Wednesday, December 21, 1988

1988 and Pan Am 103

Image result for pan am 103 newspaper images
What a horrible day.   

Pan Am 103 was blown up over Scotland on this day in 1988.   It was a London to New York flight.

All 259 passengers were killed, including 35 students from Syracuse University returning home for Christmas.

Over the next years, Libya accepted responsibility but did not express remorse.

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Monday, August 08, 1988

August 8, 1988: Lights at Wrigley Field


Friday, March 18, 1988

The Big Sky (1952) is a good western

Image result for the big sky 1952 images

Want to watch a good movie?   Try "The Big Sky", a western from 1952, starring Kirk Douglas and others that I did not recognize.   It will keep your interest.

The TCM synopsis is as follows and very complete:
In 1832, trapper Jim Deakins leaves his Kentucky home to look for work in St. Louis. En route, Jim meets Boone Claudel, a quick-fisted fugitive who has been falsely accused of a crime. Boone and Jim become fast friends, and Boone joins Jim on his journey. Soon after the two arrive in St. Louis, Boone strikes an innocent Indian crossing his path and tells Jim that he dislikes all Indians. It eventually becomes clear to Jim that Boone's prejudice against Indians stems from the poor opinion he holds of his alcoholic uncle, Zeb Calloway, who is half Indian. While searching for his uncle, Boone meets Sam Eggleston, the ill-tempered owner of the Missouri River Co., who tells Boone that Zeb owes him money for a missing delivery of whiskey. Later, Boone and Jim are thrown in jail for starting a barroom brawl with Eggleston and his men. To their astonishment, Boone and Jim discover that their cellmate is none other than Zeb. Zeb tells Jim and Boone that Eggleston and his company dislike him and that they killed his partner because as a free trader he was too much competition for the Missouri River Company. Following their release from jail, Boone and Jim decide to join Zeb on a keelboat expedition up the Missouri River and into dangerous Montana Indian territory. The head of the expedition, Jourdonnais, warns his men that they are about to embark on a 2,000-mile journey into the heart of the Blackfoot Indian territory, a region that has never been traversed by white men. To quell the trappers' fears, Jourdonnais explains that their safety will be ensured by the presence of Teal Eye, a young Indian woman, whom they will be escorting to her Blackfoot chief. Once the expedition gets underway, Zeb tells Jim and Boone that the Indians fear the white man's presence in their territory because of what they call the "grab," the white man's habit of grabbing everything in sight. Many months into the journey, the expedition, having survived the perils of white water rapids and Indian attacks, is beset upon by a group of white men, who attack their camp and abduct Teal Eye. The attackers, who are all in the employ of rival fur trader MacMasters, then try to sabotage the traders' effort to reach the Blackfoot territory by setting fire to their ship. The ship is saved just in time, and two of the saboteurs are captured by the traders and later confess to working for MacMasters. Teal Eye is eventually rescued and rejoins the expedition as it enters Blackfoot territory. Once the traders reach their destination and pick up their furs, Boone announces that he has decided to marry Teal Eye and live among the Blackfoot.
You can get the movie here:  CLICK!

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Monday, June 22, 1987

1987: Tom Seaver retired from baseball


Tom Seaver Will Always Be the Essential Met - The New York Times


Tom Seaver broke with the Mets in 1967 at 22.     Along with Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan, he was part of the team's young pitching staff that took the team to the 1969 World Series.   

Seaver started fast in first full year of 1967:   16-13, 2.76 ERA and 18 complete games pitching for the 61-101 Mets that finished in last place.    He was the NL Rookie of the year!

Two years later, or 1969, Tom was the NL Cy Young with a terrific 25-7 & 2.21 ERA.      

Tom's career stats got him to the Hall of Fame in 1992:  311-205 & 2.86 ERA.    He played in 3 post season series with the Mets in 1969 & 1973 plus the Reds in 1979.

This is a partial list of his accomplishments:

1) one of only two pitchers in Major League history with 300 Wins, an ERA under 3.00 & 3,000 Strikeouts.   The other is Walter Johnson; and, 

2) he pitched twenty-seven 3-hitters, ten 2-hitters, five 1-hitters and a no hitter in 1978 wearing the Reds uniform.  

Just a great pitcher!

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Wednesday, December 24, 1986

December 1968, Christmas Eve and Apollo 8

Image result for apollo 8 images
My father died in 2015 or a few Decembers ago.  I always remember him on certain anniversaries, such as Apollo 8.
On Christmas Eve 1968, our family went to the midnight mass.  By the way, very few parishes actually celebrate mass at midnight.  Our church today celebrates mass at 9 p.m.!
Nevertheless, it was a rather remarkable ride from church. It took me a while to realize that I was hearing three men reading from the Good Book from a spaceship circling the moon. It was one of those moments that I will never forget.    
Years ago, families actually sat around to watch the NASA missions. In our household, it was a lot of fun to gather around the TV and enjoy an Apollo rocket going into space.  My favorite part was hearing my father say that he would have never believed it when he was growing up.  My mother would usually compliment the U.S., with the Cuban version of “what a country”.
The Apollo 8 mission accomplished some rather big objectives, such as orbiting the moon 10 times and testing out the “trans-lunar injection” system and other electronic networks that would allow future missions to land on the moon over the next three years. 
The Apollo 8 crew was Frank Borman, the aforementioned James Lovell, and William Anders.
They became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon.   I recall my father talking about all of those science-fiction comic books about the unknown on the dark side of the moon.
Who wasn’t stunned to see that picture of the earth floating is space on the cover of the weekly magazines? It certainly put living in our good earth in a little different perspective.
Last but not least, the crew read from Genesis to everyone back home.
It’s a shame that my sons never watched those space launching in school.  Who knows when we will send men to another world again? I was fortunate to see it!
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Thursday, September 25, 1986

Astros 1986: Mike Scott clinched NL West with a no-hitter

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On this day in 1986, I was in the car and listening to the Astros play the Giants.    It turned out to be a great top of the 9th to catch on the radio.   Mike Scott clinched the NL West by throwing a no-hitter against the Giants.

The 1986 Astros were indeed a great team and played a super exciting NLCS against the Mets.  Game 6 was a classic.


Mike Scott won 88 games over a 5-year span in Houston.   He retired with 124 wins but will always be remembered for that magical afternoon!


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Tuesday, March 18, 1986

1959: "Face of a Fugitive" with Fred MacMurray


Do you always think of "My 3 sons" when you see Fred MacMurray?   Well, I do.   By the way, where is Uncle Charlie?

Before that famous TV show, MacMurray made many movies, including "Face of a fugitive" in 1959.

This is from TCM:   

One night, when a train stops at a small Western town, a deputy sheriff ushers convicted bank robber Jim Larson aboard, on his way to serve a prison term. At the train's next stop, Jim overpowers the deputy and is about to escape when his younger brother Danny unexpectedly appears with two horses. As the brothers ride off, the deputy shoots at Danny, badly wounding him, and Danny fires back, hitting the lawman. 

The story is good and worth watching.   

You can click here to watch it.

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Monday, March 18, 1985

Elvis and "Flaming Star"

Elvis Presley's "Flaming Star" was the featured film on one of those retro western channels.   I had never seen that movie before.    

It turned out to be a rather good movie to watch, quite different than the other Elvis movies that I've seen.    In other words, it was no "Fun in Acapulco" or "Girls girls girls".    In fact, Elvis only sings a couple of songs, and one of them is the movie's opening theme.

Elvis plays a mixed blood Texan.   His mother was Indian and the father was white.  He is forced to choose between the two cultures and I won't tell you the ending.

Overall, a good movie.   Barbara Eden, a few years before "I dream of Jeannie" and Dolores del Rio are in the movie.   The latter plays his Indian mother.

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Thursday, May 24, 1984

1984: The Tigers and the 35-5 start






Back in 1984, the Detroit Tigers got off to a 35-5 start.    That's winning 87% of your first 40 games.

The Tigers ended up with 104 wins.   They beat KC in the ALCS and defeated San Diego in 5 games in the World Series.   

Great team.

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Tuesday, January 10, 1984

1984: Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew, and Don Drysdale elected to the Hall of Fame

Image result for aparicio killebrew drysdale images
On this day in 1984, Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew and Don Drysdale, were elected to The Hall of Fame.

Aparicio was a great shortstop born in Venezuela in 1934:  .262 batting average, 2,677 hits and 506 stolen bases in 2,599 games.  He was an excellent defensive shortstop.

Killebrew was born in Idaho in 1936 and became one of the best power hitters of our generation:  573 HR, 1,584 RBI, AL MVP 1969 and several HR titles. 

Drysdale was born in California in 1936 and played his entire career with the Dodgers:   209 wins, 167 complete games and a 2.95 ERA.  In 1968, he pitched 58 straight scoreless innings including six straight shutouts.

They were great.

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