Lee Lowenfish

The late NBA commissioner David Stern dreamed of his league's championship being decided on the Fourth of July.  Well, they came close yesterday (Su June 22) when the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder outlasted at home the even more upstart Indiana Pacers to win their first title with a 104-91 Game 7 victory. (Technically, the lineal descendant of the Thunder, the Seattle Supersonics, won an NBA title back in 1979).  

 

It is too bad that the Pacers breakout star guard Tyrese Haliburton was injured in the last games of the series, but I want to begin this blog with a salute to Tyrese's backup,

T.J. McConnell, who played valiantly through the playoffs.  McConnell was undrafted out of the University of Arizona after playing two years at Duquesne University near Pittsburgh.  Whatta grass roots story is McConnell!  He played for his father Tim McConnell at Chartiers Valley HS in Bridgeville PA, 10 miles SW of Pittsburgh. Tim was a vocal presence rooting for his son at many Pacer playoffs game.  Before one of them, T.J. entered the arena wearing the uniform top of his sister Megan McConnell who plays for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. Last but not least, TJ's aunt Susie McConnell captained Penn State's women's cagers and was a member of the Olympic team.  

 

Turning to grinders in baseball, here's a salute to Jake Mangum, the switch-hitting outfielder for the sizzling Tampa Bay Rays who have roared into second place in the AL East only 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees before games of Mon Jun 23.  I don't consider myself a great judge of talent - I paid homage to those unheralded men and women who work at scouting for a living in my most recent book, BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES (U of Nebraska Press, 2023).   But in Sept 2019, Mangum caught my eye in what turned out to be the last championship game of the venerable New York-Penn League. 

 

A 4th round draft pick of the Mets from Mississippi State, Mangum singled for the Brooklyn Cyclones driving in the first run of the game against the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox farm club. Then with his team trailing by one run in the 7th, Mangum singled again to spark a two-run rally that were the deciding runs to bring the Cyclones its only title. 

 

After the game, Mangum explained that all he wanted to do in that 7th inning at-bat was "to play baseball".  He wasn't worried about his hand placement on the bat or the sequence of pitches the analytics crew told him to expect.  He simply was determined to get on base and start a rally which indeed he did.

 

At 29, Mangum is old for a rookie but he has persisted through a lost 2020 covid season that wiped out all of minor league baseball, a back injury, and a trade to the Marlins in 2022.  His big break came after the 2024 season when the astute Rays organization traded for him, giving up RH reliever Calvin Faucher and utilityman Vidal Brujan.  Since returning from rehabbing an injury, Mangum has put up impressive numbers in 148 ABs: 1 HR, 23 RBI, 10 R(uns scored), 10 SBs in 10 attempts.   

 

There are no guarantees in scouting and player development but Jake Mangum's athlete genes are off the charts and they often are significant.  His grandfather John played offensive tackle for the Boston Patriots in the old AFL before they took on the New England name; his father also named John played at the University of Alabama and for 9 years was a defensive back for the Chicago Bears; and his uncle Kris for 10 years played tight end for the Carolina Panthers. 

 

Jake is now opening a baseball branch on the Mangum athletic tree after carving out quite a career at Mississippi State. He was nicknamed The Mayor for His passion for the game and school loyalty. I recently happily learned that as a senior, Mangum mentored freshman infielder Jordan Westburg who has been aptly dubbed by Baltimore's interim manager Tony Mansolino the glue of the Orioles.   

 

Here's one more tip of the cap to another grinder worthy of recognition, Athletics centerfielder Denzel Clarke.  The native of Toronto pulled off two sensational catches earlier this month, one robbing the Orioles' weak hitting utilityman Jorge Mateo of extra bases on a backhanded catch in left center while averting at the last moment a crash into the wall.  The second one at Anaheim against the Angels has to rank as Catch of the Decade if not the Century.   Clarke raced back to the center field fence, leaped high in the air, braced himself on the wall, and stretched over the wall to bring the ball into his glove. 

 

"That fella must be a gymnast!" I said to myself.  Sure enough, his mother, Donna Smellie-Clarke, used to be a gymnast and then became a renowned track and field star at one point holding the Canadian national record in the long jump.  In 1984 she was on the Canadian Olympic heptathalon team. She has since become a highly regarded coach and Denzel gives full props to her coaching and inspiration.  

 

Before it is TCM movie listing time, I want to send best wishes to Ron Washington, 73, for a speedy recovery from the circulatory issues that forced his temporary removal as

Angels manager.   He has kept the LAA near .500 through his intense managing and here's hoping that he is back at the helm real soon.  In the meantime, Ray Montgomery is at the helm, the first Fordham University Ram to manage in the big leagues since Frank Frisch the Fordham Flash skippered he Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs.. 

 

More on Frisch and his undying passion for the game in future blogs. Actually, there is a nice tie-in to TCM's Fourth of July programming with Frisch.

At 8P "Yankeee Doodle Dandy" (1943) airs with James Cagney as George M. Cohan who once flirted with buying the NY Giants shortly before Frisch joined John McGraw's

powerful team.  Frisch was once asked how he relaxed before a big moment at the plate.  "I just whistle 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'," he said.

Also on July 4 at 4p is the musical "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" with Esther Williams as a turn-of-20th-century owner and Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra as two of her players.

 

For those who read this blog straight through immediately, Tu Jun 24 145P brings you "Alibi Ike" (1935), the final film in Joe E Brown's baseball trilogy.  The story is based on Ring Lardner's story of the same name.  It features actual footage from the 1932 World Series between the Yankees and Cubs, Bill Frawley the huge baseball fan (and later immortalized as Lucy/Desi's neighbor Fred Mertz) as Joe E's manager, and young Olivia DeHavilland as Joe E's love interest.

 

Sa June 28 4P "Field of Dreams" (1989) the modern classic based on WP Kinsella's novel "Shoeless Joe" with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones.  To me the biggest fantasy in the film is Costner & Jones go to the concession stand at Fenway Park, three people wait on them, and there is no line. 

Also on June 28 are an impressive array of Noir classics:

145P "The Killers" (1946) the one film based on a Hemingway story that the writer liked with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner emerging as stars

8P "Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder directs Barbara Stanwyck out of her comfort zone and Fred MacMurray "helps" with Edward G Robinson figuring it out

10P "Chinatown" (1974) Director Roman Polanski gets memorable performances from Jack Nicholson & Faye Dunaway despite off-screen drama 

 

And Su June 29 1230A repeated 10A the last Noir Alley of June is a classic:  "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948) Stanwyck playing a memorable victim.

 

That's all for now - always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and as long as we can, Stay Positive Test Negative.   

         

 

 

Before I begin my remembrance of Jim Henneman, I want to open with an act of sportsmanship I saw after the Belmont Stakes, the third race in the Triple Crown of classic races, this past Saturday June 7. In a repeat of the Kentucky Derby outcome, Sovereignty outran Journalism.  Immediately after the race, winning jockey Junior Alvarado - who BTW grew up in Long Island - reached out and tapped with his whip losing jockey Umberto Rispoli and his horse. Rispoli quickly reciprocated the gestures.   

 

I'm not a big horse racing fan and maybe such courtesy is not unusual in the so-called Sport of Kings. I know boxers tap gloves after a particularly vigorous round. But in this age of boundless cruelty and braggadocio on steroids, any act of genuine sportsmanship needs to be noted and praised.   

 

And now in memory of Jim Henneman.    

The baseball world lost a special person on May 22 when Baltimore sportswriter Jim Henneman passed away at the age of 89. A lifelong Baltimorean, Jim's credits included: 

**Bat boy for the minor league Orioles before the Browns arrived from St. Louis in 1954

**Calvert Hall High School pitcher who competed against Al Kaline (they often playfully argued about how many times he walked the future Hall of Famer)

**Loyola College graduate who was already starting his sportswriting career while an undergraduate

**From mid-late 1960s press and public relations director for Baltimore Bullets NBA team (today known as Washington Wizards)

**Longtime sportswriter for Baltimore News American, Baltimore Sun papers, mlb.com, and in his last years PressBoxOnLine, paper edition and .com

**Author of the text for the handsome coffee table book "60 Years of Orioles Magic"

* President of Baseball Writers Assn on America, official scorer at Oriole home games

 

In late April 2024 he was honored by the dedication of the Jim Henneman Press Box at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  I was glad to attend a ceremony that brought him to tears. He was wearing Oriole orange that day - being a pro's pro, Jim usually was a model of impartiality in attire and attitude.

 

Jim was also a cigar smoker and one of my fondest memories is running into him at a mall in Sarasota a few spring trainings ago. "What are you doing here?" he growled as his cigar smoke wafted towards me. We had both come to hear a jazz gig and he remembered I used to write a NYC jazz newsletter.      

 

The nickname I will always revere, The Prince of Paranoia, was Jim's gift to me, based on my frequent agonies about the Orioles.  He calmed me down many times from the ledge. He never got too high about the Birds' chances or too low although he noted that as last year's second half team lapsed into mediocrity that it was the less- ballyhooed veterans, Cedric Mullins and Ramon Urias, who were producing the most in the late going. Alas, neither of them nor any other Oriole could stop the plunge towards a second straight winless post-season.

 

I am already missing our e-mails where he offered sage advice on Orioles and other baseball matters. How he loved going to Cooperstown where he regularly served on Hall of Fame committees.  I remember his being indignant when I suggested that most of the voting was based on personality preferences. He emphatically denied that it was the case.  I'm not sure I completely agree but Jim had the kind of no-nonsense authority that made you listen and rethink your opinions.

 

RIP Henny - you will never be forgotten - indeed you are already immortal.

 

As for the current edition of the Orioles, I started drafting this post when the Birds were in the middle of a six-game winning streak, something they - and us the addicted fans who want so much to believe in better times - had not enjoyed in almost a calendar year.  As always starting pitching, relief pitching, solid defense, timely hitting were the reasons for several come-from-behind victories.  The danger sign was that we had scored scarcely 20 runs in the 6 victories. 

 

Now as I post before games on Mon Jun 9 (mercifully an off-day for my Birds), the glow from the streak has dissipated after a disappointing series loss to the Athletics in Sacramento.  We fell to 12 under .500 after a lifeless Sunday loss to the A's, 5-1.  The A's had lost 20 of their previous 22 games, but they can hit and have an All-World closer is Mason Miller.  Getting to him has been a big problem. 

 

I will say this about Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino.  He delivers both real love for his players and tough love in his public commentaries. He has called out our inability to hit left-handed pitching as a major flaw.  The supposed beneficial additiions of righthanded power production in outfielder Tyler O'Neill and backup catcher Gary Sanchez, both injured now, have not panned out.  I doubted the moves when they happened off-season but surprise surprise wasn't consulted LOL.

 

I'll still keep watching until masochism reaches its breaking point (like most fans, that bar is very high). Meanwhile, as for the rest of MLB, some very interesting races are developing. There are new possible contenders in both Central divisions.  Minnesota and St. Louis enjoyed long double-digit winning streaks to get them into contention and so far there have been no relapses for either team.  Minnesota has to keep center fielder Byron Buxton healthy, something they and he have been unable to do for years. And if St. Louis displays some basic infield competence, they could hang around to make life for the first-place Cubs interesting. 

 

One final salute to my Columbia Lions who won the first game over host Southern Mississippi in the Hattiesburg, MS regional. But then the arms and bats of Miami and SM took over and the season ended with two losses.  Given that Columbia lost its two top pitchers and its starting third baseman in the first game of the season, the year turned out very successfully with another Ivy League regular season title and first tournament win since a double elimination format was introduced in 2023.       

 

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Stay positive, test negative, and take it easy but take it.