Baseball #13

November 26, 2011

Jim Driscoll to Daniel Gould 

 

**** LA IS INDEED THE PITS. 

**** BABE WAS THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER IN HISTORY.  CHARLIE MAXWELL WAS SECOND. 

**** DESPERATE....THE CUBS ARE LIKELY TRYING TO BUY THEMSELVES A PENNANT.   WON'T HAPPEN.  EVEN WITH CASTRO. 

**** THAT BLAINE-BIT VIEW WAS MOUNT BAKER, CALLED THE SNOWIEST MOUNTAIN IN THE US.  IT'S ACTUALLY EAST OF BELLINGHAM, WHICH IS 20' SOUTH OF BLAINE. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>JD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

 

November 27, 2011

Daniel Gould to Jim Driscoll

 

Hi JD;
 
The Cubs had been trying to buy a pennant for the last couple of years under the ownership of the Chicago Tribune. They now have new owners, a family that truly loves both the game and the Cubbies. But they paid a heavy price for the franchise. Whether they can still afford to try and buy a pennant has yet to be determined. We'll see an indication if they do sign Fielder or Pujols.
 
I used Paw Paw Maxwell  to stump a NYC know-it-all. But more on that later. Gary and I were at a Tiger doubleheader, in the 50s, the day he hit FOUR homeruns in the two games. I always liked him, but Allen, Gary's brother, always put him down, "Lousy outfielder."
 
As to the money I won, when I lived in NYC I hung out at a bar called JP's on the Upper East Side. It was a block from my flat. It had opened about the time I moved in and was a music profession hangout. One night, I guy was playing a hot piano---it was 3 a.m.---and I turned to the person next to me, who sold ads space for Billboard--the music trade rag---and asked, "Is that Randy Newman." He replied, "I don't know who Randy Newman is, but that's Billy Joel!" To which I replied, "Who's Billy Joel?" This was c. 1975.
 
I have never seen Saturday Night Live. It came on when I was living in NYC and on Saturday, at midnight, I was on the town. But after the show the players came to JP's. One early morning, a man was singing "She Came Through The Bathroom Window" and I watched his performance. He was jerking in that spasmodic way that  Joe Cocker did---and who had a hit with the song. I asked someone, "Is that Joe Cocker? No, that's John Belushi." "Oh...who's he?"
 
Another night, I had to piss and to get to the toilet, from the bar, you had to walk through the restaurant area. It was a crowded night. I, from time to time, had to wedge myself between people standing in the aisle. On this particular night, when I returned to my seat at the bar, a young lady said to me, "Do you know who you just walked between?" "No," I answered. "Carly Simon and James Taylor. I could see the headlines in the tabloids the next day as I reported, "The Night I Came Between Carly and James."
 
...Back to the know-it-all. I was talking with a guy at JP's about baseball. He said, at one point, that if I gave him the initials of any major league baseball player---past and present---he would tell me his name. I started with a couple of Cubs and he got it right. I switched to 50s Tigers and, finally, "PPM." A Long pause. "Well," I said, "Maybe that is a bit unfair. The 'PP' are the initials for his nickname. His real initials are CM." He cried uncle.
 
SLU is now 5-0. they play, today, in the "76 Classic" championship at Anaheim. Go Billikens!!!!
 
Sincerely;
 
Dan


 

November 27, 2011

Jim Driscoll to Daniel Gould

 

*****  INTERESTING STORIES....OF RUBBING ELBOWS WITH THE ELITE!!!

*****  THAT BIT ABOUT PAW PAW & THE KNOW-IT-ALL REALLY WAS UNFAIR.   I''VE NEVER HEARD HIM REFERRED TO AS PAW-PAW MAXWELL....JUST: PAW-PAW.

        INTERESTING ENOUGH, I, TOO, WAS AT THAT GAME, IN THE LOWER LF PAVILION.  MY COUSIN, BILL DENOMME, WAS WITH ME AND SEVERAL OTHERS, INCL BILL BRUNETT.

        (YOU TREMEMBER BILL...WENT TO SACRED HEART SEMINARY, BUT WAS IN "OUR CLASS" )  ANYWAY, COUSIN BILL'S FAVORITE PLAYER WAS RAY BOONE, AND WE OFTEN SPARRED OVER         

        EACH ONE'S RESPECTIVE SUPREMACY OVER THE OTHER.  BUT THAT DAY.....BELONGED TO ME!!!  

(PS: CHARLIE WAS ALSO KNOWN AS '"THE SABBATH SWATTER"  AND "THE SUNDAY PUNCHER"...FOR HIS PENCHANT FOR HITTING HR's ON SUNDAY. ) 

================================================   JD   ============================================

 

November 28, 2011

Daniel Gould to Jim Driscoll

 

Hi JD;
 
That Sunday---when Paw Paw did the hat trick + one---you were in the left field pavilion. We were in the left field box seats adjacent to the bull pen. Gary and I would go to Briggs Stadium during the Easter vacation and buy tickets for all the double headers. We always ended up between third base and the foul pole---closer to the latter than the former. We could never figure out how the people got box seats along the infield. Didn't understand the concept of season tickets and corporate accounts at that stage.
 
Yes, it was unfair to use PPM. But, as I said, I followed with CM and the know-it-all still struck out. He looked humiliated.
 
Sincerely;
 
Dan
 


 Photo: Charlie Maxwell

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