Hyde Park Blvd

Kenny Holtzman

When Kenny Holtzman pitched for the Cubs, every Yid on the North Side got a bissel faklempt.

Jason Marquis

Nobody even noticed when Jason Marquis took the mound. He more than lived up to his notices, kept his nose clean, didn’t take drugs.

Yesterday, nobody seemed to shed a tear when he was traded for a bag of balls.

I’m probably missing something, but to remember him, here’s a bit of baseball history from reader Igal Medad that’s a bit heavy on the Sandy Koufax but otherwise much better than anything doing during the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley.

Oh, are the Ross Baumgartens and Richie Scheinblums of my youth?

Ryan Braun, alias the ‘Hebrew Hammer’

(In case you’re interested, a list of Jewish ballplayers is available here).

Only 40 days to Spring Training! Happy New Year to all.

Thoughtful NYT obit of Rabbi Arnold Wolff.

Until I met Arnold, I didn’t know that ‘Reb’ and friend could be one and the same.

With his left hand he reached back to Martin Luther King and the activism of the 1960; with the right he touched Obama. In a letter to the family, Obama wrote:

No shortage of anecdotes at his memorial. When a woman, who was chanting the Torah to a congregation, lost her place in the text, Arnold called out ‘Read anything, it’s all good.’

I spent a lot of time talking baseball with Arnold.

Too bad he didn’t live to see his friend, and fellow White Sox fan, in the White House.

John Carroll at the SF Chronicle gets 2008 just about right.

Especially the Charlie Haden/Pat Metheney recording and the word of the year, gammelfleischparty.

Which means any gathering that includes people over age 30.

Thanks for link to Gary, SF-based brother, ever insightful, supportive, and forgiving.

Gary hisself

A beautiful and insightful quote from John Berger’s Here is Where We Met that deepened my appreciation for the talents of neighbor, author, and Music Hall descendant, Nicholas Delbanco.

Ben Stein, actor, game-show host, sex object, and Reagan administration alum, offers perspective in the Business Section of Sunday’s NYT (Ben has his own site, replete with an impressive filmography, especially for an economist.)

Words of wisdom from Ferris Bueller’s favorite teacher. In case you’ve been avoiding business news.

Wendell Pierce as William ‘Bunk’ Moreland

For fans of HBO’s The Wire:

Earlier this year, economist and author Sudhir Venkatesh wrote a series of articles (on the NYT Freakonomics Blog) that included commentary on The Wire’s 5th season from a group of New York City gang leaders.

Jamie Hector as Marlo Stanfield

Links to successive commentaries are below the text.

Amost as good as the bonus commentary on the CDs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw&feature=related]
That’s the marketing approach employed (using the proper Japanese pronounciation su-BAH-roo) for ‘our Little Subaru.’ Cool car, groovy chicks, perfect period ads. Suicide doors, no clutch, and $1297 P.O.E. In 1970 no less!

Overwhelmed by nostalgia, I’m still in love with the 360.

The obits for Dock Ellis will be full of the stories:
— June 12, 1970, Ellis no-hit the San Diego Padres under the influence of LSD. He mistakenly thought he had a day off and found out, too late, that he was due to pitch. It was an interesting no-hitter. He struck out six, walked eight, despite the fact that the ball kept changing sizes on him and he couldn’t see the catcher very well.
–May 5, 1972, Ellis was maced by a security guard at Riverfront Stadium. Apparently, Ellis’ World Series Ring from 1971, when he won 19 games on the champion Pirates, was not the right ID.
— May 1, 1974, Ellis attempted to hit every member of the Cincinnati Reds, succeeding with Rose, Morgan, and Driessen. Tony Perez successfully avoided Ellis’ pitches and drew a walk, scoring Rose from third. After trying to hit Johnny Bench in the head, Ellis was removed.

Dock Ellis in 1999

You might also hear about his rather odd trip to Vietnam with Bobby Bonds. What you might not hear about is a lovely, quirky book, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, written by ex-Poet Laureate Donald Hall and the good Dock. Hall is a superb poet and baseball fan who respects the art of sports books and a tale well told.