Bill Nunn was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame yesterday. He deserves a lot of credit for the great Steelers draft picks that built the four-time Super Bowl winners in the 1970s. In addition, he was the father of Bill Nunn who played Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing.
This is a great article about him:
Henry Aaron, who died last week, is one of the all-time best baseball players. Aaron still has the lifetime record for RBIs and held the home run record before Barry Bonds tainted it. Think of that – two thirds of the lifetime triple crown. He’s third in hits all time, too. In addition to his great baseball achievements, he fought racism. Aaron’s career reminds me of Walter Payton. They were rarely regarded as the best in any season but they played at an extremely high level forever. In addition to his great baseball achievements, he fought racism.
I saw Aaron at a book signing in Washington for his 1991 autobiography I Had a Hammer. Many years after his playing career ended, he still drew a huge crowd.
Earl Weaver was a great manager. Weaver knew that most players couldn’t do everything and he found the right spots to maximize the skills they had. Look up the careers of John Lowenstein, Gary Roenicke, Wayne Garland and Mike Torrez among others. They never did as well for other teams as they did for the Orioles. Do you remember Sam Horn, a low-average power hitter who played for the Orioles after Weaver’s era? Earl would have known what to do with him. He would have gotten 350 at bats, hit .250 with 25 home runs and 70 RBIs. He would have had a long career. One of Weaver’s greatest moves from switching Cal Ripken from third base to shortstop. It took extra nerve because the Orioles had traded their third baseman, Doug DeCinces, to make room for Ripken. Ripken certainly didn’t look like a shortstop but Weaver knew he could do it.
Earl’s last game with the Orioles (until he came back in 1985) was the final game of the 1982 season. I had tickets for a game in June but traded them in for the final game since I figured it wouldn’t be crowded. I was certainly wrong.
The Orioles had been chasing the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the American League East. The Brewers finished with four games in Baltimore and came here with a three game lead. The Orioles won the first three so the teams were tied on the last day. The starting pitchers were Jim Palmer (Orioles) and Don Sutton (Brewers). It was like a playoff atmosphere. Unfortunately, the game was bad as the Brewers crushed the Orioles. After the game, the fans stuck around to give Weaver an emotional farewell. It’s one of the most memorable moments I have seen as a sports fan.
Here are two pieces of memorabilia which I later got signed by Weaver. There was a “Thanks Earl” Day on September 19, 1982. I think both the small poster and the program are from that day. I had the program framed with my ticket stubs from September 19th and the final game.
More Earl Weaver stuff:
I saw #1 in person. It was amazing. Eddie Murray stole home for the win – he was not a fast guy. Flanagan won the Cy Young award that year.
Roger Angell, longtime fiction editor at the New Yorker, also wrote excellent books about baseball. He just turned 100.
update: Roger Angell passed away in 2022
Some of his work:
This is the good side of Twitter. I really like how the recovering bear has two stuffed animals of his own.
Sad! 