RobKirkpatrick.com

“And at seven minutes to midnight, the goose-egg sweep is complete.”

So said Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen on Thursday night, perhaps as a nod to Lindsey Nelson and the ‘69 Mets, as New York finished off a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with the third of three consecutive shutouts.  The Mets topped the Phillies 8-0 on Tuesday, 5-0 on Wednesday, and 3-0 in the series finale at CitiField to pull from last place in the National League East to within 2 games of first place.  It was the first time in 41 years that the Mets staff shut out an opponent over a three-game series.

The Phillies were also the victims in 1969, getting blanked in three contests at Connie Mack Stadium by Jerry Koosman, Tom Seaver, and a combined effort from Gary Gentry, Nolan Ryan, and Ron Taylor.  Two days before the series in Philly, Gentry had gone the distance against Steve Carlton and the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium in a 6-0 victory that clinched the division for the suddenly Amazin’ Mets, part of a 42-inning scoreless streak.  As Al Weis turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the game, broadcaster Nelson famously marked the moment for posterity: “At 9:07 on September 24th, the Mets have won the championship of the Eastern Division of the National League!”

A comparison of the two “goose-egg” streaks illustrates how much the game has changed since 1969. Gentry pitched the full nine against the Cards, as did Koosman and Seaver in their gems against the Phils. Gentry went just five innings in the series finale in Philadelphia – giving way to Ryan (who tossed three scoreless in relief) and Taylor, who recorded a one-inning save – but he was going on just three days’ rest, which is interesting considering the game was meaningless at that point with the Mets having already clinched the division for manager Gil Hodges.

In today’s era of pitch counts and “protecting” pitchers, it’s become increasingly rare for pitchers to go the distance, even when they’re still working on shutouts.  (And can you imagine a manager today letting his #1 or #2 hurlers go nine innings in mere postseason tuneups?)  The 2010 Mets who entered the three-game set in last place in the East, returned to relevance in the division on the strength of three groups efforts.  Mets pitchers recorded the following stats in 27 innings against Philadelphia:

Tuesday, May 25

R. A. Dickey (W, 1-0) 6 IP, 0 R, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K

R. Valdes (SV, 1) 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Wednesday, May 26

H. Takahashi (W, 4-1) 6 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K

J. Mejia 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Igarashi 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Nieve 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Thursday, May 27

Pelfrey (W, 7-1)  7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 5 BB, 5 K

Feliciano 1 IP, 0 R,  0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Rodriguez 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

TOTALS VS. PHILLIES

27 IP, 0 R, 18 H, 10 BB, 27 K

Ecology Flag designed by underground artist Ron Cobb in 1969

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and as the following link reminds us, the day was inspired in part by the infamous Cuyahoga River fire on June 23, 1969:

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?vid=18555867

I discuss the Cuyahoga fire in my “Green Mind” chapter in 1969: The Year Everything Changed, along with the Santa Barbara Oil slick from ‘69, the People’s Park riots, and the beginnings of Earth Day–or, I should say, Earth Days, as the phrase was applied to two different dates and celebrations.  The first one took place on March 21, 1970, organized by faith-based activist and pacifist John McConnell as a regional event in San Francisco to be held on the spring solstice, and to draw attention to the need for peace and environmental balance.  Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson prompted a nationwide “teach-in” day on the environment for April 22. Nelson said later, “John McConnell may have used the phrase Earth Day before we did, [but] ours was a political exercise. His was a peace exercise.” 

John McConnell's Earth Flag from the early 1970s, featuring the "Big Blue Marble" photo taken during Apollo 17.

McConnell, who also designed the Earth Flag (left) said decades later, “The most damaging lie about the environment is that statement that ‘Earth Day is April 22.’” But the April date is the one that has grown into an international celebration.

You can read more about the international Earth Day by clicking on the following links:

http://www.earthday.net/node/77

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

Given the inaugural 2009 season of CitiField, when the ballpark served more as a testament to the Wilpon family’s Brooklyn Dodgers fetish than to the Mets’s own history, I was pleasantly surprised on Saturday when I got to see the new Mets Hall of Fame.  In addition to the requisite plaques for all team inductees, the HOF houses both World Series trophies, jerseys worn by Mets greats and near-greats, Tom Seaver’s Cy Young and Sportsman of the Year awards, one of Keith Hernandez’s 11 Gold Gloves, and – perhaps most impressive of all – the glove worn by Tommie Agee when he made both of his highlight catches in Game 3 of the ‘69 series (a Spalding Johnny Callison Autograph model) and the infamous “shoe polish ball” from the Game 5 clincher.

In an interview just posted on Spinner, former Rolling Stones tour manager Sam Cutler talks for the first time about the infamous Altamont Free Concert from December 1969.

http://www.spinner.com/2010/03/29/sam-cutler-rolling-stones-altamont/?ncid=webmaildl2

Cutler blames the fiasco that occurred that day on the fact that the stage was only three feet high, which is one factor I cited in my Huffington Post piece commemorating the 40th anniversary of Altamont:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-kirkpatrick/the-day-the-music-died-th_b_381731.html

For more on this and other incidents, both good and bad, from that memorable year, check out 1969: The Year Everything Changed (Skyhorse Publishing, 1969).

I’ll be talking to Pat Williams on WDBO AM 580 in Orlando today at 4:oo pm about 1969: The Year Everything Changed. [CORRECTION: Today's interview was taped and will air Saturday, April 10. Radio host Pat Williams also happens to be the president of the Orlando Magic; tune in to hear his assessment of my jump shot and defensive prowess...]

And check out this rave for Nicholas Schou’s new book, Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World, which comes with an endorsement from yours truly:

http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book24-2010mar24,0,2597283.story

It’s taken me a while to do this, but here it is finally – the official playlist for 1969: The Year Everything Changed:

“Whipping Post,” The Allman Brothers, Beginnings

“Come Together”/ “Something”, The Beatles, Abbey Road

“Can’t Find My Way Home,” Blind Faith, Blind Faith

“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline

“Ballad of Easy Rider,” The Byrds, The Byrds: 20 Essential Tracks…

“Hair,” “Love American Style,” The Cowsills, 20^th Century Masters

“Lodi,” Creedence Clearwater Revival, Green River

“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills & Nash

“Space Oddity,” David Bowie, Best of Bowie

“Son of a Preacher Man,” Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis

“Suspicious Minds,” Elvis Presley, From Elvis in Memphis

“St. Stephen,” Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa

“Work Me, Lord,” Janis Joplin, The Woodstock Experience

“We Can Be Together,” Jefferson Airplane, Volunteers

“Star Spangled Banner”/ “Purple Haze,” Jimi Hendrix, Live at Woodstock

“With a Little Help from My Friends,” Joe Cocker, Woodstock—40 Years On (box set)

“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin

“Whole Lotta Love,” Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II

“Kick Out the Jams,” MC5, The Big Band – The Best of MC5

“Down by the River,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

“Gimme Shelter,” The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed

“Soul Sacrifice,” Santana, The Woodstock Experience: Santana

“Stand!”, Sly and the Family Stone, Stand!

“I Want to Take You Higher,” Sly and the Family Stone, The Woodstock Experience

“Monster/Suicide/America,” Steppenwolf, Monster

“1969,” The Stooges, The Stooges

“I’m Going Home,” Ten Years After, The Best of Woodstock

 “Easy to Be Hard,” Three Dog Night, Three Dog Night: The Complete Singles

“Something in the Air,” Thunderclap Newman, Easy Rider (Deluxe Edition)

“We’re Not Gonna Take It,” The Who, Woodstock—40 Years On (box set)

 “In the Year 2525,” Zager and Evans, Radio Hits of the ‘60s

“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” The Fifth Dimension, The Ultimate 5^th Dimension

Here are the rules:

1. Assign a team/franchise to the position where it’s placed stars (HOFers, MVPs, All-Stars & Cy Youngs) throughout its history.

2. Use each team/franchise just once.

3. Arrange the franchise positions into a batting order based on each’s composite offensive skills.

1. SS Pittsburgh Pirates (Vaughn, Wagner, Groat)

2. 2B St. Louis Cardinals (Hornsby, Schoendienst, Herr)

3. LF Boston Red Sox (Williams, Yaz, Rice, Ramirez)

4. CF New York Yankees (Combs, DiMaggio, Mantle)

5. 1B NY/San Francisco Giants (Terry, Mize, McCovey, Clark)

6. 3B Boston/Milw./Atl. Braves (Matthews, Pendleton, Jones)

7. RF Detroit Tigers (Heilmann, Kaline, Gibson)

8. C Cincinnati Reds (Lombardi, Bench)

9. SP Brooklyn/LA Dodgers (Roe, Drysdale, Koufax, Sutton, Valenzuela, Hershiser)

RP Phila./Oakland A’s (Fingers, Eckersley, Street)

Have a better lineup?  Send it to me!

While grateful for all the attention I’ve gotten for my “other” two books from last year, I think my Cecil Travis book (published in a new Bison Books edition in ‘09 by the University of Nebraska Press) has somewhat gotten lost in the shuffle.  So check out the mini bio for this Washington Senators All-Star from the 1930s and ’40s that I contributed to the SABR Baseball Biography Project:  

http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=597&pid=14327

…Then, if you’d like to know more, click on the BOOKS link at the top of my site and pick your online vendor of choice.

- Rob

If you’re looking for a good book about the late ’60s – one that I didn’t even write – check out Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World by O.C. journalist Nick Schou:

http://us.macmillan.com/orangesunshine

Schou’s book just received a “four cannabis review” from High Times, author Mike Davis says this true story reads “like classic Thomas Pynchon,” and yours truly blurbed it by saying it’s a “wild ride of a story that seems straight out of Easy Rider or Zabriskie Point.”

Orange Sunshine is available now for pre-order on Amazon.

Valleys of Neptune, an album of a dozen previously unreleased studio tracks from Jimi Hendrix, is set for release in March from Sony/Legacy. Here’s Edna Gundersen’s piece for USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2010-01-11-jimialbum11_ST_N.htm?csp=34

I spoke to Gundersen in October 2008 for an article she did on Mark Oliver Everett’s memoir, Things the Grandchildren Should Know, which I published at my day job:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-10-20-mark-everett_N.htm