Lee Lowenfish

Groundhog Day greetings from the polar vortex in New York City that has turned this winter into hoping that your long underwear survives and vigilantly taking short choppy steps to avoid disaster on icy sidrwalks and intersections. One consolation, of course, is that spring training is only 10 days away.  And 10 days ago in what I consider the unofficial opening to the new MLB season, I was delighted to attend the 59th annual dinner of the New York Pro Baseball Scouts Hot Stove League at Leonard's Palazzo restaurant in Great Neck. It was an evening as always filled with great camaraderie in spite of the stark reality that traditional eyes-and-ears scouts are "Baseball's Endangered Species." the title of my 2023 book about the mysterious but essential craft of scouting 

 

I dedicated the book "To Every Scout Who Wrote Down What Players Could Do, Not What They Couldn't Do."  Despite the analytical madness enveloping baseball, the spirit of positivity was in the air at the dinner.  Guest speaker Dave Sims, successor in the Yankee radio booth to John Sterling, spent many years broadcasting Seattle Mariners games (replacing another legend in Dave Niehaus).  Sims knows that he must keep abreast of the latest trend in statistics, but he said, "Grandma listening in Walla Walla is not interested in a hitter's expected batting average" - it's one of the modern stats that drives me crazy, too.  

 

In receiving the Turk Karam Scout of the Year award, Jim Cuthbert, now with the  Kansas City Royals, gave a spirited endorsement of the New York City scout who has to fight very hard to get into the exclusive ranks of the sport's evaluators. Once a backup catcher at St. Johns University in Queens, Cuthbert knew that playing pro ball was not in his future but he was spotted as a potential good scout by Cubs scout Billy Blitzer who has organized the dinner since the legendary Twins scout Herb Stein handed him the reins. Cuthbert used to work for Cleveland and he was lavish in his praise of manager Tito Francona (now skipper of Cincinnati) who treated him as an equal and read seriously his area scout reports.

 

The New York Hot Stove League has always honored local coaches and two of this year's award-winners, both from New Jersey, gave memorable speeches (all speakers tonight BTW came in under five minutes!). Don Bosco Prep coach Mike Rooney remembered the awesome feeling when Ralph DiLullo, another legendary scout, first gave him his card, it feeling like a passport to a future career. And how DiLullo mplored him to take care of his arm and wear his uniform the right way.   Johnny Johnson, winningest coach in the history of Brookdale Community College, urged up-and-coming scouts to always praise players when they made good plays.  "You're touching people's lives!" he said.

 

I couldn't help thinking of a line about scouting from Branch Rickey:  "If he makes a great play, he can do it again."  I am happy that I devoted an early chapter of BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES  to Rickey's scouts who learned from and challenged the master.  Speaking of Rickey, one of his great grandnieces, poet and teacher Marjorie Maddox Hafer has just come out for a book for ages over 8, A MAN NAMED BRANCH: THE TRUE STORY OF BASEBALL'S GREAT EXPERIMENT (Loch Ness Books distributed by Sunbury Press, Mechanicsburg, Pa.). It is based on stories that she heard from family members about Rickey's longstanding commitment to racial equality that led to his signing of Jackie Robinson and other players of color. It includes many family photos.

 

As far as what to expect from the upcoming MLB season, I welcome real games starting in spring training before the end of the month and especially during the World Baseball Classic from Mar 6 through 17.  There is SO MUCH false info out there on the internet about trades and coming signings. Let's wait for real news on that front.  Sadly, more and more established sportswriters are writing about the inevitability of another owners' lockout of players when the current Basic Agreement expires in early December.  I refuse to believe in that inevitability, but more speculation about that in future blogs.   I need to read first what the Atlanta Braves balance sheet looks like because they are the only MLB franchise that must release accurate financial figures because it has legal status as a public enterprise.  

  

And now it's time to salute the NYU women's basketball team that won its 80th game in a row yesterday Feb 1, a rare one-point nail biter over Carnegie-Mellon of Pittsburgh. The Violets with only one senior Caroline Peper on its roster have been blowing away most opponents.   NYU goes on the road for the next two weekends including a Sun Feb 8 noon rematch at Carnegie-Mellon. They return on Friday night at 730P against Washington U of St Louis that holds the record for most Division III wins but the streak could be history by Feb 20. That's what I love about sports, the unpredictability. Sunday afternoon Feb 22 at noon, Violets play at home U of Chicago,  Only one regular season game left Sa Feb 28 against Brandeis at 3P, preceded by alumni game at 1045A. First round of post-season tourney will undoubtedly be at home in the Paulson Center on FriSa Mar 6-7.   

 

This remarkable Violets team is finally getting media attention. In an excellent piece the Athletic's Eden Lasse wrote in the Fri Jan 30 print NY Times, head coach Meg Barber, who played for NYU early this century, observed, "Basketball is basketball. Division III does not mean third rate." She added admiringly, "These kids are insanely talented at other things.  But right now, at this moment in time, they see themselves as basketball players."  For more info on NYU basketball where the men's team is also doing very well, check out nyu.edu/athletics

 

Meanwhile in the Ivy League women's race, my Columbia Lions on Fri night Jan 30 briefly rose into a first-place tie with Princeton by beating the Tigers on their home court, 73-67,  for the third time in the last four years. Unfortunately, the next night at Penn they fell to the Quakers, 66-57, and fell back into second place after Princeton beat improved Cornell.  The Lions play in Ithaca this Sat Feb 7 at 2P and will try to avenge their loss to the Big Red that opened the Ivy League season.  The big rematches with Princeton and Penn will be at home at Levien Gym on Fri Feb 13 at 6P - televised on ESPNU - and against the Quakers on Sat Feb 14 at 5P.  The top four teams will qualify for the Ivy League post-season tournament in mid-March held this year at Cornell.     

 

There is not much to report about sports in film on TCM in early Feburary except for one special comedy short.

Th Feb 5 1030P. "Baseball Bugs" (1946) Bugs Benny takes on a whole baseball team! 

For Marx Brothers fans, there is the rarely shown:

Su Feb 9 115P "The Big Store" (1941) with Tony Martin singing "The Tenement Symphony"  

The last Noir Alley for over a month as TCM's 31 Days of Oscars commences on March 13 will be

Su Feb 8 12M repeated at 10A "Vice Squad" (1953) an oddity that might be somewhat interesting with Edward G. Robinson/Paulette Goddard

Su Feb 15 2P Hitchcock's "Strangers On A Train" (1951) with memorable scenes taken at the Forest Hills Tennis Club

and at 8P "White Heat" (1949) James Cagney's memorable turn as gangster Cody Jarrett, Virginia Mayo as his moll, and a memorable late cry, "Top of the world, Ma!"

 

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

 

The annual January dinner of the New York Pro Baseball Scouts Association has nicely served in recent years as the unofficial opening of the 2024 MLB season.  At last Friday's Jan 19 gathering at Leonard's Palazzo (formerly Leonard's of Great Neck), guest speaker David Cone set the proper tone early on. "We need the human touch more than ever," he declared. 

 

Cone shared warm memories of the Kansas City Royals area scout Carl Blando who signed him after high school in the KC area.  Like all the best scouts,

Blando kept tabs on his signee as he worked his way up the ladder.  When Cone bought a fancy car with his $17,000 bonus and didn't report the money to the IRS, Blando helped get him out of tax troubles.

 

Carl Blando lived until 2018 and was part of a great Royals scouting tradition that saw them become a contender faster than any expansion team under the leadership of Art Stewart and others. I was glad to devote a chapter to this story in my recent book on scouting, BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES.

 

David Cone, now an effective broadcaster after his long successful career in the majors, noted, "My whole education was the minor leagues." He said that he missed almost two full seasons because of a knee injury incurred when he was running in from the mound to try to block home plate.

 

Longtime scout Jim Cuthbert was presented with the Jim Quigley Service to the Game award (I was blessed to receive the honor in the name of former scout Quigley in 2010). A Brooklyn native who became a walk-on catcher for St. John's of Queens, Cuthbert described himself as someone who started with no connections in the game beyond being an ardent listener of Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN 660 AM in NYC when it went on the air nearly 40 years ago. 

 

Cuthbert worked his way up the scouting ladder to become an advance scout for Terry "Tito" Francona's Cleveland Indians. He was in awe of one of the giants of the game, but Francona assured him, "Your work [your scouting reports] is your ticket into my office."  After recently working for the Marlins, Cuthbert begins a new position in 2024 with the Royals. (Francona, plagued by illness, has now retired and will be replaced by rookie manager Stephen Vogt.)

 

The Turk Karam Scout of the Year award-winner was Matt Hyde, longtime northeastern area scout for the Yankees. "Show up and do your work," Hyde advised. "If you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life." He added, "The lessons never stop."   

 

Hyde is also a Michigan Wolverine as well as a Yankee, and Rich Hill, a Massachusetts-bred and fellow Michigan grad, came to honor his homeboy.  Now 43, Hill has played for 13 MLB teams but not ready to retire.  He is not in a hurry to sign for 2024 because he wants to see his 12-year-old son play his final season of Little League. (Fans often forget how much players miss in their family lives because of the demands of the long long season.)

 

Along with Red Sox scout Ray Fagnant, an earlier winner of the Karam award, Matt Hyde has run a summer program that since 2012 has brought high school and young college prospects to the Northeast for several days of clinics and then a concluding game at a top-level pro ballpark.  Hyde listed the remarkable number of players who have gone on to pro careers:  102 have made the majors, 57 were first-round draft choices.

 

Hyde introduced to the audience Jen Mead, widow of Yankee scout Kelly Rodman who passed away in 2020 at the unconscionable age of 44. Mead runs The Kelly Rodman Baseball Foundation and the final game of the summer clinic program is called the Kelly Rodman Memorial Classic. For more on this worthy enterprise, check out jen@thekellyrodmanfoundation.com 

 

Rodman had been a huge advocate for Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe, the team's number one draft choice in 2019.  "Kelly is the angel in the outfield looking down on me," Hyde quoted Volpe. (Readers of this blog will know how much l like the 1950 original film of that name - I spoke about it at last spring's Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the Hall of Fame).

 

l am very pleased that the story of Hyde and Fagnant's program and Rodman's inspiring exhortation to players, "Be Great Today!", made for the closing story in BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES. 

 

NOW . . . HERE'S A MISCELLANY ABOUT RECENT EVENTS:

**Shame on those Chicago Bulls fans who on Fri Jan 12 booed the presentation of the Ring of Honor to the late Jerry Krause, the mastermind behind the Bulls' dynasty in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Krause was instrumental in the Bulls' drafting Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and trading Charles Oakley to the Knicks for Bill Cartwright (who BTW was from Elk Grove California near Sacramento and was a fine baseball player until one of his scholastic basketball coaches made sure he stuck to the hard court game.) 

 

Because Krause never stroked the press, he was scapegoated for the Bulls' fall from grace after the retirement of their key players.  The boorish behavior earlier this month brought Krause's widow Thelma to tears, an awful stain on what should have been an elegiac evening.  Krause finished his career scouting for Yankees and then Mets and always said that he loved baseball even more than basketball. 

 

**The news yesterday Tu Jan 23 of Adrian Beltre's election to Cooperstown was no surprise.  His numbers certainly were overwhelming - 3161 hits, 477

HRs, and he and Derek Jeter are the only Hall of Famers in the 3000 hit club to win 5 Gold Gloves. 

 

Todd Helton and Joe Mauer's enshrinements - Mauer during his first year of eligibility - are a little more problematic. Helton had been scrutinized for playing home games in Denver's Coors Field, but ultimately his overall stats made the case for him:  2131 hits and an OBP (On Base Plus Slugging Percentage) of .855 higher than Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn, Eddie Murray, and Dave Winfield.  In a very rare accomplishment in recent years, Helton also finished with a positive walk:strikeout ratio, 1335:1173. 

 

Minnesota's Joe Mauer played only 7 years behind home plate before concussions forced his switch to first base where he never supplied the power expected of that position. From the same St. Paul, Twin City of Minneapolis that has produced three other Hall of Famers, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Winfield, Mauer was a home town hero who never played for another team. Helton, who also starred in football at U of Tennesee, was a lifelong Colorado Rockie. 

 

It says here that if playing for one team only is now considered a valid reason for selection, maybe the chances for Don Mattingly and Thurman Munson have been enhanced. In any event, kudos are due Josh Rawitch, top executive at the Hall of Fame, for making the announcements on MLBTV in both Spanish and English.  

 

Before I sign off, let me mention three passings in recent weeks not connected to baseball but these octogenarians lived lives worth remembering.

 

**Gus Alfieri, 87, on Jan 1, former St. John's basketball player and author of a fine biography of his coach, LAPCHICK (Lyons Press, 2006). Alfieri became a legendary coach at South Huntington, Long Island's St. Anthony HS and longtime director of a summer All-American Basketball Camp.  If Joe Lapchick, an Original Celtic (long before the Boston pro team took the name) and Knicks coach, said nothing else in his life than "Peacock today, feather duster tomorrow," I would say he led a life well-lived.     

 

**Paul Chevigny, 88, on Dec 11, NYU law professor and noted civil liberties and civil rights lawyer. His book GIGS (Routledge, 1991) contributed to the end of the restrictive cabaret laws. He dedicated it to "Thelonious Monk, JJ Johnson, Billie Holiday, and Buell Neidlinger, and all the other good musicians who had a problem with NYC cabaret laws." 

 

**Jay Clayton, 82, on Dec 31, improvisational vocalist with a lyrical gift. Her live rendition of "Young and Foolish" (from the 1950s musical set among the Amish, "Plain and Fancy") was as beautiful as anything I ever heard.  (I first heard the tune on Bill Evans' early album "Everybody Loves Bill Evans."  Barbara Cook performed in the original production of "Plain and Fancy" but she doesn't mention the song in her informative and often very moving memoir "Here and Now" (2016). 

 

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