Former Mets Now Playing For Pennant Contending Teams

The following former Mets are now on the rosters of pennant contending teams:

• Neil Walker - Yankees
• Asrubal Cabrera - Phillies
• Jose Bautista - Phillies
• Lucas Duda - Braves
• Jeurys Familia - A's
• Rene Rivera - Cubs

I Do Not Like Reserved Seating at the Movies

For many years one would go to the window at the movies, buy a ticket and go to the theater and take a seat.  I would like to arrive a few minutes early and not get a seat right in front of the screen.  In recent years theaters including the multiplex near me have implemented a reserved seating policy.  One can even buy tickets online in advance for a showing.  Of course, there is a surcharge for this.  I do not like this policy for a number of reasons:

1. I have to wait on the ticket line longer as patrons take time to pick their seats from a computer screen as seen above.
2. I get to the theater early, but the good seats are taken by people who paid extra to buy tickets in advance.

Today I have a strange experience which I think never happened to anyone before.  I bought one ticket for Mile 22 at the local multiplex. I walked in and observed I was the only customer.  Just as the movie began someone walked in and accused me of taking his seat.  I said, that it really didn't matter, but he insisted that I move.  The theater was darkened at that point and I couldn't show him my ticket for that seat.  I didn't want to start a fight over something very petty so I moved over two seats.

What a jerk!  After the film ended I checked my ticket which was correct for my original seat that the idiot insisted was his.

The Thirteenth Annual Oldies Meet and Greet is Scheduled for Saturday November 10

Randy Safuto of Randy and the Rainbows

appeared at the 2017 Event

I called Ben's Deli in Manhattan and reserved Saturday, November 10th from 2PM - 4 PM for the 13th annual oldies Meet and Greet.  This is just a "keep the date open" announcement, but more information will be made public when it becomes available.  My collaborator Jeff Scheckner and I will create a Facebook page for it.

To make a long story short the event started as a "protest" to the "hijacking" of WCBS-FM in 2005.  For a number of years, the event celebrated the anniversary of Saturday Night Oldies on WABC.  For most of the years, it was a gathering of enthusiasts of oldies radio and music.  We have had some distinguished personalities as guests.

Please see https://bit.ly/2ws8179 for several posts in Bruce's Journal about past events.

I promised that this entry would not be about the Mets.

Mets 3 Nationals 0 and I got a Jay Bruce Bobblehead Doll

For the third time this week I went to see the Mets play at Citi Field.  Does this guy have anything else to do?  I bought the tickets months ago and didn't realize at first that fans would get a bobblehead doll of Jay Bruce who just returned from the disabled list.  In other years all fans would get a doll, but recently they limited it to the first 15,000 or 25,000 people who entered the stadium.  Thus fans would arrive at the gates at least 2 hours before game time to wait on line,  Once they got their bobblehead they would have so much time before the game, they would spend their time by eating the overpriced food.  The next day the bobblehead would be on auction on Ebay.  We arrived at 3:30  for a 4 PM start and had no problem getting the doll.

For the first time since the franchised moved from Montreal, the Nationals were shut out for the third time in a row.  Zach Wheeler was magnificent in 7 innings while Jerry Blevins got the save by getting the last 2 outs.  Amed Rosario and Todd Frazier hit home runs for the Mets.

Recap

I promise that the next entry in Bruce's Journal will not be about the Mets.

SF Giants 3 Mets 1

One of the nice things about being retired is being able to attend weekday afternoon games.  I have attended 3 such Met games and 1 Yankee game this season.  It was sunny and relatively cool today as I headed out to Citi Field with my ticket bought through Stub Hub,

The pitching match was Madison Bumgarner vs Jacob deGrom.  All too many times this season de Grom has pitched well for the Mets, but could not get any run support. He struck out 10 in 6 innings while the bullpen fanned 5 more Giants.  Pitchers could strike out 27 and still lose the game.  The only offense for the Mets was a home run by Todd Frazier in the 7th inning.

Two of my Facebook friends were at the game:

• Ira Sonin - oldies radio enthusiast
• Marcus Banks - medical librarian whom I met back in 2005.

Game Recap

SF Giants 2 Mets 1 in 13 Innings

It is very unusual for me to go to a mid-week ball game, but Gary Mintz of the New York Giants Preservation Society invited me to his game. I had the pleasure of working with his late dad at the New York Public Library from 1983-90.  The older people in this group rooted for the NY Giants when they played in the Polo Grounds until 1957.  Their loyalties moved to San Francisco with the team.  We were sitting in center field near the home run apple.  During the "kiss cam" segment a medley of Aretha Franklin was played.

The game was an uneventful pitcher's duel with Zach Wheeler of the Mets facing Derek Holland of the Giants.  The game was tied at 1-1 as it went into extra innings.  In the top of the 13th with runners on first and third with two outs, Brandon Crawford hit a lazy fly ball that shortstop Amed was poised to catch to end the inning.  Left fielder Dominic Smith collided into Rosario causing him to drop the ball allowing the go-ahead run to score.  Oy vey!  See the video below.

Game recap

Some Comments on National Radio Day

National Radio Day is a time for communities across the country to celebrate radio.  I'll acknowledge it by making some personal comments.

Certainly, my listening habits have changed over the years as I listen more to internet radio instead of traditional AM or FM radio.  Commercial radio is not interested in appealing to older people like me as we are not desired by advertisers.  I used to listen to WCBS-FM for hours a day, but now I only listen to them for an hour or so a week for "old times sake".  They no longer play the music of the 60s and early 70s and concentrate on the 80s.  I also don't like their music mix which I think is too rhythmic.  I now listen mostly to WFUV and WBGO which are not for profit.  For news, I listen to WINS.  I also listen briefly to sports talk on WFAN and ESPN radio.  After I while I get tired of hearing callers dream up trades.

My favorite Internet stations are:

• Pop Gold Radio
• Rewound Radio
• Dylan Radio.com
• Bob Dylan Tracks

I have a subscription to SiriusXM and regularly listen to:

• 60s on 6
• Classic Vinyl
• Watercolors
• Willies Road House
• Outlaw Country
• Deep Tracks
• The Village
• Coffee House
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Channel.

Afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History

Throughout 2018 I have reported on several museum trips that I have taken by myself or with the family.  However, I have not visited the American Museum of Natural History until today. I searched in this journal and determined that my last visit was in May 2009.  Many museum exhibits are permanent while others are temporary.  It is so big that one must visit at least twice to see everything.

We started out on the 4th floor to see "Unseen Oceans" which addressed many questions at the cutting-edge of ocean research.  We also saw the Warburg Hall of New York State Environment, the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, the Hall of Biodiversity, and an exhibit on North American forests.  I will not wait for 9 years to visit again.

We also stopped by the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda where I took a picture of Lee with the 26th President.

World of Bob Dylan Conference in 2019 at the University of Tulsa

I just read in the Dylan fanzine Isis that there will be a Bob Dylan conference at the University of  Tulsa starting on May 30, 2019.  Since the announcement was brief I used my Google skills and found out more information at https://dylan.utulsa.edu/tu-announces-world-bob-dylan-conference-may-2019/  .  It will gather scholars, critics, musicians, fans and experts from around the world for panels, lectures, exhibitions, performances and more.  I think I will be going and will have to look at that website for registration information.

The article in Isis also states that the Bob Dylan Center will open in Tulsa in 2021.  Currently,  the archives are open only to serious Dylan scholars.  I'll be there.

Think is My Favorite Aretha Franklin Hit

This was a hit back in 1968 and has always been my favorite from Aretha.  Thanks for all the wonderful music over the years.  RIP.

Comments about the Paley Center

Yesterday Karen and I visited the Paley Center and viewed a seminar from 1996 about the documentary maker Ken Burns.  It started out with highlights of some of Burns's works, including, among others: "Brooklyn Bridge" (1981), "Huey Long" (1985), "The Statue of Liberty" (1985), "The Congress" (1988), "The Civil War" (1990), and "Baseball" (1994).  Mr. Burns fielded questions from universities across the country about various aspects of making documentaries.  We also saw a "Midnight Special" hosted by Wolfman Jack from 1981 that featured performances by David Bowie and Paul Simon.

I have visited the Paley Center at least once a month since I retired and am impressed by their rich and unique collection.  I am disappointed when I see so few people in their library viewing programs.  Perhaps everyone is at home viewing Youtube and Amazon Prime.  I think the Paley Center needs to market themselves more aggressively to the public.

Bob Dylan Sings Don't Think Twice It's Alright in 2018

This concert performance of Don't Think Twice was posted on Youtube.  I don't know the exact concert venue.  It looks like Bob has colored his hair.  His voice seems shot, but I am glad that he is still performing at age 77.  There are concerts scheduled until 11/11/18, but presently nothing is planned for the NYC area.

Yankees 5 Texas Rangers 3 While Dodging the Rain

When you buy tickets for an outdoor event in advance, you never what the weather will be on that day.  I bought tickets for Yankees vs Rangers for August 11th months ago and found out this morning that the forecast would be for rain all day.  We usually leave for a 1 PM game at 11 AM to get to the game on time via subway.  At 11 AM I was still uncertain about going since I was afraid of having to sit through a long rain delay.  Some Yankee fans tweeted that the team wanted fans to come to the stadium to eat food while they wait for the game to start late if at all.

We decided to leave at 11:40 AM and arrived at our seats after the second inning.  Before we came Giancarlo Stanton hit his 29th home run as the Yankees lead 2-0 at the end of 2 innings.  Lance Lynn was solid in his second start for the Yankees but left after the 5th inning.  The Rangers tied the game in the 7th inning on a balk by Dellin Betances.  In the bottom of that inning, Miguel Andujar hit a 2-run homer to give the Yankees a 5-3.

It started to rain steadily in the 9th inning as Aroldis Chapman got into trouble by loading the bases with a walk, hit, and a hit batsman.  He struck out Jurickson Profar to get a shaky save.

Game recap

Using My Librarian Skills For Baseball Research

For most of my career, I was a reference librarian, but I did do some indexing of professional journal articles.  For a while, I indexed articles for inclusion into a database of published articles cover products of a pharmaceutical company.  For a short time, I worked for H.W. Wilson who published the Applied Science and Technology Index.

When I was at the annual meeting I found out about the Baseball Index Project. It was formed to locate, identify, evaluate, classify and describe the literature of the national pastime.  Right now I am indexing articles from the Games Project to be included into the database.  There are about 1000 articles that need to be indexed.

Reading Baseball Books for Pleasure at the NYPL Research Library

I decided to take a trip to Manhattan to look at a couple of baseball books at random at the Schwartzman Building of NYPL.  There seemed to be more tourists than users of the collection there.  The building is certainly a landmark which is of interest to visitors from all over the world.  When I went to the reading room, I observed that most of the patrons were using laptops and may not have been accessing the library's resources.

I looked at the following books:

Weeks, J. (2012). Cellar dwellers: The worst teams in baseball history. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc.

The 1962 Mets were obviously listed

Kurkjian, T., & Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (2006). Major League baseball hometown heroes: The most outstanding players in baseball history, club by club. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

This was a coffee table book.

Bondy, F. (2014). WHO'S ON WORST?: The Lousiest Players, Biggest Cheaters, Saddest Goats and Other Antiheroes in Baseball History.

This included Anthony Young who lost 27 games in a row for the Mets in the early 1990s.

Remembering Charlotte Rae for Car 54 Where are You

It was announced today that actress Charlotte Rae passed away at age 92.  Although she is best known for her roles in "Facts of Life" and "Diff'rent Strokes", I remember her for playing Sylvia Schnauzer in "Car 54 Where are You?"  Sylvia was the wife of Patrolman Leo Schnauzer played by Al Lewis, best known for being Grandpa Munster.  Sylvia was a recurrent character in the series which was on the air from 1961-63.  She was very funny when she appeared.

Hank Garrett who played Officer Nicholson is now the only living member of the cast.

Braves 5 Mets 4 in 10 innings

Corey Oswalt started the game for the Mets today since Steven Matz is on the disabled list.  He looked good as the Mets took at 3-0 lead into the 4th inning, but the Braves started a comeback as pitcher Julio Teheran hit his first major league home run in the 5th inning.  Ender Inciarte hot a two-run homer in the 7th inning to tie the game.  Ozzie Albes drove in the go-ahead run for the Braves in the 9th, but Devin Mesoraco's homer in the 9th inning tied the game at 4.  Nick Markakis hit a home run in the 10th inning to give the Braves a 5-4 victory.

It has been a long and frustrating season for the Amazins.

Game Recap

By the Time I got Out of Phoenix

I was booked on a Delta Airlines Flight scheduled to leave Phoenix on Friday at 10:55 AM and arrive at JFK at 7:00 PM.  I heard the day before that there had been some big thunderstorms in NYC the day before and that many flights in and out of the 3 airports were affected.  There was a tornado that touched down in College Point, just a mile from my apartment.

I left my hotel at about 8 AM and got into a taxi to the airport.  While I was in the cab I received a text message stating that my flight was delayed until 1:15 PM.  I thought I would continue on to the airport and sit around an extra 2 hours.  At 11:45 AM the airline announced that our flight was canceled.  The only alternative was to book a "redeye" flight that would leave Phoenix at 10:30 PM and arrive at JFK at about 6:30 AM.  We took that option, but it was just so boring to sit around the terminal.  All I could do was read, play with my iPhone, or walk around the terminal.  Such a situation creates anxiety as we were afraid the "redeye" could be canceled as well.

Thankfully, the flight left on time and we arrived home at about 7:15 AM.

What a day!

SF Giants 8 Arizona Diamondbacks 1

It was Zach Greinke vs Madison Bumgarner on Thursday night at Chase Field.  Greinke gave up two runs on four hits and struck five in six innings to lose for the first time in nine starts.  Four Diamondback relievers gave up 6 runs to give the Giants a comfortable lead.  Bumgarner got out of a few jams in the 5 innings that he pitched to get the victory.

Game Recap

The Phoenix Art Museum

The Phoenix  Art Museum was the last cultural institution we visited on our vacation.  It reminded me of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC since in both places the collections were eclectic featuring works from all over the world and different time periods.  A docent gave us a tour when we arrived.  She was quite knowledgeable, but I thought spent too much time detailing a few paintings.  Such tours should be more general.  Some of the exhibits were:

• To Be Thirteen: Photographs and Videos by Betsy Schneider
• In the Company of Women: Women Artist from the collection
• Warriors of World War I: Sihk Art and Heritage
• Rauschenberg and Johns - The Blurring of Art and Life

The Heard Museum

The Heard Museum specializes in the arts and cultures of Native Americans who settled in the Southwest. It is located on a campus of Spanish Colonial architecture with 130,000 square feet of galleries, classrooms and performance spaces.  Almost all of the artwork was from the 20th century.  A list of the current exhibits may found at https://heard.org/currentexhibits/  I was quite impressed by the knowledgeable docents who gave very thorough tours of the exhibits.  There was a collection of Katsina dolls donated by the late Senator Barry Goldwater and a room named after former Supreme Court Justice  Sandra Day O'Connor.

Grand Canyon Revisited

In August 1965 I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time with Camp Wel-Met.  53 years later I returned with Karen and Lee.  We started out at 7 AM in Phoenix and took a tour with a van that stopped at Sonoma before heading further north to the Grand Canyon.  Much of Arizona that I could view from the highway seemed very desolate.  Once we got to the south rim, we observed crowds of tourists.  It was a long day as we didn't return to our hotel until 8:30 PM.

Texas Rangers 9 Arizona Diamondbacks 5 at Chase Field

The reason we chose Phoenix for this year's vacation was to see a few games at Chase Field.  I can now add this ballpark to my list which I must publish in this blog,  Karen, Lee and I met up with Rich Jacoby, an old friend from my P.S, 139 days.  Rich lived for many years in Beverly Hills but relocated to Phoenix in 2013 when he retired.

Shin-Soo Choo hit two home runs with 4 RBIs to lead the Rangers to victory,  Since the stadium has a retractable dome we were unaware that there was a bad thunderstorm outside.  This storm caused the lights to dim in the 6th inning resulting in a 21-minute delay.

The problem with this game was just too many walks,

Game Recap