Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Bobby Richardson Award – 3

With the introduction of the “wild card” in the playoffs, it became more likely that a mediocre team could make it into the World Series just by getting hot at the right time. While it is true that there are more “meh” Series now 2006), there are still plenty of all time Classics (2016) to provide some deserving winners of this award.

1995: Atlanta Braves 4, Cleveland Indians 2

Reliever Jose Mesa got the win in Game 3 and a save in Game 5.

1996: New York Yankees 4, Atlanta Braves 2

John Smoltz got the win in Game 1, and gave up only a single run in eight innings in Game 5. Continue reading →

Great American Composers

It’s that time of year again, when pretty much every orchestra in the country has an “All American” program for the Fourth, in which they play the works of American composers.

“Pops” orchestras will drag out the usual suspects: Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, John Williams – and wrap things up with some John Philip Sousa.

More “serious” orchestras will feature works by Charles Ives, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, John Adams, Florence Price, or Samuel Barber.

But there are some American composers who really deserve to be included in that crowd.

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The Bobby Richardson Award – 2

This is actually more difficult a decision than the regular MVP Award. With the “Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award presented by [this space for rent]”, it’s almost always obvious who should get the award.

But picking an honoree on the losing team? There’s a reason they lost. If you can find someone who might be deserving, do you go with the player who had the best overall performance, or the one who came up big in key moments that won a game for his team? And what’s the cutoff for deciding that a “No Award” is called for?

Good thing this is just an exercise….

1977: New York Yankees 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Reggie Smith hit three home runs while scoring seven. Only WS MVP Reggie Jackson had more of either.

1978: New York Yankees 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Davey Lopes hit .308 with three home runs and seven RBIs.

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The Bobby Richardson Award – 1

Several months ago, I was involved in a discussion about the most valuable players in the World Series. I made a passing comment wondering about the best players on the losing teams. Someone who contributed a great deal, but it wasn’t his fault that his team lost. Someone suggested it should be called “The Bobby Richardson Award”, for the only player who won the World Series MVP despite being on the losing team.

Well, I finally got around to doing the research and writing it up.

You’ll note that I allow for a “No Award” – sometimes, there just isn’t a player who performs well enough above the level of his teammates to justify it (or the team just stinks overall, and no one deserves it).

Also, keep in mind that these are subjective. If I did this again in a few years, more than a few of these are likely to change. And I’m starting it in 1955, when the World Series MVP award began. You can do it for all the previous World Series if you want.

1955: Brooklyn Dodgers 4, New York Yankees 3

Whitey Ford won Games 1 and 6.

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Pond in a Jar – 5

Well, it’s still alive. Don’t know if I can call it “thriving”, but I’ll take “Not Dead” any day.

The fuzzy algae is challenging the sprouted plant for control, and has trapped a LOT of air bubbles.

There are at least three snails that are just a bit bigger than poppy seeds. Their shells are either translucent or a pale yellow-green that just matches the color of the plants. There’s one snail that’s a bit bigger than a sesame seed – it’s usually in hiding.

Not much in the way of swimming things. A few dust speck sized things that stay near the top, and one larger speck that zooms around a lot. It appears to be dark blue in color.

I’ve had to add some more pond water twice to counter evaporation. Just about two ounces each time. I’m trying to catch some snails or swimmers when I go back to the source waters. I am resisting the frequent temptation to add a drop or two of something like coffee or booze just to see what happens.

I rotate it a tiny bit each day to give everything an equal amount of light, and to stir up the water a little.

Maybe I’ll add a photo later.

Hunting Wildflowers

Last week, Dana Milbank had a nice essay in the Washington Post about growing old and “spring ephemerals”. Those are wildflowers that come out in the early spring, before the trees are in full leaf and blocking light from reaching the forest floor, and show their tiny blooms for a week or two – at best.

Here in Southern Westchester, there are some nice nature preserves in my area where I regularly stroll for exercise and fresh air. What if I took my cheap old smartphone with me this time, and instead of my usual birdwatching, I looked for these wildflowers?

Flowers have a much greater advantage over birds – they don’t move, so you can get quite close to them for photographs. The disadvantage is that there are so may varieties and variations that it’s even harder to get a positive ID on one than it is to figure out “What kind of warbler is that?”.

I’ve made some tentative identifications – if you happen to have some better knowledge, please let me know!

Some of my Intelligent Readers do indeed have better identifications.


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ECLIPSE 2024 – Part 4

And the usual final handful of observations to wrap up my visit to Rochester.

First, THERE ARE WIND FARMS IN THE CATSKILLS!

I’m driving along Route 17, enjoying the nice landscape that surely looks amazing in the fall when the leaves are changing colors (and not in early April when the buds have yet to appear). I round a bend, and OMG WIND TURBINES looming over the next hill in the distance! It was quite startling, actually. Those things are HUGE. Continue reading →

ECLIPSE 2024 – Part 2

Of course, if I’m going to be driving for half a day to a place, I’m going to want to make sure that there’s more than one reason to be going there. Experiencing a total solar eclipse at a winery, no matter how awesome that might be, isn’t enough to justify the trip.

Fortunately, Rochester is a big enough city to have plenty of things to see and do. While I do maintain that any community, no matter how small, is going to have at least one point of interest, if you’re going to make a vacation trip there, you want your destination to be big enough to be home to at least one or two minor league professional sports teams.

While Rochester is the home to the Red Wings (the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals) as well as teams in other sports, the one attraction that is unique to the city is the Strong National Museum of Play – also known as the Toy Museum.

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