A Lesson in Humanity

(Photo NY Daily News)
Didn't want Black History Month to pass without paying tribute and what better way of doing so than speaking with Bob Scott? Now 79 years old, Bob, a pitcher/first baseman for the New York Black Yankees, was kind enough to join me this weekend on both my Sirius XM and WFAN-Radio shows. Bob joined the club in 1946 and was paid $175 a month. This was the same year that the color barrier had finally been broken as Jackie Robinson spent that season apprenticing for his Hall of Fame career in Brooklyn with their farm club, the Montreal Royals. Ironically, the signing of Robinson by Branch Rickey of the Dodgers signaled the beginning of the end for the Negro Leagues. And yet, the greats played on. Scott faced the great Buck Leonard, still active in his early 40s, a guy who, even at that advanced age, repeatedly ate his lunch. He also pitched and batted against Satchel Paige, who, by most acccounts, would be 40 years old in 1946. The highlight of his career was being selected by Jackie Robinson to a barnstorming all-star team that afforded him the opportunity to pitch in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. Bob Scott won 35 games in the Negro Leagues and had a career batting average of .278. Bob said those playing in the Negro Leagues never felt excluded from Major League Baseball. Rather, he said, they felt they were the superior league. When you look at what passed for major league teams yearly in Washington and in St. Louis with the Browns, who is to argue?  Years ago, the great Buck O'Neill honored by television show with an guest appearance. When I asked him if he and his contemporaries felt left out, he smiled that electric smile of his, looked at me and said, "What's to say we weren't the better league?" To this day, Bob Feller, who barnstromed in the off-season with and against the best ever in the Negro Leagues, would agree. Bob Scott is side by side with Buck O'Neil. "I had all the talent in the world, but I don't live in regret." His exploits and herosim should never be forgotten or taken for granted from that shameful period in our history. With all due respect to Ruth, Gehrig, Mathewson, Foxx and all the others, for me, baseball didn't begin until April 15, 1947, the day Jackie Robinson began his one-man freedom ride down the highway to make us a better people.   

Saturday on XM 175

If you have the miracle of satellite radio, I hope you'll tune into my "Talking Baseball" show Saturday at 10AM Eastern on XM 175. The greater part of the show will be devoted to Black History Month. One segment I eagerly look forward to is a conversation with one of the great hitters of the modern age, Al Oliver (EDitorial: Al Oliver unquestionably belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame). On September 1, 1971, Oliver was part of a Pittsburgh Pirates line-up made up entirely of minorities. The line-up included two Hall of Famers, the great Clemente and Willie Stargell. Dock Ellis started the game as the Pirates beat Philadelphia 10-7. We'll also talk to Bob Scott who will recount his days as a righthanded pitcher and first baseman on the New York Black Yankees from 1946-50. Now 79, Bob won 79 games in the Negro Leagues and had a career batting average of.278. We'll also speak with Hal Richman, who, as an 11-year-old, invented Strat-o-Matic Baseball, one of the greatest board games of all time. After three years on interpreting the statistics, Start-o-Matic is introducing a 103-card subset of players from the Negro Leagues. This task was daunting as coverage of and statistics from the Negro Leagues was spotty at best, due to the fact that the Arican-American newspapers publishing at the time were weeklies. We'll also talk with Dr. Charles Yesalis, a worldwide authority on performance enhancing drugs in the wake of Major League Baseball's decision to introduce testing for HGH into the minor leagues.

Ed Randall with JJ Putz

Sunday, February 21st - Former Met JJ Putz talks about his odd medical treatment with the Mets and his new beginning with the White Sox with during my interview with him on WFAN.

You can hear the entire interview from WFAN here right now....

http://multimedia.wfan.com/m/audio/29153340/ed-randall-with-jj-putz.htm

Ed Randall with Brady Anderson on 660 WFAN

Sunday, February 21st - Yesterday I was joined by former Oriole outfielder Brady Anderson to talk about his remarkable 1996 season and his thoughts on performance enhancement drugs in baseball.

You can listen to the entire interview from WFAN here now....

http://multimedia.wfan.com/m/audio/29153339/ed-randall-with-brady-anderson.htm

A guy called the XM show yesterday and said I was ...

A guy called the XM show yesterday and said I was "a great cure for spring fever." The theme was what happened to your baseball card collection. Was mom the culprit? Most who said their collections disappeared said it happened after they went off to college.

Ed Randall lesson: commute.

Did something I hadn't planned on the WFAN show: one guest staying the hour. That hadn't happened since Wally Backman did so in 2004 in the wake of his debacle as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Rising early especially for us in Southern California and overcoming early technical problems, Brady Anderson stayed the entire final hour of the show.

He is Baltimore's best all-time leadoff hitter and top-10 in every Orioles offensive category. He patiently explained having a 50-home run season such as he experienced in 1996--even though he had never hit more than 21 before or 24 in any season since--"was an aberration but was not a fluke." He said Roger Maris never came remotely close again to 61, Hack Wilson to 56 or Davey Johnson to 43.

Different eras.

He has difficulty understanding the public's cynicism and disappointment with the so-called Steroid Era, contending athletes have been seeking an edge since the first Olympics. He believes great players belong in the Hall of Fame and that all of these prolific home run hitters, even those tainted by scandal and allegations of using performance-enhacing drugs.

I said a player once told me that if you offered every player the opportunity to take a magic pill that would give them Hall of Fame skills at the cost of 10 years off his life, most all would.

I said McGwire insulted our intelligence when he said he would have hit 583 with or without PEDs. And if we can't believe what we are`watching, then it might as well be wrestling.

He said he faced a pitcher who put sandpaper in his mouth and was the umpire refused to throw him out.

As we parted, he thanked me and said he was going back to sleep.

Oh, and the pitcher was Tim Leary.

Next Homestand Scouting Report

When we run to the mound in the morning on WFAN (first pitch: 9:05) in the constant hope of throwing strikes on the low black knee-high, the guests include Brady Anderson, considered the poster child for one-year spikes in power statistics. In 1996, leading off for Baltimore, he struck 56 home runs as the most prolific one-season leadoff hitter in baseball history.

He never hit 24 in a season before or after. He has been answering questions regarding alleged use of performance-enhacing drugs ever since.

Also joining us, confirmed moments ago from White Sox camp, reliever J.J. Putz. He recently told a Chicago radio station that the Mets knew he had a bone spur in his elbow at the time of his trade from Seattle but wasn't given a physical. And the one he did receive in spring training is a formality. Most significantly, the Mets convinced him to continue pitching with the injury that eventually required season-ending surgery. He also said he was told by the Mets not to talk to the media about being injured.

Yeah, that'll work around here. 

MiLB Charities Designates Bat for the Cure as Homegrown Charity Partner

INDIANAPOLIS–Minor League Baseball Charities is proud to announce that it has named Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure (BFTC) as its first Homegrown Charity Partner. BFTC, which has worked closely with Minor League Baseball for several years, heightens prostate cancer awareness,promotes early PSA testing and raises much needed research funds to fight the disease. In 2009,BFTC conducted over 130 Prostate Cancer Awareness Nights in its Minor League Road Trip program.

"Minor League Baseball is proud to name BFTC as our initial charity as part of our Homegrown Charities Partners program," stated Pat O'Conner, Minor League Baseball President. "By its nature, the Homegrown Charities Partners is a program where these partners have, in large part, roots traceable to Minor League Baseball. BFTC is such a partner."Ed Randall's personal and career paths run deep into Minor League Baseball. BFTC's noble and good work is done with many of our member teams. We have an obligation to look out for our fans when we can and BFTC is an important component in the lifestyle and wellness testing and education in our cities. This is a natural partnership and we are pleased to welcome BFTC to our charities partnership family," O'Conner added.

"It is an honor for my organization to partner with Minor League Baseball and be designated one of their official charities," Ed Randall, the Chairman and Founder of Ed Randall's Bat For The Cure said. "It is humbling to be included in the company of other legacy Minor League Baseball Charitable Partners, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Special Olympics and The ALS Association.

"After two years of preparations that began at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Dallas in 2005, we debuted our Prostate Cancer Awareness Nights in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in June, 2007. Now 275 ballparks later, the team owners and operators, and their devoted staffs, are the reason we have scaled this mountain to plant our flag. My charity is excited to be forging a long and mutually beneficial relationship between our organizations since we both believe that the health of every fan is important. We look forward to helping men stay healthy through greater awareness and knowledge about prostate cancer.

"For the second year in a row, BFTC will sponsor free, simple PSA screenings for thousands of Baseball Winter Meetings attendees. The free screenings will be held on Wednesday, December 9, inside The Baseball Trade Show™ at the Indiana Convention Center. The Minor League Baseball Charity Partner's Program was founded in 2004 to provide national exposure for charities, expand current relationships between clubs and local chapters and to foster new relationships where none exist. The ALS Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Special Olympics are National Charity Partners of MiLB Charities.

For more information go to www.batforthecure.org or Contact: Steve Densa, Minor League Baseball, (727) 408-0313

It's Raining, It's Snowing, The Old Man Blah, Blah, Blah...

The Baltimore-Washington area has received more snow this season than Minneapolis and Anchorage. Here in the New York area, four snows in just the past two weeks. Is it me or do you also feel warmer knowing that somewhere pitchers will be popping the gloves of their catchers? Spring training officially begins tomorrow with pitchers and catchers reporting. Twelve teams are scheduled to being workouts Thursday -- with the 18 others over the next week. Cleveland's first workout isn't until the 23rd while Minnesota and Milwaukee are last with full-squad workouts on the 27th. The Twins traditionally have been one of the last teams to report. Their formula is simple: they simply count backward from Opening Day to figure out how much time is needed. Is spring training too long? Probably. Starting pitchers are probably the only ones who need the full six weeks to get ready. If spring training were to be shortened, rosters would need to be expanded at the start of the season to accommodate extra pitchers. Long or short, spring training is the best racket in American professional sports.      

Sunday, February 14th - Michael Weiner of the MLBPA joined me on WFAN to Talk Baseball..

Sunday, February 14th - Michael Weiner of the MLBPA joined me to talk baseball on WFAN. You can listen to the interview here now: http://tinyurl.com/ykeaot3

Elgibile for Free Agency

Thanks to all of you for listening to the start of our new season on WFAN-Radio this morning. It's our 8th year, meaning we already have enough time in to have qualified for free agency. The theme was catching up for the lost time we were not on the air. With our station the flagship station of the New York Mets network, they got home field advantage with Adam Rubin, their beat reporter for the New York Daily News, our leadoff hittter. Then it was on to a review of the Yankees' off-season with Anthony McCarron of the News and Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record. As for the status of the other 28 clubs, that was left to Ken Rosenthal, the senior baseball writer for Fox Sports.com and MLB field reporter for MLB on Fox. We also welcomed for the first time the new Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Michael Weiner, who addressed a number of issues, not all of them pertaining to performance-enhancing drugs. Our closer was the noted Pulitzer-Prize-winning  writer, Ira Berkow, who came on to talk about his 18th book, "Summers in the Bronx, Attila the Hun and Other Yankee Stories," a compilation of his 40 years covering the Yankees. 

Welcome Home

I got a phone call yesterday morning that I will be inducted into my high school's Hall of Fame, All Hallows, this fall. It's three blocks from Yankee Stadium and I took the subway behind the center field fence when it was a grammar and high school for 12 years. Don't think I don't think about that every time I'm on the field at Yankee Stadium. My initial reaction to this incredible honor was to quote Groucho Marx who said, "I'd never want to belong to a club that would have me as a member."

My new Pulitzer-Prize-winning-book-in-waiting, "Baseball for the Utterly Confused" from McGraw-Hill hits bookstores this week. This is NOT like baseball for dummies. It has a lot of history in it and all-time lists that I take editorial license with. It's an entertaining read, especially the excerpts from my unforgettable playing career that people are still talking about.

Our all-in-color, Tony-Award-winning "Ed Randall's Tallking Baseball" show begins its 8th season on WFAN-Radio Valentine's Day morning at 9AM. We'll go about the business of catching up on all the news we've missed since being off the air.

Live on WFAN tomorrow 2/14/2010 from 9:00AM - 11:00AM

On the Air tomorrow on WFAN from 9:00AM - 11:00AM. Listen live to WFAN anytime here: http://tinyurl.com/yz3jben

Triple Guitars Night at Feinstein's at Loews Regency Pictures

On February 1, 2010 former NY Yankee star Bernie Williams, Grammy winning guitarist Earl Klugh and fellow guitarist, vocalist and bandleader John Pizzarelli played their guitars on the same stage for the first time to raise funds for Ed Randall's Bat For The Cure charity and its fight against prostate cancer at Feinstein's at Loews Regency located on Park Avenue in New York City .

You can now view pictures from this historic event on my charity web site www.batforthecure.org

In Gratitude

A man of a very few thousand words--me--in speechless in expressing my gratitude to Earl Klugh, John Pizzarelli and Bernie Williams for their "Triple Guitars" collaboration on behalf of Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure, as well as John Iachetti at Feinstein's. It was a watershed event for our charity and a valued entry point into the world of entertainment. Rumor has it that these three world-class artists had such a good time, they are anxious to gather again for Triple Guitars II. That day can't come fast enough.