Merry Ranchmas Eve found me watching (above) the day-long Ken Burns' Baseball documentary marathon on MLB Network. Ranchmas Day found me watching the day-long Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. Could life possibly be any better than this?!
Santa Mike did a little Christmas shopping at the Reds HOF and gift shop. My ulterior motive was that, despite going to Great American Ball Park for ballgames some 25 times in 2013, I never took the opportunity to tour the Hall of Fame's autograph exhibit.
I was most interested in seeing the really old autographs from Reds players of the distant past. Understandably, lighting throughout the exhibit was muted so as to not accelerate the inevitable process of damage that light does to autographs. I did snap (without flash) two autographs with my R2 Android unit before giving up:
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Wahoo Sam Crawford who began his Major League playing career with the Mighty Cincinnati Reds (1899-1902). And.....
..... Reds team Hall of Fame pitcher Frank "Noodles" Hahn (1899-1905), the Reds' first great pitcher of the 20th century. The exhibit also featured displays of well-known figures outside of baseball. One display case featured athletes from other, necessarily inferior sports. Another had autographs of world leaders (where was the autograph of Nigel Farage?). Yet another (below) featured autographs from the golden age of Hollywood ("At the Movies"):
At upper left, just below the "At" on the display case shown above, was an autographed (of course) 8x10 of "The Duke," John Wayne. There were also autographs for, among others; Clark Gable, Bob Hope, and Abbott & Costello.
Of course, the Reds HOF & Museum had other exhibits on display as well. Below you will see a cigar cutter from 1869:
This 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings cigar cutter, according to its companion information card, is the only one known in existence. Very cool.
In the photo above, the baseball on the left was one that Red center fielder Edd Roush blasted for a home run (almost certainly of the inside-the-park species) on Opening Day, 1920, at old Redland (later Crosley) Field. The Mighty Redlegs won that day, beating the toothless Chicago Cubs 7-3. Both starting pitchers threw complete games and the length of the game clocked in at 1 hour, 43 minutes. At right, the ball used to record the final out in 1919, the Reds first World Series championship. The stitching on these old Major League baseballs alternated red and blue thread (nowadays they appear to be orange and black). I think that was a really cool style, much like the old ABA basketballs, but probably made it that much more difficult for batters to pick up the spin of a pitched horsehide.
Above you see the cover for the Palace of the Fans grandstand dedication program from May 16th, 1902.
At left in the photo above you see the road (gray) version of the Reds 1936 "Palm Beach" jersey. That script Reds was used for both home and road jersey's sporadically in 1936 and 1937 and appears today across the front of the Reds spring training/batting practice jersey.
There also was a Joe Morgan exhibit during 2013. Above you see a game-used jersey and glove. We understand that middle infielders wear small gloves but Little Joe's glove was microscopic! Next time you wax silly about Dat Dude Fan Favorite being the greatest-fielding 2B in Reds history, and as you conveniently forget about Redleg second basemen such as Pokey Reese, Johnny Temple and Bid McPhee, just remember how small Little Joe's glove was and compare it to that of BP. Also recall that Bid McPhee wore no glove for most of his career.
Following a vigorous retail expedition, it was time to retire to lunch at the Moerlein Lager House:
Smoked sausage and fries. $7. When in Porkopolis.....
On New Year's Eve, I tagged along with Big Brother Lou and my two nieces to see the Harlem Globetrotters take on the formidable World All-Stars at the Ervin J Nutter Center - aka "The Nut House" - somewhere in the general proximity of Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio which itself is in the general proximity of Dayton, Ohio. I hadn't been to the Nut House since October 22, 1996 to see RUSH performing on their Test For Echo world tour (only the 3rd stop on the tour. Lou and I caught RUSH again on the same tour on June 4, 1997 at Riverbend). In the photo below, the Globetrotters were in the midst of performing their venerable bucket of confetti act (which never gets old):
If you look closely, you might discern a Globetrotter standing in the area between the fans and the basketball court mischievously holding a bucket.
The throng was so massive that we parked in a satellite lot. By satellite, I mean we were in a parking lot about 23,000 miles away from the Nut House. Luckily for us, the university ran a shuttle to swiftly carry Globetrotter fans from vehicle to arena. And by shuttle, I mean we rode it in from about 23,000 miles away. The WSU shuttles came in the form of old skool school buses of the variety in use circa the 1970s and for which most of use have intimate familiarity. Lou and I grabbed one back row seat, and the girls jumped into the other back row seat.
This was a highly coincidental place for Lou and I to be found. From Kindergarten through 5th grade, Lou was the first student to board Raymond Hinkle's bus #11 each morning. When Lou was a sixth grader, I joined him as a Kindergartner myself. For that Carter Administration-era school year, Lou and I sat together each morning in this same location; Last row, right side. It was the only year that Lou and I rode a school bus together. Immediately we reminisced about those halcyon days of Reily Township yesteryear; Comically grumpy bus driver, seats with exposed metal frames and back rests, a particular portion of the route with a one lane bridge over which the bus bounded like a bucking bronco and we kids would anticipate the bump by bouncing up and down in our seats so that when bus #11 struck ground zero we all flew out of our seats. The proudest kids were those who caught enough air to bump their heads on the roof of the bus. Bus #11 had green seats, vastly superior to the mocha-colored seats you see above. Here's Lou with the Disney XD Girls, fresh off their 9-day whirlwind invasion of Disney World:
*********
Heavy Artillery began firing live ammunition 13 months ago. Shockingly, there have been 6,696 page views during that time frame. You read that right, almost seven thousand! I sincerely thank each of you for taking time out of your busy days to read and, when so moved, to participate. To whatever extent Heavy Artillery rates on the Spectrum of Wild Popularity, it is because of my loyal readers.
Thank you, all.
Interestingly(?), 389 of those page views originated from international sources, led by Angola with 104 page views and runner-up Russia logging in with 90 page views. Heavy Artillery, evidently, has an international following that is most rabid in countries ruled by warlords or oligarchs. Be advised; I am 99% certain this means that the NSA is now monitoring your interwebz activity. You're welcome!
Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment