Daily Archives: March 1, 2010

Seated Woman, by Willem de Kooning (1940)

Yesterday, Pete Hamill reviewed the new Willie Mays biography for the New York Times Book Review. It is a sentimental piece that made me wince more than a few times. Today, I read a response to Hamill’s essay by Joe Posnanski. Good stuff by Pos.

[Painting by Will Johnson]

Albert Brooks meets Albert King…Who knew the blues could be this funny?

13 Englishman-German-Jew Blues

From Albert Brooks’ classic out-of-print comedy album, A Star is Bought.

Funny what words make you hungry. Like “nooks” for example. Remember the commercials for Thomas’ English Muffins always talked about “nooks and crannies“? It never occured to me that this was Madison Avenue at work. Who didn’t like a “nook” or a “cranny”?

My uncle Fred made me dinner a few times when I was a kid. He is a painter and a neat, orderly guy. Those were special occasions at his apartment. I felt so grown-up. His wife, my dad’s sister, Beice was out for some reason and it was just the two of us. He toasted english muffins the way they looked on TV, perfectly even–at my house, the edges always burned. Then, he spread a thin layer of mustard on both sides and folded few slices of Genoa Salami inbetween. Some peperoncini on the side.

We set our sandwiches on a tray and watched the Yankees on WPIX in his art studio. It’s a vague but savory and happy memory, and to this day I make salami sandwiches on english muffins and think of my uncle, whom I love very much.

This update is powered by . . . an all-star performance of  “In the Midnight Hour”

• Joel Sherman warns of the major contracts of the aging Yankee core.
• Ramiro Pena realizes he won’t be playing short on a regular basis anytime soon.
• Brian Cashman, on Robby Cano:

“He’s already one of the premier guys in the game, but that’s the only thing separating him from taking it to a whole other level,” Brian Cashman said. “If he can be more selective at the plate, he could have a Hall of Fame-type career.”

Since Cano debuted in 2005, his .306 average ranks 13th among all active players and fourth among all American Leaguers who have played at least 700 games, trailing only Ichiro Suzuki (.328), Derek Jeter (.322) and Michael Young (.313).

“He’s still young,” Cashman said. “He really has a chance to make a name for himself that would last forever. That’s the type of hitting talent he has.”

Mark Teixeira, who watched Cano from across the field for four years, didn’t gain an appreciation for just how good the 27-year-old is until last season.

“He has so much talent, it would be easy for him to say, ‘I’m going to let my talent play and I’ll have a decent year,'” Teixeira said. “But he wants to be one of the best – and he can be.”

(more…)