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Tom Cheek was the smooth radio voice of the Toronto Blue Jays from the team's inception in 1977 until 2004. Largely unknown outside of Canada, his most famous call was of Joe Carter's World Series-winning home run in 1993: "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" Remarkably, Cheek never missed a single Jays' broadcast until June 4, 2004 when he had to attend his father's funeral. His absence that night ended his streak of 4,306 consecutive regular-season games at the mike. Sadly, less than two weeks after his father's death, Cheek was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. He left the broadcast booth to undergo treatment. He made only sporadic appearances at Jays' games after that. He did have a Lou Gehrig-type farewell appearance at Toronto's SkyDome in September 2004. The ceremony was sad and poignant. (Ken Singleton, a New York Yankees announcer, was so teary that he had to leave the broadcast booth.) Cheek died in October 2005 at the age of 66. He is honored in the Blue Jays' "Ring of Honor" at the SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) alongside the number 4,306.
Tags:
Tom
Cheek
baseball
Toronto
Blue
Jays
announcer
Added: 16th January 2012
Views: 495
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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The Washington Senators' 71st and last season in the American League came to a sad and strange end on September 30, 1971. Some 14,000 disenchanted fans came to RFK stadium one last time to see the home team play the New York Yankees in a meaningless contest. Many brought along insulting and obscene banners denouncing team owner Bob Short who had announced the team was relocating to Texas for the 1972 season. Love was showered on the players, though. Even the most mediocre Senators were given hearty cheers when they first came to bat. The loudest ovation was saved for slugging fan favorite Frank Howard who responded with a home run. However, things began to turn ugly in the eighth inning just after the Senators had taken a 7-5 lead. Here's Shirley Povich's account of what happened as it appeared in the next day's Washington Post: "As if in sudden awareness that the end of major-league baseball in Washington was only one inning way, the mood hardened. 'We want Bob Short!' was the cry that picked up in loud and angry chorus, and it was the baying-fury sound of a lynch mob.
Then a swarm of young kids, squirts who wouldn't know what it had meant to have a big-league team all these years, or what it would mean to lose one, flooded onto the field from all points of the stands. A public address announcement warned that the home team could forfeit the game unless the field was cleared, and pretty soon the game resumed.
It got as far as two out in the ninth, the Senators' 7-5 lead intact, no Yankee on base, when one young rebel from the stands set off again. He grabbed first base and ran off with it. Some unbelievers, undaunted by the warning of forfeit, cheered, and from out of the stands poured hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand fans. They took over the infield, the outfield, grabbed off every base as a souvenir, tried to get the numbers and lights from the scoreboard or anything else removable, and by their numbers left police and the four umpires helpless to intervene.
The mad scene on the field, with the athletes of both teams taking refuge in their dugouts, brought official announcement of Yankees 9, Senators 0, baseball's traditional forfeit count almost since Abner Doubleday notched the first baseball score on the handiest twig at Cooperstown. But by then the crowd-mood was philosophical, 'So what?' Or more accurately, 'So what the hell?' The Senators were finished, even if the ball game wasn't."
Tags:
baseball
riot
1971
Washington
Senators
Added: 16th January 2012
Views: 1009
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Johnnie Ray is almost forgotten today, but he was a huge singing star in the early 1950s. At the peak of his career, Ray's income was $35,000 a week. Born in Oregon in 1927, Ray had top 40 hits until 1957. Despite being skinny, pigeon-toed, half-deaf and effeminate, this highly emotional performer was the most popular male singer of the pre-Elvis Presely era.
Indeed, when Elvis first started out, he was often introduced on stage as "the new Johnnie Ray".
Known as "the Prince of Wails" for his distinctive singing style, Ray is mostly remembered for his lip-quivering early 1950s hits such as Cry; Please, Mr Sun; and The Little White Cloud That Cried. His live performances, in which he sometimes played the piano, were wildly unpredictable. It was not uncommon for Ray to break into tears or flop to the stage floor while belting out a tune.
His 1954 recording of Such A Night was the first chart hit to be banned by the BBC for its "suggestive" lyrics. Several American radio stations followed suit. Nevertheless, it still ended up topping the British charts.
Ray had an interesting personal life: He became deaf in his right ear at age 13 after an accident at a Boy Scout camp and prominently wore a large hearing aid for the rest of his life. He was twice arrested in Detroit for soliciting sex from men. The first arrest was in 1951 just before he became famous. (He quietly pled guilty and paid a fine.) The second arrest was in 1959, but he was acquitted by an all-female jury. He is rumored to have had a long affair with newspaper writer Dorothy Kilgallen (of What's My Line? fame) that began after his first of two mystery guest appearances on the show. Ray was a heavy drinker who was hospitalized for alcoholism in 1960. He died in 1990, at age 63, from liver disease.
Tags:
Johnnie
Ray
singer
Added: 17th January 2012
Views: 1924
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Twenty-year-old American sprinter Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Her championships came in the women's 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 x 100 relay. Rudolph had also been a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team in Melbourne as a 16-year-old. Remarkably, Rudolph was a sickly child who had to walk with the assistance of leg braces. Another member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team was admittedly smitten by Rudolph: an 18-year-old boxer from Louisville named Cassius Clay. Clay/Ali and Rudolph became friends and often appeared at charity fund-raisers together for many years afterwards. Rudolph only lived to be 54, dying of brain cancer in 1994.
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Wilma
Rudolph
sprinter
Olympics
Added: 18th January 2012
Views: 2201
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Remember Bob Atcher? Bob Atcher was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, and learned violin and guitar from his father, who was skillful at playing the fiddle. Bob attended Kentucky State University when he was only 14. He studied medicine and combined that with guitar playing and yodeling.
He started out on radio in Louisville on WHAS. In 1939 he was offered a regular gig on Chicago station WBBM which was broadcast nationally by CBS. The show made him a national star, and he signed with ARC just before CBS bought the company. After the purchase Atcher was transferred to Okeh Records and then to Columbia Records, both CBS subsidiaries.
Between 1939 and 1942, he recorded many duets with Loretta Applegate, who went by the stage name Bonnie Blue Eyes. Atcher fought in the Army in World War II and returned to performing in 1946.
In 1948 Atcher signed on with WLS and became a performer on their National Barn Dance. As one of their biggest stars, he continued to chart national hits. In 1950, he signed with Capitol Records, and later in the 1950s moved to Kapp Records. He continued with the Barn Dance well into the 1960s, and re-signed to Columbia that decade, re-recording many of his songs in stereo.
Atcher, like Gene Autry, was a shrewd businessman, and bought several businesses and invested in banking with the proceeds from his career. He was also the mayor of Schaumburg, Illinois from 1959 to 1979. He died in 1993.
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Atcher
Schaumburg
Added: 18th January 2012
Views: 789
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Posted By: KrazyKasper |
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She was known as My Little Margie, and other names for her TV shows, but did you know she could sing? She had a number of hits in the 1950's. Here's one of them.
Tags:
Gale
Storm
Margie
Added: 18th January 2012
Views: 1609
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Posted By: KrazyKasper |
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Storytime continues: Anyone here or there looking for that Kevin (the lead) to follow through on his big one from then will have to wait a lot longer. What was he waiting for! Seems that just recently, he had tried it all over again. It didn't work out. Too much time had passed by for a 2nd chance. And topping it all off, he had made a series of mistakes that were a real loss for himself.
Did you know that "Dexy" (the word) is what was known as a pill used for diet purposes, out of a once evidenced way of life that was known as the "Northern Soul Style". This was from the decade before the 70's. The 1960's. Did you know about that? Then, it was all too common for a community of people in that area to get their kicks from it. It was usually in clubs and on the streets for that sort of thing. It was all tough, living a tough to get by dire Birmingham, England. That was the reality in the later part of the Seventies, as these few managed change by waiting for a form of fate to intervene. To have something going for themselves collectively as a apparent group waiting for a chance. But, the only thing they really had was motivation from Kevin at that time, and a theater picture that made them find themselves with a proper look for people who would believe in them. Also, they were caught up in their own countries soul scene from the then 1960's. And with that, they had received a lot of positive feedback for their unique wardrobe, which was inspired by the picture called "Mean Streets". I had to think about that one. So after some time, a few them with Kevin had enough of the pressure to follow up with something new. This was because, they had no say on what they should do. In other words, nobody was listening to what direction to take from Kevin. Kevin had a difficult time with it. All were on opposite sides, but at some point, it was suggested, back in early '82 to change to an Ireland-inspired folk, gypsy and soul, all scruff appearance. It worked. It was unlike anything then. It seemed to have worked immediately. But as we have come to observe, the breaking point was about to come. Some of them were too overwhelmed with it and left. Matching that again would pass by. The opportunity was just not there for them, even though they tried a few years back with a few other newbies. One mistake could be said, changing themselves repeatedly wasn't really what they wanted to do. Their clothing, they became like a fashion show. As told, Kevin had missed his chance with a loss of confidence among other things. These were the most important factors to all of it. *E*
Tags:
London
1982
Bananarama
sister
Fiddler
Number
One
Hit
Johnnie
Ray
1950s
Kevin
Rowland
England
Worldwide
Added: 18th January 2012
Views: 609
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Posted By: Electricland |
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It really is no secret. I haven't dropped out yet. I have no excuses or exceptions on why I have not carried on with the game. Sure, I got a bit carried away with a coffeepot full of white wine and a lamp shade, but that is another story. Okay, now let me just unveil a game or two with you. The winning formula is very simple. Just take a crack at it.
Updated: Solved by a true winner.
*E*
Tags:
91
Every
try
to
click
one
of
these
tags
on
this
site
?
Added: 19th January 2012
Views: 389
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Posted By: Electricland |
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Okay then, let me tap into something else now. Maybe you know it? Maybe you don't?
All you need is some of that good cheer you had in you a few weeks ago to play.
How about it? Can you go far on it?
*E*
UPDATED: ANSWERED! But something is not correct with it. Do you know it?
Tags:
?
92
Ninety
two
movies
and
films
that
you
may
know
Could
you
say
that
you
do
not
know
it
?
Added: 19th January 2012
Views: 351
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Posted By: Electricland |
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