It is a welcome relief to open the newspaper and read box scores rather than some of the headlines of late. Baseball season has began and I’m not missing out this year. Despite all of the rioting,the crowds on Opening Day were good,except in Chicago,where only 7,756 showed up at Comiskey Park to see the Indians beat the White Sox,2-1. The small crowd was attributed to the change in the schedule and poor weather. Willie Mays belted a pair of Opening Day home runs as if to state that his struggles last season were not going to happen again.
A bit of an early surprise was the Tigers losing their first two at home to the Red Sox. I bet Boston fans wish they could have done that last year. NL Cy Young winner Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs hit his first ever home run as he beat the Reds,5-2. I’m not quite sure which team I’ll follow the closest this year. The crowds on the second day were down,particularly in cities with the greatest unrest:6,142 in Detroit,3,196 in Cincinnati,and a mere 1,086 in Washington. Orioles pitcher Pete Richert and shortstop Mark Belanger missed their team’s opener serving in the National Guard instead. In fact,Richert was stationed outside of D.C. Stadium where he opened the 1967 season as the starter for the Senators. I wonder if the pennant races will be affected by which team has the fewest players missing time for the Army?
I promised a tour of this portal set up for this baseball season. The front page lists the latest headlines and current standings with today’s starting pitchers. If you open up the headline,you will see the complete story along with news headlines from the front pages of the day’s newspapers. Above,you can see all the scores of the day or check out league leaders and team rosters. On the Scores page,you can see any box score from the day’s games or travel back to see scores from previous days. On the team pages,you can also see the team’s current stats and game results. The rosters can be shown for 1968 or a list of all that team’s players since 1965. You can see the current team leaders in certain categories on the right side of the page. Above,you can also view the Award winners from the last three seasons and a history of the last three baseball seasons. If you want to see a particular player from the last three seasons,start typing their name in the “Search”field on the top right. When you see their name appear,click on it and then hit “Search”. I suspect you may spend a while exploring all there is here so I asked the researchers to include a jukebox for you to hear the latest hits or some of my favorites. The whole thing is a gas so I hope you really get into it.
On a final note,I found an audio recording of Martin Luther King’s speech on April 3rd in Memphis. It’s really spooky like he knew he was going to die. But I mentioned earlier what a moving speaker he was so for those of you who never heard him speak,I have included this recording for you.
Martin Luther King,Jr.’s final speech
Happy Good Friday to all. Peace on Earth.
