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Don Comfort

Los Angeles.

William Gibson Heller

Gee, maybe the Minnesota Twins?  As to our teachers' educational philosophy, I think letting us watch was a way to keep us quiet and let them relax a bit at the end of the day.

Mark Wieting

Don, I think LA didn't have two teams until much later. They broke Brooklyn's heart in the late 50s and I think the Angels were later than that.

I actually rooted for the Cubs and the White Sox and was happy when the Sox won the WS in 2005, in a sweep. For political reasons, I'm actually going back to the Sox. And I think they have a much better team this year than the Cubs do.

Don Comfort

Got it...I misunderstood the time frame of the question.

Don Comfort

Bill...you are right on with your idea of the teachers having an ulterior motive for watching/listening to the games.  When I taught 8th Grade U.S. History, I needed a diversion from the kids and designed competitive swimming pools on the chalk board for them. I was lucky the admin didn't walk in.

Thomas Kent Marquardt

When Milwaukee and the Yankees were playing in the world series my folks were on a fall vacation.  My father had won a Zenith transistor radio that had an ear plug for it, so I brought it to school to listen to the games without getting caught.  Most of the games must have been played when I was in math class as I was never good at math after that.  I would rush home to my grandmother's house on Maple Street where I was staying while my parents were gone to finish the games.  As a side note, County Stadium in Milwaukee (later Miller Park and now American Family Field) is right next to the Veteran's Home.  There were bleachers built on a hill overlooking the stadium so veterans could watch the games for free.  The Veteran's facility is an historical landmark.  There is or was a stain glass mural or Robert E. Lee on his horse there with no face of Lee on it.  The artist said that he wanted the veterans to remember Lee as they saw him rather than his impression of how he looked.  Guess I went a bit far afield from Mark's question.

Mark Wieting

No problem, Tom, just keep on going. That earplug probably kept you from being the nuclear physicist Fate had destined you to be. 
[Admission: I had to double-check my spelling of nuclear. Had it as nucular at first.]

Thomas L. Bakos

Mark - In  some parts of the country nucular would be just fine - just not in yours  ... like, maybe, Glenbard West.

I was not too much into baseball in high school ... or, any time after for that matter.  During the summers I delivered mail as a vacation carrier.  In the subdivision built just south of the school two Bears players lived.  I am sure the certified letters I delivered to them were their contracts.  

So, baseball question:  Of the baseball teams in existence in 1963, how many have changed cities?  Were there only 16 teams, two leagues in 1963?

Mark Wieting

Tom, I have a 2001 copy of Total Baseball, all 2,500 pages of words and statistics about baseball. Old, it does answer many questions about things prior to 2001. It comes off the shelf about every two years.

In 1963, there were 10 teams in each leaque. National: Cubs, Reds, Houston Colt .45s (now Astros), Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals and Giants. American: Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Royals, Angels, Twins, Washington Senators (they moved to Dallas as the Texans in 1972). I'm not an expert on all of the "regime changes," so maybe you should check with Gauker or others. My book tells me that Toronto and Seattle came into the AL in 1977.Colorado and Florida came into the NL in 1993. Tampa Bay hit the AL in 1998. MIlwaukee switched leagues at some point and the LA Angels became the Ananheim Angels in '97. My book stops at 2000 so that's all I've got.

By the way, [more trivia coming] in the book, among the 100 best ballplayers of all time [through 2000], Ron Santo is ranked #60, ahead of Gabby Hartnett, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Ryne Sandberg, Willie McCovey and others. The list is suspect because Hank Aaron is rated 9th, and Ernie Banks doesn't appear at all. But why it took Ronnie so long to make the Hall of Fame is dumbfounding.

Jim Gauker

Thomas L. Bakos

Some of those team names wouldn't and aren't making it today.  Oh, how times have changed ... for the better or the worse?

But, can't help but notice, the Washington Senators moving to Texas in 1972 - well ahead of the southern migration we are seeing today.

Through it all though, it seems the Cubs and the White Sox have been steady friends.  I have always trended towards the Sox as a favorite.  As a patrol boy in grammer school we went as a group to a Chicago Cardnals (I believe) football game in Comisky Park.  I went to college at IIT on Chicago's south side - nearly in sight of the park.  I guess the White Sox got in my blood. 

William Gibson Heller

Gee Tom,  I recall going to a Cardinals game too (vs. Packers as I recall) but have never been able to figure out why as I followed the Bears (always the Cardinals' problem).  Maybe I was part of that outing or one similar.

Thomas Kent Marquardt

 I was always a White Sox fan and as my dad at one time worked with Art Allyn who was part owner of the Sox from 1961 to 1969 it meant one game a year with pretty good seats.  I still have my autograph picture and baseball of Billy Pierce when he appeared at Bob Horsleys Men's Shop in Glen Ellyn for an autograph session.  I found a Whitey Ford baseball card the other day when wandering through some old Rubbermaid container and I assume I kept that because he was such a great pitcher and tormented the Sox.  In all fairness, I started boycotting major league baseball when they went on strike.  For some reason, 1993 sticks in my mind and I was certain that Frank Thomas was going win the triple crown that year until the strike happened.  That turned me off on baseball and I have only gone to a few Milwaukee Brewer games when they played the Sox or when they built Miller Park so I could see the roof open and close.  I do have a copy of the 1956 Fireside Book of Baseball in my library which minus the fact that it was too early for the 1959 "go go Sox" American League championship season is a storehouse of baseball stories.  The last time I was at Wrigley Field was to watch the 1963 NFL Championship game between the Bears and the NY Giants.  It was incredibly cold and it was soon discovered that the only place heated at Wrigley Field were the restrooms.  I continue my boycott of the NFL which has opened up some wonderful Sunday afternoons in the fall.  

Mark Wieting

A couple of things:

Tom, please explain why you are boycotting the NFL. Is it because we make entertainment of young men sacrificing their bodies and brains to throw a football from here to there? And how the networks always show the mechanism of injury [as we used to say in the medical field]--over and over again? "See how his cleats grab the turf while is knee is going in another direction? Looks like an ACL tear to me, Tony."

Or is there another reason for the boycott?

Secondly, this Message Forum seems to be a Men Only gig. I hope we can open it up more widely. How about:

What are you reading lately? Unusually, I am reading two books at the same time. Very unlike me. One at a time is usually my max, and it often takes me forever to finish a book because my reading time is often in bed before nodding off after seven pages. So in addition to Obama's new and seemingly unending 700-page book [many of them interesting], I'm also reading an old book, bought for $12 [hardcover, used] online from a book reseller, Letter from America 1946-2004, by Alistair Cooke. He was, of course, the host for Masterpiece Theater on PBS for many years, but from the time period indicated in the title, he wrote a weekly radio commentary ["letter']  for the BBC for broadcast in the UK. Kind of a short podcast. He was a keen observer of things American, and the British seemingly have always been fascinated by America and Americans, just as many of us here are fascinated with the English [think: the Beatles, Princess Di, Jaguars, the monarchy, etc.]. I've just left the 40s essays where he's covered immigrants [at about age 12, the American kid born to immigrants begins to notice that his parents speak with an accent, and it is troubling], Damon Runyon [identified with the low-lifes of New York City, but not born there--born, rather ironically, in Manhattan--Kansas], Joe Louis, Washington, DC, and New England in the fall. He got to know America, as a visitor, not by simply visiting the obvious places like New York and San Francisco, but by renting a car and driving cross-country with plenty of time to take in the sights. He wrote about the post-WWII era when America had won the war and promised a future of utter possiblity. Hell, post-WWII was when some of us were born, so think about what a great time that was. Anyway, he was a transatlantic journalist, writing about Britain for NBC in the 30's, becoming an American citizen in 1941, and writing about America for the BBC, the London Times and the Manchester Guardian in the 40s, 50s and beyond. So, if you can tell by now, I recommend that you try to find it at your local library or on Amazon.

For those of you who've read this far, what are you reading--or watching on TV?

Don Comfort

During this covid Pandemic, Patti and I have watched many series on T.V. We liked the Crown, Ozark, Longmire, Yellowstone, Bosch, Chicago 7, Big Sky, Bloodline, Curb Your Enthusiasm (Hillarious!), Fargo, and Turn to name just a few.

Patti is reading "The Wedding Gift" and recommends it.  My readings are anything based on U.S. History...one is still being written.

Don

Thomas L. Bakos

Mark:

I assume you are trying to get some of our female classmates to post by assuming, apparently, they read and us guys don't - except for you.  .  Just kidding.  However, if only Don and I reply, your theory will be shot.

I am reading scifi again.  Reading The Expanse series of 9 books - all each 500+ pages.  The story will end eventually and then I'll have to find something else or go back to doing ... maybe someting that requires a bit of exercise - like working in my shop building things.  It will, probably, be summer by then. 

I'm just about to start book 4 - only a third of the way through..  Book 3 took me to the end of season 3 of the TV series.  That's the other nice thing.  The Expanse is now an Amazon Prime series (moved off the SciFi channel) which will end this year when the book story ends with book 9.  So, I can read and then check out how the TV series modified the story line for broadcast.  Looked at Season 3, Episode 13 yesterday.  

What amazes me is when you get as old as we all are how fast time seems to travel.  Our oldest grandchild is 14, soon to be 15, a freshman in High School and playing basketball - seemingly better than I ever did.  He's a freshman but does play some time on the varsity team.  This is in Telluride, a rather small pool of kids to choose from and, I thnk, we with our 1963 era team may have played well against them.  But, back to the original story - time flys.

Thinking about that, time, maybe some of us have stories of what we learned from our favorite teachers - now long gone.  But, our memories keep them alive - at least through our generation.  Mrs. Halligan - my Latin 1,2 & 3 teacher. I am guessing I took Latin becasue I am such a poor language student I figured, with Latin being a dead language, I'd never meet anyone who would know that - except for Mrs. Halligan, of course.  Surpprisingly, even learning a dead language helped me learn something about language and Mrs. Halligan left a lasting memory becasue of thet.  I wish I had the courage then to ask how she became a Latin teacher.  Did anyone else out there take Latin?  I have the distinct impression it is no longer taught in HS. 

William Gibson Heller

Tom, if one wanted to study Latin these days s/he would have to look very hard to find a place, even at a college as classics depts. have been mostly eliminated.  I never took it, but I think it would have been more beneficial than the French I took (however that French did allow me to barely slide thru it in college thanks to Mrs. Ferguson).  I don't know what got me thru statistics in my MBA program, blind luck I guess.

As for reading now, my wife is a James Patterson nut and I'm more eclectic.  Daniel Silva, Tom Clancy (or substitute), Vince Flynn (ditto), Michael Connelley (Bosch creator) break up the history side of things.  Reading a very interesting book named:  The Quiet Americans by Scott Anderson.  It follows the careers of 4 men who during WWII were recruited to the OSS as it morphed into the CIA.  Lots of intrigue...largely within our own government vs. the FBI and Hoover, McCarthy, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower.  How'd we get to the CIA engaging in overthrowing governments?  It's about 700 pages since page counts seem important as a recommendation.  Remember Blue Nun wine?  The man who eventually ran it was one of the 4.

So tell me, I see The Expanse advertised a lot, is it good?  Can't say I'm a science fiction sort but I can be entertained by it.  As Mark noted about the English being fascinated by Americans I like the British murder mystery series (Prime Suspect, etc.) as I worked in London one summer.  I'm always fascinated by the amount of drinking (and smoking) going on in those....the Brits like a drink for sure.

Kerrin Anne Kinsey (Sgourakis)

Hello everyone.  Hope you are all doing well, as we are here.  First Covid vaccine down, one to go in a couple of weeks.  Although I am still working (have been working part time for years, well actually decades) I have a great deal of time to read.  I have read News of the World, Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and Mustard Seed.  All, historical novels.  News of the World takes place in Texas after the Civil War( I believe there is a movie with Tom Hanks).  Book Woman of Troublesome Creek takes place in 1936 and is about the women (and some men) who worked taking books, magazines and antything else they could find to the outbacks of eastern Kentucky.  Cussy Mary is a "blue" (the color of her skin ... and yes there were such people).  Mustard Seed takes place in post Civil War Virginia and the prejudice that was still rampant then.  I have just started The Constant Princess, historical novel about Katherine of Aragon.  My TV watching is pretty much limited to Jeopardy (miss Alex), and reruns of Bones, NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles.  I try desperately to stay away from the news.     .Our church is now open for 25% capacity inside and am grateful for that.  Watching it online each week is fine, but miss being in church.  Take care to all.  Kerrin (Kinsey) Sgourakis

Mark Wieting

Oh, my, thank you Kerrin. The testosterone in this forum was beginning to be overwhelming.

One other thing: I love Google maps. As I was reading Letter from America, Cooke talks about New England in the fall, focusing on Newfane, Vermont, which, although I have relatives in Vermont I'd never heard of. With churches, an inn, and the county building surrounding "the green," it is the quintessential, idyllic New England village. So I look it up on Google maps. There's the map view, the satellite view, and--best--the street view. If you enter Pond Rd and Church St, Newfane, VT, you can see what Cooke is talking about, with a church that looks like First Church of Lombard's Maple Street Chapel, another church, the Four Columns Inn [you can see the four columns] and other buildings that shout New England.

In my search to reconnect with Al Bolton--last seen at the 2013 reunion, contacted by phone several times since, but the last time about three years ago--I found him in Brighton, IL, near St. Louis. Why there? It's a long story I found out. But with the satellite view of his street in Brighton, I could see where he lived. It's in the sticks but he likes it.

The satellite view also shows me the layouts of famous golf courses I can dream about playing and feel like I've had a taste of them, from Shinnecock Hills on Long Island to Cypress Point GC in Carmel, California. I usually shoot par or better on these satellite courses. Fairways and greens, plus a few good putts. My scorecards are a bit of Bakos's science fiction.

An afterthought: I just looked at my profile picture and must admit I haven't worn a tie since my daughter got married almost seven years ago.... Gotta update it.

Thomas Kent Marquardt

In answer to Mark's first question, I began boycotting the NFL several years ago.  The reasons were many, and among them were the injuries, the obscene celebrating when touchdowns were scored (they needed to act like they had been there before), kneeling during the National Anthem, and my sense that far too many of them could be described as overpaid thugs.  I also discovered that I had missed many wonderful fall Sunday afternoons planted in front of the television.  Not watching the NFL on a beautiful fall afternoon certainly opens up your day.  On the second question Mark posed, I no longer read fiction.  Much of my reading is World War II and espionage cases along with some criminal stuff.  Recently finished "5 Families" which is a 700 page book about the NY organized crime families-absolutely fascinating reading and as I worked OC in NYC it brought back a lot of old memories of the city.  "Cassidy's Run" was another good one as it is about an espionage case where I previously worked with some of the guys that investigated it.  When I go to my reward, the local library won't have to tax their Dewey Decimal system to put my books on the shelf.

Jim Gauker

Thomas L. Bakos

Bill H:  Yes, The Expanse is a good story.  SciFi becasue it has space ships and interplanetary travel but like all stories it is a stroy of man.  There's politics, greed, a Mars, Earth, Belter (astoroid belt) conflicts - similar ro racial conflicts, perhaps, but not based on race - based on socio economics and place.  Belters, for example, live in low gravity which affects the development of their bodies so they are human but have a different look.  .  The story takes place, at least through Book 3 in our solar system.  The science is developed but not too extreme.  It still takes months to go from Earth to Jupiter's moons.  But, the story is really about the people - the characters - and there are some good ones.  

The Expanse first became known to me through the TV shows on the SciFi channel and now Amazon Prime.  The TV story was truncated and modified a bit to fit that format and it was difficult to get the background story.  Reading the books has solved that problem.  Now I know what was going on.  And, when you get through reading a part of the story you can go to Amazon and see the TV interpretation.  

I can understand your French connection and how HS French got you through college French.  Me, I was taking German in college (IIT - no Latin) taught by a german graduate student who learned English in Texas and spoke it with a southern accent - somewhat amusing.  But, halfway through the school rearranged its majors and I changed to one that didn't have a language requirement but everything else remained unchanged.  I had to explain to my Department head, a German professor who spoke English with a thick German accent, that I wanted to change my major so I didn't have to take German.  That ended up being easier than I thought it would be.  

I am not really into nonfiction or history.  I am not entirely convinced that there is much difference between fiction and nonfiction.  I prefer the honesty of fiction.  History, I think, is a tad more interesting if one goes back far enough beyond the part we have lived through.  But, then, you have to ask yourself: how does the historian actually know, at least, with respect to obscure historical accounts?  

Bob Dove

While I admire all the readers in this group, here's an extremely diverse viewing list of about 235 titles from many sources for those of us who use more electricity to get drowsy:

24

7 seconds 

A Place to Call Home 

A Very English Scandal

Afterlife 

Alias Grace

All American 

American Crime 

Anne with an E 

Atlanta 

Atypical 

Away

Babylon 5

Babylon Berlin

Bates Motel 

Belgravia 

Berlin 

Better call Saul 

Better Things

Big Little Lies 

Black Money 

Bloodline 

Boardwalk Empire 

Bodyguard 

Bonus Family 

Bordertown 

Borgen 

Bosch 

Breaking Bad 

Broadchurch 

Burned Cocoon

Caliphate 

Call My Agent 

Call the Midwife 

Case 39

Catastrophe 

Chuck 

Claws

Cobra Kai 

Community

Dash and Lilly 

DCI Banks 

Dead to Me 

Deadwind

Dear White People 

Death to 2020

Derry Girls 

Designated Survivor 

Deutschland 83 

Doctor Foster 

Easy 

Elite 

Emily in Paris 

End of the F___ing World

Endeavour

Enola Holmes

Episodes 

Explained

Family Business

Fauda 

Feed Phil 

Finnish Police 

Firefly Lane

Fleabag 

Friday Night Lights

Gilmore Girls

Giri/Haji

Good Girls

Good News

Goodfellas

Gotham 

Grace and Frankie 

Halt and Catch Fire 

Hamish Macbeth

Handmaids Tale 

Happy Endings 

Happy Valley 

Haunting of Hill House

Heartland

Heavens Garden 

Her Mother’s Killer 

Hinterland

House

House of Cards 

How Do You Mend a Broken Heart

I Am Woman 

iZombie

I’m Sorry 

In the Dark

Insecure 

Jane the Virgin

Justified 

Kath and Kim

Killing Eve 

Kim’s Convenience 

Last Tango in Halifax

Lillyhammer 

Line of Duty 

Living Dangerously

Locke and Key

Longmire

Loving  

Lucifer

Lupin

Luther 

Manhunt 

Mansfield Park

Marcela 

McLeod's Daughters

Medici 

Mindhunter

Modern Love 

Money Heist 

Moone Boy

Morning Glory

Miss Scarlet and the Duke

Mrs. America

Ms. Maiden 

My Brilliant Friend

My Octopus Teacher

Mythomaniac 

Narcos 

Never Have I Ever 

New Girl 

Newsroom

Night Manager

No Tomorrow 

Normal People 

OA 

OBX 

Occupied

Odd Mom Out 

Office

Offspring 

On My Block

One Night in Miami 

Outer Banks

Outlander 

Ozark 

Parasite

Peaky Blinders 

Penguin Bloom

Peppermint

Poldark 

Pretend It’s a City

Prisoners of War in English 

Queen of the South

Queens Gambit 

Reckoning

Rectify 

Reign 

Rita 

Salt Fat Acid Heat

Scandal

Schitt’s Creek 

Schrugim

Scrubs

Seaside Hotel 

Sex Education 

Shtisel 

Sick Note

Sinefeld

Six Feet Under

Small Axe

Sopranos 

Spinning Out 

Stranger Things 

Suffragette

Summerland

Surviving Death

Sweet Home 

Sylvie’s Love

The Aeronauts

The Alienist

The Americans 

The Blacklist

The Bletchley Circle

The Bureau

The Crown 

The Dig

The Durrells in Corfu 

The Fall 

The Five

The Flight Attendant

The Good Cop

The Good Place 

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society

The Imposters 

The Kaminski Method 

The Killing 

The Lighthouse

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

The Politician

The Professor and the Madman

The Queen 

The Queen’s Gambit

The Restaurant

The Salisbury Poisioning

The Same Sky

The Sapphires

The Spanish Princess

The Stranger

The Tudors

The Tunnel 

The Twelve

The Undoing

The Unicorn

The Virgin River 

The Wilds 

The Wire 

To the Lake 

Top Boy 

Trapped 

Ugly Betty 

Unbelievable 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Undercover 

Undoing 

Unforgotten

Unorthodox 

Unauthorized Living

Upload 

Velvet 

Victoria 

Virgin River

Wanderlust 

Wanted 

White Tiger

Winter Sun 

Wonderland

Yellowstone 

You

You Were Never Really Here

Young Wallander 

Your Honor 

William Gibson Heller

Good heavens, Bob, have we really been in covid hell that long?

Mark Wieting

Bob,

You must keep a TV diary, yes?

Are these things you've watched (all seasons of Fauda, for instance) or just a list of good to great TV you are recommending? If it's the former, I second Heller's comment/question.