J.R. Richard has died. I’m sorry to hear it. When he was young, before the stroke, he was absolutely the equal of Nolan Ryan. Maybe surpassed him. When Ryan and Richard pitched on successive days you can’t imagine the despair among professional ballplayers.
As Richard began to show warning signs of the stroke he was accused of malingering and felt he had to power through. He did, and collapsed on the field. This is because he was black. That mustn’t be forgotten.
The team’s treatment of him through his illness and subsequent homelessness is one of the worst abominations in baseball. That he was able to battle back and make peace with the team, become a minister for baseball as well as a man of God, is a testament to who J.R. Richard was.
The Astros were right to give J.R. Richard a World Series ring. But they should retire his number. He badly wanted it in life, and it’s a disgrace he won’t see it.
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I would only add the camera angle loses that Ryan doesn't flinch at all. There is no surprise, no words, no appeal. He drops his glove and is ready to go.
He is calm, witty, and he knows his baseball. He’s absolutely himself. You can’t teach that. If they don’t throw money at a young black Phillies fan who’s a natural broadcaster, they’re nuts.
The kid's name is Josh Scott. He is there because he and his father, huge Phillies fans, caught a Freddie Freeman home run in Atlanta and gave the ball to a Braves fan. They live in North Carolina. But the Phillies really ought to work something out.
Not in a novelty way. I'm serious. The kid talks baseball better than anyone in the television booth.
I have not seen the series. But Bobby was the coldest man I ever met. Mrs. Longworth said he should have been a Jesuit in the 15th century, burning witches. I agree. He was not the best politician of the Kennedy brothers. That was Teddy. But he was the most effective.
Lyndon Johnson was afraid of Bobby. Johnson wasn't afraid of anybody.
I don't mean to say Bobby was cold in the sense of defect, either. He was cold as only one who knows the world can be. He knew Shakespeare, he knew the Greeks. He understood the world is dark and complicated and you need coldness to survive.
Regarding Milley and January 6, it disturbs me for a number of reasons beyond the obvious. First, this is not just the military sounding the alarm about what happened, but what is going to happen. Fully two-thirds of Southern Republicans want to secede, for God's sake.
I understand why they sat on it. They dodged the bullet, and to say more at the time would have looked like a military coup. But the military was in a nearly untenable position, and they see conditions developing that will easily put them back there, or worse.
Equally disturbing is it won't amount to much. Four years of "Reichstag" this, "death squads" that. People are tired. They reassure themselves with "the former guy" and all that stuff. But this is actually serious in the way so many people pretended other things were.
There’s a lot of humbug garbage in here about Springer being nice to this girl to “redeem” himself and so forth, but my God, years ago he volunteered to wear a microphone to help stutterers have courage. Get hold of yourselves.
Signs are stolen in baseball every single day. By players and teams you like. Don't get caught, and don't use cameras. What Houston did was wrong. The people who brought the cameras in should get the worst of it. It's wrong they got a slap on the wrist.
But all this chest-beating about stolen signs like it's never happened before or merits the death penalty is tiresome.