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Nemo lives
If Capone was a bootlegger, would the Unabankers be Loanleggers?
Ahhh well, Pavel- remember this:
YouTube - The Third Man - Orson Welles' Great Cuckoo Clock Speech against Democracy, Peace & Brotherly Love
Turbulent times make great art!
Look at all the work done in the country during the plague years in London- Newton's apple for one!
Someday this war's gonna end...
Minimum bid $2.5 Million plus whatever mp would charge to install the extra concrete.
$2.5M? That's cheap, considering McQueen's much smaller ranch is up for sale at $1.95M.
$2.5 millions for a building with what appears on the picture to be asphalt shingle roofing?
Like Aspen in the early 70's? You needed a phd to get a job as a dish washer---
Didn't they wall up Rivera in the other vault?
Damn, that place is equipped -- even has a guard tower.
What's the weather like in that part of Wisconsin??
Closer to home is this hideaway:
Paparazzi proof property!!! Private retreat on 268 acres of secluded horse trails and endless views. This unique property offers a lovely, country cottage main house which has over 2000 Sq Ft and 1300Sq Ft detached guest house. High end appliances and amenities were used throughout. Ideal family compound with great potential for developing a major producing orchard or equestrian property. Two private wells on site with an unlimited supply of water and powerful pressure. Electricity, propane gas and T-1 lines are all in place. Natural Gas also runs to the property line, but is not presently in use.
9166 Happy Camp Rd Moorpark, CA 93021 Price: $1,999,000
"Paparazzi proof property!!!"
Looks cold up there. Some photos:
The Hideout pictures from wisconsin photos on webshots
35.148787,-110.906854
36 plus acres- all water rights and potential wind energy generation- Electricity on next parcel to east- gated;-}
$60k- send me an email- Galters!
Someday this war's gonna end...
It is. I survived last winter up here in something not much better than Dryfly's uncle's porch.
I always wanted to do this, so we did.
About 10 years ago, my wife and I were flying in from Reno on a flight that landed @ LAX @ 7 PM. We had about 25 friends waiting for us (no can do today, 9/11 and all), with cameras and microphones at the ready, as we got off the plane. They rushed towards us, asking very worldly questions, all very eager, thrusting microphones in our faces and non-stop flashing of cameras. We watched the innocents not hep to what we were doing, rush for their cameras, they didn't want to miss out on the important event, and they started taking photos of us. A series of questions like "How did the meeting go with the Russian President?", "Did you know she was only 17?", and "Now that your Spanish land-grant claim has been verified, when are you going to kick people out of their homes, on your property?". One person asked a friend of ours, "who are they" and my friend said I was the leader of a small, but influential country.
It was quite the spectacle, and people are sheeple.
After we got our bags, we all went out to dinner and laughed about it over snappy cocktails...
Interesting! Sadly a tad out of my current price range...
JD,
That's hilarious! It never fails to amaze me how often the news here in LA will talk to individuals in a crowd somewhere and they won't have a clue what's happening, only that they saw the crowd gathering and decided they wanted to be a part of it.
So, is this supposed to be a 'bankerdome"?
Doncha miss that guy?
""Paparazzi proof property!!!" "
Hmmm. Wonder how much of that 268 acres is flat enough to use for anything?
Property taxes, maintenance on 268 acres... I wonder if $1 mil would work?
sm_landlord,
You lowball them and I'll back you up as a minor partner. You can have the big house.
Re: secret vaults
There is a house in Los Gatos, CA, which was formerly owned by the local mafia boss. If you've lived in Los Gatos for any period of time, you know who I'm talking about. The house is just south of Louise Van Meter school about a quarter mile and is on the west side of the road surrounded by a stone wall about four feet tall.
Anyway, when the house was finally sold (late '90s), they found tunnels under the house.
I remember walking by the house many times and seeing occasional "get-togethers." Silk suits, limos, sunglasses. Just like the movies.
Juvenal Delinquent (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 3:51 pm
* reply
* Ignore user
Schiklgruber
Firesign Theater?
Hey! I called dibs. I'm thinking those two strong wells could produce water that I can sell for $5500 per acre foot.
If the endless appeals for apology don't stop, we might have to do a group intervention on somebody, and enroll them in Pouters Anonymous.
What are you babbling on about now, Dawgma?
Is Jimmy Hoffa still there?
"Hey! I called dibs"
I know: Vineyards!
They can work even on relatively steep hillsides if you terrace. And you have water. Now if the property also gets fog... might be a winner.
Speaking of fog - fog's in here, nice and cool - time for a walk.
Dawg / sml,
This place may have a story or two...
9166 Happy Camp Rd in Moorpark Arrest Record. Police Blotter & Crime Log for Moorpark
Which one of the dozen or so places 'up nort' that bills itself as Al Capones hideaway is this one?
Here's the Los Gatos house. It has the look of a hideout.
Library and History Museum History Project - Hooked on Los Gatos : Item Viewer
Not 100% OT, but not OT:
Aussie housing in trouble
Aussie housing in trouble (Science Alert)
“Those with higher incomes have managed to recover from this situation but the lowest income group has not, with ownership rates 15 per cent lower than their parents. This will get worse as the younger cohort ages, and losses in home ownership will probably extend across the bottom 40 per cent of over 45 year olds,” Dr Flood said.
“Some small impact might be made by relaxing the conditions on the First Home Owners Scheme to appeal to this age group, but once again this is ‘fuel to the flames’. It seems unlikely that very many low-income people over 45 will become home owners, and the government faces the prospect of paying rent allowances for up to 40 years.
“It may be cheaper to increase the stock of public housing – possibly funded by a tax on capital gains which as this report concludes have been artificially inflated by unarticulated government monetary and planning policies.”
Might not that be the Fayed place?
More detailed version of Capone story. Turns out it comes with a mother-in-law unit:
There is also a jail house on the grounds, but its real use is unknown. The jail house has a very small single cell surrounded by a brick wall. Outside the wall is an area that could have been an exercise yard with a cutout for a guard to watch the prisoner.
sm_landlord (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:05 pm
"Hey! I called dibs"
I know: Vineyards!
They can work even on relatively steep hillsides if you terrace. And you have water. Now if the property also gets fog... might be a winner.
Too far inland and altitude. I'm not sure what would be best. The hydrology looks real good but fire would be an ever present concern.
sm_landlord (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:06 pm
Speaking of fog - fog's in here, nice and cool - time for a walk.
Yeah, almost cold up here as well. No walking however, we're packing up the SUV for the early morning move in trip to UCLA with my kid.
It is good to see these isolated landed properties both coming on market and reasonably priced. TJ and SM will confirm that around here any acreage just a few years ago would command another digit in the price. There are still some like this one.
Fog?
Gregans Castle Hotel in Ballyvaughan - Ireland at Hotels.com
You were making it hot for them.
Like Guy in the Magic Christian,no?
mos maiorum (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:19 pm
Might not that be the Fayed place?
Yes, but if we mention it all the
bugs on the blog will get all excited.
Anyone paying attention know Thousand Oaks is not even remotely survivable in the next 10 years.
I grew up in SoCal, and, as much as I have history and love the land, get out while you can.
Still own 160 acres in Hemit, that I'm going to have to deal with--
OT-They are at it again.
*Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Secret Service is examining more than $100 billion of U.S. government bonds confiscated in northern Italy in August, just two months after $134 billion of allegedly fake securities were seized in a nearby town.
The Secret Service is analyzing whether the bonds taken in August may be counterfeit, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Rome. Italy’s financial police in Varese, north of Milan, arrested two individuals carrying the securities in a briefcase, according to a person involved in the case.*
U.S. Authorities Probing $100 Billion of Bonds Seized in Italy - Bloomberg.com
Yes, but if we mention it all the In glod we trust bugs on the blog will get all excited.
give'em something useful to do....
:
< I'm a unicorn
Just an anecdotal: a peek inside the mind of a "strategic defaulter," talking about his decision to walk away on a TOPIX discussion board linked to my local paper (Santa Cruz County, CA) Compiled from two posts:
Last week I turned off the automatic payments to my house in the SLV area. After buying in 2005, holding on this long, hoping for an improvement, I've done the math and concluded that the best course is to walk away.
I'll try to negotiate with the bank, but ultimately I am not in a sustainable situation with a future ARM reset, 200K under water, and the prospect of rising interest rates in the future. Yes, I made a huge mistake. Thankfully, the law is forgiving of such a mistake. Better to start re-building the credit score now.
My only wish at this point is that the tax payer should NOT have to foot the bill. Sadly, I've learned that my bank, which went under a year ago, will pass at least some of the loss on to the government per the terms of the sale of that bank's assets to a private investment group.
....I have an ARM that will reset and will tie to LIBOR. You're right, it would lower my payment today. But that's not what I'm worried about: the steps our gov't is taking now will surely result in higher interest rates when things turn around. Plotting the libor over time I found that my mortgage pmt would rise significantly. Unless I can refi to a 30-year fixed, its just too risky to wait it out until the arm resets. So, I'm bailing.
adornosghost (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:26 pm
Anyone paying attention know Thousand Oaks is not even remotely survivable in the next 10 years.
Is that because of the $100k+ family income or one of the lowest crime rates in the nation or what? Not even remotely survivable seem a bit harsh. What's your reasoning?
Very logically reasoned. But I don't think I'd like this person.
Going with either party means no matter what platform he gets elected on, he's going to lockstep with the pigs.
Fuck him.
He should've gone independent. He obviously doesn't understand what's happening in this country.
I was out and didn't catch the previous thread. But hoops has hit it on the head. Schiff made a major political blunder in not running as an Independent against Dodd. Wow!
Way to go, Hoops.
I think that the Capone house and the one dawg posted are lovely.
All that acreage. That view.
Wouldn't pay 2 mill tho.
100% Thread tune:
Anyone paying attention know Thousand Oaks is not even remotely survivable in the next 10 years.
Climate change and overdevelopment will destroy the few remaining oaks?
Wow! Talk about a blast from mp's past. Found this looking for the mafia guy's house.
John Whisenant. He's the guy wearing the hat and smoking a cigar on the right side of the picture just above the word "CLOSED."
During the '50s and '60s, he was on the local draft board and threatened to have me classified 1A.
What a piece of work. It says he died in '71. Good riddance.
His wife, Lura, was also a piece of work. A real "flapper" girl. A partier. There's a photo of her here as well, with John's Cord. She liked to pal with the folks that owned the San Jose Mercury-News. this was before the Ridders bought it.
Library and History Museum History Project - Hooked on Los Gatos : Item Viewer
We return you now to the program in progress.
Dawg-
Don't get me wrong, aside from the high inland temps, Thousand Oaks is a good place. The Coast is just over the hill, not to far to some basic cultural venues.
I'm looking at the larger picture, with energy and resource constraints, in which SCal is the poster child for chaos.
Of course, it could all unwind perfectly, we will discover new technology, people will behave rationallly, the Second law of Thermodynamics will be suspended. and Business As Usual will continue into the foreseeable future--
I'm not that comfortable with that view---
Wow, gangsters have excellent taste. Well lots of them are Italian,
which seems to come with good taste. Which reminds me I wonder
what the gnomester is eating at this moment.
DCRogers (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:38 pm
Anyone paying attention know Thousand Oaks is not even remotely survivable in the next 10 years.
Climate change and overdevelopment will destroy the few remaining oaks?
Thousand Oaks has almost 15,000 oak trees in the registry. If anything threatens the city it is the attitude there that literally grants more rights to those trees than it does people.
adornosghost (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 7:41 pm
Of course, it could all unwind perfectly, we will discover new technology, people will behave rationallly, the Second law of Thermodynamics will be suspended. and Business As Usual will continue into the foreseeable future--
I'm not that comfortable with that view---
It's a new paradigm... buy into it now or be priced out forever!
Raindrops keep falling on their heads.
I wonder if there were instruments of torture in the tunnels.
What did you do, mp, to incur his wrath?
adornosghost (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:41 pm
Dawg-
Don't get me wrong, aside from the high inland temps, Thousand Oaks is a good place. The Coast is just over the hill, not to far to some basic cultural venues.
I'm looking at the larger picture, with energy and resource constraints, in which SCal is the poster child for chaos.
T.O. has nearly the solar days of Phoenix. Those high temps you speak of. They could be net energy exporters with a serious solarization effort. I don't see them turning into Kunstlerdonia.
BTW, I am just down the hill. You've got those observations right.
It comes with hand-made Italian cement-overshoes, with a body attached.
"What did you do, mp, to incur his wrath?"
Liz, I barely knew the guy. His name was Joe Cerrito. He's listed on the web and was documented by Life magazine during the early '60s as being a mafia boss. He was very friendly with the Bonanno family and was said to be hooked up with them.
It wasn't that hard to know Mafia guys in the Bay Area in the '60s and even later. In a lot of towns, they segued over into becoming more or less legit businessmen (often in liquor) and local politicians. Of course, people who crossed them occasionally ended up dead.
Is the chipmunk in or out of the mp abode?
@Liz
Oh, wait. You're asking what I did to incur John Whisenant's wrath.
Well, my father leased a building from John. Dad and I went to visit him one day over some business.
Anyway, John was a piker and I made some comment to that effect, don't remember the exact words. Then John comes back with this threat.
I told him something to the effect of "John, if I get classified 1A and find out you had something to do with it, I'll break your [expletive deleted] legs."
That was the end of it. Anyway, I wasn't drafted, I signed up.
And then there is Joe Kennedy, right?
An Elvis citing
YouTube - Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives - 1977
Goodfellas - Dinner in Prison < Pigs?
"Is the chipmunk in or out of the mp abode? "
Mrs. mp captured him Friday morning and sent him on his way.
Maybe one of the Capone group had spent so much time "inside" that it felt like home.
is it anywhere near the sodium reactor meltdown up there?
mp (profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 5:58 pm
"Is the chipmunk in or out of the mp abode? "
Mrs. mp captured him Friday morning and sent him on his way.
He's back in the den telling all the relatives about the great place he found to spend the winter.
Never send a man and two cats to do a job that a lady can handle.
No, the murder ranch is 15 mi NW of the nuclear contamination.
Did I miss a whole nuclear catastrophe?
Ha! I'll tell her that.
She'll probably respond by saying something like "Damned straight."
Maybe she just laid down a trail of breadcrumbs to the great outdoors.
Liz,
Googles teh "santa susana contamination"
50 years and counting.
ahhhhh... Windows Grep... hahahahahahaha flee you flat files, my arm is whole again! :madscientist:
"Maybe she just laid down a trail of breadcrumbs to the great outdoors. "
Actually, she spotted him in a bedroom window between the glass and venetian blind.
She ran back to the kitchen for her gardening gloves and pushed on the blind to hold him in place. She then reached under the blind and pulled him out. Once she had him, he stopped scrabbling.
She thereupon hustled for the kitchen door with him. There was no time for photos.
She set him down on the grass and he took off like a shot.
PeteSearch: LA's secret nuclear meltdown
just the first off the list, hopefully gives a decent review, one of those obscure events
Well, it's been fun.
Got to get some things back inside before it rains.
Dawg,
Keep those listings coming. One day I might be able to do something with one of them.
Of course, then I'd have to figure out how to smuggle some decent arms into California.
then I'd have to figure out how to smuggle some decent arms into California
maybe if you shaved them darling
And he's going to have to run against Vince McMahon's (of World Wrestling Federation or whatever they call it now fame) wife in the primary to boot.
Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Sat, 9/19/2009 - 9:08 pm
Liz,
Googles teh "santa susana contamination"
50 years and counting.
You'll do better googling:
"santa susana" contamination
I was 11 at the time. What kind of radiation? I read the article posted above.
Doesn't state any recent measurements made.
I wonder what else happened in the 50s that we still don't know about?
probably the initial releases were noble gases and the iodines. i think there are groundwater issues, but it's been a while since i reviewed this situation. kind of amazing the corporations involved.
maybe if you shaved them darling
LOL! I must say, though, it's a little disconcerting to be called "darling" by Elmer Fudd.
I was living in the LA basin in the 50's, and got nuked by fallout more than once, as we all did.
At least I wasn't living in St George Utah, as they almost all have cancer from that period.
LOL! I must say, though, it's a little disconcerting to be called "darling" by Elmer Fudd.
....
Best line of the evening!
how about the underwater nuke off San Diego? that was a good one
we experienced nuclear warfare, unfortunately we were the victims of our own government
I've been to that place. Neat little family run tourist trap (in a good way) in the middle of the Wisconsin North Woods. Kinda sad to see it come to this fate.
then I'd have to figure out how to smuggle some decent arms into California
maybe if you shaved them darling
Total lulz!
because, you see, with BLS LAUS offering downloads only in a single flat file for each state that can exceed 20 MB (that is .txt file!), it runs waaaaaaaay past the 65K line limit in OpenOffice...so extracts from the flat files are necessary - voila - Windows Grep! bwahahahaha!
.
(I know the chasm of your indifference is cosmic in scale - but I am pumped - the local UE stats by state and sub region are mine!)
Bills players are concerned with their privacy and safety after the front lawn of a home belonging to cornerback Leodis McKelvin was vandalized following Buffalo's season-opening loss to New England.
Hamburg police on Tuesday confirmed the home of a Bills player was vandalized, but declined to release details of their investigation after an obscenity and the score of Monday night's game -- a 25-24 loss to the Patriots -- were painted in white on the player's lawn in suburban Buffalo.
McKelvin fumbled a kickoff return with under two minutes to play and the Bills leading 24-19. Three plays later, New England's Tom Brady hit Benjamin Watson for the go-ahead touchdown as the Patriots overcome an 11-point deficit in the final 2:06.
+++++++++++++++++++++
As a LSBF, I can relate...
Hulu - The Party's Over - Watch the full feature film now.
save it for later. It's long.
are you saying they're gaming the system to reduce transparency? ( i hate that word)
re: football
why do they bother to wear helmets?
Why do baseball coaches & managers wear uniforms?
its kind of like those feathers they wear in new guinea
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
.
Hanlon's Razor
.
Think it is a bit more of that, really...
(edit for link)
Precisely.
maybe they should just wear feathers, then. I could see that.
The hub didn't know anything about it and he's usually aware of such stuff.
Sez sodium is an excellent coolant, but nasty stuff.
stupidity flies below the radar
hear that a new film pegs our moment as "the age of stupid"
I didn't know that 90% of everything is crud is Sturgeon's Law.
I thought I invented it myself. Osmosis.
"A man dies, when he refuses to stand up for justice.
A man dies, when he refuses to stand up for that which is right.
A man dies, when he refuses to stand up for that which is true." - MLK
The average pro football player only lives to be about 56.
Edit--With Helmets.
How bout a pome barfly; I'm in the mood of a bit of doggerel.
from a previous post
"Imagine a swindler as a Treasury Secretary. "
Joe Kennedy Sr was put in charge of the SEC and by all accounts did quite well in cleaning things up -since he knew all the tricks and all the crooks.
The lesson is if you are going to put the fox in charge of the hen house- (a) make sure that it is an alpha fox not some lap dog (b) make sure the fox has ambitions greater than eating chickens.
your turn, liz. Love you.
Sturgeon's Law: the output of caviar is small
But the hunger is great.
(but not for me)
Back from my walk. I walked past Jim Jacobson's place, and this was parked out in front:
Cali License 55STUDV8
It's still in beautiful shape - that picture doesn't do it justice.. Thought a few of you might appreciate it. It's as old as I am.
Lovely. My classic car client would love it.
But he likes Chevvies best.
the classic studes, what can you say
I'm tired. Nitey-nite.
and
s.
what is the Libertarian definition of justice?
I'd bet 'back in the day' no one would have dared to be the bank exec that foreclosed on Big Al's place, or to be a bid submitter as a potential buyer....
Sounds like a nice 'summer place' - but in the winter, not so much.
"what is the Libertarian definition of justice? "
Teh Google is your friend
I mean, what do they consider a just outcome?
I let the Dawgma loose, when he was babbling that the $5500 an acre-foot was no big-deal, but lookie here, it blows away the previous high-price paid....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The price, more than $5,200 an acre-foot, could be a record. Robert Cooke, chief of the State Water Project Analysis Office, said the most he's ever heard paid for water was about $3,000 an acre-foot."
visaliatimesdelta.com | Visalia | Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register
New discovery for cool summer evenings:
Much easier than messing with mint leaves and a muddler.
Comrade Kristina might endorse?
Or else someone is cleaning out their safety deposit box at UBS before the solid waste hits the ventilating system
A just outcome of what?
In general, libertarians like outcomes that favor individual liberty and personal freedom.
But libertarians are not a cohesive bunch, being individualist types.
So I'm not sure you could get 100 libertarians to agree on anything specific.
Which may explain why they can't seem to organize an effective political party.
would you consider Independents to be equivalent to libertarians?
"would you consider Independents to be equivalent to libertarians? "
Do you mean Big 'I' Independants vs little 'l' libertarians? No.
One is a non-party of unaffiliated voters, the other is a philosophy.
Or were you referring to big 'L' Libertarians? No.
Because one is a non-party of unaffiliated voters, and the other is a semi-party of loosely affiliated philosophers.
What a day, preparing for my own hideaway travels.
How about some gratuitous Saturday night agitprop rock blogging? Good for libertarians, left, right, serfs of all kinds really...! What a demographic!
YouTube - Chumbawamba "Pictures of..." 3 of 4
C
Which one of the dozen or so places 'up nort' that bills itself as Al Capones hideaway is this one?
The Shnapster knows - Big Al was supposed to have hid out at a number of places in northern Wisconsin from time to time - kinda like Saddam, never sleep in the same place twice if you know what is good for you.
thank you, sm_landlord. The capitalization of one group or the other does seem to make a difference. That wasn't my intention.
Libertarian justice, though, as a concept, seems problematic, to me. I admit I raised the question, for which there may be no answer. No need to reply, unless you feel so compelled.
never sleep in the same place twice if you know what is good for you.
we were proper role models
OT
**http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/opinion/20sun1.html?hp
Facts and the Financial Crisis
The commission must also trace the facts and circumstances that connect the implosions of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers and the American International Group. What were the terms of the derivatives contracts between A.I.G. and its counterparties, like Goldman Sachs, which received $12.9 billion via the A.I.G. bailout? What was revealed in the meetings that resulted in the A.I.G. bailout and in the subsequent $700 billion taxpayer-provided lifeline for financial firms? Why was Citigroup, a failing institution last year, treated more favorably than A.I.G.? And to what extent have the survivors of the crash, like Goldman and JPMorgan Chase, benefited from cheap financing, loan guarantees and other government interventions?**
The commission met for the first time last week.
SNAFU - the LEH receiver isn't reporting until February. What is this commish supposed to work on in the absense of the harder info?
C
"Libertarian justice, though, as a concept, seems problematic, to me."
You would probably have to find someone else to help you resolve that, but as I implied above, you'll need a more specifically stated question in order to get a satisfying answer. Justice is a very broad concept.
Dawg - Be advised that the IRS still has the right to be present at all Safety Box openings. It is the Banks job to notify and the IRS's job to show up at the right time. a law from the Great Depression is still on the books...
"What is this commish supposed to work on in the absense of the harder info?"
They're dead, Jim.
The commission can work on negotiating seating arrangements and subcommittee assignments in the interim.
You know the drill.
sm_landlord, your reply is well taken. Thank you.
edit: although, now that I think of it, justice, whether capitalized or not, is not so very broad a subject.
double edit: excuse me, concept. Triple edit: should that be capitalized?
we now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
As the piece states, the commission will start gathering documents and hearing testimonies from November. The report is due in Dec 2010.
More excitement this week in Pittsburgh?
The Baseline Scenario - Where Are We Again? (Pre-G20 Pittsburgh summit)
Uh huh.
I will tell you what I think the answer is.
In most sports, the coaches and managers just show up in the lockerroom and on the sidelines and manage the game. But in baseball, the coaches and managers are always hanging around watching, coaching, BSing, etc. Since they tend to spend half or more of their waking hours or so on the ball field or in the dugout, all their street clothes would get dirty and they wouldn't feel as comfortable.
I'll tell you a story to illustrate. Once I was a sportwriter in Tampa.
The Cincinnati Reds, the Big Red Machine had their spring training there, at the time.
My favorite manager to interview was the manager of the Reds then, Sparky Anderson.
One day, I was interviewing Sparky in the dugout of Al Lopez Field and there was almost nobody else around. There was no game or anything, we were just talking. There was just some kids of the ballplayers out on the field, messing around. In mid-sentence, Spark y stoppped talking and he said, "Did you see the play that kid just made?...That kid will be in the Hall of Fame someday."
My point is that baseball coaches and managers spend a lot of time just sitting around, watching talent, coaching talent, talking.
The kid was Ken Griffey, Jr.
Good story, rich. I saw Griffey Jr. take a pseudo batting practice at Otterbein College in Columbus one year. He was knocking balls over their fence and hitting the close-by athletic fieldhouse. RIght around 540-550 is what it measured out.
Connie Mack of Philadelphis and Burt Shotton of the Dodges didn't. . Thank you.