The Mets lost last night 6-5

For the first time in 35 years there was a day-night doubleheader at Shea Stadium yesterday necessitated by an early season rainout.  Our 7 pack included the night game.  Unfortunately for us the Mets lost 6-5.  In the parking lot we saw a bus for the Jay Buckley Baseball tour.  They were seeing last nights game before heading up to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwinn today.

Newark Bears game yesterday

The Newark Bears are a minor league team in the Atlantic League.  Since the NJIT baseball team plays at their stadium we get free tickets for their games.  For the third year in a row I have tried to get some of my library colleagues to join me at a game there, but I failed.  It didn't bother me to go by myself.  The game started at 11 AM to accommodate day camps who bring their kids to the game.  The Bears defeated the  Road Warriors 4 - 2.  After the game ended at 2 PM, I went to work.

Radio Comments of the Day

1.  I am obviously thrilled that CBS Radio realized their mistake and restored "oldies" to 101.1 FM.   I will continue to listen to other radio stations over the air and on the Internet.  Why should I give up listening to fine programs like Sounds of the Sixties of the BBC.  I will continue to listen to WFUV, WBGO, CD101.9 and Breakfast with the Beatles among others.

2.  The 80s music now heard on WCBS-FM is not my favorite, but I certainly accept the changes that were made to try to attract a younger audience.  I accept the fact that WCBS-FM will never be the same as it was from 1985-95.  Many of the heritage personalities have retired or moved on.

3.  This morning played Acoustic Sunrise, a show taken from JACK-FM.  I enjoy that genre of music, but just could not listen to JACK at all after the events of  June 3, 2005.  That music is often heard on WFUV.  I was always a fan of specialty shows and feel that this show could be an asset to WCBS-FM.

4.  I listened to parts of the Radio Greats Reunion heard on the Breeze from Long Branch, NJ.  Herb Oscar Anderson really sounded terrific at age 79.  Since the Met game ran late, I could only listen to the last 15 minutes of Don K. Reed's Doo Wop Shop.  Hopefully WCBS-FM will have a specialty show for early rock music.  It was interesting that Don never said WCBS-FM.  He called it "the other station."

Brooklyn Cyclones game tonight

Once a year we like to take in a Brooklyn Cyclones game at Keyspan Park in Coney Island.  We usually arrive early to take a walk on the boardwalk and have hot dogs at Nathans.  We left Flushing at 4:00 and hit very heavy traffic on the Belt Parkway.  When we got off the parkway exit we again hit heavy traffic on the side street leading to the stadium.  When we got to the stadium the parking lot was filled.  In other years we had no problem getting parking, but I guess there was a big beach crowd there.  I could not find any parking on the street, but found a parking lot for a Pathmark grocery store.  There was a sign saying that this is a private lot for customers only and threatened to tow away violators.  I was so aggravated at the time, but I felt I had to take a risk.  We walked about 1/2 mile to the ballpark and got there shortly before the game started.  We could not walk along the boardwalk and ate hotdogs there instead of at Nathans.  The Brooklyn Cylcones took a 6-0 lead by the 6th inning.  Throughout the game I was on "pins and needles" hoping that my car would not be towed in the Pathmark lot.  This could entail a $150 fine and aggravation retrieving my car.  We decided to leave early since the longer my car was there the more likely it would be towed.  We arrived at the lot at 8 PM and luckily my car was there.  The lot was still crowded and I guess nobody noticed that I didn't go into the store.  It is a shame that traffic and parking can put a damper on my evening.  It turns out that the Cyclones won 11 - 2.

http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/team/statistics/index.php?autoload=boxscore&gid=2007_07_21_trcasx_broasx_1&sportcode=asx

The Mets Won for us 5-2

This was our first ball game since we returned from the Jay Buckley Baseball Tour two weeks ago.  The Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-2.  For details see:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070715&content_id=2087817&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

This was our fourth game in our seven-pack

Comments of the Day

It was such a nice day today that we decided not to go to a movie.  The latest Harry Potter movie opened a few days ago, but we'll wait for a hot and humid day to see it.  We took a walk to downtown Flushing and bought a holder for the ball that Karen got in Miller Field.  We sat around the apartment complex and did some reading.

Yesterday I went to the small branch library in the neighborhood and took out the book "Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir" by Daniel Tammet.  It is an autobiography of an autistic savant.  He was interviewed sometime back on 60 Minutes by Morley Safer.  I have read many baseball books recently, so I thought I should read something different.

Dan Ingram is the co-host with Mark Simone on Saturday Night oldies.  I had the pleasure of meeting him on the WABC Rewound Cruise last month.  He has got to be the top radio personality in the history of the medium.

The Mets honored baseball Hall of Famer and long-time broadcaster Ralph Kiner tonight.

The Greatest Hits Have Returned to WCBS-FM 101.1 FM

This blog started after June 3, 2005 when the stupid executives at CBS Radio abruptly dropped the oldies format at WCBS-FM and replaced it with the automated Jack format.  I don't want to get into a discussion of that here, since it has been discussed many times before.  After 25 months the new management of CBS radio led by Dan Mason returned the format with some modifications.  New York City is ecstatic over this.  The Jack format with snarky comments was an insult to say the least.  The new version of WCBS-FM will feature "newer oldies".  Right now they are playing Fame by David Bowie which was a hit in the 1980s.  There will be very little music played from the pre-Beatles era, but you can't have everything.  I am glad that Bob Shannon is coming back, but many of the classic radio personalites have either moved on or retired.

Baseball Exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

Tonight we went to the Museum of the City of New York at 5th Avenue and 103rd Street where they featured an exhit titled Glory Days New York Baseball 1947-57. (http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/565.html)  Since I was born in 1949, I can just barely remember the very end of that era when New York had 3 baseball teams.  10 out of the 11 World Series from that era featured at least one of the Dodgers, Giants, or Yankees.  The exhibit featured many artifacts such as bats, balls, gloves, uniforms,ticket stubs and newspaper headlines.  I especially liked an exhibit where one can hear the radio calls of Bobby Thomsons 1951 famous Home Run by Russ Hodges (Giants) and Red Barber (Dodgers)

I was wearing one of my shirts given out at the Jay Buckley baseball tour.  I met two brothers from Staten Island who went on a few of his tours in the past.  We also saw an exhibt of the Forward, a Yiddish language newspaper that was very popular with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

The Oldies are Returning to WCBS-FM

Finally CBS Radio admintted their mistake by taking the oldies off 101.1  FM in New York.  It has been reported in several reliable sources that the terrilbe Jack format will be dumped and the oldies are returning to WCBS-FM.  We don't know exactly when the change will come or what DJs will return.  It will not be the same as it was.  I predict they will emphasize 70s and 80s music.  Some DJs like Bob Shannon and Bobby Jay are likely to return, but others like Cousin Bruce Morrow and Mike Fitzgerald have other professional committments.  Bill Brown, Harry Harrison, Norm N. Nite, and Don K Reed have likely retired and may come back on a part time basis.  This has been the best radio news in the longest time.

1408 on the 4th

I took Lee to Cunningham Park this morning and observed that at 10 AM and observed that early in the morning all the spaces for picnics were filled.  I guess people wanting to have a barbeque have to get there early or they will be shut out.  In the early afternoon we went to the local multiplex and saw the movie 1408.  It was a cloudy day and the complex was crowded for a summer holiday.

2007 Baseball Trip - Sunday July 1 - Wrigley Field

We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Batesville, Indiana about 45 minutes away from Cincinnati.  We left about 7:45 Am to travel across the state to Chicago for the last game of the tour.  We arrived at Wrigley Field about 11:30 in time for lunch before the game.  The Cubs beat the Milwuakee Brewers 5-1. (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070701&content_id=2060862&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)

 The area around Wrigley Field was so crowded that we had to walk several blocks to get back to our bus.  We arrived at the Exel Inn about 6 PM.  We decided to stay overnight there and fly back to New York on Monday..

 

We certainly enjoyed the trip.  The only disappointment was a rainout in Detroit after having to wake up at 3 AM.  The home team won all 5 games.  I enjoyed the day in Pittsburgh the best since we were able to do some site seeing.  Vacations just go by too fast.

 

For photos of the trip please see:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bigtownman/2007BaseballTrip 

 

2007 Baseball Trip - Saturday June 30 - Cincinnati

We left Pittsburgh at 9:30 and heading west passing through Wheeling, W Va. and Columbus, Ohio.  We then traveled south toward Cincinnati. We stopped in Blue Ash, OH at a replica of Crosley Field where the Reds played until 1970.  The field had the same dimensions as Crosley Field with the fences and the scoreboard.  We finally arrived at the Great American Ballpark at 5 PM.  The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum that was outside the stadium was quite impressive.  There was an exhibit featuring the accomplishments of Pete Rose.  The rest of the Museum featured artifacts covering the history of the Reds franchise since 1869.  The Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=2058518&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

 

 

2007 Baseball Trip - Friday June 29th - Pittsburgh

After breakfast we walked around the vicinity of our hotel.  We were very close to the campuses of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.  At 10:15 the tour bus picked us up for a tour of the city.  The first stop was a shopping mall called Station Square.  We took a train car up a very steep hill called Mt. Washington where we got some beautiful views of the city.  At 1:30 PM Woody Cunningham joined us to guide us through the city and to give a history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The highlight of the tour was a visit to the site of Forbes Field where the Pirates played from 1909-70.  Home plate was in a building now part of the University of Pittsburgh.  Part of the outfield wall was reconstructed outside the building.  There was a marker where Bill Mazeroski’s World Series winning home run in 1960 crossed the wall.  The Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 3-2. (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070629&content_id=2056407&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb) 

2007 Baseball Trip - Thursday June 28th - Jacobs Park Cleveland

We left Detroit at 7:30 AM for Cleveland and arrived at Jacob’s field at 11:30 AM for a picnic lunch.  The game against the Oakland A’s started at 12:05 PM.  The A’s took an early 3-0 lead but the Indians came back to win 4-3. (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070628&content_id=2054175&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb)  The tour escort said we could do what we wanted until 7 PM.  There was just not enough time to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so we walked around a shopping mall and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Café.  The bus left Jacobs Field at 7:30 PM and we arrived at the hotel in downtown Pittsburgh at 10 PM.

Baseball Trip Wednesday June 27th - Rain out in Detroit

Since the next game in Detroit was rescheduled for 1 PM, we had to wake up at 3 AM to leave by 4 AM to get to the game on time.  We drove south from Milwaukee through Chicago and then to Indiana where we stopped for breakfast about 6:30.  We continued into Michigan and drove across the state on I-94.  We finally arrived at Comerica Park at 12:30 just before game time.  There was a threat of rain so the tarp was still on the field.  At 1 PM the rain started, but at 2:30 the game was cancelled.  Since the bus already left for the hotel, we had to wait about an hour for it to come to pick us up.

Baseball Trip Tuesday June 26th - Karen got a foul ball

On Tuesday morning we watched television and sat around the lobby of the motel where we ran into some of the other people on the tour.  Finally at 1:45 Pm the tour bus came.  It took about 1½ hours to drive to Milwaukee where we picked up a few more people.  The next stop was Miller Field where we had a tailgate party as we did last year.  There were plenty of hamburgers, sausages, and beer for everybody.  The game between the Houston Astros and Brewers was a home run derby as the Astros took a 4-2 lead.  In the top of the fifth, Mike Lamb of the Astros hit a foul ball down the third base line about 7 rows behind our seats and hit a young lady in the face.  The ball bounced around and landed in Karen’s seat.  In all the years I have gone to ball games, I have never caught a ball especially since most of the time I sit in the nosebleed section.  Unfortunately, the young lady was slightly injured and needed first aid.  The Brewer fans in the area (not from our tour group) yelled “give it back”.  Karen obviously wanted to keep the ball.  It turned out the customer service people in the stadium gave the girl another ball.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2007_06_26_houmlb_milmlb_1  

 

Baseball Trip - Monday June 25th

The trip from home to Chicago was uneventful as we arrived at the Exel Inn at 4:30 PM.  In was not necessary to arrive any earlier since the motel is in an industrial area where there is nothing much to do.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the Mets Cardinals game on ESPN.  This is a baseball trip so we may as well watch it.  The Mets won 2-1 as Shawn Green hit a walk off home run in the 11th inning.