Lee Lowenfish

The annual January dinner of the New York Pro Baseball Scouts Association has nicely served in recent years as the unofficial opening of the 2024 MLB season.  At last Friday's Jan 19 gathering at Leonard's Palazzo (formerly Leonard's of Great Neck), guest speaker David Cone set the proper tone early on. "We need the human touch more than ever," he declared. 

 

Cone shared warm memories of the Kansas City Royals area scout Carl Blando who signed him after high school in the KC area.  Like all the best scouts,

Blando kept tabs on his signee as he worked his way up the ladder.  When Cone bought a fancy car with his $17,000 bonus and didn't report the money to the IRS, Blando helped get him out of tax troubles.

 

Carl Blando lived until 2018 and was part of a great Royals scouting tradition that saw them become a contender faster than any expansion team under the leadership of Art Stewart and others. I was glad to devote a chapter to this story in my recent book on scouting, BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES.

 

David Cone, now an effective broadcaster after his long successful career in the majors, noted, "My whole education was the minor leagues." He said that he missed almost two full seasons because of a knee injury incurred when he was running in from the mound to try to block home plate.

 

Longtime scout Jim Cuthbert was presented with the Jim Quigley Service to the Game award (I was blessed to receive the honor in the name of former scout Quigley in 2010). A Brooklyn native who became a walk-on catcher for St. John's of Queens, Cuthbert described himself as someone who started with no connections in the game beyond being an ardent listener of Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN 660 AM in NYC when it went on the air nearly 40 years ago. 

 

Cuthbert worked his way up the scouting ladder to become an advance scout for Terry "Tito" Francona's Cleveland Indians. He was in awe of one of the giants of the game, but Francona assured him, "Your work [your scouting reports] is your ticket into my office."  After recently working for the Marlins, Cuthbert begins a new position in 2024 with the Royals. (Francona, plagued by illness, has now retired and will be replaced by rookie manager Stephen Vogt.)

 

The Turk Karam Scout of the Year award-winner was Matt Hyde, longtime northeastern area scout for the Yankees. "Show up and do your work," Hyde advised. "If you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life." He added, "The lessons never stop."   

 

Hyde is also a Michigan Wolverine as well as a Yankee, and Rich Hill, a Massachusetts-bred and fellow Michigan grad, came to honor his homeboy.  Now 43, Hill has played for 13 MLB teams but not ready to retire.  He is not in a hurry to sign for 2024 because he wants to see his 12-year-old son play his final season of Little League. (Fans often forget how much players miss in their family lives because of the demands of the long long season.)

 

Along with Red Sox scout Ray Fagnant, an earlier winner of the Karam award, Matt Hyde has run a summer program that since 2012 has brought high school and young college prospects to the Northeast for several days of clinics and then a concluding game at a top-level pro ballpark.  Hyde listed the remarkable number of players who have gone on to pro careers:  102 have made the majors, 57 were first-round draft choices.

 

Hyde introduced to the audience Jen Mead, widow of Yankee scout Kelly Rodman who passed away in 2020 at the unconscionable age of 44. Mead runs The Kelly Rodman Baseball Foundation and the final game of the summer clinic program is called the Kelly Rodman Memorial Classic. For more on this worthy enterprise, check out jen@thekellyrodmanfoundation.com 

 

Rodman had been a huge advocate for Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe, the team's number one draft choice in 2019.  "Kelly is the angel in the outfield looking down on me," Hyde quoted Volpe. (Readers of this blog will know how much l like the 1950 original film of that name - I spoke about it at last spring's Symposium on Baseball and American Culture at the Hall of Fame).

 

l am very pleased that the story of Hyde and Fagnant's program and Rodman's inspiring exhortation to players, "Be Great Today!", made for the closing story in BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES. 

 

NOW . . . HERE'S A MISCELLANY ABOUT RECENT EVENTS:

**Shame on those Chicago Bulls fans who on Fri Jan 12 booed the presentation of the Ring of Honor to the late Jerry Krause, the mastermind behind the Bulls' dynasty in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Krause was instrumental in the Bulls' drafting Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and trading Charles Oakley to the Knicks for Bill Cartwright (who BTW was from Elk Grove California near Sacramento and was a fine baseball player until one of his scholastic basketball coaches made sure he stuck to the hard court game.) 

 

Because Krause never stroked the press, he was scapegoated for the Bulls' fall from grace after the retirement of their key players.  The boorish behavior earlier this month brought Krause's widow Thelma to tears, an awful stain on what should have been an elegiac evening.  Krause finished his career scouting for Yankees and then Mets and always said that he loved baseball even more than basketball. 

 

**The news yesterday Tu Jan 23 of Adrian Beltre's election to Cooperstown was no surprise.  His numbers certainly were overwhelming - 3161 hits, 477

HRs, and he and Derek Jeter are the only Hall of Famers in the 3000 hit club to win 5 Gold Gloves. 

 

Todd Helton and Joe Mauer's enshrinements - Mauer during his first year of eligibility - are a little more problematic. Helton had been scrutinized for playing home games in Denver's Coors Field, but ultimately his overall stats made the case for him:  2131 hits and an OBP (On Base Plus Slugging Percentage) of .855 higher than Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn, Eddie Murray, and Dave Winfield.  In a very rare accomplishment in recent years, Helton also finished with a positive walk:strikeout ratio, 1335:1173. 

 

Minnesota's Joe Mauer played only 7 years behind home plate before concussions forced his switch to first base where he never supplied the power expected of that position. From the same St. Paul, Twin City of Minneapolis that has produced three other Hall of Famers, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Winfield, Mauer was a home town hero who never played for another team. Helton, who also starred in football at U of Tennesee, was a lifelong Colorado Rockie. 

 

It says here that if playing for one team only is now considered a valid reason for selection, maybe the chances for Don Mattingly and Thurman Munson have been enhanced. In any event, kudos are due Josh Rawitch, top executive at the Hall of Fame, for making the announcements on MLBTV in both Spanish and English.  

 

Before I sign off, let me mention three passings in recent weeks not connected to baseball but these octogenarians lived lives worth remembering.

 

**Gus Alfieri, 87, on Jan 1, former St. John's basketball player and author of a fine biography of his coach, LAPCHICK (Lyons Press, 2006). Alfieri became a legendary coach at South Huntington, Long Island's St. Anthony HS and longtime director of a summer All-American Basketball Camp.  If Joe Lapchick, an Original Celtic (long before the Boston pro team took the name) and Knicks coach, said nothing else in his life than "Peacock today, feather duster tomorrow," I would say he led a life well-lived.     

 

**Paul Chevigny, 88, on Dec 11, NYU law professor and noted civil liberties and civil rights lawyer. His book GIGS (Routledge, 1991) contributed to the end of the restrictive cabaret laws. He dedicated it to "Thelonious Monk, JJ Johnson, Billie Holiday, and Buell Neidlinger, and all the other good musicians who had a problem with NYC cabaret laws." 

 

**Jay Clayton, 82, on Dec 31, improvisational vocalist with a lyrical gift. Her live rendition of "Young and Foolish" (from the 1950s musical set among the Amish, "Plain and Fancy") was as beautiful as anything I ever heard.  (I first heard the tune on Bill Evans' early album "Everybody Loves Bill Evans."  Barbara Cook performed in the original production of "Plain and Fancy" but she doesn't mention the song in her informative and often very moving memoir "Here and Now" (2016). 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

One of the amazing aspects of a long baseball season is how the old cliche usually proves

correct:  The best teams almost always lose at least 60 and the worst teams somehow manage to win 60 (though not this year for Diamondbacks, Orioles, Pirates, and Rangers). 

 

Look at what happened to the Yankees after winning 13 in a row.  After a punchless shutout loss to the Blue Jays on Labor Day, they have lost seven out of nine. Gerrit Cole, the $341 million pitcher, will have to be the stopper and he probably can fill the role.  But the bullpen once the team strength looks shaky these days.

 

The soaring Tampa Bay Rays are not likely to be caught for the AL East crown but the Yanks still narrowly control the top wild card by two lost games over the Red Sox with the Jays only one lost game behind Boston.

 

The A's and Mariners still have a chance if they go on streaks.  They are playing each other six times so that might be difficult. 

 

In the NL, after winning 9 in a row, the Braves have lost 8 out of 12 and the Phillies are only 2 games behind them for the NL East lead.  The slumping Padres - who last month fired their accomplished pitching coach Larry Rothschild - I never like scapegoating any individual in a team sport - still have a two-game wild card lead over the Phillies and Reds with the Cards and Mets still having outside chances if they go on a winning streak.

 

I am enjoying these close end-of-year battles - even if the length of the games is getting ridiculous. Might as well savor the competition if the rumor is true that there will be even more teams eligible for playoffs in the future. lf the money from TV and "new media" is there, I fear it will happen because $$$$ makes the reigning commissioner and the owners (and most players) drool.     

 

Despite the nagging issues with MLB, nothing can kill my love of the game on the grass roots level.  So on the last Friday in August, with the Red Sox on the road, I made a trip to Fenway Park to see the Kelly Rodman Memorial Summer Rivalry Classic. 

 

Now in its 13th year, the event features high school and college players eligible for next summer's amateur draft in two seven-inning games. The idea has been the brainstorm of two experienced Northeast area scouts, the Red Sox' Ray Fagnant and the Yankees' Matt Hyde. 

 

They may work for fierce rival organizations, but they each share a genuine interest in helping future players learn correctly the basics of the game.  Over a few weekends earlier in the summer, the youngsters receive instruction and the chance to play games, culminating in the precious opportunity to compete on the hallowed diamond of Fenway.

 

A few Augusts ago I went to the Rivalry Classic the one time it was played at Yankee Stadium. I saw a rising high school senior from Arizona belt a homer in the lower right

field stands.  His name was Cody Bellinger soon a NL MVP for the Dodgers.  (Slow in his

recovery from two surgeries, he will have a chance to play in October and possibly turn his season around.)

 

I also saw in the stands a former Rivalry Classic participant following the action. His name was Mike Yastzemski, then an obscure unappreciated Orioles minor leaguer and by 2020 a contributor to the SF Giants' resurgence as they battle with the Dodgers this season to

escape the wild card sudden death game.

 

Since last year's game, the Classic has been dedicated to the memory of Kelly Rodman, a full-time Yankee area scout who died of cancer in March 2020 at the unconscionably young age of 44. No one who ever met Kelly will ever forget her. It was heartwarming if bittersweet to see her face regularly flashed on the Fenway videoboard.

 

I remember her participating one Sunday morning a few years ago as an instructor in a clinic sponsored in Newburgh, New York by The Baseball Miracles project founded by retired White Sox scout John Tumminia.  She was a bundle of energy and life-affirmation as she led

pre-teenagers through drills and sprints.

 

A star softball outfielder at Eastern Connecticut State University, the native of Wallingford, Connecticut went on to play baseball in many places around the world before she turned to baseball scouting. 

 

She coined the mantra, "Be Great, Today!" to inspire players in their daily effort to improve.  There is a T-shirt with that motto and other apparel available by contacting 

jen@thekellyrodmanmemorialfoundation.org

 

Last month at Fenway I saw some famous offspring competing.  For the Bosox squad there was Pedro Martinez, son of Hall of Famer Pedro who was there to give support along with the youngster's mother. Pedro told me that he is primarly an infielder, currently in college in Lynn, Massachusetts, though he played outfield in the second seven-inning game. 

 

For the Yankees, Carson Sabathia, a prep first baseman, looks like he is taking after his father in size and he displayed a quick power bat.  I'm kinda glad, though, that both youngsters are not trying to emulate their famous fathers on the mound.    

 

I noticed scouts from the Brewers, Pirates, Twins, and Tigers in uniform helping out in pre-game drills and providing guidance in the dugouts. Another rewarding touch was to see coaching third base for Fagnant's Bosox squad Kayla Baptista, a softball player from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. 

 

During one half-inning break, the public address announcer asked Brad Dubrowski, a Monmouth University southpaw just back from a successful summer season for Harwich in the Cape Cod Baseball League, to take a bow.   

 

I am not sure where I first heard the phrase, "Competitors and Colleagues," to describe

scouting at its most generous.  But I certainly sensed that feeling the last Friday of August in Fenway. And no doubt every season in the future.  

 

Baseball remains the hardest game to master but there is joy in competition and solace in collegiality. So it was almost fitting that the games were split - the Yankees won the first game and the Red Sox the second.

 

TIME FOR TCM TIPS: There is not a heavy dose of sports-themed films in Sept. and they will be aired late in the month. 

 

Three roller derby films will be on back-to-back-to-back on Th Sep 23 starting with "Rollerball" at 8p and "Kansas City Bomber" at 1015p. 

 

On Su Sept 26, if you haven't seen it, make a point to see "Easy Living" at 1130a. Noir master Jacques Tourneur directs Victor Mature, a LA Ram football player who a cardiologist (Jim Backus) warns has a heart condition that could jeopardize his life.

Lisabeth Scott plays the scheming wife (what else is new?), Lloyd Nolan is the Ram owner,

Lucille Ball his secy. and get ready Jack Paar is the PR guy.  I kid you not.  And some of the Rams, including Kenny Washington, play themselves.

 

Coming up on Tu Sept 28 at 8a is Burt Lancaster in "Jim Thorpe All-American". Later that day at 630p, Harold Lloyd tries his hand as college football player in the silent movie "The Freshman". I'll note these films again later this month but mark your calendars now.  

 

Even though they have added a lot of bells and whistles to the website and taken away the original music for Eddie Muller's Noir Alley series, a full list of Noir Alleys through the week before Christmas is available on the TCM website.  

 

I highly recommend Fritz Lang's "Human Desire" on Sun Sep 19 at 10A esp. for the opening scene of Glenn Ford as a railroad engineer riding his first route since his return from

the Korean War.  The viewer actually feels he/she is in the driver's seat.  The triangle that develops among Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Broderick Crawford is pretty gruesome but after all it is Noir. 

 

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

uncertain times, Stay Positive, Test Negative.