The Chris Moeller Archives

He may have already been a winner

I want to say something about Ed MacMahon. It's rare to find anyone in any field that's willing to be thought of and become known as a second banana. It's easy to say that Johnny Carson's sidekick rode the gravy train of Carson's great talent, but don't doubt for a moment how hard that still is to stand just slightly outside of the entertainment spotlight. Take it from Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" sidekick, Andy Richter, who feared being known as only a second banana and departed for other Hollywood opportunities before settling back in as Conan's #2 this spring.

Ed MacMahon definitely seemed to enjoy every bit of his 30-year stint on Johnny's "Tonight Show," and his warm, amiable presence enlivens many of the clips we still see floating around of the show. Laughing at all of Johnny's jokes made Ed the butt of a few more, but having watched hundreds of episodes or pieces of episodes, I've never doubted for a second that Ed really thought his boss was funny. We should all be as fortunate as to have somebody that genuine there to laugh at our jokes.

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In Kansas City on Sunday, I watched the Cardinals beat the Royals 12-5, and earn, for their manager, his 2,500th career win as skipper. Tony LaRussa is third all-time in managerial wins, behind only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (within LaRussa's aim at 2,763). In fourth place on the all-time list is Bobby Cox, who's still managing in Atlanta, and has recorded 2,360 victories through Monday night, and moving into fifth place last week with his 2,195th career win was Joe Torre, who's still managing in Los Angeles, and apparently doing it better than ever at 68 years old, as his Dodgers have started the season 46 and 24. Three of the top 5 in history are still active.

Damn these managers and their steroids!

posted by CM @ 9:48 PM