Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

by Bert Stratton

I’ve been to approximately 60 Cleveland Indians games and seen three no-hitters. What are the odds on that? Call the Freakonomics guy.

I am a fair-weather fan! For two of the three no-hitters, I didn’t even know who the players were. Like now, I can’t name any of the Guardians players.

I saw Toronto’s Dave Stieb no-hit the Tribe in 1990. I didn’t know any of the Cleveland players then. I saw Cleveland’s Dick Bosman throw a no-hitter in 1974; again, I didn’t know any of the Cleveland players except Buddy Bell, who I recognized as Gus Bell’s son.

1966 — my first no-hitter. Sonny Siebert, 2-0, against the Senators. I knew the players. I was in high school: Azcue, Alvis, Davalillo, Wagner, Colavito.

francona 1960 topps

Francona batted .363 in 1959 but was 34 at-bats shy of the minimum needed, so the batting title went to Harvey Kuenn.

I used to get free tickets to the games in high school for straight A’s. I didn’t get straight A’s but the Cleveland Press (which gave out the free tix) didn’t care about a B or two, as long as if you provided a written explanation. “This class is AP,” etc.

By the way, I’m uneasy with the fine-print mention of “Harvey Kuenn” in the photo caption above. April 19, 1960. What a dark day. Frankie  Lane unloaded The Rock for Kuenn. That was the day I learned life isn’t fair. Still adjusting.

4 comments

1 marc { 07.27.22 at 2:21 pm }

Visiting my daughter and grandson in Seattle in August. We have tickets to the Mariners. I find baseball dull for the most part and probably won’t make it through 9 innings.
Football thats a different story. Used to have season tickets to the Patriots. Saw a Rabbi on the Patriot train once. (Reform)

2 Mark Schilling { 07.27.22 at 3:27 pm }

I got the free Tribe tickets once, when I scored all As in my last grading period at Elyria HS. Never used them, though, for lack of transportation to Cleveland. I was also a big fan of The Rock. I even imitated the way he warmed up when I was playing Little League baseball in Barberton. I was hardly the only one…

3 Larry Bayer { 07.27.22 at 4:37 pm }

Hey Bert,
I was your cousin-in-law for a hot minute when I was married to Margie G. in the 70’s. A friend sent me a link to one of your blog posts. Two memories: I was at Sonny Siebert’s no-hitter too—what are the odds of that? And I believe you gave me my first Harvey Pekar comic. I still have almost a complete set of American Splendor. Living in Boston now.

4 Seth B. Marks { 08.31.22 at 2:16 pm }

My Baseball Hall of Infamy moment, is that I shook Herb Score’s hand the night before he got hit in the eye. Never returned to his old form. That was at one of the Beechmont goes to the ballgame evenings with dinner behind the fence.

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