The First Fall Classic; The Red Sox, The Giants And the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Reinvented the World Series in 1912 by Mike Vaccaro
The first World Series was played in 1903, but the series in 1912 elevated it to the Fall Classic that those of us today know.
“‘Not your fault, Ray,’ he said. ‘Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, Duffy catches that ball blind-folded and we’re already out this dammed inning.’”
Tomorrow is the annual baseball All Star game. Tomorrow is a day that I take off every year to spend the day getting ready to watch the game, hoping each year that the National League wins. This year it is special because if the National League wins that may mean the Padres will have home field advantage in the World Series. One of the best things about watching the Cubs on TV was watching the late Harry Caray lead the crowd during the seventh inning stretch sing along. Click on the sheet music to watch a clip.
I always want to know whom is leading our nation and that doesn’t always mean those we elect. The men who lead our armed forces have a very firm grasp on a very powerful position. Checks and balances don’t mean a whole lot if one of those checks is holding a very big gun.
“It was a plea to study the operations in northern Iraq and Somalia and not dismiss them as aberrations.”
Sizzling Sixteen, A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich; 2010; 309 pages; $27.99; St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY; 978-.-312-38330-5; Checked out from Multnomah County Library, Hillsdale; 6/27-6/29
Stephanie and her supporting players are in a heap of trouble when someone kidnaps Vinnie, her cousin and her boss. As Stephanie, Lulu and Connie try and find Vinnie and keep the bail bond business they run into an alligator, hobbits, a mob, and much more. Janet Evanovich has crafted a Stephanie Plum novel that while giving us what we expect has also set up the characters for some life changes.
I like the Stephanie Plum novels because they are suspensful but contain enough humor that they are not dreary. Each of the characters plays off the other in an intriguing way. In this book Evanovich has taken the characters to a different level and set them up for a possible new direction.
Grade-A
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Today is the 5th of July and I am off to celebrate the 4th since it was my normal day off. When I think about songs that express to me what America is really about, my first thought is John Mellencamp’s Pink Houses.