Lee Lowenfish

My August started with another memorable week teaching Baseball and American Culture in the Special Studies program at Chautauqua, the adult education mecca located in southwestern New York State just past Jamestown. Our theme this year was baseball and comedy. Co-teaching with veteran literature teacher Mark Altschuler, we started with Abbott and Costello's evergreen "Who's On First?" Next up was the hilarious baseball scene in Buster Keaton's 1927 film "College" followed by Ring Lardner's "Alibi Ike" - originally written in 1914 and soon to become a phrase in the American language. We delved into both the short story and Joe E Brown's movie interpretation.

 

I had never taught "Damn Yankees" before and whatta revelation. That was Walter Mitty Me! in the opening scene of the movie when Joe Boyd, the frustrated middle-aged Washington Senators fan, is screaming at his black-and-white TV: "Don't try to murder the ball - just hit it up the middle!" Soon Boyd is transformed into slugging hero Joe Hardy played in the movie by Tab Hunter.  Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon recreated their Broadway roles in the film as the Devil and his assistant Lola. Costumed hilariously, Jean Stapleton, later to become immortal as Edith Bunker, has a memorable turn as one of the neighbors of Joe Boyd's wife. 

 

Douglass Wallop's novel "The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant" fortuitously came out in 1954, the year the Yankees DID lose the pennant. The Broadway musical opened in 1955, the only year the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series. The show ran into 1957 including a London run as "What Lola Wants". '57 was also the year the Yanks lost in October to the Milwaukee Braves but the play has lasting power not because of its Yankee-bashing, but because of its warm and convincing take on the  life crisis of a middle-aged male.  It continues to be performed in high schools, and with a diverse cast, opens in the Washington DC area this fall. It is hard to match "You Gotta Have Heart" for a peppy optimistic number and "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)" for good clean seduction.  The lament of Lola and Joe Hardy, "Two Lost Souls" with Verdon also dancing with choregrapher Bob Fosse (and future husband), touched me.   

 

Whatta great name for a writer about baseball, Wallop. Douglass Wallop (1920-1985) was actually a onetime news service reporter who transcribed General Eisenhower's 1948 memoir "Crusade in Europe". He wrote several novels and a baseball history, but if remembered at all, it is for his whimsical novel which was reissued in 2004 in a new edition introduced by the first famous baseball analyst Bill James.  BTW, Mel Allen, the Yankee broadcaster who used to call home runs White Owl Wallops (and Ballantine Blasts), appears as himself in the film.

 

Other highllights of the class included the showing of the mirthful short subject "Gandhi at the Bat" based on Chet Williamson's "New Yorker" story and Harpo Marx playing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" on what was reportedly the most widely watched "I Love Lucy" show.  The claas ended with a showing of George Carlin's immortal "Baseball vs. Football" monologue that he performed on the first "Saturday Night Live" in 1975. Our surprise guest afterwards was Kelly Carlin, also a teacher at Chautauqua, a writer based in LA, and George Carlin's only child.  She has donated her father's archive to the National Comedy Center in nearby Jamestown, which is on its way to becoming a Comedy Cooperstown.      

 

Mark and I are talking about a Baseball Comedy Part II during Chautauqua's Week 5 at the end of July 2026. I'm lobbying for excerpts from Richard Greenberg's play "Take Me Out" in which the player agent who falls in love with baseball (and one of the stars) delivers this elegy:

"Baseball is better than democracy - or at least that democracy as it's practiced in this country - because, unlike democracy, baseball acknowledges loss.   While conservatives tell you, 'Leave things alone, and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you, 'Interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says, 'Someone will lose.' Not only says it, insists upon it." (p34)  

Not exactly something that super-agent in the real world Scott Boras might say, but I believe this elegy is worthy of our.attention.  

   

And now for the sad tale of the return of the Woerioles.  In a year where there is no clear favorite for the World Series and a lot of surprise teams from the Heartland I think have a genuine shot - eg.  Milwaukee, Detroit, and Toronto - the O's never threatened.  I wish I am wrong but it seems like another "rebuild" is coming to Camden Yards as well as already-announced higher ticket prices and changes to the stadium that may spoil the acclaimed creation in the early 1990s that sparked the new wave of old-style baseball parks. 

 

All of the so-called young core of the team have had down years.  Some have mysteriously fallen into a baseball abyss like the switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman the number one pick in the country in the 2019 draft (Bobby Witt Jr now a Kansas City star shortstop was the number two).  Hard to pinpoint what happened to a former "can't-miss" prospect.  Probably the "high point" was his performance in the Home Run Derby at Seattle in 2023 when his father, along with his father scholastic coaching royalty in Oregon, pitched to him and Adley blastied home runs from both sides of the plate. It was just an exhibition and Dad was lobbing balls - and not real MLB baseballs - from 40 feet away.  

 

Adley is now on the IL with his second oblique injury of the year, supposedly not as bad as the first one on the other side of his body.  What I had long feared has come to fruition - the buildup for Samuel Basallo the heir apparent to Rutschman has begun.  After only FOUR GAMES IN HIS MLB CAREER, the Orioles with great fanfare held a press conference to announce that the 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic had been signed to a 8-year contract, meaning that his salary arbitration years had been bought out plus two more of his free agency.

 

Not surprisingly, Basallo has gotten off to a slow start with the bat while catching a little and playing some first base and DH-ing.  None of the other vaunted core with more MLN experience has provided much offensive help with the slight exception of shortstop Gunnar Henderson who has seemingly lost his power bat and who good pitching tends to stifle.  Sadly, fellow infielder and grittier Jordan Westburg must now be burdened with one of the worst adjectives in baseball parlance, "injury-prone". Jackson Holliday, the 2023 top pick in the country, has not shown much improvement and he might even miss playing shortstop.  Not sure he has the arm for that and he is still showing signs of feeling overmatched at the major league level.  

Recently, fired manager Brandon Hyde made his first comments since his ouster, expressing regret on how Holliday was rushed to the majors.  Sure hope that Basallo doesn't meet the same

fate.  

 

The only truly bright spot in 2025 has the outstanding pitching of southpaw Trevor Rogers whose performance has taken away some of the sting from the trade of power-hitting outfielder Kyle Stowers to the Marlins (along with power-hitting infielder Connor Norby). Though not yet a contender and with ownership (like Baltimore's) not seemingly committed to spending money wisely, the Marlins are developing a scrappy, dangerous young team - ask the Mets who just lost three out of four at home to Miami.   

  

I feel for the Baltimore fans who will not accept another rebuild and last week allowed the Red Sox winnite fans to take over the ballpark. Just like doing the dark years before Buck Showalter led the turn around in 2012.   Undoubtedly Yankee fans will do the same when they visit Camden Yards September 19-21. In another item of bad news, the 2026 schedule was just announced and like this year the Orioles will wind up the regular season at Yankee Stadium.  At least they don't play in 2026 7 of their last 10 games against their rivals as they do late this month.  

 

I don't want to end on such a sour note so here are some kudos to some baseball people who are flying under the radar.

** The defensive quickness of rival third basemen caught my eye when I attended the last regular season home game of the Brooklyn Cyclones against the Hudson Valley Yankees on the Sunday before Labor Day.  Juan Matheus (pronounced Matthews) for the victorious Yankees and Diego Mosquera for the Cyclones are both Venezuelans, Matheus from Lara and Mosquera from Valencia. Interestingly, they both have the same slender build, 5' 10 and 155 pounds -  it possibly projects them more to the middle infield.  

 

I love going to minor league games.  Pat O'Conner, the last president of the National Association of minor leagues before Rob Manfred took over and even more their offices to NYC, used to guarantee that at every minor league game you will see a future major leaguer.  I like to believe he was right.  The Cyclones, the Mets' top High Single-A farm club, are coasting to the playoffs in which they are likely to host Game 2 on Th Sep 11 and if necessary Game 3  F Sep 12.   For further info, check out brooklyncyclones.com     

 

**Third baseman Caleb Durbin, who come to Milwaukee from the Yankees in the Devin Williams trade, went to Washington U of St Louis, hardly a baseball factory. After doing a little digging, I realized that catcher and later baseball exectutive Muddy Ruel went to WUSL before World War I. After World War II so did Dal Maxvill who won World Series rings for the St. Louis Cardinals as both a shortstop and a GM.

 

**On Sept 4, YouTube will start showing a documentary about the late Jeff Torborg, the former Rutgers star and catcher of three of Sandy Koufax's no-hitters and later a highly respected manager and coach. 

 

That's all for now but as always Stay Positive, Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!

They tell me that there was a college football game on the night of January 20th.  It was quite a day that happened to coincide with this year's Martin Luther King Jr Birthday and the cruelly ironic inauguration of Donald Trump to a second non-consecutive presidential term.  I hear that Ohio State beat Notre Dame for the first title under the new 12-game college football playoff system.  Bully for them for recovering from an embarrassing home loss to arch-rival Michigan and running the table with four convincing playoff wins. 

 

For me, however, the place to be on the frigid night of M Jan 20 was up at my alma mater's Levien Gym on Broadway/120th Street. Along with over 2200 other passionate fans, we saw the Columbia women's basketball team roar back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat longtime nemesis Princeton, the co-2024 Ivy League champion with the Lions, 58-50.  Columbia played airtight defense the whole game forcing 24 turnovers and finally capitalizing on them in the second half when they held the Tigers to 6 points in the third period and 20 overall in the half.  

 

Junior forward Susie Rafiu had a career game with 13 points on 6-10 shooting, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist, and no turnovers. Reliable veteran senior tri-captain Cece Collins led the scoring with 18 points, her 3 assists and 2 steals overcoming her 4 turnovers. After a scoring drought that lasted until early in second half, sophomore Riley Weiss, the team's leading scorer, hit two big threes to keep the Lions ahead once they gained the lead late in the third quarter.  

 

It was Princeton's first league loss and they will undoubtedly be heard from before the season is over.  Senior center Parker Hill, trying to fill the shoes of the departed all-world Ellie Mitchell, chipped in 12 points and sophomore guard Ashley Chea, trying to fill the equally formidable shoes of departed Kaitlyn Chen (now a graduate player at UConn), had 16 points but commited 6 of the turnovers.

 

The rematch at Princeton will be on Sa Feb 22 at 530P.  You can be assured that the Tigers under coach Carla Berube, who played at perennial power UConn and has rarely lost coaching Princeton, will insist on improvement.  In the meantime, Columbia hosts Penn this Sa Jan 25 at 2P, a rematch of a hard-fought 15-point win earlier this month. 

 

The two games with Harvard, the other likely contender for top Ivy honors, will be Fri Jan 31 at Columbia at 7P and Su Feb 16 at Harvard at noon.

The top four teams will meet in the league post-season tourney at Brown in Providence RI on the weekend of March 14-15. 

 

(In a sad symbol of Columbia basketball teams going in different directions, earlier on Jan 20 the Columbia men blew a 33-15 halftime lead at Princeton and fell in the last seconds, 71-67.  The men under coach Jim Engles, a onetime Columbia assistant who was hired at the same time as women's caoch Megan Griffith, have just not come through in close Ivy League games.  They are now 0-3 in league play after an 11-1 start that is somewhat misleading because it is padded by expected routs over the Merchant Marine Academy and Sarah Lawrence, yes Sarah Lawrence. In prior years in mystifying pre-season scheduling, Bard and SUNY-Delhi have been sacrificial lambs to the Lions.)  

 

The other big women's basketball story in NYC concerns NYU's Division III Violets rolling along at 14-0 as they seek a second straight undefeated season and national championship.  They have been rarely tested so far this season, but there should be better competition on upcoming back-to-back weekends against longtime UAA (University Athletic Association) rivals, the University of Chicago and Washington U of St. Louis.  The games begin on the road in Chicago,

F Jan 31 730P and in St. Louis Su Feb 2 12 Noon.  The teams then return to the Paulson Center west of Broadway just north of Houston Streeet on Mercer Street on F Feb 7 at 730 with U Chicago coming in and Su Feb 9 at 12N the Violets host WUSL.  

 

My other favorite basketball team, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers, has been surprising a lot of people this year.  How I love it when my teams are expected to do nothing because of transfer portal departures and supposedly uninspired coaching and wind up making the best of the situation.  Although the Badgers took a tough 86-84 loss at UCLA on Tu night Jan 21, they are 15-4 overall and 5-3, tied for 5th place (with recent nemesis Illinois that has beat them 9 times in a row), in the now 18-member Big Ten conference.  (The Badgers cannot overlook any game in the moshpit of Big Ten competition but I have Tu Feb 18 marked down when Illinois comes into Madison - 830P EDT nationally televised on Fox Sports !). 

 

Graduate transfer John Tonge (pronounced TAHN-jay, I think I've finally got the pronunciation down) was scoreless in last Sat's convincing win over USC but hit for 24 in the UCLA loss.  Sophomore John Blackwell pitched in with 23 although his second half technical foul was costly in the two-point loss.  But as long as he learns to control his temper and the team still has his back, Wisconsin could make the rest of the year into March Madness interesting. It's always very nice to see a team that seems to like to pass and run and not just shoot and dunk and play indifferent defense (BTW like too many NBA teams!).  

 

LATE JANUARY THOUGHTS ON BASEBALL PAST AND PRESENT:

The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class is now complete.  To no one's surprise, Ichiro Suzuki won a virtually unaminous selection. One still unidentified voter was evidently trying to draw attention to himself and didn't vote for the Japanese star.  His numbers are astounding: He amassed 4367 hits, 3,089 coming in the USA most of them with Seattle but some of them with the Yankees. In the USA he hit .311 (compared to .355 in Japan) and slugged .402 and was a sterling defensive player and base runner.

 

The stature of Ichiro is such that he needs only one name for ID.  He also exudes humility and an obvious love for the game.  But don't ignore his fierce competitiveness.  When Korea beat Japan in one international tournament and a rubber match ensued, Ichiro defiantly proclaimed that Japan would beat Korea so soundly they wouldn't dream of another rubber match for a half-century. Japan did win that game. 

 

I can accept the other Hall of Fame awardees although in the case of Billy Wagner I sense he got in mainly because San Diego's star reliever Trevor Hoffman is already enshrined.  Both did not do well in the post-season and for me that could be a reason for non-admittance. Remember that enshrinement should be for the great, not merely the very good. 

 

I think what probably turned the voters in favor of CC Sabathia, who was elected in his first year of eligibility, was his 250 career wins, a nice round number/ He also collected 3093 strikeouts, only the 3rd of 16 pitchers to reach the 3000 level. But I must say that since  the modern game has eliminated the stigma on striking out, I am less impressed with raw strikeout numbers because batters these days rarely cut down on their swings on two strikes. But CC did pitch capably in post-seasons with Milwaukee and the Yankees. He, Ichiro, and Billy W will join veterans committee picks Dick Allen and Dave Parker in the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at Cooperstown on Sunday July 27.  

 

As for the news from the current free agent "re-entry" market, most Oriole fans expected Anthony Santander to leave for greener (as in $$$$) pastures. In his case, it will be for Toronto for five years in the neighborhood of $90 million.  The Blue Jays need a lot more than Santander to become a true contender again but no real fan begrudges the very likable Santander his new fortune.  I just hope he doesn't feel added pressure to produce because first baseman/DH Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might be headed to free agency after 2025 and the rest of the Toronto lineup doesn't look too imposing. Oriole fans have to hope that Tyler O'Neill, former Cardinal and Red Sox outfielder and son of a renowned Canadian body builder, can fill the void left by the switch-hitting 44 HR 102 RBI man in 2024. 

And maybe lefthanded hitting Hestor Kjerstad, a few years removed from a very serious heart condition, can become a productive hitter.

 

As for the LA Dodgers loading up on the best free agents - pitchers Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, the young Japanese wunderkind Roki Sasaki and re-signing outfielder Teoscar Hernandez - it is hard to see how competitive balance is helped by this spending spree that few franchises outside of the major markets can afford.  But who talks about competitive balance any more?  LAD will be overwhelming favorites in 2025 but they'll still have to do on the field. But I do know that despite LAD management chortling about how the Dodgers will become "Japan's team" now with Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto already in the fold, even some ardent fans in Japan do feel that enough is enough in bringing in outsiders to a team that used to boast about its farm system from the days in Brooklyn of Branch Rickey and Buzzie Bavasi through their early years in LA.   

 

Here's some good news though for those who need a baseball fix before spring training and the regular season start.

Starting at 450P EST on F Jan 31, MLBTV will be showing the full Caribbean Series with broadcasts in English. For the first time, Japan, the virtually perennial winner of international competition, will be joining the familiar group including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.  The games will be shown daily through the championship on F Feb 7. 

 

And what would be a LeeLow post without some TCM news.  On Sa Jan 25, TCM will be providing a PopUp program at the 92nd Street Y on Lexington Ave

on New York's Upper East Side.  Eddie Muller will not be there but  other TCMs wil be on the program. Ddoors will open at 1230P and at

1P TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will converse with Martin Scorsese for an hour.  What films or film clips will be shown is not clear and prices begin at $30.

This program is available online as well as in person.  All the other programs are in-person only.

 

330P TCM host Jacqueline Stewart interviews Drew Barrymore, followed by the showing of "Twentieth Century" with her noted forebear John Barrymore and

Carole Lombard one of the most talented and revered actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood who perished in an airplace accident after completing with

classic Lubitsch film "To Be Or Not To Be".

 

7P Drew B. returns with TCM host Dave Karger and they interview Steven Spielberg and then "E.T." will be shown.

More info at 92stY.org

 

On the TCM channel itself, here are some highlights: 

Sa Jan 25 415P "Jim Thorpe, All-American" with Burt Lancaster in title role and Charles Bickford as coach Pop Warner

    745P an always-whimsical Robert Benchley short, "How To Watch Football"

Sat midnight (repeated Su Jan 26 at 10A)  "Woman on the Run" with Ann Sheridan/Robert Keith/Dennis O'Keefe - some wonderful San Francisco

    photograph and above-average Noir story - the last Noir Alley until March because of the Oscar films shown in Feb prior to Mar 2 Oscar ceremony

 

Sun Jan 26 4:15P "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956) boxer Rocky Graziano's life story starring Paul Newman with Sal Mineo/director Robert Wise

  Adapted from the book of same name by author Rowland Barber who a few years later would collaborate on "Harpo Speaks," Harpo Marx's wonderful

  memoir

 

M Jan 27 8P "The Pawnbroker" (1965) with Rod Steiger and the always fascinating Geraldine Fitzgerald

 

Tu Jan 28 the last night of the George Raft "Star of the Month" festival

8P "Johnny Allegro" (1948) with Nina Foch/George Macready

930P "Red Light" (1949) with Virginia Mayo/Gene Lockhart

11P "A Dangerous Profession" (1949) with Ella Raines/Pat O'Brien

 

One last comment:  I have been watching NFL playoffs and the final rounds have been pretty exciting.  I would like to see Buffalo finally win a Super

Bowl.  It is a city of loyal people and real fans and by the way the only city in Branch Rickey's doomed plan for the Continental League in 1959-60 not to get

a MLB franchise.  But there are good reasons for Kansas City to repeat and also for Philadelphia or Washington to wear theSuper Bowl crown.  Just hope the

injuries are few and the games go down to the last minute and even into overtime.  I have no real horse in this race so I can simply enjoy the games.

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative.