Smizik on Russell

If you are a regular reader of Bob Smizik's excellent blog on the Post-Gazette website, you have no doubt already read this. I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, I think I did say it last week after JR sent Sean Gallagher to bat against the Mets!

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/bobsmizik/archive/2010/08/30/time-to-fire-russell-is-now.aspx#comments

The Latest frrom GM Neal

One of the things I look forward to when reading the Monday morning Post-Gazette is Dejon Kovacevic's summary of Neal Huntington's comments from his Sunday radio show. Today's tidbits included two more classic pieces of Nealspiel:

First, the "next noteworthy wave of starting pitchers" in the Pirates organization (Morris, Owens, Locke, and Wilson) are not expected to make the team out of spring training next year. I guess Neal doesn't want to instill any sense of optimism in these kids. It could also mean that none of these pitchers are expected to be better that the current staff. Wow, that really would be bad news considering that the current staff has five, count 'em five, ten game losers, a distinction not seen by a Pirates team since 1954. On the other hand, it is nice for the fans of the Indianapolis Indians to know that they might have a really good staff in 2011.

The second gem was the quote that while the Pirates will pursue free agents in the off-season, they are "not going to just throw money at free agents to appease the fans and a few members of the media." That the Pirates aren't going to throw money around comes as no surprise, but it was the second part of Neal's statement that blows me away. His constant dismissal of what "the fans" might think tells me that this guy hasn't connected one bit with "the fans" (also known as the "paying customers") in his three years here in Pittsburgh. Isn't it part of his job to "appease" the fan base so that the will continue to be paying customers and perhaps even become a larger fan base? Or maybe even make eight, ten and twelve year old kids excited about the Pirates again (we all know about the "lost generation" of Pirates fans, which will have expanded to two generations by the time Jameson Taillon reaches Pittsburgh).

When I read this quote aloud this morning, Marilyn used the word "arrogant" to describe Huntington, and that sure fits. In an email exchange I had with Huntington last winter after Matt Capps was let go for nothing, Huntington said that he didn't understand what "the big deal" was over the whole thing. I thought then and continue to think that either he just doesn't relate AT ALL to the customers, or he doesn't care what the customers think. Frankly, I'm not sure which is worse.

Ignominy Avoided

With the Pirates 43rd win of the season last night, the Pirates have assured themselves that they will not match or exceed the 1962 Mets' record of 120 losses.

What a relief.

Still in sights, however, is the 112 losses of the 1952 Pirates (who managed the feat in a 154 game schedule, it must be noted). To avoid that, this bunch must go a mere 8-27 (.229) over their last 35 games. Others may disagree with me, but I think that they will avoid the dreaded 112 losses. Watch, but don't bet.

By the way,how about the way Neil Walker has been playing, not only in the last two games (6 RBI's), but ever since his recall? This is the guy, remember, that Huntington and Russell had ticketed to be a utility guy in spring training.

An Amazing Fact

I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard on the radio today that this current month, August 2010, contains three Sundays, three Mondays, and three Tuesdays, and this is an occurrence that happens once every 832 years.

As I said, I don't know if this is true, and I have no inclination to research it, but that is pretty cool if true.

On Jefferson, Monroe, Charlottesville...and Shugars

Marilyn and I just returned from a brief - three night - trip to Charlottesville, VA. The highlight of the trip was a visit to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. The trip was an easy one, 325 miles, 5 and 1/2 hours, most if which goes through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Now when you talk about the Founding Fathers, I will concede that George Washington is far and away the overall Number One draft pick, but it seems to me that Thomas Jefferson has got to be the #2 overall pick. What a visionary and what an intellect. When President Kennedy hosted a gathering of Nobel Prize winners at the White House, he commented that the gathering no doubt represented the single largest gathering if human intellect in the history of the White House "with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Some thoughts, comments, and observations about our recent trip...

• Monticello is a beautiful building, but surprisingly, to us at least, small when you actually see it.



• Amazing the innovations that Jefferson designed into the building - a clock that told day, hour, minute, and second that worked on a system of counterweights (and that still functions today), pneumatic-like doors that also still function today, and indoor privies.



• The gardens that Jefferson laid out atop his mountain are still being planted and producing to this day.



• You can see the Jefferson grave site on the property. It is an awesome feeling to be standing at the grave of Thomas Jefferson. The cemetery is privately owned and is still being used to bury Jefferson's descendants.



• Jefferson was widowed after only ten years of marriage, and was a widower throughout much of his public life, including his presidency.



• We know know that Jefferson did not lack for female companionship, including his relationship with slave Sally Hemmings.



• Tours of Monticello do not gloss over the Jefferson-Hemmings relationship, nor do they gloss over the fact that the man who stated that "all men are created equal" was a slaveholder. It is truly a conundrum when you consider Jefferson's life and body of work to realize that he owned slaves. It is clear, though, that Jefferson recognized the moral quandary that this presented, and it is also clear that he struggled with the quandary up until his death.

• Amazingly, as we were walking the grounds of Monticello, who do we run into but our nephew Bill Sproule, who was in town for a business meeting. Talk about a shock! This was one trip where we couldn't say "we never run into anyone we know."
  
  
• Our current political leaders, who feel the necessity of placing a fundamentalist Christian litmus test up to all other candidates and officeholders, would do well to go back and read up on some of Jefferson's thoughts regarding religious freedoms and state-sanctioned religions.



• About two miles down the road from Monticello sits Ash Lawn Highland, the home of James Monroe, Fifth President of the United States. We also toured Ash Lawn Highland as well. Now, this estate is no Monticello, not by a long shot, but it was an interesting tour nonetheless.



• James Monroe gets kind of lost in the shuffle of history, but he has a story to tell as well. Did you know that he was the Secretary of State under Jefferson who negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with Napoleon of France? I didn't. He also was a fairly wealthy guy for the times.



• President's back in those days were paid a salary of $25,000 a year. Seems to me like that is a whole lot more, comparatively, to what Presidents make today (which I think is $400,000). Presidents then, however, had to operate the White House out of their own salary. There was no government budget for operation of the Executive Mansion.



• There is a massive oak tree at Ash Lawn Highland that is estimated to be over 400 years old, which means it was already over 200 years old when Monroe lived there. For some reason, that little fact fascinates me.



• Like Jefferson, Monroe was a slaveholder. Unlike Jefferson, he had no moral struggle with the issue.



• If you ever make a similar trip, and I strongly recommend that you do, do not, under any circumstances, eat lunch at a place called Michie's Tavern. It advertises itself as an "authentic, Jefferson-era tavern," but what it really is is an tourist trap and a rip-off joint. The fact that we got sucked into it represents the only bad part of our trip.



• About 20 miles from Monticello is an estate called Montepellier, which is the home of President James Madison. We didn't make the trip there, but think of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all living within 20 miles of each other. Some neighborhood!



• We enjoyed the town of Charlottesville. It is a college town, but it is not like Pitt in Oakland which is within a large city, nor is it like Penn State which is the only thing in State College. Something in between, and it was quite pleasant. The central part of the downtown district is a closed off pedestrian only mall that runs about five blocks and consists of a nice variety of restaurants, theaters, retail businesses, and four, count 'em, four independent bookstores. We really liked it.

Oh, I hinted that there was a connection between Thomas Jefferson and our own friend Fred Shugars. Residing at Monticello was Jefferson's daughter and her 11 children. How to entertain kids? You play games, of course. It seems that Jefferson enjoyed the mental stimulation of playing games. He was in inveterate chess player, and one of the parlors at Monticello was devoted to games playing. A very popular one was something called the "Royal Game of Goose" and a board of this game is on display in the Monticello parlor. It appears to be some sort of Parcheesi-like roll the dice and chase along a trail game. One of the folks on the tour with us said that she, in fact, had this game and played it regularly with her grandchildren. Of course, I figured that the Royal Game of Goose would be on sale in the Monticello gift shop and I planned on purchasing it as a gift to present to Fred for use at GamesFest 2011, but would you believe that they do NOT sell this. I was quite disappointed.

So we can add one more distinction to the long list that is Jefferson's legacy: A Founding Father of GamesFest!

Mets 7 - Pirates 2

Last night's Pirates loss was not just another loss, was not just the loss that clinched the 18th consecutive losing season...it might (I say "might" because I always keep coming back for some insane reason) have been the loss that pushed me completely over the edge.

After a Chinese torture of a top of the first inning that took 22 minutes and over 35 pitches for Jeff Karstens to complete, wherein the Mets scored three runs on four bleeding banjo hits, the score worked its way to 7-2 Mets when in the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates managed to put men on second and third with two outs with middle reliever Sean Gallagher due to bat. What would you do? Of course, you would pinch hit with Garrett Jones or Delwyn Young since you now had a chance to get back into the ballgame. What did John Russell do? He waved an enormous white flag and sent Gallagher up to bat. Inning over. Ballgame over. To paraphrase the late, great Jack Buck, I did not believe what I just saw. Russell's "defense" of this strategy ran six sentences long in this morning's game story in the Post-Gazette. This surprised me only in that I never knew that John Russell could string six sentences together.

Seriously now, if the Pirates even consider bringing Russell (who will own over 300 losses as the Bucs skipper once this dreadful season runs it course) back as manager for next season, what would make the fan base and the ticket buyers think that team management cares even a little bit about putting out a winning team. All the teen-aged multi-million dollar bonus pitchers in the world won't make up for seeing John Russell back in a Pirates dugout in 2011. And, yes, I know that John McGraw and Casey Stengel combined couldn't win with this team, but when you got a guy with Russell's record and dreadful personality in charge, you really HAVE to make a change, if only to show the customers that you care.

My Dad and my brothers ingrained in me that you never leave a game early and that has been my philosophy for over 50 years of attending sports events, but last night we left after the sixth inning. Not that I'm anything special, but when fans like me start bailing out like that, the Pirates really have a problem.

Bobby Thomson

News arrived this afternoon that Bobby Thomson has passed away at the age of 86. Thomson, most of you know, hit the most famous home run in baseball history, "The Shot Heard 'round the World," that won the National League for the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1951 NL Playoff series.

(Aside: Pittsburghers and Pirates fans will argue that Bill Mazeroski's Game 7 HR in the 1960 World Series was more famous. More famous to Pirates fans, certainly, and perhaps more important since it decided a World Series, but most famous of all time? Afraid not. The fact that Thomson's homer came in New York for the Giants against arch rival Brooklyn, makes this more famous. Certainly, if the '51 playoff involved, say, the Braves and Cardinals, Maz' HR would have superseded Thomson's. But it didn't, and that is why Thomson's homer always leads the pack when lists of famous moments or home runs are tabulated. Perhaps that isn't fair, but there you are.)

A great conversational ice-breaker among groups of strangers is to ask everyone to tell the group "Who is the most famous person you ever met?" When I am asked this question, my answer is Bobby Thomson. It happened in the mid-1980's when my employer at the time, Equitable Life, was sponsoring a series of Old-Timers Games across major league baseball. When the game came to Pittsburgh, there was a banquet the night before when all of the Old-Timers were introduced and honored. During the cocktail hour, I introduced myself to Thomson and had about a 20 minute conversation with him. By this point in his life, how many times had he been approached by people like me to ask about his most famous moment? Nonetheless, he was a complete gentleman and a very nice guy, and he treated me as if I were the first person who ever asked him to talk about his historical moment in 1951.

He certainly wore his fame well and humbly. A real gentleman.

RIP Bobby Thomson.