"The Trial Of The Chicago 7"

We have all been denied many of life's simple pleasures as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, and one of the things that I have missed, really missed, has been going to the movies.  You know, sitting in a theater and seeing something made specifically to be seen on a big screen with an audience in a darkened theater.

Well, we still have yet to venture back into the movie theaters, but this morning I had the pleasure of watching an honest-to-God-made-for-theatrical-release movie on Netflix.  What a pleasure, and what a movie!

Names like Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, and William Kunstler may have receded into the recesses of history for many of us, and may be completely meaningless for people under, say, 60 years of age.  If so, then you really should watch "The Trial of The Chicago 7", written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.  It serves as a history lesson (insofar as we should construe movies as "history"), and it is also a compelling and entertaining courtroom drama of a movie.

In the summer of 1968, various elements of the counter-couture of the era converged on the City of Chicago to protest the war in Viet Nam during the Democratic National Convention taking place in that city.  Clashes ensued with the Chicago Police and the Illinois National Guard, and even within the ranks of the protesters themselves.  Political motivations of the new Nixon Administration, spearheaded by a vengeful Attorney General John Mitchell, who, in time, would be proven to be a rather unlawful guy himself, resulted in federal conspiracy charges against eight defendants and a trial in federal court in Chicago that can charitably be described as a circus, and that a subsequent federal appeals court ruled to be a sham.  One of those defendants, Black Panther Bobby Seale, was eventually separated from the charges of that particular trial, hence the moniker of Chicago 7.

It is a fabulous cast that includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Jeremy Strong as Hoffman, Hayden, and Rubin.  Also great in the cast are Mark Rylance, as Kunstler, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Federal Prosecutor Richard Schultz, Frank Langella as the far from honorable Judge Julius Hoffman, and in a  brief appearance, Michael Keaton as former AG Ramsey Clark.  It is my understanding that "The Trial of the Chicago 7" has already appeared in a movie theater somewhere, which makes it eligible for the Academy Awards this year.  I have heard on some podcasts that there's some buzz to an acting nomination for Cohen and his depiction of Abbie Hoffman, and deservedly so, but, honestly, I could make a case for any number of the actors in this one, especially Redmayne, Langella, Rylance, and even Keaton for his very brief time on camera.   I would also venture that Sorkin is a cinch for a Best Screenplay nomination and maybe even a Best Director nod.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Seale, Strong as Rubin, 

John Carroll Lynch as David Dellinger, 

Redmayne as Hayden, Cohen as Hoffman, Keaton as Clark

I would like to say that this movie is purely a historical work, but when one sees the operation of the Justice Department in recent years, the movie is, sadly, an all too real example of the old adage that "those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it." 

Go to whatever device you use to steam via the Netflix Machine and watch this movie.  I haven't seen many 2020 movies this year for reasons alluded to above, but "The Trial of The Chicago 7" has jumped to #1 on my list of Favorites for the Year. 

It gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

The World Series Begins Tomorrow, but Before We Get To That....

Yes, what was once the premier event on the American Sports Calendar, the World Series, begins tomorrow, and I will address that, but first.....

How about that 38-7 ass-whipping that the Steelers laid on the CleveBrownies yesterday?

How Baker Mayfield spent most 

of his afternoon at Heinz Field

As you all know, this was highly anticipated match-up between the 4-0 Steelers and the 4-1 Browns, and it seemed that this would be the year when, finally, the Browns would be able to compete against the Steelers at Heinz Field.  However, when Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted Baker Mayfield's first pass of the day and returned it for a touchdown and a 10-0 Steelers lead, it quickly became apparent that, for one day at least, the "storied rivalry" would be yet another rendition of the Steelers playing hammer to the Browns' nail.

I sure didn't see such a dominant performance by the Steelers coming, not sure anyone did, but Mike Tomlin and his staff sure had the team ready to go and made for a very, very hot "AFC North kitchen" for the Browns.  It was a smackdown of epic proportions, and it called to mind how great it always is to see the Steelers throttle the Browns.  The only negative to the day was the loss of Devin Bush for the season due to a torn ACL.  That's a big loss.

Next up: the 5-0 Steelers against the 5-0 Titans.  That should be fun!!

********

Now, for the World Series.

In a shortened season and a Playoff Jumble that seemed to include every team except the Pirates, MLB somehow managed to end up with a World Series that matches up the two teams that had the best records in their respective leagues, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  

The teams are a study in contrasts.  The Rays are run by smart people who, despite being handcuffed by the 28th lowest payroll in baseball, know how to draft good players, develop them into good to very good major league players, and make smart trades (remember how they stole Neal Huntington's lunch money in the Chris Archer deal?).  By contrast, the Dodgers spend with abandon and have the top payroll in MLB.  There is  no player that they won't go after regardless of the cost (see Mookie Betts).

Both League Championship Series went to seventh games, and they were often times great fun to watch, although teams going through five, six, or seven pitchers by design is a new look for baseball and will take some getting used to, and the games still go on for interminable lengths of time.  Still, there's nothing better in any sport, especially baseball, than Seventh Games, and both deciding games this year were quite entertaining.

This will be the Rays second trip to the Fall Classic in their history, and the Dodgers third trip in the last four seasons, and they haven't won a World Series since 1988.  Logic tells you that the Dodgers should win this, but I'm rooting for the Rays, so, what the Hell, let's call it for the Rays in six games.

It'll be a real kick for us Pirates fans to watch Charlie Morton, Tyler Glasnow, and Austin Meadows hoist that Commissioner's Trophy at the end of the Series.

To Two Absent Friends - Whitey Ford and Joe Morgan

We are all well aware what an awful year 2020 has been for the world and the USA, and nowhere is this more true than in the number of Hall of Fame caliber baseball and football players that have left us, particularly in the last month or so.  Yes, ball players get old and die, but the glut of such passings in recent weeks has been almost overwhelming.  So much so, that The Grandstander is delivering a sad doubleheader.

Whitey Ford

1928 - 2020

No one personified the term "crafty, little left-hander" more than Whitey Ford, who died this past Friday at the age of 91.  In a sixteen year career, all with the Yankees, Ford complied a record of 236-106.  That career winning percentage of .690 is the highest in the modern era (post-1900) of Major League Baseball.  He was a ten time All-Star, and a Cy Young Award winner in 1961 when he went 25-4, 3.21.  More importantly, he appeared in 11 World Series, six of which the Yankees won, over the course of his career. He was a first ballot Hall of Famer, and, at the time of his death, he was the oldest living member of the Baseball HOF.

Back in 2014, I did a presentation for the Pittsburgh SABR Chapter about the greatest pitching performances in World Series history.  This is what appeared on my power point slide for Ford:

• Pitched in 11 World Series from 1950 to 1964
• Still holds WS records for Starts (22), Wins (10), Losses (8), Innings Pitched (146), Strike outs (94), Walks (34)
• Three career shutouts are T-2 in WS history
• 1960: 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 8 K, 2 BB

In 2020, fifty-six years after Ford last appeared in the Fall Classic, those records STILL stand and may never be broken.  Oh, and I left off one other pretty cool World Series record of Ford's - 29.2 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, a recored that he established in the 1961 Series, breaking a record previously held by Boston Red Sox pitcher George Herman Ruth.

I also included that final bullet point highlighting Ford's performance against the Pirates in the 1960 Series, and noted that had Casey Stengel started Ford in Game One of that Series, and thus had him available for Game Seven, the course of Pirates history might well have taken a different turn in that magical Pirates Year.

Joe Morgan

1943-2020

While the baseball world was still trying to get over the news of Ford's death, word came today that Joe Morgan had died at the age on 77.

He was a two time All-Star during eight seasons with the Houston Colt .45's / Astros, when he was traded in the 1971-72 off season to the Reds in a blockbuster deal.  He was the final piece of the puzzle for the Reds and became a part of one of the great teams of baseball history, the "Big Red Machine" of the 1970's.  He was the spark plug second baseman who was a part of those teams "core four" that also included Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez.   Morgan won five Gold Gloves and played in ten All-Star Games, four World Series, and was the National League MVP in both 1975 and 1976.  Like Whitey Ford, he was a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Ford played all of his career in the American League in the days before cable television and baseball games on TV just about every night of the week across the country, so I never saw him play much, except in the World Series every year.  However, I did see Joe Morgan play a lot, and in a lot of key games against the Pirates over those 1970's glory years for both teams, and he was one great and terrific baseball player.

RIP Whitey Ford and Joe Morgan.

To Absent Friends - Eddie Van Halen

 Eddie Van Halen

1955 - 2020

I am not going to claim to have been an enormous fan or authority on guitarist extraordinaire Eddie Van Halen or his eponymous rock band, Van Halen, but I can say that I know a virtuoso when I see or hear one, and Eddie Van Halen was certainly that.  The news of his death from cancer today at the age of 65 came as a true shock to me, although fans of his knew that he had been suffering from the ravages of the disease for the better part of a decade.

I did own a couple of Van Halen cassette tapes (which dates me, I know), and I did attempt to dance to "Jump" at more than one wedding reception in the 1990's, so I will bow to the true aficionados - like my pal Dan Houston - to give more knowledgeable tributes to his talents.  All that I know is that he was among the very best at his craft - EVER.

RIP Eddie Van Halen.

A more mature EVH

Old Movie Review - "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969)

 

When I did my Absent Friends tribute to Dianna Rigg last month, I made mention that while she was a Bond Girl, she did it in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the Bond movie that starred George Lazenby, which probably made it the least viewed film in the entire Bond Franchise. This comment caused one of my movie maven pals, Bob Cassinelli, to comment that OHMSS gets a bad rap because Lazenby had the nerve to not be Sean Connery.  This was the first Bond movie made without Connery, and the Aussie Lazenby was relatively - completely? -  unknown to American audiences.  Bob told me that the the production values were high, Telly Savalas was great as the villain Blofeld, and that Rigg's performance was spectacular.  Also, in light of the fact that several actors have now played the role, Lazenby's performance deserves a second look and a re-evaluation.

George Lazenby

as

"Bond. James Bond"

I got around to getting hold of a DVD of the movie, watched it last night, and Bob was right on all counts.

The plot.....an evil villain has a plot that will destroy humans' ability to procreate....unless his demands are met, he will unleash it...Bond has to stop him...Bond falls in love....you pretty much get the idea.  In the end, though, who cares about PLOT in a James Bond movie?  The people are handsome and beautiful, the wardrobes are extravagant, the scenery is gorgeous.  There are explosions, fights, lovemaking, and chase scenes.  What more do you need?  There was even one perfectly meta moment, before anyone even know that "meta" would one day become a thing, when Bond/Lazenby looks into the camera and says "This never happened to the other guy."

Did I mention chase scenes?  The movie opens with a mini-chase between two cars that ends on a beach.  Throughout the rest of the movie we see a chase scene on skis going down the Alps (pretty spectacular), a chase on a stock car race track, a chase between two bobsleds, and, just because that wasn't enough, we get another chase scene on skis with an avalanche thrown into the mix.

As for Diana Rigg, she was indeed terrific in the role, and absolutely gorgeous.

Diana Rigg as Tracy

See what I mean?

As an aside, in some of the stuff I read after Rigg's death, some speculated that, in another era, Diana Rigg would have been absolutely perfect to be the first woman to play "James Bond."  Couldn't agree more.

She also pulls off what no other Bond Girl before or since ever managed to do.  She married James Bond......

Mr. and Mrs . James Bond

We all know that that didn't last, but why didn't it?  Well, even in a 51 year old movie, The Grandstander is not about to give any spoilers, but he will give "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" Three Stars.  Well worth tracking down and watching.

Bob Gibson vs. The Pirates

 Bob Gibson pitching 

at Forbes Field

Just as the death of Tom Seaver last month prompted me to see how he pitched in his Hall of Fame career against the Pirates, so, too, did the death of Bob Gibson. Thanks to the terrific baseball-almanac.com website, it took about thirty minutes of research to find out.

My memories tells me that Gibson pitched against the Pirates about ten to twelve times every year, and completely dominated them every time.  However, in fact, Gibson made 54 appearances against the Pirates over a 17 year career, an average of 3.2 games per year.  Only twice, 1969 and 1972, did he appear  as many as five times against the Bucs.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of Gibson vs. the Pirates as compared to his overall career figures.  I also threw in the figures for his landmark 1968 season and his World Series stats, just for the "Wow Factor."

Bob Gibson	vs. Pirates	Career	1968	World Series
W-L	25-16	251-174	22-9	7-2
%	0.610	0.591	0.710	0.778
ERA	3.20	2.91	1.12	1.89
WHIP	1.233	1.190	0.85	0.889
IP	410.1	3,884.1	304.2	81
R	146	1,420	49	19
ER	125	1,258	38	17
CG	22	255	28	8
ShO	5	56	134	2
K/9IP	7.70	7.22	7.92	10.2

As you can see, Gibson's career winning percentage against the Pirates was slightly above his career percentage, as was his "K's / 9 IP".  Both his ERA and his WHIP were higher against the Pirates than his overall career numbers.  I will leave it up to the Analytics gurus to decipher exactly what, if anything, that might mean.

Two games jumped out at me when I was doing the research.  In an appearance on July 26, 1960, and gave up 2 hits and 2 runs in one inning, and on May 6, 1964, Gibson gave up 1 hit, 0 runs, and 1 walk and had 0.0 innings pitched.  Both appearances were No Decisions for him.  What was up with that, I wondered.

In the 1960 game, Gibson came on in relief of Curt Simmons in a game that the Pirates won 5-4.  In the 1964 game, Ray Sadecki pitched 8.0 innings, and Gibson came on in relief of him in the ninth.  The Pirates scored in the bottom of the ninth and won the game 1-0.  The run and the loss went to Sadecki, but no Pirate was credited with an RBI in that game, so I don't know precisely what happened there.  More research for another day.  For you Bucco fans out there, Bob Friend gave up six hits and got the Win in a complete game performance.

Gibson also had three No Decisions against the Pirates in his career wherein he pitched nine innings but left after that when those games went into extra innings.

In that remarkable 1968 season, Gibson was every bit as dominant against Pittsburgh as he was against the rest of the National League:  4 games, 3 wins, 1 loss, 1.00 ERA, four complete games, two shut outs, 41 strike outs, 6 BB in 36 IP. 

Finally, no mention of Gibson vs. The Pirates would be complete without mentioning the game of August 14, 1971, when Gibson pitched a no-hitter against the Pirates.  I can vividly remember listening to that game on the radio on our Saline Street front porch that long ago Saturday night.  The Cardinals scored 5 runs in the first inning, and it was 8-0 after five innings.  The Pirates winning that game was unlikely from the start against a pitcher like Gibson, so the only thing exciting was the possibility of a no-hitter, which Gibson, of course, recorded.  Gibson walked three batters and struck out ten that night.  It was the first time that a no-hitter had ever been pitched in Pittsburgh.  And it wasn't like Gibson was going up against a line-up of lightweights that night.  Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, Dave Cash, and Bob Robertson were in the line-up that night, although for reasons that are lost to history Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, and Richie Hebner were not.  It was also the team that would go on to win the World Series two months later.  Five Hall of Famers played in that game that night: Joe Torre, Ted Simmons, and Gibson for St. Louis, and Bill Mazersoki and Stargell for the Pirates.  The dugouts that night also featured manager Red Schoendienst and Lou Brock for St. Louis and Clemente for Pittsburgh.  Eight future Hall of Famers present and accounted for that hot August night.  Not bad.

To Absent Friends - Bob Gibson

 Bob Gibson

1935 - 2020

255 W -174 L

2.91 ERA

255 CG, 56 Shut Outs

3,117 Strike Outs

The great, and I mean truly great, Bob Gibson, Hall of Fame pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, died yesterday at the age of 84.  I am long past the stage of my life where I consider ball players and athletes heroes, but Bob Gibson has always been one of my very favorite athletes of all time.  As a Pirates fan, I often categorize baseball players by saying "In a critical game, who would I LEAST like to see the Pirates come up against?", and when you're talking about pitchers, Bob Gibson tops that list.  No pitcher of his era (1959-1975) was more intimidating on the mound.

The year 1968 is now commonly known as the "Year of the Pitcher" in Major League Baseball history.  Pitching was so dominant in that season, that MLB changed the rules of the game, primarily by  lowering the height of the pitcher's mound, and no pitcher in that season was more dominant than Gibson.  He pitched 304.2 innings that year, went 22-9, with an ERA of 1.12.  He had 28 complete games, and 13 shutouts.

A popular discussion point in bar room discussions or talk show debates is "If you needed to win just ONE game and your life depended on it, who would want to pitch in that game?"  The answer to that question has always been an easy one for me - Bob Gibson, and I know that I am not alone in that opinion.  He pitched in three World Series for the Cardinals in his career, 1964-67-68, and his record in those Series bears out that judgement.  In nine World Series games, Gibson went 7-2, 1.89 ERA.  He pitched 8 complete games and two shutouts.  He went 3-0 in 1967, and he started all three Games Seven in those Series, going 2-1.  He had 92 strike outs in Series play, and I believe that he still holds the World Series record for 17 K's in a single game, set in 1968 against the Tigers.

Former Cardinals and Pirates pitcher Nellie Briles spoke at a Pittsburgh SABR meeting once, and I asked him to talk just a bit about his former teammate, Gibson.  "He burned with a competitive fire and a will to  win like no other person I ever played with or against."  That's not an exact quote from Briles, but it is the gist of what he said, and it confirmed everything that I ever felt about Bob Gibson.

Within the space of a month, both Lou Brock and Bob Gibson have left us. What  terrible month for fans of the St. Louis Cardinals.

RIP Bob Gibson.