Seems like tomatoes like 90+ heat

 

Almost This Year

As Brooklyn fans used to say some 60+ years ago, "wait til next year."  There is a hint of red on some of the "4th of July" hybrid tomatoes but they won't get picked today.

2022 Garden

These are the vegetables in this year's garden.

Tomato, Big Boy

Tomato, 4th of July

Pepper, California Wonder

Pepper, Big Daddy

Pepper, Costa Rican

Cucumber, Straight Eight

Corn, On Deck

2021 Books

 

4 3 2 1                                                                  Auster, Paul

All the Beautiful People We Once Knew      Carlson, Edward

American Heiress                                              Toobin, Jeffrey

American Marriage, An                                   Jones, Tayari

Anxious People                                                  Backman, Fredrik

Baltimore Book of the Dead, The                  Winik, Marion

Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers (and Their Muses), The

                                                                              DeFino, Terri-Lynne

Beast                                                                    Kingsnorth, Paul

Better Sister, The                                              Burke, Alafair

Bohemians, The                                                Darsnik, Jasmin

Bride Test, The                                                  Hoang, Helen

Christmas Promise, The                                  Evans, Richard Paul

Death Need Not Be Fatal                                McCourt, Malachy

Deck the Hounds                                              Rosenfelt, David

Girl In Exile, A: Requiem For Linda B.        Kadare, Ismail               

Glow of Death                                                    Cleland, Jane K.

Gods of Wood and Stone                                 DiIonno, Mark

Good Son, The                                                   Jeong, You-Jeong

Grist Mill Road                                                  Yates, Christopher

Kingdom of the Blind                                       Penny, Louise

Lost Country, The                                             Gay, William

Mexican Gothic                                                 Moreno-Garcia, Silvia

Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The                         Benedict, Marie

Neither Snow Nor Rain                                    Leonard, Devin

Night of Miracles                                               Berg, Elizabeth

November Road                                                 Berney, Lou

Saboteur, The                                                     Gross, Andrew

Something Wonderful                                      Purdum, Todd S.

Southernmost                                                     House, Silas

Spoils of the Dead                                              Stabenow, Dana

Sweet Little Lies                                                 Frear, Caz

Tangerine                                                             Mangan, Christine

Vineyard, The                                                      Duenas, Maria

Wife, The                                                              Burke, Alafair

Baseball Trivia - 46

Q: This second baseman may have been the first, and hopefully last, terrorist/player.  In 1973, after his career was over, he attempted to extort $250,000 from a steamship company by threatening to place a bomb aboard one of its vessels.  He was arrested by the FBI, convicted, and served nine months in prison.

From 1938 to 1940 he played in the minors alongside a shortstop named Phil Rizzuto.  They then graduated to the Yankees and continued to team up in 1941 and 1942.  In 1941 they won World Series rings.  He was traded to the Senators in 1943 and then entered the war.

He often fought with his managers and ended up with a less than spectacular career with four different teams.

The one plus for him was that he met an 11 year old Maury Wills in 1943 in Washington while playing for the Senators.  Maury later said that meeting this second baseman was an inspiration for him to become a major league player. 

Who was he?

   

A: Jerry Priddy

Baseball Trivia - 45

Q: This player was an outstanding defensive shortstop but struck out at a higher than average rate.  In a 1941 game while playing for the Cincinnati Reds, he fielded 19 balls recording 9 putouts and 10 assists.  In 1949, he was part of a Philadelphia Athletics infield that set the record (217) for most double plays in one season.  His final year with the A's in 1954 was as the player-manager thus becoming the third and final manager in the Philadelphia A's 54 year history. 

Who was he?

   

A: Eddie Joost

Baseball Trivia - 44

   

   

Q: This Hall of Fame pitcher appeared in four World Series and won one ring.  He spent 19 years in the majors with 7 teams, 2 of them more than once.  He won 270 games with his best year in 1928 when he went 25-14.  He was the last pitcher who was officially permitted to throw a spitter.  And he had more HoF teammates (36) than any other member of the Hall. 

Who was he?

   

A: Burleigh Grimes

Baseball Trivia - 43

Q: This right handed pitcher spent just one season in the majors.  In 1952, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he went 1-6 with an ERA of 7.08.  But his claim to fame came in a minor league game.  Before being called up to the parent club, he was pitching for the Bristol Twins which was the Bucs Class-D farm team.  On May 13 he threw a no-hitter against the Welch Miners.  AND he struck out 27 batters.  Four men reached base: a walk, a HBP, an error, and a passed ball after a strikeout.  Only two men put the ball in play: the error and a ground out. 

Who was he?

   

A: Ron Necciai

Baseball Trivia - 42

Q: This Hall of Fame first baseman played 16 years in the big leagues and won a NL MVP Award and two World Series rings.  In 1924, he set the all-time record for RBI in a single game with 12 (later tied by Mark Whiten in 1993).  He was involved in the closest batting race in MLB history when he came in third with an average of .3482 behind Chick Hafey's .3489 and Bill Terry's .3486.  He also owns the single season record for the most unassisted double plays by a first baseman with eight.  And he was also sued for hitting a home run when a fan was hit by the ball when he was not looking.

Who was he?

   

A: Jim Bottomley

Baseball Trivia - 41

Q: This left handed pitcher won a World Series ring in 1906 with the "Hitless Wonders", the Chicago White Sox.  He recorded the first World Series save.  He also had the record for most consecutive shutout innings pitched (45) until Don Drysdale broke it in 1968.  He was also a musical composer who published at least four songs with his co-writer Ring Lardner.

Who was he?

   

A: Guy Harris "Doc" White

Baseball Trivia - 40

Q: This Hall of Fame pitcher spent 17 years in the majors with the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians.  He is the only pitcher to have won two consecutive MVP Awards.  He won a World Series ring in 1945 and his uniform #16 is retired by the Tigers.  After retiring he served as a scout for several teams.  While with the Houston Astros, he quit when the team decided not to draft a player he discovered named Derek Jeter.

Who was he?

   

A: Hal Newhouser

The 2021 Garden - Phase 27

Final harvest of the "summer".  And now it's time for a winter nap.

A Year To The Day

The heat was turned on today after a night of 40 degrees.  I thought it was a bit later this year, but it was exactly 1 year ago that last year's warmth was requested (10/18/20 Post).  The dependable 60 year old furnace continues to amaze!

Baseball Trivia - 39

Q: This catcher appeared in only 486 games over all or parts of ten years with the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers.  His career diminished after suffering an eye injury in a hunting accident.  But his post playing career is what he is noted for.  As a special assignment scout for Branch Rickey, he contacted Jackie Robinson while playing for the Kansas City Monarchs.  Then in 1947, while Leo Durocher was serving a one year suspension, he was the opening day manager for Brooklyn when Robinson played his first game.  In 1951, he was the bullpen coach on October 3rd who sent in Ralph Branca instead of Carl Erskine.  And finally, re-united with Rickey in Pittsburgh, he scouted Roberto Clemente whom the Pirates eventually signed.

Who was he?

   

A: Clyde Sukeforth

Voting

Voting by mail.  Greatest thing since sliced bread.  If the Founding Fathers were so great, how come they didn't think of this? 😏

Very odd that I haven't received election brochures in the mail nor candidates' knocks on my door.  So far.

Baseball Trivia - 38

Q: This shortstop was on teams that won three championships.  He also had a 42 game hitting streak which is the fourth longest in baseball history and the longest by a right-handed NL hitter.  After going 0-6 in a 10 inning game, he then went on a 28 game streak ending up with hitting in 70 of 71 games.

Who was he?

   

A: Bill Dahlen

The 2021 Garden - Phase 26

 October 7.  Peppers still ready for harvesting.  Must be global warming.

    

Baseball Trivia - 37

Q: This catcher spent thirteen seasons with the New York Giants, Boston Braves (twice), and the Washington Senators.  He was part of a vaudeville act, telling jokes and singing parodies with Andy Cohen (Baseball Trivia #36), a teammate from the Giants.  After the 1928 season they started performing on the Loew Circuit with their first appearance on stage at the Loew's Commodore Theatre in Manhattan.  The duo earned $1,800 a week, billed as "Cohen and Xxxxx", except in Boston, when the billings were reversed.  In a 1960 interview, Cohen reminisced that "if we didn't kill vaudeville, we sure helped."  

Who was he?

   

A: James "Shanty" Hogan

Baseball Trivia - 36

Q: This player spent three seasons with the New York Giants in the 1920s.  John McGraw, the New York manager, signed this Jewish player to compete with Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees across the Harlem River.  After retirement he managed in the minors and eventually managed 1 game with the Phillies in 1960.  He was the interim until Gene Mauch arrived to take over the reigns.  The manager won his only game 5-4 over the Milwaukee Braves.

Who was he?

   

A: Andy Cohen

Hey. Delete This!

Yesterday I missed an important job-related announcement because it was sent not to my two common e-mail accounts, but rather to the g-mail account that I seldom if ever use.  It also happens to be the one set up with this blog for contact.  Well, today I went to the inbox to look for the announcement.  Sure enough there it was along with two other old ones from the summer.  But then I noticed something from May.  During the month of May four of my posts on the blog were flagged, then deleted, and then re-instated!  One baseball trivia, one garden related, one automotive, and one political.  Very strange.  So whoever is monitoring my blog...

FLAG THIS!!!