Roberto Clemente was one of my favorite baseball players, and it was a sad day in sports when his plane went down all those years ago.
Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.
Nicaragua had just suffered an earthquake and was in need of foodstuffs and medicines. Clemente was on an overloaded airplane bound for that state when it crashed into the Caribbean Sea. One of my Mother's best friends was in a San Juan hotel and saw the crash from her window. She, like the rest of the people in PR, was in deep shock thereafter.
ReplyDeletePitcher Steve Blass was one of Clemente's best friends. Up to this time he was considered among the best pitchers in the National League. After the tragedy, he lost all drive and intensity so that his career went downhill. Despite their great lineup it took years for the Pirates to go back to the top in the Major Leagues.
In his honor, many Puerto Rican baseball players used number 21 when they play in the ML.
They don't make sports heroes like that anymore. Happy New Year everyone!
ReplyDeleteAnd a wonderful New Year to you!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI received Zeitoun (Eggers) and J.K. Galbraith's The Great Crash of 1929 for Christmas.
Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteBaseball is filled with much interesting lore, but the curse of the Bambino and the Sox finally winning the World Series in 2004 has to be one of the greatest stories in the sport.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the history note on Jackie Robinson brought to mind a book I read on Satchel Paige and the Negro leagues not so long ago, "Don't Look Book," which has him sitting in a rocking chair on the cover. Great book.
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