Jaybird's Jottings

Tiger’s Tournament

Early last year, I wrote about the woes golf fans in Washington were experiencing regarding the status of its PGA Tour tournament. Commissioner Tim Finchem, after revamping the men’s tour, a move that made way for a season-long competition for the $10M FedEx Cup, had placed Washington's Booz Allen Classic in his holding tank. All signs pointed to the area losing the tournament, a late May, early June staple on the Tour since 1980. Coupled with losing The Presidents Cup, the prestigious event held here the first four times, top-notched, men's golf spectating in Washington appeared to have been reduced to the occasional U.S. Open at Congressional.

Then, after a year of limbo, something quite remarkable happened. This past February, in a move that had been kept secret, Tiger Woods and the Commissioner announced a new tournament would be held in Washington. The AT&T National, the official name to what’s getting to be known as “Tiger’s Tournament,” will be held in the first week of July at Congressional and serves several purposes. Funds raised will help youth development programs such as The First Tee. A second Tiger Woods Learning Center, a D.C. counterpart to the one in Anaheim, will be built. Throughout the tournament, and especially during the Pro-Am, our Armed Forces will be honored and entertained.

The short amount of time to get ready meant the field for the first year would be uncertain. When my wife and I bought our tickets last week, even the host himself, had yet to give the official nod. Then this past Thursday, one week before the pros tee it up, it all came together. Golf fans got the good word from both Tiger and Phil Mickelson. Along with Jim Furyk, Scott Adams and Vijay Singh, the field will include five of the six top ranked players in the world.

Ticket prices are lower than what I and some other folks I talked to had anticipated. $20 for weekday and $25 for weekend. 30,000 free admissions will be given to active duty military. At the Pro-Am on the Fourth, named in honor of his Dad Earl Woods, Tiger plans to tee it up with a selected active duty member. 52 non-uniformed service members will caddie. Wounded soldiers will be special guests. Wood’s fellow pros will put on clinics and give free lessons at nearby Fort Belvoir. Fans using the shuttle buses to the tournament can write messages to be given to the troops stationed world-wide.

We hear a lot of cynicism when it comes to professional athletes. The good they do sometimes gets questioned or overlooked. In this case, you can even wonder about the politics involved. But whether you hit it left or right (I do a lot of both), this will be a unique tournament that holds the promise to do a lot of good.

Tiger - thank you!!

The Glory Days Exhibit

Excellent set of articles about The Glory Days exhibit, scheduled to open up tomorrow in New York City. The Q&A with the curator is insightful.

As far as their All-Borough team, I’d add Hoyt Wilhelm as relief pitcher.

Rod Beck 1968-2007

Very sad news about Rod Beck. Condolences to his family and friends.

The Night Casey Was Born

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

Note: This is a spoiler-type review.

120 years ago, June 3rd to be exact, readers of the San Francisco Examiner found a 52-line poem titled "Casey at the Bat." The by-line read “Phin,” the pseudonym for Ernest Lawrence Thayer, a young writer from Massachusetts. Regulars of the newspaper had seen his writings during the last year or so.

The poem went on to become one of the most famous in sports history, even showing up on at least one Top 100 list. Condensed versions tell the Casey story, as well as a couple of well-reviewed books. Knowing only that Casey at the Bat is a classic, I picked up a new book on the subject - John Evangelist Walsh’s The Night Casey Was Born - and throughly enjoyed it.

Walsh puts the reader in the baseball world of New York City, circa 1888, a time when the players wore thick mustaches and no gloves. Baseball was becoming more and more popular. Fans in New York were particularly thrilled, having had no National League team to cheer for from 1877 to 1882. The Giants would play like Giants that summer of 1888.

The sepia-toned jacket features a front cover picture of the Giants at the Polo Grounds. The team and the Polo Grounds are part of the story. Walsh describes how DeWolf Hopper, the great operetta star and baseball fanatic, strolled into the "New-Yorks" dressing room on Opening Day 1888. His stature, six feet, two inches, and great record of attendance, were part of his credentials.

The story’s central characters are Thayer and Hopper with an emphasis on the latter. We learn that Thayer’s love of comic ballads was part of the inspiration for writing Casey. He later said that he modeled no one player to come up with the slugger. Walsh points toward the Giants' beefy Roger Connor and Boston’s superstar King Kelly as players who Thayer probably thought about. Thayer knew a thing or two about baseball and had seen both Connor and King in action when New York and Louisville barnstormed their way to Haight Street Grounds in San Francisco in November 1887. Thayer reported on the games for the Examiner.

Thayer returned from his 18-month stint with the Examiner to his home in Worcester, Mass. After writing the poem, he mailed it to the Examiner. They published it on the 3rd.

As the Giants roared into first place in late July, Hopper’s fame grew also. He got rave reviews for his performance in Prince Methusalem. Walsh notes this elevated him to being regarded as one of Broadway’s finest performers.

With the Giants' chances of a first pennant looking better and better, Hopper got the idea of celebrating their growing popularity as well as that of the game of baseball. He and his boss, Colonel McCaull, came up with the idea for a “Baseball Night” at Wallack’s Theater. By this point in the book, the suspense is building. How did the poem get into Hopper’s hand?

A popular novelist, Archibald Gunter, had cut the poem out of the paper and placed in his wallet when he was in San Francisco. Back in New York, he noticed the ad for the Baseball Night and approached McCaull. Both liked the poem and agreed to work it into the night’s performance. (Walsh writes that Hopper had just a day or less to memorize it, while other sources indicate he had longer).

August 14 was the date agreed upon (Coincidently Thayer’s 25th birthday). The members of the opera attended the game that afternoon as special guest at the Polo Grounds. They jinxed the Giants and Tim Keefe, who saw his 19-game winning streak end, by the score of, please note, Chicago 4 NY 2.

No matter. The Giants were five and a half games ahead of Chicago and on their way to taking that first taste of glory by nine games. That night at Wallack’s, Hopper gave a roaring rendition of the poem. Everybody loved it (probably the pitchers a little more). Hopper went on to perform it many times, including another special night on October 14 at the Star Theatre where the Giants were presented with a banner pennant.

The poem helped him gain fame and Hopper helped Casey become famous. King Kelly also performed it after he retired in 1890. Newspapers, magazines, recordings, movies and books all contributed to the ballad’s continuing fame. Thayer no doubt enjoyed his one-hit wonder but had to endure those who claimed they had written the poem. A special investigator looked into the matter and said Thayer was the author beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Criticisms of this book are few. It’s small and just over 200 pages, but the story is told in full. I also groaned when Walsh joined the legion of those who think 600-foot home runs, under normal conditions, are possible. And I wasn’t comfortable with Walsh pointing to a specific series (Boston at Giants, April 30, May 1-3) as the “real-life background of the mighty Casey’s story.”

A bonus for this book is the photos. That may not sound like a big deal but pictures in books seem to be a fading tradition. These are numerous and strategically placed throughout to match the developing story. It’s a nice touch to a splendid effort by Walsh.

"The Count"

"The nickname "The Count" originated during a game he pitched in El Paso. He won, 9-1, and the next morning's headlines declared him the "Count of Monty Amarillo." Then after his debut with the Giants, Al Michaels, the San Francisco announcer, bestowed the title of "The Count of Montefusco," and it followed him for the duration of his major league career." - Bob Hurte, bio of John Montefusco at SABR

John Montefusco made one of the most difficult debuts of any player to wear the Giants uniform. On a Tuesday afternoon late in the season in 1974, the 24-year old righty stepped on to the mound at Dodger Stadium in relief of starter Ron Bryant. The scoreboard showed the home team had doubled the SF 2 in the bottom of the first. The bases were full and and no one was out.

Montefusco got Tom Paciorek to force Joe Ferguson and then struck out Steve Yeager and Doug Rau. He went the rest of the way, giving up just one run. At the plate he hit a two-run homer and walked and scored on Gary Matthews' grand slam. The Giants won 9 to 5. After the game he told reporters, "I wanted to beat the Dodgers--I hate the Dodgers."

Montefusco spent seven up and down seasons with the Giants. I have fond memories of loving his nickname and hoping he would help lead the Giants to a pennant. It's all brought back, the good and the bad, in an excellent bio by SABR member Bob Hurte.

Fans of Montefusco will also be interested in Bottom of the Ninth, a documentary produced and directed by Chuck Braverman. Available on DVD, it's about the New Jersey Somerset Patriots who play in the independent Atlantic League. Montefusco was their pitching coach.

I don't know if the Giants have any plans for him at the All-Star game next month but it would be great if they could give Montefusco a moment of recognition for his contributions both in the regular season and in his only All-Star appearance.

Good luck Count.

Summer Reading

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

The score stood four to two with but one more inning to play.

As the scorching temps signal baseball's summer stretch, it's time for a cool drink and a good baseball book or two. If you're a fan of the game when the players wore short-billed caps, there are two new Giants-flavored releases to consider.

The Night Casey Was Born: The True Story Behind the Great American Ballad "Casey at the Bat" by John Evangelist Walsh tells the story of how Ernest Lawrence Thayer's poem became popular. The long verse piece made a quiet debut in 1888. Under the pseudonym of "Phin," the San Francisco Examiner published it on the third of June.

At Wallack's Theater in New York City, actor and Giants fanatic DeWolf Hopper gave the first public performance of the poem in front of the pennant-racing Giants and Cubs. His many renditions in the coming years, alongside the growing popularity of baseball, made Casey famous.

This book gets an excellent review in the Washington Post and looks like a great read.

The other work is Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball by Peter Morris. Morris received the Seymour Medal a few months ago for Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball.

I confess to knowing about only one behind the scenes Murphy, Mike, the Giants long-time equipment manager. Looks like it will be fun learning about these two Murphys, and the work John did for the Giants.

This book is also getting excellent reviews.

McGraw and Bonds

"They came, of course, not to praise him, but to bury him, to deep-six him with their boos." - Fans’ fury rains down on Bonds, Providence Journal.

In my younger days, when someone found out I was a Giants fan, the most common question they asked me was, "How did you become a Giants fan?" In the past several years, the one I anticipate is - "What do you think about Barry Bonds?"

My replies sometimes include the belief that like others who were hated in their time, history could soften the blows for Bonds.

One example is John McGraw. "His very walk across the field in a hostile town," Grantand Rice wrote, "was a challenge to the multitude."

But as this blogger notes, McGraw is, in the looking back, somewhat admired.

"Muggsie" also understood that fans would pay money for the chance to boo him and see the Giants. In that vein, the legendary skipper would appreciate the boofest Bonds is experiencing. Fans will pay big bucks to see any marquee game at Fenway, but according to Forbes.com, the highest price paid so far is today’s Giants-Red Sox game at Fenway. Some of that is the fact that it is a Saturday game and seeing Dice K. But some of it is the chance to boo Bonds.

Compared to the dictatorial McGraw, who hung out with gamblers and got in fights, Bonds comes out better in the PR department. Last night, after the game, he was asked why he smiled at the umpire after he ruled his shot to right was foul. Bonds smiled and said, “What am I supposed to do?”

"Raise hell," McGraw would have said. "And give them their money's worth."

The Giants Return to Fenway Park

In case you've been getting your news just from MLB.com's home page, where you'll be hard pressed to find a preview of the series, the Giants are in Boston to play the Red Sox. There are several story lines including Saturday’s game which will feature Barry Bonds facing Dick-K. The game will be televised on FOX.

The Giants last played at Fenway in… well; there lies an interesting story too. As many of the preview articles have noted, the Giants last played the Red Sox at Fenway Park in the 1912 World Series. Before allowing two runs to score in the bottom of the tenth of Game Eight (Game Two was a tie), the Giants and Mathewson had it won. For years, many writers swore it was the greatest series of them all.

Some of the articles, such as MLB’s Becky Regan piece yesterday, note that the last time the Giants played at Fenway Park was 1915. Waiting for their new park to be finished, the Boston Braves played their home games at Fenway Park until August of 1915. The Giants played the Braves at Fenway on June 1-3 that season.

Were those three games the last time the Giants played at Fenway?

If you allow for exhibition games, the answer is no. In late June of 1951, Durocher’s men had just completed a 14-game road trip. On tap was a three game set with the first place Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. Before heading to New York, the Giants squeezed in an exhibition game at Fenway against Ted Williams and the Red Sox on Monday, June 25. Louis Effrat of the New York Times provided the coverage.

The Giants won 5-4. Both ball clubs played most of their regular players. Attendance was 25,237.

The proceeds of the game went to the New England Hospitalized Veterans Fund. Williams won the Home Run Contest while Bobby Thomson took those honors for right handed hitters. One of his shots went over the famed Green Monster in left.

The Giants return to Fenway Park is indeed a great story. There will be excitement down on the field and there’s excitement in the looking back. When you go exploring into baseball’s history, you never know what surprises you might find.

"Baseball is Life"

In response to my review of The Glory Days, I got an email from Vic, a lifelong Giants fan.

He writes:

"I have a friend who was nine years old when the Giants and Dodgers moved west. He was a little Jewish kid, head over heals in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers and he was completely devastated as only a nine year old boy can be devastated by the betrayal of everything he holds dear and sacred.

His disillusionment soon curdled, turned to bitterness and he turned his back on baseball. He didn't even listen to a game for more than 20 years. Then, in his 30s, living in Boston, he became intrigued with the long suffering Red Sox fans and found himself in love with the game again.

When I met him, he was living in San Francisco but still following the Red Sox. I eventually coaxed him into coming to a Giants-Dodgers game with me. "O'Malley is dead," I told him, "and roasting in hell. You can come home, now." He showed up to the game wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers hat and the biggest, happiest, nine-year old's smile you've ever seen.

I also met a guy once, on the "ballpark special" bus from downtown to the 'Stick, who had been a New York Giants fan. He was a young man when the team moved west, working as a printer and he had much the same reaction that my friend the nine-year had. He quit on baseball.

He told me that lasted through half of the next season, at which point he couldn't stand it anymore. He quit his job, said goodbye to his family and friends and MOVED to San Francisco. 25 years later (this was the early '80s), he was still convinced he'd done the right thing.

It's funny but it's true. Baseball is life. Everything else is just details."

The Glory Days

“What better way than through baseball to explore New York City in the first decade after World War II?” - Ann Myerson, Curator; Introduction, The Glory Days, New York Baseball, 1947-1957

Almost from the very beginning, baseball has taught us how cruelly the business side can treat fans. One of the most painful blows ever dealt a set of fans came in the late 50s. The Giants, steeped in history and just three seasons after winning the World Series, and the Bums-no-more Dodgers, only two years after taking it all, moved across the country.

Their departure ended among other things, an amazing stretch of baseball in New York City. Sure the Yankees hogged much of the glory, but fans of the Giants and Dodgers had a lot to cheer about too.

To document this period of time and its ending, The Museum of the City of New York is putting on an exhibit from June 27 to December 31. The companion book is titled The Glory Days, New York Baseball, 1947-1957. The editor is the distinguished historian John Thorn who lived in the Big Apple during those halcyon days for New Yorkers.

The 223-page book contains ten essays by a distinguished set of authors. Some familiar ground is covered, but new areas are explored such as Lee Lowenfish on Horace Stoneham. He gives the Giants owner “some long-overdue credit for his role in integrating not only the playing field but also the front office of the New York Giants franchise.” He also notes that the 51’ Giants were the first big league team to have four non-white players in a game.

The book’s essays cover a lot of ground. The power, though, is in the photos. One in particular evokes a lot of emotion. Juxtaposed beside Ray Robinson’s Farewell to the Polo Grounds, a fan in the stands at Ebbets Field is seen wiping away the tears and being comforted by a friend.

Faced with the loss of their team, some fans turned to football. Some couldn't let go, as noted by Robinson. After the New York Giants’ final game, he had this conversation with writer pal Arnold Hano.

“As we rode home on the subway that 1957 day, Hano and I swore that we would never again give our hearts our out ticket money to another baseball team. But it wasn’t long before both of us, disenchanted as we were, tuned in to the San Francisco Giants games in the wee hours of the morning…”

The challenge this book faces is the fact that it wasn’t much fun for fans of other teams in the 50s. This slice of history, however, is a rich one and worthy of looking back. For Giants and Dodger fans who still cling to the memories of yesteryear, this book will transport them back to that time. For the rest of us, we’ll get an excellent insight in to why they're still talking about those days and why these two historic franchises wanted a fresh start fifty years ago.