Lee Lowenfish

"Playing Meaningful Games In September" should be the goal of any MLB team but I must admit that I didn't think my Orioles, never a .500 team all season, would give me any late thrills this season. I was wrong and maybe the biggest single moment came a week after Labor Day when Pete Alonso led the Birds into CitiField.  Greeted by delirious fans from the moment the former Met stepped on the field for batting practice, Alonso made the most of his only two hits in a 3-game sweep of the even more disappointing Mets. Both were solo home runs, the first one dramatically tying the Tuesday Sep 15 game in the top of the 9th. It led to a remarkable eruption by fans who insisted that their former hero take a curtain call despite wearing the gray uniform of an enemy.

The outpouring of love for a banished fan favorite reminded many oldtimers of the adoring greeting that New York Rangers goalie Eddie Giacomin received when the Detroit Red Wings in 1975 picked up the goalie on waivers and he immediately won his first game against the Blue Shirts. Mets fans had all season to build up the resentment against baseball operations honcho David Stearns who convinced multi-billionaire owner Steve Cohen not to give Alonso a five-year free agent contract. Alonso quickly directed himself 200 miles south where Oriole fans have fallen in love with the Polar Bear, an apt nickname for the massive first baseman who romps on the field with ursine delight and intensity. Alonso's second HR against the Mets was a first inning blast that set the tone for an easy victory that cemented the sweep.

Alas, the Orioles returned home last weekend to be swept by the impressive Milwaukee Brewers who with largely a farm-raised team and a modest payroll by today's standards will have the best regular season record for the second year in a row.  The Brew Crew shut down Alonso and his less potent teammates but Pete erupted for two homers last night (M Sep 21) against the Blue Jays in a comeback win.  Alonso has now hit 40 HRs and is leading MLB in RBIs. The Polar Bear is also playing Gold Glove-caliber defense. 

Adding to the emotion of last week for Mets fans was the farewell broadcast of Howie Rose who grew up a Mets fan in Queens, attended games in the upper deck at Shea Stadium, and rose to his dream job as a broadcaster on both TV and radio for both the Mets and the NHL Islanders.  Rose's call of Alonso's game-tying home run that prompted the curtain call was a model of concise information and professional passion. Thanks to the proliferation of so many other media outlets, I sure hope Howie Rose will emerge again in some other formats. 

With the Orioles likely to be eliminated within a day or two after I post, I now would like to see a World Series with the Brewers meeting the Tampa Bay Rays, another team with a modest payroll and a bunch of speedy, gritty, and powerful players developed by an astute organization. Of course, to coin a phrase, you can't always get what you want.  Whether the Brewers can dethrone the two-time defending world champion LA Dodgers will be one of the compelling story lines in the playoffs that begin next week.  LAD swept them in last year's playoffs, something that I am sure Milwaukee wants to avenge.  As always, the team that is hottest in October and that has enough pitching, defense, and timely hitting will be celebrating in a few weeks.  The pre-season favorites the Yankees and Dodgers may be somewhat vulnerable with the nagging injuries of  NYY's Aaron Judge and LA's closer, the former Met Edwin Diaz. The Padres and the Guardians look like they will enter the playoffs as the hottest teams but whether that lasts into October is the big question.   Whatever happens, let's enjoy the games because (a) the only reason to play baseball is to keep winter away and (b) the looming owner lockout of the players on Dec 1 could impact the start of the 2027 season.   More on that constant irritant in what should be MLB growth later this autumn. 

My visceral rooting chops until next spring now turn to my undergraduate alma mater Columbia's teams. Football won its opener last Saturday in overtime over formidable Lafayette. I'm looking forward to big things for our women's basketball team in 2026-27 as well as for perennially contending baseball in the spring. I'm also thrilled at the emergence of recent Columbia graduate Michael Zweng on the bigtime tennis stage.  And maybe Wisconsin, my graduate alma mater,

has a revived football team, too.  They play at Penn State this Sat Sep 27 at 5P EDT, only on the extra-charge Peacock network.

The one sports-related film ahead on TCM is Sa Oct 3 10P "The Set-Up" (1949) probably the best boxing movie ever with Robert Ryan as a journeyman boxer who refuses to take a dive.  Preceded at 8P by one of the early Noir classics "Out of the Past" (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas sparring over Jane Greer. To me one of the rarely noted highlights is Dickie Moore as the mute gas station attendant at beginning and end of film. A decade earlier as an even younger child actor, Moore played the orphan that Joe E Brown wants to adopt in "The Gladiator", a far too rarely-shown Brown pic from his heyday in the 1930s.

This Sat midnight Sep 27 - repeated Su Sep 28 10A - Noir Alley presents "Ace in the Hole" (1951), Billy Wilder's searing take on mass culture's obsession with disasters.  Kirk Douglas again as the sensationalist newspaper reporter banished to New Mexico from NYC. He misses Yankee Stadium and the Gotham scene and grouses about local guys who wear belts AND suspenders. He makes up for it by milking a mine cave-in story for all its worth.  Wilder's wife singer Audrey Young reportedly thought that the reason Jan Sterling (playing the trapped miner's surly wife) gave for not attending church was the best line in all of her husband's films:  "Kneeling bags my nylons." 

I close on an aching note. This past Sat Sep 25, my friend Ernie Accorsi, 84, died of cancer at his home in Hershey, PA.  A noted football executive, Ernie was probably best known as the GM that engineered the trade of Eli Manning to the Giants. He also had been the GM of two other successful NFL teams, the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns. He loved all sports. Growing up in Hershey, he still talked fondly about being an usher for the local minor league hockey Hershey Bears, a franchise still thriving in his home town.  He went to Wake Forest on a golf scholarship at the same time as Arnold Palmer, Jay Sigel, Lanny Wadkins, and others. A roommate was the late Pat Williams, another man destined to make his name as a noted sports executive. After military service, Ernie became a sportswriter in Charlotte where he interviewed Moonlight Graham but regretted that he didn't know at the time the full story of the man who briefly made a MLB baseball lineup and was immortalized in WP Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" and the movie "Field of Dreams".  Ernie went on to work in sports information at St Joseph's in Philly when Jack Ramsay was coaching basketball and later at Penn State during the heyday of Joe Paterno. To know Ernie was one of the joys of my life. His insights, humor, and integrity were gifts to everyone who knew him. He has reserved a place in my heart forever. 

That's all for now - take it easy but take it and Stay Positive Test Negative!!        

I have no complaints about the late August weather in my beloved home town of NYC.  Humidity has been a constant issue but, fortunately, temps have remained in manageable 80s.  I haven't posted too much since my return from another glorious week teaching about baseball culture at Chautauqua because I'm heading in for left knee replacement surgery on Fri the 28th. Getting my apartment cleaner and paths open for walking without stumbling have taken high priority. I'm approaching a 50th anniversary of living in the shadows of Riverside Park and a mere 1/2 mile from my undergraduate alma mater Columbia (where, incidentally, the always-contending women's basketball team just returned from 10 days in Japan, giving clinics, playing a very competitive exhibition against the Japanese national team, and exploring many of the remarkable points of interest in that island-nation.)  

What does "Laura" have to do with all of this?  Well, TCM devoted much of yesterday M Aug 24 to the films of Dana Andrews. I had seen at least a couple of times the 1944 film "Laura" (produced/directed by Otto Preminger with David Raksin's title tune and effective accompanying score) which was a breakthrough for both Andrews and Gene Tierney who played the title character. I've always been fascinated that in the film's first scene Andrews as a detective investigating a murder is doodling with a hand-held game "Baseball" as he interrogates supercilious radio personality Clifton Webb.  I didn't realize until last night that there is a second scene with the Baseball game during which Webb complains that the game is "getting on my nerves" and sneers that it must have been "something you confiscated in a raid on a kindergarten."  Andrews replies calmly, "It keeps me calm."  (Exploration for future research:  Whether Vera Caspary's original story had anything like a miniature hand-held Baseball game or any baseball reference.)

Baseball probably was simpler in the days of "Laura," especially diluted wartime baseball with most of the stars in military service.  Because there is nothing calm about the wacky MLB season especially in the under-achieving American League where there is a good chance that the third wild card might have an under-.500 record.  A longtime Tigers fan disses his division as the AL Comedy Central. As for me, I have basically given up any hope that my Orioles can ever reach .500 in the 30+ games remaining in the regular season.  Whenever I think they are ready to make a push towards the respectability of .500, they fall backwards. The biggest problem IMHO is that I see no hunger in the so-called "core" of players that Mike Elias the "President of Baseball Operations Who Needs No General Manager Below Him" claimed nearly three years ago were ready for "liftoff". 

I sometimes wonder if Elias picked up the term "liftoff" from his right hand man Sig Mejdal who prior to his baseball career worked for NASA.  I may be wrong but I don't think Mejdal has been very visible these days. The Elias crew does deserve credit for the addition of slugging Pete "Polar Bear" Alonso who has excelled in every aspect of the game, not least team leadership. Credit must also be given for picking up their utilityman Blaze Alexander from Arizona where he was stuck behind Ketel Marte (who unfortunately missed a Dbacks game recently and was discovered to be at a casino - all of MLB and its fans must hope that a gambling problem is not at the root of Marte's problem).  Despite the plusses of Alonso and Alexander (BTW Blaze is his real name, a homage his father paid to a minor leaguel teammate), I think a change after 8 years of this front office crew is merited after the season. 

The problem is that the lockout by the owners is almost definitely occurring on December 1.  If prior lockouts are any guide to the future, no baseball business of any kind will be allowed after December 1 until ?   I for one have never believed that the entire 2027 season will be wiped out even though the hard core owners want a salary cap and salary floor at any price.  But no one knows for sure.  Maybe the only truth about baseball has always been, "Every season is different," lockout or not.   

I want to close on a positive note.  There have been many great individual exploits this season, often associated with contending teams.  High on my list is 6' 8"

RHP Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers. He is only 24 and in his FIRST FULL SEASON in MLB, he is setting astounding strikeout records. More importantly, Mis is showing a maturity rare in today's baseball  He doesn't want to keep throwing harder in the 100+ mph range.  I just hope he stays healthy and doesn't succumb to media pressure to break mph records.  The same good wishes to the young pitcher Mis has currently eclipsed, Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes.  Also only 24, Skenes seems to have a good head on his shoulders and more power to him as he tries to work out the reasons for his declining velocity. What may be a key is that Skenes may weigh around 260 pounds, more than 50 pounds heavier than Misiorowski.  It may be that his kind of huge athletic body needs somewhat of a reshaping.  Just a guess on my part.  As Tom Seaver said in THE ART OF PITCHING that I collaborated on over 50 years ago, "Every pitch has velocity, movement, and location, and velocity is the least important." 

See you sometime in September and always remember Stay Positive Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!