My claim to fame, from my undergraduate days (B.A. 1974--University of Illinois) until 2005 (when the White Sox finally made up for blowing the 1919 World Series), was that I could name every World Series winner. I expanded that "talent" to also name the loser. I then expanded that to recite the win-loss margin. I could even, most times, provide a highlight or two. And, the best thing was, I did it all absolutely free of charge!
I remember Riva Ridge—— Secretariat’s big brother. He won the Derby and Belmont but lost in the Preakness on a really wet track.
I remember so much about the Big Red Machine that year. Bench’s Home Run in Game 5 against
the Bucs is still one of my favorite sports memories. I remember replaying the Immaculate Reception outside with my brothers over and over again. That Lakers team with Wilt and the logo was amazing and we all wanted to be Bobby Orr. (If we had only known that his career had peaked). I remember MASH I think and listening to the Jackson Five.
I can still recite the Best Picture winners at the Oscars as well as Best Animated Feature (not too hard with only 25 years), Best Animated Short and Best Original Song. You already named The Godfather as Best Picture but Best Animated Short went to Richard Williams’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol and Best Original Song went to “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure.
My obscure sports memory is that Tommy John at age 46 was the opening day starter for the Yankees in 1989. He pitched 7 inning and won, beating the Twins. This ended up being his next to last pitching win of his career.
That was a fantastic column! We have a lot in common including age, almost. It's like the scene in City Slickers when the group is sitting around the campfire and the girl was talking about men and how they remember such useless baseball information. When she said they probably know who played third base for the Pirates in 1960, Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal, and Daniel Stern all said "Don Hoak" at the same time!
I used to be able to run off the list of all the World Series Most Valuable Players.... but the list started getting too long, and the players too obscure.
It's also just interesting the different orders people recall things in. I got "Nixon-McGovern" first, with the added notes that Edmund Muskie had been the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination until the press turned on him brutally -- he had arguably responded to a nasty press question by having tears in his eyes, which was unacceptable in a man -- and that McGovern's first nominee for vice-president was Terry Eagleton (not the literary theorist), but the press ruined him too -- he had been treated by psychologist, which was unacceptable in a man.
Then I remembered that the progressive rock band Yes leaped to greatness in 1972, releasing both 'Fragile' (with its extraordinary single "Roundabout") and 'Close to the Edge'; so did Genesis, with 'Foxtrot'; so did Steeleye Span, who made rock-influenced recordings of olde English folk songs, with 'Below the Salt'.
I also placed 1972 as the transition from Jon Pertwee's 2nd and 3rd seasons as the Doctor on 'Doctor Who'. *Then* I remembered the A's, and Steve Carlton's amazing year. (And then I looked at what Joe wrote.)
Memory, fortunately, isn't finite (or, more accurately: if there is a limit to memory, its parameters are unknown). So remember trivia doesn't crowd out anything. It just gets to live there.
I know this is being uselessly pedantic and probably just telling everybody information they already know... but memories essentially for by attaching to other pieces of information you already know. So the more connections you make, the better your memory. That is to say, the more useless stuff you remember, the more stuff - period - you're going to remember! Once your brain has sorted information as useful, it gets stored and connected. So nothing is crowded out... as popular as that is to think.
I love knowing nonsense, and I think we're all happier if we DO. Like everyone here I'm really good with sports statistics, of course (though, as is surely true with everyone else here, I'm best with information that took place right up until age 10 or so, and everything after that will be classified, long as I live, as "new," and therefore harder to remember).
My baseball memory is the same way. I was born in 1968. I am really solid if not Rain Man-like on baseball trivia before 1994, even going back to the first decade of the 1900s. Let's see, what happened then that might have caused the memory break? Hmmm...Oh yeah, I got married in '93 and we had our first of three kids in 1995.
I have a similar break from my earlier near-obsessive following for similar reasons. On the other hand, my wife's baseball knowledge peaked in '97. Why? Because our first was born that January and she'd watch west coast games while nursing for much of the year.
Michael: Agent Fuqua and I are... paranormal investigators. We're here to protect you from... demons. No, wait, that's real. Um... ghouls. Ghouls! We're here to protect you from ghouls. Now I had to appear in different disguises to keep tabs on you but you are all involved together in this FBI case. [Eleanor scoffs] No, we can... we can... prove this. We have detailed files on all of you. Ask Janet anything. [Janet gasps]
Eleanor: Who's Janet?
Michael: "Frenchy".
Janet: [whispers] Frenchy.
Michael: [scoffs] Sorry... "Frenchy's" nickname is Janet.
Tahani: I thought her nickname was "Frenchy".
Michael: It is. That's why they call her... Lisa "Double Nickname" Fuqua.
Vida was '71. I learned that one from an old - and no longer true - trivia question about who was the last switch hitter to win the MVP. Since then, we've had McGee and Pendleton and Chipper and perhaps others, but for a long time, Blue was the last.
The '72 winner also triggered a different trivia question that also is no longer true. Gaylord Perry was the first CYA winner in each league. He won pitching for Cleveland that season and for the Padres half a decade later.
I think so ... but my memory of things that have happened this century isn't as sharp as what I learned years and years ago.
I looked up the two-league CYA winners just now. And there is zero chance I would have remembered that Blake Snell won for both Tampa and San Diego. Heck, I can barely remember that Tampa has a team! I knew Clemens and Johnson and Pedro and probably, if I thought for a minute, would have remembered Mad Max. But Snell? Not that he is eminently forgettable generally, but he slips through the cracks of my fractured mind.
Me too. Just for fun, I just went through (in my mind) the World Series winners (and losers) for the first 25 years of the 20th century and it was easy peasy. I am not sure I can do the same for the first 25 years of the 21st century.
When some folks can't fall asleep, they count sheep. I used to work my way backwards on WS winners or MVP awards. I'd go backwards from around when I turned 30 and could make it into my grandfather's childhood without problems. I'm sure I couldn't now go from my current age back to 30.
Chicago native, skated outvof Rockford. Free skate great but those darn compulsory figures!
I was 15 so yes '72 was very memorable for me for many years before time has me asking now, who was that 4th starter besides Wood, Bahnsen & Bradley for the WSox ...and why can't I remember him ... or why do I even care? Slipping away ....
My own first memories started at 2, but I don't remember from experience anything about sports until 1976, when I was about to turn 7. This was the year the Yankees lost to the Reds in the Series, of course. Before the Reds got to the World Series, they had to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies. I remember all of this because my foster sister tried to encourage me to root for the Phillies by asking me if I would prefer "to root for a horse or a red, whatever that is supposed to be." She is the reason I remember this- my true interest in professional baseball (and the Yankees) began in 1977.
Hmm. Joe is a few months older that I am. And I 'remember' basically none (^) of that. I learned a lot of it later and it has stuck, but that is no more a memory that knowing that Ted Williams hit .406 in '41, the year before my father was born. But actual memories?
I wouldn't go to my first MLB game for another 2-3 years. I know it was a Yankee game with my grandfather during one of the two seasons when they played at Shea as the House that Ruth Built was torn to the outer walls and rebuilt into the House that Murcer Refurbished but the actual game is fuzzy. I remember gramps playing catch with me in the front yard, but that could have been '72 or '73 or, I dunno, maybe '76ish. I know that I would have watched the Super Bowl with my football obsessed father, but don't remember doing so. I remember seeing the Globetrotters around then and going to Vikings & Twins games, some of which remain clear to me like 12/4/77 when the Vikings hosted the 49ers and the weather was precisely 388 below zero or 6/26/77 when the Twins beat the ChiSox 19-12 and Carew went 4 for 5 to go over .400 on his march to a .388 season.
(^) Actual memory from '72. I remember the presidential election for a personal reason. A really cute girl who lived just down the street told me that I should support Nixon ... and Michele F. was indeed really, cute so I did. I even convinced my very liberal parents to allow me to put a Tricky Dick bumper sticker on an old filing cabinet inside the garage.
I knew most of these because I was born in 1972, so I have no memories of them from experience, but that year always triggers my interest. Ask me the same things about 1969 or 1975 and I wouldn't have nearly the success.
I have two main subjects for ridiculous knowledge: My useless information is knowing every World Series winner since the Royals came into the league since 1969. For a long time, I could tell you essentially every statistic on the back of a George Brett baseball card. I knew batting average, doubles, triples, etc. That was before things like OPS, of course. At that time I could have told you probably at least batting average for every Royal position player for the 1976-1985 golden era. That's faded now, which is probably for the best.
The other thing I used to know is which way every state voted in the electoral college for every presidential election in history. Why do I know this? No idea. Obviously, I was fascinated at one point. Now I wouldn't be perfect, but I bet I could be over 95% because of just knowing the trends. All things considered, I think I'd prefer that baseball stayed in place while the electoral college faded away. Such is life.
My youngest child turned 4 in '04, so ... well, just wait until you get a few more years on this side of the dirt. The Ted Danson line in Schur's newest, Man on the Inside, about losing nouns is an oft repeated joke in my house.
My claim to fame, from my undergraduate days (B.A. 1974--University of Illinois) until 2005 (when the White Sox finally made up for blowing the 1919 World Series), was that I could name every World Series winner. I expanded that "talent" to also name the loser. I then expanded that to recite the win-loss margin. I could even, most times, provide a highlight or two. And, the best thing was, I did it all absolutely free of charge!
I remember Riva Ridge—— Secretariat’s big brother. He won the Derby and Belmont but lost in the Preakness on a really wet track.
I remember so much about the Big Red Machine that year. Bench’s Home Run in Game 5 against
the Bucs is still one of my favorite sports memories. I remember replaying the Immaculate Reception outside with my brothers over and over again. That Lakers team with Wilt and the logo was amazing and we all wanted to be Bobby Orr. (If we had only known that his career had peaked). I remember MASH I think and listening to the Jackson Five.
I can still recite the Best Picture winners at the Oscars as well as Best Animated Feature (not too hard with only 25 years), Best Animated Short and Best Original Song. You already named The Godfather as Best Picture but Best Animated Short went to Richard Williams’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol and Best Original Song went to “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure.
I don’t need a “why” to read any story that name drops Fred Travalena and Nipsey Russell. Of course, I miss old times talk shows and game shows.
My obscure sports memory is that Tommy John at age 46 was the opening day starter for the Yankees in 1989. He pitched 7 inning and won, beating the Twins. This ended up being his next to last pitching win of his career.
That was a fantastic column! We have a lot in common including age, almost. It's like the scene in City Slickers when the group is sitting around the campfire and the girl was talking about men and how they remember such useless baseball information. When she said they probably know who played third base for the Pirates in 1960, Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal, and Daniel Stern all said "Don Hoak" at the same time!
I used to be able to run off the list of all the World Series Most Valuable Players.... but the list started getting too long, and the players too obscure.
It's also just interesting the different orders people recall things in. I got "Nixon-McGovern" first, with the added notes that Edmund Muskie had been the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination until the press turned on him brutally -- he had arguably responded to a nasty press question by having tears in his eyes, which was unacceptable in a man -- and that McGovern's first nominee for vice-president was Terry Eagleton (not the literary theorist), but the press ruined him too -- he had been treated by psychologist, which was unacceptable in a man.
Then I remembered that the progressive rock band Yes leaped to greatness in 1972, releasing both 'Fragile' (with its extraordinary single "Roundabout") and 'Close to the Edge'; so did Genesis, with 'Foxtrot'; so did Steeleye Span, who made rock-influenced recordings of olde English folk songs, with 'Below the Salt'.
I also placed 1972 as the transition from Jon Pertwee's 2nd and 3rd seasons as the Doctor on 'Doctor Who'. *Then* I remembered the A's, and Steve Carlton's amazing year. (And then I looked at what Joe wrote.)
Memory, fortunately, isn't finite (or, more accurately: if there is a limit to memory, its parameters are unknown). So remember trivia doesn't crowd out anything. It just gets to live there.
I know this is being uselessly pedantic and probably just telling everybody information they already know... but memories essentially for by attaching to other pieces of information you already know. So the more connections you make, the better your memory. That is to say, the more useless stuff you remember, the more stuff - period - you're going to remember! Once your brain has sorted information as useful, it gets stored and connected. So nothing is crowded out... as popular as that is to think.
I love knowing nonsense, and I think we're all happier if we DO. Like everyone here I'm really good with sports statistics, of course (though, as is surely true with everyone else here, I'm best with information that took place right up until age 10 or so, and everything after that will be classified, long as I live, as "new," and therefore harder to remember).
My baseball memory is the same way. I was born in 1968. I am really solid if not Rain Man-like on baseball trivia before 1994, even going back to the first decade of the 1900s. Let's see, what happened then that might have caused the memory break? Hmmm...Oh yeah, I got married in '93 and we had our first of three kids in 1995.
I have a similar break from my earlier near-obsessive following for similar reasons. On the other hand, my wife's baseball knowledge peaked in '97. Why? Because our first was born that January and she'd watch west coast games while nursing for much of the year.
Michael: Agent Fuqua and I are... paranormal investigators. We're here to protect you from... demons. No, wait, that's real. Um... ghouls. Ghouls! We're here to protect you from ghouls. Now I had to appear in different disguises to keep tabs on you but you are all involved together in this FBI case. [Eleanor scoffs] No, we can... we can... prove this. We have detailed files on all of you. Ask Janet anything. [Janet gasps]
Eleanor: Who's Janet?
Michael: "Frenchy".
Janet: [whispers] Frenchy.
Michael: [scoffs] Sorry... "Frenchy's" nickname is Janet.
Tahani: I thought her nickname was "Frenchy".
Michael: It is. That's why they call her... Lisa "Double Nickname" Fuqua.
I think 1972 was that great Steve Carlton season right? And I’ll guess Vida Blue in the AL
Vida was '71. I learned that one from an old - and no longer true - trivia question about who was the last switch hitter to win the MVP. Since then, we've had McGee and Pendleton and Chipper and perhaps others, but for a long time, Blue was the last.
The '72 winner also triggered a different trivia question that also is no longer true. Gaylord Perry was the first CYA winner in each league. He won pitching for Cleveland that season and for the Padres half a decade later.
I think Vida is still the last AL switch hitter to win the MVP, right?
I think so ... but my memory of things that have happened this century isn't as sharp as what I learned years and years ago.
I looked up the two-league CYA winners just now. And there is zero chance I would have remembered that Blake Snell won for both Tampa and San Diego. Heck, I can barely remember that Tampa has a team! I knew Clemens and Johnson and Pedro and probably, if I thought for a minute, would have remembered Mad Max. But Snell? Not that he is eminently forgettable generally, but he slips through the cracks of my fractured mind.
Me too. Just for fun, I just went through (in my mind) the World Series winners (and losers) for the first 25 years of the 20th century and it was easy peasy. I am not sure I can do the same for the first 25 years of the 21st century.
When some folks can't fall asleep, they count sheep. I used to work my way backwards on WS winners or MVP awards. I'd go backwards from around when I turned 30 and could make it into my grandfather's childhood without problems. I'm sure I couldn't now go from my current age back to 30.
Janet Lynn. Bronze medal.
Why do I remember her?
Chicago native, skated outvof Rockford. Free skate great but those darn compulsory figures!
I was 15 so yes '72 was very memorable for me for many years before time has me asking now, who was that 4th starter besides Wood, Bahnsen & Bradley for the WSox ...and why can't I remember him ... or why do I even care? Slipping away ....
That was the year the ChiSox basically had no 4th starter. The three you named started 49, 41, and 40 games respectively. Just ... wow!
My own first memories started at 2, but I don't remember from experience anything about sports until 1976, when I was about to turn 7. This was the year the Yankees lost to the Reds in the Series, of course. Before the Reds got to the World Series, they had to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies. I remember all of this because my foster sister tried to encourage me to root for the Phillies by asking me if I would prefer "to root for a horse or a red, whatever that is supposed to be." She is the reason I remember this- my true interest in professional baseball (and the Yankees) began in 1977.
Hmm. Joe is a few months older that I am. And I 'remember' basically none (^) of that. I learned a lot of it later and it has stuck, but that is no more a memory that knowing that Ted Williams hit .406 in '41, the year before my father was born. But actual memories?
I wouldn't go to my first MLB game for another 2-3 years. I know it was a Yankee game with my grandfather during one of the two seasons when they played at Shea as the House that Ruth Built was torn to the outer walls and rebuilt into the House that Murcer Refurbished but the actual game is fuzzy. I remember gramps playing catch with me in the front yard, but that could have been '72 or '73 or, I dunno, maybe '76ish. I know that I would have watched the Super Bowl with my football obsessed father, but don't remember doing so. I remember seeing the Globetrotters around then and going to Vikings & Twins games, some of which remain clear to me like 12/4/77 when the Vikings hosted the 49ers and the weather was precisely 388 below zero or 6/26/77 when the Twins beat the ChiSox 19-12 and Carew went 4 for 5 to go over .400 on his march to a .388 season.
(^) Actual memory from '72. I remember the presidential election for a personal reason. A really cute girl who lived just down the street told me that I should support Nixon ... and Michele F. was indeed really, cute so I did. I even convinced my very liberal parents to allow me to put a Tricky Dick bumper sticker on an old filing cabinet inside the garage.
I knew most of these because I was born in 1972, so I have no memories of them from experience, but that year always triggers my interest. Ask me the same things about 1969 or 1975 and I wouldn't have nearly the success.
I have two main subjects for ridiculous knowledge: My useless information is knowing every World Series winner since the Royals came into the league since 1969. For a long time, I could tell you essentially every statistic on the back of a George Brett baseball card. I knew batting average, doubles, triples, etc. That was before things like OPS, of course. At that time I could have told you probably at least batting average for every Royal position player for the 1976-1985 golden era. That's faded now, which is probably for the best.
The other thing I used to know is which way every state voted in the electoral college for every presidential election in history. Why do I know this? No idea. Obviously, I was fascinated at one point. Now I wouldn't be perfect, but I bet I could be over 95% because of just knowing the trends. All things considered, I think I'd prefer that baseball stayed in place while the electoral college faded away. Such is life.
Memory is weird. I can recall so much about 2004 (when I turned 14), but last week was a blur.
My youngest child turned 4 in '04, so ... well, just wait until you get a few more years on this side of the dirt. The Ted Danson line in Schur's newest, Man on the Inside, about losing nouns is an oft repeated joke in my house.