The Mets Won for us 5-2

This was our first ball game since we returned from the Jay Buckley Baseball Tour two weeks ago.  The Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-2.  For details see:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070715&content_id=2087817&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

This was our fourth game in our seven-pack

Comments of the Day

It was such a nice day today that we decided not to go to a movie.  The latest Harry Potter movie opened a few days ago, but we'll wait for a hot and humid day to see it.  We took a walk to downtown Flushing and bought a holder for the ball that Karen got in Miller Field.  We sat around the apartment complex and did some reading.

Yesterday I went to the small branch library in the neighborhood and took out the book "Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir" by Daniel Tammet.  It is an autobiography of an autistic savant.  He was interviewed sometime back on 60 Minutes by Morley Safer.  I have read many baseball books recently, so I thought I should read something different.

Dan Ingram is the co-host with Mark Simone on Saturday Night oldies.  I had the pleasure of meeting him on the WABC Rewound Cruise last month.  He has got to be the top radio personality in the history of the medium.

The Mets honored baseball Hall of Famer and long-time broadcaster Ralph Kiner tonight.

The Greatest Hits Have Returned to WCBS-FM 101.1 FM

This blog started after June 3, 2005 when the stupid executives at CBS Radio abruptly dropped the oldies format at WCBS-FM and replaced it with the automated Jack format.  I don't want to get into a discussion of that here, since it has been discussed many times before.  After 25 months the new management of CBS radio led by Dan Mason returned the format with some modifications.  New York City is ecstatic over this.  The Jack format with snarky comments was an insult to say the least.  The new version of WCBS-FM will feature "newer oldies".  Right now they are playing Fame by David Bowie which was a hit in the 1980s.  There will be very little music played from the pre-Beatles era, but you can't have everything.  I am glad that Bob Shannon is coming back, but many of the classic radio personalites have either moved on or retired.

Baseball Exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

Tonight we went to the Museum of the City of New York at 5th Avenue and 103rd Street where they featured an exhit titled Glory Days New York Baseball 1947-57. (http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/565.html)  Since I was born in 1949, I can just barely remember the very end of that era when New York had 3 baseball teams.  10 out of the 11 World Series from that era featured at least one of the Dodgers, Giants, or Yankees.  The exhibit featured many artifacts such as bats, balls, gloves, uniforms,ticket stubs and newspaper headlines.  I especially liked an exhibit where one can hear the radio calls of Bobby Thomsons 1951 famous Home Run by Russ Hodges (Giants) and Red Barber (Dodgers)

I was wearing one of my shirts given out at the Jay Buckley baseball tour.  I met two brothers from Staten Island who went on a few of his tours in the past.  We also saw an exhibt of the Forward, a Yiddish language newspaper that was very popular with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

The Oldies are Returning to WCBS-FM

Finally CBS Radio admintted their mistake by taking the oldies off 101.1  FM in New York.  It has been reported in several reliable sources that the terrilbe Jack format will be dumped and the oldies are returning to WCBS-FM.  We don't know exactly when the change will come or what DJs will return.  It will not be the same as it was.  I predict they will emphasize 70s and 80s music.  Some DJs like Bob Shannon and Bobby Jay are likely to return, but others like Cousin Bruce Morrow and Mike Fitzgerald have other professional committments.  Bill Brown, Harry Harrison, Norm N. Nite, and Don K Reed have likely retired and may come back on a part time basis.  This has been the best radio news in the longest time.

1408 on the 4th

I took Lee to Cunningham Park this morning and observed that at 10 AM and observed that early in the morning all the spaces for picnics were filled.  I guess people wanting to have a barbeque have to get there early or they will be shut out.  In the early afternoon we went to the local multiplex and saw the movie 1408.  It was a cloudy day and the complex was crowded for a summer holiday.

2007 Baseball Trip - Sunday July 1 - Wrigley Field

We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Batesville, Indiana about 45 minutes away from Cincinnati.  We left about 7:45 Am to travel across the state to Chicago for the last game of the tour.  We arrived at Wrigley Field about 11:30 in time for lunch before the game.  The Cubs beat the Milwuakee Brewers 5-1. (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070701&content_id=2060862&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)

 The area around Wrigley Field was so crowded that we had to walk several blocks to get back to our bus.  We arrived at the Exel Inn about 6 PM.  We decided to stay overnight there and fly back to New York on Monday..

 

We certainly enjoyed the trip.  The only disappointment was a rainout in Detroit after having to wake up at 3 AM.  The home team won all 5 games.  I enjoyed the day in Pittsburgh the best since we were able to do some site seeing.  Vacations just go by too fast.

 

For photos of the trip please see:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bigtownman/2007BaseballTrip