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Billy Reed: The Fourth of July is really not about fireworks, hot dogs and beer; patriotism matters


I’ve always felt the Fourth of July is the most hedonistic of our national holidays. Maybe that’s because the Fourth seems more about fireworks, hot dogs and beer than it does solemn patriotism.

And baseball. I shouldn’t forget baseball. The Fourth is a great time to be at the ballpark, even if you don’t make it through the fifth. Today the Cincinnati Reds are playing host to the Chicago Cubs. Perfect.

The most historic baseball Fourth came on July 4, 1939. That’s the day Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees said good-bye to baseball at age 36.

He had been diagnosed with ALS, the disease that came to bear his name and soon claim his life. Yes, this is the speech when Gehrig called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award three times. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades and is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby. His book “Last of a BReed” is available on Amazon.

This year, unfortunately, The New York Times has a sobering Fourth of July gift for us. It’s a 40-minute documentary on the storming of our nation’s capitol building on Jan. 6 of this year.

The reporting is impeccable as the Times reporters take us through the entire episode from beginning to end. But it’s the footage of the insurrectionists, some of which had never been seen, that is the most chilling? How could this happen in the nation that has been the world’s citadel of democracy since July 4, 1776? Why? From where did all that hatred and violence come?

I don’t know who the luckiest man on the face of the earth was on that day, but I know it wasn’t one of the Capitol Police officers who lost their lives. Many were beaten by their fellow citizens wielding clubs, and, yes, baseball bats.

As a lifelong journalist, I’m proud of the Times’ visual investigative reporting staff. The piece is easily the best done on a horrible affront to everything generations have held dear. I just wish they didn’t have reason to do it.

So we have something dark looming in the background as we shoot off our fireworks and guzzle our beers. I am not trying to throw a wet blanket on anybody’s fun on the Fourth. Yet our Founding Fathers worried about keeping us safe from enemies both at home and abroad. Wise men, indeed.

When a team has been around as long as the Reds, it’s difficult to single out one Fourth of July game as more significant than all the others.

Nevertheless, I’m going to talk about the game on July 4, 1967. It was the team’s first Fourth without Frank Robinson, and the Reds were rebuilding around young players such as Tony Perez, Lee May, Pete Rose and pitchers Jim Maloney and Gary Nolan.

On the Fourth, Nolan and Larry Jester of the St. Louis Cardinals hooked up in a pitcher’s duel in the new Busch Stadium. Through eight innings, neither team had scored. In the top of the ninth, however, Rose led off with a single and scored on Deron Johnson’s double.

In the bottom of the ninth, with two out, Curt Flood singled and Roger Maris walked. That brought up the formidable Orlando Cepeda, who flied out to Vada Pinson to end the game.

I pick out that game because the 1967 team was a precursor of “The Big Red Machine” that dominated baseball in the 1970s. The pieces were starting to fall into place. Of course, who could have guessed it at the time?

I probably also should mention the 1990 team, the last from Cincinnati to win the World Series. For awhile that summer, the Reds wore American flags on their sleeves to show support for troops in what was called “Desert Storm.” But team owner Marge Schott came under fire for saying the war was in the “Far East” instead of the “Middle East.”

I can’t help but wonder what Marge would do about the insurrection of 1/6.

I have made a resolution for today. I’m not going to watch the news on TV. I’m going to try to push The New York Times documentary into the dim recesses of my mind.

Instead, I’m going to think about baseball, maybe even watch a game. I’m going to enjoy the fireworks. I’m going to indulge in whatever food and drink my no-salt diet will permit.

I’m too old to be hedonistic, but I can still love my country with the same kind of enthusiasm we’ve known and loved since 1776,


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2 Comments

  1. Donald Leffler says:

    Billy: Always enjoy your writing especially when you write about Baseball!

  2. John Hubbuch says:

    Billy the best of the best

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