5 Visits to Libraries in 4 Days

I worked in libraries for almost 40 years, but this week I visited public libraries 5 times in 4 days as a patron:

• Monday - I researched the Pacific Coast League at the Schwartzman Building of NYPL at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - early in the afternoon I sat in the local Mitchell Linden branch of the Queens Library to do some recreational reading.  It is obviously too cold to sit on a park bench and read, also I just don't want to sit around the apartment all day.  Also, there are too many distractions at home to interfere with my reading.
• Thursday evening I visited the Flushing branch of the Queens Library where I attended a meeting of the Riders Alliance where we discussed public transportation issues.

The Hot Stove League is Heating Up

Let me explain for readers who are not baseball fans what is meant by the Hot Stove League.  It means to talk about trades and free agent signings during the off-season.  The Winter Meetings of baseball executives is now taking place in Las Vegas so since they are meeting face-to-face, it is easier to consummate trades.  Every team including the Mets and Yankees are trying to improve themselves.  The Mets new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen likely would like to make some moves to make his presence known.  He has already made one major trade acquiring Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz.

The Mets want to upgrade at catcher and are interested in acquiring J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins.  One must give up something to get something.  There are speculative trades reported by sports journalists, Facebook posters, and callers to WFAN and ESPN Radio.  At this point, I am getting tired of hearing them.  Realmuto is a good catcher, but he is not at the level of Johnny Bench or Mike Piazza.  I would not give up Noah Syndergaard for him.  There is also speculation that the Mets could give up Conforto, Nimmo, or Rosario in a trade for him.  The problem would be filling one hole and creating another one.

The late Bob Murphy said, "The best trades are the ones that you don't make."  If a trade is to be made, it must improve the team.

Doing Recreational Reading about the Pacific Coast League at NYPL

I really shouldn't call this research since I am not trying to write a paper on this topic. A few weeks ago I attended a talk given at a meeting of the New York Giants Preservation Society by the author of:

Mitchell, L. A. (2018). Baseball goes west: The Dodgers, the Giants, and the shaping of the major leagues

The author mentioned that at one time the quality of play at  Pacific Coast League (PCL) was almost as good as that of Major League Baseball.  This piqued my interest and I thought I should do some reading about the PCL.

I read parts of the following books:

O'NEAL, Bill (2018). PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE 1903-1988. S.l.: EAKIN PRESS.

Wells, D. R. (2004). Baseball's western front: The Pacific Coast League during World War II. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.

Zingg, P. J., & Medeiros, M. D. (1994). Runs, hits, and an era: The Pacific Coast League, 1903-58. Urbana: Published for the Oakland Museum by the University of Illinois Press.

There were many excellent ballplayers who spent their entire careers in the PCL.  In earlier years those clubs were not farm teams for MLB.  The San Francisco Seals,  Los Angeles Angels, and Hollywood Stars were prominent teams in that league.  But obviously, the PCL changed when MLB moved west in 1958. 

Andy Warhol From A to B and Back Again at the Whitney Museum

Lee in Front of Elvis Presley

Today we went to the Whitney Museum to see the highly touted Andy Warhol Exhibition.  Most of it was located on the 5th floor, but there was something on the third and first floor as well. It included over 350 works of art across all media representing all phases of his career.  I was impressed by the room on the first floor that showed commissioned portraits.

The 6th floor's exhibit titled Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965-2018 featured over 50  works of conceptual, video and computational art.

The 7th floor featured selections from the Whitney's Collection.

Portrait of Neil Sedaka

Nixon on the Wall

Marilyn Monroe

Dick Tracy

Superman

Today's Visit to the Paley Center

Since I will be viewing the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Whitney Museum tomorrow I thought I should see what programs the Paley Center had on the American pop artist.  I found a program that was part of the American Masters series that was aired in 1992.  It profiled the life and career of pop artist Andy Warhol through interviews, archival footage, and images of Warhol's artworks.

Since today is Pearl Harbor Day I searched the collection and found a documentary from 1966, the 25th anniversary of this tragic event in American History.  Highlights include the following: the U.S.S. "Arizona" memorial; Signal Corps footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor, including the destruction of the U.S.S. "Tennessee," "West Virginia," "Oklahoma," "Maryland," "Nevada," and "Arizona"; changes in Brockton, Mass., the hometown of John R. Johnson, one of the men killed at Pearl Harbor.  It was narrated by Frank McGee and Edwin Newman.

Day at the Brooklyn Museum Compliments of Culturepass

Painting of George Washington

by Gilbert Stuart

In July I reported on the Culturepass program where holders of New York City library cards can get free admission to museums.  Today I took advantage of that by going to the Brooklyn Museum.  I had to reserve my pass about 3 months in advance, but it was worth the savings.  I was last there in May when I went to see the David Bowie Exhibit.  In December 2016 I also saw the museum when they featured a sports photography exhibit.

There were several featured exhibits today:

• Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power - featured over 150 artworks in the exhibition directly address the unjust social conditions facing Black Americans from 1953-63
• Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection - explores a wide range of art-making, focusing on enduring political subjects—encompassing gender, race, and class
• One: Do Ho Suh - a full-scale re-creation of the Korean artist’s former apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City and his home for 19 years. 

Random Oldie of the Day - Mony Mony by Tommy James and the Shondells

Back in the early 2000s when WCBS-FM was an oldies station they played Mony Mony by Tommy James and the Shondells to death.  I had to change the station when it came on.  I don't hear it very often now, but it came on Pop Gold Radio while I was listening to the station this afternoon.   I like it better than the Billy Idol version.