I’ll probably get drummed out of the White Sox Fan Club for saying "Win Twins!" The Sox and Twins are in the American League Central Division and huge rivals. At the same time, there are a lot of players that played for both teams, including Earl Battey, Don Mincher, Eric Soderholm, Jim Kaat, and Jim Thome, and maybe the Twins’ best player in the ’80’s and ’90’s, Kirby Puckett, grew up within walking distance of Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox for 80 years.
Kirby Puckett. Source: Legacy.com
Kirby was murder against the White Sox, but it’s the 1991 World Series against the Braves that really hurt. He was the first batter up in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 6, the Braves leading in the series three games to two. If the Twins lose this game, the Series is over. Charlie Leibrandt had just come on in relief. Kirby deposited Leibrandt’s fourth pitch in the left-field stands for a game-winning home run.
Of course, had Puckett not robbed Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the 3rd inning, there might not have been an 11th inning.
Though the Braves lost, I still think that was one of the best World Series ever. Five of the seven games were decided by one run, four of the seven went into extra innings.
Enough baseball talk. We now return you to Stream of Consciousness Saturday, brought to you by freeze-dried Sanka brand coffee. Home-ground taste returns!
Singer Andy Williams was born on this day in 1927. Andy released 43 albums in his career, 15 of which were certified Gold and three of which were certified Platinum. He was active in the music business for over 70 years before his death in 2012. “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” is from the 1963 album The Andy Williams Christmas Album, which was certified Platinum and reached #1 on the Billboard Christmas Albums chart.
On a personal note…
This album was on heavy rotation at the Holton/Christian household from the day the tree was brought into the house and decorated until the day the decorations went back in the attic and the tree was removed. This and Bing Crosby’s Christmas album were two of my mother’s favorites and it’s hard to imagine Christmas without them. I’ll say it again: Music is memories.
Composer Richard Rodgers worked with two notable lyricists in his long career. His first partner was Lorenz Hart, with whom he worked from 1920 to Hart’s death in 1943. Together, they wrote 26 musicals and more than 500 songs, most of which are included in the Great American Songbook. Here are five by Rodgers and Hart for your Friday enjoyment. I’ve listed the shows the songs come from below, for further enjoyment.
Ella Fitzgerald, "The Blue Room" (The Girl Friend, 1926)
Jeanette MacDonald, "Isn’t It Romantic" (Love Me Tonight, 1932)
Frank Sinatra, "Have You Met Miss Jones" (I’d Rather Be Right, 1937)
Chaka Khan, "My Funny Valentine" (Babes In Arms, 1937)
The Marcels, "Blue Moon" (Manhattan Melodrama, 1934)
Jazz pianist and composer Wynton Kelly was born on this day in 1931. In his short life, he played with Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Hank Mobley, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln. He died in 1971 at the age of 39 of an epileptic seizure he suffered in a hotel room in Toronto. He’s accompanied in this performance of “The Theme” by Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums, and Coltrane plays very briefly at the beginning and end. This was filmed in Germany in March, 1960.
Lauren tells us that she’s "going through a crazy time" in her life right now, but still managed to get us questions for today…
This week’s rerun prompt is: That Was Then And This Is Now
These are apparently different questions that go with a previously-used theme. I don’t remember the theme, so they’ll be new to me.
When you were a kid, what were your creative outlets? As an adult, what have you created that you are most proud of? My creative outlets when I was a kid were drawing, playing the guitar, and some creative writing. As an adult, I would say this blog was my main creative effort, because the stroke left me incapable of drawing or playing the guitar. And I’m pretty proud of this blog.
Kind of like this, but with only my left hand
Have you ever saved someone’s life? Did you ever witness someone’s life being saved? Did someone save your life? Mary probably saved my life by getting me to the hospital quickly on the night I had a stroke, allowing the doctors to get to work on me quickly (they had something to do with my survival and recovery, too). I’ve never saved anyone’s life as far as I know, nor watched a lifesaving operation.
Did you ever get lost as a child? How did you handle it? Do you get easily lost now? I don’t remember ever getting lost as a child, so I can’t say how I handled it. As an adult who used to spend lots of time on the road, I got lost all the time, and for many years had no cellphone to call, meaning I’d get more lost driving around looking for a payphone. When we first moved to Georgia, we’d get lost all the time, and after driving around like the Flying Dutchman for half an hour (or more) suddenly find what we were looking for, and we’d be like "ugh, look what we find!"
I never get lost, people always tell me where to go…
Did you search out presents your parents hid from you? Did you get caught? Do you hide presents from family members as an adult? Are they ever found? I was never that curious about what I was getting for Christmas or my birthday, so I never went looking for anything. Likewise, I haven’t had any occasion to hide anything from anyone. This was the most curious I ever got.
Do you have a special song that was sung to you by either of your parents? Did you sing to your children? (or pets) Care to share the tunes? The only song I can vaguely remember was sung to me not by my parents but by my Aunt Bitsy, who isn’t that much older than I.
What’s something you were afraid of as a child? What is something you are afraid of as an adult? As a kid, everything, and I’ve talked about a lot of it here on the blog. One of them was Emergency Broadcast System tests…
That’s a particularly spooky one… As an adult? I dunno… Poverty? Nuclear war? Starving to death?
Is there something outside of school you were so interested in you taught yourself about it as an adult? Jazz harmony, for a start…
What made you laugh most when you were a child? What makes you laugh out loud now? Same answer: The Three Stooges!
What’s something from your childhood that helped to shape your outlook on life? My father’s death. It showed me how really little time ny of us has, and how things can change in a real hurryl
The Sound of One Hand Typing 