We remember Don Baylor (1948-2017)

The great Don Baylor was born in Austin, Texas in 1949.     He died in 2017.

Don was drafted by the Orioles in 1967 and moved quickly through their farm system.      I recall reading about Don Baylor & Bobby Grich in the O's farm system.    They came up together and spent years with Baltimore and later with the Angels.

Don finally joined the O's in 1972 and became the starting left fielder.    

Days before the start of the 1976 season, Baylor was traded to the A's in the blockbuster Reggie Jackson trade.    (Don Baylor & Mike Torres for Reggie Jackson & Ken Holtzman)

Baylor's best days were with the Angels:  MVP in '79 and 141 HR over 6 seasons.

He retired with 338 HR & 1,276 RBI in 2,292 games.     In 1989, Don reflected on his career in an autobiography.

After that, he managed the Rockies and Cubs.  

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

June 19, 1972: "The reserve clause" and the story of Curt Flood

Curt Flood was a pretty good baseball player.  He was a career .293 hitter and an important piece of the St Louis power team that won 3 National League pennants in 1964, 1967 and 1968.   

Flood played on a team that included Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Orlando Cepeda, Tim McCarver and quite a few others.

However, he made “labor history” many years ago:

“On June 19, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court rules against Curt Flood in Flood v. Kuhn, denying Flood free agency as a baseball player. Flood was trying to break the reserve clause that had tied baseball players to one franchise since the establishment of professional baseball.”

In other words, he was denied an opportunity to become a free agent and negotiate with several teams.

Eventually, the players’ union won the “free agency” fight in 1976 after 2 strikes and several court appeals.  The net result is that “Free agency” changed the game and blew up the owners’ monopoly.  

Flood never got to make the big bucks but he had a lot to do with the benefits that the players enjoy today.  He was the one who challenged the system and took a bullet for the union.

Flood died in 1997.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1972: We remember the Watergate break‐in

(My new American Thinker post)

The Watergate break-in happened this week in 1972. It always gets a lot of coverage from reporters every year. It's becomes a day for liberal morality rants. Nixon this and Nixon that!

To be honest, President Nixon made mistakes, from defending his staff to participating in a cover-up. He admitted many of these mistakes in his memoirs published in 1978.   

Let me add that RN is a great history book going back to Nixon's first campaign in 1946, his close relationship with fellow House member John F Kennedy, the Alger Hiss case, his run for the U.S. Senate, getting selected by President Eisenhower, the Checkers speech, the vice presidency, his loss to the aforementioned JFK, his comeback in 1968 and the almost two term presidency. It reads like a postwar history class!

Over the years, I've recommended one book for those hoping to learn about Nixon.    I am not saying that you are going to fall in love with Richard Nixon. At the same time, you will learn that he was not some kind of a monster.

The book is Tom Wicker's One of Us. This is one of the best books about Mr Nixon because Wicker was a liberal journalist. Mr. Wicker related that Nixon was a mainstream type of politician. 

His presidency was not some right-wing movement. Nixon signed the executive orders that gave us affirmative action and the EPA. It was Nixon's pen that signed Title IX, which opened up college sports for women.

Indeed, thousands of young blacks got into elite schools because of Nixon's affirmative action executive order. Robert J. Brown, Chairman and CEO of B&C Associates and former Special Assistant to President Nixon, wrote that he was very proud of President Nixon's commitment to civil rights.

Wicker also reviewed Nixon's foreign policy. He found that he had a lot in common with JFK, Humphrey and LBJ. In fact, Nixon, JFK, Humphrey and LBJ would find Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders as weird as I do.

Wicker reminded us that Nixon went to China, perhaps one of the boldest foreign policy visits in history. Only a conservative like Nixon had the domestic credibility to make that trip.

Let me repeat it. June 17th has turned into a day to hear morality rants from the liberals. However, there was a lot more to Nixon than Watergate!

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

We remember Chuck Thompson (1921-2005)

The great Chuck Thompson was born in Massachusetts on this day in 1921.

A few years ago, I heard the news that Chuck Thompson died in Baltimore.   He was 83.  

Thompson was the Orioles radio announcer for a generation.   He also did the Colts!

Chuck was a Vince Scully kind of announcer. He had that golden voice and sounded like he was having a one on one chat with the listener.

I remember staying up all night listening to Chuck Thompson call an Orioles' game from the West Coast. 

Or driving around on a Sunday afternoon tuned to a Yankee-Oriole September pennant race game. 

Or listening to my shortwave radio in Mexico City catching up with baseball on American Forces Radio. 

I remember Frank Robinson's 500th home run! 

Brooks Robinson's last home run, a game winner in '77!

It was great. So many memories courtesy of Chuck's wonderful voice!

It was so good that I would turn down the TV volume and listen to Chuck.  

I never met Chuck Thompson personally but he touched many of us with his baseball play by play.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.