Category: Guest Authors

Orioles’ Irishmen Lit Up Scoreboard

By Joe Guzzardi

June 24, 1901, was a grand day for the Irish batsmen played who for the Baltimore Orioles’ third baseman-manager John J. McGraw, the son of Irish immigrants. Of the teams 22 hits in its 17-6 romp over the Detroit Tigers, Irishmen banged out 17. The Orioles had a team well-stocked with Hall of Fame-bound Irish hitters, and some of baseball histories most famous personalities.

Among the future Cooperstown inductees, McGraw was universally hated for grabbing runners rounding third by their belts, tripping or spiking them to keep them from reaching home. His colorful language directed toward umpires led to quick ejections; the “Little Napoleon” got the thumb 117 times. Not that McGraw paid attention to it, but his language was so foul that owners issued a ruling “A Measure for the Suppression of Obscene, Indecent and Vulgar Language on the Ball Field.” More than one hundred years after he hung up his spikes, McGraw still ranks third in on base percentage, .466, behind Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. McGraw reached base by choking up so far that he could have hit the pitcher’s offering with either end of his war club. Before the game began, McGraw ordered the field drenched and then left to dry until it was hard as cement. Once he reached the plate, McGraw would execute his famous “Baltimore Chop,” a batted ball which bounced high over infielder’s heads. By the time the bulb descended, McGraw stood safely on first base. Although rarely credited as such, McGraw—Mr. McGraw to his players— invented inside baseball and was unquestionably the Dead Ball Era’s most influential figure.

As a manager, McGraw had few peers. In 29 full seasons as the Giants’ pilot that spanned from 1902 to 1932, he led the New York Giants to 10 National League pennants, three World Series championships, and 21 first- or second-place finishes. His 2,763 managerial victories were second only to Connie Mack‘s 3,731 for the rest of the 20th century, but in 1927 Mack himself proclaimed, “There has been only one manager — and his name is McGraw.”

Another Orioles’ future Cooperstown inductee was Wilbert Robinson, one of the era’s best catchers and beloved by all. “Uncle Robbie,” led the Brooklyn Robins to two National League pennants. The incident for which Robinson is most famous occurred during Brooklyn’s 1915 Daytona Beach training camp. Aviator Ruth Lawl was making daily flights in the area, dropping golf balls as a publicity gimmick for the local courses. Eventually camp chatter among the Robins turned to the idea of catching a baseball dropped from the plane. Robinson, 53, accepted the challenge. On the big day, Law left the baseball back in her hotel room, and substituted a grapefruit which, when she released it from high altitude, landed in Robinson’s mitt and exploded, knocking him down and drenching him in warm juice. Thinking his own blood covered him, Robbie screamed for help, but his players were too doubled over with laughter to respond. Robinson was serious about baseball, however. The New York Times baseball scribe John Kiernan wrote that Robinson “… knew baseball as the spotted setter knows the secrets of quail hunting, by instinct and experience.” During his years with the Orioles, Robinson developed a close and long-lasting friendship with teammate John McGraw, 10 years his junior. The two men eventually went into business together, opening the Diamond Café, a Baltimore billiards parlor that featured a bar, a dining room, and a bowling alley.

Other Irish greats that appeared in that day’s lineup included Roger Bresnahan, a catcher who upgraded that position’s protective gear and during his career played all nine positions; Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity who, during August 1903, pitched and won both ends of a doubleheader three times; and “Turkey” Mike Donlin, so called because of his strut up to the plate. Donlin, one of the Dead Ball era’s best hitters who went six for six in the O’s rout of Detroit, was also a flamboyant playboy and heavy drinker whose misbehavior often landed him in jail. Later in his life, Donlin starred on Broadway and eventually on Hollywood’s silver screen where in starred in features directed by John Ford. Donlin’s career batting average was an impressive .340.

Irish players, born into humble immigrant circumstances and eager to succeed, dominated early 20^th century baseball. Too many of their accomplishments have been overshadowed by the hype around lesser skilled but heavily promoted modern day players.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com

Orioles’ Irishmen Lit Up Scoreboard

Sanctuary City Mayors Unbending in Defending Lawless Policies  

By Joe Guzzardi

On March 5, four of the tough-talking big city mayors appeared before the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. New York’s Eric Adams, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, Denver’s Mike Johnston and Boston’s Michelle Wu faced probing questions from Committee Chair James Comer and other members about their sanctuary policies which allow inadmissible aliens to seek and receive harbor. Sanctuary cities also block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out immigration laws.

Comer opened by asking the four if they considered their city “a sanctuary.” Only Adams answered yes. The others deflected. Johnson said Chicago is a “welcoming city,”; Wu, Boston is “a safe city,” and Johnston offered a word salad. Wu repeatedly claimed that Boston is the nation’s safest city, but in the FBI’s newly released 2023 crime data, Boston ranked 16th safest of the nation’s 50 largest cities when measured against total violent crime

The defiant mayors made familiar but misleading talking points to support their unbending sanctuary city status. They maintained that without illegal immigrants their local work force would evaporate, that their “welcoming” posture is consistent with America’s open-arms immigration history. They also insisted that the answer to their problems is “comprehensive immigration reform,” code words for amnesty. Wu leaned heavily on her family’s history as the child of non-English speaking Taiwanese who raised their daughter on Chicago’s Southside. Johnson made repeated efforts to blame Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending busloads of illegal immigrants to Chicago.

Under direct questioning, Wu did poorly. Missouri’s U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison dug in and asked Wu if there is an “acceptable number” of illegal aliens before she feels the city is overrun. Wu replied that she doesn’t decide who comes into the country or where they go, only how they are treated when they get to Boston. Wu ordered Burlison to do his job and pass legislation, another reference to amnesty. When asked several times to provide hard figures for the taxpayer expense to care for illegal aliens, Wu couldn’t provide a number. She said no cost data is available because Boston doesn’t inquire about immigration status. Neither Wu nor Chicago’s Johnson would explicitly answer Comer’s question about whether they would turn over illegal immigrant criminals to ICE.

Johnson drew Republican lawmakers’ ire for limiting his cost estimate at roughly 1 percent of his city’s budget while Denver’s and New York City’s Johnston and Adams provided concrete numbers at $79 million over the past two years and $6.9 billion, respectively. Wu was hammered for saying Boston doesn’t keep track. “You don’t ask how much money the city of Boston has spent on illegal immigration — are you out of your mind? Do you manage your budget?” asked Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.  She does not, as evidenced by her hiring of a legal team to coach her, the Washington D.C. law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, which charges $950 an hour, according to the Boston Herald.  In all, Wu spent $650,000 on legal fees and to transport eight staffers and her one-month-old infant to the hearing.

Adams came under intense fire from his fellow Democrats for his alleged deal making with the Trump administration. New York Democrats Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez and Laura Gillen along with California’s Robert Garcia demanded that Adams resign for his purported quid-pro-quo deal to cooperate with ICE in exchange for DOJ ordering federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against the mayor. Adams vigorously denied any type of deal.

The Cato Institute’s David Bier, the minority witness, was on hand to give the pro-mayor, pro-sanctuary city testifiers a helping hand. Bier presented only the positive side of the sanctuary city debate—illegal aliens pay taxes but no mention of the services they consume, states have limited power to cooperate with the federal government, but no citation of the Supremacy Clause, Congress should follow the guidelines recommended by the Major City Chiefs Association, not those that National Border Patrol Council established, etc.

After six hours of contentious testimony, the next step is in the administration’s hands. AG Bondi has sued Chicago, Illinois and New York State for their sanctuary policies. Bondi called Wu “an insult to law enforcement,” and promised to intensify her efforts in Boston. Before the hearing, Wu sent condolences to Lemark Jaramillo’s family; police identified Jaramillo as the perpetrator who attempted to stab Chick-fil-A patrons and was then shot to death by an off-duty police officer.

After the hearing ended, Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X, “I just referred the sanctuary city mayors to the Department of Justice for CRIMINAL investigations based on evidence from their own comments and policies, proving that they were breaking federal law.” Four other Republicans indicated that they too would file charges against the insolent mayors. Criminal charges, along withholding federal funds from the rebellious mayors’ cities, is the best way to end the illegal sanctuary city quagmire. The law is clear: Title 8, U.S. Code § 1324 is a federal law that makes it illegal to bring in and harbor illegal aliens and prohibits the unlawful employment of aliens. 

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org

Sanctuary City Mayors Unbending in Defending Lawless Policies  

LA Was Once Largest Farming County

By Joe Guzzardi

For the lucky few among us who grew up during the 1950s in Southern California, and specifically around the Pacific Palisades/Malibu area, the non-stop video coverage of the massive wildfire was impossible to watch. My thoughts took me back to when the state lived up to its golden image. In their book “From Cows to Cement,” authors Rachel Surls and Judith Gerberk documented Los Angeles County’s agricultural history which was once America’s largest farming county. Today, L.A., once a silkworm center, is the U.S.’ largest urban county. After World War II, around 1945, people moved to Los Angeles in waves to build factories, large office buildings, cookie cutter housing and other edifices that drove land prices ever-upward. Values slowly but inevitably rose; land boom followed land boom. As property assessments soared, farmers couldn’t resist the lucrative opportunity to cash in. A less esthetic L.A. survived, with farmland replaced by cement. By 2023, Los Angeles County had become the nation’s most populous, with nearly 10 million residents, more than about 25% of California’s total population. In 1950, the county’s population was 4.2 million. Today, L.A. County is one of the nation’s largest, covering more than 4,000 square miles. If it were a state, it would be the country’s eighth largest.

Underneath Los Angeles’ urban cement nightmare lay thousands of acres of once-productive farmland. Farming was Los Angeles’ hub from its 1781 founding into the mid-twentieth century. Over the four decades between 1909 to 1949, Los Angeles grew from a farming community into an agricultural powerhouse. Farmers experimented with a multitude of crops, from fruits and vegetables, to hemp, cotton, and flowers. Livestock was important too, with major stockyards that competed with Chicago and Omaha. Hundreds of dairy and poultry farms flourished.

Intrastate transplants went west for more than business opportunities. The sunny and warm weather was a lure. To mid-western arrivals, the beaches were unparalleled. California’s coastline which stretches out over 840 miles has over 420 public beaches, the star gem of which is Malibu. Beach Boys’ songs and movies like “Beach Blanket Bingo” drew a picture of non-stop fun in the sun. All age groups that in-migrated to California found their way to the beach to suntan, fish off the pier, dine in one of the popular just-caught fish restaurants or to hang out, but also to build homes as close to the beaches as their pocketbooks could afford. The celebrities and other wealthy elite built on the ocean’s edge unconcerned about the mudslides that heavy precipitation brings.

The recent Palisades fires followed by pounding rains have created an ecological threat to the Pacific Ocean. Debris and toxins released from the fires will damage kelp forests and lead to destructive algae blooms that snuff out ocean life. The much-needed rain will mark the beginning of the worst effects in the ocean. “The Malibu coastline is extremely unique,” said Dan Pondella, Occidental College biology professor and Southern California Marine Institute research director, “It’s probably the highest density of fishes throughout Southern California.” When rain mixes with debris from burn scars, a slurry of mud, rocks and rubble pour into ocean, which Pondella said acts like both sandpaper and a blackout curtain for the fragile kelp forests. “You’ll see anything from reduced light, which limits photosynthesis in plant and algal growth, to reefs actually being completely buried in ash,” he said. The ash layer remains in the environment for a long time. When the Woolsey Fire tore through Malibu in 2018, it dumped thousands of tons of ash into the ocean, which Pondella’s team was still finding in reefs five years later. More bad news: Wildlife officials reported that a toxic algae outbreak has left as many as 50 sea lions sickened and stranded on Malibu beaches in the past week.

For the next few years as clean up and rebuilding continue, Malibu’s good times are over. When friends ask what it was like to grow up near California’s beaches, I can’t come up with a description that would do my experience justice. I simply say, “I wish you’d been there with me to appreciate it.”

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org

LA Was Once Largest Farming County