News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Confessional is not a torture chamber William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-30-23
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Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.
Pope Francis
Neil Young Challenging Dem Bosses In Swarthmore, My My Hey Hey
By Bob Small
For the first time in at least a decade, Swarthmore Democratic voters will have a choice when they vote for Borough Council in the May 16 primary election. Two incumbents, David Boonin and Jill Gaieski, are running for re-election. The third, Council President (and Delaware County Solicitor of Wills) Mary Walk, is not running for re-election. The Democratic Party-endorsed candidate is Steven Carp. However, there is also an independent Democrat with an easy-to-remember name, one Neil Young.
If you’ve attended recent Borough Council meetings, or read about them in The Swarthmorean, you are familiar with Young’s viewpoints.
“I would say a primary election which offers Swarthmore Democrats a choice of candidates is a sign of a healthy democracy,” said Young in an online interview. “Incumbents have to defend their record in office, and challenger candidates can offer an alternative . . . A long history of contested primaries, in my view, leads to a cozy complacency that has not served our borough well”
Young enjoyed his signature-gathering, during which he spent time “in the busiest points in town” meeting people and asking for their support. He hopes to use both legacy and online media and in-person meetings to get his message out.
He has worked for FMC Corp., and feels what he has learned there would be valuable assets for serving on the Borough Council. Young explains that he always tries “to seek the best outcome while avoiding personal conflict. I feel many of those skills have been missing from our council the last few years.”
“While Swarthmore has many fine qualities, it also faces significant challenges … it is clear to me there are many areas where the best interests of the entire community are not being represented,” Young said. “A lack of long-range planning, coupled with years of budget deficits and declining capital reserves, creates real doubt around whether the Swarthmore people know today will be financially viable, or affordable, tomorrow. It is my view that difficult conversations have been ignored, deferred, or delayed for many years” (my italics).
“Two thirds of the finance committee did not vote for the budget they worked on producing,” Young said.
Young ended by saying “worse that this though, and over many years, council meetings have been characterized by a lack of civility and decorum, with many meetings descending into unpleasant personal disputes.”
Some people forcing others William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-29-23
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Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.
Leo Tolstoy
Free Chow For Vietnam Vets — Andrew Schiavello of Honor Flight Philadelphia has let us know tha Mission BBQ will give a free sandwich, tomorrow, March 29, to any Vietnam or Vietnam-era veteran in honor of National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
A Mission BBQ can be found in Delco at 1130 Baltimore Pike
Springfield, PA 19064; in Montco at 615 W Germantown Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 or 120 Village Drive
King of Prussia, PA 19406; and here for other places in Pennsylvania and the nation.
Great possessions are great cares William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 3-28-23
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Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Great possessions are great cares.
John Quigg
Another Death At Delco Prison — Broad + Liberty has revealed another death at Delaware County’s (Pa) George W. Hill prison.
It occurred Feb. 12 and the victim was a 25-year-0ld African American. The cause was complications from a gunshot that occurred before his incarceration.
The county would not respond to questions about the care he was receiving, or if he had been making any medical complaints.
This is the fourth death since the county took over day-to-day management of the facility in April. The prison had been privately run for three decades.
A prison inmate killed his cellmate by strangulation in April.
In June, two inmates died by suicide days apart. It was the first time the facility witnessed two suicides in the same year since 2015. The county has not released any information on those two deaths.
There was a non-fatal stabbing in January, albeit the victim required hospitalization.
The prison no longer disclosing its monthly staffing rates which had been routinely disclosed under private management.
The county also recently denied the release of the final report by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections from the scheduled inspection of the prison last fall, designed to make sure the facility is meeting minimum requirements of state law.
The prison budget has increased from just over $48 million in 2019 to $55.7 million in 2022 despite a lower incarceration rate.
Opening Day 1923 In The House That Ruth Built
By Joe Guzzardi
Opening Day, 1923, a century ago, dawned cloudy and cold. Babe Ruth woke up in his plush Upper West Side Ansonia Hotel apartment and prepared to play the first-ever game in the brand-new edifice that would become known as the “House that Ruth Built.” Always a snappy dresser, Ruth donned his perfectly tailored suit, then around noon, hopped into his Pierce-Arrow automobile to drive to the Bronx. Had the weather been warmer, Ruth would have selected his sporty Stutz Bearcat.
A notoriously reckless motorist, Ruth had been involved in numerous minor collisions and rarely held a valid driver’s license. To avoid incidents, the Yankees’ owner, Col. Jacob Ruppert, sent police to escort the “Big Bam” safely to the stadium. Along the way, Ruth stopped to sign a few autographs and invited some kids to join him as he roared along.
The largest baseball crowd ever – 74,000, with 25,000 turned away – witnessed a pre-game ceremony befitting the stadium’s grandeur. While New York Gov. Al Smith looked on, John Phillip Sousa led the Seventh Regiment Army Band in full military dress onto the field.
In 1923, Ruth was on a redemption mission, and the new Yankee Stadium, the biggest and most lavish ever built, was the perfect place to carry out his undertaking. Ruth considered his 1922 season a failure. His performance at the plate, for him a paltry .315 batting average with 35 home runs and 99 RBIs, a sharp drop off from 1921, embarrassed Ruth. Moreover, during the season, Ruth was suspended five times. Worst of all, Ruth’s final 1922 baseball appearance was against the New York Giants in the World Series in which Ruth hit a pathetic .188. Giants’ manager John McGraw called every pitch from the bench. Some were slow curves that Ruth swung on, twisting himself into a corkscrew while missing by a mile. During the off-season, McGraw, a scientific baseball genius, chided Ruth whose style of play – the long ball – he disdained. McGraw called Ruth “the Big Baboon” and incorrectly predicted that the home run fad would soon die out. The media and fans got on Ruth too. The New York Sun labeled Ruth “an exploded phenomenon,” and for the first time, Ruth heard boos.
A humbled Ruth vowed to make amends, on and off the field. Over the winter months, Ruth said that liquor never touched his lips. And now the day had come, April 18, against the last place Boston Red Sox, for Ruth to regain respect and admiration from teammates and his millions of fans. Before the game, Ruth said in the locker room that he would “give a year off his life” to hit a homer in the season opener.
Red Sox starter Howard Ehmke, taking a page out of McGraw’s book, tossed junk balls to Ruth, and in the first inning the Bambino flied out. The third inning, however, was a different story. With two Yankees on base, Ruth deposited a titanic homer ten rows back in the right-field bleachers. Rush’s blast made the score 4-0, a lead the Yankees never relinquished.
As the season unfolded, Ruth and the Yankees dominated. The Yankees won the American League pennant by 16 games over the Cleveland Indians. Ruth hit .393, 41 homers, and unanimously won the Most Valuable Player award. Rules at the time prevented any player from winning the MVP more than once.
More, greater redemption awaited Ruth. For the third straight year, the Yankees would meet the Giants in the World Series. In 1921 and 1922, McGraw’s pitch calling and inside baseball strategy outsmarted the Yankees. But, in 1923, the tables turned on McGraw. The Yankees won the series 4-2, Ruth hit .368, three homers, had a .556 on base percentage, and slugged 1.000. A reporter wrote that when one of Ruth’s shots, a 450-foot job, returned to earth, “the ball was covered in ice.”
In defeat, McGraw was uncharacteristically gracious. He strode over to the winners’ locker room to shake hands with everyone – except the Babe. McGraw preferred to talk about the Giants’ hitting star who almost outshone Ruth. Casey Stengel hit .417 with two homers.
Yankee Stadium became a cash cow for Ruppert who reinvested his money in the team’s future, a decision that kept the Yankees atop the American League for years to come. The original Yankee Stadium no longer stands. In 2009, the first game at the new venue took place, and today’s Yankee Stadium is rarely referred to as the “House that Ruth Built.” But Ruth, McGraw and Stengel, despite having passed years ago, are still alive in baseball fans’ hearts.
Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com. This year’s opening day is March 30.
