What I Read On My Summer Vacation

It has been two weeks since that last Grandstander post hit the digital streets, so it is time to report in.  During that time, Mr. and Mrs. Grandstander spent a week, as we have done for the last 32 years, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, specifically, the town of Corolla in Currituck County.  We had beautiful weather, 

relaxed on the beach with cold beverages,

celebrated the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Jim and Judy,

and had a wonderful week spending time with various Moellenbrocks, Stoners, and Richards.

"Enough about all that" I can hear you all saying, "we want to know what did you read while lounging on the beach last week?"

Okay, I consumed two books while in Corolla.

This is a book by acclaimed golf writer Jim Dodson, and it is another one that I highly recommend to all golfers among you.

It is more of a memoir of Dodson's life as he sets out to accomplish the golf "bucket list", although that term was unknown at the time, that he set for himself as a young boy.  As reporter and magazine journalist, Dodson was in position to accomplish many of these goals (playing at St. Andrew's, make a hole in one, meet Arnold Palmer, to name a few), and he tells these stories in a folksy and very well written manner.  If I have any criticism, it is that at times Dodson elevates the game of golf and the playing of it to an existential level way beyond what it actually is.  I mean, I love golf and enjoy playing it, but at times I just wanted to say "C'MON MAN, your playing golf, not curing cancer or bringing peace to the Middle East."  But that's a minor quibble, and if you are a regular golfer, you will enjoy it.  A happy by-product of reading this is that I think it will prompt me to re-read Dodson's classic 1996 book, "Final Rounds", the story of his final father-son golf trip shortly before his father's death.  That is a book that is not just about golf.

Three and one-half stars from The Grandstander.

Looking for something that would be light, quick, and entertaining, I finally got around to reading a novel from Florida author Tim Dorsey.  Like my long time favorite Carl Hiaasen, Dorsey writes comic crime novels that feature the crazed and looney characters that only seem to populate the state of Florida. 

I won't even try to describe the plot of "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" other than to say that it is violent, scary in the casualness of the criminals described in it, and wildly funny.  (Marilyn accused me of making a total ass of myself on the beach one day because I was laughing so uncontrollably at one point.  Can you imagine such a thing?)  I couldn't believe that I had never read any of Dorsey's books before now, but on the bright side, I now know that there are over a dozen Tim Dorsey crime novels out there for me to read and enjoy.  Discovering that was like getting an early birthday present.

Three stars from The Grandstander.

The Trades

Less than a month ago, July 9 to be precise, I expounded in this space about the awfulness of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the ineptitude of the team's front office, which, in the person of GM Neal Huntington, all but gave up on the team and gave indications that they would be selling assets come the July 31 trade deadline.  Since that pronouncement on Huntington's July 8  radio show, you all know what has happened.  The team has gone 16-4, including an eleven game winning  streak, and has propelled itself at the very least back into the race for a Wild Card spot in the post-season.  The players themselves called the Front Office's bluff and yesterday the suits delivered, making two huge trades.  

On Monday evening I was out at an event and a friend asked if I thought the Pirates would make any significant deals at the deadline.  My answer was that they would probably get some middling relief pitcher just to say that they did something, but that I doubted that it would have any significance whatsoever.

Well, I was wrong.  A minor league pitching prospect was sent to Texas for relief pitcher Keone Kela.  I admit that until this trade was announced, I had never heard of Keone Kela, but his credentials as a top flight reliever/closer are impeccable.  

Kela

Then the stunner came yesterday afternoon, right at the 4:00 deadline.  Starting pitcher Chris Archer comes from Tampa Bay in exchange for Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and the always popular Player To Be Named Later.

Archer

Despite what his number say, no one throughout baseball disputes that Archer is a genuine top if the rotation starter.    Without question, the Pirates are a better team today than they were the day before with the addition these two guys to the team.

Will it be enough to make a difference this year?  I am not so sure, but before these deals, I didn't see any chance of the team making the playoffs.  That equation has changed now.  Also, Archer and Kela, who come to the Bucs with three and two years of control, respectively, and with "team friendly contracts" (always important to the Pirates), the team looks to be improved going into 2019 and beyond as well.

Both deals represent a shocking change in philosophy for Huntington and the Pirates, who would never part with prized prospects.  Meadows has made the big leagues and has proved that he can play at this level.  He was destined to be the guy who would replace Andrew McCutchen, and now he's gone.  Will he ever achieve Cutch-like status?  Maybe he will, and it will hurt of we see him in multiple All-Star games over the next decade or so wearing a Rays uniform, but he may not, either.  As we all know, baseball history is littered with Can't Miss Prospects who have, you know, Missed.  Glasnow was projected as a dominant Ace of the future, and he has not panned out up until now.  Of course, he could turn out to be a future Cy Young candidate like Charlie Morton and Gerrit Cole are now, or he could remain what he currently is, a middling relief pitcher.  Oh, and we'll see about the Player To Be Named.

But we know what the Pirates have gotten in Archer and Kela.  Two proven major league pitchers who will be an immediate help to this team, both this year and for a couple of years to come.

We have all been burying GM Neal for his inaction and salary dumping this season, so it's only fair to give him some props for what he has pulled off in the last forty-eight hours.  Time will be the ultimate judge of these deals, of course, but as of right now, I like what the Pirates have done here.

"Mission: Impossible - Fallout"

Washington Post movie critic Ann Hornaday (check out the podcast, "At The Movies with Arch and Ann") always says something along the lines of "judge a movie for what it is and what it is trying to do", or words to that effect.  In other words, you can't really compare "Caddyshack" to "Citizen Kane", but that doesn't mean that "Caddyshack" isn't a good movie given how it presents itself, i.e., a lowbrow comedy that will make you laugh, often uncontrollably.

That brings us to "Mission: Impossible - Fallout".  I went to this because the trailers that I had seen indicated that much of this movie was filmed in Paris, and, having just been to Paris, I wanted to see those gorgeous locations.  To that end, this  movie delivered the goods in spades.  Gorgeous shots of many Paris landmarks.

I also figured that the movie would give the viewer lots of action, exciting and spectacular chases, cartoonish violence, beautiful people, and a convoluted plot so filled with Maguffins that it wouldn't be worth even trying to follow along. Again, these boxes were checked.

On the minus side of the ledger, the movie was two hours and twenty-seven minutes long.  Too long by at least a half hour.  It also featured one of the oldest cliches in the history of the movies - a countdown clock that our heroes had to beat in order to avoid....well, I'm not going to spoil it for you.  You'll have to see for yourselves what the IMF team is up against.  At least the filmmakers didn't include a pretty heroine tied to railroad tracks, or a villain twirling his mustache and saying "Why no, Mr. Cruise, I expect you to die!!!"

Speaking of star Tom Cruise, I have always felt that while he may be a bit of a screwball in real life, I also thought that he was and is a really good actor.  (Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for "Rainman", but Cruise was every bit as good as the brother in that movie.)  This is the seventh, believe it or not, installment of this "Mission: Impossible" series, and Cruise certainly pulls it off, I suppose, but he is also now 56 years old, and I am not sure how much longer he can pull off these movies that require such boyish devil-may-care charm, if that time hasn't passed already.  Still, he does have the right to cash the checks from these blockbusters for as long as movie producers are willing to give them to him.

So, if you are looking for some mindless movie excitement on a summer evening, this movie fits the bill, but at two-and-a-half hours in length, be sure you hit the rest room before it starts and don't drink a large soda while watching.  You will be entertained, but at various points in the film you may also find yourself saying something along the lines of "well, this is just ridiculous".

Two and one-half stars from The Grandstander.

"West Side Story" Thoughts

This past Friday evening we watched the great movie "West Side Story" on TCM.  Now I happen to love "West Side Story". I have seen the movie countless times and have seen at least one professional stage production of this classic and, dare I say, groundbreaking American musical.  However, when watching it the other night, I found that it might be, well, I hesitate to use the word "dated", but a person under the age of thirty who is seeing this for the first time in 2018 might not take to it quite like theater audiences did in 1957 and movie audiences did in 1961.

You all know the story, but if you don't its original source material is William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", which was written and first staged in England back in 1597.  The setting is the west side of New York City and it involves juvenile gangs and delinquency, specifically turf warfare between white American kids (the Jets) and Puerto Rican kids (the Sharks) who have emigrated to America.  Trouble is always percolating between the rival Sharks and Jets, but it comes to a head when Tony, the former leader of the Jets who has left the gang to move onto adult things, falls in love with Maria, the younger sister of Sharks leader, Bernardo.  Trouble and tragedy ensue and are played out to the terrific score of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein and fabulous choreography throughout.

The themes are timeless, but when you think of hard ass gang bangers here in 2018, you don't think of Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris and the rest of the cast doing ballet type movements and rousing dance numbers on the streets and rooftops of New York City.

 Beymer with Natalie Wood

Oscar winner Chakiris (center)

 Rita Moreno, another Oscar winner

 Tamblyn (L) and the Jets

When you're a Jet,

You're a Jet all the way....

What I am leading up to here (finally) is the fact that serious discussions are taking place in Hollywood to do a re-make of "West Side Story". Now I know that this will bring out screams and anguish along the lines of "How could they possibly think that remaking this Oscar winning classic is a good idea?  Why this verges on sacrilege!!!"

I have written on the subject of remakes before, and while I agree that some things just shouldn't be done ("Casablanca", for example), if a remake is done well and is good, and if it has something new to say or a different spin to put on a work, why not?  The names associated with this proposed remake of "West Side Story" are director Stephen Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner.  These are heavy hitters, folks, and their association with the project pretty much guarantees that this will not be a schlocky, fly-by-night production.  No one is talking about changing any of these wonderful songs, either, so I, for one, will look forward to seeing how Spielberg and Kushner will present this classic story.

"Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Today we took in the new and highly acclaimed documentary about the late Fred Rogers, and what can I say?  It was terrific and timely reminder of what is really needed in the world today.

An ordained Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers made the caring of children his ministry and he used public television as his "church".  Another minister interviewed for the documentary said that while Fred never wore a collar, he was without doubt the most effective minister that he had ever encountered.  When you see the movie and hear what Mr. Rogers said - and his words are still powerful fifteen years after his death - you become aware that his message means more than just about anything that you see and hear from the influence makers of 2018.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough.  It gets a full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Those who know me know of Marilyn's and my association with The Highmark Caring Place.  What people may not know is that Fred Rogers was an early advocate and a co-founder of The Caring Place. He served as Honorary Chairman of the Caring Foundation and spokesman from its inception in 1985 until his death in 2003.  Again, those who know me know how I feel about the Caring Place and seeing this movie today makes us doubly proud to be associated, however tangentially, with an institution that was so closely associated with Fred Rogers.  

This quote from Fred Rogers is prominently displayed on the walls of all four Caring Place locations, and it is worth sharing:

"It is only natural that we and our children find many things hard to talk about.

But anything human is mentionable and anything mentionable can be manageable.

The mentioning can be difficult, and the managing too, but both can be done if we're surrounded by love and trust."

A Couple of "Casablanca" Books

Regular readers know of my affinity for the movie "Casablanca", and in the last few weeks, I have read a couple of books about the making of this classic film.  

I recently received this book as a gift...

It was published in 2017 to mark the 75th anniversary of the release of the movie in 1942. 

One of the author Noah Isenberg's sources for his book was this book, that was published in 1992 to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie.  (It was originally titled "Round Up The Usual Suspects", by the way.)

Reading the Isenberg book prompted me to seek out and read Aljean Harnetz's book.

Both books cover much of the same ground, but both are worth reading.  When Warner Bros. bought the rights to an unproduced play called "Everybody Comes To Rick's" in 1941, it was felt that it had the makings of a pretty good melodrama, that it might make some money, and it would serve as product to show in the hundreds of theaters that Warner Bros. owned across the country.  It would be just like the hundreds and hundreds of other movies that Hollywood churned out under what is now referred to as the "studio system".  No one, no one knew that they were making a classic, arguably the greatest American movie of all time.

The "Studio System" (and you learn a lot about the studio system when you read these books) operated like factories that produced widgets....Ford made automobiles, General Electric made light bulbs, Warner Bros., MGM, and Paramount made movies.  Many of the writers and technical people that worked on "Casablanca" got the assignment simply because they were available during the time that the movie started shooting. Seven different writers had a hand in fashioning the script.  Ingrid Bergman didn't really want the part of Ilsa, and never considered it her favorite role. In fact, as her life went on, she never could quite understand why "Casablanca" became the beloved movie that it is.  The actors didn't always get along with the director or with each other.  Humphrey Bogart and Bergman, while they didn't dislike each other, they weren't great pals either, and had virtually no interaction with each other except for the scenes that they filmed.  Paul Henreid and Claude Rains didn't much like each other at all, and Rains never, until the day he died, ever actually sat down and watched "Casablanca".

Yet somehow, all worked together to create a classic.

Some interesting points:

• We watch this movie today knowing what happened.  The United States and its Allies won the war, and fascism was defeated.  When the movie was being filmed in 1942, these outcomes were not known, nor were they a sure thing.  Think about that the next time you watch the movie.
• The movie is in large part about refugees fleeing oppression and trying to come to America.  Many of the actors in the movie - Henreid, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall and numerous extras actually WERE people who had fled the tyranny of Germany and Nazi oppression.
• Contrary to a popular myth, Ronald Reagan was never considered for the part of Rick Blaine.  Knowing the trajectory  Reagan's life was to take, it's a fun thing to talk about, except it wasn't true.  Warner Bros. did plant in item in the papers that a new production of theirs, "Casablanca", would star Reagan and Ann Sheridan.  This was planted for the sole purpose of providing publicity to another movie being released at the time that did star Reagan and Sheridan.  This was common practice in the days of the Studio System.
• George Raft did want the part and campaigned for it with studio head Jack Warner, but that was quickly nixed by producer Hal Wallis.  He wanted Bogey all along.

If you love the movie - and who doesn't? - I would recommend that you read one or both books.

I will leave with words from the opening paragraph of the Preface to Ms. Harmetz's book:

"Cynicism is a necessary protective cost for those who come close to the film industry's seductively hot center, and I have needed a doubly thick coat.  I grew up on the outskirts of MGM where my mother worked in the wardrobe department, and I later wrote about Hollywood for the New York Times.  But my cynicism dissolves when Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman say goodbye at the airport, and, at least in the dark corner of a movie theater, I am sure that I would be capable of such a sacrifice too."

By the way, the makers of "Casablanca" did toy around with a different ending, a "happy ending" where Victor went off by himself and Ilsa stayed with Rick.  Thank goodness they chose the ending that they did.  Had they gone with the Happy Ending, "Casablanca" would have indeed been just another movie, and would probably be forgotten today.

Here's looking at you, kid.

On Corey Dickerson

One of the pleasant aspects of the Pirates 2018 season has been left fielder Corey Dickerson.  First of all, we were all somewhat surprised when Neal Huntington pulled off the deal that brought Dickerson to Pittsburgh in February. The Bucs did not surrender much for the guy who had been an All-Star for the Rays in 2017, but he came with a red flag attached, which was the precipitous decline in performance from Pre-All Star Break to Post All Star Break in '17.  You can read what I said about it at the time.

https://grandstander.blogspot.com/2018/02/welcome-corey-dickerson.html

Well, as I said, Dickerson has been a pretty good performer, so much so, that some are speculating that he might be traded when Huntington goes into fire sale/salary dump mode later this month.  My friend Dan Bonk says that this would be a mistake since (a) the Pirates have control of his contract through next season, although he will be eligible for salary arbitration this off season, and (b) he has been "the Pirates best player" this year.  Dan also says that the team should overpay him in order to keep him, but, come on now, this is the Pirates we are talking about here.

This leads me to two questions:

1. Has he, in fact, been the Pirates best player this year?
2. Will he decline in the second half of the season as he did last year?

You know what that means, don't you? It's Spreadsheet Time!!!!!!

Corey Dickerson - 2018	AB	Hits	BA	Runs	HR	RBI	OPS
March	6	1	0.167	1	0	1	0.333
April	93	30	0.323	15	3	15	0.907
May	101	31	0.307	9	2	15	0.799
June	76	20	0.263	8	0	1	0.603
July	48	17	0.354	7	2	5	1.026
YTD (pre-All Star Break)	324	99	0.306	40	7	37	0.809
Rank on team		1st	1st	4th	T-5th	T-4th	6th

Has he been the team's best player? Well, he does lead the team in hits and average, so there is that.  His power production has not been what was hoped.  He hit 27 HR for the Rays last season, and is on pace to hit just 11 this year (over the course of 500 AB).  Also, he has five assists from the outfield this year and has yet to make an error, but I will leave defensive analysis to the SABRmetric seam heads.  He also does things which can't be quantified - at least not by me - like choking up on the bat when he has two strikes and trying to go to the opposite field to get a hit.  The "old schoolers" just love stuff like that!

After a blazing start in April, he tailed off just a bit in May, and  he tailed off a lot in June, but he has picked it up in July, so I don't suppose we can draw any conclusions just yet.  

While I am not ready to say that he has been the Pirates best player, he has been a pretty good one, and he is someone that probably would bring some value at the July 31 trade deadline, certainly more than, say, Jordy Mercer or David Freese or even Josh Harrison would.  My hunch is that Huntington is more likely to deal Dickerson that he is Starling Marte or Gregory Polanco, but in the end, though, who knows what Neal is going to do.  Whatever it is, he will justify it with his usual line of bullshit and obfuscation with the strong implication that he alone knows what is best for the team, and that we fans out there are just a bunch of idiots who have no clue.