Sunday, October 11, 2026

CANTO TALK podcasts from last week


Check the shows from last week.   

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Bob Gibson was made for October




Bob Gibson was made for October:

The Brewers and Dodgers will start the NL League Championship Series tonight. I’m sure that Milwaukee wants revenge.

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The Brewers and Dodgers will start the NL League Championship Series on Sunday night.  It should be a great series.  I’m sure that Milwaukee wants revenge for getting swept in 2025 and sending Los Angeles to the World Series again.

Every October, I’m reminded of those times when we ran home to watch the game or were thankful for a nice teacher who let us watch it in class. 

Back in October 1968, I ran home with my little transistor radio hoping to catch Game 1 of the World Series on TV.  I knew that my mother would have the game on TV, so my objective was to get home.  I ran faster and faster when I heard that Gibson was pitching a shutout and about to set a post-season record for strikeouts.  Well, I did not make it home, but I did hear strikeout #17 on the radio and caught the post-game interview.

It was arguably the greatest pitching performance of the 20th century because he was facing a Detroit lineup that included Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Willie Horton, Bill Freehan, and Jim Northrup.  The 1968 A.L. champion Tigers were a great team.  It’s hard to believe that anyone could strike out 17 against a lineup like that.  He was as dominating as any pitcher in one game.

The amazing Bob Gibson won 251 games with a 2.91 ERA.  He also threw 56 shutouts!  Add 255 complete games plus winning Game 7 in 1964 versus New York and 1967 versus Boston!  He lost Game 7 in 1968.

In the aforementioned season of 1968, he won 22 games and pitched 28 complete games and 13 shutouts.  His ERA was a superhuman 1.12!  I did not make a typing mistake.  It was indeed 1.12 over 304 innings.

Gibson added a no-hitter in 1971 and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1981.  He was absolutely awesome and the arm of those Cardinals who won three N.L. pennants in five years (1964, 1967, 1968).

Never saw him in person but lots of times on TV.  As I told my late father one day, I would have Bob Gibson on the mound if my life depended on one game.

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1975: Happy anniversary to "Saturday Night Live"




Frankly, I don’t remember watching the first show but I became a fan quickly.  It is a great show!
Happy birthday to “Saturday Night Live”.  I loved it back then specially Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman.
Wow!  Lots of memories of those shows!   
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Saturday, October 10, 2026

Talarico back, Rubio speech and baseball thoughts

 


Talarico back, Rubio speech and baseball thoughts

Thanks Marco

 


A few days ago, Secretary Rubio delivered a magical speech about the West:


Rubio also described a distinctly Western understanding of what sacrifice means — thanks to the Greeks — and compared it to how Third Worlders view sacrifice. Christian martyrs and patriots who were loyal to their principles were willing to sacrifice their lives for if needed, whereas Iranian rulers who glorify death worship death itself.
“Our heroes may be willing to die for their cause; but our heroes do not worship death,” Rubio pointed out. “We take the West’s conception of these things – heroism, honor, duty – we take these things for granted. We assume that these somehow are universal to all people in all times and in all places. They are not. They are the product of a distinct character, a distinct character which arose here and shaped the whole story of the civilization that came after it.”
Rubio’s distinction underpins the greater problem facing Western nations and their immigration policies. A people make a nation, and western values are not universal. Therefore, importing people who do not share Western values risks the nation.


Right on.  Would you invite someone to stay in your home if he hated your family?  I wouldn't and you wouldn't either.

Furthermore, many in the West are no longer proud of their story or heritage.  Yes, we made mistakes but we were not the only who enslaved people.  What we forget to say is that we made slavery illegal and there are thousands of young men buried in the country who fought to make that happen.

I don't know how much we can change what's happening in Europe as we see these "student riots" in France.  But maybe we can do something about the US and explain to our children that they are beneficiaries of a great culture as Secretary Rubio spoke.

Based on that speech, I am convinced that Secretary Rubio learned history the right way..

A man named Spiro









Maybe it's another urban legend but I heard it many years ago.

On this day in 1973, The Supreme Court was hearing some oral arguments, the Reds were playing the Mets in the National League Championship Series and the game was interrupted with the flash that Vice President Agnew had resigned.  The legend is that a clerk passed a note to one of the justices that went sort of like this:  Pete Rose crashed into Buddy Harrelson at second and Agnew resigned.  We don't know if that actually happened but it makes for a great story.

Spiro Agnew was elected governor of Maryland in the mid-1960s.   In 1968, Richard Nixon shocked the world by selecting him as VP on the GOP ticket.  "Spiro who?" was the talk of the land.   A few months later  they won a very close election but Governor Agnew did not deliver Maryland that year.   

Back then, many of my school friends started playing games saying that Spiro rhymed with Silvio.  It doesn't but VP Agnew and I do have strange names.   After all, how many people do you know named Silvio or Spiro?   There weren't many where I was hanging around.

During Nixon's first term, VP Agnew spoke around the country against antiwar demonstrators and the media.   He became very popular with "the Silent Majority" as President Nixon referred to people who worked, paid taxes, and loved their country.

The Nixon-Agnew ticket was reelected in 1972.  Nevertheless, the Nixon-Agnew relationship was never close but that's not unusual for a president and vice-president.  Agnew did deliver Maryland in 1972 but 49 states voted for President Nixon that year.

In 1973, we began to read stories of corruption.  First, the Justice Department uncovered widespread evidence of political corruption during Agnew's tenure as governor.  Secondly, there were stories of bribes during his tenure as vice president.

It all happened very quickly.  Within days, he resigned and was eventually replaced by VP Gerald Ford in December.  Later, he wrote a book presenting his defense but I don't think that it sold well.

Mr. Agnew wrote another book about a vice president a few years later titled The Canfield Decision.  It probably paid a few of his legal bills.  It was one of those books that I wanted to read but something more interesting came up,

It’s amazing how quickly he rose and fell, from an unknown Governor of Maryland to VP to disgrace.  Agnew died in 1996.


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1957: Braves beat Yankees in 7 games


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On this day in 1957,  the Milwaukee Braves won the first and only World Series title in Wisconsin's history.  (The Brewers lost the 1982 series to St Louis.)

The Braves were the underdogs.   They faced Casey Stengel's Yankees, or the powerhouse of the 1950's.   New York had won in 1956 and 5 titles between 1949-53.   By the way, New York and Milwaukee met again in 1958 but the Yankees won.

It was a great series for Lew Burdette, who won 3 games.   He won games 5 and 7 and pitched 3 complete games.   Burdette was named Series MVP.

Milwaukee was on top of the baseball world on this day in 1957.

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1968: Lolich beat Gibson in game 7


On this day in 1968, Mickey Lolich beat Bob Gibson to win game 7.  

The final score was Detroit 4, St. Louis 1.

Lolich and Gibson were both 2-0 in the series with two complete games each.    
Lolich won this one and Detroit celebrated.

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1845: Another birthday for The Naval Academy


We salute The Naval Academy today.  It opened with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.  
It became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850 and thousands of officers have graduated, from the late Senator McCain to many others.
Happy birthday! 
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October 1968 and Bob Gibson


Bob Gibson, RIP: Disabusing prejudice and pretense -  Sports/Entertainment/Media - The Briefing Room

Back in October 1968, I ran home with my little transistor radio hoping to catch Game 1 of the World Series on TV.  I knew that my mother would have the game on TV, so my objective was to get home.

I ran faster and faster when I heard that Gibson was pitching a shutout and about to set a post-season record for strikeouts.  Well, I did not make it home, but I did hear strikeout #17 on the radio and caught the post-game interview.

It was arguably the greatest pitching performance of the 20th century because he was facing a Detroit lineup that included Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Willie Horton, Bill Freehan, and Jim Northrup.  The 1968 A.L. champion Tigers were a great team.  It's hard to believe that anyone could strike out 17 against a lineup like that.  He was as dominating as any pitcher in one game. 

The amazing Bob Gibson died this week in 2020.  He was 84 and fighting cancer.

Over the years, Gibson won 251 games with a 2.91 ERA.  He also threw 56 shutouts!  Add 255 complete games plus winning Game 7 in 1964 versus New York and 1967 versus Boston!

In the aforementioned season of 1968, he won 22 games, pitched 28 complete games and 13 shutouts.  His ERA was a super-human 1.12!

I did not make a typing mistake.  It was indeed 1.12 over 304 innings.

Gibson added a no-hitter in 1971 and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1981.

He was absolutely awesome and died shortly after Lou Brock, his teammate from those Cardinals who won three N.L. pennants in five years, passed away.  Sad month for Cardinal nation.

Never saw him in person but lots of times on TV.  As I told my late father one day, I would have Bob Gibson on the mound if my life depended on one pitch.

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