#429, October 23, 2006
COLUMBUS: The World Series started up in Detroit, and the Tigers and Cardinals split the first two. That old fellow named Rogers sure showed those young ones how to pitch.
You baseball fans know Detroit and St. Louis played in 1968, but they had another memorable World Series in 1934. “I” was in Detroit for the first two that year, and returned for games 6 and 7. The Cardinals were led by two “well-mannered people from Oklahoma, Jerome and Paul Dean. Why they are the most likeable boys you ever saw. Jealousy and not facts nicknamed them ‘Dizzy’ and ‘Daffy’. Been out with Mr. Henry Ford today. He give $100,000 for the broadcasting privilege so he is dizzier than the Deans spending money like that.”
Today a hundred thousand wouldn’t buy but ten seconds on Fox. But Henry Ford made money despite the Depression, and young William Ford is losing Billions during a boom time. Wall Street jumped above 12,000 but nobody is cashing in any stocks to buy a Ford car.
Even if you don’t care for baseball it can take your mind off political ads for a couple of hours. Too bad the Democrats and Republicans can’t choose up sides, go at it for seven games, and the winner gets to run the country for two years. Of course the loser goes to Disneyland, and by March we’ll wonder if he didn’t really come out ahead.
There’s a way to eliminate the so-called negative ads. If the candidate would just go on television and say, “If you intend to vote for me, by all means go to the polls on November 7,” that’s all he needs to do. Any bonafide candidate that was a hundred percent successful in persuading all his supporters to vote would win in a walk. See, on average only one out of three cares enough to vote, so you got the other fellow outnumbered.
Over in Iraq things are not going well for us. Even Andy Rooney says we need a change. It was already bad enough, then Ramadan came along and the Shiites and Sunnis decided guns and bombs were better than prayer rugs. “They are pretty bad, these big wars over commerce. They kill more people. But one over religion is really the most bitter.” (WA #350, September 8, 1929)
Next week I’ll tell you how the Dean boys came out against Mickey Cochrane and Schoolboy Rowe in ’34.
Historic quotes from Will Rogers:
“My idea of the height of conceit would be a political speaker that would go on the air when that World Series is on.” DT #683, October 3, 1928
“There is something about a Republican that you can only stand for him just so long. And, on the other hand, there is something about a Democrat that you can’t stand for him quite that long.” DT #1955, Nov. 9, 1932
“People don’t change under Governments. Governments change, but the people remain the same.” Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 4, 1926