The Southpaw

In Memory of Mark Harris: Watch "Bang the Drum Slowly" here

Mark Harris, who wrote four baseball novels focusing on the trials and tribulations of pitcher Henry Wiggen, died Wednesday at 84. The best known of the four, Bang the Drum Slowly, was made into a well-known 1973 movie starring Robert De Niro. First published in 1956, it received its first screen treatment the same year in a CBS teleplay starring Paul Newman. During his literary career, Harris wrote 13 other books.

It Looked Like For Ever, the last of his baseball books, came out in 1979. In the New York Times Book Review, Donald Hall, our current Poet Laureate and the author of the great, but largely unknown, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, wrote that it "is not so much about baseball as it is about aging, just as ‘Bang the Drum Slowly’ was not so much about baseball as it is about dying.”

In addition to writing, Harris taught English; his final stint in that capacity was at Arizona State University from 1980 to 1982.

The 1956 version of "Bang the Drum Slowly," starring Newman, is presented below. Enjoy.

David Halberstam, RIP

David Halberstam, the great Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who first made his mark with extraordinary, prescient reporting on the Vietnam War, was killed yesterday in a car crash. He was 73.

When Halberstam, whose output was prolific, wasn't writing books about the history of the Vietnam War (The Best and the Brightest), the titans of the mass media (The Powers that Be), shifts in U.S. foreign policy since the Gulf War (War in a Time of Peace), and other weighty topics, he wrote books about sports. The Breaks of the Game, about the 1979 Trail Blazers, is a terrific read and a basketball classic. Personally, I most enjoyed that book and The Amateurs, about amateur rowers at the Olympic level. The Amateurs doesn't get enough props when the greatest sports books are discussed.

I was never enthralled with his baseball writing, however. Summer of '49 and October 1964 failed to hook me in the way his other works, both sports and non-sports, had. That's okay -- I know plenty of people who've enjoyed those books, and his others on baseball.

For a few years, I had the honor of occupying the same virtual space as Halberstam, on ESPN.com's Page 2. I never fooled myself into thinking it put me in his league, but I still felt good about it. He was journalism royalty, after all.

The New York Times has dug up a slew of material from its archives to give Halberstam a fitting sendoff; the ones I've linked to below are baseball-related, and most, but not all, are book reviews:

July 8, 1993: At the Ball Park With: David Halberstam; Making Legwork (and Edginess) a Virtue

May 25, 2003: The Boys of Winter (book review)

May 8, 1989: Yanks vs. Sox in 'Summer of '49' (book review)

Aug. 14, 1994: Damned Yankees (book review)

And finally, a 2002 Boston Globe article by Halberstam about a day he spent with Ted Williams: Day Spent with One of the Greats

Former Brooklyn Dodgers star pitcher Clem Labine dead at 80

Clem Labine, a long-time right-handed reliever for the Bums, the beloved "Boys of Summer," died yesterday in Florida. In the 1955 World Series, Labine got one win in relief and a save as the Dodgers beat the Yankees. But this was just one highlight in a long career that included 513 games pitched (38 were starts), two All-Star appearances, five World Series (including one with the L.A. Dodgers in 1959 and another with the Pirates in 1960), and the honor of being an Original Met.

Labine also notched two classic starts. In the 1951 playoff, he took the mound in Game 2  against the Giants and shut them out 10-0. And in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series, he blanked the Yankees 1-0 in 10 innings.

In The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn wrote about Labine as an executive and designer for a men's clothing company after his baseball days ended. The company closed, and after that Labine became a banking executive before retiring. His son, Clem Jr. (know as Jay), stepped on a land mine while serving in Vietnam with the Marines, and lost a leg.

In Tales from the 1962 New York Mets, Janet Paskin tells the story about a spring training incident involving Labine -- who'd been almost officially relegated to a coaching position -- and catcher Joe Ginsberg. They came into the team hotel late one night after playing golf, and went into the dining room to find the only others in the joint were Casey and Edna Stengel.

Stengel, ever the gentleman, signalled to the waiter that he wanted to buy the two players a drink. They accepted, of course. But there was only one problem -- Stengel had a rule barring players from drinking in the hotel.

The following day there was a pre-practice meeting. "Something happened last night," said Stengel. "We had two ballplayers go in that dining room last night and they were drinking beer, and it's going to cost them $50 each. Okay, you two guys stand up."

Labine and Ginsberg stayed put, but eventually admitted their "guilt" to Stengel. But Labine was sure that Stengel had no idea who he'd played his little trick on.

RIP, Clem.

Cecil Travis, Hall of Famer?

Cecil Travis, an All-Star shortstop with the Senators in the 1930s and 1940s, died on Dec. 16. He was 93.

Travis is one of 27 players who the Veterans Committee will consider for the Hall of Fame in February. He only played nine full seasons, but among the greats who endorsed his enshrinement were Ted Williams and Bob Feller. "Cecil Travis is one of the five best left-handed hitters I ever saw," Williams told the Washington Post in 1993.

Travis posted a .314 lifetime batting average; the only shortstops who boasted better averages were Honus Wagner and Arky Vaughan. But in late 1941, at his peak, Travis was drafted, and when he got out of the army in 1945, he never recovered his pre-war form.

In fact, his last season before the war, 1941, was probably his greatest -- and one of the most forgotten great seasons by any player.  Ted Williams led the league with his .406 average, and Joe DiMaggio made history with his 56-game hitting streak, but Travis led the AL with 219 hits and finished second in batting with a .359 average. He also boasted 58 extra-base hits and 101 RBI.

He was named to the All-Star team in 1938, 1939, and 1941, and was considered a jewel throughout his career. After a 1937 spring training game between the Senators and Cardinals in which Travis made one spectacular and four great fielding plays, St. Louis manager Frankie Frisch told his counterpart, Bucky Harris, "You lucky stiff. That kid will be tops among the American League shortstops, or I don't know a ball player when I see one."

Though Travis played his entire career with the Senators, he was almost traded to the Tigers in March 1940 in exchange for Rudy York, but the deal, which the teams had been working on since the previous June, fell through. In 1941, Washington made him the team's highest-paid player, awarding him a $14,000 contract.

Money well spent by Clark Griffith. In an August column, Shirley Povich of the Washington Post wrote that Travis, batting .368, was tired, and had moved down from a 36-ounce bat to a 34-ouncer. Povich quoted the shortstop: "Ah like these big bats on account they got better wood in 'em. That's bad wood they put in those other bats. A bat's gotta be big to have good wood it seems. Ah kin tell soon's Ah hit a ball with good wood."

Povich also said that Harris thought that Travis could have had a change at catching Williams for the batting title (this despite the fact that Williams was hovering around .410 at the time). "There's too much work for Cecil out there around shortstop," said Harris. "He's got to be on the move so much, that it saps his strength." Harris added that if the Nats had another suitable shortstop, he would have moved Travis to third, a less taxing position.

In early January 1948, Travis announced his retirement. Many said the war, during which he suffered frostbite of two toes, was to blame. But not Travis. "I tried for two years to get back to normal," said Travis. "I just don't have it anymore and I'm not going to try playing again. I feel fine as I've ever felt. But I can't react any more and I can't cover any ground."

Travis was only 34 when he hung up his spikes.

Roger Maris, Roberto Clemente, and Branch Rickey

The New York Times digs up (forgive the pun) a few more "classic" obits from its files.

December 15, 1985

Roger Maris is Dead at 51, Set Record Home Runs
By JOSEPH DURSO

During the early 1960's when the New York Yankees reigned for five straight pennant-winning seasons, Roger Maris was all things to all people. But baseball history will remember him as the home-run twin to Mickey Mantle, and generations of fans will remember him as the man with the asterisk in the record books: *Hit 61 home runs in 1961 in a 162-game season.

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January 2, 1971

Clemente, Pirates' Star, Dies in Crash Of Plane Carrying Aid to Nicaragua

Roberto Clemente, star outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, died late last night in the crash of a cargo plane carrying relief supplies to the victims of the earthquake in Managua. Three days of national mourning for Mr. Clemente were proclaimed in his native Puerto Rico, where he was the most popular sports figure in the island's history. He is a certainty to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

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December 10, 1965

Branch Rickey, 83, Dies in Missouri

Branch Rickey, a dominant figure in baseball for half a century, died tonight in Boone County Memorial Hospital at the age of 83. He broke the color barrier in the major leagues and developed the farm system.

...

The cigar chomping Mr. Rickey, who throughout his career declined to attend Sunday baseball games because of a promise to his mother and who was seldom known to say anything stronger than his famous "Judas Priest," remained in the hospital's intensive-care ward until his death, continuously receiving oxygen.

Buck O'Neil, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson

A belated farewell to Buck O'Neil, via the New York Times:

Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues Pioneer, Is Dead at 94
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
October 7, 2006

Buck O’Neil, a star first baseman and manager in the Negro leagues and a pioneering scout and coach in the major leagues who devoted the final decade of his life to chronicling the lost world of black baseball, died last night in Kansas City, Mo. He was 94.

Full obit

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Which led me to three other obits of the greats, courtesy the NYT:

Oct. 25, 1972
Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies
Dodger Star, in Hall of Fame, Began in '47
By DAVE ANDERSON

Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, suffered a heart attack in his home in Stamford, Conn., yesterday morning and died at Stamford Hospital at 7:10 A.M.  He was 53 years old.
Full obit

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