Six O'Clock News - In Honor of George Kell Edition
Today's edition goes out in honor of George Kell, who passed away today at the age of 86.
George Kell, a Hall of Fame third baseman who outdueled Ted Williams for the 1949 American League batting title and finished his career with a batting average of .306, died Tuesday morning. He was 86.
Kell played 14 years in the American League with Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Chicago and Baltimore. He won the AL batting title in 1949 when he hit .34291 and Ted Williams hit .34276. Kell hit more than .300 nine times and was selected to play in 10 All-Star games.
After his playing days, Kell was a Detroit Tigers broadcaster from 1959 to 1996.
One amazing stat - he only struck out 13 times in 1949, the least for any batting champ. Watched many a game with George and Al back in the day; thank you both for bringing me Tiger baseball. The Freep has more here.
Amnesty International has criticized Michigan police for using a taser that caused the death of a 15 year old in Bay City. Have they been alerted that there are certain Michigan politicians that are pushing for less restrictions on tasers? The family of the boy is now planning a lawsuit. Terry Bankert has a diary that asks other important questions as well, give it a read.
Governor Granholm will not apologize to Sarah Palin for the "hot governors" crack she made at the Gridiron Dinner last Saturday, and it's really unclear as to why some idiot reporter in Michigan would ask her to do so, given the nature of the event. Besides, if anyone should seek apology, it's probably Ed Rendell - he was trying to keep his "hotness" a secret. Now the girls won't leave him alone.
Did the Detroit News find the new Lions logo? They are on the case, and the Freep is too, and they have the lettering pictured as well. The company selling the toy truck has since taken the picture down, so... in other Lions news, the Packers will be the Thanksgiving Day opponent, as it should be.
Cranberries are big, and the state is looking for 2,500 more acres to grow them here, figuring that will create up to 1,100 construction jobs to turn the land into bogs. Ocean Spray has had high demand and is looking for 6,000 more acres nationwide. in 2007, we had only 307 acres that made $2.25 million - officials believe we could hit $45 million if we can find the space. Apparently harvesting them is quite the tourist attraction as well; DeGrandchamp Farms in South Haven says over 1,000 people came out to watch last year.
You know times are really tough when you have to lay yourself off.
One forecast is predicting snow in Lower Michigan for this weekend. Argh. Someone make it stop...