Lee Lowenfish

"Every season is different" goes the old sports adage that like most cliches survive because there is a lot of truth to them.  Getting the most annoying story out of my system early on, I didn't expect more than a .500 season from the Orioles and now that modest hope is fading. You have read many times on this blog that I never believed in the baseball acumen of "President of Baseball Operations" Mike Elias but as long as relatively new owner David Rubenstein believes that Elias, who has 8 years in a top role, is such a genius that he doesn't even need a general manager beneath him who just might just know a little more about analyzing pitching talent, the future seems bleak. 

For the next three nights (M thru W May 11-13) the Orioles do have a chance to avenge the embarrassing four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium earlier this month.  Perhaps it is a blessing that because the MLB schedule now limits head-to-head divisional matchups to only 13 a season, the Birds don't return to the Bronx until the last weekend of regular season.  Of course, there will be two series in Baltimore where if the Birds don't show more life, Camden Yards will likely become Yankee Stadium South.  But I still use the pronoun "we" and wear my Oriole jacket often and it leads to fruitful conversations with strangers who love the Orioles.  Like the young woman one-third my age who wondered, "What is Elias giving RHP Shane Baz a 5-year contract worth $65 million before he threw one pitch for us?"  So far his results have not been promising. I am tempted to shout, "Don't come back, Shane!"  (Stay tuned for more movie snark near end of this post.) 

To turn positive for a moment, we are only five games below .500 as I post on Monday morning May 11. Nobody in AL is comfortably above .500 except the first-play Tampa Bay Rays (who plucked 4 top prospects from the Birds in the Baz deal) and the Yankees. Yesterday on Mother's Day, we enjoyed a rare win over the improved Athletics. My boys did it mainly with pitching and defense - How about that?

In top of 7th inning after getting the first lead of the weekend on a clutch single by rookie outfielder Dylan Beavers, inexpensive free agent pickup center fielder Leody Taveras threw a one-hop strike to impressive 21-year-old rookie catcher Samuel Basallo to preserve the 2-1 lead. 37-year-old gritty RHP Chris Bassitt gave his best effort as an Oriole for 6 innings and the 2-1 score held thanks to a save by well-traveled interim closer Rico Garcia.  A native of Hawaii, Rico G wears #50 as a tribute to his home state and one of his heroes, former Mets outfielder Benny Agbayani.      

As for the overall outlook for MLB with a quarter of regular season games already as Mets broadcaster Howie Rose loves to say "in the books", Tampa makes their first visit to Yankee Stadium over the weekend of May 23 after sweeping the Bronx Bombers early last month at their domed dungeon called Tropicana Field that has been restored after severe hurricane damage.  The justly-maligned NL Central has all its teams over .500 as I post this in early May. The St. Louis Cardinals are nipping at the heels of the Chicago Cubs for first place and the Brewers after sweeping the Yankees this weekend are right in the mix, too. 

About 10 days ago, I watched FOX's Saturday "Baseball Night in America" and was impressed that the Cards started virtually an entire home-grown team with early Rookie of the Year favorite second baseman JJ Wetherholt shining on both sides of the ball as the Cards beat the filthy-rich LA Dodgers.  Wetherholt is from the Pittsburgh area and I'm glad that the Pirates bounced back from a home sweep by the Cardinals to sweep the Reds. Pittsburgh is a great baseball town and the fans have suffered for so many years that they are still not drawing very well.  I hope many will return if the Buccos stay in contention.  

There have been many losses of eminent baseball people since I last posted.  I never had any real personal encounters with Yankee broadcaster John Sterling, 87, Atlanta Braves owner/champion yachtsman/media entrepreneur Ted Turner, 87, or Hall of Fame manager/former Yankee third baseman Bobby Cox, 84, but they certainly deserve to be remembered.  

Seattle broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith told on air last week a classic story about John Sterling whose love of the Great American Songbook was well-known. Goldsmith was a friend of slugger Matt Holliday and when Matt was a Yankee near the end of his stellar career, Goldsmith asked Matt if John Sterling was willing to narrate a tape that Aaron could use on his answering machine during the holidays.  Sure enough before Thanksgiving one year, Goldsmith received in the mail a tape of Sterling introducing Frank Sinatra singing "Happy Holidays". 

At the beginning of his career as a baseball owner in the early 1970s, Ted Turner was very brash, even putting on a uniform to manage a game during a long Braves losing streak. Soon he wisely let solid baseball people make the vital scouting and developmental decisions that led the Braves towards constant contention by the early 1990s. I devoted a chapter of my book on scouting BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES to such Braves lifers as Bill Lucas - the unacknowledged first Black GM - and scouting maven Paul Snyder.  After a down 2025, the Braves are back in clear NL pennant contention. Atlanta just won a series in LA and are the only team above .500 in what so far must be called the NL Least. After a horrenous start, the Phillies have moved to only 3 under .500 under new manager Don Mattingly.  The Mets languish at 10 under .500 and show few signs of a rebound.

On a personal note, I had a moving experience on the last Friday of April, the 24th.  After a showing at the Ferguson Public Library in downtown Stamford CT of the 2013 bio-pic "42," the film that starred Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey and the late Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson, I was part of a panel discussing the movie along with authors of two recent books about the crucial period of the late 1940s Keith Evan Crook who has written OPENING THE DOOR FOR JACKIE (McFarland) and Peter Eisenstadt, INTEGRATION AT SECOND BASE (U of Illinois Press).  Courtesy of author Crook, here is a YouTube link to the discussion that was hosted by Guy Fortt, president of the Stamford NAACP who over 40 years ago was the first Black firefighter in Greenwich CT.  

I never tire of discussing this period in American history which seemed hopeful for genuine and equitable social change.  As I say in the tape, 1947 was the high point of success in Branch Rickey's career even though the Dodgers lost a memorable 7-game World Series to the Yankees. Though there are some errors in the baseball history, I'm so glad that feisty Leo Durocher is an important presence in "42" and Chris Meloni does him justice. Understandably not in a film made for a mass Hollywood audience, we don't learn the later story after 1947.  In 1948, the Dodgers did not win the pennant and the signs of Walter O'Malley's coming takeover of the team were clearer than ever, reaching fruition after the 1950 season though the Dodgers returned to Series in 1949 and missed out on last day of 1950 season.  Rickey's post-Dodger career in Pittsburgh and later back to St Louis was not crowned by baseball success but I continue to find him a  fascinating figure, a grandfather that I never had I guess. Was delighted that several in audience remember fondly my bio BRANCH RICKEY: BASEBALL'S FEROCIOUS GENTLEMAN still in print from U of Nebraska Press. Hope you enjoy the link and can ride through some occasional sound glitches. Many thanks to Keith Crook for providing the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i03NKPZWp_M&t=17s 

 CLOSING NOTES:

**Ivy League Baseball Post-Season Tournament begins Fri May 15 at 11A with top-seed Yale hosting #4 Columbia followed at 4P by #2 Penn versus

#3 Brown.  Loser's bracket at 11A on Sa and winner's bracket at 4P  Tourney winds up either on Sun or a M 12 Noon game.  

Kudos to Columbia senior RHP Evan Kleinhans who has closed games, served as an "opener", and pitched 8 1/3 innings of shutout ball in a key late

regular season game at Cornell.  I have dubbed him "Every Day Evan" referencing the former Twins and Giants hurler Eddie "Every Day" Guardado.  

All Ivy League tourney games will be available on ESPN+. 

*"Grass Routes" is a fun MLBTV show that features a different minor league franchise each Sunday from 1-130P on MLBTV.  During a show about the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs, a fan described his dream afterlife: "I don't want to be buried but bronzed holding an umbrella so the pigeons don't get me." 

During a recent show about the Asheville Tourists that play in McCormick Field that is over a century old, Connor Griffin, then a visiting minor leaguer and now the Pirates' 20-year-old wunderkind SS, expressed his genuine love of the game and the experiences he was having on the way up to the majors.  The show narrited by Jonathan Mayo is on every Sunday at 1P on MLB network

 TCM TIPS:

F May 15 630P "Baby Face" (1933) Barbara Stanwyck sleeps her way to the top and among the beaus discarded are uncredited Douglass Dumbrille and John Wayne. Black actress Theresa Harris is a friend of Barbara's and is treated in film as an equal.  I mention this film because it's directed by Alfred E. Green (1889-1960) who started in Hywd as silent movie actor and directed a lot of bio-pecs including the "Jackie Robinson Story" (1950).  BTW it should be watched along with "42" for different insights into that crucial period of our history.  Jackie Robinson played himself in the 1950 film quite convincingly though, of course, masking on screen his righteous disdain in real life for the racists in our midst.

Sa May 16 245A "Designing Woman" (1957) Vincente Minnelli tries to make Gregory Peck believable as a sportswriter. Doesn't work for me but Lauren Bacall/Dolores Gray are also in cast.

Su May 17 Noir Alley a little later 1230A and 1015A Hitchock's "Strangers On A Train" (1951) with some memorable footage at Forest Hills Tennis Club.

Robert Walker is out to get innocent Farley Granger. Also with Ruth Roman/and oh-so-reserved Leo G Carroll. 

Later on Sunday two memorable films that have nothing to do with sports but must be listed:

1215P "Humoresque" (1946) one of the best films about classical music with John Garfield/Oscar Levant/Joan Crawford

1030P "Moonstruck" (1987) J P Shanley's memorable script and Vincent Gardenia, who did play the NY Mammoths manager in "Bang The Drum Slowly", as

Olympia Dukakis's straying husband and of course Cher choosing Nicolas Cage over Danny Aiello. 

****Th May 21 330P. Joe E Brown in "6-Day Bike Rider" (1934) along with frequent pal Frank McHugh.  Joe E always deserves 4-stars. 

11P "Blazing Saddles" (1974). how can I fail to mention Mel Brooks' enormously politically incorrect hilarious classic!

F May 22 6A "Body and Soul" (1925) Paul Robeson as philandering minister

8P Gregory Peck tries his hand as "MacArthur" (1977) - not sure I can last through this one but Genl Douglas A is an important if flawed figure in our history.

How can I forget my remedial speech class in 3rd grade when I can had to recite a poem in honor of MacArthur's young son returning from Japan after Truman fired his daddy:  "Arthur MacArthur/We welcome you home!"  Fortunately forget the rest of poem but not this ditty that Miss Frisch taught us: 

"Good, better, best/Never let it rest/Until the good is better/And the better is best."

That's all for now (whew!). Always remember:  Take it Easy but Take It, and Stay Positive Test Negative!" 

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!