Oh For A Reds Wild Card, Retroactive To 1974

by Kevin Burton    The Cincinnati Reds have been included in the baseball playoffs this year as a wild card, with an 83-79 record.    I used to be wild about baseball and the Reds, less so now, but I never have been wild about the wild card. Too many teams mediocre teams get into …

Quibbles And Bits: Sorry Drew, Didn’t Mean It!

by Kevin Burton    In a recent post about Elton John and his struggles with vision loss, I made an offhanded, rash statement. Today I make a correction.    I hope it’s not too late.    I wondered in print about what I would say to Sir Elton about blindness in the very unlikely event …

More Musing On Life, Baseball And Pete Rose

by Kevin Burton    One day I answered the phone and instead of a typical getting I heard, “Your boy’s in jail.”    Baseball was one of the few things that my father and I could talk about peacefully. But we had a disagreement about Pete Rose.    I loved Rose, who died Sept. 30 …

Sweet Dreams And Super Bowl Victory For KC

by Kevin Burton    My wife Jeannette got the news late: the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions!    She got the news late because she left the game in the second quarter and headed to bed. Her work starts very early and so bedtime comes early too, Super Bowl or not.    She …

The Hall Call That Pete Rose Never Got

by Kevin Burton    An open letter to a “friend” of sorts, Pete Rose. Dear Pete,    In my house I always had to defend you.    My father didn’t respect you, said you got all your hits with two outs and nobody on and hit into double plays with men on.     I never …

Perez Was Vital Part Of Big Red Machine

By Kevin Burton    “How good are the Reds” was the question Sports illustrated famously asked on the cover of its 1976 World Series wrap-up edition.    Two more questions: how vital was Tony Perez to that team and how misguided was the trade that sent him to Montreal?    It’s Perez’s birthday today. He …