Charles Wesley Wright III

My brother, Charles "Chuck" Wesley Wright III, died this week. I don't think he was ever comfortable being Charles Wesley Wright the Third, but I know he enjoyed being Chuck Wright.

Chuck Wright wore a smile and had a lot of friends. Chuck stood 6 foot 3 1/2, but people looked up to him because of his character. Chuck was a leader from the day I was born.

As kids, it seems like we did everything together. We roomed together and played whatever sport was in season together. We swam, shot baskets, played golf, and wore out the grass in both the front and back yard playing catch and throwing grounders to each other. Chuck was good at all of these sports and I tagged along because I was his little brother. He played shortstop and center field on a local team that included future Major Leaguer Mike Torrez. I got my face in the team photo as the batboy. Chuck won a local election to serve as the batboy for the Topeka Reds, Topeka's minor league baseball team. One year later, I got to be the batboy. No election this time. The club asked Chuck to do it again and he said "No, let my brother do it this year."

Chuck was good at elections. In Junior High, Chuck ran for President of the Student Council. With all the school assembled in the auditorium, his campaign manager, a fellow student named Jackie Stewart, gave a stemwinder of a speech, explaining why students should vote for Chuck. He was to end the speech with the campaign slogan, but he messed it up. "Remember," he said, "You can't go Wright with Wrong!" The students howled with laughter at the mistake, Jackie's face turned red in embarrassment, and Chuck was elected by a landslide.

It was great to be Chuck's little brother! On the first day of school, when the teacher calls the class roll for the first time and puts a name with a face, invariably, after my name was called, I would be asked if I was related to Chuck. "Yes," I said, noting the smile on the teacher's face.

Even better, girls - older girls - looked at me and talked to me because I was Chuck's little brother!

Of course, he earned every award there was to earn in Scouts and never shied away from helping me follow the path he set. He presented me with my Eagle Scout Award. In front of the assembly, he shook my hand and, according to the ceremony, was supposed to say "I congratulate you as a brother Eagle Scout...." With a sly grin and perfect timing, he said, "I congratulate you for being my brother...and for being an Eagle Scout."

Chuck showed me how to throw a curveball, and then, after I tried to throw one, he showed me how to repair a broken window. I developed an expertise in window repair, not pitching. He served as best man at my wedding; I served as his. I thought my relationship with him would last forever, and it has, but along the way, it changed. He left home to attend KU, I stayed in Topeka. He married a wonderful lady, Sherri, (photo) and they always welcomed me into their home. They moved away from Topeka and began a family...a wonderful family who I wish lived closer to me and who I wish I knew better, but a phone call or visit always brought Chuck and me back to our youth - to the wonderful times when there were just the two of us - and the world was ours.

The record shows his name to be Charles Wesley Wright the Third, and while he might have been the third of one thing, in my book, he was the first in all other things. He was one of a kind and, Chuck, until we meet again Thank You for Everything...for the example you have been for me...for everything you've taught me...for what you've done for me and Thank You for being my brother.

Williams Magnet School

The Website for Williams Science and Fine Arts Magnet School in Topeka suggests that the staff believes their students are “miracles” who need to be "lifelong learners who are responsible, contributing members of society."  The school specializes in teaching science, nutrition, music, math, language arts and many more subjects.  Judging from the sign in front of the school, perhaps a class on spelling should be held.  This was taken on February 6, 2013 and the month of "February" has been misspelled and on public display for at least three weeks!

Street Names

Is this the worst name for a street you have ever seen?  Seriously, this street just north of 6th & MacVicar in Topeka is named South West East Circle Drive North.  Did a committee come up with this name?  What names did the committee reject?  Brownback Boulevard?  Afghanistan Avenue?  We should be grateful there are only 4 primary directions.

Stan "The Man" Musial

A great man, and an outstanding ballplayer died over the weekend.  Stan Musial was one of the best hitters ever and he was so respected that his nickname "The Man" was bestowed on him, not by his hometown St. Louis Cardinal fans, but by the fans in Brooklyn who, as the story goes, complained that their beloved Dodgers had gone down to defeat, again, at the hands of "the Man".  Fans of the Cardinals honored Stan the Man by naming a disproportionate number of boys throughout the St. Louis area and across the Midwest "Stan."

How honored and respected was Stan Musial?  Here's a true story.  In 1985, I attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans and I was able to attend a pre-game dinner.  Hundreds of athletes were in attendance, but the two who stood out above all others were Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial.  Two baseball players at the biggest football game of the year!  Here is a photo of me talking with a seated Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial is in the background (white jacket), either signing an autograph or getting out his harmonica.  

The Earl of Baltimore

Earl Weaver died yesterday at the age of 82. He was the best manager the Baltimore Orioles ever had and he learned to manage in their farm system. I first saw him in 1960 when he still harbored dreams of playing in the Major Leagues. He was listed in the program as the player-manager of the Fox Cities Foxes of the Class B Three-I League, but his managerial skills outshone whatever playing skills he still had. The Foxes won the league that year with an 82-56 record, led by Boog Powell, Cal Ripken, Sr., Pat Gillick and Dean Chance. Topeka's team, managed by Johnny VanderMeer, finished dead last.

In 1961, the Topeka Reds asked me to be their batboy. I shared the locker room with future Major Leaguers such as Tommy Harper, Tommy Helms, Art Shamsky, Vic Davalillo, Mel Queen and the team's manager, up-and-comer, Dave Bristol. Topeka won the Three-I League Championship that year and Bristol and many of the players, soon moved up to the Major Leagues.

Earl Weaver managed the Fox City Foxes again in 1961, but the stars of the previous years' pennant-winning team were gone. Weaver's team of career minor leaguers finished fourth at 67-62. Looking back, Weaver managing this team of irregulars to an above .500 finish was probably a greater achievement than Bristol winning the pennant with a handful of future stars.

I remember the Reds loved to compete against Weaver's teams! In his book, The Magnificent Seasons: How the Jets, Mets and Knicks Made Sports History, Art Shamsky described Weaver as, "...a fiery little guy with a sort of gravelly voice..." and wrote that he was "...boisterous and inclined to be on the first step of the dugout, always looking for something to argue about...." He was all that and more.

I remember vividly one occasion when Weaver was tossed out of the game in Topeka's Community Park, a cozy little ballpark where the fans in the stands sat close to the field. Of course, I don't remember the cause of Weaver's eviction, but I'm sure he argued his point way beyond the bounds of acceptable decency. Upon being thrown out, he had to leave the field, which for a visiting player or manager wasn't easy to do. In most ballparks, the dugout is connected to the locker room via a tunnel and the evicted player simply walks up the tunnel to his clubhouse. But, at Topeka's Community Park the Visitor's Locker Room was only accessible from outside the ballpark. The players and manager dressed in their locker room and then walked outside the park to a gate on the third base side of the field where they entered the field. Naturally, when a player or manager was tossed from the game, they had to follow this same route in reverse, walking from the dugout down the third base line to the gate. On this occasion, the Reds players assembled on the top step of their dugout taunting Weaver with shouts of "Go soak your head" and many profanities. A few nearby fans hooted and jeered at Weaver as he walked past them, and on this occasion, Weaver came right back at them. In short order, Weaver was arguing with a handful of fans to the point where his own players had to restrain him and escort him off the field for his own safety. It was a great show and I thought police protection would be necessary before it was over. Earl always said he wanted engraved on his tombstone "Here lies the sorest loser ever." He hated to lose, and he was a great manager.

Lecompton Plays NY

Paul Bahnmaier almost single-handily has promoted the history of tiny Lecompton Kansas for several decades.  Lecompton's unfortunate history is that it was chosen as the slave-capital of Kansas Territory in 1854.  The Constitution written in Lecompton's Constitution Hall (inset) would have had Kansas enter the Union as a slave state despite the clear majority of free-staters living in the Territory.  Some Democrats, like President James Buchanan, supported the admission of Kansas as a state under the Lecompton Constitution.  Other Democrats, like Stephen Douglas, opposed the admission of Kansas under this Constitution because it did not seem to have the support of the Kansas electorate.  This split in the Democratic Party opened the door for Abraham Lincoln to be elected President with less than a majority of votes.

Now, Paul is using the opening of Steven Spielberg's movie "Lincoln" to promote Lecompton's place in American history and his efforts have caught the attention of writers from the New York Times and the Topeka Capital-Journal.  Surely, Lecompton played a role in American history.  The battles fought over slavery in Kansas served as a prelude to the Civil War and they helped to re-define the Jeffersonian ideal that "all men are created equal."  What Jefferson thought these words meant when he wrote them in 1776 is not what Americans think they mean today.  Jefferson did not believe that women or slaves were equal to white men.

Today, Americans celebrate the equality of all people and the struggles that took place in Lecompton, Kansas helped us get there.     

Topeka's Power Grid

Last week those of us living in the Westboro neighborhood of Topeka were without electricity for 24 hours, following a modest storm that left a few branches strewn in the yard.  According to this story from the New York Times, the U.S. plans to spend $1.2 billion over the next 5 years in Afghanistan to improve their power grid.  How about a few of our dollars staying home and improving our lives.