Sunday, May 24, 2015

Now and then: Nasty line drives up the middle on the first day of spring 1999


Now:  Old Elm Lawn

Then:  From a letter to Mom (Sunday, March 21, 1999)
With the beautiful weather yesterday, our thoughts turned to baseball. I took the boys to Dunham’s, a sports store, to buy Andy a new glove. His current one will be given to Eddie once it’s restrung. Andy also needed a pair of baseball cleats. The ones he wore last summer are a size 6. He now wears a size 9, but I bought him a size 10. There will probably be at least one shoe size of growth between now and August. Eddie also needed new baseball cleats – Andy’s old ones are too worn for hand-me-downs – which I hope he’ll also be able to use for soccer. After this shopping trip, we found ourselves an open baseball field at the old Elm Lawn schoolyard, just a few blocks from the house, and warmed up by throwing the ball around. Eddie no longer flinches when a ball is thrown at him. I threw batting practice to both boys, Andy quickly regaining a mid-season swing. He hit a few sharp line drives to left-centerfield that would have gone for extra-base hits in any of his games. Eddie was a little slow in getting around on the ball, all of his hits going to the right side. Andy volunteered to pitch to me. “Don’t swing hard, Dad,” he cautioned. Ever since my softball days in Oshkosh, I’ve been known for my nasty line drives up the middle. Andy’s has been on the receiving end of a couple of those, so he’s always a little gun shy when he pitches to me.

100 Years of Frank Sinatra: "I Could Write a Book"


"I Could Write a Book" was among Sinatra's final recordings for Columbia Records.  According to daughter Nancy, he went into the studio just 4 times in 1952.  By June, he was without a recording contract.



In other Sinatra news that year......
  • His TV show was canceled.
  • Lightning did not strike twice at a series of concerts at New York's Paramount Theater, the scene of his career-launching triumph a decade earlier.
  • A 2-part series in a Hearst newspapers Sunday supplement links Sinatra to Communist sympathizers and the Mafia.
  • Sinatra attempts suicide after another public, painful break-up with Ava Gardner.

If Frank had written a book that year, it wouldn't have found its way to our house.



Other Frank Sinatra 100 posts:
"Our Love".  (2/14/2015)
"I'll Never Smile Again".  (2/15/2015)
"Fools Rush In".  (2/16/2015)
"Dolores".  (2/17/2015)
"Oh Look At Me Now".  (2/18/2015)
"This Love of Mine".  (2/20/2015)
"There Are Such Things."  (2/24/2015)
"Night and Day".  (2/26/2015)
"The Night We Called It a Day".  (2/27/2015)
Paramount Theater, December 30, 1942.  (3/2/2015)
Reveille with Beverly.  (3/4/2015)
"You'll Never Know".  (3/7/2015)
Higher and Higher.  (3/8/2015)
"People Will Say We're in Love".  (3/10/2015)
The Shining Future.  (3/17/2015)
"I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night".  (3/19/2015)
Step Lively.  (3/20/2015) .
"Saturday Night (is the Loneliest Night of the Week)".  (3/21/2015)
"You'll Never Walk Alone".  (3/23/2015)
"Oh What It Seemed to Be".  (3/24/2015)
Anchors Aweigh.  (3/26/2015)
"Day by Day".  3/27/2015)
Till the Clouds Roll By.  (3/29/2015)
"Always".  (3/30/2015)
It Happened in Brooklyn.  (3/31/2015)
"I've Got a Crush on You".  (4/3/2015)
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  (4/5/2015)
"It Only Happens When I Dance With You".  (4/7/2015)
The Miracle of the Bells.  (4/9/2015)
The birth of Tina.  (4/11/2015)
The Kissing Bandit.  (4/16/2015)
"Some Enchanted Evening."  (4/19/2015)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  (4/22/2015)
"The Huckle Buck."  (4/24/2015)
On the Town.  (4/28/2015)
A blowup in Houston.  (4/30/2015)
1st television appearance.  (5/3/2015)
"The Frank Sinatra Show".  (5/5/2015)
"I'm a Fool to Want You".  (5/7/2015)
"Mama Will Bark".  (5/10/2015)
Double Dynamite.  (5/13/2015)
Frank and Ava get married.  (5/15/2015)
Meet Danny Wilson.  (5/19/2015)

No Friend to the Environment: Republican Representative John Carter, Texas's 31st Congressional District


Photo sourceU.S. Congress
Text sourceThink Progress

Rep. Carter was re-elected to a 7th term in 2014 with 64% of the vote.

"Chicken Little" is a climate change denier meme, long used by the likes of Michelle MauMau.

6% lifetime score (9% in 2014) from the League of Conservation Voters.


No Friend to the Environment dishonor roll.

Alabama Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives.   (Their anti-environmentalism can be summed up in one world:  coal.  Which is odd, since Alabama contributes a mere 1.9% of U.S. production, good enough for an overall ranking of 13.  The state's peak year of production:  1990)  
Alaska Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
  • At-large District.  Don Young (R).   Ridiculed environmentalists as a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots.....not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.” 
 Arizona Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Arkansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
California Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Colorado Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans hail from Connecticut and Delaware. 
Florida Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Georgia Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Idaho Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Illinois Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Indiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Iowa Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kentucky Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Louisiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maine Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maryland Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans in Massachusetts delegation.
Michigan Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Minnesota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Mississippi Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Missouri Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives 
Montana Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nebraska Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nevada Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Hampshire Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 New Jersey Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Mexico Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New York Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 North Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
North Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Ohio Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oklahoma Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oregon Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
  Pennsylvania Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Tennessee Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Texas Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives