A true great and magnificent talent and entertainer, Aretha Franklin died on August 16th at the age of 76.
Her magnificent voice which resonated on such smash hits as “Respect” and “Natural Woman” was one for the ages.
Ms. Franklin’s songs inspired during the Civil Rights Movement and resonate this day and always.
I highly recommend the work “Aretha Live at The Fillmore West” (in San Francisco), as an example of music that is transcendental.
Her work and voice lives on, bye Aretha!
Entering the 1935 World Series vs the Chicago Cubs, the Detroit Tigers had never won the title and were (0-4) in World Series play.
The Cubs were (2-5) in W.S. competition at that point, their 2 victories both coming vs the Tigers. Those remained the only two such results, for 108 years, until the Cubs “titled” in 2016.
Detroit won the first of their 4 titles, in 6 games vs the Cubs in the 1935 World Series.
A video below, shows Goose Goslin driving in Mickey Cochrane, with the World Series winning run.
Babe Ruth had stepped to the plate in the famed 1934 All-Star Game when broadcaster Tom Manning intoned “ballplayers may come and they may go, but here is the king of them all!”
How true about the Babe, who died seventy years ago today!
Whether he hit home runs (his 59 in 1921 or 54 in 1920 gets relatively little mention but recall the great Lou Gehrig hit 47 HR’s when Babe hit 60 in 1927, while Ruth easily outdistanced the competition in ’20 and ’21) or struck out as he did that aforementioned at bat vs Carl Hubbell in the ’34 All-Star tilt (“King Carl” went on to “K” not only Ruth, but also Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin 5 Hall of Famers, real ones, not compilers, in succession) the Babe was the most exciting and dare I say baseball’s greatest player.
As with few other athletes, (certainly Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson), Babe Ruth transcended sports.
Add the almost unbelievable fact, his great pitching contributed mightily to 3 Boston Red Sox titles and his more famous great slugging led 4 New York Yankees’ crowns and you begin to measure his most unique greatness and impact.
Babe Ruth pictured above.
Last night on “Decades,” I truly enjoyed watching “The Ed Sullivan Show” and then other great shows from the past.
On the Sullivan Show, Ed cited a classic routine by comedians Rowan (Dan) and Martin(Dick).
As they walked off the stage, only to be called back by Mr. Sullivan, (a good sign, a great one if in later years, Johnny Carson did so) I noticed Rowan patting Martin on the back. The team had performed great and their bond was illustrated by that gesture.
The famed “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In” followed the Sullivan Show, as it does each weeknight at 6 PM Eastern Time on Decades.
Pictured left to right, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin of the great comedy team, Rowan and Martin.
There is no doubt that Brooks Koepka will be the golfer of the year.
He won the just completed PGA Tournament, his second major tournament victory of this year, having won the U.S. Open.
Koepka copped (say that three times fast!) last year’s U.S. Open crown, giving him victories in three of the last seven major tournaments and of course two of the last three.
Quite impressive!
Brooks Koepka, pictured above.
While it is still likely that the defending World Champion, Houston Astros will still be the American League “two seed,” they are making things a little bit too interesting in the A.L. West race.
Houston’s lead is down to just two and a half games over very surprising Oakland (A’s) for the division lead.
Surprising Seattle (Mariners) just won all 4 games at Houston, joining the way below .500, Texas Rangers as teams to sweep the ‘Stros in the last two “at Houston” weekend series. Texas won all three there two weeks ago.
Houston, which is 11 and a half games behind (85-35) Boston (Red Sox) for the A.L. one seed, still leads their probable division series opponent Cleveland (Indians) by 6 games in the “2” seed battle, which will determine home field advantage if and again, likely, when the two teams meet.
An incredible difference to this point as Houston is (41-18) on the road actually a better percentage than (43-20) Boston.
However, they are just (32-28) at home.
Last Sunday was the exact 56 year anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death on Sunday August 5, 1962.
Ms. Monroe, such an underrated actress, especially regarding her comedic skills, was at one time married to Joe DiMaggio, whose 56 game hitting streak is among and arguably is baseball’s greatest record.
Another great record (I realized this listening to Ben Mankiewicz’ introduction of “The Pride of the Yankees” on TCM last night), Lou Gehrig’s 2130 consecutive games played lasted 56 years from the time of Lou’s last game in 1939 until Cal Ripken Jr. eclipsed the mark, with DiMaggio in attendance in 1995.
