There was a time when, if you asked Roger Craig “What’s shakin’?,” he would’ve said “Everything!” Craig, who died yesterday at age 93, was the manager of the Giants in the 1989 World Series — the one that was interrupted before the start of Game 3 by an earthquake. That was on October 17. Both cities — Oakland and SF, whose teams were in the Series, suffered substantial damage.
Candlestick Park in SF suffered damage to its upper deck as pieces of concrete fell from the baffle at the top of the stadium and the power was knocked out. The game was postponed and Commish Faye Vincent said he didn’t know when play would resume. It finally resumed ten days later and finished the next day. Oakland swept the Giants in four games.
But Craig was best known (I only learned today) for the spread of the split-fingered fastball, the “pitch of the 80’s.” Craig didn’t invent the splitter — a coach named Fred Martin did. Martin taught it to Bruce Sutter, who rode it into the Hall of Fame. But Craig is credited with its spreading like wildfire. He taught it to Jack Morris, who also made it into the HOF, and whose pitching carried Detroit to the 1984 World Series title. And to Mike Scott who won the Cy Young Award with it in 1986 and said “God bless Roger Craig.” The pitch lost its popularity when it was suspected that the strain of its frequent use cost pitchers some velocity off their fastballs. But many pitchers today still include it in their repertoire, including Shohei Ohtani. David Cone, John Smoltz, and Curt Schilling used it often during their careers, and Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson adopted it late in theirs.
Craig is also two trivia question answers: (1) He started the last game for the Brooklyn Dodgers before they moved to LA. And (2) he started the first game ever for the Mets. (He lost both games.) He was the third player drafted by the Mets in the expansion draft (after catcher Hobie Landrith and infielder Elio Chacon). He lost 24 games for the Mets in 1962, when the team set the record that still stands of 120 losses for the season. He lost another 22 for them in 1963, including 18 in a row. Ouch.
But there were bright spots too. He beat the Yankees in Game 5 of the 1955 World Series — the only WS won by a team from Brooklyn. His best year was 1959 when he went 11-5 with the (LA) Dodgers and led the NL in shutouts with four. He started two games in the WS for them that year (one loss, and one no-decision), as they beat the White Sox in six games. In Game 4 of the 1964 WS, he beat the Yanks again, in relief, for the Cards, to whom he had been traded. The Cards won that series in seven games. His lifetime record was 74-98, with a solid 3.83 ERA.
Craig is survived by his wife, Carolyn; three daughters; a son; seven grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren, every one of whom throws a pretty mean splitter, you can be sure of that.
Here’s a shot of the autograph of his I have in my collection:
In the puzzle today 10D was MOONROOF. And a comment educated me, as follows: “In case you care, the difference twixt a Sunroof and a MOONROOF, — a Sunroof is the flip-up type, which doesn’t open fully, whereas the MOONROOF is the type that slides back into the roof. Trivia night stuff…”
At 39A, “Georgia who painted ‘Cow’s Skull With Calico Roses,’” was O’KEEFFE, of course. I had forgotten about that crazy second “F.”
“Calico” here clearly does not mean calico as in calico cat. You can see the rose is not mottled in color. It’s a fabric — these are “fake” roses. They were associated with death, since they were used to decorate graves in New Mexico. The painting draws from the devastation of a drought, so the association with death (along with the skull, of course), is appropriate.
Here’s the painting and Ms. O’Keeffe, when she was young.
Model/Mom/Baseball-wife Kate Upton paid a return visit to the puzzle and Owl Chatter today. Hi Kate! — thanks for stopping by again. Genevieve looks great!
Here’s the happy couple celebrating Justin’s 2017 World Series win with Houston. (We won’t spoil the moment by mentioning the Astros’ cheating.) Hey, get a room you two!
Last week DeSantis told an audience that “the woke mind virus represents a war on the truth so we will wage a war on the woke. We will fight the woke in education, we will fight the woke in the corporations, we will fight the woke in the halls of congress. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. We will make woke ideology leave it to the dustbin of history; it’s gone.”
Of course, he was ripping off WC’s historic speech: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Pretty cheap ripoff, DeSantis. You may fool the morons who support you, but you’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to put one over on Owl Chatter. Hrummmph — ain’t that right WC?
22A today was “100% behind,” and it turned out to be ALL FOR. Commenter JM said he thought it might turn out to be ALL ASS. Ha!
The clue for 16A today was “Eating utensil with a serrated edge.” Give up? GRAPEFRUIT SPOON, of course! I posted the following on Rex’s blog:
“Are the other fruits jealous of the grapefruit since it’s the only one with a special utensil devised for it? They must be, right?”
Thankfully, there was no response.
Don’t get up — I’ll let myself out. See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 