There was a press conference at Yankee Stadium yesterday welcoming Johnny Damon to the Bronx. The day before, Damon got a new look at a chi-chi hair salon in Manhattan. I wouldn’t exactly call it a buzz cut, but when in Manhattan…Damon’s hair is still very stylized, he’s still sporting the trendy (for ballplayers, anyway) side burns–though he did get a shave. With his cutsie wife standing by his side, a bottle of evian in his hand, I couldn’t tell who is prettier: Damon or his old lady. Not for nothing, but the Bombers have some kind of Tiger Beat Beefcake at the top of the order, with Damon followed by Jeter and Rodriguez.

Murray Chass writes:

The Red Sox had wanted to re-sign Damon, but John Henry, the principal owner, said this week that they weren’t prepared to pay him $13 million a year, which is what the Yankees gave him for four years. To hear Damon tell it, though, the Red Sox might not have lured him back even if they had matched the Yankees’ offer.

Asked if he had been influenced by the Red Sox front-office shuffling and the player exodus, he said, “It’s something I definitely thought about, but what really opened my eyes was their first initial offer a month after the season.”

In the Daily News, John Harper opines:

That may sound simplistic, and as Damon, the self-proclaimed “idiot,” is the first to admit, he is not a deep thinker. But as he pointed out indirectly, part of having fun as a team is coming to grips with the responsibility of dealing with the media – a task the Yankees liken to prison detail.

“We made everyone (in Boston) realize they had a responsibility,” Damon said. “I made myself very accessible to the media.”

There is a fine line in the clubhouse in that regard. Often players who give too much time to the media are judged and resented by teammates as self-promoters, but Damon has an innocence about him – in addition to a well-earned reputation as a gamer – that made him as popular with his Red Sox teammates as he was with the fans in Boston.

Yes, it seems that everybody likes Johnny Damon, and it wasn’t hard to see why yesterday, as he handled the big-event press conference with an ease and friendliness that clearly wasn’t staged. He played to the media, rubbing his hairless chin while asking how everyone liked his new look. He responded to the blinding flash of cameras in his face by saying, “Thank you, and obviously, keep on snapping away.”

The reaction to the Damon signing has been mixed. Regardless, the Yankees have a new center fielder, just in time for Christmas. This has been a very active off-season, and there will continue to be changes around and about before Opening Day rolls around. Anyhow, hope everyone enjoys and/or survives the holidays with their loved and/or related ones.

Anyone need a last-minute baseball book ideas for the holidays? Looking back on 2005, there are some good ones to choose from. Our pals Will Carroll, Jon Weisman and Steve Lombardi all released books. I also liked Howard Bryant’s “Juicing the Game,” Baseball Prospectus’ “Mind Game,” Steven Goldman’s “Forging Genius,” “The Hardball Times: Baseball Annual, 2006” (which features an article on the ’05 Yanks by yours truly), Stephen Borelli’s “How About That!,” “The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers,” and Matthew McGough’s “Bat Boy.” I didn’t get around to reading Jerry Crasnick’s “Lisense to Deal,” but it looked like an engaging read too. In addition, Alan Schwarz’s “The Numbers Game,” and Buser Olney’s book about the Yankees were both released in paperback.

I never got a chance to write a review of McGough’s charming memoior of being a bat boy for the Yankees in the early nineties, but that wasn’t because I didn’t like it. I thought it was very well-realized, and think it’s an ideal holiday gift for fans of any age. (As an aside, I love the memoir genre. Two other classic coming-of-age books if you haven’t read them are Willie Morris’ “North Toward Home,” and Nat Hentoff’s “Boston Boy.” )

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Today marks the 30th anniversary of Messersmith/McNally ruling that would mark the end of the reserve clause and initiate the begining of the free agency era. I’ve got a piece commemorating the anniversary over at SI.com.

While Dave McNally, whose role in the affair is often over-looked, retired, Andy Messersmith was granted free agency. Though he ultimately signed a 3-year, $1 million deal with Ted Turner to play for the Braves, he almost became a Yankee.

“Messersmith, of course, almost played for the Yankees. If he had, though, he would have played under an agreement that, in part, would have been illegal.

The illegal portion of the agreement Messersmith nearly signed was a side letter the Yankees didn’t intend to include with the uniform player’s contract that was to be filed with the American League office. It covered two points, one dealing with the pitcher’s dress and grooming, the other with an agreement under which the Yankees, at George Steinbrenner’s suggestion, would have received 40 percent of all fees Messersmith would have earned for advertising and commercial endorsements.

The side agreement, illegal under baseball law, was part of the evidence introduced earlier this month in the two day hearing held before Commissioner Bowie Kuhn into the disputed between the Yankees and Messersmith…”

Murray Chass, New York Times. April 25, 1976.

Kuhn would declare the deal void, paving the way for Ted Turner. But after a difficult 1976, and an injury-riddled ’77, Turner shipped Messersmith to the Yankees.

Here is what Sparky Lyle had to say about it. From his book, “The Bronx Zoo”:

Monday, March 6 (1978):

I got myself worked up so much that I finally went in to talk to George. I told him, “You bought Messsersmith’s contract from Atlanta from $333,333. The man has just had an arm operation, you don’t know whether he can throw, and if he can throw, you don’t know whether he can make our pitching staff, it’s the final year of his contract, and next year he’ll be a free agent again.” I said, “I’ll be a son of a bitch if after performing like I have for you since you’ve taken over this ball club and after you give him double the money I’m making, I don’t get what he’s making.” In baseball, owners and general managers are always telling players that how valuable you are to the ball club is determined by how you perform and how many years you’re with the club. But then a new guy is signed, and none of that crap matters.

And then, a few weeks later:

Thursday, March 16:

All spring Andy Messersmith had been pitching real well, super for a guy who had just had his elbow operated on. His fastball was moving, he had good control, and it was looking like George’s gamble might have paid off, until today. We were playing the White Sox in an exhibition game, and in the fourth inning, Ralph Garr hit a grounder to Cliff, who was playing first. Andy ran to cover the bag, and when Cliff threw behind him, Andy fell trying to reach back for the ball. He fell hard on his shoulder, and now doctors think it might be separated. He may miss the rest of the season.

Messersmith would start five games for the Yanks, going 0-3 (and allowing seven dingers), in a total of 22 innings. But he was hurt for the majority of the season and was released in November. Messersmith ironically ended his career the following year with the Dodgers, the team he never wanted to leave in the first place. But he only pitched in 62 innings was was cut at the end of August.

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After reading through the comments to the last two posts on the Damon signing, I felt the need to generate a new post in response to the many misconceptions that are being tossed around:

To begin with, George Steinbrenner isn’t spending his money. He’s spending the Yankees’ money. There are many major league owners who are richer than Steinbrenner, but no major league teams that generate more revenue. That said, when the Yankees expenses increase, it does come out of the fans’ pockets. In addition to the cost of concessions at the Stadium, consider the fact that ticket prices have gone up each of the last two years as the Yankees have slipped into the red.

All of which is proof that the luxury tax is working. Since the new basic agreement went into effect in 2003, the Yankees have exceeded the luxury tax threshold each year and in 2005 paid more than $30 million in luxury tax alone. In 2006, they’ll owe forty cents on every dollar they spend above $136.5 million. As of this morning, Hardball Dollars estimates the Yankees’ 2006 payroll at $186.2 million. That figure does not include the league-minimum salaries of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Phillips or Bubba Crosby, nor does it include the still-undetermined arbitration awards due to Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small. Chacon earned $2.35 million in ’05 and finished strong. Let’s round him up to $4 million. Small earned the league minimum, but went 10-0, so let’s give him $1 million (both are likely lowball estimates). Wang, Phillips and Crosby make up another million. So that’s a $192.2 million payroll, $55.7 million more than the tax threshold, meaning the Yankees already owe $22.28 million in luxury tax. Any further additions, such as a designated hitter, will actually cost the Yankees 40 percent more than the actual 2006 salaries of those players.

Also, for those counting the big salaries that have come off the books, don’t forget that Jason Giambi and Randy Johnson will earn a combined $8 million more in 2006 than they did in 2005.

At any rate, for readers such as Debris to pin the Damon signing, or any other, on the Yankees’ “economic advantage” over the Red Sox is simply absurd. Now that the Red Sox are bouncing around in John Henry’s deep pockets and the Yankees are cutting payroll, that advantage no longer exists.

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One week ago today, our pal Murray, a long-time Bronx Banter reader wrote, “I consider a transit strike in New York more likely than Johnny Planet of the Apes signing with the Yankees.”

2-2, whatta ya say? All praise Murray the Sage!

While we were busy yesterday fretting over possible non-tenders such as Corey Patterson, Russell Branyan (both of whom were tendered after all), and Hee Seop Choi (who was re-signed by the Dodgers), Brian Cashman was cooking up a much tastier treat. Never mind Jason Michaels, Johnny Damon is coming to the Bronx. Get that barber’s chair ready.

Pending a physical and the hammering out of a few details, the Yankees will pay Damon $52 million over the next four years. My initial two bits:

• That’s the exact same deal the Yankees gave to Hideki Matsui, who is just seven months Damon’s junior.
• Damon will be 35 when his contract expires, which is how old Bernie Williams was in 2004.
• Damon’s home/road splits have been striking during his four years with the Red Sox. Fenway has added some thirty points to his batting average, but negatively effected his power:

  2005 Home: .334/.391/.440 – .106 ISP
  2005 Road: .298/.342/.438 – .140 ISP

  2002-2004 Home: .318/.388/.448 – .130 ISP
  2002-2004 Road: .278/.340/.433 – .155 ISP

  As nearly all of Damon’s home runs are shots pulled down the right field line, expect Damon’s power numbers to improve as a result of the move from Fenway to Yankee Stadium.

• Not only have the Yankees just added one of the five best center fielders in the game, but they’ve subtracted that same player from their closest rivals, sending that gaping hole in center to Boston in exchange for Damon. Jesus Caveman was worth 5.5 wins to the Red Sox last year according to WARP. That’s an eleven-win swing in the division as the result of a single move.
• Say what you want about the likelihood of Damon remaining above average in his age 35 season, this 2006 Yankee line-up is mighty impressive:

  R – Derek Jeter (SS)
  L – Johnny Damon (CF)
  R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
  L – Jason Giambi (1B)
  R – Gary Sheffield (RF)
  L – Hideki Matsui (LF)
  S – Jorge Posada (C)
  L – Robinson Cano (2B)
  R – Andy Phillips (DH)

  Now if the Yankees were to sign Mike Piazza and bump Phillips to the bench . . .

As I write this, Becky is furiously wrapping gifts after a long day of holiday shopping. I myself finished (and started) my shopping yesterday, though I still have to do my wrapping and send out my half of the cards. At work, our accounts department is besieged by requests from authors desperate to get their checks before the new year for tax purposes, and the rest of us are working to tie up loose ends before before the office shuts down (or the transit system does, whichever comes first).

Things are no different in Yankeeland as the past two days have brought a pair of deadlines forcing certain personnel moves. Yesterday was the deadline for free agents offered arbitration to decline or accept their team’s offer. As expected, all three players the Yankees offered arbitration–Bernie Williams, Al Leiter and Ramiro Mendoza–declined. Mendoza, who would have had very little to gain by accepting arbitration coming off a year of injury rehab played under a minor-league contract, signed another minor league deal with the Yankees and will again be a non-roster invitee to spring training in 2006. Unlike last year when he was unable to play until August, however, Mendoza will be expected to compete for the final spot in the bullpen this upcoming spring.

That Leiter and Williams declined arbitration is much more significant news for the Yankees. Even though both were likely offered arbitration with the understanding that they would decline it, had either had a last-second change of heart, the Yankees would have been on the hook for a multi-million dollar one-year deal with a player with very little chance of earning such a salary (given the 20 percent maximum pay cut, Leiter would have been guaranteed a minimum of $5.6 million for 2006, Williams $9.6 million). With Williams and Leiter having declined arbitration, the Yankees now have until January 8 to re-sign either if they so desire, otherwise they will lose the right to sign them until May 1.

Word has it that the Yankees are still trying to bang out a one-year deal with Williams, with $2 million being the currently rumored price tag. That would be a $10 million pay cut for Bernie, but would also be a half-million more than Ruben Sierra earned last year to fill the same role. Sierra was not only useless as a part-time DH/pinch-hitter in 2005 (posting a WARP2 of zero), but was overpaid even by the standards of his 2004 season (Tony Clark, who had an almost perfectly identical 2004 to Sierra’s, but with the added advantage of being able to contribute on defense, signed for half as much with Arizona prior to 2005). Bernie posted a .255 EQA last year (compared to the .262 mark posted by Sierra in 2004) and has suffered a steep decline in two of his last three seasons. There is no reason to believe that he will be able to contribute anything more than the occasional pinch-hit walk to the Yankees in 2006. Much as it pains me to say so, and not just because it might get me stabbed by the woman wielding scissors to my left, I do not think the Yankees should resign Bernie Williams at any price.

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Man, Monday mornings round this time of year seem to be the worst for baseball news. The papers are replete with football scores and basketball and hockey news. For a true baseball nyerd, you just pray there are some scraps for us. On my crowded subway ride into Manhattan this morning I saw an older Spanish man standing a few feet away, a rolled up newspaper in his back pocket. There was a photograph of a baseball player swinging a bat on back page of the paper. I couldn’t tell who the player was (I could only see from the waist down), or what team he played for. But what did that matter? It was nice to see something, anything related to baseball. And it was a comfort to know that for some papers (i.e., the Latin ones), baseball is year-round back page news.

Today gives bubkus in New York, the bubkus being Nomar and the Dodgers, Paul Lo Duca and the Mets, and the Yankees’ interest in taking a chance on injured relief pitcher Octavio Dotel.

ESPN reports this morning that Nomar Gaciaparra will sign with the Dodgers:

Garciaparra, who still needs to take a physical and finalize contract details, will likely play first base for the Dodgers. The deal has a base salary of $6 million and could be worth as much as $8 million, the New York Post reported.

Phone calls from Joe Torre and Jason Giambi proved fruitless for the Yanks, as it appears that home is where the heart is for Nomar.

Though he has yet to make a decision, ESPN reports that Nomar Garciaparra is leaning towards accepting a one-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Our Dodger voice at Baseball Toaster, Jon Weisman, doesn’t think Nomar would be desirable option to play first base in L.A. next year.

His humor was so much larger than the comedy today. Today’s comedy is all about divisiveness. But as edgy and scathing and biting as he was, he was never oppresive. The laughter came from that interior recognition.

…Richard was okay not being on top of it all. Pain, sweetness, rage–when he came on stage, you felt his essence. there are some people who are just…open. And he was open.

Lily Tomlin

Just a few last thoughts on Richard Pryor, who passed away last weekend. There was a nice appreciation of the legendary comedian by Jesse McKinley in the Times earlier this week (I don’t have the link but it appeared in Tuesday’s paper), and Jerry Seinfeld of all people had some insightful comments:

Jerry Seinfeld, for example, who worked the same clubs as Mr. Pryor in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, said he distinctly recalled nights when Mr. Pryor would “walk the room,” comedian lingo for driving patrons out into the streets.

“I remember people talking, saying Richard bombed last night,” Mr. Seinfeld said. “Guys with reputations like that, they stay to the tried and true. You risk a little bit, but Richard risked everything all the time. He was the ultimate bullfighter on stage. He never let his instinct for self-preservation get in the way.”

…”He started with what he knew and brought you to it,” Mr. Seinfeld said. “He made you fall in love with him. And he did it so that you would relate to things you didn’t think you could relate to.”

Pryor hosted an early Saturday Night Live and it remains one of the show’s best broadcasts.

“The truth was an incredibly hot commodity in 1974-75,” said [SNL creator, Lorne] Michaels, who watched as Mr. Pryor did two long monologues that night, exactly 30 years ago today. “The distrust of authority was at its absolute peak, with Watergate and the war, and he caught the wave.”

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The Yankees traded minor leaguer Ben Julinel to the Marlins in exchange for left-handed relief pitcher, Ron Villone. This is the sixth time Villone has been traded and the ninth team he’s been on since he broke into the Majors in 1995.

Nothing stirs up a good debate like discussing who belongs in the Hall of Fame. I’ve got a column over at SI.com about some of the best players not enshrined up in Cooperstown. Would you believe I had the nerve to go with Mex Hernandez over our own Donnie Baseball? Well, head on over and give it a look. Then come back and let the arguments begin!

According to George King in The New York Post, Alex Rodriguez will not participate in the WBC games for either the U.S. or the Dominican Republic. Rodriguez told King, in part:

“When faced with the decision to choose between my country, the United States of America, and my Dominican heritage, I decided that I will not dishonor either.”

Classic Rodriguez, not wanting to offend anyone. But honestly I couldn’t care less about about his reasoning. As far as I’m concerned the fewer Yankees playing in this cockamamie tournament the better. It’s not that I’m against the idea of the WBC in theory, but it feels almost inevitable that someone, somehow is going to get injured during the course of the games, and brother, I sure don’t want it to be anyone on the Yanks. Can you relate?

While Joe Torre vacations in Italy–he carried the Olympic torch for 400 yards in Florence yesterday–his first baseman Jason Giambi reached out to Nomar Garciaparra according to Sam Borden in The Daily News. Giambi and Garciaparra share the same agent. Nomar is said to have narrowed his choices down to four teams and is expected to make a decision shortly. Tyler Kepner reports that “if Garciaparra signs with the Yankees, he would probably receive a one-year contract with a base salary of $5 million or $6 million and incentives.”

The fellas over at NoMaas believe inking Nomar would be a steal for the Bombers. Here is how they envision him in pinstripes:

Give Sheffield 20 games at DH and stick Nomar in RF. Give Matsui 15 games at DH and stick him in LF. Give Giambi 50 games at DH and stick Nomar at first. Give Rodriguez 10 games off at DH and stick Nomar at third, Give Jeter 10 games off at SS and stick Nomar at short. Give Cano 10 games off and stick Nomar at second. That’s 115 games in the field.

I’m still skeptical that it’ll happen, but if Garciaparra comes to New York, it sure will be something to write about.

So far Joe Torre is 1-3 in his recruiting phone calls this winter (Farnsworth, check; Giles, Eyre, nope). Torre told reporters yesterday that he had a general conversation with free agent Nomar Garciaparra. Newsday is reporting that Torre also spoke with Johnny Damon. I don’t expect either of ’em to end up in New York, do you?

Meanwhile, the Bombers aren’t thrilled about Chien-Ming Wang pitching the WBC this spring, but they may not have a cherce in the matter.

As the Red Sox front office soap opera continues, all remains relatively quiet in the Bronx, where it is brick cold this morning. Oh, Brian Cashman, who maintains that he has no interest in dealing Carl Pavano, reportedly took in a meal with relief pitcher Julian Tavarez yesterday up in Washington Heights (insert snide remark here), but that’s not exactly a banner headline. What did make the back page of the New York Post today is a rumor that the Yankees have made an offer to free agent Nomar Garciaparra to play first base in New York. George King writes that the Bombers are one of several teams that have inquired about Nomar. Nothing more specific is available at this time. Meanwhile, Newsday’s Jon Heyman, who has a habit of writing about Scott Boras’ clients, reports that if Johnny Damon considers a four-year deal, the Yankees will be in the mix.

There has been no official word yet about Bernie Williams’ return next season, though I assume he’ll be the team’s fourth outfielder. In a recent chat over at Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan opined:

As frustrating as it is to watch Williams play center field, I don’t think the team currently listing Bubba Crosby as its #1 center fielder has much room to complain about the marginal HoFer with fourth-outfielder skills wanting to stick around.

Evaluate Bernie against fourth outfielders and you’ll see that he can still help a team. If the money is right, he’d be a good fit for the Yankees next year, and for 20 or so other teams.

Phil Allard and Larry Mahnken see things differently.

Round the Web

Rich Lederer has been making the case for Bert Blyleven: Hall of Famer for some time now. He’s both committed and convincing. This year, he’s pulled out all the stops, hosting a Bert Blyleven Week over at The Baseball Analysts. Rich kicked it off yesterday while Rob Neyer guest stars today. Dayn Perry is up tomorrow. By the end of the week, you too will be persuaded–if you aren’t already–that Blyleven belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Also, for a touching non-baseball story, please slide on over to Catfish Stew and dig the latest from our own Ken Arneson. A lyrical piece accompanied by some great images.

Miguel Tejada kept pipe dreams warm from Boston to Chicago to Queens this weekend. (The Sox and Yanks have also reached out to Roger Clemens’ agents too.) After all, who wouldn’t love to add Miggy to their team? But for now, it’s just fodder, as the Orioles seem intent on keeping their star shortstop.

Meanwhile, in a bit of in-house intrigue, according to an ESPN report, the Yankees will not permit catcher Jorge Posada to play in the World Baseball Classic this spring. Steve Lombardi thinks this is fishy:

It’s a three week tournament being played the same time as Spring Training. I don’t see how it’s OK for Jeter, Cano and A-Rod to take on this work, but, it’s an extra hardship for Jorge.

Every once in a while I hear whispers about how some in the Yankees front office do not like Posada. I’m not sure why and/or over what. But, because I have heard this more than once, I have to wonder if this objection is a way to give Jorge some grief. If so, it’s a story that I hope gets told someday. It would be interesting to know.

I have to say that I’ve got very little interest in the WBC tournament. That could change, of course, but right now, I’m most concerned about a star player hurting themselves, and subsequently gumming-up the works for his Major League team as a result.

With little to nothing cooking with the Yanks this weekend, please indulge me in remembering Richard Pryor. (And if you aren’t interested, that’s cool, check back tomorrow.)

“I’ve been trying to figure out the analogies to what Richard Pryor meant, and the closest I can come to is Miles Davis,” said Reginald Hudlin, the film and TV director and president of entertainment for Black Entertainment Television. “There’s music before Miles Davis, and there’s music after Miles Davis. And Richard Pryor is that same kind of person.

“Every new piece kind of transformed the game,” Hudlin said. “He was a culturally transcendent hero. His influence is bigger than black comedy; it’s bigger than comedy. He was a cultural giant.”
(L.A. Times)

Kudos to Mel Watkins at the New York Times for a fine obituary on Richard Pryor today.

Here are some of the highlights:

“Comedy,” [Pryor] said, “is when you are driving along and see a couple of dudes and one is in trouble with the others and he’s trying to talk his way out of it. You say, ‘Oh boy, they got him,’ and you laugh. I cannot tell jokes. My comedy is not comedy as society has defined it.”

On his mid-career change of direction:

“I made a lot of money being Bill Cosby,” he recalled, “but I was hiding my personality. I just wanted to be in show business so bad I didn’t care how. It started bothering me – I was being a robot comic, repeating the same lines, getting the same laughs for the same jokes. The repetition was killing me.”

…”There was a world of junkies and winos, pool hustlers and prostitutes, women and family screaming inside my head, trying to be heard. The longer I kept them bottled up, the harder they tried to escape. The pressure built till I went nuts.”

I like Watkins’ take on Pryor’s masterpiece:

Mr. Pryor probably reached the pinnacle of his career in 1979 with his first concert film, “Richard Pryor, Live in Concert,” a movie, filmed during an appearance in Long Beach, Calif., that more than a quarter of a century later remains the standard by which other movies of live comedy performances are judged.

The film, which was to inspire others to make their own comic performance movies, caught Mr. Pryor at peak form. He reflected often about his own tumultuous life, with monologues about a domestic quarrel in which he shot his wife’s car, the death of his pet monkeys and a near-fatal heart attack, which ended with: “I woke up in the ambulance, right? And there was nothin’ but white people starin’ at me. I say . . . I done died and wound up in the wrong heaven. Now I gotta listen to Lawrence Welk the rest of my days.”

I’m sure we’ll see a bunch of Pryor’s movies, and hopefully, “Live in Concert” pop up on cable in the coming weeks and months.

Richard Pryor, one of the most famous and influential comedians of them all, died today of a heart attack. He was 65. Pryor suffered from MS for years now. Considering the kind of hard living and abuse he put his body through over the course of time, the news of his passing doesn’t exactly come as a shock. Still, it is a sad moment because Pryor took the art of stand-up comedy and elevated it to a level of social commentary and personal vulnerability that few, if any, performers have ever reached. I think he the natural heir to Lenny Bruce, but he remains in a category of his own. In his prime, during the late 1970s, he was arguably the greatest comedian of all-time. All the black comedians who have come after him–Eddie Murphy, the Wayans brothers, Bernie Mac, Dave Chappelle, are in a sense, his children. He is to stand-up what Bob Dylan was to rock and roll.

After the crossover hit “Silver Streak,” and then his rousing concert film “Live in Concert,” Pryor became the first black actor to be the number one box office draw ever. It was capped off by his second feature with Gene Wilder, “Stir Crazy,” in 1980. But Pryor’s moment on top would be fleeting, as his struggles with cocaine overwhelmed him. In a free-basing accident not long after “Stir Crazy” had been released, Pryor set fire to himself, and in some ways, his career never recovered.

During his early days, in the mid 1960s, Pryor had made a name for himself on the talk show circut, essentially doing the kind of clean act that had made Bill Cosby a star. But by the end of the sixites, Pryor, like many other African Americans at the time, became increasingly politicized. He stopped doing his Cosby routine and went back to the drawing board. Over the next several years he developed a routine that was far more personal, and far more political. Pryor stopped doing jokes in the traditional sense and began acting out scenes and characters.

“Live and Smoking” is a concert film of these transitional years, and the material is often unfunny, with Pryor and the audience not quite sure what to make of his new approach. They are still feeling each other out. Yet is a fascinating recording when you consider the heights he would soon achive with his best work: “That Nigger’s Crazy,” “Is it Something I Said?” and “Wanted: Live in Concert.”

The film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1982:

When Chaplin began to talk onscreen, he used a cultivated voice and high-flown words, and became a deeply unfunny man; if he had found the street language to match his lowlife, tramp movements, he might have been something like Richard Pryor, who’s all of a piece–a master of lyrical obscenity. Pryor is the only great poet satirist among our comics. His lyricism seems to come out of his thin-skinned nature; he’s so empathic he’s all wired up. His 1979 film “Richard Pryor Live in Concert” was a cosummation of his years as an entertainer, and then some. He had a lifetime of matieral at his fingertips, and he seemed to go beyond himself. He personified objects, animals, people, the warring parts of his own body, even thougts in the heads of men and women–black, white, Oriental–and he seeemed possessed by the spirits he pulled out of himself. To those of us who thougt it was one of the greatest performances we’d ever seen or ever would see, his new one-man show “Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip” may be disappointing yet emotionally stirring.

Pryor was raw but what distinguished him was his vulnerability. It was this quality that helped make him a terrific actor. He was mostly in crappy movies, but he had a great turn in “Lady Sings the Blues” and later in Paul Schrader’s “Blue Collar.” Pryor was too unhinged to sustain a steady career in movies. He also did a great turn for a Lily Tomlin TV special in the late 70s and his short-lived NBC variety show has its moments and is now available on DVD.

I highly reccommend “Live in Concert” and the three albums I mentnioned above. (Rhino has an excellent compilation “And it’s Deep Too,” which features all of his classic routines–Black Ben the Blacksmith, Wino and the Junkie, as well as his incomperable storyteller, Mudbone.) I know them all by heart and think they display a kind of brilliance–both moving and threatening, compassionate and hiliarous–that is unique.

Considering all the pain that Pryor experienced in his life, I hope he is in a calmer, more peaceful place now. He was one of the true legends of our time.