The end of things
A great legacy of Hugh Hefner's life was his work for civil rights. He gave the comedian Dick Gregory his start in Chicago in 1961. At the Comedy Central Hefner Roast in 2001, Gregory punted his chance to heckle Hef, saying instead, "You had the courage when no one was bringing in blacks and minorities, and let you stand flat-footed in America and just talk, you brought me in. You didn't give me a lecture. You gave me no instructions... I come here tonight not to roast you, but to say that had you not had the guts back then, we black comics that the world has been able to look at and understand our genius, we would be in some pot, roasting in debt, knowing we were never going to make it."Gregory and Hefner nearly left together. Gregory died August 19th. The comic also noted during his life that it was Hefner that gave him the money that he used to go to Mississippi in 1964 and help locate the bodies of the three slain Civil Rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
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The Cardinals' season has ended, a second in a row in non-playoff disappointment. The name you'll need to know next year is Tommy Pham. Actually, you should have heard more of it this year. He didn't debut until May 5th, and still posted WAR (that's wins above a replacement) of 6.25. The National League leader, Giancarlo Stanton posted 7.55. It's an accumulative statistic and Pham spotted the rest of the field 27 games and the entirety of April. He's the Cardinals' first 20 home run, 20 stolen base player in 13 years. He posted a .300/.400/.500 season, meaning a .306 batting average, a .411 on-base percentage, and a .520 slugging percentage. The OBP was good for third in the National League. He walked 71 times and scored 95 runs though he played only 128 games, and too many of those coming off the bench because his manager believed more in others.
Nobody knows who he is. Looking up these stats, I find that he is only "owned" in 80.7% of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues. Those must be really winnable.
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Future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina and his wife have set up a GoFundMe campaign for his native Puerto Rico. You can find it here: https://www.gofundme.com/pray4prteammolina4pr.
But don't you hate it when athletes mix sports and politics?
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I thought I'd heard all the great Don Rickles' lines, but remember that he was still working up to the end. From the new AARP web series Dinner with Don, on the talent of Peter Lawford: "He knew how to carry a casket."
posted by CM @ 9:44 PM
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