I guess I feel good for the players and managers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday. However, it is virtually impossible for me to feel good about a place that keeps out one of the greatest players ever, namely Pete Rose.
Joe Torre apparently felt bad about his paucity of comments regarding George Steinbrenner ( to me, the less said about him the better) and always remember Joe, if you lost the 1996 playoff series to the Texas Rangers, Steinbrenner would have fired you. (By the way maybe you should have thanked Johnny Oates the Texas manager, who managed horrendously vs you, as well).
Instead Joe should feel bad he failed to plead the case for the great Rose, a contemporary in the great National League of their time.
Simply put, Rose belongs in the “Hall” and Torre, who rushed to congratulate Rose after Pete scored the winning run in the 1970 All Star Game, could have done something to help Pete.
Someone better do so, hopefully ending the Hall’s injustice toward Pete, and countless people like me, who feel terrible that he is not there.
In recalling the 1965 All Star telecast, one marvels at the players introduced as the National League’s starting nine.
With Torre’s induction, six of those nine starters are in the “Hall.” Two not in, Richie Allen and Maury Wills, are far more deserving of enshrinement than some already in.
The other is Pete Rose and maybe next year with Bud Selig no longer commissioner, Rose will take his proper place in Cooperstown.
Until that happens, the “Hall,” with all its good, carves a hollow place in my heart, which if nothing else, writhes in pain when injustice, as is so often the norm, manifests.
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Joe Torre, who guided the NY Yankees to an incredible 4 World Series wins in 5 seasons from (1996-2000) as manager, is being inducted into The Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday.
When the Yankees won their first title in 1996, Joe’s brother Frank, a good player on some near great Milwaukee Braves’ teams, suggested the managing plus Joe’s stellar playing career would get him into the “Hall.”
Three more titles as a manager cemented Torre’s place.
I remember him as a great hitter (Joe hit .363 in 1971 even though he had no running speed) and a near great, perhaps great player.
He was part of the great National League of the 1960’s and early 1970’s and played on many winning All Star teams.
Torre never played in a post season game but then came his managing career which included 16 post season appearances, 12 with the Yankees.
Last season, the New York Yankees missed the playoffs for just the second time in the 19 seasons of expanded playoffs (1995-2013). Both of those times were under current manager, Joe Girardi. They never failed to qualify under Joe Torre, who enters the “Hall of Fame” this Sunday.
The team seemed likely to not qualify again as baseball 2014 “hit” the All star break.
However, with a decided home/away games advantage, I “knew” Mr. Jeter would not go “easily into privileged retirement.”
To their credit, the Yankees won 6 of 7 home games vs the suddenly slumping Cincinnati Reds (they were hot but 3 losses to the Yankees started a current 6 game loss skein) and the “never to be,” now “broken” Texas Rangers.
The Yankees are only three games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the A.L. East and one game ahead for playoffs qualification, in the form of the bogus wild card.
I hope that I never take Woody Allen’s greatness as a filmmaker for granted.
New films by this comedic genius will someday cease, but let’s hope that day is in the far distant future. Let’s not worry about the inevitable–for now, let’s just enjoy his work.
I went to an advance screening of Woody’s new movie, “Magic in the Moonlight,” and I can’t wait to see it again!
“Magic in the Moonlight” is a film worth seeing at least twice: because it is a great film, and also because there is some mystery that might be uncovered, when seeing it again.
Woody’s usual great jokes, the musical score, his relatively new staple of European scenic beauty (that I like) and a stellar cast, are all part of the package.
Colin Firth, so good in “The King’s Speech,” sparkles as “Stanley,” who sets out to debunk a “spiritual fortune teller,” only to ride the waves of personal discovery, with cynical, but uplifting vigor.
Emma Stone is engaging as the “spiritualist.” There is a great supporting cast, which includes Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden as “Sophie’s” mother and Eileen Atkins as Stanley’s “Aunt Vanessa.”
I hope to see it again soon, a testament to the production and especially the one and only Woody Allen.
I watched an episode of Gunsmoke on “TV Land” that guest starred Morgan Woodward and Joan Van Ark as father and daughter.
My thoughts turned to their Dallas/Knots Landing history.
Both shows were monster hits on the CBS network. Mrs. Paley, the wife of CBS chairman William Paley, loved “Gunsmoke” and it ran for 20 years.
Dallas, my favorite, made world news when it was revealed “Who Shot J.R.” in 1980. I was told a pilot made an announcement as to the culprit’s identity on a flight that Friday night in November.
Ms. Van Ark, whom I recall fondly as a big basketball fan and presenter at the first Sports Emmys Award win for Bob Costas in 1988, played “Valene Ewing” on both the “Dallas” and “Knots Landing” TV Shows.
Mr. Woodward, now 88 years old and a veteran of 19 Gunsmoke episodes, played Marvin “Punk” Anderson on Dallas. He also is recalled fondly as a resounding, ominous presence behind tinted glasses, in the movie “Cool Hand Luke.”
Morgan Woodward
Joan Van Ark
A heartfelt get well to former Los Angeles Lakers’ great Michael Cooper, who has been diagnosed to be in the early stages of having tongue cancer.
“Coop,” as he is affectionately known, has taken a leave of absence as coach of the WNBA East leading Atlanta Dream.
Though we have not talked recently, I consider Michael a friend, who always listened to and encouraged me.
He not only was a great player, who should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but an incredibly funny and warm person.
I have great memories of him, especially a wide ranging interview he gave to me for my TV show. He was also very cooperative with a young reporter named Angela/Andrea way back in 1988, and our friendship still exists to this day.
Cooper was both funny and revealing in our interview. It is a cherished memory and I know there are more to come. Again, get well “Coop!”
Maybe my “itch” for football needs more scratching but it is fun to look at the Canadian Football League.
Memories of such stars players as Cookie Gilchrist, Joe Kapp, and Doug Flutie who all played for a time in the CFL, and Marv Levy who coached, are really nice ones.
The league plays a 20 game schedule culminating in the Grey Cup/League final.
Early on, there is an unbelievable discrepancy between the Western Division and Eastern Division. As with the NBA, the West is much stronger.
The Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders are both unbeaten, while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are (3-1).
Additionally, the British Columbia Lions have won two straight and are also a top team. All of these teams are in the Western Conference.
In the Eastern Conference, no team is better than (1-2). The Western Division teams are (10-2) in games vs Eastern Division teams.
Today is the 45th anniversary of the first time man (United States’ astronaut Neil Armstrong) walked on the moon.
I have fond memories of the event, though the importance has diminished over the years.
Having reported so much tragedy, most notably the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is nice to recall the late CBS news anchor, Walter Cronkite saying “man on the moon” with a smile on his face.
1969 was also the year of Woodstock and the miracle New York Mets.
I recall visiting a nice uncle in the hospital and the Mets winning vs the expansion Montreal Expos that Sunday. Bobby Pfeil had a big role in the victory, in the second game of a doubleheader at Montreal’s quaint Jarry Park.
45 years later, the Mets will be playing the other National League expansion team from 1969, the San Diego Padres. The Expos are now the Washington Nationals.
All in all, nice memories of “man on the moon” on Sunday July 20, 1969.
It does not take much courage to predict that the Detroit Tigers will win the A.L. Central for a fourth consecutive season. They have played very well and I do think they will win the division.
The interesting team may be the Cleveland Indians as I feel both they and the NFL Browns will improve in the sports energized city of Cleveland. Wouldn’t it be funny if James and the Cavaliers do not?
The Kansas City Royals had one hot streak, failed to sweep the Tigers weeks back, and I feel will not be a factor in the race.
Both the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox have played well at times but neither figures to be in the playoff hunt.
In conclusion regarding the A.L. Central, the Tigers to win it and the Indians to emerge as the strongest contender from the division for the one wild card berth to be available.
Andy B Sports 