Baseball, Life, and Other Stuff

Roy Rogers Riders Club Rides Again!

As of last Friday I am now the envy of many a boy (and probably a few girls) my age, which happens to be 53, because that's the day that my official Roy Rogers Riders Club card arrived in the mail.  Yep, pardner, the Roy Rogers Riders Club has been revived by the good folks at RFD-TV.  Most of the $10.00 membership fee goes toward youth agricultural programs such as Future Farmers of America, 4-H, the National High School Rodeo Association, the All American Cowgirl Chicks (just check out their website; seeing it is much better than me explaining it), and Little Britches, a youth rodeo association.

    



Membership in this club is quite a bargain, really.  My money helps today's kids and touching that card with Roy Roger's and Trigger's picture brings out the kid in me.  Of course, when the little boy in me comes out, I try to keep him from looking around too much.  The condition of this present world is a sad thing indeed for him.  Contrast our present culture's outlook with that represented by the Rider's Club Rules which are written on the back of the card:

1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.

Yeah, these may seem old-fashioned and corny and I know that with our modern cynicism we can parse these words and make exceptions and qualify them.  I also know that if you wait around for life's exceptions, you miss most of life.  Would it be so tough for everyone to live by these rules?  Would the world be a better place?  As dumb as it sounds, we can improve the world, one Rider Club member at a time.  We just need to believe that we can.

If you're interested in joining, click here where you will see footage of Roy inviting you to join.

Also the Happy Trails Theater is back on the air Saturdays at noon (of course) on RFD-TV, featuring Roy and Dale and Gabby Hayes and Trigger and Bullet.  This gallant gang rides the range ridding the world of evil-doers wherever they appear.  They also give lessons in believing.

Yep, for $10.00 I have a cardboard fountain of youth in my wallet.  Happy trails.

 

A Couple of Baseball Notes

It's one of those Fridays on which I need to clear a couple of items out of the old notebook.   Spring Training is fast approaching and that means that some of you are already beginning to put together your fantasy teams.  If you are searching for outstanding information, check out Mark Hammond's MoneyStats website.  Mark is a fellow Seamheads contributor and his site contains all you need to know to draft well.

Speaking of Seamheads, as I mentioned before, founder Mark Lynch is putting together a podcasting network.  Chip Greene will be hosting a show on the Orioles and Nationals entitled "Out of the Parkway" on Thursday nights from 7:30-8:00 beginning on February 17th.  Chip has some outstanding guests lined up including Hal Keller, former executive with both versions of the Washington Senators.  Chip as graciously asked me to co-host from time to time. . . . Someone asked me to talk some baseball once a week, so you know that I said yes in about a second and a half.  I'll have some more exciting podcast news later on and I will certainly remind everyone to give Chip and the gang a listen when February 17th draws near.  The podcasts are available through Blog Talk Radio. 

Hang in there gang.  Spring is on its way not withstanding the snow, which fell so hard Wednesday night that it blocked our satellite reception.

Kind Words in a Losing Cause

When speaking or writing about Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley, I often want to use the word we, because the book truly belongs to so many.  If I am the father, then surely this book has many aunts, uncles, friends, and cousins.  Therefore, it's time for a little "family" news.  We did not win, place, or show in the 18th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards, but I'm not sure how we didn't, given the judge's commentary:

What a fablulous labor of love:  love of a sport, love of old-fashioned ways and of home, and love of the people within the book for each other.  We want to slow life down, but we contiue to live in a hurry, the author says.  Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley is just an all-around feel-good book that will take you back home again.  The author has written it in such a way that both fans of the game as well as the uninitiated will enjoy reading it, for it is about the people and not just the sport.  But the sport has its role, too.  I learned a lot that I didn't know about baseball.  He strikes a good balance between delivering insider information and explaining the unfamiliar reader.  The appendices were good and "About the Author" is a hoot.

It is so rewarding to see that this judge totally understood the theme that I was trying to convey.  I pass this along, not to sing my own praises, but because it reflects on the book's entire family.  I hope each of you should feels as proudly as I do; you should.

 

Happy Birthday, Randolph Scott!

Yesterday marked the 113th anniversary of the birth of one of the great Western movie stars, Randolph Scott.  Born in Orange County, Virginia (his mother was born in Luray, Virginia) Scott grew up in North Carolina and in his early roles he exudes Southern gentleman charm.  He began his film career in 1928, but his final film, Ride the High Country is considered perhaps his best.  This film, directed by Sam Peckinpah, was shot and released in 1962.  Co-starring Joel McCrea and featuring Mariette Hartley, Warren Oates, James Drury, and Edgar Buchanan, Scott plays Gil Westrum, an ex-lawman hired to guard a gold shipment.  He intends on stealing it, however, and tries to persuade his partner, another ex-lawman, Steve Judd played by McCrea, to help him do it.  Judd refuses and is intent on taking Westrum in, but when complications arise, the two join forces one last time.  At the climax, Westrum must decide between right and wrong.

Scott was a master of the nuanced, man of few words; world-weary and tired of his violent life, but a master of the gun who was not afraid to rely on his skill.  Interestingly, Ride the High Country was released in the middle of Rawhide's six year run on television.  That show starred a very young Clint Eastwood who essentially made the cowboy character that Scott created famous.  Ride Lonesome is another Scott Western in which viewers may definitely see the predecessor of Eastwood's "man with no name."

Scott starred in over 100 films and worked with everyone from Shirley Temple to Mae West.  I've never seen anything less than an enjoyable performance from Scott, but it is his Westerns that stand out for me.  Below is a classic Western scene from Seven Men From Now, in which Scott has it out with evil-doer Lee Marvin.  Film doesn't get much better than that!

 

 

 

Check Out Seamheads.com!

I'm very pleased to say that I have been accepted as a blogger on Seamheads.com.  It's a great site that brings together a myriad number of writers who expound on a variety of topics in the world of baseball.  The goal of Mike Lynch, the founder of Seamheads, has been to assemble "a large writing staff that would add insight experience and passion to the website."  Mike also offers a podcast through the site called "What's on Second:  The Seamheads.com Radio Hour" which is broadcast (podcast?) every Monday night from 9:00-10:00.  Seamheads hopes to offer some exciting podcasts in the future as well, but more about that as it develops.

Seamheads is also the offical site of the Strat-o-Matic 50th Anniversary League in which famous and not-so-famous folks play out the best team in a franchise's history.  Roy Firestone, for example is managing the 1970 Baltimore Orioles, currently in second place behind the 1927 Yankees.  Curt Shilling and Morgan Ensberg are managing teams for whom they played!  This is a must for all table-top baseball game officianados.

A must for all readers of this blog is my latest on New Baseball Terminology .  I'm sure that you'll enjoy it, as well as Seamheads.com

Game of Shadows

Game of Shadows, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams is the subtitled, "Barry Bonds, Balco, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports," and that is an apt summary of this 269 page book that was released in 2006.  It is a detective story and fans of that genre, particularly if they are also sports fans would especially love this book.  It's a fast-paced book that bogged down for me only slightly during the chapters on the track and field athletes, through whom the investigation into Balco originated.  That is because I'm simply not as knowledgable about the world of track and field as I am about baseball and it is not a flaw in the writing.

Two fascinating facts concerning steroids in sports stand out for me after reading Game of Shadows.  First, it is amazing the degree to which Barry Bonds, even from his youngest days, has been and continues to be a giant jackass.  For example, at Arizona State, where he attended college, he was thrown off the team by his head coach, who had endured enough of Bonds and his demands for special treatment.  After having second thoughts about booting his best player, he told the team that he would put the expulsion to a vote, thinking that his teammates would want their best player to continue to play.  They voted him off the team as well, but another vote was taken at the behest of the coach and Bonds was reinstated.  The insinuation was that the coach told the players that they had to keep voting until they got it right.  (Kind of like a few faculty meetings in which I've been a part.)

Second, there cannot possibly be a single record in track and field that is legitimate.  If baseball's records are tainted, then track's records are useless.  Do the names Ben Johnson and Marion Jones ring a bell?

If you are interested in knowing more about the steroid scandal or if you simply like a good detective story, then I definitely recommend this book.

Cowpens 1781

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most significant battles in American history, although I'm guessing not one in five Americans have ever heard of the Battle of Cowpens.  The fight took place in South Carolina in 1781 and was a tactically brilliant ,and strategically significant American victory.

The American army in the South had been routinely defeated until George Washington sent Major General Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Island Quaker, to take command.  Greene had enlisted in the militia as a private, but rose through the ranks until he was considered Washington's best general.  Ably assisted by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan from Winchester, the commanders devised a strategy whereby Morgan's riflemen would establish picket lines in advance of the main line, fire, and gradually fall back behind that main line of regulars who were shielded from British view.  If that sounds vaguely familiar it is because you probably saw Mel Gibson's The Patriot.  The climactic battle in that movie is based on the Battle of Cowpens.

The result of the fight was an American victory when they desperately needed one in the South.  Greene saw that he could achieve great results by fighting and retreating.  This might seem counterintuitive, but by retreating north--towards Virginia--he was slowly drawing Lord Cornwallis further and further from his base of supplies and draining his manpower.  Cornwallis ultimately headed to Yorktowne, Virginia to resupply and everyone should know how that ended!

For a detailed account of the battle, I highly recommend Lawrence E. Babits' A Devil of a Whipping:  The Battle of Cowpens.  It's probably the best analysis of any battle that I have ever read; and I've read more than a few!  The National Park Service's website gives an excellent summary of the battle and some nice photos may be viewed by clicking on "Menu" at the upper left.  It's always good to take a moment and thank the long forgotten men who secured for us our freedom.

First Anniversary of Safe at Home!

Hard to believe, but Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley made its debut a year ago this past Sunday at a book signing at the New Market Library.  (Even harder to believe given this past winter is the fact that it was relatively warm that day with no snow!)  To date, 618 copies have been sold, a very solid number for a book such as Safe at Home.

From that first signing in New Market and throughout the summer, I have been touched by the response from readers and continue to be pleased and humbled by the book's acceptance.  Winchester, Waynesboro, and Woodstock all carried the book in their respective souvenir stands while Rockbridge not only sold books to fans, but distributed copies to host families.  Just last week, Jay Neal, the General Manager of the new Strasburg Express has graciously agreed to stock Safe at Home in the Express' gift shop, a.k.a. "The Purple Caboose."

Throughout the year Bruce Alger and Melissa Dodge have tirelessly promoted Safe at Home for which I am eternally grateful.  Mo Weber routinely begins many calls with "Hey, Austin!  I got an idea for the book."  Then, of course, there was the Kipps family who bought five copies, one for each member of the family, so that they wouldn't have to wait their turns to read it.  This kind of response,even more so than my love of baseball, is exactly what motivated me to write Safe at Home in the first place. 

I can summarize the experience this way:  It's as if I was walking down the streets of New Market one day and found untold wealth just waiting for me to gather it in, only the wealth is measured not in money, but in friends.  That pretty much makes me the highest paid author in America.  Thank you.

Another Hero Gone

Monday, Becky called to tell me that Major Dick Winters had died.  If you don't know who Major Winters was, you should.  He was the commanding officer of "Easy Company" of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division made famous in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers that was later turned into the HBO series of the same name. Portrayed so ably by British actor Damian Lewis, Winters was a warrior who never lost sight of his humanity nor the humanity of those around him, friend or enemy.  If you were to write a novel about a group of soldiers who were present at D-Day, Operation Market Garden, and Bastogne; who helped liberate Dachau and were the first to arrive at Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat, any sane editor would turn down your manuscript as totally unbelievable.  Yet, Easy Company was there for all of it.

I have no intention of giving a history lesson today.  I urge you to read the book and watch the mini-series which is available on DVD.  Band of Brothers also has a Facebook Page through which you can keep track of Easy Company news.  That page posted an excellent piece on Major Winters' including a touching excerpt from his own book.

I feel inadequate in writing about Major Winters, for words, even as highly as I value them, are small compared to the actions of a man such as he.  I will say this, however.  As a young man, Dick Winters was what you would want your son to be like and as an old man Dick Winters was what you would want your grandfather to be like. 

Here's to Major Richard Winters:  May you finally have the peace which you have been seeking since those awful days of your youth.

So Glad to Be Wrong!

After watching the Ravens try desperately to lose their final game to Cincinnati, I had little hope that they would turn it around for the playoffs and consequently predicted a 17-13 loss.  Instead, the Ravens finally put together 3 good quarters--and they were the final three quarters for a change--and blew out the Kansas City Chiefs 30-7.  You may recall a comment from Al Smith that was part of my post in which he predicted a 30-6 Baltimore victory.  Al will now be selling lottery numbers for $5.00 a pop plus 15% of all winnings.  Al, what do you have for the Pittsburgh game?

A couple of notes from that game:  First, it appeared that Arrowhead stadium was not sold out with many empty yellow seats in the mezzanine.  I guess a 14 degree windchill will keep a few people away.

Second, color commentator Phil Simms had one of the most interesting statements made during a broadcast this season.  The discussion concerned how smart the Ravens' defensive players are and Simms commented, "They are very smart, especially by NFL standards."  I think he meant that the Raven's defenders are smarter than most defenders, but he made it sound as if most NFL players are simply dumb.  It will be interesting to see if any newspaper person comments on Simms remarks.

Some of you know that I tend to be superstitious about sporting events in which I have a rooting interest.  Therefore, I predict the Ravens will lose 17-13.  Hope I'm wrong again.