Former Socialist, Former Republican, Former Contributor to The American Spectator, Former Resident of Canada, Back in Boston Area After Stints in New York City & Atlanta, Current Mustache Wearer & Aficionado of Baseball, Bowling in All Its Forms, Cats, Music & Healthy Living
Mind you had President Obama so much as uttered the words Constitution and termination in the same sentence, Republicans would have been demanding impeachment.
As with balanced budgets and law enforcement, Republican support for the Constitution is a mile wide and an inch deep. Now that Trump has said he wants to terminate the Constitution, it is now one more thing for Republicans to declare that won't stop them from supporting Trump in 2024 as was the case with purportedly moderate Republican Congressman David Joyce in an interview with George Stephanopoulos yesterday. Ditto for Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Mind you, it isn't that they agree with Trump. But it isn't enough for them to break with him. If suspending the Constitution after dining with Holocaust deniers isn't enough for them to break with Trump then nothing is.
Republicans speak of moving forward, but they cannot move forward so long as they won't rule out supporting Trump, a man who hangs around their necks like an albatross and whose supporters wanted to hang Mike Pence by his neck. Republicans cannot bring themselves to follow the Liz Cheney Standard which states that Trump should not be allowed to seek or hold public office of any kind. They will not follow this standard because Republican voters will run them out on a rail like they did with Liz Cheney.
A couple of days back President Biden signed into law the agreement reached by railroad workers and the railroads back in September but which had been rejected by several of the larger unions much to their ire.
Although the railroad workers do get a 24% pay increase over the next five years and caps on health care premiums they did not get sick days and this was the sticking point. When it became clear there would not be negotiated agreement and a strike set to take place, Biden called upon Congress under its power under the Railway Labor Act of 1926 to ratify the existing agreement. He also called upon Congress to provide seven days of sick pay in separate legislation, but this did not reach the 60 vote threshold in the Senate. For his part, President Biden stated:
As a proud pro-labor President, I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement. But in this case – where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.
Simply put President Biden will would rather have a few railroad worker unions call him a scab than have a recession which would cause further disruptions in the supply chain, double unemployment and lead to double digit inflation. In this scenario, Biden would be dealing with far more angry people than he would now. Besides, while the railroad unions may have a point regarding sick days, there are a lot of American workers who would give their right arm to have a 24% pay increase and a cap on health care premiums.
A railroad workers strike would have also given Donald Trump an opening to offer to negotiate a labor deal of his own and at least for a few minutes not talk about the 2020 election. If that had come to pass then Trump could claim some measure of credibility on the economy and labor relations. While I agree such a possibility is a remote one, Biden nevertheless could not take that chance.
Come November 2024 very few voters are going to think about the railroad strike which almost was. But had their been a railroad strike voters would remember it and the recession which it caused. In the big picture, President Biden's decision was a no-brainer.
The committee included former teammate Greg Maddux and former Toronto Blue Jays President Paul Beeston who had a long standing association with McGriff. Other members of the committee include Hall of Famers Lee Smith and Alan Trammell as well as Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng and former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs executive Theo Epstein.
Twelve votes were required for induction. The closest anyone came to that figure was Don Mattingly who had 8 followed by Curt Schilling and Dale Murphy who had 7 and 6, respectively. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Albert Belle received fewer than four votes.
As to the man of the hour, Fred McGriff his induction has been long overdue. A ninth round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 1981, the Tampa native would be traded to the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the 1983 season along with Dave Collins and Mike Morgan for Dale Murray. Although McGriff did not make his big league debut until 1986, it was his inclusion that gave this trade to the Jays. McGriff quickly became one of the most feared hitters in the AL. In 1989, McGriff led the AL in HRs with 36.
Prior to the 1991 season, the Blue Jays shocked the world when they traded McGriff and Tony Fernandez to the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. While Carter and Alomar would win back to back World Series for the Jays in 1992 and 1993, McGriff continued his hitting dominance leading the NL in HRs in '92 with 35.
In the middle of the 1993 season, the Padres parted ways with McGriff sending him to the Atlanta Braves. His presence in the lineup helped the Braves overcome an 8 game deficit in the NL West and win the division on the last day of the season denying the 103-win San Francisco Giants a post-season berth. McGriff would earn his lone World Series with the Braves in 1995.
Prior to the 1998 season, McGriff would return to his hometown to join the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays where he would spend three and a half seasons before being traded to the Chicago Cubs where he would spend 1.5 seasons. After one season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, McGriff would return to the Devil Rays to finish his playing career in 2004. In 19 seasons, McGriff collected 2,490 for a lifetime batting average of .284 with 493 HR and 1550 RBIs with five All-Star Game selections and three Silver Slugger Awards.
Yet in his 10 years of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot from 2010 to 2019 never received more than 40% of the vote. Had McGriff over 500 HRs he would have been already inducted. The reason he fell short of that total was due to the 1994 strike. It is sad to think that 7 HR was all that was standing between him and a plaque at Cooperstown. Whatever number of HRs McGriff hit he hit them with authority. They didn't call him the "Crime Dog" for nothing. Considering that McGriff played at the height of MLB's steroid era his name never ever came up.
In view of this I'm glad the Contemporary Era Committee has rectified this matter. McGriff will formally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 24, 2023. I leave you with some video as to how McGriff earned his plaque.
Before joining Sesame Street, McGrath had worked as a tenor on Mitch Miller's Sing Along with Mitch and also enjoyed a recording career in Japan. But it was his portrayal of Bob on Sesame Street for nearly half a century which made him a familiar sight to generations of children all over North America until 2016 when he, Delgado and Roscoe Orman (who played Gordon) were unceremoniously dumped by the show although would reprise his role on the show's 50th anniversary in 2019.
McGrath was also beloved in Canada, particularly in the province of Saskatchewan where for nearly 40 years he appeared in the Kinsmens' annual TeleMiracle telethon until retiring in 2015. I leave you with Bob singing the "Rainbow Connection" at the 2007 edition of TeleMiracle. R.I.P.
As of today, I have spent exactly 20 years residing in the Boston area. That's 7,305 days, folks. I have lived in this area longer than I've lived anywhere else having spent nearly 40% of my life here. Of course, these 20 years in and around Boston have been cumulative not consecutive.
In the grand scheme of things it is far better to have commemorated this milestone today than it would have been on March 27, 2020. That day was my 20th anniversary in the United States but there was little cause for celebration as it was the early days of the COVID pandemic.
One of my dinner companions I asked me if I planned to live here for another 20 years. I replied that I hoped to be still be alive in 20 years. But if I am alive in 20 years time I hope it will somewhere in this general area because it is my spiritual home. That spirit is perhaps felt most strongly when I walk on the Mass Avenue Bridge between Boston and Cambridge or when I see Boston on the Red Line between Kendall Square/MIT and Charles/MGH. But it is also there when I walk around the Jamaica Pond or the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Back Bay, attending the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie or on the days when I'm lucky enough to find Remy The Humanities Cat on the campus of Harvard University. It's there in spades when I get into the ring in the New Year with the Marx Brothers Marathon at the Brattle Theatre in nearby Harvard Square and it is there for my day trips to Concord to walk to my favorite spot in Walden Pond.
My nearly three years away from Boston made me miss it so horribly that I never want to live anywhere else. I hope I never have to face another situation that would compel me to leave here. Should such a situation come to pass I will move Heaven and Earth to make sure I can stay here. On that note, I leave you with an obscure song by The Byrds called "Boston".
After 9 season with the New York Mets, Jacob deGrom last night signed a 5-year, $185 million deal with the Texas Rangers. There is an option for an additional year in 2028 which increases the value to $222 million. However, I suspect that deGrom won't make it that far.
Don't get me wrong. Since his MLB debut in 2014, deGrom has been one of baseball's premier pitchers. He won NL Rookie of the Year in 2014, pitched on an NL pennant winner in 2015, has been named to four NL All-Star teams and won back to back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019. In 209 big league starts, deGrom has gone 82-57 with a 2.52 ERA striking out 1607 batters in 1326 innings pitched while walking only 303 batters.
Again don't get me wrong. When deGrom is able to take the mound in Texas he will be spectacular. But how often will he be able to do it? At 34 and with his recent injury history, I doubt deGrom can answer the bell every five days to toss seven innings. Unless the Rangers convert deGrom into a closer I think this contract will prove to be white elephant.
A native of North Carolina, Perry followed the footsteps of his older brother Jim who also had a successful career as a major league pitcher. (The elder Perry turned 87 in October). After signing with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 1958, Perry would make his big league debut in 1962 as the Giants were en route to a NL pennant. However, he would not come into prominence until 1966 when he went 21-8 with a 2.99 ERA becoming the second part of a one-two punch with Juan Marichal.
Perry is remembered for no-hitting the St. Louis Cardinals the day after the Redbirds clinched the NL pennant besting Bob Gibson no less. The following day the Cards got even when Ray Washburn no-hit the Giants. It is the only time in MLB history in which two teams exchanged no-hitters on back to back nights.
In 1970, Perry finished runner up in NL Cy Young balloting to Bob Gibson. That season Perry led the NL in wins (23), starts (41), innings pitched (328.2) and shutouts (5). Had Perry won the Cy Young he would have joined older brother Jim in becoming the only brothers to win a Cy Young in the same year.
Perry would make his only post-season appearances when the Giants won the NL West in 1971. But they would fall to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS. After that season, the Giants made a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians sending Perry east in exchange for "Sudden" Sam McDowell. However, McDowell's career would go into sudden decline while Perry was just getting warmed up.
In 1972, Perry went 24-16 with a 1.92 ERA in 342.2 innings pitched along with 29 complete games en route to the AL Cy Young Award. Brother Jim would join him in Cleveland in 1974 where Gaylord won 21 games while Jim added 17 of his own. The Perry brothers were responsible for nearly 50% of the Tribe's wins that season (38 of 77).
Perry finished fourth in AL Cy Young balloting in 1974. He might have finished higher if not for his book Me and The Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession detailing his use of saliva and Vaseline to make his ball drop. It would be a source of controversy which followed him the rest of his career. It has been surmised that Perry used this as a psychological edge against batters to make them think he was doctoring the ball. In one game, Perry drove Reggie Jackson to the brink of insanity.
During the 1975 season, Perry would clash with manager (and future fellow Hall of Famer) Frank Robinson and Perry soon found himself traded to the Texas Rangers for pitchers Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown and Rick Waits. Less than a month earlier, the Tribe had traded Jim Perry along with Dick Bosman to the Oakland A's for Blue Moon Odom.
After posting 15 wins with the Rangers in both 1976 and 1977, Perry was on the move again this time to San Diego for lefty reliever Dave Tomlin who never ended up appearing in a Texas uniform. Perry, by contrast, became a 20-game winner for the fifth time in his big league career going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA earning the NL Cy Young Award in 1978 becoming the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues. This feat has been since matched by Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander.
By the end of the 1979 season, however, Perry wanted out of San Diego and was traded back to the Rangers. However, Perry's second stint with the Rangers was only half a season as he would be dealt to the New York Yankees. In 1981, Perry returned to the NL with the Atlanta Braves. In 1982, Perry became the "Ancient Mariner" in Seattle as he earned his 300th career win in front of a national TV audience in a game broadcast by the fledgling USA Network. Perry would finish his career in 1983 with the Kansas City Royals.
In 22 seasons, Perry went 314-265 with a 3.11 ERA along with 3,534 career strikeouts. Although Perry never led any league in strikeouts, he is nevertheless 8th on MLB's all-time list. Perry's 5,350 innings pitched is sixth on the all-time list. In six of his 22 seasons, Perry threw in excess of 300 innings. Baseball will never see the likes of him again. In 1991, in his third year of eligibility, the BBWAA elected Perry to the Hall of Fame with 77.4% of the vote.
I leave you with an interview Perry did with David Letterman in 1983 shortly after his retirement from baseball. In this interview, Perry discusses the spitball and two baby lions who he was raising on his farm in North Carolina. R.I.P.
