August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina

August 29, 2005, 20 years ago: Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Louisiana, resulting in a broken levee that flooded the city, which was already below sea level. By nightfall, 80 percent of the Crescent City, and parts of neighboring areas, were flooded. Over 1,800 people were killed, and thousands were left homeless.

The Louisiana Superdome, home of the NFL's New Orleans Saints, was used as a shelter, topping out at 26,000 people. But because of the nature of the emergency, getting relief supplies into the city was incredibly difficult.

Although there had been devastating fires in Chicago and Boston in the 19th Century, and Baltimore and San Francisco in the early 20th Century, an earthquake in San Francisco in 1989 and Miami clobbered by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Katrina was the first natural disaster that made Americans think that a great American city might actually be lost, ruined to the point where there would be no choice but to abandon it.

President George W. Bush was at his ranch outside Crawford, Texas, on vacation. He should have immediately flown back to Washington and coordinated the federal government's response. Instead, he stayed at his ranch for 5 days, doing nothing -- except for 1 trip to San Diego for a Republican Party fundraiser.

As a result, most of the goodwill he'd generated with his response to the 9/11 attacks and the early part of the Iraq War was gone. One political magazine showed a cover with a cartoon of Bush being poked with a fork, with the headline, "HE'S DONE," and a caption that he might have still been in office, "but the 9/11 Presidency is over."

Indeed, he had roughly 4 full years in which even Democrats who didn't like him, and thought he had cheated to win in 2000 (and maybe even in 2004), still accepted him as President: September 11, 2001 to September 12, 2005.

That was the day that Michael D. Brown resigned as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is in charge of responding to natural disasters. Bush was caught on camera telling him, "Heck of a job, Brownie." It wasn't sarcastic: Bush really believed that Brown was doing a good job.

"Brownie" and "Dubya"

At his best, Bush was a genial idiot. At his worst, he was a nasty right-winger. He was never competent enough to be President, and he appointed people he liked to posts for which they were not qualified and ill-suited, and Brown was one of them.

As late as 1950, New Orleans' population was 660,000, putting it in America's top 20 cities. White flight led to a drop to about 484,000 people within the city limits in the 2000 Census. After Hurricane Katrina, it dropped to 230,000, losing over half its people in one fell swoop. According to a recent estimate, it's back up to about 362,000, making it larger than such NFL cities as Tampa, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Buffalo (and, of course, Green Bay).

But the metropolitan area has just a shade over 1 million people, making it the smallest metro area in the NFL, ahead of only Buffalo (if Green Bay is included with Milwaukee and Niagara Falls is included with Buffalo). And the poverty issue, so pervasive before the hurricane, is worse. And crime is definitely an issue.

In 1940, the city was 70 percent white. As late as 1970, it was 51 percent white. By 1990, it was 62 percent black, and the proportions are roughly the same today: 61 percent black, 31 percent white, 5 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian. The further east you go, the greater the black percentage; the further west, the more white.

Both the dome and the arena were nearly ruined by Hurricane Katrina. Whatever had gone wrong on the inside of the Superdome, more noticeable was the outside, as the hurricane's winds had stripped the top of the dome, making it look like it had been sandblasted.

The Saints played their entire 2005 season on the road while the dome was refurbished. Next door, the Smoothie King Center, home of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets (since rebranded as the Pelicans), needed work, so the Hornets played most of the 2005-06 season in Oklahoma City, thus opening the door to a team for that city: In 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A relief concert was held at Madison Square Garden, "The Big Apple to the Big Easy," featuring performers from New Orleans, and others whose work was inspired by them. In 2012, the favor was returned after Hurricane Sandy became the 2nd-most-damaging storm in American history, behind Katrina.

The Superdome reopened for the 2006 season, and the Saints provided a lift to the devastated city. On February 7, 2010, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburbs, for their 1st NFL Championship. It had been a little over 4 years since the hurricane, and it resulted in the biggest party in the history of America's greatest party city.

The Superdome was restored. But the city still needs help. Having lost so many former residents, whose houses could not be rebuilt, hurt its tax base. It's the same with businesses that never came back. In New Orleans, "back" is a relative term.

Yanks Sweep Nats

After salvaging the last game of a bad 4-game series against the hated Red Sox, the Yankees took on the struggling Washington Nationals at home.

On Monday night, rookie Cam Schlittler kept the nice start to his career going. He pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 8. He had thrown 96 pitches. A sensible manager would have let him in.

We will never know if Aaron Boone is a sensible manager, because Brian Cashman has ordered him to observe a pitch limit. So he brought Yerry De los Santos in to pitch the 7th inning. He pitched a perfect 7th and a scoreless 8th. Sounds good, right? Right. Under these circumstances, Boone would be expected to take him out and bring in another pitcher to pitch the 9th, right?

Well, he would be expected to, but he didn't. You see, the Yankees had a 10-0 lead. Yes, they gave a pitcher who had given them a great start a lot of offense. Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez hit home runs. Domínguez and Cody Bellinger each had 3 RBIs. And De los Santos had only thrown 22 pitches. So, this time, no need to tax the bullpen any further.

De los Santos allowed a single to start the top of the 9th, but got a double play. One out to go. Then he allowed single, single, bases-loading walk, bases-loaded walk. Now, Boone had to bring in another reliever. It was Mark Leiter Jr., and he allowed a grand slam. Suddenly, it was 10-5. But Leiter got a strikeout for the final out.

De los Santos was optioned to Triple-A ball. He needs more seasoning. Hopefully, next year, he'll be ready for the major leagues. (He'll be 28 in December: He should already be ready.)

On Tuesday night, Luis Gil took the mound. He pitched 5 innings, allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 4 walks, and struck out 5. This time, Boone used 4 relievers, and they allowed no runs. He deserved run support, and Giancarlo Stanton supplied it all: A 3-run double in the 3rd inning, and a long 2-run homer in the 6th. Yankees 5, Nationals 1.

Could Max Fried keep the strong starts going yesterday afternoon, in the series finale? He could. He took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and finished the 7th having allowed 1 tin on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6.

Could the Yankees keep up the strong run support? They could. How many times did the Yankees score in the bottom of the 3rd inning?

Nine times. This included home runs by Judge, Bellinger, Rice and Ryan McMahon. Trent Grisham and Austin Wells also homered in the game. Yankees 11, NationJudge, Sweep completed, winning streak at 4.

*

There are 39 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind those pesky Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division -- 4 in the all-important loss column.

If the current standings hold at the end of the regular season, the Yankees will be the 5th seed in the AL side of the Playoffs, playing the despised Boston Red Sox, who would have the home-field advantage -- something we badly want to avoid.

The Yankees now head west, for 4 games in Chicago against the White Sox. Given how much the Nats were struggling, how historically bad the ChiSox have been the last 2 years, and how much more difficult the Yankees' schedule will be after that, it was imperative that they do well in this stretch of 7 games. So far, so good.

August 27, 1965: Elvis Presley Meets The Beatles

The only known photograph connected to the meeting

August 27, 1965, 60 years ago: The 2nd great summit of rock and roll occurs, exactly 365 days after the 1st, on August 28, 1964: The Beatles met Bob Dylan. It went great.

This 2nd one was The Beatles meeting the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. It didn't go nearly as well.

The Beatles were huge fans of Elvis, and considered him an inspiration for their career. However, Elvis was initially reluctant to meet them. Both record labels and managers from both sides pushed for the meeting to happen, knowing how iconic it would be.

It took place at Elvis' villa on Perugia Way, in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles. When the Beatles arrived, they were excited, but also intimidated. Elvis welcomed them with a relaxed attitude, sitting on a couch and playing an electric bass. However, the first moment was a bit tense: No one knew exactly what to say.

Breaking the ice, Elvis said, "If you guys are just going to sit there and stare at me, I’m going to bed!" This joke put everyone at ease, and kicked off the conversation.

The evening soon turned into an informal and fun moment. It is said that Elvis and the Beatles played together in an improvised jam session, although no official recording or photograph of the meeting was ever released. Among the songs played were probably some of Elvis' hits and a few classic rock and roll tracks that both sides knew well.

John Lennon was particularly fascinated by Elvis, and bombarded him with questions about his career and movies. However, Lennon didn't hide his disappointment with the musical direction Elvis had taken in the 1960s, preferring the early rock and roll style from his beginnings.

Paul McCartney was the most diplomatic, and showed enthusiasm for everything. He must have realized that, here, he could not be the control freak.

George Harrison was intrigued by the fact that Elvis had multiple televisions to watch different channels at the same time. Elvis had heard that President Lyndon Johnson had 3 TV sets installed in the Oval Office, so he could watch the evening news on ABC, CBS and NBC at the same time, and he wanted a similar setup. He had it at Graceland, too.

Ringo Starr spent most of the time playing with Elvis' pets, especially his dogs.

The Beatles were struck by Elvis' charismatic presence, while Elvis was impressed by the group's humility and liveliness. However, there was a subtle note of rivalry: Although Elvis respected the Beatles, he feared their popularity might overshadow his own.

The meeting ended on friendly terms, but there were no further contacts between Elvis and the Beatles. Nevertheless, they continued to influence each other: The Beatles always kept their admiration for Elvis alive, while when Elvis returned to live performing in 1969, he included "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" in his repertoire.

In 1970, the Beatles broke up. And Elvis... well, he didn't quite rat them out, but he sent a letter to President Richard Nixon, telling him that he was concerned about the rise of drug culture in America, and partially blaming the Beatles. That set up an even more famous meeting, at the White House, between the King and Tricky Dick.

August 26, 2000: Clint Mathis Scores 5 Goals

August 26, 2000, 25 years ago: The New York/New Jersey MetroStars beat the Dallas Burn, 6-4 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Clint Mathis of the MetroStars scored 5 goals, and he remains the only player to score 5 goals in a Major League Soccer game.

He opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, and scored again in the 26th. Dallas pulled a goal back in the next minute. Mathis got his hat trick in the 40th, before the Burn scored in stoppage time of the 1st half. In the 54th, the Burn tied the game, and they took the lead in the 64th, 4-3. Mathis took matters into his own hands -- or so to speak; it's soccer, where you can't use your hands -- by tying the game in the 68th. "Metro" were awarded a penalty in the 83rd, and Mathis converted it. They got one more in the 88th.

Born on November 25, 1976 -- a Thanksgiving Day -- in the Atlanta suburb of Conyers, Georgia, Mathis became a star forward at the University of South Carolina. He played in MLS from 1998 to 2010, helping Real Salt Lake win the 2009 MLS Cup. He also played a season in Germany for Hannover 96. He helped the 2002 U.S. national team win the CONCACAF Gold Cup and reach the World Cup Quarterfinal.

Both teams in this game have changed their names. In 2004, the Burn were rebranded as FC Dallas ("FC" for "Football Club," like in the rest of the world). In 2006, the MetroStars were bought by Austrian soft drink maker Red Bull, and were renamed Red Bull New York -- usually written in New York media sources as "the New York Red Bulls," and usually abbreviated "NYRB" rather than "RBNY."

August 25, 1975: Bruce Springsteen Releases "Born to Run"

August 25, 1975, 50 years ago: Born to Run is released, the 3rd album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It launches "The Boss" and his boys from "cult band" status to superstardom. Within 2 months, Bruce will be on the cover of Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week, a rare feat for someone not a politician.

Born in Long Beach, New Jersey, and raised across Monmouth County in the Borough of Freehold, Springsteen had felt as though he never fit in anywhere, until he saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. As he went through his teenage years, he was in bands named The Rogues, The Castiles, Earth (not to be confused with Rare Earth, or with Earth, Wind and Fire), Child, and Steel Mill.

With him in Steel Mill were guitarists Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson, bass guitarist Vinnie Roslin, keyboard player Danny Federici, and drummer Vini Lopez. Although the Jersey Shore, especially Asbury Park, was their home base, they got gigs from coast to coast.

Bruce continued to fine-tune his band, forming Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, the Sundance Blues Band, and the Bruce Springsteen Band. On bass guitar, Roslin was out, Garry Tallent was in. On keyboards, Federici was out, and David Sancious was in. As Bruce would later sing on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "A change was made in time, and the Big Man joined the band." The Big Man was saxophone player Clarence Clemons, making the band racially integrated.

In the Summer of 1972, with only his own name on it, Bruce released his 1st album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., recorded 82 miles north of that city, at 914 Sound Studios, named for its Area Code, in Blauvelt, Rockland County, New York.

It was released by Columbia Records on January 5, 1973, and while the critics were kind, the sales weren't much. The leadoff song was "Blinded by the Light," which, even then, sounded like Bruce thought that the secret to Bob Dylan's songwriting success was to cram as many syllables and rhymes as he could into every line. The song would hit Number 1 -- not for Bruce, but in a cover version by Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1977, which was ironic, because Bruce had led a band named Earth.

Having renamed his group The E Street Band, after a little dead-end street in Freehold, they spent the Summer of '73 recording The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. It was received a little better, but still didn't sell much.

So it was back on the road. Now, the band was Springsteen, Van Zandt, Tallent, Federici, Clemons, Roy Bittan on keyboards, and new drummer Max Weinberg. In May 1974, they began recording the album that would become Born to Run. The title track basically sounded like if you took the 1st 20 years of rock and roll, put it in a blender, and put some espresso in it, and used it to wash down your "Jersey Breakfast": Pork roll, egg and cheese on a kaiser roll.

The E Street Band, 1975. Left to right:

Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Danny Federici, Bruce Springsteen,

Clarence Clemons, Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent.

Bruce wasn't kidding about "Highway 9" being a "death trap": Before U.S. Route 9 was widened in the early 1980s, there was a stretch of it from Howell to Lakewood that was just 1 lane in each direction. It was so dangerous (How dangerous was it?), someone bought a billboard identifying the road as "The New Jersey Death Highway." For all we know, that someone might not have even heard "Born to Run" the song.

Somehow, a disc jockey in Cleveland got hold of a copy of "Born to Run" the song, and kept playing it. And when the E Street Band played Cleveland, they noticed that the entire audience seemed to be singing along with a song that they hadn't released yet. That's when they knew they were going to make it.

Bruce got smart: Instead of trying to copy Dylan's polysyllabic style and rapid-fire delivery, and dropping multiple references to places in New Jersey, he seemed more to copy Harry Chapin, telling stories and writing what he felt. But with a full rock background, including horns.

Or, in his own words, "I wanted words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector, but, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now, everybody knows that nobody sings like Roy Orbison." But, as a contemporary, Marvin Lee Aday, a.k.a. Meat Loaf, put it, "Don't be sad, 'cause two out of three ain't bad."

The results produced 39 minutes and 23 seconds of rock and roll that sold 6 million copies, and has consistently ranked high on lists of the top albums of all time:

Side One: "Thunder Road," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Night," "Backstreets."

Side Two: "Born to Run," "She's the One," "Meeting Across the River," and "Jungleland," 9 1/2 minutes of the life and death of a guy called the Magic Rat.

(In 1996, a rock radio station, at 95.9 FM, based in the Jersey Shore town of Lake Como, 4 miles from the Stone Pony, Bruce's old stomping grounds in Asbury Park, took on the call letters WRAT. It doesn't officially have anything to do with "Jungleland," but the logo is a rat with shades and a leather jacket, so, you tell me.)

Bruce mentioned "a runaway American Dream" in the opening line of "Born to Run." The album was recorded during Watergate, and released a year later, as the post-Watergate and post-Vietnam War hangover was joined by a nasty recession.

Like the sad stories of Chapin and Billy Joel, whose Piano Man was released on November 9, 1973, Born to Run seemed to follow new President Gerald Ford's line, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over" with a question: "Well, now, we've woken up, and what do we do now?" After all, as Bruce said, "Everybody's out on the run tonight, but there's no place left to hide."

In hindsight, one can look at a scene in the film Watchmen, taking place in an alternate-history 1977, 2 years after the song's official release in our world. One superhero, Nite Owl (played by Patrick Wilson), sees a riot in the streets of Manhattan, and says to another, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), "What the hell happened to us? Whatever happened to the American Dream?" And The Comedian responds, "It came true! You're lookin' at it!"

Melissa Etheridge has been called "the female Bruce Springsteen." Hopefully, for her talent and her passion, and not for her nose. She once said, "When Bruce Springsteen does those wordless wails, like at the end of 'Jungleland,' that's the definition of rock and roll to me. He uses his whole body when he sings, and he puts out this enormous amount of force and emotion and passion."

I'm from East Brunswick, New Jersey, 14 miles from Springsteen's Freehold, and 69 miles from Joel's Hicksville, Long Island, New York. Hicksville is 27 miles from Times Square, and Freehold is 48 miles away. Both men were born in 1949: Billy on May 9, and Bruce on September 23. They don't play the same instruments, and their writing styles are a little different. But they were the great rock poets of the Northeast in the 1970s and '80s.

One big difference: Bruce is still at it, having released an album as recently as November 11, 2022, Only the Strong Survive; while Billy hasn't released an album since River of Dreams on August 10, 1993, and has only played old songs since. He released a single on February 11, 2024, "Turn the Lights Back On." It only hit Number 62.

Danny died in 2008, Clarence in 2011. Co-producers Mike Appel and Jon Landau are 82 and 78 years old, respectively. Roy is 77. Bruce will be 77 in a few days. Garry will be 77 a few days after that. "Little Steven" and "Mighty Max" are 74.

It took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

Disastrous Series vs. Red Sox Ticks Me Off

There's a comedian, originally from Brooklyn, now living not far away from me in New Jersey, named Vic DiBitetto. You may know him as the guy who did the video "They said snow! I gotta get the bread and milk!"

He's a big Yankee Fan, and a big fan of football's New York Giants. Occasionally, as shown in the photo above, he does videos where he puts on a Yankee cap and jersey, and pretend he's the team's "grand poobah" or "head of baseball (or football) operaish" (Italian-American for "operations") and give a nasty, profanity-laden press conference. And that's when they win!

He also does a series called "Ticked Off Vic," in which he sits in his car, so as not to disturb anybody, and says, "A very ticked-off Vic here. You know what ticks me off?" And then he explains what's ticking him off, and it's usually something stupid and/or annoying, something that would tick anybody off.

Lately, the Yankees have been ticking both of us off. Vic is ready to clobber manager Aaron Boone. I tend to blame general manager Brian Cashman. So we disagree on that. 

(We've talked online, but never actually met, despite living only 10 miles apart. Aside from being a raving lunatic, he's a decent guy, and I hope he'd say the same thing about me. That, aside from being a raving lunatic, I'm a decent guy.)

The Yankees losing to the Boston Red Sox: That's what ticks me off!

*

Like we did on Thursday night, the start of a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium II. Keep in mind, both teams went in as potential Playoff teams. Luis Gil allowed 2 runs over 5 innings. But he needed 93 pitches to do it. So, instead of letting a starting pitcher continue to do a good job, Aaron Boone followed his stupid pitch limit, and brought in Camilo Doval, who blew a 3-1 lead that included a home run by Ben Rice. Luke Weaver also allowed a run, and ended up as the losing pitcher.

From the 6th inning onward, the Yankees got only 2 baserunners: A single by Aaron Judge in the 6th, and a triple by Rice in the 7th. By the time Yerry De los Santos allowed 2 runs in the 9th, it was pointless. Red Sox 6, Yankees 3. A game that should have been won was lost.

Boone did it again on Friday night. Max Fried was back to his 1st-half-of-the-season self, allowing no runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 7, over 6 innings. He had thrown 99 pitches. A real manager would have let him pitch the 7th inning. But Boone is not the real manager, Cashman is, and Boone took Fried out. This time, it was Mark Leiter who allowed a run.

So, what's the big deal? One run? One run is a big deal when you score none. Here's the Yankee baserunners in that game: A single by Rice with 1 out in the 1st, stranded; a walk by Jasson Domínguez with 1 out in the 2nd, stranded; a single by Trent Grisham with 1 out in the 3rd, eliminated when Rice grounded into a double play; and a single by Austin Wells in the 6th, eliminated when Grisham lined a shot to short that was turned into a double play. That's it: 4 baserunners, none after the 6th, none even got to 2nd base. Red Sox 1, Yankees 0. A game that should have been won was lost.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. The Saturday game might have been the worst of the season. Atrocious Pun Alert: Garrett Crochet started for the Red Sox, and the Yankees couldn't hit hard enough for Red Sox manager Alex Cora -- a former Houston Astro, a cheater hired by a team known for cheating -- to give Crochet the hook. Aside from a home run by Garrett Crochet in the 4th, they only got 3 runners as far as 2nd base, and 1 of those was due to a Boston error.

Will Warren started, and allowed 5 runs in 4 innings. Trying to give the bullpen a break, Boone brought Tim Hill in for the 5th, but he ran into trouble in the 6th, and Paul Blackburn pitched the rest of the way. Again, to give everybody else a rest, Boone left Blackburn in until he finally got the 3rd out in the top of the 9th. That meant allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Cliché Alert: He really took one for the team. Red Sox 12, Yankees 1.

So the Yankees had dropped the 1st 3 games. Even if they could salvage the 4th and last, this series would have been a disaster. Boone made one significant change: Benching shortstop Anthony Volpe, whose fielding isn't good enough to justify his .208 batting average and .274 on-base percentage, and replacing him with recent acquisition José Caballero. He went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Carlos Rodón started last night's game with 5 shutout innings. He wasn't brilliant, but he was tough. Jazz Chisholm hit a home run, and Trent Grisham hit 2, staking him to a 5-0 lead.

Rodón ran into trouble in the top of the 6th, but Weaver was able to stop the bleeding. He pitched a scoreless 7th, and Devin Williams pitched a scoreless 8th. The Yankees got 2 more runs in the 8th, including Chisholm's 2nd homer of the game. Doval got into a little trouble in the 9th, but finished it off. Yankees 7, Red Sox 2.

It should have been 3 out of 4 won. Instead, it was 3 out of 4 lost. To The Scum.

*

There are 32 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are 70-60, 5 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, they will be the 5th seed in the Playoffs -- and their opponent, the 4th seed, with home-field advantage, would be the Red Sox.

That possibility, and what it would likely lead to, a 1st-round exit at the hands of our hated rivals, for the 3rd time in 8 seasons, leading to a 16th consecutive season without a World Series win: That's what ticks me off!

Tonight, the Yankees start a home series with the Washington Nationals. Hopefully, it won't tick me off.

August 25, 1945: The Death of John Birch

August 25, 1945, 80 years ago: John Birch dies. This was not widely known at the time, nor was he famous during his lifetime. Most Americans never knew he was alive until they knew he was dead, and they didn't know that right after his death, either.

John Morrison Birch was born on May 28, 1918 in Landour, India, where his parents were Presbyterian missionaries. The family returned to America in 1920, due to his father suffering from malaria. They lived in Vineland, New Jersey and Macon, Georgia.

He graduated from high school, and enrolled at Mercer University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Macon. His fellow students noted his zealotry at Mercer, as he opposed the theory of evolution, and he made some enemies there. He graduated in 1939. He then entered the Fundamental Baptist Bible Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, needing only 1 year to graduate. In high school, at Mercer, and at FBBI, each time, he graduated at the top of his class.

FBBI's founder, J. Frank Norris, had been a missionary in China. Having heard from Norris about his missionary work in China, and finding the Chinese receptive to the Gospel, especially having suffered under Japanese oppression since 1931, Birch wanted to go. When Norris and some 150 members of the church gathered to send Birch and a friend off to China, Norris said they went "fully informed as to the dangers that await them, but they go like the Apostle Paul when he knew that it meant death at Jerusalem." Birch left his family with the words "Goodbye, folks. If we don't meet again on Earth, we'll meet in Heaven."

He arrived, and quickly learned the Mandarin dialect of Chinese. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II, he wrote to the American Military Mission in China, offering to enlist in the U.S. Army and serve as a chaplain, but willing to "tote a rifle or whatever they tell me to do."

He enlisted, and rose to the rank of Captain. He was part of a rescue crew that saved Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and members of his squadron after they bailed out over China. Upon Doolittle's recommendation, Birch was transferred into the Army Air Forces, which would be separated from the Army as the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

Birch was a genuine war hero, setting up intelligence networks of sympathetic Chinese, and rescuing downed American pilots. Contrary to what conservative Americans would later suggest, that the Nationalist Chinese government of President Chiang Kai-shek was blameless and worth supporting at all costs, Birch wrote to a friend that it was "relatively small and unrepresentative," and cited its "abuses, intolerance and impotence."

He did, however, praise Chiang for his steadfastness of purpose. However, Birch considered the Communists of Mao Zedong, despite their having temporarily united with Chiang to fight the Japanese, an "equally small, non-representative group," "whose leaders I consider hypocritical thugs."

The Japanese surrendered on August 14, which was named V-J Day, Victory over Japan. Captain Birch was among the American officers assigned to go into Japanese-held territory to inform Japanese units of their government's surrender. But on August 25, having encountered a Communist group, Birch and his Nationalist Chinese aide were shot and killed. Birch was only 27 years old.

In spite of his work, Birch would probably be forgotten today, if not for Robert W. Welch Jr., a retired candy manufacturer and conservative political activist from the Boston suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts. In 1954, Welch wrote The Life of John Birch: In the Story of One American Boy, the Ordeal of His Age. On December 9, 1958, in Indianapolis, Welch founded the John Birch Society, naming his anti-Communist and (allegedly) pro-Christian group after Welch, calling him "the first American casualty of the Cold War."

Welch received permission from Birch's parents to name his Society after their son, and both parents participated in Society-related events. But in a memoir released after his 1993 death, Birch's friend, General Jimmy Doolittle, said of Birch, "He had no way of knowing that the John Birch Society, a highly vocal postwar anticommunist organization, would be named after him because its founders believed him to be the 'first casualty of World War III.' I feel sure he would not have approved."

Welch considered anybody not anti-Communist to his satisfaction to be a Communist sympathizer, and even called President Dwight D. Eisenhower "an active agent of the Communist conspiracy." After a few decisions of the Supreme Court that seemed to Welch to be pro-Communist and anti-religion, the Society sponsored billboards attacking the Chief Justice, reading: "IMPEACH EARL WARREN!"

In 1963, folk group The Chad Mitchell Trio recorded a song titled "The John Birch Society," which made the Society's members look not only excessively paranoid, but stupid:

We only hail the hero

from whom we get our name.

We're not sure what he did

but he's our hero just the same!

And there was this rhyme:

There's no one left but thee and we

and we're not sure of thee!

The song also included this verse:

Do you want Justice Warren

to be your Kommissar?

Do you want Mrs. Khruschchev in there

with the DAR?

You cannot trust your neighbors

or even next of kin!
If Mommy is a Commie

then you've got to turn her in!

There was no chance of the wife of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev joining the Daughters of the American Revolution: He wasn't married at the time.

August 22, 1965: The Marichal-Roseboro Incident

August 22, 1965, 60 years ago: The ugliest moment in the nasty rivalry between the Dodgers and the Giants occurs at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. As bad as it was when it was the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants from 1889 to 1957, nothing like this ever happened then. Nor has it happened between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants since.

The key figures were Dodger catcher John Roseboro and Giant pitcher Juan Marichal. It was all the more shocking because both men were normally even-tempered and seemed to avoid controversy.

Roseboro was 32 years old, a native of Ashland, Ohio, had succeeded Roy Campanella as the Dodgers' starting catcher in 1958, their 1st season in Los Angeles. By this point, he had won a Gold Glove, made 5 All-Star Games, and helped the Dodgers win the 1959 and 1963 World Series.

But all was not well. A few days earlier, Watts, a neighborhood on the south side of Los Angeles, had broken out in a race riot. Roseboro lived a short distance from the worst of it, and was deeply troubled by it.

Marichal was 27, his age matching his uniform number. A native of the Dominican Republic, he had appeared in 4 All-Star Games, including being named the Most Valuable Payer in the Game played the previous month, had helped the Giants win the 1962 National League Pennant, and had pitched a no-hitter in 1963. Along with the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax and the St. Louis Cardinals' Bob Gibson, he was 1 of the 3 best pitchers in the game.

But all was not well. His country was locked in a civil war, which would be ended with the intervention of American troops and the scheduling of free elections. From his apartment in San Francisco, Marichal and his wife Alma were concerned for the safety of the family they had left behind.

So Roseboro at home, and Marichal abroad, had conflict weighing heavily on their minds as their teams took the field at Candlestick Park on August 22. At the start of the day's games, the Dodgers led the NL by half a game over the Milwaukee Braves, a game and a half over the Giants, and 2 1/2 over the Cincinnati Reds. It was a 4-way race, and still within striking distance, making it possibly a 6-team race, were the Philadelphia Phillies, 6 back; and the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8 1/2.

The opposing pitchers were Marichal and Koufax. The aces. And it was the rivalry in the NL, maybe in all of baseball. So a full house of 42,807 was on hand.

(The rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox had gone dormant in 1952, when the Sox' Ted Williams went into the Korean War, and it had not yet recovered. Even a brawl at Yankee Stadium in 1967 didn't really revive it. The revival would take a brawl at Fenway Park in 1973.)

The game began with Maury Willis, the Dodgers' speed-demon shortstop, bunting for a hit. Marichal thought bunting was a cheap way to get on base. When Wills came up in the 2nd inning, Marichal threw a knockdown pitch that sent Wills sprawling. Two at-bats earlier, Roseboro had singled home Wes Parker to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Willie Mays led off, and Koufax threw a pitch over Mays' head. Neither Marichal nor Koufax was known for intentionally throwing at batters, but the messages had been sent and received. Cap Peterson hit a home run to close the Giants to within 2-1. That should have been the end of it.

It wasn't. In the top of the 3rd, Ron Fairly came up, having doubled Wills home in the 1st. Marichal nearly hit Fairly, and he hit the deck. Home plate umpire Shag Crawford had seen enough: He warned both dugouts that any further retaliations would result in ejections. That should have been the end of it.

It wasn't. Marichal led off the bottom of the 3rd. He took Koufax' 1st 2 pitches. After the 2nd pitch, Roseboro threw the ball back, close to Marichal's head. Marichal claimed the pitch actually hit his ear. Roseboro later admitted it, saying it was retaliation from Marichal throwing at Wills, and that he had done it before.

Marichal, whose English was heavily accented but very good, turned around and yelled at Roseboro. Roseboro rose from his crouch and clenched the fist of his ungloved right hand.

When Marichal eventually told his side of the story, he said that he was afraid Roseboro was about to hit him. He raised his bat and hit Roseboro over the head. He swung repeatedly, hitting Roseboro at least twice on his no-longer-helmeted head, opening a 2-inch gash that left blood on his face, needing 14 stitches.

Both dugouts emptied. Each team's best player, Mays and Koufax, tried to act as peacemaker. It took 14 minutes before the game could be restarted. Marichal, naturally, was thrown out of the game. Bob Schroder was sent up to pinch-hit. Jeff Torborg replaced Roseboro as Dodger catcher. Koufax got Schroder and Tito Fuentes out. But he later admitted that he was unsettled by the incident, and he walked Jim Davenport and Willie McCovey, and Mays hit a home run, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead.

Ron Herbel replaced Marichal on the mound, and pitched into the 9th inning. He ran out of gas, and Giant manager Herman Franks had to bring in Masanori Murakami, who would be baseball's only Asian pitcher until 1994. He nailed down the save. Giants 4, Dodgers 3.

NL President Warren Giles find Marichal $1,750, then a League record. (It's equivalent to $17,800 today.) That doesn't seem like much, but he also suspended Marichal for 8 games -- which turned out to be 2 starts. Those starts turned out to be the 1st game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh on August 26, which Herbel started, and the Giants lost to the Pirates, 8-0; and in New York on August 29, with Bobby Bolin starting, and the Giants beat the Mets, 8-3.

Now, there's no guarantee that Marichal would have won that game on August 26. The Pirates had 4 hitters batting at least .288, led by Roberto Clemente at .340. And they beat Gaylord Perry in the 2nd game of that doubleheader, 6-5.

But when the season ended, the Dodgers had won the Pennant by 2 games over the Giants. Had Marichal been available for both games, and won both? The Dodgers would have won the Pennant by 1 game. So, in the end, it didn't make a difference.

Or... did it? Giles also suspended Marichal for the remaining 2 games between the teams, at Dodger Stadium on September 6 and 7. But, no, that didn't make a difference, either, because he wouldn't have appeared in them, anyway: He won the last game before that, away to the Chicago Cubs; and the Giants won both of those games at Chavez Ravine.

The Giants went 26-16 after August 22, including a 14-game winning streak that put them in 1st place by 4 1/2 games. But a 3-7 run that began on September 21 doomed them. Marichal was 19-9 when the clubbing occurred; he went 3-4 the rest of the way (although he did also have a save). Maybe he was unduly affected by what he did, but it looks like his team was not.

The Dodgers won the World Series in 1965. Marichal didn't face the Dodgers again until a Spring Training game on April 3, 1966 -- and Roseboro hit a home run off him. The Dodgers won the Pennant again in 1966, but lost the World Series. Neither team reached the postseason again until the Giants won the NL Western Division in 1971.

In 1975, running out the string, Marichal was signed by the Dodgers. Los Angeles fans revolted -- but Roseboro, who retired after the 1970 season, spoke up on his behalf, saying he'd forgiven Marichal, and asked the Dodger fans to do the same. He pitched only 2 games for the Dodgers, and was released, retiring with a career record of 243-142. He was the all-time winningest Hispanic pitcher until surpassed by Dennis Martínez (245-193), and later by Bartolo Colón (247-188).

He became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, but didn't make it. Nor did he make it in the election of 1982. It was widely speculated that the main reason for members of the Baseball Writers Association of America not voting for him was his clubbing of Roseboro. Roseboro made a public statement supporting Marichal's election, and he was elected in 1983. This built a friendship that lasted until Roseboro's death in 2002. Marichal served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral.

As of August 22, 2025, Marichal is still alive. 

Yanks Bash Rays Twice, Bring On the Auld Enemy

The Yankees made a short trip to their Spring Training home of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, which the Tampa Bay Rays are using as their emergency home field, after Hurricane Milton wrecked their usual home, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, last October 10. As "Dr. Funkenstein," George Clinton, would have said, it tore the roof off the sucker.

Incidentally, you know how Rays fans have said that they would have higher attendance if they played in Tampa instead of St. Petersburg? Well, they're averaging 9,872 fans per home game at The House The Boss Built. It seats 11,026. In other words, even with a good team in a good location, they can't even fill a minor-league stadium on a regular basis. It is time to move the Rays.

The Yankees? Currently averaging 42,683, 1st in the American League, 2nd in all of Major League Baseball behind the defending World Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, at 49,961. The Mets are averaging 39,371, 3,312 fewer than the Yankees, although closer to a sellout at their place, and good enough for 4th in the National League, and 5th overall.

*

Anyway. On Tuesday night, how many times did the Yankees hit a home run?

Yup. It's the 2nd time this season they've hit 9 home runs in a game, tying the team record, and 1 off the MLB record set by the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays.

Trent Grisham began the Tuesday night game with a strikeout. This was followed by a home run by Aaron Judge, a home run by Cody Bellinger, and a home run by Giancarlo Stanton. Back-to-back-to-back. José Caballero hit one in the 2nd inning. Jazz Chisholm hit one in the 3rd. Stanton and Ben Rice hit back-to-back jacks in the 4th. Bellinger hit another one in the 6th. And Caballero hit another one in the 9th.

Carlos Rodón was the beneficiary of all this unloading of lumber. He cruised for 6 innings, and 3 relievers kept the Rays from mounting a comeback. Yankees 13, Rays 3.

The Wednesday night game was the opposite: Grisham led it off with a home run, but the rest of it would be considerably harder. Austin Wells added a home run in the 5th. Cam Schlittler had a perfect game after 6 innings. But after a single and 2 walks, Aaron Boone lifted him with 2 outs in the 7th, and Luke Weaver ended the threat with a strikeout. Grisham hit another homer in the top of the 8th, and it was 3-0 Yankees.

But Weaver gave up a home run in the bottom of the 8th, and David Bednar gave up a walk, a single and a double in the 9th, and it was on to extra innings. Stanton and Wells began the top of the 10th with back-to-back homers. Counting the "ghost runner," it was 6-3 Yankees.

Boone trusted the bottom of the 10th to Devin Williams. From Albany in the north to Cape May in the south, from Montauk in the east to Scranton in the west, Yankee Fans said, "Boonie, are you out of your mind?" Williams allowed a single to make it 6-4, and then a double. The winning run had come to the plate. But then, he struck out the side, nailing down the win. Between them, the Yankee pitchers had 16 strikeouts on the night.

Stanton is the active leader in career home runs, with 444. Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels has 398. Paul Goldschmidt, currently on the Injured List with the Yankees, has 372. Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres has 363. Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers has 358. Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies has 357. And Judge has 355. 

*

The Yankees have 36 games left. They trail the Toronto Blue Jays by 4 games, 3 in the all-important loss column. The Boston Red Sox trail the Jays by 5 1/2, the Rays trail by 12 1/2, and the Baltimore Orioles trail by 14.

Tonight, the Yankees return home, to face the Sox. The Auld Enemy. The Scum. That lot up I-95. Here are the projected pitching matchups:

* Tonight, first pitch scheduled for 7:15, on Fox: Luis Gil vs. Lucas Giolito.

* Tomorrow night, 7:05, on Amazon Prime: Max Fried vs. Brayan Bello.

* Saturday afternoon, 1:05, the only game of this series that will be on YES: Will Warren vs. Garret Crochet. Atrocious Pun Alert: I wonder how soon Crochet will get the hook? 

* Sunday night, 7:10, on ESPN: Rodón is slated for the Yankees, while the Sox have not yet chosen a starter.

Come on you Pinstripes!

Yanks Shuffle Cards In St. Louis

The team with the most World Series won is the New York Yankees, with 27. Next on the list, and first among National League teams, is the St. Louis Cardinals, with 11. The last was in 2011, so, now, they're in roughly the position the Yankees are in: Perennial postseason appearances, but, by their standards, they've waited a while for a title.

Cardinal fans like to claim that they're the best in baseball, and that St. Louis is America's best baseball city. Bitch, please: It's the Yankees, and it's New York. This series didn't prove that. It did, however, show that the Cardinals, who came into it at exactly .500, and not exactly in Playoff contention, were sloppy; and that the Yankees, at the very least, were good enough to take advantage of this.

*

Luis Gil started on Friday night, and, over the 1st 5 innings, allowed 1 run on 2 hits, although 3 walks. The Yankees staked him (or should that be "stook him"?) to a 4-0 lead, thanks in part to a home run by Jazz Chisholm in the 1st inning.

But after getting the 1st out in the bottom of the 6th, Gil gave up back-to-back doubles. Aaron Boone took him out, and brought in Mark Leiter Jr. After giving up a walk, Leiter got a double play to end the threat, and it was 4-1. Camilo Doval was shaky in the 7th, and Boone had to bring in Luke Weaver. He got out of it, and David Bednar pitched a perfect 9th. Yankees 4, Cardinals 3.

*

I don't know what's happened to Max Fried. In the 1st half of the season, he pitched like 1965 Sandy Koufax. In the 2nd half, he's pitched like 2025 Sandy Koufax. (Koufax is still alive, but he's 89 years old.) Control wasn't the issue: He struck out 6 and walked only 1. Command was the issue: He went 5 innings, and allowed 7 runs on 8 hits.

Maybe it was the Fox Effect: The Yankees frequently struggle when they're on the Fox Saturday Game of the Week.

Fortunately, the bullpen was good. Devin Williams was called on to pitch the 6th inning, and, without the pressure of the 9th inning, he struck out the side. Yerry De los Santos pitched the 7th and the 8th, and allowed just 1 hit.

Aaron Judge hit a home run in the 3rd inning, Ben Rice hit one in the 4th, and Ryan McMahon hit his 1st as a Yankee in the 7th. Rice had a bases-clearing double in the 6th. Overall, Rice went 3-for-5 with a career-best-tying 7 RBIs.

Leiter got in trouble in the 9th, and Bednar got the last out. The Yankees won, 12-8.

*

Just as the Yankees often struggle on Fox Saturdays, even when they win, they often struggle on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Will Warren didn't get out of the 5th inning, having allowed just 3 runs, only 1 earned, but thrown 95 pitches. Doval allowed a run in the 6th, to put the Yankees down, 4-3. Fortunately, the rest of the bullpen came through, allowing, between them, no runs, no hits, and 2 walks: Williams, Tim Hill, and Luke Weaver, who was called upon to get 5 outs.

The Yankees tied the game in the 7th. The top of the 9th was the kind of inning where, if the Cardinals miss the Playoffs by one game, they will remember. Trade-deadline acquisition José Caballero led off with a grounder to 2nd base, where Thomas Saggese made a bad throw, and he got to 2nd base. He got to 3rd on a passed ball by catcher Yohel Pozo, who had homered earlier. Trent Grisham grounded out, and Caballero had to hold. But Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk, with Anthony Volpe pinch-running for him. Judge was walked intentionally, to set up the double play.

Cody Bellinger grounded to 2nd, and Saggese made another error, allowing Caballero and Volpe to score. Chisholm grounded to 2nd. Saggese fielded this one okay, but it still allowed Judge to score. Chisholm stole 2nd, and Paul Goldschmidt doubled him home. That made the final score Yankees 8, Cardinals 4.

Over the 3 games, the Cardinals were charged with 3 errors, and made at least twice that many fielding mistakes that weren't so charged. Which is weird, since, along with pitching and speed, one of the things the Cardinals have historically been known for is good fielding.

*

That sweep helped. Whether it "righted the ship" remains to be seen, but it better be righted. The Yankees have 38 games left in the regular season. They are 5 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, 5 in the All-Important Loss Column. The Boston Red Sox are half a game ahead of the Yankees. Both the Yanks and the Sox have an Elimination Number, a "Tragic Number," of 33. That's for the Division title.

If the current standings hold to the end of the season, the Yankees would have the 6th and final seed in the Playoffs, and, in the 1st Round, would have to face the Division winner with the worst record. For the moment, that's the Houston Astros, who've had the Yankees' number since 2015.

In other words, while it would be incredibly satisfying to beat the Astros in the postseason, the Yankees' best chance at going all the way would probably mean not facing the Astros at all -- beyond the already-scheduled 3 regular-season games in Houston in early September.

The Yankees have today off, then head to Tampa for 2 games against the Devil Rays at Steinbrenner Field. Then, they come home, for 4 against the Red Sox, a series which looked, earlier in the season, like it would be for little more than pride, but now has postseason implications.

Really? You'd never know it, it looks fine to me. (Old joke.)

August 15, 1935: Will Rogers and Wiley Post Are Killed

August 15, 1935, 90 years ago: Comedian and newspaper columnist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska.

Born on November 4, 1879 in the Indian Territory, later the State of Oklahoma, William Penn Adair Rogers was the Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert of his day. In the 1910s, '20s and early '30s, in a nationally-syndicated newspaper column, in stage productions, and eventually on radio and in motion pictures, he combined country horse sense with urban wit to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

But he was never mean about it, saying, "When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like.' I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved."

Some other Willisms: 

* "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."

* "I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat."

* "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."

* "If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics."

* "Prohibition is like Communism: It's a great idea, but it won't work."

* "Politics is applesauce." (A 1920s way of saying, "Baloney.")

* "Diplomacy is the art of saying, 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock."

* "Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

* "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

* "Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff." (Not true: In New York City, Battery Park City was built on landfill.)

* "Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need."

* "Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want to impress people they don't like."

* "You can't say civilization don't advance. In every war they kill you in a new way." (He lived long enough to see aerial bombardment, but not the atomic bomb.)

* "We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others." (So he really was a Democrat.)

Born in northeast Texas on November 22, 1898, Wiley Hardeman Post was a pioneer of aviation. He developed an early pressure suit for really high flying, a step forward in what became spacesuits; and discovered the jet stream. Like Rogers, he claimed Native American ancestry.

In 1926, an oil-rig accident cost him the use of his left eye, and he wore an eye patch for the rest of his life. It didn't stop him from flying. He soon met Rogers, and they became close friends.

In 1931, Post and Australian navigator Harold Gatty set a new around-the-world record, taking off in his plane Winnie Mae from Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Long Island, New York (also Charles Lindbergh's starting point for his 1927 flight across the Atlantic Ocean), and heading east, including stops in Berlin and Moscow, across Siberia, to Nome and Fairbanks, Alaska, Edmonton and Cleveland, arriving back at Roosevelt Field in 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes.

In 1933, Post topped this -- two ways. He had a compass instead of a navigator, so he could become the 1st person to fly around the world alone. Aside from using Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as his takeoff point, he used the same route, and did it in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, beating his own record by 21 hours and 2 minutes.

In 1935, he wanted to establish an airmail route between the American West Coast and Russia. He made the mistake of building a hybrid aircraft, including parts from one that had crashed. Rogers asked to come along, for material for his column. They took off from Seattle, and while Post flew, Rogers typed. Yes, he brought his typewriter on the plane.

On August 15, they took off from Fairbanks for Point Barrow, the northernmost point in the United States. A few miles away, the engine failed, and crashed into a lagoon. Both were killed instantly, Rogers at age 55, Post at 36.

Rogers is buried on the grounds of the Will Rogers Memorial, a museum dedicated to his life in Claremore, not far from his hometown of Oologah, in northeastern Oklahoma; Post, at Memorial Park Cemetery in Oklahoma City. Post never married, and is not known to have had any children. Rogers left behind a wife, Betty Blake, along with 3 sons and a daughter. Will Rogers Jr. served a term as a Congressman from California.

When I was a kid, there were T-shirts, commenting on his claim that he never met a man he didn't like: "Will Rogers never met Howard Cosell."

August 14, 1945: World War II Ends with V-J Day

 

August 14, 1945, 80 years ago: Japan surrenders, ending World War II. President Harry S Truman proclaims it is V-J Day, Victory over Japan Day.

Emperor Hirohito delivered Japan's surrender over radio. It was the 1st time the people of that country had ever heard their Emperor's voice. Since they revered him as something like a god, they accepted his surrender.

It had been 8 days since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It had been 5 days since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

The Soviets were planning to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's "home islands" on August 15. The Americans and the British were planning to invade Kyushu, the southernmost island, on November 1.

The Emperor knew it was over. Some in his Cabinet, including the military leaders, wanted to fight to the last man. But the Emperor knew that surrendering now would mean he could work with the Americans, and keep the Soviets out. There would be an East and West Germany, a North and South Korea, and a North and South Vietnam. There would be no North and South Japan.

World War II cost 75 million lives, military and civilian combined. America rebuilt its defeated enemies, not just because it was a generous thing to do, but because it made West Germany and a still-united Japan allies against the Communist world.

Despite some close calls, there has never been a World War III.

Yankees Take 2 of 3 From Twins, But It's Unsatisfying

For the Yankees, the Minnesota Twins are frequently a cure for what ails them. This time, they were a decent treatment, but not a full cure.

A series between the teams began on Monday night, at Yankee Stadium II. Will Warren started, and pitched very well into the 7th inning. Home runs were hit by Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm. The Yankees won, 6-2.

Carlos Rodón started on Tuesday night, and it looked like it would be one of those nights. He began the game by giving up a single to Austin Martin. He walked Byron Buxton. He hit Ryan Jeffers with a pitch, to load the bases with nobody out.

But, just as quickly, he turned it around: He struck Luke Keaschall out, got Royce Lewis to ground into a force play that scored Martin, and struck Kody Clemens (Roger's son) out. Getting out of that jam with just 1 run was a relief. He was brilliant after that, allowing just 1 more baserunner, a walk, through the 7th inning.

Stanton hit his 441st career home run. Aaron Judge hit his 353rd -- or 100 more than Pete Alonso, who, the same night, became the Mets' all-time leader. Anthony Volpe also hit a home run. The Yankees won, 9-1.

But last night's game was typical of the Yankees' post-2009 failures. Rookie Cam Schlittler was fine for 5 innings: 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6. He had thrown 86 pitches, hardly too many. He should have been left in the game. But  Aaron Boone -- possibly on orders from Brian Cashman -- took him out.

And Yerry De los Santos began the top of the 6th by giving up a single to Buxton, a single to Keaschall, and a double to Clemens. Having reached the 3-batter minimum, he was removed for Mark Leiter Jr. He got a couple of popups, then allowed a double to Royce Lewis, to make it 4-1 Twins.

That turned out to be the final score, because the Yankees only got 7 baserunners: A home run by Cody Bellinger; a double by Volpe; singles by Stanton, Rice and Trent Grisham; and walks by Bellinger and Ryan McMahon. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

I can't really be upset for taking 2 out of 3 in a home series. But they should have put up more of an effort last night. As occasionally happens with the Yankees, taking 2 out of 3 ended up being unsatisfying.

With 41 games left in the regular season, the Yankees are 6 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. If the current AL standings hold to the rest of the season, they will be the 6th and final seed. And you do not want to be the 6th and final seed.

The Yankees have today off, and start a roadtrip this weekend: 3 in St. Louis, then a day off, then 2 in Tampa, before coming home to face the Boston Red Scum.