This is Day 28 of our self-quarantine and Day 21 of KC’s Stay-At-Home order.
And another day of no baseball. I checked in yesterday with Royals owner John Sherman – it was his birthday (more on that later in this post). He sent back a message for Royals fans out in Hot Stove land:
“We will get baseball back to the K when the coast is clear and it is safe to do so. We don’t get to write the script all the time but we do get to choose how we respond to unforeseen events. I remain excited about our potential and I am proud of the way our people are handling the current challenge. More to come……”
John, we all look forward to seeing you at the K.
Day 21, April 6 (Monday): For the second time, I promise that this day-by-day banter will end. Not for this post, but the next. I’m losing one of my regular features now that the Baseball 100 countdown is at #2. Only Willie Mays at #1 is left for the next post. Also, I need to write less and read more for a while (kind of like Burr told Hamilton, “talk less, smile more”).
After posting last Monday’s Hot Stove, I took a walk with my editor Rita. We followed the trolley trail and again checked in with Jim and Kathy Polsinelli. This time I thought to take a photo. Jim was taking a nap, but we got a nice shot of Kathy on her balcony.
We then detoured to Crestwood and chatted from sidewalk to stoop with Joe and Cheryl Downs. Joe said it was sad that Cheryl felt she had to be masked while being seen with him.
Now for the next player in Joe Posnanski’s countdown. [Reminder, Joe’s player essays are available to subscribers of The Athletic.]
Baseball 100 – Hank Aaron (#4): Hammerin’ Hank broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record, but never hit more than 47 homers in a season. He is tops in career RBIs (2,297) and total bases (6,856). But he was MVP only one time in his 23 seasons. Why? Because he was a model of consistency. Posnanski is most impressed with that total base number. It is 700 higher than anyone else. If Babe Ruth had hit 250 more home runs, he would still have less total bases than Aaron. If you subtract Aaron’s 755 home runs, he still would have over 3,000 hits. And so on.
And he did it under the cloud of racism and Jim Crow. After starting his professional career with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues, Aaron signed with the Boston Braves to play in the Northern League in 1952. But the next year he was assigned to Jacksonville in the South Atlantic League where Jim Crow was the normal – separate hotels, restaurants, etc. By the time he reached the majors the following year, the Braves had moved to Milwaukee where he played for 12 years. When the team moved to Atlanta, he found many residents still living in the racist past. But it was his chase of Ruth’s record that brought out the real venom. Hate mail, death threats and racial slurs were directed at the black man who dared to break the white slugger’s record. Aaron handled it all with poise and professionalism.
In 2015, when my grandson Ian and I were picking an all-time lineup, my right fielder was Babe Ruth. His was Hank Aaron. Then in a bit of good timing, Aaron came to town in November of 2015 to be the headliner for the 25th Anniversary Gala of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Rita and I took Ian to the event, and so he got to see one of his baseball heroes in person. Below, Ian at the event.
Day 22, April 7 (Tuesday): From fifty years ago today, an apt Peanuts strip to insert between Aaron (above) and Bonds (below) – the two players with the most career homers.
Day 23, April 8 (Wednesday): Passover begins at sundown. Many Seders being done remotely.
On this date in 1969, the expansion Royals played their first game in history. It was at old Municipal Stadium, and they beat the Twins in 12 innings when Joe Keough singled to score Joe Foy for a walk-off victory. Winning pitcher, Moe Drabowsky.
On this date in 1974, Hank Aaron hit #715 to break Babe Ruth’s home run record. He finished his career with 755. He was surpassed in 2007 by Barry Bonds who finished his career with 762. But there were many who did not celebrate Bond’s new record (Reggie Jackson still hailed Aaron as the “People’s Home Run King”). This is a perfect segue to the next player in Joe Posnanski’s countdown.
Baseball 100 – Barry Bonds (#3): An enigma. As was clear from Joe’s essay on this pick. He wrote in alternating sections labeled “For Bonds Fans” and “For Bonds Critics.” A case can be made for either side.
Bonds was on his way to being one of the greatest of all time. In his first 12 seasons (1986-1997), he finished in the top five of MVP balloting seven times, winning three times. In 1998, he had another good season but was overshadowed by the home run race between Mark McGwire (70) and Sammy Sosa (66) who both topped the Roger Maris record (61). Posnanski: “The theory goes that Bonds saw how people celebrated McGwire and Sosa and others, and he knew they were using steroids, and he decided that it was time to go all in.” To amazing results. In 2000, Bond hit 49 homers, the most he had ever hit in a season. He was 35. The next year he hit 73 to break McGwire’s season record. That year and the next three he was the MVP (2001-2004, ages 36-39). He continued to play until he was 42, breaking Aaron’s career record in his final year (2007). Other than some Giants’ fans, very few applauded the feat.
His teammates didn’t like him. He had a bad relationship with the press. By his actions and attitude, he squandered his reputation. Joe Posnanski may be right that Bonds is #3 to Aaron’s #4, but Bonds is still paying a steep price. Aaron entered the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, being named on 98% of the ballots. Bonds, a player with seven MVP awards, has been on the ballot for eight years and never received the necessary 75%. He has two remaining years of eligibility.
Day 24, April 9 (Thursday): I saw a piece on MLB News about a Bruce Springsteen broadcast on his E Street Radio channel on Sirius. The show featured a playlist curated by Springsteen, a tribute to country/folk singer John Prine who died this past week from coronavirus complications. Bruce also spoke about baseball: “I miss baseball. I’m not much of a sports fanatic at all, but I do like baseball…All I know is that when this is over, I’m gonna take [my wife] Patti to a baseball game.” Listen to the clip here.
As for social distancing, the State of New Jersey issued this suggestion:
Day 25, April 10 (Friday): Forty years ago on April 10, the Royals played their 1980 home opener against Detroit. Jack Morris outpitched Dennis Leonard for a 5-1 Tigers victory. Game time 2:28, a crowd of 34,901 at what was then called Royals Stadium. The season got better – the Royals went on the win the AL pennant by beating the Yankees in the ALCS. In their first World Series, they lost to the Phillies (damn Pete Rose). If you are looking for some daily baseball nostalgia, the U.L.’s Toothpick website is taking a “daily look at the 1980 Royals, with occasional looks at what was going on in pop culture and the news.” Click here.
As a reminder, the regulars in the 1980 lineup: C/Darrell Porter, 1B/Willie Aikens, 2B/Frank White, SS/U.L. Washington, 3B/George Brett, LF/Willie Wilson, CF/Amos Otis, RF/Clint Hurdle and DH/Hal McRae.
Frank White and U.L. Washington attended the Royals Baseball Academy established by owner Ewing Kauffman. The Academy was open for four years in the early 1970s, and it netted this keystone combo that helped the Royals win the 1980 pennant. One other player from the Academy made it to the big leagues – Ron Washington played ten years in the majors and also managed the Rangers for eight seasons, winning two pennants. Tim Sear recently sent me a good video of Academy highlights (click here; 9 minutes). Below, U.L. with toothpick and Frank.
The Royals pitching staff was led by Larry Gura and Dennis Leonard. The pleasant surprise was Dan Quisenberry. In his first full season in the majors, Quiz posted a 12-7 record with 33 saves. He would end up with 244 saves in his career.
In the last Hot Stove, I linked a Quiz story by Joe Posnanski and got several comments. And a photo. Talis Bergmanis was a long-time photographer with the KC Star, back in the days when they had to hustle to the darkroom to process, print and transmit back to the paper to make deadline. Talis took the photo below on a hot day when Quiz picked up a hose to playfully cool off the fans.
Posnanski’s next pick was a surprise (to me), but his essay was persuasive on why the Babe may not have a lock on #1. So we await Joe’s essay on why Willie Mays is #1. As for Ruth…
Baseball 100 – Babe Ruth (#2): Joe starts with the premise that baseball is the only sport where we seriously compare players over a century of seasons. We often treat the stats as if a home run in 1927 has the same meaning as a home run today. Rarely do you hear comparisons of basketball and football stars who played generations apart. No other sport has an argument that someone who played a hundred years ago is the greatest of all time.
Joe believes Babe remains in our thoughts because “no other American sport – perhaps no other feature of American life” has what baseball has: timelessness. It’s not a pure timelessness of course. Joe: “Ruth played in a time when black players were shut out. He played in a time before night games, before air travel, before television, before closers, before weight training, before anyone cared about nutrition, before exploding sliders, before 100 mph fastballs, before West Coast games, before a million other things.”
But fans enjoy the fantasy of timelessness. And it allows grandpa to debate right-fielders Ruth and Aaron with his grandson Ian. That’s pretty cool.
Ruth’s hitting stats will always keep him near the top of any elite baseball list. But there’s more. He was an excellent pitcher for five years with the Red Sox before he was sold to the Yankees. He was also just what baseball needed after the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Ruth’s accomplishments on the field were matched by his outsized personality and a colorful lifestyle. Ruth’s role as a pioneer in modern celebrity was beautifully captured in one of the best baseball books released last year, Jane Leavy’s The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created.
Our walk on Friday took us back to our old neighborhood in Westwood (Missouri side). Checked in with former neighbor Peggy Zilm who kept her social distance from Rita.
Day 26, April 11 (Saturday): We continued making house calls on our walks.
At the home of Mike and Alice White, we were able to roust Mike, but Alice was out walking the dog.
Judge Sandra Midkiff came out to greet us – at an appropriate distance.
Day 27, April 12 (Sunday): Easter Sunday. Many services being done remotely.
1955 – Kansas City A’s: Today is the 65th anniversary of the first major league game in Kansas City. On April 12, 1955, the Athletics, transplanted from Philadelphia, opened their first season in Kansas City. They beat the Tigers 6-2.
Former President Harry Truman was on hand to throw out the first pitch. Ten years earlier, on the very same date, Truman had become President upon the death of FDR.
In a story I’ve told before in Hot Stove, I was in the eighth grade in 1955 and cut school with Jay DeSimone to take in the historic opening game. The next year, I changed schools, and Jay and I lost touch for 50 plus years. In 2009, we reconnected and have gone to a Royals game together almost every year since. Fingers crossed on seeing a game this summer. Here we are at the K in August of 2015:
1955 – John Sherman: As recounted in Hot Stove #106, Royals owner John Sherman was born the same day as that A’s opener in 1955. If you picked up on the math, you know that John turned 65 on Sunday. This is not the way he expected to celebrate the day – without baseball.
John and his fellow KC-based owners were all smiles and full of civic pride when they took over ownership last November. In mid-February, John was at spring training with the team (below). Excitement was in the air, but so was the coronavirus. Now the season is on hold.
But the civic pride remains in evidence as the Royals have stepped forward to help during the crisis. Sherman, other members of the ownership group and Alex Gordon have donated funds for 500,000 meals to Harvesters. Another Royals owner, Eric Stonestreet, donated 200,000 meals to Harvesters (and this past week, appeared in the series finale of Modern Family). Management and players participated with Mayor Quinton Lucas in a public service announcement to encourage people to “Stay Home” (click here). The Royals, along with the Chiefs and Sporting KC, participated in Thursday night’s “Make It Blue” honoring first responders, healthcare professionals and essential workers.
1955 – The Boys of Summer: Jay and I went to about 20 games in the summer of 1955, meeting via separate bus routes to Municipal Stadium at 22nd and Brooklyn. We saw several Yankees games – the 1950s were the Yankees of Mantle, Berra, Rizzuto, etc. There was no interleague play, so we did not see the NL pennant winner, the Brooklyn Dodgers. The “Bums” had won several pennants, but always seemed to lose to the Yankees in the Series. The cry was always “Wait ‘Til Next Year.” Well, 1955 was next year, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees for their only Series win while in Brooklyn. The Dodger players (Jackie, Pee Wee, Duke, Newk, Campy, etc.) were immortalized by Roger Kahn in his Boys of Summer.
1955 – Al Kaline: One of the players Jay and I saw on A’s opening day was Al Kaline, the twenty-year-old right fielder for the Tigers. He went 2 for 4, on his way to hitting .340 that season to win the batting title, becoming the youngest to ever do so (beating Ty Cobb by a day). That record endures to this day. Kaline had a stellar career – 10 Gold Gloves and over 3,000 hits – and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He died last week at age 85.
Lonnie’s Jukebox (1) – Gregorian Chants (Week 3): Vahe Gregorian just keeps on ticking with Stay-At-Home theme songs. Click on the song title to listen.
Day 15 (April 4) of Stay-At-Home Order: “Badlands” by Bruce Springsteen.
Badlands, you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay
Keep movin’ ’til it’s understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Day 16: “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)” by Fleetwood Mac.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here
It’ll be better than before
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone
Day 17: “Things Can Only Get Better” by Howard Jones. I admit this artist was not familiar to me. Checked Wikipedia and found that he is an English singer who had several hits back in the 1980s. “Things Can Only Get Better” was released in February of 1985, a good point in time to be a theme song for the Royals. Things certainly got better than any previous year – the team won its first World Series in 1985.
Day 18: “I Shall Be Released” by Joan Baez. Bob Dylan wrote the song, and it was first recorded by The Band in 1968. The song was featured in The Band’s 1976 farewell concert (The Last Waltz), and they were joined on stage by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Wood, Ringo Starr and others (click here).
Dylan’s lyrics appear to be eternal…
Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he’s not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released
Day 19: “These Are Days” by 10,000 Maniacs.
Day 20: “Forever Young” by The Pretenders. Another song written by Bob Dylan.
Day 21: “Do It Again” by the Kinks. Could also have worked as a theme song for the movie Groundhog Day.
And now we’re back where we started
Here we go round again
Day after day I get up and I say
I better do it again
Lonnie’s Jukebox (2) – Mort Drucker: In 1973, George Lucas directed American Graffiti, a movie full of jukebox hits from my youth. So I of course loved the movie, but I was not alone – it was a big hit and an Oscar nominee. The poster for the movie was drawn by Mort Drucker who was known for specializing in satires of films and TV shows in Mad Magazine. I remember the poster and Mad Magazine, but did not know (or forgot) that Mort Drucker was the artist. Drucker died this past week at age 91, and many of the obits included an image of this classic poster.
