Leman Saunders

At the end of March, 1930, the New York Yankees rolled into San Antonio like a traveling circus, and right in the middle of it all was Babe Ruth, a traveling spectacle unto himself. They pulled up to the Menger Hotel just before 8:00 a.m., where this photo was taken and ---- judging from the newspaper articles ---- before long the place looked less like a hotel lobby and more like a cattle drive gone sideways. Folks crowded in from every direction just to catch a glimpse of the Bambino, who at that time was probably more famous than President Hoover, and certainly more beloved. That afternoon out at League Park, about 10,000 people packed in to see the Yankees take on the San Antonio Indians, and Babe didn’t disappoint, crushing a home run the first time he stepped up to the plate. But the real show might’ve been out in left field. Between pitches, Ruth stood there grinning and signing anything folks could shove or throw his way—baseballs, scorecards, gloves, scraps of cardboard, hat linings --- anything. Kids pressed up against the fence, passing things over, and he just kept right on signing. It must have been something to see. But look at Babe in this photo! So dapper and so skinny. I guess this was before the years of excess and his huge appetite for life took their toll on his body. He's just immaculately turned out, isn't he?

Today in 1847, at the Choctaw Agency in Scullyville, in what is now Oklahoma, Native Americans met to organise relief of the starving poor of an island of strangers thousands of miles away called Ireland. The chair was William Armstrong, himself the son of a man from Fermanagh, who told them of the potato blight that had turned our staple into black mush in the ground. Just sixteen years earlier, the Choctaw had been driven from their ancestral lands in the American Southeast, forced west along what would become known as the Trail of Tears. Thousands died in that forced exodus, communities were broken, traditions uprooted, a nation made to suffer exile and loss on a vast scale. So they recognised our pain. At the conclusion of the meeting, a collection was taken. The figure most often cited is $170, though some accounts place it as high as $710. The exact sum matters less than the context. This was sincere generosity from a people who had very little, given to a people who had nothing. And we still remember with gratitude. In 1995, President Mary Robinson travelled to meet the Choctaw Nation and thank them in person. She spoke of how “thousands of miles away… the only link being a common humanity, a common sense of another people suffering as the Choctaw Nation had suffered.” In 2017, Gary Batton, the 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation, came to Ireland with a delegation. They travelled to Bailick Park in Midleton for the unveiling of Kindred Spirits by artist Alex Pentek, a sculpture of nine great eagle feathers, rising and curving into a bowl-like form. It has a companion piece The Eternal Heart that stands at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's capitol in Tuskahoma created by Choctaw artist Samuel Stitt.

Taking an hour to play the last 5 mins of the Arizona v Utah State game....geez

On this day in 1895, the charred and tortured remains of Bridget Cleary, a 26-year-old dressmaker from Ballyvadlea, Co. Tipperary, were discovered in a shallow grave. She'd suffered a horrifying fate. Justice William O’Brien declared that the case “spread a tale of horror and pity throughout the civilised world.” Bridget was diagnosed with bronchitis by local doctor William Crean on the 13th of March. That same day, her parish priest, Fr Cornelius Ryan, visited her bedside and administered the last rites. But in the eyes of her husband, Michael Cleary, Bridget’s illness was no ordinary affliction. He was convinced that she was not his real wife, but a changeling, a supernatural imposter left by the fairies! Michael’s fears had been stoked by local storyteller Jack Dunne, who told him that when a person was taken by the fairies, their return could be forced within nine days. But only through a series of brutal and dangerous rituals. As Bridget lay in her bed, her ignorant husband and family subjected her to days of torment. On the 14th of March, neighbours William and Mary Simpson arrived at the Cleary home and found Bridget being held down by three of her cousins as Michael Cleary doused her with urine, a ritual meant to drive out the fairy. That night, Michael and others force-fed her bitter herbs, shook her violently, and threatened her life if she did not admit she was a changeling. By the 15th of March, Michael Cleary’s paranoia had reached its tragic climax. He poured hot paraffin over her and set her on fire. As the flames consumed her, he reportedly shouted, “It is not my wife I am burning.” The following morning, he told neighbours she had been taken by the fairies, but when her burned and buried body was found, the truth was undeniable. Michael Cleary and nine others, including Bridget’s relatives, were arrested. At trial, Michael was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Others, including those who had held her down or participated in her abuse, received lesser sentences of six months to five years. The murder of Bridget Cleary sent shockwaves through Ireland and beyond. At a time when Irish nationalists were advocating for Home Rule, the case was seized upon by opponents as evidence of Ireland’s supposed backwardness. The New York Times, reporting from London on the 31st of March 1895, noted that anti-Irish papers were using the case to portray the Irish peasantry as degraded and savage, undermining efforts for self-government. Buy the Dublin Time Machine a pint and support the DTM Book ko-fi.com/buchanandublin…

@RobLooseCannon It is amazing this hasnt been made into a movie

Way too many commercial time outs @MarchMadnessMBB

@BE_GoldenEagle it is 100% the coach who is coaching the defense's fault

A coach's job is to get his kids to win the game. This is NOT the coach's fault. This is Wisconsin's fault.

@KyleMalzhan how about coaches tell their players to....play defense

Wisconsin high school athletic leaders must step up and approve a shot clock.

@KarlWinterTV play defense...simple

Milwaukee Juneau, leading by 2 in the State title game, holds the ball for 90+ seconds before calling a timeout. Boos rain down at the Kohl Center. #wisbb

@nostalgiaa Homer would have been able to drink when he turned 18

Wonder if anyone ever realized how deep this scene from the Simpsons was

@hunleyeric @idiotturn @ClownWorld you are missing the obvious it is only that speed when the lights are flashing...which they arent

@idiotturn @ClownWorld It doesn’t matter. If the person throws something on the windshield and there’s a wreck, the thrower has liability.

Man's decided the cops aren’t doing enough so now he's launching desserts at speeding cars 😭

@notgaetti #5

Jackie Robinson needs to be higher but I can’t decide how much higher

Former 6man Football HC Don Haskins

"I had met a poor old rich man yesterday. In his garage he has a Packard and a Buick, and he owns the finest mansion in Greenville, S.C., but he’s busted, broke – broken-hearted. He’s sick, and he’s afraid he’s going to die in what for 20 years has been disgrace. I sat with 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson in the rickety grandstand as the Nats played the Tigers in Greenville. In disguised curiosity, players of the Detroit and Washington teams sauntered past to glimpse the man when his presence in the park was whispered about. They wanted a gander at the fellow their fathers had told them about. They stared at the man who, their Dad's had told them, could do more things better on a baseball field than any player who ever lived. They saw a stout, florid-faced, powerful-looking man of 53. I found him sitting with a doctor. Without his physician, he could not go to the ball game. The latest of his heart attacks occurred only two weeks ago. “It was only a little jolt,” he said, “but it’s got me scared.” He smiled when he said it, and he didn’t look scared. Neither was there a scare only resignation, to his tone when he continued: “I don’t think I’ll last long, now.” How to begin, how to ask a man like that about the tragedy in his life – the fixed World Series of 1919 that brought his banishment from baseball. He saved me the trouble. He was anticipating me. He said, “I know what you’re going to ask me. It’s what they all ask me when they get their nerve up. Well, Sonny, I’m as innocent as you are. I had no part in that fix in 1919.” How now to draw him out? Was he bitter toward baseball, I asked. Did he have any resentment toward the game that had thrown him out? “No,” he said, curtly. “Not bitter toward baseball. I don’t care for Judge Landis.” He didn’t like Judge Landis? “No, he didn’t keep his bargain with me. He said if the courts declared me not guilty, he’d stand by me. That word wasn’t kept when the court acquitted me in the Black Sox trial. How can I like Judge Landis? The evidence in court showed that Buck Weaver and I were innocent. Even the fellows who were in on the fix testified that we had no part in it. My God, Sonny, did you ever look up the records of that World Series.” What about the records, Joe, I asked. “I can take you home and show them to you. The only three games the White Sox won in the series, Buck Weaver and I won for ‘em. Did you know that I made more hits – Twelve – than anybody in that series. And that it stood as a World Series record for total hits until 1930 when Pepper Martin got 13. Does that sound like I was laying down. My God, Sonny, all you have to do is look at the records.” Shirley Povich. Washington Post April 11, 1941. In my HOF!!!!

He teaches American bartenders how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness: “This is the difference between selling three beers versus just the one.” 🍺 on.wsj.com/4rHyE1o

If anyone that follows me buys @Topps to chase cards like this...be aware this is not a real autograph...it is a forgery and not a good one. Topps is defrauding its customers

@accnetwork @DukeMBB point shaving at its finest

COMEBACK COMPLETE 😈 DUKE RALLIES FOR ITS LARGEST COMEBACK OF THE SEASON! @DukeMBB

@FBI needs to investigate Duke...geez @MarchMadnessMBB

@tossingphotos @CardsStory typical cabinet style mounting for the time

@LemanSaunders @CardsStory Is it mounted on the grey board?

VINTAGE BASEBALL SALES THREAD - Keep it strictly 1880-1980 - NO Links to eBay or any other sites - Please list a price with every card - Anyone & everyone is welcome to post & buy cards - Lets get some cards moving & build a stronger vintage community RT’s appreciated ⚾️