Baseball Card of the Week

The card of the week has to be Roberto Clemente. The reason? My wife and I find ourselves in Managua, Nicaragua on a dental humanitarian junket. On December 31, 1972, The Great Clemente died in an airplane crash on his way to Managua to give aid to earthquake victims here. I remember Clemente well. He had the most incredible arm to ever play in right field. No one, and I mean no one ran on his arm from 1st to 3rd on a hit to right field. I saw him with his back to the wall throw out guys running from 2nd to 3rd on a fly ball tag up play. On a personal note I was acquainted with Veryl Law, the son of Cy Young winner Vernon Law who was a team mate of Clemente's. He told me of the occasions of being in the locker room with the Pirates. He said this man was a quiet but gracious man. He was a tremendous baseball player and it was a tragic loss for Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico and all of Latin America when he was lost with all the passengers of the plane the fateful day. You can read more about Bob Clemente, I should say Roberto Clemente here. Now. let me see how many fillings I can do this week for the Nicaraguan people. Hopefully, one thing I can have is the spirit of Clemente.

Getting Grounded

I was wandering around our local cemetery and spotted this grave marker. Sometimes it is hard to understand and relate to the things that some people go through. Here is a marker describing the death of 3 little boys in a family in the space of 6 years and 5 days. I cannot imagine this, but I do know that heart breaking circumstances happen in life. I do not know the parents of these little guys personally but I would like to meet them someday.

Card of the Week

The card of the week is one of my favorite all time pitchers, Don Drysdale. A congenial guy as a broadcaster, Don was a beast on the mound. He would throw at batters who would dig in too much or take too long to get in the batters box. Drysdale was a fairly fast worker on the mount. A typical game was about 2 hours long. Now a typical game seems to push 3 hours; they are slow and laborious. In 1968 he pitched shut out after shut out setting a record for consecutive scoreless innings that was eventually broken by Orel Hershiser of the same LA Dodgers.

Teaming up with Sandy Koufax; he and Drysdale were pretty much a sure thing when they pitched. If their Dodgers could have had more firepower offensively, who knows how many games they would have won. You can check a reference to his Hall of Fame career here. They do not make them like the Big D anymore, and mores the pity for it.

White House Dudes

I had a busy day in the District today. We took a bus ride to the Dental Museum in Baltimore. It was interesting, but quite honestly I wouldn't care if I never went to Baltimore again.

Here is a picture of, you guessed it, the White House. If you look on the roof you can see the sniper guys up there. They wander around looking for something to shoot. With the big Nuclear Summit, things are a little more tight here in DC. Walking home from dinner we passed by the Willard where a lot of the dignitaries are staying, and the police blocked all the traffic until the motorcades passed by. It was kind of a kick, but I could see how a local would get a little bent out of shape having to do this kind of stuff all the time. The traffic jam was not insignificant.

Last DC Picture for Today

Here are the lawn police on the Ellipse. I am sure they don't want to hassle people, but there is no sign, no direction here. they just expect you to know the lawn is closed and if you cross the line between the officer in the foreground here and the one in the white shirt way up there, well they yell at you and the say "The Lawn is Closed". How can you close a lawn? They just don't want anybody close to the White House with all the world leaders in town. I understand security, but even if they let us up by that fence way up there was are still a long ways away. Whatever!

D C Pictures (cont.)

Ok. Here you have a fairly cute blonde, pitching slow pitch softball to this guy, I am assuming spouse, significant other or whatever. Firstly, she is pitching down hill. Secondly the speed of these pitches approximates a top notch 5 year old pitcher. Thirdly her dress is not of the style that allows a good follow through. (Note the guy in the background taking a look see what's under there) And fourthly, I just don't know if this is something you do in front of the Washington Monument.

On the mall I saw something I never would have imagined. Kick ball leagues. Man who would have thunk it. This little blonde third baseman could not get anywhere near a ball kicked to her. She ran the wrong way. That's what the girls did in 3rd grade. Kudos though for giving it a try.

I Am Inside the Beltway

Here I am at the Vietnam War Memorial on the Mall. There are some interesting things going on. Evidently a bunch of world leaders are in town to try and decide if it is a good idea if nuclear weapons are popping up all over the world. I think it probably isn't a good idea. The roads are blocked off in the area towards the White House. I was walking on the Ellipse and wanted to get a good shot of the South side of the White House. The authorities informed me the sidewalk was closed, I had to head towards the Washington Monument and then make my way back to my hotel. I was kind of walking on that big lawn and the said part of the lawn was closed too. I didn't know how to close lawn to walking without flags, or cones or white chalk lines, but evidently I was suppose to intuit that the lawn was closed. I did get a shot of the building and evening got some of the roof top snipers in the picture. I'll post later that shot. I went to McDonalds for dinner because it was close to the hotel, and I thought fast. Wrong! Everything is run like a federal program here. It was about 15 minutes for the #1 Value Meal. I look out of my hotel window and there is the old and venerable Willard Hotel. I wonder if Peacock Alley is still there. I can't go see because, well as I said before everything is blocked off. Tomorrow I arise early, go to Baltimore to tour the National Museum of Dentistry and then return for afternoon sessions of the American Dental Association Leadership Conference. Stay tuned.

Is Barack Obama the First Woman President?

For a while now I have wondered if Pres. Obama wasn't a woman somehow. His historic election may have been even more historic. I think he has feminine tendencies. For instance, if a guy asks his wife something like, "When do you want to go out to dinner this week?" All a guy is looking for is a one word answer like Thursday. That's what a man would do, give a one word answer. Pres. Obama gets asked a question like, "Who is your favorite player on the White Sox?" He gives a long oration and never answers the question. Same thing last week. A woman asked him a question and instead of giving a "man" answer, he talks for 17 minutes.

Another thing. He throws like a girl, maybe even worse than a girl. That first pitch the other day was terrible. Even if you give him some slack with having to wear a flack jacket under the coat it was a sissy throw. In 1964 I lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota. We had a girl on the street named Kathy Hawkins and she could play. Man, everybody wanted Kathy on their team. She was more than a tom boy she was a player. And even at the age of 9 or 10 nobody tried to treat her like a girl, she was one of us. At age 9 she could throw better than our Commander in Chief.

Another thing. Girl, that man can spend, can't he? It doesn't matter, if he thinks it will look good in his political wardrobe closet he will go after it. Style means everything too. He has to have the image as he does it. There is no buyer's remorse here. Big Bush Deficits? You ain't seen nothin' yet woman, this man can do it. He knows how to handle the National Credit Card. Sure, we can get by (or buy) with just the monthly minimum payments. And if we can't? No problem we'll just extort it out of everybody, I mean, get it paid with more taxes. Yup, not only did we, well I guess I should say you, elect the first President of color, the first President who is not culturally an American, but also the first woman President. Hillary, Sarah, the rest of you political gals, you're too late, it already happened.

Biggest Snow of the Year

Here is a picture outside my house, today, at 7:00 AM. We had the biggest snow of the year. I measured 8 inches on my front porch which does not include the inch or so that fell and melted before it started sticking. I hope this is it. We are getting the itch to till up the dirt and get ready to plant the hardy veggies. I may even get really brave and plant some tomatoes in a week or so and surround them with a wall of water. Come on Spring!

My Boy's Wedding

April Fools Day. My son Ben married his sweetheart Melissa in Logan UT. It was a wonderful day. These two young people were thrilled with everything that happened. Their marriage ceremony was most remarkable and the Spirit in their faces and the vitality of their smiles radiated a deep love and affection and respect for each other. Joyce and I were absolutely blessed with a great validation of the feelings these two have for each other. At least for our son we have never seen him more happy. For Melissa we are so pleased and indebted to Him Who Blesses to have her in our family.

Baseball Card of the Week

Today the Final Four play to decide who will play for the NCAA national championship. Also, Spring Training is winding up and soon opening day for the major league season will be here. It seems fitting to recognize this player. Dave DeBusschere was a decent pitcher in the major leagues, but in the off season was a player-coach for the Detroit Pistons. He was eventually traded to the New York Knickerbockers where he was a corner stone with the great Knicks teams. It is rare to see a two sport player in professional major league sports but this guy did it well. Dave was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history. You can read about him here. I look forward to the baseball season, not because I necessarily follow the leagues so much anymore, but because it is warmer and I can occasionally lose myself in the memories of my youth when baseball was king and many of the stars of yesteryear were my heroes. I have to say GO BUTLER though. An underdog winner would be great today in the NCAA Final Four.