I recall then New York Yankees’ second baseman, Horace Clarke breaking up three no hit bids, by American League pitchers in the ninth inning, back in 1970.
Incredibly, Clarke did so within a period of less than a month, (June 4th-July 2nd), first vs Jim Rooker, then Wilford “Sonny” Siebert and finally vs Joe Niekro.
Only Siebert, who had the lone no hit game in baseball 1966, (in what was to be Sandy Koufax’s last season and after pitching a no hit game for four straight seasons, Sandy did not pitch one in 1966), among the three, had a no hit game in his career.
I remember sitting at my school type desk, listening when Mr. Clarke broke up Niekro’s no hit bid. In those, I believe better days, not all, in fact less than half of the Yankees’ games were televised.
Horace Clarke, pictured above.
It is very entertaining and nostalgic to watch the iconic television show, “Perry Mason” on MeTV.
The show airs twice a day, with different episodes at 9 A.M. and 11:30 P.M. Eastern Time.
Last night from season 1, episode 14 “The Case of the Baited Hook,”, there seems more personal interaction going on between Barbara Hale’s “Della” and Raymond Burr’s “Perry Mason.” Della reminds Perry of her “value.”
Also in the episode, William Hopper’s “Paul Drake” puts an “out of order” sign around a phone booth. That action would not be necessary today. This was quite an episode, originally shown on Saturday night December 21, 1957, with the fine actress, Geraldine Wall as the top billed guest star.
Time moves on, for better or worse and watching “Perry Mason” makes it better.
While it is still likely that the top ranked Washington Mystics will cop their first WNBA crown, they certainly are far from certain title winners, after the Connecticut Sun won game 2 in “Wash,” to even the best of 5 title round series last night.
It was a night the baseball Nationals won a “must” 10 to 8 game, rallying to beat the Brewers, also in the nation’s capital, however, the Mystics, 8 point game favorites and highly inflated 10 or more to 1 series favorites after winning game 1, failed.
Now also highly inflated, is the wait for the “long” trip Washington D.C. to Connecticut that manifests in 4 days off (even the NBA is not that bad, usually Tuesday to Saturday), before game 3 Sunday afternoon, in Connecticut.
Today, quite an episode of the great show, “What’s My Line?”
It is from August, 1954 and has two mystery guests. One is Ivy Baker Priest, then treasurer of the United States, the other, the one and only Debbie Reynolds.
Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis and Steve Allen are the panelists.
John Charles Daly is the show’s host.
Enjoy.
Six (3-0) NFL teams (two vs each other) played lat week, four lost and two, the defending champion, New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs won, but did not cover the spread.
10 point underdog Tampa Bay (Bucs) won at the now (3-1) Rams, in the day’s big upset.
The (3-0) 49ers had a bye, while Detroit (Lions) fell to (2-1-1) after a tough loss vs the Chiefs.
Washington, Denver and Miami all lost and fell to (0-4.
I will channel Ronald Colman/”Sydney Carton” from the classic Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Tail of Two Cities” and use two “fars” to convey that this is far, far less dramatic than a similar St. Louis Cardinals’ bid to win a baseball entity 55 years ago.
Today, on baseball’s last day of the regular season, there are two meaningful games going in, the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Cubs and the Brewers visiting Colorado.
The Cardinals, who also lost Friday and Saturday games in unexpected results, in a dramatic race for the National League Pennant and World Series entry those 55 years ago, lead “Milw” by a game.
If the Brewers gain today, the teams meet tomorrow in St. Louis, with the winner into the “quarters” vs Atlanta and the loser to Washington for a 10 to 8 game, Tuesday.
If the Cards win or if Milwaukee loses or both, the Cards will be the N.L. “3” seed and face Atlanta in playoffs action for the fifth time.
Al Jackson, who/(whom?) sadly, passed on in August of this year, out dueled the great Cards’ pitcher, Bob Gibson in the Friday night opening game of the ’64 series finale, winning (1-0).
Today a fantastic episode of “What’s My Line?” from July 31, 1960, a time just after the presidential political conventions, to which panelist Bennett Cerf refers.
The mystery guest is the beautiful, great actress, Myrna Loy. Other “challengers” are also quite interesting.
Dorothy Kilgallen, Dirk Bogarde and Arlene Francis join Mr. Cerf on the panel. John Charles Daly is the show’s host.
Enjoy.
In all likelihood, the ten teams that will enter the 2019 baseball tournament are known, as play in the final three games commences today.
Only the two American League wild card spots are not completely set. However, the Oakland Athletics with a 3 game lead over disappointing Cleveland (Indians) need but one of at least 7 decisions (3 A’s games at Seattle (Mariners), 3 Indians games at Washington (Nationals) and a very unlikely playoff vs Cleveland and maybe more, if there is a 3 way tie) are and dare I say, will be in.
So very likely is Tampa Bay (Rays) which enjoys a 2 game lead over Cleveland and trail the A’s by a game, in a bid to host their almost certain clash, next Wednesday in the A.L. “10 to 8” game.
Over in the National League, an incredible (18-2) run by the Milwaukee Brewers, (11-2) since star player, Christian Yelich was in injured, has them in while the “Chi” Cubs under manager, Joe Maddon, incredibly, have lost 9 straight games and are out.
Anything can happen, often does, however it certainly appears the Indians for a baseball current high 71st consecutive season (1949-2019) will be denied a title, this year without even making the playoffs.
Last night, a second straight White Sox home win virtually ended the Indians’ chances of being one of 10 playoffs qualifiers.
Sixty years earlier, the White Sox, 40 years after their 1919 pennant, clinched their first one since, winning a game at Cleveland vs the Indians.
Click above to listen to the great announcer Jack Brickhouse call the action as the White Sox clinched the pennant.
Around the 15 minute mark in, get ready for Jack’s great call as the White Sox clinched one of two post-season spots, that in the World Series.
I highly recommend the documentary film, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice.”
Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman did a fabulous job taking us down memory lane and also into Linda Ronstadt’s thoughts, feelings, and dedication.
There is great footage of Ms. Ronstadt and other performers over the years.
Linda speaks about her career and close knit family. Also many other great performers are interviewed.
The film tells and shows much about the fabulous Ms. Ronstadt and also generous portions of other great artists performing.
Those include Jackson Browne, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt.
Many others, great performances and a well deserved tribute to Linda Ronstadt.
It took the top two WNBA teams, (Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun) just one game over the minimum, to win their best of five, semi-final series.
The top ranked Mystics struggled, losing one game and gaining close victories in the first and last games of their series, vs the Las Vegas Aces.
Connecticut pretty much eased in a 3 game sweep vs the L.A. Sparks, the only semi-final entrant that had won a previous WNBA crown. They have three.
‘Wash” will host games 1 and 2 this Sunday September 29th and next Tuesday October 1st. Then the teams must wait until Sunday October 6th, to play game 3 in Connecticut.
Andy B Sports 