Por Andrés Pascual
Cuando Angelo Dundee reinauguró el gimnasio de la 5ta en Miami Beach, por petición que le hice, me presentó a Bert Randolph.
Yo tenía como objetivo hacerle la pregunta sobre la razón por la que él pudiera creer que la división mastodóntica estaba tan huérfana de calidad.
Entonces me viró la pregunta y le respondí que, a mi juicio, porque el negro americano boxea menos en estos tiempos, lo que no solo debilita la división en que se bandean los hermanos ucranianos, sino casi todas las existentes. Además, le dije, posiblemente haya menos trainers de clase que antes.
Gentilmente, Sugar me dijo que las proposiciones eran buenas, sin embargo, no estuvo de acuerdo en que esa división fuera más débil que un niño de 6 meses de nacido abandonado en la Amazonia ni que estuviera más floja que antes, en eso yo concordé con él, porque los heaviweights siempre tuvieron un campeón bueno, lejos de los retadores, menos durante las peleas Dempsey-Tunney y Alí-Frazier. No obstante, a pesar de todo, siempre ha sido el peso que llama la atención por la posibilidad del nocao como gancho de atracción, hoy, aunque siguen noqueando, la diferencia abismal entre los ucranianos y el resto no solo le quita brillo a la división, sino al boxeo en sentido general, porque los completos son, desde John L Sullivan, la bandera del negocio.
Pero conocer personalmente a esa leyenda de la crónica del sector me resultó algo grandioso; a pesar de que se conocía su dolencia, no se esperaba que falleciera tan pronto como ocurrió, a los 75 años.
Sugar fue uno de los más incisivos jueces del pugilismo que haya existido: sus libros, sus artículos, sus opiniones en radio y televisión forman parte del caudal dorado no solo de la leyenda del boxeo (también le dedicó generosos espacios al beisbol y al olimpismo) porque se constituyen en guías de enseñanza sobre cómo observar, analizar y opinar mejor lo que sucederá o sucedió en el ring.
Que descanse en paz “el hombre del sombrero y el tabaco”, que se hizo un sitial entre los más grandes de la ingrata y subestimada crónica boxística de los Anales de Fistiana por su clase humana y profesional, igualada por muy pocos en el tiempo.
7 comentarios
Se escribe “heavyweight”, no “heaviweight”
and now, English class, How manny yo learned about this language nephew? Bullshit
Lo suficiente para darme cuenta que tu no sabes nada, todo lo que escribiste esta mal Pascual, si no conoces un idioma no te ridiculices escribiendolo, siento pena ajena.
Pd. Se dice how much, la palabra es many no” manny”, eres periodista profesional o un simple aficionado escribiendo?
COMO SIEMPRE DON ANDRES PASCUAL, INTERESANTE Y AMENO SU ARTICULO. FELICIDADES. QUE DON BERT SUGAR, DESCANSE EN PAZ Y A SU FAMILIA UN ABRAZO FRATERNO.
YANKEE STADIUM AND THE LOST MISTIC
By Andres Pascual
My son Sergio, who has not seen more away than Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Posada visited several times the demolished and original Yankee Stadium and has been many more in the new and monumental than “money from the Steinbrenner helped to build”.
However, while not read about the past Yankees era as I suggested him, told me something recently that put me to think and gave rise to this article, “very nice, very wide, very comfortable”, but there is a big difference between the two parks, a visit to the new stadium can not revive the historic greatness of the better and important club in the american professional sport; the esoteric sense, without the missing ghosts as could be “here could have been stopped Babe Ruth”, or “years ago in this corner Yogi, The Mick, Billy and Whitey… take together a taxi” nostalgic for the times, can not resettle in the new home of the Mules of recent invoice, so, from the day of the inauguration, lacking in the Bronx.
In Yankee Stadium because there was only one, the unforgettable players from the past wrote an important part of the baseball history, Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzery, Dimaggio, Mantle, Lefty Gomez, Bill Dickey, Tommy Heinrich, Wayte Hoyt…the Larsen perfect game was there and the catch of Amoros that helped the Brooklin win the 1955 World Series too.
How many truly stellars moments for the pastime enclosed the Bronx Castle?
Nor will be another Robinson anymore, nor another Joe Louis fights, nor another Marciano… in the new Park. With the Puerto Rican Miguel Coto and a student for Rabbi, Yuri Foreman, the attempt to bring again to the ball park boxing is not the return of the “prodigal son”, which was conceived in 1925 when the promoter Tex Rickert was able to convince Colonel Jack Ruppert, then owner of the great franchise to present world-class boxing on the installation, try to repeat the successful event of decades past in the new complex was, rather than a mistake, a desecration.
The new Yankee Stadium need their own ghosts, develop his mystique
and take his own wheel of history, so need much time for that and many can not see them.
The mystic, his olders and good ghosts not they move house. The
Yankees buried his history in the old park forever.
The new legend began with the left foot through the black chapter when his best player is convicted of one of the most shameful crimes for the all-time baseball, steroids, in fact, the player put the club in the wrong way. The new stadium should change name, but they are no longer the Yankees…the mercantilism killed passion and any attempt to survive the severe judgment of who not forgive mistakes, the history, that will be the sentence.
THE BIG HITTER OF THE 50’S DECADE, MUSIAL
By Andres Pascual
During the decade of the 1950s occurred what american baseball analysts named a “rise of the hitters”.
Running the racial integration, joined organized baseball with all the figures of importance included the Caribbean, guaranteeing the presence in major league baseball of sluggers as Mays, Aaron, Banks, Minoso, Clemente or Frank Robinson who, along with Williams, Mantle, Sievers, to Rosen, to Ashburn, Snider or Colavito, ensured the massacre on the pitching of both leagues. However, by the “intelligent control pitching” the hurler continued lead the actions.
The recovery of the “style” of the 1920s almost did the depressing spectacle of the collapse of the pitching as happened during the experiment steroids, simply, the return of the hitting to interesting levels and their coexistence of importance with the pitching made much more stronger the game, which not was affected by crisis that questioned the credibility of the permanence in the popular levels of interest as the 90’s and early 2000’s.
Between all the sluggers of class and prestige of baseball 50’s era, who was the best of all?
Numbers explains that, analizing the average ever almost religious answer, say the best batter of the 50’s was the immortal Stan Musial, for the excellence as belonging the top ten for departaments of each one of importance.
This guy should be placed among the five best all-time and narrowly is not selected to the Team of the Century, because to some, questionable and suspicious the amount of home runs with the help of the lab so they preferred, rather than embarrassing to the game story, when he should be immediately after Ruth, Foxx, Williams and tied with Gehrig as the better ever seen sluggers naturals, without steroids
With regard to the place where belong Stan Musial among the top ten, in addition to nominate the first, this is the proof of everything said:
HOME RUNS:
Snider 326
Musial, 3rd, 266
RUNS BATTED IN:
Snider 1031
Musial, 3rd, 972
HITS:
Ashburn 1875
Musial, 2nd, 1771
AVERAGE:
Musial, 1st.330
SLUGGING PERCENTAGE:
.569 Snider
Musial, 2nd.568
RUNS
Snider 970
Musial, 3rd, 948
DOUBLES:
Musial, 1st, 356
TRIPLES:
Ashburn 82
Musial, 4th, 61
OBA:
Musial, 1st.421
OPS:
.989 Musial 1st
GAMES PLAYED:
Ashburn 1523
Musial, 3rd, 1456
5 veces cuando menos es mas en el