Good morning!
The TV production of Tuesday’s All-Star game could usher in a rebirth of AM radio. It was unwatchable. Sideshows included fireworks, sparklers, public service spectacles and over-the-top patriotism. We love America and want to beat cancer, but could we please watch the game without all the fluff?
Worst of all were the in-game interviews. “How’d you prepare for having a dominant season?” Fox TV’s Joe Davis asked Milwaukee pitcher Jacob Misiorowski. “The obvious thing, put in a lot of work in the weight room, that was the big focus,”
Illuminating, no? Now every pitcher will work out more and win the Cy Young.
Kyle Schwarber’s earplug kept falling out while he was at bat. “How’d you like the home run derby?” asked John Smoltz.
“The Derby was amazing,” said Schwarber. Stop the presses.
Schwarber, Misiorowski, Bryce Harper, Pete Crow-Armstrong and all the others wearing a wire got $15,000, according to Google AI.
Decades ago before a Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park, Don Zimmer and a few others in the dugout watched NBC’s Tony Kubek interview shortstop Rick Burlerson near the on deck circle. On his way back to the dugout they saw Burleson tuck a few bills in his rear pocket.
“How much they pay you?” asked Zimmer.
“Seventy-five,” said Rooster.
“You giving it to your wife?”
“No! I’m keeping it!” exclaimed Burleson.
All Star Notes: AL players each got $25,000 for beating their NL counterparts. … The announced attendance at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia was 43,916, more than a thousand over seating capacity. … Bosox reliever Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth and got the first two hitters on six pitches. … Let’s face it, the two-hour, 45-minute game was a bore. The AL got three runs in the first inning and the NL got three hits in nine innings.
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Big Game Hunting: Undefeated Greenfield Post 81 run-ruled Bill Phelps’ former nemesis Aldenville Post 337 on Thursday and plays Monson Post Post 241 today at noon at Vets Field. Afterward coach Alex Siano told the Recorder’s Adam Hargraves: “We want to step on teams’ throats. We want to make the state tournament.”
Meanwhile Northampton Post 28 overtook East Springfield Post 420 in the Zone B standings and finished 10-3. On Thursday ‘Hamp beat Belchertown Post 239 at Arcanum Field to stay in the winners’ bracket of the playoffs.
Post 28 hosts Sheffield Post 340 which beat Westfield Post 124 on Thursday, 7-5, this morning at 11 a.m. at Arcanum Field.
Stay tuned for what might be a Yanks-Bosox kind of showdown between two proud programs.
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UMass Men’s Track and Field coach David Jackson will welcome three Boston Globe All-Scholastic athletes to next year’s team including two from Reading High School. Ryan Pulpi ran the 400 in 47.33 seconds to break a 43-year meet record and Luke Rogerson placed fourth in the javelin at the Nike nationals (205-11). The third recruit, Walpole’s Sawyer Regan won the pentathlon at the Meet of Champions.
This will be Jackson’s 18th season in Amherst. “David sent three runners to the 2026 NCAA East Regional Qualifiers, most in a single season in program history,” said UMass publicist Dan Colleran. “Our new state of the art training facility at the UMass Cage should help his recruiting efforts.”
Meanwhile UMass softball coach Danielle Henderson landed two Globe All Scholastics, both Class of ’28 and both will provide help up the middle. Catcher Aniyah Bailey of D-1 powerhouse Taunton led the Tigers with nine home runs and batted .533, and Attleboro shortstop Lola Ronayne batted .513 and hit 16 home runs for the D-1 Bombardiers.
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Old news perhaps, but the Greenfield Figure Skating Club is now the New England West Skating Club. “We basically started a whole new club,” said figure skating coach Suzanne McCaughtry. “We moved from the Greenfield rink to Deerfield Academy. Ice time’s expensive everywhere but Deerfield treats us very well.”
The move pleased Sunderland’s Joe Elias whose daughter Anjolina is skating in the same rink where her dad played hockey for Deerfield. Later this month Anjolina and five others will compete in the State Games of America at Penn State.
The group also includes Mina Chi of Sunderland, Nina Kratsa of Putney, Vermont, Ella and Jillian Vonderhorst of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and Camilla Cavaleri of Keene.
McCaughtry hopes to bolster membership if she can book ice time at NMH’s new rink “The Barn” which is scheduled to open in the fall. “We draw from Franklin County but also southern Vermont and New Hampshire, so I’m excited.”
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Dan Patrick took WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert to task after she decided not to appear on his show. “We’re waiting 90 minutes just for an update to interview her. We thought we’re finally going to be able to ask her questions about Caitlyn Clark.”
Clark has become the WNBA’s version of Jackie Robinson. She doesn’t retaliate or complain, she just keeps on playing. The latest example was last month when Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas pressed her fist into Clark’s throat while she was lying on the hardwood.
“We waited and we waited and we waited and we got word that [Englebert’s] PR staff preferred that she not do this,” said Patrick. “You’re the commissioner and you’re listening to the PR Department. It’s disappointing. We’re just trying to be a journalist here. We deserve more respect.”
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The second annual Pars for a Purpose Ladies Golf Tournament benefiting Cancer Connection is July 24 at Thomas Memorial Golf Club. The field is full but the general public is invited to participate in the raffle that includes over 100 prizes. Members and non-members can purchase tickets at the club on Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday and Friday morning. The inaugural tournament raised $9,300 and officials are hoping to break $10,000 this year.
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SQUIBBERS: Mike Noonan Report: Northampton Post 28 entered the postseason on Thursday winners of six straight and ready to take on all comers, including Greenfield Post 81. … The Pittsburgh Pirates took Tre Phelps in the ninth round of last week’s MLB draft. A senior at Georgia, Phelps was projected to go in the second round before he was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct after he hot-dogged around the bases after hitting a game winning home run against Liberty. . … Elbow surgery dropped 6-foot-9 Bishop Feehan lefthander Brody Bumila from the first to third round where the Rangers took him 89th overall pick. The state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, he whiffed 108 batters in 46 innings and had a 1.07 ERA. …. UMass hoops fans have long memories. Earlier this week a Hadley resident told me that AD Frank McInerney ignored two letters from Dave Gavitt inviting UMass to join the Big East in 1979. Oh what could’ve been. … Luis Arraez has been in the league eight years and is a four-time All Star with four different teams, which seems to suggest something about the man’s character. … Former Philly player and coach Larry Bowa to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman on why the Phils have gone 45-24 since Rob Thomson was pink slipped: “I think the players realized they got a good guy fired and kicked it up a notch.” Same might be true of the Red Sox and Alex Cora. … Deerfield, a 3-year-old colt trained by Cherie Devaux paid $10.40 at Horshoe Indianapolis on Wednesday. Owner Roy Jackson lives in Pennsylvania and went to St. Paul’s. … Reader Vinny Natale knocked my contention the NL would win based on its 141-100 record in interleague play. “I go by record, and before last night the NL had won two of the last 14 games and now it’s 2 of 15.” … Bob Weiss taught youngsters how to play hockey starting the day the Collins-Moylan Skating Arena opened more than a half century ago. He’s at Charlene Manor and could use a card or note to help him remember the good times. The address is 130 Colrain Rd., Greenfield 01301— Room 118. … The 9th annual Gary Stacy Memorial Scramble is July 30 at the Country Club of Greenfield. Stacy was a longtime MIAA tournament director, softball official and all around good guy. For more info call his brother John at 413-522-1521. … The Washington Commanders are retiring John Riggins’s No. 44. Riggo rushed for over 100 touchdowns but some remember him for telling Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “Sandy baby loosen up. You’re too tight” at a Washington Press Club dinner. … Chris Russo on Monday night’s overblown two-hour 40-minute home run derby: “Don’t make this out to be anything more than it is. It’s a fungo-hitting contest.”