Joe Garagiola on Baseball

Joe Garagiola, a major league baseball player who evolved into a long broadcasting career at the age of 90.  Garagiola was a journeyman catcher who played for nine seasons in the majors for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and the New York Giants.  After his retirement from baseball, Garagiola wrote the book "Baseball is a Funny Game" (1960).  That helped launch his broadcast career.

But Garagiola was better known as the backstop panelist for NBC's Today show from 1967 to 1982 and 1990 to 1992. Garagiola also did play by play and color commentary  for NBC Sports baseball telecasts from 1974 to 1988.  Garagiola then spent a season doing cable commentary for the California Angels.  Afterwards, Garagiola did part time commentary for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998-2012 while his son was general manager for the Diamondbacks.  

All together, Garagiola broadcast for 35 years over seven decades.  No wonder why Garagiola was honored with the Ford Frick Award and inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York in 1991.

Keeping to his lighthearted take on life, Garagiola quipped that the only way that he could get into Cooperstown was as a broadcaster.

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Anthematically Verklempt

Rosanne Barr at Padres game 1990

Some cynics question why we perform patriotic music like the National Anthem before professional sporting matches.  This perspective is bolstered  when singers forget the lyrics like Aaron Lewis did during the 2014 World Series.  And people wonder "What the Hail?" when people like Rosanne Barr or silver screen characters such as  Frank Drevin from "The Naked Gun"  (1988) who turn "honoring America" into a joke. 

That being said, there are glimmers of hope on honoring America in song in pro sports.  It was a touching new tradition that Major League Baseball featured active servicemen singing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch during the playoffs and the World Series.  

However, what was truly moving was the reaction to an instrumental rendition of the National Anthem during an NFL Monday Night Football game. At MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the New York Giants invited Grammy Award winning trumpeter Chris Botti to play the National Anthem.

Botti's rendition was so inspiring that it visibly moved Indianapolis Colts veteran Wide Receiver Reggie Wayne to tears.  This stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was no mere formality when it can make a veteran pro football player verklempt. 

On the eve of the midterm elections, when conscientious American citizens prepare to go to the polls and exercise their franchise to support and maintain our democratic Republic, it is fitting to hear such a beautiful rendition of our National Anthem.  Bravo!

h/t:  Uproxx 

Willie Mays on Defense

NY Giants Co-owner Steve Tisch's Sick Sense of Humor

TMZ Sports caught New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch exiting a West Hollywood restaurant if he was concerned about playing in Dallas due to first confirmed case of Ebola being diagnosed in the Big D.

Tisch claimed that the Giants had nothing to worry about for their game on October 19th at Jerryworld (a.k.a. AT and T Stadium).  But Tisch jocularly jibed that the Cowboys would be infected first.  

DC-Jockularity revels in colorful quotes about sports.  Moreover, it does not obsess over political correctness. That being said, Tisch's quips were "too soon"and not the right forum.  The joke might have worked as bar banter among the boys.  But where you stand is where you sit.  Tisch was in public representing the New York Giants as an owner.  His joke seemed like sick humor.  It does not befit a media experienced individual like Tisch.

In 2007, Tufts University awarded Steve Tisch with the P.T. Barnum Award for exceptional work in the media and entertainment.  This award was not an invitation to turn things into a media circus. 

h/t: TMZ Sports

Want a White Elephant?

Have you ever wondered why Athletics baseball players wear an elephant on their sleeve?  Well, it goes back to the origins of the team.  When the Philadelphia Athletics became one of the charter members of the newly established American League in 1901, owner Benjamin Shibe took a spendthrift approach to staffing his team.  Shibe was willing to pay top dollar to National League ballplayers to join the upstart Philadelphia Athletics.

So in 1902, manager John McGraw, who moved to the National League New York Giants after the first American League Baltimore Orioles franchise folded, was disgusted by Shibe business strategy. McGraw opined that Shibe had a white elephant on his hands.  At the time, a white elephant was a metaphor for something that looked nice but was impossible to maintain.

The Philadelphia Athletics, however, embraced the jibe.  So much so, the Athletics made the White Elephant into the team's mascot.  In fact, Philadelphia Athletics Manager Connie Mack ordered that Athletics jerseys be emblazoned with a White Elephant.  

In the end, John McGraw's musings over the White Elephant A's proved quite wrong.   By 1905, the Athletics were quite profitable and prosperous, earning its way into the championship series.  To underline that point, John McGraw was given a White Elephant by the A's prior to the first game of the 1905 World Series.

New York Giants Manager John McGraw receiving a White Elephant before Game 1 of the 1905 World Series

McGraw was said to have doffed his cap and deeply bowed before the hooting crowd in the City of Brotherly Love.

The White Elephant has been part of the Athletics uniforms for much of their history, including in the A's incarnations in Philadelphia (1901-1954), Kansas City (1955-1967) and Oakland (1968-present).  In 1963, however, A's owner Charlie O. Finley changed the mascot to a mule, perhaps to appeal to Show Me State Democrats. The elephant mascot was restored as the A's symbol in 1988 and was know as Harry Elephante.  Since 1997, the elephant mascot has been called Stomper.



  

Alas for Oakland fans, the White Elephant is going into off-season hibernation as the A's lost their wildcard game 9-8 in 12 innings to the Kansas City Royals. 

Polo Ground Trivia and "The Catch"

Sixty years ago, New York Giants Outfielder Willie Mays made "The Catch" during the first game of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.  

In the top of the eighth inning, the score was tied 2-2 with men on first and second.  Giants left handed relief pitcher Don Liddle served up a pitch which Indians batter Vic Wertz drilled into deep center field.  In most ballparks, the Wertz 420 foot hit would have been a homer, which would give the Indians 5-2 lead.  

However, the 1954 World Series opener was played in the Polo Grounds. 

Willie Mays rushed in from short center field and made a spectacular on-the-run, over-the-back basket catch on the warning track.  "The Say-Hay" Kid then spun around and tossed the ball to second to check the runner, although the lead runner was able to tag up and take third. 

"The Catch" is the stuff of legend, which might make George Will wax poetically on the George Will Sports Machine, if such a show existed.

George Will Sports Machine on "The Catch"

Admiring the Inner Strength of David Wilson

David Wilson is a 23 year old running back who was a first round draft choice by the New York Giants in 2012. Wilson's dream from the age of eight was to play in the NFL.  Wilson lived that dream for 21 games over two seasons, but had been plagued with a neck injury .

During the first week of the NFL preseason, as Wilson was attempting a comeback from neck surgery, he  ran into the back of one of his teammates during scrimmage. Afterwards, his spinal doctor diagnosed Wilson with diffuse cervical stenosis.  Since Wilson had a disc removed from his spine after his October 2013 injury, the running back was advised not to play football anymore, as doing so would put himself at risk for serious spinal injuries.

After his player received such bad news from the doctors, New York Giants Head Coach  Tom Coughlin was surprised that Wilson still had a smile on his face, but Wilson refused to be pulled down into a state of melancholy. Coughlin marveled that: "There’s a lot to be said about his inner strength right now." 

As David Wilson processed his situation, he remarked: 

“I’m thankful that I can literally walk away from the game and that I am healthy and capable of doing the same things I have done all my life, except play football. I always try to find the positive in everything. I prayed this morning before I went to see [the doctors] that they would tell me what God would tell me. He put His answer in them to relay to me.”

David Wilson's poise of facing such devastating vocational news with good cheer and hope is admirable. Wilson's faith puts his trust in God, which is a lesson worth remembering and emulating. 

h/t: New York Post