Covid-19, Bucky Dent and Steve Martin

By Hank Silverberg

You’ve heard a great deal about COVID-19 over the last few weeks and I hope you are taking the guidance from the medical professionals seriously. The most visual one is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert from the National Institutes of Health. I interviewed Dr. Fauci many times over my years as a reporter on various types of infections, from the flu to E-bola. He knows what he is talking about, and you should take what he says as science and the truth, not speculation or politics. He has been at NIH since the Reagan administration more than 30 years ago. He doesn’t play politics.   

He also has contradicted some pretty dumb things Donald Trump has said about COVID-19. At one of Trump’s news conference last week, while Trump was talking, Dr. Fauci’s uncomfortable body language included a face plant. 

Mr. Trump proved once again he is not a very good leader. The best example came in his reaction to NBC’s Peter Alexander, to what those of us who have been in the news business call a softball question.

 Here’s the exchange:

Alexander: “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”

Trump: "I say that you are a very bad reporter. I think it’s a nasty question.”

It was NOT a nasty question. It was a good one.  Here is the full exchange.  Listen all the way to the end.  

Here’s how a responsible leader would have answered that question—in my words:

“The government is working as fast as we can to deal with this unpredictable virus. I would say to people, please follow the directions of the medical professionals and your state and local leaders to do everything you can to fight it. Take their advice, wash your hands often, practice social distancing and don’t go to work if you are sick. Americans are a strong people. I have full confidence in you. If we work together, we can beat the Corona virus."   

Or something like that. Attacking a reporter does NOTHING.

But of course some people, no matter how many times you say it, just don’t get the message. To me, those college students swarming the Florida beaches for spring break were totally irresponsible. So were the people who ignored the National Park Service and tried to crowd the National Mall to see the cherry blossoms. It got so bad, that on Sunday the NPS blocked off streets to traffic in downtown Washington in a wide radius to keep people away from the mall and to keep them apart.

 

 Those of us who are staying home are looking for new forms of entertainment. MLB-TV, with no 2020 games to broadcast, has been airing the greatest 20 games in MLB history. I spent Saturday watching a replay of the 1978 one-game playoff between the Red Sox and the Bronx Team. (I never use the “Y” word.)

It ended just the way I remembered it, with Yaz popping up in the bottom of the 9^th with a man on. Somehow I still rooted for it to end a different way. The replay did not produce in me as much pain as it did in 1978, but it did remind me of one of my favorite experiences. 

The game featured the infamous Bucky Dent three-run homer that put New York ahead 4-2. It was NOT the deciding run. That was a Reggie Jackson homer an inning later, but it was a big blow and Bucky got all the attention. So here is my Bucky Dent story which I recounted in my book If the Log Rolls Over. 
I will retell it here in a slightly shorter version. 

I got my revenge in 1983. I was working as a reporter at WCTC radio in New Brunswick, New Jersey. My boss came to me and asked if I would be interested in acting as an M-C at an event at a local mall. I hesitated, since after all I was a big time reporter, not a shill. But I was newly married and making very little money, and this was a quick $50 for a half hour's work, so I expressed interest.  I said yes enthusiastically when he told me I would get to introduce Bucky Dent.     

I headed off to a mall on a Saturday morning.  It was in Perth Amboy, in the shadow of New York City, and by the time I got there about 500 people were waiting.

I had looked up some stats on Dent. The mall manager wanted me to give him a big build-up for the introduction. Then I could ask him one question before the audience got to ask theirs. 

I met Dent in a back room, told him I was a big baseball fan. He shook my hand and I went on stage. I built him up pretty well.  He came on stage with thundering applause in a venue with lots of New York fans.

Here’s the exchange:

ME: "So, Bucky, I have one question to start things off. Can you tell me what was your biggest thrill as a baseball player?  But before you answer that.."  

I pulled my Red Sox cap out of my back pocket and put it on.

Dent didn’t miss a beat. He smiled, and said,

DENT:  “Well Hank, I’d have to say it was my first major league hit in Cleveland….”

I do not remember much else of what happened that day, but the playoff homer never came up. Since then Dent is one of my favorite ex-ballplayers. I saw him and Lou Pinella on MLB Network after the re-broadcast of that big game. They both looked great. 

And then there is this:

I relay this ancient history from 1978 because many people are getting tired of all corona virus gloom and doom all the time. So I will wrap up “Time to Think” this week with this video posted on line and Tweeted out by entertainer Steve Martin. Nothing like banjo music to make you smile.

                                                                  (Steve Martin)  

My wife and daughter actually found toilet paper at a store on Sunday, so let's hope things get better this week.   

              (Your comments and suggestions are welcome)

(You can purchase a copy of my latest book “The Campaign” on Amazon.com, BN.com or by emailing me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a signed copy at a lower price)