Yankee4Life

3 out of 10, 35 seconds. Someone try to beat that! 😄

8 out of 10, 74 seconds. I got the first eight right but messed up the last two. Slow time but the questions I had to think about.

All I can guess Sabugo is that the people that did this were Americans visiting your country.

Updated to 11-23 ... You have to hand it to the Yankees. Really, you do. They delivered on another tiresome and aggravating season for their fans and if you really had to be completely honest with yourself you should've expected this way back in February. It was aggravating because they had the same season almost the same way as they did last year and the year before that and so on. When I saw them start out with a decent record ahead of the rest of the teams in their division I said to myself just wait until June and that will tell you everything we need to know about this team. It turns out we found out exactly what a lot of us were expecting. The Yankees are afraid of the month of June and some people are of the dark. It usually takes them about two months to turn on the lights and start playing well but when that happened they saw that the Blue Jays came on strong and never let up. You got to salute Toronto because they are a team that puts the ball in play and when you do that things happen. Making contact, hitting and running and playing defense along with good pitching will win you games. Who knew? The Yankees are a PlayStation team come to life. Everybody in that lineup swings for the fences and if you strike out four times a game that's okay because tomorrow maybe you only strike out three times a game and hit a home run. Not counting Aaron Judge there is very, very little about this team that makes me like them. They don’t even look like Yankees anymore ever since they got rid of the facial hair ban. Now some of them look like the bums you see on any other team. I’ll go on record saying that having facial hair or not will not affect how well you play but it’s just one more thing that has been taken away from this team that is not the same anymore. This team can be pitched to and beaten at any time. The home run, while impressive as an offensive weapon, is all that they have. And that is all that most fans know. That’s why baseball throws all those stats at you when one is hit. How fast it went out, the distance and the launch angle. Information that means absolutely nothing. The 1998 to 2009 Yankees had one thing in common: a great shortstop, an all-time great closer and a good catcher. Do they have any of those things now? They are not even close because if you think Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells are somehow going to get better next year then you’d better find something else to do next summer. If you have been around here this summer you would've read us talk about how this team is in the shout box. Team management privately thinks that this season was a success because they want ninety-four games. The public will hear them say that they were disappointed and frustrated and they will do everything in their power to make next year be a championship year. You know, the usual gaslighting. They could care less because they know that the fans in the Bronx will come back again and again and the only real change is when they finally part ways with Cashman and Boone. And that is not going to happen so I might as well end this right here and when they get eliminated in the 2026 playoffs I can come back to this random thoughts post and just cut-and-paste it so I can use it again next year. At least they are consistent, right? ... Every year in the summer runners from all over the world come to Utica, New York to participate in something called the Boilermaker 15K Road Race. This is a big thing for runners of all ages and it has been going on for over forty years. There were thousands of runners this year including at one point a deer, which, for one unfortunate lady turned out to be an unwelcome surprise. Around the four-mile mark a doe ran out of the woods presumably because she was late in registering and ran directly into a female runner causing her considerable damage. The woman was taken to a hospital where she was treated for a bruised face, a black eye and a bloody ear. If only the deer stayed within the deer crossing signs this would not have happened. After the collision the deer turned around and ran back into the woods apparently because she did not want to be stuck paying for damages. ...Baseball sure knew how to give a good send off to the winter didn’t they? This was one of the exciting and interesting World Series in a long time and it outperformed just about everything from last year. While 2024 gave us Aaron Judge dropping a fly ball in game five to end the series, this year we got the amazing Yoshinobu Yamamoto winning three games. (Never mind the jokes about Boone probably yanking him out of the game early. That’s for another time.) The Dodgers won and the Blue Jays thankfully lost. Yes, I said thankfully because had Toronto won Fat Vlad would be doing his bat flips all over the Grapefruit League when baseball resumes next February. Toronto should have won it in six games but Addison Barger was too far off second base and he ended up getting doubled off on one of the nicest double plays you will ever see in the sixth game. That right there was what I thought was the turning point for game seven before the game even started. Even after Bichette’s home run I figured the Jays needed a few more. They only got one and the Dodgers chipped and chipped away and after Los Angeles turned a double play for the second straight night to end the game that was that. ...Why was it ok during the post season that the ghost runner was shelved and it did not create a problem? Of all the rule changes in recent years this one is right near the top of the ones I dislike the most. And while I am at it has anyone read any articles from former players who have gone on record by saying they approve of all the changes the game has had in recent years? I have not read one yet. ...There is one guy on this website that I think can step in and do a better job than Cashman in one month than that guy has in the last sixteen years and that is KCCityStar. The guy knows what’s wrong with the Yankees and what’s more is that he can easily identify the cause of the issue(s) and what the team is doing to add to them. That’s the first thing you have to do with any problem you have. You have to acknowledge that there is one and only then you take steps to solve it. The Yankees, because they still consider themselves the mighty Yankees, still believe their approach to winning is working because the team is a constant playoff participant. That’s fine but someone else always ends up winning the World Series and the Yankees have to answer questions yet again as to why they couldn’t get the job done and after all this time they have their excuses armed and ready to go. The Yankees have troubles and I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t. KC observes the same things that I do but he sees it first. I wanted Anthony Volpe sent to the minors back in June but he kept on saying that it was the Yankees approach to hitting that is causing some of his problems. Really? Maybe so! I just think that because of what I have seen that Yankee prospects, with the exception of Aaron Judge, are overrated and it shows once they reach the major leagues. Look at the recent top prospects - Sanchez, Andujar, Frazier, Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza and now Volpe, who was the worst shortstop in baseball and Jasson Domínguez, who in two years will probably end up being traded to the White Sox or Pirates. They all have turned out to be disappointments that have never been worth their hype. All flops. The reason the Yanks have a high payroll is their total inability to produce players from within their system. There are no three words that are a bigger jinx than "prized Yankees prospect" and a big reason for that is the fault of the Yankees which I believe KC sees. ... Good work if you can get it Dept: What is that old saying about a fool and their money being soon parted? This woman in San Francisco is doing exactly that to couples who give her money to help name their babies. For some people that want some personalized name recommendations they have to pay her close to two hundred dollars. That includes each name’s meanings, origins, spelling variations, popularity history, and “vibes”-whatever that means. But when the client has money that is when it gets ridiculous. She charges $30,000 for add-on services that include some impressive-on-paper things as “identifying a unique name aesthetic,” “baby name branding,” and getting a genealogist to compose a list of names from old parts of the family tree, or even hiring a think tank to discuss options. Somehow I cannot picture people getting together in a room tossing out baby names to each other. I feel sorry for the kid that has to go through life knowing that his folks paid thirty grand because they couldn't come up with a name for him by themselves. I think I can do this job for half the price and if the people do not like the name I come up with I will go back and come up with another. Someone has to do this job in upstate New York and it may as well be me. ...Two things that immediately came to mind when I learned about what happened with Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz. First, even though they traded money for information, bet on themselves and transferred money across state and international lines, this is not over by any means. They’re facing up to sixty-five years in prison but now the lawyers are going to get involved and it’s going to be long and costly. You can do just about anything in baseball but you better not have anything to do with gambling. Secondly, if by any chance they are allowed back in baseball they will never play for the Indians again. I just wonder why they did this at all. Clase is in the middle of a five-year, twenty million dollar contract and Ortiz is earning the league minimum $760,000. Poor guy. And they still want to put a team in Las Vegas? ...A lot of people don’t know this about myself only because the subject never came up but I am a big fan of Selena Gomez. I like how she conducts herself, she’s a good business woman, her albums seem to sell well although I don’t own any and she’s a very good actress and finally she is extremely beautiful. So, I wish her all the luck with her career. I also heard that she got married some time ago and when I took a look at the guy she married I thought he looked like a young Bob Dylan. That’s the polite way to say that he looks like a homeless bum. As long as she’s happy. While not originating the saying “love is blind” Shakespeare popularized it several of his plays. In this case life imitates art. ...A woman by the name of Sarah Jane Ramos who happens to be the fiancé of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott recently had $40,000 worth of property, including designer goods from Chanel and Louis Vuitton stolen from her vehicle because she was going to a pilates class and on her way inside it began to rain heavily so she hurried in and neglected to lock her car. When she returned to her car that is when she noticed that her designer handbags and wallets from Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada, as well as computer software and cash were amongst the estimated $40,000 worth of pieces stolen. Well, at least we know that among all the stolen items they did not take a playoff ring from Prescott. It is obvious that he is not with her for her intellect. The outside of my car is not even worth $40,000. What any reasonable person would think after reading this is that if you leave forty grand worth of goods in your car unlocked and left alone so you can go and participate in an exercise class you then deserve to lose forty grand worth of goods. Not to worry, he’ll get her more. ...Fly me to the moon, Dept: Kim Kardashian is well known for a multitude of things but intelligence is not one of them. This is a woman who at one time was married to Kanye West. She’s attempting to become a lawyer in the state of California but unfortunately for her she failed the bar exam. She was surprised it was a written test because she had memorized every mixed drink in the bartender’s handbook. During a recent episode of The Kardashians she blurted out that the “moon landing was fake and it didn’t happen.” This is coming from a woman who doesn’t even know where the moon is. She provided proof for anyone who wanted it to simply go to TikTok and watch the videos themselves. Going to TikTok to learn about something like this is like having the evening news be broadcast on Nickelodeon. If the moon landing was fake Russia would have been the first ones to expose it because we were in a race with them. They traced the progress of the missions and they have not disputed the landing once in over fifty years. That fact has probably not made it on to one of those videos. ... Not too long ago when my cousin came home after taking a flight to Florida she was telling me she could not make up her mind what was more annoying on it as she described children constantly leaving their seats to run around, which seemed to annoy everyone except their parents or when one of them noticed that another passenger had an emotional support animal along with her. When they found out that a dog was on board every one of them had to go back there to see it for themselves. The dog was very quiet before the kids noticed it and most people sitting near the lady didn't even know she had a dog with her but when the kids began aggressively playing with and touching the dog that is when the barking started. She really couldn't blame the dog but with the barking and the kids running around it made for a very tough flight. It reminded me of another incident on a plane where a passenger brought his emotional support animal on the flight with him but in this instance no one bothered the dog. You see, the dog that the guy brought on the plane was a Great Dane and nobody wanted to get too close to him despite the fact that Great Danes are known to be affectionate and very sociable but just in case he may have been in a bad mood they gave him his space. A lot of people were not too happy with having a dog that size on their flight because as you can imagine he took up a lot of space. The reason why a dog of that size is allowed on flights is because the airlines have been allowing it so naturally people have been taken advantage of it. If you can’t leave the house without your security blanket (living or inanimate) it’s best that you stay home. There is a big difference between emotional support animals and service animals. Service animals are highly trained helpers for the people that they are with and emotional support animal is just a pet getting a free ride. If you are so mentally distraught that you need an emotional support animal to travel, perhaps getting into an aluminum tube with two hundred strangers and flying to 40,000 feet just isn't for you. ...NFL check-in and all that jazz, Dept: The nice thing, if you would like to call it that, is that if you are a fan of the Oakland Raiders like I am your season is over each year before the World Series even begins. It's hard being consistently bad every single year. I mean you always see a different team coming out of nowhere and having a great year but the only thing that you can count on about the Raiders is that they will not be one of those teams. A new coach and a new quarterback and an offense that looks good in preseason but when the bell rings the scoring stops. I remember a few years back the Raiders lost a game to Minnesota 3 -0. How the hell do you lose a game 3 - 0? And the worst part is wasn't the worst loss that they have had over the years. This one just stands out because they cannot score. Just recently they lost a game to the Denver Broncos by the score of 10 - 7. Denver by the way is this year's surprise team. The Raiders surprise no one. They don't have a lot of good things going for them but at least they did not go out and sign Devondre Campbell after the 49ers released him last year. Campbell was the guy who refused to go into a game in the third quarter against the Rams late last year. San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan suspended him for the remainder of the season and no one has had the sense to pick him up this year. The Raiders used to be famous for reclamation projects but all of those players actually wanted to play. It's a good thing that Campbell has his high school diploma to fall back on because he'll never be hired on the NFL Today. ...Lastly I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving to those of us here in the United States. For those of you anywhere else in the world please just continue on as normal. Enjoy spending time with your families and if you are someone who gets the long weekend off from work, have fun by doing nothing. I already know when I get there on Thursday the same relative is going to slap me on the back and say to me “what happened to those Yankees this year?” like I am supposed to know. I always tell him I wish I knew and I am convinced from the same response that I give him that he believes I know nothing about the game. Anyway, again Happy Thanksgiving and for those of you who are going to have one eye on the turkey and one on the TV as you follow the NFL games that day here are the three games on. First it’s the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions. That’s on FOX. Then the game I look forward to every year, the Dallas game. I watch the Cowboys every year because they always manage to put me to sleep. It’s either that or the turkey. Anyhow, the Kansas City Chiefs will be visiting Dallas and that game will be on CBS. Just for laughs count how many times the camera shows Taylor Swift during the game because you know she won’t miss being there. Finally the evening game will be the Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens and that will be on NBC. Someone will watch that game. It’s just not going to be me. Have a great holiday!

10 out of 10, 45 seconds. My hand slipped off the mouse and by the time I grabbed it again and got going I lost a lot of time. What a messed up time.

Not really my friend. I got two questions that should have been in the easy category. What team did Phil Rizzuto play his entire career with? (Yanks of course) Where did the Yankees play their games in 2002? (Yankee Stadium, naturally. They provided three made-up stadiums for answers.) I got lucky today. But Tuesday is waiting for me.

10 out of 10, 41 seconds. Finally a day I can be satisfied with.

No issues loading the game and I have it on XP and Windows 10. Why can't you use the CD's to install the game on Windows 7?

10 out of 10, 32 seconds. Not bad, but it's going to be beat.

9 out of 10, 56 seconds. Well that came out of nowhere. The score was aided by three football questions, one of which I got wrong. This is going to be a heck of a race to the finish with laroquece ahead by a point. I what is going to aid everyone is the three easy baseball question days (November 21, 23, 28 and 30) where everyone records fast times and high scores.

Bibb Falk It almost seems as if everyone is short-changing Bibb Falk. Many articles describe him as “the man who replaced Joe Jackson.” Author William A. Cook used that same description when he wrote Falk’s biography in 2015. There are very few players who could literally replace Shoeless Joe. Falk should be recalled as a player who had a fine career in his own right. In 12 seasons with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians, Falk batted .314 and compiled an on-base percentage of .372. For four consecutive seasons he led American League outfielders in assists from his left field position. Falk was also one of the most successful managers on the collegiate level at the University of Texas. In his 25 years of piloting the Longhorns, he won 20 Southwestern Conference Championships and two National Championships. He did it with the deftness of a drill sergeant and an acerbic tongue that earned him the nickname “Jockey” for the hard way he rode opponents. Bibb August Falk was born on January 27, 1899, in Austin, Texas. He was the fourth of six children born to Gustave and Christine Falk, both of whom who had emigrated from Sweden. His younger brother, Chet Falk, was a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns from 1925 to 1927. Falk graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1916. His plan was to follow his father and work for the railroad. But University of Texas baseball coach William J. “Uncle Billy” Disch saw Falk play in high school and convinced him to play football and baseball at Texas, where Disch was already a coaching legend. Falk was a two-sport star at UT, excelling as an All-Southwest Conference tackle on the gridiron and a pitcher for the baseball team. In three varsity seasons, he was undefeated as a starting pitcher. When he was not on the mound, Bibb played first base and the outfield for the Longhorns. In his three seasons beginning in 1917, he batted .369, .460 and .400. When America entered World War I, Falk joined the U.S. Naval Reserves. During the 1919 season, the White Sox contacted Falk about joining their team. Chicago trained in Mineral Wells, Texas, and on occasion would play exhibition games against the Longhorns. Falk caught the attention of the White Sox management, who sought to sign him to a contract. “Well, it was settled by wire and mail between the White Sox, Disch and myself,” said Falk. “They just sent a contract down here after school that summer. I signed in the summer before I reported. In those days you could do that in college, you know. So, I actually signed the contract in the summer of ’19 and reported in June of ’20.” The contract Falk signed was for $2,500 and a $1,000 bonus. He returned to Texas and graduated with a degree in civil engineering, then joined the White Sox and made his major league debut on July 17 against the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. He pinch hit for Eddie Cicotte and lined out to center field. By then, another story was brewing on the South Side. The White Sox, who had won the American League pennant in 1919, lost to Cincinnati in the World Series. Despite their being the heavy betting favorites, it was suspected and subsequently determined that they had not made a genuine effort to win the championship. Whispers turned to rumors which proved to have enough fact behind them that an investigation was launched as part of a general investigation of gambling in baseball toward the end of the 1920 season. In the end, seven White Sox players (first baseman Chick Gandil did not report for the 1920 season) were involved. Following indictments from the Cook County grand jury, Chicago owner Charles Comiskey issued an indefinite suspension to each player, thus decimating his club. The last game the White Sox had played with their team fully intact was on September 27, a 2-0 win over Detroit. At that moment, the Sox were a half game behind first-place Cleveland in the American League standings. But Cleveland completed a four-game sweep against St. Louis and split a four-game season-ending series with Detroit. Chicago closed out on the road in St. Louis. Fielding mostly replacement players, the Sox lost two of three games to the Browns. “I never really knew much about it [the Series fix],” said Falk. “I really didn’t associate with the older players. Then we went to St. Louis the last week of September and it broke wide open. Suddenly half our team was gone. That’s when I got my chance to play.” Although the White Sox finished second in the pennant chase, and they lost half of their lineup to suspensions, it was the break Bibb Falk needed. In the final series against the Browns, he went 3 for 13 with a double and an RBI. On the season, he batted .294. Chicago manager Kid Gleason suddenly had a team in transition on his hands. The revamped club of 1921 was indeed a far cry from the pennant-winners of 1919. The Sox traded first baseman Shano Collins and right fielder Nemo Leibold to the Boston Red Sox for right fielder Harry Hooper. Hooper was a star for the Red Sox and a future member of the Hall of Fame. But for a team that was trying to fill many holes, trading two starters for one might not seem like a prudent deal. During the 1920 season, Chicago had acquired outfielder Amos Strunk from Philadelphia. Strunk was a capable batsman who was a key player on Connie Mack’s four pennant-winning A’s teams from the previous decade. Hooper and Strunk, combined with second baseman Eddie Collins and catcher Ray Schalk, provided Gleason with a small, but sturdy foundation with which to build his offense. A lot would depend on what contributions the newcomers, Falk, first baseman Earl Sheely and center fielder Johnny Mostil could add to the veterans. It was the pitching staff that would appear to be rather thin, with Dickey Kerr and Red Faber as the only capable starters. One of the more entertaining games of the 1921 season occurred on July 9 against New York at Comiskey Park. The Yankees held an eight-run lead through the top of the seventh inning before the Chisox mounted a comeback. Two of the newcomers, Falk and Sheely, led the uphill charge. A two-run triple by Falk in the bottom of the eighth narrowed the deficit to 9-5. Chicago scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at nine all; Sheely had the game-tying hit. Both clubs went scoreless until the bottom of the 16th inning. After Strunk whiffed, Falk singled and went to second on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Mostil. He scored the winning tally on a single by Sheely. On the day, Falk was 5-for-6 with two RBIs, four runs scored, and two walks. Falk ended his rookie campaign batting .285, with 82 RBIs (second on the club). But the White Sox were not a competitive club, falling to seventh place with a 62-92 record, 36 ½ games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. In the eight years Falk was a member of the south siders, they would never finish out of the second division. Falk led the team in home runs with 12 in 1922, batting .298. After the season, he joined some of his fellow big leaguers for a trip to play overseas. “We stayed several weeks in Japan, playing university and semi-pro teams. Then we went to Korea, Manchuria, and China. Played a game in Shanghai. Then Manilla and Honolulu where we played army teams. We were overseas about three months.” Chicago acquired third baseman Willie Kamm from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League in 1922. Kamm, a slick fielder and a capable batsman, joined the White Sox in 1923 and manned the hot corner for the rest of the decade. Still, the Sox were getting older and acquisitions like Kamm were few and far between. Falk batted .307 in 1923, but his season was cut short due to a case of gingivitis (swelling of the gums). He played on August 24 and did not return to the team until October 2. Frank Chance was chosen to replace Gleason as the White Sox manager for the 1924 season. The former Chicago Cubs great hired his former Cubs’ teammate Johnny Evers as coach. But Chance never got the opportunity to lead the White Sox, as he became stricken with a recurrence of a bronchial asthmatic infection, according to the Chicago Tribune, and he passed away on September 15, 1924 at the age of 47. Evers took his place as the White Sox pilot. Falk had a stellar year at the plate in 1924, batting .352, third behind Babe Ruth (.378) and Charlie Jamieson (.359). He went to the White Sox front office, seeing if maybe a bonus would be coming his way. “Harry Grabiner, the general manager, said that when I got home I should write to Mr. Comiskey a letter and see what he said,” said Falk. “I wrote him and got a letter back. I still don’t think Comiskey saw mine. I still think Grabiner wrote the answer. It said, ‘In all my years of baseball I never heard of a player refunding any money for a bad year, so why should I give you more for a good year?’ That’s the way it was in those days.” Eddie Collins replaced Evers as the Sox field boss in 1925. Under Collins, a player-manager, they rose to consecutive fifth-place finishes. Falk had another terrific year at the plate in 1926, batting .345 and totaling 108 RBIs, tied with Goose Goslin of Washington for sixth. One highlight for Falk came on August 11 at Dunn Field against Cleveland. He had the second five-hit game of his career in leading the White Sox to a 7-2 victory in 13 innings. Chicago scored five runs in the top of the 13th, the big blow being Falk’s two-run homer that sailed over the right field wall and six-story screen onto Lexington Avenue. In six trips to the plate, Falk had a home run, a double, two RBIs and three runs. Collins was fired as manager and released as a player in the offseason. Ray Schalk took his place. In addition to Falk’s hitting prowess, he developed a keen batting eye. Early in his career he had struck out more times than he walked. But as he gained more experience and became more familiar with the pitching, his knowledge of the strike zone improved. In addition to leading the Sox in hitting (.327) and hits (175), Falk walked 52 times to 19 strikeouts. It was the fifth consecutive season that his free passes outnumbered the whiffs. The 1928 season was a frustrating one for Falk. Never a fan of Schalk as a manager, he was even more chagrined when Schalk was replaced by coach Lena Blackburne. Never one to hold his tongue, Falk was vocal about his dislike for Blackburne. He soon found himself sitting in the dugout instead of standing in his customary position in left field. In 98 games (only 79 as an outfielder) he batted .290. The drop of 37 points in his batting average led to Grabiner taking a machete to Falk’s $10,000 contract. The cut was $2,500 or 25% and Falk balked vehemently at the figure. As spring training was getting underway in 1929, the White Sox dealt Falk to Cleveland for catcher Chick Autry. The deal appeared to balance heavily on the Indians’ side, obtaining one of the best players in the league for a backup catcher. When Falk reported to the Indians spring training home in New Orleans, he soon found that he would not be in the starting lineup. Charlie Jamieson was a staple in left field, while rookie players Earl Averill and Dick Porter would be the Tribe’s center and right fielders, respectively. When manager Roger Peckinpaugh (briefly a teammate of Falk’s in 1927) informed him of the news, Falk was upbeat. “Whatever you want to do is all right with me. I’m so glad to get away from the White Sox club that any kind of a job looks good to me. If I can help you more as a pinch hitter and extra outfielder than I can as a regular, I’ll expect to be used that way.” Cleveland may have had a more talented club than the White Sox, but not by much. From 1921 to 1933, all the American League clubs were chasing either New York, Philadelphia, or Washington. In most seasons, the second-tier teams were chasing them by a wide margin. Falk may have had vengeance on his mind when the Indians played a four-game series at Comiskey Park against the Sox May 28-30. Falk started all four games and was 10 for 16 with a double, a home run, and six RBIs. Cleveland took three of the four. Peckinpaugh used Falk as more than a spare part. He had 112 starts in either of the corner outfield positions, batted .312 and set a career high for home runs with 13. He also knocked in 93 runs. Over the next two seasons, Falk’s playing time diminished. But as a pinch hitter, he batted .371 and .326 in 1930 and 1931, respectively. His overall averages for those seasons were .325 and .304. After 12 seasons, Falk hung up his spikes, at least on the major league level. In addition to his lifetime batting average of .314, he hit 69 home runs, totaled 784 RBIs and 300 doubles. His fielding average in left field was .969. In 1933 Falk was a player-manager for Toledo of the American Association. He returned to the major leagues the following season and joined the Indians coaching staff under Peckinpaugh and then Walter Johnson. In 1934 he joined the Boston Red Sox as a coach on Bucky Harris’s staff. He returned to Austin and served as a scout for the Red Sox in the Austin area. At the beginning of the 1940 season, University of Texas Coach and Falk mentor Billy Disch became ill with a heart ailment. Falk was chosen as his successor. The list of adjectives for Falk included abrupt, demanding, intimidating, cantankerous and intense. And although he rode his players hard, they respected him and played hard for him. Eventually Disch rejoined the Longhorns, but in the capacity of an advisor to Falk. In September 1942, at age 43, Falk enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He was stationed at Randolph Field in San Antonio. Falk was a sergeant, serving as a physical training instructor, a trainer of the Randolph Ramblers football squad and coach of the baseball team. Just as he led his players back in Austin, Falk led the recruits with the same sarcastic, crusty, demanding style. One story is that Falk had some recruits digging ditches, and he was driving them with his usual derision. “Come on coach, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” groaned the young recruit. “Yeah, and Bibb Falk wasn’t foreman on that job, either” said Falk. When Falk returned to civilian live in 1946, he resumed coaching the Texas Longhorns. He won nine straight SWC Championships (1946-1954) with a 111-19 conference record in that span. When he retired in 1967, Falk’s record was 478-176 for a winning percentage of .730. Falk’s players agreed that he was a hard coach to play for, but it was an experience they would not trade for anything. Jimmy Raup, a reliever for the Longhorns, recalled a game in 1967 against arch-rival Oklahoma. Falk brought Raup into the game after the Sooners had loaded the bases with nobody out. Raup struck out the side, the third Sooner hitter swinging and missing at a high breaking ball for the third strike. “The guy probably should have hit the thing out of the park, but he missed,” said Raup. “I went strutting off the mound, feeling pretty cocky, and saw Bibb coming towards me. I was expecting ‘nice job’ or something, but he just said, ‘How long do you expect to get away with that [bleep]?” The years did not make Falk ease his crusty demeanor. Years later, Raup saw Falk at a UT baseball game. “He asked me how my curveball is,” said Raup. “I told him I was coaching Little Leaguers and getting those 10-year-olds out pretty consistently. He said, ‘Well, you’re finally in the right league.”’ Or the time Travis Eckert blasted a home run to deep center field. Falk greeted him as he came back to the dugout and advised, “You’re gonna learn to pull the ball one of these days.” “A great fundamentalist,” said Max Alvis of Falk. “He could rip you real good, but you loved him because you knew he’d have you prepared when you took the field.” Falk was honored with inductions into several Halls of Fame. Included were the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1962, the Helms Athletic Foundation College Hall of Fame in 1966, the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968, and the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1975, the University of Texas renamed its baseball field Disch-Falk Field. Falk never missed home UT baseball games in retirement. He was a fixture and enjoyed the attention he received from adoring fans. He never married, and on June 8, 1989, he passed away at the age of 90 due to a heart ailment.

7 out of 10, 67 seconds. Well, this is better. I still have time to get going but who knows?

You really are not doing bad at all.

5 out of 10, 62 seconds. Another sub-par day. Now let me show you how tough it was today. You all try to get this right: Once the beast is in the 'camp' the judges allocate points. On what areas are the riders judged in campdrafting? For the love of God what the hell is this?

4 out of 10, 89 seconds. Not good with the tough days looking right at me.