The Baseball Digest Archive 4/76

April 1976

As you may surmise from the photo, the April 1976 issue is the oldest one in my collection; this copy is not exactly mint condition. It’s likely that this is so dog eared because as the season preview issue I almost certainly constantly used it as a reference source throughout that season. I’m only half kidding when I say that I was genuinely concerned that I would risk tearing the magazine to shreds if I wasn’t careful while turning the pages.

The table of contents indicates that this issue is fairly light on written, as opposed to statistical, content. There is a load of information; complete spring training rosters, a full statistical breakdown of the 1975 season, etc. As the cover promises, there are more than 13,000 player facts! I didn’t count, so I’ll trust the editors that it’s an accurate number.

The magazine went 3 for 4 with their division predictions. They selected the Red Sox to win the AL East instead of the Yankees, but they were correct otherwise. 1976 was the start of a predictable era in the sport. It would prove to be the second and last championship season for the Big Red Machine era Reds, but the other 3 divisions were won by the Yankees, Royals, & Phillies. Each of those would go on to win 3 consecutive division titles, and the Dodgers would lead the NL West in both ‘77 & ‘78. Which means that in a 3 year period only 5 different franchises made it into the postseason.

This is the item in the issue that jumped out for me. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National League, MLB selected a most memorable moment for each franchise. A few things stand out from this list. The choices were limited to the current locations for each franchise, so the Dodgers and Giants selections come from their Los Angeles and San Francisco years. And the 1969 expansion franchises were only 7 years old, so pickings were slim.

When I completed my Hall Of Fame cap project I was trying to figure out what my next recurring feature should be. I had my light bulb moment when I saw the above. It’s almost 50 years later; what would this list look like if it were to be put together today? So, beginning next Monday I will try my best to come up with updated selections for most memorable moment from each franchise. I’m still not sure if I will go through the teams alphabetically or select a team at random each week. Which of the moments that were selected in 1976 still stand?

Meet the Nominees - Chubby Checker

Chubby Checker had his first hit record in 1960, which means that he was technically eligible for induction as early as the very first year that the Hall Of Fame even existed. To put it another way, before this year nominating committees have had 39 opportunities to place his name on the ballot, but did not. Why now? I’ll repeat what I have said many times; it’s well past time to close the book on the 1960’s. A Chubby Checker induction would be, to put it charitably, unnecessary.

Checker himself has had a (pardon the pun) checkered history with the Hall. Some years ago he put out a series of full page ads in trade publications demanding that not only should he inducted but that there should be a Chubby Checker statue placed outside the museum entrance. His rationale is that dance music is so important to rock & roll and The Twist is the biggest dance record, so… Lobbying for an artist is one thing; a well coordinated effort from other high profile acts helped Foreigner make it in last year, but it’s something entirely different for the artist himself to do that lobbying. It looks unbecoming.

The Twist made history by becoming the first single to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2 separate chart runs. It still ranks as the 2nd biggest hit of all time on that chart, behind only Blinding Lights by The Weeknd. He wasn’t just a one-hit wonder either. He had a total of 21 Top 40 hits, 8 of those reaching the Top 10, and he even had a second #1 with Pony Time. He was easily one of the most successful recording artists from the pre-Beatles era.

On the other hand, there was a sameness to his singles, even those that weren’t Twist related records. He was derivative, beginning with the fact that his stage name was a clear ripoff of Fats Domino. The Twist was a cover record, and his version was a Xerox copy of the Hank Ballard original. The arrangement on both versions is practically the same, and his vocal timbre duplicates Ballard’s as well. No matter how popular an artist is, originality needs to count for something. Doubly so considering that The Twist aside the rest of his catalog has faded from the public eye; how many people who weren’t doing the twist in 1960 care all that much about Chubby Checker in 2025?

There are 60’s artists such as the Shangri-La’s or the Monkees for whom I can make a strong argument. At the same time I also firmly believe that their time has passed. (If the Hall wishes to create a separate Veterans Committee category that’s a different issue.) I would rather see more recent acts honored rather than one whose last hit was 6 decades ago. I just can’t make a rational argument in favor of Checker’s induction.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit: The Twist

My personal favorite: Popeye the Hitchhiker

If elected, will he perform at the ceremony?: Probably. He’s 83, so I have no idea what his voice sounds like or if he is still physically capable of twisting on stage. But I would have to believe that asking him to perform one 2 minute long song is doable, and it shouldn’t be too much trouble to find other artists to join him if he is unable to give maximum effort.

David Johansen

Mere weeks after David Johansen’s family publicly revealed the state of his health, he has passed away at the age of 75. No one had a career arc quite like he did; he was in the public eye for about a half century, at times only well known to serious music dorks like me, at other times as a prominent figure in pop culture. On Friday I spoke of the likelihood that the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame will induct The New York Dolls in one of the side categories this year. Sadly, if it does in fact happen it will be posthumously.

The second Dolls album was titled Too Much Too Soon and that is a fitting epitaph for the band. A punk rock band before the genre had a name, they combined powerful guitar riffs with a glam image and as a result they inspired countless bands who formed in their wake. Due to a combination of a volatile mixture of personalities and a massive amount of substance abuse the classic lineup split up after only 2 albums.

Because they did not make a commercial impact, Johansen was not very well known when he began his solo career. Nor was there a large enough infrastructure for alternative rock on the radio, so the early stages of his solo career were as much a part of the underground as the Dolls themselves were. His closest thing to a radio hit was Funky But Chic, but not even that broke through into the mainstream. He got some album rock airplay in the early 80’s with a live medley of Animals songs; he did a great job of replicating the Eric Burdon growl.

He eventually grew tired of a lot of the rock & roll cliches; he specifically mentioned his discomfort with raising a fist on stage and then seeing an audience full of fans raise their own fists in response. This is when he developed the Buster Poindexter persona, a tuxedo clad, pompadour wearing lounge lizard singing old jump blues and big band tunes. That character quickly became a New York institution; he seemed to be performing every weekend in a club somewhere in Manhattan, and he made a series of appearances on SNL in the’86/‘87 season.

There was a lot of anticipation for the Buster Poindexter album, and it was an entertaining listen. True, Hot Hot Hot eventually became an overplayed cliche. It got to the point where you couldn’t go to a wedding without a DJ firing the tune up to start a conga line, but trust me. The album as a whole is a lot of fun.

Even after he started to phase out the Buster character, Johansen continued to show a deep affinity for old timey musical stylings. He recorded an album under the name David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, performing old Delta blues tunes. He also dabbled in acting, memorably appearinb as the cab driving Ghost Of Christmas Past in Scrooged. There was even a brief New York Dolls reunion in the early aughts, even though he and Sylvain Sylvain were the only surviving original members by that point.

I hope I’m not coming across as some type of musical snob with my praise of David Johansen, but in a musical world with so many interchangeable singers and bands, there was only one David Johansen. We were fortunate to have had him.

Long Live Independent Film

The above was Sean Baker’s fitting final statement from his 4th acceptance speech of the evening. Anora was the biggest winner at the Oscars, winning 5 trophies in total, including all 3 of the Big 6 categories for which it was nominated.

My Oscar conundrum is this; I really wish that the honorary awards could still be part of the telecast and I also wish that there could be more clips of the nominated films. I realize that’s impossible; doing so would result in a show that could approach the 5 hour mark.

I’ll be brief, or at the very least briefer than Adrien Brody’s speech. Conan O’Brien killed it as host, Zoe Saldana made the best speech of the night, I don’t understand why show producers try to make the In Memoriam segment artsy. Show the photos of the deceased full screen! Is that asking too much?

It was a spectacular evening for Anora director Sean Baker, who also won awards for writing, producing, and editing the movie. His triumph should also encourage everyone to see The Florida Project. That movie is brilliant. Just as Mikey Madison’s win should encourage people to binge Better Things. She was already showing significant poise as a teen actress.

A Non-Permanent Suspension?

The co-President posted that he intends to pardon Pete Rose. In conjunction with that it appears that Rob Manfred will be considering the petition from Rose’s family to remove him from MLB’s ineligible list. It’s not a big deal yet. Does it make a big difference if he is on that list or not now that he has died? The only take I have is that if Rose is removed then the league should do the same with Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver.

The only big picture element of a potential Rose reinstatement is that it would make him eligible for the Hall Of Fame, but whether you are pro or anti Rose, don’t get too excited. IF he would become Hall eligible, he would be under consideration as part of the Classic Era, and that committee will not meet next until 2027. Plus, I find it doubtful that 75% of voters in that committee would be eager to cast a vote for Rose. I still believe it’s more likely that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens would make it in before Pete Rose, and guess what. They ain’t getting in any time soon. Don’t hold your breath on a Cooperstown slot for Pete Rose.

TV Of the 21st Century - The Last Man On Earth

Setting aside the unfortunate timeliness of a sitcom set in the aftermath of a global pandemic which wiped out practically the entire human population, LMOE had one of the single greatest pilot episodes of any television series. It wasn’t a pilot that could be replicated on a weekly basis - for almost the entirety of the episode Will Forte’s character appeared to actually be the last man on earth & as funny as Forte is not even he can sustain a one man show week after week - but it well set the stage for an often uproarious comedy that at the same time never lost sight of the story’s tragic roots.

Forte starred as Phil Miller, and the opening scene showed him driving around in one of those campaign vans with a loudspeaker on the roof broadcasting his pleas as he unsuccessfully searched for another living soul. When he heard no reply he X’d out the final state in the atlas he was carrying around. A year after a devastating viral outbreak he had completed his travel through the continental 48 and did not find a fellow survivor. He then went to his hometown of Tucson where he would settle. (He spray painted “alive in Tucson” in highway overpass signs just in case he wasn’t alone so that others could find him.)

This was a Will Forte character, so even in solitude he acted as boorish as expected. He set up a margarita pool, one of those kiddie wading pools in which he would literally bathe in a margarita, complete with salt around the pool’s rim and a giant straw from which he could drink from his alcohol infused bathwater. Ick. He also did some of the classic things seen in post apocalyptic tales. He posed store mannequins as if they were actual people so that he could have someone to talk to. Also, in one scene he was watching Cast Away and said to himself that it’s unrealistic that a man would speak to a volleyball as if it were a friend. Cut to the next scene in which he has a room filled with all types of sports balls, each with faces Sharpied onto them and he had assigned names and personalities to each.

He finally hits rock bottom when he accidentally knocks the arm off of the female mannequin he was most attracted to. The despair is so deep that he decides to end it; with the airbag in his car conspicuously removed he was preparing to drive full speed into the side of a cliff. Mere moments before impact he saw smoke from a distant bonfire. There’s another human being alive! He slammed on the brakes just in time and soon discovers that Kristen Schaal saw the Alive In Tucson signs and followed the instructions accordingly.

The next several weeks saw several other people follow those signs and join the main cast; the MVPs were the characters portrayed by Mel Rodriguez and especially Mary Steenburgen, who was a true wonder. There were also some who were only there for a few episodes yet still made an impact. Boris Kodjoe played a character who was coincidentally also named Phil Miller. To differentiate between the two the other characters called Forte’s character by his middle name, Tandy. Kodjoe’s Phil earned the privilege of the name because everyone liked him better and he was a more valuable member of the community. They continued to call him Tandy even after the other one SPOILER ALERT died.

It was a wacky comedy, but as I said the show did not ignore the terrible underlying tragedy to the premise. The characters would on occasion reference the tremendous loss. One character who was briefly part of the group began to train himself on a flight simulator. He eventually explained that his husband was in Asia when the outbreak began; he was teaching himself to fly because he was certain his husband was still alive and was determined to find him. And in later seasons they find a traumatized young child. The young boy, who would not speak, hovered around the perimeter, unsure if he could trust the core group.

Beyond the main cast many notable big name comedic actors guested on the show, and in a great recurring bit several of them would be killed off in literally less than a minute - Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, and Jack Black. Forte also called in several of his old SNL friends in addition to Ferrell. In time the group of survivors acted as nomads, traveling to new locations when their old ones grew inhospitable. One of those was an abandoned prison, where they found an amiable Fred Armisen. Little did they know that he was not a guard, but a former prisoner, a cannibalistic serial killer at that.

And then there was Tandy’s younger brother, whom he often spoke of. He was the son whom his parents were more proud of, being that he was an astronaut. One episode ended with a scene in the International Space Station, as the lone remaining crew member was futilely attempting to contact Mission Control. As the camera pulls up we see that the name tag on his uniform reads Miller, and then it is revealed that Tandy’s astronaut brother is played by Jason Sudeikis.

Sudeikis went on to launch an escape shuttle and return to Earth on his own. He tracks the group down and he and Tandy devolve into classic sibling rivalry. The other high profile SNL alum was originally introduced in a flashback episode centered on the initial outbreak. Kristen Wiig portrayed a DC socialite, and at a party many of the guests suddenly begin to cough out blood. As more people fall ill over the next few days, she and her circle confidently say there is no need to worry; the President is on this. Cut to footage of the funeral of President Mike Pence, followed by a rapid montage of funerals for Presidents Ryan, Pompeo, etc. For some reason it cracked me up that the montage ended with a newscaster somberly saying “President Betsy DeVos.” Wiig encounters her frenemy, portrayed by Laura Dern, who mentions that she has a bunker in DC. After Dern dies, Wiig and her purse dog find shelter in the bunker. Later on she discovers the existence of our main crew and travels cross country to meet them. She is still quite spoiled, however, and expects the team to cater to her.

The show ran for 4 seasons; it was cancelled before getting a proper conclusion, although to be fair I don’t know how satisfying of an ending you can give to a show set in a reality where more than 99% of the human population has died. Also, the show ended its run in 2018. It wouldn’t be long until it would be tough to find humor in a show centered on a devastating global pandemic. The above Kristen Wiig clip now looks prophetic. This was a great one, however. Will Forte is a comedic genius, and Mary Steenburgen is a true treasure. Just make sure to politely decline when Kristen Schaal offers to cook something for you.

Originally aired on: Fox

Currently streaming on: Hulu

Closing Laughs

All done for another day. Many thanks for stopping by. See everyone once again on Wednesday.