[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2024
EC's Life Is An Encore in '24

Yeah, buddy... life is mighty good for old EC... OOTP 25 will be coming soon... EC had made my life a little easier and a little less hectic by retiring from my nursing home ministry... I played for about 9 years, going as much as 12 times a month... I took me and the residents back to our teenager years, rocking and bopping to the music... I would dance with them, just using their hands and feet... they are almost all in wheelchairs... we would dance, sing and clap for two hours to all the great songs we grew up with from the '40s, 50s, 60s and 70s... I am relieved not to have to do it anymore, but I will miss all of the wonderful folks I have grown to love over the years... we really had a ball, y'all.

I'm still doing my weekend radio show from 1 to 3 on Sunday afternoons... EC is getting a little better every weekend... one of my radio buddies and cohorts said I sounded like I was 20 years old again... yeah, buddy, EC is lovin' every minute of it.

Here's another moment from Joe Posnanski's wonderful book "Why We Love Baseball -- A History in 50 Moments"... Here are some interesting odds and ends about the great Nolan Ryan.

"Wit, Quips and Quotes From the Diamond Minds"
(excepted from Posnanski's book)

Nolan Ryan is the most unhittable pitcher in modern baseball history.
Nolan Ryan also lost more games than any other pitcher in modern baseball history.
Tell me. How can anyone explain it? Yes, he pitched a lot of games. He struck out more batters than anyone else. He walked more batters than anyone else. He threw more no-hitters than anyone else. He threw more wild pitches than anyone else. He allowed the lowest batting average. He made more fielding errors that anyone else.

Here's what I mean: Ryan walked six or more batters in a game 135 times, far and away the most in baseball history. His team won 68 of those game, lost 67.

Here's what I mean: Ryan allowed three or more stolen bases in a game 77 times. Again, most in baseball history. His team's record in those games: 24-53.

Here's what I mean: Ryan made an error in 79 of his starts, the most for any modern pitcher. His team lost 46 of those games.

Nolan Ryan also did more fabled things that anyone else. He threw seven no-hitters, one of them when he was 43 years old. He broke Sandy Koufax's single-season strikeout record. He threw 242 pitches in a single game against the Red Sox in 1974, and afterward just shrugged.
"Hell", he said, "I threw 242 pitches in a game in Detroit just last week.
He threw trhe pitch that the Guiness Book of World Records recorded as the fastest ever thrown, 100.9 mph, which might not sound all that amazing, but physicists interviewed for the documentary "Fastball" estimated that because of the archaic way the pitch's speed was recorded, it was actually 108 mph.

As the great Yankee broadcaster Mel Allen would say, "HOW ABOUT THAT!"
(Note: The above comment was added by ye olde EC)