Roger O Green

Famous QUESTION

There was an anti-war rally in NYC in May of 1972, which a bunch of us from New Paltz, about 90 miles away, attended. We left after a few hours of none-too-pleasant weather. We were VERY disappointed to learn that, shortly after our departure, John & Yoko showed up unexpectedly at the rally. In fact, we considered turning around, for their words were being carried live on the radio.

Which is only peripherally related to my weekly queries:

1. What famous people have you met for long enough to actually have a decent conversation?
Earl Warren, Rod Serling, Anita Baker. (Is Alex Trebek famous?)

2. What famous people have you had an unexpected brief encounter?
Randy Newman, Stanley Tucci, Pete Seeger, Mark Lane (Dick Gregory’s VP candidate in 1968, who was in some legal trouble mentioned on the front page of the NY Times on the very day I saw him).

3. What famous people have you had an expected brief encounter with?
Nelson Rockefeller.

4. What famous people have you seen unexpectedly, but didn’t talk with? I’m not talking about seeing someone at a concert, unless they were in the audience and seemingly unrelated to the artist.
Mike Tyson with Jack Nicholson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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Fred is happy that the Mets are up two games to none.. I’m happy because I actually picked the Mets and the Tigers (up two games to one against the YANKEES) to go to the World Series. Of course, I don’t think I’ve picked both participants in a World Series since the Subway Series of 2000; I usually get one right. Didn’t pick the Red Sox or the White Sox, that’s for certain. And Oakland dispatched the Twins mighty easily, which makes me nervous.
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Kelly is being weird again. She is taking words and, through the magic of Google, is turning those words into images. Sadly, I find myself wanting to enable this weirdness. Her husband has strange thoughts, too. And curse GayProf for making me remember that I actually used to watch Chico and the Man.

Introducing…the Beatles

As I mentioned last month, I wrote to the local paper over this wire story about Beatles stamps on a Wednesday. A copy editor from the paper called me Friday, and the paper printed a correction on Saturday. The guy I spoke to for 20 minutes; he must be near my age, because the first album he ever bought was Meet the Beatles. He wondered how I knew all about the Beatles discography. (At some point, I noted that ‘Yesterday’…and Today was comprised of 2 tracks from the British Help album, 4 from the British Rubber Soul album, 3 from the not yet released British Revolver album, plus the two-sided single.) I probably said, “I don’t know; it’s a sickness.”

That could have been the end of the story. Guess not. Friday evening, I got THIS e-mail from the copy editor:
I just wanted to get back to you about the people item you e-mailed us about. Thanks for letting us know about it. The string of briefs was written by The Associated Press, so, on Thursday, I called them in New York to try to track down any complaints on this item. So far, they say, yours is the first comment. They wanted to research the story further and contacted the London bureau — who actually – because of the time difference, AP says they haven’t gotten any clear answers on a possible clarification. When they do come up with something, I’d like to run a correction on both points of your e-mail.

In the meantime, can you recommend a good source to check this information? An authoritative history? An accurate discography? The official Beatles site starts with the Capital catalog, so that’s not much help. I want to research this in case The AP falls through.

Thanks again for letting us know about this.

Well, even though he did find what he needed, this e-mail sent me on a quest. When, exactly, DID Introducing the Beatles come out?

The source the copy editor found was the Beatles discography, a generally useful tool. But it says that Introducing the Beatles came out on January 10, 1964. This simply can’t be right, can it? The Wikipedia listing says January 6, 1964. But I looked here and here and here and here, and they all say July 1963, which makes much more sense.

So, I looked at what I consider the authoritative source, Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Albums 1955-1996, put out by Record Research, a VERY definitive source and authorized by Billboard, which says:
“Vee-Jay released above title in July 1963 and included ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’ which were replaced in 1964 with ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘Ask Me Why’; original release is valued at $6,000-$8,000.”
Those incorrect sources undoubtedly picked up on a re-release date.

The successor Whitburn book, covering 1955-2001, also says July 1963. What I noted, however, is that the NEWEST book, covering up to 2005, and now called The Billboard Albums, doesn’t give a release date at all, only that Introducing…the Beatles first charted on February 8, 1964, a week after Meet the Beatles. This means I need to hold on to at least one of the older books. As I’ve described before about the Brooks and Marsh television book, I HATE having to hold on to an old reference book because the new one has gotten rid of important information, but that’s what happened here. AGAIN.

aplfriends.blogspot.com

I was elected as Vice-President of the Friends of the Albany Public Library last May. Being vice-president of most organizations is a peculiar thing; there’s nothing one is really mandated to do in that capacity, except to run the meeting if the president is absent.

FDR’s first Vice-President, John Nance Garner, a/k/a “Cactus Jack”, is famously noted for saying the vice presidency wasn’t worth “a warm bucket of spit,” although reporters allegedly changed the spelling of the last word for print. I note this because when I was on JEOPARDY! some years back, my opponents and I could not remember his name.

For the Friends, I am supposed to work on the quarterly mailing, but that’s more difficult since they take place during the day AND I’m working further from downtown.

So, what to do? Well, if you’re me, you start a blog. So I did. Back in July, I showed a couple people how easy is it would be to do one. Then I promptly forgot about it until shortly before the September monthly meeting. Now, I’ve found a rhythm to the thing and plan to update it regularly.
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Scooter answers my questions.
Lefty discusses the mixed CD he sent me. And disses me AGAIN (see Fiona Apple).
Gordon discusses the mixed CD he sent me. And DOESN’T diss me. But he does offer tarot readings.

Alone Again, Naturally

The newsletter SUNY Watch solicited short articles, no more than 75 words, I think, about “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” or “My Favorite Hobby”.

Dutifully, I wrote:

Three trips to hometown Binghamton in July. #1 took place right after the flooding in the area, yet a scheduled party near the convergence of two rivers took place, with one sister coming from San Diego, mom, another sister, her daughter niece from Charlotte, and cousins from NYC. #2 was an annual reunion of my wife’s family (http://olinfamilysociety.org/); my daughter is 11th generation from John Olin. #3 was my high school reunion, described here.

The editor wrote back last week and said: “Unfortunately, yours was the only summer vacation response we received so we ultimately decided against putting together the feature we had been planning. It does sound like you had a good summer, though!”

Yes, it was.

But she got a “good response” on the hobbies question. Which makes me wonder: is it that people are traumatized about writing those summer vacation essays, or am I an iconoclast?
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Carol & I went to friend Mary’s wedding to Rick on Saturday morning. It was a lovely affair, even though we only knew the bride, her son, and one other person. My favorite moment during the service was during the lighting of the candles. The musical citation in the program was Hunter/Garcia. Indeed, the organist had suggested, and the couple agreed, to have a church organ version of the the Grateful Dead song “Ripple” playing at that moment.
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Alan David Doane wants you to know about:
*Comic Book Galaxy and Houghton Mifflin’s giveaway of a copy of THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006, “an excellent new collection edited by Harvey Pekar.”
*Paperback swap. “Free books! Post books you don’t want by their ISBN code…and get credit to order your own stuff. All is costs is media mail for shipping, usually less than two bucks for a single book.”
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After two books about the GWB administration that Karl Rove probably has on his bookshelf, Bob Woodward has put out State of Denial, reportedly a scathing indictment of our Iraq War policy. I haven’t gotten it yet, but it seems from the reviews that it’s not that it’s saying anything I hadn’t read or, at least believed, before. Its importance is that it’s from a writer with great access to the administration, and thus may have more credibility with the fence-sitters. I wonder if this book will sway the elections next month? Lefty has something to say about this here. In fact, he has a number of good pieces in his new Page 3 section, about George Allen of Virginia and global warming.
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SOMEBODY has to answer Greg’s quiz, so it might as well be me.
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Just two degrees of separation between me and Ben Pershing, who commented on disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley for PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
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Got this e-mail yesterday:
Have you heard anything about Social Security Numbers and African-Americans and the 5th digit in your SS#? Supposedly, if you are an African American or a Minority the 5th digit in your SS# is EVEN, and ODD if you are White???
It has been said if you take a poll most African Americans will have an EVEN 5th digit. Rumor has it some companies are looking at potential employee’s SS#s to discriminate.
Why not send this email to every African American and Minority that you know!! Mine was even, what’s yours?
TAVIS SMILEY
THIS RUMOR IS FALSE, and I doubt Tavis Smiley has anything to do with it. And yes, my middle SSN digit is even.
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Don’t expect any TV reviews here. I’m constantly behind on my viewing. Last night didn’t help; while we taped Gilmore Girls (for both of us) and Dancing with the Stars (for my wife), I actually WATCHED baseball. The DVR operates anywhere from 70% to 80% full. So, go read Tosy about Gilmore Girls, Jaquandor about Studio 60 (still seen one day early) and Tom the Dog about everything else.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

I love this time of the year: baseball playoffs, football in full swing. I think the Mets can get to the World Series without Pedro Martinez; friend Fred certainly hopes so – (Sept.28 & 29).

The Wall Street Journal is an interesting place to read about baseball. There was an article on September 27, Playoff Seats Get Harder to Score; Rank-and-File Fans Shut Out As Season Ticket Holders Gobble Up a Bigger Share. It reads that there is a “push by baseball teams to sell more season tickets by offering them in smaller packages and with extra perks, including early dibs on playoff seats. Some teams now offer a half-dozen different season-ticket packages — including ones for as few as six games.”

The WSJ of September 29 suggests that Batting Average Against is a far better reflection of post-season success than any other regular season factor. “Last year, in all six division and league championship series, the winner sported the better BAA. In 2004, it was five out of six. And since the beginning of divisional play in 1995, teams with the better BAA have won 43 of 66 series. That’s a remarkable .652 winning percentage.”
This means the San Diego Padres, the NL West champions on the last day, with a .250 BAA, should win the World Series. Other teams who were still in contention at the time of the article:
Detroit Tigers (.254 BAA). AL Wild Card. Swept by the KC Royals, who, to be fair, were thorns in the sides of a number of teams down the stretch. But now they have to go to Yankee Stadium, rather than host Oakland. Yikes! But the odds ARE in the Tigers’ favor, BAA-wise.
New York Mets (.255 BAA). First in the NL East, won a couple games at the end of the season. I’m STILL gonna pick them to win it all, even without Pedro (.220 BAA).
Houston Astros (.257 BAA). Eliminated on the last day; could have won the division if they could have only beaten the tomahawk-choppin’ Braves. I choose not to believe the allegations about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte re: performance-enhancing drugs until provided further evidence.
New York Yankees (.262 BAA). 1st in the AL East. Looking formidable.
Minnesota Twins (.267 BAA). 1st in the AL Central. I heard that they’re the first team to never have been in first place solo until the last day of the season.
St. Louis Cardinals (.269 BAA). 1st in NL Central, though they backed in. My favorite Cards fan, Lou at the Y, has been saying for weeks, “Stick a fork in them. They’re done.”
Los Angeles Dodgers (.269). NL Wild Card. I’d swear that every team in this division was in first place at some point.
Oakland A’s (.270). 1st in AL West. Because a lot of their games are late in the east, I don’t see/hear as much about them as I should.
Philadelphia Phillies (.275). Eliminated on the last weekend. Yes, I want Ryan Howard for MVP, though I feel badly for St. Louis’ Albert Pujols, who came in second to Barry Bonds a couple times, and now will come in second, I’m guessing, to the sophomore Howard.

Speaking of Barry Bonds, he’s the National League all-time home run leader with 734, surpassing Hank Aaron, who had 733 for the Braves, and 22 for the (then-American League) Brewers. I’m waiting for the movement to attribute all of the Brewers’ games to the NL.

If you’re a serious sabermetric-type baseball fan, you’ll just HAVE to look at another September 29 WSJ article, “Baseball’s Greatest Hits; We Rank the Most Decisive Postseason Clutch Hits; Apologies to Mr. Dent”, which concludes a 7th inning double that only tied the game is THE most significant hit in baseball post-season history, while Yankee Bucky Dent’s homer against the Red Sox in 1978 doesn’t even make the Top 10.

The Immortals

We ranked some of the biggest clutch hits in postseason history in four categories to see which one was the most significant. Categories include how much the hit improved the team’s chances of winning the game, how much winning the game improved the team’s odds of winning the World Series, the inning in which it happened (later innings count for more) and the odds of the opposing pitcher giving up that type of hit (or greater). The score is the average of all four categories on a percentile basis (the best possible score would be 100).

PLAYER/TEAM: 1. Tony Womack, Arizona Diamondbacks SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (2.9%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 86.2 COMMENTS: Surprise! This overlooked one-out, game-tying double in Game 7 is baseball’s greatest clutch hit.

PLAYER/TEAM: 2. Bill Mazeroski, Pittsburgh Pirates SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1960 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 65%/100%* ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: R. Terry (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 84 COMMENTS: The only Game 7 walkoff World Series HR in history, but the Pirates, playing at home with a tie score, already had a 65% chance of winning.

PLAYER/TEAM: 3. Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles Dodgers SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1988 WS Game 1, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 13%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: D. Eckersley (1.8%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 81 COMMENTS: This oft-televised Game 1 pinch-hit, two-out, two-run, come-from-behind walkoff HR off Dennis Eckersley (5 HRs allowed all season) actually lives up to the hype.

PLAYER/TEAM: 4. Bobby Thomson, New York Giants SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1951 NL Playoff Game 3, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 31%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: R. Branca (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 80.78 COMMENTS: HR erased a two-run deficit to beat rival Brooklyn Dodgers in final game of a division playoff. But new book “The Echoing Green” shows the Giants were stealing signs.

PLAYER/TEAM: 5. Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1912 WS Game 8, 10th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/ 83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Mathewson (2.5%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 80.77 COMMENTS: One-out, game-tying single with two runners on set up game-winning sacrifice by a teammate. Christy Mathewson was pitching his 29th inning of the series.

PLAYER/TEAM: 6. Joe Carter, Toronto Blue Jays SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1993 WS Game 6, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 39%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Williams (1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 78.8 COMMENTS: Just the second walkoff HR to end a World Series. Only knock is that it happened in Game 6, not Game 7.

PLAYER/TEAM: 7. Edgar Renteria, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1997 WS Game 7, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 66%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Nagy (25.5%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 78.2 COMMENTS: Bases-loaded World-Series-winning single would rank higher if the pitcher had been tougher.

PLAYER/TEAM: 8. Francisco Cabrera, Atlanta Braves SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1992 NLCS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 24%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: S. Belinda (19.4%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 78.19 COMMENTS: Francisco who? This forgotten pinch-hit, two-run, bases-loaded come-from-behind walkoff single against Pittsburgh ranks among the greats.

PLAYER/TEAM: 9. Joe Morgan, Cincinnati Reds SERIES/GAME/INNING: 1975 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 51%/84% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: J. Burton (25%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 77.7 COMMENTS: HR by Boston’s Carlton Fisk in Game 6 is better known, but Mr. Morgan’s top-of-the-ninth single won it all.

PLAYER/TEAM: 10. Scott Brosius, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 5, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER THE HIT: 4%/54% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 75.6 COMMENTS: Some Yankee fans had already left when Mr. Brosius uncorked this two-out, game-tying HR. The Yankees won the game three innings later.

*100% denotes a game-ending hit —

The Recent Best

While Tony Womack’s double and Scott Brosius’s home run were the only postseason hits in the last five years that made our list of the best in baseball history (see above), there have been many other great clutch swings since 2001. Here’s our top 10, minus Messrs. Womack and Brosius.

PLAYER/TEAM: 1. Luis Gonzalez, Arizona D’backs SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 84%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (19.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 74.1 COMMENTS: His single iced the game, but Arizona had an 84% chance of winning before it happened.

PLAYER/TEAM: 2. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 NLCS Game 5, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 5%/83% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Lidge (1.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +6% SCORE: 73.8 COMMENTS: This titanic two-out, three-run, come-from-behind HR off Houston’s Brad Lidge forced a Game 6.

PLAYER/TEAM: 3. Mark Grace, Arizona D’backs SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 7, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 19%/32% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: M. Rivera (19.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +50% SCORE: 73.6 COMMENTS: Leadoff single didn’t drive in a run, but sparked Arizona’s epic come-from-behind win.

PLAYER/TEAM: 4. Tino Martinez, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 4, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 4%/54% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 72.4 COMMENTS: Yankee Stadium rocked when this two-out, two-run HR off Byung-Hyun Kim sent the game to extra innings.

PLAYER/TEAM: 5. Aaron Boone, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 ALCS Game 7, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 65% / 100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: T. Wakefield (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +25% SCORE: 71.4 COMMENTS: Red Sox fans won’t soon forget this leadoff solo HR, which capped a Yankee comeback.

PLAYER/TEAM: 6. Derek Jeter, NY Yankees SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2001 WS Game 4, 10th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 54%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Kim (2.6%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 71.1 COMMENTS: One inning after Mr. Martinez’s HR (see No. 4), Mr. Jeter evened the series with a two-out walkoff job.

PLAYER/TEAM: 7. Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 WS Game 2, 7th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 24%/90% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: C. Qualls (2.1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 69.5 COMMENTS: Rare WS grand slam against Houston would have ranked higher, but it came in the 7th inning.

PLAYER/TEAM: 8. Scott Podsednik, Chicago White Sox SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2005 WS Game 2, 9th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 60%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: B. Lidge (1.7%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +16% SCORE: 68.39 COMMENTS: This one-out HR, which came two innings after Mr. Konerko’s (No. 7), was only Mr. Podsednik’s second that year.

PLAYER/TEAM: 9. Alex Gonzalez, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 WS Game 4, 12th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 65%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: J. Weaver (2.2%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +19% SCORE: 68.37 COMMENTS: While hitting only .256, Mr. Gonzalez evened this series against the Yankees with this walk-off HR.

PLAYER/TEAM: 10. Ivan Rodriguez, Florida Marlins SERIES/GAME/INNING: 2003 NLDS Game 3, 11th ODDS OF WINNING GAME BEFORE/AFTER HIT: 24%/100% ODDS OF PITCHER GIVING UP HIT: T. Worrell (22.1%) ODDS OF WINNING THE WS: +6% SCORE: 68.2 COMMENTS: Though it came in a division series game, this bases-loaded, two-out single overcame huge odds.

Meanwhile, while I was looking for the scores of the Twins and Tigers games on Sunday – they were tied for the AL Central lead, just as the Dodgers and Padres were tied in the NL West, I watched the last five minutes of the Jets-Colts game, where the Colts scored a touchdown, the Jets had a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, then the Colts scored another touchdown (why did the Jets burn a timeout on defense when the Colts were at their 16?). The Jets tried to come back, lateraling the ball at least a half dozen times before fumbling it – it was very exciting – but they didn’t have enough time.

President Bush is sending a delegation to Hungary to recognize the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution later this month. Among the travelers will be George Pataki, New York’s departing governor (does anyone outside of New York and Iowa know that he’s actually considering a run for the Presidency?), whose grandfather is Hungarian; and Pete Gogolak, a placekicker for the Buffalo Bills and NY Giants, whose “family arrived in the United States in 1957, following the Hungarian revolution”.