Once in a Blue Moon

BLUE MOON ODOM  [SABR Bio] was the first American League pitcher to steal a base after the advent of the designated hitter, on 25-Apr-1973 He starred for a high school team that won consecutive state championships and then played for a team that won three straight at the major league level. Odom led Ballard-Hudson High School in Macon, Georgia to two consecutive state championships while personally amassing a 42-2 pitching record. He was a member of the Oakland A’s who won the World Series 1972, 1973 & 1974. He used to hate his unusual nickname but grew to love it. Given the nickname “Blue Moon” by a fifth-grade classmate.

ME: Odom later played for the Indians and Braves. He may have worn the widest range of colorful uniforms in history: Green, yellow, white, red, and blue. Odom was also involved in a legendary World Series play.

Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing your praise

Streams of never ceasing mercy

Call for songs of loudest praise

I am bound for the kingdom

Will you go to glory with me?

Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

Here I raise my Ebenezer

Hither by your help I come

And I hope by your good pleasure

Safety to arrive at home

Oh to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be

Let your grace, Lord, like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to you

Not much going on with me. Didn’t leave the house on Wednesday. English muffin for breakfast. Quesadillas for lunch. Frozen pizza for supper. Watched the remake of The Star is Born, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. The Alamo Bowl was played last night. I wanted Colorado to win. They lost 55-23.

Couldn’t sleep Tuesday night, so I didn’t go vote Wednesday morning. Will try again tomorrow.

Might be going out to eat on New Year’s Eve with two other couples, Covid be damned.

STEVE BARBER [SABR Bio] the one-time San Francisco Giant boldly wore uniform number thirteen for the Seattle Pilots. He had also worn #13 when he pitched for BAL 1961-67. Played for SFG for 13 games in 1974 to end his career in the majors. He was the first pitcher to win twenty games in a season for his team, but wasn’t the first to do it for the franchise. Barber’s record was 20-13 in 1963, BAL’s 10th season in Baltimore as the Orioles. When the franchise was the Browns and played in St. Louis, 10 different pitchers had 20-win seasons, led by Urban Shocker’s 27 in 1921. He was cut by the Brewers in spring training in both 1970 and 1974. After his best years in Baltimore, he was plagued by arm trouble and never got back to the form that earned him MVP votes in his first two years in the majors and was twice selected for the AL AS team.

ALBERT PUJOLS  [B-R Bio] tied Alex Rodriguez for most home runs ever hit in the month of April when he clobbered 14 in 2007. One year earlier Pujols hit 14 HR in Aril of 2006. He still holds the National League record for most RBI in a season by a rookie, with 120 RBI in 2001. He is the only player in major league history to bat at least .300 with thirty or more home runs and 100 or more runs batted in every one of his first ten seasons. Pujols hasn’t hit .300 in any of the ten seasons since. He is the all-time leader in GIDP (399), but there’s little shame since the next four players behind him are all first-round Hall of Famers. The next four are Cal Ripken (350), Ivan Rodriguez (337), Hank Aaron (328) & Yaz (323).

Doing Justice

What are some of your favorite hymns? I read a story in my book on Miracles about Larry Crabb needing to pray. He wound up singing hymns. Great Is Thy Faithfulness. It Is Well With My Soul. I Love You Lord. Day By Day, from Godspell. Reid added God of Grace and God of Glory” and “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing.”

Micah 6:8 was made into a song: “He has shown me, oh man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you – but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Finished my Eric Metaxas Miracles book, and started John Grisham’s A Time For Mercy. I’m getting like you, reading multiple books at the same time. Also finished Lewis Grizzard’s If I Ever Get Back to Georgia I’m Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground, and started Judd Apatow’s “Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy.”

Have been watching several good movies, including two political flicks:

1. Bombshell, starring John Lithgow, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron.

2. Miss Sloan, starring John Lithgow and Sam Watterson.

3. The Rewrite, starring Hugh Grant, JK Simmons, Chris Elliott, Allison Janney.

4. The Words, starring Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid.

5. The Answer Man, with Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham.

6. A Star is Born, with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga

Gallup released the results of their annual poll of most admired people.

1. 18% Donald Trump

2. 15% Barack Obama

3. 6% Joe Biden

4. 3% Anthony Fauchi

5. 2% Pope Francis

6. 1% Elon Musk

7. 1% Bernie Sanders

8. 1% Bill Gates

9. 1% LeBron James

10. 1% Dali Lama

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-ends-obama-s-12-year-run-as-most-admired-man-gallup/ar-BB1cjHTZ?ocid=entnewsntp

KENT MERCKER  [SABR Bio] received the Tony Conigliaro Award after recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage - Shared the 2000 Tony C. Award with Tony Saunders. Mercker was the winning pitcher of the game in which Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record - W on 08-Sep-1998 He and Paul O’Neill are alumni of the same alma mater - attended Otterbein University in Westerville, OH.

KEVIN MILLWOOD [Wiki] outpitched rotation mates Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine in a season when the Braves won more than 100 games. During the brilliant 1999 ATL 103-win season, Millwood bested all three of the squad’s future Hall of Fame pitchers with the lowest ERA and WHIP, the best Winning Percentage, struck out more batters and earned the highest WAR. No Texas Ranger pitcher has started more consecutive Opening Days’ games. From 2006 to 2009, Millwood got the ball for 4 straight ODs, going 1-3. When he retired, he was the active career leader in strikeouts among major league righties. When Millwood hung it up on 3-Feb-2013, his total of 2,083 career Ks was the highest among all major league northpaws.

More Knucksie

Saw an old clip of the time Phil Niekro was on the Yankees, and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. After the interview Niekro pitched knuckleballs to Letterman, who was wearing the extra large catchers mitt. 

Speaking of baseball, for Christmas I was given a pair of striped Braves baseball stirrup socks.

GT punter Pressley Harvin was named first team All-America. UGA punter Jake Carmada made third team. Carmada started strong but faded as the season progressed. GT RB Gibbs made third-team freshman All-America.

Labor Day 2021: UGA opens in Charlotte against Clemson. Should be a good game. Tigers will start a new QB and RB, and have several new starters on defense. Dawgs return JT Daniels, several good RBs, the top 3 or 4 receivers, and a loaded defense. If allowed, the stadium will be packed with fans from both teams.

Every month my electric company, Cobb EMC, sends out a magazine about things going on around the state. The January issue had a story about Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. He and his fiancé, also a Cartersville native, have started up a food bank program in their hometown.   

NFL: Washington released their number one draft pick from 2019, second year QB Dwayne Haskins. Kid just wouldn’t grow up. Had been coddled by his parents all his life. Unpopular opinion: perhaps the Falcons should pick him up.

In the leadup to this college season I was impressed with the leadership and maturity of Ohio State QB Justin Fields, but play this year wasn’t as dynamic as his 2019 season. Still his QB rating was near the top in the nation. Falcons fans want him to be the top draft pick. Knowing the Falcons, they’ll pick the BYU QB instead.

I should’ve picked Liberty, especially after Coastal Carolina’s thug life performance against BYU.

UGA basketball team is 7-0 headed into conference play tomorrow.

Sunday afternoon I cleaned up the house and did some laundry. We’d had a mess built up getting ready for Christmas, and had been gone ever since.

After a nap and Kroger stop, I went down to Piedmont Park for Mary-Clayton’s brother’s wedding reception. Less than 60 in attendance in a big meeting hall. I arrived 45 minutes late and was the first to leave about an hour later.

Had a productive Monday. Started work early, at 7 am. At lunch I drove over to the polls to vote, but the line was super long. Instead went to Wal-Mart for one item, and the Kroger next door for something else. Lots of people off work and out and about. Later I tried to clean the Jeep battery cables but didn’t make much progress. Decided to head to Wal-Mart on Mansell for a new battery. Probably a long wait, but it went quicker than I expected. Then gassed up the Jeep and cashed in a coupon and the new East Cobb Jim & Nicks BBQ.

Last night Will needed help picking up a full size refrigerator from his in-law’s house in Cartersville. I met W near I-75 and rode up with him. Dr. Gilbert had the fridge all ready to load in the pickup. On the way back I hopped in the Jeep and drove down to W&MC’s to help, arriving at 9 pm. His friend Aaron came to help. Was a chore getting the fridge up his narrow front steps. Then had to take off the doors to get it inside. Also had to take off the doors of the old fridge to get it outside. Didn’t get home until midnight.

PHIL NIEKRO  [SABR Bio] his Hall of Famer’s pitch was so effective that it actually became his nickname. “Knucksie” became the master, as much as one could, of the knuckleball. His signature pitch is actually thrown with the fingernails dug into the baseball’s seams or cowhide cover. His father taught him the pitch with the hopes he wouldn't have to work in the coal mines. No other pitcher won more games after the age of forty - a full 121 of his career 318 career pitching victories came after he turned 40. With his younger brother Joe, Phil racked up an amazing aggregates of 539 wins, the most by any two or three brothers combined in major league history. Joe had contributed 221 wins to the total. His brother’s sole career home run came at his expense - Joe’s HR 29-May-1976. Phil’s total of 24 years pitching in the majors places him in very select company, and no pitcher with his specialty pitched longer or tallied more wins, innings pitched or strikeouts. Among knuckleballers, Niekro sands alone with 318 W, 5,404 IP (4th all-time among all pitchers) & 3,342 strikeouts.

During his time in professional baseball, Niekro witnessed the administrations of seven different U.S. presidents. Niekro’s first year in the minors was 1959 and he retired in 1987. Presidents during that span were Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. Won Gold Gloves in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1983. In all, 24 seasons in the majors, with 21 years pitching the Braves, beginning in Milwaukee in 1964, is the most for any player for an NL team. He was five times an All-Star and although he didn’t win a Cy Young Award, he received consideration for the award in five separate seasons. An All-Star in 1969, 1975, 1978, 1982 & 1984.Received CYA votes in 1969 (2nd), 1974 (3th), 1978 (6th), 1979 (6th) & 1982 (5th).

He said “Mr. Baseball” turned his career around. While teammates for ATL in 1967 Niekro had a young catcher who was not about to call for a knuckleball with a runner on third base, fearful of a passed ball that would allow the runner to score.  But another catcher, Bob Uecker, told Niekro that if he was ever going to be a winner he had to throw the knuckleball every pitch and that he, Uecker would try to catch it.  Niekro led MLB in ERA (1.87) that season despite Uecker also pacing the majors, but in passed balls—(27) in only 62 G. Phil, his brother Joe, and NBA great John Havlicek grew up playing many sports together in Lansing, Ohio. Phil delivered the eulogy at Havlicek’s funeral just last year.

Note: no Dec 28 blog post yesterday, kinda on purpose. Had such a busy day, plus I arrived home exhausted at midnight. Had an hour to get in a post if I’d wanted, but I’d posted an extra time back in October, out of frustration with the new blog format. Plus 2020 is a leap year, so there will be 366 posts anyway.  

R.I.P Phil Niekro

 

Shortly after noon today I learned that Phil Niekro had passed away in his sleep last night. Humble and self-effacing. Hall of Famer who played on horrible teams for years. A 300 game winner who had won but one game before his 28th birthday.

A man of the people. Unlike other superstars, Phil could be seen walking the mezzanine at Gwinnett Braves games, talking to fans, signing autographs.

This afternoon the Gwinnett Stripers posted a memorial photo of Niekro throwing out the first pitch. I happened to be at that game, and had snapped a picture of him warming up beforehand, tossing knucklers to a teen in foul territory. Had to be a thrill for the kid. 

At another game in Gwinnett I happened past the visitor's bullpen late in the game, and noticed Niekro chatting with the bullpen coach, demonstrating how to throw his signature pitch. I'm sure there was no other place he'd rather be.

Tonight I attended the belated reception for Thomas and Holly, Mary-Clayton's brother and sister-in-law. T&H got married June 13th in front of their family.   

The reception was held at the Piedmont Room, in Piedmont Park's southeast corner, across from Grady Stadium at the corner of 10th and Monroe. Note the lights of the Midtown Atlanta skyscrapers out the windows behind Will and Anna.  

Less than sixty in attendance, many wearing masks, spread out in the large event space. I visited with Thomas and Holly, parents Tom and Regina and Brett and Carol, W&MC, sibs Anna and husband Zack, the Smith boys Garrison and Conner, uncle Ben and aunt Meghan, friends Abby and Matt Tillman and her parents the Hufstetlers, and a family from Johnson Ferry.

Saturday Will and Zack played pickleball against Thomas and a friend.

Christmas

You guys have a good Christmas? I worked from home Wednesday morning. Funeral at the graveside just west of Marietta. Ran several errands the rest of the day, into the evening. Spaghetti for supper. Ceil wrapped presents on into the evening.

Thursday morning we scrambled around getting ready. Loaded the bikes on the bike rack, but took them off since it continued to rain. Made it to W&MC’s by three. M had been there playing video games with Will and a neighborhood boy, then M left to pick up salad stuff. C and I played a board game with W&MC. 

Later supper was prepared. Will had been smoking a brisket. Huge slabs of red meat for everyone. 

M professionally prepared two salads: one traditional and also a cucumber salad. Also mashed potatoes and bread pudding.

After supper we decorated gingerbread houses. 

Ceil and I made one with a Chex cereal roof.

W&MC’s was a replica of their neighbor’s house, which they later gave to their neighbor. 

Matthew and Anna struggled through several designs before settling on a party house, complete with pool, slide, and rooftop deck. 

We spent the night there at W&MC’s. Slept late on Christmas morning, then things got rolling around nine. Anna loved her new boots.

Opened presents, then ate breakfast around 11 am, using Anna and Matthew’s new cookware. M received a tiny cast iron frying pan, big enough to fry one egg.

Anna fried several in her larger frying pan. Also toast, Honey Baked Ham, and cheesy grits. After cleanup W&MC left for her family’s gathering. Will wore his new Jordans.

M went home. Anna, Ceil and I took naps. Ceil and I returned home around five.

This morning Ceil left for SC at 7 am. I left for Macon around nine. Visited with my dad. We went out to gas up his car, stop by Kroger, and takeout from Burger King. Left at 5:30 to return home. Watched two movies: The Longest Week, with Jason Bateman, Billy Crudip, and Olivia Wilde. Also You May Not Kiss the Bride, with Katharine McPhee, Tia Carrere, and Rob Schneider.

Merry Christmas

Our family would like to wish you the very merriest of Christmases, and a most Happy New Year. Please celebrate with us the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Like many of you, we experienced a 2020 like no other year, experiencing constant change. We’d like to think we were able to get through it, thankful for God’s guidance and provision.

We became empty nesters this year. On October first Matthew moved to a charming house in Summerhill, taking his cat with him. Two weeks later our beloved Barney passed away, leaving the house all the more quiet. Now Dave is left to bark at squirrels by himself. We have made some progress decluttering the house, and worked to make Matthew’s old downstairs bedroom into an art studio for Ceil.

Matthew had been on the front lines of the pandemic working at Whole Foods. He also worked a few months at the farm at the downtown Good Samaritan Health Center, where he’d worked last summer. Matthew wanted to try his chops at cooking, and landed a job at one of the finest restaurants in town: Ford Fry’s Beetlecat in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. In November we went for rare, but delicious meal there for Ceil’s birthday.

Anna had an up and down year. When covid hit she lost both her jobs, then her car died. In April she launched a hilarious Quarantine Diaries email newsletter that garnered a large following, and sold Quarantine Diaries merchandise to followers. Anna landed a full-time job in Midtown, and bought another car. She made several trips back to Athens, plus a fall road trip with friends to Savannah. She still does freelance work for Grace Athens Church.

Will had a busy year at the hospital. Mary-Clayton continues to work from home. They got a lot of work done on their house in Mozley Park this year, including building a back deck and laying down sod. Will regularly golfs with friends. He and Mary-Clayton took a golf trip to Pinehurst, beach trip to St. Augustine, helped Thomas & Holly move to Ann Arbor, and tripped to Birmingham for Joel’s wedding.

Ceil taught remotely for several months, preparing art lessons her kids could complete at home with their families. She took several trips back to Jefferson to see her mother. Throughout the pandemic Ceil continued her work with the women and children at The Table on Delk.

In March Dave and a friend road-tripped to Memphis to visit friends, catching the last NBA game before sports shut down. Work shifted to the house for several months (and Jefferson for a week), then gradually back to the office. His is the only department back, so there’s plenty of room to spread out. Dave made several trips down to Macon to see his parents.

We attended a large Atlanta wedding in January, a small September wedding in Newnan, and drove to Richmond for an intimate outdoor wedding in November. Great times visiting friends while safe distancing. Plenty we miss during these crazy times, but thankful everyone has remained healthy.

We look forward to see what God has in store for us in 2021. Merry Christmas!

Chuck Foreman < Herschel

Chuck Foreman played eight seasons in the NFL (seven in Minnesota). Some say he should be in the hall of fame. His stats pale in comparison to Herschel's first eight NFL seasons. Then Walker played five more NFL seasons, and gained another five thousand yards.

rush.long.rec.yds.long.TD.comb yds

7468 84 370 3887 84 73 13031 HW

5950 51 350 3156 66 76 09144 CF

1518 33 020 0731 18 03 03887 difference

Our car repair shop in Roswell will oftentimes not charge me for work on the car. In November they were trying to fix a problem with the Jeep, and ordered a $400 replacement part. When the replacement part didn’t fix the problem, they put the old part back in and didn’t charge me. On the way home the problem went away, and hasn’t come back since.

Tuesday morning Ceil took our new car to the shop to check it out, while we still have the chance to take it back if something was wrong. They looked at it for 30 minutes and gave us the thumbs up. No charge.

BABE RUTH  [SABR Bio] “built” Yankee Stadium, though the actual contractor was Osborn Engineering. Ruth was called up to the Red Sox at the same time as Carl Mays. In the book “The Pitch that Killed”, Mays' BOS debut is nicely detailed.  Mays & Ruth were brought to Boston from the minors, and shared a taxi into the city for Mays's first taste of city life.  Ruth had already had a brief stint with the Sawx, so he blustered like a veteran while Mays shrank and tried to remain as invisible as possible. They both made their mark as members of the '15 BOS staff. Ruth dreamed of managing a Major League team, but it wasn’t to be. Immediately following his playing days, Ruth was twice lured to NL jobs with the possibility of the manager’s job made to seem likely. History has shown that neither the Braves nor the Dodgers intended for the Babe to be anything but a draw at the gate.

ROY OSWALT  [B-R Bio] the pitcher’s arm ailment was cured when he was shocked while changing a spark plug in his truck. In 1999 when Oswalt was with the Class A Michigan Battle Cats in the Midwest League, he suffered an apparently serious shoulder injury.  After a month of pain in his upper shoulder, Oswalt was convinced his shoulder was torn.  Shortly thereafter, he was checking the spark plug wires on his pickup truck when he touched one of the bare ones, causing the truck's engine to start.  The truck’s electric current flowed through Oswalt's body, tightening the muscles in his hand on the spark plug wire.  Unable to let go of it, he grasped the wire for almost a full minute.  Then his foot slipped off the truck's bumper and he was finally thrown off.  "My truck done shocked the fire out of me, and my arm don't hurt no more.”  The electric charge had loosened scar tissue in his shoulder.  Oswalt claims he has not felt any pain in his shoulder since the incident. He was the wide receiver and safety for Weir High School, Mississippi’s state champion for 1994. Oswalt finished a strong second behind Pujols for NL ROY in 2001, though Pujols captured all the first place votes.

The best non-hall-of-famer at every position, by Matt Kelly a New Yorker/Ithaca College/Buffalo Bills dude. I’ve posted a similar list before, but heck I’ve got this one all typed up so here you go.

C: Freehan, Munson, Tenace, Posada

1B: Palmeiro, McGwire, McGriff, Helton, Hodges  

2B: Whitaker, Kent, Grinch, Utley

3B: Dick Allen, Rolen, Nettles, Ken Boyer, Bando, Beltre  

SS: Vizquel, Dahlen, Garciaparra, Tejeda, Fregosi, ARod

LF: Bonds, Rose, Manny, Minoso

CF: Lofton, Andruw, Edmunds, Murphy, Wynn, Beltran

RF: Joe Jackson, Sosa, Dwight Evans, Reggie Smith, Tony Oliva, Gary Sheffield, Dave Parker, Bobby Abreu, Ichiro

DH: Hal McRae, Don Baylor

RHP: Clemens, Schilling, Tiant, Stieb, Kevin Brown, Cone, Hershiser, Oswalt, Cicotte, Lincecum

LHP: Johan Santana, Pettitte, Buehrle, Guidry, Tommy John, Kaat, Lolich, Key, Sabathia

RHRP: Quisenberry, Foulke, Tom Gordon, Henke, Marberry, Percival, Tekulve, Wetteland, Nathan, Papelbon

LHRP: Wagner, Franco, Lyle, McGraw, Myers  

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.mlb.com_news_best-2Dmlb-2Dplayers-2Dnot-2Din-2Dhall-2Dof-2Dfame&d=DwICAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=0MXpra92mVSF05Q-JyYz4Qd-BIKUWwgAHHyZP-XeZbs&s=AdyHOMp-a9eyFCiiDRKo3NdhlnmbuAyLXjxkf2LNa4Q&e=

Fun story about a game-ending 5-6-4-3 triple play, turned 9/7/1935 by the Indians to beat the Red Sox.

https://www.mlb.com/news/odell-hale-triple-play-off-head

Interesting article. Opponents may roll their eyes and scroll past. I challenge you to read these details with an open mind.

_{https://www.gingrich360.com/2020/12/why-i-will-not-give-up/}