I will have a new feature this year and only this year. I’ll note people who are turning 70. Hey, don’t I do that all the time? Yes, for these, I don’t have enough to write a whole post, but I want to note them. Here are three folks born in January 1953.
Desi Arnaz Jr. (Jan. 19) has long confused me. For one thing, he is actually Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV. His father was born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III.
He appears on the first cover of TV Guide. He was the first child of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. But he didn’t play the kid that Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, played by Lucy and Desi on I Love Lucy, had. Little Ricky was performed by Richard Keith, Michael and Joseph A. Mayer, and the uncredited babies Richard Lee and Ronald Lee Simmons, and James John Ganzer.
Desi played a kid on six episodes of Lucy’s next show, The Lucy Show. Then on her subsequent show, Here’s Lucy, he played Craig Carter, the teenage son of Lucy Carter (Ball), in 63 of the 144 episodes. His sister Lucie Arnaz, playing Lucy Carter’s daughter Kim was in 117 episodes.
He was in a band called Dino, Desi, and Billy with Dean Martin, Jr.and their friend William Hinsche. They had two Top 40 hits in 1965; I’m A Fool and The Loving Kind. I have no recollection of these songs.
He was in a few other acting gigs. But he and his sister Lucie are probably best known for keeping the flame of their parents’ lives and careers.
Reliever
Bruce Sutter (Jan. 8) was a fine baseball player. His Hall of Fame article notes: “Sutter quickly mastered the [split-fingered fastball]… What appeared to be an ordinary fastball suddenly dove through the strike zone as it reached the plate.”
Unfortunately, he died in October 2022 at the age of 69 from cancer. The story in MLB.com notes: ” Sutter, the first pitcher inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame without having started a game, compiled 300 saves and a dazzling 2.83 ERA over 12 seasons with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves. He won the National League 1979 Cy Young Award while saving 37 games for the Cubs, racked up 36 regular-season saves for the World Series champion Cardinals in ’82, tied the then-MLB record for saves in a season (45) in 1984, and closed out his 300th save on Sept. 9, 1988, for the Braves.”
Musician
When Pat Benatar (Jan. 10) was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, I voted for her on the fan ballot daily. This is even though I have NONE of her music. And I don’t really don’t know why. BTW, she got in.
Here’s Heartbreaker, #23 pop in 1980, and Love Is A Battlefield, #5 in 1983.