Lee Lowenfish

I've never been a master of the sound bite. I did come up with "It's a big book about a big man" to describe my 600-page Branch Rickey biography. 

 

i surprised myself at the beginning of June when, as the trailer for the 1951 comedy-fantasy "Angels in the Outfield" was being loaded into a DVD player for my talk about that movie at the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, I blurted the above advice to those drunk on analytics, Sober Up! 

 

I went on to mention that when Branch Rickey was once asked how much of baseball he really knew, he replied, "No more than 55%." Yet baseball now is overwhelmed with Ivy League and elite business school grads who think their new-fangled statistics will provide answers for baseball's eternal imponderables. 

 

Too often these young guns dismiss the opinions of eyes and ears scouts with a lot more experience. 

I've often wondered how Branch Rickey - who died almost poetically in December 1965 not long after giving a speech on "Courage--Physical and Spiritual" - would have responded to the wave of high-powered technicians who have taken over virtually every franchise. 

 

He would have loved new information I am sure of that, but he also would have warned about relying too much on data and forgetting that the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.

 

One of the things I learned in researching "Angels in the Outfield" was Rickey's role during his first year as Pirates president and general manager in bringing some of the filming to Forbes Field early in the 1951

season.  It was the honeymoon period for Rickey in Pittsburgh after losing the power struggle to Walter

O'Malley for control of the Brooklyn Dodgers after the 1950 season. 

 

With the encouragement of Rickey and talented producer-director Clarence Brown, Pittsburgh minority owner Bing Crosby was one of four people who made cameo appearances in "Angels," speculating on if angels could possibly help a team.  The other three were Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, and songwriter Harry Ruby.

 

With partner Bert Kalmar, Ruby wrote such immortal tunes as "Who's Sorry Now?", "A Kiss To Build A Dream On," and "Three Little Words," which was the title of the 1950 bio-pic starring Red Skelton as Ruby and Fred Astaire as Kalmar.  Ruby also wrote "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" for his good friend Groucho Marx, a song that appeared in the movie "Animal Crackers" and later was a theme song on Groucho's quiz show "You Bet Your Life".  

 

Yet Harry Ruby loved baseball more than anything on earth. Ruby was a so-so infielder who once actually gave up a movie gig to play in an exhibition game for the Washington Senators.  Albert von Tilzer, composer of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," was not a baseball fan and he signed his copy of the song "to Harry Ruby who should have written this song."

 

An autodidact who never finished high school in NYC, Ruby became an avid collector of original classic editions. it was said that his favorite evening would be spent reading the works of Thomas Aquinas and the latest edition of the Sporting News.   

 

**Among the highlights of the Cooperstown Symposium was a sweet tone-setting keynote speech by Tyler Kepner, New York Times national baseball writer. Like most of us, he fell in love early with the glass-enclosed bulletin board next to the Hall of Fame that always lists the results of the prior day's games. He added that the difficulties of reaching centrally isolated Cooperstown - 70 miles west of Albany - matches the difficulties of the game of baseball itself. 

 

**Lipscomb University profs from Nashville, Tenn. Willie Steele and Mark McGee, presented fascinating papers on the genuine baseball love of bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and country singer Conway Twitty, respectively.  Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, Twitty was a star HS baseball player in Helena, Arkansas and had he not been drafted for the Korean War, he might have signed with the Phillies. 

 

**Judith Hiltner, co-author with Jim Walker of the outstanding Red Barber biography, gave an informative talk on the writings of the memorable broadcaster after he left the radio booth.  As early as 1969 he was calling for baseball to broaden its interest among women and the younger generation. 

 

**Chris Bell, English professor at U. of N. Georgia, explained how he used the terse and crisp text on the back of baseball cards as a tool for getting students to appreciate clear writing.  In an effort to demystify hallowed texts, he said that he also suggested edits to the awkward language of the Second Amendment!

 

Next year's Symposium will be held from May 29-31 at the Hall of Fame. For more info, contact either Cassidy Lent at clent@baseballhall.org or Professor Bill Simons at william.simons@oneonta.edu 

 

And now for news about the high school and college baseball playoffs. Congrats to the PSAL baeeball champions, Hunter winners over Metropolitan, 2-1 in the AA final, and Tottenville conquerors of Luperon, 7-4 in the AAA final. 

 

Both games were played on M June 12 at Yankee Stadium earlier than schedules because of threatening weather. 

 

The Final Eight is set for the College World Series starting in Omaha on F June 16. The winners of each

double-elimination bracket will square off in a best-of-three series June 24-26. 

 

For the first time in recent memory, there are two heavy favorites, #1 seed Wake Forest, seeking to match their only title of 1955, and perennial contender #2 Florida. But the Joaquin Andujar Rule applies to college baseball as well as pro baseball, Youneverknow!   All games to be televised on ESPN/ESPN+ with times listed as EDT.

Fri at 2p Oral Roberts vs. TCU followed at 7p Virginia vs. Florida

Sat at 2p Stanford vs. Wake Forest followed at 7p by Tennessee vs. LSU 

 

Before I close, here is a tip on an excellent play closing Su June 18 at the Manhattan Theater Club's home in the historic City Center on 55th St between 6-7 Aves in Manhattan.

Rajiv Joseph's absorbing and humorous two-character play "King James" set in Cleveland from 2008 through 2016 during the years of Lebron James' arrival/departure/return. 

 

Without ovedramatizing the black-white differences in the characters, playwright Joseph and director Kenny Leon drive home salient points but the love of basketball exudes throughout. Excellent performances by Chris Perfetti and Glenn Davis, the latter artistic director of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater where the play originated. 

 

Su Jun 18 Father's Day PBS Channel 13 and other areas of the country will get to see Ted Green's documentary, "The Best We've Got: The Carl Erskine Story".  Narrated by Charley Steiner, Long Island native and former Yankee/now Dodger broadcaster, this is must-see fare.

 

The first half is devoted to Carl's emergence as a Brooklyn Dodger pitcher and proud teammate of Jackie Robinson.  The second half is the story of Carl and Betty Erskine's devotion to their son Jimmy who was born with cognitive challenges.

 

Thanks to the efforts of the Erskines, both of whom are still with us, Jimmy and others have led full lives, competing in Special Olympics and holding down jobs. Indiana, once a state that lagged miserably in the area of support for the challenged, is now a national leader. 

 

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

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

    

During my non-commercial radio days in the 1980s, I made the acquaintance of the memorable publicist Irving Rudd. In his long career, he worked for many sports ventures including the Brooklyn Dodgers, Yonkers Raceway, and at the end for boxing honcho Bob Arum (BTW Arum was a graduate of Harvard Law School in the 1950s along with Dick Moss, a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan who was the baseball-loving counsel for the nascent MLB Players Association under Marvin Miller.) 

 

Irving Rudd battled throat cancer for years but was always a vital and smiling presence on the sports scene.  When I asked him one day how he was doing, he rasped, "Bobbing and weaving."  It has become my stock answer for the age we are living in and for any baseball season.  . 

 

What a difference a week makes!  In my last blog, I praised Kyle Gibson's insights into starting pitching philosophy and he practiced what he preached in a sterling win against the Yankees.  His mentee Grayson Rodriguez did not listen or couldn't execute when he opened the Friday night home series against the resurgent Texas Rangers who seem for real under new manager Bruce Bochy.  

 

Rodriguez was sent down to Triple A Norfolk after giving up 9 runs in less than 4 innings. He's still only 23 and was drafted by the Dan Duquette regime out of high school in Texas. He joins DL Hall another high school signee from the previous

regime who has also yet to show consistency. 

 

One of the old adages of baseball is that you can't give up on young pitching, but right now the Oriole staff is being saved by the two horses in the bullpen, the Rock, Yennier Cano, a Cuban defector they obtained as a throw-in from the Twins in the Jorge Lopez trade last summer, and the Mountain, Felix Bautista who has emerged after more than a decade of toiling in the lower minors. 

 

The groin injury to Cedric Mullins suffered late in the Memorial Day shutout loss to Cleveland looks serious and he could be out for a considerable amount of time. The Birds' outfield depth in the minors will have to come to the rescue. The loss of Mullins will definitely be felt, but I think the Birds have shown enough resilience to stay in the divisional race. 

 

Youneverknow what will happen in baseball. Look at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Memorial Day.  The high-flying Rays who just had won a hard-fought series at home against the Dodgers - possible World Series preview? - got one-hit by former Met Marcus Stroman WHO THREW A COMPLETE GAME.  It can happen if the analytic-drenched brains controlling so many teams can let go for a while and watch the pitcher show mastery. 

 

Now, it's time for the rundown on what New York City-area and northeastern teams made the 64-team college baseball regionals leading to the 8-team College World Series starting in Omaha on June 16. 

All double elimination regionals will start on Fri June 2 and will be televised on some ESPN platform. 

 

**Army plays top-seeded Virginia at Noon on ESPN+ - E. Carolina and Oklahoma are also in regional.

 

**Ivy League winner Penn plays at Auburn on 7p on ESPN+ with Southern Miss. and Samford also in regional.

 

**Central Conn. St from New Britain plays at South Carolina with Campbell (Cedric Mullins' alma mater) & NC State.

 

**Rider from Trenton NJ plays at Coastal Carolina at 7p on ESPN+ with Duke and UNC-Wilmington in same regional.

 

**UConn, a rare #2 from Northeast, plays #3 Texas Tech at Florida at 1p on ESPNU with #1 Gators playing Florida A & M  Hall of Famer Andre Dawson's alma mater - I tell the story of signing of Dawson by scout Mel Didier in my new book BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES. 

 

**In a rare #2=#3 matchup of eastern teams, Maryland, Big Ten champion, and Northeastern, coached by Michael

Glavine, Hall of Famer Tom Glavine's brother, at 1p on ESPN+  Host Wake Forest plays George Mason in other game-

 

**Finally, Maine faces U of Miami at Miami at 7p ESPN+ with Texas and Louisiana (the former Louisiana-Lafayette) also in regional. 

 

Last but not least here is the quarter-final lineup for the PSAL high school playoffs on Tu May 30 at 330p

#1 Luperon from Upper Manhattan hosts South Bronx at Randall's Island Field 20 

#2 Tottenville hosts John Jay at its Staten Island field

#3 Monroe hosts Inwood at Mike Turo Field on the Monroe campus in east Bronx near 177th Street

#4 George Washington hosts #5 Grand Street of Brooklyn (Dellin Betances' alma mater)

 

The semi-finals will be best two out of three at higher seed's field over the weekend of June 2-3-4.

The final will be at Yankee Stadium on Mon June 12.  There will also be the AA final at that time.

 

That's all for now.  One cultural note - the new production of Mozart's last opera "The Magic Flute" can be seen

through June 10.  The music remains sublime and the production is both lively and profound. 

Last performances are W May 31 at 730p,  Sat Jun 3 at 1p (broadcast on national radio),  Tu June 6 at 730p, Th June 8 at 730p, and final performance of season for the Met, Sa Jun 10 at 730p   More info at metopera.org  

 

Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and these days especially, stay positive test negative.