Baseball's Best
Shoeless Joe, Quick Crawl, Joshua Radin, Miguel Cabrera, Bilevel Baskets
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue starts the second year of Fave Five. It features baseball favorites, the book that was made into Field of Dreams, two greens and a black sheep, a singer/songwriter from Ohio, a Tiger’s last hurrah, and high and not-so-high hoops. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Fave Five 53: Baseball’s Best. Joe Jackson (Shoeless Joe), Quick Crawl (Green Cedar, Greene’s Hamburgers, La Pecora Nera), Sensitive Singer (Joshua Radin), Final Farewell (Miguel Cabrera), and Bilevel Baskets.
Fave Five Lists: Diamonds of the Diamond
Baseball begins its postseason playoffs today, and I look forward to following the games. I grew up a baseball fan from the age of six because my dad took me to games and shared his love of baseball with me. I saw Bob Gibson pitch for the Omaha Cardinals, his hometown team, in 1959. And I was there when Minnesota defeated USC to win the 1960 College World Series. When we moved to St. Louis in 1963, I saw my first major league game when I was ten.
I have seen big league games in all three Busch Stadiums, the original Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Metropolitan Stadium, Target Field, Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Riverfront Stadium, and Tropicana Field. I have seen minor league games in Omaha, Columbus, Lansing, and Round Rock. I have been to multiple playoff games in St. Louis and Detroit and three of the 1982 World Series games in St. Louis, including Game 7. I have been to spring training in Florida and Arizona. I was the official scorekeeper for Clayton High School and for many of my son Roger’s travel teams.
It’s been 9 years since my Detroit Tigers made the playoffs, but they finished this season on a positive note on Sunday with a great tribute to the retiring Miguel Cabrera. He is this week’s sports star, and I offer lists of my favorite players, teams, and games here.
Five Favorite Baseball Players
Five Favorite Pennant Winners
1969 New York Mets
1982 St. Louis Cardinals
1985 St. Louis Cardinals
1987 Detroit Tigers
2006 Detroit Tigers
Five Favorite Games I Attended
September 10, 1974 Lou Brock steals his 104th and 105th bases to break the record set by Maury Wills in 1962
August 22, 1977 Roger Freed’s pinch-hit, walk-off, 3-run homer beats the Dodgers, 8-6 as the Cards rallied with 7 runs in the bottom of the ninth
August 13, 1979 Lou Brock gets his 3000th hit against the Cubs
October 20, 1982 World Series, Game 7: The Cardinals beat the Brewers, 6-3
October 10, 1987 ALCS Game 3: Pat Sheridan's homer puts the Tigers ahead as they beat the Twins, 7-6
Book Best Bet
Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella
I loved both this book and the movie based on it, Field of Dreams. I also enjoyed The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. Combining baseball, reality, fantasy, and memorable characters with great writing is a winning formula for me.
From Amazon: “If you build it, he will come.” These mysterious words, spoken by an Iowa baseball announcer, inspire Ray Kinsella to carve a baseball diamond in his cornfield in honor of his hero, the baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson. What follows is both a rich, nostalgic look at one of our most cherished national pastimes and a remarkable story about fathers and sons, love and family, and the inimitable joy of finding your way home.
From Wikipedia: William Patrick "W. P." Kinsella OC OBC (born May 25, 1935 in Edmonton, Alberta; died September 16, 2016 in Hope, British Columbia) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, known for his novel Shoeless Joe (1982), which was adapted into the movie Field of Dreams in 1989. His work often concerned baseball, First Nations people, and Canadian culture.
Restaurant Recommendations
Quick Crawl
Mark Mitra and I became friends at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in St. Louis, where Mark had started the year before I joined in 1983. Mark moved to Kansas City in 1984 and brought me a slab of ribs from the Hickory Hut whenever he drove home to St. Louis. We both moved with DEC to Detroit in 1986. Mark later became a successful restaurateur and expert barbecue pitmaster.
We are fellow food lovers, and Mark joined me on the recent Detroit food crawl. We occasionally go on our own mini crawls, and we went on one yesterday, visiting three spots in two and a half hours.
Green Cedar 19217 Newburgh Rd, Livonia, MI 48152
The key to a successful crawl is to pace yourself and not order too much at any one stop. So we started out by splitting a meat shawarma sandwich with double meat: marinated meat rolled in a pita w/ tomato, pickles, onions, and tahini.
Greene’s Hamburgers 24155 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington, MI 48336
Our second stop was at a smash burger joint similar to the Telway, the place that originated this type of burger in Detroit. We each had a double cheeseburger with grilled onions.
La Pecora Nera (The Black Sheep) 23631 Farmington Rd. Farmington, MI 48336
We ordered a #16 muffuletta sandwich cut into quarters: fire roasted ham, capicola, genoa salami, mortadella, mozzarella, provolone, muffuletta, on grilled ciabatta. It was the highlight of our crawl, and we will return to try the many other offerings.
From the restaurant: At La Pecora Nera, our mission is to delight and satisfy our customers' palates by providing an authentic Italian deli experience. We are dedicated to sourcing the finest quality ingredients, handcrafting unique and traditional Italian sandwiches and dishes, and delivering exceptional service with passion and warmth. We strive to be a culinary destination where customers can indulge in the rich flavors, aromas, and textures of Italy. Through our commitment to excellence, we aim to create a welcoming atmosphere that celebrates Italian culture and fosters lasting connections with our community. La Pecora Nera: Where tradition meets culinary delight. Buon Appetito!
Marvelous Musician
I saw Joshua last week at The Ark in Ann Arbor. He put on an intimate solo show—just him and his guitar.
I first saw him perform on Cayamo 2014. When listening to the compilation playlist for that year prior to sailing, his song "Beautiful Day" caught my ear, and I couldn't get enough of it. We are both from Midwestern Jewish families of Polish, German, and Russian heritage and we both attended Northwestern University.
From Wikipedia: Joshua Radin (born June 14, 1974 in Shaker Heights, Ohio) is an American singer-songwriter. He has recorded nine studio albums, and his songs have been used in a number of films and TV series. He studied drawing and painting at Northwestern University, following his college years with stints as an art teacher, screenwriter, and art gallery employee. Radin turned to music when he moved to New York City, his father bought him a guitar, and he taught himself to play and write music. In 2004, American actor Zach Braff, a friend of Radin since their days at Northwestern, introduced Radin's first composition, "Winter", to Scrubs show creator Bill Lawrence, who ultimately used several of Radin's songs in various scenes of the television series.
Beautiful Day
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright on Cayamo 2014
Over the City at The Ark
My Playlist
Sports Star
Miggy played his last game on Sunday, and it was a very emotional day for him, his family, his teammates, and the Detroit fans. I was fortunate to have followed his career since he was traded to the Tigers in 2008. He is part of an immortal trio of Tigers along with Ty Cobb and Al Kaline. I salute Miggy and his enormous achievements over his 21-year career. He is one of the best to ever play the game.
Miguel Cabrera goes out on top as Detroit Tigers close season on a winning note by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News
He will go into retirement as one of three players in the history of the game to collect at least, 3,000 hits, 500 homers and hit over .300 (Hank Aaron and Willie Mays). Also, one of three to collect at least 3,000 hits, 500 homers and 600 doubles (Aaron and Albert Pujols).
His final career rankings:
3,174 hits, 16th all-time
511 home runs, 25th all-time (tied Mel Ott)
627 doubles, 13th all-time
1,881 RBIs, 11th all-time
5,369 total bases, 14th all-time
897 multi-hit games, 17th all-time
1,155 extra-base hits, 14th all-time
"The ball will always find you!" This Dan Dickerson call just became a core memory.
With one more Miggy moment, greatest Tiger takes a joyful exit by Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News
He kept it fun to the end. Players talk about his presence and the charisma almost as much as they talk about his hitting. The young guys marvel at how he approached his craft with such delight, despite the physical pains and losing pains. Older guys delve deeper into their memories to find a major-leaguer that compared.
Before he died, Al Kaline maintained Cabrera was the greatest hitter in Tigers history. The legendary Willie Horton leaned on his walker in the clubhouse Sunday and recalled how he knew Cabrera’s parents in Venezuela before Miggy was born.
“I’ve seen the kid grow in ways you don’t teach,” Horton said. “He learned just by talking the game. And he always knew, you got to keep that little boy in you.”
The little boy from Maracay, Venezuela made it to the pinnacle, a legend in baseball, an icon in Detroit. He grew older but never lost the little-boy joy that brought him here. With a wave, a smile and a rare tear, he got to show it one more time.
Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera has a final storybook moment in a career filled with them by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic
This year, Cabrera was hitting .169 on May 27, and his right knee was hurting. But against the odds, and with proper guidance from Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, Cabrera was able to salvage something from this final season. He hit only four home runs, but he entered his final game hitting .293 after May 30.
From Wikipedia: José Miguel Cabrera Torres (born April 18, 1983 in Maracay, Venezuela), nicknamed "Miggy", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and designated hitter who played for the Florida Marlins and the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Debuting in 2003, he was a two-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award winner, a four-time AL batting champion, and a 12-time MLB All-Star. He played at first and third base for most of his major league career, but primarily played left and right field before 2006. He claimed the 17th MLB Triple Crown in 2012, the first to do so in 45 seasons. Cabrera is one of three players in MLB history to have a career batting average above .300, 500 home runs, and 3,000 hits, joining Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Cabrera is regarded as one of the greatest hitters of all time.
In the Venezuelan Winter League, Cabrera was signed by Tigres de Aragua at 16 years old. In this league, he recorded his first hit as a professional in December 1999, at age 16 years 8 months. Cabrera was signed in 1999 as an amateur free agent by the Florida Marlins and progressed through their minor league system. He made his MLB debut in mid-2003 at the age of 20 and contributed to the Marlins' World Series victory later that year. Over the next four seasons, Cabrera was a regular player for the Marlins before being traded to the Detroit Tigers before the 2008 season.
In 2012, Cabrera became the first player since 1967 to win the batting Triple Crown, leading the AL with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs, and 139 runs batted in (RBI), earning him the AL MVP award that year. In the first half of 2013, Cabrera was on pace to shatter his numbers from his prior Triple Crown season. He became the first player to ever hit 30 home runs and 90 RBIs before the all-star break and was on pace to bat .366 with 53 home runs and 167 RBIs at that time. However, injuries plagued much of the latter half of the season and both his performance and playing time were reduced as a result. Overall, Cabrera still improved on his previous year's batting performance, including a career-high .348 batting average, and received his second consecutive AL MVP award.
Cabrera won four AL batting titles, including three in consecutive years (2011–2013), and has batted over .300 in 11 different seasons. He hit 30 or more home runs in ten separate seasons and drove in over 100 runs in 12 separate seasons (including 11 consecutive seasons, 2004–2014). Cabrera is the all-time leader in career home runs and hits by a Venezuelan player, surpassing Andrés Galarraga and Omar Vizquel respectively. He joined the 500 home run club in 2021 and the 3,000 hit club in 2022; he is the seventh player in MLB history to reach both milestones. He retired after the 2023 season and will continue working with the Tigers organization as a special assistant to the president of baseball operations.
Picture Pun
Goldilocks made off with the other one.
