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Columnist Rick Telander recalls a day 44 years ago when he shared company with three Yankees legends.

The bar in the lounge at the Hilton Hotel in Gainesville, Florida, was empty except for the four of us: Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin and me.

It was Wednesday afternoon, March 23, 1977, and I was glad there was nobody else at the long, wooden bar because I didn’t want needless chaos and fan interference as I tried to get a handle on these famous baseball men for a Sports Illustrated story I was working on. The assigned piece was about Maris, but he was here in this unexpected reunion with his old Yankees pals, far from New York City, where they all had labored under the glare of the massed media. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be along for the ride, a 20-something journalist, in awe.

Yet I also was concerned that Martin, in a bar, drinking (as we all were), might react badly if a rowdy crowd appeared. Martin had lots of combative precedents. He had punched a number of people and had gotten into bad fights in bars, lounges or wherever alcohol was served, even at the ballpark. It was hard to say which venue — bar or ballpark — was more loaded with tension for the high-strung former player, the slender, big-eared, big-nosed guy some called a genius and others called an idiot, now managing the Yankees.

Indeed, the year after our gathering, after getting fired halfway through the 1978 season, Martin would punch a young sportswriter named Ray Hagar, chipping several of Hagar’s teeth. There would be Martin’s barroom belting of a marshmallow salesman in 1979, with people lavishing ridicule on that incident. A marshmallow salesman? Oh, Billy, you kid!

Back in his playing days with the Yankees in 1957, Martin had been involved in a barroom brawl with five of his teammates, including Hank Bauer, Whitey Ford and Mantle, at the Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan. Yankees general manger George Weiss blamed Martin for the fight, even though Bauer allegedly threw the first punch at the foes, and Martin was traded at the end of the season to the Athletics.

The fights would go on incessantly, it seemed, including with opponents and later even players he was managing, such as the famous near-dustup with star Reggie Jackson in the Yankees’ dugout, which would occur a few months after our meeting in Gainesville, a nasty, vein-bulging snarl match caught by national TV for a stunned audience.

Yankees coaches Elston Howard and Yogi Berra held back Martin the way you might a rabid Tasmanian devil, and player Jimmy Wynn held back the profanity-spewing Jackson, who was 18 years younger than Martin and outweighed him by 35 pounds. But Martin was going to go, size be damned, no question about it. This wasn’t a hold-me-back act. This was pure Billy.

Former Yankees beat writer Bill Pennington epically would describe Martin as ‘‘one of the most magnetic, entertaining, sensitive, humane, brilliant, generous, insecure, paranoid, dangerous, irrational and unhinged people I had ever met.’’

I had determined from the start I would stay calm and not become Martin’s next KO.

Ray Stubblebine/AP

How had this hotel-bar reunion even occurred?

I had been with Maris for a day, much enjoying his decency and openness, and was pleasantly surprised that instead of flaring with repressed anger over his remarkably stressful 1961 season — when he hit 61 home runs, breaking Babe Ruth’s 34-year-old record of 60 — he was delighted to talk about the chase and his ultimate success.

The press had been demanding and, at times, vicious toward him in ’61. He told me about sitting for two, three, four hours at his locker after games simply to appease the requests. He tried to give them what they needed, but this was New York, with its maelstrom of media outlets, and the beast was insatiable.

The stress got to the All-Star right fielder, and his hair began to fall out in patches as the season progressed. His wife visited from Kansas City, where she and the kids lived during the season — Maris never would bring them to the crazed hellhole of New York — and she said he looked like a molting bird.

And how the writers described him! If Martin had elicited some wildly divergent adjectives from Pennington, Maris outdid him in spades. These are but some of the adjectives I dug up about Maris from 1961: ‘‘shy,’’ ‘‘quiet,’’ ‘‘decent,’’ ‘‘devout and home-loving,’’ ‘‘stubborn,’’ ‘‘hot-headed,’’ ‘‘low key,’’ ‘‘easily agitated,’’ ‘‘surly,’’ ‘‘direct,’’ ‘‘honest,’’ ‘‘silent,’’ ‘‘morose,’’ ‘‘unselfish,’’ ‘‘reticent,’’ ‘‘choleric,’’ ‘‘wonderful,’’ ‘‘petulant,’’ ‘‘self-pitying,’’ ‘‘constantly irritated,’’ ‘‘trite,’’ ‘‘sincere,’’ ‘‘self-possessed,’’ ‘‘sensible,’’ ‘‘straightforward,’’ ‘‘cooperative,’’ ‘‘talkative,’’ ‘‘likable’’ and ‘‘soft-spoken.’’

Until I met Maris, it was literally impossible to know what the man was like. The curse of incessant, in-depth media coverage and its unintended and ironic tendency to obscure, even obliterate, rather than emphasize facts had hit the modern world.

But the Yankees were leaving spring training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, getting ready for the season to start, and owner George Steinbrenner had made a charitable gesture and decided his team would play an exhibition game against the University of Florida before heading back to the Bronx. Florida was his adopted university, for some reason — his alma maters were Williams College and Ohio State — and he just had purchased lights for McKethan Stadium, the Gators’ baseball field.

The whole Yankees caravan was coming to this college town, and it seemed as though almost nobody knew about it. But Maris sure knew. He had been almost quivering with anticipation as we waited for the buses to show up at the hotel.

We ate lunch as we waited at that Hilton bar, and Maris, who owned the Busch beer distributorship in Gainesville — which he bought but was also something of a friendly sendoff deal from Cardinals owner August Busch after Maris finished his career in St. Louis — was pulling at his tie and seemed uncomfortable in his dress shirt, blazer, slacks and shiny wingtips.

And his longer, more fashionable combed hair — so different from the Marine-style flat-top of his playing days — he wasn’t much of a fan of that, either.

‘‘I don’t know about this stuff,’’ he said.

He was an athlete, regardless of age. It was clear he was an outdoor man wearing an inside man’s costume. In high school. he had been an electric football player, once running back three kick returns and an interception for touchdowns in a game. Besides being a naturally strong man with big quads and blacksmith’s wrists — his best playing weight for his slightly shorter than 6-foot height was about 205 pounds, he said — he also could move. As a young player, he was fast and agile and a good fielder with an excellent arm. His two American League MVP awards didn’t come just because of his hitting power.

‘‘You know, I’m about this close to getting a crewcut again,’’ he said. ‘‘I really am. It’s hard these days when athletes and professors and everybody has long hair. It’s hard for me to tell my kids to get theirs cut.’’

One thing he emphasized was how much he loved his children — all six of them — even though, after the ugliness he had been through in New York, he said he never should have named his first-born son Roger Maris Jr. But the boy was born in 1959, two years before the craziness of the home-run chase.

‘‘How would you know?’’ Maris asked, almost to himself.

In truth, the 1961 baseball season was like no other. The AL had added two new teams and the season expanded from 154 to 162 games. Old-boy commissioner Ford Frick did incalculable damage to the game (and, yes, to Maris) when he abruptly decided midway through the season that Maris and Mantle, both of whom were hitting homers at a record pace, could not officially break the season record unless they did it in 154 games.

‘‘You can’t break the 100-meter record in the 100-yard dash,’’ Frick famously declared.

If Maris hit 61 in 162 games, he’d get a ‘‘distinctive mark’’ demeaning his record, said Frick, a former ghostwriter for — and pal of — Ruth. Frick never said the word ‘‘asterisk’’ specifically — that was offered to him as a solution by caustic New York Post sports columnist Dick Young — but the unofficial asterisk behind Maris’ record was in place until commissioner Fay Vincent declared it dead and gone in 1991, ending 30 years of virtual shame for what should have been baseball’s — and Maris’ — proudest moment.

AP

Imagine, only 23,000 people were at vast Yankee Stadium to see Maris hit No. 61 in the fourth inning of the last game of the season. It wasn’t a cheap homer, either. It was the only run in the Yankees’ 1-0 victory against the Red Sox.

I have a news clip in my file that points out that a distant newspaper, the Green Bay (Wisconsin) Post-Gazette, didn’t even have Maris’ record blast on the front page of its sports section. Nope, just lots of analysis of the Packers’ fresh 24-0 shutout of the Bears. The overdue erasure by Vincent of the ‘‘asterisk’’ stain, sadly, did Maris no real good. He had died six years earlier of lymphatic cancer at 51.

For many years, I’ve thought of Frick’s name in asterisk terms of its own: ‘‘Ford F*ck.’’

Fans at away parks had booed Maris loudly. Fans even booed him at Yankee Stadium because he was chasing the immortal Babe and simply wasn’t worthy of such fame. There were so many things lacking in Maris, media-wise, that it was a no-brainer for opinion writers. He was in New York — ‘‘the Volcano,’’ for God’s sake — and yet he cared not a whit because he was a country fellow, born in Hibbing, Minnesota, and raised in Fargo, North Dakota.

It could be argued this decent small-town man (his high school didn’t even field a baseball team), who married his high school sweetheart, was the first sports star in history to be hounded by a multiheaded media monster that wanted gossip, opinion and scandal more than it wanted news.

Indeed, at that time, there was not another record in American sports more hallowed than Ruth’s 60 homers. And the way so many stories went, that record was not being beaten; it was being trashed by a low-level creature. In 1963, one writer would sum it up thusly: The trouble with Maris was not that he had problems with the press but that ‘‘he has proved to be such an unsatisfactory hero.’’

That’s kind of funny when you think about it now. Do you even know who owns the home-run record and what it is?

Well, it’s Barry Bonds, and the number is 73. A ridiculous number. Truly. Put up by a ridiculous man in 2001, a jealous man who had seen Sammy Sosa hit 66 in 1998 and Mark McGwire outdo him that same season with 70 and both get all kinds of attention. Bonds didn’t like this. Not at all. So he got huge and became a sledgehammer man. All three of those men are ridiculous. All three — the only ones to surpass Maris — forever are linked to steroids and other illicit performance-enhancing drugs. Maris drank beer at times and smoked Camels to help with stress. That’s all the doping he did.

But he was cool now, on this day, years before meatheads such as Jose Canseco and his ilk would make steroid culture baseball culture.

And here came the Yankees, slowly exiting a pair of luxury buses. Maris stood just inside the doors of the hotel lobby, like a greeter at a convention. He nodded at Dock Ellis, Chris Chambliss and Lou Piniella. He shook hands with Catfish Hunter and Roy White. He greeted Graig Nettles and Howard. And he had a huge handshake for Yogi Berra. He had an even bigger one for Martin, to go along with an immense smile and babbling small talk with his old pal. Then he saw Mantle.

‘‘Look who did make it!’’ he exclaimed.

And their embrace was warm, genuine, exuberant. The media tried to paint the two as intense rivals, even enemies. Mantle was the greater player — everybody knew that — so he should have been the home-run king. Such was the logic.

In fact, Mantle might have gotten to 61 homers first in 1961, but a late-season injury derailed him, and he missed a number of games. Even so, he finished with 54, and the combined 115 for the ‘‘M&M boys’’ set the record for homers by a pair of teammates in a season.

They truly liked each other and always had. Mantle, three years Maris’ senior, always had helped his teammate, soothed him during his torment. They even roomed together.

John Rooney/AP

Sure, as the skeptics noted, you had to throw lots more strikes to Maris, couldn’t walk him, made it easy for him, because you didn’t want to get to the switch-hitting Mantle with a man on base. And there was that short right-field wall at Yankee Stadium helping Maris, a left-handed pull hitter.

And there were other things, too. All so wrong, so unfair, critics wailed. Forget facts. Such as the truth that Maris hit more homers on the road in ’61 than he did at the cozy-for-him ‘‘House That Ruth Built.’’

But here these three buddies were now, and the ‘‘M&M&M boys’’ quickly repaired to the bar, and the stories began. A lot of the stories were racy, off-color and juvenile because these were, after all, overgrown kids. Maris hadn’t been back to Yankee Stadium in more than a decade and didn’t want to go, even for the fun-filled old-timers’ game. (‘‘I might get shot,’’ he had said earlier, meaning it.) But baseball is the quintessential kid’s pastime, the sport any gaggle of young Americans will start playing in any sandlot anywhere if a bat, ball and gloves are handy. And you don’t grow up if you think about baseball endlessly.

Beers were ordered — Anheuser Busch products, of course — and the yarns began.

‘‘So we were in this bar the other night, and this stool was in the aisle,’’ said Mantle, who was serving as a sort of emeritus batting instructor for the Yankees. ‘‘And I didn’t see it and stumbled into it. And this guy who was there — ’’

‘‘Yeah, this guy,’’ Martin interjected, ‘‘he says, ‘Mantle’s drunk again.’ And I said, ‘‘ ‘A—hole, we didn’t come here to get sober!’ ’’

They all laughed. And slowly, through their posture and words, their personalities emerged.

Maris was the steady, non-profane, good-natured pal who had zero interest in controversy. Unlike the other two, both blooming alcoholics, he hadn’t much interest in drinking, either. At lunch, when the place didn’t have the Natural Lite beer he wanted, he shrugged and drank water instead.

Mantle, in his open-necked shirt, wide-checked jacket, deep tan, light-blue eyes and blond bangs — all of which still could be discerned in the dim bar light — seemed as easygoing as his Oklahoma drawl. He looked like a handsome and charming, if heavy-drinking, lady-slayer. And, truth be known, he was.

Then there was Martin. If the other two were broad-shouldered, thick-necked, big-armed lions, he was wiry and narrow and resembled a weasel more than a cat. His mustache and beige hipster leisure suit, accessorized with tooled cowboy boots and a $20-goldpiece string tie, identified him as a man on the move. He was sharper and more cunning than the other two but always impish, ready to take charge and make sure things happened the way he wanted. It was no accident Steinbrenner would hire and fire him five times through the years.

‘‘I’ll have a Schlitz,’’ Martin said to the bartender, just to get a rise out of Maris.

All three men had father issues. Maris’ dad, Rudy, was big, tough and mean, and he and his wife, Ann, had a turbulent marriage. They finally divorced when Maris was in his late 20s, but the sting never went away.

Mantle’s dad, Mutt, died at 39 of Hodgkin’s disease. Mutt’s father, Mantle’s grandfather, died in his 40s. Mutt’s two brothers, Mantle’s uncles, died in different years at 34 from separate forms of cancer. Because of this history, Mantle never thought he would live to see 50. When he finally went to alcohol rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic at 62, he told the counselor he drank from depression because he never lived up to his father’s dream for him to be the best ballplayer ever.

This was crazy, of course. Mantle played 18 years for the Yankees, hit 536 homers, was named AL Most Valuable Player three times, won the Triple Crown in 1956 and hit more homers in World Series play than anyone. And he was a near-unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame. But a father’s presence never exits a son’s mind.

All you had to do was consider Martin, who didn’t meet his father until he was 14. That assuredly helped build his explosive core, fueling some kind of frantic search for something he never had and fighting anything in the way. The problem with Martin, Frank Deford had written, ‘‘is that he is a terribly complicated personality — not necessarily sophisticated-complicated, more ironic-complicated.’’ Deford added that because of insecurities Martin ‘‘finds liars, back-stabbers, cowards, bullies and other blackguards lurking about, anxious to do him in.’’

At the game that night, Maris talked with Jackson in the dugout, the two homer-hitting Yankees right fielders from different generations sharing thoughts only they could know so well.

‘‘Looks like a Budweiser tie,’’ Jackson said with a laugh.

‘‘No, just to hide the boiler,’’ Maris said, patting his ample belly.

They joked around, then Maris said, ‘‘Boy, times have changed.’’ The topic now was money. Serious.

‘‘People talk about high salaries,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘Well, I tell them I remember when gas was 21 cents a gallon. Now it’s 65 cents. You know, after our third World Series championship [in 1974 with the A’s], I got a $2,500 raise. After hitting .289 with 29 home runs. Kenny Holtzman had 19 wins that year and didn’t get a raise.’’

‘‘The highest I got was in 1961,’’ Maris said. ‘‘Never got anymore. So I said: ‘‘I’m just biding my time. Just biding my time.’ ’’

Nobody knew it yet, but the Yankees would win the World Series that season, Martin and Jackson almost would come to blows and Martin would get fired by Steinbrenner in the middle of the next season. The Yankees would win the Series that season, too, but Bob Lemon would finish as their skipper, becoming the winning manager of record. The Yankees wouldn’t win a championship again for 18 years, by which time Maris, Mantle and Martin all would be dead.

Shockingly, Mantle would live the longest, though he was sure he would die the soonest. He died in 1995 at 63, shortly after his alcohol rehab stint. Martin died, drunk, as a passenger in a single-car accident, the car driven by another drunk, on Christmas Day 1989. He was 61.

By many measures, none of these men had wonderful lives. They were haunted by tragedy, despite their successes in an invented game. Their short lives only made their triumphs bittersweet.

Back at the hotel bar, Martin, Maris and I had ended up in the men’s room, at various urinals, at the same time.

‘‘Hey, Rog,’’ Martin said. ‘‘Did you ever see the ninth episode of ‘Roots’?’’

‘‘No,’’ Maris said.

‘‘Yeah, it’s the one where they teach them to play basketball.’’

There was light chuckling but nothing sincere. There would be insinuations, some coming from Jackson later, that Martin had a redneck streak, that he told racist jokes and maybe was a bit of a racist himself. Other players, some Black, would defend Martin, saying that wasn’t the case.

I heard the joke, found it startling in its inherent assumption that neither I nor Maris nor anyone else who might have been in the restroom at that moment would be offended by it and didn’t know what to think. I had watched as Martin got a little more toasted with each succeeding beer, saw him state a few things maybe a trifle too loudly, looking down toward where a couple of newcomers were drifting in, as though hoping for a wiseguy response from somebody, anybody. Something that could lead to a fight.

But I also didn’t think his ugly joke was coming from an essential racist. Rather, it felt as though it was coming from someone who was angry — at what, I couldn’t tell — and hoping to start controversy simply for its own sake. Martin seemed like a man who needed conflict, wanted to bask in it. Maybe I was wrong, but that’s how it seemed.

At the night game a few hours later, Maris sat smiling at the far end of the dugout with three of his young boys scattered about, a loving dad in his element, cheering on Mickey Rivers, Jackson, Willie Randolph. Next to him sat Mantle in his Yankees uniform, chowing down on peanuts. Sure, he was a batting coach, but basically he was Mickey Mantle. That was his job: Be Mickey.

In the seventh inning, Maris looked at his old pal and said, ‘‘Hey, Mick, after signing all those autographs today, you gonna take a shower?’’

‘‘You weren’t here earlier,’’ Mantle said. ‘‘I was shagging flies.’’

They both laughed. Over near the action, Martin was hollering toward the pitchers mound, ‘‘Have an idea out there!’’ He was managing away.

I am reminded of the time at Yankee Stadium when I unwittingly got on an elevator with Joe DiMaggio, just the two of us. He was in a dark-blue suit with a thin blue tie. I said hi. He said hello. And then somehow we were talking about Yankees baseball history, and he said that what was on his mind, like an unextractable thorn in his side, was a fly ball he should have caught in a game maybe 50 years before and didn’t. He didn’t know why. He could have, but he didn’t. It haunted him. And I felt bad for him. How crazy it was. How hard to define victory, success, joy.

And so what I wanted to remember about that time in the bar in Gainesville in 1977 was what it shortly would lead to — a baseball game with Maris, Mantle and Martin all at peace, secure in the ambience of what they knew best, if only until the last out. It is still, for me, a beautiful image.

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Just in time for the Oscars, our movie man reveals his best baseball film ever, and his picks in many other categories 

Here’s the windup and the pitch.

With the 93^rd annual Academy Awards taking place Sunday night, we thought this would be the perfect (game) time to hold the Baseball Movie Awards, with an academy of one (yours truly) selecting the all-time best actors, actresses, one-liners, et al.

Batter up!

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, “Trouble With the Curve”

Kim Basinger, “The Natural”

Glenn Close, “The Natural”

Rosie O’Donnell, “A League of Their Own”

Kelly Preston, “For Love of the Game”

And the winner is…Kelly Preston, who gave a grounded, funny, authentic performance as single mother Jane Aubrey, who brings out the best in veteran Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel. Even when Billy is on the mound in his final start and going for a perfect game against the Yankees, it’s Aubrey who’s there with him every pitch of the way.

Best Supporting Actor

Wilford Brimley, “The Natural”

Harrison Ford, “42”

Tom Hanks, “A League of Their Own”

James Earl Jones, “Field of Dreams”

Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Moneyball”

And the winner is…It’s a tie between Tom Hanks (“THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!”) and James Earl Jones (“People will come, Ray. People most definitely will come…”)

Hey. They’ve had six ties at the Oscars—most famously when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand had an equal number of votes for Best Actress of 1969—so we can have a tie as well. We’re the Academy!

Best Actress

Drew Barrymore, “Fever Pitch”

Nicole Beharie, “42”

Geena Davis, “A League of Their Own”

Amy Madigan, “Field of Dreams”

Susan Sarandon, “Bull Durham”

And the winner is…Geena Davis. All due respect to the other nominees, but they were on the sidelines rooting for their significant others. Geena took the field and played the game.

Best Actor

Chadwick Boseman, “42”

Gary Cooper, “The Pride of the Yankees”

Kevin Costner, “Bull Durham”

Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Robert Redford, “The Natural”

And the winner is…Robert Redford. Legend—and it’s more legend that documented history–says Redford played baseball with future Dodgers great Don Drysdale when they were kids, and Redford had enough “natural” talent to warrant a tryout with the baseball team at the University of Colorado. (Redford’s baseball back story is about as murky as Roy Hobbs’.) Regardless, the aging Golden Boy certainly looked the part at the plate and on the field wearing No. 9 for the New York Knights.

Best Picture

“The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings”

“Bull Durham”

“Eight Men Out”

“Field of Dreams”

“The Natural”

And the winner is…“The Natural.” Critics say it’s corny, sappy, sentimental and basically a fairy tale—and that’s exactly why it’s my favorite baseball movie of all time. BASEBALL is corny, sappy, sentimental and basically a fairy tale!

Also in our lineup: a number of categories they DON’T have at the Oscars:

Best Baseball Scene That Doesn’t Take Place on a Baseball Field

Young Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) strikes out the Babe Ruth-like Whammer (Joe Don Baker) in a sun-dappled field near a locomotive train and a summer carnival in “The Natural.”

Most Ferocious Use of a Baseball Bat in a Non-Baseball Movie

Robert De Niro as Al Capone proves to be the ultimate contact hitter in “The Untouchables.”

Best Baseball Movie of This Century You Might Not Have Seen

“Sugar” (2008), with Algenis Perez Soto as Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a Dominican pitcher trying to make it to the big leagues.

Least Believable Portrayal of a Chicago Softball Player

Rob Lowe, “About Last Night…”

Best Non-Baseball Scene in a Ballpark

John Candy takes Ally Sheedy to a picnic on the field in Comiskey Park in “Only the Lonely.” (The scene was filmed in October 1991, not long after the last White Sox game at the old ball yard.)

Best Fictional Villain in a White Sox Uniform

David Keith’s Jack Parkman in “Major League II.”

Best Baseball Mom

Oak Park native and Steppenwolf great Amy Morton (aka Chicago Police Sgt. Trudy Platt in “Chicago Fire/Med/P.D.”) as Henry’s mother in “Rookie of the Year.”

Best Score (Musical, That Is)

Randy Newman, “The Natural.” By a country mile.

Best Movie About Being a Baseball Fan

“Fever Pitch”

Worst Movie About Being a Baseball Fan

“The Fan”

Best Sportswriter(s)

Studs Terkel and John Sayles as real-life, legendary sports reporters Hugh Fullerton and Ring Lardner, respectively, in the Sayles-directed “Eight Men Out.”

Most Hiss-Worthy Sportswriter

Robert Duvall’s cynical Max Mercy in “The Natural.”

Best Catch of a Foul Ball by Fan

Ferris Bueller grabs a foul ball off the bat of the Braves’ Claudell Washington at Wrigley Field on June 5, 1985.

Most Ridiculous Catch of a Home Run by a Fan

In “Mr. Destiny,” the Cubs’ Mark Grace hits a homer against the Angels in the World Series, and Jim Belushi literally swings from a foul pole that appears to be in in fair territory to make the catch.

Best Announcer

Harry Doyle, aka Bob Uecker in “Major League.”

Lifetime Achievement Award

Kevin Costner, for “Bull Durham,” “Field of Dreams” and “For Love of the Game.”

Honorable mention: Charlie Sheen, for his performances as Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn in the “Major League” movies, and as White Sox center fielder Happy Felsch in “Eight Men Out.”

Best One-Liner not from “Field of Dreams,” “A League of Their Own” or “Bull Durham.”

“You’re killing me Smalls!” – “The Sandlot”

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There will be a nice mix of Cubs and White Sox and a blend of history and current events

Welcome to the Sun-Times Chicago Baseball Quiz, I am your quizmaster, Bill Chuck. These quizzes are designed to be fun and can be played on your own or you can test your family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues. The questions are easy if you know the answers. But rest assured, they are multiple choice, so you can always guess. Other than stats, there will be no math. There will be a nice mix of Cubs and White Sox and a blend of history and current events. Baseball is filled with great facts and stories, so there is no need for the questions to be obscure (“Who was sitting next to Steve Bartman?”).

Are you ready for the Chicago Nine?

Play ball!

1. Three of these guys struck out in their first official at-bat in the majors, who didn’t?

a. Kris Bryant

b. Jose Abreu

c. Yoan Moncada

d. Javy Baez

2. Who is the only White Sox with multiple three-homer games?

a. Paul Konerko

b. Frank Thomas

c. Harold Baines

d. Jose Abreu

3. Which Cubs pitcher holds the record for most double-digit strikeout games in a season? Give yourself bonus points if you know how many and in what year.

a. Kerry Wood

b. Ferguson Jenkins

c. Yu Darvish

d. Carlos Zambrano

4. In regular interleague play, in the match-up between our two teams, only one pitcher has six wins (that’s the most). Who is he?

a. Jon Lester

b. Mark Buehrle

c. Jake Peavy

d. Carlos Zambrano

5. The great Hall of Famer Eddie Collins hit .335+ for the Sox in six different seasons. In three of those seasons, he had the same number of strikeouts. What were his strikeout totals for each of those seasons?

a. 19 c. 8

b. 16 d. 11

6. The most recent White Sox pitcher to homer was?

a. Mark Buehrle

b. Anthony Ranaudo

c. Jon Garland

d. Gary Peters

7. Lucas Giolito and Adam Eaton have a connection. What is it?

a. They are brothers-in-law

b. They were traded for each other

c. They went to college together

d. Eaton has hit two homers off Giolito

8. Who was the last Chicago Cy Young Award winner?

a. Chris Sale

b. Jack McDowell

c. Jake Arrieta

d. John Danks

9. Which happened first?

a. Jose Abreu hit for the cycle

b. Kris Bryant hit for three homers and two doubles in the same game

c. Jon Lester earned his 150th win

d. Ian Happ/Jason Heyward/Kyle Schwarber (all three outfielders) each hit two home runs in the same game

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. While Yoan Moncada walked in his first PA, he struck out in his first AB. Jose Abreu doubled in his first at-bat. 2. Harold Baines in 1982 against the Tigers and 1984 against the Twins. 3. Kerry Wood had 11 games of 10+ strikeouts in 2003. 4. Carlos Zambrano, with six wins against the Sox. 5. In 1926, Eddie Collins hit .344; in 1925, Collins hit .346; and in 1923, Collins hit .360, and each season he struck out just eight times. 6. Anthony Ranaudo on July 27, 2016, against Jason Hammel of the Cubs. Ranaudo took the 8-1 loss. 7. On December 7, 2016, the Sox traded Adam Eaton to the Nationals for Lucas Giolito and two other players. 8. Jake Arrieta won the NL Cy Young in 2015. 9. Kris Bryant hit for three homers and two doubles in the same game on June 27, 2016, against the Reds.

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The possibilities are, in fact, endless for the Chicago Bears as they enter the 2021 NFL Draft. Looking at the facts, no one truly knows what will happen. General manager Ryan Pace was given yet another year in Chicago, but we are not sure if this is his last chance or not. Knowing George McCaskey […]

Chicago Bears NFL Draft 2021: 5 players to target in Round 4 trade – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

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The Chicago Bears have been one of the most mediocre teams in all of football over the last few seasons. They went 12-4 in 2018 and everybody thought that a period of sustained success was on the horizon. They followed that with 2019 and 2020 seasons that both ended at 8-8. The 2020 season ended […]

Chicago Bears 7-Round Mock Draft: Add a key piece in first round – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

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Brown had touchdown runs of 56 and 20 yards in No. 3 St. Rita’s 24-17 win against Notre Dame on Friday in Niles.

Kaleb Brown has it, that special thing that makes you watch sports.

The junior is one of the state’s most talented athletes. He’s lightning quick but his most noticeable asset might be his football player instincts. A 20-yard run he ripped off late in the game was breathtaking. He should have been tackled at the line of scrimmage, but darted and dashed and wound up all the way over on the left sideline, faking out more defenders before finally going down.

Brown had touchdown runs of 56 and 20 yards in No. 3 St. Rita’s 24-17 win against Notre Dame on Friday in Niles. He had 15 carries for 146 yards and caught four passes for 44 yards.

Brown is a top 60 player in the national Class of 2022 and it is easy to see why Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State have all offered him scholarships.

“He’s unbelievable,” St. Rita linebacker Michael Gaughan said. “I’m really proud of him, how he stepped up this season. He was a little nervous last year as a sophomore but he was a leader this year. He’s going to be something special. It’s his team next year and I can’t wait to see what he does.”

Gaughan was all over the field himself, making 20 tackles in the game. Notre Dame (2-4) gave the Mustangs a solid challenge just a week after knocking off Nazareth 10-0.

“I was impressed with them,” Gaughan said. “We knew they were tough kids and well coached and whoever fought the hardest would win. That was just an old fashioned good game.”

St. Rita (5-1) led 17-14 at halftime. The Dons scored on a wild play at the end of the half. Quarterback Vincenzo Ricciardi’s pass was batted into the air two or three times before landing in the hands of receiver Jodan Geroulis, who was on his back in the end zone.

St. Rita held the Dons to just a field goal in the second half.

Ricciardi, a sophomore, was 19-for-37 for 192 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“We got off to a slow start this spring and couldn’t put the ball in the end zone,” Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey said. “But defensively we’ve hit the mark in every game except maybe the Marist game. We’re a young team but we play hard.”

Ricciardi connected with eight different receivers. Geroulis finished with four catches for 58 yards.

St. Rita quarterback Tommy Ulatowski was 20-for-34 with one interception. Senior Isaiah Bragg had eight catches for 105 yards.

“Isaiah is the unfound treasure no one knew about,” St. Rita coach Todd Kuska said. “He’s our leading receiver. He’s been making plays for us every week. I wish we had played in the fall because he’d have had a shot at college. He has a couple walk on things that could happen.

The Mustangs only loss this season was a 7-4 defeat to Loyola in Week 1. It was the only close game the top-ranked, undefeated Ramblers played all season.

“It sucks to just have the season end like this,” Gaughan said. “We’d be pretty tough in [Class 5A]. And I wish we had played Loyola later in the season so we had our pieces moving more. But at least we had these six games. It was great to play with my brothers again.”

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News

7 p.m. Fears of third statewide spike lessens as positivity rate continues to decline

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Illinois’ average statewide COVID-19 testing positivity rate fell to its lowest point in three weeks Friday as public health officials reported 3,369 new cases of the disease.

They were diagnosed among 104,795 tests, sending the positivity rate down to 3.6% and continuing an 11-day streak without any increases in that key metric, which indicates how rapidly the virus is spreading.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported a third straight night of decreasing COVID-19 hospitalizations, easing concerns — for now — that a third statewide spike in infections that started last month could spiral further out of control. Hospitals across the state were treating 2,112 COVID-19 patients Thursday night.

Chicago’s regional positivity rate is down to 5.1% compared to 5.7% a week ago, while the city’s daily rate has fallen by 15%.

Read the complete story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

6 p.m. Loyola to require students to be vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall

Loyola University Chicago will require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus this fall.

The decision came after the university announced plans last week to return to in-person classes at three of its Chicago campuses this fall for undergraduate and many graduate programs.

Columbia College and DePaul University previously announced they will require students to be vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall.

The vaccine requirement is “the most effective, efficient, and safest way to return to campus,” Jo Ann Rooney, president of Loyola, and Norberto Grzywacz, provost and chief academic officer, said in a joint statement sent to the university community Thursday.

Read the complete story here.

5 p.m. Indian hospitals plead for oxygen, country sets virus record

NEW DELHI — India put oxygen tankers on special express trains as major hospitals in New Delhi begged on social media on Friday for more supplies to save COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breathe. More than a dozen people died when an oxygen-fed fire ripped through a coronavirus ward in a populous western state.

India’s underfunded health system is tattering as the world’s worst coronavirus surge wears out the nation, which set a global record in daily infections for a second straight day with 332,730.

India has confirmed 16 million cases so far, second only to the United States in a country of nearly 1.4 billion people. India has recorded 2,263 deaths in the past 24 hours for a total of 186,920.

The fire in a hospital intensive care unit killed 13 COVID-19 patients in the Virar area on the outskirts of Mumbai early Friday.

The situation is worsening by the day with hospitals taking to social media to plead with the government to replenish their oxygen supplies and threatening to stop admissions of new patients.

Read the complete story here.

4:15 p.m. US health panel urges restarting J&J COVID-19 vaccinations

A U.S. health panel says it’s time to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots.

Out of nearly 8 million people vaccinated before the U.S. suspended J&J’s shot, health officials uncovered 15 cases of a highly unusual kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. All were women, most younger than 50.

But advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that serious but small risk — especially against a virus that’s still infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day. The government will rapidly weigh that recommendation in deciding next steps.

Read the complete story here.

3 p.m. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson questions need for COVID-19 vaccinations

MADISON, Wis. — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, questioned the need for widespread COVID-19 vaccinations, saying in a radio interview “what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?”

Johnson, who has no medical expertise or background, made the comments Thursday during an interview with conservative talk radio host Vicki McKenna. Contrary to what medical experts advise, Johnson has said he doesn’t need to be vaccinated because he had COVID-19 in the fall. On Thursday, he went further, questioning why anyone would get vaccinated or worry about why others have not.

“For the very young, I see no reason to be pushing vaccines on people.” Johnson said. “I certainly am going to vigorously resist any kind of government use or imposing of vaccine passports. … That could be a very freedom-robbing step and people need to understand these things.”

Johnson’s comments come as health officials in the U.S. and around the world urge people to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible, saying that reaching herd immunity is the best shot at stopping the uncontrolled spread of the virus.

Read the complete story here.

2:10 p.m. Payroll Protection Plan paid off for Illinois banks; see which of them got the most money

Illinois banks issued 239,000 loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program worth $29 billion to businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic — and collected at least $1.5 billion in fees ultimately paid by taxpayers, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis finds.

Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank got the most money in fees: at least $232 million for handling 34,000 loans that totaled $6 billion that the banking company’s top executive has said contributed heavily to “a good” first quarter of 2021.

BMO Harris’s PPP loans ranged from just $133 to the maximum amount allowed under the program — $10 million.

The 360 banks with headquarters in Illinois made loans through the program to businesses in all 50 states and four U.S. territories.

Illinois ranked 10th among states for total fees and seventh for dollars provided in the loans, which did not need to be repaid as long as businesses spent all of the money to keep employees on the payroll and pay rent and utilities.

Read the complete story by Lauren FitzPatrick and Stephanie Zimmerman here.

1 p.m. US drop in vaccine demand has some places turning down doses

JACKSON, Miss. — Louisiana has stopped asking the federal government for its full allotment of COVID-19 vaccine. About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of the vaccine at least once over the past month. And in Mississippi, officials asked the federal government to ship vials in smaller packages so they don’t go to waste.

As the supply of coronavirus vaccine doses in the U.S. outpaces demand, some places around the country are finding there’s such little interest in the shots, they need to turn down shipments.

“It is kind of stalling. Some people just don’t want it,” said Stacey Hileman, a nurse with the health department in rural Kansas’ Decatur County, where less than a third of the county’s 2,900 residents have received at least one vaccine dose.

The dwindling demand for vaccines illustrates the challenge that the U.S. faces in trying to conquer the pandemic while at the same time dealing with the optics of tens of thousands of doses sitting on shelves when countries like India and Brazil are in the midst of full-blown medical emergencies.

Read the complete story here.

12:15 p.m. N95 masks, now plentiful, should no longer be reused: FDA

The Biden administration has taken the first step toward ending an emergency exception that allowed hospitals to ration and reuse N95 medical masks, the first line of defense between frontline workers and the deadly coronavirus.

Thousands of medical providers have died in the COVID-19 pandemic, many exposed and infected while caring for patients without adequate protection.

Critical shortages of masks, gowns, swabs, and other medical supplies prompted the Trump administration to issue guidelines for providers to ration, clean, and reuse disposable equipment. Thus, throughout the pandemic, once a week many doctors and nurses were issued an N95 mask, which is normally designed to be tossed after each patient.

Now U.S. manufacturers say they have vast surpluses for sale, and hospitals say they have three to 12 month stockpiles.

Read the complete story here.

11:30 a.m. Limited number of walk-in COVID-19 vaccine appointments start today at city-run clinics

The vaccine “Hunger Games” are over.

After four months of frustration for thousands of residents who scrambled to claim fleeting batches of COVID-19 vaccination appointments, Chicago finally has enough doses to provide a shot to anyone who wants one, the city’s top doctor said Thursday.

Thanks to a “softening” of vaccine demand in other parts of Illinois and growth in supply provided by the federal government, “you can get one today, no excuses,” according to Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

Read Mitchell Armentrout’s full story here.

10:45 a.m. Topless clubs in Las Vegas among Nevada businesses allowed to reopen under COVID protocols

LAS VEGAS — Topless dancers in Las Vegas can soon shed coronavirus restrictions along with some of their clothing and once again get face-to-face with patrons under rules accepted Thursday by a Nevada COVID-19 task force.

But masks still will be required for adult entertainment employees and will still be recommended for customers.

Strip clubs that went dark when Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered casinos, clubs and nonessential businesses closed in March 2020 will be able to open May 1 at 80% of fire code capacity under strict social distancing guidelines.

The rules will allow strip club entertainers to get closer than three feet to patrons if the entertainer has gotten at least a first coronavirus vaccination 14 days earlier, according to county rules or if the dancers test negative in a weekly COVID test.

Occupancy limits will be relaxed but not completely lifted at many other businesses — stores, spas and saunas, restaurants and bars, even karaoke clubs — under a new reopening plan adopted by Clark County officials.

Read the full story here.

9 a.m. National Spelling Bee revamps to ensure single champion in pandemic-altered competition.

WASHINGTON– The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year’s pandemic-altered competition.

The 96-year-old bee has in the past included vocabulary on written tests but never in the high-stakes oral competition rounds, where one mistake eliminates a speller. The only previous tiebreaker to determine a single champion was a short-lived extra written test that never turned out to be needed.

The changes, announced this week, amount to a new direction for the bee under executive director J. Michael Durnil, who started in the job earlier this year.

Read the complete story here.

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New cases and vaccination rates

• For the first time ever, the city has been able to provide doses to all vaccine providers who have requested them over the past two weeks, as of Thursday.
• Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,765 new cases of the coronavirus diagnosed among 81,133 tests to keep the average statewide positivity rate at 3.8%. After doubling over the course of a month, that key metric has now fallen or held steady for nine straight days.
• Illinois hospitals reported a slight decrease in COVID-19 patients, down to 2,191 as of Tuesday night.
• But the virus also killed 28 more residents, including a Kankakee County man in his 30s.
• More than 1.3 million Illinoisans have contracted COVID-19 over the last year, and 21,722 have died.
• More than 8.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered overall over the past four months, with 3.5 million residents now fully vaccinated — almost 28% of the population.

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Analysis & Commentary

11 a.m. COVID-19’s silver linings

As of this week, more than 40% of Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 26% are fully vaccinated. Though it wasn’t planned this way, more normal human life is returning just as the redbuds, azaleas, magnolias and tulips are performing their gorgeous annual affirmation of renewal. Fears of catastrophic depression, widespread shortages and massive civil unrest are receding.

Hundreds of thousands of American families and millions worldwide are bereaved, and nearly everyone has experienced some form of disruption, pain or trauma during the past year. But not everything changed for the worse.

A recent Pew poll found that among adults whose jobs can be conveniently performed online, 54% would like to continue working from home after the pandemic is over. Another 33% said they’d like to do so part time. If employers agree, then that could mark a dramatic change in many areas of American life — less road congestion, reduced demand for office space and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from cars and buses. That also means less income for real estate landlords, bus drivers, restaurants, dry cleaners, delivery services and other businesses that serve office workers. There will be many dislocations and adjustments.

Read the full column by Mona Charen here.

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Cinespace Chicago Film Studios is the home of Showtime’s “The Chi,” Comedy Central’s “South Side,” and NBC’s “One Chicago” franchise.

Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, the home to several locally filmed hit TV series and movies, says it’s aiming to expand its imprint.

The announcement, made by Cinespace this week, says it plans to add 19 soundstages in their two Little Village locations at 2621 W. 15th Pl. and in the 3100 block of South Kedzie Avenue, and the space acquired in the 1900 block of South Rockwell Street will be ultilized for mill work and storage.

Cinespace is home to TV series and films including NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.,” and “Chicago Med,” Showtime’s “The Chi” and Comedy Central’s “South Side.”

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

The expansion, first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, was prompted by the popularity of the studio site. Cinespace president Alexander S. Pissios told Crain’s he’s had to turn away projects, and aims to make the film studio one of the largest in the country east of Hollywood.

“Typically, productions need anywhere from four to six stages for each show, and each production brings about 300 new jobs with it. This means we could potentially add between 1,200–1,800 new jobs at our studios because of this expansion,” Pissios said in a written statement. “If we have more productions, we can have more interns from the area learning the business and working on shows.”

Pissios — who the Sun-Times has reported was threatened by federal authorities with prison for bankruptcy fraud when he began cooperating with federal authorities to make an extortion case against a former top Chicago Teamsters union boss — said Cinespace also plans to add “backlot” tours along with its main campus tourist center.

This month, Cinespace added Starz’s “Power Book IV: Force,” Amazon Prime’s “Paper Girls” and “Lightyears,” the latter featuring Sissy Spacek and Ed O’Neill (“Married With Children” and “Modern Family”), along with AMC’s “61st Street,” a series for which actor Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther,” “Creed,” and “The Wire”) is an executive producer.

“During this pandemic, I think we all had a chance to experience how essential quality shows are to our culture and even to our mental health,” Pissios said. “Having Chicago as a critical link to providing not only quality entertainment, but also good-paying jobs in our community makes all the extra effort to help production companies keep filming worth it.”

In recent years, Cinespace was home to FX’s “Fargo,” Fox’s “The Big Leap,” HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and the 2018 film “Widows.”

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