Big Hair and Plastic Grass

Big Hair in the Bay Area

No, this is not a picture of me on the way to my next reading — it's John "The Count" Montefusco celebrating his new San Francisco Giants contract in March 1976 (on the heels of an impressive 1975 season in which he won the NL Rookie of the Year award and set a rookie strikeout record of 215 Ks) in the company of some of Hugh Hefner's finest.

But I've currently got San Francisco on the brain because, on top of it being one of my favorite cities in the world for eating, drinking and strolling, I'm gonna be up there next week to read at the truly awesome Litquake Festival. I'm going to be reading from Big Hair & Plastic Grass on Friday, October 8 as part of It's All Over But the Crying: A Night of Authors on Sports, which will also feature the august likes of Alan Black, Howard Bryant,  Dan Fost, David Henry Sterry, Jason Turbow, and Michael Zagaris holding forth on all things sport-related. It's happening at the Hemlock Tavern on 1131 Polk St; doors open at 6:30 pm, reading starts at 7 pm (no idea what the order of authors is, so please don't ask me), and admission for this thoroughly entertaining evening is 10 bucks. But if you think you wanna check it out, don't snail on it — the event will very likely sell out well before next Friday. Avoid disappointment by ordering your advance tix from Brown Paper Tickets. "The Count" would want it that way.

This is also something of a milestone event, in that it marks the last reading/BH&PG event I'm scheduled to do this year — and with baseball season winding down, I'm guessing that's gonna be it for 2010. It's been a helluva ride; thanks to the book, I've gotten to see a lot of old friends and make a lot of new ones. I'm still kinda processing it all, to be honest — I reckon I'll write a "post-season wrap-up" in the next coupla weeks — but I'd like to thank everyone who's bought, read, or otherwise supported this book for confirming that there is still a lot of love and appreciation out there for this amazing and complex period of baseball history. Mark Fidrych lives on, y'all...

"A Joy To Devour" — Chad Finn

Big Hair & Plastic Grass got a nice shout-out yesterday from Globe/Boston.com writer Chad Finn's Touching All The Bases blog:

"I'm a picky reader, so I'm pleased and a bit surprised to say that pretty much everything in the pile has been a joy to devour. Josh Wilker's 'Cardboard Gods,' Dirk Hayhurst's 'The Bullpen Gospels,' Dan Epstein's 'Big Hair and Plastic Grass,' . . . if they're not literary home runs -- and I'd argue that the first two are for sure -- they are at least damn fine baseball books that aren't necessarily about baseball."

And speaking of devouring...

I'll be in San Francisco, one of my favorite food cities in the US, the second weekend of October for one more Big Hair reading before baseball wraps it up for the year. I will be reading with several other fine writers at "It's All Over But the Crying: A Night of Authors on Sports," which will be held Friday night, Oct. 8 at the Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk St) as part of this year's Litquake literary festival. Doors open at 6:30 pm, event begins at 7 pm; tickets are $10 in advance through Brown Paper Tickets. It's a real honor to be asked to take part in this fine fest, and I hope some of you Bay Area fans of '70s baseball will make the scene and come say hello...

Pick Allen?

Wow. Just when you think you've seen it all, you run across two amazing, afro-tastic Dick Allen pics in one day that you never knew existed.

The one above, I found on the great Dick Allen Hall of Fame blog, which has all kindsa great Dick picks. The above one is from August 1974, just a few weeks before Allen got fed up with Ron Santo's overbearing ways and quit the club for the rest of the year. He was obviously still playing to win at this point, though, taking out Indians infielder (and former White Sox teammate) Luis Alvarado with a wicked barrel slide. the shot would be amazing enough as it is, but the way Alvarado's cap pops off to reveal the outsized afro beneath adds a whole new dimension to the photo.

And speaking of Dick Allen and afros, how cool is this Life Magazine pic of Allen picking his 'fro post-game? Not sure when it's from, but it could almost be right after the above game. He's played hard, and now it's time to clean up and hit the town with a couple of fine ladies...

Batting .331, Wearing Botany 500

I have no memory of seeing this commercial in my youth — I only associate Richard Dawson from Family Feud with Botany 500. But I do remember when Fred Lynn was considered a surefire future Hall of Famer; aside from a crummy '77 season (when he hit .260 with a .327 OBP), his '70s seasons for the Red Sox were all very good to great. 

Most notable, of course, was Lynn's rookie season of 1975, when he batted .331 with 21 HR and 105 RBI, while leading the AL in runs (103), doubles (47), slugging (.566) and OPS (.967), earning both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors while leading the Red Sox to the World Series. But his 1979 was pretty damn stellar, too — the guy led the AL in batting (.333), on-base percentage (.423), slugging (.637) and OPS (1.059), while jacking 39 homers, driving in 122 runs and scoring 116 more. 

Lynn never managed to live up to those two years, but he remained an incredibly consistent player well into the late '80s — from 1982 to 1988, he hit between 21 and 25 homers in every season. And the man could wear the hell out of a suit.

"You white guys can take it easy tonight!"

 

Though not many folks remember it as such, September 1, 1971 is a pretty significant date in baseball history — and in the history of American civil rights in general. Thirty-nine years ago tonight, the Pittsburgh Pirates, led by the inimitable Dock Ellis (above), became the first team in major leagues to field an all-black (and latino) starting nine.

Along with Ellis, the other Pirates taking the field that night against the Phillies were were Rennie Stennett (2B), Gene Clines (CF), Roberto Clemente (RF), Willie Stargell (LF), Manny Sanguillen (C), Dave Cash (3B), Al Oliver (1B) and Jackie Hernandez (SS). While most of the 11, 278 fans in attendance probably failed to recognize the lineup’s significance, the majority of the players in the Pirates’ clubhouse were well aware of it — though, in testament to the team’s impressive interracial harmony, it was seen an occasion for mirth rather than resentment or payback. “We had a loose group, [so] we were all laughing about it and teasing each other,” remembered white Pirates hurler Steve Blass; Richie Hebner, the Pirates’ white regular third baseman, who was then riding the bench with an injury, recalled that, “Some of the guys joked around the clubhouse, saying, ‘Hey, you white guys, you can take it easy tonight.’”

Pirates skipper Danny Murtaugh downplayed any implied social statement, telling reporters that "I put the nine best athletes out there. The best nine I put out there happened to be black. No big deal.” But when you consider how long it took to integrate the sport in the first place, and the hostility that Jackie Robinson and other black players initially faced, it was a big deal indeed — as was the fact that  11, 278 fans could sit in the stands at Three Rivers that night, and not bat an eye at the lack of white players taking the field for the home team. 

While Ellis helped his team make history that night, he didn't do much else — as this box score from the game details, he got knocked out of the game after only an inning and a third. The Pirates eventually pulled it out, though, winning the game 10-7...

And speaking of '70s baseball, as I am wont to do, I will be reading, signing and discussing Big Hair & Plastic Grass tomorrow night (Sept 2)  in Brooklyn at the Jan Larsen Art Gallery, as part of Gelf magazine's Varsity Letters series. I'm going on first at 7:30 pm, so please come down early and rap with me about afros, polyester uniforms, fan riots and all that other good stuff. Oh, and click HERE to read an interview I did with Gelf's Joseph Ax about my book, baseball, and sportswriting in general...