I have one of those “This Day in Sports” calendars on my desk. I looked at it a couple of days ago and noted on it was that "...on this day in 1961, Benny “Kid” Paret lost the welter weight title to Emile Griffith". Succinct though this note was, it was an incredible understatement of one of the great sports tragedies in my memory.
In 1959 Benny Paret, formerly of Santa Clara, Cuba, and presently of the Bronx, New York hit the boxing scene like a pile driver. In May of 1960, Paret won the welterweight championship at Madison Square Garden.He was 23 years old. Back at the Garden, he defended the title seven months later. This was pre-HBO, pre- Don King, pre-big paydays, so fighters fought. It’s what they did. There was no such thing as a yearlong layoff, and there was always the prospect of a rematch. Fighting was gritty, real and fun to watch. Paret was known to have a jaw and a will made of iron.
In 1961, he traveled to Miami Beach to take on another young New York fighter named Emile Griffith. Griffith, originally from the Virgin Islands had turned professional two years earlier after dominating the Golden Gloves. Griffith won by a knockout. Five months later back at the Garden-Paret won the title back on a controversial split decision. Most people in attendance felt Griffith had been robbed. The scene was set for a re-match. This was going to be great; Griffith-Paret 3 was the final piece of the trilogy that had energized boxing. Instead Paret ducked Griffith, opting instead to go up in weight and try to capture the middleweight title on Dec. 9th in Las Vegas. The titleholder was Gene Fullmer, the Swarmin’ Mormon from West Jordan, Utah. Fullmer was a tank of a man, who would wrap his arms around his body forming a shell like defense, as he walked straight at his opponent. Fullmer had fought the likes of Ray Robinson, Spider Webb, and Joey Giardello. In short, Paret was outgunned and outclassed. He was battered about the ring for most of the fight, being knocked down three times, finally getting knocked out in the tenth round.In more than one way this sealed his fate. Paret had to face Griffith again.
This was a classic grudge match that got even more ugly with time. Griffith, it turns out, had designed ladies hats for a garment center manufacturer in New York City. This did not sit well with the tough Cuban. On more than one occasion, Paret voiced his opinion about what he considered to be Griffith’s manhood. This coupled with Griffith’s long seething opinion that he had been robbed of his title by Paret and then passed over for a rematch, brought things to a fever pitch.
Madison Square Garden was the site. Saturday night, March 24, 1962 was the date for the third and final Griffith-Paret match up. There were 8,000 fans in the Garden that night, and millions watching on television. Griffith and Paret fought evenly through much of the fight. Then in the twelfth round Paret was pinned in the corner, too weary to defend himself. Griffith battered him with over twenty blows to the head, as referee Ruby Goldstein tried to make his way around the broad- shouldered welterweight to stop the fight.Finally the rag doll figure of Benny “Kid” Paret slumped into the corner. He was carried comatose to his dressing room, ultimately removed to Roosevelt Hospital, where he died less than a week later.
On March 27, the New York State Athletic Commission determined that there was no blame to be assigned in this matter. Referee Goldstein, Paret’s manager and all other parties were cleared of responsibility for the Garden incident. On April 2,Benny Paret died in his hospital bed, having never regained consciousness. The Kid's widow collected $28,000. All this amounted to just a footnote on my “This Day in Sports” Calendar.
Cal Hubbard was a Missouri farm boy, who tried the game of baseball at a young age, only to find he "...wasn't very good at it". Later, in 1922 he attended Centenary College, in Louisiana, where he was a dominant football player, playing for the legendary Bo McMillan. His second year at Centenary McMillan left to take the coaching job at Geneva College in Pennsylvania, Hubbard followed the head coach there. He was good enough to become an All America in his senior year. Upon graduation, he joined the New York Giants of the fledgling National Football League.
The Giants won the league championship in his first season, allowing only 20 points in 13 games. Playing both ways at tackle, he was a five time all-pro with the Giants. Then, at his request, he was traded to the Green Bay Packers, where he helped them win three consecutive championships. Hubbard was named to the first official All-Pro team in 1931 and was an All-Pro again in 1932 and 1933. At 6-foot-5 and somewhere around 250 pounds, Hubbard was one of football's first big men. He consistently knocked down passes at the line of scrimmage. Cal Hubbard was named the NFL's "greatest tackle" for the leagues first 50 years. During the football off seasons, beginning in 1928, Cal Hubbard began umpiring in minor league baseball.
He worked his way up to Triple-A by 1931, and ultimately joined the American League in 1936, which was his last year in professional football. He was an imposing figure on the field. That, coupled with his uncanny grasp of the rule book led many to make the observation that he "...took complete charge of the game". He worked his first World Series in 1938. Ultimately, he worked three All-Star games and four World Series. His career was cut short by an eye injury suffered on a hunting trip in 1951. That year he became the assistant supervisor of American League umpires, being promoted to supervisor in 1954. He retired from that position in 1969, which was the same year he was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.
Cal Hubbard was the first person elected to three national sports shrines: having been honored by the baseball Hall of Fame, and the college and professional football Halls of Fame. He was one of a kind.
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She Played in the NHL, NBA and National League
Recenty the big news in sports involved Annika Sorenstam. She is a golfer, who happens to be a woman. The powers that be at the Bank of America Classic Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas decided that. it would be acceptable for Ms. Sorenstam to walk around the course and hit golf balls with the men of the PGA."Annika's accomplishments show that she is certainly deserving," tournament chairman Dee Finley, a dry as dust suit within the PGA said. Unbelievable. This woman was going to risk all in this cutthroat dangerous sport?
Have we lost our minds? Or is this just one more over-hype? Annika Sorenstam is not playing middle linebacker for the Dolphins, she is not going to crash the boards against Shaq. She is going to stroll around tree-lined knolls, wearing a visor and waving to the gallery. And, truth be known the men were frightened. Could she win it all? No. Did she make the cut? No. But there were some guys who finished behind her. That’s one that is hard to swallow, for these professional “athletes”. It’s enough to make a stud want to turn in his pink Banlon shirt and get a real job. All in all, even her mediocre performance was a win-win. She failed. She was expected to fail. But, in failing she beat several people who were considered peers by other members of the PGA. Ouch! That had to hurt.
Her story reminded me of another great woman, who made headway into men’s sports. She was a walking talking trivia question through much of my youth. And, the sports she showed up in were contact sports, real sports, sports that separate the men from the boys. She was Gladys Gooding. She played for the New York Rangers hockey team, the New York Knicks of the NBA and the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers. Gladys was an integral part of all those organizations. She played like no other member of those teams. You see, Gladys was the organist at Madison Square garden and Ebbets Field. She played you into and out of every season.
Gladys was a civic treasure in New York. She had a tune for every occasion. Once, when Cincinnati relief pitcher Jackie Cullum walked out of the bullpen toward the mound at Ebbets Field, Gladys played “Happy Birthday”. It stopped Jackie in his tracks. Afterward he said, “My mom and dad forgot my birthday today, but Gladys Gooding never forgets.” If a fight broke out at a Ranger game, Gladys would play the “Skaters’ Waltz”. When a player was put into the penalty box, she’d play “If I Had the Wings of an Angel”. She was very creative.
One of my favorite Gladys Gooding stories involved then Ranger coach Muzz Patrick. Muzz was a train wreck of a coach. His style was to play not to lose, of course, that resulted in the Rangers continually losing. Well, it was the Christmas season and Gladys would play Christmas music during the breaks in the action. One enterprising Ranger fan wrote a parody of “Jingle Bells”, he called it “Muzz Must Go”. “Muzz must go, Muzz must go, Muzz must go today. Oh what joy it would be to see a different style of play”
The crowd waited, Gladys played “Jingle Bells” and the long-suffering Ranger fans sang the parody. Ranger management instructed Gladys to delete “Jingle Bells” from her repertoire. She refused. “It’s traditional”, she said, “I play Jingle Bells, I can’t help what the people sing." Muzz didn’t last the season. Like many others before him, Gladys outlasted Muzz Patrick too.
So, you can keep these latter day “trend setters”. If you want my opinion on women in sports? I’ll take Gladys Gooding every time.
Failing in Public - The Sad Story of "Billy Bucks"
The misplay of his lifetime
There is a special attachment young baseball fans have for the position of first baseman. Just why that is, no one is sure. I have maintained it has to do with the glove. It is sleek and artistically designed. The first baseman’s mitt is the Porsche of baseball equipment.
It and the catcher’s mitt are the only gloves mentioned specifically in the rulebook. Only a catcher or first baseman can wear them. Any position player can wear all the other gloves with their separate fingers and closed or open webs. It is this mystique and the involvement in a majority of the action on the field that drew us to men like Gil Hodges, Joe Adcock, Moose Skowron, and Ernie Banks.
Later on, Mark Grace, Don Mattingly and Billy Buckner replaced these stalwarts. Mattingly’s story is not a happy one in retrospect. He came to the Yankees a year after they were in the World Series in 1981. He retired a year before their next Series appearance in 1996. But “Donnie Ballgame”, Yankee captain, served with the grace and class that was worthy of Lou Gehrig himself. He is a fan favorite to this day at Yankee Stadium.
If Mattingly’s story was sad, Billy Buckner’s was tragic. “Billy Bucks” became a favorite of mine, when he was traded to the Cubs from the Dodgers in 1977, his ninth big league season. In that first year with the Cubs, he hit .284 with 11 home runs, in 122 games. The Dodgers knew something about Buckner though. Something that was to plague him for a lot of his career. He was somewhat brittle. In 1976 he had stolen 28 bases as a Dodger. He had also injured his ankle. The next year he stole only 7 bases as a Cub. He also missed 40 games with injuries.
My favorite Billy Buckner story comes out of that first year with the Cubs. He had a knee injury and was scheduled to sit out a couple of games. That changed as he walked past the visitors’ locker room in Wrigley Field that day. He looked in and saw Los Angeles Dodger uniforms neatly hung in the lockers. It inspired him. He went to Cub manager Herman Franks and said he wanted to play. Against his better judgment, Franks agreed.
Buckner went four for four that day with two doubles and two home runs. After the game, the Chicago media descended upon Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda. Tommy said he was proud of and happy for Buckner. “Billy is like a son to me”, Lasorda said proudly. When told of that quote, Franks responded, “Son, huh? Great dad Tommy is, when Billy hurt his ankle, he kicked him out of the house.” When asked for a response, Lasorda said he didn’t want to upset Franks, who was a millionaire financial advisor in addition to being the Cubs manager. “I might have to borrow some money from him some day", he said with a wink.
Billy Buckner played 22 major league seasons with a .289 lifetime average and 149 home runs. But he is remembered for a misplayed ball in the 1986 World Series. The Red Sox, the most snake bit team in World Series history was on the brink of beating the New York Mets in six games. It was a Saturday night in October, Shea Stadium, New York City. Roger Clemens left the game after 7 innings with the Sox leading 3 to 2. The Mets tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Then in the bottom of the tenth, Game 6 of the 1986 World Series became forever known as the Buckner Game.
The Red Sox scored 2 runs in the top of the tenth, taking a 5 to 3 lead into the bottom of the inning. Ex-Met Calvin Schiraldi started the bottom of the tenth by retiring the Mets' Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez. Boston was now within one out of the World Series title. Gary Carter got a clutch single and Kevin Mitchell followed Carter’s hit with one of his own. Schiraldi then had an 0 and 2 count on New York third baseman Ray Knight. Knight got a hit scoring Carter and moving Mitchell to third. Bob Stanley was called in and dueled with Mookie Wilson for ten pitches. With the count 2 and1, Wilson fouled off three pitches. Stanley's next pitch, the seventh in the sequence, went wild, barely missing Wilson and going to the backstop. Mitchell came home with the game tying run and Knight advanced to second.The Red Sox had been one out away from a World Series victory. Now the score was tied with the potential winning run on second base.
Mookie Wilson ultimately hit a spinning “cue shot” on the ground to the right side. Buckner charged and the ball went through his legs. The winning run scored, setting up a seventh game, which the Mets won 8 to 5.
Billy Buckner, gold glove winner, rock solid 22 year major leaguer, will always be remembered for one snapshot moment in Game 6 of the 1986 fall classic. Bob Stanley, the reliever who lost that game put it into perspective, however, "People always remember the last thing that happened. They don't remember the other parts of the game, that we left fourteen men on base”, he said.That is small consolation to Buckner, who, I am sure, has seen thousands of replays of that snapshot on ESPN and in his mind.
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Art as a Pale Imitation of Life
AL HRABOSKY "the mad Hungarian"
In the “Major League” movies, Charlie Sheen, of all people, played the hard throwing relief pitcher Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn. As part of his persona, he’d walk in from the bullpen to the background music of the rock hit “Wild Thing”. Upon reaching the mound, he’d warm up, then he would stand behind the mound, glaring into centerfield. When he felt the moment was right, he’d slam the ball into his glove and stride purposefully up onto the pitching surface, ready for business.
The Wild Thing character was a composite. There have been many hard throwing, wild as “March hare” relief pitchers in the major leagues. Mitch Williams, Dick Raditz, Norm Charleton, the list goes on and on. In addition to his other characteristics, “Wild Thing” Vaughn had bad eyesight. When I was a kid, the Yankees had a relief pitcher named Ryne Duran. He was as hard throwing a pitcher as I have ever seen, but there was more to it. He’d come out of the right field bullpen in Yankee Stadium, grabbing the top of the short fence with his left hand and vaulting over onto the warning track. He would walk to the mound like he was on his way to a gunfight.
Duran wore glasses that looked like the bottoms of soda bottles. Once, while sitting in the dugout before a game, with his glasses off, he said “Hello Phil” to Phil Rizzuto, Yankee announcer. Rizzuto was amazed. “I thought you couldn’t see without your glasses”, he said. Duran replied, “I can’t, I recognized your voice.” That was Duran. Bad eyes and all,
He’d enter the game, and always fire the first warm up pitch up onto the top of the batting screen behind home plate. He’d knock batters down; throw behind them, anything to get the edge. He’d also, upon occasion get into the batters box. On one memorable night against the White Sox, Duran came to bat after drilling White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox in the middle of the back with a fastball. The White Sox pitcher was Juan Pizarro.
Pizarro had struck out the two batters preceding Duran on three pitches each. His first pitch to Duran was up under his chin, and the Yankee pitcher was flat on his back. The next pitch was at his knees, with Duran barely able to avoid being hit. The third pitch went over the top of Duran’s head at about 90 miles per hour. The count was 3 and 0,
RYNE DURAN
JUAN PIZARRO
Pizarro wound up and drilled Duran right in the chest. Duran yelled expletives at Pizarro all the way to first base. Pizarro went back to work striking out the next Yankee batter on three straight pitches. If this went on today, there’d be umpire warnings, fines and congressional committees empanelled. Back then it was good old “country hardball”.
The part of “Wild Thing’s” act, where he pounded the ball into the glove and stepped up to the mound belongs to one man. Al Hrabosky, “The Mad Hungarian", was a one of a kind. He had long hair, a Fu Manchu mustache, an icy glare and a 90+ mile an hour fastball. He’d stand at the back of the mound psyching himself up, slam the ball into his glove, and stomp up onto the rubber. Along with his showmanship, Hrabosky had talent.
He was a fearless lefthander, who could brush you away from the plate on one pitch, and then paint the outside corner with the next. No one dug in against the Mad Hungarian. That was not the way to insure a long and happy career.
Al Hrabosky was a big favorite with his hometown fans in St Louis. After a great year with the Cardinals in 1974, posting a 13-3 record with 22 saves. His 1975 start was equally strong, but the powers that be passed over him for the All Star team. The St. Louis fans expressed their support for him with a "We Hlove Hrabosky Hbanner Hday." Al Hrabosky went on to become a favorite Cardinal broadcaster. He, Duran, Pizarro, Elroy Face, Leo Kiely, and a host of others who would stride in from the bullpen when the pressure was on, were true characters with character in a game that is sorely lacking both today.
