Tom Terrific
A Terrific Life, Broadway Cafe, Los Lobos, Tom Seaver, Biting Bed Boards
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue features selected seltzers, Tom Seaver’s biography, Korean hoagies, just another band from East LA, an all-time ace, and lumbar lumber. I hope you enjoy the picks and pics.
Fave Five 42: Tom Terrific. Magnificent Met (Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life), Hearty Hoagies (Broadway Cafe), Los Lobos, Terrific Tom (Tom Seaver), and Biting Bed Boards.
Fave Five List: Fizzy Flavors
Barb and I drink seltzers every day instead of soda. They are tasty, refreshing, and have no sugar or sugar substitutes. My son Roger suggested that I create this list, so here are my favorite brands and flavors of sparkling water.
Topo Chico Twist of Grapefruit
Spindrift Pink Lemonade
Polar Nectarine Lemon
Kroger Cranberry Lime
Aha Blueberry + Pomegranate
Honorable Mention: Bubly Blackberry
Book Best Bet
Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life by Bill Madden
Roger gave me this book for Father’s Day. We share a love of baseball, and he knows how much I loved my ‘69 Mets. Tom Seaver was the heart and soul of that team.
The book is thorough, well-researched, and at times, very touching. It was a great gift.
From Amazon: An authoritative, “must-read” (Keith Hernandez) biography of Hall of Fame pitching legend Tom Seaver, still the greatest player ever to wear a Mets jersey, by a journalist who knew him well.
He was called Tom Terrific for a reason. Tom Seaver is “among the greatest pitchers of all time” (Bob Costas). He is one of only two pitchers with 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, and an ERA under 3.00. He was a three-time Cy Young award winner, twelve-time All Star, and was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame with the highest percentage ever at the time. Popular among players and fans, Seaver was fiercely competitive but always put team success ahead of personal glory.
Born in Fresno, California, Seaver signed with the New York Mets in 1967, leading them to their stunning 1969 World Series victory. After a legendarily lopsided trade, he joined the Cincinnati Reds, then later played for the White Sox and the Red Sox before ending his career following the 1986 season. After his playing days, Seaver retired back to California to establish a successful vineyard. The in 2013, a recurrence of Lyme disease severely affected his memory, which Madden was the first to report. In 2019, Seaver’s family announced that he had been diagnosed with dementia and was withdrawing from public life. Tom Seaver died on August 31, 2021.
Madden began following Seaver’s career in the 1980s. Seaver came to trust Madden so completely that, eager to return to New York from Chicago, he asked Madden to explore a possible trade to the Yankees which never materialized. Drawing in part on their long relationship, Madden “has crafted a biography as terrific as the subject” (Jane Leavy, New York Times best-selling author of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy).
The first sentence of Chapter 9 foreshadows the fifth: “Something was desperately wrong.” In the second paragraph, there is this oxymoron: “a 2-1, four-hit shutout.”
Restaurant Recommendation
Broadway Cafe 1139 Broadway Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
At Sonic Lunch last year, Matt Esper told me about this place. I was surprised to hear that a Korean place had great cheesesteaks, but if another Ann Arbor Korean eatery (Bell’s Diner) can have the best pancakes, then I shouldn’t have been surprised by this.
I returned following two recent Sonic Lunch concerts. Right after Los Lobos finished their great performance, I walked over for a cheesesteak hoagie. It’s not much to look at, but it had the right amount of cheese and onions, and the bun was fine. It was a solid sandwich for a Korean establishment not in Philly.
After the June 29th Sonic Lunch with The War and Treaty, Mark Mitra and I shared a Bulgogi Hoagie. It was interesting, but not as good as the cheesesteak. We also split an order of spicy stir-fired squid, which did not make much of an impression.
From the restaurant: Broadway Cafe has been serving the wonderful community of Ann Arbor since 1986. We specialize in cheesesteak hoagies and traditional Korean food. With fresh ingredients and expertise in taste, we strive to satisfy your tastebuds with our delicious recipes. Signature Hoagies: Only the best hoagies in town. Made with grass-fed beef and cooked fresh daily.
Marvelous Musicians
I was very pleased to see this legendary band on this summer’s Sonic Lunch schedule. They are celebrating their 50th year of performing. I was fortunate to get right up front as part of a huge crowd for their free concert in Ann Arbor last week.
I have four of their CDs but had never seen them in person before. It was a wonderfully satisfying show. They played their instruments incredibly, sang beautifully, and were very entertaining.
From Wikipedia: Los Lobos, Spanish for "the Wolves," is an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños. The band rose to international stardom in 1987, when their version of Ritchie Valens's "La Bamba" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and several other countries. Songs by Los Lobos have been recorded by Elvis Costello, Waylon Jennings, Frankie Yankovic, and Robert Plant. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, they were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. They are also known for performing the theme song for Handy Manny.
Vocalist and guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer Louie Pérez met at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, California, and bonded over their mutual affinity for musical acts such as Fairport Convention, Randy Newman and Ry Cooder. Pérez recalls, "We’re looking at each other, 'You like this stuff? I thought I was the only weird one.' So I went over to his house one day for about a year, which we spent listening to records, playing guitars, and starting to write songs." The two borrowed reel-to-reel recorders from a friend and created multitrack recordings of music spanning from parody songs to free-form jazz. They later enlisted fellow students Frank González, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano to complete the group's lineup, in 1973. Their first album, Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles, was recorded at two studios in Hollywood in 1977 over a period of about four months.
The band members were unsatisfied with playing only American Top 40 songs and began experimenting with the traditional Mexican music they listened to as children. This style of music received a positive reaction from audiences, leading the band to switch genres, performing at hundreds of weddings and dances between 1974 and 1980. "If you were married between 1973 and 1980 in East L.A., we probably played your wedding," said Louie Perez. "They would pay us like $400 for the four of us, a case of beer, and all the mole we could eat," said David Hidalgo. However, Los Lobos took notice of the popular groups on the Hollywood music scene and added influences of rock to its sound.
Originally, they called themselves Los Lobos del Este (de Los Angeles) ("The Wolves of the East [of Los Angeles)]"), which was a play on the name of the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte; also, there was another conjunto band at the time named "Los Lobos Del Norte", who had released several albums already, and in fact Los Lobos del Este were from east L.A. The name was quickly shortened to Los Lobos.
Will the Wolf Survive?
Evangeline
My Playlist
Sports Star
I was a diehard Mets fan in 1969, thrilling to one incredible victory after another that year while keeping score at home for many of the games. I only attended one game at Shea Stadium, and it was that year — a loss. The Mets swept the Braves in the very first NLCS, despite three homers by Hank Aaron, and upset the heavily favored Orioles in the World Series, winning four in a row after dropping the opener. Despite missing most of the weekday games due to school, I came home in time to see the endings. Tom Seaver was 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA that year and was 1-0 in the NLCS and 1-1 in the World Series. He was the Mets' greatest player of all time, and all Mets fans loved him.
He had a first-ballot Hall of Fame career with the New York Mets (twice), the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago White Sox (for whom he pitched a no-hitter), and the Boston Red Sox. He is a member my personal pitching pantheon along with Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax, and Nolan Ryan.
Tom died on August 31, 2000. Six days later, my favorite player, Lou Brock died. They faced each other 157 times, the most for both of them in their careers. May they both rest in peace.
From Wikipedia: George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox from 1967 to 1986.
With the Mets, Seaver won the National League's (NL) Rookie of the Year Award in 1967 and won three NL Cy Young Awards as the league's best pitcher. He was a 12-time All-Star and ranks as the Mets' all-time leader in wins. During his MLB career, he compiled 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, 61 shutouts, and a 2.86 earned run average, and he threw a no-hitter in 1978.
In 1992, Seaver was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the highest percentage of votes ever recorded at the time. Along with Mike Piazza, he is one of two players wearing a New York Mets hat on his plaque in the Hall of Fame. Seaver's No. 41 was retired by the Mets in 1988, and New York City changed the address of Citi Field to 41 Seaver Way in 2019. Seaver is also a member of the New York Mets Hall of Fame and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
MLB remembers Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver
Picture Pun
Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed boards bite.
