David Ortiz belted a two-run home run in the third -- and reached base four times -- but Daniel Nava was the hero of the late innings.
Nava doubled to start the fifth and scored on Marco Scutaro's dobule. He singled in the middle of the sixth inning rally -- and a throwing error on the play increased Boston's lead from 5-4 to 6-4 -- and he had an RBI double in the eighth. Scutaro drove in three runs; and Beltre singled and walked twice.
Lackey hung on long enough to get a W (6-8-4-2-5, 112), but was not particularly sharp.
The Yankees lost 7-1 and the Rays lost 3-1 -- New York and Tampa Bay each managed only four hits each -- so they remained tied for first, with the Red Sox now only 2 GB. Boston has not been this close to first place since April 15 (after G8).
1880: John Montgomery Ward of the Providence Grays pitches a perfect game against the Buffalo Bisons (5-0). It is the second perfect game in National League history and the second in six days! Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs beat the Cleveland Blues 1-0 on June 12. It will be 84 years before another NL pitcher throws a perfect game (Jim Bunning, June 21, 1964).
1915: Zip Zabel comes out of the Cubs bullpen with two outs in the first inning against Brooklyn. He pitches 18.1 innings -- the longest relief appearance in major league history -- and wins 4-3. (Another likely unbreakable record.)
2005: The Arizona Diamondbacks give up 10 runs in the third inning of a 13-6 loss to Cleveland. In their previous game, June 15 against the White Sox, they had allowed 10 runs in the sixth inning. The last team to suffer 10-run innings in consecutive games was the 1969 Mets, who did it in both games of a doubleheader, July 30 against the Astros (11 runs in the ninth inning of G1 and 10 runs in the third inning of G2).
Since Dustin Pedroia is not a .172 hitter -- his batting average from May 18 to June 9 (15-for-87) -- it is not surprising that he is now on a little hot streak.
Over his last six games, FY is hitting .500 (12-for-24) with four doubles and eight runs scored. He hit his first dong since May 14 last night.
[The MRI on my knee] definitely helped me to know that nothing's wrong. I'm feeling better. In a couple of weeks, it healed. ... I'm strong. I drink milk.
I hear all these other announcers, they've got all their "look at me" calls. And Don is pretty boring. We've got to try to step up his game a little bit, 'cause nobody really gets on him. So that's kind of my job, too, to wear him out a little bit.
Orsillo's call went like this:
The 1-2 is driven to deep left for Pedroia. Back, far, and that ball is gone. Up off the top and out of the yard, it's a two-run shot for Dustin Pedroia, his 9th -- and the laser show is underway. It's 2-0, Sox.
We had to mix in something soft tonight. They're a very good fastball-hitting team. ... When you're able to slow them down just enough to get away with that [fastball] down the middle, you can pop them up. ... [My changeup is] tenfold better [than it was last year.] I have more confidence, able to throw it in different counts. Able to throw it ahead in the count, which is the biggest thing. It's becoming an out pitch ...
Lester says he has learned a lot about the pitch, and when to throw it, from Clay Buchholz.
The Globe's Stan Grossfeld travelled to Cincinnati to chat with Manny Ramirez before the Dodgers arrive in Boston on Friday. Manny gave him a hug and asked "What are you doing here?" When asked about how the crowd would reaction to his first appearance at Fenway Park since July 2008, Manny said, "No, thank you" and walked away.
Naturally, Grossfeld mentions the "which knee hurt?" story -- despite the fact that there is no evidence it ever happened.
Eri Yoshida of the Chico Outlaws made her second Golden Baseball League start on Saturday, June 12, against the Yuma Scorpions, who lead the South division.
Yoshida pitched four innings, throwing 79 pitches, allowing four hits, two walks, and two runs (one was unearned). She also got her first strikeout of the season, fanning Timothy Rodriguez, the GBL's RBI leader, on three pitches (ccs) in the third inning. Chico won the game 8-4.
The start of the game was delayed to allow many of the 4,311 fans to get into the park. Chico has drawn an average of 2,217 in its 10 non-Yoshida home games.
Lester: 7-4-2-3-7, 103. Three of the four hits he allowed came in the second inning. After that, Lester allowed only one hit over his last 21 batters (5.2 innings) faced. There were three walks and a HBP within that 21-batter stretch, but the only threat came in the fourth, when Arizona (trailing 4-2) had the bases loaded and one out. Lester struck out Rusty Ryal and got Chris Snyder to fly to center.
Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run home run in the first. He also singled and stole second to begin the third. David Ortiz followed that with a walk and, with two outs, J.D. Drew's double scored FY and Adrian Beltre's second single of the night brought home Flo. Kevin Youkilis jacked a two-run dong in the seventh (Ortiz was aboard).
Marco Scutaro singled twice, Ortiz walked twice and singled. FWIW, Victor Martinez had three fly outs to the warning track. (Also, FWIW, Mark Grace, the "analyst" on the D'backs' FSN affiliate, is a Sutcliffian* moron. His stupidity is actually scary.)
* I think I just invented a useful word.
Daniel Bard had an easy eighth, but Ramon Ramirez allowed a walk and a single to start the Snakes' ninth. Ram2 got two fly outs from the 8/9 hitters before Tito handed the ball to Jonathan Papelbon, who retired Kelly Johnson on a fly to Darnell McDonald in left.
It was Arizona's 12th straight road loss -- a new franchise record.
The Rays lost 6-2 and the Yankees lost 6-3 (Burnett: 3.1-6-6-4-3, 87), so the Red Sox are now 3 GB.
June 16, 1938: Jimmie Foxx of the Red Sox is walked intentionally by the Browns in all six of his plate appearances. It is an American League record for a nine-inning game and ties the NL mark set by Walt Wilmot of the Chicago Colts on August 22, 1891. (The post-1900 NL record is five, held by many players.)
One American League player, when discussing the use of replay for fair-foul calls, said that the bottom line for players and fans "is to get the game called right".
But an ESPN confidential poll of 100 major leaguers shows that an overwhelming majority of players do not care about making sure the game is officiated as accurately as possible.
Only 36% believed replay should be used on fair/foul calls and 22% would like to see replay on base calls. (I'm curious how many players now approve of reviewing questionable/possible home runs. I'll bet the number of positive votes has increased since replay was introduced.)
I was surprised to see that only 12 of the 100 players thought Jim Joyce's incorrect call at first base, which denied Detroit's Armando Galarraga a perfect game on June 2, should have been overturned.
Yesterday was the 72nd anniversary of Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters (June 11 and June 15, 1938).
No one has ever duplicated Vander Meer's achievement -- and it is probably the major league record least likely ever to be broken -- Ewell Blackwell came very close in 1947. On June 18, Blackwell no-hit the Boston Braves and on June 22, he pitched 8.1 no-hit innings against Brooklyn before allowing two hits.
Vander Meer, with his starts before and after the no-nos, pitched a record 21.2 no-hit innings.
Baseball Reference noted that there have been six other pitchers who have had back-to-back starts of at least nine innings and allowed one or no hits in each game (so Blackwell does not qualify):
Howard Ehmke, Red Sox, September 7 (no-hitter) and 11, 1923 Dazzy Vance, Dodgers, September 8 and 13 (no-hitter), 1925 Lon Warneke, Cubs, April 27 and 22, 1934 Whitey Ford, Yankees, September 2 and 7, 1955 Sam McDowell, Cleveland, April 25 and May 1, 1966 Dave Stieb, Blue Jays, September 24 and 30, 1988
Stieb was one out away from a no-hitter in both of his games. Julio Franco singled on September 24 and pinch-hitter Jim Traber got the hit on September 30. Stieb did pitch a no-hitter two years later. ... Ford had a relief appearance between his two starts: 1.1 innings on September 4, 1955.
One of the most amazing games in baseball history happened on May 2, 1917. Both starters -- Fred Toney of the Reds and Jim Vaughn of the Cubs -- threw nine no-hit innings. The Reds got two hits and a run off Vaughn in the 10th and won the game. Toney got his no-no.
This past Sunday, Gavin Floyd of the White Sox did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the seventh and Ted Lilly of the Cubs took a no-hit bid into the ninth. The game went 41 outs before a hit was made, tying it for the second longest double no-hit bid in history:
22-year-old lefty Felix Doubront will make his major league debut on Friday night at Fenway Park, when he starts against the Dodgers.
Doubront had a 2.51 ERA in eight starts for Portland (AA) and has a 1.08 ERA in four starts for Pawtucket (AAA). He takes the rotation spot of the currently-DL'd Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Nava, LF Pedroia, 2B Ortiz, DH Youkilis, 1B Martinez, C Drew, RF Beltre, 3B Hall, SS Cameron, CF
PA reports that Daniel Nava will leadoff tonight. Bill Hall will play shortstop as Marco Scutaro had a "procedure" on his neck yesterday (according to Terry Francona) to help with his pinched nerve.
Kennedy has pitched quite well for Arizona, allowing three or fewer earned runs in 11 of his 13 starts. Since May 1, he has a 2.42 ERA in eight starts (52 innings). However, Kennedy has allowed 14 home runs -- only three pitchers have given up more.
Although Kennedy worked in 14 games for the Yankees in 2007-09, he has never pitched against Boston. The only Red Sox batter he has ever faced is Victor Martinez (one single in three PA on April 26, 2008).
Buchholz has the 4th best AL ERA and is at 2.42 over his last six starts. He has never faced anyone currently on the Snakes.
1902 - Corsicana routs Texarkana 51-3. The Texas League game was played in a ballpark with either very short fences (about 200-210 to right) or no fences at all. Most accounts state that Corsicana hit 21 home runs, with catcher Justin "Nig" Clarke hitting eight of them -- in eight consecutive at-bats. (Or maybe Clarke hit only three dongs.) Some telegraph operators, thinking the final score was a typo, reported it as 5-3.
1928 - Ty Cobb steals home for the 54th and final time in his 24-year career.
1938 - Cincinnati's Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, defeating the Dodgers 6-0, in the first night game played at Ebbets Field. On June 11, Vander Meer no-hit the Boston Braves, 3-0.
1976 - Oakland owner Charlie Finley sells Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox (and sells Vida Blue to the Yankees). Three days later, Commissioner Asshole Bowie Kuhn voids both deals, saying they are "not in the best interests of baseball".
Babe Ruth had one of the greatest seasons in baseball history in 1920. B-Ref now has game logs for the 1920s, so I looked at Ruth's batting in his first year with the Yankees.
He had a slow start to his time in New York, batting .210 and slugging a mere .371 in his first 18 games.
But on May 11, everything clicked. For the rest of the season -- 124 games, 547 plate appearances -- Ruth batted .403/.564/.924 for an OPS of 1.488. There were only nine games in which he did not have a hit or walk -- and six of those came in those initial 18 games before he caught fire. So in his final 124 games of 1920, Ruth failed to get a hit or walk only three times.
May 11 to August 14 (90 games): .427/.584/.986/1.570, with 40 home runs and only 45 strikeouts.
In June and July (63 games): .445/.596/.965/1.561.
Even in the 33 games in which he went hitless, Ruth drew 42 walks, for an OBP of .326!
In 1921, Ruth batted .378/.512/.846. At home in the Polo Grounds, Ruth hit .402 and slugged .926.
In 276 games from May 11, 1920 to end of 1921, he batted .388.
In 1923, Ruth nearly hit .400. He was at .402 on the morning of September 2 and finished the season at .393. He did not win the batting title, however, because Harry Heilmann hit .403*.
I initially looked at Heilmann's 1921 logs by mistake, so I saw that at the end of July 1921 (96 games), his batting average was .430!
There was a 51-game stretch in the summer of 1923 -- July 7 to September 1 -- in which Ruth batted .460. In his last 62 games of the year, Babe batted .423.
Ruth once said that if he had tried to hit only singles instead of walloping home runs, he would have batted .600. When you really look at some of his stats, what sounds like a crazy exaggeration actually starts to sound somewhat plausible.
June 13, 1905: Christy Mathewson of the Giants pitches his second career no-hitter, beating Mordecai Brown and the Cubs 1-0. Mathewson and Brown match no-hitters for eight innings, before New York gets two hits and a run in the ninth.
He said to me when he was getting ready to get in the hole, on deck there, he said, "Where do you think my folks are sitting?" I said, "I don't care, go up and get a hit."
I wanted to treat it like I normally do. I just said [to umpire Bill Hohn and catcher Brian Schneider] "How are you guys doing?" They didn't say anything.
Nava admitted that as he trotted around second base, he "started to scream".
It's pretty ridiculous. ... I think when I get back to the hotel room, and I have a chance to maybe sit down and relax and maybe let everything sink in, I think that's when it will really hit me.
Players Who have Hit A Grand Slam In Their 1st MLB AB
Player Opponent DateBill Duggleby, Phillies Giants April 21, 1898
Jeremy Hermida, Marlins Cardinals August 31, 2005
Kevin Kouzmanoff, Cleveland Rangers September 2, 2006
Daniel Nava, Red Sox Phillies June 12, 2010
It doesn't happen for more than 107 years, then it happens three times in five seasons!
* It was LeFebre's first MLB at-bat and the only home run of his career. He was a pitcher, allowing eight hits and six runs in the last four innings of Boston's 15-2 loss.
** Harrelson had already played for the Washington Senators and Kansas City Athletics in 1967 before signing with the Red Sox. The Yankees won this game 4-3 in 20 innings -- the longest game ever played between the two teams. Bob Tillman (see below) was the Yankees' catcher.
*** Kennedy was also a pinch-hitter (like Repulski) and his home run was an inside-the-park dong.
**** Linescore alert!
In trying to find the first eight Sox on that list, I clicked on an Answers Yahoo page -- and the source was me!!! (From August 1, 2005.)
The Yahoo list included someone I did not have in my post: Bob Tillman, who hit a home run for the Red Sox in his first MLB at-bat, on May 19, 1962.
But Tillman made his actual debut on April 15, as a pinch-hitter. He walked, then did not see any big league action until he caught the top of the ninth inning on May 16. Three days later, he started and batted 4th. He walked in his first trip to the plate that day, then led off the fourth with a dong. So, while it was his first at-bat, it was his third plate appearance -- and it came more than a month after his debut.
This was all happening as [Matsuzaka] was warming up. Johnny [Farrell] had called me and said, "Hey, he's not warming up very well." I called him back and said, "Is this something to worry about?" I said, "Let [Get?] Atchison." We don't want to surprise somebody, don't want to put him behind the eight-ball more than he already is. It became apparent, Johnny called back and said, "I'm not comfortable with this." And I don't think Dice-K fought him.
I was in here dressed, 20 or 25 minutes before the game, I guess, just kind of waiting. DeMarlo [Hale] came in and said, "Atch, get your glove. Let's go." I said, "Where we going?" He said, "We need you out in the bullpen, something might be up." I was already dressed, so it wasn't that big a deal from that point.
I got out in the dugout and Tito said, "Head out to the bullpen. We're not exactly sure what's going on." So I went out there and Dice was still throwing. I guess they called in and they were like, "Get going, you're going to start this thing." It was kind of exciting because I've never started a game in the big leagues.
Atchison started warming up shortly before the national anthem was played.
When [Matsuzaka] was warming he said his forearm was sore. He said he could pitch, but would have to change his delivery. We weren't comfortable with that.
Until I went to the bullpen, I went through my regular routine, but once I got in and started throwing, I felt some sudden tightness in my forearm. I think I could have pitched through it, but we talked about it and decided there's no sense in trying to compenstate and making a mechanical adjustment just to get through it, so that was the decision.
Nothing out of the ordinary. I went through my normal routine, got some massage work done. And went into my start today feeling pretty much the same as usual, so yes it was sudden. ... [T]he trainers took a look at me and things didn't seem that bad. It's not a joint issue. It's muscle soreness, so I don't think it's going to take that long. We'll take some time, see how I feel tomorrow, and take it from there. ...
I can't even remember when the last time [I was scratched from a start] so ... I don't think this is a really big problem at all.
Daniel Nava hit a grand slam into the Red Sox bullpen on the first pitch in his first major league plate appearance!
Nava is the fourth player in history to hit a grand slam in the first at-bat of his major league career. The only other player to do it on the first pitch is Kevin Kouzmanoff of the Padres, who went deep on September 2, 2006.
Rip Repulski is the only other Red Sox player to hit a grand slam in his first plate appearance with the team (May 10, 1960 against the White Sox).
...
Matsuzaka was placed on the disabled list shortly before the game with a right forearm strain. Atchison gets the start -- and left-handed reliever Dustin Richardson is on his way from Pawtucket.
Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 1B
Drew, RF
Beltre, 3B
Varitek, C
McDonald, CF
Nava, LF [MLB debut]
The Red Sox are expected to call up Daniel Nava, a 27-year-old switch-hitting outfielder, for today's game. [And they do.] Josh Reddick was optioned to Pawtucket last night.
Nava is batting .294/.364/.492 for Pawtucket this season. Mike Andrews of Sox Prospects calls Nava "one of the best offensive players in the system over the last three seasons, regularly surpassing expectations at every turn". He has been a few years older than his competition at each level, though. Andrews has a good Q&A with Nava here.
And:
Baseball Reference lists June 12, 2001 as the day Gary Sheffield of the Dodgers became the first player in MLB history to hit a solo home run in a 1-0 game three times in a single season, but it should be included on May 12: April 2 (Opening Day) vs Milwaukee, May 7 vs Florida, May 12 (bottom of the 9th) vs Atlanta.
The Red Sox hit eight doubles in their 12-2 win over the Phillies last night: Victor Martinez (2), David Ortiz (2), Adrian Beltre, Dustin Pedroia, Marco Scutaro, and Jason Varitek.
It was only the 21st game since 1920 in which Boston hit at least eight doubles. The Red Sox are 17-4 in those games. Fourteen of the games have come since 1990.
In Boston's 16 games with eight doubles, the team's runs scored have ranged from four (August 18, 2006; 1st game) to 25 (June 27, 2003).
The Red Sox have hit nine doubles in a game four times:
September 5, 1927 (1st game) Red Sox 12, Yankees 11 (18) (both teams scored 3 runs in the 17th!)
Lackey had a very strong start (7-6-2-0-3, 86), but his performance was overshadowed by the laser show in the first three innings.
With one out and one on in the first against Moyer, Martinez doubled, Ortiz doubled, Beltre doubled, and Lowell homered. Scutaro started the second with a single, then Pedroia doubled, Martinez doubled, and Ortiz doubled. And Moyer was changing into street clothes: 1-9-9-1-1, 61.
Scutaro and Ortiz each had three hits and Flo knocked in four runs.
Scutaro, SS Pedroia, 2B Martinez, C Ortiz, DH Beltre, 3B Lowell, 1B Hall, LF Cameron, CF McDonald, RF
How old is Jamie Moyer? Nine days after his major league debut, the Bard family celebrated Daniel's first birthday.
Moyer (rookie card, at left) has pitched against 20 players who are already in the Hall of Fame, including Steve Carlton, who was the opposing pitcher in his debut, and Mike Schmidt, who was inducted 15 years ago! Moyer had six seasons under his belt when Tim Wakefield made his debut with the Pirates. Terry Francona was Moyer's teammate on the 1986 Cubs.
When Moyer pitched for the Red Sox, they were still a year away from trading Heathcliff Slocumb to Seattle. Moyer has faced batters born in six different decades.
About a month ago, on May 7, Moyer became the oldest pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout. He has pitched shutouts 24 years apart and he may be the only pitcher to throw shutouts in four different decades.
He has allowed 501 home runs, five away from breaking the all-time mark set by Robin Roberts.
Beginning with Daisuke Matsuzaka's no-hit bid on May 22, the Phillies are 5-12 and have averaged only 2.3 runs a game. In 9 of those 17 games, they have scored 0 or 1 run.
A day after we learned that Jacoby Ellsbury had a fracture of yet another rib, Jeremy Hermida was placed on the disabled list with five fractured ribs of his own.
Terry Francona:
Beltre is going to take out the entire outfield. ... The way it was explained to me - and I have more knowledge on this stuff than I really want ... When people hear fracture you think of a broken leg. That's really not what it is. It's painful to deal with, we all know, but it's a non-displaced, so it's like a deep bone bruise. You go as tolerated.
Also: Jonathan Papelbon is back and able to pitch and Scott Atchison has been recalled from Pawtucket. Joe Nelson has been designated for assignment.
The Red Sox were down to their last strike, trailing 6-5, but J.D. Drew was hit by a pitch and Adrian Beltre homered to left.
Daniel Bard loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth (4-pitch walk, double, 5-pitch walk), but then nearly escaped trouble. He struck out Travis Hafner looking and got Jhonny Peralta to foul out to catcher. But Russell Branyan blooped a hit over Dustin Pedroia into short right field -- Cleveland had two bloop hits in their sixth-inning rally, also -- and the Spiders won the game and split the series.
Bard's inability to throw strikes when he first came in could have been because of not having enough time to warmup or because he has been worked like a mule this season. (While still being our most effective reliever.) He has pitched in exactly half of Boston's 62 games (and six of June's 10 games). Among AL pitchers, only Tampa Bay's Randy Choate has pitched in more games (32). But the differences between the two pitchers is stark.
June 10, 1944: Joe Nuxhall, at 15 years, 10 months and 11 days, becomes the youngest player in major league history when he pitches 0.2 of an inning for the Reds in an 18-0 loss to the Cardinals. Nuxhall: "Probably two weeks prior to that, I was pitching against seventh, eighth and ninth graders, kids 13 and 14 years old. All of a sudden, I look up and there's Stan Musial ..."
Chester Arthur Burnett -- better known as bluesman Howlin' Wolf -- was born in White Station, Mississippi, 100 years ago today.Wolf did not consider a musical career until he was nearly 40. Sam Phillips, the man who first recorded Elvis Presley, heard Wolf's radio show on KWEM in West Memphis.
"When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.' Then Wolf came over to the studio, and he was about six foot six, with the biggest feet I've ever seen on a human being. Big Foot Chester was one name they used to call him. He would sit there with those feet planted wide apart, playing nothing but the French harp, and, I tell you, the greatest show you could see to this day would be Chester Burnett doing one of those sessions in my studio. God, what it would be worth on film to see the fervor in that man's face when he sang.
We do have film of Wolf in action -- and it is mesmerizing. Wolf was huge, at times close to 300 pounds; his head was as large as a cinder block. And his voice -- brutish, menacing, and loud -- was one of the musical wonders of the 20th century. And yet Wolf, an extremely guarded man off-stage, also sang openly about his insecurities (such as in the studio version of "Don't Laugh At Me": "You got fine clothes, that's why you laugh at me / I'm not good lookin' baby and I know I didn't make myself"), exposing a vulnerability that you never heard from other blues musicians. He was a true showman, giving maximum entertainment while often simultaneously scaring the shit out the audience.
Robert Palmer, in his book Deep Blues, describes Wolf's early sound:
Wolf was moaning and screaming ... blowing unreconstructed country blues harmonica, [and] his band featured heavily amplified single-string lead guitar by Willie Johnson and Destruction's rippling, jazz-influenced piano. ... Wolf and his group could sound exceptionally down-home .. and they could swing. ... But most of the time, Wolf strutted and howled, Willie Steel bashed relentlessly, and Willie Johnson, his amp turned up until his tone cracked, distorted, and fed back, hit violent power chords right on the beat. ... [T]his music was heavy metal, years before the term was coined.
Palmer recalled one particular Wolf performance:
In later years, and especially after he began working mostly for white audiences, Wolf would take it easy. A little of the old ferocity was enough to ignite the most jaded college crowd. But I'll never forget a 1965 performance when Wolf played Memphis on a blues package show ...
The MC announced Wolf, and the curtains opened up to reveal his band pumping out a decidedly down-home shuffle. The rest of the bands on the show were playing jump and soul-influenced blues, but this was the hard stuff. Where was Wolf? Suddenly he sprang out onto the stage from the wings. He was a huge hulk of a man, but he advanced across the stage in sudden bursts of speed, his head pivoting from side to side, eyes huge and white, eyeballs rotating wildly. He seemed to be having an epileptic seizure, but no, he suddenly lunged for the microphone, blew a chorus of raw, heavily rhythmic harmonica, and began moaning. He had the hugest voice I have ever heard -- it seemed to fill the hall and get right inside your ears, and when he hummed and moaned in falsetto, every hair on your neck crackled with electricity. The thirty-minute set went by like an express train, with Wolf switching from harp to guitar (which he played while rolling around on his back and, at one point, doing somersaults) and then leaping up to prowl the lip of the stage. He was The Mighty Wolf, no doubt about it. Finally, an impatient signal from the wings let him know his portion of the show was over. Defiantly, Wolf counted off a bone-crushing rocker, began singing rhythmically, feigned an exit, and suddenly made a flying leap for the curtain at the side of the stage. Holding the microphone under his beefy right arm and singing into it all the while, he began climbing up the curtain, going higher and higher until he was perched far above the stage, the thick curtain threatening to rip, the audience screaming with delight. Then he loosened his grip and, in a single easy motion, slid right back down the curtain, hit the stage, cut off the tune, and stalked away, to the most ecstatic cheers of the evening. He was then fifty-five years old.
The Mighty Wolf, with guitarist Hubert Sumlin, in England (1964)
I'll Be Back Someday (1964)
Shake It For Me (1964)
How Many More Years (1966)
Dust My Broom (1966)
Finally, here is a clip I had never seen until I started putting this post together. It is from "Howlin' Wolf In Concert 1970", filmed at the Washington D.C. Blues Festival in November 1970.
"Highway 49" begins with Wolf -- at age 60! -- crawling on stage on his hands and knees, flashing a devilish grin. When I first saw this, I just about lost my mind at 4:10.
Later, Wolf is sitting stock still in a chair on stage, brooding and scowling, then looking incredibly self-satisfied, and you cannot stop staring, because what the hell is he going to do next?
If he was doing this shit when he was 60, what kind of otherworldly performances was he putting on 20-25 years earlier?!?!
