“1944 World Series games were played at Sportsman’s Park”
1944 – Remember the MEN in BLUE!
This is – – 1944 World Series – Sportsmen’s Park – St. Louis Browns vs St. Louis Cardinals
The 1944 World Series, considered a David versus Goliath matchup at the time, was an all-St. Louis affair featuring the prodigious Cardinals, a franchise having just won its third consecutive National League pennant, and the plucky Browns, the winners of its first American League pennant in its 43rd year of existence.
The Cinderella story Browns, who had only one winning campaign in the previous 14 seasons, finishing with an 82-69 record in 1942. In the end, Goliath won the ’44 World Series in six games.
All the 1944 World Series games were played at Sportsman’s Park – the ballpark owned by the Browns, who hosted the Cardinals a tenant. The seventh one-city World Series at the time, it was the third to be staged in one ballpark after the Giants and Yankees played at the Polo Grounds in New York in 1921 and ’22.
With the end of World War II still a year away, the roster of both teams were somewhat diminished by players serving in the military. The 1944 Redbirds were led by shortstop and NL MVP Marty Marion, 23-year-old outfielder and future Hall of Famer Stan Musial and 22-game winner Mort Cooper. The Browns had shortstop Vern Stephens, who led the club with 109 RBI, outfielder Mike Kreevich, the only regular to hit over .300 and 19-game winner Nels Potter.
And in a story that was typical of wartime baseball, 35-year-old righty Sig Jakucki, who hadn’t played affiliated ball since 1938, won 13 games for the Browns, which included the pennant-winner on the final day of the season.
“A player who had been with us, and was working in the Galveston shipyards, sent me word that a pitcher named Jakucki down there was showing enough stuff to warrant the belief he could win in the American League,” said Browns general manager Bill DeWitt in a midseason interview.
“I wrote for more dope on the pitcher. My correspondent insisted Jakucki could win in the American League, not only this year, but in the circuit as it was before the war. I finally sent for Jakucki. Look at him now – the man who will win the pennant for us, the greatest bargain in the history of the major leagues.”
The Cardinals, who defeated the Yankees in the 1942 World Series only to fall to them in the ‘43 Fall Classic, overwhelmed the competition in 1944, finishing with a 105-49 record, 14-and-a-half games ahead of the runner-up Pirates. The Browns, who would leave for Baltimore after the 1953 season, finished ’44 with an 89-65 mark, finishing one game ahead of the Tigers.
With no travel days needed, the 1944 Fall Classic was played over six consecutive day games from Oct. 4-9.
In what proved to be a Fall Classic dominated by pitching, with each team finishing the six games with an ERA below 2.00, the Browns took the opening contest, 2-1, behind George McQuinn’s two-run homer and the complete game pitching effort of Denny Galehouse. The Cards won Game 2, 3-2, in 11 innings, with Ken O’Dea coming through with the walk-off single.
After the Browns took the third contest, 6-2, led by McQuinn’s three hits and two RBI and Jack Kramer’s complete game, the Cards won the final three games to capture the World Series crown. Harry Brecheen went the distance in Game 4’s 5-1 win, Mort Cooper tossed a 2-0 shutout in the penultimate contest, and Max Lanier and Ted Wilks combined for a three-hitter in the 3-1 victory that brought the Redbirds their fifth World Series championship since 1926.
“We beat a hell of a ball club,” said an excited Cards manager Billy Southworth, elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, in the clubhouse after Game 6.
The opposing skipper, a disappointed Luke Sewell, later shared his unique perspective: “The Cards got the breaks and they won. That tells the whole story. We’ve still got a better ball club. We didn’t hit the ball, but the boys hustled and that’s all I could ask of them.”
While McQuinn was the leading hitter in the World Series, topping all players with a .438 average and five RBI, many observers thought Marion was the Fall Classic’s best player.
Though he collected five hits and batted only .227, defensively he accepted his 29 chances flawlessly.
“The best ballplayer in the series was Marty Marion,” said NL President Ford Frick. “He showed us some shortstopping we’ve rarely seen before and won’t see many times again. He killed off at least four big Brown rallies. They found it just about impossible to hit one past him.”
Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack agreed: “I’ve looked at a lot of shortstops in my day, but that fellow is the best I’ve ever seen.”
In a column the next day for The New York Times, Arthur Daley wrote: “The bubble burst today for the Brownies. Their admirable fight of the past three weeks was at an end, and it was a forlorn, bedraggled-looking ball club which lost out to the Cardinals in the final game of the World Series.
“The Redbirds today were the masterful aristocrats they were all season. They hit well, fielded well and received excellent pitching. The Brownies were only the poor relations, the Ozark backwoodsmen who just didn’t belong on the same field with them. This was the kind of game everyone had been anticipating from the start. Class will tell in the end.
“Yet it hurt, in a way, to see the Brownies go down so ignominiously.”
In a World Series that might have led to civil strife for inhabitants of the Gateway to the West, none materialized, as explained by an October 1944 editorial in The Sporting News.
“The Series was entirely a family affair. This was not alone due to the circumstance that all the games were played in one city, but to the fact that St. Louis is not a town divided within itself. It is different in that respect from other cities that have had the Series exclusively. Chicago has its North Side, where the Cubs rule supreme, and its South Side, where the White Sox are the favorites, and there is internecine warfare when they meet. In New York, the Yankees are the pride of the Bronx, the Giants of Manhattan and the Dodgers of Brooklyn. Nothing good ever came out of the other sections, according to the inhabitants of one of the three, creating a natural rivalry that extends to the diamond.
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“Blessings to All Americans Working Hard Together”
“God Bless America”
To celebrate “Memorial Day”… it is only fitting that we hear a song or two that makes for all of us, to be PROUD to be living in this Country where you you are Blessed and also are always giving Prayers and Praises to our ALMIGHTY Creator!
So having just given that thought, to start with today…
Have you ever heard Kate Smith, sing, “God Bless America?”
When they first introduced this song to AMERICA… it just seem to be, the medicine that all of America needed then, and with the other WWII songs that we all were singing… as this song is as a Prayer to our Almighty Creator asking HIM, to bless all of America and all the people that are in need of HIS help, during those WAR Years!
The timing was just right as we, the American people… were in the WAR and in much need of HIS help now and forever, so from our Almighty Creator we needed, HIS HELP in those drastic days and times of WAR, way back then.
It just seems that “Kate Smith’s” voice was just so correct and right … just exactly, the one with lots of volume to call … as in a Prayer … for all of us to HIM for Help!
Kate Smith… she could sing, I know… as do all Americans that have heard her sing … and we all know that our ALMIGHTY CREATOR heard her sing for all of us, and HE did answer as we Americans, are now, so happy for the good results… with an ending of WWII.
At 12 noon, on KMOX 1120 radio dial, and that is everyday our radio is on, and… I gave it all that I could… to sing along, for all of the world to hear.
While we were at war, I also did my small part, I would get going and out with other neighbor kids… we would go down my block and then go down other kids block, and we would also go through the alleys with my wagon, as each of us kids had their very own wagon to fill up, as we were collecting old newspapers and magazines, all for the War effort, and any old kind of metal and also old coffee cans filled with grease.
Also since you were to save and we did learn to do without a lot of things, as we did not have Grocery stores as we have today.
My DAD added a swing-type door to the front bottom side of our garage and he also added an enclosed area in the back yard for the chickens to be outside in the yard, weather permitting … and there were small box areas for each chicken to lay their eggs and then for us to collect those good eggs.
The most important area in our back yard, Daddy planted some of the vegetables that we all like to eat, and then we also had a most wonderful Victory Garden.
It seems to me, and as I can remember all of our neighbors who were doing the same things or at least … almost as much as we were doing, too!
Also, we were able to exchange foods that were grown with our neighbor who just may have had too much of something, but… would like to try something different… and or with another very close and near by neighbor who was growing, maybe something new and or different and also maybe had just a tad too much!
We all did our part every day, for years.
I know that we are all proud and very Thankful for the chance to do our parts in helping our AMERICA… stay strong and always able to help others!
Thanks to You, Almighty Yahweh, for seeing, hearing and putting an end to WWII in 1945.
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“Memorial Day Weekend with All Families Celebrating”
Memorial Weekend
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
It is observed on the last Monday of May.
It was formerly observed on May 30 from 1868 to 1970.
This Weekend is a number one weekend, because all of us, all ages can have FUN and very good Memories of all of our family members, who are no longer with us… as they gave their all… for our FREEDOM …so that all AMERICA can now … enjoy today!
When we the “Grands“, were those “Young Parents“… and had a small child or two, we felt so bogged down and over-worked, sometimes even wishing to be free of our responsibilities. Wanting time to pass much faster, not knowing that we were only going to miss the ‘Good Times’!
But, we are all on that “Journey”, that has only a “one-way pass‘” for each of us – No Refunds – Stops on the way, for accidents and set-backs, “steady as she goes”… so are you holding on, for some “Fun Times?
“Memorial Day,” gives us a 3-day weekend to enjoy with all our Family, young, old, and the “Mister” in between.
So let us all start remembering to “Give Thanks” to all those… who have made and did give, for all of us at HOME… that ultimate gift, their LIFE for all of us Americans, to enjoy that gift of Freedom, that our Creator wants for all of us to Love and share with one another, daily!
It is NOW our duty to Celebrate and Share our LOVE for our Family and Neighbor, so that we can forever … remain together as a Family and with friends, that we will always remember enjoying that which our past generations gave to us with so much LOVE , that they went so far, as to have paid with their Lives!
We can never ever forget all that our Love Ones, fought for!
Just remembering my Father , who was injured while serving in the Army, a vary long time ago.
My Father was one of those kind that did like to celebrate as much as he could, even though he had many injuries’ to his body.
Daddy was a very good Chef by trade … as he could cook and bake everything and anything… and all by memory… as he just knew how, and there was always someone needing something made and or maybe just the directions on how to do… and everything requested … would turn out just…terrific!
So, as I am remembering way back to some of all those good old times and doings… just try to … Do like we did in the Young day of our Ol’Gramps.
Check with all of your FAMILY and FRIENDS to see what they have in mind to do and then, add your “two cents” worth of information to celebrate with any and all family members in the backyard, with the standard games.
The best part of a Celebration… any time of the year is the food, and there will always be that someone with the “SMARTS” of what is good and they will make up a terrific menu, and something for all attending… to help with… just doing your part!
There will always come a time in your LIFE for GAMES!
When the group has hit a low point of time… as to what to do … and what would NOW be FUN for ALL..
Give all a place to sit and start remembering exciting TIMES in their past… and verbally replay the ‘memory game’… just exactly and Who starts with an old memory … WHO can join in… WHO can remember the best of all winning memories?
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“Be Determined… To Do It NOW…TODAY”
Age…Ages’ on
Like I was talking about… just the other day…”It is TODAY, and always will be TODAY!”
So many of us say, “I will do that Tomorrow!”
Does anyone get annoyed, with that remark , made above… about doing something… Tomorrow? “And the nerve of “Tomorrow” never ever showing up the next day!”
So…If you… “Don’t Do It Now” – When do you think you will?
I just can not remember anyone saying… “It is Tomorrow and, I said that… I would fix all these things … that have been just waiting for this day to show UP!”
Have you a dream? Did you… log your dream – your personal inspirations, of what you hope to have accomplished, say by the age of “25” or make your mark, by the age of “35”?
You say that YOU need a tad bit more time, you even that say you started Life, with complications?
Go on –Name them Now?
Seems that ” You” let ‘self’ – “Give-in”.
Maybe “You” really were not… hungry enough, to whip yourself into gear … some where along the road , “YOU” did hear – A Winner never Quits – Everything is hard on first try!
Check out the “letters” in the alphabet.
Let us start with that letter which so many have thought they did not need… How about ‘D’ checking out words like – “Determined”… put that in your “back-bone” with “self-Discipline” –You will be surprised with the wonderful results!
If you will save all of those “Frivolous ” wants on that back-burner, if you get them now, you are then carrying on… too much baggage to move swiftly onward and forward… toward a successful conclusion.
As you move in Life,– when you are young – you have all of that vim, vigor, and power you need.
Then you move into the full and filled area, everything that you planned and planted is NOW coming up roses.
Ah-ha, Brother, as “YOU” age and grow an move along your “Road of LIFE” … it does seem as if… it’s beginning to ache and hurt – you are now slowing down – and “YOU” just don’t feel too enthusiastic, any more?
“YOU now have experience and knowledge.. and you need not let all of that valuable experience go to waste… these are those years to make improvements in our LIVES… and future… by passing on to the next generations to come…”
We all need to “Help” some of our youngsters… that are on … maybe that same old and difficult road that “YOU” took coming up the the Ranks.
But NOW… We all need to try and share some of our own “Hard” working for knowledge, to pass on to the next generation … so that this generation can try and do just as we did… for the eternal good to all future generations… just to try and make this world a much better place than it was… a place for each and every next generation will be proud with their selves, that they can say…”I did my best, white here on Earth!”
Your helping Hand – Worth a Million.
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“Unlocking the Happiness Built into Us”
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
―Confucius
We humans make things so complicated.
Take the subject of happiness, which can be as elusive as it is desirable. According to an online Harris Poll of 2,345 U.S. adults, only one in three Americans say they’re ‘very happy’, as has been the trend since 2009.
Even worse, our drive to be happy may interfere with achieving the goal. When we strongly want to be happy we may create a standard that can’t be met. Thinking: “I must always be happy” can result in disappointment and guilt, which ironically can prevent the happiness we so desire.
According to happiness researcher Brett Q. Ford of the University of California at Berkeley, “Part of the reason that wanting to be happy backfires in the U.S. is that people get down on themselves. Also, wanting happiness can make you self-focused and disengaged, and then you’re kind of lonely, and that interferes with feeling happy, too.”
Yet, as it turns out, happiness is built into us and we all have access to it, all the time, at any time. The problem is we believe that happiness is the result of an outward focus. The fact escapes us that happiness is an inner condition that involves our thoughts, feelings and biochemistry, which are obviously INSIDE us.
Once we understand the internal nature of the condition we can take this happiness horse by the reins and be happy whenever we like.
Instantly!
Here’s the secret, and don’t be deceived by its utter simplicity.
If you want to be happy all the time: find something to be happy about all the time!
At any given moment, you can choose dozens of things to be happy about. No matter how bad things seem to be, like the man who complained about having no shoes, until he saw another man with no legs, there is always something we can be happy about – a warm bed, a friend, spouse, lover, child, pet, job, not being in pain, eyesight, hearing, hands, feet, fingers, toes, ability to walk, no deformities etc.
The bad news: our brains are hard-wired for survival which is the primal imperative. Thus, the default perspective of the human brain is on what’s wrong, not what’s right. After all, what’s wrong can kill you, what’s right probably won’t.
The good news: we can only think one thought at a time.
In other words, if you are thinking a good thought you CANNOT at the same time think a bad one. Thus, to be constantly happy, be constantly thinking good thoughts.
Because our brains can’t tell the difference between what we’re thinking in our heads and what’s really happening in our physical, real life experiences, by placing attention on what’s right, we’ll be upregulating and enhancing the activity of dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin, which are the brain correlates of contentment and satisfaction. As far as our bodies and its biochemistry are concerned, we really will be happy!
If you’re spiritual, you’re lucky. That means you can focus on spirit, or, if you prefer, GOD, or All That Is, or Jesus, whatever moniker you want to use for the nameless Force that drives creation. This, by the way is the true meaning of Paul’s New Testament admonition in Thessalonians 5:17 to “Pray without ceasing”.
Is that too simple?
Well maybe it is but don’t be fooled, the greatest ideas usually are. As playwright Clare Boothe Luce wrote in the 1930’s “…the height of sophistication is simplicity”.
If you’re feeling less happy than you’d like, give it a shot. Write down 10 or 20 or even 100 things you appreciate in your life. Then, every time some unpleasant thought arises, redirect your attention to something on the list. Over and over and over use all negative thoughts as a signal or cue to return to something you’re happy about. Try and see what happens. Chances are it will be much harder to stay with negativity, and even if you only manage to catch yourself and redirect just a few times a day, you’re going to find yourself a lot happier than you would be otherwise. If you keep at it, eventually you may very well find yourself happy most, or even all of the time!
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“How to Play SOLITAIRE”
Card game, Solitaire – PLAY It Today”
NATIONAL SOLITAIRE DAY
On May 22, National Solitaire Day recognizes a card game that has been around for more than 200 years.
Also known as Klondike, the classic version of the game uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards. The object of the game is to clear the board by creating a stack of cards from low to high in each suit. If the player completes each suit, the game of Solitaire is won.
It wasn’t until 1990 when Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows 3.0 that the game truly went viral. Microsoft Solitaire successfully helped teach computer users how to use a mouse and, in the process, ended up becoming one of the most played video games in history.
“Over the past 28 years, Microsoft Solitaire has been providing great entertainment to hundreds of millions of players in every corner of the world, and we’re happy to announce that May 22 of each calendar year will officially be designated as National Solitaire Day, recognizing the day Microsoft first included Solitaire in Windows,” says Paul Jensen, Studio Manager for Microsoft Casual Games.
In 2012, Microsoft evolved Solitaire into the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which features five of the top Solitaire games in one app. Since then, the game has been played by over 242 million people and has become so popular that each year 33 billion games are played with over 3.2 trillion cards dealt!
Microsoft Solitaire Collection is available as a free download from the Windows, iPhone, and Android App Stores.
HOW TO OBSERVE
There’s no need to be particularly productive today on National Solitaire Day – just play someSolitaire! Either on a computer, laptop, tablet, phone, or “go retro” and play using real cards. And use #NationalSolitaireDay to post on social media to share in the fun of this classic card game.
HISTORY
Microsoft founded National Solitaire Day on May 22, 2018, to celebrate one of the most played computer games. In 2015,Microsoft Solitairecelebrated its 25th anniversary. National Solitaire Day continues that celebration with an annual event recognizing the contributionsMicrosoft Solitairehas provided in the computer age of the game.The Registrar at National Day Calendar proclaimed National Solitaire Day to be observed annually in 201
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