Lee Lowenfish

Spring has sprung in NYC in all its glory.  As I was marveling at the beautiful buds blooming all over my UWS neighborhood (Upper West Side) and sipping my morning coffee while sitting on a bench on an island on Broadway, I started to hum Otis Redding's classic tune, "Sitting On The Dock of the Bay". 

 

OK, my mind has odd synapses but you got a problem with that?!  You see, I was in Madison, Wisconsin on the foggy Sunday night of December 10, 1967 when word came that Otis Redding's plane crashed into Lake Monona three miles short of Four Lakes Airport. 

 

Otis was only 26, and seven of his bandmates perished with him. He had just recorded "Sitting On The Dock of the Bay" which according to many websites was the first posthumous #1 hit.  

It was a very sad day for American music and the best spirit of the 1960s.  RIP Otis - we will never forget you.

 

As for the baseball season so far, it's been pretty wonderfully wacky.  Unless you are fans of the Tigers and Orioles and Rockies and Diamondbacks and Marlins who are sinking fast as I predicted.

 

Believe me, I didn't want to be a prophet and don't want to be a prophet. But a new ownership in Baltimore can't come fast enough. Alas, until there is "cost certainty" on the business side of the franchise, all that's left is rooting for individuals.  

 

I hope southpaw John Means is morphing into an ace. He's already spawned a T-shirt, JOHN MEANS BUSINESS.  I like my idea of MEANS FINDS WAYS.  

 

I cross fingers that Trey Mancini doesn't think he needs the jump-start the offense all by himself.  Just great to see him recovered from colon cancer and ready to play every day.

 

I guess because the season is so long, there's always hope for a turnaround.  

The Oakland A's have proved that, starting 0-6 and 1-7 and then all of a sudden they have won 12 in a row.

 

With two more against the Orioles - and more next week in Oakland - they could be flying high by May. Don't think they are that good, but double-digit winning streaks cerrtainly mean something.  

 

Kudos to veteran manager Bob Melvin - to me somewhat of an Anthony Perkins-lookalike and always a calm presence  - who has steered the ship to far smoother waters. 

 

Returned Bosox manager Alex Cora also quickly turned around Boston.  After they lost three in a row at home to the Woerioles, they ran off nine in a row. Since then, it hasn't been so easy for them.  

 

Surprising Seattle has played everyone hard, including the Red Sox. Much too early to see any patterns in the season yet.  But nice to see Seattle and Kansas City playing so well.

 

One thing is clear - the Padres and the Dodgers are developing a fierce rivalry.  We'll see if the Padres can stay so intense against other teams.  In between their two series against the Dodgers they went home and got swept by the Brewers.    

 

The key point at this early time of season is staying near .500. And then get ready to surge in the warmer months.  Of course, easier said than done - like most things in life.

 

When the Yankees fell to five below .500, the angst in NYC was epidemic.  Suzyn Waldman, John Sterling's sidekick on Yankee radio broadcasts (and who hosts pre-game interviews),  has perceptively noted, "In NYC there are 162  one-game seasons." 

 

With the Yankees beating up on the Indians and soon the Woerioles, they could be at .500 by the time you read this.  (If you think I'm trying to jinx them, you're right.)

 

On the cultural scene, I went to see "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" in a real movie theatre last week, the venerable Paris Theatre just south of Central Park and the Plaza Hotel. "Venerable" meaning it was opened in late 1950s. 

 

The audience was sparse but to be expected on a weeknight with people wisely still cautious about going indoors to a theatre.  Free popcorn and soft drinks were available.

 

Chadwick Boseman's last performance is a don't-miss experience. His electricity opposite Viola Davis is mesmerizing.  Glynn Turman as the piano player in the band also shines as does the whole cast.  

 

Netflix now owns the Paris Theater and I hope it is streaming the movie all over the world.  The talkback at the end between the film's director George C. Wolfe and playwright Tony "Angels in America" Kushner is very stimulating. Not that I agree with everything they say.    

 

Do see the movie and discuss it and the talkback seriously.  If we can ever get beyond the cliche that "slavery is America's original sin," the works of the late August Wilson - who wrote the play on which the film is based - are an essential place to start.  

 

That's all for now. Always remember:  Take it easy but take it! 

Thoughts As We Approach Memorial Day

I began posting this entry while listening to an old-fashioned two-for-the-price-of-one doubleheader on the radio. Alas, John Sterling’s self-absorbed droning and I fear his fading eyesight made his play-by-play unreliable and so I switched to TV.

Ah for the good old days when you could turn down an annoying TV announcer
and listen to the radio. That's not possible any more as the TV broadcast is several seconds ahead of the radio feed.

It was a make-up twinbill with the red-hot Indians leading the Yanks 1-0 after 6 innings. Cleveland's ace JUSTIN MASTERSON completed a 1-0 shutout but the Yanks won the second game 7-0 behind a rookie southpaw VIDAL NUNO.

Both teams are surprising the pundits in the early going. In fact, at 10 games over .500 as games started on May 13 (and ended on May 17), the Yankees were leading the American League East. Solid starting pitching and the presence of Mariano Rivera at the back of the bullpen has enabled the Yankees to withstand the losses of the superstars (in salary anyway) of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson. Granderson is back now and perhaps Teixeira within the next month though Lyle Overbay has proven a very worthy replacement.

Cleveland’s pitching will be suspect throughout the year but reclamation project Scott Kazmir has begun to pitch well and so has Yankee retread Zach McAllister. And the Indians will hit with budding star catcher Carlos Santana (no relation to the guitarist), second baseman Jason Kipnis (a member of the Jewish tribe), shortstop Asdubral Cabrera and center fielder Michael Bourn, the expensive free agent pickup, providing some hope up the middle. Former Yankee Nick Swisher and former Oriole Mark Reynolds add to a potent lineup.

Vidal Nuno has been recalled by the Yankees since Andy Pettitte went on the dl again with an upper back injury. But the Yankees continue to win with VERNON WELLS providing a lot of pop in left field and he is still a good defensive outfielder. Players who can perform on both sides of the ball remain very valuable commodities.

I will have a lot more to report early next month. Am delivering a talk on "The Glory Years of the Baltimore Orioles 1960-1983" on Wednesday afternoon May 29 at the opening session of the 20th Annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture.
I never miss an opportunity to go to the Brigadoon called Cooperstown about 200 NW of NYC and 75 miles west of Albany. And I never miss a chance to talk about the Orioles the team I fell in love with when I lived in Baltimore in the early 1970s.

I've stayed with them through all the ups and downs of the last 40 years. The 2013 edition has some serious starting pitching issues that will have to be straightened for them to contend again. But it is consoling to know that with Buck Showalter managing and Dan Duquette as the general manager there are steady knowledgeable men at the helm.

The AL East as forecast will be one wild ride all year and might as well as sit back and enjoy it while of course agonizing from time to time.

For me May 2013 will go down as Cooperstown Month. I attended the opening of the "Diamond Mines" exhibit at the Hall of Fame on the first weekend in May. It was a special evening with tears flowing from so many on hand to see scouts honored at baseball's central shrine.

Hall of Famer Pat Gillick spoke eloquently as always about the vital role that baseball's talent hunters have played in constantly bringing new blood into the game. One of baseball's most devoted octogenarians Roland Hemond, who has been working in baseball since the 1950s, was equally moving in his praise of scouts. As was Roberta Mazur, director of the Scout of the Year Foundation who since the mid-1980s has been working to see scouts honored in Cooperstown.

"Diamond Mines" will return at least two years and hopefully will become permanent with its artifacts of stop watches, radar guns, and most intriguingly, scouting reports on at least 12,000 players provided by at least 300 scouts.

That's all for now - always remember: Take it easy but take it!  Read More