You know I'm entering that bad boy! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however. It is still July, and 1973 me wants to cram in some summer reading before I totally turn myself over to NFL73.
You know I'm entering that bad boy! It'll be exciting to see if I hear back from Wells Fargo or Amazon or Alibaba or whoever today owns Vitalis and the Sports Illustrated Book Club.
That's three straight paragraphs opening with exclamations, so I think it's high time to gear down this #freakinweekend mix tape a notch with some slow-hand love for sleepy, just-after-the-All-Star-break baseball. When we last checked in on MLB73, Oakland had just taken over first place in the American League West. Well, the Swingin' A's now are cruisin', as shown in the Friday morning, July 13, division standings:
A's 50-39
Royals 49-43, 2.5 games back
Angels 45-41, 3.5
Twins 45-41, 3.5
White Sox 45-42, 4
Rangers 30-56, 18.5
In fact, I'm feeling comfortable enough about the defendin' champs to check in on the rest of the league:
AL East
Yankees 50-41
Red Sox 46-39, 1
Orioles 44-38, 1.5
Tigers 46-42, 2.5
Brewers 43-44, 5
Indians 31-58, 18
NL East
Cubs 50-38
Cardinals 44-42, 5
Expos 41-43, 7
Pirates 40-44, 8
Phillies 39-48, 10.5
Mets 36-47, 11.5
NL West
Dodgers 56-34
Reds 49-39, 6
Giants 50-40, 6
Astros 49-44, 8.5
Braves 41-50, 15.5
Padres 31-57, 24
Back to Billie Jean King for a moment ... I guess I had never checked, and I grew up just sort of believing that Charles Schulz had created the Marcie character amid the 1973 Bobby Riggs hysteria. Not true. It goes back a good bit before then.
A couple of years ago, 1971 me was surprised to discover Marcie in the newspaper strips, before Billie Jean King had really exploded into the culture and onto the covers of People, TIME and even Sports Illustrated.
Indeed, the character had first appeared in 1968 as a camp acquaintance of Peppermint Patty's named "Clara," who then reappeared as Marcie in July 1971. Now all of that happened amid plenty of Billie Jean King Wimbledon and U.S. Open winning, of which huge-tennis-guy Schulz was certainly aware. The character is said to have been modeled after a roommate of Schulz's cousin, on whom Peppermint Patty was based, so, maybe there's not the equivalent, direct line of sight from Martin Luther King's assassination to the appearance of Franklin. Still, it seems pretty clear to me that Marcie's look at least was influenced by King; Peppermint Patty even once talked about Marcie's "Billie Jean King glasses," and Schulz unabashedly was a fan. That's pretty neat.
Bobby Riggs is one of the stories on the July 13, 1973, 60 Minutes, incidentally.
Is all of this Marcie/Billie Jean King deal covered in that great Charles Schulz biography? I'll bet it is, and I've forgotten reading it. This is going to turn out to be another of those deals where, like, I have the same original observation about Tiger Woods's anxieties, except I have it about three Masters tournaments in a row.
Which, in conclusion, reminds me: The British Open!
Oh, my word, I love the HP.
ReplyDeleteNFL Action is back on the syndicated air, and here's the episode being circulated for this weekend in 1973, as described by the AP: "Frank Glieber narrates 'Season of Challenge,' Dallas Cowboys through to their demise at NFC playoffs."
ReplyDeleteNolan Ryan is the first pitcher since Virgil Trucks to throw two no-hitters in the same season. (Mad props to Angels shortstop Rudy Meoli for some fine ninth-inning defensive work.)
ReplyDeleteA's manager Dick Williams included Oakland’s Jim Hunter, Ken Holtzman and Rollie Fingers among the All-Star Game American League pitching staff and passed on Nolan Ryan.
DeleteBut, apparently, Ryan must've been an injury replacement, because here he is in the beautiful MLB film, A New Generation of Stars, signing autographs before the July 24 game at brand-new Royals Stadium in Kansas City's Harry S. Truman Sports Complex.
DeleteThis is a great movie. And if you're looking for an sunny distraction from summer 1973's Watergate-hearings blues, this would suffice. Lindsey Nelson's assured delivery of Phil Harmon's optimistic script, the attractive pictures of Kansas City's brand-new stadium and the anointing of young studs like Bobby Bonds and Cesar Cedeño really conspire to turn a frown upside down.
DeleteWillie Mays was making his 24th and final All-Star Game appearance, and, at the end of the film, he is shown addressing the crowd and talking about "the way these kids are playing and they way they are fighting for themselves." The first time I watched it, I thought Mays concluded by soliloquy-ing, "Willie, things are fine in America." I watched it a few more times, though, and I now I'm pretty sure that what the near-retirement Met actually said was, "Willie, say goodbye to America." But I like the former better, so 1973 me is going to believe that Willie Mays said that instead.
DeleteThe Friday, July 13, Brady Bunch rerun was the one where Florence Henderson and Robert Reed portray their own parents. As much as I love this show, this was not one of my favorite episodes, but I did love it that Carol's mom hails from Owensboro.
ReplyDeleteTom Weiskopf of Massillon, Ohio, won British Open 1973.
ReplyDeleteI think I might've been a bigger fan of a Helen Reddy/Bee Gees supergroup than I was a fan of either Helen Reddy or the Bee Gees.
ReplyDeleteJerry Buck of the Associated Press had a very interesting story this weekend about how TV executives are doing a lot of experimenting with late-night programming. Though NBC’s Tonight with Johnny Carson remains dominant at 10:30 Central, CBS and ABC have found they can lure away audience with good Late Movie or Wide World of Entertainment offerings, respectively.
ReplyDeleteWide World is a new thing that sometimes features a Dick Cavett- or Jack Paar-hosted talk show, some kind of other comedy show (such as a recent Howard Cosell salute) or a mystery-suspense drama. Furthermore, everybody’s looking to see what hay they can make in the wee hours of the morning. ABC, for example, is expanding its every-other-Friday In Concert programs from 11-midnight to 11-1, and NBC is in September introducing Tomorrow, a talk show hosted by Tom Snyder of Los Angeles.
In this 60 Minutrs, Mike Wallace just obliterates Norman Mailer for his quickly produced, ballyhooed and sensational biography of Marilyn Monroe.
ReplyDelete