NEAL

Barely in their twenties at Wrigley, about to spend a decade rewriting the record book.

Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle during Dodgers batting practice before game 1 of the 1963 World Series.

"We will rebuild every house, every street, every city. We tell russia: learn the words ‘reparations’ and ‘contributions.’ You will repay everything you did against Ukraine.” - Volodymyr Zelensky 🇺🇦 🫡

- Radoslaw Sikorski - FM of Poland .."Putin is a man whose word and signature cannot be trusted. He has lied repeatedly, violated agreements repeatedly, and built his system on intimidation rather than cooperation We cannot be naive about Russia. The Kremlin understands strength and exploits weakness. That is why Europe must remain united and continue supporting Ukraine." .... I fully support his opinions 🫡

July 26, 1976 Blyleven Masterful in Return to Minnesota, Carew Blows his Top “Bert Blyleven did a job on his former Minnesota teammates and Twins Manager Gene Mauch says the umpiring crew did a job on Rod Carew,” on this date in 1976. “Blyleven took care of the boos from a partial Minnesota crowd with a two-hit, 3-0 victory, but he didn’t have Carew to contend with for the final five innings either.” “’I was glad he was out of there,’ said Blyleven. ‘If there’s anybody you might not want to pitch to, Rod is the one.’” “Carew was called out by umpire Jim Evans in a close play at second on a steal attempt in the fourth inning and he exploded.” “’I’ve never blown my top before,’ said Carew, who admitted he blew his top, ‘But how much can you take.’” “Carew, who has stolen 36 bases in 49 attempts, said Evans and Joe Brinkman are about the only two umpires who have called him out on base stealing attempts.” Evans ejected Carew “for the first time in his 10-year big year career after the Twins first baseman slammed his helmet down following the out call.” “Carew then went to the Twins dugout and started to empty the bat rack onto the field….” As for Blyleven he “toyed with the Twins and hostile crowd.” “’Let ‘em boo…they weren’t going to have anything else to cheer about,’ said Blyleven, who improved his record to 7-12 with his third shutout of the season for Texas.” The Rangers acquired Blyleven on June 1 via a trade with the Twins. “’The hitters knew he’d throw breaking pitches, and they still couldn’t hit him,’ said Texas Manager Frank Luchessi. ‘He was a very determined young man.’” After each inning Blyleven “tipped his cap or bowed to the jeering crowd…” “’We had to give 110 percent in this game,’ said Toby Harrah, who slammed his ninth homerun of the season and first in a month to give Texas a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. ‘Bert has pitched so well for us and we haven’t given him any support.’” All of Blyleven’s three wins for Texas since being acquired were shutouts. “’I had a feeling I was going to pitch a shutout,’ said Blyleven. ‘This was the biggest game for me in a long time.’” Brent Kallestad- The Globe