Karen Rappensperger wrote this story for Met Diary. It’s called “At the Corner.”
As I got to the corner at 59th Street and First Avenue, a man and a woman were standing there talking. They were disagreeing about whether they should cross the street.
The man was arguing that no cars were coming, and the street was empty, so they should go.
That would be jaywalking, the woman replied in a shocked tone.
As she was speaking, another man passed.
“Here, we just call it crossing the street,” he said.
This poem is by Jessica Goodfellow and was in today’s Writer’s Almanac.
In Praise of Imperfect Love
Courtesans of tenth century Japan knew
the keening of the caged copper pheasant,
solo double-note aria for a missing mate,
could be silenced with a mirror
The ideal of a love that completes
masks a yearning for homeostasis,
a second umbilical, island fever,
harmony tighter than unison —
dull as a solved equation;
like the ex-lover who said,
“Being with you is like being alone.”
He meant it as a compliment.
One nice thing Owl Chatter has done for me, among many, is get me to read the obituaries in the NYT. [My old Estates professor at Penn, Mr. Aronstein, once told us how you can tell who the estate lawyers are in Philadelphia: “They wear pin-striped suits, ride in on the local from Paoli, and smile as they read the obituaries.”] I look for one small hook that’s interesting. Plus, it’s nice to say a few parting words to good people. And without realizing it, I think I’ve gained an appreciation for a well-crafted story from reading so many. The most important element is that you get to know the person’s character, at least a little bit. For Lt. Taylor yesterday, what caught me was his comment: “It needed doing.”
As I read the obit for pitcher Don Gullett today, by Alex Williams, I thought that it was perfect. I remembered Gullett for his dominance on the mound, first against the Yankees, and then for them. But I had no idea what he was like as a person. Williams filled me in.
He was the ace for Cincy during their Big Red Machine era, with a lineup featuring Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Pete Rose, among other solid bats. Gullett’s fastball earned him the nickname Smokin’ Don, and he drew comparisons to Koufax. How fast was it? Pirate Slugger Willie Stargell said Gullett “could throw a ball through a carwash without it ever getting wet.” In seven seasons with the Reds, he went 91-44 with a 3.03 ERA. That’s smokin’ alright.
He was the 14th overall pick out of HS in the 1969 draft, appeared in only eleven games in the minors, and reached the big leagues at the age of 19. He earned saves in Cincy’s two wins over Pittsburgh to help them win the pennant in 1970. He said afterwards he wasn’t nervous up there on the mound. He said it was tougher facing all the reporters than it was facing Clemente or Stargell.
In ’75, ’76, and ’77, he started Game 1 of the World Series, the first two for Cincy and the third for NY. ’75 was Cincy’s classic 7-game win over Boston, which included Fisk’s historic Game 6 home run. In ’76, the Reds blew by the Yankees in four straight games, prompting Steinbrenner to lure Gullett to NY with a mammoth offer. And the Yanks did win the Series in ’77, beating the hated Dodgers — their first crown since 1962.
On leaving Cincy for NY, Bench said it was the hardest decision Gullett made in his life. But it was the right move for his family’s security, Bench noted. After a strong year for NY in ’77 (14-4 with a 3.59 ERA), Gullett tore his rotator cuff and his career was over at the age of 31.
Once he was out of baseball he grew tobacco and other crops with his wife Cathy on their farm near his hometown in Kentucky, near the Ohio border. They had three kids. He was a smoker, and had heart attacks in 1986 and 1990, and triple bypass surgery after the second one.
Get this — About 800 Cannabis plants being cultivated on his farmland were discovered by the Kentucky State Police in August of ’77. He denied any knowledge of the plants. The farmland’s caretaker was his brother Jack, who was indicted on a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance the following month. In addition to the marijuana, 100 cases of potato chips were found stashed in the barn. [No they weren’t.]
As for Gullett as a person, Bench said, “He was the nicest, nicest person. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad word ever said about Don.” On the injury, — It took him awhile to accept the end of his career. “I looked at myself and I was only 31, 32 years old,” he said. “It kind of bothered me mentally. It was mentally tough to watch games.”
Always humble, he added “If I had stayed healthy, there is the chance I could have been very successful.”
Ya think?
Rest in peace, Smokin’ Don.
Here’s another story from tomorrow’s Met Diary. It’s by Alisha B.
I landed at LaGuardia Airport, thrilled to be greeted by the familiar skyline. I had been away for a year. It felt like a lifetime, but the rhythm of the city quickly came back to me.
When the car I was in got stuck in traffic on 31st Street in Queens, I decided to make a call.
“L & M Deli,” a familiar voice answered.
“Two Italians, hot, add banana peppers,” I said. “To go, please.”
There was a pause.
“It’s you!” the familiar voice said.
I knew I was home.
“It is,” I said. “See you soon.”
The puzzle today was a double pangram. A pangram is when every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the grid. It only happens every couple of months. Rex doesn’t like them because he generally finds that the quality of the “fill” suffers as the constructor goes searching for that J or Q word. It’s a criticism that makes sense to me. So today’s “double” pangram means every letter appears at least twice. Rex is off today, so we didn’t get his view of it. I thought the fill was pretty sharp, but what the hell do I know? Lewis pointed out that back on 8/10/2016, amazingly, the grid was a record-setting quintuple pangram.
There was a clever clue today at 61A: “Drinks are on me!” The answer was BAR MENU. (Get it?) Also I learned that T SWIZZLE is a nickname for Taylor Swift. Also learned that ZITI is a “traditional wedding dish in southern Italy, hence its literal translation (‘brides’).”
We saw the Bob Marley movie today, One Love. It’s been panned by the critics (44% score on Rotten Tomatoes), but rated highly by the audience (94%). We liked it a lot. Great music (duh) and very good job by the actor who played Marley, Kingsley Ben-Adir. Some of the back-story was a little weak, but so what?
We’ll let Bob send us off tonight. If you haven’t heard this song in a while, take a listen.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 