By "W"
wednesday, october 4, 2023 at 02:54:13 p.m. edt
Joe Christopher, original Met, dies in suburban Maryland
Hit .232 for 1971, WS champion Pirates
Team had only three American-born blacks, four if Clemente included.
Unquestionably black and American but I categorize as caribbean black.
I may still have my Joe Christopher baseball card somewhere:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/mlb/article-12591679/Joe-Christopher-member-original-1962-Mets-dies-aged-87.html
N.S.: I had a baseball card for Bob Clemente in 1968, but when I just searched for his stats, all sorts of sites claimed he considered it "disrespectful" to call an American player, "Bob."
So, the racist bastard wanted the privileges and immunities of an American citizen, but to act as if he were a foreigner.
Our ruling class went so far as to bar me from learning the stats of Bob Clemente. At google, duckduckgo, and baseball reference, they refused to let me see his stats! At br, asking for Bob Clemente's stats, got me a link to the stats of a young guy.
Never heard of him.Holt probably had a 15 minute obit on nnn.
ReplyDelete--GRA
Bob Clemente is Roberto Clemente. An American citizen but a Puerto Rican ethnic.
ReplyDeleteDICK BUTKUS,THE GREATEST LINEBACKER--AND ONE OF THE TOP 5 NFL PLAYERS OF ALL TIME--HANGS UP HIS EARTHLY JERSEY AT AGE 80.
ReplyDeleteGRA:What a player Dick Butkus was.I think he was the first football hero of mine when I started following the sport back in about 1970-1971.The team was awful,but Butkus was worth the 2 1/2 hours I spent in front of the tv set on a fall afternoon,though the rest of the team was pathetic.I only saw the Bears twice a year back then--when the Lions played them at home and on the road.Butkus hated the Lions.Butkus hated any player who was trying to score a touchdown on his defense,but he especially detested the Detroit Lions--which made him MY favorite.
I received "Stop Action",which Butkus wrote in the early 70s,as a Christmas gift and thought it was fantastic--a Jim Bouton,"Ball Four" style book which was part autobiography and part diary of the 1971 season.I highly recommend it.
He hated the way Howard Cosell said his name:
"But-kus."
It was a funny book,but one that also showed the intensity and competitive attitude that was a Butkus trademark.
Back then,sports figures were bigger than life.
And though today,Dick Butkus has hung up his earthly jersey,he still is bigger than life in my sports memories.
--GRA
Butkus was a phenom. He was a senior in HS [Vocational] when I was a freshman at a competing school. He played both ways offense and defense. Always was touted for greatness.
ReplyDelete