Lee Lowenfish

Happy International Tango Day, December 11 - get out of your chairs, sedentary dear readers, and move those puppies.  How do I know it is International Tango Day? Because I saw it on the internet so it must be true, right? 

 

Humor must be our constant companion these days and weeks and months ahead.  So let me start with the hilarious Onion headline that popped up the other

day on the internet:  MORE PARENTS SAY ALLOWING CHILD TO PLAY FOOTBALL NOT WORTH RISE OF BEING DRAFTED BY JETS. 

 

New York is going through a truly horrible pro football season with the Jets and Giants simply incapable of playing winning football.  The Giants have an injured and thin roster but the Jets were supposed to be a good team.  Owner Woody Johnson forgot or more likely never understood that relying on aging QB Aaron Rodgers wouldn't lead them to the promised land.  

 

So I don't begrudge the excitement of Mets fans who are celebrating the acquisition of Juan Soto as a free agent with the extraordinary amount of money, a reported $765 million spread out over 15 years. If Soto deems it necessary, he can opt out after 5 years. The blow to the crosstown Yankees no doubt felt like an extra bonus. 

 

But as I was finishing this blog on Tues evening Dec 10, the news came that the Yankees' first return salvo has been signing away from the Atlanta Braves, gifted though somewhat fragile southpaw Max Fried to a eight-year contract for reportedly "only" 27 million a year.  There will likely be more big ticket acquisitions by the Bronx Bombers. 

 

Super-agent Scott Boras and most of the local and national media are applauding the high stakes competition between Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hal Steinbrenner. Smooth-talking Boras even lauds the "goliaths" that we either love or hate so everybody's happy. 

 

I beg to differ. I cannot hail the likelihood of big market domination in MLB. Maybe commissioner Rob Manfred and minions yearn for a Yankee-Dodger or Yankee-Met World Series every year but not me.  I can tolerate a Yankee-Dodger World Series, let's say every 43 years.

 

I am not sure that Blake Snell will become a real ace for the Dodgers, but he is certainly an improvement to their oft-injured starting corps.  At a far lower price versatile middle infielder-outfielder Tommy Edman just re-upped for five years.  It is so hard to project the future of a player, which is why I revere the eyes-and-ears scouting profession. But even I could see in the Cape Cod summer league almost 10 years ago when Edman was still a Stanford collegian that he was a future major leaguer.

 

The common wisdom is that Dodgers are acting within the rules to backload most of their contracts - so, for example, Shohei Ohtani is only being paid $2 million a year to minimize the team's luxury tax penalty.  It is still not good that the smaller markets have little chance to bid for the best players. 

 

I think back to the early 1920s when the Yankees and the Giants squared off in three World Series in a row from 1921 through 1923.  In 1922 Branch Rickey in his fourth full year of running the cash-poor St. Louis Cardinals - multi-tasking in the roles of both field manager and top baseball executive - he had the team in the pennant race until late July.  Then the Yankees picked up third baseman Joe Dugan from the Bosox and the Giants pitcher Hugh McQuillan from the Boston Braves and they went on to win the pennants. 

 

Rickey railed to a St. Louis Rotary Club gathering: "How can those teams without unlimited resources in their deposit boxes have a chance to compete fairly?"

(Source:  my biography BRANCH RICKEY: BASEBALL'S FEROCIOUS GENTLEMAN, P. 135). Newly-installed commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis said that nothing could be done about these acquisitions, but soon thereafter MLB implemented the June 15th deadline - only waiver deals and no trades allowed after that date. A few years after free agency came in after the 1976 season, the deadline was pushed back to late August.  Now it is the end of the July with some of the fat cats wanting the chance to get additions as late as early September.  

  

End of history lesson but more to come in future posts.  On the current Orioles front, I am not sure that Tyler O'Neill is an improvement on homegrown Anthony Santander in right field.  I definitely am a little aghast that they signed defensively challenged Gary Sanchez to be the backup catcher replacing the gritty James McCann who is older but certainly a better receiver.  But I guess the Birds seem to be counting on a revival of Adley Rutschman from his very sub-par second half of the season. 

 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!   

On the movie front, those film buffs who envy those of us living in the New York area can drool at this news about a Robert Siodmak Festival at the two theaters at Lincoln Center on W 65th Street west of Broadway, W Dec 11 through Th Dec 19.   Siodmak was a German exile from Nazism in the 1930s who became in the 1940s and early 1950s one of the leading if underappreciated directors of Noir Films.   

 

Here is a partial list. Some films are at Bunin Monroe Center 144 W 65th St, others at bigger Walter Reade Theatre across street. 

For info, contact email.ticketing@filmlc.org or 212/875-5825

W Dec 11 630P & Sa Dec 14 230P  "Phantom Lady" (1944) with Franchot Tone/Ella Raines/Elisha Cook Jr./Thomas Gomez

W Dec 11 845P & Sa Dec 14 830P  "Criss Cross" (1949) perhaps his best Noir with Burt Lancaster/Yvonne DeCarlo/Dan Duryea

Th Dec 12 630P & F Dec 13 830P "The Killers" (1946) based on Hemingway story with Burt Lancaster/Ava Gardner

Th Dec 12 845P & F Dec 13 630P "The Suspect" (1944) Set in 1902 England with Charles Laughton as mousy gent pining for Ella Raines

Sa Dec 14 430P & W Dec 18 645P "The Spiral Staircase" (1946) with Dorothy McGuire/Ethel Barrymore/George Brent/Kent Smith

Su Dec 15 230P "People On Sunday" (1930) filmed in Berlin with directors R. Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer, young Billy Wilder

Su Dec 15 430P & W Dec 18 830P  "Son of Dracula" (1943) with Lon Chaney Jr. in New Orleans trying to act like Dad 

Su Dec 15 630P & Th Dec 19 2P "Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" (1946) with George Sanders pining for Ella Raines    

Su Dec 16 1P & Dec 19 630P (not in 4-K restoration) "File on Thelma Jordan" (1950) with Barbara Stanwyck/Wendell Corey

Tu Dec 18 6P & Dec 19 845P "The Cry of The City" (1948) with Victor Mature trying to go straight and Richard Conte going the other way

 

On TCM, Mickey Rooney Thursdays this month has the following films of interest for boxing and car and horse racing fans:

All on Th Dec 12 2P "Killer McCoy" (1946) with Brian Donlevy/Ann Blyth in presumably less malicious role than as Joan Crawford's daughter in "Mildred Pierce" 

6P "The Big Wheel" (1949) with Thomas Mitchell/Mary Hatcher 

8P "National Velvet" (1945) with Elizabeth Taylor/Donald Crisp, directed by Clarence Brown

 

And here's a music documentary note: 

Wed Dec 11 at 8P on Netflix - "The Only Girl In the Orchestra" 33-minute documentary on Orrin O'Brien,

recently-retired outstanding bassist in the NY Philharmonic and the first woman hired by the orchestra. 

 

That's all for now - stay positive, test negative remains my mantra & as always, Take It Easy But Take It! 

I don't have a vote in Baseball Writers Association of America awards, but everyone with a computer has an opinion so why not me? 

 

I can understand why Pirates wunderkind pitcher Paul Skenes won the NL award over everyday outfielders Jackson Chourio of Brewers and Jackson Merrill of Padres. Skenes possesses generational talent and he is out of central casting as a former pitcher at Air Force Academy who is thinking of Air Force career after baseball.  (Not even mentioning his girl friend Olivia "Livvy" Dunne the gymnast who he probably met at LSU where he finished his college pitching career).

 

But the vote should have been much closer. I would have voted for Jackson Merrill because from day one of the season, the converted shortstop had a sensational year in center field for San Diego as well as contributing big time with his bat. Chourio finished strongly after a slow start but I think consistency especially in the young and promising player should be rewarded. 

 

In the much closer AL vote, I would have picked Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser for the same reason of consistency although he endured some droughts at the plate. The winner, Yankee RHP Luis Gil, slumped badly in the latter part of season and was basically a non-factor in the Yankees' surge to the AL East title.  His teammate catcher Austin Wells proved to be a better receiver than advertised though he slumped badly at end of season.

 

There is always room for improvement in the infinitely hard sport of baseball so I hope that Cowser can now concentrate more on striking out less - 172 times is Aaron Judge country and Cowser only hit 24 HRs to Judge's 58 in 2024. 

 

The losers in this year's competitions can take heart that the ROY title doesn't guarantee a great career.  I did some checking and since both leagues started awarding a ROY in 1949 - Jackie Robinson was the first ROY in 1947 and his future NY Giants rival shortstop Alvin Dark won in 1948 as a Boston Brave - here are the names of people who were ROYs but didn't have memorable careers:

 

Starting with P Harry Byrd in 1952, it goes through P Bob Grim, P Don Schwall, OF Curt Blefary, OF Joe Charbonneau, OF Ron Kittle, SS Pat Listach, OF Bob Hamelin, OF Marty Cordova, OF Ben Grieve, SS Angel Berroa, SS Bobby Crosby, P Huston Street, P Neftali Feliz, OF Will Myers (2013), and P Michael Fulmer in 2016. 

 

AL future H of Fers who were ROYs in alphabetical order: Luis Aparicio, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Derek Jeter, Eddie Murray, Tony Oliva, and Cal Ripken Jr.

I'm pretty sure that the list is shorter in the AL because its teams were late in racially integrating. 

 

Here's the larger list of NL future H of Famers in alphabetical order:  Jeff Bagwell, Johnny Bench, Orlando Cepeda, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey,

Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Scott Rolen, Tom Seaver, and Billy Williams.   

 

There was no surprise in rookie Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt winning AL manager of the year in a landslide.  I think that the late season slump of the Royals cost Royals manager Matt Quatraro some votes.  I guess the consistent year of Pat Murphy's Brewers made him the NL choice but I certainly could argue for the Mets' Carlos Mendoza and the Padres' Mike Schildt. 

 

I wonder if it is time for two big awards to be given instead of one MVP.  Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were unanimous MVPs in AL and NL but I'd call them

Players of the Year for their outstanding performances.  As for MVP, I think Juan Soto was just or more valuable to Yanks than Judge.  Ditto Teoscar Hernandez for the Dodgers.  Interestingly, both of them are free agents. 

 

We'll see how that plays out in this year's installment of the Scott Boras Media Show.  I don't doubt that he cares for his clients very much.  But the less I hear in the off-season about the tens of millions being thrown around at free agents, the better my psyche will be.  I like to believe I'm rooting for people who care about winning as much as I do!     

 

 AND NOW TURNING TO HOOPS . . . 

I always love it when my teams not predicted to do anything in a season surprise the pundits and elate their world-weary fans.  My undergraduate alma mater Columbia's basketball team, under veteran coach Jim Engles, has gotten off to a 5-0 start. 

 

Early in Nov the Lions won convincingly on the road at Villanova, still adjusting to life without stellar coach Jay Wright who left the profession (at least for the time being) not being able to adjust to the new world of NIL (Name Image Likeness) benefits for players and expanded transfer portal rights.

Columbia plays Stony Brook at home on Sa Nov 23 at 7P followed by New Hampshire on M Nov 25 also at 7P. 

 

The Columbia women's team are defending co-Ivy League champion women's team. Plagued by poor foul shooting, they suffered their first loss last Saturday at Villanova but they bounced back at home against the University of Pacific. They play some big teams in the Bahamas this weekend including Indiana. 

 

Then they go to Duke on Dec 1 and return for their last home game in 2024 on Tu Dec 4 at 11A against U of San Francisco. Coach Megan Griffith has done a wonderful job of building a winning culture and this game is the annual game played in memory of coach Kay Yow with hundreds of NYC area school kids filling the stands to near-capacity.  

 

Last Friday, my graduate alma mater Wisconsin's cagers knocked over #10-ranked Arizona, 103-88, on the night that former coach Bo Ryan's banner was hoisted to the Kohl Center roof after his induction a few weeks ago into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. 

 

Many of the players on Ryan's 2014-2015 back-to-back Final Four teams attended the game including 7 foot center Frank Kaminsky. Graduate transfer John Tongi threatened Kaminsky's school scoring record of 43, settling for 41 points in another all-around effort.  Picked for the middle of the Big Ten pack this year after the losses of point guard Chucky Hepburn to Louisville and peripatetic AJ Storr to Kansas, the Badgers are undefeated in the early going. 

 

The mosh pit that is the Big Ten regular season has yet to begin so I'm not getting too carried away with optimism.  Wisconsin started well last season too and then folded down the stretch and was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  But there is some cautious hope that the current team has a workable mix of veterans and newcomers to make the season exciting. 

 

They need more consistency from the front court. Ah that word again. It was a sport psycholgist that Greg Gard hired to speak to one of his teams a few years ago that famously said:  "If consistency were an island, it would be lightly populated.   

 

In the early going neither Hepburn nor Storr are doing great things for their new teams, Lousiville and Kansas, respectively. When you go back to his high school years, Storr is now playing for his 7th team in the last 7 seasons. 

 

Like stratospheric salaries for pro players, I don't begrudge amateur players taking advantage of the long-delayed freedoms from NCAA control, but many should realize that there is some truth in the old adage: "The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence." 

 

On the distaff side in Madison, I'm happy to report that under former UConn star Marisa Moseley, Wisconsin women's basketball is off to a 4-1 start. It's the early going of course but they beat Georgetown on the road and so far are undefeated at home.

 

I root vigorously for my alma maters but it's nice to report that in a NYC area where the pro football teams are in dire shape, other college hoops programs are off to undefeated starts - Rutgers and St. John's high among them.  And the NYU women are starting the season obviously determined to successfully defend 

the school's first national basketball title.  They play Colby College from Maine on Su Nov 24 at 2P in the heart of Greenwich Village on Mercer Street one block north of Houston Street and one block west of Broadway.

 

AND ABOUT THE GRIDIRON . . . 

Columbia under first-year coach Jon Poppe enters the Sa Nov 23 noon matchup with Cornell with a chance to tie for their first Ivy League title since 1961 when your correspondent was a callow sophomore.  Yale must upset Harvard in The Game for the tie to happen.  Whatever, at 6-3 the Lions are assured of a winning

season.  

 

On Sat night Nov 16 before a national TV audience, Wisconsin Badger football almost pulled the major upset of the season, leading #1 in the country Oregon by 7 points going into the 4th quarter.  But the resourceful Ducks rallied for a tying touchdown not long after the sold-out crowd did the Jump-Around at the beginning of the final quarter.  Dan Lanning's team had prepared in practice by playing an approximation of the noise generated by the longtime Badger tradition. 

 

Once again Luke Fickell's team, especially the offense, proved not ready for prime time.  Firing his hand-picked offensive coordinator Phil Longo after the Oregon loss smacks of desperation.  We'll see how they do in their last games against Nebraska and Minnesota.  Their 22-year consecutive bowl streak is in jeopardy as if a program that dreamt of the college playoff should be satisfied with the sub-runnerup bowls. 

 

A last cultural note.  Went to my first NY Philharmonic concert of the season last week - Young Finnish conductor Matias Rouvali conducted a stirring version of his national hero Sibelius's Fifth Symphony which has opened new doors into my musical consciousness.  I am looking forward to the night before Thanksgiving when the program includes Chopin's Second Piano Concerto and one of my all time favorite pieces, Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2 with the lush and lyrical slow movement that inspired the popular song "I'll Never Love Again".  

 

Here's hoping you do love again, dear readers, and always remember:  Take it easy but take it! And still stay positive, test negative.