( 2 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Friday )







I visited ST . LOUIS on 1 4 April of 1 9 9 6 , a Monday ,

a memorable trip even though I had an unsuccessful

job interview . At last footloose that afternoon , I walked

from the Federal Building to BUSCH MEMORIAL STADIUM ,

home ballpark of the ST . LOUIS CARDINALS from 1 2 May

of 1 9 6 6 through 1 9 October of this year .







I saw the latter three innings of the game between the

Cardinals and the HOUSTON ASTROS that Monday

afternoon , almost nine years ago as I type . ( Houston

victimized DENNIS ECKERSLEY in the top of the

tenth inning and won , 4 to 2 . ) Following the game ,

I walked to the NATIONAL EXPANSION MEMORIAL

PARK , dominated by the loftiest of free - standing

National Monuments , the GATEWAY ARCH .



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Recalling the Arch is a pleasure . It is a glorious sight ,

six - hundred - thirty feet aloft , higher than the

WASHINGTON MONUMENT by seventy - five feet . I

have been to the summit of both structures , and

appreciate both , butt I ' ve a special fondness for

the Arch even though the ride in the interior tram

that hoists one to the top is miserably cramped .







Designed by Finnish - born architect EERO

SAARINEN in 1 9 4 7 , the Saarinen proposal was

based on one of the most basic of structures , the

equilateral triangle . ( The Arch actually looks more

like a parabola . ) The Gateway Arch commemorates

President THOMAS JEFFERSON and the expedition of

MERIWEATHER LEWIS and WILLIAM CLARK ,

appropriate in that the fledgeling city of St . Louis

was a crucial conduit for a newly - enlarged Republic

and for its processionals of Citizens moving West .







Among the things I should like to do , when next I

see the Arch : I ' d like to fling a Frisbee around one

of the " limbs " , as I can throw a curve with a

Frisbee ( not , alas , with a baseball ) . I ' d also

like to bungee - jump from the top of the Arch ,

which will surely be a pipe - dream as I doubt I

could ever procure a permit .







Visitors to the Arch have a museum and a theatre

awaiting them , underground , along with the aforesaid

tram for those hot to ascend to the observation platform

at the top . Looking West , one can see Busch Stadium

and the OLD COURT HOUSE , where DRED SCOTT

petitioned for his Freedom . ( The United States Supreme

Court decided against Dred Scott , by a 7 to 2 tally , in

1 8 5 7 , a disasterous decision that made War - Between -

The - States all butt inevitable . )







Even more impressive is the view to the East , where

one can behold the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in its mid -

Continental immensity . The Mississippi looked very

wide and very muddy on 1 4 April of 1 9 9 7 , with

RiverBoats moored on the Illinois side ; said boats

are floating casinos . The Gateway Arch , by my

estimate a good one - hundred - twenty - million

tons of concrete and steel ( based on data I found

on a Web site ) , was in its thirty - second year at

the time of my visit . To - day , 2 8 October ' 0 5 ,

is the Fortieth Anniversary of the Arch ' s Grand Opening .







Don ' t wait forty years to see it !







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( 2 7 October 2 0 0 5 , Thursday )







This is the day to pay homage to THEODORE ROOSEVELT ,

Twenty - Sixth President of the United States . " T . R . "

was born one - hundred - forty - seven - years ago ,

2 7 October 1 8 5 8 . Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest

President , successor to the assassinated WILLIAM

McKINLEY on 1 4 September 1 9 0 1 ; Roosevelt was just

forty - two years old at the time .





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There are remarkable parallels between Theodore

Roosevelt and his fifth Cousin , FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT - -

both Harvard grads , both served in the New York State

Assembly , both were appointed Assistant Secretary of

the Navy , both departed politics for a time following

personal tragedies , both returned to politics as

Governor of New York . Each of the two Roosevelts

was nominated for Vice - President , " T . R . " in

1 9 0 0 , F . D . R . in 1 9 2 0 . ( Franklin Roosevelt did

not win the Vice - Presidency , as he and Presidential

nominee JAMES COX of Ohio were drubbed by

Republican nominees WARREN G . HARDING and

JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE . ) The 1 9 0 5 wedding of

Franklin Roosevelt and his Bride ELEANOR was

attended by the President , " T . R . " himself .







Each day of this new Century , through the Fourth of

January 2 0 0 9 , may be said to be " One - Hundred

Years After Theodore Roosevelt ' s Presidency . "

T . R . , who was said to peruse ABRAHAM LINCOLN ' s

portrait on the Five - Dollar GreenBack while mulling

over difficult decisions , had one common thread

connecting his Presidency with Lincoln ' s : JOHN HAY ,

one of President Lincoln ' s personal secretaries , was

the first of three Secretaries of State who served under

Roosevelt . ( The novelist GORE VIDAL , author of

EMPIRE , claims that Secretary of State Hay presented

Roosevelt with a lock of Lincoln ' s hair , clipped from

the sixteenth President ' s head at the time of Lincoln ' s

death . ) One may see President Roosevelt and Secretary

Hay portrayed by BRIAN KEITH and JOHN HUSTON ,

respectively , in the film THE WIND AND THE LION .

Four American Presidents - - Abraham Lincoln , JAMES

A . GARFIELD , William McKinley , JOHN F . KENNEDY - -

were fatally shot , Lincoln and McKinley during their

second Presidential terms . Theodore Roosevelt ,

at the time of the 1 9 0 0 Republican Convention still

New York ' s Governor , was chosen to replace

GARRETT A . HOBART as McKinley ' s Vice - Presidential

nominee , over the protests of McKinley ' s campaign

manager , MARK HANNA . ( Hanna was heard to say ,

correctly , that " only a heartbeat " stood between

" that cowboy " and the Presidency . )







Newspaper mogul WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

liked to boast that the SPANISH - AMERICAN WAR

of 1 8 9 8 was instigated by himself , and that

" Colonel " Theodore Roosevelt and his " Rough

Riders " were glorified in the Hearst papers ,

sufficient to insure Roosevelt ' s political fame

and prestige . The near - sighted Roosevelt

stockpiled supplemental pairs of eyeglasses

for the assault on Kettle Hill and , subsequently ,

SAN JUAN HEIGHTS , 1 July 1 8 9 8 . ( Second - in -

command to Colonel LEONARD WOOD , Roosevelt

assumed command of the Rough Riders on 3 0 June

1 8 9 8 when Colonel Wood was promoted to Brigidier

General . New York voters were quick to reward

Roosevelt , electing him Governor just four months

after - the - fact . ) NOTE : Roosevelt was posthumously awarded

the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR on 1 6

January 2 0 0 1 , almost one - hundred - three years later .





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Roosevelt had no ordinary preparation for leading a

cavalry unit : he had lived in the DAKOTA TERRITORY

following his resignation from the New York Assembly .

Roosevelt ' s abrupt departure from Empire State

politics was prompted by the aforementioned personal

tragedy , the deaths of His Mother and His first Wife

on the same day , 1 4 February 1 8 8 4 .







Two years in the Dakotas gave Roosevelt opportunities

to observe the Flora and Fauna of the American Plains ,

some of which owe their " taxonomy " ( their Latin

names ) to T . R . Ever the prolific writer , Roosevelt

would author some sixty books in his sixty years , some

of which date from his hiatus in what is now NORTH

DAKOTA . ( Have a look at Your RAND McNALLY , if

You have one , and see the Theodore Roosevelt National

Park on the North Dakota map . )







Extraordinarily well - traveled , Roosevelt went to

Africa following the end of his Presidency , and explored

the Amazon Basin after his unsuccessful attempt at

regaining the White House in the 1 9 1 2 Campaign .

( One Brazilian Tributary of the Amazon is known as

" Rio Teodoro " or " Rio Roosevelt " . ) Fifty years old

in 1 9 0 9 , when WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT succeeded

him as President , Roosevelt lived another ten years

despite three grave hardships : a bullet wound , incurred

in Milwaukee on 1 4 October 1 9 1 2 at a campaign stop

( Roosevelt nevertheless delivered the speech ! ) ; a

recurrent fever , which afflicted Roosevelt after the

Amazon venture ; and the death of Roosevelt ' s Son

QUENTIN , the latter a World War One casualty ,

1 4 July 1 9 1 8 . Roosevelt himself died 6 January

1 9 1 9 at SAGAMORE HILL , his Oyster Bay , Long

Island mansion . ( Your Typist visited Sagamore

Hill the day after the 1 9 9 6 Presidential Election ,

6 November of ' 9 6 / Wednesday . )







Theodore Roosevelt mediated the end of the RUSSO -

JAPANESE WAR ( 1 9 0 5 ) , for which he received the

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ; T . R . was the first American

so honored . A game warrior in his final decade ,

Roosevelt asked President WOODROW WILSON to

allow him to recruit a regiment to fight in Europe - -

permission was denied ; interestingly , Roosevelt ' s

Son and name - sake THEODORE ROOSEVELT JR . ,

at fifty - six years of age , did lead a regiment onto

UTAH BEACH on 6 June 1 9 4 4 ( D - Day ) .







The PANAMA CANAL was initiated on President Roosevelt ' s

watch , and makes for an amusing turn - of - phrase - -

" A MAN - A PLAN - A CANAL . PANAMA ! " The twenty - one

letters are a mirror - image , known in the vernacular as a

" PALINDROME " , spelled identically front - and - back .

( a - m - a - n - a - p - l - a - n - a - c - a - n - a - l - p - a - n - a - m - a )







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( 2 3 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday )



A personal remembrance : this was the date in 1 9 7 6 , twenty - nine

years ago , when I attended a campaign appearance by the incumbent

President , GERALD RUDOLPH FORD JR . The Twenty - Third of

October was a Saturday in 1 9 7 6 , and the President gave a speech

at DORTON ARENA , on the North Carolina State Fairgrounds .

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I am grateful I made it to Dorton Arena for President Ford ' s

speech , butt I deserve no credit for going - - I ' d been travelling

with college classmates Goodrich and Drummond , and We Three

went to the FairGrounds only because they were observant , having

seen the item in the local paper , the NEWS AND OBSERVER .







President Ford , in time , contracted laryngitis from the rigors of

the ' 7 6 Campaign . Doubtless he had to make many more speeches

than he ' d ever been called upon to deliver in a quarter - century of

re - election campaigns for Congress . His Wife BETTY had to give

the concession speech following Ford ' s defeat on 2 November of

that year , in retrospect one of the closest and most exciting

Presidential races of my lifetime . ( President Ford , the only

Commander - In - Chief ever to assume the office without being

elected to the Vice - Presidency or the Presidency first , received

2 4 1 Electoral Votes , twenty - nine shy of winning . )



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Gerald Ford is one of a series of American luminaries either born

or raised in OMAHA , Nebraska ; MARLON BRANDO , WALLY COX ,

NICK NOLTE , DICK CAVETT , WARREN BUFFETT , SWOOSIE

KURTZ , HENRY FONDA , MALCOLM X , and BOB GIBSON

also are native , by birth , upbringing or residency , to Nebraska ' s

largest city . Ford , originally christened Leslie King , was re - named

after his Mother divorced and re - married .







Ford played football at the University of Michigan , and declined an

offer to play professional football for the Green Bay Packers - -

he opted for law school at Yale University instead , taking on coaching

duties for the Yale varsity football and boxing teams so as to afford the

cost of post - grad schooling . First elected from the Grand Rapids

( Michigan ) Congressional District in 1 9 4 8 , Ford eventually

became House Minority Leader , and was a member of the much -

vilified WARREN COMMISSION , whose investigators concluded

that LEE HARVEY OSWALD was President JOHN FITZGERALD

KENNEDY ' s lone assassin .







( Gerald Ford , Jack Kennedy , LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON ,

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON and JAMES EARL " JIMMY "

CARTER JR . , every one a United States Navy veteran , all won

or assumed the Presidency between 1 9 6 0 and 1 9 7 7 . )







Ford was the first of his kind , that is , the very first Vice - President

chosen by the incumbent President ( in this case , Richard Nixon )

and confirmed by a vote of the Congress - - no such procedure

had been implemented until 1 9 6 7 , with the ratification of the

Twenty - Fifth Constitutional Amendment . The Vice - Presidency

had been vacated on 1 0 October of 1 9 7 3 , with the resignation

of SPIRO T . AGNEW , compelled to leave under a very dark cloud

following revelations of gratuities paid Agnew when he was

Governor of Maryland .







Nixon ' s Presidency ended just ten months later , 9 August 1 9 7 4

( a Friday ) , leaving Ford in the unenviable position of succeeding

the much - loathed Nixon as President . This Typist believes President

Ford receives too little appreciation for his performance , under

exceedingly - difficult circumstances . ( Nixon is still the only

American President ever to resign , about which this Typist will

have plenty to say in another Blog . )

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerald Ford , the first Vice - President chosen under the terms of

the Twenty - Fifth Amendment , in turn selected the second ,

NELSON ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER , formerly the four - term

Governor of New York . I myself was living and attending school

in New York ( Seneca Falls ) at the time Rockefeller resigned the

GovernorShip , in 1 9 7 3 . Imagine : in less than a year , four

of the most prominent Republican office - holders ( Agnew ,

Ford , Rockefeller , Nixon ) would all resign their day jobs ,

either to assume more prestigious jobs or more ignominious exile .







President Ford was challenged for the 1 9 7 6 Republican Nomination

by the former Governor of California , RONALD WILSON REAGAN ;

the latter ' s campaign was helped considerably by " cross - over "

voting in North Carolina , Indiana , and especially Texas , wherein

registered Democrats participated in the Republican Primaries so as

to boost Governor Reagan . At the Republican Convention in Kansas

City , Reagan attempted to impose upon President Ford with an EX

POST FACTO rule that would require each Candidate to select a

Vice - Presidential nominee before the delegates voted on the

Presidential nomination . ( Reagan himself chose the junior

Senator from Pennsylvania , RICHARD SCHWEIKERT . )

This gambit , definitely NOT one of

Reagan ' s finer or more gracious moments , was contrived by

Reagan ' s alcoholic campaign manager , one JOHN SEARS .

( Sears also worked for a time on Reagan ' s 1 9 8 0 Campaign

before getting the boot . )







While the Ford delegates outvoted Reagan ' s supporters over the

gerrymandered change in the rules , it was nevertheless apparent that

the convention would be unwilling to support Nelson Rockefeller as

the Vice - Presidential nominee . " Rocky " showed little interest in

retaining the job anyway , so President Ford selected the United States

Senator from Kansas , ROBERT J . DOLE , as Rockefeller ' s successor .

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Candidates Ford and Dole would be participants - - for the first time in

sixteen years - - in televised debates , opposite Democratic nominees

JIMMY CARTER and WALTER " FRITZ " MONDALE . Thus began

a trend that this Typist regrets ; I personally regard the Presidential and

Vice - Presidential debates as a waste of time . Little more than glorified

joint press conferences , the contemporary debates do not merit any

serious comparison at all with the confrontations between Senatorial

candidates STEPHEN A . DOUGLAS and ABRAHAM LINCOLN ,

seven score and seven years ago . ( That ' s 1 8 5 8 , friends ! )







Nor is the absurd spectacle of Presidential " debates " the only regret have

I about the ' 7 6 Campaign : at last old enough to vote in a Presidential

Election , having turned eighteen two years earlier , I filled out my

North Carolina absentee ballot , mailed same - - and found it in my

mail on 1 November 1 9 7 6 ( Monday ) , the day prior to the Election .

Under North Carolina ' s archaic electioneering rules of three decades

ago , I had first to have the ballot notarized prior to mailing . Very

disappointed , I cast it aside and lamented how long I would have

to wait before I ' d have another crack at voting for President . . . .

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Ford ' s loss to Jimmy Carter ended his public career , although he was

sought out as a candidate for the Presidency in 1 9 8 0 . Remarkably ,

former President Ford is still extant as of this typing ; born on

bastille Day , 1 4 July of 1 9 1 3 , Ford is now ninety - two years old

and is the second longest - lived President , exceeded only by Ronald

Reagan . ( President Reagan died 5 June 2 0 0 4 , a Saturday , at the

age of ninety - three . Besides Reagan and Ford , JOHN ADAMS and

HERBERT CLARK HOOVER were also nonagenarian ex - Presidents . )







Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller remain the only Vice - Presidents

chosen under the terms of Amendment Twenty - Five , in retrospect a

wise Constitutional modification . No longer has the Republic an

accidental President who hasn ' t any successor - designate ; previous

Presidents who hadn ' t a Vice - President :



JOHN TYLER ( 1 8 4 1 ) , successor to WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

MILLARD FILLMORE ( 1 8 5 0 ) , successor to ZACHARY TAYLOR

ANDREW JOHNSON ( 1 8 6 5 ) , successor to ABRAHAM LINCOLN

CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR ( 1 8 8 1 ) , successor to JAMES A . GARFIELD

THEODORE ROOSEVELT ( 1 9 0 1 ) , successor to WILLIAM McKINLEY

JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE ( 1 9 2 3 ) , successor to WARREN HARDING

HARRY S TRUMAN ( 1 9 4 5 ) , successor to FRANKLIN D . ROOSEVELT

LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON ( 1 9 6 3 ) , successor to JOHN F . KENNEDY







Additionally , Presidents THOMAS JEFFERSON , ANDREW JACKSON ,

FRANKLIN PIERCE , ABRAHAM LINCOLN , WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT ,

RICHARD NIXON , and GERALD FORD himself , served for short intervals

sans Vice - President , owing to the resignation of the incumbent

Vice - President , the untimely death of the Vice - President , or the

temporary vacancy of the Vice - Presidency awaiting an appointed

successor . The Vice - Presidency is a post of some consequence ,

as fourteen Presidents held the number two job previously . . . .







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( 1 9 October 2 0 0 5 , Wednesday )



Eighteen years ago - - the Nineteenth of October 1 9 8 7 , a Monday - - the

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE descended 5 0 8 points , at that

time a twenty - three per cent drop in net - asset - value . ( The Dow reached

a high that year of 2 , 7 2 2 , and the " Correction " of 1 9 October left

the D . J . I . A . at a mere 1 , 7 0 0 . )



PETER LYNCH , manager of the largest and most successful Mutual

Fund ever , the FIDELITY MAGELLAN , was in Ireland at the time the

Market imploded . Responding to a desperate call from his employers at

Fidelity , Lynch left the golf course and flew back to Fidelity headquarters

in Boston , to personally oversee some manner of salvage . Lynch has said

of the experience that it taught him , ( 1 ) to keep more assets in " liquid "

form , i . e . , cash , so it won ' t be so difficult to pay out panicky investors ;

AND , ( 2 ) , that market corrections of this magnitude produce bargain

prices on a number of securities .



Therein lies a lesson for investors , as well : " Buy Low / Sell High " is

more than a slogan . It is a strategy for investors who have some daring .

So - called " Bottom Feeders " await corrections , at which time they

enlarge and enrich their portfolios with stocks whose share prices have

taken a significant hit . Some of us - - this typist , for one - - invest

regularly butt passively , that is to say , We purchase stocks in the form

of Mutual Fund Shares at regular intervals , and invest the SAME

DOLLAR AMOUNT every time .



Called ' Dollar Cost Averaging " in the industry vernacular , this method

yields fewer shares when Stocks are pricey - - AND , more importantly ,

MORE shares when Stocks are underpriced . Don ' t take MY word for

the effectiveness of D . C . A . ; You can read Peter Lynch himself , whose

books include ONE UP ON WALL STREET .



I , mindful that the book BARBARIANS AT THE GATE ( about the merger

of R . J . REYNOLDS and NABISCO ) became a film starring JAMES GARNER ,

find it lamentable that the Dow ' s free - fall of 1 9 October 1 9 8 7 has never been

adapted for film or television . ED BEGLEY JR . might be a fitting choice to

portray Peter Lynch . ADDENDA : the Dow was unusually volatile over four

trading sessions that month of October 1 9 8 7 . First came a 1 5 6 - point decline

on Friday , the Sixteenth ; 5 0 8 points the following Monday ; a 1 2 0 - point

RISE on Tuesday , the Twentieth ; lastly , a 1 8 0 - point surge , at the time a

record , on Wednesday the Twenty - First . Despite the pillaging of " Black

Monday " , the D . J . I . A . was up for the year on 3 1 December some two points .

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With Major League Baseball ' s League Playoffs complete , it is instructive for

this Typist to recall the Most Recent , and most DISTANT , Pennant winning teams :



AMERICAN LEAGUE



2 0 0 5 CHICAGO WHITE SOX

2 0 0 4 BOSTON RED SOX

2 0 0 3 NEW YORK YANKEES

2 0 0 2 LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM

1 9 9 7 CLEVELAND INDIANS

1 9 9 3 TORONTO BLUE JAYS

1 9 9 1 MINNESOTA TWINS

1 9 9 0 OAKLAND ATHLETICS

1 9 8 5 KANSAS CITY ROYALS

1 9 8 2 **** MILWAUKEE BREWERS **** ( See Below )

1 9 8 4 DETROIT TIGERS

1 9 8 3 BALTIMORE ORIOLES



Three American League teams - - the SEATTLE MARINERS ( founded 1 9 7 7 ) ,

the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS ( 1 9 9 8 ) and the TEXAS RANGERS ( formerly

the WASHINGTON SENATORS , founded 1 9 6 1 ) - - have never been to the

World Series , although Washington has been represented in the Series as

recently as 1 9 3 3 , by the original Senators franchise . ( One Senators

team relocated to MINNESOTA in 1 9 6 0 , while the second Senators

franchise left for TEXAS in 1 9 7 2 . )



The MILWAUKEE BREWERS , formerly the SEATTLE PILOTS for one

season ( 1 9 6 9 ) , represented the American League in the 1 9 8 2 World

Series butt switched leagues in 1 9 9 8 . The Brewers have never represented

the National League in the World Series , and will be listed below as one of

three " Senior Circuit " teams that have yet to do so even though the Milwaukee

franchise has a World Series appearance to its credit .



NATIONAL LEAGUE



2 0 0 5 HOUSTON ASTROS

2 0 0 4 ST . LOUIS CARDINALS

2 0 0 3 FLORIDA MARLINS

2 0 0 2 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

2 0 0 1 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

2 0 0 0 NEW YORK METS

1 9 9 9 ATLANTA BRAVES

1 9 9 8 SAN DIEGO PADRES

1 9 9 3 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

1 9 9 0 CINCINNATI REDS

1 9 8 8 LOS ANGELES DODGERS

1 9 7 9 PITTSBURGH PIRATES

1 9 4 5 CHICAGO CUBS



Three National League teams - - the COLORADO ROCKIES ( founded

1 9 9 3 ) , the MILWAUKEE BREWERS ( see above ) and the WASHINGTON

NATIONALS ( formerly the MONTREAL EXPOS , founded 1 9 6 9 / relocated

to Washington in 2 0 0 5 ) - - have yet to represent the Senior Circuit in the

World Series . Tonight ' s 5 to 1 victory by the HOUSTON ASTROS over the

ST . LOUIS CARDINALS gives Houston its first National League

championship , following forty - three seasons without ( previously the

HOUSTON COLT . 4 5 ' S , the team ' s inaugural season was 1 9 6 2 . )



The State of TEXAS has never hosted a World Series game , which figures

to change on Tuesday of next week ( 2 5 October 2 0 0 5 ) . The City of

CHICAGO last hosted a World Series game in 1 9 5 9 ; having eliminated

the LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM this past Sunday night

( 1 6 October 2 0 0 5 ) , the CHICAGO WHITE SOX return to the

World Series after a forty - six year hiatus , their first since 1 9 5 9 .



Chicago ' s skien of disappointment is astounding . The two Chicago

teams , alomg with their LONG - suffering fans , have waited the longest

for their teams to win the World Series . Last year ' s World Series victory

for the BOSTON RED SOX ended eighty - six years of futility , butt is

nevertheless just the THIRD - most prolonged wait for Glory .



WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS , Most - Recent / Most - Distant :



BOSTON RED SOX ( 2 0 0 4 )

FLORIDA MARLINS ( 2 0 0 3 )

LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM ( 2 0 0 2 )

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS ( 2 0 0 1 )

NEW YORK YANKEES ( 2 0 0 0 )

ATLANTA BRAVES ( 1 9 9 5 )

TORONTO BLUE JAYS ( 1 9 9 3 )

MINNESOTA TWINS ( 1 9 9 1 )

CINCINNATI REDS ( 1 9 9 0 )

OAKLAND ATHLETICS ( 1 9 8 9 )

LOS ANGELES DODGERS ( 1 9 8 8 )

NEW YORK METS ( 1 9 8 6 )

KANSAS CITY ROYALS ( 1 9 8 5 )

DETROIT TIGERS ( 1 9 8 4 )

BALTIMORE ORIOLES ( 1 9 8 3 )

ST . LOUIS CARDINALS ( 1 9 8 2 )

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( 1 9 8 0 )

PITTSBURGH PIRATES ( 1 9 7 9 )

" NEW YORK BASEBALL GIANTS " ( 1 9 5 4 ) / See Explanation Below

CLEVELAND INDIANS ( 1 9 4 8 )

CHICAGO WHITE SOX ( 1 9 1 7 )

CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 )



NOTE : The NEW YORK " BASEBALL " GIANTS departed New York

following the 1 9 5 7 season and settled in SAN FRANCISCO .



TWENTY - TWO MAJOR LEAGUE FRANCHISES have won at least

one World Series . Eight teams - - the COLORADO ROCKIES , the

HOUSTON ASTROS , the MILWAUKEE BREWERS , the

SAN DIEGO PADRES , the SEATTLE MARINERS , the

TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS , the TEXAS RANGERS and the

WASHINGTON NATIONALS - - await their first .



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( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday / Day 2 8 1 Of The Calendar Year )



Greetings !



This will be the INAUGURAL Post for " VANITY AND VEXATIONS OF SPIRIT(S) " ,

one week tardy . As the Author is not a professional journalist , it is left up to You , the

Reader , to tout this " blog " if You wish . The content of " V . & V . O . S . " will vary ;

particular favorite topics of the Author are American History , Geography and Travel ,

Numismatics , Physical Fitness , Nutrition , Sports ( especially Baseball , Basketball ,

Hockey , Football , Horse Racing and Boxing ) , Music , Cinema , et . al .



You are humbly invited to read and enjoy . You are welcome to make Your dissent known

if You DON ' T like the Blog ' s content . ( Feel free to respond even if You DO like what

You read . ) I must thank one Friend in particular for suggesting I fashion a Blog , as a

better way to reach potential readers and regular readers alike ; ' J . P . T . ' , if perchance

You are reading this now , YOU merit the thanks ( or the blame ! )



The creation of a personal Blog is also a modestly rebellious gesture - - rebellious , in

that the Author treasures Freedom Of Speech / Freedom Of Expression / Freedom Of

Dissent and the like , and it is OUR Solemn Responsibility to protect same . The passage

of the McCAIN - FEINGOLD CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT , as I see it , is a looming

threat to Our First Amendment Freedoms , is in fact an abomination that need be

eradicated . As this Blog will at times quite unavoidably be Political , MY FREEDOM

OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE is a Must To Preserve And Defend . I do hope You

feel the same way . ( Do YOU want the Federal Government to scrutinize Your

Blogs and impose restrictions upon the content ? )



This new Blog will , I hope , make of me a more disciplined and more productive

writer . ( My preferred term is " typist " ) . It is very possible that much of the work

created by writers is just substandard , that the Reader never sees the dismal schlock

that precedes the publication - worthy culls . Good writing requires ABUNDANT

writing , and an intrepid Editor . Since I haven ' t the latter . . . .

well , You the Reader will have to take Your chances !



Actually , therein is part of the fun . Blogs are generally informal and thus more

accessable ; the Blog one reads might be the product of a Typist very much like oneself .

Thanks to the Web site " Blogger.Com " for providing this Typist with a place to

create and disseminate . NOTE : Had You wondered about the title ? Let ' s just say

I " plagerized " it , although the source material has been in the " Public Record "

for a few millenia . " Vanity And Vexation Of Spirit " is a phrase common to the

OLD TESTAMENT , specifically the BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES .



I , in turn , was first " exposed " to the Book Of Ecclesiastes in 1 9 6 4 , at the age of

eight , listening to the radio while riding in my Family ' s Mercury Monterey . THE

BYRDS ( Roger McGuinn , David Crosby , Chris Hillman , Mike Clark , Gene Clark )

recorded PETE SEEGER ' s tune " TURN ! TURN ! TURN ! " at that time , and

had a fair amount of airplay with Seeger ' s adaptation of Ecclesiates from King

James Bible to Twentieth Century Folk Tune to Contemporary Rock Tune .



While I myself am not particularly religious , I did have a look at Ecclesiates in

1 9 7 7 , drawn by curiosity . At least one subsequent entry in this Blog will address

the Bible . To - Day , though , I am keen to type about an event that transpired

forty - nine years ago to the very day . Read On . . . .



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( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday )



I appreciate meticulous presentations of Fact that convincingly masquarade

as intriguing story - telling . I will try for both and be content with even just one !



Forty - Nine Years Ago To - Day , the defending WORLD SERIES Champions , the

BROOKLYN DODGERS , faced the NEW YORK YANKEES in the Fifth Game

of the 1 9 5 6 Series . The Dodgers , winners of Games One and Two playing

at their home park , EBBETS FIELD , dropped the Third and Fourth games at

YANKEE STADIUM . As was customary in a best - of - seven series , one team

would host the middle three games ( three , four , five ) , hence the Yankees had

the home field in Game Five , with an opportunity to take the lead in the Series .



The 1 9 5 6 World Series was the seventh to match the Dodgers and Yankees ;

the two teams also played one another in 1 9 4 1 , 1 9 4 7 , 1 9 4 9 , 1 9 5 2 ,

1 9 5 3 and 1 9 5 5 . Brooklyn ' s lone World Series Championship came to pass

the previous year ( 1 9 5 5 ) , under first - year manager WALTER ALSTON ,

as the Dodgers and Yankees took every home game save Game Seven .

Brooklyn ' s 2 to 0 victory in the Seventh Game , at Yankee Stadium no less ,

has to rate as the most euphoric day in the history of the Brooklyn Franchise .



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The ' 5 6 Series would be a mirror - image of the ' 5 5 match , as the home team

won every game butt the seventh . The similarities don ' t stop there : the Dodgers

got a complete - game shutout in the Seventh Game of the ' 5 5 Series from a

left - hander named " Johnny " , JOHNNY PODRES ; likewise , the Yankees

started JOHNNY KUCKS a year later , and he , too , hurled a complete game

in the Series finale without yielding a run .



The most memorable - - improbable ! - - occurance in that 1 9 5 6 World Series

was DON LARSEN ' s performance in the fifth game . Larsen , not an elite pitcher - -

he only won eighty - one games in fourteen major league seasons , while losing

ninety - one - - staked the Yankees to a critical three - games - to - two lead in the

Series with a 2 to 0 win . None - NONE ! - - of the Dodger batters reached base ,

the ONLY Perfect game ever pitched in Major League PostSeason history .



Larsen did not so much as deploy a wind - up , a sweet irony ; pitchers generally

pitch from " The Stretch " only with runners on base , and here was a pitcher who

hadn ' t any baserunners to hold at all ! Larsen , facing a Brooklyn lineup with a

formidable array of hitters ( ROY CAMPANELLA , CARL FURILLO , GIL HODGES ,

PEE WEE REESE , JACKIE ROBINSON ) threw just ninety - seven pitches , the last

of which was a called third strike that retired pinch - hitter DALE MITCHELL .



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DON LARSEN and DAVID WELLS attended the same High School in San Diego .

In an uncanny parallel , BOTH would go on to pitch Perfect Games for the New York

Yankees , Larsen ( as heretofore indicated ) in 1 9 5 6 , Wells in 1 9 9 8 . Perfect Games ,

so named because no opposing baserunners get so far as first base , are exceedingly rare .

In MY lifetime ( 1 9 5 6 - ) , the very short list includes :



DON LARSEN ( 1 9 5 6 , 8 October )

JIM BUNNING ( 1 9 6 4 , 2 1 June )

SANFORD KOUFAX ( 1 9 6 5 , 9 August )

JIM " CATFISH " HUNTER ( 1 9 6 8 , 8 May )

LEN BARKER ( 1 9 8 1 , 1 5 May )

MIKE WITT ( 1 9 8 4 , 3 0 September )

TOM BROWNING ( 1 9 8 8 , 1 6 September )

DENNIS MARTINEZ ( 1 9 9 1 , 2 8 July )

KENNY ROGERS ( 1 9 9 4 , 2 8 July )

DAVID WELLS ( 1 9 9 8 , 1 7 May )

DAVID CONE ( 1 9 9 9 , 1 8 July )

RANDY JOHNSON ( 2 0 0 4 , 1 8 May )



Some notable data : JIM BUNNING , who had also pitched a no - hit game in

the American League in 1 9 5 8 while playing for the DETROIT TIGERS ,

is the fomer Governorof - , and current United States Senator from , Kentucky .

SANFORD KOUFAX , whose nine innings of perfect pitching enabled the

LOS ANGELES DODGERS to overcome BOB HENDLEY ' s one - hit

performance for the CHICAGO CUBS , had already hurled three previous

no - hitters ( 1 9 6 2 , 1 9 6 3 and 1 9 6 4 ) ; his four career no - hit games

comprised the individual Major League record until NOLAN RYAN achieved

seven ( 7 ! ) . MIKE WITT achieved his Perfect Game on the final day of the

American League season . DENNIS MARTINEZ remains the only Nicaraguan -

born player to achieve ' Perfection . ' KENNY ROGERS , You may have noticed ,

pitched his Perfect Game exactly three years to the day after Dennis Martinez did it .



SANFORD KOUFAX pitched his Perfect Game at a curious historical mid - point :

exactly twenty years after the nuclear bombing of HIROSHIMA , exactly twenty years

prior to the death of JERRY GARCIA . LEN BARKER ' s Perfect Game is meaningful

for me personally , in that he achieved it one day prior to my graduation from the

University of Vermont . Barker ' s playing career was not exceptional - - indeed , of

the twelve names on the list of ' Perfection ' , only Jim Bunning , Sanford Koufax

and ' Catfish ' Hunter have thus far been inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame .



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A peculiar historical twist found Don Larsen , veteran of four World Series playoffs

with the New York Yankees ( 1 9 5 5 , 1 9 5 6 , 1 9 5 7 and 1 9 5 8 ) , pitching for the

opposing team AGAINST the Yankees in the 1 9 6 2 Series . The SAN FRANCISCO

GIANTS , like the Brooklyn Dodgers a previous tenant in a New York ballpark ,

faced the Yankees in 1 9 6 2 in one of the most competitive playoffs ever . Neither

team could string together two wins in succession , hence the Series lasted seven

games . Larsen himself was the winning pitcher in Game Four , exactly six years

to the day after his Perfect Game in the ' 5 6 Series . Damn . . . .



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