It’s the middle of May and it’s been nearly two months since the coronavirus has changed our way of life. Who would have thought that things were ever going to get this bad?
Cases of the virus have been rapidly increasing in the upper Midwest, including Minnesota. On top of that, long-range projections are not optimistic. The whole scenario is most unfavorable, in so many ways.
The latest bad news is the cancellation of the Legion Baseball season for this summer. No high school baseball — and now no legion ball either. That’s sure too bad. Crowds are not that big at high school or legion baseball. Shutdowns like these were certainly not expected back in mid-March when the first stay-at-home orders began to happen.
Back then, a lot of us thought — by summer things will be happening again. Not yet.
Switch the seasons?
Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse, who grew up in Fulda, has an interesting idea — which, perhaps, the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is looking into?
Reusse proposes the switching of spring and fall sports for the coming school year. He believes the spring sports — baseball, softball, track and field, golf and boys tennis — should happen this fall. Then, according to Reusse, the league should move football, volleyball, cross country, soccer and girls tennis to next spring.
I have not heard if Reusse’s proposal is being seriously considered? If it is, what happens the following year? I doubt if it’s a permanent proposal or solution, but it may make sense for this year — for a couple of reasons.
There is, obviously, the closest contact in football. Giving that season more time — if things improve — makes sense. Also, being as this past spring season wasn’t able to happen, getting those sports going sooner — this fall — would be a good idea.
I am not sure if the MSHSL will listen to any proposals they don’t come up with on their own?
Here are the answers to last week’s trivia
questions:
Forrest Harrill “Smoky” Burgess was the catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1960 World Series, alternating with Game 7 hero Hal Smith. Burgess grew up in North Carolina and played 18 seasons in the majors with five different teams.
It was Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra who was playing left field for the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series and watched both Smith’s and Bill Mazeroski’s home runs sail over that left-field wall at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
A famous Hall-of-Famer and 18-time All-Star with 10 World Series championships (the most of anybody), Berra was a catcher most of his career, but was playing in left that day as Minnesota-native Johnny Blanchard was doing the catching for the Yankees. During his career, Berra caught a major league record 173 shutouts, including Don Larsen’s legendary perfect game during the 1956 World Series.
The Washington Senators were 73-81 (.474) in 1960, the second-to-last year of the 154-game schedule. The Senators, in their last year in the nation’s capital, finished in fifth place of the eight-team American League, 24 games behind the New York Yankees, who were 97-57 (.640).
Between the Yankees and the Senators were Baltimore Orioles (89-65), Chicago White Sox (87-67) and Cleveland Indians (76-78). Behind the Senators were the Detroit Tigers (71-83), Boston Red Sox (65-89) and Kansas City Athletics (58-96). KC was 39 games off the pace set by the Yankees, who acquired Roger Maris from them in an off-season trade. Maris became the League’s MVP that season with 39 home runs and a league-leading 112 RBI as he primed himself for his banner year in ’61.
Baltimore shortstop Ron Hansen was the A.L. Rookie-of-the-Year in 1960. Hansen had 135 hits, including 22 home runs. He drove in 86 runs and scored 72, while sporting a .255 average and a very good .781 OPS. I remember having a baseball card of Hansen’s when I was a fourth grader. I think he was one of my favorite players.
Hansen played most of his 15-year Major League career with the White Sox, never matching his rookie year totals in either home runs or RBIs. He did score more runs (85) in 1964 and hit for a higher average (.261) while playing for Chicago.
The Senators, of course, moved to Minneapolis and St. Paul and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. So how did the Twins do in their first season at Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington?
