Too Bad ’51 Dodgers Didn’t Have Nine Lives
George Carlin, appearing on HBO’s “On the Record With Bob Costas,” recalled his reaction when Bobby Thomson hit the home run that gave the New York Giants the National League pennant over the comedian’s beloved Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951:
“I’m sitting at home listening on a little red Crosley radio and I had my cat in my hand, a little kitten. I love animals and I am not cruel to them at all, but when Bobby Thomson hit that home run and I heard Russ Hodges describing it, I tossed the cat.
“I looked over and saw him heading for the window. An open window, a three-story drop. Fortunately the curtains were there. He grabbed the curtains, he swung out over the yard, he saw the yard, he swung back in and I went and got him.”
Trivia time: Who was on deck when Thomson homered?
Losing their head: Shortstop Ramon Santiago, recently recalled by the Detroit Tigers, led off two consecutive games with home runs. But the second one landed in the Tigers’ bullpen, on top of the relievers’ good-luck charm, a bobble-head doll of Detroit pitcher Matt Anderson.
“They called the dugout and asked for a trainer,” Manager Luis Pujols told Danny Knobler of Booth Newspapers. The Tigers lost their next six games.
Ringing endorsement: Drew Bledsoe appears to be comfortable as a member of the Buffalo Bills. The quarterback recently had a friend pick up his Super Bowl ring from the New England Patriots but doesn’t plan to wear it.
“That’ll be a good thing to have,” Bledsoe said. “But I’ll be more proud of the one that we win here.... That one will mean more to me.”
Rings, Part II: The 1990 Final Four ring of former Arkansas basketball player Ron Huery was sold on EBay.com for $1,500 to help Huery get a driver’s license and put his life back together.
Mark McEntire, president of the Memphis-East Arkansas Razorback Club, bought the ring from Huery for $250 and sold it with his consent. McEntire told Phil Stukenborg of the Memphis Commercial Appeal that he’s using the money to help pay the $3,000 in fines and interest Huery owes the city of Memphis stemming from 1991 traffic violations.
“I just think [helping Huery] is the right thing to do,” McEntire said.
Follow the smell: A Bucky Badger costume was recently stolen at Wisconsin, but a school spokesman said it shouldn’t be difficult to find the mascot’s togs: “[It has] a unique odor by the end of the semester.”
Trivia answer: Willie Mays, who was a rookie with the Giants.
And finally: The World Cup has been full of great acting by flopping players, says Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“[You] might notice some performances in the World Cup that would make Shakespeare drop his quill. Forget Olivier and Finney and O’Toole and the Barrymores and the Hepburns and Bogart and Stewart and Cagney and all the rest of the finest thespians we have known.
“Soccer players are better than actors. Soccer players are the greatest actors, certainly in sports, and perhaps the greatest ever. They should call every half of a soccer match an ‘act.’ Russian plays have more laughs.”