Vackie Day
Posted: October 5th, 2009 | Filed under: Media | 25 Comments »
Exhausting and draining weekend in two dozen ways prevented me from putting up this reminder for anyone in the Greater New York Area …
My good friend Mike Vaccaro will be having his kickoff book event tonight at Foley’s (18 West 33rd Street — between 5th and 6th). His awesome book, The First Fall Classic, is about the amazing 1912 World Series. And it is one of the few books out there with a subtitle almost as long as The Machine: “The Red Sox, the Giants, and the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Reinvented The World Series In 1912.”
Of course you know I think the book is simply great. Much more on it as the week goes on, but for now: Foley’s tonight. The event seems to be starting at 5:45 p.m. but I suspect it will go on for a long, long time — in part because Foley’s is that kind of place, and in part because Mike Vaccaro is that kind of writer. Hey, anyone who has “Pugs” in his subtitle is the kind of guy who will not leave Foley’s early.
Tell Mike I sent ya, and you get your own shout-out on this here blog.
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Never been 1st before-WOW! My lucky day?
#1:
“Oh my gosh, I was the first commenter on a blog post! I’m so special! Everyone, let’s celebrate my momentous victory!”
Get a life, dude.
Wow, mocking someone for being first, that’s original. Perhaps it is you that should get the life.
On a lighter note, thanks for everything Joe. You make the work day go by just a little faster.
Expressing scorn for mockery seems like a particular waste of one’s time.
@Sansho1: Who are you to judge?
I’m not — I just wanted to see how meta this could go.
Excellent! A whole thread of commenters mocking commenters mocking other commenters .
Just for a change I’ll ask Joe if one of the things he’s working on is a “Who shot JR?” post.
It’s cool to make personal attacks to total, anonymous strangers on the internet!
Jim, get over yourself.
Apparently some folks can’t get a sense of total sarcasim when displayed…Get a grip!
@DMartin, #10:
Irony is only funny the first time. Get a life.
Joe, just finished the book and enjoyed it in spite of myself. As a fan of the Pirates growing up in the 1970’s it took a lot to get me to buy a book on the ^%$$#! Reds. Bob Moose’s wild pitch (slightly pre “Machine,” but still…) was almost as traumatic to me as Sid Freaking Bream.
Still, I really enjoy the blog and felt guilty about reading it every day without buying your book….so I took the plunge.
Thanks!
@ Steve #2:
Go (Circle) Yourself
Thank you to #12 for being normal.
#12 Doright: I concur. I am also a longtime Pirate fan. Went to my first game in 1959 at old Forbes – loved that old ballpark. Three Rivers sucked but it was the early ’70s and most all of the new ballparks sucked.
The ‘72 NL playoffs still represent one of the biggest defeated moments of my 57 years. I knew down deep that the Redlegs were the better team by an eyelash but having that one run lead going into the bottom of the 9th of Game 5 was so exciting until Bench immediately deposited Guisti’s pitch into the seats in rightfield. Thinking back on it, that is maybe the last time I remember seeing Clemente alive as he drifted back to the track watching the flight of Bench’s bomb. Then the Moose wild-pitch was the finale but as I recall the bases were loaded and there still were no outs so Cincy was bound to score the winning run somehow. Only Oakland beating the Reds in the WS brought me out of a deep funk that October…
Lots of sad things from that team too…Of course Clemente’s death in a few months, Blass losing it completely in ‘73, Moose later died in a car accident I believe. Many memories….
NMark W,
Thanks for the note. I don’t know if many non-Pirates fans realize all of the pain we’ve seen (of course, we are FAR from having a monopoly on sports pain).
I was only around 10 in ‘72, so I was listening to that game and (even though the bases were loaded and the Reds were threatening) I still had that youthful hope that of course the Pirates would find a way to win.
I was recently talking to a friend about Brad Lidge and I said that he was “Blass-like” in his problems this year. My friend, being a Yankee fan, looked at me like I had two heads.
Doright: I wouldn’t have thought of Lidge being “Blass-like” but there may be something to that. Blass was so good in ‘72 that when he couldn’t hardly throw a strike in some outings in ‘73 no one had a clue what had happened. Plus, Blass was and is such a great guy that no one wanted to be critical of him. It was fun to read a few weeks ago that he had two holes in one during one 18 hole round of golf – at a Pirate golf outing as well!
One other sad Bucco oddity. Did you realize that Don Hoak died on Oct 9, 1969, Bob Moose died Oct 9, 1969? Game #5 of ‘72 NL playoffs was Oct.11 so not quite a trifecta…
Lost my connection while posting a reply; hope it doesn’t end up appearing twice.
1. Re Moose wild pitch: according to BBRef, there were runners on 1st and 3rd and there were 2 outs.
2. Moose, of course, couldn’t have died in ‘69; in fact, it was ‘76. Sorry to be so nit-picky. . . .
Phil Gaskill: Nit-picky is fine. Yes, I did mean to type 1976 for Moose’s death. He was driving to Ohio to a golf outing hosted by Mazeroski according to Wiki. Moose was a good, decent fellow. I always remember how Bob Prince would speak on the air of Moose’s wife as being lovely or sensational.
It shows you what you remember is not always true. I thought that the bases were full with no outs when Moose threw the wildpitch and George Foster scored. Now, I’m even more upset about the stinking game-ending scenario! That was a shitty day – I was in central Ohio surrounded by Reds fans too.
Any relation to the Gaskill’s in Columbiana County, Ohio?
> Any relation to the Gaskill’s in Columbiana County, Ohio?
Don’t believe so, sorry. . . .
I remember that sequence in game 5 in 1972 like it was yesterday.
Bench homered to tie it.
Perez singled up the middle. Foster pinch-ran.
Menke failed to sacrifice twice then grounded a single through the hole into left.
Geronimo flied to the track in center for the first out, Foster to 3rd after the catch.
Chaney popped to short.
With McRae pinch-hitting, Moose threw a wild pitch, Foster scored.
Now somebody can look it up and prove me wrong.
> Now somebody can look it up and prove me wrong.
Nope. You’re 100% right. (Well, BBRef doesn’t have pitches that far back, so we’re taking your word on the 2 sac attempts. Can’t verify what the count was. Not that I’m doubting you at all.)
so many good books, so little time…another for the list. thanks joe!
re: Pittsburgh…i’ve been to lots of parks, but that one is a BEAUTY…having tickets for an important game during a pennant race in that park would be Field of Dreams-esque. here’s hoping it happens someday sooner than later!
Like I always say, ironically mocking someone for sarcastically expressing scorn for someone ironically dissing someone for mocking someone for scorning a mocker over his sarcastic mockery is SO lame and played out.
Someone needs to get a life!
(It might be me, I need to check my flow chart and make sure…)
Hey Joe–
Not sure how long you check out comments on your posts, but can you get Mike to come to KC for a book event….bribe him with Chiefs tickets….those should be easy to get!