Congratulations to the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton, Jim Leyland and Joe Mauer are the newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Each of these players was inducted in front of an audience of 28,000 at the Hall in Cooperstown, NY.

Adrian Beltré played for the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox and Rangers. I saw him play in person at Busch Stadium II in the early 2000s and then watched him again play for the Rangers in the 2011 World Series. I did not score tickets for the games but watched him on TV from home and saw him hit .300 with two home runs in the seven game series. My beloved Cardinals won that series 4-3.  Click here to view Beltré's induction speech.

Todd Helton played his entire career with the Rockies and I was fortunate enough to see him play against the Cardinals a couple of times.  First at Busch II and the second time at Busch III later in his career.  For so many years the Rockies struggled and they were not one of my top choices when I got tickets for Cardinal games. But, I saw him in 2000 (arguably the best year of his career) on a Saturday afternoon in April. I don't remember him having a good day, but in looking the game up on the Internet he did drive in a run on a sacrifice fly. I also saw him later in his career in I believe it was 2011. I don't remember him doing anything special that day, but he always played a great third base as evidenced by his three Gold Gloves.  You may click here to view Helton's induction speech.

Jim Leyland managed the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies and Tigers.  He was always one of my favorites and I was privileged to see him  manage on many occasions with the Pirates. Leyland won three divisional championships while in Pittsburgh but lost to the Atlanta Braves in 90, 91 & 92. Those were some great Braves teams led by an always awesome pitching staff.  After the Pirates, Leyland managed the then Florida Marlins to a World Series Championship in 1997. He led the Marlins to a seven game win over the then Cleveland Indians. The following year the Marlins were terrible winning only 54 games after the team's ownership traded away all of the club's talent. Leyland left and went to Colorado in 1999 where he managed for one year. Interestingly enough, Leyland managed Todd Helton while he was in Denver.  After his Rockies gig, Leyland went to work for the St. Louis Cardinals as a special scout at the request of fellow Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa. Leyland then went back to managing in 2006 guiding the Tigers to the World Series before losing to the Cardinals. Later in 2011, 2012 & 2013 the Tigers made the post-season.  In 2012 The Tigers under Leyland's guidance made it to the World Series again, only to be swept by the Giants. Please click here to view Leyland's induction speech into the Hall.

Joe Mauer, because he played in the American League, was one of those guys I didn't follow that closely. I only saw him play in person one time on June 16, 2015. I still have the ticket stub to the game hanging on my "wall of tickets".  In that Tuesday afternoon game Mauer went 0-4 and played 1B.  To be honest I was surprised when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. But, he was the top catcher in the American League for over a decade and won the MVP award in 2009.  He had a career lifetime batting average of .306 and a WAR of 55.2. Mauer also played on six American League All-Star teams and won five Silver Slugger awards. When viewed against the numbers of other HOF catchers, Mauer is extremely deserving of his selection to the Hall of Fame.  You may follow this link to see Mauer's induction speech into the Hall of Fame.

All of the induction speeches were good and each is worth watching. Congratulations once again to Mr. Helton, Mr. Beltré, Mr. Leyland and Mr. Mauer!

Joe Biden Decides to Not Run

I think Donald Trump must be ecstatic his Democratic opponent for president of the United States, Joe Biden, has decided to not run for re-election.

Biden, under increasing pressure from colleagues in the congress and senate, announced a few hours ago he would not seek another term.  He said he will focus on running the nation for the next seven months.

Personally, I think Biden must have slipped much more than we the public know. Otherwise, if he really did have "just a bad night", I think his party would have been more supportive after the first presidential debate.  Reports today say Biden has slipped a lot, from the man who took office in January 2021.

It appears Kamala Harris is the front runner and Biden endorsed her almost immediately after announcing he would not run again. But, that won't necessarily keep the Dems from selecting someone else when they meet next month in Chicago.

Regardless of who the Dems select as their next candidate they are going to have a very hard time beating Donald Trump and the GOP.  Biden was already facing an uphill battle but now without an incumbent, the party will have to work extremely hard to hold onto the White House. I don't think they can retain the presidency.

And, that scares the daylights out of me.  Trump is a pathological liar, convicted felon (34 times) and arrogant narcissist. I fear what will become of the United States and our allies if he is elected. He served four years previously and made an ass of himself and the USA repeatedly. I also theorize that the growing divide in our country will encourage the upper middle and upper classes to make additional substantial contributions to the GOP campaign. I also think there are under educated Trump supporters who think they will be able to make this country go back in time to the 50s and 60s. Back then African Americans and other minorities had absolutely no say in running the United States.  Combine those voters, with the religious right, who would like to turn this country in a Christian fundamentalist nation. These are the same people who are critical of the radical Muslim sects, such as the Taliban, but are attempting to do the same thing in the U.S.  So, you can see why Trump has a great chance of being elected President of the United States and "leader" of the free world.  Like I said in the first sentence of this paragraph, Trump scares the daylights out of me. For more proof read, Trump and the Republican party's Project 2025 document. While, the GOP criticizes Democrats as being the radical left, the organizations supporting this document are reactionaries.

The next three and a half months will be a battle between the two parties with both sides playing for huge stakes.  Those stakes are the future of the USA, our allies and the rest of the free world.

I won't tell you who to vote for but pay close attention to everything you hear. And then fact check it for the truth. The nation's future is dependent on your vote.

248 and Going Strong!

I wrote this a few years ago on the Fourth of July and it's still just as true today, if not even more so.  I am blessed to live in the United States of America. It is still the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But more importantly I am allowed to worship as I please. I am able to express myself and to criticize our leaders as I see fit due to the Constitution and Bill of Rights of this great nation.

Today marks the 248th birthday of the United States of America. It is one of the longest lasting democracies in the world. This has been accomplished through the sacrifice of thousands of patriots going back to the Revolution against the British to today, with our troops deployed in Middle East hotspots. These brave men and women paid the ultimate price for our enduring freedom. I have no good way of sufficiently expressing my gratitude to them and to those who have served in conflicts such as World War I, World War II, Korea,  Vietnam and wars in the Middle East. Today I say thank you to all of our armed forces past and present. Because of you I am able to live in what I truly believe is the greatest nation on earth. Happy Birthday America!  248 years old and still going strong!

I'm Continuing to Heal

I've had some minor problems in healing from my May kidney transplant.  It took almost the full seven weeks for the incision wound left in my abdomen, that had been a major issue the week after the surgery, to finally close to the point where it no longer bled every day.  For all but this past week, I packed the hole with gauze soaked in Iodine and then covered it with dry gauze to protect my clothes.

I had pain in the area of the incision that at some times got to four on a scale of ten.  When I reported it to my transplant coordinator she told me the Tacrolimus I take was responsible for the slow healing.  Tacrolimus is an immuno-suppressive drug that I take to keep my body from attacking my new kidney.  And Tacrolimus is one of five medications I take to prevent rejection of the kidney.  Three are immuno-suppressants and the other two are an anti-bacterial and an anti-virus.  The transplant team has prescribed a generic form of Pepcid to keep me from having an upset stomach or heartburn from all of these drugs.  Despite the Pepcid I get heartburn from time to time.

The transplant team has been helpful as has my transplant coordinator.  I was released on June 11th to drive again and to be around groups of people of less than ten.  It will be mid-August before I can be around large crowds again, which is just in time for the season opener of my beloved Missouri Tigers on August 29th.

How is my health otherwise you ask.  I have heart issues that put me into atrial flutter.  I had a procedure called cardioversion which worked for about a year, but now the problem has returned. I saw my cardiologist a few weeks ago and she is recommending a procedure called ablation which she believes would solve the A-Fib or Flutter problem.  But, that will be some time before I can have it. The transplanted kidney and my body must be strong enough to tolerate the procedure. I still don't have my strength back and sometimes feel weak, especially my upper body and core. I am trying to get it back by walking 35 to 45 minutes each day.

As I write this I wonder if anybody really cares, but since I told you about the new kidney and the transplant back in May, I want to keep you up to speed with my recovery. 

Thank you to the courageous soldiers who have paid the ultimate price to keep the United States of America free. I also want to say thank you to the brave men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line each and every day to keep the rest of us safe. Happy Memorial Day!  May God bless the United States of America!

This was taken in the early evening of a warm summer night in September 2016 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.  It is looking east towards the Washington Monument from near the John F. Kennedy burial site.