Wednesday, August 03, 2022

Vince Scully (1927-2022) plus Kansas and the future of abortion & other stories


Vince Scully (1927-2022) plus Kansas and the future of abortion & other stories......

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Wednesday's video: Vince Scully (1927-2022) plus Kansas and the future of abortion & other ...


Wednesday's video: 
Vince Scully (1927-2022) plus Kansas and the future of abortion & other stories:

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.


 

Memories of Vin Scully

 


(My new American Thinker post)

We learned that Vince Scully passed away. He was 94 and retired from the microphone a few years ago. I remember a college professor who told me that the Dodgers had changed coasts, the letter on their cap from B to LA, and added the names of the players to the uniforms, but Vince Scully was always the voice of the team.

His story is remarkable, as Anthony Castrovince wrote:   

Though born in the Bronx, near Yankee Stadium, in that epochal year of 1927 and eventually associated with the Dodgers, Scully grew up a New York Giants fan. He would emulate the batting stance of his favorite player, Mel Ott. But as early as age 8, Scully knew that he wanted to announce games even more than he wanted to play in them.

Fordham-educated and Navy-trained, Scully got into broadcasting at just 22 years old, and he did so by making an impression on a man who had been a major influence. Scully was a fill-in at WTOP in Washington, D.C., when one day a message was left for him at his parents’ home. His mother relayed it.

“Red Skelton called!”

Actually, it was Red Barber, who was heading CBS network sports and looking for a backup voice for “College Football Roundup.”

And the rest is history, as they say.  He was a natural on the radio and eventually made it to the Brooklyn Dodgers.  

My memories of Vince Scully are about the post-season. I did not live in the Los Angeles area so  did not hear him call Dodgers' games.  It was in the post-season when I heard his unique style of calling a baseball game.  Always had the feeling that Vince had scored a 100 on his grammar tests.  

I remember the 1974 World Series when the Dodgers played the Oakland A's.  He was talking about players' salaries and spoke about the new reality of the game.  He said something like the losers' wives wear mink coats these days.  He meant that the losers would get a nice check, too.

Later, I went out of my way to research some of his top calls, such as Sandy Foufax's perfect game in 1965:   

“It is 9:46 p.m. Two and two to Harvey Kuenn, one strike away. Sandy into his windup, here’s the pitch. Swung on and missed, a perfect game!”

Then there was Kirk Gibson coming off the bench and hitting a walk off home run in game one of the 1988 World Series. He seemed surprised that Gibson would come to the plate and then couldn't contain his emotions when he went around the bases.

Scully was a natural, a legend and something out of a time when people got their baseball on the radio.  He was good on TV as well and would call the game and tell you a story at the same time. Of course, I did not get to hear those nightly telecasts but have enjoyed going back and listening to his many recordings, such as Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

I bet he and Red Barber are calling one heck of a game up in heaven.  Rest in peace, Mr. Scully.

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.

No sugar in Cuba?


 (My new American Thinker post)

Years ago, my mother got a letter from her sister in Cuba complaining about the lack of food and specially seafood.  So my mother said to her Cuban friend:

Can you believe that?  No fish in Cuba.

And her friend said:    

How can that be?  It's an island.  I remember going fishing and catching everything.

And my mother responded: 

Yes, I remember that, too.  But this is "Cuba comunista" and the fish have all gone to Miami.

Wonder what my late mother would say about the shortage of sugar in Cuba?  Yes, there is not enough sugar in Cuba today.     

This is the report via my friends at Babalu Blog:      

The production of the 2021-2022 sugar harvest was the lowest in the last 150 years: only 480,000 tons of sugar, not even covering the average annual consumption on the island, which is around 600,000 tons. Of the 35 sugar mills that participated in the harvest, which ended on May 20, only three fulfilled their production plan.

"We don't even have sugar at the bodegas," says Alexis, the manager of one in El Cerro.

Once upon a time, Cuba had no problems growing sugar cane, turning it into sugar for domestic consumption or exports.  It was a forgone conclusion that every Cuban would sweeten his strong coffee and light up a cigar, something I saw my father do often.  I can still smell my mother’s Cuban coffee and my father’s cigar!

That was then and this is now, according to Reuters:      

Cuba's emblematic sugar harvest topped out at just over half of the communist-run government's target this year, according state-run newspaper Granma, representing another major blow to the country's already crisis-racked economy.

That 2021-2022 harvest hit just 52% of the goal for the season, Granma said, or approximately 474,000 tons. That is nearly half of last year's crop of 800,000 tonnes, which was already the worst since 1908.

So what went wrong?   The answer is that these sugar mills were once privately run and incredibly efficient.  Today, they are state-run and incredibly inefficient.   

It's as simple as that!  Welcome to socialism!

[Editor's note: Here is what Cuba's inflation looks like:

]

The U.S. haters will blame the embargo.   What's new?  The embargo does not stop Cuba from selling sugar to any country or attracting investment to improve the sugar mills.  Don't blame the embargo.  

Blame communism.

Last, but not least, once upon a time, Havana had a professional minor league baseball team called The Sugar Kings.  They were an AAA team in the Cincinnati Reds organization.   They were called the Sugar Kings because sugar is one of the symbols of Cuba.

Well, the fish moved to Miami, as my mother said.  Maybe the sugar cane did too! 

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.

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