Rule 21

MAJOR LEAGUE RULES
Rule 21
MISCONDUCT

(d) BETTING ON BALL GAMES. Any player, umpire, or club official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform shall be declared ineligible for one year.

Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible.

Pete Rose. Wow.

We’re even more enlightened into the background of the whole banning matter from twenty-six years ago through MLB Commissioner Manfred’s decision. But in looking at MLB’s Rule 21— it’s pretty cut-and-dry on the whole matter. He admittedly bet on games that he clearly had a connection where he had a duty to perform.

You should see the official Facebook page of the Cincinnati Reds. All kinds of tumult and upset over there. Folks claiming that they’ve now canceled their many-year season tickets for the upcoming season, and even some who are calling for a new MLB Commissioner now.

He did what he did back in the 80s, but reading the newer findings as indicated in the commish’s report— really shows much hasn’t changed with Rose.

Super Password

This is one of my favorite old school game shows from the 80s. I recall seeing this most every day during my kindergarten year (’84-’85) as it’d be playing immediately before I’d have to leave for school. I believe this aired around the 10/11am hour as I was in the PM class, and not long after $25,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark would come on— I’d be headed out the door. I’ve seen a lot of Super Password clips from a couple of years ago, but more recently, thanks to Buzzr (a new digital broadcasting network, launched this past January), more shows have been uploaded to YouTube with an amazing quality.

Here are some of my favorite moments in clip form…

Garden Grove: Access & Transparency

In recent months my city has taken great lengths to provide access to resources and be more open about records that previously used to take a hurdle or seven to get to. In addition there are easier ways to request certain services and responses needed in and around the city. There are a few portals of all that I will highlight here. I am just happy that Garden Grove has taken these steps and hopefully it’ll begin a trend around the county.

Public Records Requests

The FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) is a powerful thing, and to request city-related documents and non-classified information has become easier than ever to get now. A simple form on this page will allow you to request information and get it back, most times, electronically right then and there in a matter of days, if not hours. The greatest thing I love about this is you get to see existing and previous requests as well. You can peruse those at your leisure and if you happen to find an item of interest— you’re free to click, read and/or download the item at no charge. The one recurring thing you’ll notice is there’s a lot of “political watchdogs” in the city who ask for certain items and it makes one wonder what that’s all about. But it’s there for all to read!

Citizen Requests

Now this is a great tool as well. The city set up this page where you can report various city-related concerns needing to be addressed. These include: abandoned furniture, abandoned shopping carts, environmental services, flood control, graffiti on public property, park maintenance, potholes on a public street, sidewalk/curb /gutter issues, street signs, traffic concerns, traffic signals, trees on public property, water and water wasting. For anything else you’d select Other in the menu option and a list of other resources becomes available. A great example of this would be if a street light (non-signal) is out. For this you’d be referred to SCE (Southern California Edison), of which, I didn’t know until earlier this year that they’re responsible for street lights in the city. Just like the Public Records Requests, you can see a full list of existing and previous requests as well. The only difference is your personal information (name, email & phone number) is only seen by staff and not responded to by them— as is the case on Public Records Requests.

Garden Grove Open Government

Now this is the latest feature the city has installed and it was introduced just last week. Over on this page there’s a multitude of information and resources and there’s a lot of stuff to read. At the present you can go through public meetings, the city’s municipal code, OpenGov Portal, Budget and Financial Reports (CAFR), Salary and Benefits of city employees, Labor MOUs, Business License lookup, city maps, City Manager’s (Scott Stiles) Weekly Memo and city contact information. You also get to see the city’s list of social media accounts, it’s new mobile app, learning how to do business with the city, go through your water bill, reGGIster for classes and lookup & file building permits.

Frankly Joan

I have always had an affinity for Old Hollywood and it’s Golden Age era. I suppose I initially came to this from being an early-on fan of watching a lot of I Love Lucy when it was in heavy syndication on KTTV Fox 11 back in the 1980s. The Hollywood episodes are what really opened my eyes as a grade school kid of who some of the original greats were. Although Joan Crawford was never on I Love Lucy, she did appear in the late 60’s on The Lucy Show in a memorable episode playing herself.

Joan was the hardcore, consummate professional at the height of her craft, and although her career had later declined— her self-discipline and values never changed. They really show in this 1970 interview she did on David Frost’s show. I’ve seen this before, but it’s the first full video posted that shows it in it’s entirety and not in six separate parts. It’s a worthy watch if you’re into this genre.

Early on when she talks about wardrobe— and she mentions Adrian— that’s Adrian Adolph Greenberg. He was simply known by his first name, and was a legendary costume designer for MGM Studios. His most famous costuming is seen in Wizard of Oz.

Joan died a couple years before I was born, but over a decade ago I was very lucky to meet one of her film directors, Vincent Sherman. At nearly 100 years of age he still had a sharp mind and great wit, and I will forever be grateful for the conversation he and I had about her. FYI- they had a three year fling, but that was no secret of course back in the day. But furthering on into this millennium… how many of her lovers do you think you could go find and talk to today? Nearly nil, I suppose.