My mind floods more than usual and my heart runs over with emotions, recalling the great quarterback Ken Stabler, who died last week at the age of 69.
So many memories, so many great football moments back when I believed football, at least the great competition, was so great.
Ken Stabler, who played primarily with the Oakland Raiders and about whom I once said in my own 18 year old’s football preview “stood back and threw darts,” was a big part of it.
The left handed quarterback Stabler provided great clutch plays indelibly etched in my mind.
1972: before Franco Harris’ “Immaculate Reception” gave the slightly favored Pittsburgh Steelers a (13-7) divisional round win vs the Raiders, “The Snake,” as Stabler was known, went around left end for a 30 yard touchdown that gave Oakland a (7-6) lead very late in the game.
1974: Stabler leads the winning drive against Miami from the Oakland 32, culminating in a touchdown pass to Clarence Davis, the latter making the catch between two Dolphins’ defenders, to dethrone the two time Super Bowl champions in the divisional round of the playoffs.
1976: Most important, since it was in a season the Raiders finally won the Super Bowl, Stabler, despite his gimpy knees, ran left and dove into the end zone from 3 yards out lifting the Raiders over the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs.
It must require a left turn to get to a “better place,” as Mr. Stabler is there now, many of us richer for the memories he provided.
Continuing my look at the four men, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron, and Johnny Bench, who were voted baseball’s greatest living players, today I reflect on the great Henry “Hank” Aaron.
I now know or certainly it is my opinion, that Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player ever, if for no other reason the fact he was a dominant pitcher before becoming an unprecedented slugger.
Yet there was a time I really wanted his mark of 714 home runs broken and when it was done by a favorite and a great named Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974, it was a great moment.
My father saw “The Babe” play and talked of the differences Ruth and later players, like Aaron met in their time in baseball. He knew of Ruth’s greatness yet cheered that Monday night when we were among a national television audience, fortunate to see Aaron hit his historic 715th home run in a game vs the L.A. Dodgers on NBC.
Hank was so much more than that home run and his great statistics which include 755 home runs.
He was an incredible clutch performer.
His home run clinched the 1957 pennant for the Milwaukee Braves and then Mr. Aaron hit .393 with 3 home runs as the Braves won the world Series in 7 games against the vaunted New York Yankees.
Even when his team, the by then Atlanta Braves, lost the 1969 NLCS in 3 straight games to the New York Mets, Aaron stood out homering in each game.
Aaron has been happily married to Billye Williams for 42 plus years and twice each has laughed when I told them combined, they have 1,181 home runs. (Another “Billy Williams” as with Hank born in Alabama, hit 426 in his Hall of Fame career.)
Then I added, as I do here, how much I admire the greatness and class of Henry Aaron.
It was wonderful seeing the four men voted baseball’s greatest living players– Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron and John Bench–walk out amidst thundering applause at the All Star Game in Cincinnati two nights ago.
In the next few days, I will share some of my thoughts on each of these great players.
Cincinnati was the site and a great Cincinnati Reds’ player Johnny Bench is today’s topic.
I thought of him along the lines of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bobby Orr when he started and though it is almost impossible to be as great as those two were in their respective sports of basketball and hockey, Mr. Bench came close and received a great, well deserved honor the other night.
Few if any players delivered in clutch situations the way Bench succeeded in doing.
Al Michaels gets all kind of credit for a “tag line” when the U.S. hockey team upset the Soviet Union’s team in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
His true great call was his play by play as the Reds’ radio broadcaster, when Bench homered off a then great relief pitcher Dave Giusti of the Pittsburgh Pirates, to tie the decisive 5th game of the 1972 NLCS (eventually won in the same inning by the Reds).
Lesser known, but perhaps more important, as the Reds, who lost the 1972 World Series did win it in 1975, was Bench starting the Reds’ winning 2 run rally in game 2 of the great 1975 World Series vs the game Boston Red Sox.
“Cincy” trailed both the World Series and game 2 by one, when Bench doubled to right. The one time seeing Johnny, I recalled that hit to open our conversation and he remarked “how few people remembered such a big hit.”
Back to the 1972 game 5 home run. Bench hit it to right field as he did the 1975 W.S. game two double, the ball sailing over the head of the great, great player Roberto Clemente of the Pirates.
It really does not matter that had Clemente been alive, he died in a plane crash as he was aiding victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua, he and not Bench would have been one of the four players cited two nights ago.
What matters is that he died, how he lived and how precious life is. When that ball went over Clemente’s head, it was the last time the public saw him.
All of this, reasons why it was so special seeing the great living players, Johnny Bench, perhaps baseball’s greatest catcher alive or deceased, being one of them.
Click here for the 1972 NLCS Finnish
The American League that won last night’s All star Game.
For the second straight year, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was named the MVP of the All Star Game.
Hence the American League champion will have the home field advantage in the World Series.
Starting in 1985, the team with the home field advantage has won 23 of the 29 World Series contested.
However, last year the San Francisco Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in the World Series sans the home advantage.
Novak Djokovic continued his ascent on the ladder of all-time tennis greats by defeating Roger Federer in 4 sets in the men’s Wimbledon tennis final two days ago.
Djokovic notched his third Wimbledon crown and second straight, the last two finals’ victories coming against Federer.
Overall, Djokovic has won 12 grand slam tennis events.
I had predicted neither Novak Djokovic nor Serena Williams would win at Wimbledon this year and of course both did.
However, I did say after Djokovic struggled mightily in the round of 16 and Ms. Williams had a scare in the quarterfinal round, that each of these great champions may have met the toughest test and would roll to victory.
Both great champions, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams did just that. Next they revived a Wimbledon tradition and danced together to the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever.”
As with that “heavenly coffee” of days past, the incredible book “Those Amazin’ Mets from Worse to Verse” by George H. Gregor is “chock full” of information (that is) and as the title suggests, poems.
Mr. Gregor, in very creative and at times heart rendering fashion has written poems, all 8 verses in length, about each of the 53 New York Mets’ baseball seasons from their first one in 1962 through 2014.
Additionally, on the same page as each poem is a list of every Mets’ player for that season.
For example on the 1963 page is “Ed Kranepool, still young, got into some games,” and at the bottom of the page Kranepool, acknowledged in the book as the player with the most games played in Mets’ history in a special records section, is listed among “other hitters.”
Ed is in the “other hitters” category because he was not in a typical 1963 day lineup, a detail Mr. Gregor has included for all 53 seasons.
That is not even close to all, as every one of the 984 players to play for the Mets are cited, with some detail following each one.
There is a leaders’ category, a list of every All Star (on our own we can add Jacob deGrom from this season) and a section on the 1962 Mets from which one can ascertain pitcher Dave Hillman at age 87, is the oldest living Met from that year’s team.
A thorough highlights section is included and the book is dedicated to the great Gil Hodges, who managed the Mets to the 1969 World Series title.
Mr. Gregor feels as I do, that Mr. Hodges should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr. Gregor’s book with great verse and unbelievable information is “Hall of Fame stuff” as well.
Click here for info on how to purchase the book.
Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon crown by defeating Margine Guburuza (6-4) (6-4) in the women’s final yesterday.
Ms. Williams has won 4 straight tennis grand slam events. With a victory in the upcoming U.S. Open she would achieve the “calendar grand slam”–she already has won the Australian and French opens in addition to winning the Wimbledon title yesterday.
Williams has won 21 Grand Slam Tournaments, only Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22) have more.
Only the legendary Maureen “Little Mo” Connolly in 1953, Ms. Court in 1970 and Graf in 1988 have achieved the “calendar grand slam” among women tennis players.
A testimony to the greatness of a DVD of the last New York Giants’ game at the Polo Grounds that was played on September 29,1957, recorded and produced by baseball historian Moe Resner is the many times my mind opened new and old “doors” concerning the people who come to life via the DVD, on the hallowed green of the Polo Grounds that day.
Mr. Resner recorded it and it is a treasure. I once heard esteemed hockey announcer Mike Emrick talk of how God (I add, or at least some force) creates memories, but one great thing us humans did was create ways to preserve those memories.
In this case Moe Resner hit the jackpot having taken a five cent subway ride from the Bronx to the Polo Grounds that September 29, 1957 and brought with him a camera.
He recorded it and now it is available to be watched over and over, a true treasure which includes pregame/last game ceremonies that brought back so many Giants’ greats.
Among other things, the festivities enabled great Giants’ lefthanded pitchers of different eras, Rube Marquard and Carl Hubbell, to meet for the first time.
Mrs. John Mc Graw, the widow of the legendary Giants manager, is shown and in the game won by the Pittsburgh Pirates (9-1) over the Giants, two of the greatest players I ever saw and anyone ever saw play, the Pirates’ Roberto Clemente (3) and the Giants’ Willie Mays, (2) combined for 5 hits.
“Everything that dies someday comes back,” Bruce Springsteen sings in the song “Atlantic City.”
Maybe that is so as the winning pitcher for the Pirates in the last game at the Polo Grounds was Bob Friend. Less than 7 years later, the New York Mets, whose birth in 1962 brought National League baseball back to New York, opened their new Shea Stadium in a (4-3) loss to the Pirates. The winning pitcher was Bob Friend, Roberto Clemente had 3 hits.
Mo Resner’s great DVD which includes music from Perry Lee Barber, who once was an opening act for Mr. Springsteen, opened my heart and mind to all of the above and much more. It is a priceless item. The DVD is available for purchase contact Mr. Resner at mrresner@aol.com
102 years after the John T. Brush Stairway, a treasure from the glorious Polo Grounds which honors former New York Giants team owner John T. Brush was originally dedicated on July 9, 1913, there was a re-dedication ceremony yesterday at the site coordinated by the New York City Parks and Recreation Department.
Department Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver hosted and emceed the event, which included a ribbon cutting ceremony and some fine speeches.
Words that resonated with me came from New York State Assembly member (he told me to call him Denny) Herman D. Farrell Jr., who waxed poetic about the lush green grass and the colorful uniforms he saw upon entering the Polo Grounds from his home at the top of Coogan’s Bluff on 157th Street.
Traveling 3,000 miles yet again, as a symbol and great example of the San Francisco Giants’ recognition of their New York roots, Staci Slaughter, the Executive Vice President of Communications and Senior Advisor to the CEO of the organization, Larry Baer, talked of “good coming to the patient people,” waiting for the renovation of the historic Brush Stairway.
All in all, a great ceremony and kudos to Parks and Recreation Chief of Staff Steve Simon and to New York Daily News editorial writer Michael Aronson for their great efforts toward the completion of the project.
The 5 New York or once New York teams, the Yankees, Mets, now S.F. (once NY Giants), football Giants and Jets (as the Titans), who played at the Polo Grounds donated funds that brought the project to fruition.
Somewhere, great baseball Giants of the past such as Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott and Bill Terry are applauding, as the historic Brush Stairway still stands in reality as well as in our hearts and minds.
1936 photo of the Brush Stairway (circled in red)
The team with the best record in major league baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, got a split of their 4 game series at Wrigley Field vs the Cubs, with a victory last night.
“St. Loo” was down to their last out but Jhonny Peralta’s two run home run transformed a (5-4) deficit into a (6-5) lead and eventual victory.
Both Cards’ victories in the 4 game series were in games televised by ESPN, Monday and last night.
The Cards’ losses were in a Tuesday day/night doubleheader, not “tv’d” by the all powerful ones from Bristol, Connecticut, namely ESPN.
ESPN also televised 2 Cards wins vs the Cubs in their Sunday night package. The Cards are (4-0) on ESPN vs the Cubs this season.
I think of Bristol, Connecticut as a veritable “Transylvania” where the monster for people like me (those who loved sports and thought an all day sports channel would be good) was hatched.
Perhaps the Cubs are beginning to feel the same way, at least when ESPN cameras televise their games against their biggest rivals, the Cardinals.
