ABE--

Thanks for the shout out.  Your point about Twain being alive to see the last time the Cubs won the WS was pointed out to me this weekend by another colleague.  

It was quite a night here in Chicago.  Noisy well into the night.  On the el this morning, there were many sleepy people.  Funny, it looked the same riding on the el on Saturday night when they lost at home.  There's a lightness in the fall atmosphere for the first time in ... well, since Mark Twain walked the earth. 

As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I want to give kudos to Theo Epstein who has steered two perennial losers to the top of the mountain.  He should retire and be declared GM of the century and be instantly admitted to the Hall of Fame--screw the 5 year rule.  This guy knows how to assemble a team.  

This does not diminish the real achievement by the players.  The Cubs managed to overcome Maddon, who did almost everything he could to blow this one:  taking out Hendricks with plenty left in the tank; pulling Lester with 2 outs in the eighth after a seeing-eye single, which with any luck could have been the third out; and then bringing in a spent Chapman to serve up a double, a homer (the first he'd allowed in months), and a single before registering the third out.  Chapman's velocity was off in the eighth inning the night before. So why Maddon gave him the nod is beyond me. Sure, he's the closer, but overworked is overworked. If the offense hadn't rallied we would have had sportswriters waxing incessantly about Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (sportswriters were mostly English majors, you know). 

Fortunately, the bats came through. Hats off to Montera, who had turned a close one in the NLCS into a blowout Cubs win.  He was the difference in this one too, when the Indians came within one in the extra inning.  


Larry Howe
Professor of English & Film Studies
Department of Literature and Languages
Roosevelt University



________________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of L T Oggel <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2016 12:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Mark Twain was still alive...

I agree with Mike--  Hats off to the Cleveland Indians.  A great team
showing fine sportsmanship.  Both teams did deserve to win, the Cubs just a
wee bit more so.

Terry

On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Montclair <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Didn't he write about losing an umbrella at a baseball game in Connecticut?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Nov 3, 2016, at 10:56 AM, Steve Hoffman <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >
> > Which brings up a question:  Is there evidence
> > from any writings of Twain, including letters, or
> > contemporaneous reports, of Twain attending a
> > major league baseball game?  (or professional
> > minor league game for that matter)?  Or of him
> > perusing the sports pages of the newspapers,
> > perhaps commenting upon scores or World Series
> > etc?  Any references to baseball during one of his
> > speeches?
> >
> > Is there any indication if he had a rooting
> > interest in any team?  Perhaps Boston or one of
> > the New York teams (personally, I'm hoping he was
> > a fan of the NY Giants).  Or perhaps St. Louis?
> >
> > I'm aware of course of that wonderful section of
> > Connecticut Yankee with Hank Morgan introducing
> > baseball to King Arthur's Court.  But I don't
> > recall coming across references to him following
> > baseball in his personal life.
> >
> > As a lifelong baseball fan as well as Twainiac,
> > I'd be delighted to get answers to this query.
> >
> > Steve Hoffman
> >
> > Takoma Park, MD
> >
> >
> >> On 11/3/2016 10:11 AM, L T Oggel wrote:
> >> It was terrific!!  7th game. Extra innings, rain delay, everything.
> Wow!
> >>
> >> Cubs Win    Cubs Win
> >>
> >> The Voice of the Cubs on radio and TV--Jack Brickhouse, Harry Carey and
> >> many others, going back, are rejoicing.  Ernie Banks is smiling.  At
> last!!
> >>
> >> Ended about 1am on the east coast.
> >>
> >>> On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 6:20 AM, AB E <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> ... when the Cubs last won a World Series.
> >>>
> >>> To Larry Howe and all the other Twain people in greater Chicago, I
> hope you
> >>> survived last night, and that this isn't a sign of the end of days (or
> a
> >>> Trump presidency).
> >>>
>