|
OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
 |
|
|
 STAN HOCHMAN of The Philadelphia Daily News |
Stan Hochman: He is
A Man for 50 Seasons
of TheColumnists.com
The Philadelphia Daily News published an edition recently that is, in my experience, possibly unprecedented in the annals of journalism. It included a six-page tribute to sports reporter/columnist/personality Stan Hochman celebrating the 50th anniversary of his arrival at the paper on June 9, 1959.
I am a contemporary of Hochman’s and I, like most of the Philadelphia sports fandom, am delighted by the tribute. Hochman is foremost, an outstanding reporter, one of the most incisive questioners in journalism. I feel that if Hochman had worked on one of the more prestigious Philly papers or in New York, he would enjoy more of a national reputation as a sports writer.
The Daily News spread featured a full-back-page photo with the tag, “A legend among legends.” It included remembrances by Hochman, tributes from sports figures, politicians (notably sports nut Gov. Ed Rendell) and colleagues. There were also warm paeans to the man by his wife and his daughter.
Hochman came out of Brooklyn (the one bit of information surprisingly omitted from the six pages) to work in Corpus Christi, Waco and San Bernadino before sports editor Larry Merchant brought him to Philadelphia to cover the Phillles. He has been a force on the newspaper and on radio and television ever since.
Hochman recalled covering Henry Aaron in the Sally League; getting a scoop with Vince Lombardi as a rookie reporter (Lombardi revealed his philosophy was “discipline with love”); being trusted to spend a week behind the scenes with the Philadelphia Eagles; intimate sessions with Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.
He says, “Why do I keep doing what I do? Because I still enjoy it. [For example] I get a tremendous pleasure out of writing a piece about the efforts to build a safe, smooth baseball field for kids with special needs in Northampton Township.”
His wife Gloria, a savvy, free-lance magazine writer on health issues, wrote, “If I had to describe Stan in one word it would be ‘integrity.’ His longtime readers know they can depend on him to be honest and fair even if they don’t agree with what he writes or says. Whether it is on the printed page, radio or television, what you get from him is what my grandmother called the emes, the truth.”
His daughter, Andee, a teacher and free-lance writer, wrote about the advice he gave her when she was at Yale at a time of “newfound freedoms and risks. Instead of a finger-shaking ‘just say no’ message, he hoped I would seek my highs and epiphanies in the everyday world; the red-gold streak of a sunset, a perfect catch in center field….”
Philadelphians obviously dominate his list of likes and dislikes among his subjects: He liked Ali, Willie Stargell, Wilt Chamberlain, Sparky Anderson, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Bobby Clarke, Julius Erving, Ruben Amaro Sr., Ron Jaworski, Buddy Ryan, Jack Ramsay, Jack McCloskey, Jack Kraft, Harry Litwack, Don Casey, Alex Hannum, Jack Nicklaus, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Trevino, Nancy Lopez and Cathy Rush.
He didn’t like John Denny, Ken Linseman, Joe Kuharich, Norman Braman, Gene Mauch, Barry Bonds and Bob Gibson.
Former sports editor Larry Merchant said,
“…he was not only good, but fast .I was amazed by
how fast he was. You could put him on anything and he would write
a story that would answer any and all questions that a reader
could have. He’s one of the masters of the sports writing
universe.”
|
|
Bill Nack, the peerless racing reporter-writer, agreed with the post-Belmont Stakes assertion here that jockey Calvin Borel made a whopping mistake in not riding some races at Belmont before his big, unsuccessful ride on Mine That Bird.
Nack called him “the victim of his own hubris.” And it reminded Nack of a scene he heard about at old Washington Park in Chicago on the day of the Swaps-Nashua match race in 1955.
He said, “Eddie Arcaro was in town to ride Nashua and he took a mount in the middle of the card. The horse should have been 20-1, but because it was the great Arcaro, the Chicago public bet him down much shorter.
“When the gates opened, Arcaro took the horse back and spent the entire trip trailing the field and looking down at the racetrack, getting a feel for it and the condition it was in (wet from rains but drying out). He finished out of the money. No big deal. Eddie obviously was looking for the best path on which to ride Nashua in the upcoming match race.
“Sure enough, at the first turn, breaking inside Swaps, Arcaro immediately carried Swaps [ridden by Willie Shoemaker] out to the heavier, muddy part of the track--the part Arcaro had scouted earlier in the day-and thereby set up his six-length victory. Swaps got tired slogging through that sticky part of the track.
Arcaro was maybe the smartest-money-rider who ever lived. Borel did the complete opposite of Arcaro leading up to the Belmont.
Nack, ever the good egg, pointed out in the most gentle terms a mistake I made in the Belmont Stakes column. I am mortified that I said Man o’ War was upset in the 1920 Travers by Upset (thereby introducing the word “upset’ into the language). Man o’ War suffered the only loss of his career, not in the Travers, but a year earlier as a two-year-old in the Sanford Stakes.
Coises!
©2009 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The photo is courtesy of The Philadelphia Daily News. This column first posted June 15, 2009.
TO ACCESS STAN ISAACS' ARCHIVE OF COLUMNS ON THIS SITE, CLICK HERE: ISAACS ARCHIVE
You can comment
on this column online. Please address your message to either
"The Editors" or Stan Isaacs. To send an email, click
here and don't forget to mention Stan's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|