Tony Castro's America

The Yankees' New 'Gehrig & The Babe'?

Giancarlo Stanton's incredible power display in his New York Yankee debut Thursday matched the hype and expectations of a great modern day Ruth & Gehrig-like slugging partnership with Rookie-of-the-Year  sensation Aaron Judge.

Stanton belted two home runs — including a two-run dinger in his first at-bat in pinstripes — and drove in a run with a double in the Yankees' 6-1 season-opening victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

What will that mean for the Yankees who now have two 50 home run season players for the first time since another power duo, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961?

Q&A With Tony Castro, Author of 'Gehrig & The Babe'

1. Are Ruth and Gehrig the greatest 1-2 punch in sports history?

Yes, though for one season alone, I would take Mantle and Maris.

2. How would you describe their relationship?

Amenable until Gehrig’s relationship with Eleanor took hold and Ruth settled into his marriage with Claire and his new family life. Lou’s mom Christina Gehrig became emotionally unglued, fearing she had lost her son to the influence of another woman and also lost Babe as a kind of second son. (Ruth used to dine often at Christina’s home where Lou lived until his marriage. Babe’s visits to Christina’s house dramatically dropped after 1929 when he married Claire.) Eventually Christina’s attempts to break up Lou and Eleanor led to an estrangement with her son. Similarly, Christina’s public disparagement of Claire – even at Yankee Stadium infuriated Ruth and triggered the feud between Babe and Lou.

3. Gehrig and Ruth today. How would they handle the social media circus?

Ruth would be in his element, dwarfing even Trump as a Twitter hog.

'Gehrig & The Babe' Video

'Gehrig & The Babe' is the No. 1 new book release in America. Its official release from Triumph Books is April 1.

From the National Baseball Hall of Fame archives http://amzn.to/2n8Kh3X #GehrigTheBabe

 

'Gehrig & The Babe' Video

Did Babe Really Call His 'Shot'?

Did The Babe really call his home run shot in the 1932 World Series? 'Gehrig & The Babe' and Ruth himself say he did. #GehrigTheBabe Listen to his answer:
http://www.pinstripepassion.com/Media/babe.mp3

Gehrig & The Babe Rare Footage

This footage of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig is believed to have been shot in Iowa on Oct. 18, 1927, not long after  the Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the 1927 World Series. Ruth and Gehrig are in their barnstorming team uniforms in which they played post-season exhibitions across the country.

Luke Ford: The Tony Castro Interviews

Who Is Cesar Chavez?

Tony Castro writes 4/1/04:

You know when you asked me if I had ever faced discrimination for being Latino, the reason I hesitated -- 10 seconds you said -- was because I hadn't really been on the receiving end of the discrimination that some people have faced. I mean, my first in-laws didn't exactly like that their blonde, blue-eyed German daughter was in love with a Mexican-American. But other than that, I didn't face the kind of problems that many youngsters encounter.

The discrimination I faced came later, when I was a grown man and a working journalist. I think the 1970s were a period when many in our profession resented minorities entering the news media because so many of them got their jobs seemingly only because they were minorities. I can't say I disagree. I saw it myself. I also found myself constantly proving myself to editors and fellow reporters. At the same time, I was always stuck with the assignments dealing with minority coverage. It was a double-edged sword. It gave me an opportunity to undertake some stories that many others overlooked -- and to do them well -- but it also pidgeon-holed me. I felt that I was never going to be allowed, for instance, to be a political reporter but rather a political reporter covering the minority angle or minority politics. It reached the point where I felt that, had I known this, I would have just stayed a sportswriter, and it's one of the reasons I enjoy sportswriting so much more today.

 

The Once and Future President

 

The first speaker is Matthew Post @mattlpost, a student at Sherwood High School in Montgomery County in Maryland, the elected Student Member of the school district's Board of Education... and hopefully POTUS in 2040.

Joe Scott, Political Columnist, 1930-2018

My friend Joe Scott, a former colleague at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and notable Angelino, has died. He was 87. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx…

Joe Scott

His passing didn't get the recognition it might have in other days by the Los Angeles Times for reasons explained here by the blog LAObserved:

The latest twist at the paper is that the last remaining obituary editor at the Times, Steve Marble, emailed editors on Wednesday saying that "I’ll be shifting back for the foreign/nation desk next week." That will put more onus on the editors in other sections, such as Metro, National and Sports, to produce obituaries on key news subjects in their areas.

The problems with that, as the Times recognized a generation ago when it first created a desk dedicated to specialists in obits, then expanded it greatly before cutting it way back in the last couple of years, are many. Editors and reporters deeply immersed in covering today's news are not the best at appreciating yesterday's newsmakers. The priorities of the news desks is news, not obits, so in the competition for time, space and resources obits tend to lose out — even though readers value obits, especially of local figures who won't get as much attention nationally.

Also, not everyone deserving of a news obit in the hometown paper falls neatly into the Times organizational structure, so it's easy to miss worthy subjects. You only have to look at today for examples.

I posted a tweet about the passing of Joseph Scott III, a third-generation Angeleno whose famous lawyer grandfather (I believe) has a statue in the Civic Center. Joe Scott, who died last month at age 87, was well known in California political circles as the creator of the Political Animal and California Eye newsletters and the Body Politic column in the late Herald Examiner. He also columnized for a time at the Times itself, blogged on LA politics, and was the director of communications for two Los Angeles County District Attorneys in the 2000s. I happened to see his name in the paid, non-news obits in the Times. He would probably have merited at least a small news obit in the Times in the past, but I'm not sure which desk editors would realize it.

Great New Review of 'Looking for Hemingway'

"Hemingway scholars and followers should read Castro’s book with 'The Dangerous Summer' to gain a better understanding of Hemingway’s final years..." Read Review