Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin, Part II
It’s never too late … a weekly roundup of life lessons … shameless plugs … shoutouts … and Bay Area quarterback comparisons
"Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin" is my weekly Sunday feature that's a tribute to the sports columnists I grew up reading who penned Herb Caen-inspired three dot columns. It's an excuse to shamelessly plug my other side projects, post my favorite Immaculate Grid from the week with a story about one of the players, link to stories I found interesting, and string together loose topics on my mind.
This week’s “Scribbled Notes on a Cocktail Napkin” begins with the words of my friend Jesse Goldberg-Strassler about baseball play-by-play announcers.
No one grows old in a job in sports like a team broadcaster. What they lose off their fastball, they retain in listener loyalty.
To call games for decades, though, it figures that the broadcaster has to start young. Vin Scully was 22 when he joined the Dodgers’ booth in 1950, for instance. But Harry Caray was already in his 30s when he joined the Cardinals in 1945; 2024 Ford C. Frick recipient Joe Castiglione was 36 when he called his first game with the Red Sox; Ernie Harwell was 40 when the Tigers brought him aboard; and Chick Hearn was about to turn 44 years old when the Lakers arrived in Los Angeles in 1960.
It’s not when you start that counts, it’s what you do with, as Chick would say, your word’s eye view when you get there.
I’ve always been fascinated by people who made a pivot in their life, certainly enhanced because I did it myself.
A song titled “It’s Never Too Late” (or thereabouts) was performed by Billy Ocean … and Elton John … and Three Days Grace … and Kylie Minogue … and Steppenwolf … and Air Supply … and Bad Company … and The Rescues … and Natalie Prass … and dozens more. You get the point.
It could be a pivot within a career, like Darius Rucker transitioning from the front man of the pop-soul-bluesy soft rock band Hootie and the Blowfish, then becoming a country singer. Or yours truly, switching from ink-stained writer to play-by-play announcer at age 34.
Arnold Schwarzeneger went from body builder to actor to California Governor. Julia Child worked in secret intelligence, among other things, before writing her first cookbook at age 50. Bob Ross was a Master Sergeant in the Air Force before becoming a beloved painter on PBS. Martha Stewart went from model to stockbroker to creative presentation. Ken Jeong was a doctor before becoming a comedic actor. Jackie Robinson retired from Baseball, when he probably had a couple good years remaining, to become the Vice President of Personnel for Chock Full o’Nuts.
Those are just famous people.
Anyone who has ever spent time in Alcohol Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or any type of Anonymous, can tell you their story, or the story from hundreds more they heard in emotional meetings of people who reinvented their life, and now share their stories to motivate others that they can do the same.
I find inspiration from my sister Lisa (18 years and counting of clean livin’) and my friend Johnny Doskow (first full-time MLB play-by-play at age 56).
Remember that whenever you think you’re stuck at anyplace in your life.
This week’s random Immaculate Grid story: Ron LeFlore
In 1970, Ron LeFlore was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 5-to-15 years at Jackson State Prison. He spent large chunks of his first year in solitary confinement. In his second year, he played organized baseball for the first time in his life with other inmates. Seriously. He never played baseball as a kid.
Early in 1973, fellow inmate Jimmy Karalla reached out to longtime friend Jimmy Butsicaris, a local bar owner who was the best man at Billy Martin’s wedding.
Martin, the Detroit Tigers manager at the time, visited prison to watch LeFlore play. Afterward, Martin invited LeFlore to attend a Tigers tryout during a weekend furlough. The Tigers were impressed and signed him to a $5,000 bonus and $500 a month for the rest of the season.
On July 2, 1973, LeFlore was released from prison. At the time, he said his age was 21. He was actually 25, as he started his pro career in the Single-A Midwest League. Fourteen months later, on August 1, 1974, LeFlore made his Major League Debut. Two years later, he was the starting center fielder in the MLB All-Star Game.
LeFlore played nine years in the major leagues and led the league in stolen bases twice. His career transformation remains mindboggling. Ultimately, his demons got the better of him, especially once he started to make really good money, and his playing career was cut short due to substance issue problems.
At the closing ceremonies for Tiger Stadium in 1999, LeFlore was arrested for unpaid child support. Eight years later, during an autograph signing, LeFlore was again arrested for failing to pay child support. In 2011, LeFlore’s right leg was amputated below the knee, due to arterial vascular disease that he blamed on his smoking habit. The man known for running -- from the law as a teenager, and then on the base paths in baseball –- can no longer walk like the rest of us.
Remember that whenever you think you’ve conquered the demons forever.
This week’s “Where Ya At?” podcast guest: Dustin Winn
I host a podcast for San Diego State’s School of Journalism and Media Studies titled “Where Ya At?” Each week, I interview an alum to learn about their experience at SDSU, their transition from student to professional, and what they do now. The goal is to inspire students and connect alums. You can listen on all podcast platforms, including Spotify.
This week’s guest is Dustin Winn. He was 24 years old when he started at SDSU. The running joke with his friends was that every six months he had a new career in mind, perhaps a CHP officer or Operating Engineers.
Dustin didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. But he knew that he liked video games and played them a lot. He was good, extremely good, ranked in a top five Guild for War of Warcraft. Dustin’s dad said you’re a good writer, but Dustin knew there was no money in Journalism, so he majored in Public Relations.
Now? He’s a PR professional with more than 10 years of experience managing … global video games and the co-founder of Ember PR.
Remember that whenever someone says playing video games is a waste of time.
This week’s “proud of my friend” shoutout: Jesse Goldberg-Strassler
Since Jesse’s words about broadcasters begins this week’s Scribbled Notes, it’s fitting to highlight some of his career accomplishments.
Jesse is the play-by-play announcer for the Lansing Lugnuts, the Oakland A’s Single-A affiliate, and made his MLB debut in 2022 at Fenway Park.
Each year, Jesse recreates a broadcast that he cannot see, inside a studio, receiving just the barest details, creating the crack of the bat and other noises to pretend he’s there. (Yes, just like you saw in the movie Bull Durham.)
Jesse and I have been spent the last couple months working on an extremely fun, extreme baseball broadcaster nerd project, that we’ll be releasing in a few weeks. I don’t want to spoil it, but if you love listening to famous baseball broadcasts and breaking down the tiniest details of the craft, you’re going to absolutely love it.
In 2019, Jesse was named Broadcaster of the Year by Ballpark Digest. He’s the author of “Baseball Thesaurus” that’s in its third edition. If I haven’t loaned it out, I re-read the book before the start of every season. Here’s a link if you want to buy a copy.
Remember that whenever someone asks how you can continue to describe a groundout to the shortstop over and over and over and over and over.
This week’s Bay Area football reflections
On this day in 1991, rookie head coach George Seifert led the San Francisco 49ers to a 55-10 blowout over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV.
My favorite fact about Seifert: on his 49th birthday, the 49ers won a Super Bowl. A few months later, he was promoted from defensive coordinator to succeed the legendary Bill Walsh.
The 49ers went 98-30 with Seifert the head coach and won two Super Bowls in eight years. They also lost two NFC Championship Games to the Cowboys and two NFC Divisional Games to the Packers. Ownership grew restless with all those playoff losses and felt the 49ers needed to be reinvented with a new coach.
Super Bowl XXIV was the fourth and final for Joe Montana. His legacy continues this weekend in the NFC Championship Game. Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff grew up in the Bay Area and wears Montana’s No. 16 in his honor.
The first overall pick in 2016, the LA Rams gave up on Goff five years later. It was the rarest of rare NFL trades, a QB-for-QB swap for Matthew Stafford with a lot of draft picks involved, and Stafford delivered a Super Bowl to Los Angeles. Goff has admitted his confidence was shattered, but he’s been rebuilt in the Motor City.
Goff reminds me of Jim Plunkett, another Bay Area guy, born in San Jose, starred at Stanford, and the first overall pick in 1971 by the New England Patriots. Plunkett ran for his life for five bad years on bad Patriots teams, threw more interceptions than touchdowns in two disappointing years with the 49ers, then sat on the bench for the Raiders while his body healed and his focus crystalized.
Plunkett replaced an injured Dan Pastorini – also acquired in a rare QB-for-QB trade for Ken Stabler – and led the Raiders to a victory in Super Bowl XV. Three years later, after getting benched for Marc Wilson, then replacing an injured Wilson, Plunkett led the Raiders to another Super Bowl win.
By now, you probably know the story of Brock Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft, 262nd overall, now the starting quarterback for the 49ers.
Purdy reminds me a lot of Jeff Garcia, another Bay Area guy, from Gilroy, who attended San Jose State because the Pac-10 schools that he was too small, then played in the Canadian Football League because NFL teams thought he was too small.
Garcia alo grew up idolizing Montana, then signed with the 49ers, became the starter when concussions ended Steve Young’s career. Garcia made three Pro Bowls, but always felt the intense pressure to follow in the footsteps of Montana and Young, and never reached a Super Bowl.
It’s quite the matchup tonight in the Bay Area, the first pick of the draft, against the last pick of the draft, the 49ers with their five Super Bowl trophies, against the Lions with their zero Super Bowl appearances, a plethora of storylines coming full circle.
The winner goes to the Super Bowl, which will be played in the tranquil desert community of Las Vegas, a city that reinvented itself like none other, founded by ranchers and railroad workers, transformed by mobsters and drug money, a place that professional sports leagues used to avoid, and now they’re all jockeying to get a slice of the action, because it’s never ever too late for anything in Sin City.