An Astros ” Woulda’, Coulda’, Shoulda’ “

November 3, 2016
CUBS WIN! ~ CUBS WIN! ~ CUBS WIN!

CUBS WIN! ~ CUBS WIN! ~ CUBS WIN!

 

1) Woulda’ Land

Cubs Left Fielder and Series MVP Ben Zobrist and Center Fielder Dexter Fowler woulda’ been playing for the 2016 Astros, but they both got away by different past routes.

Zobrist Prior Astros Connection:

Fowler Prior Astros Connection:

 

2) Coulda’ Land

Cubs 3rd baseman Kris Bryant coulda’ been playing  for the Astros this year too, but the Astros took pitcher Mark Appel ahead of him as the top overall 1st round pick in the 2013 draft.

Bryant Prior “Almost an Astro” Connection:

 

3) Shoulda’ Land

The Astros shoulda’ had all three of those starting field players in their own starting lineup this season. Had that been the Houston club’s local parallel universe reality governing MLB history in 2016, the Cubs most likely would have been awakening this morning to the prospect of 109 years and counting “since 1908” …. but that’s not the universe we live in this morning. Hind sight, as per usual, is always 20-20!

The reality is simple to state: Cubs Win! ~ Cubs Win! ~ Cubs Win!

And congratulations to great people like Bill Hickman and all the other fans of the doggedly patient Chicago Cubs! – You deserve the rest of the day, week, month, and year off to celebrate something you’ve been hoping to live long enough to see in your own lifetimes – and now it’s here! The focus on “1908”, “Bill Goat Curses”, and going to see the “Lovable Losers” * play at Wrigley Field on a quiet June afternoon are now officially over, done with, and put to bed for all eternity. The new shine now belongs to the 2016 new Champions of the World Series and all of baseball – The Chicago Cubs!

Oh yes, and this is very important too, that target that now rides on the backs of your Cub uniforms, is now your official legacy, courtesy of the other 29 big league baseball teams. Wear it proudly and honorably, but watch your backs in 2017. Next year is a long-missing, brand new ballgame for the Cubs. Now you must prepare to defend what you have sought to regain for 108 years. – And since 108 years from now is 2124, the Cubs must do all they can to make sure that it doesn’t take til then to re-experience the ecstasy of last night’s sweet, sweet victory the next time.

In 2017: The guessing’s all done ~ The mysteries are few ~ The rest will come gunning ~ All aiming at you!

GO CUBS! ~ BE THE BEST CHAMPIONS THAT EVER COULD BE!

  • “Lovable Losers” never has been a term of use by bedrock Cubs fans. It’s another of those so-called journalistic word concoctions that some writer came up with on a dull day in Wrigley – probably in August – to explain to his or her own mind as to why any fans would show up to watch any of those past season teams that were stuck in the mire of going nowhere by late in the season. The faces of baseball passion and undying hope apparently went unrecognized by the writer’s need for a “fresh” story angle on a team of losers..

_____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

 

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Home Again in Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood

November 2, 2016

“Where had you gone, Mr. Robinson? A nation turned its lonely eyes to you! (Woo, woo, woo, who, who, woo)”

WOW! Eddie and Bette Robinson finally made it to the World Series last night as a result of the Cleveland Indians being big enough to recognize their earlier error of omission and inviting the last surviving member of their last previous World Series champions of 1948 to be a most deserved guest at this year’s opportunity to finally win again.

The Tribe is to be commended for their actions and, from the very little we could see via television, the Robinsons seemed to be having a kicked-back good time at Progressive Field last night during the early going of Game 6. That changed quickly, of course, as the Chicago Cubs went on a 9-3 final score hitting rampage early to defeat the Indians and force the dream/nightmare of a Game 7 in Cleveland tonight. That part of the evening is not what the Robinsons wanted to see, but they can still hope for a better game script tonight as the whole of our baseball culture waits for the final word on what just may be the most interesting Game 7 in history.

“God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)”

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, of course, pits the oldest time-lapse previous winner since 1908, the Chicago Cubs, hoping to break a 108 year old absence skein from the winner’s circle against the 68 year old absentee foe, the Cleveland Indians, the club with the 2nd longest absentee streak from their prior winning year. The Indians haven’t won since 1948 – and star 1st Baseman Eddie Robinson is the last surviving member of that ancient championship team.

What a beautiful couple are the Robinsons! They are living, walking proof that some couples actually do make it to the land of “Happily Ever After!”

Have a great time tonight, Eddie and Bette!

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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Indians Invite Eddie Robinson to Game 6

November 1, 2016
Sports Center sends out the first news that lone surviving member Eddie Robinson will be at Game 6 tonight as a late invitee. This photo if from their SPorts Center report, showing Eddie as the only 1948 championship survivor in 2016.

Sole Survivor: Sports Center sends out the first news that lone surviving member of the 1948 last Indians championship club, Eddie Robinson, will be at Game 6 tonight in Cleveland as a late invitee. This photo is from their Sports Center report.

Good News! Thanks for quick heads up, Paul Rogers! Here’s the link to the Sports Center scoop:

The Cleveland Indians apparently corrected their original error. Eddie Robinson, the star first baseman and only surviving member of the 1948 Indians’ last World Series Championship club at age 95, nearly 96, will be in Cleveland night as the club’s guest for Game 6. No details are yet available on what role he will play, if any, at the game, but we are hoping that they allow him to be introduced on the field to throw out the first pitch. This is no ordinary 95-year old. Eddie Robinson is sharp as a tack and capable of making a first pitch that will be far superior to most of the people half his age.

As we know the man, ever so slightly as past members together on the Board of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, I do know in my heart that his presence at Game 6 will make up for a lot of disappointment he experienced at first, when the Indians forgot about him altogether.

The trouble with living at peace with yourself – and in good health until age 95 – is that, no matter what you may have done in life much earlier on the road to that point – that some people or organizations from your successful past – may get the impression that – at age 95 – that you are now either dead – or that you never existed at all. – Living in peace on a quiet daily basis may simply seal the deal on the belief that your current new permanent address is at the local cemetery.

Eddie Robinson, at nearly 96, is one of the most alive, sharpest, nicest guys on the planet – and he is most deserving of the first class recognition that the Cleveland Indians finally have remembered to give him – for being the last surviving member of Cleveland’s last World Series champions from 1948.

Have a good time in Cleveland tonight, Eddie Robinson!

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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Previous Halloween Columns, 2009-15

October 31, 2016

halloween-959006_1920

2016 seems to be a good time to reflect on the fact that we’ve shot a wad of fresh ideas on previous Halloweens, and,  while we do have newer ideas always churning away on “Baseball and Halloween” – this feels like a good time as any to recall the columns we’ve already posted in The Pecan Park Eagle in previous years of our relatively brief existence as a passionate digital website on certain subjects of Baseball, Houston History and Doings, Human Behavior, and Parody.

Here we go with links to everything we found in our archives from earlier year Halloween celebrations since our first year of online life in 2009. We hope that you may still find something that is fresh, fun, seasonal, and worthy of distraction from the horrors of cour contemporary realities. We’re not sure how we missed doing something on Halloween for 2013, but we seem to have tried to compensate in 2014 by writing two Halloween columns.

Here’s the List of seven previous Halloween columns and their connection links from the archives of the The Pecan Park Eagle.

Hope you find something to enjoy, and …………………………….>>>>>>

bats

Pecan Park Eagle Halloween Columns, 2009-2015

2009: October 31 ~ My Eight Great Favorite “Boo” Movies 

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2009/10/31/my-top-10-all-time-favorite-boo-movies/

2010: October 20 ~ Top Halloween Costumes: 2010  

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2010/10/20/4424/

2011: October 31 ~ Halloween-Inspired Baseball Movie Ideas

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2011/10/31/halloween-inspired-baseball-movie-ideas/

2012: October 25 ~ Baseball Horror Movies for Halloween

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2012/10/25/baseball-horror-movies-for-halloween/

2014: October 31 ~ The Ghoulville Halloween Baseball All Stars

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2014/10/31/the-ghoulville-halloween-baseball-all-stars/

2014: Nightmare on Crawford Street Nears End

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2014/11/01/nightmare-on-crawford-street-nears-end/

2015: October 31 ~ Pleasant Dreams On Halloween

https://bill37mccurdy.com/2015/10/31/pleasant-dreams-on-halloween/

 ____________________

pumpkin

2016: October 31 ~ (new) The Curse of Bud Selig (one of them, at least)

In 2013, the Chicago Cubs won 103 regular season games, more than any other club in MLB – and the more than their World Series adversaries, the Cleveland Indians. And yet, a Cubs 3-2 win Game 5 at Wrigley Field last night now sends the World Series back to Cleveland for Game 6, and Game 7 too, if needed – with the Indians currently leading the Cubs by 3 wins to 2 in the victory column. A Cleveland win on their own turf Tuesday night. If a Game 7 is needed, that one too will be played in Cleveland’s house.

How did this happen? And why does MLB ignore the stupidity of former Commissioner Selig for establishing the current rule that the league winner of the summer All Star Game shall determine which league champion will get home field advantage throughout the forthcoming fall’s World Series?

Bud Selig created the current rule about the All Star Game winner determining home field advantage in the World Series after the 2002 All Star Game ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings because the clubs ran out of pitchers in their early efforts to get all the players into the game without regard for the possibility they might be needed later. – Selig said that the new change, effective since 2003, was to make the game more relative to the goal of winning a game that mattered more to the players, managers, and fans.

The more probable explanation is that Selig was embarrassed that the notorious 7-7 tie had occurred during his watch as Commissioner – on his old turf in Milwaukee – in the Brewers’ new turf stadium – and that all of the unhappiness over how the game played out as a tie – for obvious reasons. You can’t play winning baseball and also focus on getting all the players into the box score for history – which is exactly what became obvious in 2002.

We didn’t like the change from the start – and now we hate it. If the Cubs did anything more special than being the biggest winner in 2016, it’s the fact that it eventually won them a spot in the World Series, some 71 years since their last appearance in 1945, and 108 years since their last victory in 1908.

Now the Cubs are trailing 3-2 in wins, and they will have to fight for the title on the road because of the All Star win by the American League this past July. – It’s not fair. It’s not right. And it needs to change.

Here’s our compromise suggestion:

(1) Home field advantage in the World Series should go to the AL or NL club with the best overall season record.

(2) If two teams enter the World Series with identical season records, then use the All Star Game winner as the tie-breaker for which team gets home field advantage that same year.

____________________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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Dictionary of Relevance in Houston City Sports

October 30, 2016
Houston Sports also includes UH, Rice, TSU, and HBU at the collegiate level. We cannot include the Sugar Land Skeeters here. Apparently, being located in

Houston Sports also includes UH, Rice, TSU, and HBU at the collegiate level. We cannot include the Sugar Land Skeeters here. Apparently, being located in “Sugar Land” may have helped them win the independent Atlantic Baseball League Championship in 2016.

There are only three words of relevance in this dictionary, but, man, do they make it rough on the Houston sports fans that buy into their tricky ways of working together to discourage us from learning from our own experiences over time as fans. Check them out – either for edification or entertainment. We try to be good for both those goals around here.

(1) illusion

noun il·lu·sion \i-ˈlü-zhən\
Popularity: Top 30% of words

Simple Definition of illusion

(1a) something that looks or seems different from what it is : something that is false or not real but that seems to be true or real

(1b) an incorrect idea : an idea that is based on something that is not true

Source: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

Simple Examples of illusion in City of Houston Sports

(1a) looking at any team in Houston City Sports and seeing an imminent national or world championship in the making

(1b) best examples: Colt .45’s-Astros in the World Series; Oilers and Texans in the Super Bowl;  UH in basketball or football

____________________

(2) delusion

noun de·lu·sion \di-ˈlü-zhən, dē-\
Popularity: Top 10% of words

Simple Definition of delusion

(2a) a belief that is not true ; a false idea

(2b) a false idea or belief that is caused by insanity

Source: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

Simple Examples of delusion in City of Houston Sports

(2a) “Next year we’re going to kick the door in!” ~ Bum Phillips

(2b) “Wait’ll next year!” ~ any Houston fan in any sport

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(3) insanity

noun in·san·i·ty \in-ˈsa-nə-tē\

Simple Definition of insanity

(3a) a rejection of reality by thought, word, or action

(3b) when we continue doing painful things expecting a different result each time

Source: Merriam-Webster and their bastard child, Street Wisdom

Simple Examples of insanity in City of Houston Sports

(3a) renewing season tickets under the influence of an illusion/delusion cocktail

(3b) expecting things will get better when all we have to go on are marketing slogans and an unwillingness to learn from our previous experience with hopeful promises.

____________________

Postscript

If the terms illusion and delusion sound the same it’s because they almost are. Here’s an easier way to keep their distinctions from each other in mind.

An illusion is more of a visual distortion of how we may erroneously distort certain parts of of our life view on reality. Illusions emanate from the same section of the brain that allows us to recall visual memories of what we have seen or – as in this case – how we may visualize the possibility of what we want to see in life as attainable certainty.

A delusion is an ideational – or linguistically-based belief-error thought pattern in how we think about life. On the negative side, delusions of persecution, for example, are the basis for our baseball culture’s tendency to embrace the ideas of “curse” as the explanation for past curses upon such clubs as the Boston Red Red Sox and the still active “curses” upon the Chicago Cubs. Delusion may even be the source for the belief that some of us in the City of Houston suffer from a belief about how the championship misfortunes of our various local sports teams are afflicted uniquely by disappointments that do not seem to occur to other big league cities to the same degree. 🙂

__________ 🙂 __________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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The New York Yankees World Series Record

October 29, 2016
The 1908 Chicago Cubs (We Think.) The Last Cubs Team to Win a World Series Provided by Miriam Edelman

The 1908 Chicago Cubs (We Think.)
The Last Cubs Team to Win a World Series
Provided by Miriam Edelman

If you enjoyed our previous column on all World Series winners and losers, The Pecan Park Eagle hopes you may enjoy our own presentation of the New York Yankees record as a singular table of Awesome Triple X. Their record speaks for itself.

Derived and reorganized for this presentation from the same total World Series history assembled by Wikipedia, it makes it easier to show our millennial fans why some of us who grew up in one of the Yankee halcyon winning periods how it always felt a little illegitimate when the World Series was played in a year in which the American League was represented by some team other than the New York Yankees.

The facts remain. The Yankees have been to The Show 40 times since 1921 for an overall record of 27 World Series wins and 13 losses.

Wow. – Just WOW!

For fans like those of us in Houston, and pretty much everywhere else, it’s absolutely dream staggering. Our Astros have been there only once in 55 season opportunities when they reached the Grail of all baseball battles in 2005 – and even then, our guys couldn’t even win a game. in a four-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox.

If baseball were an issue-of-parity enterprise, one based upon the need to settle championship deprivations by a plan for creating compensatory victories that made it easy for all of our longtime losing and missing-out clubs, one per year, to take home the big prize every year until a state of balance had been achieved, the Astros and Rangers would both be near the front of the line at the check out stand, but that’s not the way the game is played. Thank God – or whomever or whatever fits into your belief system about the governance of good over evil.

A Reparation World Series Trophy would feel about as awful as it sounds. It would be no more satisfying to the recipient teams than those plastic trophies our 21st century culture still gives kids for showing up at little league level games, wearing uniforms they take for granted and didn’t buy for themselves in the first place. No, the only way to win a World Series is to out-plan, out-resource, out-develop, out-smart-spend, and outplay everybody else in a given year – even if it’s a tough road past many unfair obstacles. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy or fair, but it’s how we have to see our club get the job done to really have anything in the end that feels worthy of a celebration.

Oh yeah – Go Cubs!

The Big Picture World Series Complete Record of the New York Yankees

YEAR WINNER MANAGER GW-GL LOSER MANAGER WSW/SL
1921 Giants McGraw 5-3 YANKEES Huggins 0-1
1922 Giants McGraw 4-0-1(T) YANKEES Huggins 0-2
1923 YANKEES Huggins 4-2 Giants McGraw 1-2
1926 Cardinals Hornsby 4-3 YANKEES Huggins 1-3
1927 YANKEES Huggins 4-0 Pirates Bush 2-3
1928 YANKEES Huggins 4-0 Cardinals McKechnie 3-3
1932 YANKEES McCarthy 4-0 Cubs Grimm 4-3
1936 YANKEES McCarthy 4-2 Giants Terry 5-3
1937 YANKEES McCarthy 4-1 Giants Terry 6-3
1938 YANKEES McCarthy 4-0 Cubs Hartnett 7-3
1939 YANKEES McCarthy 4-0 Reds McKechnie 8-3
1941 YANKEES McCarthy 4-1 Dodgers Durocher 9-3
1942 Cardinals Southworth 4-1 YANKEES McCarthy 9-4
1943 YANKEES McCarthy 4-1 Cardinals Southworth 10-4
1947 YANKEES Harris 4-3 Dodgers Shotton 11-4
1949 YANKEES Stengel 4-1 Dodgers Shotton 12-4
1950 YANKEES Stengel 4-0 Phillies Sawyer 13-4
1951 YANKEES Stengel 4-2 Giants Durocher 14-4
1952 YANKEES Stengel 4-3 Dodgers Dressen 15-4
1953 YANKEES Stengel 4-2 Dodgers Dressen 16-4
1955 Dodgers Alston 4-3 YANKEES Stengel 16-5
1956 YANKEES Stengel 4-3 Dodgers Alston 17-5
1957 M Braves Haney 4-3 YANKEES Stengel 17-6
1958 YANKEES Stengel 4-3 M Braves Haney 18-6
1960 Pirates Murtaugh 4-3 YANKEES Stengel 18-7
1961 YANKEES Houk 4-1 Reds Hutchinson 19-7
1962 YANKEES Houk 4-3 SF Giants Dark 20-7
1963 LADodgers Alston 4-0 YANKEES Houk 20-8
1964 Cardinals Keane 4-3 YANKEES Berra 20-9
1976 Reds Anderson 4-0 YANKEES Martin 20-10
1977 YANKEES Billy Martin 4-2 LADodgers Lasorda 21-10
1978 YANKEES Lemon 4-2 LADodgers Lasorda 22-10
1981 LADodgers Lasorda 4-2 YANKEES Lemon 22-11
1996 YANKEES Torre 4-2 A Braves Cox 23-11
1998 YANKEES Torre 4-0 Padres Bochy 24-11
1999
YANKEES
Torre 4-0 A Braves Cox 25-11
2000 YANKEES Torre 4-1 Mets Valentine 26-11
2001 D’Backs Brenly 4-3 YANKEES Torre 26-12
2003 Marlins McKeon 4-2 YANKEES Torre 26-13
2009 YANKEES Girardi 4-2 Phillies Manuel 27-13

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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The World Series Big Picture

October 27, 2016
What Price Glory?

What Price Glory?

Except for 1904 and 1994, the World Series has been played every other year from 1903 through the presently unfolding 2016 version between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. Those two cancellations were factually quite different, but they stand tall as excellent examples of how little the human ego had changed over 90 years when it came down to how selfish decisions gaining power over what probably would have been best for the common good of baseball – not killing the World Series each time – but that’s a much more complicated story for another day.

Today’s column is as simple or complex as your individual minds care to make it.

The chart shows each of the 16 original and 14 expansion franchises by their current names and league affiliations, plus, in the case of franchise clubs, the year they each came into being.

It’s a good perspective on the big picture  of how clubs have fared – or not fared at all – in the World Series by the four bottom line column factors, moving left to right:

1) How many World Series has each franchise won?

2) How many World series has each team played?

3) In what year did each franchise last win, if at all?

4) In what year did each franchise last play?

Have fun looking things are over. It won’t be hard to find the one team that has best demonstrated the results one might expect when money, power, talent, and time are the lightly shaken, not stirred, results of a mogul culture’s favorite cocktail recipe for success.

Your own observations, comments, or questions will provide the heart of how the bare facts here either reinforce, or alter, your own perspective on what it takes to reach and collect baseball’s big prize – a World Series win.

World Series record by team or franchise, 1903–2016 *

* Compliments of Wikipedia

Teams † Series
Wins		 Series
Played		 Last
Won		 Last
Played
Arizona Diamondbacks (NL, 1998) * 1 1 2001 2001
Atlanta Braves (NL)
[previously Boston Red Stockings, Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Braves/Milwaukee]		 3 9 1995 1999
Baltimore Orioles (AL)
[previously Milwaukee Brewers/St. Louis Browns]		 3 7 1983 1983
Boston Red Sox (AL)
[previously Americans]		 8 12 2013 2013
Chicago Cubs (NL) 2 11 1908 2016
Chicago White Sox (AL) 3 5 2005 2005
Cincinnati Reds (NL)
[previously Redlegs, Red Stockings]		 5 9 1990 1990
Cleveland Indians (AL) 2 6 1948 2016
Colorado Rockies (NL, 1993) * 0 1 — 2007
Detroit Tigers (AL) 4 11 1984 2012
Houston Astros (NL, 1962; AL, 2013) *
[previously Colt .45’s, NL]		 0 1 — 2005
Kansas City Royals (AL, 1969) * 2 4 2015 2015
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (AL, 1961) *
[previously Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels]		 1 1 2002 2002
Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)
[previously Brooklyn]		 6 18 1988 1988
Miami Marlins (NL, 1993) *
[previously Florida]		 2 2 2003 2003
Milwaukee Brewers (AL, 1969; NL, 1998) *
[previously Seattle Pilots, AL]		 0 1 — 1982
Minnesota Twins (AL)
[previously 1st Washington Senators]		 3 6 1991 1991
New York Mets (NL, 1962) * 2 5 1986 2015
New York Yankees (AL)
[previously New York Highlanders/Baltimore Orioles]		 27 40 2009 2009
Oakland Athletics (AL)
[previously Philadelphia/Kansas City]		 9 14 1989 1990
Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 2 7 2008 2009
Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 5 7 1979 1979
San Diego Padres (NL, 1969) * 0 2 — 1998
San Francisco Giants (NL)
[previously New York]		 8 20 2014 2014
Seattle Mariners (AL, 1977) * 0 0 — —
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 11 19 2011 2013
Tampa Bay Rays (AL, 1998) *
[previously Devil Rays]		 0 1 — 2008
Texas Rangers (AL, 1961) *
[previously 2nd Washington Senators]		 0 2 — 2011
Toronto Blue Jays (AL, 1977) * 2 2 1993 1993
Washington Nationals (NL, 1969) *
[previously Montreal Expos]		 0 0 — —

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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Eddie Robinson: Cleveland’s Forgotten Man

October 26, 2016
Recent Photo of Eddie Robinson Eddie is Also the Oldest Living Yankee He turns 96 on 12'15'2016

Recent Photo of Eddie Robinson
Eddie is Also the Oldest Living Ex-Yankee
He turns 96 on December 15, 2016

Eddie Robinson, age 95, is baseball’s latest forgotten man. Even though Eddie is the only living member of the Cleveland Indians’ last 1948 World Series Championship, the current AL club champions in that same baseball lineage apparently forgot – or else – they are too young to remember – what this still incredibly healthy and alert good baseball man did for their franchise – only 78 years ago. Their oversight is altogether sad, bothersome, and understandable – in terms of contemporary thinking about forgetfulness among the very young and the very old.

The young often forget the old and yesterday because the accomplishments of past generations no longer matter or bear relevance to them. The surviving old often forget the young and today for reasons of decline in the brain’s capacity for retaining recent names and events. Eddie Robinson’s memory, now only a little more than 5 years away from 100, is working just fine. Of course, he understands the importance of 1948 in baseball, to Cleveland fans, especially. He also understands the relevance of his surviving presence to that last Cleveland World Championship of 78 years ago well enough to have recently uttered this bottom line quote to a question put forth to him by the New York Daily News since the Indians finished off the Blue Jays for the 2016 AL pennant. The Daily News wanted to know what Eddie had heard from the Cleveland Indians since their clincher. Eddie responded in apparent frustration:

“That’s the funny thing about it,” the career .268 hitter told the Daily News. “I haven’t heard a damn word from Cleveland. Not a word.”

“I’m disappointed,” Robinson continued in his remarks to the Daily News about not hearing from his old team. “It just seems like they would want to talk to any member of the ’48 team, let the press talk to them. I don’t understand it. Maybe they’ll get in touch with me.”

Ten years ago, when this editor served a term as volunteer Board Chair of The Texas Baseball Hall of Fame from 2004 to 2008, I was privileged to have served with Eddie Robinson on the board for part of that time. This great man, this same guy who had once been a star member of my childhood collection of Texas-born big league player baseball cards, was simply an ace among aces as a live human being. He knew his baseball, he was bright, alert, and funny, and he treated those of us who were never good enough as players to get anywhere within a thousand miles from a big league field with the all the kindness and modesty of a genuine “raised right” Texas gentleman. When I see Eddie Robinson now in current videos of his reaction to the Cleveland 2016 success, I am simply blown away by the man’s mental sharpness and “still got it” good looks of a much younger man.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/article110179832.html

We first learned of Eddie’s Cleveland “whoops” by e-mail from his biographer, the wonderful SABR researcher and law professor and former Dean of the SMU Law School, Mr. Paul Rogers. Thanks to Paul and John Blake of the Texas Rangers, the Cleveland Indians were apprised of Eddie Robinson’s importance as the only surviving member of the franchise’s last 1948 World Series winner, but, if anything material has resulted from that important prompt of the Indians to “do the right thing”, we’ve heard nothing else.

Here’s the link we received from Paul Rogers:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/eddie-robinson-living-member-48-indians-pissed-team-article-1.2838963

Too bad. – Eddie Robinson would’ve, could’ve, should’ve been there with former Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove to escort the young lady to the mound who threw out the first pitch in Game One at Cleveland last night.

If any reference was made to Eddie Robinson in the pre-game show or telecast of Game One last night, we missed it, and we were “bug-glued” to that event from pre-game to post-game.

Here’s hoping the Cleveland Indians figure out a way to get through their embarrassment and acknowledge Eddie Robinson tonight in Game 2 – which still could be the last game the Indians play at home.

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park

October 25, 2016
The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park 1100 Bagby Street Houston, TX 77002 Tel: 713 655 1912 E-Mail: info@heritagesociety.org

The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park
1100 Bagby Street
Houston, TX 77002
Tel: 713 655 1912
E-Mail: info@heritagesociety.org

Big Move In Place for The Heritage Society

Effective 10/01/2016, two vital forces of service to Houston and Texas historical preservation came together for the sake of enhancing the efforts of each group. On that date, The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park absorbed Houston Arts and Media into their auspices, forging their operations  into a newer, and a more dynamic and assertively active and visible program of historical preservation and public education about the history of Houston and Texas .

Alice Collette of the Heritage Society remains on board under accountability to the Board of Directors as Executive Director, and Mike Vance, the former capable leader of Houston Arts and Media is now engaged as the Heritage Society Program Director.

We do not know Alice Collette, but we are given to understand that she is a passionately committed warrior for historical preservation and a person of the highest integrity that is always needed for a position of this nature. Mike Vance, on the other hand, we know very well as a colleague in the local Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR, aka, The Society for American Baseball Research. Mike, yours truly (Bill McCurdy), and several other SABR members (Bob Dorrill, Joe Thompson, Marsha Franty) and one independent contributor (Steve Bertone), were the researchers and co-authors of Houston Baseball: The Early Years, 1861-1961, Bright Sky Press, 2014. Mike Vance did a beautiful job for us also as editor of the 367 page coffee table sized hard cover book – and the only history ever recorded about the long expanding life of baseball in the Greater Houston area.

Mike Vance is an intelligent and passionate person about all things historical – and he does his work with a thorough dedication to exhaustive research for the nearest primary source documentation before he allows anything to go to print as truth – or probable truth. He also isn’t afraid to challenge historical legends that have been passed down as factual events without any documentation to validate their reality. He also is an assertive searcher for those artifacts of history that either need to be saved or memorialized – and – once he sees them – he organizes plans with others on the best ways to intervene in their behalf.  Mike Vance was the prime mover behind the two memorial plaques in Houston that now commemorate the sites of Houston’s first two professional baseball parks in the near downtown area. In brief, the future of Houston’s history is in the best hands available with Mike Vance. We can think of no one who could make a better Program Director for this worthy organizational upgrade in the now viral battle to destroy Houston’s ancient and sad older reputation afar as the city that turns history into strip malls and parking lots. It’s no longer a just conclusion in all cases – as evidenced too by the Mike Vance-supported effort to halt the demolition of the Astrodome and the conversion of that space into a very large parking lot. So. far, it’s beginning to look like Houston will get to keep its architectural equivalent to the Eiffel Tower. Houston has a legion of Mike Vances on that issue – and we also are one of the thousands of happy Houstonians to claim membership in that club. We also appreciate Mike’s efforts in behalf of us all.

The View from Sam Houston Park To Downtown Houston

The View from Sam Houston Park
To Downtown Houston

Before you miss out on what’s coming up in November and December 2016 – please check out The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park website to find out about the many exciting events coming up before the new year – and – if you have a fire for history too – to learn more about how you may become involved as a volunteer in this ongoing effort to preserve Houston and Texas history.

https://www.heritagesociety.org/

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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Go Cubs! Take the World Series Too!

October 24, 2016
Photo Contribution By Bill Hickman Fan of the 2016 NL Champs The Chicago Cubs

Photo Contribution
By Bill Hickman
Fan of the 2016 NL Champs
The Chicago Cubs

Late this afternoon, the following e-mail message and the above shown 1946 Chicago Cubs Game Program and 1946 game tickets photo arrived here from Bill Hickman, a SABR colleague, digital world friend, Cubs fan, and formidable collector of baseball photos for the sake of their contributions to history.

Here’s what Bill Hickman had to say on Sunday:

Hi, (Bill McCurdy) –
 
I enjoyed your selection of Spencer Tracy to play Joe Maddon.  It was spot on. (Bill Hickman was referring to what he saw and read in our previous column, Sunday Sports Soup: 10/23/2016.)
 
Thought you might like to see what the Wrigley Field souvenir program looked like the last time the Cubs were the reigning NL Champs.  The attached is from the first major league game I attended.  My father took me to see the Cubs play the Cincinnati Reds in 1946.   I can’t tell you who won, because I don’t know the exact date of the game.
 
It’s nice to be able to say that the Cubs are the reigning NL Champs again.  It has been a long wait.
 

              Regards,

Bill Hickman
____________________

Here’s my column answer to Bill Hickman:

Thank you, Bill Hickman, and special congratulations to you on the success of the 2016 NL Champion Chicago Cubs. Did you feel that spiritual body hug and hand clasp that you no doubt received from your dad when it happened last night – or are these words helping you realize what suddenly caused that involuntary body staggering and that almost simultaneously bone-crunching sensation in your right hand as the Cubs ended the Dodgers in the 9th with a Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance play that sealed their 5-0 game win and 4-2 NLCS triumph?

Put The Pecan Park Eagle and its editor in the corner of all the “other team other fans” who are hoping the Cubs now go all the way. Like you, I didn’t grow up thinking about the Cubs and Billy Goat curses – or the 1908 funny business that Johnny Evers pulled off against the Giants in the famous “Merkle Boner Game” that later became the dubious first seed of curses talk because of how that chicanery “may have mysteriously” contributed to the Cubs’ last World Series victory.

That being said, why has it taken 71 years for the Cubs to win another NL pennant? And why has it been 108 years since the Cubs won their last World Series? I think you’ve explained that one to me very well in a previous e-mail response to a recent column we wrote on the Chicago Cubs Curse business. For anyone who’s interested, here’s the link to that Cubs Curse column:

Time for the Legend to Live or Die

Any MLB club can have a bad century when ownership operates for almost the entire period on the cheap, while also trading talent like future Hall of Famer Lou Brock for pitchers like Ernie Broglio.

Here’s how Bill Hickman expressed the picture of what it was like growing up a Cubs fan on the North Side, starting as a little kid in the Post World War II Era in 1946, when his dad took him to his first game at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs entertain the Cincinnati Reds:

Here’s the view of this old Cub fan:

1. I didn’t see the 1945 World Series. No TV in our house (or most homes at the time). But I heard it on my parents’ car radio. Those were my first impressions of major league games.

2. Growing up around Chicago, I never heard about a curse. We kids simply rooted for the Cubs because we were on the north side. Not much different from all you Houston fans cheering for the Astros, despite some frustrating seasons.

3. I still don’t believe in a curse. A close examination of Cubs’ history will show ownership and management deficiencies for most of the past 70 years. Certainly during the Wrigley and Chicago Tribune ownership periods, there was a governing philosophy which wasn’t conducive to putting together the best team. Day baseball, while rival teams were playing night ball at home, may have contributed to the problem.

4. At my age, I’d be happy to see the Cubs in the World Series again, much less than aspire to win the whole shebang. Of course, it would be terrific to break the streak of not winning the Series since 1908, but even the National League Championship would be a treat.

5. “Lovable Losers” is in the eye of the beholder. To someone who has pulled for the Cubs for more than 70 years, they are simply “the Cubs.”

Bill Hickman

____________________

Any club can have a bad century when they are run on the cheap over most of the same period by people who are only capable of acquiring great talent by blind luck and leveraged low play. Once the players develop under that kind of situation, they have to be traded or lost to free agency to avoid a rising payroll. And the team never gets much better than average, if that good.

That “On The Cheap” era seems to have ended when the Thomas J. Ricketts family bought 95% full ownership pf the Chicago Cubs on 10/27/09. The Ricketts ownership then hired Red Sox wunderkind talent assessor Theo Epstein as their President of Baseball Operations on 10/12/11 and Jed Hoyer as their General Manager on 10/19/11. Once they then hired Joe Maddon as their Field Manager prior to the 2015 season the new Chicago Cubs were now “good-to-go” – and go they have done. On 10/21/15, the Cubs lost the NLCS to the New York Mets in a 4-game sweep, but they came back like a grown up bear in 2016. Their 103 2016-season wins were the highest total in MLB. – And last night, 10/22/16, the Chicago Cubs did something they haven’t they haven’t done since 1945. – They closed the day in Wrigleyville as 2016 Champions of the National League.

Congratulations again, Bill Hickman and patient Cubs fans everywhere! Here’s hoping you touch one more base in this still very much alive 2016 baseball season opportunity before all is said and mainly done.

We will cap this piece with another photo that arrived today from another friend. We had never seen it previously. It supposedly was taken in Chicago in 2016. Any ideas why the two gentlemen in the picture seem to be forcing the reluctant bear cub to take third base? It’s nice to know he finally cot there, but it did take him another 100 years to reach that big home plate he crossed last night, 10/22/2016.

Wrigley Field, 2016 Photo Contribution By Miriam Edelman

Wrigley Field, 1916
Photo Contribution
By Miriam Edelman

Forget how much time it took to reach home. He got there last night. And now there’s one more bigger home plate to be touched by Cubs feet – and often – at both Wrigley and the Cleveland park.

____________________

eagle-0range
 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

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