September 8th, 2018 (August 2018 newsletter)

I guess by now everyone who's going back to school is already back in school. We talked to a woman yesterday whose daughter is a high school senior, and she (the daughter) is stressed with all the pressures she faces trying to qualify for the "right" college: not just grades, but extracurricular activities, jobs, etc. While these may be things we didn't face so much in our day, we did have our problems: jamming all 12 grades into that one room, the squeaking of chalk on chalk boards, fighting the flies coming in the open windows.

As usual, let's start with a look at what's going on in the sports world. One big story is Virginia Tech's opening game victory over the Florida State ChopHeads. This is news because Tech has no real tradition of winning big games. On the other hand, they have somewhat of an unfortunate tradition of losing little games - if you, like me, have rooted for them for some 50 years, you know what I mean. Beware of William & Mary this afternoon! (Update: no problem - VT 62, Tribe 17)

In news that will surely have you reaching for your credit card, the promised "head-to-head" nine million dollar match between Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods and Philip Alfred "Lefty" Michelson is definitely on the horizon. It is scheduled for PPV around Thanksgiving. Phil was quoted as saying he wanted to "bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go to a head-to-head". You know, all that playing two days to make the cut, then the stress of playing the weekend to win a real tournament. All that "ancillary stuff". In other words, "we know we can't win a real tournament any more, so we just want to make a bunch of money in a hurry".

In Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers can't seem to do much good on the field, but they seem to have lots of action in the broadcast booth. Allegedly their broadcast team got into a rumble with one of them assaulting the other from behind and choking him. Speaking of choking, the Washington Nits continue their losing ways, dropping three in a row to fall farther below .500. Meanwhile, going in the other direction, the Atlanta Braves amazingly continue to hold onto first place in the NL East.

I find this story interesting, as reported in Baseball America. If you hadn't already guessed, it pays to be rich. The total number of players an MLB franchise can have under contract for its major and all its minor league teams is limited by rule. Most teams have seven minor league affiliates which would by this rule limit them to about 290 players. The Yankees have nine affiliates from the major league team through all their MILB teams, which allows them to have up to 70 more players than most teams. More free agents, more low-round draft choices, more cheap international players.

Of course, the NFL regular season has begun, much to the joy of fantasy players everywhere. The first game was played Thursday, and by all accounts (not MY account - I didn't watch) it was a snoozer. But my sources report that one big story from the game is that with all the rule changes and discussion, we STILL don't know what a "catch" is. So far this season, no head coaches have been fired. Browns coach Hue (and Cry) Jackson says "Honestly, I would rather not look back". Hahahaha! With a 1-31 record in his rear view mirror, I can understand that.

In soccer news, the MLS ("Major League Soccer") league held its "All-star game" on August 1. As I've discussed before, the MLS apparently can't find enough "all stars" to fill out two teams, so they invite a bunch of foreigners in to play. This time it was the Juventa team from Italy - I believe they are the Screaming Pepperonis. The game was tied at the end of the match (secret time kept randomly by the referee), and it was decided on a "penalty shootout". I've also discussed this method of tie-breaking before. It's like deciding a tied golf match by a long-driving competition or deciding a tied NFL game by a punt-pass-and-kick competition - oh, wait, that's kind of what they do, isn't it? Anyway, the visitors won this "all-star" game, which appears to be even more meaningless than most all-star games. I'll give them credit, however (for YOU, Ken A) - they had over 70,000 fans in the stands.

Here's another baseball question or two or three. What player holds the MLB career record for on-base percentage (OBP)? What player holds the record among currently active players? Can you give the official rule for calculating OBP? (see answer below)

A post card was found and dated to be from a 1914 Red Sox game. Extensive research concludes that the pitcher in the photo was none other than Babe Ruth in his second major league game. If you're interested in the fascinating detective work that went into this research, click here and click on the June 2017 link. Photos of Ruth in a 1914 Red Sox uni are very rare, and this is the only known game photo of him from that year. In other collecting news, a baseball signed by 11 original members of the MLB Hall of Fame, including Ruth, Wagner, Cobb and (if you follow the arithmetic) eight others. The ball, which was verified by PSA/DNA, sold at auction for over $600,000. It has been described as the "most important and valuable autographed baseball in the world". By the way, if you missed my birthday (and you did!) B&E collectibles has a '52 Eddie Mathews graded 1.5 (fair) on sale for $2,450. Christmas is not that far away.

I find a reference to underwater bike racing. Yep, the participants ride their bikes under water. This would appear to be one way to make bike racing even more boring than it usually is. You don't even have those 27-bike crashes that you see in dry land bike racing. I cannot find where this is played, so I can't blame it on the British.

I can, however, blame the "Ottery Tar Barrels" on the Brits. In Ottery St Mary, Devon, UK, folks carry flaming barrels of tar through the streets. While this is not technically a sport, in that there are no winners (although clearly there could be serious losers), it does show how pathetically shortchanged of fun things to do that the Brits are.

In holidays coming up this month, the 8th was "International Drive Your Studebaker Day", which I hope was observed by the two or three of you out there who actually know what a "Studebaker" is or was; the 17th is "Respect For The Aged Day", which you should celebrate every day; the 3rd, of course, was "Labor Day", which is celebrated by workers everywhere except those who have to work that day; and, finally, September is "Shameless Promotion Month", which we celebrate by reminding you how great our monthly show is, with amazing buys in all kinds of sports collectibles, not to mention the sheer fun of talking to so many swell dealers, and I say this without an ounce of shame.

The formula is (hits + hit by pitch + walks)/(at bats + walks + hit by pitch + sacrifice flies). (I'm not sure why the denominator does not include sac bunts.) Ted Williams holds the MLB career record for OBP at .4817. The currently active leader is Joey Votto.

October 6th, 2018 (September 2018 newsletter)

Well, as you know if you read last month's newsletter - and, again, I don't blame you if you don't admit that - I led off with a note about Va Tech's opening football victory. But you'll also remember that I said VT has "somewhat of a tradition of losing little games - if you, like me, have rooted for them for some 50 years, you know what I mean". That leads me to the ODU game of a couple of weeks ago. I think I'll just say, thank goodness Tech has the wonderful Bud Foster defense, because otherwise how many points would ODU have scored - FIFTY? But Tech did come back with a win over Duke (the Mayonnaise school). I'm writing this before tonight's Notre Dame game, so we'll see what happens there. [Update: we wish we hadn't seen what we saw there.]

In personal news, I'm signed up to go to this month's Chantilly show which is coming up Friday through Sunday (12th-14th). I haven't been there in several years, and I'm looking forward to it. I know a few of our show's regular dealers will be there and many of our other friends as well. I'll be there on Saturday, and maybe I'll see you there. I'll be looking probably for some vintage, maybe some non-sport, autos and mems of old-timers, and, of course, Eddie Mathews cards. And anything else that catches my eye. My wife Sue will be at a nearby mall during the day.

Well, I must say that Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is back in the news. Regular readers of this - what's the word I'm looking for, starts with an "M" - Missile? No, missive, that's it. Regular readers of this missive know my great esteem for Eldrick and you can guess how happy I was to hear that he had won some tournament or other. Of course, in the "Ryder Cup", he wore the "Golden Sombrero", an oh-for-four. The Ryder Cup, which as far as I know has nothing to do with renting trucks, sort of reminds me of the MLS (Major League Soccer) soccer "All-Star" game in that a U.S. all-star team goes up against some European bunch. A major difference, of course, is that the MLS game is only boring for several hours, while the Ryder Cup is boring for several days. U.S. team member Philip Alfred "Alf" Mickelson, who whiffed two times on his own, complained that the "rough" at the tournament was "almost unplayable". I don't believe he happened to explain why it wasn't "almost unplayable" as well for the Europeans, who won the event easily.

The MLB "post season" is underway. Atlanta managed to win their division going away, but they're rapidly going away against the Dodgers. I'm no expert, but I believe that if you score zero runs in every game you're not likely win no matter what the sport. The good news is they are generally a very young team and finished ahead of the Phoolies, the Muts, and the Nits (NITITUDE!). Wait 'till next year! [Update: It's now 2-1 Dodgers, so there's still life.]

A highlight of this (or any) NFL season came in the Jets-Browns game when former Brown Isaiah Crowell wiped his, uh, rear end with the football after scoring a touchdown. (Insert your own "brown" joke here.) In related news, and I'm not making this up, Crowell got an endorsement deal with a product called "Dude Wipes" which is described as a "personal hygiene" product. In the business world, this is called "starting at the bottom".

This should be another easy one. Who is the only NFL coach to win three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks? Can you name those QBs? (see answer below)

A Mickey Mantle jersey sold in a Heritage Sports auction for $1.32 MILLION. The jersey was worn by the Mick in the 1964 World Series game in which he hit his 17th and 18th WS home runs. It nearly tripled the previous record for a Mantle jersey. Heritage also auctioned off a nearly complete set of T206 cards which (I think) came from the top-rated T206 set on the PSA registry. The cards, which were sold individually - 520 of them -, brought in $8.1 MILLION. For more on this auction click here. Robert Edwards Auctions has on consignment a nearly complete set of the gorgeous Goudey baseball cards (missing only the Lajoie) which is now being sent for grading. I would assume these will be sold individually as well.

Kim Jong-Il, late supreme leader of North Korea. In 1994, Kim while visiting a bowling alley, picked up a bowling ball for the first time ever and proceeded to complete a perfect game! Also, Kim in his first ever golf game, shot a world record 34 (with 11 holes-in-one), although some quibblers make it a 38 with only 5 aces. Unfortunately there does not appear to be video of either of these amazing accomplishments. And, yes, ladies, he had those stunning Brad-Pitt-like good looks which he passed on to his son, Kim Jong-Junior.

October is "National Stamp Collecting Month" - can you imagine a more boring hobby than collecting pieces of paper, cataloging them and going to regular shows to buy and trade them ... oh, wait. Never mind. The 21st through 27th is "National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week", during which we try to raise awareness among those three or maybe four college students who are not already aware of alcohol. October 3rd (hope you didn't miss it) was "National Kale Day", a celebration which is rivaled in my world perhaps only by National Brussels Sprouts Day or National Pumpkin Spice Latte Day. The 30th is "National Checklist Day" - my checklist had only one item: 1. Get the newsletter out early. (Fortunately the 13th is "International Failure Day", so I've got that covered.) Finally, October is "American Cheese Month" - American cheese: a product so boring that it's the favorite food of soccer players everywhere.

Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with Washington. The QBs were Joe Theismann (XVII), Doug Williams (XXII) and Mark Rypien (XXVI).

November 12th, 2018 (October 2018 newsletter)

Okay, I know. I'm later with this newsletter than I've ever been before. I have a good excuse, and as soon as I think of it I'll tell you. Anyway, as I've said before, what do you want for free?

Well, let's get right into the latest sports news. We'll start by talking about college football. Uh, on second thought, let's don't talk about that.

The World Series ended recently with the Boston Red Sox coming out on top over the Dodgers. Of all the eight teams that were in the playoffs, with the exception of the Yankees, these were the two teams I LEAST wanted to see in the WS. But, given the choice, I actually pulled for the BoSox, because they mostly seem like good guys (and there's no Big Poopie any more) compared to the Dodgers with Manny MuchAdo, who seemed to work at being a jerk, and "Puig", and that very weird looking Justin Turner.

In other baseball news, Bill James (father of the Sabrmetrics movement) said that MLB players are grossly overpaid, and they could all be gotten rid of and the game would quickly recover. He's right about the overpaid, of course, especially when contrasted with other more important professions such as NFL quarterback, Justin Bieber and U.S. senators. Well, okay, maybe not the senators. Case in point: Bryce Harper is looking for a $400 million contract.

Some of the biggest sports stories of recent weeks have been not about players who are playing, but about players who AREN'T playing. Leveon Bell of the Pittsburgh Stoolers has been the topic of more sports talk show football conversations lately than "targeting" penalties. And should Jimmy Butler go or stay at the far-flung lands of Minnesota? Well, at last Jimmy has been traded so put that one to rest. He's bringing his talents to Philadelphia. And poor Dez Bryant couldn't get signed by anybody, then he finally got signed and immediately got hurt - in practice! Crying towels for everybody!

In NASCAR, Kevin Harvick and his team were severely punished for having a spoiler that wasn't exactly right. (Note: A "spoiler" is that little wing-like thing on the back of the race car which helps keep the car on the ground, or it's that little wing-like thing on the back of a dippy Honda Civic which helps the owner feel like he's driving a race car.) Seems it wasn't right from the dealer or something. Yep, not "stock". This is on a car that bears about much resemblance to a "stock" car as my little cat does to a Bengal tiger.

Interesting news from the NFL: the Tennessee "Titans" defeated the New England Patriots 34-10. Well done! Herewith a history lesson (skip if you like): the original "Titans" in Greek mythology were the twelve children of Uranus (Heaven) - we worship Uranus haha! - and Ge (Earth). They were a rowdy bunch. For example, Kronos used a sickle he got from his sister to, uh, separate his dad from some very personal parts. Then Kronos went on to marry his sister. Sounds like a swell group to name your team after. (End of history lesson)

Ooh, I almost forgot. The Copa Libertadores tournament, if I've got that right, is going on somewhere in South America. In case you've never heard of it (haha, I'll bet you haven't!), it's a soccer or "futbol" tournament. I can't really tell you who's winning, but I know it features exciting "matches" with scores like 1-2, 0-1, and several 2-2 "draws". One score was reported as 4-0, but that may have been a misprint. Anyway, I'm following the tournament closely, and I'll be glad to report the results next month.

This may be another easy one if you've been paying attention lately. (I actually won a prize answering this question some years ago at the old Salem baseball field when, I believe, they were the Pirates team.) A major league baseball team had Rookies of the Year two years in a row in 1958 and 1959. Name those players and their team. (see answer below)

Due to publication deadline pressures, this column will not be included this month. Look for it again next month.

(It's back, at least for one month.) We go back to England, of course - Lyme Regis, Dorset, to be specific - for a look at the sport of Conger Coddling. In this contest a dead conger eel is thrown at the contestants who are apparently standing on flowerpots. Why "flowerpots" and not, say, toilet bowls or stacks of Romance novels, I couldn't say. It has been described as "the most fun you can have with a dead fish". Unfortunately, the games have been stopped due to a complaint by an animal rights activist, and I'm not making this up, that it was disrepecting fish.

Eric Moussambani. from Wikipedia: "Eric Moussambani Malonga (born May 31, 1978) is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea. Nicknamed "Eric the Eel" by the media, Moussambani won brief international fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics for an extremely unlikely victory. Moussambani, who had never seen an Olympic-sized swimming pool before, swam his heat of the 100 m freestyle on September 19 in the unprecedentedly slow time of 1:52.72. This was the slowest time in Olympic history by far and Moussambani apparently had trouble finishing the race, but he won his heat after both his competitors were disqualified due to false starts. While Moussambani's time was still too slow to advance to the next round, he set a new personal best and an Equatoguinean national record. He later became the coach of the national swimming squad of Equatorial Guinea."

November 11-17 is National Split Pea Soup week, celebrating one of those wonderful foods that, if you get sick after eating them, they don't look any worse coming back up than they did going down (See Linda Blair, "The Exorcist"). November 5th was World Tsunami Awareness Day, and I kept my eyes peeled all day here in Roanoke for any tsunamis - I didn't see any! November 10th was the Marine Corps birthday - you know, way back then the Army and the Navy flipped a coin to see who would get the Marine Corps, and the Navy lost! Haha! I think I've celebrated this one before, but November 19th is "Rocky and Bullwinkle Day", and if you don't know who Rocky and Bullwinkle are, then your life is definitely much poorer for it.

San Francisco Giants players Willie McCovey won in 1958 and Orlando Cepeda won in 1959. Both players were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame. McCovey recently passed away so he's been in the news. The section of the bay beyond the right field wall of AT&T Park is called "McCovey Cove". This is, of course, the spot where many home runs splashed that were hit by the swollen-headed drug abusing "all time home run king", Barry Bonds.

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