Media – Page 61 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Movie 42 Stirs Minnesota Connections

Posted on April 15, 2013April 15, 2013 by David Shama

A baseball fan who looks hard enough at the new movie 42 can find connections to Minneapolis-St. Paul.

42 is the story of a courageous African American, Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball’s color barrier in 1947 while playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson’s impact on society includes today’s tribute from MLB when every player in the American and National leagues will wear uniform No. 42 including at Target Field where tonight the Twins play the Angels. Today is Jackie Robinson Day, recognizing the April 15, 1947 arrival of Robinson in the big leagues.

Robinson, played by Chadwick Boseman in the film, endured a tsunami of racial insults from fans, players and managers in his early years with the Dodgers. In the movie Phillies’ manager Ben Chapman delivers a verbal assault that is the most painful scene to watch. The harassment’s intent is to have Robinson quit the Dodgers and the barrage is so ugly it almost makes the 28-year-old rookie first baseman implode.

Although some of Robinson’s teammates didn’t want him to be a Dodger, others came to his defense. Eddie Stanky confronts Chapman in 42, showing passion and a colorful vocabulary while protecting Robinson. Stanky, whose nickname was the “Brat,” played for several major league teams before becoming manager of the 1956 Minneapolis Millers.

The man Robinson replaced as the Dodgers’ first baseman was Howie Schultz, a St. Paul native. Schultz, who attended Central High School and Hamline, played four seasons for the Dodgers prior to 1947 with his best year coming in 1944 hitting 11 home runs with 83 RBI in 138 games, according to Baseball-reference.com.

Back in the 1940s the Dodgers had affiliations with Triple-A farm teams in St. Paul, and Montreal where Robinson played in 1946. There’s a scene in 42 in which St. Paul is written on a blackboard in the office of Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey. The Saints’ roster in 1948 included African American catcher Roy Campanella who also played for the Dodgers that same year.

In 42 Rickey, portrayed by Harrison Ford, is looking for a pioneer to break the color barrier and considers Campenella but dismisses the easy going catcher in favor of the ultra competitive Robinson. But both players became Hall of Famers including Campanella who played in 35 games for the Saints in 1948, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Rickey’s motivations for enduring the wrath of the segregated south and some of his major league brethren for breaking the color barrier was part personal and part business. In the movie Rickey talks about how years before he had failed a black baseball player, but he also makes it clear that bringing Robinson to Brooklyn is about attracting more African-American fans to Ebbets Field.

The Dodgers’ desire to make more money eventually resulted in a failed new ballpark initiative in Brooklyn and relocation of the franchise to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. At the same time the Dodgers convinced the New York Giants to move to San Francisco so that two teams could play on the West Coast (making schedules more efficient) and also continue their storied rivalry. The relocations changed the history of baseball in Minnesota.

The Giants had been in high level discussions about moving to Minneapolis before Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley convinced them to move west. The Giants had operated the Triple-A Millers for years, played exhibition games here to test the baseball market and even had purchased land that potentially could have been the site of a major league park.

Instead of acquiring the Giants, this area waited until 1960 when the American League Washington Senators moved here for the 1961 season and became the Minnesota Twins.

Worth Noting

Yesterday’s Twins-Mets game, not played because of rain, is the first Target Field postponement of the season and will now be played on Monday, August 19 in Minneapolis. Right-hander Kevin Correia, scheduled to start yesterday for the Twins, will pitch against the Angels tonight.

After losing games to the Mets on Friday and Saturday at Target Field, the Twins are now 157-127 in interleague games. The Twins’ next game against a National League team is a week from tonight in Minneapolis with the Marlins.

Gophers’ baseball coach John Anderson earned his 500^th career Big Ten Conference win yesterday when Minnesota defeated Northwestern 7-1.

Parker Executive Search based in Atlanta has been paid “more than $295,000” by the University of Minnesota since 2007 to assist with searches involving Tim Brewster, Tubby Smith, Jerry Kill and Norwood Teague, according to the April 8 issue of Sports Illustrated. The story is about the role of search firms with college sports programs including their fees for identifying potential coaches and athletic directors.

Draft authority Todd McShay said on ESPN last Thursday the Vikings may draft Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o at No. 23 in the first round and California wide receiver Kennan Allen at No. 25. McShay said four wide receivers might be taken during the first round of the NFL draft April 25 including West Virginia’s Tavon Austin, a 5-9, 170-pound Percy Harvin like player who could be the first chosen.

Injured Timberwolves’ forward Kevin Love reportedly earns $13,668,750 in salary but has played in only 18 games this season. That works out to $759,375 per game.

For the first time in league history, the WNBA draft will be televised in primetime. The first round begins at 7 p.m. CDT tonight and will be telecast by ESPN2. The second and third rounds (starting at 8 p.m.) will be aired on NBATV and ESPNU. The Lynx have the No. 12 pick in the first round, two second round selections and a third round choice.

Comments Welcome

At 93 Hartman Still Chases the News

Posted on March 11, 2013March 11, 2013 by David Shama

Sid Hartman started chasing sports news for a Minneapolis newspaper in 1944.

Who could have predicted that 69 years later he would still be sniffing around locker rooms for a scoop?

Hartman’s 93^rd birthday will be Friday. He writes a sports column four times per week for the Star Tribune. His comments are heard three times each morning Monday-Friday on WCCO Radio and on Sundays the station airs the Sports Huddle program with Hartman and Dave Mona.

To the outside world, sports journalism looks like a cushy job. But sportswriting and broadcasting involve long hours and weekend assignments. Journalists work under the pressure of deadlines, and in today’s Internet and social media world there’s a constant appetite for news.

In this town many of the sports reporters are in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Only a few are in their 60s and nobody approaches Hartman’s age. At 93 he could be the great grandfather of reporters he competes against.

Where does the drive come from to be working like this seven years away from being 100 years old? What motivates Hartman to attend as many or more games, practices and news conference as most anybody in Minnesota? And when there are no formal news opportunities, he is likely to be stopping by Jerry Kill’s office or visiting Winter Park, or some place else where there might be a scoop, or at least a column note.

To understand Hartman’s work ethic look at his background. Hartman, who never attended college, grew up poor on Minneapolis’ North Side. In his biography, Sid, he described a family of four children with a sickly mother and alcoholic father.

“We had nothing,” Hartman wrote. “We ate chicken every night. My mother would go down to the Jewish butcher and buy two chickens for a buck. She would make chicken soup, chicken this, chicken that. To this day, I hate chicken.”

Hartman learned about hard work as a child. He began selling newspapers when he was nine. By the time he was in his 20s he was writing for the Minneapolis Times. Although his writing skills were minimal, he had something that attracted his newspaper bosses and provided opportunity.

In his biography Hartman wrote that his first boss in the sports department told him: “Don’t worry about writing. Give us the news. Writers are a dime dozen. Reporters are impossible to find.”

Despite limited education and training — or perhaps because of it — Hartman has worked seven days per week pounding his beat for information. “He found out the way to advance was to be aggressive, and I think that’s served him well during his career,” Mona told Sports Headliners. “I think he’s relished the role of the under dog.”

Hartman, divorced from Barbara Balfour decades ago, remains married to his work. “He is what he does,” Mona said. “Literally there is no doubt that Sid is always working or thinking about work.”

It’s admirable that at 93 Hartman has the energy and will to be so active. He moves around like a spry 70-something, fortunate to come from a family tree that included relatives who lived long lives. And Hartman has helped his cause by not smoking and doing a lot of walking.

“He is in remarkably good health, except for the hearing loss which he acknowledges and which is probably becoming even more obvious on the air,” Mona said. “I think in every other manner he’s incredibly fit. I would say robust.”

Mona, 69, has known Hartman since he was seven years old. Mona’s father, Lute Mona, was a successful Minneapolis high school basketball coach. Mona recalled that most reporters would telephone the house and ask, “Is your dad around?”

Not the uber-aggressive Hartman who commanded: “Hey kid, put your old man on.”

Hartman and Mona have worked as hosts on the Sports Huddle since 1981. It required time but Hartman came to trust Mona who jokes that the probationary period was only “20 to 25 years.”

“I think now that he respects that I am never going to hang him out there,” Mona said.

Hartman was born in Minneapolis on March 15, 1920. By now Hartmanologists have concluded that the man WCCO Radio’s Dave Lee refers to as a “Hall of Fame” sportswriter is never going to retire.

Those Hartmanologists are correct.

Mona said he receives text messages asking about Hartman’s future. “If it seems like we haven’t touched on the subject (retirement) for a long time — or maybe in advance of a birthday — I’ll ask him on the air. But I know the answer because we’ve talked about it so many times,” Mona said.

Hartman has watched sports figures who continued their careers into their 70s and even 80s die soon after retiring. People like Hartman who were totally wrapped up in their careers. “I think that Sid knows there’s a certain amount of immortality attached to continuing work,” Mona said.

So Hartman’s career —covering eight decades in newspapers and seven on radio —continues on. The legend grows, his name associated with the notable figures in this state’s cultural history. And like a Kirby Puckett or Jesse Ventura, Hartman long ago was even honored with his own bobblehead.

A week ago Sunday the Star Tribune published a New York Times story about a California man who at age 93 was still delivering newspapers for a paper he once owned. But guess what?

The Strib has a better story in its own sports department.

Comments Welcome

Gray: Team Accepts New U QB

Posted on October 26, 2012October 26, 2012 by David Shama

Philip Nelson, 19, will make his second start as the Gophers quarterback tomorrow. He’s accepted as the new leader of the offense, according to MarQueis Gray.

Nelson, a freshman and earlier this year the No. 3 quarterback, sat on the sidelines for only six games before becoming the starter last week atWisconsin. Gray, who will be 22 next month, waited three years after high school to become the Gophers No. 1 quarterback last season.

A high ankle sprain and knee injury suffered against Western Michigan on September 15 sidelined Gray for two-plus games. More recently he hasn’t been healthy enough to reclaim the quarterback job and coach Jerry Kill will send Gray out to play wide receiver against Purdue tomorrow, a position that will subject him to much less punishment than quarterback.

Gray started 10 of 11 games at quarterback for the Gophers last season. This preseason he was viewed as the team’s MVP, the one player the Gophers couldn’t be without. Teammates admire his athleticism and look at him as a leader.

Gray prefers to play quarterback but understands his circumstances now and voices support for Nelson. Gray said “the offense is going to accept whoever is back there (at quarterback),” and he is supportive of Nelson. What can Gray do to lessen the pressure on the true freshman?

“Keep building his confidence in the huddle, on the sidelines, (and) catching everything that comes my way (at receiver),” Gray said. “Making sure I am making the right blocks. Being in his head about how this game is slower than what most people may think it is. Realizing that he’s the leader of this offense now. … Just being out there encouraging him is the best thing I can do.”

Nelson, who played high school football at Mankato West, enrolled at Minnesota early this year so he could be around his new teammates and learn the offense. He made friends and developed rapport with teammates. He said the Gophers “trust” the coaches and “whoever is back there will get support from them (the players).”

Kill is an admirer of Nelson’s skills including his release in throwing the ball. The coach said Nelson’s release is quicker than Gray’s or No. 2 quarterback Max Shortell. “You could see that on Saturday, if you watched the game,” Kill said.

Not unexpectedly, Nelson made mistakes in his first college start but he was impressive including when he ran effectively. In the Wisconsin game he was the team’s leading rusher with 16 carries and 67 net yards. He completed 13 of 24 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He showed an ability to avoid tacklers even in the pocket and wasn’t sacked.

What about tomorrow? “It’s going to be real exciting,” Nelson said. “Us as a team really want to come out and win this one for sure. This is a must win.”

The Gophers, 4-3, have lost three consecutive games (0-3 in the Big Ten). With five games remaining and trying to reach at least six wins to become bowl eligible, there’s no doubting the importance of defeating a Purdue team with a mediocre 3-4 overall record and 0-3 in the Big Ten.

It will be an opportunity for Nelson to lead, but if something were to happen to him during the game Shortell will likely be the replacement. As Kill said earlier in the week, Gray just isn’t “100 percent.”

Gray said he tries to keep his attitude positive around teammates, admitting he’s “been through a lot.” How does he approach these recent weeks where his health has been a problem?

“Just realizing that there’s people out there in the world who is going through more than what I am,” he answered. “That’s one of the reasons how I keep my head. Coming through there (practice), going home to my kids. …”

Worth Noting

Since January of 2011 the injury log for high profile Minnesota athletes sidelined with significant health problems includes Gray, Trevor Mbakwe, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Adrian Peterson, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Mikko Koivu.

Contrary to what some fans believe, the $800,000 the Gophers will pay North Carolina to cancel two football games between the Tar Heels and Minnesota isn’t taxpayers’ money. The money is from the Gophers athletic department, which is self-supporting except for three percent of its budget going to facilities.

The Golden Gopher Football Banquet will be held on Sunday, November 25 starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Hilton Minneapolis.

Samantha Steele, the ESPN reporter who is dating Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, is a native of Phoenix, the daughter of a coach, played five sports in high school, attended Liberty University and devotes time to her family’s nonprofit organization benefitting inner city youth, according to the samanthasteele.com website.

Ponder asked after last night’s 36-17 loss to the Bucs if his performance has regressed from earlier in the season: “I think I definitely have to play better. I don’t think I’m playing as well as I should, or can. Defenses are always going to be scheming against us. We have to make adjustments, and we will make adjustments. Coach (Bill) Musgrave comes up with a great game plan; we just have to play better. It comes down to me. I have to play better. I think that’s obvious to everyone.”

Attendance last night was 60,860, the second consecutive home game the Vikings have drawn over 60,000.

Vikings defensive tackle Letroy Guion’s career plans after football are to become a chef, according to the Playbook publication distributed at Vikings games. What’s his favorite meal to cook or eat? “Oxtails, mac ‘n cheese, yellow rice and collard greens,” he told Playbook.

Sports Media News reported on Wednesday that for seven consecutive weeks an NFL game has ranked as the most-watched program on national television. The source also reported the Minneapolis market bested 16 other NFL markets in ratings (31) and audience share (67) for the Vikings-Cardinals game last Sunday at Mall of America Field.

It could be a high scoring game tomorrow when Augsburg (4-2 in the MIAC) plays at St. Thomas (5-0). St. Thomas’ Matt O’Connell and Augsburg’s Ayrton Scott are both among the league’s top six in passing and rushing. The two teams lead the league in points per game (39.4 for St. Thomas, 37.0 for Augsburg) and are also 1-2 in total offense.

The Timberwolves rank No. 9 among 15 teams in the Western Conference, according to the October 29 issue of Sports Illustrated. In the publication’s NBA preview story an anonymous scout said point guard Ricky Rubio can be better than former league MVP Steve Nash, and he would be “shocked” if newly acquired shooting guard Brandon Roy can make a major impact because of knee problems.

Ticket prices range from $15 to $85 for the February 17 Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field in Chicago. The college doubleheader matches the Gophers against Wisconsin and Miami-Notre Dame. The Gophers face the U.S. Under-18 Team tonight at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota plays Canisius Sunday afternoon at Mariucci, the first game ever between the schools.

Gophers coach Don Lucia is the 10^th coach in NCAA Division I hockey history to have 600 wins (600-329-83).

After five games playing for the Aeros in the AHL, Wild prospect Mikael Granlund leads the team in points with seven, while Marco Scandella has six and Jason Zucker five.

It will be 21 years ago tomorrow that Jack Morris pitched the Twins to a game seven win and World Series championship against the Braves at the Metrodome.

The Big Ten announced yesterday that Ohio State’s Tayler Hill (from Minneapolis South) and Penn State’s Alex Bentley were chosen by Big Ten women’s coaches as Co-Preseason Player of the Year, while a media panel chose only Hill. The Gophers Rachel Banham was one of seven players on the coaches preseason all-Big Ten team.

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