My Turn: A girl of summer leaves us By Bill Newman
Last Saturday was glorious sunny, with dogwoods and cherry trees in blossom. Our small group, gathered together at a graveside to say goodbye to Barbara “Bobbie” Newman Kravitz, who had passed at 89, was grateful for the warmth.
Bobbie’s younger son, Neal, shared this story: As his father was approaching his death 16 years ago, he asked Neal to call his mother every day. And for 16 years, with only the rarest of exceptions, Neal did that. “It was,” he said, “just talking, . . . two people totally comfortable in the knowledge that they could say whatever was on their minds, without fear of judgment or anything else.”
She s got everything she needs, She s an artist, she don t look back. She s got everything she needs, She s an artist, she don t look back. She can take.
Columnist William Newman: A girl of summer leaves us
Published: 4/30/2021 12:21:06 PM Barbara Newman Kravitz,
Oct. 9, 1931-April 21, 2021
Last Saturday was glorious sunny, with dogwoods and cherry trees in blossom. Our small group, gathered together at a graveside to say goodbye to Bobbie, who had passed at 89, was grateful for the warmth.
Bobbie’s younger son, Neal, shared this story: As his father was approaching his death 16 years ago, he asked Neal to call his mother every day. And for 16 years, with only the rarest of exceptions, Neal did that. “It was,” he said, “just talking, . . . two people totally comfortable in the knowledge that they could say whatever was on their minds, without fear of judgment or anything else.”
February 7, 2021
Garrett Richards has an uncanny ability to spin a baseball. Per Statcast, the 32-year-old right-hander recently signed to a free-agent contract by the Boston Red Sox was 99th percentile in curveball spin last year, while his four-seam spin ranked in the 97th percentile. Moreover, the most-effective weapon in his arsenal, a 2,746-RPM slider, was topped only by Sergio Romo’s 2,913 RPMs among hurlers who threw the pitch at least 200 times.
Richards’s least-effective offering in 2020 was a two-seamer that’s hard to put a positive spin on. The erstwhile San Diego Padre threw 66 of them, and the ones that were put into play tended to get punished. Opposing hitters whacked them to a tune of a .467 batting average and an .867 slugging percentage. And it was even worse in 2019. While a 28-pitch sample obviously needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt, numbers like .500 and .875 stand out like a sore thumb. I asked Richards about his plans going forward, antici