Now batting cleanup, the starting pitcher...

It’s a fun question and I’m going to give you my answer but, as usual, I have to do things my own way. My all-time favorite 25-man baseball roster, complete with a starting lineup and the bench players is below.

          And, every fifth day, my pitcher will bat cleanup.

          I know, I know. The suspense is gone. You all know the move I’m making. But it’s my blog and my all-time team. If you disagree, go blog your own team.

          Not sure what we need pitchers for anyway. This lineup might never make an out.

          But we’ll we start with the pitchers just to get them out of the way. I’ll take Sandy Koufax, thank you very much, and Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Walter Johnson. Those are the other four starters. You already know the fifth.

          Do we really need relief pitchers? Well, maybe one of the starters will get bored, pitching with a 20-run lead all the time. Dennis Eckersley would be in the pen (he’d stay there if we ever had to play against Kirk Gibson) with Goose Gossage, Carl Hubbell, Rollie Fingers and Cy Young. Satchel Paige would also be there, as much to give us advice on life as to pitch.

          I had a hard time with the catchers. Johnny Bench is the starter but I didn’t know what to do after him. You can’t bench Bench, but he might get tired some day and so we need another catcher on the bench. And then we need another catcher in the bullpen to warm up a relief pitcher in case we decide to pull a starting pitcher. So we need Bench, someone on the bench and another guy on the bench in the pen.

          I like the idea of putting Roy Campanella on the dugout bench behind Bench (although he doesn’t have to sit behind Bench on the bench) because Campy was just a great guy to have in the dugout. Yogi Berra would be the third catcher.

          The infield is next and Lou Gehrig plays first. Lou doesn’t take many days off, but we’ll bring in Pete Rose to run the bases when Lou wants an inning of rest. Rogers Hornsby is my second baseman, Ozzie Smith is the shortstop and I’d alternate Mike Schmidt and Brooks Robinson at third. Rabbit Maranville backs up The Wizard at short and Jackie Robinson backs up Hornsby. I like Robinson as another pinch runner.

          Willie Mays, the best player I ever saw play the game, is my centerfielder, Babe Ruth plays right and Lou Brock gets the starting nod in left. By the way, I want Brock to steal bases every time he gets aboard. Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron and Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio are the backup outfielders.

          Yeah, I know. That’s 27 players. But it’s the end of the season and we get some extra guys. Ted Williams and Josh Gibson get extra spots.

          My manager? Casey Stengle. I don’t care how he manages, I just wanna listen to him talk.

          Oh, you figured out my fifth pitcher, right? He’s a lefty. He started his career with the Red Sox, who deftly dealt this guy, one of the top left handed pitchers in baseball, to the Yankees. His name was George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth and it turned out he was a pretty good hitter, too. So I’d start Ruth on the mound every fifth day (thus allowing another outfielder to play regularly) and have my pitcher bat cleanup.

          Designated hitter? We don’t need no stinkin’ designated hitter.

          Thanks for reading.

Because I'm right and they're wrong. Again.

          I’m getting up on my soap box again. I’m preaching my message. I’m taking off my shoe and slapping it on the table.

          I act this way when I want to make a point.

          His name is Anthony Calvillo. He is professional football’s all-time leader in passing yardage. He is one of four men in history to have completed more than 400 scoring passes. He needs 79 more touchdown passes to become the sport’s all-time leader in that category, but he is third on that list and is the only active player among the top three. He trails only Tom Brady and one other passer in the statistical quarterback rating among history’s top 25 quarterbacks in terms of yardage gained.

          This man should be a lock to gain induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Instead, he will not be considered. How dumb is that?

          A Californian, Calvillo has played his entire professional career in the Canadian Football League. Because he plays in Canada, Calvillo has no chance in Canton.

You’ve no doubt heard of Canada. It’s the nation just north of the 48 contiguous United States. The Canadians have their own football league and the league has some rules that are different from those used by the US-based National Football League. The playing field is bigger in Canada, they use a three-down system instead of four and some of the special teams rules are different. They play with 12 men rather than 11 and have an extra eligible receiver.

So what? It’s professional football. Warren Moon and Jeff Garcia, two US-born passers who eventually found stardom in the NFL, started their professional careers in Canada. Ask those guys about playing in the CFL.

Ask Vince Ferragamo about the CFL. He left the NFL’s Rams to play in Canada and his results were less than sensational. It’s tough to play up there.

The last time I went to Canton and visited the shrine, I noticed the big letters on the building and, having learned to read decades ago, checked them out. Those letters said, “Pro Football Hall of Fame.” They did not say, “Hall of Fame for professional football players that played in the United States.” I haven’t been there in a while, but I’m willing to bet the letters still spell the same words.

I noticed this week that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes football should be an Olympic sport. He said football is an international game, played in enough nations to qualify for Olympic consideration. It so happens that I disagree with the Goodell (although I think he has done a superb job as Commissioner) on this point, but if football is an international game then the Hall of Fame should have an international membership.

Goodell will be in Canton this week. Maybe he can drop a hint.

Anthony Calvillo should be included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His career numbers are staggering. You want championships? He’s won three Grey Cups, the Canadian Super Bowl. In fact, Calvillo is the all-time leader in passing yardage in Grey Cup history and won the MVP Trophy for his play in the 2002 Grey Cup. Guess he’s pretty good in big games, huh?

That means Calvillo has as many titles as John Unitas and more than John Elway.

I referenced some stats in the third paragraph and I’ll detail them below. Anthony Calvillo will be in the Hall of Fame someday, but it will be the Canadian football HoF and not the one in Canton. He should be included in both.

ANTHONY CALVILLO

Attempts: 8,875 (Trails Brett Favre, Damon Allen, Warren Moon)

Completions: 5,563 (Trails Favre)

Completion percentage: 62.7

Touchdowns: 429 (Trails Favre, Moon)

Interceptions: 209 (Many have more. Payton Manning, Jim Kelly and Drew Bledsoe have fewer.)

Yards: 75,045 (all-time record)

Championships: 3

Bio: Born in Los Angeles, played juco football before attending Utah State. Not drafted by NFL teams, signed with Las Vegas Posse of CFL, which folded. Dispersal draft sent him to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hamilton later traded him to the Montreal Alouettes, where he has been an all-time great. Turns 40 in 2012.

What a Barganier!

History is the study of people. Either people cause the events we study or events happen to people we study.

          Men drove the RMS Titanic into an iceberg; men, women and children suffered for it. Mount Vesuvius erupted, killing men, women and children. Amelia Earhart and her navigator got lost in the Pacific Ocean; Captain Sullenberger saved a lot of lives when he landed in the Hudson River.

          So it is with the Civil War. We can’t study battles without researching the way people fought them.

          The Barganier brothers of Lowndes County, Alabama have a unique story. There were nine brothers in the family but our focus here covers five of the nine. Those five men served in the Confederate States Army.

          The Barganiers, farmers before the war, served in Company D of the First Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion. Hilliard’s Legion was attached to Archibald Gracie’s Brigade and the brigade was part of William Preston’s division. Gracie’s Brigade gained fame for pushing the Union defenders off the crest of Horseshoe Ridge near the end of the Battle of Chickamauga and other elements of Preston’s Division finished off the remaining Union defenders later.

          A military unit on the winning side of a war that accomplishes everything the men of Hilliard’s Legion accomplished at Chickamauga on September 20, 1863 gains fame. Not so for the men on the losing side.

          And that gives us something to write about.

          The Barganier boys enlisted in May of 1862 at a time when all five were married. By November 15 of that year, Berry Columbus Barganier was dead of disease. He was the only Barganier to die during the war. In fact, Berry Columbus was the only brother to die before 1907.

          Hardy lot, those Alabama men.

          Clabourn Payne Barganier and Hillary Herbert Barganier were both wounded at Chickamauga. Clabourn suffered a severe hand wound and Hillary Herbert was wounded in the foot. It does not appear that either man returned to active duty, but both beat the odds by suffering wounds and surviving the war.

          After the bloodletting at Chickamauga, what was left of Hilliard’s Legion was split into three new units: The 23^rd Battalion, Alabama Sharpshooters; the 59^th Alabama Infantry Regiment and the 60^th Alabama Infantry Regiment. As members of the 60^th, the surviving Barganiers were eventually transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia.

Lawson Brown Bargainer was absent from Chickamauga and was marked Absent-Sick for the fight at Knoxville later in 1863. But he was present at every battle his regiment fought in after that.

Andrew Allen Barganier was absent from Chickamauga but was present at Knoxville. He was Absent-Sick at Bean’s Station, present at Drewry’s Bluff and then Absent Sick the rest of the way.

Amazingly, after everything the brothers struggled through during the war, four of them lived long lives.

Lawson left this life in 1907 at the age of 68. Andrew (known as Andy) was the next to slip away when he died at age 82 in 1914.

Hillary was next. He passed away in 1915, 36 days short of his 81^st birthday.

And Clabourn died in 1933 at the age of 94. He was the last of the nine brothers to die.

The Barganiers were either wounded or too sick to fight more often than they were active for the battles listed in Confederate records. Sickness hampered them during the war, according to the Muster Roll records. That was a common occurrence during the Civil War.

Surviving the Civil War was difficult. Overcoming a brush with Civil War medicine and then living through the war was remarkable. But to do all of that and live into the new century, not to mention three of them reaching into their 80s or 90s, was amazing.

Just another Civil War family with a great story to tell.

Thanks for reading.

The Ring

                My key ring is a very busy place these days. New keys joining the circle, long-time members leaving and one notable fixture taking a leave of absence.

          When whole, my key ring includes keys to two homes we own but do not live in, a home we live in but do not own, two homes we neither own nor live in, a car I do not currently drive (this key is an MIA member) and two keys I can’t immediately identify.

          The car I am currently driving? No room on The Ring for its key.

          Here’s how it works:

          We own two homes in Ohio, a house and a condo. We are renting the house out and will move to the condo soon.

          We live in California, renting a house here. We’ve always rented.

          The homes we neither own nor live in belong to my mother and my in-laws. These keys joined The Ring in case of emergencies.

          The long-time member key which is absent belongs to the Mustang, now resting in Ohio from last week’s trip. A friend has the Mustang’s key. I am going through Mustang withdrawls.

          The key to Amy’s Volkswagen is just too big to join The Ring. When I drive the VW, I grab The Ring and a VW key. Then I moan and groan about the vacationing Mustang.

          The keys I can’t identify? They stay. The surest way to suddenly discover something’s worth is to dump it.

          I would never dump a reader. Thanks for reading.

Mission accomplished

                STOW, Ohio – Finally got the marathon process of purchasing our condo completed today. In keeping with the mind-grinding struggle we’ve gone through, we finally got the total needed on the bank check for the closing costs 12 minutes before the meeting with the title company representative was supposed to begin.

That’s the meeting where you sign the documents and become the owner of the property, the big moment. Showtime.

We didn’t have a bank check because, after all, we didn’t have the exact amount to fill in. And then came the moment that all husbands live for. We dream of this stuff. We relish the opportunity and we tell the story for years to come.

Amy put the car keys in my hand and said, “Hurry.”

First time that’s happened since the day our youngest was born. I hurried then and I hurried again today. All those years ago I got us to the hospital on time and today I reached the assigned address in very short order.

Unfortunately, the address we found on the computer was for an ATM, not an actual branch of the bank. I rolled into the nearest parking lot and searched for my goal. Lots of banks in the area, but a close inspection revealed nothing of value for my purposes.

Just then I spied an employee of a Wendy’s restaurant dumping trash into a bin behind the eatery and it turned out the young trash dumper knew exactly how to find the nearest bank branch. Rearmed with new information, I dashed through the streets of whatever town I was in by this time and found the appointed bank branch.

Eight minutes after walking in the bank, I was walking back out, check in my grasp. Pretty quick work. Steering wheel in hand again, I roared back up the highway and returned to the hotel. It turned out that I made it in plenty of time. The title company rep was late.

“Well,” I thought, “I did my job.”

Finishing up from yesterday’s blog: The final stats for the Mustang: 2,431 miles in about 79 hours, 32 minutes. The Mustang used 90.26 gallons of gasoline, averaging 26.93 miles per gallon. For the final stint, she averaged 28.4 mpg.

Thanks for reading.

Mustang Marathon ends safely

                STOW, Ohio – After 2,431 miles, the Mustang and I arrived at the hotel where my wife has been ensconced this week at shortly after 11 a.m. today. The final gas mileage stats will have to come he next time I drive the car and I fill the gas tank again.

          Just too tired to write from Indianapolis, where I stayed Wednesday. The stats for Wednesday were 726 miles, using 26.2 gallons, an average of 27.7 mph. Today’s first stint netted an impressive 29.5 mpg.

          As I approached Indianapolis Wednesday I considered cancelling the hotel room in Indy and pushing on to Stow, but a long sit on the highway near Terre Haute, Indiana cured me of that idea. Traffic was snarled where the highway closes down to one road and all the truckers have to take turns letting each other in line. The driver of one car refused to close within even 100 yards of the truck in front of him WHILE WE WERE SITTING IN PLACE for better than 10 minutes. I was the second car behind him.

          Then, when traffic budged ahead a few feet, the same driver moved ahead just those few feet. When he finally, slowly pushed his way into the lane next to him, the bunch of us behind him rushed by and moved ahead before merging into the active lane.

          Later, the same idiot went by me at better than 10 mph over the speed limit, tailgating the car in front of him.

          Don’t ask me, I just report what I saw.

          Had a funny thought Wednesday: While driving through (the reader is invited to pick a state because I don’t recall which one it was), I saw signs for the town of Bourbon, (whatever state). It occurred to me that if the people of the city ever decide to rebuild the downtown area (if it needs the work, maybe the downtown area is fine. How did I get in to this?), they could call it Bourbon renewal.

          It was uproariously funny in the car by myself. Perhaps I was a little too tired.

          My co-driver, Bucky Weber, talked me through much of Wednesday’s distance and virtually all of today’s drive. He’s home in California, tending to business. But he was able to use the magic of cellular communication and the wonders of the internet to keep me appraised of road conditions ahead and weather issues. In the meantime, I used the modern marvels of hands-free phoning.

By the way, since we had time, Buck and I also determined the root of the world’s problems and worked out a simple solution. Too bad I can’t remember any of that.

When I arrived at the hotel in Stow today, I learned that Amy and I will complete the documents and close the purchase of the condo Friday. Obviously, we’re very happy.

A special note to our friend Tom Whitley: We ate lunch at a joint named Rockne’s today, sort of a sports bar. Among the images adorning the walls is one of ol’ Knute himself. The problem is that I might not go back there. The food was okay but half the stuff on the menu was named Firestone something or something with a Firestone-themed ingredient. It’s bad enough that the son of two USC grads has to eat in a Notre Dame-themed location, but I work for Goodyear. Enough is enough.

It’s raining here just now. I think I’ll stand and watch for a while. We don’t get this brand of entertainment in California.

Thanks for reading.

Mustang Marathon Day 2

OKLAHOMA CITY, Ok. -- Cranked out 542 miles today, had one very nice mileage stint, and was happy to get out of the car here.

          First, to clean up yesterday’s final stats: The Mustang averaged 27.1 mpg over the last stint of the day. The total for the day, then, work out to 835 miles and 26.09 mpg.

          Today did not start out well. The hotel’s internet was down all night and they did not expect to have the tech rep on site until after checkout time. I was unable to complete my business last night and got up at 4:30 this morning to finish. That’s when I discovered there was no chance of finishing at the hotel.

          At this point, the decision to leave the broadband equipment at home seemed ill-considered. Unable to return to sleep, I was out of the hotel early and that’s when I had a very nice little run, from a mileage standpoint. The speed limit within the Albuquerque city limits is 65, so I cruised at that speed for 20 minutes. Then the highway opened up, the limit rose to 75 and I ran at that velocity for more than an hour with the air conditioning off.

          Just before the car turned into a hot box, I pulled off and topped the tank and discovered the ol’ girl averaged 29.7 mpg for that little period. Not bad. She must have sipped fuel at better than 30 mph during the slower segment.

          I should mention that the mountains in the Flagstaff area and in New Mexico are really rugged, but they are very pretty as well. Rumbling through there in the Mustang was great fun. There were so many climbs and drops that I felt like a high-speed version of Sir Edmond Hillary.

          Rolled through Texas next and enjoyed the drivers there, as I did last year. They pay attention to conditions, drive within the speed limit and understand how to share the road. Those are all rare and delightful things these days.

          Then came Oklahoma. The speed limit here is lower, 70 mph, and that is probably a good thing. Wow.

          Wednesday’s leg is another long one, about 720 miles or so, to Indianapolis. I need to time the trip so I hit St. Louis at a good time in terms of traffic, so I’ll work out the start time tonight. It’ll be early, I’m sure, due to the distance to be covered.

          That said, the stats for the first parts of today’s run: Stint 1 you know about. Stint 2, longer, with the a/c running and the car rolling along at 75 mph, 26.66 mpg. Those stints combined: 27.74 mph.

          Thanks for reading.