The greatest player you never heard of?

[LWW]

Oscar Charleston.

Centerfielder.

Bill James rates him as the #4 player all time ... right between Willie Mays and Ty Cobb.

[wolfdancer]

I think you could pick any of a dozen of the Negro League Players, and make a claim for them. Off topic, I ran across this neat story:
"I wish I could have been there when Babe Ruth pointed and hit the ball out of the ballpark in the 1932 World Series. I wish I could have seen that. But I did see something I admired just about as much, with Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth. This was in Chicago, after Ruth came out of the major leagues. He was barnstorming, playing with different teams, and he played us. Satchel was pitching and Ruth was hitting. Satchel threw Ruth the ball and Ruth hit the ball, must have been 500 feet, off of Satchel. Satchel looked at Ruth all the way around the bases and when Ruth got to home plate, you know who shook his hand? Satchel Paige shook Ruth's hand at home plate.

They stopped the game and waited, he and Satchel talking, until the kid went out, got the ball, brought it back and Satchel had Babe Ruth autograph that ball for him. That was some kind of moment." (story by Buck O'Neil)

[LWW]

Buck was a great story teller, among the very best.

As to the called shot ... I don't believe iot ever happened and largely because nobody remembered it happening until years later.

As a baseball fan for a lifetime and half fast game historian ... my biggest regret is that the negro leagues existed at all.

We will never know how good the negro leagues were because their record keeping was so scant, their style of play often similar to the Globetrotters, and their competition in games ranging from the very best to local small town teams.

The game is also further tarnished by the fact that the likes f Ruth and Cobb's records must be considered diluted because a large number of their days great players were effectively barred from regular competition.

The barn storming would have helped settle some of the confusion ... but, again, record keeping was nearly non existent.

[wolfdancer]

re: the called shot..
Supreme Court Justice Stevens who was at the game, has ruled that it happened. As he was 12 years old at the time, others may still disagree with that ruling.
It's a great "urban legend" maybe?
"Charlie Root, the pitcher that threw the ball that sailed into the stands, swore it never happened. If Ruth had had the nerve to have called his shot, Root was quoted as saying he would have "put one in his ear and knocked him on his (backside)."

But the legendary Lou Gehrig, who happened to be on deck when Ruth was batting believed it did. "What do you think of the nerve of that big monkey," he asked, "calling his shot and getting away with it?"

Babe Ruth famously steered clear of the question, which only added to the controversy."

[LWW]

The closest to that which I ever witnessed was on TV in 1968.

Dennis Dale McLain was pitching and Mantle, a broken down player by that time, needed one more at the end of the season to pass Ted Williams.

Denny motioned that he was going to toss one about navel high right over the plate ... and he did at about 50 MPH.

[ugotda7]

Marcus Dupree - http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s...that-never-was/ (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-10/the-greatest-football-player-that-never-was/)

[wolfdancer]

I either had never heard that story, or had forgotten it.
I just googled him and there's quite a story on his career. Hit his only ML HR in his first game, and then was "finished" at only 29.
"McLain grooved a "fat" pitch to Mickey Mantle, whom McLain had idolized while growing up. It allowed the soon-to-retire Mantle to hit his 535th homer and pass Jimmie Foxx on the all-time home run list.[2] The next batter, Joe Pepitone, waved his bat over the plate, as if asking for an easy pitch of his own. McLain responded by knocking Pepitone down with his next delivery." (that sounds like the McLain that I remember)

[LWW]

Denny was a lesson in self destruction.

[Deeman3]

The most reasoned and best conservation I have seen on NPR in a long while, thanks to both of you for the story and the civility!

[wolfdancer]

aw shucks, we jes been holding back, waiting for that opportune time to reveal our good side.
I'm heading out shortly (1:45 here) to get probably just 9 holes in.I have the Masters Tournament on tape, and that will be my evening's entertainment, along with a couple of Gin & Tonics....unless...I have to go to another AA meeting tonite, in support of a friend's wife.
I've gone to several recently...and can't wait to get home and pour myself a cold one. Good people though, trying their best to overcome an addiction....I ain't addicted ...I just like the stuff, one first thing in the AM, one in the afternoon,one before and after every meal, and a few in the evening to relax with.

[Stretch]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wolfdancer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">aw shucks, we jes been holding back, waiting for that opportune time to reveal our good side.
I'm heading out shortly (1:45 here) to get probably just 9 holes in.I have the Masters Tournament on tape, and that will be my evening's entertainment, along with a couple of Gin & Tonics....unless...I have to go to another AA meeting tonite, in support of a friend's wife.
I've gone to several recently...and can't wait to get home and pour myself a cold one. Good people though, trying their best to overcome an addiction....I ain't addicted ...I just like the stuff, one first thing in the AM, one in the afternoon,one before and after every meal, and a few in the evening to relax with. </div></div>

Hey Wolf, sounds like you might drink yourself into a rut with that kind of schedule. I can help mix it up for ya, so to speek. Here is a list of drinks you could try for variety's sake. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

ABSOLUTE ZERO = Absolute vodka over frozen nitrogen.

COLEMAN COOLER = White wine, soda, fried chicken crumbs, and sand.

MARY POPPINS = Vodka, tomatoe juice, and a spoon full of sugar.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER = Vodka, orange juice, and milk of magnesia.

SAKE-TO-ME = Rice wine, punch, and nitrous oxide.

SKID ROE = Muskatel and caviar.

Drinks shouldn't be boreing /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif St.

[wolfdancer]

B <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> The most reasoned and best "conservation" I have seen on NPR</div></div>
Well, what else did you expect from a couple of conservatives?

[wolfdancer]

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Best drink that I ever had was a Planters Punch, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at age 18. I've bought them since “in all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world....but paraphrasing a line from American Graffiti....."there's nothing like your first....one"

[Stretch]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wolfdancer</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Best drink that I ever had was a Planters Punch, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at age 18. I've bought them since “in all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world....but paraphrasing a line from American Graffiti....."there's nothing like your first....one" </div></div>

Rye and Ginger for me. I too have fond memories of Roosevelt Roads. Every winter we'd go down there to "paint ship" then paint the town. Did you have your own chair at the Black Angus night club? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif St. &lt;ex Navy&gt;

[wolfdancer]

Stretch, the Caribbean was a regular trip for us every winter, San Juan, St.Thomas, St.John.... and I was only interested in two things in those days...drinking being one of them,....
I remember "old town" in San Juan??? ...the rest is a haze.
We were also the last group of American Military ships to visit Havana, just before Castro took over. I gambled at the Havana Hilton, (fronted by George Raft),and for a long time had a matchbook, with the inscription "You have not have seen Havana, until you have seen Tia Nina's" They featured the "Superman" show there, the one depicted in "Godfather II"

[Sev]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wolfdancer</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Best drink that I ever had was a Planters Punch, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at age 18. I've bought them since “in all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world....but paraphrasing a line from American Graffiti....."there's nothing like your first....one" </div></div>

I used to sail around the French West Indies back in the 80's

Made some friends on St Barths. I had a great time with the french. They used to invite me out and we would go for a week at a time and hook up with other boats an party.
Planters punch was the drink to have.

Raced a Princess liner once with a twin mast. Those dam ships are big when your in a 23 footer.

Man I miss sailing.

[wolfdancer]

I have sailed on Lake Erie, Lake Tahoe, The Atlantic and Pacific oceans (just coastal sailing on the respective bays)....sailed to Newport for the America Cup races....but don't consider myself a "real" sailor.
Best sailing story I ever read, and I think National Geographic wrote it up at the time:
"When he set sail in July 1965 from Los Angeles, 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham said he just wanted "to be on my own and explore." Five years and 30,000 miles later, Graham had become the youngest person to sail around the world solo.

He returned with a wife, a daughter, and enough experiences to write a bestselling book, named after his 24-foot sloop, Dove.

Graham overcame severe weather (he was tossed overboard twice), a near-collision, and mechanical problems. But his biggest obstacle was loneliness."
On the washing overboard bit....one wave washed him ob, the next back on to the boat.... He was tethered to the boat both times, as I remember.

[Sev]

Quite the adventure.