Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/8-9/2012

3/8/1971:
Joe Frazier maintains his heavyweight boxing title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden. Frazier has been the champ since 1968. It is Ali's first bout since March 22, 1967. Ali is knocked to the canvas with a right to the jaw in the 15th round. After regaining his feet, he staggers to the finish. In 1967, Ali had been stripped of the heavyweight title he held since 1964, after refusing induction to the armed forced on the grounds that he is a Muslim minister. Ali was later sentenced to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine, but those charges were eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. Frazier will lose his title to George Foreman in 1973 and Ali will become heavyweight champ once more in 1974. Ali will defeat Frazier on October 1 that year in the Philippines with a TKO in the 14th round, in what has become known as the "Thrilla in Manila."

Birthdays:
Mendy Rudolph b. 1926
Dick Allen b. 1942
Jim Rice b. 1953
Buck Williams b. 1960
Jason Elam b. 1970

3/9/1936:
Babe Ruth decides against an offer from Cincinnati Reds general manager Larry MacPhail to come out of retirement. Ruth had retired as a player in June 1935 after playing in 28 games for the Boston Braves. The Reds plan to use Ruth, now 41 years old, as a fifth outfielder, backup first baseman, and pinch hitter. At first, Ruth is inclined to accept MacPhail's offer, but after talking things over with his wife, Claire, the Babe changes his mind. He says he has put on too much weight and would risk injuring his legs if he returned to baseball in a playing capacity. Mac Phail finally employs Ruth as a first base coach in 1938 when he runs the Brooklyn Dodgers as general manager. Ruth is hired in June of that year, but soon quits because he is used mostly for publicity purposes and has few serious responsibilities.

Birthdays:
Jackie Jensen b. 1927
Bert Campaneris b. 1942
Phil Housley b. 1964
Benito Santiago b. 1965
Aaron Boone b. 1973

GREEN ACRES

William Alexander moved to New York’s Hudson Valley for the pastoral dream: his own vegetable garden and orchard. But nothing prepared him for the lazy contractors; the sadomasochistic groundhog; the insects; the weather; the neighbors; his family’s reaction; in short, anything. Alexander loses his mind and money in this hilarious antidote to the many soaring tributes to the glories of local organic foods (Michael Pollan, anyone?). When Alexander figures out the actual cost of a tomato he’s grown, the book’s title is in the bag. “Gardening as extreme sport,” says The New York Times.

THE $64 TOMATO: HOW ONE MAN NEARLY LOST HIS SANITY, SPENT A FORTUNE, AND ENDURED AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT GARDEN, by William Alexander (Algonquin, 2010)

DOMESTIC DRAMA

Here’s a portrait of an imperfect marriage right out of the Billy Joel song “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” In Abigail Thomas’s version, Virginia gets pregnant the first time she’s with college heartthrob Buddy. Buddy’s eye wanders while Virginia struggles with motherhood and what might have been. Anne Lamott called An Actual Life “an entirely wonderful book, rich and at the same time full of insight, hilarious and deeply touching, tough and lovely.”

AN ACTUAL LIFE, by Abigail Thomas (Touchstone, 1997)