This book is good so far. I am halfway in. My Goodreads pal Cathy Hoffer says in ending isn't that great. We'll see. Maybe I like it because the guy reading it sounds like the reader of John Grisham novels. Maybe the same style. Main character is named Murphy. Set on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
Interesting style of Vans, though I doubt I'll spring for them The black colorway looked better.
Too cold for golf (frost delay), so Will bought us breakfast burritos at Muchacho, a Mexican place on Memorial Drive in Cabbagetown, east of Oakland Cemetary. A great bacon & egg burrito, quite filling, though not quite a huge as I'd hope.
Shivonne came to visit, and treated us to a performance of Baby Shark.
Drove Ceil almost to South Carolina, 16 miles east of Athens, past Comer to 3 Porches Farm. Winnie enjoyed stretching her legs, but wasn't interested in the avain creatures.
Secrets to live a good life.
Steve Barber was the first Baltimore Oriole pitcher to win 20 games in a season: 20-13 in 1963. He was once the losing pitcher in a no-hitter that HE (and a teammate) threw, on 30-Apr-1967 with Stu Miller. Barber was characterized in Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" as trying to prevent a sore arm from coming to the attention of management of the Seattle Pilots. s a rookie he had reputation for wildness and led the AL in walks. He once was in a starting rotation with Bo Belinski and Steve Dalkowski, in Pensacola.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-barber205,0,3465366.story?track=mostemailedlink
Dom DiMaggio was the first American League outfielder to record 500 putouts in a season, with 503 in 1948. He has the longest hitting streak in Red Sox history: 34 games in 1949. Brother Joe caught the last out to end that streak.
Players with the most games who played for a single MLB team and who never played another defensive position.
Player Pos Games Team
Bissonette 1B 604 Dodgers
Combs OF 1,455 Yankees
Dickey C 1,789 Yankees
DiMaggio Dom OF 1,399 Red Sox
Doerr Bobby 2B 1,865 Red Sox
Faber P 669 White Sox
Hollocher SS 751 Cubs
Milan OF 1,982 Senators
Washington DH 31 A's
Wright David 3B 383 Mets
Herb Washington never actually batted in a game, but 31 times was listed as the designated hitter.
DENISON: the strategy for cultural transformation: (1) normalize beliefs, (2) legalize actions, (3) stigmatize opposition, then (4) criminalize opponents. British Christians have been arrested for praying silently outside abortion clinics; one was ticketed for displaying an “Unborn Lives Matter” bumper sticker on his car. A chaplain was reported as a terrorist and blacklisted by his diocese for telling students at a Church of England school that they are free to accept or reject LGBT activists’ claims. Another official was rebuked by the church’s highest-ranking clerics and reported to police for opposing the sexualization of children on social media.
In the 1957 World Series Lew Burdette beat Don Larsen (1956 WS MVP), Bobby Shantz (1952 AL MVP), and Whitey Ford (1961 WS MVP). Burdette was the first pitcher since Christy Mathewson to pitch 3 shutouts in a single World Series. He was the winning pitcher in Harvey Haddix’ nearly-perfect game. About him Red Smith wrote, "The papers needed three columns for his pitching record: W , L , and relative humidity." Burdette surrendered the first grand slam at Anaheim Stadium. As a rookie, he was traded by the Yankees, along with $50,000, for All-Star Johnny Sain. He cut a record entitled "Three Strikes and Then You're Out". The first black player in Cincinnati Reds history singled against him in his (the Reds player’s) major league debut. Burdette was the last pre-expansion pitcher to collect five RBI in a game. He threw a no-hitter in which the only opposing base runner was hit by a pitch. He once broke a batter’s wrist with a pitch in a season when that batter won the league MVP.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2007/02/06/mlb-burdette-obit.html
Despite missing a season for military service, Stan Musial is tied with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron for the most All-Star appearances (24). All three benefited from the fact that two All Star Games a year were played 1959-1962.
Tris Speaker never lead his league in triples, but is sixth on the all-time list. He has more outfield assists than anyone else in the history of the game: 448 assists. Ty Cobb is a distant second at 392.
Tom Glavine broke a rib vomiting on a team flight. At age 36, after 242 victories for the Braves, he went on to 48 more career victories with the Mets, including a post-season appearance.
Some of the pitchers who have started the All-Star game and the first game of the World Series in the same season.
1940 Derringer
1942 Cooper
1950 Raschi
1971 Ellis
1989 Stewart
1991 Morris
1992 Glavine
1996 Smoltz
1998 Wells
How to make a ton of impressions on Twitter: comment on a Super 70's Sports post. Who did I think was a lock for the hall of fame? I'd been staying away from making Herschel posts due to his political volatility, but this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Most all the responses were getting a large number of impressions, as did mine.
Thought: if Bo Jackson had never played baseball, but had Herschel's football career - gaining more pro yards than anyone in history, retiring with the second-most combined yards in NFL history, setting the franchise rookie receiving record, the first player with a 90+ yard rush, reception, and return, the only player with an 80+ yard rush and reception in the same game, the monumental trade that yielded the Cowboys 18 players/picks and three Super Bowl titles - then Bo would've been inducted into the pro football hall of fame. Makes me think that had Herschel signed with Nike, that marketing might've been the difference in getting Walker into of fame.
Small group tonight, on I John 3.
Verse 18: "Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth."
Verse 11-12: "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous."
Sal Maglie was the losing pitcher in Don Larsen's 2-0 perfect game in the 1956 World Series on 08-Oct-1956. Maglie was relieved by Larry Jansen, when Jansen secured the win for the Giants when Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" on 03-Oct-1951.
Willie Montanez had the most hits in a season in which he was traded, with 206 in 1976. In April 1970 he was sent to the Phillies with pitcher Bob Browning as compensation for Curt Flood’s historic failure to report the previous October.
Clem Labine was the first pitcher to earn a save at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, for starter Carl Erskine on 18-Apr-1958 Labine was one of the “Boys of Summer”. He pitched a complete game shut-out against the Giants the day before Bobby Thomson’s famous home run. Like Napoleon Lajoie, he was a Rhode Island native, but the descendent of French Canadians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/sports/baseball/02cnd-labine.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
In 1961 Sandy Koufax broke Christy Mathewson’s modern-day NL season strikeout record of 267 in 1903 with Koufax’s 269. Mathewson would not normally pitch on Sundays, in accordance with his mother's wishes.
Ty Cobb stole second, third, and home in the same inning three times in his career. He holds the career record for steals of home.
George Sisler was the only player to hit for the cycle twice for the Browns, on 08-Aug-1920 and 13-Aug-1921. He holds the record for highest season batting average among first basemen: 420 in 1922.
When Babe Ruth got his $52,000 contract in 1922, Maryland native Frank Baker was the next-highest-paid Yankee, at $16,000.
Nap Lajoie committed five errors in a game. He once broke his hand trying to punch a teammate, earning a five-week suspension without pay for it.
Duke Snider hurt his arm trying to throw a ball out of the Los Angeles Coliseum. He was the first captain of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hank Bauer set the record of hitting in 17 straight World Series games. He was the youngest of 9 children and wore clothes made from old feed sacks as a child. His nose was permanently damaged playing high school basketball. As a Marine in World War II, he contracted Malaria, earned two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. When asked about the time out of his baseball career that he had lost to military service, he responded, "I guess I knew too many great young guys who lost everything out there to worry about my losing part of a baseball career."
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/16663076.htm
St. Patrick's Day at work. Didn't wear my knee high Stance St. Patrick's socks, but I did wear green. The always pleasant Rachel passed out necklaces and decorated her boss' desk. Don't tell Angie that Rachel borrowed her stroller.
Did you fill out a bracket? My bracket predicted no upsets. I am not involved in any March Madness competition but did fill out a bracket. I have Kansas going all the way, beating Bama in the final. I thought the baggage might hamper a team like Alabama. We have the games on the TVs we have set up here in the office, both yesterday and today. No sound. Just finished one project, but I have a couple more. Worked past 7 pm.
Long games: commercials are the culprit. On the treadmill this AM I run without sound on ESPN Sportscenter. I thought I saw something about the PGA adding a ball that doesn’t travel as far. Not sure. Seems like the players wouldn’t want 54 hole tourneys, since they’ve all been badmouthing LIV.
Author Robert Whitlow has ben recommended to me:
Book 1 Life Support, book 2 Life Everlasting
Book 1 Chosen People, book 2 Promised Land
I will have to dig into the Robert Whitlow books. Did I tell you that I am reading The Chemist, by Stephanie Meyer? Very good. Should finish by tomorrow. Back when I borrowed books from the library I sometimes read series books out of order. Not the best.
Thursday: worked past six again. Drove straight home. C cooked roast beef, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. Also a delicious wine sauce for the roast beef (and potatoes). M ate with us. Didn’t finish the dishes until almost 8:45.
Slept 22 minutes late again this morning. Still went to the gym to run. Lots to get done today. Stopped only long enough to snap this picture. Another new low weight today. I need to keep this up. Easier to not cheat when I’m at the office. Gotta be good this next week. This morning I celebrated by eating an apple fritter.
It'll be cold tomorrow morning, but I’ll try to play golf. M is baking, and later attending a concert.
Leo Durocher was the first manager to win 500 games for three teams: Brooklyn Dodgers, 738, New York Giants, 637, Chicago Cubs, 535. He was nicknamed for the rudest part of his anatomy: “The Lip”.
Willie Mays played professional baseball at age 14, on the same team as his father, in a town that no longer exists: Westfield, AL. Mays and his father were named for a U.S. President and a Supreme Court Chief Justice: William Howard Taft.
http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=388&pid=9039 )
Well my bracket is blown. If I had a nickel every time someone posted that on social media. Perhaps I should copywright the phrase, like Pat Riley copyrighted “threepeat”. Like anyone had Furman in their final four (besides me). Beware the Ides of March, which I forgot yesterday.
DENISON: more than 80 million brackets are filled out each year. Of employees, 78% "say celebrating March Madness at work boosts morale," and 39% report that "they became closer with a coworker after participating in an office pool." This list of facts from ESPN and this one from The Athletic are informative.
Spoke with former minor league pitcher Jake Burnette today. Buford High alum. Looking at his resume, he may have played against Will at East Cobb back in the day. I’ll need to dig through my old scorebooks. Need to get Jake over to a Hot Stove meeting this fall.
https://baseballlife365.wixsite.com/baseball-life-365/jake-burnette
Wednesday: worked past 6 pm trying to finish a project (I didn’t finish). M was cooking supper and I had to stop by Kroger for honey. Anna arrived just after me, and ate with us. M had cooked a special chicken dish. Was after 8 pm by the time we finished the dishes. Went to bed by 9:30 pm.
I saw Clemson was playing, at home even. Guy I know was at the game. He was posting updates and photos. Also Robert from small group has a son graduating from Clemson. He was the Clemson tiger mascot for several years.
Last night my legs were cramping most of the night. Plus Winnie was all in my space. Hard to sleep. Then I slept 20 minutes late. Made it to the gym to lift weights.
Speaking as an introvert: some extroverts think all introverts need to be like them. No they don’t.
John Smoltz is the only pitcher to hold his team's single-season wins record and single-season saves record: 24 wins in 1996 and 55 saves in 2002 for the Braves. 2006 marked the first season since 1990 where he did not appear in the post season, the longest such stretch in major league history.
Israel: events of historic significance could happen soon.
Last week at Hot Stove Johnny Tallant gave me this forty year old classic Nike poster, of Dwight Gooden pitching to Dale Murphy.
Denison on anxiety: one of the most difficult of Christ's commands is to "not be anxious about your life" (Matthew 6:25). The idea here is not that we never experience the emotion of fear—God never commands us how to feel. Rather, the sin against which we are warned is feeding our anxiety by dwelling on it instead of giving it back to God and trusting that he not only knows our needs but has a plan to meet them as well. Fears are understandable. There is plenty we have to be anxious about these days.
My covid defense strategy: take vitamins. Have I said this before? Currently taking: B, C, D, Multivitamin, Omega 3, calcium magnesium zinc, heart health / healthy aging pill, pill for healthy joints, garlic extract for cardiovascular health, baby aspirin, a green tea fat metabolizer, and a Tums for more calcium.
Man that Chevron burger place I gotta go to. I got on their email list and received an email from them yesterday. The owner / chef had written an essay about his father, who was always giving to charities. The son now is doing the same, with proceeds from the burger place earmarked to charities every few months.
GT’s new basketball coach – Damon Stoudamire. Ever hear of him ??? Stoudamire was rookie of the year for Toronto in 95-96 .Played college ball at Arizona. Also played for the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, and Spurs. Had been an assistant for the Celtics.
RIP Bud Grant. Former head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Played in both the NFL and NBA. Also in the Canadian Football League, I think.
Politically Incorrect: Tom Hanks first role was on a sitcom in the early 1980’s called Bosom Buddies, where he and Peter Scolari was up as women to gain housing in a low-rent women’s only apartment complex. The other residents all looked like models, but Kip and Henry dressed like women in their 60’s. Perhaps this show was 40 years ahead of it’s time. I could see it coming back to TV, perhaps this time as a drama.
How to clean a glass oven door. Ours looks turrible.
Marty at work is a big basketball fan. He is from Kentucky so he pulls for the Wildcats. He is up to speed on the tourney. I pretty much always pick the favored team and don’t allow for upsets.
As good as they sound, those Publix meal kits. Ceil likes to get the whole roasted chicken from Whole Foods. She says it’s cheaper and easier than buying the chicken raw and cooking it. I think they have those same roasted chickens at Publix. The metal to make all those roasting machines came from my company.
Players with batting titles in consecutive seasons, but not in the Hall of Fame (W/WAR). They should list players who won back-to-back MVP Awards, but aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Are there others besides Dale Murphy?
Barnes...........1872 (.430), 1873 (.431)....27.7
Daubert..........1913 (.350), 1914 (.329)....39.3
Davis..............1962 (.346), 1962 (.326)....20.5
Fain................1951 (.344), 1952 (.327)....27.2
Garciaparra...1999 (.357), 2000 (.372)....44.3
Hines..............1878 (.358), 1879 (.357)...44.9
Madlock.........1975 (.354), 1976 (.339)...38.2
O’Neill............1887 (.435), 1888 (.335)...25.4
Parker............1977 (.338), 1978 (.334)...40.1
March 14 is Pi Day. Long celebrated at Georgia Tech. Thanks to social media it's spread all over. Not to go all overboard on it, but here's a sampling of what's to be seen on social media.
Sermon notes: JFBC Clay Smith
Hebrews 7: 19-20 a complicated scripture. The first covenant wasn't necessarily the best.
Ricky Bobby: "If you ain't winnin, you're losing" isn't always true. The first of anything doesn't mean it was the best.
Jesus is the high priest. An amazing passage of scripture. To help understand:
1. The hearer's situation. To help them to not backslide. Heb 10 some lost jobs, relationships, etc. They're wondering if they made a mistake.
2. characters like Jesus and Aaron.
3. A central text based on Psalm 110.
4. The form of his argument: it's not this, therefore it's that. Proving Jesus is the high priest. Amazing relevance to me.
Two Premises:
1. Which is best: the Levitical priesthood or Jesus? Who is Melchizidach? A king in Genesis 14. Took Lot his wife and possessions. Abram tithes to someone outside the covenant. The king blessed Abram. King of righteousness. Said to be like the son of God. Jews are brought up to give within the temple system. V 4-8. Jesus said in John 8 that he was connected to Abram.
2. The Levitical priesthood is inferior. V 11-12 also a change of the law. Lots of rules, some odd. But to a Jew these laws are part of the whole temple system. Since a new priest has come (Jesus) the laws have been changed. V 15 not on the bass of a physical requirement / bloodline but by the power of Christ's resurrection. The old way was weak - only the high priest could go into the holy of holies. But now we can approach the throne ourselves. Jesus isn't still hanging on the cross. He rose from the dead. We need this bad, for Jesus to be our high priest.
A. He guarantees our salvation, that his is the better covenant. No longer need to go to the temple for salvation.
B. Jesus permanently intercedes for us. I'm n the past a good priest we liked would die or be replaced. Jesus is our advocate. Clay says he is a lousy intercessor. Jesus is the perfect intercessor, continually praying.
C. Jesus never has to be replaced. Human priests are human, not always holy.
My other friend Reid is looking for a JFBC mission trip to go on. I should do the same, but will probably excuse myself out of it. I'm slammed pretty much from August to the end of the year. Here are a few interesting trips, though I missed the boat on some already:
4/1-7 Dominican Republic High School
4/2-7 Sevierville Tenn adults construction
4/6-10 Queens families outreach
6/4-9 Memphis middle school
6/7-13 Cuba adults VBS
6/30-7/8 Spain adults outreach
7/8-12 Melbourne FL families special needs
9/1-9 Greece adults sports
9/27-10/1 Queens families outreach
10/6-9 NYC adults outreach
10-20-22 Sevierville Tenn families construction
I know people on the DR trip, and probably several others. Danny Downing will be leading the trip to Greece. Tommy will be going to Melbourne.
Monday: Small group was good. 1 John chapter three. Had to stop by Whole Foods for Ceil. Didn't get home until nine, and was in bed before ten.
Up early to lift weights. New low weight this morning. Getting close to 40 pounds lost. Can't tell it because I'm wearing mostly the same old big clothes.
Crazy morning, after several relatively calm days. Hour and a half meeting. People so focused on the details can't see forest for the trees. Not really a problem that they're spending too much time to solve. No one is listening. Plus lots of other stuff.
TOMMY DAVIS [SABR Bio] holds the highest career batting average among pinch-hitters. With 62 base hits in 202 career ABs as a PH, Davis hit .307. Played for SEP in 1969. From 1950 through 1997, no other player had more runs batted in in a single season. Davis had 153 RBI in 1962, the pitchers' era by most other measures. Known much more for his hitting prowess, in the three seasons prior to shattering his ankle in 1965, Davis was the best defensive left fielder in the NL (measured by putouts, assists, DPs, Fielding Percentage, Range Factor, and Total Zone Rating). Davis was an outstanding multi-sport athlete at Boys High School in Brooklyn and played alongside future NBA Hall of Famers Tom "Satch" Sanders and Lenny Wilkens.
