“The Say Hey Kid”, Willie Mays

In 1965 my family moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to San Francisco, California. I was seven years old. My Dad started taking me to San Francisco Giants games at Candlestick Park not long after our family settled into our new home. I still remember the first time we walked into Candlestick Park. The grass was so green and the playing field was huge. I had never been to a big league ball park and this would be my first major league ball game.

It was at this point in my life I became a huge Willie Mays fan. My Dad told me all about Mays. By 1965 Willie was a super star, and had been for many years. Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Batting Champion, Home Run Champion, Mays had done it all. In fact, in 1965 Willie Mays hit a career high 52 home runs and won his second MVP award. But the thing I remember most about Willie was the way he played center field. His mad dashes in all directions to snag fly balls and line drives, his leaping catches over the fence to rob hitters of home runs, and his famous basket catches. Willie always seemed to be in motion. Hustling this way and that. With every ball that was hit to the outfield, there was Mays running to make the grab.

After watching Willie’s amazing defensive feats I decided that when I played baseball I wanted to be a center fielder, just like Mays. So when I joined the San Francisco Bay Area Cub Scouts I quickly tried out for the baseball team and became the starting center fielder. My favorite part of those Cub Scout games was running as fast as I could to try to catch any ball hit in my direction. There is nothing like that youthful feeling you get when running in the lush green grass and jumping and sliding to catch a line drive. With the help of my Dad I gladly practiced my defensive skills constantly. My inspiration to play baseball was instilled by my father, and later because of Willie Mays.

I continued to play baseball till my junior year in high school. By then I was becoming more interested in other things, plus most of the guys on the team were twice my size and could hit the ball twice as far as I could. And I didn’t like sitting on the bench. But I remained a big baseball fan, and to this day Willie Mays is still my favorite baseball player.

Much has been written about Willie Mays, but unless you actually saw him play a baseball game it is hard to describe the excitement Willie introduced to the game. His speed in the outfield and on base paths is legendary, and being able to watch him play baseball in person was a great thrill for me. I was lucky to be able to watch Willie Mays play baseball at Candlestick Park from 1965 to 1971. I owe that to my Dad. To this day I have never seen a professional baseball player match Mays in pure excitement on a ball field. Maybe it was Willie’s enthusiasm for the game. He hustled on every play. Mays really seemed to enjoy playing every game, which is more than I can say for many of today’s rich and coddled ball players. I wonder how many highlight reels are out there that could be put together to do a film showing Willie Mays playing the game? Not a film about Willie’s life, but an action documentary of his extraordinary playing days. Below is something that was cobbled together and put on YouTube. It includes some action highlights of Willie. But perhaps someone should really take the time to do an extensive action film on the greatest and most exciting baseball player to ever put on a major league uniform…Willie Mays!

Here are some great Life Magazine photographs of Willie Mays:

Willie Mays 1954

Willie Mays 1954 Ditching

Willie Mays 1954 Dugout

Willie Mays 1962

1971 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Replay Update:

May 14, 1971 – The San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers last night 3-2 at Candlestick Park. Willie McCovey hit a walk off solo home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to send the Giants to their third straight victory. Rich Robertson gained his first win of the season by pitching one inning of scoreless relief. Jose Pena was the losing pitcher for the Dodgers. This pitching duel included ten pitchers, five pitchers for each team. The Giants and Dodgers now hook up for two more games in the series. Here are the current standing for my Start-O-Matic baseball replay of the San Francisco Giants 1971 season:

1971 Giants SOM Standings May14

And here are the current Giants batting and pitching statistics:

1971 SF Giants Hitting Stats May 14

1971 SF Giants Pitching Stats May 14

I still have some Strat-O-Matic baseball cards for sale in my e-store. Also, I’m still looking for a 1971 SOM Ike Brown of the Tigers, if you want to trade.

Vintage Baseball Card Of The Week:

Willie Mays of course! Below is one of my favorite Willie Mays baseball cards. It’s from the 1962 Topps set. 1962 is the year the Giants won the National League pennant and then lost to the Yankees in the World Series. This was the Series that featured a dramatic ending in Game 7. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and Willie Mays on second base representing the winning run and a World Series victory for San Francisco, Willie McCovey hit a screeching line drive to Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson to end the threat, and thus ended the World Series:

1962 Topps Willie Mays

1962 Topps Willie Mays (Back)

And here is one of my favorite baseball cards, from the 1964 Topps set, showing two of the best baseball players ever, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron:

1964 Topps Mays & Aaron

1964 Topps Mays & Aaron (Back)

If interested, I have many vintage baseball cards for sale in my e-store and on eBay.

On This Day In 1953:

The Milwaukee Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers were tied for first place in the National League. The Dodgers would end the season 105-49, 13 games ahead of the second place Braves. But Brooklyn would go on to lose to the New York Yankees 4-2 in the 1953 World Series.

Speaking of 1953. Below is an 8mm home movie recorded in the Fall of 1953, in New York City. I digitized the film and added some music. I like all the cool neon signs:

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“And Batting Eighth, The Starting Pitcher…”

“Batting eighth Atlanta pitcher Tim Hudson, and batting ninth, outfielder Nate McLouth.” Sound kind of crazy? Well, maybe not. Atlanta Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez today said he is considering hitting his pitchers in the eighth spot of the lineup to try to spark the beleaguered Braves offense. “Moving things around,” Gonzalez said. “Trying to do something to create some runs. Nothing crazy.”

Maybe Fredi is right. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has had some success hitting the pitcher in the eighth spot. It’s almost like having two lead off hitters setting the table for the heart of the lineup. Or maybe Fredi is just trying to get into the heads of some of his hitters. I mean, what hitter really wants to see his name put in the ninth spot of the lineup card!?

The Braves team is currently batting a cool .241 on the season. Not the worst in baseball, but at the rate the Philadelphia Phillies are currently winning games it appears the Braves best chance of getting into the playoffs this year is via the Wild Card. Which means the Braves need to score more runs. Right now, Atlanta’s pitching staff is allowing about three runs a game. So if the Braves could average four runs per game, in theory, they should win quite a few ball games. Unfortunately for Atlanta’s offense, they are not averaging four runs per game. Maybe the Braves could convince Hank Aaron to suit up for the remainder of the season. Henry was an RBI “machine” during his hey day. Imagine how many runs per game the Braves would score if “Hammerin Hank” Aaron were in the lineup!

Watch Hank Aaron on the Late Show with David Letterman:

1971 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Replay Update:

The San Francisco Giants blast 3 home runs to beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4! Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bobby Bonds go deep and Gaylord Perry notches his 4th win of the season to push the streaking Giants to 23-11, the best record in baseball through the first 34 games of the 1971 season. The Los Angeles Dodgers are 6 games back of the Giants in the NL West and the Giants and Dodgers begin a 3 game series tonight at Candlestick Park. Here are the current 1971 standings for my San Francisco Giants Strat-O-Matic baseball replay, games ending May 12, 1971:

And here are the current San Francisco Giants hitter and pitcher statistics:

By the way, I have some 1971 Strat-O-Matic baseball cards for sale in my e-store, if anyone is interested. And, I am still looking for that elusive 1971 Strat-O-Matic Ike Brown card (Detroit Tigers), in case someone wants to make a trade.

Vintage Baseball Card Of The Week:

The 1956 Topps Hank Aaron card. Fifty-nine years ago this week (1952) Boston Braves scout Dewey Griggs signed Hank Aaron to a contract. The rest is history:

On This Day In 1960:

Ted Williams hit his 500th HR:

1954, 1957 & 1958 Topps Ted Williams Cards

Speaking of Ted Williams, check out this 1958 Topps card I found of “Teddy Ballgame” with Ted Kluszewski. It looks like “The Klu” either had his shoulder air-brushed by Topps to make it look bigger, or Kluszewski was using steroids:

Compare that 1958 image of Kluszewski (above) with this cool 1957 Topps picture (below). His shoulders still look big, but could they have grown so much in one year!?

Jerry Coker – Owner of A Home Plate
Email: obcbeate@yahoo.com
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Good Pitching Always Beats Good Hitting…Maybe?

Whether it was Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra or Bob Veale who first coined the phrase “good pitching always beats good hitting”, one thing I know for sure is that once a “good” pitcher finds his groove, hitters start walking back to the dugout with their heads down. And that has been happening a lot to hitters facing the Atlanta Braves pitching staff this year.

Through the first 65 games of the 2011 MLB season the Atlanta Braves are ranked 23rd out of 30 in team batting average, hitting a humble .244. The Braves have scored 254 runs so far this year. In contrast the Boston Red Sox have scored 336 runs and are batting .274. So one might think that the “Bravos” are near the cellar in their division.

Not so! Atlanta’s pitching staff is currently ranked number one in team ERA, giving up a stingy 2.99 runs per game. The Braves not only have a strong starting rotation but they also have a formidable bullpen that includes Johnny Venters who currently has an amazing 0.45 ERA. Not bad considering Venters has pitched in over half the Braves games so far this year! Johnny Venters recent success sparked Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker to comment, “He’s a nasty man”. “The game plan is to have the lead when he might be in the game”. Not a bad game plan since Johnny’s “drop off the table” sinker ball makes batters walk away shaking their heads. I think I can hear them saying “how am I supposed to hit that pitch?”

So how does all this translate to the success of the Atlanta Braves so far this season? Well, the Braves are currently 37-28 and just 2 games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Eastern Division. That’s pretty good considering the Phillies are acknowledged as one of the best teams in baseball and the odds on favorite to win the NL East again this year because of their remarkable starting pitching. But the Braves pitching has been good too and that has enabled them to stay in the race despite their current hitting woes.

Earlier this week the Braves played a game against the Florida Marlins, defeating the Marlins 1-0. The Braves managed only 2 hits in 9 innings off Marlins pitching. But one of those hits was a solo home run by Braves shortstop Alex Gonzalez which was good enough to win the game. That particular baseball game pretty much sums up the Braves season so far. Atlanta gets a ton of good pitching but only a smidgen of hitting. So far that has been just enough to win ball games. Once Dan Uggla and the rest of the Braves hitters get some of that magic fairy dust sprinkled on their bats, Atlanta could be a team to reckon with come September. Unless the injury bug decides to bite.

Player Of The Week

Goes to Atlanta Braves center fielder Jordan Schafer who has helped ignite the Braves offense by getting to first base, stealing 5 bases and scoring 5 runs. May not sound like much but Schafer has provided the spark that the Braves have lacked all season. A speedy lead off hitter who can steal 2nd base and get into scoring position in front of Chipper Jones and Brian McCann. And given Atlanta’s recent offensive woes, 5 runs and 5 stolen bases in one week is big news!

Vintage Baseball Card Of The Week

I was recently inspired by an article written by Jim Caple called “Modern spin on baseball card cartoons”. After reading the article I starting going through some of my old baseball cards and reading the cartoons on the back. One of the first cards I looked at immediately caught my interest, the 1954 Topps Ted Kluszewski card. The cartoon on the back of Ted’s card had an odd fact about “The Klu” that took me completely by surprise. If you read the three-paned cartoon strip called “Inside Baseball” on the back of Ted’s card, it states:

Back of 1954 Topps Ted Kluszewski baseball card

“To improve his 1951 BA, Ted’s wife took movies of his swing. At home Ted studied the films and found what mistakes he made. The next year ‘Klu’ not only corrected those mistakes but jumped his average from .259 to .320!”. Not only is that an impressive improvement for Kluszewski’s BA, but what is equally impressive is that Ted’s wife filmed her husband in the early 1950′s probably using either an 8mm or 16mm movie camera. Families often used 8mm home movie cameras during this period to film their children on holidays or film their vacation. Possibly Ted and his wife borrowed a 16mm movie camera from the Reds organization so they could film his swing. I’m not sure when MLB teams started using film to help their players, but this could be an early example. And perhaps “The Klu” was already grooming himself for becoming a successful hitting coach, as he would prove to be for “The Big Red Machine”, i.e., the Cincinnati Reds of the 1970′s. Big kudos to Ted’s wife for doing the filming. I wonder if that film still exists! By the way, occasionally I try to digitize 8mm home movies using the “poor mans” method of film transfer (record film using a cheap camcorder). In case you’re interested, here’s one of my efforts:

Also, I collect and sell old 8mm home movies on eBay (my eBay ID is cokerobc) and in my e-store.

On This Day In 1951

The Cincinnati Reds were defeated by the New York Giants 5-3 at Crosley Field. The Reds starting pitcher Ken Raffensberger pitched a complete 10 inning game, and lost. Ted Kluszewski went 1 for 5 and scored a run. The Giants would go on to win the NL Pennant on Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard round the world”, off Ralph Branca.

1954 Topps Ted Kluszewski baseball card.

1971 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Replay Update

I had about an hour to spare over the weekend so I rolled another game of Strat-O-Matic baseball. As I mentioned in a previous post I am replaying the 1971 San Francisco Giants season using my old Strat-O-Matic baseball game (cards and dice). It is a very slow process I’ve now played through May 11, 1971. The Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 in my May 11th simulated game. Juan Marichal got the win pitching a complete game. Marichal is now 4-2 with an ERA of 4.58 in 8 games started. Juan also doubled to score a run in the 4th inning and singled to drive in 2 runs in the 7th inning! Of course both of Marichal’s hits were off Reds pitcher Jim Merritt’s card The Giants now play one more game with the Reds before the Los Angeles Dodgers visit Candlestick Park for a 3 game weekend series against the Giants. This will be the first meeting of the year between the SF Giants and their arch rival LA Dodgers. During the 1971 MLB season the Giants beat out the Dodgers by 1 game to win the National League Western Division title (it went down to the final game of the season). I hope I can do the same in my simulation. And then I hope I can beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the National League pennant! By the way, I failed to mention in my previous post that Gaylord Perry pitched a no hitter for me in my April 12, 1971 simulation game between the Giants and the San Diego Padres. That was the first no hitter I’ve ever rolled since I started playing Strat-O-Matic baseball when I was a kid! Also, I found some more duplicate 1971 Strat-O-Matic baseball cards in a box with some of my old APBA baseball cards. Most of the 1971 Strat-O-Matic cards I found are the extra cards you had to purchase from Start-O-Matic to add 4 more players per team. If interested, I’m selling these extra cards in my e-store. I’m also still interested in trading for a 1971 Strat-O-Matic Ike Brown card (Detroit Tigers). Ike is the only player I am missing to complete my 1971 Strat-O-Matic baseball card set. Thanks!

Friday Night At The Movies

I enjoy watching movies on Friday night. It feels great to be able to relax and forget my worries after a long week at work. And movies provide a getaway for me. Even if it is only for a few hours. Sometimes I like to watch old movies from the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps because that was the era when I was growing up. When I see the old movie sets from that period it reminds me of “the good old days”. Maybe those days were not all so good, but in my eyes they were There is something cool about seeing all the “vintage” cars, furniture, clothing, etc. And there is a lot of cigarette smoking and liquor drinking in those old movies that reminds me of my youth, when I could get away with such indulgences. I miss youth

So last Friday night I watched a John Huston movie from 1957 called “Heaven Knows Mr. Allison” starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr. I’ve always liked this movie because the story seems rather plausible and Mitchum and Kerr do a great job of acting. It is so nice to watch a movie that has a good script. The story is about a U.S. Marine and a nun that are deserted on an island in the South Pacific during WW2. The island becomes occupied by the Japanese. There is romance in the air, action and suspense, and a “deserted on a tropical island” kind of vibe going on in this movie. By the way, you don’t have to be a Robert Mitchum or Deborah Kerr fan to enjoy this movie, although they really have good chemistry in this flick. But the story carries the movie throughout.

So…seeing how it is Friday night, I need to start searching for another good movie to watch. Hmmm….am I in the mood for a Comedy or Tragedy tonight?

Vin Scully…What A Joy!

I spent part of my afternoon today listening to Vin Scully broadcast the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game against the Florida Marlins on MLB.com. What a joy it is to listen to Scully announce a baseball game! I spend many hours each year listening to the stuffy airbag announcers who currently work for MLB teams up and down the east coast. Compared to them, Vin Scully is a breath of fresh air. I guess it helps that Vin has over 60 years of broadcasting experience and has seen a lot of baseball games. And I believe that is what makes him so enjoyable to listen to. At 80+ years old Vin has seen it all. And you an tell he still loves baseball and is prepared for each game. Scully talks effortlessly during the game, weaving in stories from baseballs past, interjecting personal tidbits about players that are not necessarily superstars and describing what is happening in the game without personal bias. For instance, today Scully mentioned that a veteran catcher had recently told him that the reason San Francisco Giants star catcher Buster Posey was injured so badly in a collision at home plate earlier in the week was because Posey did not position his feet correctly while trying to block the plate. Specifically, Posey’s knee was on the ground when he was trying to make a tag on the runner at the plate, as opposed to being on both feet in a crouch. Now I don’t know if the veteran catcher who told this to Scully made an accurate assessment of the Posey collision or not, but I do know that Vin Scully proceeded to tell two wonderful stories about other catchers he had watched during his broadcasting career that had similar collision experiences. The first story was about how Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella once eluded a collision with New York Yankee runner Billy Martin by moving aside “like a matador” at the very last minute tagging Martin on the top of the head. Martin was called out at the plate. And Billy Martin, always the fighter, was furious. However, Scully said Roy Campanella just “shrugged his shoulders” at Martin. The other story Vin told was how Los Angeles Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro had a habit of crouching very low on both feet when a runner was bearing down on him at the plate, and then quickly jumping up, causing the runner to flip over Roseboro’s back. Now perhaps the reason for Posey’s injury was more complicated than just the positioning of his feet, but the great thing about Scully’s observations were that they captured two instances in baseball’s past, the famous Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950′s (The Boys of Summer) and the pitching powerhouse LA Dodgers of the 1960′s (Johnny Roseboro was Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale’s catcher). Unfortunately, there are not many baseball announcers left that can relay this kind of “history of the game” to the younger generation of baseball fans. Vin Scully is still an amazing baseball announcer and one of the last of his kind. I have heard some people say that Scully talks too much during a broadcast. And I can understand how they might feel that way as I was a big Skip Carey fan when he was broadcasting for the Atlanta Braves. Skip was witty, had a dry sense of humor and knew how to use brief seconds of silence so the listener could just listen to what was happening in the ballpark. But at least Scully doesn’t get personal and babble on about meaningless things during game, unlike many of the reality show type baseball broadcasters I’ve heard the past few years! Maybe I’m just showing my age I can’t believe I’m going to say this, as I am a lifelong San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves fan, but, do yourself a favor and listen to a Dodgers home game this year. You won’t regret it! I hope Vin Scully can continue to broadcast baseball games for another 20 years!

1971 Strat-O-Matic Baseball

About 4 years ago I started to replay the San Francisco Giants 1971 baseball season using my old Strat-O-Matic (SOM) baseball game. I play SOM baseball using the original cards and dice that came with the game. My parents bought me SOM when I was a 12 years old. That was 40 years ago! I still have my SOM football and basketball games too. Yes, I was one of the lucky ones. My Mom did not throw out my old baseball cards and games! Anyway, I recently decided to continue where I left off with my Giants 1971 season replay. Back in 2007 I kept score of every game and recorded the Giants hitting and pitching stats, as well as the NL team win/loss records. I played the Giants season schedule up to May 10th, 1971. Here are the current NL standings for my replay. After 32 games the Giants are 21-11 in my simulation. Retrosheet.org shows the Giants were 23-9 after 32 games in 1971. So I’m currently 2 games behind in my simulation. But no problem. I have Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bobby Bonds on my team! I just need to manage a little better NOTE: My simulation standings don’t match Retrosheet’s NL standings because I account for all NL games that differed in outcome during my simulation. So if the game outcome differs for any of my Giants simulation games, then my standings will reflect those differences from the real season NL standings of 1971. As a consequence, my Giants replay can effect the final standings in the NL! Of course it’s only a game The big challenge with playing SOM with the cards and dice is the time it takes me to score each game and then record the stats on my computer. I’m sure the computer version of the SOM baseball game is much faster, but I really enjoy playing the game with the original cards and dice. It brings back a lot of memories! I also still have the APBA baseball game my parents purchased for me in 1972. It includes the 1972 and 1973 playing cards. I enjoyed playing APBA when I was younger but it never seemed to have the same realism as my SOM baseball game. I should mention that when I play SOM baseball I play the advanced version. 1971 was the first year that SOM added the advanced version of the game to the backs of the player cards. That created a lot more strategy situations to the game which makes it seem more like a real baseball game, in my opinion. The SOM baseball game was created in 1961. The original SOM player cards and team sets are getting harder to find, particularly in nice condition. Also, SOM issued 4 extra players per team each year that you could purchase beyond the 20 players per team you received when you bought the game. The original extra player cards are even more scarce. You can often find the original SOM player cards on eBay. Also, SOM still exists and you can purchase the player cards directly from them! Many of my SOM cards are beat up. Particularly the SF Giants cards. But I don’t care. I like holding those old cards in my hand! By the way, in case you are missing a player or two from your 1971 SOM season I have a few duplicate SOM cards for sale in my e-store. Or, if you happen to have an original 1971 Ike Brown SOM card of the Detroit Tigers (one of the extra cards that year), I would be willing to trade one of my extra cards for Ike! Finally, if you have already replayed the 1971 SOM season, or are currently doing so, please let me know. Thanks!

The Who: Live at the London Coliseum 1969

I was trolling YouTube last weekend when I stumbled on to parts of The Who video “Live at the London Coliseum 1969″. This was the first time I’d seen clips of this gig, and I was impressed. Enough so that I ended up purchasing the DVD from Amazon. Interestingly, the DVD is being marketed as “The Who At Kilburn: 1977″ but the 1969 London Coliseum gig is included. And…for some reason the entire live 1969 Coliseum Tommy performance was put in the Extra’s menu of the DVD. Probably because a small part of the Tommy performance had some audio recording issues (minor damage to a section of film I imagine, but not enough to detract from the performance, in my opinion). Also, the 1969 Coliseum performance was recorded on 16mm film (as opposed to 35mm like the Kilburn gig). But I still think the 1969 Coliseum gig far outshines the Kilburn gig. At any rate I am thankful that the 1969 Coliseum gig was captured on film and included with the Kilburn footage! My understanding is the 16mm film of this 1969 Coliseum performance was rescued from the dumpster of The Who’s manager, Kit Lambert, after The Who switched management in the mid 1970′s. So, thanks to whoever made the rescue and had the foresight to put this rare glimpse of The Who on to DVD! I had been searching for early Who live concert footage for years, particularly anything with most or all of the Tommy or Quadrophenia operas (I have yet to find any good live film of The Who performing Quadrophenia from the early/mid 1970′s, when it was first written). I believe the 1969 Coliseum performance is better than the 1970 Isle of Wight gig, although I’ve heard the remix of the Isle gig is pretty impressive. However, I think The Who were kinda’ sloppy at the Isle gig and they were REALLY sloppy at Woodstock even Pete Townshend agrees Not that I’m complaining about The Who as a band. I think they were the best LIVE rock band ever. But they did have their sloppy moments (whether it was the booze or drugs…or anything else…I guess it doesn’t really matter) as The Who played with more energy than any band before or since! By the way, the 1977 Kilburn gig was supposedly the last live performance that The Who drummer Keith Moon played. He died a few months later. The Kilburn gig is OK, but it’s clear that Pete Townshend is not happy with the performance (and with HIS performance in particular…he even mentions this during the gig). When I watch Pete and the rest of the band play the Kilburn gig I sense they were not ready or really wanting to perform, thus it was like they were just going through the motions. Anyway, the 1969 Coliseum performance is the best live Who performance I’ve seen yet. It captures them at a fairly early stage in their career and they are pretty tight when performing Tommy. If you are a guitar player like me, I think you will enjoy it too. Like most rock bands, I prefer their early recordings and performances. I think later, once bands and musicians start to get rich they get lazy and run out of good material (compositions) and they also lose a lot of their raw “gotta’ make it or we’ll flop” energy. The Beatles might be one exception to that belief

Music And The Beatles As I Was Growing Up

If I was forced to choose one band or composer whose music that I could only listen to for the rest of my life, i.e., I could not listen to any other band or composers music except that one, I would choose the music of The Beatles. And it would not be a difficult decision for me. Maybe I would choose Miles Davis, but his album “Kind of Blue” would probably be the only album I could listen to over and over again (“Kind of Blue” may me the best album ever recorded). And maybe Mozart would be a good choice since he was very prolific as well, and there would be a wealth of music to choose from. However, so far in realm of my music listening life (and I am 52 years old) the only music that I seem to be able to listen to and tolerate over a long period of time is the music of The Beatles. Of course much of this preference may be tempered by my having grown up during mid 1960′s through the early 1970′s (ages 7-13 may have been my most formative years, although others may disagree Now I’m sure my choice of The Beatles is not big news to many musicians and music lovers around the world as The Beatles are quite well known for their innovation, composition, musicianship and style. But it has always amazed me that I can continue to listen to the music of The Beatles without ever growing tired of it. Maybe that will change one day, but I have been listening to The Beatles music for well over 40 years!

I was born into a musical family. My father is an accomplished jazz pianist, and my mother a wonderful singer. And I have many other family members who are, or were, musically talented. I have vivid memories of going to my Dad’s jazz band rehearsals in downtown San Francisco during the 1960′s and early 1970′s. Besides my Dad, there were many other great jazz musicians at those rehearsals. I particularly was enamored by the drummers. I think if I had it to do over again I would have started playing drums when I was young, instead of guitar. I still love to listen to and watch great drummers like Bill Bruford (early Yes), Terry Bozzio (with Frank Zappa and Missing Persons) and the many great jazz drummers I had the pleasure of seeing perform during my Dad’s rehearsals. And I had some interesting (eye-opening) experiences while accompanying my Dad to some of his rehearsals. I remember one day in particular. My Dad was driving us slowly through the crowded downtown streets of SF on a Saturday. I remember looking out the window of our car and seeing a man slumped against a crumbled wall next to a huge skyscraper. He was clutching a brown paper bag in one hand while his other hand lay limp on the ground beside him. He looked like he had been left for dead, leaning against that building. But as people rapidly walked around him he would occasionally flinch and then again drift off into his slumber, or stuper. Watching that old man and the hustle and bustle of the big city of SF from within the safety of my Dad’s car left quite an impression on me. Later that day, during a rehearsal break, my Dad took me to a 5 & 10 store on a nearby street corner. My Dad wanted a paper (the SF Chronicle) and I wanted something to eat and drink…and some baseball cards! Sure enough, that 5 & 10 store had a rack of bubble-gum cards and my Dad bought me a couple packs. And I remember pulling a Willie Mays or some other SF Giant star from one of those packs! It’s interesting, I seem to remember that whenever I bought baseball cards from places other than the store near my house I always seemed to pull baseball cards that I really needed or wanted. Yet when I purchased cards from my local store I would get the same old players On the walk back to my Dad’s rehearsal, a bedraggled man with thick whiskers hustled his way in front of me and my Dad and asked my Dad if he had any change to spare. I honestly don’t remember if my Dad gave that man any money, but I do remember feeling a bit scared of that old man. Life in the big city was definitely different than in the suburbs.

Occasionally my Dad would have rehearsals in the basement of our house in SF. These were small group jazz rehearsals that were more intimate than the rehearsals in downtown SF. For me to be able to watch, up-close, a talented drummer demonstrate his mastery of a drum kit, with sticks AND brushes, was mesmerizing! I still remember one drummer who had a funny habit of squeezing his eyes shut with his mouth open as he played. You could tell that he really enjoyed his work

So jazz has been a big part of my music listening life since the day I was born, and although I really like jazz (and still do!) sometime around 1965 I began exploring and listening to other genres of music, on my own. I remember Motown was big during this period (on the SF air waves) and I used to listen to soul, r&b, and rock-n-roll on my little transistor radio. And it was about this time that I first heard The Beatles. “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Help!” were the first two Beatles songs I remember hearing on the radio. In fact, at some point around this time my Mom and Dad bought me the “Hard Days Night” (HDN) album. It was my first Beatles album! I remember listening to that album constantly on my tiny Sears portable record player. However, I was always frustrated that Capital records decided to include the HDN movie instrumental music on that album, in between all those great Beatles songs (Capital did the same thing on the Help! album). Sad story about my HDN album. Years later when I was living in Miami I loaned my prized Beatles HDN album to my sisters boy friend (against my better judgement). In return he loaned me something like Peter Frampton, I think. About a month or two later my sister broke-up with her boy friend, AND, he ended up moving sometime after that. Thus my first Beatles album is forever
gone The other Beatles album my Mom and Dad bought me while we lived in SF was Abbey Road (which unfortunately was The Beatles last album). I listened to Abbey Road so much that years later I had to replace it since I ruined it by playing it on my old Sears record player without ever changing the record player needle By the time I was 17 years old I had purchased every Beatles album I could find, including many imports (I used to work in a record store in Miami during the 1970′s, so that helped a lot!).

So here is why I like The Beatles music so much. I believe John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the best duo song writers ever (bar none). Their ability to compose great music and lyrics, seemingly with ease, is astounding to me! I suspect it was the combination of god given talent as well as hard work (John and Paul began composing together at a very early age) that made their songs so great. Whatever the reasons, their compositions are very moving. The guitar and vocal work of The Beatles is another reason I admire their music so much. John, Paul and George were all great guitar players and liked to experiment with guitar sounds. All the Beatles studio recordings with the variations of acoustic guitar tracks and electric guitar tracks (including the bass guitar) are a wonderland for any musician and guitarist, like me. There is so much to hear! Then there are the great vocals. John, Paul and George were also great vocalists. It seems very rare to find three great vocalists in any band, particularly these days. Thus, the combination of great composition, accomplished musicianship and skillful singing, and that is why I think I can go on listening to the The Beatles music for another 50 years I have yet to hear a band before or after The Beatles whose music I can listen to constantly without at some point getting bored. I can listen to, and re-visit The Beatles music anytime.

I’ll end by saying that much has been written about The Beatles and John Lennon and Paul McCartney and their music. So there is not much need for me to write any more. But The Beatles music had a significant impact on my life both as a musician and a person. It was their music that inspired me to play the guitar. And coincidentally, about the time I started to play guitar and take more interest in music was also the same time I started to leave the innocence of my childhood behind. So music in general, and The Beatles in particular were somewhat of a bridge for me to go from childhood to adolescence. Although, there are some people, I suspect, that feel that I still act like a child, and some others that believe I still behave like an adolescent. But sometimes that can be a good thing

Reflections Of Growing Up In SF

I just watched the movie “Big“, again, for about the 10th time. I love the story and Tom Hanks does a great job of acting like a kid in the movie, which is not too hard for Hanks to do Basically “Big” is the story about a boy (Josh) who has almost reached adolescence and is beginning to discover girls, but is still clinging on to being a kid. Baseball is a big part of his life and there are scenes in the movie where Josh and his buddy Billy are playing baseball and buying baseball cards, which is one of the reasons I think can relate to the story so much. In fact, in one scene Josh and Billy are looking through packs of baseball cards they just bought and as they look at each card they say “got it, got it, got it”. That was a very familiar experience for me too while I was growing up One night after a humiliating encounter with a girl from his school, while at an amusement park, Josh makes a wish to a “Zoltar” wish machine to be “big”. The next morning Josh wakes up (as Tom Hanks) and his wish has come true. Then the fun begins as Josh deals with being a kid inside an adult body. Lots of great humor from Tom Hanks with many true to life “growing up” situations mixed nicely into this well written script.

Watching this film always reminds me of my childhood and growing up in San Francisco. The good old days of collecting baseball cards and hanging out in my neighborhood with all my friends. And just learning about growing up. They say you never forget your first “crush”. For me it was a girl named Danielle. Danielle lived across the street and was a year older than me, and a friend of my sister. I still remember the first time I laid eyes on Danielle (she was beautiful). Some friends and I were playing tag in my front yard. Danielle and my sister walked over and asked if they could play. I took one look at Danielle and I got all warm inside. Before I could say anything someone else said “sure, come on”. I was still looking at Danielle trying to think of something clever to say as she stared straight into my eyes. I was speechless! Before I knew what was happening someone tagged me and said “your it”. Well…I never even took my eyes off Danielle, but she gave me this cunning smile and then took off running. I never hesitated. I immediately took off after her chasing her clear down the street as she giggled and laughed. We ran way beyond the boundary of the tag game and all my buddies just sort of put there hands on their hips wondering where the heck I was going, and what on earth was I doing (I was sorta’ thinking the same thing). I finally caught and tagged Danielle and we sort of stumbled and hung on to each other for a moment when she stopped in her tracks (what an awkward but wonderful moment!). She then chased me all the way back to my front yard. By then I’m sure most of my buddies knew what was going on as it became primarily a game of me and Danielle chasing and tagging each other when we were “it” But I will never forget that tag game, and Danielle, and the way she made me feel when we looked at each other. It was the first time I ever had any feelings for a girl. And it was confusing. Not long after that first encounter with Danielle things began to become even more confusing. One night my sister came into my room and said “have you looked in your desk drawer lately?” Of course I hadn’t so I opened the drawer and laying inside was a small package with a little note attached. It was from Danielle! I’m pretty sure the package was candy hearts (this was over 40 years ago). However, I remember exactly what Danielle wrote in the note…”just a little something”. And she added these cute little drawings of hearts on the note (sigh…those little heart drawings and note made me warm all over again Now, being the pre-adolescent I was I had no clue how to reciprocate this unexpected but heart-warming gesture. I think I turned to my sister expecting an answer, but she was already out the door, her duty done. I speculated all night on what I should do. After sleeping on it I came up with this great idea. I’ll make Danielle a little package of candy hearts and write her a note that says “just a little something”. I’d even draw little hearts on the note. And I did! Very clever. You have to understand, I was very new at this game of love

It wasn’t long and Danielle my sister and I, and Danielle’s brother (who I think my sister had a crush on) were going on double dates to the movies. We went to Saturday matinees and saw movies like The Brides Of Dracula, Once Upon A Time In The West and Premature Burial. Danielle and I started holding hands (gasp!). Then not long after that we started playing “Truth Or Dare” and “Spin The Bottle”. My first kiss! Well…you get the drift. Of course about a year later Danielle, being a year older than I, decided she wanted to date “older” guys and she broke up with me. I guess I was still too immature for her I was devastated. But I slowly got over it. So as the saying goes, you never forget your first love; and in the end you find your true love and get married; then you have kids of your own…and so on

Such was life for me as I was growing up in SF during the 1960′s and early 1970′s. I played baseball, collected baseball cards, played tag, “Ha Ha Herman” and other games with my neighborhood friends. I was very lucky. I had great parents (still do!) and we lived in a middle-class neighborhood in SF and had lots a friends. The street we lived on (Urbano Drive) was once a race track in the horse and buggy days. So it was a big circle of houses that you could ride your bike around in about 20-30 minutes. In the middle of Urbano Drive (inside the old race track) was a smaller circular cul-de-sac street that had a tiny park with trees and a huge cement sundial complete with roman numerals on the outer edge. As a kid you could shimmy up the sundial and get a great view of things above the tree line! Also, the trees in the park had sturdy wide limbs that seemed to grow more outwards than upwards. Thus, they were easy to climb and you could almost walk from tree to tree like a squirrel because the trees were spaced so closely together. I remember actually being able to lie down flat on top of those trees, the huge branches acting like rafters to hold me aloft. There was a huge house across from the park that had a big garage. A rock band would play about once a month, inside the garage. They were a very good band. Every once in awhile they would open the garage door and you could watch them play. I used to lay in those trees and listen to the music as I watched the seagulls dancing above me. There were always a lot of pretty young women walking around near the house when the band was playing. All the women had long flowing hair with flowers woven at the top of their head, like angel halo’s. The women also walked around with fancy wine or champagne glasses in their hands. My friends and I would ride our banana seat “stingray” bikes and practice doing wheelies, trying to impress all those pretty young women Years later I was told that Carlos Santana lived in SF, near Urbano Drive. I still wonder if the band I was listening to in that park was Carlos Santana’s band!