Purchase Zithromax, If my memory is correct, I was about 12 years old when I met Jim Thorpe.

My father took me to a highschool football game one Friday night in my hometown of Shawnee, Oklahoma. We were walking up the steps to our seats in the stadium, zithromax intravenous in children. There was a man seated on the end of the aisle in one row. He had a blanket draped around his shoulders to stay warm. My dad stopped beside him and said, Zithromax x pacl, "Hi, Jim. I'd like you to meet my son, Purchase Zithromax. Ross, this is Jim Thorpe."

A few years later, buy zithromax no prescription, Dad was a pallbearer at Thorpe's funeral after he died at the age of 64. Then Ross Porter, Sr. Grapefruit zithromax, headed the committee to build the Jim Thorpe Memorial and Museum in Shawnee with the aid of state money. The Oklahoma legislature approved the use of funds, only to have governor Johnston Murray veto the measure after promising Dad he would sign the bill. It was the first time I heard the word "double crosser" used, antidotes zithromax. Purchase Zithromax, After that, Thorpe's third wife brokered a deal with the merging towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania to rename the community Jim Thorpe in 1954. Jim's remains were brought to an area he likely never saw.

For those who don't follow sports history, Zithromax oral contraceptives, Thorpe is arguably the greatest athlete America has ever produced.

[caption id="attachment_7935" align="alignnone" width="211" caption="Jim Thorpe"][/caption]

Born in Oklahoma Territory in 1888, Jim lost his twin brother Charlie to pneumonia at the age of 9, his mother in childbirth at 11, zithromax pyelonephritis, and his father in a hunting accident at 16. Thorpe went to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania where he played football under legendary "Pop" Warner. Jim played halfback and scored all 18 of his team's points ( a touchdown and four field goals) in a stunning 18-15 upset of Harvard in 1911, Purchase Zithromax. Zithromax organic throat coat, The next season, he scored a 92 yard TD against Army, but a penalty nullified it, so on the next play, green poop zithromax, Thorpe ran 97 yards. One of the Army players was Dwight Eisenhower, Is zithromax ok for sinus infection, who called Jim "the greatest football player I ever saw." Thorpe was named All-America both years.

Later in 1912, Thorpe was a member of the U. S, define zithromax. Purchase Zithromax, Olympic team in Stockholm where he chose to compete in the multiple-event decathlon and pentathlon, both of which he won easily, earning two gold medals. When the king of Sweden presented him with a bronze bust, he said, Zithromax crush, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Jim replied, strep a zithromax resisitant, "Thanks, king."

Thorpe returned to this country to a hero's welcome, Zithromax z-pack refill when to start, honored with a tickertape parade down Broadway in New York and a meeting with President William Howard Taft.

[caption id="attachment_7936" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jim Thorpe"][/caption]

However, the next year it was disclosed that Thorpe had briefly played minor league baseball for pay in 1910, violating the condition that Olympic athletes be amateurs, zithromax expired. Jim was declared ineligible after the fact and had to surrender his gold medals.

Thorpe, Zithromax compatability issues with iv fluids, who was 6-1 and weighed 190, played professional football for nine years, was in 52 games, made All-Pro in 1923, drug zithromax, was selected for the NFL 1920's All-Decade team, and retired at 41. It's not commonly known that Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL in 1920, Purchase Zithromax. Zithromax non-fluorinated, He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, the U. S, zithromax to cure std. Olympic Hall of Fame, and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Zithromax 250mg capsules, This Native American, a member of the Sac and Fox tribe, also played six years of major league baseball with the Giants, Reds and Braves with 176 hits and a .252 lifetime batting average, zithromax medical a href. Purchase Zithromax, Jim even had a touring basketball team for three years, but football was his favorite sport.

[caption id="attachment_7937" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jim Thorpe"][/caption]

It's no wonder Thorpe was voted the top U. S. Zithromax generic prices, athlete in the first half of the 20th century.

In 1973, the AAU restored Jim's amateur status before 1913, followed by the U.S, zithromax minimum weight requirement. Olympic committee in 1975, and finally, the International Olympic committee in 1982, Purchase Zithromax. Thorpe's family, Robert Wheeler, Buy generic zithromax online, and Florence Ridlon were instrumental in having replicas of the gold medals presented to the family in 1983. I was asked by the office of Governor George Nigh to represent Oklahoma at that ceremony in a downtown Los Angeles hotel which I did.

Now, Jim Thorpe is back in the news although he has been dead for 57 years, zithromax otitis media.

On June 24th, 72-year-old Jack Thorpe, Jim's son, sued the Pennsylvania town that bears his father's name, demanding that it return his father's remains to Oklahoma under a federal law designed to give Native American artifacts back to their tribal homelands. Purchase Zithromax, Jack said he had waited until the last of his half-sisters died to avoid a family conflict over the lawsuit. In his words, "The bones of my father do not make or break your town. I resent using my father as a tourist attraction."

Jack Thorpe and his three brothers always believed their father belongs in sacred tribal burial land in Shawnee.

My father has been gone 24 years, but I know who he would favor in the lawsuit. And that playing field in Shawnee where I climbed the steps that autumn night is named Jim Thorpe Stadium.

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Jerry Coleman has received many awards as a baseball player and baseball announcer. Playing second base for the Yankees, he was the MVP of the 1950 World Series in a sweep of the Phillies after making the American League All-Star team that summer. Jerry began announcing sports in 1960, has been a Padres broadcaster since 1972, and earned his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame broadcasters wing in 2005. He even left the booth for one year to manage San Diego in 1980. During this Memorial Day week, as Real Sports Heroes remembers the sacrifices of millions of American military personnel, our friend Jerry Coleman is the epitome or ideal example of what athletes have done in defending our great nation. He is the only major league baseball player to have seen active combat in two wars---World War II and Korea. Jerry served three years in World War II at Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands, and the Philippines, and two years in Korea. Coleman is now 85. Listen to his vignette on this website and hear him express his appreciation for what he was taught in the U. S. Marine Corps. Jerry flew more than 120 combat missions, and on one in Korea, he landed his Corsair with a full bomb load, the plane flipped over, and the "Colonel" was nearly strangled by his helmet straps. He was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 air medals, and three Navy citations as a Marine aviator. There are too many wartime stories involving sports stars to relate them all, but here are a few: CHRISTY MATHEWSON enlisted in the Army in 1918 for World War I at the age of 38. Served in Chemical Services, was accidentally gassed in France, developed tuberculosis, never fully recovered and died at 45. His 373 pitching wins made him one of five players in the first Baseball Hall of Fame class. An estimated 800 college and pro athletes were killed during World War II, including 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Niles Kinnick of Iowa and Charley Paddock, known as the world's fastest human and a member of three Olympic track teams with the world record in the 100. Of 638 NFL players who served in World War II, 66 were decorated, and 21 lost their lives. More than 500 major league baseball players served during the same war, including 29 who would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. HANK BAUER was a Marine platoon sergeant who was wounded on Guam and Okinawa. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroism in both campaigns, then later played the outfield on great Yankee teams. GIL HODGES was in the South Pacific for 18 months, received the Bronze Star, and returned stateside to play first base for the Dodgers. Gil has received the most votes of any player not yet in the Hall of Fame. BOB FELLER volunteered for the Navy two days after Pearl Harbor, was an anti-aircraft gunner on the battleship Alabama, which fought at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and in the Marshall Islands. He got five campaign ribbons, eight battle stars, lost four years of his career, and still pitched three no-hitters and 12 one-hiiters in an 18-season Hall of Fame career with the Indians. HOYT WILHEM earned a Purple Heart in the Battle of the Bulge, came home, developed a knuckleball, appeared in over 1,000 games, and was the first closer elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. BARNEY ROSS was a three-time world boxing champ whose last fight was in 1938. He joined the Marines, and was on Guadalcanal one night when he and three others were trapped under enemy fire. All four were wounded, and two died. Ross shot 400 bullets, threw 23 grenades, and killed 20 Japanese soldiers. Only 140 pounds, he carried his 230-pound buddy on his shoulder to safety, and was awarded the third highest military honor---the Silver Star. TED WILLIAMS lost five years of his baseball career when he served as a flight instructor in World War II and flew 39 combat missions in Korea after not flying for eight years. Several two-plane missions were with John Glenn, the first U. S. astronaut to orbit the earth. They would fly side by side, each in control of his Panther jet. Glenn said of Williams, "He was just great....an excellent combat pilot." Ted was one of five Hall of Famers who went to the Korean war. On February 17, 1953, Williams had to land a flak-damaged F9 aircraft. Unable to reduce his air speed, he landed it on its belly going 225 miles per hour, was out of control for over a mile, and stopped at the very end of the field. Ted popped the canopy, and except for the cockpit, the plane was aflame. Williams dove headfirst to the tarmac and was pulled away by two marines. The plane was completely destroyed. He was awarded the Air Medal with two Gold Stars for meritorious achievement. LLOYD MERRIMAN played three seasons in the outfield for the Reds, went to the Korean War, flew 87 combat missions, had his plane hit by enemy fire on one flight, and had to make a crash landing at a greater speed than normal, plowing through four rice fields before stopping. Merriman returned to baseball for two more years and was out of the game. Of those athletes who served in Viet Nam...... DON HOLLEDER was an All-America football end at West Point in 1954. He turned down the NFL Giants, stayed in the Army, rose to Major, and requested to be sent to Viet Nam. In 1967, Don battled sniper fire to land his helicopter in a clearing, and attempted to rescue a group of his fellow soldiers who had been ambushed. Holleder was killed while leading the evacuation. ROCKY BLEIER was a running back at Notre Dame and was drafted by the Steelers. But then Uncle Sam called, and he became an infantryman in the Army. Bleier suffered crippling wounds in both legs when hit by enemy rifle fire and grenade fragments during an ambush. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Rocky could barely walk for two agonizing years, then went on to an outstanding 12-year pro career, a thousand yard rusher, and contributed to four Super Bowl championships in Pittsburgh. BOB KALSU was an All-America tackle at Oklahoma and became the Bills' top rookie in 1968. After the season he entered the Army to satisfy his ROTC obligations. Bob arrived in Viet Nam as a first lieutenant in November 1969 and was killed in action in July 1970. AL BUMBRY of the Orioles led an infantry platoon in Nam and was able to say that all of his men survived the fighting. And, most recently....... PAT TILLMAN relinquished a $3.6 million contract as a safety for the NFL Arizona Cardinals to join the Army in 2002. He wanted to be a Ranger with his brother Kevin, who gave up a baseball career. In 2004, Pat was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. An autopsy showed that Tillman was struck in the forehead by three bullets shot from a U. S. Navy rifle from 100 yards away. No one has been drafted in this country since 1972 so times have changed, and military requirements are not the same. But, never let us forget who the real heroes are. Ross Porter

It is hard for me to believe, but it has been 20 years since I broadcast UNLV's 30-point rout of Duke in the NCAA Basketball Tournament final at Denver. That 103-73 result is still the record for the most lopsided championship game in the event's history. The Runnin' Rebels became the first team to score over 100 points in a title decider. Over a 19-season period (1978-1996), I was blessed to be able to announce Nevada-Las Vegas basketball games, saw some terrific players wear the UNLV uniform, and enjoyed being part of one of the most successful runs in college basketball history. That 1989-90 team opened 3 and 2, with a 20-point loss to Kansas at the pre-season NIT in New York, and an eight-point setback at Oklahoma. But then UNLV registered 32 wins in its last 35 starts, the only blemishes being a one-point defeat at New Mexico State, a 107-105 downfall at LSU, and an eight-point upset on the road against UC Santa Barbara. [caption id="attachment_7001" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jerry Tarkanian"][/caption] Coach Jerry Tarkanian's Rebels were the number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament's West Regional. They opened with a 102-72 romp past Arkansas-Little Rock and then stopped Ohio State, 76-65. UNLV received a scare in the regional semifinals, just holding off Ball State, 69-67, but rolled past Loyola-Marymount, 131-101 to advance to the Final Four. [caption id="attachment_7002" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Hunt, Anthony,Johnson,Augmon & Ackles"][/caption] Georgia Tech had a seven-point halftime advantage over UNLV in the national semifinals, 53-46 as Dennis Scott tallied 20 points. But the Rebels scored the first 13 points of the second half to take command. Kenny Anderson of the Yellow Jackets drew his fourth foul with 12 minutes to go and went to the bench. UNLV made 10 of 15 from three-point range, 52 percent overall, and won, 90-81. Stacey Augmon paced the winners with 22 points, Anderson Hunt added 20, Larry Johnson 15, Greg Anthony 14, and David Butler 13. [caption id="attachment_7003" align="alignnone" width="195" caption="Anderson Hunt"][/caption] Two nights later, on April 2, 1990, UNLV's tough man-to-man defense forced Duke to commit 14 turnovers in the first half of the title game, and the Runnin' Rebels enjoyed a 47-35 advantage at the break. It was 57-47 in the second half when Nevada-Las Vegas went on an 18-0 run with Hunt scoring 12 of the points, and with 13 minutes to go, it was 75-47, and the Blue Devils were finished. UNLV sank 61 percent from the field. Hunt made 12 of 16 shots enroute to 29 points while Johnson chipped in with 22 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Augmon connected on six of seven field goal attempts to score 12 and added seven assists. Anthony contributed 13 points and six assists. Hunt was named Most Outstanding Player as he sank 19 of 31 from the field ( 61% ) in the two games. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Johnson and Augmon. It's been my good fortune to be presented three championship rings in my broadcasting career, two by the Dodgers for their 1981 and 1988 world titles, and one by UNLV for the 1990 national crown. That's a rare double for any play-by-play announcer, and I am grateful.

As March Madness begins in college basketball, Kansas is the number 1 seeded team among the 65 selected for this year's NCAA tournament. Do you know who invented the sport of basketball which is now estimated to have more than 300 million people playing it around the world? The man who founded the Kansas basketball program in 1898. [caption id="attachment_6901" align="alignnone" width="197" caption="Dr. James Naismith"][/caption] James Naismith was born in Canada in 1861-----the year the Civil War began in the U. S.----and was an outstanding athlete in soccer, lacrosse, rugby and football. He is often credited with introducing the first football helmet. After earning a graduate degree in theology at McGill University, Naismith discovered that the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) had added athletics to its programs of Bible study, social welfare, and education. The YMCA had formed a school in Springfield, Massachusetts, to train physical education directors to work in its facilities so he crossed the border and enrolled in the school which is now Springfield College. After completing the program, James joined the school faculty and taught wrestling, canoeing, boxing and swimming. [caption id="attachment_6902" align="alignnone" width="250" caption="Springfield YMCA Building"][/caption] In 1891, the school began to have trouble with the students who were forced to stay indoors in the cold winter days. They were bored with having only calisthenics and gymnastics. Naismith's boss ordered him to create an indoor game within 14 days that would provide an athletic distraction for the unruly class, help the track team stay in shape, and be fair for all players. It was to be played safely on a hard floor in a gymnasium. James remembered a game he played as a child called Duck on a Rock where the idea was to knock a "duck" off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill instead of one that relied solely on strength. [caption id="attachment_6903" align="alignnone" width="238" caption="First Basketball Goal"][/caption] On December 21, 1891, the first game of basketball was played with a big, soft soccer ball and two peach baskets used as goals. They were affixed to a 10-foot high railing because the goal had to be off the floor high above the players' heads. Once the ball landed in the basket, players had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball. There would be a jump ball at mid-court after every goal. At first, the game featured nine versus nine players and did not include dribbling. The ball had to be moved up the court by passing. Naismith had written 13 rules outlining the game of basketball. In 1893, iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced. By the next year, basketballs had been substituted for soccer balls. The first professional league was formed in 1897. It was 1903 before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognized basketball as a permanent sport in 1905. Naismith went to Denver where he acquired a medical degree, primarily interested in sports physiology, and also was a Presbyterian minister with a keen interest in philosophy and clean living. In 1898, he joined the University of Kansas faculty as a chapel director and physical education instructor. Later that year, Dr. Naismith became the school's basketball coach, a position he occupied for nine years, and is the only basketball coach in KU history to have a losing record----55 and 60. He was also the school's athletic director from 1919 to 1937, and In 1925, became a U. S. citizen. James coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, who succeeded him at Kansas, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame with Naismith, who was inducted in 1959. It is called the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Allen coached Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp, who later once ranked 1-2 in wins by a college basketball coach for their successes at North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. They are also in the Hall of Fame. Smith had 879 lifetime victories and Rupp 876, but Bob Knight passed them with 902. Coincidentally, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina became the first three schools to achieve 2,000 triumphs within weeks of each other this season.

CAREER WINS

KENTUCKY - 2,020 KANSAS - 2,002 NORTH CAROLINA - 2,000 (Before NCAA Tournament) Basketball was adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904, but did not become an official event in the Games until 1936. College coaches paid Naismith's expenses so he could present the team medals in basketball at Berlin to the United States, Canada and Mexico that year. He called it one of the highlights of his life. Dr. Naismith died in 1939 at the age of 78 in Lawrence, Kansas.

by Art Hershey (Former senior manager for 15 years with the Los Angeles Turf Club, operator of Santa Anita Park.) In the spring of l979, a strike called against all Thoroughbred racing facilities in California imperiled the very future of the sport in the Golden State.  The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who represented the pari-mutuel wagering tellers, and still do, initiated the walkout.  There were no off-track wagering sites in those days.  Racing locally was scheduled at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. The management of Hollywood Park chose to ignore the threats of a strike as well as the urgings for proactive actions by the managements of the other tracks.  Hollywood’s CEO, Marge Everett, believed they could employ replacements on short notice and maintain “normal” operations without significant disruption to fan enjoyment. Such optimism was soon to founder in its own bad judgment.  The strike occurred.  Almost overnight, the park attracted large numbers of replacement workers.  They were given no directions on procedures or operations.  They were thrown into the breach of open wagering windows to face thousands of anxious fans eager to place their bets.  It became a near disaster of monstrous proportions.  Mass confusion coupled with long lines for access to the windows, infuriated virtually all of the race goers. To compound the problem, the Money Room, center for cash flow operations, became the most vulnerable.  It, too, was staffed with complete novices.  Virtually as much money marched out the back door of the room as that which flowed in the front door.  Poorly prepared or untrained replacements took full advantage of the confusion and relieved Hollywood Park of its need for fiscal controls by magically making significant amounts of money disappear.  The strike, and the accompanying agony, lasted five, long and arduous weeks. To this day no one is prepared to even estimate the impact of financial loss to that facility over three decades ago.  Due to that major failing, the tracks began to prepare in earnest for future strike eventualities at union contract ending dates. In late April of l992 it was Hollywood’s turn to host the racing schedule.  Coincidentally, the multi-year agreement with the SEIU was drawing to a close.  Inexplicably, Marge Everett once again chose to turn a blind eye to the inevitable.  She chose not to prepare.  It was as though the biting lessons of 13 years before had been completely lost in the flourish and roar of the calls to the post and fan cheers as horse dashed down the homestretch to finish line. This time circumstances were different from those of over a decade before.  The managements of other racing facilities, led by Santa Anita, mounted a massive campaign to replace all union track workers in southern California.  This now included nearly a dozen off-track wagering facilities whose organization did not exist in l979. The strategy called for identifying, selecting and training some 2,000 people to fill a wide variety of service jobs from food service to admissions to security, etc.  They would handle all non-wagering jobs at the race track alone.  Another 2,000 replacements were required for all of the pari-mutuel wagering operations from the fairgrounds in Santa Maria on the north to similar betting outlets as far south as the Mexican border.  Many of the 2,000 would be assigned to work directly at Hollywood Park. It was this latter group of 2,000 souls who presented a problem.  All new tellers had to be not only selected, but had to pass a 15-hour class of training on the wagering machines and money-handling practices.  They also needed to pass reference checks and be cleared by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to receive a state license. A cadre of approximately 50 to 60 employees from several tracks and off-track wagering locations throughout southern California were carefully chosen to become interviewers or trainers or both.  The new team received intensive exposure to rapid interviewing techniques as well as effective training procedures. Overall more than 9,000 applicants were processed for the 2,000 vacancies. Why would so many people surface for jobs that were not considered permanent in nature.  There were dozens of reasons.  Most of the applicants were simply great lovers of horses.  From childhood they dreamed of horse ownership, or to be a jockey, or to feed and groom these magnificent competitors.  They felt the charm and allure of the Sport of Kings.  Of course there were others who turned out because they saw the potential for a new career in an exciting setting. Economic times were not the best.  It did not hurt the recruitment to have significant numbers of former bank tellers available in the labor market.  They had been victims of reductions in banking industry employment roles at that time.  Additionally, people of all callings are enchanted by the strength and drive that horses exhibit.  And 9,000 stalwarts turning out almost overnight proved the point. A carefully drawn questionnaire was developed to use by the interviewer for each person.  Face-to-face time was limited to only five minutes to facilitate movement for the large turnout of aspiring tellers.  Some 2,200 teller trainees were selected and put through the near week-long course of study.  Week by week, new classes opened and closed with highly successful results.  Just over 2,000 trainees passed muster and were licensed by the CHRB. The teller project was organized to run for a very optimistic and seemingly impossible goal of eight weeks.  This included advertising, scheduling interviews, conducting interviews, reference checking, scheduling and conducting training and completing licensing procedures by the CHRB. Although scheduled for eight weeks, it was accomplished in seven weeks with non-stop operations day and night.  It was a heretofore unheard of achievement. Sure enough, the union flexed its muscles and struck just as Hollywood Park opened its gates for the Spring/Summer Race Meeting.  The fans did not seem to care.  They crossed picket lines in great numbers and bet with equal enthusiasm.  They were thrilled with the outstanding service provided by this novice hoard of new tellers who were friendly, courteous and surprisingly very accurate.  The effort to secure and use these tellers was a complete success. In fact, many scores of union tellers decided to defy strike orders from their union and crossed lines to work.  Most of the Money Room personnel also crossed over each day to help keep the operations going at peak efficiency. This program broke the back of the strike in just under two weeks.  And, you know, Marge Everett never did call to even say “thank you”. The union tellers did return to work.  Most of the replacements never did return, but a significant number persevered to qualify eventually for union membership.  Some have even gained enough seniority to achieve regular work status. The vast majority of fans never knew what occurred to keep service at the top of its form.  For those of us behind the scenes, “the other athletes”, knew how to create a winning scenario.  In all candor, the recall of the sequence of events is most vivid.  I was Director of Human Resources and Community PR for Santa Anita Park at the time.  I was chosen to design and implement the replacement program.  Needless to say we were all proud of the teamwork and success of the efforts put forth by so many.  Even the fans were heard to give a small cheer! And for the Thoroughbreds…….well, they just kept throwing back their feed and smiled. But, that’s the subject of a whole new story.

• NICK ADENHART
• ALEXIS ARGUELLO
• FELIX "DOC" BLANCHARD
• JOHNNY BLANCHARD
• CHUCK DALY
• DOM DIMAGGIO
• MARK FIDRYCH
• VERNON FORREST
• HERMAN FRANKS
• PRESTON GOMEZ
• WOODIE HELD
• TOMMY HENRICH
• INGEMAR JOHANSSON
• HARRY KALAS
• GEORGE KELL
• JACK KRAMER
• WHITEY LOCKMAN
• STEVE McNAIR
• DANNY OZARK
• GREG PAGE
• CARL POHLAD
• DUSTY RHODES
• TOM STURDIVANT
• WAYMAN TISDALE
• JOSE TORRES
• CARLTON WILLEY
• KAY YOW

It has been 59 years since baseball has had a Yankees-Phillies World Series. In 1950, New York won 98 regular season games and Philadelphia 91 in seizing pennants---the Yanks by three games in the American League and the Phils by two in the National League. A young group of players known as the "Whiz Kids," the Pennsylvania crew had to wait until the final day to pocket the franchise's first flag in 35 years. Because he had made three starts in five days including the finale, Phillies pitching ace Robin Roberts, a 20-game winner, could not take the mound in Game 1 of the World Series. Number 2 starter Curt Simmons had won 17 that season, but he was called to active military service because of the Korean War a month before the end of the schedule. [caption id="attachment_4847" align="alignnone" width="175" caption="1950 World Series magazine cover"][/caption] Philadelphia manager Eddie Sawyer startled everyone when he selected his bullpen star Jim Konstanty to open the Series although he had not made a start that year, winning 16 in relief with a 2.66 earned run average. New York went with 21-game winner Vic Raschi, and he was brilliant, giving up only two hits. In his 75th game of the season, Konstanty only let the Yankees collect four hits, but a run in the fourth inning was all the Bombers needed for a 1-0 triumph. Roberts was rested and prepared for Game 2. But so was Allie Reynolds of the Yankees, and he got a run in the second. The Phillies deadlocked it in the fifth. Both pitchers figured in the decision as Joe DiMaggio's leadoff homer in the top of the 10th gave New York a 2-1 verdict. [caption id="attachment_4846" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Double Play"][/caption] The scene shifted to Yankee Stadium for Game 3. Philadelphia pitched Ken Heintzelman, who had a 3 and 9 record, against Eddie Lopat, and Heintzelman did well, leading 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth. After recording two outs, he walked three batters, and when shortstop Granny Hamner booted a ground ball, the tying run crossed the plate. In the last of the ninth, with two away, the Yanks strung together three straight singles with Jerry Coleman delivering the winning hit to defeat Russ Meyer, 3-2. Three successive one-run games with the Yankees taking them all. To avert a sweep, the Phillies started Bob Miller against Whitey Ford in a matchup of rookies. [caption id="attachment_4845" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Whitey Ford"][/caption] Ford had been 9 and 1 in Triple A when New York called him up. In Game 4, the Yanks scored two runs in the first and Yogi Berra's home run was the key hit in a three-run sixth. Whitey would have thrown a complete-game shutout, but his left fielder Gene Woodling dropped a fly ball which should have been the final out, and two runs scored. Reynolds was brought in, and struckout Stan Lopata to finish a 5-2 win and complete the sweep. Yankee pitchers compiled a 0.73 ERA in the World Series. It was the seventh time in 24 years the New York club had swept a Series. The winning player's share was $ 5, 738 while the losing player's share was $ 4,081. In those days, players had off-season jobs.

One of the most beloved baseball broadcasters this country has ever known learned recently that he has incurable cancer. Yet, 91-year-old Ernie Harwell says when he heard the news he had a feeling of security and serenity, a feeling of acceptance because of his belief in Jesus and the Lord. Harwell spent 42 of his 55 years as a major league broadcaster calling Detroit Tigers games---from 1960 to 2002. Before that, he aired games of the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and Baltimore Orioles. He was the fifth announcer inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1981, but the first named while still active in play-by-play. Ernie "retired" when he was 84, but appeared several times as a guest announcer on various networks and stations after that. Ernie said he had an operation in August for an obstructed bile duct, and doctors found a cancerous tumor. He, his family and doctors have decided against further surgery or other treatment. And, in typical Harwell style, he remains in good spirits, calm, and highly appreciative of the good wishes he is receiving from hundreds of his fans. Having visited Ernie and Lulu, his wife of 68 years, at their home in Novi, Michigan in the spring of 2005, I can tell you that he has exercised regularly for many years, including sit-ups, using a treadmill, and lifting weights. In 55 seasons of announcing big league baseball, Ernie missed only two games......for his brother's funeral in 1968, and for his induction into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 1989. From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that Lulu bakes tasty chocolate chip cookies. The Harwells have four children. Harwell grew up in Atlanta, was a paperboy, and one of his customers was Margaret Mitchell, who wrote the novel Gone with the Wind. He loved baseball and became visiting batboy for the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern League when he was five. Ernie was tongue-tied from the age of three through eight, but his parents hired a speech therapist although they didn't have much money. A graduate of Emory University, Harwell was a sportswriter before he began announcing games for the Crackers in 1943. But then he went to the Marines for four years. In 1948, Ernie became the only baseball announcer ever traded for a player when Branch Rickey of the Dodgers dealt catcher Cliff Dapper to the Crackers in exchange for breaking Harwell's broadcasting contract. Ernie has had other talents outside broadcasting. An inventor, he holds a U. S. patent on a bottle-can opener. He has written popular music for years, and 66 of his songs have been recorded by various artists. Harwell has collaborated with Johnny Mercer, Sammy Fain, Jose Feliciano, and Mitch Ryder. His 1955 essay "The Game for All America" is considered a classic of baseball literature, and Ernie has written several books and penned sports columns in newspapers. Harwell was 43 when he became a born-again Christian in 1961 at a Billy Graham crusade in Florida during spring training, and later gave his testimony on a Graham television special. In 1985, Ernie was baptized in the Jordan River. He always began the first spring training broadcast of each season with a reading from Song of Solomon 2: 11-12: "For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." Harwell has long been involved with the Baseball Chapel, an evangelistic organization for professional ballplayers. Five years ago, the Detroit Public Library dedicated a room to Ernie and Lulu which will house his collection of baseball memorabilia valued at more than two million dollars. This is one of my favorite Ernie Harwell stories. In 2003, when he was 85, he signed a ten-year contract to be the spokesman for Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Michigan. The contract has an option for another ten years after that which Blue Cross has promised to extend. As Ernie says, " I plan to honor my part of the deal..........or die trying." Ernie Harwell has given many people countless hours of enjoyment through his baseball broadcasts. May God bless him richly.

Our 14-year-old grandson, Jon, was visiting us recently and since he had never seen my favorite sports movie, "Hoosiers," Lin and I decided to pull out the DVD of the 1986 film and watch it with him. If you haven't seen it yet, (I urge you to rent or buy a copy) or don't remember the story, "Hoosiers" is about a small town Indiana highschool basketball team that wins the state championship. The film is set in 1952 when all high schools in Indiana, regardless of school size, competed in one state championship tournament. That was the case until 1997. In most states, high school athletic teams are divided into different classes, usually based on the number of students enrolled, and separate state championship tournaments are held for each classification. Today, only Kentucky, Delaware and Hawaii continue to use the one-class system to decide the state high school prep champion. Gene Hackman played the role of Hickory coach Norman Dale in the film, but there is no Hickory, Indiana. Some elements of the movie do match closely with those of the real story of Milan High School (MY-lun) which won the 1954 Indiana title. Milan was a very small high school in a rural town in the southern part of the state. Both schools had undersized teams. There are a number of differences between the true Milan team and the fictional Hickory squad.

COACHING CONTROVERSY:

The volatile, middle-aged Dale, who was a bachelor, was criticized for his methods at Hickory and was about to be fired at a town meeting. 26-year-old Marvin Wood was the soft-spoken, highly-respected coach at Milan, was married, and had two children. He had directed his team to the state semifinals the year before so there was no pressure on him.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:

Hickory had eight, including the student manager, who sank two free throws to win a playoff game. The best player, Jimmy Chitwood, refused to play at first, then announced he would only if Dale were retained, thus saving the coach's job. Milan had 10, but the student manager never played. No star player was ever not on the team.

DRUNK FATHER:

In the movie, Dennis Hopper played a drunk father of one of the Hickory players. No such person was associated with Milan.

UNDERDOGS:

Hickory was depicted as a huge underdog in every contest, and won each tournament start by one or two points. Chitwood's last second basket won the final game, 42-40. Milan returned four starters and was one of the favorites to win the state crown. The closest any opponent came until the championship encounter was eight points. A field goal by Bobby Plump at the buzzer won the title game, 32-30.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOE:

Hickory was pitted against South Bend Central High School, a predominantly black team, in the state finals. Milan faced Muncie Central High School, which had just three black members, to determine the Indiana winner. Other "Hoosiers" Inside Comments... Jack Nicholson was the original choice to play coach Dale, but had a schedule conflict. Maris Valainis, the actor who played Chitwood, was told that whether he made the final shot or not, people were going to rush the floor because of the need for a wide shot of the court. Fortunately, he made it as shown in the film. Valainis was the only player on the Hickory team who did not play highschool basketball in real life. Remember the scene in the film when Jimmy and coach Dale talked while Chitwood shot baskets outside That was done in one take. Valainis said he wasn't even listening to Hackman, but was concentrating on making shots," and I made one and they kept going in." For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper asked for a 10-second notice before the director called "Action." At that point, he spun around in circles until action was ordered, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk. Hopper was nominated for an Academy Award. Hackman was not. Actor Steve Holler, who was Hickory player Rade Butcher in the movie, was on the DePauw University basketball team at the time of the filming. The NCAA penalized him with a three-game suspension and Holler was charged 5 percent of his acting fee. If it had not been ruled he was acting and not playing, the penalty would have been stiffer. In the locker room before the championship game in the film, on the blackboard were the last names of the players on the opposing team. Those were the real last names of the actors who played the Hickory team members. New Richmond, Indiana served as the functional town of Hickory during filming. "Hoosiers" was voted by the readers of USA TODAY newspaper as the best sports movie of all time. The movie was renamed "Best Shot" in Europe because most people there would not know what a Hoosier was. Do you? It's said that the origin of the term "Hoosier" is not known with certainty. It's been in use since at least 1830. Some of the possible meanings include: Citizens of Indiana, cotton stowers on the docks, Indiana farmer flat boatmen, woodsmen, rough hill people, poor farmers, and ignorant, rustic people. It's the mascot for Indiana University athletic teams.

For nearly two years now, Real Sports Heroes has focused on living sports figures who are making a difference in society. We will continue to spotlight those people who are giving back in a multitude of ways. But, you know, there are others who are no longer with us who should get credit for their contributions. So, from time to time, we will focus on them, and in some cases hope to gain them recognition they deserve for their achievements. Such a man was William "Dummy" Hoy. Read about him on this website in Lin's column, "Saluting Teamwork." It's a fascinating story. For 19 years, the deaf community and others who have reviewed his background have been lobbying to get Dummy Hoy into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. For reasons only they know, members of the Veterans Committee have continued to bypass Hoy. Many fans consider it a snub to deaf Americans that Dummy has not been inducted at Cooperstown. After all, he is the most accomplished deaf player in major league history. [caption id="attachment_4260" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="William "Dummy" Hoy"][/caption] Hoy was born in Ohio during the Civil War in 1862 and lost his hearing at an early age when he contracted spinal meningitis. He would grow to be only 5 ' 4" and weigh 145. In those days, "dumb" was used to describe someone who could not speak, but had nothing to do with lack of intelligence or stupidity. Hoy, who was the valedictorian at his school for the deaf, preferred to be called "Dummy." Baseball was almost an obsession with Hoy. At first, he showed little skill in the sport. However, a classmate, Ed Dundon, who ironically would become the first deaf player in the majors, gave Dummy some advice he never forgot. "Because you are small and deaf, you are going to have to work harder and have to be better than most players to have any chance." Hoy used that statement as his motto when he became a cobbler and later a baseball player. It spurred him into becoming a hero in a number of ways. Dummy was gentlemanly, polite, well-liked by his teammates, and his honesty was legendary. In one game, with darkness approaching, Hoy raced in from center field toward the infield trying to grab a batted ball. An umpire ruled he had made the catch. An argument ensued. The umpire went to Dummy and asked him if the ball had bounced or had he caught it on the fly. The answer? " I trapped it." The umpire reversed the call, and Hoy's teammates were furious with him. The next day, Dummy received a letter from the owner of his team, congratulating him, with this statement, " I would rather lose the game than win dishonestly." Hoy and his wife, Anna, who was also deaf, raised three children and a nephew who later founded the Helms Athletic Foundation in Los Angeles. After retiring as a pro at 42, Dummy retained his enthusiasm for baseball, joining a local amateur team, coaching a Deaf-community squad, and attending meetings of former players. He succeeded as a dairy farmer, also worked as a personnel director for the Goodyear Tire Company, and later with a book firm until he was 75. Hoy was inducted in the Ohio Sports Hall of Fame and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. Dummy Hoy said he had two goals-----to live to be 100 and be voted into Baseball's Hall of Fame. At age 99, the Reds asked him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before game 3 of the 1961 World Series. Dummy could see the standing ovation he received. Two months later, he passed away after suffering a stroke, five months before reaching the century mark. His other goal will come true one day if a committee decides to honor one of its own. It's long overdue.

Editor, Dodger Dugout

Belisario Defied Long Odds to Make Dodgers

Major League organizations spend millions of dollars researching, scouting and signing the best and brightest players both in the United States but all over the world. One might think that no player with the required talent would escape them. But now and again one is found by a stroke of good fortune, or luck, or digging a bit deeper than the others and somewhere under that umbrella, Ronald Belisario seemingly fell right in the Dodgers' lap. No offense to Pittsburgh intended, but when you sign a player that they give up on, you don't spend much time in spring training giving him a look. He has to shoot out the lights when he does get an opportunity or slide back into the minor leagues, perhaps never to be given a second, or third chance. Spring training is replete with feel-good stories that mostly last until the big club breaks camp without the name of the "can't miss" prospect absent from the opening day roster. Career minor league players and Rule 5 draft picks sometimes end up cracking a major league roster. Their stories delight the senses and create memories that will last a lifetime. But most of the time journeyman may flare briefly, have special stories written about them during March and then, almost inevitably, fade. Whether they make it or not it gives them, and everyone who watches professional baseball closely, an appreciation of how special it is to wear the uniform. All of this not withstanding, Ronald Belisario, is a 6-3 and 240 pound bull of a man who throws a sinking fastball in the mid 90s and mixes in a power slider did slip through the crack. Someone this large would be hard to overlook. However, that's Belisario's story at age 26 and the stuff movies are made of. Born in Maracay, Venezuela on December 31, 1982 he showed such promise he was signed by the Florida Marlins as a 16-year-old amateur free agent in 1999 and was sent to the Venezuelan Summer League the next season. He excelled and was moved to the Marlins' Gulf Coast League team in 2000 where he struck out 98 in 140 innings and quickly became "a prospect." He moved to the Class A level and on to Double-A by the time he was 21, about the game most high draft choices come out of college to be showered with millions of dollars by organizations betting on the come. He was placed on the Florida 40-man roster in 2004 but before he could enjoy such lofty air, he underwent Tommy John surgery and his trip down the baseball ladder became just as swift as his assent. Belisario said his best shot at reaching the Major League level was in the spring 2005, while he was on the Marlins' 40-man roster, but then his elbow started acting up toward the end of Spring Training and the operation followed. After rehabbing in 2005 he was discarded by the Marlins after an unspecified suspension in 2006. Apparently he picked up a reputation for immaturity, poor conditioning and a lack of respect for authority. When he wasn't showing up late, he was failing to approach his job with proper commitment. He was taken into the Pittsburgh system, did a creditable job in A ball in 2007, slid into mediocrity in 2008 and found himself back in the Venezuelan Winter League with Leones de Caracas after the Pirates cut him loose. A Pittsburgh web site remembered him as "the pitcher formerly known as 'No, nobody knows why he's on the Pirates' 40-man roster' " Then the baseball gods conspired to give him a second chance. Not all that much of a chance but by this time he realized it might be his last one. He impressed his Venezuelan manager Carlos Subera, who just happened to be chosen the new manager of the Dodgers' Single-A Inland Empire affiliate and he got a positive report from scout Ron Rizzi. The Dodgers signed him on Subera's recommendation but visa problems delayed him so long he was sent to the minor league side at Camelback Ranch when he finally arrived in Arizona. He was one of 16 non-roster pitchers the Dodgers brought in to be sorted through and he was dropped back to Minor League camp in the first cutdown, before anyone had been given a chance to look at him. "I understood being sent down before I even pitched. I came a little late," Belisario said. "I was disappointed, but it wasn't their fault, it was my fault." Belisario worked in a "B" game the day he was sent down, but didn't reappear in a Major League game until pitching one mopup inning of a split-squad game March 16. He disappeared from the Major League side and when he was next seen, he was knocking bats out of people's hands on the Minor League side with his late-action mid-90s fastball. Baseball Prospectus was not impressed withe him and came up with a PECOATA prediction that said he could expect to have a 5.85 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP if he were to pitch in the majors this year. But Tony Jackson liked his looks, and writing for the Los Angeles Daily News at the time, and wrote, "Don't count out Belisario. He isn't just the guy who reported late to camp due to visa problems in Venezuela. He has made three relief appearances, two of them after he was reassigned to minor-league camp. Then he mowed down seven batters in a row in the eighth and ninth innings against Oakland." Assistant general manager DeJon Watson kept asking that Belisario get another look. Desperate for bullpen help, the club called back both Belisario and Giancarlo Alvarado. Belisario appeared in three games late in the spring season, throwing six scoreless innings. Originally a starter, he switched to being a reliever after surgery, and has no problem throwing multiple innings. The secret of his improvement? "The big difference is being able to use the two-seamer to come inside on left-handed hitters," he said. The two-seam fastball is a perfect compliment to his repertoire. The big right-hander throws a 94+ MPH fastball that sinks like a splitter. He also uses a hard slider to add a slight change of speed. "He was dismissed very quickly because he arrived so late," Torre said. "He missed the flight, and we had other guys to look at. We didn't have room to see him and he went to the minor leagues. "Then we had a had meeting in Arizona and we wanted to look at a couple of players. We watched him warm up and liked what we saw." Then he got his first real chance against the Angels in an exhibition game and immediately opened some eyes. "I watched Chone Figgins swing and miss twice. That doesn't happen very much when he's looking for fastballs to hit. That was impressive -- what that means is there's late life on the fastball," Torre said. Belisario added to his resumé with those six shutout innings in the Cactus League, and surprised the baseball world by making the Dodgers opening day roster. Once there he hit the ground running, throwing 50 strikes in his first 70 pitches and punching out out eight in his first 4.2 innings. "The guy has vicious stuff," said a National League scout. "He should have been in the big leagues a couple of years ago," a bit of information that National League hitters have discovered the hard way. The fact that he made a Major League staff is the biggest surprise of the spring and the astonishment grows when you consider his statistics after the first 61 games of the season. He leads an excellent bullpen in appearances (31), innings pitched (85.2), strikeouts (90) and holds (8); is second in hits per nine innings allowed (6.50), opponents batting average (.200) and least pitches per inning (15.9). He's given up only 70 hits and 38 walks to go with a fine 2.50 earned run average. If the Dodgers continue riding this horse hard, and he doesn't break down, he will set a new club record for relievers in innings pitched and rank in the all-time top 10 in games pitched and opponent's batting average. Somewhat like clicking your heels three times and saying, "I want to go home," miracles still do happen now and then.

(Editor, Dodger Dugout) Just over 70 years ago, in 1938, the Brooklyn Dodgers were starting to stir from the morass of internal friction which had robbed them of any continuity and which kept them mired in the second division of the National League. [caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Larry MacPhail"][/caption] At the urging of the National League, the board of directors hired flamboyant Larry MacPhail as General Manager. He would quickly put the team back into contention and eventually on to their first pennant in 21 years. But his first season, 1938, was a slow one. The club didn't have much of a team, even less of a minor league system and he had little money to make player deals. So he cast around for any sort of lucrative scheme to put some dollars in the cash box with which to purchase live bodies for the playing field. Despite the lack of ready money, he had borrowed, and spent, $50,000 to purchase first baseman Dolph Camilli from Philadelphia and then went into deeper debt with the Brooklyn bank for money to refurbish decaying Ebbets Field. MacPhail changed the starting time from 2:30 to 3:15 in hopes of getting more customers from the Brooklyn businesses and in an even more important move, he hired broadcaster Red Barber away from MacPhail's old club, the Cincinnati Reds. The three New York teams, Dodgers, Giants and Yankees, had agreed among themselves that they would not broadcast the games, feeling that they would cut attendance by supplying free information about the games. However, MacPhail had not been a party to the agreement and laughed at the other clubs when they complained. Cincinnati had put lights on Crosley Field and had tripled their attendance in the games played at night. Again the New York clubs thought it would be foolish to spend money on lights and agreed to have no part of it. Again MacPhail laughed and borrowed more money ($110,000) to install lights at Ebbets Field. The team had won only five home games when they played their first night game on June 15, the first of seven scheduled games under the lights. MacPhail, a master showman, did it up right, scheduling two fife and drum corps to entertain the early crowd, while flag ceremonies and a special sprinting exhibition between Jesse Owens, hero of the 1936 Olympics and Ernie Koy of the Dodgers and Lee Gamble of the Reds. Owens spotted them both 10 yards but that was just a little too much, finishing third with a sparkling time of :09.7. He also long jumped 23-6 and raced Gibby Brack, Dodgers outfielder, in the 120 yard high hurdlers, with Brack running on the flat. Owens finished second again. The lights came on at 8:15 to a terrific crowd from the estimated crowd of 40,000 who had jammed into the park that officially held 32,000+. MacPhail's luck took an even better turn when Johnny Vander Meer, fresh from a no-hitter over Boston five days before, pitched a second no-hitter. The fact that Cincinnati won 6-0 was of little consequence. Before the game started, the crowd started buzzing when a large man made his way into the box seats. "It's Babe," someone shouted and the fans surged around the former Yankee home run hitter. "Hi'ya kid" Ruth boomed with his usual salutation to persons whose names he never remembered. "Hey, d'you know that in 23 years in baseball, this will be the first time I ever watched a game in Ebbets Field?" MacPhail noticed the crush of fans and their positive reaction to the slugger and he made another decision. He announced that Ruth would be the new Dodgers first base coach and that he has been signed for the rest of the 1938 season. "Babe Ruth belongs in baseball," he shouted into the public address microphone, "and to prove that I mean what I say, Ruth will be in uniform tomorrow here in Ebbets Field." The next day, wearing Brooklyn uniform No. 35, Ruth took batting practice for the first time in three years and although 43 years old and overweight, he took a few cuts and then retired to the dugout. "Gosh," he was reported to have said by the papers the next day, although that must have cleaned that up for public consumption. "My chest muscles are so sore it's tough to swing." The game drew 28,000 fans who cheered wildly when Ruth did get good wood on the ball. The Babe was convinced he was in line to become the next Dodgers' manager, and perhaps that was what MacPhail had told him. It might have happened but his former teammate, Leo Durocher, had joined the team as a coach for the same reason and perhaps with the same promise. It was inevitable that the two would eventually get into some sort of a confrontation and when Ruth told him, "Stick with me kid, when I take over you'll have a job with the club" it started. A shoving match ensued with Leo pushing Ruth back over a bench and into a row of lockers, hoping that someone would quickly end the fight before the big guy got his hands on him and save his life. That pretty much ended the experiment as far as MacPhail was concerned. He would keep the Babe for the rest of the season and then let him go. Ruth, unaware of the decision, continued to take "batting practice" and draw fans both at home and on the road, with people coming out early to see him bust one or two. On July 6 the Dodgers played an exhibition game in Elmira, N.Y., one of the few Dodgers minor league teams, and Ruth played and had three singles. He slugged a long shot over the right fielders head the next day at another exhibition in Syracuse and jogged to first, then switched positions with first base coach Eppa Rixey, saying "You take it from here, kid." The combination earned a triple. A number of other exhibition games were quickly scheduled and Ruth got his final home run in Terre Haute in a 17-2 massacre. Dodgers coach Burleigh Grimes pitched in that game. Ruth was booted from both ends of a double header on August 11 and the Dodgers won both games. In September, with his batting eye getting sharper, and the Dodgers settled comfortably in sixth place, Ruth asked to be activated knowing the rosters had been expanded. Inexplicably, the request was turned down although heaven knows that they could have used his big bat at least in a pinch-hitting role. The Dodgers issued a press release that insultingly read, "The Brooklyn Club is not a circus. (although you could have fooled the fans by this time) The prime thought of the front office is to build a winning, hustling team and it is trying hard to eliminate the wild-spread idea that the Dodgers are still 'Daffyness Boys.' " Ruth broke a toe on September 11 and, finally realizing that he had no chance to become the manager, he asked for his release. Actually, he had been a good coach. He noticed that speedy Ernie Koy was slowing down rounding first and, working with Burleigh Grimes, they determined that he was hitting the bag with the wrong foot. He was released at the end of the season and he formally thanked the Brooklyn club and the writers for their kindness shown during the year. Thus ended the career of the greatest baseball player of all time. He would never return to the game and would die 10 years later of throat cancer.

Editor, Dodger Dugout

The Dodgers new home at Camelback Ranch-Glendale is a couple of things. First of all, it isn't Dodgertown at Vero Beach. And second, it is the most complete baseball complex in all of baseball, constructed in an amazingly beautiful area. Dodgertown in Vero Beach was born in 1948 with the Brooklyn club playing their Montreal farm club, with Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella. This, and the rest of the history surrounding the storied site, is the part of the first Dodgertown that can never be duplicated. Having said that, it would be hard to imagine how you could design a more esthetically-perfect facility than the $113 million Camelback Ranch. Despite sportswriter Bill Plaschke's tongue-in-cheek criticism that there were no Dodger Dogs, the new location follows close the old song, "where never was heard, a discouraging word, and the skies were not cloudy all day." In fact, the operative word for most who got their first look at the place on March 1 was an almost universal "Wow." The area has the look of a college campus, one that encompasses some 141 acres of pure baseball. There are 12 practice fields, four for the major leaguers and eight for the minor league players. The Dodgers and White Sox, who share the complex, each have a 50,000 square foot team support building. There are separate buildings for the Dodgers major and minor league teams and combined facilities for the White Sox squads. Players leave the clubhouse by a tunnel that exits onto the field or down a pathway that leads to the practice fields, the latter allowing fan access to the players much like Vero Beach The rust-colored complex, designed to make it look like it has been there for a long time, in reality went from ground-breaking in November of 2007 to ready for prime time in a remarkable 15 months instead of the predicted 21 months. In fact, it was ready for the two teams to occupy in the middle of February when pitchers and catchers reported. Some 900 workers accomplished the admirable construction feat and were still working when the Dodgers and White Sox opened their exhibition seasons----on the road, of course. This Arizona training camp is skillfully blended in with natural stone veneers, faux staining, Gabion wall systems and earth-tone stadium seat covers making the entire complex mix into the area as naturally as to the desert itself and the mountains that rise prominently all around. The public access areas, the 1,300-foot lake system, landscaping and practice fields, were completed first before the focus turned to finishing the stadium itself for the March 1 opening date. As for the crown jewel, a 13,100-seat stadium, it features a playing field sunken 12 feet below grade and seating 12 feet above grade for perfect sight lines. It includes 3,000 lawn seats, 12 luxury suites and party deck overlooking the field, all accessed by a unique center field rotunda. The outfield walls are longer than at Dodger Stadium, but the dimensions of the major practice field is exactly the same. Dodgers vice president of communications Josh Rawich says that the complex is "functionally complete," but points out it is somewhat of a work in progress. "We've gone to great lengths to preserve history," he said. "We didn't want to throw the street signs we brought from Vero Beach and things like that up willy-nilly without giving it real thought, and they will make their way up over time." There are minor complaints. The field faces an unusual direction to allow a view of the mountain range to the south. That puts the sun directly in the faces of many along the third base line as well as those in the pressbox who are perhaps a bit more vocal. And, fans who sit in the grass behind the outfield, one of the best seats in the house, cannot see a scoreboard. So, in essence, the complex is certainly not Vero Beach, but then Ebbets Field is not Dodger Stadium and if there were octogenarians still about, they would say Ebbets Field was not Washington Park where the Bridegrooms and Superbas played. Memory makes the past more palatable by forgetting the inconveniences. As for the nostalgia that is essentially missing in the gorgeous new place, Manny Mota has an answer. "We just have to be here for 50 years. That's what makes history."

If you are a pro football fan and yet don't know the game well enough to understand the inner workings of an organization or the rules of the National Football League, it can be quite confusing. As an example, the New England Patriots traded their "franchise player," quarterback Matt Cassel over the weekend to the Kansas City Chiefs.  Your first question might well be, "Why would an NFL team deal a man who had earned that designation?" A sensible and good question. [caption id="attachment_3470" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Matt Cassel"][/caption] Cassel, a seventh round draft choice out of USC where he rarely played while backing up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, was the Pats' backup quarterback until Tom Brady was lost for the 2008 season due to a serious injury to his left knee in the opening game. Brady has won three Super Bowls and been the MVP in two of those. Cassel, who had not started since highschool, played well in 15 games, passing for nearly 3,700 yards and 21 touchdowns. New England won 11. Now, here are the technicalities that come into play. If a franchise tag is put on a player such as Cassel, that restricts the player from entering free agency and going to another team unless that club is willing to give up two first round draft choices.  In return, the Patriots, in this case, would have had to pay Matt a premium salary. The NFL requires that a franchise player be paid at least the average of the top five players in the league at that position, or 120 % of his previous year's salary, whatever was greater. The franchise player status lasts for only one year and can be renewed, but if not renewed the player is granted unrestricted free agency. That tag would have cost the Patriots $ 14.65 million if they kept Cassel as insurance if Brady's  health were questionable. Obviously, New England is confident that Tom will be ready next fall so Cassel could be dealt. The plan was always to trade Matt. But, the Pats were also forced to put linebacker Mike Vrabel in the trade to get the Chiefs' second round selection which is the 34th overall player. That gives New England four draft choices between the 23rd and 58th picks on April 25th. New Kansas City general manager Scott Pioli drafted Cassel in 2005. The much-asked question over the weekend was whether the Patriots got enough in exchange for Cassel. Many general managers might have made a better deal---maybe a first round pick between 15 and 32, and a fourth or fifth round draft choice as well. Denver's Broncos showed interest which miffed their quarterback Jay Cutler. An NFL team is not required to utilize the "franchise player" tag. In 2008, just 12 of the 32 organizations had a tagged franchise player. The tag, or the threat of using the tag, can be used as a negotiating tactic by the club to convince a player to sign a long-term contract to stay where he is. That player would then have the option of signing a lucrative one-year pact and then declaring for free agency. If that happens, he is taking the  risk of having a disappointing season which could impact his future in professional football. Now that Matt Cassel has been sent to a new team, what about other "franchise players?" Darren Sproles, Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, Bo Scaife, Karlos Dansby, Leroy Hill, O. J. Atogwe and Dunta Robinson are also in that category. [caption id="attachment_3471" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Albert Haynesworth"][/caption] The free agent signing period opened last Friday. What happens to quarterbacks Kurt Warner, Byron Leftwich, and Jeff Garcia, running back Derrick Ward, wide receivers T. J. Houshmandzadeh, Marvin Harrison and Amani Toomer? How about inside linebacker Ray Lewis, outside linebacker Derrick Brooks, defensive ends Bertrand Berry and Chris Canty, defensive tackles Kedric Golston, Tank Johnson and La' Roi Glover, cornerbacks Dre' Bly, Bryant McFadden, and Ron Bartell, safeties Jermaine Phillips, James Butler, and James Sanders, and offensive guard Mike Goff? Did you ever think you would see the day when an NFL defensive tackle would be able to secure a 100-million dollar contract as Albert Haynesworth did a few days ago? The Washington Redskins signed arguably the most dominant defensive tackle in the league to a seven-year deal. Haynesworth, who leaves the Tennessee Titans, will receive a record $ 41 million in guaranteed salary. He will be 28 in June. Will that allow the Redskins to make the playoffs in a division which includes the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys?