Lee Lowenfish

The baseball fan in me never wants a season to end, especially this year with Daylight Savings Time ending at 2A right after Halloween which just happens to be when Game 7 of the World Series could be played. But it will take a rousing comeback for Tampa Bay down two games to none. The Brewers may well be a team of destiny after doing what they did to the ex-champion Dodgers, coming from 4 runs down in Game 2 to win it 5-4.  The Rays have been very competitive so a return to their fans and home cooking might give them a needed lift. But they must carry a lead late into the game because their shutdown closer - at least in 2026 - former Oriole Bryan Baker has yet to appear.  The Brewers are so deep that when their closer Trevor Megill was shaky in Game 1, the remarkable Aaron Ashby got a multi-inning save. 

Tampa Bay's hopes in Game 3 will begin with Freddy Peralta trying to hold off a team for whom he was a mainstay until he was traded after last season.  To the Mets, of course, who brought out the worst in him but he has found new life in Tampa under the tutelage of longtime Rays' pitching coach Kyle Snyder. 

There is another Mets' link to the Brewers that is somewhat mind-boggling.  Their hitting coach is Daniel Vogelbach who never produced with the Mets and was virtually booed out of town.      

Brewers manager Pat Murphy has become the darling of the media during this post-season.  He certainly has paid his dues and his comments have been

generally informative. It never amazes the useful tidbits you can find on line (while trying to be wise enough to stay away from dangerous stuff).  Red Sox sparkplug Dustin Pedroia played for Murphy at Arizona State and was a favorite of the skipper.  I saw a feed of Pedroia the other day imploring parents to allow their kids to play other sports until they are at least 12 or 13.  When they are in high school there is plenty of time to make a choice on what sport to pursue seriously.  

I guess the only reason to accept a quick Milwaukee triumph is the TV audience will be spared any more droning from John Smoltz alongisde the not particularly perceptive Joe Davis.  If the Fox Network was interested in a more informed broadcast, they would have hired a former hitter like Keith Hernandez or Anthony Rizzo to counteract Smoltz's constant recitation of pitcher platitudes. Fox of course is more interested in appealing to teenagers with soft porn commercials featuring racy actresses Sydney Sweeney and Megan Fox hawking betting and prediction websites. 

Humor as always provides consolation.  I didn't get the name of the satirist online who suggested how Smoltz might announce the mascot races during games in Milwaukee.  It went something like this: "What I mean to say is that if the sausage had kept his eye on the finishing line and wasn't turning his head 180 degrees to keep his eye on the bratwurst, he could have controlled the inside lane and beat both the sausage and the hot dog to the finish line." 

Maybe humor is the only answer to cope with the lockout that almost certainly will begin on at the midnight hour of December 1-2.  Late in his career as Mets manager, Bobby Valentine suggested that the negotiations should be televised.  Would that be a hoot!  Maybe the World Wrestling Federation could sponsor a rematch between MLB commentator and former MLB player Mark DeRosa and Phillies slugger and union activist Bryce Harper - they almost came to blows this summer when commissioner Rob Manfred visited the Phillies clubhouse and when the subject of the salary cap came up, Harper pointedly told Manfred to change the subject or leave.  

On a happier subject:  Now it's time for upcoming TCM films of interest:

Th Oct 29 spinning into early AM of F Oct 30 - Hollywood and the Black Athlete concludes with

8P "100 Rifles" - western set in Mexico early 1900s with football star Jim Brown in an early starring role with Raquel Welch. Plus Burt Reynolds who played a little football at Florida State where he was in same fraternity as future baseball great manager Dick Howser and football coach/announcer Lee Corso.

Reynolds' coach at Fla State later said, "Burt's best run was to Hollywood."

10P "The Greatest" (1977). Muhammad Ali plays himself alongside Ernest Borgnine.

12M "Black Eye" (1974) Fred Williamson investigates murder

215A "Black Belt Jones" (1974) similar plot with Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers

345A "Hit Man" (1972) ditto on the plot with Bernie Casey/Pam Grier/Lisa Moore 

Later on Oct 30 at 8P. A new biography of Vincent Price followed by a lot of Price horror films through Halloween

Before Eddie Muller's Noir Alley triple-header of Val Lewton films, there is a Looney Tunes short.

430P "Birth of a Notion" (1947). a bird decides NOT to play south for the winter.

And finally a couple of films with sports and crime themes:  

Mon Nov 2 215P "Whistling in Brooklyn" (1943)

S. Sylvan Simon directs Red Skelton as radio sleuth who infiltrates Brooklyn Dodgers to solve a murder.  With Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers

F Nov 6 230P "Death On The Diamond" (1934)  Edward Sedgwick directs Robert Young as rookie pitcher trying to find a murderer at St. Louis

Cardinals' Sportsman Park.  Gashouse Gang outfielder Ernie Orsatti has a key cameo as a base runner rounding third and shot trying for home. 

That's all for now - Stay Positive Test Negative and Take It Easy But Take It!

Any discerning baseball fan has to like what the Milwaukee Brewers are doing this post-season.  Starting this Friday night Oct 23, they will host either the Tampa Bay Rays or Cleveland Guardians in their first World Series since 1982 and only in the second in the history starting in 1970. (The Milwaukee Braves won it all in 1957.). The Brew Crew is a young and hungry team that remembered how the Los Angeles Dodgers swept them last year in the NL Championship Series (and then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling 7-game World Series). This season Milwaukee won 103 regular season games assuring home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They are in MLB's smallest television market so until this month have received scant national coverage.  Even their greatest admirers didn't expect the Brew Crew to totally reverse last year's NLCS script, but indeed it happened and I found myself applauding and rooting them on.  Trailing in every game including 4-0 early in the final game, Milwaukee rallied behind timely hitting, airtight defense, and a shut-down bullpen to send the stunned but aging Angelenos packing until spring training (whenever it starts since the owners seem intent on annoucning a lockout after Dec 1).  

The surprise MVP of the NLCS was journeyman first baseman Jake Bauers whose long at-bats ending in big hits played a crucial role in the Brewer triumph. An honest and modest interviewee after his heroics, Bauers admitted that he was close to retiring and getting a real job when he found a home in Milwaukee.  With the help of the team's savvy organization, Bauers discovered that accepting and not running away from failure was an essential part of success.

An argument could also be made that LHP reliever Aaron Ashby could have been a worthy MVP too.I think he pitched in every game - including the prior round's dispatching of the San Diego Padres 3 games to 1 - and earned an multi-inning save in the final game of the LAD sweep.

Ashby is one of THREE key Milwaukee pitchers signed out of junior colleges who are not high salaried hurlers (like the ballyhooed LAD starters, Tarik Skubal, Yoshiboru Yamamoto, and the oft-injured Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, all of whom the Brewers ultimately wore down. Ashby was signed in the 2021 25th round by the Texas Rangers and the top two Brewer starters Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson were signed out of Crowder Junior College in Neosho, Missouri near Joplin - Mis in the 2022 2nd round and Logan in the 2024 4th round.  Neither pitched very well in the NLCS and Henderson committed two throwing errors but the deep Brewer bullpen should be well rested for the Series.  I don't think the long layoff will hurt this young team led by manager Pat Murphy who is not afraid to use tough love on his charges while being a very compassionate leader. 

At post time Monday morning Oct 19, it looks like the Tampa Bay Rays will be Milwaukee's opponent in the World Series. They hold a 3-2 lead on Cleveland and return to Tampa's domed Tropicana Field for Game 6 and if necessary Game 7.   I am not counting them out the lads from Lake Erie but the Rays are tough at home and have more all-around athleticism and probably pitching depth than the In-Guardians (my nickname for the Cleveland crew to remember at least the first syllable of the discarded Indians' monicker.). Tampa might even challenge Milwaukee in the World Series but they have to get there their first.  I hope that their leadoff hitter/sparkplug Yandy Diaz hasn't spoken too soon when he stated definitively after Game 5 that they will win tonight's Game 6.

I want to get this blog now because TCM is featuring an amazing bunch of baseball films this coming Wed Oct 21.

9A "Alibi Ike" (1935) the last of Joe E. Brown's baseball trilogy with young Olivia DeHavilland in her debut as ballplayer Joe's love interest. Some memorable character actors in this one including Ruth Donnelly as Olivia's sister and William Frawley's as Brown's manager.  Joe E in his early 40s did all the baseball playing in this one.  He was a solid lefthanded-hitting second baseman but never really a pro prospect.  He was utterly thrilled though when his son Joe L. Brown became general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 1955 season replacing Branch Rickey.

1030A "Big Leaguer" (1953) Robert Aldrich's first directorial effort filmed at the NY Giants spring training camp in Melbourne, Florida.  I think Edward G Robinson is not very convincing as the manager of a Giants minor league team sifting through prospects, one of whom is played by Jeff Richards. Carl Hubbell plays himself - the Hall of Fame LHP was the longtime Giants farm director.  Al Campanis plays himself as an opposing manager in a spring game.  It is definitely a film I want to see again.

1145A "The Pride of the Yankees" (1942) still holds up very well.  Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright as the Gehrigs and Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey as themselves.

2P "The Winning Team" (1952)  Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander and Doris Day as his wife. Another one I want to see again.  Doris had played a tomboy playing baseball in early scenes of "On Moonlight Bay" (1949) and she is an underappreciated actress and of course aa top-notch singer. Just read in a wonderful book ALBERT BROOKS INTERVIEWS ed. Alexander Greenhough (University Press of Missisippi, 2024) that Albert Brooks wanted to cast Doris in "Mother" (1996) but Debbie Reynolds worked out very well.

345P "Home Run on the Keys" (1936) a Babe Ruth short where he wants to sing a song on the radio

4P "Angels in the Outfield" (1951) the original and accept no substitute.  Great footage of Forbes Field and its Pittsburgh environs. A corny story that somehow works with a great cast including Paul Douglas as the crusty manager, Janet Leigh as the young Household Hints journalist who humanizes him, Keenan Wynn as the nasty broadcaster, Bruce Bennett as an aging pitcher, little Donna Corcoran as the orphan who sees the angels in the outfield, and nuns Spring Byington and Ellen Corby don't believe her. 

545P "Donkey Baseball" (1935) an Depression Era short film which is what it says it is.  

6P "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" (1949)  Esther Williams inherits an early 20th century baseball team and surprises players Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra with her knowledge of the game.  Kelly tries to woo her from a balcony over the inevitable swimming pool.  Directed by Busby Berkeley so plenty of dancing and singing.  Jules Munshin has a small role but is needed for the song about the double play combo, "O'Brien To Ryan to Goldberg". It is entertaining in its way and as I always like to say, it is a document of the end of an era just before the Cold War scared everyone to death.

735P "Opening Day" (1938) a Robert Benchley short.  Not one of his best but he always provides welcome laughs.

750P "Baseball Bugs" (1946) a Bugs Bunny short - TCM showing a lot of Looney Tunes lately.

8P "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) Talk about documents of an era! Jackie Robinson plays himself quite creditably and young Ruby Dee is fine as Rachel.

Minor Watson a fine character actor plays Branch Rickey well except the script by Rickey associate Arthur Mann leaves a lot to be desired. At least Rickey did put his foot down and told Mann that you cannot play me in this film.  The middle sections of the film are not bad and 2013's "42" draw on them. But the opening scene where Jackie supposedly loved baseball as a kid - not true! - and the closing scene with Jackie testifying before HUAC in 1949 - are cringeworthy.  Still as.a document of the era it is partially effective and should be seen if you haven't seen it. 

930P "Sgt. Rutledge" (1960) a John Ford film about a Black soldier accused of rape after Civil War.  It is not a sports film but it stars Woody Strode as the

soldier and he was a friend of Jackie Robinson and his football teammate at UCLA in 1939 along with Kenny Washington who went on to break the NFL color

line with the 1946 LA Rams.  It was Strode who late in his life reportedly said, "If I have to integrate heaven, I ain't going."

1130P "The Harlem Globetrotters" (1951) with Thomas Gomez, Dorothy Dandridge, Billy Brown - the story of the promoter Abe Saperstein.

And if you really want to stay up late into Th Oct 22

1A John Ford's "The Horse Soldiers" (1959) with John Wayne, Bill Holden, Constance Towers

315A "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" (1979) with basketball stars Julius Erving, Meadowlark Lemon. 

That's all this time.  Thanks for your time and until next time, Stay Positive, Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!