I feel I must say something about the Royals. Then I will move on to some good news, a statue for umpire Bob Motley.
How About Those Royals? Lost in the box scores and division standings are some records and potential milestones that you may not have noticed. As of this writing:
Events have again caused a break in my normal Hot Stove posting. There is a baseball twist, but this post is mostly about how sometimes you just get lucky.
Wild About Harry Dinner: When I got the “save the date” card in the mail, I knew I had to be there. The Truman Library Institute was having its annual “Wild About Harry” dinner on April 20, and the theme was the Truman civil rights legacy. One of the honorees was Congressman John Lewis and the keynote speaker was Calvin Trillin. I had personal reasons to see both of them.
As we enjoy the return of Veep and Fargo and patiently await the Royals batters…
The Wall Street Journal may seem like an unlikely source of baseball nostalgia and trivia, but here are some items that caught my eye and the eyes of some Hot Stove readers the past few months.
When I was in grade school, my hometown team was the Kansas City Blues, the top farm team of the Yankees. In high school, my loyalty switched to the Kansas City A’s who had moved from Philadelphia in 1955. I still remember two special players who were on both the Blues and the A’s. One was Vic Power, a great first baseman with a good bat. The other was Bob Cerv who died last week at the age of 91.
Spring Training 2017: Rita and I were in Phoenix recently and caught a Royals game in Scottsdale against Colorado. The Rockies share their spring training facilities with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The stadium is on Native American land developed by the Pima and Maricopa tribes who also operate a casino and resort nearby. The stadium is very nice and for the last two years has been voted the top Cactus League ballpark by readers of website Spring Training Online. The Royals/Rangers ballpark in Surprise made the final four in the bracketed vote, barely missing the final round.
Rita and I were in Phoenix last week to visit friends of long standing, Larry and Diana Brewer. Di has been my friend since before high school and Larry was my Sigma Nu fraternity brother at college. I introduced them and most of the time they thank me. Di and I also had lunch with fellow 1959 Van Horn grad Jan Clemens, another Arizona transplant from KC. Long ago, I danced at teen-town with Di and Jan. To Chuck Berry. When those songs were originally released. This past weekend, Chuck Berry died at the age of 90. So I just have to take a break from baseball posting and talk about Chuck. I’ll be back soon to talk about the Royals free agents and TV money in baseball.
As you ponder who will start at second base for the Royals, I have a book to recommend plus some thoughts on the Oscars.
Wait Till Next Year: A personal memoir by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of my favorite storytellers. She is best known as a presidential historian with books on Lyndon Johnson, the Kennedys, the Roosevelts and Abraham Lincoln (Team of Rivals). I have had the good fortune to see her twice in person – at a Rainy Day Books event and at a law firm retreat. As a raconteur, she is mesmerizing. Rita was recently browsing through our stacks of books and found a gem that we had not read, that rare Goodwin book not about a president. It is about growing up as a baseball fan. I don’t how we missed reading this earlier – it was published in 1997. Our assessment: Great Book!
This would be your lazy Hot Stove report. Not much new. Last year, I did a couple of pieces on the history of spring training – the Cactus League and the Grapefruit League. For those who might want to revisit or for newer Hot Stove readers, see Hot Stoves 10 and 11. There is one update to note under The Kansas City Royals and Cuba. Kendrys Morales was lost to free agency, but the Royals picked up Jorge Soler who defected from Cuba in 2011. Soler signed a 9-year $30,000,000 contract with the Cubs in 2012 and was traded to the Royals in December for Wade Davis.
Friends of Woody:
I’m Lonnie Shalton, also a Friend of Woody. I’m very honored that Jane asked me to speak to you today. Continue reading
A few days after I posted the last Hot Stove, my job status changed. At 75, I was ready to retire. But I have not left the building. I still get to show up as “of counsel” the rest of this year to complete my 50th year of law practice. The firm held a nice reception for me and two fellow retirees, and we were asked to each write a 100-word memoir of our career. This was mine: