column notification list.

I have to tell you – these fellows are a beautiful example of what makes this country great. Family Values simply ooze from almost everything they each say and apparently do. These young men came to Houston from their South Texas hometown of Weslaco and have set up a diverse course of businesses that deal with everything from gold market buying to AFLAC insurance. Their parents are also now here in nearby Tomball running a produce business called “Fresh Pickings.” If you have any gold to sell, or you need any insurance or produce, check out the Rodriguez family at the Gold Rush in the 12000 block of Westheimer.

“As Andrew and Mary Elizabeth both admire the ring, I even got into a photo with Zita and Robert. ” – Bill McCurdy

How the ring got separated from Jerry Witte in the first place remains a mystery we may never solve beyond speculation, Even though neither Zita nor I could remember it, an alert Robert Rodriguez found a photo on the Internet (one that I took, no less) that shows Jerry Witte wearing a ring on his right hand in a photo I took of him with Jeff Bagwell at the downtown ballpark in August 2001.

I did some cropping to see if we could get a better look at the ring up close. Unfortunately, the photo with Bagwell was a low resolution shot in the first place and a closer look got blurry fast. You could tell in the close-up that the ring was turned sideways on the finger. The front of the ring was unavailable for observation, but the shape of the ring’s side says that it indeed was the ring that the Witte family reclaimed yesterday.

Now that the ring has come home, it belongs to the ages of Wittes to come. That’s the good news as we hurdle toward the new year.

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My All Time Astros Starting Rotation

December 28, 2011

Humble me with HOF Pitcher Phil Niekro (L) and Joe Niekro, one of my All Time Astros Starters (2005).

Based upon their record-setting years, my personal memories and evaluations of each, and by easy reference to the critical supportive data available to us from the folks at Baseball Almanac, here are my choices for My All Time Houston Astros 5-Man Starting Rotation:

(1) Mike Scott (1986) 18-10, 2.22 era (306 k, 1 no-no)

(2) J.R. Richard (1979) 18-13, 2.71 era (313 k)

(3) Roger Clemens (2004) 18-4, 2.98 era (218 k, Cy Young NL)

(4) Joe Niekro (1979) 21-11, 3.00 era (119 k)

(5) Roy Oswalt (2005) 20-12, 2.94 era (184 k)

My only overriding criterion was that I would force myself to choose players for a single season performance as a member of the Houston Astros. Three of my favorite past Astros pitchers, Nolan Ryan, Larry Dierker, and Don Wilson, didn’t make the cut because I could not justify that any of them had an Astros year that surpassed the performances of the five men on my selection list.

What are your own picks for an all time starting Houston Astros five over the first half century of the franchise (1962-2011)? 

Please pick your own guys and post them as replies to this column. I will be especially interested to see if you can find a lefty that justifies bumping any of the far more numerous right-handed candidates for consideration as members of this honorable group.

Here are some of the Baseball Almanac lists and links that helped me settle upon my own picks:

 

Houston Astros No-Hitters
Name IP Date
Don Nottebart 9.0 05-17-1963
Ken Johnson 9.0 04-23-1964
Don Wilson 9.0 06-18-1967
Don Wilson 9.0 05-01-1969
Larry Dierker 9.0 07-09-1976
Ken Forsch 9.0 04-07-1979
Nolan Ryan 9.0 09-26-1981
Mike Scott 9.0 09-25-1986
Darryl Kile 9.0 09-08-1993
Roy Oswalt 1.0 06-11-2003
   Peter Munro 2.2
   Kirk Saarloos 1.1
   Brad Lidge 2.0
   Octavio Dotel 1.0
   Billy Wagner 1.0

Houston Astros E.R.A Leaders

1979: J.R. Richard  (2.71)

1981: Nolan Ryan (1.69)

1986: Mike Scott (2.22)

1987: Nolan Ryan (2.76)

1990: Danny Darwin (2.21)

2005: Roger Clemens (1.87)

2006: Roy Oswalt (2.98)

 

Houston Astros No-Hitters
Name IP Date
Don Nottebart 9.0 05-17-1963
Ken Johnson 9.0 04-23-1964
Don Wilson 9.0 06-18-1967
Don Wilson 9.0 05-01-1969
Larry Dierker 9.0 07-09-1976
Ken Forsch 9.0 04-07-1979
Nolan Ryan 9.0 09-26-1981
Mike Scott 9.0 09-25-1986
Darryl Kile 9.0 09-08-1993
Roy Oswalt 1.0 06-11-2003
   Peter Munro 2.2
   Kirk Saarloos 1.1
   Brad Lidge 2.0
   Octavio Dotel 1.0
   Billy Wagner 1.0

Bold = Perfect Game

 

Houston Astros Strikeout Champions
Year Name   #
1978 J.R. Richard 303
1979 J.R. Richard 313
1986 Mike Scott 306
1987 Nolan Ryan 270
1988 Nolan Ryan 228

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Ed Burke: The Ewell Blackwell of East Houston

December 27, 2011

Ewell Blackwell: The Scariest Pitcher I Never Faced

Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn put it this way: “Hitting is about timing. Pitching is all about upsetting that timing.” Hall of Fame catcher and hitter Yogi Berra put it this way: “When I’m batting, I’m not thinking anything; I’m hitting.”  Cardinal Lance Berkman recently backed up Berra’s famous pronouncement when he was asked what he was thinking when the World Series came down to only one more strike for him in Game Seven before he cracked a game-tying ninth inning single into right center field. “I wasn’t thinking anything,” Lance Berkman said, “I was hitting.”

I never played baseball at anything approaching the level of these famous stars, but I can still honestly say that their reasoning makes total sense to this old former East End sandlot and parochial school league player. We could have wished to have known about the wisdom of Spahn and Berra back then in our small world struggles with the little white ball and its red-stitched seams, but the few coaches we had didn’t know them either, so where were we going to get them?

All I ever got as a hard-throwing pitcher with sometime control was the coaching advice to “throw it as hard as you can for as long as you can.” The problem there was that I usually lost my control before I lost my speed or stamina. That led a lot of walks, but a few guys bailing in fear for their lives in the dust around home plate. Remember: In that 1950-1952 era, nobody wore batting helmets or any other primitive form of protective head-gear. Not in the Houston East End, we didn’t.

Bill McCurdy, cf-p, St. Christopher Travelers, 1951-52

Back in 1951-52, I played for St. Christopher’s Catholic School in Park Place, which was (and still is) just down the road from Pecan Park, where I grew up. We had an opposing pitcher in our league from St. Pius X in Pasadena, a fellow named Ed Burke, who was one of those early growth, tall and wiry real athletes that made most of the rest of us 13-14 years old look like the pudgy, immature pretenders that we actually were. Ed Burke stood about 6’2″ back then and he threw the ball with that long-armed whipping motion I had only heard about and seen on baseball cards of big leaguer Ewell Blackwell.

I feared the thought of facing Ewell Blackwell as a pitcher. With “Long Ed” Burke, my teammates and I simply feared the actuality of facing the guy who stood out there 60′ 6″ from our heads and fired that ball at our totally right-handed batting order with that inside-out crossing pattern of blurred heat.

We weren’t so worried about the pitches that made the complete inside-to-out cross. Those either sailed outside as balls or caught the outside corner for a called strike. We swung at just about anything, anyway. Ed Burke upset out timing by making sure that we had none as we stood in there and impassively rained fire upon our dazed self-defensive swinging warriors.

We had never heard the expression “chin music” back then, but we had tasted the experience many times over with Ed Burke. As I said, we didn’t worry that much about the crossover pitches that actually completed the trip. It was those pitches that stayed on an inside path toward our heads that chilled our blood and spilled our falling-away bodies in the dirt. I remember one that literally hissed in my suddenly heated left ear as it zoomed past my “ground-control-to-major-tom” crash-landing body.It was the scariest close call I ever had, even though I was hit several times in the head by slower throwing pitchers. How more of us were not killed back in the day, I’ll never know.

Ed Burke never no-hit us, but we never beat him either. We did chase him in the later innings once, but that moral victory was a little flat-sided by the fact that we were already down by eleven runs when the rally started. As I look back on that game today, it now feels more like they may have just pulled Burke because he had tired of getting us out and that here was a good opportunity for some other younger guy to get some mop up time on the mound. Sorry I brought it up.

Ed Burke, if you are still alive out there, I want you to know that this old opponent wishes you well, even though we never really spoke before or after our games. It was a different era. No fraternizing was the rule back in 1952. I just wanted you to know that  I did get my hits off you, including a couple of doubles, but that you taught me more as a pitcher about the need to overcome obstacles than just about anyone else I ever played against. You were the closest I ever came to facing a pitcher like Ewell Blackwell.

It really is like Spahn warns and Berra advises. If you are a hitter, you can’t let a really dominant pitcher get his grip on your whole club. You have to be ready to mess up his game plan too, if at all possible, but you can’t do it by starting to think after you enter the business side of the batters’ box. Once you get there, you have to be ready to hit – not think.

Now that Christmas is done, the wish for spring just grows stronger.

 

 

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Colt .45’s/Astros: The Manny That Got Away

December 26, 2011

Mota's 150 Career Pinch Hits Are 3rd Most All Time..

As the technically second, but first truly active general manager of the new Houston MLB franchise from 1961 to 1965, Paul Richards did a pretty good job of drafting, acquiring, and signing some of the iconic early talent in the history of the Houston National League baseball club. People like Joe Morgan, Larry Dierker, Jimmy Wynn, Rusty Staub, Mike Cuellar, and Don Wilson all came along on Richards’ watch.

Nobody’s perfect.

One that  got away was a little outfielder fellow named Manny Mota – and he was a guy who ultimately turned out to be the pound-for-pound arguably greatest pinch hitter in the history of the game. He belonged to the Houston club for four months and four days, but he never took a single pitch in the batter’s box as an off-season acquisition who was soon gone with the first winds of spring training. Acquired by the then named Houston Colt .45’s from the San Francisco Giants on November 30, 1962, along with Dick LeMay, in exchange for infielder Joey Amalfitano, Manny Mota got through Christmas 1962 and the early part of 1963 without every setting foot into the mildly cold and wet city that is Houston in winter. Before he could even settle in to anyone’s plan for Houston’s second season 1963 outfield, on April 4, 1963,  Manny Mota was traded by the Houston Colt .45’s to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a long-legged speedy outfielder named Howie Goss and cash.

It wasn’t a big deal at the time.

The 24-year old Mota had batted only .176 in 47 games for the 1962 Giants during his rookie debut in the majors and his 13 total hits had included 12 singles and only a one double. The 27-year old, 6’4″ Goss had batted .343 in 89 games for the 1962 Pirates in his own debut season, but his 27 hits had included 2 doubles and 2 homers and the apparent promise of more punch than anyone could have expected from the little Mota man.

Goss would go on to a one-and-done 1963 season career as a Colt .45, hitting .209 with 9 HRs and 128 strike outs in 570 official trips to the plate as the club’s regular center fielder. He was gone forever from major baseball after 1963.

Manny Mota, on the other hand, was just getting cranked up with the 1963 Pirates. He would go on to a 20-season MLB career (1962-1980, 1982) – one in which he batted .304 overall as a mostly reserve, off-the-bench player and pinch hitter. Mota’s 150 career pinch hits place him third on the all time list.

Manny Mota played for the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, and Los Angeles Dodgers over the trail of his two decades in the National League – and one thing did hold up about his early grades. He had very little power, garnering only 31 home runs in twenty years of play.

His spark was his ability to make good sure contact with the ball when he swung his bat. In 4,227 total plate appearances, Manny Mota struck out only 320 times in twenty years. Howie Goss struck out 164 times in his total 560 plate appearances.

Nobody gets them all right. If GM’s and club owners could tell the future, for example, then neither Babe Ruth nor Jeff Bagwell would have escaped control by the Boston Red Sox. In fact, the list of deals you’d never make might even runs into several volumes, but that’s not the world we live in – and we baseball fans are left to quietly, or not so quietly, lament the stars that got away.

Manny Mota, age 73, was born in the Dominican Republic on February 18, 1938. Two of his sons, Andy and Jose, have also played major league baseball. – Must be something to the gene theory in some cases. It’s just too bad in the case of the father here that the Houston club didn’t have a little more to go on before they made the Mota for Goss deal.

Addendum: Mickey Herskowitz and I have talked since I wrote this column earlier. Mickey covered the club for the old Houston Post back in those days and says he really found Howie Goss a refreshing guy to interview. He reminded me of the fact that the Houston club saw big old Howie Goss as a potential home run hitter. That happens with big guys who also command a sweet swing. People fail to see that they often have an even greater potential for striking out – a trait in Goss that rapidly became apparent in Goss.

One day, Herskowitz says he caught Goss coming into the clubhouse and reminded him that he was on course to strike out 200 times for the season. “Is that right?” Howie shot back. “I never went over 188 K’s out in the PCL!”

On another occasion, the limitations of Howie Goss’s fielding as a center field came quickly to light when he misplayed a bases loaded fly ball over his head into an inside-the-park home run for the other club. “Do you realize that Willie Mays, or even a good outfielder might have caught that ball, Howie?”

“Don’t bring it up,” Goss barked indifferently. “I’m no Willie Mays and, heck, I’m not even a good outfielder.”

The Astros quickly agreed. After the 1963 season, Howie Goss was gone forever from the big leagues. Thank you, Mickey H., for those two great anecdotes on Goss.

Mark Wernick also sent be a photo of the “Colt .45 that never was” (in an official game). Here’s the 1963 card that was done too early of Manny Moto as a Houston Colt .45:

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A 2011 Baseball Christmas Story

December 24, 2011

14 K Gold Ring / Ring Exterior: "Major League Baseball Players Alumni" - Ring Interior: "Jerry Witte, St. Louis Browns, 46-47"

Twas the afternoon prior to the night before – the Night Before Christmas. In surer words, yesterday, Dec. 23, 2011.

Things were moving along on the gentle flow and slowdown of normal activity to holiday speed when I arrived back at the house and checked my e-mail for new messages. Among several, I found a couple of comments on a column I had written a long while back, one entitled “Jerry Witte’s Last Ballgame.”  Each was a request for moderator approval, which always means that the author had to be a first time poster. At WordPress, a comment from a newcomer is always stopped for moderator approval until approval is granted the first time. After the first approval, readers may get their comments posted straight away to each column on any subject, with the moderator maintaining the right to either edit or delete any post.

The first request had come in from someone named Robert Rodriguez and it read as follows: “Great Article…I don’t know how else to contact Bill (McCurdy) or a member of Mr. Witte’s family. Can someone please contact me via email so I can give you my contact phone number. Extremely Important!”

That one got my attention. The second follow-up request merely locked me into riveting focus mode. It also had come from Robert Rodriguez on the same subject: “I forgot to mention (that) this is regarding an item, I came across, that I believe belonged to Mr. Witte.”

I immediately responded by e-mailing my Internet contact information to Mr. Rodriguez and he almost as instantly responded with his own direct e-mail, his phone number, and this message:

“Mr McCurdy, Thank you very much for contacting me…My brothers & I own some stores that Buy Gold & Silver. Recently there was a purchase made at one of our stores & being that I am a huge Baseball Fan and collector, my brothers brought the item to my attention. It is A 14k Major League Baseball Players Alumni Ring engraved (“)Jerry Witte St. Louis Browns 46-47.(“)

“After reading about Mr. Witte I simply needed to know if this is a Ring that was lost, stolen or sold off. I just felt I needed to notify you & his family about this. Can you please contact me at your earliest convenience? 

“Respectfully, Robert Rodriguez”  

When we then spoke by phone, I learned more of Mr. Rodriguez’s attempts to find someone who might care about the fate of this ancient gold ring. He called the Houston Astros after finding my story of Jerry Witte’s only trip to the downtown ballpark to throw out a first pitch in 2001 as one of the last surviving Houston Buffs, but he was simply told by the MLB club that their records do not go back that far.

The Internet turned out to be our Good Samaritan of History’s best friend. That is where I think that Robert Rodriguez learned of the book that Jerry Witte and I had written of his life and baseball playing career. “A Kid From St. Louis” was published in 2003, the year following Jerry Witte’s death.

I told Mr. Rodriguez how thrilled I felt that all of Jerry Witte’s seven daughters would be to learn of what he had found. I asked him to hang loose while I made some calls to the family. The short of it for here is that one of the daughters, Dr. Zita Witte Maxwell, was able to contact Mr. Robert Rodriguez and make tentative arrangements to meet with him and me to see the ring sometime next week. If all goes well, the missing MLBPA ring of Jerry Witte will be spared the melting pot and be back in the hands of the family who loved him before this year ends.

Neither Zita nor I remember the ring, but that’s not surprising. Jerry Witte was not a jewelry guy. He wore his wedding ring forever, but that was all I ever saw. Zita thinks he may have kept the prodigal ring in a drawer at home. According to Zita Witte Maxwell, burglars robbed her parents’ East End home about 1986. Jerry lost some guns in that theft and his wife Mary Witte lost some jewelry. It was highly possible that Jerry also may have lost his MLBPA ring in the same incident and possibly never even realized it – since wearing anything beyond his wedding ring on a daily basis apparently bore little importance to the old slugging first baseman of the Houston Buffs and St. Louis Browns.

The ring is still important and deserving of a fate better than meltdown. It is a connection symbol for Jerry Witte and his history with baseball, his family, and a life well lived. Now the lost and forgotten ring finds its way home to the family who loved Jerry Witte in life and from here to forever. It’s almost as though the soul of Jerry Witte got a holiday fly by pass to revisit Houston on the Night Before Christmas 2011.

Thank God for good people like Robert Rodriguez. He sent me a text that simply read that he was “Very Happy to know the ring will be back in the right hands…Hav a Merry Xmas.”  

Talk about understated eloquence. The man’s heart has spoken by his actions. Because of people like Robert Rodriguez, we can all feel a little better today about life and this world we inhabit. It’s all there for us in the spiritual gist and true grit heart of  this freshly factual and still unfolding Baseball Christmas story.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!


				


				
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Electronic Cigarettes — The “Get Out of Jail FREE” Card for Smokers?

				December 23, 2011 

				

					
No Smoking!


 As a former longtime smoker, I know how hard it was to finally quit the addiction that was “so cool” to millions of us as we came of age in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was a time when almost all of us seemed to smoke as much as our heroes, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, and Joe DiMaggio. Some of us paid for it with our lives. The rest of us finally quit with some considerable impairment to our lungs, breathing, and general health. And, unfortunately, more than a few of us got to watch our children grow up and move into the cigarette habit at just about the same time that we were quitting.


One year ago, my adult son Neal quit smoking cigarettes in favor of the new vaporizing system that ostensibly allows former tobacco users to take in the nicotine without all the other carcinogens that go into regular cigarettes. Neal has asked me for the opportunity here to write about his personal experience with the alternative method and I have granted him that opening today. It will continue to be my hope and prayer that the measure he describes today eventually will become just a step in the direction of total nicotine abstinence. 


Some truths are simply far easier to say than do: The only way to be free of the craving that comes from an addiction is to be completely away from the substance that causes the addiction. Neal will make the argument here that “vaporizing” the nicotine into the system is far safer than inhaling all the cancer-causing agents that come with smoking. 


If you have been a smoker, or an addict to anything else, what Neal and I both are saying here should make some sense to you. He and I don’t agree on everything. I wish he could stop altogether, but I recognize that only he can make that decision for himself. We do agree that this so-called “vaping” seems to be cleaner and safer than cigarette smoking. 


If you truly think that you have never been addicted to anything, it probably will not matter either way. Here’s your chance to read on or, if you are not interested, at least refer smokers you know to Neal’s column on the subject. Neal will be ready for your questions and comments.


Electronic Cigarettes — The “Get Out of Jail FREE” Card for Smokers?










By Neal McCurdy






As a heavy smoker of six years, I was already starting to feel the damaging side effects of smoking cigarettes. I had a terrible cough, my clothes smelled horrible at all times, and I had to go outside in all kinds of weather just to feed my addiction. However, I had no desire to quit. I enjoyed getting that nicotine too much.


 


The best way I can describe nicotine addiction to a non-smoker is, when you are hungry, you eat. If you do not eat, you put yourself at risk of suffering from loss of energy and malnutrition. The same goes for if you are thirsty, you must drink or suffer from dehydration. When you introduce nicotine into your system, you create a whole new need for your body similar to hunger and thirst.


 


The reason smokers keep smoking after hearing repeatedly about all the health warnings, experiencing the damaging health effects, and outrageous price hikes is because once that nicotine is introduced into the body, their brains are practically rewired into creating a new “need” for nicotine in addition to hunger and thirst.


 


Sure, I was coughing. Sure, my clothes smelled like smoke. Sure, I was paying $57.86 per week on a carton of cigarettes. But as long as I was satisfying that need to get my nicotine cravings fulfilled, I didn’t care. Thus, I did not have a desire to quit. That is until I discovered my Get Out of Jail FREE card — the electronic cigarette!


 


I started smoking cigarettes in October of 2004 and gradually progressed to consuming from between a pack to a pack and a half per day at my peak of cigarette usage. In late 2009 to early 2010, I had sampled using electronic cigarettes and was off of real “analog” cigarettes for 9 whole days. Within 24 hours of switching to electronic cigarettes, my smoker’s cough disappeared, I could taste the full flavor of my food, and my sense of smell was not obstructed by cigarette smoke. I felt like a million dollars!


 


Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes or e-cigs, contain simply three to four ingredients: Propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine, and natural and/or artificial flavoring. The propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin are the agents that cause the solution, or “e-liquid” to boil and change from a liquid into a vapor form at a lower boiling point. There are no other cancerous ingredients found in this solution. “Well, wait a minute! What about that awful nicotine?” you may ask.


 


Nicotine in itself is as harmless as caffeine. So, while the addiction to nicotine remains in the usage of e-cigarettes, doctors around the world agree that the usage of the e-cigarette and its three to four ingredients is much healthier than the traditional “analog” cigarette, which contains over 4,000 cancer causing ingredients. Professional medical opinions stop short of saying that it is in fact a “Get Out of Jail FREE” card, but as of this point, not one person has died from the usage of electronic cigarettes.


 


I can personally vouch for the electronic cigarette. I quit smoking analog cigarettes forever on what would have been my grandfather’s 100th birthday,  December 23, 2010. That was a year ago today, and I have been on electronic cigarettes permanently since then. Cost wise, what I spent for a carton of cigarettes per week is what I am spending for in electronic cigarette supplies, cartridges, refills and e-liquid in a MONTH!


 


Other perks of being an electronic cigarette smoker, or “vaper” as we like to be referred to as since we are not “smoking” or setting anything on fire with the usage of electronic cigarettes, is I get to use it in my house and car without stinking up the place with tobacco scent. I am also not confined to tobacco flavors. Some of the flavors of e-liquid I regularly “vape” are cappuccino, chocolate (imagine smoking Ovaltine!) , coconut, and — dare I mention it — cotton candy.


 


While I started with the more traditional form of electronic cigarette that actually looks like a cigarette, technology in the “vaping” world has dramatically increased since late 2009. I use a vaporizer called the ProVari manufactured by the folks at ProVapes. This unit, which without a cartridge screwed in at the top, looks like a light saber from Star Wars.


 


The batteries can endure eleven hours of non-stop regular vaping and only costs $11 each as opposed to the batteries of the e-cigarettes that look like real cigarettes. Those batteries cost anywhere between $30 to $50 and can only endure up to a couple of hours of non-stop regular vaping.


 


The e-cig has been greatly helpful in my line of work. I work in a busy work environment and go long periods of times where I cannot step outside and smoke a whole cigarette. I am, however, able to step outside and take one to three drags of my e-cigarette, place it right back into my pocket, and continue working.


 


More and more office businesses throughout the country are opening up to the idea of allowing vapers to vape at work, and when I mean vape at work, I mean vape at the desk. A survey at one technology company showed productivity doubly increased when a boss went out and bought electronic cigarettes for all the employees who smoke. They never had to get up and leave their stations to go outside on breaks and got work done quicker with more quality.


 


Do I believe that these electronic cigarettes are the “Get Out of Jail FREE” card for smokers? Absolutely! Since I have experienced first hand that I can satisfy this craving my brain is hard wired into thinking that I need as badly as food and water without harming my health, I do not see anything wrong with it, and as the general public slowly becomes more and more accepting of the positives of this wonderful invention, I expect the general attitude towards using electronic cigarettes will improve.


 


While I don’t expect my bosses to be allowing me to vape right at my workplace, at least when I do come back in from a “vape break,” I don’t have to come back in smelling like an ashtray.


 


Are you a stubborn smoker like I was and want to kick the habit while still getting the same satisfaction your cigarette gave you? I have some web links posted below that will get you started on your path to tobacco freedom. To get myself started, it cost me roughly $434, but in the long run, it’s cheaper. Take it from me; don’t go chasing after those cheap mall brand e-cigarettes. I’ve got the EXACT recipe that kept me off cigarettes listed below:


 


Things you’ll need:


 


#1. Personal Vaporizer – This is the actual unit that converts the liquid into vapor. I bought 2 because I know myself. I’m going to be carrying it everywhere. What if I misplace it on my way out the door and I need to GO GO GO? I have that backup sitting there for peace of mind. I use a variable voltage unit because traditional mall e-cigs are set at 3.7 volts of power to convert the e-liquid into vapor. As your cartridges get older, the amount of vapor emitted decreases. You can counter this by increasing the voltage of your PV (Personal Vaporizer). IMPORTANT: There will be an option as to what size threading you would like to have on your PV. Make sure you select 510 threading. It is the MOST universal in your selection of cartridges out there.


 


Model: The “ProVari” by ProVapes.


URL: http://www.provape.com/provari-variable-voltage-ecig-s/36.htm


 


#2. Batteries – These use rechargeable sized 18490 batteries. Get 10 and number them with a sharpie so you know which ones go bad over time. The ProVari unit uses one at a time, and having 10 charged at once allows for peace of mind that you’re not going to be running out anytime soon. Each battery is currently $11 each can last up to 10+ hours of non-stop vaping. Take THAT $50 mall e-cig batteries, which last only 2 hours! For the record, since I’ve been using my current setup, I’ve only had one battery go bad on me, and that is because it went through the WASHING MACHINE! Be EXTRA careful leaving things in your pockets once you start regularly vaping.


 


URL: Same as ProVari (See Above)


 


#3. Charger – Charges your 18490 batteries.


 


URL: Same as ProVari (See Above)


 


#4. CE2 Clearomizers – These are the cartridges you fill and refill with e-liquid. I have NO clue what “CE2” stands for. I used to use regular “cartomizers.” A cartomizer is a combination of a cartridge and an atomizer. Atomizers burn out over time, so why not merge the two? Hence, the cartomizer. These have an absorbent polyfill substance that you simply saturate with e-liquid. Then came the CE2 “clearomizer,” a see-through cartomizer that allows you to eyeball how much e-liquid is left in them. These operate on kerosene lamp technology. You get the best taste out of your e-liquid with these. They basically have a chamber that holds the liquid, and ropes within it that dip into the liquid chamber and deliver the liquid to the atomizer located at the top of the CE2.


 


In other words, these are what I use now and they are great. Be mindful of these, as they have a low resistance atomizer built into them, so start each new CE2 at the lowest setting of 3.3, and work your way up as the vapor gets fainter and fainter (probably after 7-10 refills). With these, you shouldn’t need to exceed 3.7 volts, as they are the low resistance type and will short out the atomizer if set on higher settings.


 


I get these from LeCig, along with my e-liquid. On their website, an order of a quantity of one is actually one 5-pack of CE2s. I recommend getting 4 packs (5 CE2s each, so 20 total) so you aren’t in danger of running out. Just as a friendly warning, you WILL encounter some duds in these packs. I’d say 1 in 7 is a dud. I know that seems pretty high, but that’s actually pretty good compared to other brands of cartridges that are out there. If something is a dud, your ProVari has a computer that will throw an error code when you try to puff on it. More on ProVari error codes later.


 


Remember me mentioning that you need to order your ProVari with 510 threading? That’s because these have the 510 sized threads.


 


When you fill your CE2s with e-liquid, you’ll need a pair of tweezers to get the inner stopper out. Just grab it from the middle and the edge, much like you would grab a compact disc. E-liquids come in dropper bottles. When you drip the e-liquid in the cartridge, be extra careful not to get the e-liquid in the center area. Drip it to the side of the top of the CE2. If it gets in the middle, it isn’t the end of the world. Simply wrap your lips around the top of it as it is, and blow, catching any excess liquid with a tissue on the other end.


 


Also, I STRONGLY suggest you number your cartridges with one of those label maker printers. You can find these at Office Depot. Numbering the CE2s allows you to keep track of what flavor you load into each CE2, and, most importantly, allows you to track which ones are getting weaker if you are in a hurry and you want to avoid filling, say, #8 because you know it’s going bad, so you’ll go ahead and fill #4 instead because you remember #4 had excellent vapor production.


 


URL: http://lecig.com/CE2DC3XLCLEAR.aspx


 


#5: E-Liquid – Have you ever wondered what it’s like to smoke your coffee, an orange, or cotton candy? No? Well, they have other, more “traditional” tobacco flavors too. Menthol as well! My personal favorites are cappuccino, chocolate, espresso, and Irish crème.


 


Be weary of what nicotine strength of e-liquid you buy. Use the following comparison of Marlboros as a guide:


 


Unfiltered Marlboro Reds = 34-36mg


Marlboro Reds = 24-26mg


Marlboro Mediums = 16-18mg


Marlboro Lights = 12-14mg


Marlboro Ultra Lights = 6-8mg


Just flavor & NO nicotine (in case you want the vaping experience to actually KICK the habit) = 0mg


 


As a side note, when I smoked, I smoked Marlboro Blend No. 27s, which equals the same strength of a Marlboro Medium, so I always order e-liquid in the 16-18mg range.


 


As a side note, if you put chocolate in one CE2 and you ran out of chocolate, and load it with cappuccino, it’s going to taste a little funky at first, but eventually, the remnant chocolate flavor will burn off and it will be solely cappuccino flavored.


 


URL: http://lecig.com/leliquid.aspx


 


And that’s it! So, to review, here is the list again:


 


* (2) ProVari personal vaporizers


* (10) Size 18490 batteries


* (1) Battery Charger


* (4) 5-packs of CE2s


* (3) 30ml bottles of e-liquid


 


It is imperative that, in order to successfully stay off cigarettes, you stay on top of your ordering. Monitor how many functional CE2s you have left along with how many bottles of e-liquid you have. If you know you like a certain flavor, get the 30ml bottle. If you are just trying a flavor, get the 10-15ml bottle. I always have at least 3 full 30ml bottles of e-liquid at all times. I would say, as a heavy vaper, I go through three or four 30ml bottles within a month’s time.


 


One more thing I’d like to add. Your ProVari has a computer that can tell you what’s wrong with a certain cartridge by displaying an error message. There’s a list of all the error messages and what they mean here: http://www.provape.com/v/images/provarimanual.pdf


 


I hope some of you who are tired of smoking will give this a try. It is just not necessary to smoke anymore. This IS a very healthy alternative, and you still get that satisfaction of nicotine intake. While I chose to keep on vaping, others, like my former boss, switched to it completely, then lowered his nicotine levels over time, and quit it completely within 2-3 months. The choice is yours, and you don’t have to suffer anymore.


 


 





				


				
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New UH Coach Levine Says It Well

				December 22, 2011 

				

					
Tony Levine: When he was named interim head football coach at UH.


I like the pick. When the University of Houston named former University of Minnesota receiver (1991-95) Tony Levine yesterday as the new permanent head football coach of the Cougars, I could not have been more thrilled. His background spoke for itself. His 16 years as a coach has included 2 seasons with the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and several other collegiate stints with Auburn, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, and Texas State.


The 39-year old Levine joined Kevin Sumlin’s staff at UH in 2008 as receivers’ coach and has also borne the title of assistant head coach the past two years. He was named interim head football coach at UH roughly two weeks ago when Sumlin suddenly left the Cougars for the same job at Texas A&M. That temporary delegation alone made a number of us take notice. Levine appeared deeply moved and almost brought to tears by the unexpected turn of events. Tears don’t win games for you, but they often tell you that the person they come from has a heart for such things as a bond to the cause at hand.


I haven’t heard an incoming coach at UH speak so eloquently of his character and intentions with UH since Bill Yeoman came to Houston in 1962 and then lived out these words of his UH coaching career and professional like. If the UH is half that lucky this time, a lot of us old-time Cougar alums will be more than happy.


A coach has to win on the field, but Levine has already been a big part of the Sumlin success on the field and he is the kind of guy who has a great working relationship with his players and the recruits. Throw in a capacity for articulating the essence of commitment and UH may just have landed the best man for the job, but one who only became available when the guy above him moved on.


Tony Levine: When he was named permanent head football coach at UH.


According to the Houston Chronicle story today, Dec. 22, 2011, UH Athletic Director Mark Rhoades explained the Cougar pick of Levine this way: “We consistently talk about building a program and building upon our culture here at UH and when you have the perfect fit right here on staff. you feel fortunate. But we still wanted to do our due diligence. We talked to some great folks … but the best fit for UH is Tony Levine.”


As far as I’m concerned, Tony Levine’s own acceptance of the job words from the same Chronicle story are reason enough to like the pick” “I’m both humbled and excited to have this opportunity to lead the Houston football program and continue my work with our student-athletes and staff. – This is a dream come true for me and my family. We love Houston and I’m proud to say that Houston is our home. When you have the opportunity to head a program, it has to be more than a job. Houston is a destination spot. Continuing to build this program is a personal challenge because this place means so much to us.”


Welcome aboard the Big East Express, Tony Levine, and thanks for putting into words what a lot of us Cougars have been wanting to hear from a head coach for a very long time.

				


				
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Houston Sporting Hopes

				December 22, 2011 

				

					


John Malkovich


Last night I caught part of the SNL Christmas show and I happened to surf in about the same time that villainous actor John Malkovich was starting his cynical reader treatment of “Twas The Night Before Christmas” for a group of little children. He spoke to them in resonating tones from a cozy chair by a snowy evening window, next to the glowing Christmas Tree, as the kids all nestled around on the floor, hanging on every word of this benevolent-looking man in the Santa Claus cap.


Got the picture?


The rest of it, the substance,  is all found in the annotations. After every two lines from the classic seasonal tribute to grand old St. Nick, Malkovich pauses to offer some differential kind of disparaging comment on life that he derives from the words of the poem.


Early in the recitation, when Malkovich reads these lines: “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there,”  we get the presenter’s explication that inspires the central and only essential thought behind this column, And that’s good too in the sense that not all the columns by yours truly are either inspired or stopped by the absence of deep thought.


“You know what they say about ‘hopes’, children?” Malkovich charges with cynical eye and smirk. “Hopes are what we cling to when reality has left us nothing else.”


Once I recover from the quiet inner guffaw that Malkovich inspires by his sadly ironic explanation, it occurs to me that his simple formula for determining the presence or absence  of one of the most copiously offered bromides to the downtrodden communities and heroes of all time, hope, applies fairly square as an explanation for the essential reason that Houston sports fans of the Astros, Rockets (yeah, I know about those two NBA crowns we picked off during the MJ sabbatical), the Oilers, the Texans, the Cougars, and the Owls (OK, so the bluebirds do have Wayne Graham and one national baseball title, but they also have that football team history) have so much HOPE.


Hope is what we cling to when reality has left us (all of or next to) nothing else.


Happy New Year, Houston sports fans. And never give up. And thank you, John Malkovich, or your writers, for shaking that one size fits all apple from the tree of truth sublime.

				


				
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What’s Your Biggest Holiday Hassle?

				December 20, 2011 

				

					
What's Your Houston Holiday Hassle?


Not all of us are hassled by the holiday season in Houston, but some people have some seasonal peeves, and some of these are generic to any up and running American community. Others of which are distinctly Houston. Here are a few possibilities. We invite you to comment if any apply to you, even if you don’t live here. We’d also will love hearing from everyone who has no problem with December into January as just a great time to celebrate, travel, or chill at home. Your observations are important too.


Here’s a round-up of the usual subjects. Are any of these 20 reasons among your pet peeves at holiday time?


(1) Christmas shopping and fighting the mall traffic, especially if you live in Houston, anywhere near the Galleria, The Woodlands, or Memorial City.


(2) Sending and receiving holiday cards, even to and from people you’ve never even met.


(3) Decorating the house with a tree and other lights and stuff that has to be taken down in January, February, or March.


(4) The money spent on presents, parties, and travel.


(5) Out of town guests who come too early and stay too long.


(6) Christmas cooking, eating, and the assault upon your diet and waistline.


(7) End of the year work tasks that have nothing to do with joy and peace or good cheer.


(8) Cleaning the house for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa and then messing it up again celebrating those reasons.


(9) Drinking in ways you normally don’t and paying the price for whatever a serious over-indulgence is for you.


(10.) Picking up and delivering guests at the airport.


(11.) Financial Roulette: Spending money that may not be there in January to cover holidays bills and purchases due for retirement when the credit card bills come after you.


(12) Driving to Galveston to see “Dickens on the Strand” and then having to go home because you couldn’t find a parking space and then remembering that they didn’t have this problem in the 19th century because there were no cars to drive and take up all the space.


(13) News stories about lowlifes stealing nativity scenes or ripping off presents from the tree of poor folks or anybody, but especially poor folks, at Christmas time.


(14) Making up stories for the kids. Best example, having to explain to your believer-kids why you keep running into Santa Claus every place you go and then giving them the cover story that all but one of these same red and white suit folks you keep seeing are really helpers. Then, when the kids ask you which one was the real Santa, you tell them, “That’s for you to figure out. It’s called ‘The Christmas Mystery,’ Be good and get it right, you get what you want.  Be good and get it wrong, you don’t get so much. Be naughty and get it right, it still doesn’t do you any good. You blew your chances being naughty, so we hope naughty was worth it. Now stop talking so much and finish your Big Mac. I’m trying to drive here.”


(15) Waking up on Christmas morning and the Houston weather feels like it’s the Fourth of July and that just drains the Mel Torme out of your Christmas spirit.


(16) Nothing to watch on TV but meaningless college bowls games, Christmas specials, and re-runs of “Miracle on 24th Street” with Baby Natalie Wood and “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart.


(17) Christmas music that helps you feel lost, abandoned, disconnected from love, and blue as a Smurf character, but not nearly as happy.


(18) Rappers on New Years Eve who never ever heard of Guy Lombardo.


(19) If you have one, the thing you dislike the most about the holiday season, if anything, even if you live somewhere other than Houston. At, least shoveling snow on Christmas morning is always a very dim-lifted priority in Houston.


(20) What makes the holiday time a happy one for you, if anything, and why? We’d like to hear from some happy people too.


Merry Shopping, Everybody!


 

				


				
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Houston Sports Story of the Year

				December 19, 2011 

				

					
Which is Houston's biggest sports story for 2011?


It’s that time of year for incomplete, but arguable lists. Here’s my Top Ten List of the Biggest Sports Stories in Houston for 2011:


(1) Drayton McLane sells Astros to Jim Crane group as Commissioner Bud Selig forces the latter to accept movement of the club to the American League in 2013 as a condition for the deal’s MLB approval.


(2) Texans win the NFL’s AFC South, making playoffs for first time.


(3) Astros lose 100 plus games (106) for the first time in their 50-year history.


(4) UH Cougars go 12-0 before losing C-USA football championship game to Southern Miss, 49-28.


(5) Texans hire Wade Phillips as defensive coordinator.


(6) Rockets hire Kevin McHale as their new head NBA basketball coach.


(7) Dynamo’s new soccer stadium is under construction east of downtown for next season.


(8) New Astros ownership fires administrative icon Tal Smith as Baseball President of the club.


(9) UH joins the Big East Conference.


(10) Yao Ming retires from the Houston Rockets.


Let us hear from you. The Pecan Park Eagle would like to know what your choices are for the top stories in Houston Sports in 2011. Do we need to recognize Houstonian and former Astro Lance Berkman for his accomplishments in delivering the Cardinals from a one-more-strike-and-you’re-dead defeat in the World Series. All you have to do is post your opinions below as comments on this article.


Then have a happy final preparation week on our way to Christmas weekend!

				


				
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