Sports Nicknames

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011

Number 16 has compiled a list of some of the most colourful and interesting sports nicknames. Just click on the "Sports" tab above to view the list. By the way, if you think I have overlooked any really good sports nicknames, please let me know and I will be happy to add them to my list.  Note: The list will be continually updated and additions will be made.  Having a library background, I will endeavour to be as accurate as possible.

Many sports nicknames are derived from the athlete's hometown (Rocky Marciano was known as the Brockton Blockbuster because he was from Brockton, Massachusetts) or ethnicity.  There are also some great stories behind some of those nicknames.  For example, pitcher Jim Palmer acquired the nickname "Cakes" or "Pancake Palmer" due to his fondness for pancakes and his habit of eating a stack of pancakes for breakfast before taking the mound.  During his break-out season of 1966, Palmer's  teammates on the Baltimore Orioles began calling him "Pancake Palmer."  In a span of eight games that season, Palmer recorded only one loss.  It happened, so the story goes, the only time he hadn't eaten pancakes.

Palmer and his pancakes

Clint Benedict, nicknamed "Praying Bennie," has the distinction of being the first goaltender to wear facial protection in the National Hockey League.  About 30 years before Jacques Plante popularized the goalie mask, Benedict wore a leather nose-piece for five games during the 1929-30 season.  At the time, he was a member of the Montreal Maroons.

Benedict earned his "Praying Bennie" moniker due to his predilection for dropping to his knees in order to make a save.  Dropping to the ice was illegal in the NHL back in those days, but Benedict flouted the rules by pretending to pray on his knees.

Clint Benedict wearing face protector

SPORTS NOTES

Baseball

So, baseball fans, it's the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers in the World Series. I hope that the  Cardinals win it all. To think that my hometown Toronto Blue Jays had Chris Carpenter and then gave up on him. It's too bad they let him slip away.  Texas looks really good, however, and the Cards will have their work cut out for them.  My heart says St. Louis, but my head says Texas.

The Toronto Blue Jays should go after Joey Votto. They should pull out all the stops, do everything they can to entice him to come home to Toronto. Joey attended Richview Collegiate which just happens to be located in the area of the city where I grew up. That's not, however, the only reason I think the Jays should go for him. He's an outstanding player. Just imagine Joey playing first base for the Blue Jays. It would show the fans that the Jays are serious about contending.

CFL Football

What a disappointing season so far for Toronto Argonaut fans.  Yes, the Double Blue did squeak out a 31-29 win against the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, but they have failed to impress this season.  A win is a win and the Argos will happily take it.  Their record, however, is still an abysmal 4-11.

The Argos have to market this team better.  The lack of promotion has been woeful.   It's about time they created some buzz in this city, especially since the 100th edition of the Grey Cup is going to be played here in 2012.

Hockey

Well, the Maple Leafs are off to a good start but it's far too early in the season to get excited.  They have a lot to prove.  In James Reimer, however, they may have a good goalie at last.  That could make all the difference.

- Joanne

Shame on you, Republicans, for blocking Jobs Act!!!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011

Republican Senators should be ashamed of themselves for blocking President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act. The President has taken relentless criticism for not creating enough jobs. He has been unfairly blamed for the economic downturn while the real culprits on Wall Street get away with causing a Great Recession that caused untold suffering.

Yesterday, forty-six Republicans joined with two Democrats - Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana - to filibuster the $447 billion plan, denying efforts to begin formal debate on the legislation even though a majority of the 100-member Senate had already voted to advance the bill in a 50-49 vote  Support for the American Jobs Act, however, was well short of the 60 votes required to keep it alive.

At about 7 p.m., the vote tally was 50 to 48, giving Republicans more than the 40 votes needed to filibuster the bill. Voting remained open for another few hours to permit one more senator -- Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire -- to return to Washington to cast a vote in favour of the legislation. With Shaheen's vote, President Obama can at least claim a symbolic victory with a simple majority voting in favour of his legislation.  The tally had been 51-48, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, switched his vote to “nay” for technical reasons so that he could force a future revote.

How could Republicans (and two Democrats) do this?  How could they turn down a plan that would put people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans - without adding a dollar to the deficit.  It's unconscionable.  In the state of California alone, The American Jobs Act (according to its website) would save or create 125,400 jobs, including 51,500 jobs building roads, highways, bridges and mass-transit.  It would prevent the  layoffs of California teachers, police and firefighters and it would created thousands of jobs repairing the state's dilapidated schools.

I'm a Canadian, but I'm outraged! Republicans can't have it both ways. They can't criticize Obama for his record on unemployment and then prevent him from acting on the problem by blocking his Jobs Act. It seems as if Republicans would rather have a failing economy and allow millions of jobless people to suffer provided they can blame it on Barack Obama and make him a one-term president. Their goal it to put a Republican in the White House, not to alleviate the pain and poverty of their fellow Americans. Sadly, they value partisanship above all else. 

The American people support Barack Obama's job proposals.  To see what the people think, click this link and check out a September Gallup Poll.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/149567/americans-favor-jobs-plan-proposals-including-taxing-rich.aspx

- Joanne

The Dance Marathon Craze

WEDNESDSAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011

Dance marathons opened with as great a fanfare as the promoter’s press agents could muster. Each major promoter had a stable of dancers (known as horses, since they could last the distance) he could count on to carry his event. These professionals (often out-of-work vaudevillians who could sing and banter and thus provide the evening entertainment that was a feature of most marathons) traveled at the promoter’s expense and were "in" on the performative nature of the contests (including the fact that the outcomes were usually manipulated or at least loosely fixed).

- HistoryLink

Dance marathons began as a popular fad in the 1920s. They were organized endurance tests in which people competed for recognition and monetary prizes. As the Roaring Twenties turned into the bleak Depression years of the 1930s, many Americans were so desperate for money that they would participate in these marathons, often at the risk of their health and well-being. Sometimes these events would drag on for weeks and contestants would drive themselves past the brink of physical and emotional exhaustion.  Couples would dance almost non-stop for hundreds of hours, eventually stumbling around the floor in a stupor.  They often collapsed from the sheer strenuousness of the ordeal.

Medical services were provided to the contestants and physicians were available to treat injuries such as sprains and blisters.  Some dancers would be disqualified due to their physical condition.  Through it all, audiences cheered on their favourite couples.  They paid about 10 to 25 cents to watch the contestants shuffle around and sleep on their feet. 

Contestants were permitted to rest about 12 minutes of every hour and they had to endure elimination events that became increasingly sadistic as the marathon dragged on.  Church and women's groups objected to these dance marathons on the basis of morality, health and safety.  Some citizens were disturbed by the hugging dancing positions of the couples as they dragged each other around the floor for many hours.  Police officers expressed concern about these events attracting criminals and unsavoury characters.

A dance marathon in Depression-era America was the subject of a 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Skillfully directed by Sydney Pollack, the film starred Jane Fonda, Michael Sarazin, Suzannah York and Gig Young. Based on a 1935 novel of the same name by Horace McCoy, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? focuses on the lives of a disparate group of contestants who are determined to win the $1,500 prize.  The film garnered nine Academy Award nominations. Gig Young won the only Oscar of his career for his supporting role as Rocky, the marathon's unctuous promoter and emcee.

One of the most memorable sequences of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is "the derby" scene which portrays a heal-and-toe race around the dance floor.  Lighthearted upbeat music is juxtaposed with the wretchedness of the event.  To watch a video of this outstanding movie sequence, click on the link below.  Note: Observe Gig Young in his Academy Award-winning role as the master of ceremonies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3c4o-7PH44

My favourite episode of the television series The Waltons is titled "The Marathon." In this episode, which originally aired on November 7, 1974, John-Boy (Richard Thomas) takes part in a dance marathon. Despite the objections of his mother, Olivia (Michael Learned), he enters the week-long competition along with a girl named Daisy Garner whom he met in a book store. After a few days, John-Boy decides that he has done enough dancing and heads home to Walton's Mountain.

- Joanne

Reflections on a Canadian Thanksgiving Day and The Glory of Autumn at Forks of the Credit

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.

- Psalm 147

Today, the second Monday in October, is Canadian Thanksgiving.  Unlike American Thanksgiving, ours is a celebration of the harvest festival.  It is not associated with the Pilgrims.  Unlike American Thanksgiving, it does not usher in the Christmas season.

Even in the most difficult times, there's always something for which to be thankful.  Athough I sometimes vent and I rant, I also count my blessings.  Every Thanksgiving weekend for the past few years, I have spent some time at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, near Orangeville, Ontario.  The autumn colours are beatiful there.  If you have an opportunity to visit it, espeically in the fall, I suggest you do so.

Here is a selection of photographs I took at the Forks of the Credit.  I feel so fortunate to be able to enjoy all four seasons.

THE GLORY OF AUTUMN AT FORKS OF THE CREDIT PROVINCIAL PARK

NOTE:  Last Thanksgiving, I wrote a short story entitled "A Thanksgiving Tale."  If you would like to read it, just click the FICTION tab on this website.

- Joanne

Joanne's Journal: October 8, 2011

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2011


JOANNE'S JOURNAL
Edition No. 1

Welcome to a new feature on Number 16.  Every so often, I will comment on various subjects in the news and on matters that are on my mind. 

I happen to have small feet and I take a size 5 shoe.  Unfortunately, most shoe stores and shoe departments don't carry anything smaller than a size 6.  In some places, shoe sizes even begin at 6/2.  If I scrounge around, I manage to find the occasional size 5 here and there, but I am very restricted in the selection and style of footwear that I purchase.  So, in the end, I make do with whatever I can find.

Here's what I don't understand.  I know that many other women take a size 5 shoe.  Why don't shoe stores accommodate women with small feet?  Are they not missing out on a sizable amount of business (pun intended)?

Yes, I realize that I can purchase size 5 shoes online.  That's certainly an option, but it's an option I don't want to take.  I prefer to go into a store and take a look at the actual shoes myself. It is much better to have them fitted properly by a sales clerk than to buy them online based on how they appear in a photograph.

CIGARETTE BUTT LITTER

There are many things I enjoy and there are many things that really annoy me.  Here is something that really really annoys me.  Much of the litter on our roads and sidewalks consists of cigarette butts.  Every day I see smokers casually throwing their cigarette butts on the ground.  This is disgusting and it is a fire hazard too.  Worst of all, it is a terrible health hazard as harmful chemicals are released into the environment.

Many of these smokers are oblivious to what they are doing.  They wouldn't throw a  candy wrapper on the ground, but for some reason, they don't consider cigarette butts to be litter.  Well, it's time they realize that throwing cigarette butts on the road or on the sidewalk is littering.

With more and more people smoking outside, this is becoming an increasingly serious problem for cities.  Let me be clear.  I'm not tarring all smokers with the same brush.  Some are polite and considerate.  The evidence, however, shows that many smokers are littering our environment.  Just look around!

Bus stops seem to pose the biggest problem.  Smokers have to put out their cigarettes quickly before the bus arrives.  Still, that is no excuse for discarding the cigarette butt on the sidewalk.  There has to be a better solution.   I'm fed up!  Isn't it about time that cigarette butt litterers faced hefty fines?

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL RACE

As former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously stated, a week is a long time in politics.  The 2012 U.S. presidential race still has over a year to go.  Anything could happen.  Sarah Palin has wisely decided not to seek the Republican nomination (but would she accept the vice-presidential nomination again?).  It looks as if it will be a battle between Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry.  I give the edge to Romney because I think Perry is too far to the right for most Americans, at least  I hope so.  Still, there is a long race ahead and other candidates could enter the Republican race. 

On the Democratic side, President Obama is vulnerable and could be a one-term President.  It's far too early, though, to write him off.  If he shows some spunk and distances himself from the far right, then he could bounce back.  I believe he has it in him to do so.  He must sell his American Jobs Act to the American people and he must connect with voters.  They need to be reminded that Obama did not cause the economic downturn and that the economy could not have been fixed overnight.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

Amid all the economic doom and gloom, there was some good news yesterday on the unemployment front in Canada.  Statistics Canada reported that after two months of little change, the number of employed rose by 61,000 in September, all in full time.  The unemployment rate was down 0.2 percentage points to 7.1%, the lowest rate since December of 2008. 

South of the border, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics reported that nonfarm employment increased by 103,000 in September and that unemployment held steady at 9.1%.  The number of unemployed remains essentially unchanged at 14 million.  Sadly, that is much too high!

ONTARIO ELECTION RESULTS

Yes, I'm glad that the people will not have to endure a very conservative Tim Hudak government.  There will be no chain gangs and hundreds of green jobs will not be lost in Ontario.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that there was a record low voter turnout.  Less than 50 percent of eligible voters in the province bothered to cast a ballot in Thursday's Ontario election.  Only 49.2 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. The previous low was 52.8 percent which was set in 2007.

To those who were too lazy and disengaged to exercise their franchise, I will pull no punches.  You should be ashamed of yourselves.

- Joanne

It's the 60th anniversary of Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World"

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011

There’s a long drive ... it’s gonna be ... I believe — the Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!  “Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the pennant, and they’re going crazy, they’re going crazy! ... “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, I do not believe it!”

- New York Giants radio announcer Russ Hodges
October 3, 1951


Two days ago, on October 1, 2011, baseball fans marked the 50th anniversary of Roger Maris' 61st home run in 1961,  Today marks another important anniversary in the history of the game.  It was on this day that Bobby Thomson hit a home run known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World."  Exactly sixty years ago, on October 3, 1951, Thomson's dramatic homer allowed the New York Giants to win the National League Pennant.

Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 25, 1923, the son of a cabinet maker.  He immigrated to the United States as a 2-year-old and grew up on Staten Island in New York City.  He was nicknamed the "Staten Island Scot." and "The Flying Scotsman."

Bobby signed with the New York Giants right out of high school in 1942.  In December of that year, however, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and trained as a bombardier.  His war service was limited to the continental United States and he played semi-professional baseball in the summer of 1945 while awaiting his discharge.  Of his time in the service, Bobby said, "There are no war stories. I ended up a bombardier, but I never got overseas. And it wasn't because I was playing baseball either. It was just a series of things that went on."

Thomson made his major league debut with the Giants on September 9, 1946 at the age of 22.  In 1947, his rookie season, he batted .283 with 29 home runs and 82 RBI.  Although Thomson's recorded an impressive 109 RBI and a batting average of .309 in 1949, he did not reach the pinnacle of his career until 1951.

The 1951 season, his fifth full season with the Giants, started off slowly for Bobby Thomson.  He was benched in May and replaced in centre field by an up-and-coming rookie named Willie Mays.  By late July, however the speedy right-handed batter was playing regularly again, but in a new position.  He found himself playing third base.  Being an infielder seemed to agree with Thomson because he hit better than .350 over the final two months of the season.  Bobby slugged a  career-high 32 home runs that year - but the best was yet to come!
 
There was fierce rivalry between the New York Giants and their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers.  In mid-August of 1951, Thomson's Giants were 13 1/2 games behind the first place Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League.  The Giants, however, began a late-season surge and won 37 of their remaining 44 games.  On the last day of the regular season, they tied Brooklyn and forced a three-game playoff series.  The Giants' late-summer comeback, known as the Miracle of Coogan's Bluff, captured the imaginations of their fans and created a thrilling conclusion to the race between Brooklyn and the New York Giants (Coogan's Bluff is a promontory in upper Manhattan and it overlooks the site of the Polo Grounds).

The teams split the first two games of their playoff series, with the Giants winning the opener 3-1 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and the Dodgers romping to a 10-0 win at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.  The deciding game was to be played at the Polo Grounds on October 3rd and the stage was set for Bobby Thomson's memorable baseball moment. 

It was a dreary Wednesday afternoon when the teams returned to the Polo Grounds to play for the pennant.  There were 34,320 fans in attendance, about 22,000 below capacity.  They settled in their seats to watch a pitching duel between pitching aces Sal Maglie of the Giants and Don Newcombe of the Dodgers.  Little did they realize that they were about to witness one of the most unforgettable home runs in baseball history.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Bobby Thomson came to the plate with the Giants down by two runs.  There were runners on second and third base and one out.  A 20-year-old Willie Mays stood in the on deck circle, waiting to bat next.  Right-hander Ralph Branca, who had just come into the game, was on the mound for the Dodgers.  The count reached no balls and one strike and Branca delivered a high fastball.  Thomson then ripped a 3-run homer off the left-field stands at the Polo Grounds, lifting the the New York Giants to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.  Play-by-play radio broadcaster Russ Hodges gleefully shouted, "The Giants win the pennant!" four times.  Bobby was surrounded by his teammates and hailed as a hero. “I can remember feeling as if time was just frozen,” Thomson once said of his memorable moment. “It was a delirious, delicious moment.”

After Bobby Thomson heroics, it was on to the 1951 World Series for the victorious New York Giants. The Giants carried the National League banner against the American League rivals, the New York Yankees. The Yankees won the October Classic in six games that year.

During the 1952 season, Thomson continued to play well.  He led the National League with 14 triples while batting .271 with 25 HRs and 109 RBI.  In his last season with the Giants in 1953, Thomson hit 26 home runs and 106 RBI and recorded a .288 average.  Bobby's team, however, did not perform as well.

The 1953 season was a miserable one for the New York Giants.  They finished in fifth place, a distant 35 games behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers.  The team lacked good pitching and won only 70 of their 154 games.  On February 1, 1954, New York Giants' owner Horace Stoneham and Milwaukee Braves' general manager, John Quinn, announced a blockbuster trade.  The Giants sent the popular BobbyThomson to the Braves along with second string-catcher Sam Calderon.  In return, the Giants acquired the services of left-handed pitcher Johnny Antonelli and another left-hander, 28-year-old Don Liddle.  The Giants also received veteran catcher Ebba St. Claire and infielder Billy Klaus.

Bobby Thomson as a Milwaukee Brave.

Soon after his trade to Milwaukee, Bobby broke an ankle sliding during an exhibition game in spring training.  Bobby's ankle injury allowed a young rookie by the name of Hank Aaron to earn a place in the Milwaukee lineup.  Thomson returned to the Giants in 1957, then played for the Chicago Cubs (1958-59), the Boston Red Sox (1960) and the Baltimore Orioles (1960).

On July 17, 1960, at the age of 36, Bobby Thomson played his final major league game, finishing his career in a Baltimore Orioles uniform.  He retired after the 1960 season with a batting average of .270 and 264 home runs over the span of a 15-year career.   Bobby never made it to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  His numbers weren't considered good enough.  In assessing his career, Thomson declared that “the Shot was the best thing that ever happened to me.”  “I guess people remember me because of that moment,” he said modestly. “They wouldn’t have paid much attention to me if that hadn’t happened.”

After retiring from baseball, Bobby Thomson worked as a sales executive with the Westvaco paper-products company, now part of MeadWestvaco. “I wanted to get a responsible job, stay home more with my wife and daughter and live a normal life,” he explained.  His wife Elaine passed away in 1993 and Bobby resided in Watchung, New Jersey until 2006 when he moved to Georgia to be near his daughter Nancy Mitchell.  His other daughter, Megan Thomson Armstrong, lives in Milford, New Jersey.

Bobby Thomson died on August 16, 2010 at his home on Skidaway Island near Savannah, Georgia at the age of 86.  He had been in failing health for several years and, according to daughter Megan, had recently suffered a fall.  Bobby's two daughters and six grandchildren survived him.  A son, also named Bobby, passed away suddenly at the age of 38, just before an HBO documentary about his father's home run was released in 2001.

At the time of Thomson's passing, Major League Basseball commissioner Bud Selig issued the following statement: "Bobby Thomson will always hold a special place in our game for hitting one of the signature home runs in baseball history.  'The Shot Heard 'Round the World' will always remain a defining moment for our game, illustrating the timeless quality of the national pastime."

END NOTE

Unfortunately, Bobby Thomson's epic home run has been tainted with allegations of sign stealing by the New York Giants in 1951.  The allegations are based on revelations by the sports columnist Dave Anderson of The New York Times in his book Pennant Races (1994) and by Joshua Prager in The Wall Street Journal in 2001 and in his book The Echoing Green (2006).

To watch a video of "Shot Heard 'Round the World," click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7dVj90zs


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE WINFIELD!

Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 60 years old today.  Was it destiny or irony that he was born on the very day that Bobby Thomson hit his famous home run?  I'm not sure, but I do know that Winfield played for my hometown Toronto Blue Jays during their championship 1992 season.  Dave was the Jays' designated hitter that year and batted .290 with 26 home runs and 108 RBI.  In Game 6 of the World Series between Toronto and Atlanta, at the age of 41, he slugged a game-winning two-run double to win the World Series for the Blue Jays.

While in Toronto, Dave was definitely a crowd favourite.  During an interview in August of 1992, he urged the rather reserved Toronto fans to be more demonstrative.  His slogan, "Winfield wants noise," could be seen on t-shirts, dolls, buttons, and signs.  At he end of the season, Dave became a free agent and signed with his hometown Minnesota Twins.  He finished his career with Cleveland in 1995.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Winfield!  Fans here in T.O. and across Canada will always remember your contribution to our first World Series victory.

By the way, Dave Winfield is currently Executive Vice-President and Senior Advisor with the San Diego Padres.  He is also a baseball analyst for ESPN.

- Joanne

Play ball! We're on the road to the World Series.

FRIDAY, SEPTMEMBER 30, 2011

Yes, I am a hockey-loving Canadian but I am also an ardent baseball fan.  September has come to an end and autumn is in the air.  This is a great time of year for both hockey and baseball with the new NHL season about to begin and, of course, the baseball postseason set to start.  It is certainly disappointing that my beloved Toronto Blue Jays won't be taking part in the playoffs again this year.  Unfortunately, Toronto's hometown heroes finished the season with 81 wins and 81 losses, a perfect .500 team.  To the dismay and frustration of their fans, the Jays have not participated in postseason play since they won the World Series in 1993.  That's 18 years and counting.

In the sports media, there has been a great deal of debate about expanding baseball's postseason.  Many relish thee thought of more teams having the opportunity to participate in the playoffs.  They argue that it would create more interest in more cities.  I'm ambivalent.  Here's why.  I think baseball would be better off with a salary cap rather than increasing the number of teams in the postseason.  Sure, some small market, small payroll teams such as Tampa Bay make the playoffs, but they are few and far between.  They are the exception. The majority of teams in the postseason have huge payrolls.

I do not believe, however, that Major League Baseball will adopt a salary cap any time soon.  Teams such as the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies are not about to give up their advantage.  Sadly and realistically, I can't see that happening.  So, is expanding the playoffs the only alternative?  Unfortunately, it appears that way.  Otherwise, with 30 teams in the majors, some cities will continue to wait 15 to 25 years just to make the playoffs, never mind win the World Series.  The status quo is simply untenable.  The situation has to change. 

Here is my problem with expanding the playoffs.  One of the things I enjoy about baseball is that the postseason doesn't last too long.  I am loathe to see MLB go the route of the National Hockey League where the playoff season has become a two-month marathon.  The World Series is known as the October Classic, not the October-November Classic. 

I realize that adding a few postseason games will not make the postseason last until Christmas.  My concern is that it will allow baseball to continue down a slippery slope.  It will be easier to just keep extending the postseason, particularly if more teams join the league in the future.  However, an extended postseason seems to be the only viable solution as long as baseball refuses to impose a salary cap.  I would support it, albeit reluctantly. 

An expanded playoff format would be more palatable for me if the number of regular season games were reduced.  How about 160 games instead of 162?  That would be acceptable to me, but probably not to Major League Baseball.  That works out to a lot of games throughout the league and a lot of lost revenue.  It won't happen.

Here's another postseason problem baseball should address.  The sport needs to win the hearts and minds of children and youth.  They are the fans of the future.  Yet, due to the lure of television advertising dollars, these young baseball fans are being shut out.  There was a time when children rushed home from school to watch the pennant races and the World Series, but that has become part of a bygone era.  How many school children can stay up into the wee hours of the night to watch a playoff game or World Series game go into extra innings?

Okay, I've finished venting.  Post season play remains exciting and irresistible.  I watched the ignominious collapse of the Boston Red Sox and it felt almost surreal.  I could not believe how all the stars aligned for the upstart Tampa Bay Rays.  I would be quite pleased if the Rays went all the way to the World Series. 

The New York Yankees have a fantastic team as usual, with players such as Curtis Granderson,, but I'm tired of seeing them win.  The other teams I like are the Detroit Tigers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.  What a season Justin Verlander has had for the Tigers!  The D-backs recently acquired Aaron Hill and John McDonald from the Blue Jays.  Johnny Mack is a class guy.  I'm so happy for him that he has the opportunity to play in the postseason, but I'm hoping that he'll be back in a Blue Jays uniform next season.

- Joanne

Who increased America's debt?

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The biggest problem for world economies is unemployment. - not debt.   When employment increases, the debt decreases. Conversely, as employment falls, the debt rises.  If people are laid off, or if they are afraid of losing their jobs, they do not spend money and the economy stagnates.  When the economy stagnates, more workers are laid off.  As workers lose their jobs and their income drops, they do not pay as much in taxes and revenue is lost.  It's a vicious cycle of misery!  The only way to escape that cycle is get people back to work.  Jobs are the first priority.

Having said all that, let's take a look at the "debt crisis" in the United States.  Let's look at the facts and see under which president the United States accumulated the most debt.  Study the chart below.

You can see that the debt increased the most under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.  It increased a whopping 189% under Ronald Reagan, 55% under George H.W. Bush, 37% under Bill Clinton, a whopping 115% under George W. Bush and 16% under Barack Obama.  The most right-wing conservative presidents preached fiscal restraint and ended up spending the most money on wars, prisons and tax breaks for billionaires.  Voters in the United States should consider these facts as they head toward the presidential election of 2012.

Here in Canada, Stephen Harper, a staunch economic conservative turned the surplus he was left with into a deficit.

- Joanne

Why rugged individualism is not enough: The case for government and regulation

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

James Madison

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

- James Madison (1751-1836), Fourth President of the United States
From The Federalist [1777]

Ah, there's the rub!  Human beings are not angels and, therefore, government is necessary in an imperfect world.   Government doesn't have to be oppressive and unduly intrusive.  It just has to be there when needed.  It has to be there in times of emergency.  It has to be there to prevent human selfishness and greed from running rampant.  It has to provide a balance against those who put profit ahead of all else, those who would put the lives and health of others at risk in order to make inordinate amounts of money.  Good government protects the welfare and safety of the people from the excesses of unfettered capitalism. 

Americans value rugged individualism.  It is their grand perception of the American dream.  It's the John Wayne mentality.  It's the cowboy creed and it is not without merit.  Self-reliance is an admirable quality and should be encouraged.  Those of the extreme right-wing persuasion, however, advocate individualism to the exclusion of almost everything else.  This is a flawed vision of society, a flawed vision of a nation.  There can be no liberty and justice for all without a sense of community.  As the poet John Donne so eloquently put it:  "No man is an island entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."

Community and individuality are not mutually exclusive.  We are not faced with an either/or choice. Individual initiative and individual responsibility can and do flourish within strong communal bonds.  Ronald Reagan was wrong when he said that government is part of the problem, not the solution.  Government can and should be looked upon as a force for good and not as the enemy.  Just as we should not suppress the human spirit and the need for every human being to have individual freedom, neither should we suppress the human capacity to work together as one in order to solve problems and to assist each other.

A society of conforming robots is not desirable, but neither is a society of great inequity where those in need are trampled on and left behind.  It is sad and reprehensible that in developed nations such as Canada and the United States children go to sleep hungry and people live in abject poverty.  We cannot just shake our heads and say it's too bad that those unfortunates cannot keep up with the survival of the fittest.  Nor can we shrug self-righteously and dismiss the poor and disadvantaged as lazy and unmotivated.

On September 8, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama addressed Congress to provide details of his proposed American Jobs Act.  I have provided an excerpt from Obama's speech because I believe the words ring true.  They set forth the case for the necessity of government regulation and spending - not excessive and irresponsible spending, but necessary spending.

EXCERPT FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH TO CONGRESS

We should have no more regulation than the health, safety and security of the American people requires.  Every rule should meet that common standard.  But what we can't do, what I will not do, is let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades.  I reject the idea that we need to ask people to choose between their jobs and their safety.  I reject the argument that says for the economy to grow, we have to roll back protections that ban hidden fees by credit card companies or rules that keep our kids from being exposed to mercury or laws that prevent the health insurance industry from shortchanging patients.  I reject the idea that we have to strip away collective bargaining rights to compete in a global economy.  We shouldn't be in a race to the bottom where we try to offer the cheapest labour and the worst pollution standards.  We should be in a race to the top.  And I believe we can win that race.  In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is to dismantle government and refund everyone's money and let everyone write their own rules and tell everyone they're on their own, it's not who we are!  It's not the story of America.  Yes, we are rugged individuals.  Yes, we are strong and self-reliant.  And it has been the drive and initiative of our workers and entrepreneurs that has made this economy the engine and the envy of the world.  But there has always been another thread running throughout our history: A belief that we're all connected and that there are some things we can only do together as a nation.  We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union, founder of the Republican Party.  But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future, a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad, launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges.  And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.  Ask yourself, where would we be right now if the people who sat before us decided not to build our highways, not to build our bridges, our dams, our airports?  What would this country be like if we had chosen not to spend money on public high schools, on research universities or community colleges?  Millions of returning heroes, including my own grandfather, had the opportunity to go to school because of the GI Bill.  Where would we be if they hadn't had that chance?  How many jobs would it have cost us if past Congresses decided not to support the basic research that led to the Internet and the computer chip?  What kind of country would this be if this chamber voted down social security because it violated some rigid idea about what government could or could not do?  How many Americans would have suffered as a result.  No single individual built America alone.  We built it together.

END NOTE

What has happened to moderate conservatives?  Are they around anymore in Canada and the United States?  Have they gone the way of the dinosaur?  If not, why aren't their voices being heard?  Why don't they speak up?  Why have they allowed the Tea Party types to dominate the political agenda?

Here in Canada, those of the conservative stripe used to be more moderate and reasonable.  We used to have a Progressive Conservative Party.  Now it's the Conservative Party.  As for Red Tories. they are no where to be seen or heard.  Where once we had John Diefenbaker, Robert Stanfield and Joe Clark, we now have Stephen Harper.  What a shame!

- Joanne

Jim Croce: Photographs and Memories of His Life

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Photographs and memories
Christmas cards you sent to me
All that I have are these
To remember you

From the song "Photographs and Memories"
Lyrics by Jim Croce

The songs we listen to in high school tend to linger in our minds.  They are never forgotten.  That is why I will always remember the impact Jim Croce's music had on me.  When I was in high school in the 1970s, Jim was one of the most popular singers of the day.  He wasn't a flashy dresser and he wasn't given to fancy stage antics or high tech glitz.  Jim had an honest, down to earth style.  He was a blue-collar kind of guy who preferred to wear jeans.  His hair was thick and wavy and he sported a handlebar moustache.  On stage, it was just the man, his music and his acoustic guitar.

Croce told stories through his songs and people related to them.  Of his music, Jim once said: "I kinda like to write songs about things that a lot of people have experience with, 'cause it really makes the songs communicate."

I am paying tribute to Jim Croce today because it is the 38th anniversary of his death.  Jim was only 30 years old when lost his life in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973.  He had just performed a concert at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana and was flying to Sherman Texas. for another concert.  The weather was foggy and the Beechcraft 1E8S plane Croce had chartered crashed during takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport when it failed to clear some pecan trees at the end of the runway.  The pilot and all five passengers perished in the accident.  The passengers included Croce, his lead guitarist Maury Muehleisen, his booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose, his road manager Dennis Rast and opening act comic George Stevens.

Just prior to his death, Jim had finished recording a new album.  The album was called I Got a Name and it was released posthumously on December 1, 1973.  Its title track had been featured as the theme to the movie The Last American Hero which premiered two months before Croce's tragic passing.

James Joseph "Jim" Croce was born in South Philadelphia on January 10, 1943 to an Italian-American family.  He took an interest in music at an early age and learned how to play "Lady of Spain" on the accordion.when he was five years old.  He started to become really serious about music as a career while attending Villanova University in Pennsylvania in the early 1960s.  He formed various bands there and performed at fraternity parties and at coffee houses.  In those early days, Jim played anything the people wanted to hear, from blues to railroad music.  He eventually found a job at a Philadelphia R&B station. 

After a stint in the United States Army, Jim returned to Philadelphia and taught special education at a high school before deciding to give his music career another chance.  On August 28, 1966, he married Ingrid Jacobson.  Jim and Ingrid performed as a duo and sang the songs of Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez.  Eventually, they began composing their own music.

In 1968, on the advice of record producer Tommy West, the couple moved to New York City where they played the coffee house circuit.  In 1969, they recorded an album titled Jim and Ingrid Croce.  For the next two years, they promoted their album, performing at small clubs and colleges. 

Disillusioned with New York, Jim and Ingrid returned to Pennsylvania and settled in the countryside town of Lyndell in Chester County.  On September 28, 1971, their only child was born, a son named Adrian James Croce, known as A.J.  During that time, Jim worked in construction and did some studio work in New York, mostly background for commercials.

Croce's big breakthough came in 1972 when he signed a three-record deal with ABC Records.  That same year, he released two albums, You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times.  The title track from You Don't Mess Around with Jim was released as a single and it reached the U.S. Top Ten.  Another song from the album, "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" became a huge hit.  By August of 1973, "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" was the #1 song in the United States.  Jim toured the country and appeared on television several times.  He was a guest host on the then-popular late night music program The Midnight Special. 

To watch  video of Jim singing "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" on The Midnight Special, click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OoixlAe-qY

Jim Croce's "Time in A Bottle" was featured as the theme in the opening and closing credits of the ABC made-for-television" movie She Lives!, which aired on September 12, 1973.  The next day, radio stations across the U.S. were inundated with requests for the song.  Jim would never see "Time in A Bottle" climb to the top of the charts.  He died only eight days later, another in a list of singers and musicians who have been killed in accidents while travelling on small planes.  The list includes Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, Rick Nelson, John Denver, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Redding and Ronnie VanZant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines of the group Lynyrd Skynyrd.

END NOTES

Ingrid Croce owns and operates a restaurant dedicated to her late husband.  It is located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, California.  It is called Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar and it was opened in 1985.

Jim and Ingrid's son, A.J. Croce, is a musician.  He is an accomplished songwriter and pianist.  On September 28th, just eight days from now, Adrian will turn 40 years old.  According to his website biography, A.J. lost his eyesight temporarily in early childhood due to a brain tumour.  From the ages of four to ten, he gradually regained his vision.  A.J.'s website refers to a wife and children, but does not mention any details such as names, dates or ages.

- Joanne

Doris Day is back!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Doris Day lives a quiet life near Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.  She's 87 years old and has long been retired from show business.  For years, she has dedicated her life to the welfare of animals.  The Hollywood legend, however, has just released her first collection of new songs in 17 years.  It's called My Heart and was produced by Doris' late son, Terry Melcher.  The CD includes a track, "Happy Endings," performed by Melcher, and recorded before his death in 2004.  Day has also included a poignant, spoken- word introduction to her son's song.

Melcher, a record producer and musician, was Doris' son by her first husband, trombonist Al Jordan. When he was about ten years old, he was adopted by Day's third husband, Martin Melcher, and took his surname.  After battling melanoma cancer, Terry died on November 19, 2004 at the age of 62.  During his career, Melcher worked with The Beach Boys, The Birds and Ry Cooder.  He also co-wrote the Beach Boys' popular "Kokomo" from the movie Cocktail starring Tom Cruise.

Of her deceased son, Doris told Britain's Daily Telegraph: "I miss my Terry every day.  But I keep him here and I'm so happy that he's singing on the album.  I used to love to hear him sing and he should have done more things."  She said, "I get mail from his friends all the time saying he had so much talent and he was always laid back.  He didn't push himself.  He was such a good guy and I loved him dearly."

The Daily Telegraph published a Doris Day interview with Paul McCartney.  Doris and Sir Paul became friends about ten years ago when McCartney visited her home in Carmel Valley, California to discuss her animal rescue efforts through the Doris Day Animal Foundation.  McCartney, an ardent vegetarian, and Day, have a mutual interest in animal rights.  In the Daily Telegraph interview, Doris told McCartney that she just loves "animals, babies and music" (She didn't specify in which order).  To read the McCartney/Day interview, click on the link below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8733533/Doris-Day-and-Paul-McCartney-in-conversation.html

My Heart was released in Austria and Germany on September 2, 2011, the United Kingdom on September 5th and in the United States on September 12th.  Its remastered recordings span from 1951 to 1994 and do not reflect Day's present voice.  In an interview with the UK's Yorkshire Post, Doris explained how it was brought to her attention that the recordings were in storage and that Sony wished to release them.  She admitted to having some "misgivings" at first, but liked them after they were remastered.

My Heart made it into the top ten charts in Britain, debuting at No. 9 and outselling Lady Ga Ga and Bruno Mars.  Doris Day made history by becoming the oldest artist to reach the top 10 in Britain with previously unheard material.  Tracks on the album include "You Are So Beautiful (To Me)," the Joe Cocker hit from the 1970s, and classics such as "My Buddy," which Day sang in the 1951 film I'll See You In My Dreams.   Also included is "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," Terry's favourite of his mother's recordings, and "Ohio," form the Leonard Bernstein musical Wonderful Town.  Ohio just happens to be Doris' home state and she was raised there.

The Cincinnati-born Day, whose first hit was "Sentimental Journey" in 1945, revealed to the Post that she does not listen to much current music.  She did, nevertheless, express a liking for Canada's own crooner, Michael Buble.  She remarked, "I think Michael Buble is marvellous but perhaps that's because he sings in a style I'm so familiar with."

To listen to a BBC interview of Doris Day speaking about her album, please click on the link below.  This is her website on which occasionally records messages for her fans.

http://www.dorisday.com/


- Joanne

EDITOR'S UPDATE (April 11, 2014): Doris Day celebrated her 90th birthday greeting fans and posing for photos.  She was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio but there has been a public dispute about whether her actual birth date is April 3, 1922 or April 3, 1924. Throughout her career, Doris has given her birth year as 1924.  However, census records and her biographer (David Kaufman) cite 1922 as the correct year of her birth.

Since Doris considers April 3, 1924 to be her birth date, she decided to make her first public appearance in years at her 90th birthday party.  She was the surprise guest of honour at the birthday celebration in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on Friday, April 4, 2014.  Fans from all over the world were invited to attend the event, although it is uncertain whether there had been definite plans for Doris herself to show up.  

The party took place at Carmel's Cypress Inn, owned by Doris since the 1980s.  It was held to benefit the Doris Day Animal Foundation and Peter Marshall, who hosted The Hollywood Squares, was the emcee.  Fellow animal lover, 92-year-old Betty White, conveyed birthday greetings to Doris via video.


EDITOR'S UPDATE (April 4, 2017):  The mystery surrounding Doris Day's actual birthdate has finally been solved.  The Associated Press did some investigating and obtained a copy of Doris' birth certificate from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics.  The birth certificate indicated that Doris Mary Kappelhoff was born on April 3, 1922, not 1924.  Therefore, she turned 95 years old yesterday, not 93.  Doris took the news in stride and issued the following statement: "I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it's great to finally know how old I really am."  

The revelation also means that Doris is only a few months younger than her friend, Betty White.  Betty was born on January 17, 1922.  


EDITOR'S UPDATE (May 13, 2019): Doris Day passed away on May 13, 2019 in Carmel Valley, California.  She was 97 years old at the time of her passing.

Denny McLain: The last 30-game winner

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

When you can do it out there between the white lines, you can live any way you want.

- Denny McLain

Let's enjoy another baseball memory.  Let's return to Tiger Stadium on September 14, 1968.  It was 43 years ago today that Denny McLain won his 30th game of the season for the Detroit Tigers.  There were 44,087 fans in attendance as the 24-year-old right-hander became the first major league pitcher in 34 years to achieve 30 wins.  In the crowd was Dizzy Dean, the man who had accomplished the same feat for the St. Louis Cardinals back in 1934. 

Denny McLain's 30th win was not an easy one.  There was high drama in the Motor City that day as the Detroit Tigers came from behind to defeat the Oakland A's by a score of 5-4.  A game-winning run by Willie Horton in the bottom of the ninth inning sealed the comeback victory for the Tigers.  In the midst of the celebratory mob scene, there was a poignant moment as Dizzy Dean embraced a triumphant McLain.

Denny McLain went on to achieve a remarkable 31 victories that year against only 6 losses.  1968 was truly his dream season.  Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that magical season that everything went downhill for the talented pitcher.  In fact, his life turned into a nightmare and he found himself in prison. 

Nothing, however, can take Denny's 1968 achievements away from him.  McLain had an amazing record that year and he took the baseball world by storm.  In addition to his stellar 31-6 season, he boasted an ERA of 1.96.  He was the league leader in victories, winning percentage (8.38), complete games (28) and innings pitched (336).  Not too shabby, eh?  How many pitchers throw 28 complete games in a season anymore?

The awards amd accolades just kept on coming for Denny McClain in 1968.  He was selected as American League All-Star.  He won the Cy Young Award and he was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the American League.  His Detroit Tigers went on to win the October Classic and he received a World Series ring. Oh yes, and if that weren't enough, the Associated Press named him male athlete of the year.  At the age of 24, Denny McLean was sitting on top of the world.

Dennis Dale "Denny" McLain was born on March 29, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois.  He attended Mount Carmel High School in Chicago and was initially signed by the Chicago White Sox.  The Detroit Tigers selected him off waivers and he became a major leaguer in 1963 at 19 years old.  In 1965, his breakthrough season, Denny posted a 2.61 ERA and a 16-6 record.  Although it was practically impossible to top his extraordinary 1968 season, McLain continued to excel in 1969.  He won another Cy Young Award which he shared with lefty Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles.  Both pitchers had 24 wins. 

1970 was the year that everything began to unravel in the life and career of Denny McClain.  In February of that year, Sports Illustrated featured McClain on its cover with the blaring headline "Denny McLain and the Mob: Baseball's Big Scandal."  His problems began to mount after he found himself the subject of an investigation by a Detroit grand jury for possible involvement in gambling activity.  When he admitted to investing in a bookmaking operation, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him indefinitely on April 1, 1970.  Although the suspension was removed on July 1, 1970, McClain's woes continued as his conduct became quite bizarre.

The Detroit Tigers suspended Denny twice during the 1970 season for incidents such as pouring buckets of water on a couple of Detroit sportswriters and carrying a gun on a commercial airliner.  He only played 14 games that season posting a record of 3 wins, 5 losses and a 4.63 ERA.  During the 1970 World Series, McLain was traded to the Washington Senators, a trade which Bowie Kuhn later described in his autobiography Hardball: The Education of a Baseball Commissioner as "a foolish gamble" on the part of the Senators.

Subsequent events proved Kuhn's assessment of the trade to be quite correct.  Denny spent one season with the Washington Senators and it was a disaster.  He was in continual conflict with manager Ted Williams who had objected to the trade and did not approve of McLain's lifestyle.  Denny was not pleased with Williams either.  In fact, he and four other Washington players formed the "Underminers Club" and dedicated themselves to getting Williams fired.

On the mound, Denny McClain's 1971 season was absolutely miserable.  Plagued by a sore arm, he became incapable of throwing fastballs.  He recorded a whopping 22 losses to go along with his 10 wins.  In two years, Denny had gone from leading the American League in wins to leading it in losses.  Little wonder he was traded to the Oakland A's after the 1971 season for journeyman pitcher Jim Panther and prospect Don Stanhouse.  Stanhouse would go on to have success as a closer for the Baltimore Orioles in the late 1970s.

Denny McClain's major league career came to an end in 1972.  The two-time Cy Young winner was traded to the Atlanta Braves after five unimpressive starts for the Oakland A's.  He made his final appearance in the big leagues on September 12, 1972 against the Cincinnati Reds.  He was sent into a tie game in the ninth inning and allowed three runs without retiring a batter.  How's this for irony?  The last batter McLain faced in his career was Pete Rose who also became embroiled in a huge gambling scandal.

The Atlanta Braves released Denny McLain during spring training in 1973.  After a couple of stints in the minors in Des Moines and Shreveport, Denny decided to retire from baseball.  He was only 29 years old.  It is interesting to note that he came out of retirement to play a season in the Intercounty Baseball League here in Canada.  In 1974, McLain was a pitcher, shortstop, first baseman and catcher for the London Majors at Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario.  Due to his arm problems, he only pitched nine innings for the Majors.

During his post-baseball years, Denny McClain's downslide continued.  In 1985, he was sentenced to 23 year in prison for drug trafficking (cocaine), extortion and racketeering.  He served 30 months before winning an appeal.  His conviction was overturned and he was released.  In the 1980s and early 1990s, between his incarcerations and his rehabilitation programs, McClain made appearances on various radio and television shows in the Detroit area. 

Denny and his family suffered a tragedy on March 20, 1992 when his eldest daughter, Kristin, 26, lost her life in a car accident involving an impaired driver.  She had been living in Florida and was moving back to Michigan when she was killed near the home of her parents.  After his daughter's death, McLain and some partners purchased the Peet Packing Company, a meat packing plant, in the town of Chesaning, Michigan.  The company went bankrupt and in 1996 Denny was convicted on charges of embezzlement, mail fraud and conspiracy in connection with theft from the employee's pension fund.  McLain was jailed for six years although he maintained that he was unaware of the shady dealings.

In 2007, Denny McLain published his autobiography, appropriately titled I Told You I Wasn't Perfect.  The book was co-written by veteran Detroit sportscaster and author Eli Zaret.  Now 67 years old, McLean lives in Pinckney, Michigan with his long-suffering wife Sharon (some sources spell her name Sharyn), the daughter of Hall-of-Fame baseball player, manager and announcer Lou Boudreau.  They couple married on October 5, 1963 and had four children: the late Kristen, Denny Jr., Tim and Michelle.  They divorced in 1998 but later remarried.

Despite his struggles and his personal demons, Denny McClain was a great pitcher.  He had a career record of 131 wins, 2 shutouts and a 3.39 ERA.  He struck out a total of 1,282 hitters.  One can only wonder what he would have achieved without his personal problems and the pain and inflammation of a torn rotator cuff.


DENNY McCLAIN TRIVIA

* Denny plays the organ and the "Denny McLain Quartet" appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, accompanied on the guitar by fellow pitcher and Word Series opponent Bob Gibson.

* Denny wore #34 during his first two seasons with the Detroit Tigers in 1963 and 1964.  During the remainder of his time with the Tigers, from 1965 until 1970, he wore #17.  He also wore #17 with the Washington Senators in 1971 and the Oakland Athletics in 1972.  During his brief stint with the Atlanta Braves in 1972, he wore #30.

- Joanne

The Infamous Edwin Alonzo Boyd

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

Edwin Alonzo Boyd was born in Toronto on April 2, 1914.  Four months after his birth, World War I broke out in Europe.  Ed's father, Glover Boyd,.was an electrician and was employed by Eaton's department store.  Glover joined the army in the summer of 1915 and served overseas during the earliest years of his son's childhood. When he returned home in 1919, he worked as a lumberer in the Muskoka woods.

In 1920, a second son, Gordon, was born to the Boyds and Glover decided to search for work closer to his family in Toronto.  Accordingly, he answered a recruiting ad and was accepted as a police constable with the Toronto Police Department.  Glover Boyd was to remain with the force for a quarter of a century.

Two more children followed Gordon, a son named Norman and a daughter, Irene.  Gord and Norm contracted scarlet fever in early 1930 and the family was quarantined.  In March of that year, Ed's mother, Eleanor, died of the disease. Ed was only 15 years old when she passed away.  After her death, he dropped out of school and left home.  As a youth, he drifted across Canada and had some minor run-ins with the law during the Depression years of the 1930s. At the age of 22, he served time at Prince Albert Penitentiary in Saskatchewan for robbing a gas station.

During World War II, Boyd joined the Canadian Army as an infantryman. While overseas, he married Doreen Mary Frances Thompson and the couple had three children.  After the war, he returned to Toronto with his British war bride and found employment as a streetcar driver. Unhappy and bored with his job, this son of a police officer turned to crime.

Boyd with Doreen and children

It will be exactly 62 years ago tomorrow, on September 9, 1949, that Edwin Alonzo Boyd committed his first bank robbery.  Operating as a lone bandit and wearing a disguise, a drunken Boyd robbed a branch of the Bank of Montreal in Toronto.  Armed with a pistol (a Luger he had taken from a dead German soldier in France), the inebriated thief escaped with $3,000, a princely sum in those days.  Acting alone and with the help of accomplices, he committed six more robberies before being captured and imprisoned in Toronto's Don Jail.

Boyd's mugshots.  He was described as 37 years old, 5'7 3/8 ", slim build, black hair (grey), blue eyes 

It was in the Don Jail that Boyd met Leonard "Tough Lennie" Jackson and Willie "The Clown" Jackson (not related) who were to become his partners in further criminal activity.  Lennie Jackson, an ex-hairdresser from Niagara Falls, had an artificial foot (he lost his foot in a railway accident) and the three men escaped from prison on November 4, 1951 by concealing hacksaw blades in Jackson's prosthetic device.  The trio of  convicts used the blades to saw through the bars on an outside window.

After their escape, a fourth man joined the band of thieves.  His name was Valent Lesso (alias Steve Suchan).  The group committed four more robberies in four months and was dubbed "The Boyd Gang" by the press.  Although "Tough Lennie" Jackson was the real leader, it was Edwin Alonzo Boyd who was better looking and more charismatic.

The Boyd Gang engaged in further bank robberies and on March 6, 1952, two of the gang members, Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson, shot and killed police detective Edmund Tong, a crime for which they would later hang.  They and Boyd were soon apprehended, but escaped from the Don Jail a second time on the night of September 7, 1952.  Once again, they used hacksaw blades hidden in Lennie Jackson's wooden foot along with a cell key they had created from the palm print of the original. 

The exploits of the Boyd Gang made sensational front page headlines.  On September 8, 1952, their escape was also detailed by anchorman Lorne Greene (of Bonanza fame) on the first news telecast of the new CBC television network.  Ten days later, some men were seen at a barn in the Don Valley, about 24 km. (15 miles from the prison) and the Boyd gang, except for Boyd himself, was captured there without incident. 

Edwin Alonzo was later found at the rented flat of his brother Norman.  Police had kept the flat under surveillance and obtained a key to the back door from the owner.  They watched from a neighbour's home as Boyd moved into the flat.  At the break of dawn, they entered the house and captured Boyd and his wife while they were still sleeping in bed.  Norman, who was sleeping in another room, was also apprehended by police. 

The Toronto Nugget reported that "Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Canada's Public Enemy Number One, surrendered meekly with his henchmen to two suburban detectives, ending the greatest criminal man hunt in the Dominion's history."

In 1952, Edwin Alonzo Boyd Boyd was given eight life sentences while Willie Jackson received a thirty year sentence foe his crimes.  Both men served their time in Ontario's Kingston Penitentiary and both were released in 1966.  On December 16, 1952, the last rites were administered to Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson.  Nor long after midnight on the morning of December 17th, they were executed, hanged back to back.

Boyd was originally paroled in 1962 after spending 10 years in prison, but was returned for four more years due to parole violations.  After serving 14 years, the notorious bank robber was released on lifetime parole.  He then moved near Victoria, British Columbia where he lived under an assumed identity and drove a bus for disabled people.  He remarried and devoted himself to the care of his disabled wife, Marjorie, whom he had met on the bus.  Edwin Alonzo Boyd died in British Columbia on May 17, 2002 at the age of 88.

END NOTES

* Edwin Alonzo Boyd was the subject of an episode of the CBC biographical series Life and Times.  Boyd's biography contains interviews with the notorious bank robber himself during the months just prior to his death.  His  ex-wife, his daughter and his adopted son also speak out on the program.  During the interviews, Boyd, the man known as the "Gentleman Bank Robber" chillingly confesses that he "did a few things that could have got me hung."

* I have obtained some of the information in this piece from a book entitled Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Story of the Notorious Boyd Gang by Brian Vallee.  I recommend the book to those who want to read further about Edwin Alonzo Boyd and the Boyd gang.


- Joanne

Where do people live the longest? Reflections on age and longevity

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet
From an 1874 letter

Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world according to a recent study conducted by the department of Global Health Policy at the University of Tokyo.  The results of the study appeared in Lancet, the highly respected British medical journal.  Several factors, such as an increase in female literacy in the ealy 20th century, were cited as reasons for the improvement in child survival rates.

The report found that a Japanese child born within the last few years will live to an average of 86 years of age.  It attributed this longevity to several factors including universal health care, better education and a healthy lifestyle.  It credited government investment in public health during the 1950s and 1960s with lowering mortality rates for infectious diseases among children and adolescents. 

The study also be noted that having certain drugs covered under health insurance lessened the number of deaths due to strokes, one of the major reasons for the continual increase in Japanese longevity after the mid-1960s.

Government investment in health care and education leads to beneficial results.  The results of this report should be required reading for those who want to cut and slash education spending and oppose public health care.


REFLECTIONS ON AGE

Rowan Atkinson, the British comedian who is best known for his portrayal of the bumbling Mr. Bean, announced that he is too old to play the character anymore.  Atkinson, who is 56 years old, said in an interview in Australia that he has a feeling that he probably won't play the part of Mr. Bean again.  "Never say never," he remarked, "but I just feel I'm getting too old for it.  I've always liked Mr. Bean as a cartoon-like figure, who doesn't really age much."  He added that he's always seen Mr. Bean as "an ageless and timeless being and I'm clearly not ageless and timeless."

As a fan of Rowan Atkinson and his Mr. Bean persona, it saddens me that he may never play that role again.  Yet, I realize he can't portray the Bean character forever.  The problem lies in determining how long an actor or athlete should continue performing.  Should they, as the poet Dylan Thomas put it, "rage against the dying of the light" of should they, as Kenny Rogers sang, "know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away?"

Many athletes continue way past their "best before" date  because they love their sport and they enjoy competition.  Even when they are past their prime, they still have a desire to compete.  Some are willing to adjust and make changes, if possible, to extend their careers.  In baseball, older pitchers become knuckleballers or closers.  Older position players assume the role of designated hitter. 

Who has the right to tell star athletes how and when to retire?  I know that If I were an athlete, I'd want to finish my career in the same manner as baseball great Ted Williams.  Williams went out in a blaze of glory by hitting a home run in his final at-bat on September 28, 1960.  How's that for a grand finale?

Hockey's Lanny McDonald also ended his career in glory.  The Alberta native is considered a local hero in Calgary for leading the Calgary Flames to their one and only championship in 1989.  McDonald retired after hoisting the Stanley Cup and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Entertainers can have much longer careers than athletes.  Singer Tony Bennett, born August 3, 1926, is still performing at the age of 85.   Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones is still strutting on stage at 68.  Jagger, who was born on July 26, 1943, once famously remarked, "I'd rather be dead than singing 'Satisfaction' when I'm forty-five."  You certainly changed your mind about that, didn't you, Mick?

Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon composed a song that asked "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm Sixty-four?"  McCartney, born June 18, 1942, is now 69 years old.  In October of 2006, not long after he turned 64, the former Beatle remarked, "In one old people's home they changed the words of the song to 'When I'm 84' as they considered 64 to be young.  I might do that."


Some of the most prominent world leaders are septuagenarians and octogenarians.  Here is a list of them:

Queen Elizabeth II (85 years old, born April 21, 1926)

Pope Benedict XVI  (84 years old, born April 16, 1927)

The 14th Dalai Lama (76 years old, born July 6. 1935)

Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India (78 years old, born September 26, 1932)

Raul Castro, President of Cuba (80 years old, born June 3, 1931)

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe (87 years old, born February 21, 1924)

King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia (born 1924)


Here are some great quotations on the subject of age:

The man who works and is not bored is never old.

- Pablo Casals (1876-1973) Spanish musician and composer


It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

- Spoken by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark (screenplay by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman)


Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.

- Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
From Thoughts on Various Subjects (1727 edition)


The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
From The Picture of Dorian Grey [1891]


So much about age is relative.  Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer recently turned 30.  He was born August 8, 1981.  In the sport of tennis, Federe is a greybeard, a grizzled veteran.  There is always some up-and-coming 17-year-old ready to challenge.  If, however, Federer were a 30-year-old politician, he'd be considered a greenhorn, too young to be a national leader.

- Joanne