DailyNewsGems

Liberal Lions and Their Racist Past

A photo on Ralph Northam's page in the Eastern Virginia Medical School's 1984 yearbook

Source: Eastern Virginia Medical School

This 1942 poster, titled "This is the Enemy," circulated in the United States following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

**

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) must feel like he’s riding aimlessly on an old dilapidated raft in an ocean of impending peril, circled by ravenous sharks, anxiously waiting their next feeding.

It’s just a matter of time before he’s devoured.

The 73^rd governor of the Old Dominion is being strongly encouraged to resign after pictures from his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook (1984) emerged showing one person in a black face, another in a KKK robe.

Northam, as widely reported, initially admitted being in the photo; but later retracted his statement, saying that it’s not him in the photo, after studying the photo in more detail.

The Virginia governor, however, does admit to once polishing his face black to make him appear as the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, for a dance competition.

What’s striking about this furor, calling for Northam to resign, is that it happened 30 years ago before he entered the political arena.

Admittedly, polishing your face black, no matter the circumstances, is hard to ignore or downplay as mere youthful indiscretion.

The entire picture is appalling, tasteless, and difficult to look at.

Still, we don’t have to go back in history very far to think of the dumb and insensitive acts people have committed in their youth; only to change course, evolve as they got older, and blaze a new path in their professional careers, far removed from their reckless past.

Racist blunders from politicians isn't uncommon in U.S. 20th century history. From Richard Nixon's endemic anti-Semitism (captured on White House tapes), former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott’s praise for Strom Thurmond’s racist 1948 campaign to Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell posing in front of a Confederate flag (in the early 1990s) have been well documented.

What’s even more interesting is that some of America’s most liberal lions had a racist past; but historians, for the most part, have swept them under the rug for fear it would damage their political legacy.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va), a child from Appalachia’s coalfields, in the 1940's, long before he entered the political arena, recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Crab Orchard, W.Va. Byrd's affiliation with the Klan remained until 1952.

Returning to West Virginia after World War II, he wrote a letter to one of the Senate's most notorious segregationists, Theodore Bilbo (D-Miss.), complaining about the Truman administration's efforts to integrate the military.

Even during his political career when he renounced the Klan and all it stood for-his racism still clung to Byrd.

In 1964, he joined with other southern Democrats to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The W. Va. senator filibustered the bill for more than 14 hours, arguing it violated principles of states' rights. Three years later, he voted against the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court, a black Solicitor General of the United States.

Interestingly, over time, Byrd’s views on race evolved; so that by the time he died in 2010, he was hailed as not only the longest-serving member of the Senate and longest-serving member of Congress in American history, but one of the liberal icons of the U.S. Senate who became a strong advocate for the working class, ensuring accessibility to health care and greater educational and employment opportunities for constituents back home in W. Va.

Speaking at his funeral in 2010, President Obama said " We know there were things he [Robert Byrd] said, things he did, that he came to regret." “I remember," Obama continued, "talking about that the first time I visited with him. There were things I regretted in my youth. You may know that.’ I said, ‘None of us are absent some regrets, Senator. That’s why we enjoy and seek the grace of God.’ … Robert Byrd possessed that quintessential American quality — the capacity to change, to learn, to listen, to be made more perfect.”

In 1936, 18 African American athletes left the Berlin Olympics with 14 medals. None of them, including Jesse Owens (who came away with four medals) were invited to the White House. Only the white Olympians were invited by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Photo Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, another liberal lion, who guided America through the Great Depression to a miraculous national recovery; then boldly joining with our allies to defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, is often considered one of the greatest presidents to have occupied the White House during his 12 years in office.

But through all the valiant tributes and glorious adorations heaped on FDR by historians, little about his blatant racism is ever discussed.

In 1936, Jesse Owens, an Alabama native, (son of a sharecropper) and Cleveland, Ohio high school and Ohio State University track star, made America proud by winning four gold medals, equaling the world record (10.3 seconds) in the 100-meter race and broke the world records in the 200-meter race (20.7 seconds) and in the broad jump (26 feet 5 3/8 inches).

In 1936, in fact, 18 African American athletes left the Berlin Olympics with 14 medals, a quarter of the total medals won by the U.S. team that summer.

FDR might be remembered for the New Deal; but he gave Jesse Owens and other black Olympians the Raw Deal, by not inviting any of them to the White House. Only white Olympians were invited to the White House. Roosevelt, the “all we have to fear is fear itself,” U.S. President didn’t even send Owens a telegram for his heroic achievement in Berlin.  Possibly, Roosevelt feared a backlash from voters. Owens told reporters, “Hitler didn’t snub me; it was our president who snubbed me."

It was 80 years later, that President Obama (in September, 2016) cleaned up FDR’s mess by inviting relatives of the 16 men and two female black athletes of 1936 Olympics to the White House, where they finally received their long overdue recognition by a U.S. president.

FDR’s racism reared its ugly head, yet again, during World War II when he issued Executive Order 9066, which sent 120,000 Japanese expatriates and American citizens of Japan to internment camps. This unconscionable act led to abrupt expulsions, mass detentions and the persecution of thousands, based solely on their ethnicity.

The internment of Japanese Americans was carried out despite the fact that two secret investigations commissioned by Roosevelt himself confirmed that Japanese Americans posed no threat to national security.

Taken together, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were confined to grimy and unlivable concentration camps, which included some Japanese being stripped of property, separated from families, along with a number of deaths due to the appalling conditions of the camps.

President Johnson was known to use racist epithets in private conversation.

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Lyndon Johnson, the gregarious Texan and 36^th U.S. President, aside from dragging the United States deeper and deeper into the morass in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, is best remembered for the Great Society, a series of domestic programs whose chief objective was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice in the United States. His ambitious domestic agenda included improvements in education, medical care, urban decay, rural poverty, and transportation, among others.

Johnson is additionally remembered for bringing the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 to fruition.

What’s generally overlooked is LBJ’s frequent derogatory term for blacks when talking with colleagues or White House cabinet members.

According to Robert Dallek’s book, "Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times" (1991), when LBJ was discussing the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as associate justice of the Supreme Court, he told an aide in 1965, "Son, when I appoint a nigger to the court, I want everyone to know he's a nigger."

Another time, as reported in Ronald Kessler's book, "Inside the White House (1996)," when discussing the virtues of his 1964 Civil Rights Bill, Johnson supposedly told two governors (their names were omitted), "I'll have them niggers voting Democratic for two hundred years."

So, it’s puzzling that liberal icons like Robert Byrd, FDR and LBJ’s shameless racism are forgiven or barely mentioned--while someone like Ralph Northam watches his political career go up in flames for acting foolishly for one snapshot in his wayward youth.

Northam seems about as much of a racist as Prince Harry is a Nazi, for foolishly dressing up in a Nazi uniform (in 2005) for a costume party.

Much like Robert Byrd, I think Ralph Northam should be allowed to prove his liberal chops in the here and now, instead of judging the man on one foolish act before, long before, he ever became governor of Virginia.

The embattled Virginia governor, after all, while campaigning for governor, reaffirmed his call for Confederate statues and monuments in the state to be taken down and moved into museums. "That means," Northam reportedly said, "memorializing civil rights advocates like Barbara Johns and Oliver Hill, who helped move our Commonwealth closer towards equality."

Northam also said that "Virginia should do more to elevate the parts of our history that have all too often been underrepresented."

During his State of the Commonwealth Address delivered on January 9th, the new governor of the Old Dominion said, "we're a state that supports our veterans, embraces diversity and inclusion, and attracts visitors from around the world. We work every day to make sure that Virginia is a place of opportunity, where everyone can build the life they want to live."

Unfortunately for Northam, the standard bearers of the Democratic Party, like Nancy Pelosi, are using the Virginia Governor as a political football-hoping to score some quick political points with liberals while ignoring that fact some people in this country are permitted the freedom to evolve, and to be judged on what they’ve accomplished during their long arduous journey through the political landscape.

–Bill Lucey

February 6, 2019

WPLucey@gmail.com

 

 

 

1963: All-Star Game Without an All-Star Performance

The 1963 All-Star game in Cleveland was noted for its unusually low attendance of 44, 160 with plenty of empty seats which this picture clearly shows.

Photo Credit: Major League Baseball

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The experiment failed.

No one was happier than a majority of fans (including scores of players) to see Major League Baseball return to a single-game format, beginning with the 1963 MLB All-Star game in Cleveland on July 9.

From 1959 through 1962, MLB launched an experiment, holding two All-Star games a year. In order to get the players' consent to return to the single game format, the owners agreed to put 95 per cent of the net receipts of $250,384.59 and the TV-radio receipts into the players pension fund. Previously, players received only 60 per cent.

The 1963 midseason classic marked the 34th playing of All-Star game. In 1963, Cleveland was still very much a vibrant city, though its population had been in decline since the 1950s. The population in Cleveland peaked in 1950 with 914,808 inhabitants, the seventh largest city in the nation with a 15 percent foreign population. In 1963, Cleveland’s population was roughly 876,050 (according to the 1960 census), the 8th largest city in the nation with an 11 percent foreign population.

Prior to the All-Star game, there were a couple of hot issues brewing within the baseball community by the time everyone arrived in Cleveland. It had been widely reported that Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley wanted to relocate his team to Oakland. Though Finley never submitted a formal request, he was notified by the American League that such a bold move wouldn’t be permitted. At the same time, there were reports that a group from Atlanta, Ga., were in Cleveland at the time of the All-Star game in hopes of luring the Indians to Atlanta. Atlanta was scheduled to have a new stadium built by 1965. Since the Indians weren’t drawing well over the last two seasons, the Atlanta group felt confident that the Indians were ripe for the picking.

Cleveland Indians president and general manager, Gabe Paul, however, quickly put the kibosh on the wild rumors that his ballclub was headed to the Peach State.

Shortly before the All-Star game, Paul issued a concise and pithy statement: "We're doing fine here and have no intention of moving."

Finley would have to wait until 1968 before relocating the Athletics to the Bay area. And two weeks after the All-Star game, it was leaked that the Atlanta group was in talks with Milwaukee to relocate the Braves to Atlanta. The Braves officially abandoned Milwaukee after the 1965 season.

The body of Mervin Gold, a missing financial manipulator, twice convicted on fraud charges, was found in the trunk of his own car on Chagrin River Road in Solon, Ohio.

Photo Credit: Cleveland Public Library

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Another explosive issue engulfing Cleveland before the first pitch of the All-Star game had nothing to do with baseball, but centered on a gruesome murder of a local financer.

On the morning of the All-Star game, July 9, 1963, readers woke to a grisly story splashed across the front page of The Plain Dealer by police reporter, Ed Kissell, reporting the murder of Mervin Gold, 32, a missing financial manipulator who was found stuffed in the trunk of his car in a secluded section of Solon, Ohio. A noose was tightened around Gold’s neck and strangled to death; his body wrapped in blankets with four.38 caliber bullets discharged into his body. His body was then dumped in the trunk of his car and driven to Chagrin River Road in Solon.

According to Gold’s wife, her husband was on his way to visit Alex (Shondor) Birns, a longtime Cleveland rackets figure. Birns was immediately arrested and questioned about the murder. The rackets kingpin provided an alibi, and was released.

A year after the murder, investigators publicly acknowledged that they were never able to piece together who murdered Gold as the killers’ trails increasingly grew cold. The case remained unsolved.

Nationally, 1963, was a year in which civil rights was put to the test.

A George Gallup Poll published at the time of the All-Star game showed that President John F. Kennedy's controversial proposal to ban discrimination in businesses that serve the public won only a narrow margin of support from the American public. 49 percent of the nation's voters, according to the Gallup poll, wanted Congress to pass a law giving all persons-black as well as white-the right to be served in hotels, restaurants, theaters, stores, and other public accommodations. A large proportion of the public-42 percent were opposed to such action on the part of Congress. Nine percent were undecided. Eight of ten white southerners, in the same poll, opposed passing a law guaranteeing blacks equal access to public places.

Other events taking place in 1963, prior to the All-Star game, included: John F. Kennedy barn burning "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin (June 26); four charming mopheads from Liverpool, England: John, Paul, George and Ringo recording their debut album "Please Please Me" in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London (February 11); and long-running soap opera General Hospital making its debut on ABC Television (April 1). The four-digit zip code was also introduced on July 1st of the year.

The National League went into the midseason classic as 7-5-favorites to win the game.

With the game in Cleveland, Indians fans really didn’t have a horse in the race to cheer for. Jim "Mudcat" Grant (5-8 with a 3.92 ERA) was the only representative in the 1963 All-Star Game for the Indians. He never saw any action.

At the time of the All-Star break, the Indians were in sixth place in the A.L., 7 1/2 games out of first place with a 44-40 record (.524 winning percentage). The Yankees led the league with a 50-31 record (.617 winning percentage), 5 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox. The Washington Senators were dead last with a 30-56 record, 22 ½ games out of first place (.349 winning percentage).

Though Mudcat Grant was the Indians sole representative, the A.L. staring pitcher was Ken McBride of the Los Angeles Angels, a Cleveland native, and a product of West High School in Cleveland (Franklin Boulevard and West 69th) who once pitched a high school championship game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

On the Senior Circuit, Jim O’Toole, the Cincinnati Reds southpaw got the nod to start the game for the N.L.

The manager for the A.L. was Ralph Houk of the Yankees, for the N.L., Alvin Dark of the San Francisco Giants.

Los Angeles Dodger announcer Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola handled the play by play for NBC, while Bob Neal and George Bryson were the radio announcers.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Locher threw out the first pitch (impressing many with the zip he put on the ball) on a refreshingly cool and bright afternoon with temperatures in the 70s. Mike Douglas, the KYW (later WKYC) television entertainer and host in Cleveland, belted out the national anthem.

For those star gazing: Milton Eisenhower, president of John Hopkins University (and brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower), Ohio Governor James Rhodes and former Cleveland Browns head coach, Paul Brown, were all in the house. As were Bob Feller, Jimmy Foxx, Bill McKechnie, Stan Coveleski, and Bedford, Ohio native, Elmer Flick.

Before players took the field, Casey Stengel, "The Ol' Perfessor” managing the dysfunctional New York Mets, shared a few pearls of wisdom of what this game really means, as reported by Bob Sudyk of the Cleveland Press: "Whoever wins this here thing today," Stengel said, "will prove he's the best there is no matter who tells you different, otherwise there's no point in fooling around with it and they might as well give it all to charity."

The game started promptly at 1 p.m.

To the surprise of many, the 34th All-Star game was largely a dud.

Between the two teams, there were 17 hits, 16 of which were singles. Interestingly, among the land of giants, the smallest guy on the field, the Los Angeles Angels 5-foot-5 Albie Pearson, had the only extra base hit, the loudest hit of the day, a double in the third inning.

After a scoreless first inning, Willie Mays led off the second with a five-pitch walk. The Giants center fielder scampered to second when catcher Ed Bailey (SF Giants) swung and missed on a 3-1 hit and run pitch. Bailey eventually walked. Dick Groat (St. Louis Cardinals, SS) playing in his first All-Star game for the Cardinals, cracked a single to second to score Mays for the first run of the game.

The A.L. came back to score in the bottom of the frame, when pitcher Ken McBride stepped to the plate with two on and two out, and sliced a ball just to the left of third baseman Ken Boyer (St Louis Cardinals); the ball deflecting off his mitt and sailing into left field, allowing Leon Wagner (LA Angels) to cross the plate, tying the game at 1.

In the third with Hank Aaron (Milwaukee Braves, RF) on second, Willie Mays, in a season long slump with the San Francisco Giants, produced a clutch two out hit (slashing a hit to center) to score Aaron. Mays then stole second, his second steal of the game and scored on Ed Bailey’s ground single to center to put the N.L. up 3-1.

Again, in the bottom of the third, the A.L. was equal to the task. Albie Pearson (LA Angels, CF) cracked Larry Jackson’s (Chicago Cubs, P) offering to the left-center field gap. Willie Mays skillful backhanding of the smash, limited Pearson to a double. Pearson scored when Frank Malzone (Boston Red Sox, 3B) managed a bloop single just over short. A ground out by Leon Wagner moved Malzone to second. Earl Battey (Minnesota Twins, C) brought the stadium crowd to life by smashing a hard single up the middle to tie the score at 3.

With the game knotted at 3, little did anyone in the stadium know that the run production for the A.L. dried up for the rest of the game.

Stan Musial (St Louis Cardinals), playing in his 24th All-Star Game, drew the loudest ovation, pinch hitting in the fifth. He flied out to Al Kaline (Detroit Tigers) in right.

The top of the 5th was noted for a critical error by the New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson who was put in to replace Nellie Fox (Chicago White Sox). With Tommy Davis (LA Dodgers, LF) on first and one out, Bill White (St. Louis Cardinals, 1B) squibbed a grounder off the end of his bat toward third. Frank Malzone (Boston Red Sox, 3B) rifled the ball to second for a force out, but Richardson was late covering the bag, mishandling the ball, for an error, allowing Tommy Davis to advance to third. Mays (yes, him again) followed with a slow grounder to first. Rookie Joe Pepitone (New York Yankees, 1B) appeared to have a play at the plate, but hesitated and ended up racing to first for the put out, allowing Davis to sprint home for an unearned run, putting the N.L. on top, 4-3.

The N.L tacked on another run in the 8th. Ron Santo (Chicago Cubs, 3B) blooped a single to short right to score White who was on second base, to put the N.L. up, 5-3.

Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale took the mound for the 8th and shut down the A.L. for the next two innings, turning in a solid pitching performance, which was punctuated with Richardson hitting into a game ending double play in the 9th. Drysdale got the save. The winning pitcher was Larry Jackson. Jim Bunning (Detroit Tigers) took the loss.

Though happy with the win, Alvin Dark, the skipper of the N.L. expressed disappointment he wasn’t able to pitch Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, and Juan Marichal because all had worked Sunday prior to the All-Star game. Dark pushed for a rule change that would prevent any pitcher selected for the game from pitching on the Sunday before the midseason classic.

The N.L. made history by fielding a starting infield made up entirely of St Louis Cardinal players, featuring first baseman Bill White, second baseman Julian Javier, shortstop Dick Groat and third baseman Ken Boyer.

Willie Mays was named the MVP of the All-Star Game. The "Say Hey Kid" managed only one hit, but drove in two runs, and stole two bases, making it 5 stolen bases in his All-Star appearances. Prior to the All-Star game, Mays had only stolen three bases all year. The Giants center fielder also flashed some leather in the 8th, running into the center field wired fence while chasing down Pepitone's long fly ball.

Bob Broeg, Sports Editor for the St Louis Dispatch singled out Mays in his column. "The National League might not have the greater power and the better pitching, after all, but they're faster than American Leaguers and must be wiser, too. They're smart enough to have selected a .271 [Willie Mays] hitter to play center field for them in the All-Star game."

What was most ironic about the klunker of an All-Star game was that at the Chamber of Commerce All-Star luncheon held at the Hotel Sheraton Cleveland ballroom a day before the All-Star game, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick said "there has never been a dull All-Star game."

The baseball czar came to regret those words.

Arthur Daley, columnist for the New York Times, questioned such a statement after viewing the game. According to Daley, "It was so prosaic and routine that not even the stars could sparkle with their usual glitter. The Nationals beat the Americans, 5-3, although outhit, 11-6. Few of the hits were rip-snorters. Most were bloopers or grounders with seeing-eye ability to squirt through infield holes. A double by the littlest star, Albie Pearson, was the only extra base hit."

Similar sentiments were echoed by Plain Dealer columnist Gordon Cobbledick, who wrote: "For those that were unable to attend, there was the consoling thought that they missed nothing memorable."

Other than the unusually low attendance (44,160) for an All-Star game, what many found peculiar was how the crowd at Cleveland Municipal Stadium wouldn’t embrace the Yankee players when they stepped to the plate, not even for an All-Star game. There was nothing but a loud chorus of boos that rippled through the stadium when a Yankee was at the plate.

Of course, the Cleveland crowd had reason to boo the Yankees since they had such a bad track record when facing them in the regular season. At the time of the All-Star break in 1963, the Indians had won only 289 and lost 425 for a .406 mark against the Yankees, stretching back to 1930.

The Yankees less than stellar performance in the All-Star game was welcome fodder for a number of Indians fans and sports reporters. Yankee rookie first baseman Joe Pepitone went 0-for-4 at the plate (with two strikeouts) and neglected to throw home when fielding a ball at first allowing the N.L. to break a 3-3 tie in the 5th. And the usually dependable Yankee second baseman, Bobby Richardson, committed a costly error in the same inning. He also hit into two double plays. Oddly, Richardson hit into only three double plays all year heading into the All-Star game.

Charles Johnson, sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star, wrote: "The New York Yankees are the world champions of baseball through most regular seasons, but their representatives were the "goats" of the American League's 5-3 defeat by the Nationals in the All-Star game in Cleveland Tuesday...funny thing, but the Yankees forte has always been to capitalize on the oppositions misplays in tight contests. In this showdown, their misplays gave the Nationals their 16th win, only one less than the A.L."

Clearly, though, the most stinging indictment about the 34th All-Star game sprang from the notebook of Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich, who wrote: “The sick city in major league baseball is Cleveland, and this was known before Tuesday's All-Star game turned up 26,000 empty seats in the big lakeside stadium that used to beckon baseball's biggest mobs. The Indians may be on the move, to another clime. The malaise in Cleveland can be diagnosed as apathy."

"In Cleveland there is much to be apathetic about,” Povich continued. “The Indians have a cheerless sixth place ball team that lacks one exciting evening. The fan interest has dipped sharply enough to ring all the alarms in the front office. It has not been gradual, but steep. Twenty-two years ago, before the population explosion, the team was drawing more fans than in these last two seasons."

Others, too, began to question why the All-Star game was held in Cleveland.

According to one item from the Minneapolis Star: "Baseball moguls realize now that they made a mistake in giving Cleveland the game this year. The attendance of 44,160 was way below estimates (60 percent of capacity) made last winter when this city got the call over Minnesota. One of the better suggestions on these games for the immediate future is to stage them in areas which have new clubs like Met Stadium [Shea Stadium], and Houston before going to the old-time franchise holders. In two previous games as host, Cleveland turned out each time."

Instead of placing all the blame on Cleveland for the poor turnout, Dick Cullum, sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star, offered an alternative viewpoint. Cullum argues that baseball may have tarnished the novelty of the All-Star game when they had two games played each year.

"May it not be, however, that the greed of players and club owners has taken the charm from the game?” Cullum observed.” "They cheapened it by presenting two All-Star games a year for four years. This gave the All-Star idea a commercial aspect which clings to it even after the error has been corrected. The appeal existing in sports events is a fragile and often indefinable thing."

Cheapened it or not, Cleveland Press columnist Frank Gibbons welcomed the cross-pollination of the two leagues and hoped it would become more frequent during the regular season in the near future. “The All-Star game made me feel, again,” Gibbons wrote, “that one of the things major league baseball can do to promote itself is for the brass hats to get together and agree on an inter-league schedule.”

Sharp questions whether Cleveland was a fading baseball town flourished ever since 1963 All-Star game.

Cleveland, in fact, would have to wait nearly 20 years before they’d see another MLB All-Star game again.

NOTE: A big heartfelt thanks to the folks at Proquest for allowing me to access the historic archives of the St. Louis Dispatch and the Minneapolis Star.

–Bill Lucey
January 16, 2019

WPLucey@gmail.com

Is There No Room for Frankie and Hosey in Football Crazed Cleveland?

 

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) lunges forward for a first down at First Energy Stadium on Sunday in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Photo Credit: UPI

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Baker is indeed the man.

No doubt about it. The Oklahoma quarterback and the Cleveland Browns no. 1 pick has propelled his team to a 7-7-1 record, improving to 5-2-1 at home, and marking the first time the Browns have been .500 or better at this point of a season since 2007.

With 24 touchdown passes this season, the Austin, Texas native has moved within two of the rookie records held by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

Ever since the rookie quarterback assumed center stage in week 3 of the season in a Thursday night nationally televised game against the New York Jets, replacing an injured Tyrod Taylor and heroically bringing the Browns back from a two-touchdown deficit, Baker has been the talk of the town. The Browns beat the Jets, 21-17, officially ending their losing streak at 19 games or 635 days.

Mayfield started the next game (week 4) and has never looked back. Since 1999, he’s become the 30th starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns final home game at First Energy Stadium pretty much sealed Mayfield’s stature in Cleveland as the new icon; giving the Browns fresh hope that their 16-season playoff drought may soon come to an end (beginning next season) with Baker as their Knight and shining armor and formidable field general.

In the Brown 28-16 win over the Bengals last Sunday in front of a sold out First Energy crowd on a cold December afternoon, Mayfield went 27 of 37 for 284 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a rating of 121.9.

Soon after the Browns win over the Bengals, their first sweep of the Bengals since 2002 and first sweep of any AFC North opponent since 2007, fans have taken to Twitter, posting that Baker is now the new undisputed sports hero in Cleveland, replacing LeBron James, who departed to La La Land at the end of the 2017 season.

Here are some tweets that were splashed across Twitter on Sunday

@ColeBuckus
Baker Mayfield is the new LeBron

Eric Spicer
‏@eric_spicer2
Baker Mayfield is already bigger in Cleveland than LeBron ever was. It shows how much more important the Browns are than every other Cleveland sport.

Michael Smith
‏@Smittyupsman
Time to put Baker and the #Browns banner up on the side of the building in Cleveland, this is a Football town!!! LeBron who???

Complete nonsense! roars this blogger from the peanut gallery.

Hailing Baker the new King of Cleveland wasn’t limited to Twitter.

"Baker Mayfield is just the gift Cleveland fans needed this season, especially in the wake of LeBron James’ departure,'' Mary Kay Cabot, Browns beat writer for Cleveland.com, wrote. 

As amazing as Baker Mayfield has been, have Cleveland sports fans really forgotten about the left field of the Cleveland Indians infield as far as star power and heroics goes, two remarkable athletes, who have been every bit as dramatic as Mayfield’s heroics? But somehow the spectacular accomplishments and frequent web gems of Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez gets overlooked, time and again, in this football crazed town.

Do we really have to review the feats and triumphs of Frankie Lindor and Hosey over the last few seasons to demonstrate just how incredible they have been?

Shouldn't Cleveland fans be tweeting until they run out of characters that Lindor and Ramirez were largely the reason the Indians advanced (in 2016) to their first World Series since 1997. The dynamic duo have become, moreover, the first two players in Indians franchise history to collect at least 35 home runs, 35 doubles, 90 RBI ‘s and 25 stolen bases.

Lindor and Ramírez have become the first switch-hitting teammates in MLB history to both reach 30 HR’s; they’re also recognized for becoming the first switch-hitting teammates in MLB history with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases.

 

As a stadium usher, I’ve attended a number of Indians’ games at Progressive Field since 2011. I never recall a more dramatic home run then when Lindor cracked a grand slam against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the ALDS in 2017. The Indians stormed back from behind to win, 9-8, in 13 innings. Unfortunately, the Indians lost the remaining three games of the Series and were ousted from post-season play.

Still, Frankie’s majestic blast made Progressive Field rumble on one memorable late afternoon; it was arguably one of the most dramatic, ear-splitting, home runs I ever witnessed at Progressive Field.

That blast alone in the 2017 ALDS should have placed Frankie right next to the King, LeBron.

But once again, Cleveland fans determined LeBron was the only real game in town.

Lindor continued his spectacular gallantry in the 2018 campaign; putting together six multi-homer games, tying him with Manny Machado for second most in the Majors behind Khris Davis (7).

The Indians advanced to the ALDS in 2018, but were quickly devoured by the Houston Astros in three games. Still, despite the Indians quick exit from the post-season, Lindor provided some offensive thunder, batting .364 with two home runs.

Somehow, José Ramirez hasn't risen to the rock star status as his Puerto Rican teammate, Francisco Lindor, but he's as equally as lethal at the plate with equally superior defensive skills at third base, a mighty hot corner.

And fans across the country have taken notice.

Ramirez was voted to the starting lineup of the All-Star game in consecutive years, something that hasn't been accomplished in Cleveland since Al Rosen in 1953 and 1954.

Hosey, moreover, set a club record with 29 first-half homers, tying him with Lance Berkman and Mickey Mantle for the most in MLB history by a switch-hitter.

It's not many teams who can boast players like Ramírez and Lindor who both belted 10 home runs in one month in becoming the first Indians to accomplish such a feat since Jim Thome and Karim García in 2002.

José Ramírez (on left) and Francisco Lindor, the dynamic duo of the Tribe's infield.

Photo Credit: SI.com

***

And consider this stat from ESPN: “José Ramírez and Francisco Lindor are the first teammates to each get 80 extra-base hits in consecutive seasons since Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig did so for the Yankees in 1936-37.”

How’s that for star power?

Amazingly, all this seems to have fallen deep beneath the surface among the sports fans in Cleveland.

If Frankie and Hosey were playing in New York, Boston, or L.A., I can’t imagine them being overlooked in any of those respective cities the way they are overlooked in Cleveland.

Yes, Baker is amazing, LeBron was phenomenal, but PLEASE, let's not forget about Frankie Lindor and José Ramirez, two All-Stars and potential Hall of Famers who somehow are not considered iconic figures who tower over the city like Baker currently does and Lebron once did.

They are every inch the Kings Lebron was and Baker purports to be.

–Bill Lucey
December 27, 2018

WPLucey@gmail.com

The Most Read Online News Stories of 2018: A Survey

A combative confrontation between President Trump, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer over exactly who is going to pay for the wall.

***

Yes, it’s that time again.

We are rapidly coming to the end of the year; a time to reflect on the highs and lows of the year, the most memorable moments and moments we’d just as soon forget.

As you might have guessed, the year has largely been punctuated by the flamboyant actions of the present occupant of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave: President Donald J. Trump, considered by many as the Tweeter-in-Chief. 

In keeping with his campaign promise, Mr. Trump plowed ahead with his proposal to build a wall on the southern border of the U.S. in hopes it would stop the flow of immigration from Central and South America.  This contentious effort has met with stiff resistance particularly from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, whose recent sit down with Trump quickly turned into an explosive exchange captured by television cameras and whirring photographers.

Aside from his rants against illegal immigrants, there has been a drip!…drip!…drip! atmosphere surrounding the President with the Robert Mueller investigation looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. The special counsel’s investigation has so far resulted in criminal counts against more than 30 people and three Russian entities.

Stay tuned!

2018, to be sure, will also be remembered for the continuation of the MeToo# movement (which actually began in 2017) a powerful nationwide crusade against sexual harassment and sexual assault, whose shocking allegations (thoroughly investigated) ended the careers of a number of influential newsmakers, including Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer. In September, comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for sexual assault.

Sexual harassment allegations continued apace through the year, culminating in a contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation battle in which Brett Kavanaugh defended himself against sexual misconduct allegations dating back to his time in high school and college.

In October, Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed (50-48) as the 114th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Picture of Hurricane Michael's wrath.

***

One of the most destructive weather calamities of the year occurred on October 10, when Hurricane Michael made landfall at Mexico Beach, Florida, with packed winds of 155 mph and a minimum pressure of 919 mbar. It was reportedly the most intense hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Camille in 1969. By October 28, a total of 35 people were officially confirmed killed by the hurricane in Florida, with hundreds still unaccounted for.

Many news organizations spent a good part of October reporting the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His tragic death sparked a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia.

During the scorching hot summer, Apple Inc. the multinational tech company, achieved a remarkable milestone in becoming the world's first public company to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion.

And Canada scored a new high in June when they became the first major industrialized country to legalize cannabis for recreational use.

Not all the news of the year was gloomy. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, after all, finally tied the knot, marrying American actress Meghan Markle in June. The ceremony was held at St George's Chapel, England, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.

Boston Strong was strong again this year. The Boston Red Sox won their ninth World Series, deposing the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5 games. It was the Red Sox fourth World Series win in the 21st century.

Well, these were just some of the major stories of the year.

To get a sense of some other big stories of the year, I reached out to a number of news organizations and asked them which single story drew the most traffic to their respective websites.

What follows are the responses I received.

New York Times

The Most-Read New York Times Stories of 2018

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal splashed with a major scoop, when it reported that Donald Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 from his own personal funds before the 2016 election to silence her about allegations that she had sex with Trump in 2006. 

CNN

The top story on CNN.com in 2018 was the breaking news on Midterm Election Night, with 29 million-page views. 

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s obituary was their second largest story of the year with 24 million-page views.

L.A. Times

It should come as little surprise that the Los Angeles Times most populated online story was their ongoing coverage of the Woolsey Fire, a destructive wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, which destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation Km of more than 295,000 people.

Fox News

A couple of the most widely viewed stories at FoxNews.com included Fox News star Charles Krauthammer revealing he had just weeks to live in an heartbreaking letter, which was read to viewers; along with a profile of Christine Blasey Ford, the  Palo Alto University psychology professor, who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

New York Review of Books

In an essay in the New York Review of Books, Holocaust historian Christopher Browning compares the heightened sense of nationalism under the Donald Trump administration to the rise of fascism in the interwar period. 

New York Magazine

Three of the most read articles at NYMag.com, included "In Conversation: Quincy Jones" By David Marchese ; “Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President” By Michael Wolff; and their eye-popping feature on Anna Delvey, a Russian-German woman, who scammed her way through the fashion scene in Manhattan.  

The Marshall Project

Since The Marshall Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States, shares content with a number of news outlets, it's impossible to determine just how many readers actually viewed their stories. But based solely on the traffic they received on their website, their most read single story was "The Volunteer," about Scott Dozier, a Nevada death row inmate who dropped his appeals and demanded to be executed. (He's still waiting.) 

Weather.com

 The devastating effects of Hurricane Michael drew the most traffic at Weather.com.

 ProPublica

 The highly controversial topic of migrant children being separated from their families at the border is examined more deeply by ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism news organization in their feature: “Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border “. 

PolitiFact

At Politifact, a nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida (with offices in Washington D.C.), the fact-check of the claim that Trump's family separation policy was the same as Barack Obama's drew more readers than any other in 2018. The claim rated false. 

Daily Beast

 The most viewed story of the year at The Daily Beast, the popular online news and opinion website, focused on politics and pop culture centered on how an ex-cop rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and stole millions. 

OpenSecrets.org

OpenSecrets.org, a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy, most read feature of the year dealt with Robert Mercer who backed a secretive group that worked with Facebook, and Google to target anti-Muslim ads at swing voters.

FBI.Gov

At FBI.gov, the most read feature of the year was their post about Samuel Little, a convicted killer linked to 90 murders. 

Fortune Magazine

Fortune Magazine readers usually follow the money. So it's no surprise that the multinational business magazine's most-read story of the year on their website centered on a short news item about the House passing a $3.8 trillion tax cut, "Under the Fog of Kavanaugh, House Passes $3.8 Trillion More in Tax Cuts" 

Food Network

The Food Network's most read feature was "30-Minute Dinner Recipes" 

Travel Network

The Travel Channel drew the most traffic with "10 of the World's Most Underrated Destinations." 

MLB

Finally, "Starters and rosters for 2018 All-Star Game Astros, Indians, Red Sox lead way with 5 picks; Braves atop NL with 4'' was the top choice with readers at MLB.com for 2018 

***

Social Media: Year-in-Review

Google Year in Review 2018: Search Trends

Twitter: Biggest Tweets of the Year

Instagram Year in Review 2018 

Facebook’s 2018 Year in Review 

 

Happy Holidays!

–Bill Lucey

WPLucey@gmail.com

December 13, 2018

 

 

 

1954: The MLB All-Star Game Returns to Cleveland

If ever the Greater Cleveland area needed a break to take their mind off their troubles, July, 1954, couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

The 21^st annual All-Star Game took place at Cleveland Municipal Stadium off the shore of Lake Erie on July, 13, 1954. The last time Cleveland hosted an All-Star Game was in 1935.

What exactly was ailing the city? Let us count the ways.

The Indians final series before the All-Star break was held at Comiskey Park, where the Chicago White Sox swept the Tribe in four games. It was a miserable series for the Indians. They left 31 men on base with Al Rosen (last year’s AL MVP) stranding nine without picking up a single RBI. The Tribe star center-fielder, Larry Doby, also was without an RBI. What made matters worse, the New York Yankees ended the first half of the season sweeping the Washington Senators, winning nine in a row and 12 of their last 14 to slice the Indians once comfortable lead down to a half a game in the American League.

The deafening alarm bells were ringing in full force. Cleveland fans were fretting over yet another late season collapse.

Shirley Povich, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote on the morning of the All-Star Game, "The Indians, their hitting attacked defused by good White Sox pitching, have reason to be apprehensive. This was the year in which they weren't supposed to go into their customary fold-up routine, but you don't blow four straight to the White Sox at a time when the Yankees are charging in high gear, as the Yankees are doing....neither the Indians nor the White Sox have the depth to contest with the Yanks."

Al Wolf from the L.A. Times, echoed Povich’s sentiments: "Even the most ardent Cleveland rooters must be wondering if it's going to be the same old story. Three years in a row, the Indians have had to settle for second place. Something always seems to happen."

Outside of baseball, the All-Star Game was a welcome diversion to Clevelanders who were being flooded with press coverage, reporting a grisly murder case that gripped the city and quickly became a sensational national story.

Just nine days before the All-Star Game, in the early morning hours of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard, a 31-year-old housewife and mother (four months pregnant) was beaten to death in her bed (at their lakeside home of Bay Village) with an unknown instrument. Her body was splattered with blood, pools of blood were found throughout the home. The blood-soaked victim was the wife of Dr. Sam Sheppard, a 30-year-old osteopath, who claimed he was sleeping on the family’s downstairs couch when his wife was savagely murdered.

It wasn’t until July 30, that the Cleveland Press screamed with the front-page headline: "Why Isn’t Sam Sheppard in Jail?” that Sheppard was arrested and charged with murder in the first degree. On December 21, the doctor was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently overturned his conviction in June, 1966.

Clevelanders, in fact, were accustomed to crime and colorful crime figures, such as Alex (Shonder) Birns, a mobster and racketeer from Cleveland, who was once labeled as the city's "Public enemy No. 1" by the local newspapers.  Just a day before the All-Star game, Birns went on trial for income tax evasion. He was convicted and served three years in the federal penitentiary.

More bad news came during All-Star week when it was reported that Hall of Famer Tris Speaker, 66, suffered a heart attack. The local hospital (Lakeside Hospital) said he was in good condition. Speaker, the “Grey Eagle,” was the player manager for the 1920 World Champion Cleveland Indians.

By July 13, 1954, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, there were 32 cases of polio reported in Greater Cleveland, an increase from 23 cases reported at the same time last year.

So, Cleveland was ripe, to be sure, for the all-stars to roll into town and put on a show that would help them forget the doom and gloom weighing them down.

Many thought that holding the All-Star game in Cleveland was “altogether fitting and proper” considering the city’s deep roots to the national pastime.

As the Sporting News so eloquently wrote, "Rich is the history to which the 1954 All-Star game added another chapter. Charley Somers...Sunny Jim Dunn...Alva Bradley...Ernest S. Barnard...Billy Evans...Cy Slapnicka...Roger Peckinpaugh--all of them played major roles in making and keeping Cleveland a hotbed of baseball interest. The All-Star game will go to every city in both majors before it returns to Cleveland. But nowhere will it be more welcome, nowhere will visitors to the great mid-summer show feel more at home."

The manager for the American League was Casey Stengel; for the National League, it was rookie manager Walter Alston of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Cleveland Press reported that the betting along “Short Vincent” (a popular hub of activity in downtown Cleveland, between East 6th and East 9th streets) had the NL as 7-5 favorites to win the midseason classic. The Press also reported a moderate amount of ticket scalping in the lobbies of a number of downtown hotels.

Contrary to popular opinion, Jimmy Piersall, the Boston Red Sox center fielder, who was picked for the 1954 All-Star game and covered the 21st All-Star classic for the Boston Globe, wrote a column, predicting an AL victory. "I feel sure we'll beat those National Leaguers tomorrow," Piersall wrote, “but I think it's going to be a close game. I'd say about 5-4 for our side."

Despite the AL holding a commanding 12-8 All Star game advantage, there was good reason for the NL to be heavily favored.

The senior circuit was simply billowing with currents of power. Dodger center fielder Duke Snider was scorching the league in the first half of the season, batting .367 with 20 home runs and 70 runs batted in. Stan Musial (appearing in his 11th All Star game) was hitting .331 with 82 RBI's and 26 home runs. The Cincinnati Reds burly first baseman, Ted Kluszewski, was batting .312 with 22 home runs and 66 RBI's. And Willie Mays entered the All-Star game with a robust 31 home runs. Baseball statisticians, in fact, were buzzing whether the "Say Hey Kid" might very well surpass Babe Ruth's single season home run record of 60 set in 1927. Mays was 11 games ahead of the Babe’s pace in 1927.

Additionally, the NL hitters combined for 230 home runs compared with 152 for the AL.

Despite a mediocre 7-6 record, Casey Stengel opted to use his own 25-year-old southpaw Whitey Ford to start the game. The Yankee manager thought he would be the best man for the job to face Duke Snider, Stan Musial, and Ted Kluszewski of the NL, all left-handed hitters.

Walter Alston, named Robin Roberts (11-8) of the Philadelphia Phillies as his starter for the NL, making it the fourth time in five years, the fireballing right-hander started for the senior circuit in an All-Star game.

The first pitch was set for 1:30 pm.

The television announcers were Mel Allen and Gene Kelly for NBC.  Jimmy Dudley and Al Helfer handled the radio play by play for WHK and WERE in Cleveland. The Chicago Tribune reported that a "Cleveland's summer orchestra entertained early arrivals with hit songs from recent Broadway musicals."

July 13^th was a hot day with a blazing sun beating down on the field; a soft breeze drifted through the stadium, making the game barely comfortable for the 68,751 fans who poured through the turnstiles. It was the second largest crowd in All-Star game history.

And Indians fans were thrilled to discover Stan Coveleski, celebrating his 66th birthday, was in the house. Coveleski won three games for the Indians in the 1920 World Series.

The first two frames of the game were quiet. It wasn’t until the bottom of the third inning when the American League exploded for four runs. With runners on second and third, the Cleveland Indians third baseman Al Rosen (penciled in at first base) who was mired in a slump with an injured index finger, cracked a home-run to left-center, the ball carrying 380 feet and putting the AL up 3-0. The very next batter, Ray Boone, a former Indian no less, smacked a solo home run to practically the same spot of Rosen’s mighty clout. This marked the first time in All-Star history back to back homers took place in the same inning.

In the 4th, the senior circuit was equal to the task. Sandy Consuegra, the Cuban-born right-handed pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, took the baton from Whitey Ford and proceeded to give up five consecutive hits (after retiring Alvin Dark of the Giants). Ray Jablonski, the Cardinals third baseman, slapped a hard single to center, scoring Duke Snider and Stan Musial. With runners on second and third, Jackie Robinson stepped inside the box and crashed a double off the right center field fence, scoring Kluszewski and Jablonski with the tying runs. Consuegra was lifted for Bob Lemon. With Robinson stationed on second, Don Mueller (Giants), pinch hitting for Roberts, drove a long double into the alley in right center, scoring Robinson to put the NL up 5-4.

The American League came roaring back to tie the score in the bottom of the 4th. After Chicago White Sox shortstop Chico Carrasquel lined a single to left, Minnie Minoso sliced a ball to left center field for a long single with Carrasquel scampering to third. Willie Mays (who just replaced Snider in center, with Snider moving to right) skillfully handled Minoso's hard smash to prevent extra bases. Cleveland Indians infielder Bobby Avila lifted a fly ball to medium left, deep enough to score Carasquel for a sac fly, and tying the score at 5.

The hitting assault continued in the 5^th

With Snider on base, Ted Kluszewski crushed a towering drive over the right field fence, for a two-run home run, putting the Nationals back on top, 7-5.

Cleveland's Al Rosen is greeted at home plate by the Yankees' Yogi Berra after Rosen hit his second home run for the AL in the 1954 All-Star Game.  Photo Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

***

In the bottom of the 5th, Al Rosen, who prior to the game practically begged Casey Stengel to bench him because he didn't think he would help the AL, walloped his second home run of the game, a two-run shot (traveling 400 feet) with Yogi Berra on base. Rosen’s majestic blast gave him five runs batted in, tying an All-Star record set by Ted Williams in 1946.

The game was tied at 7 after 5 innings.

The AL tacked on another run in the 6th (with Warren Spahn on the mound) when Avila singled home Ted Williams who was planted on third, giving the junior circuit an 8-7 advantage.

In the top of the 8^th, with Mays on base, Cincinnati outfielder Gus Bell put the National League up again, 9-7, when he smashed a home run over the fence in right center. Dean Stone, the rookie southpaw (Washington Senators) replaced Bob Keegan to become the AL's sixth pitcher of the game.

Arguably, the most controversial play of the game was triggered when second sacker Red Schoendienst of the Cardinals attempted to steal home plate but was gunned down on close play at the plate to end the inning. Third base coach Leo Durocher stormed up to home plate umpire Bill Stewart and administered a severe verbal lashing as only the demonstrative Giants manager can, arguing vehemently that Stone never came to a complete stop before rifling the ball to home plate. Stone, according to the fuming Durocher, should have been called for a balk. After the game, Lippy Leo was still furious, telling reporters "Ed Rommel, the third base coach umpire saw it [the balk] and told me so, said Leo, "but he was helpless to do anything about it because Stewart refused to ask him for an opinion. I simply can't understand how this game of baseball is played today”, Durocher roared.

In the bottom of the 8th, down a run, the AL managed to put the score in double digits with a three-run outpouring. Another Cleveland Indian, Larry Doby, pinch hitting for Stone, tied the game with a solo home run over the left center fence. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, the tobacco chomping Nellie Fox (White Sox) managed to send a bloop single just out of the reach of Giants shortstop Alvin Dark on the edge of the outfield grass, scoring Berra and Mickey Mantle, and putting the AL up 11-9 heading to the 9th.

Before the Chicago Cubs Randy Jackson popped up to Berra to end the game, there were some nervous moments and high drama in the final frame when Stan Musial came to the plate with Snider on first base. The NL’s clean-up hitter laced two long drives that just went foul in the right-field stands, just missing tying the game.

The AL held on with an 11-9 victory for their first win in the All-Star game since 1949 when the junior circuit beat the NL, 11-7 with manager Lou Boudreau.

Dean Stone was credited with the win despite throwing only three pitches. Prior to the 1954 All-Star Game, Casey Stengel, the “Ol' Perfessor” had lost four consecutive All-Star games.

Many questioned NL skipper Walter Alston's decision to leave pitcher Jimmy Wilson with a 6-0 record on the bench with no action. The Milwaukee Braves right-hander was the only one of 8 pitchers never to throw a pitch.

Seven records were broken in the 54' All-Star game, including 17 hits by the AL, 31 hits for both the NL and AL; while the AL’s 4 home runs tied the record set by the NL in 1951.

The gross receipts for the game totaled $292, 678 or $259,204 after taxes, a record for an All-Star Game (another $110,000 from television and radio), with sixty percent of the proceeds going toward the players pension fund.

The post-game mingling among reporters at the Hollenden Hotel was appreciably dampened, when it was learned that sportswriter Grantland Rice , considered the dean of the nation's syndicated sports columnists (whose columns were carried in more than 100 newspapers) died after suffering a stroke while working in his downtown office. Granny was 73.

A striking irony of the 1954 All-Star Game centered on how Casey Stengel may have helped his chief American League rival, the Cleveland Indians, as both teams prepared for their second half of the season quest to clinch the pennant.

In a New York Times column published two days after the All-Star Game (July 15, 1954) with the headline: "A Pyrrhic Victory?" written by Arthur Daley; the Times prized columnist wondered if Casey Stengel may have inadvertently breathed new life into the Tribe.

Daley writes, "He [Stengel] used the ailing Al Rosen and that invalid cured his troubles with two homers (he hadn't one in seven weeks) and five runs batted in; the slumping Bobby Avila broke forth with three hits and two runs batted in; Larry Doby belted a game-tying pinch home run." "As a moral builder," Daley continued, "for the wilting Indians, the All-Star game was perfect...so it will be with the renewed vigor and spirit that the Tribe resumes its regular operations today."

Despite their uncharacteristic swoon just prior to the All-Star break, the Indians ended the season strong, finishing an impressive 111-43 (.721 winning percentage), which included an 11-game winning streak (September 8-20) 8 games ahead of their chief rival, the Yankees, to advance to their first World Series in six years and claim their third American League championship in franchise history.

The Tribe, of course, were unceremoniously swept by the New York Giants in the World Series.

One of the advantages of hosting an All-Star game is being surrounded by a swarm of reporters with a mission to fill their notebooks. Indians GM Hank Greenberg took full advantage of the abundance of journalists in town to press his case for interleague play. The former Tiger slugger was convinced interleague play wouldn’t diminish, one iota, the uniqueness and novelty of the All-Star game. Greenberg told Hal Lebovitz of the Sporting News, “In a schedule providing for inter-league play, the curiosity would remain and the competitive angle would be even stronger because the games actually would count in the standings."

A Footnote:

Though the All-Star game in Cleveland witnessed an abundance of future Hall of Famers,  July, 1954, was the month and year another future Hall of Famer was born, only it would take a few years for many to realize it.

It was in July, 1954, that a 19-year-old truck driver from Memphis Tennessee, Elvis Presley, entered the Memphis’ Sun Studio to record “That’s All Right” (Mama), an up-tempo blues song written by Arthur Crudup. The young, financially strapped musician fused the rhythm and blues song with a shade of country music. It quickly became Presley's first smash hit, sending him on the fast road to international fame and fortune.

***

NOTE: A heartfelt thanks to my friends at Proquest who allowed me to access the archives of the Chicago Tribune and L.A. Times.

 

–Bill Lucey

November 29, 2018

WPLucey@gmail.com

 

 

1935: The MLB All-Star Comes to Cleveland

The year 1935 was known for a number of alarming events.

Most prominent being Adolf Hitler announcing German re-armament in violation of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles; it was the year of the first modern “race riot,” which took place in Harlem, where three died, with hundreds more wounded. It was also the year the FBI tracked down the Barker Gang, including its ring leader, Ma Barker, an American mother of several criminals who was gunned down (along with her son, Fred) in the small town of Ocklawaha, Florida at a rented house on Lake Weir.

In 1935, many Americans were still feeling the wallops of the Great Depression. Unemployment hovered around 17 percent, down from 25 percent, with many only able to find part-time work. Others, dropped out of the workforce completely.

But baseball, once again, made Americans forget about their troubles, at least for one sunny day in July. The third annual Major League Baseball All-Star game was held in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8, 1935.

The game wouldn’t be played, though, without a surge of protest from the fans and sports writers, who didn’t like how rosters would be selected.

This mid-season classic would deviate from the previous two; in that this would be the first All-Star game in which the fans would be shut out from selecting who would make the All-Star squad. In 1933 and 1934, selection of the All-Star teams was up to the fans, who could vote for the All-Stars through newspaper ads featuring official ballots. Beginning in 1935 (and lasting through 1946) each league’s eight managers selected the participants while the All-Star team managers chose the starters.

Despite taking a dim view of the rule change, Clevelanders were thrilled to have the All-Star game in their home town, a city that didn’t have much to cheer about since the Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) in seven games (five games to two) in the 1920 World Series.

Before the All-Star break, Cleveland was stuck in 4^th place, seven games behind the New York Yankees.

John Lardner, a sports writer and the son of Ring Lardner, writing in the Plain Dealer just prior to the All-Star game, wrote, " In the general excitement, the city of Cleveland is trying hard to forget its own troubles (otherwise known as the Cleveland Baseball Club). It has been declared a civic offense to mention the Indians at all during the next couple of days. You can mention Joe Vosmick and Mel Harder if you want to, because they belong to the All-Star squad, but everything else, including the standing of the club and result of the last series with Detroit, is verboten."

Looking through the Cleveland newspapers at the time, the city was bustling with activity to forget about the Indians lackluster season.

Vaudeville and radio star Bob Hope, who grew up in Cleveland, was performing at the Palace Theater, while popular newspaper columnist and humorist, Will Rogers, was lampooning the political climate in Washington at Keith’s 105^th Theater, a venue near University Circle (on the east side of Cleveland). Rogers died tragically the following month in a plane crash in Alaska along with the plane’s pilot, famed American aviator, Wiley Post.

If you wanted to catch a movie the night before the All-Star game, you could plop yourself down to take in Shirley Temple in "Our Little Girl" or "Reckless," a 1935 American musical film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Jean Harlow, William Powell and Franchot Tone at a number of movie houses around town.

A day before the All-Star game, Babe Ruth, the “Sultan of Swat,” stormed into town like a hurricane. Ruth ended his professional playing career a month earlier (June 2) with the Boston Braves after 22 seasons, ten World Series and 715 home runs.

The former home run king reportedly took the morning train from New York into Cleveland. When he arrived, he played 27 holes of golf at a Country Club. He shot an 82.

The lobby of an unnamed Cleveland hotel was reportedly flooded with stars, including Eddie Collins, GM of the Boston Red Sox, Tris Speaker, Branch Rickey, vice president of the St Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox president, Tom. L. Yawkey, Thomas S. Shibe, president of the Philadelphia Athletics and Roger Hornsby who helped Mickey Cochrane manage the AL all-stars.

The temperature on game day was described as perfect for a baseball game with just a few non-threatening cloudy skies lurking over Cleveland Municipal Stadium on the shores of Lake Erie. Game time was scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon with gates opening sharply at 10:00 a.m.

Just prior to the game, Babe Ruth, whose heroics had long since faded from a bygone generation, still remained a big attraction with the crowd. The Plain Dealer reported that a gaggle of photographers hovered over the Babe with cameras whirring with lightning speed as he took his seat along the first base line.

"For more than 10 minutes," Plain Dealer reporter Alan Silverman observed, "the photographers photographed, while Babe smoked a heavy black cigar, brushed dust off his brown sports coat, straightened his flannel trousers and talked to smartly-dressed, Mrs. Ruth."

Once known for wolfing down hot dogs in a blink of an eye, the Babe turned down the 15 cent hot dogs’ vendors were selling.

When players realized the Bambino was in the house, they immediately darted over to the first base line to shake his hand. The Babe’s presence, in fact, overshadowed the presence of Ohio Gov. Martin L. Davey, and Cleveland Mayor, Harry L. Davis. Film star, Joe E. Brown, who appeared in the motion picture "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935), reportedly stood on the field near Ruth's box for several minutes before anyone noticed him.  Even the baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, turned few heads; that is, until it was time for him to throw out the first pitch.

Game announcers were reportedly Jack Graney for CBS radio; and Tom Manning announcing for NBC radio.

The stadium was packed with 69,812 in attendance, though less than the 80,000 they originally expected. The gross receipts from the game totaled, $93, 692.80, with a government tax of $12,000. Billy Evans, business manager for the Cleveland Indians said that roughly $60,000 from the $93, 692.80 taken in for the game would be directed to the poor and needy throughout the city.

Frankie Frisch (St. Louis Cardinals) manager for the National League selected his own ace, Bill Walker of the Cardinals to the start the game.  Player/manager Mickey Cochrane, skipper for the Detroit Tigers, went with Lefty Gomez (New York Yankees) to take the hill for the Junior Circuit.

The 1935 All-Star game was over before it ever really began when the AL delivered an early round KO.

In the bottom of the first frame with Lou Gehrig stationed on first, third sacker Jimmie Foxx (Philadelphia Athletics) with a 3-2 count, drove a curve ball from the NL southpaw deep into the left-field stands, putting the AL on top, 2-0. The AL tagged on another run in the second inning when catcher Rollie Hemsley (St. Louis Browns) tripled off the wall, later scoring on Joe Cronin’s (Boston Red Sox) sac fly.

The NL's only run came in the 4th inning, when the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Arky Vaughan slashed a double to right. New York Giants Bill Terry first baseman Bill Terry slapped a hard single to center field, scoring Vaughan for the NL's first and only run of the game.

With two quick outs in the bottom of the 5th, Cleveland Indians left-fielder Joe Vosmik slapped a single to left field. Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer then bounced a single past Chicago Cubs second baseman Billy Herman, moving Vosmik to third. Gehrig walked to load the bases. Foxx stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, ready to inflict some heavy damage. The Athletics power hitter laced a ball back through the pitcher's box; New York Giants pitcher Hal Schumacher couldn't handle the hard smash, only managing to deflect it, allowing a run to score with the bases still loaded. Philadelphia Athletics left-fielder Bob Johnson struck out swinging to end the inning.

Jimmie Foxx, “The Beast,” was responsible for three of the AL’s four runs in their 4-1 win over the NL. The convincing win gave the AL their third consecutive win since the mid-season classic was first launched in 1933.

Unusual by today’s standards, AL skipper, Mickey Cochrane, only used two pitchers. Lefty Gomez pitched through six innings. He then passed the baton to Cleveland Indians ace, Mel Harder, who only gave up one hit (a double by Jimmie Walker) in three innings of work. Gomez and Harder combined for a four hitter.

Despite Lou Gehrig going hitless, he registered the loudest out of the game.

In the bottom of the 7th, the "Iron Horse “drove a ball to deep center field in front of the bleachers at the 450 ft mark. Jo-Jo Moore (New York Giants) who entered the game as a reserve outfielder, managed to chase the ball down in a dead sprint. Many thought if the game had been played at the Indians other home, League Park (66th and Lexington), Gehrig’s long drive would have most certainly cleared the fence.

Though the 1935 All-Star game didn’t have as much fireworks as many had anticipated, the real fireworks were actually ignited in the days after the game by newspaper columnists.

One of the loudest grumblings about the game was the lack of players Mickey Cochrane used for the game. The Tigers skipper used only 13 of the 20 players on the roster. He never used Rick Ferrell, Boston Red Sox catcher or Buddy Myer (Washington Senators) at second base. Cochrane elected to keep his own second baseman, Charlie Gehringer, for the entire game.

Many columnists protested that fans deserved the chance to see a vast majority of all-stars on the field even for an inning or two.

Cochrane's motives were also called into question when he decided not to use his own pitcher, Schoolboy Rowe, in the game. Many believed the Detroit manager wanted to keep Rowe's arm fresh for an important upcoming east coast trip once the season resumed.

Frankie Frisch, by comparison, used 18 of the 20 players on his roster. Even when he found his team behind, the NL manager inserted reserves, if only to let fans see some of their favorites. Dizzy Dean (St. Louis Cardinals), for example, even though pitching six innings the following day was inserted late in the game.

Other than having Mel Harder relieving Lefty Gomez, the only changes Cochrane made was in the last inning when he removed left-fielder Bob Johnson and replaced him with Ben Chapman of the Yankees. And Doc Cramer (Philadelphia Athletics) replaced Al Simmons (Chicago White Sox) in the outfield.

By leaving the decision of selecting the roster to the managers, columnists roared, it meant fans were deprived of seeing the likes of Hank Greenberg (Tigers), Ted Lyons (White Sox), Cy Blanton, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Travis Jackson, shortstop for the New York Giants, and Pie Traynor, third sacker for the Pittsburgh Pirates, among others.

According to a number of columnists, managers were thinking strictly of the best players who would perform “best under stress”, not giving much thought to fan favorites.

A nagging issue with the All-Star game was that a number of managers didn’t like the mid-season game at all. They felt It interrupted with the general flow of the season and placed an extra traveling burden on a number of teams.

Stuart Bell, Cleveland Press columnist, slammed the managers for not embracing the All-Star game with more gusto.

“The game [All-Star game] is one of the few constructive moves baseball has made in many years. Managers and players ought to be sold on it.” “And fan appeal,” Bell wrote, “should come ahead of any desire to win out league pride.”

In the weeks following the 1935 All-Star game, there was a chorus of protests from team owners, arguing that the All-Star game should be abandoned altogether. The owners were reportedly dissatisfied with the share of the gate receipts they were receiving.

The owners decided to hold off deciding the fate of the All-Star game until their annual December meetings.

One small footnote about the 1935 All-Star game. Through 2018, pitcher Lefty Gomez holds the record for most wins in an All-Star game:  3 (1933, 1935, 1937).

And the six innings pitched by Gomez during the 1935 All-Star game still stands as a major league record for an All-Star game.

 

–Bill Lucey

WPLucey@gmail.com

November 7, 2018

Field of Blood: Is the U.S. On the Road to Another Civil War?

In 1856, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was severely beaten on the Senate floor by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina.

***

Is the United States headed for another Civil War?

After reading Yale historian Joanne B. Freeman’s magnificent book, “Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War,” I was stunned to learn just how much physical violence took place within the halls of Congress before the Civil War, especially during the 36^th Congress (1859-1861).

Through her scrupulous research, Freeman reports that between 1830-1860, there were 70 violent incidents between congressmen in the House and Senate chambers, nearby streets, and dueling meeting grounds. Freeman, moreover, found clashes involving canings, fistfights, brandished pistols, and brick throwing, among others.

Most students of U.S. political history are well aware of the most infamous act of violence in the U.S. Congress.

On May 22, 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks (D-S.C.), viciously struck Sen. Charles Sumner (R-Mass.) in the head with a cane while he was sitting at his desk in the Senate chamber, leaving the Massachusetts senator semiconscious and near death, soon after Sumner delivered his famous “Crime Against Kansas” speech, in which he argued that Kansas should be admitted to the union as a free state. Sumner's inflammatory speech was a harsh indictment on the spread of slavery, while attacking several senators by name, including Andrew Butler of South Carolina.

Freeman presents scores of other physical clashes on the House floor and on the streets of Washington.

On April 17, 1850, during a debate on the Compromise of 1850, Sen. Henry S. Foote, D-Miss., a supporter of the compromise, pulled a pistol from his coat after Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, D-Mo. rose from his desk and stormed toward him. Senate colleagues grabbed Foote and wrestled him to the ground.  A motion was made to censure Foote, but failed to move beyond the committee level.

Shortly before 2 a.m. on February 6, 1858, Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow and South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt exchanged a series of insults, then blows during debate over the Kansas Territory’s pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution. "In an instant the House was in the greatest possible confusion,” the Congressional Globe reported. More than 30 Members joined the melee. Sergeant-at-Arms Adam J. Glossbrenner was instructed to use mace in order to restore order to the House. In one comical twist to the melee, Wisconsin Republicans John “Bowie Knife” Potter and Cadwallader Washburn ripped the hairpiece from the head of William Barksdale, a Democrat from Mississippi.

According to Freeman, fights and brawls became so frequent, that many congressmen strapped guns and knives each morning before heading off to the nation’s capital. Ever since the Sumner canings, Northern congressmen were strongly encouraged to arm themselves. Freeman documented more than a dozen fights in the 36^th Congress.

Freeman’s Field of Blood couldn’t have been published at a more timely moment in U.S. history.

160 years ago, the country was split down the middle over slavery. Having abolished slavery, Northerners sought to prevent its spread; the South was determined to assert its right to hold slaves. With no compromise in sight, war was the only solution. The Civil War was America’s bloodiest conflict with roughly two percent of the population, an estimated 620,000 men, losing their lives in the line of duty. 

When I think of the deep, spiteful divisions that gripped the country over slavery, I wonder if the sharp division over immigration in 2018 will have a similar harmful effect, to such an extent that it irreparably rips the country in two?

Back in July, a Gallup poll showed that immigration was the most important issue gripping the country with 22 percent of Americans citing it as the top problem. 

And on Monday, just eight days before the midterm elections, President Trump said he's prepared to deploy at least 5,200 active-duty troops to the southern border to confront migrants, preventing them from entering the country, citing national security concerns. 

 

The above video of a melee breaking out, isn’t from the United States Congress, it’s actually from the Mexican Congress.

But a similar brawl taking place in the U.S. Congress might be just around the corner, especially if the vitriol and toxic political climate we’re living in doesn’t simmer down.

Civility and comprise, after all, have left the building. We longer have the likes of John McCain and Ted Kennedy to engineer a grand bargain.

In Field of Blood, readers learned that Congress suffered a crushing blow when Daniel Webster and Henry Clay passed away in 1852, which reflected in Freeman’s mind the “passing of the spirit of compromise along with a passing of a generation.”

Congress might not come to blows in their respective chambers in the present 115th congress. Rather, their weapons of choice are to spew venom and vitriol through social media, especially Twitter.

Internet users are subjected to daily doses of anti-immigration vs pro-immigration rants, not only from congress members themselves but from their growing legion of supporters, spewing more hatred, demonizing opponents, and placing the country into a damaging specter of tribal warfare with little room for mutual agreement.

To me, the animus taking place on social media is just a 21^st century version of the pistols, knives, and bricks that Congress used to bully their opponents with in the 19^th century on the eve of the U.S. Civil War.

Another glowing similarity between the political climate in the slavery debate and the immigration debate is the role of the press.

In Field of Blood, Freeman chronicles the highly partisan nature of newspapers at the time of the slavery debate. It wouldn’t be uncommon for Southern papers, for example, to report Northerners were the aggressors, and the Southerners were the calm voice of reason throughout the crisis.  Newspapers and congressmen often struck deals to present Washington to its constituents back home as it needed to be presented. “Newspapers at the time,” Freeman wrote, “weren’t into truth telling.”

Reporters not into truth telling could just as easily be said about a number of news outlets of this present generation from Fox News to MSNBC to all the partisan blogs flooding the Internet, including Daily Kos, Red State, Breitbart News, or Mother Jones.

“With malice toward none, with charity for all,'' Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, fell from the heavens at just the right time to heal the nation during one of the most tumultuous times in the nation's history.

It was only a few months ago when Rasmussen Reports published a survey showing that nearly a third of U.S. voters expect civil war within 5 years.

As the nation, the U.S. Congress, and the American voters, come to terms with the present crisis of immigration, many are looking for the leader who will bridge the great divide tearing this country into smithereens before another Civil War takes place.

Who will that leader be before it’s too late?

 

–Bill Lucey

WPLucey@gmail.com

October 30, 2018

Book Review: Remembering When Government Was Good

 

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

During the bruising U.S. 2016 presidential election, voters were constantly reminded Washington was elitist, broken and has failed the American people.

David Goldfield, professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in his captivating book, “The Gifted Generation: When Government Was Good,” reminds us of the time when government wasn’t so broken.  He reminds us that polio was largely cured (Salk vaccine) due to the growing role of the federal government in national health, and science; when the G.I. Bill (after W.W. II) allowed thousands of working-class Americans to earn a college degree, including helping put thousands into jobs, houses, and businesses.

When the Soviets launch of Sputnik embarrassed our nation on how far we lagged behind our chief adversary in space, we didn’t point fingers and demonize those in office. Rather, we worked together as a republic to find a solution, which was the passage of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, strengthening education in sciences, foreign languages, and area studies in Universities. The NDEA was hailed as the most important national education legislation in 100 years. According to Goldfield’s splendid research, “1.5 million men and women had gone to college on NDEA’s student loan program, 15,000 of those earning doctoral degrees.”

The passing of the Clean Air Act of 1963, the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the passage of Title IX in 1972 (using the office of Civil Rights to police sexual discrimination), the founding of the EPA and the Clean Air Act, were all heroic acts of federal legislation to improve equality and quality of life for all Americans.  They were accomplished under a Democratic Chief Executive as well as a Republican Chief Executive and signed into law due to both aisles in Congress coming together as one team to improve conditions for all Americans.

Imagine, as Goldfield chilling points out, for the first time since W.W. II, children are less likely to be better off economically than their parents; and more chilling still, more than 20 percent of children live in poverty, ranking the U.S. 28^th among 34 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations.

In this toxic political environment of tribalism (blue vs red, Fox News vs MSNBC) we’re living in; when compromise has become an evil word, there was a time in this country, which historian David Goldfield chronicles so masterfully, when there existed a firm partnership between Washington and the people that helped them fulfill the promise of the American dream.

Whatever became of that country?

—Bill Lucey

WPLucey@gmail.com

October 18, 2018

Who Belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Journalists?

While scanning my Twitter feed, a picture of Mount Rushmore, sculpture in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota popped up.

Mount Rushmore, of course, features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865).

This got me to thinking, what if there was a Mount Rushmore for journalists? Which individuals would best represent the very best of American journalism?

So, I checked in with some prominent journalists to ask who they would put on Mount Rushmore, high above the dense forests and pristine streams of South Dakota.

Before getting to their personal preferences, I listed the four individuals who I thought best represented the "growth, development and preservation'' of American journalism, along with brief biographical sketches.

• Adolph S Ochs

When newspaper publisher and Cincinnati, Ohio native, Adolph Simon Ochs, age 36, bought the New York Times in 1896, he took over a publication whose circulation had plunged to 9,000 readers; with outstanding obligations of $300,000, while losing $1,000 a day.  In addition, it had a number of competitors to contend with.

Unlike other New York City dailies that were blatantly partisan, Ochs insisted his paper concentrate on objective reporting, and steer away from the sensational reporting involving murders, macabre crimes, and the “if it bleeds it leads,” mentality practiced by its chief competitors. He also reduced the price of the newspaper. As a way of consolidating its editorial independence, the Times refused advertising dollars and contracts from governments.

The New York Times under Ochs’ stewardship became the first national "newspaper of record." From 1896 to 1935 daily circulation increased dramatically, so much so that by the 1920s, the newspaper had nearly 800,000 readers.

Ochs was additionally instrumental in keeping his paper up to date with all the latest technology, giving the paper a fresh new look.

Descendants of Ochs still reside over the Times to this day and he will be glad to know his newspaper is still a powerful and influential news source in the 21^st century with a daily circulation of well over one million subscribers. The Times, moreover, have won 94 Pulitzer Prizes, a record seven in 2002 alone.

• Dorothy Thompson

International correspondent and political commentator, Dorothy Thompson, was known to many as the “First Lady of American Journalism”.

Before moving to New York City and launching her journalism career in 1917, she was a fierce Suffragist soon after graduating from Syracuse College in 1914.

During World War I, she became a foreign correspondent, first reporting from Vienna, then was named bureau chief in Berlin during the 1920s for the New York Evening Post.

She was one of the first American correspondents to warn of the terror Adolf Hitler would unleash on Europe. She wrote that the "National Socialist Revolution in Germany would prove to be the most world disturbing event of the century and perhaps of many centuries."

Thompson was back on American soil in 1936; and soon unveiled her widely read "On the Record" syndicated column which ran in the New York Herald Tribune and more than 150 other newspapers from 1936-1958.

Time Magazine ran a cover story on her on June 12, 1939, and described her and Eleanor Roosevelt as being “two of the most influential women in the country.”

• David Broder

David Broder, the "Dean of the Press Corps'' as he was dubbed, covered 11 U.S. Presidents in his famed reporting career, beginning with the Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“The high priest of political journalism “(another of his affectionate nicknames), first landed at the Washington Post in 1966. Previously, he reported for The New York Times, Washington Star and Congressional Quarterly.  He was one of the most prominent political scribes in the nation's capital, who cultivated, according to those who knew him best, some of the most authoritative and wide-ranging sources, from little known precinct officials to senior members of the U.S. Congress. Broder traveled more than 100,000 miles a year on his political beat.

Dan Balz, Chief correspondent covering national politics, the presidency and Congress for the Washington Post, once wrote that Broder "knew the details of everything but never lost sight of the big picture. In an era in which political reporting has become more and more focused on minutiae,'' Balz explained, "he kept his focus where it belonged — on the events and forces that move ordinary Americans and shape history.”

Mr. Broder was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in May 1973 for distinguished commentary, for explaining the importance of the Watergate scandal in a "clear, compelling way."

In a 1990 survey by Washingtonian Magazine, opinion-page editors of the largest 200 newspapers rated Broder as "Best Reporter," "Hardest Working" and "Least Ideological" among 123 columnists.

• Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin, who began his newspaper career as a sportswriter for the New York Herald Tribune, soon segued into a brash street-wise city reporter and columnist, who didn't write about the rich and famous--but rather--gave voice to the down and out raging through the city, the infamous, marginalized, the unscrupulous, and the deadbeats of society.

Writer Pete Hamill once said of Breslin, "I think he believes that it is his responsibility to let the voiceless have a voice. He's definitely not interested in interviewing [then U.S. Secretary of State] George Shultz."

In 1970, Breslin was viciously attacked by American mobster Paul Vario, who was later portrayed by actor Paul Sorvino in the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas. 

After the Herald Tribune folded, Breslin wrote for the New York Post from 1968-69; then the New York Daily News, from 1978-88, before landing at Newsday in 1988, where he stayed until writing his final column (as a staff member) on November 2, 2004.

The Queens native won a Pulitzer in 1986, when he was with the New York Daily News for a series of columns which "consistently championed ordinary citizens." In an interview, he said he wasn't surprised he won a Pulitzer, but was surprised " he hadn't won at least five Pulitzer's by now."

Some of Breslin's most noteworthy columns, include: interviewing the $3.01 gravedigger, Clifton Pollard, at John F. Kennedy's funeral; and in 1977, covering David Berkowitiz, the infamous "Son of Sam" who was terrorizing the New York City streets. Berkowitz began writing personal letters to Breslin.

Breslin, along with writers Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion, and others, have often been credited with being the early pioneers who ushered in "New Journalism," that is, a new breed of gifted writers who reported on the social and cultural earthquakes of the 1960s and '70s in newspaper and magazine journalism that read like compelling fiction.

Outside of the newsroom, Breslin wrote a number of books, including: "Can't Anybody Here Play this Game." (about the hapless 1962 New York Mets), "World Without End, Amen: A Novel" "Table Money," the biography "Damon Runyon: A Life," and "I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me," a memoir about his 1994 brain surgery.

Responses from Journalists on Who Should Be Included on the Mount Rushmore of Journalists?

• ) 1.) Horace Greeley 2.) Walter Lippmann 3.) James Reston 4.) Murray Kempton,

—Sam Tanenhaus, American historian, biographer, journalist, and former New York Times Book Editor. He currently is a writer for Prospect, a monthly British general interest magazine.

 

• ) 1.) Ralph McGill would be up there. 2.) H. L. Mencken 3.) Mike Royko.... Still thinking...."

—Bob Ryan, Sports columnist emeritus for the Boston Globe.

 

• ) 1.) Murray Kempton 2.) Nina Bernstein. 3.) Tom Robbins.

 —Jim Dwyer, reporter and columnist for The New York Times

 

• 1.) Don Graham) 2.) James Reston 3.) Katharine Graham 4.) Ben Bradlee  5.) Neil Sheehan 6.) Bob Woodward

—David Ignatius, associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post. 

 

• "I might add Otis Chandler "

—Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times

 

• ) 1.) William Allen White 2.) Edward R. Murrow 3.) Lincoln Steffens 4.) Dorothy Thompson

—George Vecsey, New York Times sports columnist

 

• ) 1.) Ben Bradlee  2.) Abe Rosenthal 3.) Murray Kempton 4.) Mary McGrory

—Warren Hoge, former New York Times reporter and currently vice president for external relations at the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank.

 

• ) 1.) Meyer Berger 2.) Edward R Murrow 3.) David Halberstam 4.) Thomas Nast

—Doug Clifton, former executive editor of The Miami Herald and Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

• "I’d be happy with Katharine Graham up there solo"

—Anne Kornblut, a Pulitzer Prize–winning recipient at the Washington Post, currently serving as director of strategic communications for Facebook.

 

• ) 1.) Murray Kempton 2.) A.J. Liebling 3.) I. F. Stone 4.) Edward R. Murrow 5.) Ida B. Wells, 6.) James Gordon Bennett 7.) Don Hewitt 8.) Adolph Ochs

—Sam Roberts, Urban Affairs Correspondent for The New York Times

 

• ) 1.) Ida Tarbell  2.) Carol Loomis 3.) Bob Woodward

—Clifton Leaf, Editor for Fortune Magazine

 

• 1.) Max Frankel ) Ben Bradlee 3.) Kay Graham

—Norman Ornstein, political scientist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

 

• ) 1.) Bob Woodward (and Carl Bernstein) 2.) Mike Royko  3.) Jimmy Breslin 4.) Katharine Graham /Adolph Ochs “in owner wing.”

—Dave Hyde, award-winning sports columnist for the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

 

             —Bill Lucey

            WPLucey@gmail.com

            October 4, 2018

Saying Goodbye to Mom

“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

― J.M. Barrie

It’s hard saying goodbye

Especially when it’s your beloved Mother.

A Mother who guided her five children (Ellyn, Patricia, Liz, Katie, and myself) through some tumultuous storms, heartbreaking setbacks, new challenges; a Mother who was an anchor of courage--losing her best friend, my Dad, Jerry (Jeremiah) in 1994 and her daughter (Patricia) in 1997 from lung cancer.

My Mom embraced calamity and disappointment with a renewed burst of courage and optimism. Guided mostly by her deep love of God and strong devotion to her family, always looking for the sun through the dark, foreboding skies; her belief brighter days were just around the corner.

“Things happen for a reason,” was her guiding principle through our family’s most difficult times.

No one embraced the happy times more than Mom. Birthday’s, anniversary’s, Thanksgiving and especially Christmas, Mom’s home was always filled with joy, laughter, family, friends, and an abundance of love. No one was happier than Mom, when her grandchildren (Michael, Christopher, Dawn, and Brittany) were around her; and later, her great grandchildren (Dustin, Justin, Brandon, Savannah, and Sophia).

If you understand where Mom came from, you will better understand why family was so critically important to her.

Helene Elizabeth Knox was born March 14, 1921 in Peace River, a small town in northwestern Alberta, Canada, just below the Smoky River confluence. Though she lived in the United States since marrying in 1947 (New York City), she proudly remained a Canadian her entire life.

Her mother, Sarah, died young. Her father, James, not knowing how best to raise Helene, along with her sister, Agnes, and brother, James, were dispatched to a convent in Peace River. So, Mom’s childhood was filled, more or less, with not so happy memories of strict French nuns, who rarely showered their inhabitants with much affection; they were prone, rather, to meting out harsh discipline with an iron hand.

Mom was on her own at the tender age of 16, enrolling in a business secretarial college, landing a job in Toronto; and then working for the government as a secretary in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, where she met her future husband, my Dad, Jeremiah Joseph Lucey, during World War II.

So, when Mom and Dad raised their family, birthday’s, Sunday breakfast with the entire family (after mass, of course), summer vacations at cottages, graduations and anniversary dinners at Miller’s Restaurant in Lakewood, and the joy of the Christmas season with a fully decked-out Christmas tree (with bright decorative lights adorning the outside of the house) became of utmost importance to our parents. At birthdays, Mom knew each of our favorite dinners and desserts from spaghetti and meatballs to German chocolate cake.

Mom began each morning right up until she recently broke her hip, sharply at 6:00 a.m. While waiting for the coffee to brew, she never missed a day of reciting the rosary, usually in the dark, before flipping on the lights.

Not until much later in our lives, did our family come to realize it was Mom’s devout religious faith that nourished her and became a source of sustenance during turbulent times.

One major disappointment in Mom’s life was when she became afflicted with macular degeneration (blurred or no vision in the center of her eyes, AMD or ARMD), leaving her only with weak peripheral vision. Mom was an avid reader, she devoured books like most of us devour McDonald’s French Fries. It was a mighty big challenge for her to train herself to listen to books on tape. She accepted the setback, as always, with patience and grateful that at least she can listen to tapes. Large heaps of books on tape were regularly deposited in Mom’s mailbox.

Mom was many things, but one thing she wasn’t was sugar and spice and everything nice if you got her dander up.

She could be a real firecracker, to be sure.

If something she bought from the store wasn’t working or was defective, or she was overcharged, she often could be heard, bellowing out: “Wait until I give them a piece of my mind!”

When I was a kid, there many times, I pretended I didn’t know my Mom when she was arguing with store clerks while shopping.

One time, when I was about seven or eight, I came back from the corner barber shop with a nasty looking haircut, at least by my Mom’s standards. I cringed when she dragged me through the Parma neighborhood (Gerald Ave.) past all the neighbors, back to the barber shop and screamed at the startled barber: “Do you consider this a haircut!”?

But that was Mom.

And we loved her for it. Her strong spirit and verbal lashings still live on through a couple of my sisters, namely Ellyn and Kathleen (Katie).

Physically, the last five or six years have been difficult for my Mom. She has gone through a series of operations for multiple fractures to the spine; her vision was getting progressively worse. Always so fiercely independent, she refused a nursing home or assisted living facilities. Mom, somehow, managed to get through the day by touch and feeling things around her.  For the times she was in the hospital, she was a terrible patient. She always wanted to be home in her own bed.

Though always fully alert and aware of her surroundings, this past year, Mom’s memory wasn’t what it once was. She was forgetting more and more things, names of long-distance relatives, what day it was, etc.

After her operation a week ago on her broken hip, at 97 years old, Mom showed her age for the first time in her life. She looked frail, slightly disconnected from those around her. Her spirit was noticeably diminished.

When she was transferred to Mount Alverna (across from St. Anthony’s) on Thursday afternoon, it suddenly struck me (like a bolt of lightning) looking at her so frail in the bed, her bones so brittle, unable to eat, that this was to be her last stop.

I knew the end was near.

Still, when I left her at 7 p.m. that evening, she was joking, her spirits seemed up.

Then the call came from my sister Ellyn (at around 11:30 p.m.) that they were having trouble resuscitating her.

By the time I arrived at Alverna, we were informed our Mom passed away.

The good Lord, at long last, had called her home to reunite with her best friend, my Dad, and my Sister, Patricia.

By far, the most difficult thing I have ever experienced is watching my Mom in bed, motionless with her breathing stopped, knowing she’ll never speak to me again.

The words of Victor Hugo, in Les Misérables came to mind: “Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. --I shall feel it."

We’ll miss you Mom.

Life will never be the same.

 

—Bill Lucey

October 1, 2018

 

 

Mourning the Loss of Stiff Newspaper Competition in NYC

Marguerite Higgins of the New York Herald Tribune was highly recognized for her front-line reports of the Korean War in the 1950s, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.

Photo Credit: Life Magazine

***

Whatever became of the once thriving newspaper market in New York City?

Despite the mass migration to the Internet over the last two decades, you would think in a city of over 8 million inhabitants, New Yorkers, at the very least, could support two major dailies aside from the gargantuan, financially secure, New York Times.

Apparently not.

In its second quarter of 2018, The New York Times has more than 3.8 million total paid subscriptions of which 2.9 million are digital-only with operating profit leaping to $40 million from $26.5 million in the same period of 2017.

In June, the N.Y. Daily News slashed its editorial staff in half to focus on breaking news at the expense of local news and sports.  According to regulatory filings, the Daily News loses about $30 million a year.

In addition, the Tronc owned tabloid has seen its daily circulation dwindle to 200,000 from a once robust one million readers; while its online traffic to its website has plunged 30 percent.

In 2013, Gabelli & Co media analyst, Brett Harriss, estimated News Corp.’s New York Post loses $110 million a year.

New Yorkers suffered another mighty blow when it was learned at the end of August that the Village Voice, founded as a nickel alternative news weekly in 1955 by three New Yorkers: Dan Wolf, Edwin Fancher, and Norman Mailer, announced it was ceasing operation. In April, 2017, the tabloid known for its lively counterculture coverage ended its print edition to focus on online content.  Declining revenue, stiff local competition for classified advertising revenue, high staff turnover, and the departure of prominent writers were the reasons most cited for its collapse.

Interestingly, just as I was reading about the calamitous financial state of the newspaper industry in New York, I stumbled on a reference to a book I never read before: “The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune’’ by Richard Kluger, a former New York Herald Tribune and Wall Street Journal reporter. He left journalism to concentrate on writing books. His 1996 examination of the tobacco industry, "Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris," earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1997.

“The Life and Death of the Herald Tribune” is hardly a new book.  It was actually published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1986, over thirty years ago.

Though an oldie, it’s certainly a goodie.

The New York Herald Tribune was published between 1924 through 1966. Its 20-story building was located at 230 W. 41st Street.

The Herald Tribune came about as a result of the merger between The Herald founded by James Gordon Bennett in 1835 and the Tribune founded by Horace Greeley in 1841.

Before the merger, like the Tribunes of ancient Rome, Greeley, as founder of the New York Tribune, or so it has been told, would serve the common people in the defense and promulgation of their rights. The Tribune was a Whig paper dedicated to abolishing slavery and prohibiting liquor. It also became the voice of the Republican Party.

The New York Herald under James Gordon Bennett earned its stripes for its crime coverage, the more lurid the better, and sensational crimes, such as the killing in 1836 of 23-year-old Manhattan prostitute Ellen Jewett, whose body was hacked to death, including suffering partial burns to her body on 41 Thomas Street, about six blocks from City Hall.

As I made my way through this rich and colorfully written history of the Tribune, its celebrated tradition, prize-winning writers, its biting editorials, and thorough foreign coverage, especially its unmatched war coverage, I gained a much greater appreciation of its pioneering journalists and its reverence for editorial integrity.

During its celebrated history, the Herald Tribune won nine Pulitzer Prizes for exemplary journalism.

This was a newspaper, after all, which featured Emma Bugbee, who became the first female reporter at the Herald in 1911 and would remain at the Herald Tribune for 55 years, covering the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt. a number of political conventions, and most prominently, the women’s suffrage hike from Manhattan to Albany in 1912.

Another revolutionary journalist at the Herald Tribune was Marguerite "Maggie" Higgins, who remained at the paper from 1942-1963, principally as a war correspondent, covering World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and is credited for blazing a new trail for female war correspondents.

Higgins was the first woman, moreover, to win a Pulitzer Prize for Foreign Correspondence awarded in 1951 for her coverage of the Korean War.

Highly touted Herald Tribune foreign affairs reporter, Ralph Barnes, in 1935, through shear dogged reporting, unearthed much of the twisted mind set of the Nazi regime, particularly surrounding Adolf Hitler's blatant anti-Semitism. Later, he covered the “The Munich Agreement” (permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia) in 1938.

On November 17, 1940, Barnes boarded a British bomber to report on Benito Mussolini's invasion of Greece. The airplane crashed in Yugoslavia, killing Barnes and three Royal Air Force crewmen. The Salem, Oregon native is remembered for being the first war correspondent killed during World War II.

In addition to its brilliant war coverage, the Herald Tribune hired some of the most gifted and shrewdest editors in the business.

Stanley Walker, for example, was the city editor of the Herald Tribune from 1928 through 1934, during the paper's golden age. Walker strongly believed reporters did their best work during the ages of 25-30 when journalism was still an adventure for them. "After that," Walker maintained, "it would become too much of a grind to pursue sources day and night all over town." Walker was heralded for his keen attention to detail when reporters submitted a story and ferreting out abuses of the English language. Among Walker's stern rules of thumb to his young reporters, included:  "Pick adjectives like you would a mistress or a diamond; too many are dangerous and produce diminishing returns."

 And "fancy writing is a sign of an insecure craftsman." Another: "let the verb tell the story."

The Trib's night city editor, Lessing Lanham (Engel) Engelking, preached, "The right verb is the shortest path to maximum impact."

James Bellows, editor of the Herald Tribune from 1961 through its closing, developed a predilection for taking a chance on young writers, encouraging them to write in a style that best worked for them. Bellows was instrumental in hiring what might be considered the “Murderers' Row” of writers, including, Gail Sheehy, Thomas Wolfe (later would write “Bonfire of the Vanities”), and a young, brash, Irish-American reporter, Jimmy Breslin, who joined the staff in the middle of 1963.  As Kluger tells it, Breslin found his unique writing style early in his career, usually siding with the "debtors and deadbeats, the impoverished, trapped in criminality."

New York Herald Tribune columnist Jimmy Breslin found it difficult to produce copy unless "goaded" by a fast approaching deadline.

 ***

Dan Blum, assignment editor on the Herald Tribune’s metro desk, once described Breslin as "noisy, aggressive, argumentative, hostile and obscene-he threw daily tantrums. He was great and wanted everyone else to know it. He was an immense pain in the butt, the Maria Callas of the city room, but she was worth the trouble."

Walter Arm, a reporter for the Herald Tribune for 25 years, was considered one of the finest police reporters in town.; and Nathaniel Fein was a photographer for the New York Herald Tribune for 33 years (1933-1966), capturing some of the biggest newsmakers of the age, including Albert Einstein, Ty Cobb, Queen Elizabeth, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, William Westmoreland, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Schweitzer, Marilyn Monroe and Carl Sandburg. Fein is best known, of course, for photographing the frail, cancer stricken, Babe Ruth on his final appearance at Yankee stadium, which earned him the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for his photograph "The Babe Bows Out."

Those who work hard, usually play hard. The Herald Tribune was frequently described as a “hard-drinking staff,” who often could be found whetting their whistle at the Artist and Writer's Restaurant at 213 W. Fortieth Street, affectionally known as "Bleek's,'' for its owner, Jack Bleek.

Much like the news department, The Herald Tribune's Sports Department was blessed with a number of talented journalists, including its editors.

Roger Kahn (who would write “Boys of Summer”), was a former Herald Tribune copy boy who would cover the Brooklyn Dodgers for the Tribune in 1952 and 1953 before becoming sports editor of Newsweek in 1956.

Stanley Woodward, arguably journalism's most famous sports editor, who during his tenure wanted to compete head on with the New York Times by “out-writing them.” Woodward brought Red Smith to the Herald Tribune in 1945. In a 1933 column of his, Woodward coined the word, “ivy’’ in reference to Ivy League schools.

A reporter once wrote the following sentence after a college football game: "The second half saw the tide of the game turn." Woodward immediately jumped on the reporter's misguided sentence. " A period of time cannot see anything; do it again and I'll jump out of the window."

One thing the Herald Tribune never lacked was compelling, widely read columnists, like Walter Lippmann, who won two Pulitzer’s for the Herald Tribune (1958 and 1962), Joseph Alsop ( a top insider of Washington politics), and Evans and Novak (Rowland Evans and Bob Novak) who beginning in May, 1963 introduced their "Inside Report," a popular column noted for bashing the tenets of liberalism and taking a hard line against the Soviet Union, subjects, amazingly, rarely touched upon by their contemporaries. Humorist Art Buchwald was another widely publicized columnist.

The Arts Department at the Herald Tribune took a back seat to no one.

Judith Crist was with The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter, film critic and arts editor for 22 years. She was the first woman to become a full-time film critic at a major American newspaper. She broke from other film reviewers by writing scathing reviews of “Spencer's Mountain,” “The Sound of Music”, and “Cleopatra,” among other Hollywood classics.

Film director Billy Wilder once said that inviting Crist to review a film was "like asking the Boston Strangler for a neck massage.”

Eugenia Sheppard revolutionized fashion reporting by introducing a women's fashion page in 1956 accompanied with a column, "Inside Fashion."

Virgil Thomas was the New York Herald-Tribune's music critic from 1940 to 1954, and according to Washington Post writer Tim Page, "was a force in American cultural life." Much like Judith Crist, Thomas broke from contemporaries by puncturing the "masterpiece syndrome."  In his very first review for the New York Herald Tribune in 1940, he wrote that the "New York Philharmonic was no longer a part of the city's intellectual life."

Book Week attracted a number of distinguished intellectuals and literary giants to review books, including Mark Twain, Henry James, Grantland Rice, Don Marquis, Ivan Turgenev, Stephen Crane, Robert Benchley, Henry Morton Stanley, and Richard Harding Davis.

Much like the way daily newspapers websites tarnished the quality of reporting, by rushing to get content online, the Herald Tribune followed a similar path.  In 1950, in hopes of beating their competitors to the punch, they introduced an 8 p.m. “Early Bird” edition. As Richard Kluger wrote: "The hallmark of the Tribune had always been good writing and good editing. Which went by the wayside when it launched its Early Bird edition." "The edition," Kluger noted, "curtailed research and churned out hastily and incomplete stories. Editorial integrity was sacrificed to boost circulation.”

But this would be just the beginning of the end for the Herald Tribune.

Under publisher Ogden Reid (1955-1958), the Herald Tribune’s profits vanished by 1957.

By 1963, the New York Times gobbled up 40 percent of the advertising revenue in the area; with the Daily News, (a solid money maker) 24 percent, while the other four papers scrambling for the other third. The Herald Tribune lost $4 million in 1963.

In addition, a 1963 Gallup Poll reported that readers preferred the New York Times to the Herald Tribune, largely due to its comprehensive and diverse coverage.

The final, crushing blow to the Herald Tribune was the 114-day newspaper strike of 1962-63, a strike which involved 10 unions and seven daily newspapers, including the New York Times, the N.Y. Daily News, the N.Y. Post and the New York Herald Tribune.

When the strike ended, the Herald Tribune's circulation was down 92,000 copies, forcing them to raise the price of the paper to a dime. More importantly, during the lengthy strike, readers found they could get along without a newspaper and increasingly began to turn their attention to television for the latest news. As of September 30, 1963, circulation of six daily New York papers were down 11.9 percent on weekdays and 8.3 percent on Sundays, according to reports from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Loss of readers, revenue, advertisers, and an outdated printing plant all factored into the Herald Tribune’s decision to cease operation. Its final edition was April 24, 1966, leaving New York City with only four major dailies: The New York Times, N.Y. Daily News, the N.Y. Post, and World Journal Tribune in the afternoon. The World Journal Tribune folded on May 5, 1967.

Imagine, in 1923, New York had 17 daily (English language) newspapers.

After the Herald Tribune folded in 1966, the Washington Post and New York Times each acquired one-third of the newspaper from Whitney Communications. In 1991, they became co-owners when they bought out the Whitney shares. And on October 22, 2002, The New York Times’ bought the Washington Post's share of the International Herald Tribune for less than $75 million.

As testament to the enormous talent housed inside the Herald Tribune newsroom, four writers for the paper, after it folded, went on to win Pulitzers, including Jimmy Breslin, Red Smith, art critic Emily Genauer and Art Buchwald.

So, after finishing Richard Kluger’s scrupulously researched, brilliantly written history of the New York Herald Tribune, I can’t help but mourn the immense talent that has gone down the drain at the N.Y. Daily News and the Village Voice in a city that was once fertile ground for talented reporters and thriving newspapers.

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—Bill Lucey

WPLucey@gmail.com

September 11, 2018