Man About Canton: Fall Is in the Air
By Joe DeFeliceDID YOU KNOW…
Autumn officially arrived yesterday, September 22, which means the baseball season is almost over. Whatever the season, baseball doesn’t appear to be over for white-haired and bearded “Spaceman” Bill Lee, the 63-year-old left-handed former pitcher for the Red Sox who recently won the game he pitched for the Brockton Rox against the Worcester Tornadoes at the end of their season. The Tornadoes are a professional minor league baseball team whose players are 40 years younger than Lee, and he won the game by pitching 5 1/3 quality innings against the Tornadoes, who are managed by former Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman, who caught Lee’s games back in the 1970s. Incidentally, Lee’s pitching feat was accomplished before a sellout crowd of 6,126 at Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium, which was important to Lee who said his contract with the Rox team called for him to receive 25 cents for every fan over Brockton’s average attendance of 2,191, and the sellout crowd represented nearly $1,000 to Lee.
The 45th annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon on Labor Day received contributions and pledges totaling $58.9 million, which was down from the $60.5 million raised last year, and the MDA record of $65 million raised in 2008.
Mert Mayhew of Rubin Court has retired after 40 years as the head bartender at the Canton Town Club. Mert is a 1961 graduate of Canton High where he was an outstanding football player; and after a tour in the Air Force, he became a bartender at the Town Club in 1970. Happy retirement, Mert, from MAC. You deserve it after all those years on the 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift at the club.
While on the subject of the Town Club, we are happy to report that Richie D’Attanasio is now their Saturday lunch cook, preparing delicious hamburgers for their hungry members.
Rachel Davis of Sharon won the Dunkin’ Donuts Design Contest from among nearly 50,000 entries. She won $12,000 with her creation called “Monkey See Monkey Donut,” which is filled with Bananas Foster and topped with chocolate icing and chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter chips. She will have her grand prize donut sold in all Dunkin’ Donuts stores.
Speaking of Sharon, the Sharon Post Office has been renamed for Michael Rothberg, a town native who was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower when terrorists flew an airplane into it.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, New Bedford has once again become the nation’s top commercial finishing port, netting nearly $250 million last year.
Bob Lynch, a 35-year-old average golfer, accomplished an amazing and unbelievable golfing feat at the Brookmeadow Golf Course. He scored two holes-in-one in one round. The odds of that happening are estimated at about 67 million to one.
Speaking of high-odds accomplishments, how about the 22-year-old man in New York City who plunged 40 stories from an apartment building and survived after crashing through the windshield of a parked car? He suffered broken legs and is in critical condition.
Carousel Industries of Exeter, Rhode Island, has purchased TriNet Systems, an information technology firm in Canton. Both companies provide communication services and installation support.
BP PLC says it has spent $8 billion so far in responding to the disastrous oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. They say the total includes $399 million paid to settle 127,000 claims from businesses and others. Happily, BP says no oil has flowed from the well since July 15.
According to 2009 figures released by UMass Amherst, 80.8 percent of their student body came from Massachusetts, 2.9 percent from Connecticut, 1 percent from New Hampshire, 0.5 percent from Vermont, and 14.8 percent from other places.
Those of you who are concerned about the rapid loss of trees on Earth will be interested to learn that it takes roughly 20 million trees and 12 billion gallons of water to manufacture the 58 billion paper cups that end up in the trash every year.
Burger King Holdings, Inc. has sold its fast food Burger King Company to 3G Capital for $3.26 billion. 3G Capital is an investment firm with strong ties to Latin America. Incidentally, more than one-third of Burger King locations are outside of the United States.
How do you like the new yellow paint job on the old Gridley School building? The building, which dates back to 1854, is now used as a kindergarten, and while some traditionalists would rather see the building painted white, MAC has to admit the yellow color does look nice.
Finally, don’t forget that the annual Homecoming Block Party is on Saturday, September 25. If you don’t plan to run in the morning road races, or march in the afternoon parade, you should at least go and enjoy yourself at the evening block party.
Reasons are based in fact. Excuses only exist in the minds of the people using them.
This is all for now folks; see you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2658
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Sep 23 2010. Filed under Man About Canton, Opinion.
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