#32 Musings from the Bunker (Wednesday May 19)
Good morning,
QUOTE OF THE DAY
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
SPRINGFIELDS
When I was a kid, I heard two songs around the same time—one by Buffalo Springfield and the other by Dusty Springfield. For some reason I couldn’t process that two different performers had such similar names. I would always get mixed up; although they and their music were quite different…
Dusty Springfield. Platinum blond British sensation with the classics, “I Only Want to Be With You,” “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man.”
Buffalo Springfield. The early incarnation of many brilliant careers—Neil Young and Stephen Stills among them. Their greatest song, “For What It’s Worth” was a classic. “There’s something happening here…” and “Hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down.”
FAVORITE FOODS
In the Exodus story, when the people were starving, the story is that G-d sent “manna from heaven.” Theologians believe that manna took on a different taste for each recipient. The manna would taste like the favorite food most desired by the recipient. In my Exodus story, it might be breakfast burritos. Maybe huevos rancheros. Maybe babka. Perhaps a delicious mocha or cocoa. Then again, sole with butter caper sauce. Others might want it raining down cheeseburgers or pizza or chicken parmesan. What’s your vision of what your manna would taste like?
TERRIBLE TRADES
It turns out that baseball fans remember the bad trades more than the good ones—and they scar them for life! Ken Millman puts in the Pedro Martinez trade for Delino Deshields as among the worst in major league history. And this one’s pretty high up there.
In 1969, the Montreal Expos traded Donn Clendenon to the Houston Astros, receiving Rusty Staub in return. Clendenon threatened to quit baseball, rather than play in Houston for a manager he considered a racist. Staub moved to the Expos. The Commissioner’s office held up the trade, so he stayed with Montreal and Houston had to settle for less desirable players. So Montreal ended up with both marquee players. Later that year, Clendenon was traded to the Mets, becoming the World Series MVP for the 1969 Miracle Mets. Russ Chittenden, life-long Houston fan, remembers this ill-fated trade like it was yesterday. He still hasn’t gotten over it.
Finally, from Peter Bain:
The Astros seem to play a recurring role in these, and not in a good way. As a loyal Big Red Machine fan, let me point out a key trade that went a long way in solidifying what became that Machine:
The Reds acquired Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo and Denis Menke from the Astros for Lee May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart.
Helms and May were good players, but past their prime, and Stewart was an afterthought.
Billingham became an anchor starter in the rotation; Geronimo averaged over .300 batting and won multiple Gold Gloves in centerfield; and as everyone knows, Morgan won back-to-back MVP’s. Cincinnati thanks you, Houston.
BASEBALL AND HISTORY
Shedding light on an unpretty part of baseball is A Well Paid Slave; Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports, by Brad Snider. Flood went all the way to the Supreme Court—and lost—but changed baseball forever.
Have a great day,
Glenn