Paladin, Chapter 15

 EXT. STREET - DAY

PALADIN walks down street until he reaches saloon and enters.

INT. SALOON - DAY

PALADIN enters saloon.  He walks to bar where lone bartender is cleaning glasses.  In the far corner of saloon he notices CHARLES and POLLYANNA sitting at a table engaged in conversation he couldn't hear.

PALADIN: (to bartender) Good morning.

Bartender looks up while continuing his work, but says nothing.

PALADIN: My name's PALADIN.  SHERIFF ROGERS appointed me as his deputy while he is out of town for a couple of days.  He took a prisoner to Reno to stand trial for murder.  

Bartender continues to be mute.

PALADIN: Nice talking to you.

PALADIN heads to table to talk to CHARLES and POLLYANNA.  He pulls up a chair and sits down to join the two.

PALADIN: Morning.  Mind if I join your conversation.  The bartender isn't a very good conversationalist.

CHARLES and POLLYANNA don't seem happy about the intrusion to their private talk.

POLLYANNA: What's that badge on your chest?  A joke?

PALADIN: No joke.  The sheriff appointed me his deputy while he's gone to Reno for a couple of days.  Thought I'd let you two know.

POLLYANNA: Okay.  We know.  Now, if you'll excuse us...

PALADIN: CHARLES, I was just talking to GRACE at the store and she was wondering where you were.  

CHARLES: Thank you for the information.  Have a good day, Deputy Sheriff.

PALADIN: You know, I'm sure I don't have to tell you, your wife is a very attractive woman.

CHARLES: What did you say?

PALADIN: Now I really must be going.  A deputy sheriff has many places to visit in town.  

CHARLES attempts to grab PALADIN's arm as he rises.  PALADIN avoids the attempt.

PALADIN: Is there something more you'd like to say, CHARLES?

He shakes his head in the negative and PALADIN leaves the saloon.

CHARLES: (to POLLYANNA) What was that all about...him talking about GRACE like that?

POLLYANNA: You're a fool, CHARLES.  He's trying to make you jealous...so's you'll leave me here and rush back to your mousy wife.

CHARLES: Yeah, you're probably right.  GRACE...very attractive?  Not is...never was.

POLLYANNA: Forget about her.  Look at me.  What do you see?

CHARLES: I see a beautiful woman.  A woman I want.  Not the woman I'm stuck with.  If it wasn't for my business losses years ago, I never would have married her.

POLLYANNA: And now that you're in a better situation and have found a better woman, you need to do something about Grace.  

CHARLES: You mean get a divorce?  It would cost me plenty.  Her father left everything in GRACE's name.  I'm only her husband.  If I weren't I'd have nothing.

POLLYANNA: But, you would inherit everything upon her death.

CHARLES: Death?  What are you suggesting?

POLLYANNA: I'm not suggesting nothing.  I'm just stating facts...facts that you should think about.  Enough of GRACE.  Will I see you tonight?

CHARLES: Of course.

Tetanus

In the late 1950s, when I was an eighth or nineth grade student at Kingsford Park School in Oswego, New York, I suffered an accident.  My gym class was rushing to go outside on a beautiful spring afternoon.  

From the doorway of the building, there was a declining pathway that led to the large grassy field.  Next to the pathway was a short wall.

I decided to save time by jumping over the wall.  I didn't make it.  I fell forward and landed hands first onto a gravel area.

When I got to my feet, I noticed blood coming from one of my hands.  I headed to the school nurse's office hoping for a Band-Aid.  

However, the nurse advised me this wasn't a scrape, but a puncture wound.  I would therefore need a Tetanus shot.  I went home and my mother took me to a local pediatrician to administer the shot.

To the best of my knowledge, that was the last time I got a tetanus shot...until Friday, January 9, 2026.  On that day, I got the dtap vaccine (Diphtheria, Tetanus and whooping cough).  Why?

At the end of March, we will be travelling to Florida to meet my new granddaughter, Macy Bea Lasky, who was born yesterday, January 17, 2026.  In order to insure we didn't jeopardize her health, we were advised to have the dtap vaccine...and we did.

Welcome Macy!

Designated Hitter

Baseball is a game which is basically a confrontation between a pitcher who throws a round ball and a batter who tries to hit the round ball with a round bat.

During baseball's evolutionary period, it became apparent that an increased emphasis on improving the specialized skill required of the pitcher contributed to a decline in his success as a batter.

There were suggestions calling for the elimination of the pitcher from the batting order.  Pitchers rejected such a call.  The great Babe Ruth said, "the pitcher who can't get in there in the pinch and win his own game with a healthy wallop, isn't more than half earning his salary."

On January 11, 1973 (53 years ago), the American League voted 8-4 to adopt the designated hitter (DH) rule.  A designated hitter was substituted for the pitcher in the batting order.  The National League did not adopt the designated hitter rule.  Their pitchers continued to bat.

As expected, the American League posted a higher batting average than the National League in 1973.  This trend continued year after year after year.

In 2022, the National League finally adopted the designated hitter rule.

Older players who are weak fielders or have a history of injuries have been able to extend their careers by becoming designated hitters, as the position is less physically demanding than those that involve playing the field while their team is on defense.

In 1997, at a time when the DH was only used in the American League, Tony Gwynn, then 37, said that "for a guy in my position, at my age, if they do put it in the National League, boy, would that be huge." 

However, opponents of the designated hitter have argued that it has allowed subpar and aging players to take up space on rosters longer than would otherwise be acceptable.

I like the DH.  What do you think?

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Requiem for a Heavyweight is a 1962 American film starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Julie Harris.  Quinn portrays Mountain Rivera, an aging professional boxer who was once ranked number seven in the world.  Gleason is his manager, Maish.

At the beginning of the film, Rivera is knocked out by the real Cassius Clay, who became Muhammad Ali.  As a result, Rivera is medically determined to be unfit for more boxing matches.

He then goes to a governmental employment agency looking for work.  I would have thought Rivera would pursue a young fighter he could coach.

At the agency, Rivera meets Grace (Harris), who is assigned his case.  She takes a interest in him.  Later, Grace tracks him to a bar where Rivera likes to hang out.  She tells him she arranged for him to have an interview with a children's camp for a counseling job.  They also talk about personal subjects.

Such a job runs counter to what plans Maish has for Rivera.  Maish is heavily indebted to a bookie and wants to extricate himself by signing up Rivera to be a professional wrestler.  This is not unprecedented.  The great Joe Louis wrestled after his retirement from boxing.

Maish sabotages the job interview by taking Rivera to a bar and getting him drunk.

Rivera resists transitioning to wrestling as a humiliation.  However, the bookie threatens Maish...so Rivera relents.  Maish also reveals that he had bet against Rivera, but that Rivera owes him...for whatever. 

In 1976, there was another movie about a heavyweight boxer, Rocky.   Rocky's opponent, Apollo Creed, is an act-alike of Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali.  Both Rivera and Rocky lost their fights.  Rocky's love life was a success; Rivera's was a failure.  Both of their apartments were non-descript.