February 28th, 2009 04:00am
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Jason Giambi and Ken Griffey Jr. have generated interest this spring by returning to the cities in which they began their big-league careers. In May 1972, Willie Mays’ return to New York generated big-time buzz.
The great Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, had left New York with the Giants, after the 1957 season. Starting in 1962, he returned as a visiting player against the Mets. But New York loved him, …
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February 25th, 2009 04:00am
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Lance Niekro attempting a big-league comeback via the knuckleball reminds me of another knuckleball comeback more than 30 years ago.
In 1978, eight years after his previous major-league game, Jim Bouton started five games for the Atlanta Braves — as a knuckleball pitcher.
Bouton, of course, was a former 20-game winner for the Yankees who became famous for co-writing “Ball Four,” a groundbreaking inside look at big-league locker rooms and personalities.
In his …
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February 24th, 2009 04:00am
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From 1964 through 1987, Knuckleballer Phil Niekro won 318 games in a Hall of Fame career that included three 20-win seasons (and two 20-loss seasons). From 1967 through 1988, knuckleballer Joe Niekro won 221 games (including two 20-win seasons). Now Lance Niekro is working on ” you guessed it ” the knuckleball.
Three years ago, Lance Niekro, Joe’s son and Phil’s nephew, was the Giants’ opening-day …
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February 23rd, 2009 04:00am
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The New York Rangers honored two of their old-school players on Sunday night — Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate. The honors were long overdue.
Howell and Bathgate played on the Rangers in the late 1950s and early 1960s — great players on a weak team.
I was a young teenager back then, living in New York, and a couple of friends and I would take the subway from Queens to Manhattan, pay …
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February 22nd, 2009 04:00am
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As we wait to see whether Mickey Rourke wins the Best Actor Oscar tonight, as he darn well should, or else the Academy Awards is as fixed as pro wrestling, let’s imagine a fantasy match: Ram vs. Killer. Who wins?
Rourke’s fictional Randy the Ram Robinson from “The Wrestler” vs. 1950s and ’60s bad-guy legend Killer Kowalski.
I think at first the Ram would take all kinds of abuse from Killer, because …
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February 21st, 2009 04:00am
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Mickey Rourke is up for Best Actor at Sunday’s Academy Awards for his powerful portrayal of Randy the Ram Robinson in “The Wrestler.” Win or lose, we know Rourke can act like a wrestler. But how many wrestlers can really act?
Well, there’s Duane Johnson, better known as The Rock. He’s had significant roles in “The Scorpion King,” “The Mummy Returns,” “Walking Tall,” “Gridiron Gang” and “Get Smart,” among other films …
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February 20th, 2009 04:00am
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Mickey Rourke is up for Best Actor at Sunday’s Academy Awards for his searing performance as Randy the Ram Robinson in “The Wrestler,” a performance that might be comparable to Robert De Niro’s in “Raging Bull.”
In “Raging Bull” (1980), De Niro played a real person, former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta; Rourke’s Ram is fictional. But there are intriguing similarities.
De Niro showed us LaMotta as masochistic and self-destructive, his own worst …
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February 19th, 2009 04:00am
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Mickey Rourke is up for Best Actor at Sunday’s Academy Award for his role as Randy the Ram Robinson in “The Wrestler.” Here is a brief look at long-ago performances in sports movies that in some ways paved the way for Rourke.
Humphrey Bogart as a sportswriter hired to promote supposed phenom heavyweight in the noirish “The Harder They Fall” (1956). Film explores the exploitive nature of boxing. Notable for having …
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February 18th, 2009 04:00am
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Mickey Rourke is up for Best Actor at Sunday’s Academy Award for his role as Randy the Ram Robinson in “The Wrestler.” Here is a brief look at long-ago performances in sports movies that in some ways paved the way for “The Wrestler.”
For those of you who love sports and love films, check out these old-school movies on DVD:
James Cagney as a boxer who goes blind while supporting his pianist …
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February 17th, 2009 04:00am
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The two greatest upsets of boxing history occurred in February — one in 1964, the other in 1990. Yesterday, the Old School blog talked about Cassius Clay beating Sonny Liston in ‘64. Today, Old School takes a look at Buster Douglas’ knockout of Mike Tyson.
On Feb. 11, 1990, in Tokyo, Mike Tyson was a 42-1 favorite against James “Buster” Douglas.
If anything, Tyson was considered even more fearsome than Liston had …
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Robert Rubino has been a daily copy editor for nearly 30 years and a weekly sports columnist for 15 years. 
