Nice Card File - Richie Ashburn

This is a Topps Tribute Game Bat Relics card from 2001. It features a piece of a bat once used by Richie Ashburn.

Ashburn played for the Phillies from 1948 to 1959. He was one of the best players in the 1950s. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1995, and thus entered the Hall with Mike Schmidt. More than 25,000 people, mostly from Philadelphia showed up in Cooperstown for the induction ceremony.

It was fitting that Ashburn and Schmidt should go into the Hall together. Richie represented the greatest Phillies team of my father's generation, the team nicknamed the Whiz Kids. They were the first Phillies team to go to the World Series, in 1950, the year before I was born. And Mike represents the best Phillies team of my generation, the only Phillies team to win a World Series, in 1980.

I grew up listening to Richie Ashburn doing the color commentary for the Phillies. He worked Phillies cames from 1963 up to the day he died in 1997 (he was on the road with the team when he died). One other connection - Ashburn was born on the same day as my father, March 19, 1927. I was living in Houston when Ashburn died. That season in 1997, I had found out how to get a baseball card into the visitor's broadcast booth and was planning to get Ashburn's autograph the next season when the Phillies came to town.

Song of the Week - Happy Together

I have 5,310 songs in my iTunes library. This is one of them.

Happy Together - The Turtles

This is just for fun and for the silliness of it. This video was clearly inspired by the TV show The Monkees (1965 - 1968). I was 16 in 1967 and this song was on the radio all the time. Enjoy.



Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day and night, it's only right
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We're happy together
So happy together
Happy together
So happy together
So happy together (ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba)

Photography: Public Art - Philadelphia

We're in Philadelphia this week on vacation. These pictures are from a previous trip. These three pieces are along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Kopernik

The piece above is called Kopernik. The artist is Dudley Vaill Talcott (1899-1986). The sculpture was dedicated on 8/15/73 and commemorates the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). It stands 12 feet tall and is located on the Parkway at 18th Street. There is a good write-up here. If you click on the photo you'll get a bigger image. You'll be able to see the scourge of all public statuary. There is a pigeon sitting on the lower part of the circle and ample evidence of other pigeons.

Three-Way Piece Number 1: Points

I wasn't able to find out as much information on this as on Kopernik. The artist was Henry Moore. The piece is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and is located on the Parkway near 16th Street. It was installed in 1964. I have recollections of seeing this piece in the late 1960s. This photo was taken by me in 2006. There may also be a copy of this located in Kansas City Missouri. While researching this I found an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about theft of metal statues. The copper dedication plaque for the piece was stolen sometime in January 2008. Apparently the whole statue was too big to take.

The Prophet
There was even less information on this piece. The artist was Jacob Lipkin and it was dedicated in 1968. It is currently located on the Parkway at 16th Street (it's to the right of the Henry Moore piece). It was originally located on John F. Kennedy Plaza, a few blocks down the Parkway but was moved here in 1974. It stands about 8 feet tall. Examples of Lipkin's work (although not this piece) can be found here.

Song of the Week - Raining in Baltimore

I have 5,311 songs in my iTunes library. This is one of them.

I'm playing the songs on my iPod in alphabetical order (why not?). Recently I got up to rain songs.

Rain Dance - Guess Who
Rain King - Counting Crows
The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin
Raining Again - Moby
Raining in Baltimore - Counting Crows
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
Rainy Day, Dream Away - Jimi Hendrix
Rainy Night in Georgia - Ray Charles
Rainy Night in Tokyo - Michael Franks

Here's a live version of Raining in Baltimore from 1997.

This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
Its raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no ones around

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call

These train conversations are passing me by
And I don't have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way

I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don't get no change
Its raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same

Theres things I remember and things I forget
I miss you I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?

I need a phone call
Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train if I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I'm lonely for the big towns
Id like to hear a little guitar
I think its time to put the top down

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

My Grandfather

So what's collectible about my grandfather? Nothing really, except I have a large collection of photographs and other stuff from my grandfather.

Orville Burnetz Walk served in the Navy during World War 1. He never saw combat (perhaps fortunately for me). He served on several ships in the Caribbean. In this photo he is in his dress whites and holding a saxophone. He's holding a saxophone because he was a musician in the Navy. His rating when he was discharged was Musician, 2nd Class.

It was apparently a different world then. The larger ships carried orchestras for entertainment. Movies (silent films, of course) were shown on deck at night and the orchestra provided music. They also played at on-shore officer's clubs, weddings, and other events.

OB, as he was called, probably had other duties other than playing the saxophone. I have a diary he kept for his first 2 year hitch. He describes sailing from port to port and taking on coal at each port. He describes taking gunnery practice. He was counting the days down to his last day. On the day after his last day he wrote, "Re-enlisted. Damn fool".

I'll post other interesting ship-board photos later. OB also served on the USS Arizona, when it was new and when it was the most powerful weapon ever built. And since I post a lot of baseball cards, I'll post some pictures of the Arizona baseball team.

We're going to be in Philadelphia, our home town, next week on vacation. Among other things, we're going to visit my grandfather's grave site at the Philadelphia National Cemetery.

I've got some posts in draft form so the site won't go completely dark.

Mike Lieberthal Retires as a Phillie

Last Sunday, Mike Lieberthal, who played last year for the Dodgers, signed a minor league contract with the Phillies for $4, then retired.

“I spent 17 years of my life and put everything that I had into baseball and into the Phillies,” said Lieberthal. “I know I finished (last season) with the Dodgers, but I was still a Phillie at heart. I did watch pretty much every game that was on TV, and I still do. The Phillies are definitely deep in my heart.”

Mike was the Phillies 1st round draft pick (third pick overall) in 1990. He made his major league debut on June 30, 1994. He played 13 seasons with the Phillies, all as a catcher. He caught 1,139 games for the Phillies, more than any other catcher. Darren Daulton caught 965 games for the Phillies, prior to Lieberthal. Daulton's and Lieberthal's careers with the Phillies overlapped from 1994 to 1997, when Mike became the full time starting catcher.

Mike was pretty productive in his career. Both he and Daulton played 13 years with the Phillies. Lieberthal's average was 0.274 with 150 home runs, 610 RBIs and 257 doubles. Daulton's stats were 0.245/137/588/197. He was a 2-time All-Star and a Gold Glove winner.

Lieberthal's big regret about his Phillie's career is that he never reached the playoffs. His career was book ended by the 1993 World Series team and the 2007 NL East championship team. “That was kind of ironic,” he said. “Everyone tells me how special (the playoffs) are, and that’s what playing is all about. That’s probably the one thing that I wish we had when I was here.”

After signing his contract he put on his old #24 uniform and threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Sunday's game against the Marlins. Club president Dave Montgomery said of Lieberthal, "Mike played here for a long time, and for me, it went beyond that. It was a real friendship," said Montgomery. "In many ways, Mike was the face of the franchise for a number of years because of the continuity he brought. He always played hard. He cared about the community. This seemed like the right thing to do."

I got the quotations for this piece from Philly.com.

Song of the Week - Live Again: Better Than Ezra

I have 5,311 songs in my iTunes library. This is one of them.

Better Than Ezra

DON'T FEAR,
EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE AT A LOSS.
I'M NUMB,
A SHELL OF EMPTY THOUGHTS.
BUT YOU GLOW,
YOU STRETCH AND PULL ME OUT.
DOES THAT TROUBLE YOU?
DOES THAT TROUBLE YOU?

[CHORUS:]
LOVE ME
HATE ME
MAKE ME LIVE AGAIN
I NEED YOU AROUND

HEAL ME
HURT ME
MAKE ME LIVE AGAIN
I WANT YOU AROUND

SO LONG,
I NEVER HAD EXPERIENCED
THIS BLISS.
SO HOW COULD I RESIST?
AND I'M FINE
A LITTLE LIGHT-HEADED.
DOES THAT WORRY YOU?
I DIDN'T MEAN TO WORRY YOU.

[CHORUS:]

NOW, RETREATING FROM THE LIGHT
I LOVE IT WHEN WE FIGHT
IT MAKES ME THINK
AT LEAST YOU STILL CARE

GIVE UP, YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE
MOONLIGHT, ILLUMINATES YOUR STARE
AND IT'S GREAT, CAPTIVATING YOU
DOES THAT TROUBLE YOU?
I DIDN'T MEAN TO TROUBLE YOU

[CHORUS & FADE]