Good morning!
This afternoon at the French King Restaurant in Erving, George Francis Bush will be feted for his longevity and ability to remain relevant. Acting as his own press agent, he’s kept track of how many times he’s mentioned in this column which was 56 the last time he called to kid me about it.
He won me an award, Travels with George, about a trip to Foxboro 20 years ago when he talked nonstop from Fourth Street to Gillette Stadium. A few months later he paid me to drive his car from the Days Inn parking lot at Bradley Field to his modest apartment in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
The car was a Don Lorenz special, an old Buick with broken seat springs and colorful Mardi Gras beads hanging from the rear-view mirror. I’d slipped crossing a wet hotel lobby floor and could barely walk by the time I got there. George saw me limping around to open the trunk and yelled, “Use my walker!”
“I don’t want to use your walker!” I yelled back.
George’s cousin is an MLB scout who lives south of Fort Lauderdale, and he’d bring George with him to watch the Cardinals in Jupiter or the Mets in Port St. Lucie. He must’ve driven the poor guy crazy but there’s no turning George down. George Steinbrenner knew this. The two Georges went to Williams College — Powertown George was Class of ’50, and Boss George was Class of ’52— and Steinbrenner always invited him into his office
Whenever we went to Gulfstream Park, George would look for his trainer friend Mark Hennig. I don’t know how they met, but I watched him sidle up to Hennig who took George’s program and pointed to a horse entered in the Fountain of Youth.
The horse was Quality Road, trained by Jimmy Jerkins and ridden by John Velazquez. As I left for the betting window George called after me and said, “But he might have been pointing at this horse.”
Typical George. Quality Road won, but I’d hedged my bets.
George is the last man standing from TFHS’s 1942 state champion baseball team. After college, he returned and taught history and coached junior high school football, basketball and baseball. During basketball practices he’d impress his young charges by throwing a two-hand set shot over the beams and through the basket.
Athletics runs in the family, and football is its strong suit. His brother “Bullet Lou” Bush was an all-American running back at UMass. Lou’s son Bill Bush played for GHS, married Ann Ruggeri and coached at Swampscott High School in the 80s. Their son Peter played at UNH and is Swampscott’s current head coach; his kids play football at Assumption and Swampscott.
Another brother, Frank, was the starting shortstop at Williams and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He subsequently became an MIT-trained meteorologist for the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II.
The past few years George has relied on different drivers for different occasions. Pinky Bernard takes him to Patriots games where he’s been a season ticket holder since the days of Babe Parilli, Jim Nance and Gino Cappelletti. Warren Thomas chauffeurs Bush and Stash Koscinski to state tournament softball games, and Liz Tyler brings him to Newt Guilbault League games where he’ll sit bundled up behind home plate.
George turns 100 on Thursday. According to Google AI, only 0.03 percent of the U.S. population is that age or older. Welcome to the club George, the Powertown salutes you.
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According to the N.Y. Post’s Jon Heyman, former Red Sox manager and Walpole native Joe Morgan tipped off Yankees scout Matt Hyde about a kid pitching for Walpole High School named Cam Schlittler. Meanwhile Hyde saw another kid who’d captained the 2018 Noble and Greenough team named Ben Rice and liked his work ethic. Both players were drafted in the late rounds and both have become outright stars.
Rice isn’t the only New Englander who played for both Dartmouth and the Yankees. The field is named for Red Rolfe who grew up in Penacook, New Hampshire, went to Dartmouth and played for the Yankees from 1932-42.
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MLB WILD CARD NOTES: The Red Sox, whose motto was No Time Like October, never made it to October. … Austin Riley’s eighth inning three-run dinger to beat the Phils on Tuesday was one of those Jack Buck “I don’t believe what I just saw” moments. … The Astros are the first playoff team to finish under .500 including the playoffs (82-84). … The last time White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi played a postseason game in Houston was with Boston in 2018 when his catch of Alex Bregman’s low line drive saved the season. … Yankees’ radio voice Suzyn Waldman seems to have lost her pizzazz. Her voice is flat and unemotional, and she says things like “Payton Tolle has the same type of pitches as Cam Shlittler, but very different.” Huh? … Michael Kay and Eduardo Perez teamed up well on ESPN Radio despite I-can-beat-you-in-trivia pest Tim Kurkjian, but NBC-TV’s Jason Benetti, Lou Merloni, Anthony Rizzo, and Joe Girardi were outstanding. … Phils radio voice Scott Franzke after back-to-back home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper tied the Braves late: “Baseball is excruciating in the playoffs. … Worst move by any network was sending Britney Eurton into the dugout during the game to interview Chase Meidroth after his home run gave the Chisel a 7-3 lead. “What’d it feel like rounding the bases?” asked Eurton. … Dominic Smith, who was with the Red Sox last year, struck out twice coming off the bench for Atlanta, including an ABS challenge that sealed Wednesday’s walk-off for the Phils. … Prior to the playoffs Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV wrote to the White Sox offering “abundant blessings” and after they beat the Astros owner Jerry Reinsdorf said he’s considering converting to Catholicism.
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The radio play-by-play voice of the Yankees Dave Sims was on Tuesday’s pre-game show with Greg Carton and Chris Mcmonigle. “Do you ever miss the Soul Man and the Cole Man?” teased Carton, referring to a show Sims did with Ed Coleman in the 1990s.
“I hated that name,” said Sims. “It has a nice ring to it, but just because I was the only freakin’ Black guy at the station I had to be the soul man. Then Imus came up with ‘The Funk and the Drunk’. Eddie’s a hall of fame human being but Imus and those guys, they drove that truck.”
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The Save College Sports Act means in part that student-athletes will be allowed just one penalty-free transfer, and that’s good news for UMass football. The bill passed by the Senate still needs to go back to the House and be signed by President Trump.
The vote was 77-22 with Dan Sullivan (R) of Alaska absent. Neither Liz Warren nor Ed Markey voted in favor. They think college players ought to be able to play in college for however long the school will have them, and for however much it will pay them.
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West County native Skip Smith is up from Tampa for his 60th Arms Academy reunion. Smith, who retired from working a TV camera at Rays and Lightning games, was five rows back of the dugout for the recent Cubs-Red Sox game at the Trop. “The most enjoyable part of the day was seeing many of my former coworkers and being recognized by security types and fan hosts and ushers,” wrote Smith. “That always makes me feel good. My son travels across the country covering hockey and often gets asked if he’s related to me. My reputation is universal, lol.”
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Understatement of the year in the Sacramento Bee regarding Sacramento State’s MAC road schedule: “None of the road games will be easily accessible by car.”
The Bee reported that the entrance fee for the Hornets to join the MAC was $18 million.
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SQUIBBERS: Overdue condolences to the Putala family on the passing of 28-year-old Jenna from cancer on Aug. 8. A three-sport athlete at TFHS, injuries cut short her softball career at Wesleyan. Hundreds turned out at the Schuetzen Verein on Sept. 12 to bid her farewell. … Good to hear the dulcet tones of the inimitable George Miller doing the PA at last Friday’s GHS – Frontier game at Vets Field. Miller has taken the reins from longtime announcer Bill Phelps. … Found a Squibber from 12 years ago that mentioned UMass chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy attending a UMass football game against B.C. “Happy to be watching!” he Tweeted. Big football fan, that Subbaswamy. … BC quarterback Mason McKenzie had 26 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s 21-14 loss to heavily favored Va. Tech at the Heights. McKenzie said he transferred from Saginaw Valley State to learn coach Bill O’Brien’s pro style offense. …
The O’s got their money’s worth from Pete Alonso who had 43 home runs, 113 RBIs, scored 100 Runs and played every game. … Rocket’s kid Kody Clemens hit 27 home runs for the Twins and led the league in triples with seven. Last year Jarren Duran tripled 13 times but only five times this year. … For only the fourth time neither league had a player reach 200 hits in the regular season. … Former Red Sox hurler Eduardo Rodriguez (E-Rod) was second in wins for Arizona in the NL and fifth in ERA at 16-7 and 2.90 respectively. … Yahoo Sports reports the steel urinal troughs used at High Mark Stadium in Buffalo were sold for $5,000 apiece to fans with presumably big man caves. … This might be a good time to buy low on a Drake Maye rookie card . … If you see Nate Blanchette at McGuirk today ask him if his $80 bid at the silent auction was enough to get him the framed photo of the ’26 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. … Redland Rocket Man, driven by Jodie Jamieson driver and trained by John Pentland won the 81st Little Brown Jug at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fairgrounds last week. …. Gio of Boomer and Gio says Bob Costas does play-by-play like he’s reading Aesop’s Fables. … Wrap-up quote of the night on Tuesday came from Mike Francesa: “Nobody front runs like Yankees fans.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@gmail.com.