On Dyslexia

Frank “Wildfire” Schulte (nicknamed after his pet horse) was a Major League right fielder who spent his best years playing for the great Chicago Cubs teams of the 1900s and 1910s.

A valuable part of the Cubs, Wildfire Schulte was often overshadowed by Hall of Famers Three Finger Brown, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance. However, for a few years, he was one of the National League’s top power hitters, although his numbers wouldn’t look very impressive today since he played during the Dead Ball Era.

Schulte’s best year came in 1911, when he hit .300 with 30 doubles, 21 triples, 21 home runs, 23 stolen bases and 107 RBI. He was the first player in the 20th century to hit 20 home runs in a season, and was rewarded for his efforts with the National League’s Most Valuable Player award and a brand new Chalmers automobile (which went to the MVP at the time).

Wildfire Schulte had a few other good seasons, but he wasn’t a Hall of Fame caliber player, and in the grand scheme of baseball history, wasn’t all that important. Which is probably why nobody really remembers him. In fact, I only tell you about him for this reason: I’ve read his name in baseball books for years, and it wasn’t until the other day that I realized his name was “Wildfire.”

Previously, I had always read it as “Wilfred.”

Talk about reordering your universe…



Sources for the statistics and some of the historical facts mentioned above include Baseball Reference and Wikipedia.

The Soap Opera Continues…

So it looks like you can completely disregard my post from yesterday.

It turns out that Dana Altman has changed his mind and is returning to his old job at Creighton.

It’s really getting hard to keep up with this whole coach search thing. First, we supposedly had Billy Gillispie from Texas A&M, then we were going after Bill Self from Kansas, then USC’s Tim Floyd and lastly John Calipari from Memphis before finally settling for Altman.

Apparently no one wants to coach at Arkansas.

A source close to the Arkansas Athletic Department has leaked that the job will be offered to me next, but so far I haven’t given any indication as to whether or not I am interested.

Seriously though, as the Arkansas Razorbacks increasingly become the laughingstock of the nation, it gets to be more and more difficult to be a Hog fan.

Over the weekend, I was in Little Rock with my wife’s family and we visited the Clinton Presidential Library. One of the items on display was a letter to President Clinton written by Nolan Richardson, who coached the Razorback basketball team to its first and only National Championship in 1994.

In times like this, I find solace in the words of wisdom offered by Richardson:

“Remember Though Times Don’t Last. However, Though People Do.”

So true.

Dana Altman? Seriously?

It has been reported that Dana Altman will be the new head basketball coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Dana Altman? Seriously? Is this a late April Fools joke?

Stan Heath had taken the Razorbacks to back to back NCAA Tournaments, but season ticket sales were lagging so we fire him and go out and get…who?

Heath’s style of play had been criticized so we go out and get someone with a similar style?

Dana? Isn’t that a girl name?

Dana Altman? Seriously?

Opening Day

“Great is baseball, the national tonic. The revival of hope. The restorer of confidence.”

-The Sporting News, 1931