Dan Gould

I'm ashamed to admit I consciously avoided this one, scared off by Yanow's AMG review - and the thought of what the Donald Byrd Singers might sound like. I actually think I might have snagged it as part of a CD trade a while back but never got to it - I've got to check as soon as I get home. Kinda cool to think of an unheard Grant Green, not to mention Byrd/Turrentine/Burrell/Hancock. Even with the Donald Byrd Singers. So Al this was a very good BFT since it exposed me to music I should have heard a long time ago and inspired me to finally remedy that oversight.

Thanks for the BFT Al, I anticipated more than a few 70s-sounding tracks that wouldn't do much for me and you didn't disappoint. But are you sure there wasn't a "Ring Dem Bells" sub-theme going on here? I surely thought so after a while. Anywhooo ... Side 2 Track 1: James Clay, from an album that, while I wouldn't part with it, was a bit of a disappointment. Too much flute, not enough Gene Harris. I'll admit though I do like this track - but for James Clay I'll take Tenorman, and for Gene Harris as sideman, I'll reach for Branching Out. Side 2 Track 4 simply earns a WTF from me. Side 3 Track 1 - lots of fun but no guesses. Side 3 Track 2 - Absolutely positively Stanley Turrentine. If this turns out to be from after his first run with Blue Note, I'll have to find the record/CD. Side 3 Track 4 - Sonny Stitt, and I'm more certain because I recently had a batch of Stitt in the car CD case. From the Muse era, with Barry Harris. Side 4 Track 5 is absolutely positively Ben Webster, and I didn't need the help of having just worked through a batch of Ben in the car CD case. Thanks again Al, I'm always interested to see the answers even to tracks that didn't merit a comment or garnish much interest. Always interesting to read why tracks were selected by the compiler.

Not so - I picked up The Sound of Sonny from the Keepnews Collection. Maybe its not technically an OCJ but I'm sure this had an OJC release originally. Thanks to Marty being a Rollins freak, this one was waiting for me. (I'm sure I'd have sought it out sooner if I'd known Sonny Clark was on it.) But no Getz at Large.

Time for Earl and Run Luciano to resume their argument.

Wait a sec, music at Big Lots? I only see DVDs. Guess I need to take a look soon.

Red Sox finally 'officially' signed Napoli - and now its a one year, five million base with incentives that bring it back to the original AAV of 13 million. Me likey although its not like Napoli would be blocking any hotshot prospect but if the medicals scared them that much, a one year deal sounds good to me. Let him tattoo the Monster in 2013 and go back on the market next year.

That's alleged non-existent dead girlfriend. Who has her twitter password and just who is going to show up to address all of these truths and myths at 12:00?

DL

Yes thanks for posting that - I hate to admit that when I saw the topic my first thought was "Sally's Place is closing down" or something worse about Sally herself. A nice tribute to a fantastic lady. Our resident jazz photographer - why can't I think of his name? - gave me a photo of Gene Harris which I framed and presented to Sally as she loves Gene nearly as much as I do. Its by the door - its visible in one shot.

Pete Carroll is a fucking asshole douchebag since before he ran away from that illegal program he ran at USC and I am laughing my ass off. and believe me I got no horse in this race.

Dusty Groove aka Da Bastards. www.dustygroove.com

That's the true irony, Eric - I'm arguing against him as a compiler, but had he compiled just a bit more, should he make it? A few seasons in NY and he might have ended up at 600 homers instead and yeah, that's tough to ignore. But what do I know? I feel like Lee Smith has a similar legit argument but he doesn't seem to be getting much traction either.

Totally agree he was a fine player but regarding defense, at a non-premium position does that help that much? (Didn't do jack shit for Steve Garvey who, when you think of it was also a solid offensive threat who compiled stats with few if any dominant years, just did it in a much lower-offense era. And also hasn't sniffed the Hall.)

I go back and forth on McGriff myself. 493 homers is a lot but: he played in a pro-offense era; he never sniffed an MVP (top finish #4, once); as consistent as he was, he never hit 40 homers in a season, so he can't point to any monster seasons The Black Ink/Gray Ink test on Baseball reference sums it up: Black Ink Batting - 9 (254), Average HOFer ≈ 27 Gray Ink Batting - 105 (207), Average HOFer ≈ 144 So I am just not sold on McGriff. Lots of compiling, not enough dominating.

:party:

FWIW, MLB is free to include pot as well as other "harder" drugs and to test for them in the minor leagues because those players have no collective bargaining rights. But when the kid makes the majors, he won't have to worry about his pot habit causing a problem.

Sorry Matthew but you are way off base on this. During that historic chase, a single solitary reporter took note of a bottle that was visible in McGuire's locker, I can't recall the name but I do remember that it was found to be a "steroid pre-cursor", adno something maybe? Anyway - McGuire got indignant about it and this writer got his ass handed to him by every other writer who said he was pissing on the parade. Also if McGuire was so open about 'what he was taking at the time' why did he essentially take the Fifth when he testified before Congress? According to Baseball's Steroid Era, the reason why McGwire "took the Fifth": Representative Tom Davis told the AP that McGwire admitted using steroids behind closed doors before the congressional hearing in 2005. McGwire tried to secure immunity, but after it was denied McGwire chose not to address "the past." Can't blame a guy for wanting to stay out of jail, and IMHO, the congressional hearing were a joke. Fine, how about my pointing out how off-base you are about McGuire acknowledging what he was taking during that memorable summer, or the incontrovertible fact that the one writer who took note of the bottle of steroid pre-cursor and wrote about it got viciously criticized for writing what he wrote? It wasn't just baseball that turned a blind eye - everybody did. And your assertion that McGuire was somehow up front about what he took or that what he took was public knowledge is laughable.

Sorry Matthew but you are way off base on this. During that historic chase, a single solitary reporter took note of a bottle that was visible in McGuire's locker, I can't recall the name but I do remember that it was found to be a "steroid pre-cursor", adno something maybe? Anyway - McGuire got indignant about it and this writer got his ass handed to him by every other writer who said he was pissing on the parade. Also if McGuire was so open about 'what he was taking at the time' why did he essentially take the Fifth when he testified before Congress?

:party:

Yankee fans will mob the place for the induction of the owner who bought Babe Ruth. There's also the matter of whoever is inducted to the broadcaster wing.

Game 7, and that killer mustache.

And Clemens only a point or two above Bonds. The thing is its not a one and done situation they get 14 more years. My guess is that next year they both take a jump into the 50% range and within four years both will be in. But if they don't get the votes next year they may very well end up in Sosa/McGuire/Palmiero land and never see induction. The question that comes to mind Matthew is which would be a bigger travesty: if Jack Morris gets in or if Bonds and Clemens never get in? To me it would be Morris getting in, and his pretty small increase gives me hope that he'll actually fail in his final chance next year. Glavine and Maddux are no-doubt-about-it inductees so maybe with those on the ballot maybe Morris can't find the votes. That's happened before, where potentially worthy inductees saw their numbers drop because better candidates who played the same position got on the ballot for the first time. Other notes: I'd say Biggio can book his hotel for next year but if there's any justice Bagwell will go in at the same time. Not sure if he can do it though I thought his vote total would jump more than it did.

Can I get in for October 2013 please?

I would have guessed that a cover with a label "Bethlehem Archives" would likely be the more recent, that is, not original, cover.