Two Cheers For The Absentee Ballot ( Part One )

( The Date Is 2 3 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 , Monday - -

The 2 9 6 t h Day Of The Calendar Year )



Fifteen days prior to Election Day 2 0 0 6 , it is timely and

fitting to type a bit about things political . . . .

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I vote via ABSENTEE BALLOT . I never miss the opportunity to vote ,

as I don ' t wait until Election Day and I never miss a deadline .



The absentee ballot is a boon for me - - and , evidently , for hordes of

other voters . Some thirty per cent of us here in California vote absentee .



I ' ve been taken to task , GENTLY , by one of my friends for using the

absentee ballot when I presumably don ' t have to . Actually , he dismissed

the absentee ballot as a " gimmick " and proposed to abolish it .



Now , if it is his point , his belief , that able - bodied folk oughtn ' t to USE

the absentee ballot , I ' ll dispute his contention without a great deal of

indignation , as it really is not a big issue for me . It is important to

give the absentee ballot its due , however , as it is INDISPENSABLE

for they that can not travel to the polls on the day of the election .

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I am particularly concerned with active duty personnel of the

United States Army , Navy , Air Force , Marine Corps , the

diplomats of the Department of State , et . al . - - Americans who

simply can not venture to their local polling places because duty

requires they be overseas . This I consider essential , in light of

FLORIDA ' s notorious vote - tally in the 2 0 0 0 General Election .

Quite aside from the matter of the official margin - of victory ,

a mere 5 3 7 votes , it concerns me that certain absentee ballots

were never counted , were rejected by certain of Florida ' s

County Clerks - - all because thay hadn ' t POST - MARKS .



THIS is shamefully unfair . Overseas voters have done their part

once they ' ve filled out the ballot , sealed it , provided a return

address and applied the requisite postage . What becomes of their

ballots after that is the responsibility of the Postal Service .



I DO RECOMMEND to any Americans overseas : take Your sealed

ballot and present same to a Postal Clerk . Insist on a " P . V . I . "

( the acronym stands for " Postage Validation Imprint " ) . As a

further precaution , ask to have the ballot shipped via REGISTERED

MAIL or , better still , EXPRESS MAIL ( the latter is costlier ) .

As time is of the essence , Americans voting from abroad should prepare

and send their ballots as soon as they are able .



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The matter of absentee voting was an opportune prelude to type about voting in

general ; ditto elections . The rate of participation tends to decline during

MID - TERM ELECTIONS , as compared with PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS .

Dismissing one as less important than the other is a mistake .



No fewer than THIRTY - SIX Governorships are at stake during Mid - Term ,

including the ' Behemoth ' States of CALIFORNIA , TEXASS , NEW YORK ,

FLORIDA , ILLINOIS , PENNSYLVANIA , OHIO , and MICHIGAN . All

4 3 5 Congressional seats are contested at the Mid - Term , along with one - third

of the United States Senate .



In the Twenty - First Century , information about candidates abounds : aside from

one ' s own local paper , one can access newspapers and magazines galore on - line .



Allow this typist to try to provide thee a sampling :



http://www.nytimes.com - - The N . Y . TIMES , especially JOHN TIERNEY

http://www.latimes.com - - The L . A . TIMES , particularly MAX BOOT & JONAH GOLDBERG

http://www.chicagotribune.com

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm - - U . S . NEWS AND WORLD REPORT , notably MICHAEL BARONE

http://www.tnr.com - - THE NEW REPUBLIC

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish - - ANDREW SULLIVAN

http://www.hitchensweb.com - - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

http://www.townhall.com - - TOWNHALL

http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles - - JONATHAN RAUCH

http://realclearpolitics.com

http://www.nationalreview.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/willgeorge - - GEORGE F . WILL

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/navarrette/archive - - RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR .

http://www.csmonitor.com - - THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

http://jillstewart.net/php/index.php - - JILL STEWART

http://www.victorhanson.com - - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.opinionjournal.com - - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Editorial Page

http://www.americanheritage.com/blog/JohnSteeleGordon.shtml - - JOHN STEELE GORDON



Twenty Web Sites , Magazines , Newspapers , Archives , Blogs - - all in all , not a

bad start . Note the HUFFINGTON POST has abundant links . Although this typist

is of a Conservative bent , I thought it only ' fair and balanced ' to offer

THE NATION , THE HUFFINGTON POST , THE NEW YORK TIMES

and THE NEW REPUBLIC . I would have liked to include THOMAS FRIEDMAN ,

butt unfortunately much of his commentary is available only through a

NEW YORK TIMES subscription .



I should like to include one more , the venerable NAT HENTOFF :

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff1.asp



I would happily include THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY had they more content

available on - line at no cost . Fortunately , JONATHAN RAUCH has his own

blog , the Link of which is listed above .



TO BE CONTINUED . . . .



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The 1 0 2 n d WORLD SERIES ( Part One )

( The Date is SATURDAY , 2 1 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 ,

the 2 9 4 t h Day of the calendar year )



For the third time , the ST . LOUIS CARDINALS and the

DETROIT TIGERS will meet in the WORLD SERIES .

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The Cardinals , nine times the World Series Champions ( 1 9 2 6 ,

1 9 3 1 , 1 9 3 4 , 1 9 4 2 , 1 9 4 4 , 1 9 4 6 , 1 9 6 4 , 1 9 6 7 , 1 9 8 2 )

defeated the Tigers in the 1 9 3 4 Series , four games to three . The

two teams played again thirty - four years later ( 1 9 6 8 ) at which

time the Cardinals , having staked themselves to an advantage of

three - games - to - one , dropped games five , six and seven despite

having the latter two games at home AND despite the ultimate

trump ' card ' ( if You will ) , BOB GIBSON , pitching in the finale .



The 1 9 6 8 Series was meaningful for this typist in that I finally

took an interest in sports at the age of twelve . As a long - time

observer of baseball , I regard 1 9 6 8 as a significant year in

Major League history in that pitching so ruthlessly dominated

batting , and the imbalance was near to disasterous .



Consider : American League batting champion CARL

YAZSTRZEMSKI of the BOSTON RED SOX could do no

better than a . 3 0 1 average , the only A . L . batter to manage

that threshold . Four A . L . starting pitchers - - LUIS TIANT

( 1 . 6 0 ) , SAM McDOWELL ( 1 . 7 3 ) , DAVE McNALLY

( 1 . 9 5 ) and DENNIS McLAIN ( 1 . 9 6 ) - - had earned - run

averages below 2 . 0 0 . ROGER ANGELL , a sportswriter I

don ' t ordinarily extol , nevertheless got it right when he said

of Baseball that it was dying , owing to lack of interest .



The game , simply said , had become too one - sided in favor of

the pitcher , had a frightful dearth of runs .



A wise , if controversial , remedy was implemented in 1 9 6 9 :

the pitcher ' s mound was diminished from fifteen inches to ten .

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TIM McCARVER , now a talking head on Major League broadcasts ,

was the Cardinals ' catcher in ' 6 8 . Currently , McCarver is heard to

say the imbalance greatly favors batters vis - a - vis pitchers , and thus

he favors the enlargement of the mound .



I trust McCarver is aware the ten - inch mound has been the standard

since ' 6 9 , meaning we ' ve thirty - eight seasons of experience with it .



The ten - inch mound hasn ' t prevented select pitchers from having

dominant seasons ; just to cite one , RON GUIDRY had an E . R . A .

of 1 . 7 4 , some 3 0 1 stikeouts , and a 2 4 and 3 record with the

NEW YORK YANKEES in 1 9 7 8 . ( Guidry is now the Yankees '

pitching coach . Guidry ' s career statistics are remarkably similar

to those of SANFORD KOUFAX , butt Guidry , alas , is not a

Hall Of Fame inductee , one of many injustices perpetrated by the

schmucks in the Baseball Writers Association Of America . )



Aforementioned Sanford Koufax formerly held the single - season

record for strikeouts , 3 8 2 . It is fair to point out that Koufax

established the record whilst pitching from the fifteen - inch

mound , AND with other teams ' pitchers to victimize every

ninth - at - bat . ( NOLAN RYAN , who bested the old strikeout

mark by one unit in 1 9 7 3 , pitched from the ten - inch

platform and was obligated to face designated hitters . )



NOTE : This is not to demean Sanford Koufax , butt merely

to advance the very real possibility that certain pitchers of more

contemporary times - - after Koufax retired in 1 9 6 6 - - are his

equal or even nominally better . For sure , admirers of Koufax

can not base the Hall Of Fame case for their guy on longevity ,

as Koufax only played tweleve seasons ( 1 9 5 5 through 1 9 6 6 )

and had a mere 1 6 8 career wins , quite modest for a starting

pitcher . Compare that with lefthanded starters WARREN SPAHN

( 3 6 3 ) and STEVE CARLTON ( 3 2 9 ) to cite just two .

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Sanford Koufax did establish the World Series record for strikeouts in

one start , fifteen , against the NEW YORK YANKEES in the 1 9 6 3

World Series , as the Dodgers swept the Yanks . The record lasted

just five years , as aforementioned BOB GIBSON struck out seventeen

Detroit batters in the first game of the ' 6 8 Series .



Gibson ' s overall performance in 1 9 6 8 is astounding : Thirty - four

starts ; twenty - eight complete games ; twenty - two wins , nine losses ;

a minuscule E . R . A . of 1 . 1 2 ; thirteen shutouts ; 2 6 8 strikeouts .

Despite a well - earned reputation as a ' head - hunter ' , Gibson only

hit seven batters with pitches in ' 6 8 . Incidentally , the E . R . A .

works out to be just thirty - eight earned runs allowed in 3 0 4

innings pitched . ( Gibson only yielded forty - nine runs total . )



Gibson , like Koufax before him , was blessed in having a ' pitcher ' s

park ' for his home starts , the ' old ' BUSCH STADIUM ( home field

for the Cards from 1 9 6 6 through 2 0 0 5 ) . The defense was exceptional ,

with a lineup that included Tim McCarver , DAL MAXVILL , JULIAN

JAVIER and the late CURT FLOOD ' up - the - middle ' ( catcher ,

shortstop , second base and centerfield , respectively . )



Hall Of Fame inductee ORLANDO CEPEDA , the National League ' s

Most Valuable Player the previous year , played his second ( and last )

season with the Cards in 1 9 6 8 ; Cepeda would be traded to the

ATLANTA BRAVES for eventual Hall - Of - Famer JOE TORRE .

ROGER MARIS , still the single - season home run record - holder

at the time , finished his Major League career playing right field for

the Cards in 1 9 6 7 and ' 6 8 . LOU BROCK , also a Hall - Of - Fame

inductee , played left field and batted leadoff ; his 9 3 8 career stolen

bases were the most of any Major League player until RICKEY

HENDERSON surpassed it . MIKE SHANNON was at third base ;

RED SCHOENDINST was the manager .



STEVE CARLTON , just four years away from a breakthrough season

with the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( more about that in a moment )

was with the cardinals in 1 9 6 8 butt did not start in the World Series ;

rather , the Cardinals ' rotation had Gibson pitching games one ,

four , and seven ; NELSON BRILES started games two and five ;

RAY WASHBURN pitched the third game , and the sixth .



( As promised : Steve Carlton , pitching for the worst team in

baseball , won 2 7 games and lost just ten times in 1 9 7 2 .

The Phillies had an abysmal 5 9 and 9 7 record in ' 7 2 - -

hence Carlton alone accounted for forty - five per cent of

Philadelphia ' s wins that year . )

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The DETROIT TIGERS had the best record in baseball ,

1 0 3 wins and 5 9 losses , in 1 9 6 8 . DENNIS McLAIN ,

traded by the CHICAGO WHITE SOX to the Tigers for

eventual NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

power forward DAVE DeBUSSCHERE ( ! ) , became the

first Major League pitcher to win thirty ( 3 0 ! ) games in

one season since DIZZY DEAN of the Cardinals did so

in 1 9 3 4 . ( McLain finished 3 1 and 6 in 1 9 6 8 . )



Anxious to maximize their offense , Tigers manager

MAYO SMITH benched shortstop RAY OYLER and moved

centerfielder MICKEY STANLEY to the infield . JIM NORTHRUP ,

who hit two grand slams in a 1 9 6 8 regular season game and would

hit another in Game Six of the ' 6 8 Series , moved to centerfield .

Hall - Of - Fame inductee AL KALINE played right field ; WILLIE

HORTON was in left field ; DICK McAULIFFE was the second -

baseman and the leadoff batter ; BILL FREEHAN was the catcher ;

NORM CASH , 1 9 6 1 ' s American League batting champion , was

at first base , while DON WERT and the aging ED MATHEWS ,

the latter also in the Hall Of Fame , alternated at third base .



The shuffling of the lineup did not help the Tigers at all against

Bob Gibson , as Detroit scored only one run in eighteen innings

in Games One and Four . Ray Washburn was the winning pitcher

against EARL WILSON , and Tim McCarver hit a home run as the

Cards defeated the Tigers , 7 to 3 , in the third game , the first of

three at Detroit ' s TIGER STADIUM .



Detroit did win handily in the second game , 8 to 1 , as MICKEY

LOLICH , Tigers ' left - handed starter , pitched the first of three

World Series wins en route to winning the Series M . V . P . award .

( Gibson , winner of three games in the 1 9 6 7 Series against Boston ,

and Lolich were the last pitchers to attain the trifecta before

RANDY JOHNSON achieved three wins in the 2 0 0 1 Series . )



The clutch pitching of Mickey Lolich was critical in the fifth game ,

as Detroit avoided elimination with a 5 to 3 win . McLain , hurting ,

received painkilling injections before Game Six and pitched the

Tigers to a 1 3 to 1 win at Busch Stadium . Lolich returned to the

mound in Game Seven with just two days of rest ( Gibson had three

days off between starts ) and the two starting pitchers hurled six

scoreless innings apiece in the decisive game .

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The baserunning of the Cardinals , ordinarily a strength ,

betrayed them in Game Seven as both Lou Brock and

Curt Flood were picked off first base by Mickey Lolich .

Still , the likelihood was that St . Louis would win this

game , with the Cards playing at home and with Gibson

pitching . Going into the top of the seventh inning ,

Gibson had hurled twenty - four innings against the

Tigers ' formidable power - hitting lineup , and had

permitted only one run .



Yet the Tigers came through with three runs in the seventh

inning , as Jim Northrup delivered a triple over the head of

Curt Flood to break the scoreless tie . Essentially the

Series was decided on Northrup ' s at - bat - - only Mike

Shannon ' s home run in the ninth inning off Mickey

Lolich prevented a shutout .



Lolich deservedly took the Series M . V . P . , just as

Gibson had done the previous year AND in 1 9 6 4 .

Despite allowing four runs in his final World Series

start , Gibson ' s E . R . A . in the ' 6 8 Series was a more

than respectable 1 . 6 7 . More impressive yet was his

run of seven consecutive wins in three World Series

playoffs - - two in 1 9 6 4 , three in 1 9 6 7 , two in 1 9 6 8 .



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