AMERICA’S PAST TIME

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

October means only one thing: we are in the midst of the “golden hour” of sports, with almost every major league playing games.  It’s a lovely thing for those of us who want to watch something other than the news.  Perhaps the most exciting is the MLB playoffs.  Not because baseball is intrinsically interesting, but because, in my opinion, playoffs in any sport are worth watching.  My grandmother, an avid SF Giants fan, would sit in her living room with her Giant’s cap on, and listen to every regular season game on the radio.  I did not inherit that gene. I don’t watch baseball or hockey all year until they start playing for the hardware.  Then, I choose a team (sometimes for ridiculous reasons, like their team colors) and I tune in.  On the other hand, I watch pro and college football games even when I don’t really have a reason to root for either team.  I think it’s because football season is relatively short, so each game is to be savored.  I know that all too soon it will be February and I’ll be stuck with basketball and hockey, who start their seasons in October and don’t wrap up until June!  JUNE!  That is ridiculous! My love for football, and waning interest in baseball, corresponds to the national trend: 53% of people say football is America’s sport, compared to just 27% for baseball. But this being MLB playoff season, I thought I’d dig up some famous moments from our former favorite past time.

Babe Ruth Calls His Shot – One of the most famous home runs in baseball history occurred in the 1932 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees. At the top of the fifth inning, Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, with two balls and two strikes, pointed toward the outfield, and when the next pitch came, he hit a towering home run to center field. It proved to be the winning hit for the Yankees.  In the newspapers the next day, ecstatic reporters announced that Ruth had “called his shot,” and that his gesture toward the bleachers was a prediction of the home run. For years there was some doubt as to the legitimacy of this claim, but in 2020 an old radio interview was unearthed in which Lou Gehrig, who witnessed the event from the on-deck circle, confirmed that “the Bambino” really had called the shot.

Lou Gehrig Gives a Retirement Speech for the Ages – Speaking of Lou Gehrig, his career, and his retirement speech, still have a lasting legacy within the sport.  When Gehrig announced his retirement in 1939, it shocked the baseball world. During his career, Gehrig’s seemingly endless endurance had allowed him to play in 2,130 consecutive games (a record that stood for nearly 60 years), earning him the nickname “the Iron Horse.” However, in 1939, when Gehrig was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease ALS (which became commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), the Iron Horse was finally forced to end his baseball career. In the retirement speech he delivered at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, Gehrig told the crowd that despite his “bad break,” he considered himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” This iconic phrase, emblematic of Gehrig’s grace and humility, remains famous today, and his speech is often recognized as one of the greatest in sports history.

Hank Aaron Breaks Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record – In yet another Ruth connection, for nearly four decades after his retirement, he was hailed as the undisputed home run king. His 714 career home runs stood as a monument to his unrivaled power at the plate. Then Hank Aaron arrived. Since his MLB debut in 1954, Aaron had been an extremely consistent slugger, and he led the league in home runs four separate times. The years of steady power hitting paid off on April 8, 1974, when Aaron hit his 715th career home run and surpassed Ruth to inherit one of baseball’s most hallowed records. Aaron’s historic career continued for another three seasons, during which time he added 40 homers to his career total, retiring with a staggering 755 home runs. This record was eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds in 2007, but to this day Aaron remains celebrated as the first player to surpass the Sultan of Swat as the home run champion. And, let’s face it, Aaron didn’t have a hint of steroids in his achievement.

Willie Mays Makes “the Catch” – In deference to my grandmother, I couldn’t end this piece about baseball without including one of the Giants’ best players – Willie Mays, although his most famous play came when the Giants were still in New York, before the team came west and garnered my grandmother’s attention. Mays’ stunning play came during the 1954 World Series — it became known to history simply as “the Catch” (not to be confused with 49er Dwight Clark’s catch in the 1982 playoff game against the hated Cowgirls). Mays made the play in the eighth inning of Game 1, with the score tied 2-2 between Mays’ New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland slugger Vic Wertz hit a long fly ball toward Mays in center field. Mays turned and sprinted backward, making a miraculous over-the-shoulder catch 425 feet from home plate. As if that wasn’t a stunning-enough achievement, Mays completed the play by spinning around and making an incredible throw from the outfield to prevent Cleveland’s baserunners from getting home. The play saved the game for the Giants, who went on to sweep Cleveland in four games to become World Series champions.

Enjoy the MLB playoffs, relish the second half of football season and gird your loins for the endless basketball and hockey games that will loom until next summer.

 

AMAZING FAMILY!

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Suzanne & Linda

by Bob Sparrow

     Who has a better sister and wife than I do?  NoooooooooBody!!  At the risk of beating a dead horse, or at least an old horse, for our readers, I must revisit my 70th birthday celebration and thank a number of people who made it such an AMAZING event.  My first thank you goes to my lovely wife Linda, who orchestrated a weekend of surprise after surprise.  Granted when you have a husband who is totally clueless, it’s easy to pull off surprises, but nonetheless she did a masterful job – a week after the event, I still don’t suspect anything!

      With the ‘Big One’ approaching, Linda asked me how I wanted to celebrate the conclusion of my 70th trip around the sun.  I said I didn’t want a big party, just something with the FAMILY.  That was the end of my participation.  Several days later she told me that she’d booked four villas in Palm Desert at the Marriott Desert Springs, where we love spending a week every April at our timeshare.  Perfect, just the kids, grandkids and us.

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Cocktails at Jackalope in the desert

     Late Thursday afternoon, while grubbing around in the yard, the doorbells rings, Linda asks me to get it.  I come to the door in tattered jeans and dirty t-shirt; it’s my brother, Jack and wife Sharon, I greet them with the warm welcome of, “What the hell are you guys doing here?!”  They responded with a Happy Birthday and that they are going to Palm Desert with us.  I’m thrilled.  Later that evening (I did sneak in a shower and change of clothes) the doorbell rings again and, still clueless, I go to the door and there are four couples of our good friends, Mark & Kathy, Jack & JJ, Bob & Marge and John and Judy – they’re standing at our front door singing Christmas carols that turn into Happy Birthday.  When we’re all seated at the bar in our family room, Linda brings out a small box and asks me to open it.  It is a brochure for a 12-day trip for two to Kathmandu, Nepal, which includes a 5-day trek through the foothills of the Himalaya!  My jaw drops!!!  She says, there is no way she’s going, that the trip is for my brother and me.  All I can say is “AMAZING!”

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Jack, Suzanne & me

     By mid-day Friday we’re checking in at the Villas in Palm Desert.  When we got there, there is only one villa that has been cleaned and available, so we walked over to the hotel and had some lunch at poolside in perfect weather.  Upon our return I walked into the one villa we had and I see a man, with his back to us, sitting out on the deck, and assume I went into the wrong villa.  Then one of my favorite people and one of the funniest I know, turns around and wishes me a Happy Birthday – it’s Matt Sparrow, my nephew – Jack’s son.  Fast forward to mid-day Saturday and I get my annual birthday phone call from my sister, who always calls me and sings Happy Birthday the way Marilyn Monroe sang it to Jack Kennedy.  As I’m standing there listening to her, she walks in the door – she had just flown in from Scottsdale – AMAZING!  Later that afternoon close friends and ‘practically family members’, Mark, Kathy and daughter, Kristin (best friend of our daughter, Dana) arrived to celebrate the occasion.

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Joe & Dana

One last surprise remained.  I was told to stay in my villa as preparations for ‘the party’ Saturday evening were taking place in Joe & Dana’s villa.  When I was asked to ‘come to the party’ I was blown away.  Dana and Joe had decorated the villa with pictures at ‘food stations’ they’d created representing a number of the places we’ve visited, Italy (Meatballs marinara, Fried cheese, beef Carpaccio with lemon arugula), Africa (Moroccan lamb kabobs with Tzatziki sauce, veggie couscous, roasted plantains), Japan (Ahi and Yellowtail crudo, crying tiger beef skewers, garlic and chili edamame) and Hawaii (Kalua pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls, grilled pineapple, Ahi poke). All the food was AMAZING! There we also ‘drink stations’ from Ireland (beer and Irish whiskey), my Dad’s famous martinis at ‘Poppin’s Grotto’ and ‘Klappers’ (cheap rum and diet cola) named after my dearly departed best friend, Don Klapperich.  The birthday cake, in a ‘travel and music’ theme had a quote from me about traveling and seeing things a little differently than most.  Dana then gave me a box decorated in the ‘travel and music’ theme that she had put together, containing 70 individual birthday wishes from friends and family (you saw my sister’s in last week’s blog) – they were AMAZING!  A huge thank you to those who took the time to write something nice and send it back (for some I’m certain it took quite some time to find something nice to say).  Seriously, I am was touched and am blessed to have such wonderful friends.

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Stephanie, Jeff & Dana

Thank you to an AMAZING FAMILY, especially those who made this an unforgettable (even for a forgetful 70 year old) experience – Stephanie, Jason, Dylan & Emma; Dana & Joe, Jeff, Jack & Sharon, Suzanne, Matt, (Mark, Kathy & Kristin) and especially to Linda whose dedication to FAMILY is unsurpassed.  To quote Lou Gehrig, “I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth”.

    OK, enough with the birthday stuff, I’ve got some really interesting places to take you next year – hope you’ll enjoy them vicariously ‘from a bird’s eye view’.

HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN ADVENTUROUS NEW YEAR!