Lee Lowenfish

As readers of my blog know, I love sports quotes that have meaning transcending inspiration for athletes. The title for this post comes from Dick Bosman, once a no-hit pitcher for Cleveland, later an esteemed pitching coach for Orioles-Rangers-Rays and author with Ted Leavengood of the informative DICK BOSMAN ON PITCHING (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018):  "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is a gift - that's why it's called the present."

 

Like most memorable quotes, Dick doesn't know where it came from. Perhaps from that mysterious multicultural androgynous Anon Ymous?  It doesn't matter - it's the thought that counts as in this observation:   "It's amazing how much good can be done if you don't care who gets the credit."

 

With March winds howling and temps changing violently here in the Northeast, this remains an exciting and hopeful time of year with college basketball playoffs nearing and baseball spring training in full flower.  Yesterday (M Mar 3) during an Oriole-Pirate spring training game in Sarasota, reliever Jose Bautista threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts in his first appearance in a game since August 2023 when he left the mound in Camden Yards soon headed for Tommy John surgery. 

 

Oriole manager Brandon Hyde says he will utilize Bautista conservatively, never pitching him for more than an inning and never on back-to-back days.  Nicknamed The Mountain for his imposing stature of 6' 8" 290 lbs, he needed years deep in the minor leagues and overseas before he developed command, control, and a consistent release point.   It's way too early in spring training to make any predictions about how the long season will play out, but it was a heartwarming sight to see The Mountain back on the mound. Tears of joy poured from his teammates, coaches, fans at Ed Smith Stadium and all over the Oriole universe.   

 

In yesterday game, switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman hit his first homer of the spring, another hopeful sign. He is more of a line drive hitter than a power bomber, but  in the last half of 2024, Adley endured the first slump of his storybook career.  He was mum about whether a hand injury affected his swing but if he is healthy again, his

presence in the lineup and behind the plate will be a definite asset for the Birds.  Waiting in the wings for perhaps a mid-season callup is the impressive Dominican backstop Samuel Basallo, barely 20 years old.  I saw him in the minors a couple of times and he is a commanding presence who reminds me of a left-handed hitting Orlando Cepeda. 

 

Another pleasant development was the announcement that the Orioles and Washington Nationals have settled their dispute over coverage of the teams on the MASN

stations (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network).  As it should be, the Nats will soon be on their own promoting the team on the air waves.  Previous Oriole owner, the late Peter Angelos, drove a very hard bargain and didn't accept prior arbitration settlements of the dispute.

 

David Rubenstein can now enter his second year as Oriole owner with this contentious dispute settled. He certainly brings to the table a fascinating background not common to ownership in any sport. Prominent as head of the Carlyle Equity fund, he is also a philanthropist with a genuine interest in history. On recent Mondays at the New York Historical Society on Central Park West, I heard him interview first Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security during President Obama's second term, and then Ken Burns, the indefatigable documentary filmmaker. (These interviews are available on line.)  Rubenstein is also often heard interviewing people on Bloomberg TV.  He was the chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center in Washington until he and others on the board were fired last month by President Trump.  

 

I won't make spring training myself this year but of course, I'll be following Oriole developments closely.  In this turbulent and perilous time of American history, it will be nice to follow one's team with a sense of hope. Maybe more moves should have be made to replace Anthony Santander, their 44 HR, 100+ RBI man and ace pitcher Corbin Burnes.  Santander is now a Blue Jay and Burnes a Diamondback but O's still have a world of young talent waiting to blossom.  Like young second baseman Jackson Holliday, not ready to shine last year after enormous hoopla.  And Heston Kjerstad, who can now even put more distance from his scary heart ailment of a few years ago. He seems to have a good baseball head on his shoulder.  At U of Arkansas, he said that he always makes his goals for any season extremely high knowing that he cannot achieve them.

 

Turning to college basketball, Columbia's women Lions continue to impress.  They have earned for the first time the top seed in the Ivy League tournament this year to be held at the Pizzitola Center on the Brown U campus in Providence.  Penn will be their likely opponent on Fri Mar 14 at 430P with Harvard and Princeton battling it out in

the second game.  The final will be on Sat Mar 15 at 5P televised by ESPNNews.  Over this past weekend, seniors Kitty Henderson and Cece Collins each had a triple double - Kitty in the win over Brown and Cece in the triumph over Yale.  If I were running the PA system, I would have found a recording of Irving Berlin's "Anything you can do, I can do better" from "Annie Get Your Gun".   

 

Meanwhile down in Greenwich Village at the Paulson Center on Mercer Street, NYU, winners of 56 in a row, will open its defense of the Division III title against Gallaudet from Washington DC F Mar 7 at 730P.  At 430p U Mass-Dartmouth faces Trinity from Hartford CT.  The winners meet at 5P on Sat Mar 8.   The NYU men, losers of only one game all season, play Cortland State in York, PA at 730P after Cleveland's John Carroll plays host York at 430P.  Winners meet on Sa Mar 8 at 5P.  On the Big Boy front, St.John's, now ranked #6 in the country, won the Big East regular season and enter the Big East tourney at MSG with high hopes of another big March Madness run under septugenarian coach Rick Pitino. 

 

My Wisconsin Badgers came up short against Big Ten leader Michigan State this past Sunday but it was a hard-fought game.  If they bounce back at lagging but

gritty Minnesota on W Mar 5 830P on Big Ten Network and on Senior Day against Penn State on Sa Mar 8 1P on Peacock, they should enter Big Ten tournament at Indianapolis with some momentum. 

 

I read earlier today online a very moving story by Greg Stiemsma about how retired Badger athletic trainer Henry Perez-Guerra basically saved his life.  Now an Badger assistant coach with a new title of Director of Player Development, Stiemsma endured a tough period as a young Badger frontcourtman from tiny Randolph, Wisconsin.

He was not doing well in school and felt he wasn't playing well either.  He was close to suicidal when an early AM knock on the door from Perez-Guerra essentially saved his life. A long talk began his hard road to recovery.  Greg went on to a NBA and overseas career and now a prominent role on the Badger coaching staff. Kudos to Greg for being courageous to share his story and to Henry for being there to help. 

 

In conclusion, here are some upcoming TCM movies with sports themes: 

Th Mar 6 245P  "Tennessee Champ" (1954)  Keenan Wynn is boxer battling with crooked manager.  Shelley Winters presumably helps him. 

 

F Mar 7 a lot of movies with horse racing themes:

6A "Sporting Blood" (1931) Robert Florey directs Clark Gable/Madge Evans

730A "Glory" (1956) David Butler directs Margaret O'Brien/Walter Brennan/Charlotte Greenwood

915A "The Story of Seabiscuit" (1949)  Butler directs Barry Fitzgerald with some help from Shirley Temple/Rosemary DeCamp

*6P  "A Day At the Races" (1937) Sam Wood directs a Marx Brothers classic 

 

Tu Mar 11 6A  "Three Ages" (1923) a Buster Keaton classic with Wallace Beery. A caveman baseball scene especially notable.

615P "The Cameraman" (1928) even more notable, Keaton's baseball pantomime at an empty Yankee Stadium

 

(Non-sports films to be noted:  Sa Mar 8 12N "Hard Day's Night" (1964) early Beatles that reminds me of a Marx Bros. film at their best

M Mar 10 545A "The Apartment" (1960) probably Billy Wilder's last great film with Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine/Fred MacMurray.)

 

 

Coming up on Sa Mar 22 10P "Angels in the Outfield" (1951) - the underappreciated original with uncredited James Whitmore as the

unseen but powerfully heard Angel Gabriel.  Paul Douglas in the lead as crusty manaager Guffy McGovern domesticated by Household Hints

journalist Janet Leigh with underappreciated Bruce Bennett as veteran pitcher Saul Hellman.  More in the next blog.

 

For now, always remember:  Stay positive, stay healthy, stay sane, and take it easy but take it. 

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

   

 

George Washington's 315th birthday - Sat February 22 2025 - will long live in the memory of this fan of Wisconsin men's and Columbia women's basketball.  The agony occurred in midday when on FOX national TV, the Badgers, ahead by 12 at the half and 15 midway through the second half, allowed Oregon's Ducks to go on a 13-2 run in the last six minutes of regulation and win in overtime, 77-73.  Oregon coach Dana Altman's suffocating defense forced the Badgers into a season-high 17 turnovers, many of them late in the game. Center Nate Bittle, back from two seaons of injury, led Oregon's offense with help from the Villanova transfer guard TJ Bamba (who was born in the Bronx but went to HS in Denver) and sophomore forward Kwame Evans, a fearless lefty who was born in Baltimore. 

 

Only positive thing about this loss is that it came in February not in March.  Having followed Wisconsin basketball intently for over a half-century, it seems we never play well when our national rankings increase.  We still have scoring machine John Tonge, the 6th-year transfer portal surprise, but only one real point guard, the undersized 6 0" senior Kamari McGee who doesn't even start but is one of the team leaders.  When we had the big lead on Saturday, I thought about how much McGee has meant off the bench and how his shot-making has improved.  Same story for senior reserve forward Carter Gilmore who even saved the Iowa game on the road with career-high offense. I can always root for sophomore big man Nolan Winter - great name for a Wisconsin player! - who hit a big 3 in OT to give us a brief lead against Oregon.  

 

Fans will blame inconsistent longtime center Steven Crowl for his six turnovers on Sat. and sophomore guard John Blackwell for his crucial late game booboos. And the haters of coach Greg Gard, silent during our winning streaks this season, always emerge after any loss. Yet the schedule ahead is not too bad for Badgers if they learn the lesson that Yogi Berra's line applies to basketball, too - it ain't over until it's over and you must play hard all game.

 

Up next is Washington at home on Tues Feb 25 9P EST on extra-priced Peacock. Then a biggie at Big 10 leader Michigan State on CBS next Sun Mar 2 at 130P. Followed by Wed Mar 5 arch-rival Minnesota at home on Big Ten Network at 830P and Penn State at home Sa Mar 8 1P BTN (all times EST).  The following week is the annual Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.  This year the three teams with the worst record in the expanded Big 18 are sent home early so Washington, Penn State, and Minnesota cannot be overlooked because they are opponents with hopes alive for squeezing into the tournament.    

 

My ecstasy came later in the day when I got a ride to Princeton to see Columbia rally in the 4th quarter to beat the perennial-Ivy League champion Tigers, 64-60.  The Lions' victory moves Columbia into first place with a 10-1 record with a one game lead over both Princeton and Harvard with three

games to play before the conference tourney this year at Brown in Providence on FSa Mar 14-15.  

 

Down 6 points entering the 4th quarter on Sat., guard Maria Arrendola hit a 3-point shot that started a 13-0 run that gave Columbia the lead for good.  Sophomore Riley Weiss, who grew up in nearby Hewlett, NY, scored a career-high 34 points, 16 in the last period. Senior co-captain Kitty Henderson hit the dagger late in the 4th quarter that gave the Lions the cushion they needed. 

 

I was part of almost 200 ardent Lions fans seated behind the Columbia bench. Although we were outnumbered 10-1 by Princeton faithful, our chants of "DE-FENSE!" and "LET'S GO LIONS!" could be heard.  It was Princeton's first home loss in over 30 games and the first time we've beaten them twice in one season in almost 10 years.  Seated in the row behind me and rooting hard for her alma mater was Abbey Hsu, Columbia women's basketball all-time scoring leader who will be going to the Connecticut Sun's training camp in April. (Teammate Kaitlyn Davis, who played a graduate year at USC, will be going to the Liberty camp.)

I told Abbey she was almost as good a fan as she was a player. 

 

In addition to loving acronyms - Columbia coach Megan Griffith has coined a good one for her program:  EDGE:  Energy/Determination/Grit/Excellence - 

I'm somewhat of a sucker for inspirational slogans.  I saw a fan in the Princeton  crowd wearing a T-shirt that read:  LIFT/LAUGH/LOVE.  Pretty good one for the aspiring athlete in your family.  I've also loved the T-shirt I saw years ago worn by a Tampa Bay Rays baseball trainer:  CHAMPIONS ARE MADE WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING.  And here's an original one to remember the Five Towns of Long Island's Nassau County close to the NYC borough of Queens:   

WILCH - Woodmere, Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Hewlett (home town as noted earlier of Columbia's budding star Riley Weiss).

 

One last note on women's basketball in the NYC area:  The NYU women are now at 55 wins in a row and counting.  They will host the first two rounds

of the Division III playoffs on FSa Mar 7-8 at their home court Paulson Center on Mercer Street in Greenwich Village.  So likely will the men's team under coach Dave Klatsky, a 2003 graduate of Penn. They sport a 23-1 record as they, too, enter the playoff season.  I find it hard to imagine any school in any division that has gone this far in one basketball season with only one loss between them.    

 

NOW IT'S TIME FOR BASEBALL!

The annual New York Pro Scouts Hot Stove League dinner in late January offered some memorable speeches and tributes.  Anthony Iapoce, a 33rd-round 1994 draft choice of the Milwaukee Brewers, received the Jim Quigley "Service to Baseball Award" (which I was honored to receive 15 years ago). Service to baseball is no exaggeration for Iapoce whose career in baseball included over 10 years as a minor league outfielder (reaching Triple A at the highest), scout for several organizations, minor league manager in 2023 for the Tiger's Triple AAA Toledo franchise, and now entering his second year as Detroit first base coach.

 

Iapoca offered his general praise for the scouts who have "mastered simplicity" by becoming "detailed observers" and "active listeners".   He then specifically praised Jim Fleming the scouting director who hired him for the Marlins and insisted that every scout go to high school games with him and give appraisals not mere judgments. Anthony also tipped his cap to Tony LaCava, who when he hired him for the Blue Jays, stressed: "I want you to give your opinions." 

 

Another speaker at the late January dinner at Leonard's Palazzo in Great Neck Long Island was Bruce Shatel, High School Coach of the Year from Delbarton Prep in Morristown, New Jersey (alma mater of Yankee shortstop Anthony Volpe and Rangers RHP Jack Leiter).  "Why do you coach?" Shatel said he is often asked. Because he gets the thrill of a double into the gap hit by one of his players, he answered.  He added that he loved the thrill of seeing a well-executed 3-2 pitch that leads to an out. 

 

One sad note that I just learned while preparing this post.  Bobby Malkmus, born on the Fourth of July in 1931 in Newark NJ, passed away on Feb 23.

He had major experience as a Milwaukee Braves second baseman in the 1950s before the trade of Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst in 1957.  Malkmus was a long time Cleveland scout and a minister.  His presence at scout gatherings will be greatly missed.  

 

As for news of baseball on the MLB level, I am glad that most of the ballyhooed free agent signing season is over.  I have never begrudged players making a lot of money in a career that usually is quite short. But let the buyer owner beware of handing out multi-year contracts.  I don't like seeing super-agent Scott Boras's mug day in and day out on the TV and computer screens, sharing the space with his clients. I also think that the MLB season is ridiculously long and the number of teams in the playoffs are far too many.  But there is too much grouching in this world.  I'm happy for the return of baseball and upcoming warmer weather and for now I'll leave it at that.

 

The upcoming TCM baseball movie tip not to miss is Th Feb 27 at 7A (EST): "Speedy" (1928) - Harold Lloyd's great silent movie about the misfortunes but optimistic resilience of a baseball-loving young man. The scene where awed taxicab driver Lloyd transports his hero Babe Ruth to a game at Yankee Stadium is must-viewing.

 

W Feb 26 at 8P "Going My Way" (1944) Bing Crosby as a priest and St. Louis Browns fan with Barry Fitzgerald & Frank McHugh, dir. Leo McCarey. There's more baseball references in this film that I recalled on first viewing.  Not just Bing wearing a Browns sweatshirt.  After 1944 was the year of the only all St. Louis

World Series, won by the Cardinals in six games.  And Bing made a cameo in the 1951 underappreciated baseball film "Angels in the Outfield" (1951).

  

M Mar 3 8P "Pride of the Yankees" (1942) returns again and it is always worth seeing for the great cast of Gary Cooper/Teresa Wright/Dan Duryea/

Walter Brennan and Babe Ruth and Bill Dickey appearing as themselves. 

 

Non-baseball movies worthy of seeing include:

M Feb 24 5P "When We Were Kings" (1996) Leon Gast's movie about the hoopla surrounding the Sept 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali & Geoirge Foreman.  It is as much about the big music concert as it is about the fight. 

Later that night at 8P Hitchock's early classic "Suspicion" (1941) with Cary Grant

 

Tu Mar 4 highlights John Garfield movies from dawn to dusk. Most of them are from his heyday from the late 30s through the late 40s but his last film for Warners (and produced by his own company) "The Breaking Point" (1950) must be seen at 615P.  His blacklist started shortly thereafter and in 1952 he died of a heart attack at the age of 39.  (He suffered from a heart condition that kept him out of World War II service.) 

Cast includes Phyllis Thaxter as his wife, Patricia Neal as a femme fatale to end femme fatales, Wallace Ford, and Juano Hernandez.  By far the best film version of "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway. 

 

That's all for now - stay positive test negative (for as long as the new Health czar RFK Jr. allows for tests) and take it easy but take it.