What is Political? What is not?

It is so complicated – this business of separating politics from statesmanship and international policy – as Syria shows us!
by Charlie Leck

For nearly a year and one-half this ugly civil war has raged in Syria. I often try to turn it off – this war – and not think about it. It is another place, afterall! It is among people we don’t understand, n’est-ce pas? There are strange and complicated mores and customs at work here. Our nation has so many involvements already! Why must we intercede?

President Obama has had a strong inclination to stay out. I’m sure he thinks of how complicated our missions became in Iraq and Afghanistan – how they grew wildly beyond what our initial expectations were.

Now, if you pick-up this morning’s paper and judge by it, the mess has grown and the plot has thickened and gotten even uglier.

OBAMA THREATENS FORCE AGAINST SYRIA!
[Headline in the New York Times, 21 August 2012]

By Mark Landler, 20 August 2012

WASHINGTON – President Obama warned Syria on Monday that it would face American military intervention if there were signs that its arsenal of unconventional weapons was being moved or prepared for use. It was Mr. Obama’s first direct threat of force against Syria, as he has resisted being drawn into the bloody 18-month rebellion….

I just don’t know! Why must it always be America? How could we possibly take this on now?

I can hear the campaign accusations that will follow: It is all politics – this sudden bravado on the part of a president who is running for reelection!

But face up to the criticisms and wild accusations he must! We can not allow weapons of frightening possibility to fall into the hands of world terrorists – weapons that might be used against Israel and/or America – or against other nations of the world. That appears to be the single possibility that forces the President’s hand at the moment. After what George W. Bush led us into, it would be disingenuous of Republicans to now criticize the President for raising the threat he has; nevertheless, they will.

Another element – or level – to watch for in the politics of the moment.

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Adam Smith and Equal Sacrifice

I keep reading Adam Smith quotations. What do I know of Adam Smith? I’ve never read him and I don’t know if he knew what he was talking about, but I’m always reading quotations from him…

by Charlie Leck

Adam Smith, in book five of the Wealth of Nations, had this to say about asking the wealthy to pay a bit more in taxes than that paid by lower income citizens…

"…it is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion", because a tax on "the luxuries and vanities of life [which] occasion the principal expense of the rich... would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable."

I read that quotation in The Guardian, a British news source. It was on a web publication that was published on 18 October 2006. The argument has been going on for a long time.

Robert Reich, a professor at the University of California (Berkeley) and a former Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration, argues that citizens should make equal sacrifices when it comes to paying income taxes – that paying equal percentages of income doesn’t make sense. Well, I’ll be the first to admit that Reich is really a liberal; but, believe me, he’s also brilliant and I think he makes sense on this particular subject.

“Equal sacrifice means that in paying taxes people ought to feel about the same degree of pain regardless of whether they’re wealthy or poor. Logically, this means someone earning $20 million a year should pay a much larger proportion is his income in taxes than someone earning $200,000, who in turn should pay a larger proportion than someone earning $50,000.

“But Romney’s alleged 13 percent tax rate is lower than that of most middle class Americans who earn a tiny fraction of what he earns.

“At a time when poverty is increasing, when public parks and public libraries are being closed and when public schools are shrinking their offerings and their hours, when the nation’s debt is immense, and when the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together – Romney’s 13 percent is shameful.”  [Robert Reich: Mitt’s 13% Tax, 17 August 2012]

Now, as has happened a number of times, I will likely have some reader send me a comment accusing me of just being jealous and urging that I leave the rich alone. I just want to say, for the sake of honesty and in the hope it will make my advocacy more powerful, I pay federal incomes taxes at a lower rate than the rate paid by many citizens who make 10 times less than I do. It just isn’t fair. “So, send a contribution to the fed,” some commenter will say. “No,” I reply. I want the tax adjustments to be across the board so that we can truly do something about the deficits and debts we have accumulated in this country because we have not fairly taxed those of extremely high annual incomes and high investment earnings.

Raise my taxes by increasing the rate that all higher earners must pay!
Warren Buffet, whose voice is a million times more powerful than mine – perhaps a billion times more – has been asking this for years. It only makes sense.

The concept of Equal Sacrifice makes sense!

Here, on the web site of the Library of Economics and Liberty you can read about Adam Smith (1723-1790).

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Under Siege

Besieged! Is that the same thing as under siege? Well, neither is exactly the word I want, but the emails keep pouring in, requesting more and more money for this wild-ass campaign.
by Charlie Leck

I feel like I’m besieged.

Here’s what happens when you give a few bucks here and there to candidates in this political campaign. You keep hearing from them – again and again – asking you for more and more. The number of people asking me to give to the progressive battle right now (to the Democratic Party) has multiplied like the proverbial, over-sexed bunny rabbit. There is simply no end to it.

President Obama tells me he is being outspent in Iowa 2 to 1. “This is critical,” the President shouts in his email. “What I will not abide is getting outspent by a margin that negates all the hard work our volunteers are doing… You’ve already done so much to help this campaign – and I don’t get to tell you enough how grateful I am for that.”

The President warns me that I’m getting close to the maximum donation I can give before the Democratic convention, but he urges me to “go all out” and reach that maximum level.

He tells me it will be because of what I did if we win this election. Oh, brother! I can read what it says on the other side of that coin without turning it over – if we lose it will be because of what I didn’t do!

The Vice President has said, essentially, the same thing. So has Donna Brazil – and Senator John Kerry – and Patrick Gaspard (the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee) – and Senators, Representatives, National Campaign Managers, State Campaign Managers – and movie stars – and war heroes – and sport celebrities – and… and… and… and… oh, well, you know….

The heat is on! Because those damned Koch brothers keep pouring millions of dollars into this campaign, I get pressured to join the effort to match what they’re doing. How come they haven’t reached the maximum they are allowed to contribute? How come? How come?

Well, we know “how come!” It’s because of those rear-ends on the United States Supreme Court, who, in their dizzying wisdom, equated companies, corporations and political-action-groups with little ole’ individual citizens like I. We little guys are now coming to see that the decision was far more insane and damaging than we ever believed it could be – and we believed from the beginning that it was really pretty bad.

Mr. President, I don’t know – you know! I love you like a brother! I think you’re an extraordinary guy. I know you’re correct on just about all the issues! I feel certain our nation is in good and wise hands with you at the helm! Yet, dang it, sir, you’re pushing me to the brink on this contribution stuff.

If I could just be certain my dollars would make the difference, I’d do it; even though you are asking me to push my political expenditures right to the brink of what I can afford – or what I can not afford. The last time I did that, it was many years ago, as a young and foolish man, in Vegas – and I promised myself I would never do it again! And now, here I am – “stuck in the middle again!”

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Yes, I am stuck in the middle with you
And I’m wondering what it is I should do…

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Well, you started off with nothing
And you’re proud that you’re a self-made man
And your friends they all come crawlin’
Slap you on the back and say, ‘Please, please’…

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you
Stuck in the middle with you
                    [original lyrics by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan]

I just don’t know!

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Observing the Politics of Today

Here are some simple observations, right off the cuff, about the politics of today…
by Charlie Leck

üPaul Ryan, before he became the Republican vice presidential candidate, was for Medicare cuts. Now he’s against them. (No comment! Just an observation!)

üVice President Joe Biden better sharpen his game. He’s currently making some careless slips of the tongue. Joe’s feeling a little too good about himself and he’s gotten over-confident.

üWe used to think about our nation as the “united” states. Now we think about our states as red or blue, and not united!

üMitt Romney assures us he has paid, at least, 13 percent taxes on his income for the last dozen years “or so.” However, he and his wife have made in clear that they’ll release no more income tax files for our review. The candidate’s wife, Ann, has spoken up about the subject of releasing more income tax records. She shows way too much anger and that sends a message that gets some people even more interested. She observed that the Democrats want the information as “ammunition.” Is there something hidden there that could be ammunition? She assures us that Mitt is honest. “His integrity is just golden,” she says. The fact is, at 13 percent, Romney is paying far less in taxes than most middle class families because he has so much “investment income,” which is taxed at a far lower rate than average earned income. Romney thinks his charitable giving totals should be considered as well. His wife promises us that they give 10 percent of their income to charity. That, I assume, includes their church.

üNew voter i.d. laws that are being passed by states around the nation will probably, in years after 2012, cost the Democrats about 1 percent of their current vote totals. That will be a huge blow to the party. Mike Turzai, a leader in the Pennsylvania Republican party, which currently has voter i.d., has boasted that the new voting process “is going to allow Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania – done!”

üSuper PACs are having a much bigger impact on this election than people ever believed they would. Billionaires, like the Koch brothers, are funding a number of campaign organizations that produce incredibly distorted (perhaps, then, “dirty”) advertising. I just can’t imagine why ordinary folks aren’t rising up in anger about the modern election being controlled by the wealthy. The nose-ring led members of the Tea Party love what they’re seeing, however. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision is having a far bigger impact than even the wildest negativists thought it would.

üIf you think the presidential campaign is mean-spirited, let me tell you: It’s gonna get a lot worse!

üThe battle for my vote (the Senior vote) is just getting under way. Just wait ‘til you see how they’re going to chase our butts. More and more political observers are saying this election will turn on the Senior vote.

üMichael Williamson, an old Obama ally, is going to get his 15 minutes of fame at the GOP National Convention by speaking out against the President. Et tu Brute?

üIn Minnesota, Michele Bachmann appears to be lying low. What frightens me is that she is not frightened at all about winning the upcoming election. Sooner or later, she’ll need to start campaigning, however, and then I can have some fun bringing you a host of her stupid comments. I can’t wait!

üHere in Minnesota we had a historically low turnout for the primary elections of both major parties and that allowed the inspired right-wingers to work their will. Koch Brothers money was very successful here in my own state legislative district.

üThe Koch Brothers understand ole’ Tip O’Neil’s political rule #1: All politics is local!

üI took a careful look through the week’s obituaries in this morning’s local paper, and my name wasn’t there. I can breathe easier for awhile.

üMinnesota’s current Governor, Mark Dayton, has taken the courageous step of condemning the actions of one of our state’s former governors. On this past Thursday, Dayton said: “I am appalled by Governor Ramsey’s words and by his encouragement of vigilante violence against innocent people; and I repudiate them.” Dayton was talking about an incident that took place 150 years ago in Minnesota. At that time, Governor Ramsey banned members of the Dakota tribe from dwelling or entering Minnesota and, more strongly, went on to say: “The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state.” It was a dark moment in our state’s history. Indeed, there was an angry uprising of the Dakota against white Minnesotans; but the native Americans had been cheated and they were starving – and they felt hopeless. I’m currently reading an e-book, published by our local newspaper, about Little Crow, the reluctant leader of the uprising [In the Footsteps of Little Crow]. It’s an extremely well written book, but it leaves one saddened. I’ll have more to say about all that in the coming days.

üIsrael continues to drop hints about a possible attack on Iran, to disable that nation’s nuclear weapons development program. Shimon Peres indicates that Israel can’t do it alone. One doesn’t even need to read between the lines to understand he is asking for international assistance – or, at least, international support and approval. “It is clear to us,” Peres said, “that we have to proceed together with America… as serious as the danger is, this time at least we are not alone.” Oh, boy!

üAccording to an article in the NY Times, by Rebecca Berg, there are fewer undecided voters out there than we have been led to believe. She indicates that the “slice” of undecided voters is very small, but will make the difference in this election.

üIs it a big surprise that the GOP is reporting “strong fund-raising” that includes a major influx of cash? The Republican Party has spent 20 million dollars on attack ads in the last month. And you didn’t think the Citizens United decision was a really big deal! Oh, boy!

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Politics is Local

Here’s an indication of how sad and low times are for the Republican Party in Minnesota
by Charlie Leck

In blogs lately, I’ve been concentrating on the fascinating national political picture, but when I opened the papers on Wednesday morning (the day after the primary elections in Minnesota), I realized how significant the political story is right here in my own backyard – and in my own state.

The Republican Party in Minnesota was once a truly grand old party – really, it was. Democrats and Republicans here used to have wonderful, meaningful and substantive debates about issues.

Lately, however, the Republican Party here has taken some broadside hits by the crazy rightists in the state, including the Tea Party movement, and the Party is wounded and spiraling out of control. Over the last two years the Minnesota Republican Party has hit bankruptcy status. It’s blown all its money on stupidity and idiocy – especially during that period when it was controlled by the ignorant Tony Sutton.

Sutton is a Minnesota native, born in St. Paul and educated at Hibbing High School up on the Iron Range. He began his tenure heading the state’s Republican Party in July 2009. In a period of two and one-half years, he brought the party to its knees, broke and broken. Instead of working as an administrator, Sutton became too involved in the political direction of the party and caused great divisions in it, driving some long-time and highly esteemed patrons from its ranks. Sutton simply shrank the size of the tent and made it far less inclusive. It was “his way or the highway.”

For generations, the Republican Party here could count on the general support of the Minnesota business community (a vague classification, I know) and the wealthiest of Minnesota’s citizens. Lately, that has not been the case and Sutton would be the first to admit it.

Sutton not only allowed the Party to be taken over by political interests on the far right of the issue spectrum, but he encouraged it. He was there himself! The nail in the coffin was sunk and counter-sunk when he pushed the Party into a recount of the votes in the 2010 Governor’s race results. Sutton has publically admitted he should have backed away from that recount rather than spending the millions he did on it.

Many of those Republicans who held elected positions in Minnesota recoiled at the heavy hand Sutton used in trying to control them. Those who questioned Sutton’s leadership, even legendary standard bearers in the Party, were pushed outside Sutton’s organization – including former U.S. Senator David Durenberger and former Governor Arne Carlson. The segregation of such people from the organization would come back to haunt Sutton.

Now the Minnesota Republican Party has been kidnapped by the Tea Party
The hard right is now in control of the Republican Party in Minnesota. It’s the equivalent of saying that “the inmates are now in charge of the asylum.”

One needs present no more evidence than the Tuesday primary election results to illustrate it. I’ll concentrate on my own, local region of the state. Minnesota’s current longest serving legislator, a moderate Republican, Steve Smith, was thrown from office by Tea Party candidate Cindy Pugh, who claims she’s been inspired by Michele Bachmann (oh, brother!). Then the obvious moderate Repubican for the local State Senate seat, Connie Doepke, was beaten back by angry, crazed Republicans led by David Osmek. Doepke was hit hard at the very last minute by a sleazy, four-color piece that claimed Doepke was an Obama ally who favored the Obama health care plan. The mailer, sent out by Americans for Prosperity (AFP), was absolutely false; yet it doomed Doepke to defeat. One gets a good picture here of just how far down into the gutter (or is it the sewer) that Minnesota Republicans are willing to go. AFP is a political action group started by oil billionaire David Koch that heavily fuels Tea Party activity across the nation. Koch funds many groups that work against progressive and Democratic initiatives and against international climate talks. A 2010 article in The New Yorker Magazine said that the Koch groups are active in "creating slippery organizations with generic sounding names... that... make it difficult to ascertain the extent of their influence in Washington."

The sad thing is that there is virtually no chance that the Democrats can put up a challenge to these two candidates in this very conservative district. So, very likely Pugh will be my representative in the Minnesota House and Osmek in the Senate (barf!).

The retirement of a number of state legislators left 19 seats open for this year’s election of State Legislators. There is a chance, given the Republican Party’s current lack of organization, and a good run by Democrats, that we could gain 4 seats in the Senate to take over that wing of the legislature. To do the same in the House we’d need to gain 6 new seats and that seems a stretch. It would be great to win control of at least one of these institutions of government.

And, it would cause great celebration around here (in my house) if we could knock off Osmek and Pugh.

Now, with the state’s GOP in disarray, is the time to do it!

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What if the Wealthy Right Steals this Election?

That was no bounce – It was a thud! Here’s some stuff about Paul Ryan for you to think about if you’re thinking he helps the Republican ticket!
by Charlie Leck

The Republicans are pretty well stalled out in this campaign. They have their loyal base and that includes all the radical Tea Party folks and most of the Ron Paul libertarians. They have economic conservatives locked up and most everyone who leans right of center.

The real question for the Republicans and the key
that would unlock a victory for them
is whether or not they can get enough of those people who range in the hard-core center of American politics to vote for them. That is and always has been a key to winning presidential elections in the United States – winning the center.

Here are the folks in the center who must be wooed…

Seniors

Women

First time voters

The above categories include sub-categories having to do with the Jewish vote, the Hispanic vote and the black vote. Among the first two, there are large pools of people in the undecided center to whom both parties will be making appeals. Romney’s vice presidential pick doesn’t seem to have any positive impact on any of these categories or sub-categories.

The prevailing opinion among those who carefully watch the very professional polling that goes on at this period in presidential elections is that the Romney ticket received no bounce from the Paul Ryan announcement. None! That’s interesting and curious. Gallup calls the public reaction to the Ryan pick “among the least positive” that it has observed in recent elections. The polls did not significantly move as a result of this pick.

A good many political observers believed that Romney needed a boost in foreign policy matters (as did I) and he gets none from the Ryan pick. Voters are going to look toward Romney, not Ryan, for leadership on foreign policy matters. So far, as evidenced by his one trip to England, Israel and Poland, Romney gives his ticket little hope that he can handle the task.

And, Ryan’s youth hasn’t seemed to give Romney any help with the opinions of senior citizens about how to vote this fall. A number of the most astute political observers in the nation believe that “Romney’s road to the White House runs through seniors… to win in 2012, he’ll need to do even better than McCain.” [Nate Cohn] The questions about the future of Medicare are crucial with this group and Ryan’s pick is making them nervous because of his views that favor slashing spending and entitlements. This is not to say that the Romney campaign won’t develop a winning strategy for seniors and that they won’t be able to calm the minds of those who worry about a disruption of their Medicare coverage. Obama’s campaign, however, will remind seniors that Ryan’s plan for Medicare would essentially make it a flat-rate voucher program that would pay a fixed amount for each person’s health care, but would leave them figuring out ways to pay for costs above that voucher amount. You need to be a senior on a fixed income to understand how worrisome that idea is.

The Obama campaign will also remind voters how far from the center Mr. Ryan’s plan for the federal budget is. That plan would cut nearly 6 trillion dollars in spending at a time when lower income and lower-middle income people need the help those dollars provide – Medicaid, food stamps, tuition assistance and aide to cities that enable communities to control local taxes. All this at a time when the wealthy have historically low income tax rates and Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan want to keep them there.

Rumblings inside the Obama campaign seem positive. They didn’t gulp in fear when the Ryan pick was announced. Ryan pleased the right of center folks a great deal. That’s a group that the President has written off anyway. Can Ryan appeal to the vast center? The Obama folks apparently think that he cannot.

Mitt Romney entered this campaign as a moderate and he has allowed himself to be pushed further and further to the right by his own party; and, sadly, he now takes as his own many of these radical proposals of extreme conservatism. Remember when the Simpson-Bowles commission made their recommendations about bi-partisan fiscal reform? At the time, that seemed a tough pill for the nation to swallow. Paul Ryan served on that commission and voted against its recommendations because they were not tough enough. Even Newt Gingrich was put-off by the depth and sharpness of the cuts that Ryan recommended in response to Simpson-Bowles.

One wonders why Romney has allowed himself to be pushed and pulled so far to the right of his original positions and his very nature. The right of the political spectrum is already won for Romney. Why does he need to keep moving more and more to the right? It's probably because this very radical group demands more and more evidence of Romney's faithfulness to them. Well, they got it in the Ryan announcement!

Let me promise you that the Obama campaign is going to remind this country’s voters, again and again, about the kind of Supreme Court they are going to get if they allow this far-right element to win the coming election. A future Supreme Court, in such a circumstance, would be made up of types very similar to Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia – the men who gave us, gift wrapped and decorated with pretty ribbons and bows, the Citizens United decision that made companies and corporations the equal of American citizens. Hard-core conservatives are pushing Romney so far to the right that moderate justices will no longer be an option.

And, as well, appointments that Romney might make to federal departments are going to be vetted by the likes of billionaires Charles and David Koch, Sheldon Adelson and Bob Perry.

Will America vote for such radicalism? I don’t think so, but that chapter of American history is yet to be written. The only way it will happen is if the American middle class buys into the vacant and empty promises of the far-right. Stay tuned and we’ll find out!

I personally think it is vital that Barack Obama runs the finest and most skillful presidential campaign in American history. Lots of important things for middle America hang in the balance.

Additional reading assignment
I suggest you might find Katrina vanden Heuvel column in this morning’s Washington Post interesting: Paul Ryan: Cruel, not courageous. She explains how catastrophic that Ryan’s Medicare plan would have been (a plan, to be honest here, Romney has rejected and would not support). Here’s a clip from the referenced column…

“But however courageous you consider a congressman for actually revealing his policy preferences, Ryan’s blueprint — now the blueprint for the entire Republican Party — is profoundly uncourageous in its implications for the vast majority of the country.

“Under Ryan’s plan, the wealthiest 1 percent would get a massive tax break. Meanwhile, Medicare would be privatized, leaving seniors with vouchers that could never keep up with rising health-care costs. It would slash programs helping struggling families stay afloat, such as food stamps and housing assistance, by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. Education and employment training — vital to our nation’s future — would be cut by a third. Ryan, whose great-grandfather founded a large road construction company, would spend 25 percent less than President Obama rebuilding our deteriorating infrastructure. And since gutting Medicaid and Medicare isn’t enough, he would also repeal the president’s health-care law, leaving tens of millions of people uninsured.

“Cue the fanfare.

“Recently, voters in focus groups refused to believe anyone would propose such a vicious plan. Back when the GOP retained a modicum of humanity, even many Republicans were shocked by how far Ryan went. In polls, people of both parties recoil from his proposal to end Medicare as we know it.

“It is a plan, as the recently departed Gore Vidal said of Ayn Rand’s philosophy that so influenced Ryan, “nearly perfect in its immorality.” Ryan’s extremism bleeds into social issues. He saluted the troops on the deck of the USS Wisconsin, but voted against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He has repeatedly voted for defunding Planned Parenthood and letting hospitals refuse emergency abortion care, even when a mother’s life is in danger. The right to love whom you want or to make decisions about your own body are not, apparently, among the rights that Ryan believes ‘nature and God’ gave us.”

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Johnny Pesky

Baseball has lost one of its glorious all stars – a player I remember from earliest childhood.
by Charlie Leck

“He was caught napping – like his pants were down,” my old man said to everyone around him. He was reading from the sports section in the New York Herald-Tribune, his favorite newspaper.

“He shoulda known old Country Boy was a gambler – that he’d try to end it all right there.” The old man was talking to the morning crowd in his general store and confectionary. They were all laughing about the Boston Red Sox getting ripped by St. Louis. The baseball guys there didn’t like the American League. They pretty much hated the Yankees and the Red Sox. They were fans of National League teams – Brooklyn (Dodgers), New York (Giants) and Philadelphia (Phillies). It made these guys gleeful when something like this happened to one of those teams from the newer league.

They all gawked at the photograph in the Herald-Tribune of Enos Slaughter sliding into home ahead of the throw from shortstop Johnny Pesky. I was six years and one and one-half month old. It was October 15, 1946. I don’t remember real details. I’m making up the dialog above. Yet, I remember the scene and the attitudes.

Two great, great ballplayers, who were both highly regarded, were in this last-play-of-the-game drama. One would become a hero and one a goat. Enos Slaughter, of the Cardinals, had gotten a single and stood at first base while the two players following him in the batting order failed to advance him. It was the ninth inning of the seventh and the final game of the series. The game was tied 3-3. Harry Walker slashed a line-drive over the head of Pesky, into left-centerfield. Slaughter was off at the crack of the bat and dashed around second and headed toward third. The outfielder, Leon Culberson, fielded the ball and threw it routinely into Pesky. Everyone in the ballpark, including Culberson and Pesky, thought Slaughter would hold up at third. It was the sensible and routine thing to do.

Pesky casually caught the throw from the outfield and turned. The hum of the crowd told him Slaughter had not stopped. Baseball historians have argued and will continue to argue about whether or not Pesky hesitated for just a split-second. There is no doubt but that Pesky was surprised. He threw to the catcher at home plate, but the throw was up the line and Slaughter had dashed in from third and slid across the plate – to end the ballgame.

My old man had listened to it on the radio the day before and he’d been gleeful then. Now, looking at the paper and holding it up for all to see, he was celebrating again. Johnny Pesky was, indeed, the goat.

Over the years, as one addicted to baseball lore, I became familiar with the name and game of Johnny Pesky. He was one of the great ballplayers in Boston Red Sox lore and history. He was a lifetime .307 hitter who played in the shadow of the great Ted Williams. He was adored by Red Sox fans of old and also by contemporary fans. There will be great sadness today in Boston.

Pesky was a player, a manager and a broadcaster in Boston. He was 92 years old. He began his big league career in 1942 and collected an astounding 205 hits in that rookie season, hitting .331. His batting average was second in the American League. Ted Williams led the league at .356.

Johnny Pesky represents everything that is good about baseball. He had enormous respect for the game and for the game’s fans. He gave everything to the game when he played it and also after his career as a representative of Boston and baseball.

A tip of the hat to Johnny Pesky. Out among the stars he’ll be greeted warmly by Country Boy Slaughter and Ted Williams and many other ballplayers who so respected him. They’ll hustle him to his family and he’ll spend eternity in blissful rest.

I’ve written here before about Enos Slaughter and the 1946 World Series. On that blog I made available video links showing Slaughter’s incredible run from first base and Pesky’s hesitation.

I included the following paragraph as an endnote to that blog:

“Now, to defend my assertion that I can remember all of this 64 years later, while only a six year old at the time, I must tell you that I have read dozens and dozens of baseball books over the years, and I’ve heard the story of Enos Slaughter’s famous dash from first base to home plate many times. I recognize that my memory, therefore, is likely adulterated by the attention I’ve given to this historic baseball moment throughout my life. Nevertheless, I defend to my last breath the paragraph about the closeness and nervousness I felt with my brother and my father as we listened to those ballgames together.”

“October 15 was a Tuesday,” one reader wrote, and asked, “why weren’t you in school?” I can only say I would not have missed school. The ninth inning would have been late in the afternoon and I would have been home from school by then. I reiterate that I remember the moment and I remember leaning forward toward the big radio, listening to the call of the play-by-play man.

Those of you who think it would be impossible to remember, give me a break and, in good humor, let me have this one!

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