“Shane” the 3rd best Western ever?

Had a little time and watched “Shane”, a movie that I had seen bits and pieces of many times before.    

It was great.    

Shane is played by Alan Ladd.  He meets Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) and his wife, Marian (Jean Arthur) who are small farmers in Wyoming.    He learns that there is a campaign of intimidation against the farmers.    

What a great movie.    The rest is up to you.    Watch it!  

“Shane” is # 3  in the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Westerns.     By the way, # 2 is “High noon”, another one of my favorites.

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1983: Brooks Robinson and Juan Marichal elected to the Hall of Fame

Brooks Robinson and Juan Marichal were elected to The Hall of Fame on this day in 1983.     

Robinson broke into the majors with the Orioles in 1955.   He played his last game in 1977.   Along the way, he won 17 Gold Gloves for his work as a third baseman.   He was a great clutch hitter, a very tough out when the game was on the line:   .267 career average, 268 HR & 1,357 RBI, 2,484 hits in 2, 986 games.    He hit .303 in the post season with 22 RBI in 39 games.   Robinson was the 1964 AL MVP and 1970 World Series MVP. 

Marichal pitched his first game in 1960 and played until 1975.   He pitched primarily with the Giants but did finish his career with Boston.    Marichal's numbers were spectacular:  243 wins, 244 complete games, 52 shutouts, and a 2.89 ERA.   He did not win the Cy Young Award in large part because he was competing with Koufax so many times.

Two of my favorite players!

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John Wayne and "El Dorado"

It's time to watch another John Wayne movie.    

"El Dorado" is from 1966 and it includes Robert Mitchum and James Caan.   In this movie, Wayne plays a gunfighter who gets in the middle of a fight over water.

It is a good movie.   Wayne is "Cowboy # 1" in my book.   

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1981 and Steve Carlton set NL mark for K's

The great Steve Carlton made some National League history on this day in 1981.   Carlton set the NL mark for K’s!

Over an amazing career, Carlton 329 games with a 3.22 ERA.   He also completed 254 games with 4,136 strikeouts.   His best season was 1972:  27-10, a 1.97 ERA, 30 complete games, 8 shutouts and 320 strikeouts.   The amazing thing is that he pitched for a team that won 59 games.   It may have been the greatest pitching performance ever.

Great pitcher.   Maybe the best lefty after Koufax with all due respect to Randy Johnson!

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We remember Hugo Montenegro (1925-81)

Hugo Montenegro was born in New York on this day in 1925.   He spent some time in the US Navy and then started writing and arranging music in the 1950’s.     We remember him for all of those Western film themes, such as “The good the bad and the ugly”.

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Leadership Reagan style and the air controllers

Like many of you, I am yearning for presidential leadership.  I want a president who leads and sets the tone.

32 years ago yesterday, President Reagan once again demonstrated that he understood leadership and presidency:

"On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan begins firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slowed air travel for months.

Two days earlier, on August 3, almost 13,000 air-traffic controllers went on strike after negotiations with the federal government to raise their pay and shorten their workweek proved fruitless. The controllers complained of difficult working conditions and a lack of recognition of the pressures they face. Across the country, some 7,000 flights were canceled. The same day, President Reagan called the strike illegal and threatened to fire any controller who had not returned to work within 48 hours. Robert Poli, president of the Professional Air-Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO), was found in contempt by a federal judge and ordered to pay $1,000 a day in fines.
On August 5, an angry President Reagan carried out his threat, and the federal government began firing the 11,359 air-traffic controllers who had not returned to work. In addition, he declared a lifetime ban on the rehiring of the strikers by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). On August 17, the FAA began accepting applications for new air-traffic controllers, and on October 22 the Federal Labor Relations Authority decertified PATCO."

Don't you miss presidential leadership?

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1981: Bob Gibson elected to Hall of Fame

In 1981, Bob Gibson was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame.   

As a young man in Omaha, Gibson excelled at baseball and basketball in high school.   He played college basketball at Creighton University and had a brief stint with the Harlem Globetrotters.   

In 1957, he signed with the Cardinals, and made his big-league debut in 1959.

His 17 years with St. Louis were awesome:  251 victories, 255 complete games, 3,117 strikeouts, 56 shutouts, and an ERA of 2.91.        His 1968 season may have been the greatest modern pitching performance:   22-9, 13 shutouts, 28 complete games and an unbelievable 1.12 ERA!  And he won game 7 in the 1964 & 1967 World Series!

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We remember "super glove man" Aurelio Rodríguez (1947-2000)

We remember Aurelio Rodriguez.   He was born in Mexico on this day in 1947 and died tragically in 2000.

Aurelio broke with the Angels in 1967.    He hit 19 HRS with 83 RBI in 1970.  

After that, he was better known for his incredible glove at third base.   He finally won the Gold Glove in 1976 after Brooks Robinson of the Orioles won 16 in a row.

Overall, he hit .237, 124 HR & 648 RBI in 2,017 games.   He was a great defensive third baseman and that's why he played such a long career with the Angels, Tigers & Yankees.  

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We remember Rod Sterling (1924-1975)

We remember Rod Sterling who was born in Syracuse, NY, on this day in 1924.  He died in 1975.

Most of us grew up watching "The Twilight Zone", one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

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We remember Tim Hardin (1941-80)

We remember Tim Hardin, who was born in Eugene, Oregon, on this day in 1941 and died in 1980.     His life was cut short by some personal problems, specially an addiction to heroin.

His songs include "Reason to believe", recorded by Rod Stewart and The Carpenters,  and "If I were a carpenter", a big hit for Bobby Darin and recorded by many others.

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