Monthly Archives: March 2026

Season Openers for Baseball—and Football.  

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CARDINALS)—The first weekend of the 2026 left the Cardinals 2-1 after Sunday’s loss to the Rays, 11=7. Dustin May’s debut was forgettable.  Former Cardinals pitcher Steven Matz had a better day.

May was gone after four innings and six runs on ten hits. Matz was making his first start since September, 2024. He threw five innings and gave up four runs.

The Rays Yandy Diaz had five hits—a career  high— and four RBIs. The top three hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup had nine hits and eight RBIs, with Jonathan Aranda getting three hits and driving in a pair of runs. Cedric Mulllins also drove in a pair.

The Cardinals played long-ball with home runs from Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and Pedro Pages.

The Cardinals’ Kyle Leahy made his second career start for the Cardinals last night and made it into the sixth inning. Along the way he gave up four runs on eight hits as the Mets left the Cardinals at .500 after the first four games of the year

(ROYALS)—Seth Lugo went 6.1 scoreless innings to give the Royals their first win of the year, 4-1 over the Braves Sunday.  Lugo struck out three, had no walks, and gave up five hits.

The Royals started their first full week of the season yesterday with another impressive performance by a starting pitcher and some home runs from a couple of unlikely sources to beat the Twins 3-1 on a day that felt more like a spring training outing in Arizona. The temperature for Kris Bubic’s first pitch was 85 degrees. Bubic became the third straight starter to go at least six innings and give up only one run. He gave up one run and two hits and got offensive support from an uncharacteristic source—two guys who combined for 21 homers all last year. Kyle Isbell and Isaac Collins hit the ball hard enough that it would have been in the grandstand even before Kansas City moved outfield fences in by ten feet this year.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—A FOUR point field goal highlighted the game won win by the UFL’s most popular team, the St. Louis Battlehawsks, on the league’s opening weekend.  The Battlehawks beat the league’s defending champion franchise, the Washington Defenders 16-10. More than 16,00 fans watched the game in the St. Louis domes stadium.

Defenders field goal kicker Matt McCrane made league and pro football history with that kick that gave the Defenders a 4-0 lead.

The UFL awards four points for any field goal of more than 60 yards. The Battlehawks kept the score a baseball-like 4-3 with a 58 yarder. Washington a touchdown and the ‘Hawks got a second field goal to go the locker room u 10-3. The Battlehawks won the game with a touchdown and a field goal in the second half.

It’s the first win in the pro football coaching career of Ricky Proehl, a star the St. Louis Rams’ Super Bowl season.

(BILLIKENS)—St. Louis U’s basketball coach became a hot property after his team’s big season but he has rejected his first offer.  North Carolina State put out some feelers after coach Will Wade jumped ship after one year. The first person called in for an interview was Josh Schertz from SLU.  Schertz, who got a contract extension during the season, was interviewed at NC State Saturday but told them he wants to stay in St. Louis.

(WHEREARETHEYNOW)

BASEBALL—Former Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas, signed by the Washington Nationals  in the offseason, looked like the same guy that frustrated Cardinals fans n his first outing Saturday against the Cubs. He lasted five innings, gave up six runs (only four were earned), struck out four and walked three in the Nationals’ loss.

BASKETBALL—Travis Ford, the kid who was supposed to be the great guard for the Tiger basketball team in 1989-90, has a new coaching job.  Ford left Missouri to return to his home state of Kentucky and the point guard as a senior when Kentucky reached the final four. He’s 56 now and the new coach of Arkansas-Little Rock. He was out of coaching last year after his departure from St. Louis University after eight seasons and did some work as an analyst with the SEC Network. He’s 491-366 in his career. He was 146-109 at St. Louis University.

(HOCKEY)===The St. Louis Blues have launched a late-season surge to snatch the last wild card playoff spot in the NHL. The Blues won their fourth in a row on Saturday to go to 31-30-11. They haven’t been above .500 since they were 3-2-1. In their last 13 games, the Blues have 10-1-2 in their last 13 games.

From the diamond and the gridiron and the ice arena to the oval and a crooked course:

(INDYCAR)—Nobody had anything  for Alex Palou at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama Sunday.  Palou started from the pole, led 79 of the 92 laps and finished more than thirteen seconds ahead of runner-up Christian Lundgaard.

Palou now has won ten of the last 21 IndyCar races on road courses and ovals.. He’s 6-2 on road courses with podium finishes in the two “losers.”  Overall, he has twelve wins in 21 road course races.

Any chance Lundgaard had to challenge Palou was wiped out by a bad final pit stop. But his  second place finish makes him the only driver to finish in the top ten in all four IndyCar races so far this year.

Graham Rahal was third, his best finish in three years, his first podium since August, 2023.  Penske rookie David Malukis continued his solid beginning by coming in fourth. Series points leader Kyle Kirkwood was fifth and saw his lead over Palou shrink from 29 points to two.

Two of the big names wiped out their primary cars in hard crashes during qualifications.  Scott McLaughlin crashed rear-first in a tire barrier, hitting it so hard that his car went partially through the the catch fence behind it. Will Power went head-on into the safer barrier. Power, in a backup car, started 23rd and worked his way up to 12.  McLaughlin started 14th but was stuck in mid-pack throughout the race, finishing 15th in the 25-car field.

(NASCAR)—-The first short track race of the season has gone to Chase Elliott, who led the last 67 laps of the 400 laps on the .526 mile Martinsville (Va.) speedway.  He had to outrun pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, who dominated most of the race, leading almost three-fourths of the laps.

Elliott credited Crew Chief Alan Gustafson for making a daring pit stop call that put him at the front.

The race moved Elliott into fourth place in the points standings. Although leader Tyler Reddick, who has won four races already finished 15th, he is still more than 100 points behind Reddick, who is 82 ahead of Ryan Blaney and 94 up on Denny Hamlin.

It’s the first win for Chevrolet this year after Toyotas had won the first five and Ford the only other one.

(NASCARHOF)—Larry Phillips, arguably Missouri’s greatest short track racer, has been nominated, again, for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Phillips, from Springfield, was the first person to win the NASCAR  Weekly national championship five times, the last time in 1996, thanks to his dominance of tracks at Lebanon and Bolivar.   He also won seven regional championships and thirteen track championships in a forty-year career. He was first nominated for the Hall in 2013.  He died in 2004.

(FORMULA 1)—The new wunderkind of Formul1 is Kimi Antonelli, who became the second-youngest winner in F! history at the GP of China and the youngest driver to win twice in the series. He also was the first Italian to win a Grand Prix in two decades.

Antonelli, driving for Mercedes, is six months away from his 20th birthday. His second victory puts him atop the points standings—the youngest driver to have that distinction.

Photo credits: Palou—Rick Gevers; Phillips—alchetron.com)

A Congressman Steps Down; Thousands Protest 

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It would be nice if the headline reflected reality.  But in the case of Congressman Sam Graves, a native of Tarkio in the far northwest corner of Missouri, it’s not his retirement that has triggered the protests.  We’re going to offer some quick, surface, observations about these two separate events and how Missouri’s chaotic 2026 elections just got more interesting.

I remember Sam Graves mostly because he caused me some sleepless nights. More on that later.

Sam is now 62. He has served 26 of those years in Congress. He might just be hitting his prime and he’s leaving. The website legistorm.com calculates the average age of members of the U.S. House is 58 (for all of Congress it’s 61.5). However, he has served twice as long as the average length of service for U.S. Representatives. In fact, Graves is 32nd in seniority among the 435 members of the House (the Dean of the House is Kentucky Congressman Harold Rogers who is 88 and in his 45th year, his 23rd term and he will seek a 24th.).

The longest-serving Congressman from Missouri was Clarence Cannon, from Elsberry, in northeast Missouri. He died in office after 41 years 69 days and planning for more before a fatal heart attack in 1964. He ranks 29th as the longest-serving member of the U.S. House, 49th  on a list that also includes Senators.

In 1963, the year Graves was born, country music star Jim Reeves put out a song by fellow singer and songwriter Bill Anderson called “I’ve Enjoyed About as Much of This as I Can Stand.”  We don’t know if he has heard the song but in joining 35 other Republicans who are leaving, we wouldn’t be surprised if several of them felt that way (there are 21 Democrats who have decided there’s more to life, too).

Already, several fellow Republicans and at least three Democrats have filed or expressed an interest in filing for his seat and it would be no surprise if the numbers did not increase on both sides.

The Sixth Congressional District is a rural one that covers the entire sparsely-settled rural north Missouri—36 of our 114 counties. It has been solidly conservative for a long, long time.

But the political climate nationwide seems to be changing. Last weekend there were at least 33 “No Kings” rallies in Missouri, nine in the Kansas City area, eight in the St. Louis area, thirteen outstate and three more in northwest Missouri.

Here is something to ponder for the sixth district.  A “No Kings” rally in Quincy, Illinois—not listed among 33—probably had some attraction for some northeast Missourians in the sixth district. TEN of the scheduled rallies on the Missouri side of the Mississippi were in Graves’ present district.  Ten of them. Excelsior Springs, Harrisonville, Kearney, Liberty, Platte City, Madison, Moberly, Maryville, Chillicothe, and St. Joseph.

The “No Kings” movement has survived the winter and the Trump administration’s headline activities from Minnesota to Iran.  The sixth district will not have an incumbent with all of the vote-getting power that goes with incumbency.

The sixth district—in whatever form it winds up being after legislative action and courts reviews—might be more in play than it has been for two decades. And both parties know it full well.

Getting back to Sam—pardon the unfamiliarity but he was “Senator” when I covered him in the legislature and the last time I saw him I called him, “Sam,” an uncharacteristic familiarity that I almost never allow myself with present or past political figures.

There he is from the Missouri Official Manual (the Blue Book by more familiar name) for his first term in the Senate. He was in the Senate for the last years of Democrat-domination of state government.  I recall that he was collegial with good relationships on the other side of the aisle.

But the main thing about him that I recall is that he kept me up all night on at least two occasions.  Sam was not afraid of a filibuster but he rarely took a leading role and didn’t do it so often as to be tiring—as some have done more recently. And he was entertaining, something most filibuster participants never approach.

There were some senators after him who were so boring that I gave one of them a list of books to read that would at least educate those who had to endure them.  Sadly, the list went unused.

He talked about being a poor farm boy whose only pet, a three-legged dog named “Tripod,” was the star of some of his stories. The best performance, however, was the night he threatened to read the names of every high school student in his district who was graduating that year. Every time he was interrupted, he started over. As I recall, he finally forced a compromise on the issue under discussion—which is what filibusters should be for if participants respect them.

The only better filibuster story-teller than Sam Graves was Senator Danny Staples of Eminence.  I made sure I turned on my recorder whenever he asked another member, “Senator, did you know…..” because I knew what was coming.  The State Historical Society has several hours of Staples’ recordings. There are hundreds of other cassettes in the oral history collection that I have to listen to and label one of these days and there has to be some Sam Graves stories on them.  Or on the memory chips we used in later recorders.

He was a work horse not a show horse in his political career, as we observed him up close and from a distance. He’s young enough to have a long and prosperous K-Street career in Washington. K-Street is a street known for its offices of the special interest groups.

The folks in the sixth district would be well-served to seek out another work horse in November.

-o-

The Sounds of Their Voices

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I’ve been working on some of the history of my church and once again I have become curious about how the denomination’s founders sounded when they spoke, exhorted, preached, etc.

Two of the group that established the denomination were former Scottish Presbyterian ministers who broke with the church over limits in participation at the Lord’s Table.  But both men had been born and raised in Ireland. One live 57 years after coming to this country. Did he still sound Scots-Irish at the end?

When Andrew Jackson shouted his favorite oath, “By the Eternal!” did he have a southern accent? It probably wouldn’t have been as deep as the accents we associate with Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, but would there have been something?

Did Benjamin Franklin speak as Howard DeSilva portrays him in the musical 1776 or as Robert Preston portrayed him in the musical some years earlier, Ben Franklin in Paris?

Two people in particular intrigue me, one because I’m a native of Illinois and wonder about Abraham Lincoln’s voice at Gettysburg,  and the other because he is such a towering historical figure and a national founder, Thomas Jefferson.

Lena Torres has written about Jefferson on soundcy.com:

Descriptions suggest he spoke with a soft, measured tone, reflecting his reserved and thoughtful nature, while his Virginia upbringing likely influenced his accent, which would have been characteristic of the Tidewater region. Additionally, his extensive education and role as a diplomat may have imbued his speech with a formal, articulate quality. While we can only speculate, piecing together these details offers a glimpse into how one of America’s Founding Fathers might have sounded.

Thomas Jefferson’s voice, though lost to time, likely carried the distinct cadence of Tidewater Virginia, a region steeped in colonial history. This accent, shaped by the linguistic currents of 18th-century Britain, would have been a hallmark of his speech. Imagine a voice that blended the formality of British English with the emerging nuances of American pronunciation—a linguistic bridge between the Old World and the New…

A practical way to approximate Jefferson’s accent is to listen to recordings of modern British Received Pronunciation (RP) and then soften it with the gentle rhythms of the American South. Think of it as a hybrid—not quite British, yet not fully American as we know it today. For instance, the word “water” might have sounded more like “wah-tuh,” with a subtle elongation of the vowel, a relic of his British-influenced upbringing.

She writes a lot more at Unveiling Thomas Jefferson’s Voice: Reconstructing The Third President’s Speech | SoundCy

And Lincoln?  Was he like some actors who have portrayed him—Gregory Peck, or Raymond Massey, as deep voices and deliberate delivery, or the softer and higher-pitched voice of actor Royal Dano at Disneyland ((2098) GREAT MOMENTS WITH MR. LINCOLN Restored Disneyland Vinyl LP – YouTube 28:19 in for the audio animatronic figure’s speech)

A 2011 article for Smithsonian Magazine quotes Lincoln researcher Harold Holzer liked the way actor Sam Waterston (of Law & Order fame) voiced him in Ken Burns’ documentary about the Civil War and in other performances (Sam Waterston Reading The Gettysburg Address #gettysburg #gettysburgaddress).

But the closest might have been Daniel Day Lewis’ interpretation in the movie Lincoln. (Lincoln “Now” scene)

(He explained in an interview how he developed it (BBC News – Daniel Day-Lewis on finding Lincoln’s voice).

Holzer says in the article, “Lincoln’s voice, as far as period descriptions go, was a little shriller, a little higher…People said that his voice carried into crowds beautifully. Just because the tone was high doesn’t mean it wasn’t far-reaching.”

Getting back to Jefferson, Torres has some thoughts about then and now:

…In a world where loudness often equates to importance, Jefferson’s soft-spoken, low-pitched, and deliberate style reminds us of the power of restraint. Whether in leadership, education, or personal interactions, adopting a measured tone can elevate your message, making it more memorable and impactful. Experiment with this approach in your next presentation or conversation, and observe how a quieter, more intentional voice can command respect and foster deeper engagement.

I hope we rediscover that in our political discourses.

 

 

Sports: Typical Tigers, Billikens Short Run; Opening Day Nearing; Royals’ Venezuelan Connection and more.

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZGONE)—We saw this kind of Missouri Tigers a lot in the last part of the season, especially in the last four games—all losses.  Inconsistent offense, turnovers, comebacks, brief leads but couldn’t get the dagger basket or keep the other team from hitting it. They had Miami down by a handful late and lost by fourteen.

Missouri lost six of its last nine games to finish 20-13.

It took a 9-0 run at the end of a struggling first half to draw the Tigers to a mere 27-26 deficit at halftime. But all-to-familiar scoring droughts in the second half doomed the Tigers. In one stretch they missed ten straight shots. While Missouri was going without a basket for more than two minutes near the end, Miami ran off 12 straight points.

Miami kept Mark Mitchell bottled up in the first half and held him to only four points while dominating the offensive boards throughout the game.  Mitchell finished with 19 points. Trent Pierce and T. O. Barrett, who were the third and fourth top scorers for the team this year, were two for 15 shooting, and combined for only seven points.

“We just couldn’t keep those guys off the boards,” Coach Dennis Gates said afterward (Miami outrebounded the Tigers 42-29).

Four or five guys suited up for the last time Saturday night:  Mark Mitchell, who became the first since Albert White in the 1998-99 season to lead the team in scoring, rebounds, and assists; Shawn Philips, who came from Arizona for his last season of college ball in Missouri; Jayden Stone, who had 21 points in the Miami game,  sixth year senior and who played the second-most minutes this year; and  Jacob Crews, a transfer from UT-Martin.

The fifth player might or might not be Javon Porter, who joins the family tradition of physical brittleness at Mizzou.  He is on the bubble for a medical redshirt.   His last game was December 14 and he’s been on the bench with a “lower leg injury.” To get the redshirt, a player must be hurt before the halfway point of the season which he was. But the rule also says the player must appear in less than 30 percent of the team’s total games.  He was in 12 of 33, which work out to 36%, two games beyond the limit.

(LADY TIGERS)—The Missouri women’s team topped Seton Hall 67-57 in the first round of the National Women’s Invitational Basketball Tournament. They ran into the top-seeded Brigham Young aggregation late last night and never led on the way to a season-ending 93-75 loss to finish 17-17. BYU advances at 24-11

(BILLIKENS)—The St. Louis University Billikens left Georgia coach Mike White stunned in their first-round game, demolishing the Bulldogs 102-77, leading by as much as forty points at one time. Georgia was an 8 seed; St. Louis a 9. “We weren’t very prepared to compete at the level that I thought we would. Did not see this coming…Didn’t give St. Louis much of a game.”

Georgia, from the mighty SEC, never led in the game, was outscored by an astounding 66-28 in the paint and out-rebounded 47-36. SLU also had 27 assists, three times more than Georgia.

The win was the first in the NCAA tournament for St. Louis since 2014, and a record-setting 29 for the year. But the win just set the Bills up for a game against Michigan, which pulled away from St. Louis Saturday to a 90-75 win.

(MOSTATEWMN)—The Missouri State Lady Bears played their way into the NCAA tournament with an 85-75 win over Stephen F. Austin to get a 16th seed and an immediate game against top-seeded Texas that did not turn out well.  Texas steamrollered Missouri State 87-45.

(COLCOL)—We need to recognize Columbia College in, well, Columbia.  The Lions, 15th in the country, finished 29-4, including a game against Central Christian Bible in which they scored 134 points, second most in school history. They were 13-1 in the American Midwest Conference and winning the conference championship for the sixteenth time. They won the conference tournament for the thirteenth time. They won their first round game in the NAIA Tournament against McPherson College of Kansas in overtime 74-72 before losing to Faulkner University in the second round.

(BASEBALL)—Next week well be reporting on the first weekend of games that aren’t in Arizona or Florida.

(CARDINALS)—One of the biggest questions of Cardinals spring training was whether J. J. Wetherholt would come north for opening day.

The announcement game in a video yesterday morning:

https://x.com/Cardinals/status/2036179257123119350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2036179257123119350%7Ctwgr%5E9c078eb1c1ccb3cc6e7d1f4222d7fa024e45dcaa%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fmlb%2Fcardinals%2Fonsi%2Fst-louis-cardinals-news%2Fjj-wetherholt-era-begins-as-cardinals-make-right-call-pat3

Okay, we’ll save you the trouble—the video shows the Cardinals making Wetherholt’s jersey, swapping his spring training number 77 for his preferred 26. He is considered the number five prospect in all of baseball. He was the seventh pick in the first round of the 2024 draft and had a solid spring—fifteen games, nine walks, two homers and seven RBIs, OBP of .780.  He jumps to the bigs after only 138 games in the minors in which he hit a combined .304 with 19 home runs, 79 runs batted in and 100 runs scored, 25 stolen bases, 33 doubles and a couple of triples.

The Cardinals will give the ball to Matthew Liberatore for opening day against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team that drafted him in 2018. He came to St. Louis in the 2020 Randy Arozarena trade.  Liberatore is considered the ace of the rotation with the departure of Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas.  He was named the starter after giving up only one walk in 13.1 innings in Florida.

(ROYALS)—The opening day starter for the Royals was Cole Ragans for the third year in a row.

Ragans missed much of last year (only 13 starts) but hopes he returns to his 2024 form this year. Two years ago, he led all American League pitchers with 10.77 strikeouts per nine innings, was second in total Ks with 223.  “I’m more motivated than ever,” he said after being named the starter for game one. He leads a seemingly sold starting pitching corps for the Royals with Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Krus Bubic and Noah Cameron coming back from sold 2025 seasons.

(KCWBC)—The Baseball Hall of Fame is getting a lot of gear from Kansas City Royals players who had major roles in the World Baseball Congress tournament—the winning team’s captain and the tournament’s MVP particularly. But the Hall also is getting a bat from a Royals hitter.

The USA team drew some boos at the start of the last game of tournament from a Miami crowd that had a lot of Venezuelans in it—who are not fond of President Trump’s actions in their home country.  The Venezuelan team won the tournament with a 3-2 win over Team USA.

After the game, team captain and catcher Salvador Perez told reporters,  “I’m gonna be honest with you guys, and there’s nothing that I can hide, you know?  All you guys see, what happened, all that … and … I know people are super happy right now in my country …“Where I come from, all my family, it’s hard to get to see me play in the big league. I got some family that never had that opportunity. So now they’ve seen me play. I know they’re super happy and me as well, for my family and for other people from Venezuela.”

Royals third baseman Mikel Garcia was the tournament Most Valuable Player.  “I’m proud to be part of this group, and I’m proud to be representing 30 million Venezuelans back in my country,” he told interviewers.

 The USA team had tied the game before Garcia got the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth. In that final half inning?

“I only was thinking what was going to happen after we win the game. I had full confidence in our closer and I knew that we were going to win this game,” Garcia said.

Garcia He hit .385 for the tournament with seven runs batted in and a home run. He’s sending his helmet to Cooperstown.  Perez is sending his Venezuelan colors catching gear

Among other items from the series going to the Hall of Fame is the bat that Royals first basement, Vinnie Pasquantino, used to become the first player in WBC history to hit three home runs in a game. Pasquantino played for Italy.

(CHIEFS)—Travis Kelce is not only coming back for the 2026-27 season—–he could be coming back for two more years after that.  Word came out yesterday that his new contract is not for one, but for three years and $54 million dollars and maybe more.

The deal is set up for him to still walk away after this coming season in which he’ll be paid $12 million with another three million dollars in bonuses.

The  restructuring of the otherwise continues with the exit of Hollywood Brown after two seasons. Brown was signed as a fast big-play threat who could replace the departed Tyreek Hill. But he missed almost all of 2024 with an injury and his numbers in 2025 were not game-breaking impressive (49 catches, 587 yards and five touchdowns. He’s gone now, to the Eagles, reflecting, “In this league, the margin for error is so small,” Brown said on “Speakeasy.” “I feel like the group of guys and the staff we had with coach Reid, I wouldn’t be able to handle that adversity anywhere else … It wasn’t the season we wanted to have, but it was a season that we all learned from.”

The Chiefs hope James Worthy and Rashee Rice can return to their previous forms and the retention of Tyquann Thornton provides some depth.

Plus, there’s the draft…….

On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs have re-signed popular special teams leader Jack Cochrane, who’s been with the team since signing as an undrafted free agent in ’22.  He’s missed only four of 68 games in his career.

UFL)—The St. Louis Battlehawks start the new UFL season next Saturday against the Washington Defenders in the dome.

Now: V8 is not just a drink

(NASCAR)—Tyler Reddick says he’s in an “incredible” position after picking up his fourth win in six races this year, this time at Darlington despite early electrical problems that buried him deep in the field. He rallied back to pass Brad Keslowski with 27 laps left.

It’s Keselowski’s best finish of the year, even as he continues to recover from a leg broke in an off-season incident.

Reddick started from the pole despite brushing the wall during qualifications.

(INDYCAR)—-Two races left before The Month.

IndyCar is back on track next weekend with the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park with the GP of Long Beach on April 19.

The Month of kicks off on the 9th with a run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

After that, it’s all about Memorial Day weekend and the 110th Indianapolis 500, when 33 cars line up and less than three hours later one driver will achieve an adjective that will stay with him the rest of his life: Indianapolis 500 winner.

Several drivers will make their only run in IndyCar this year.  Helio Castroneves continues his quest to be the first five-time winner. Two-time winner Takuma Sato also is lined up to run. Others signed for just this race are Conor Daley, Jack Harvey, former winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ed Carpenter, who owns the car he’ll drive.

It’s expected Andretti Global will provide a car for Colton Herta who has dropped off the IndyCar circuit to seek his fortune in Europe, hoping to pick up a Formula 1 ride next year. He’s a reserve driver for the Cadillac team that’s making its first season in F1.

Notably absent so far is Prema Racing, the team that put rookie Robert Schwartzman on the pole last year.  The team has some internal ownership problems that have kept it from fielding a car in the early seasons races.

It has been 79 years since the race started with fewer than 33 cars.

Practice for the 500 starts on May 12, a Tuesday, with qualifying the next weekend and the race on Sunday, May 4.

(Photo credits: Kelce—Kansas City Chiefs; Ragans—Royals; WBC—Getty Images—Cochrane; Indy Car driver banners, Indianapolis—Bob Priddy)

It’s Time to Order Another Obelisk 

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The Missouri Veterans Memorial at the Capitol is a quiet place,  of a slow-moving cascade of water flowing into a reflecting pool around which people can ponder how much is lost to war.

And how much will be.

To the east of the pool is a shaded walk that takes visitors past nine memorial obelisks remembering the nine wars in which Missourians have fought since statehood in 1821—Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and finally the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, less than a year after the ninth obelisk was dedicated—after an end date of that long war was determined—it is time to plan for a tenth one.

As this is written, no Missourian has been killed in Trump’s War—-which is not what it will be called in the black granite when the tenth obelisk is installed.  As of now, it probably will say “Iran War,” but it’s too early to carve anything into stone because we don’t know what the scope of this conflict will finally be.

Nor, apparently, does the man who ordered it. He started the war and now he is whining that NATO is giving him no help.

NATO, the people he has spent the last several years insulting and threatening, seems content to letting President Trump stew in his own juice.  NATO is more about protecting Ukraine (remember Ukraine, Mr, President?) and itself than helping President Trump.

The Coalition of the Willing has become the Coalition of the Unwilling.

To refresh our minds:  then-President George W. Bush declared at a NATO summit in 2002 that if Iraq President Saddam Hussein did not disarm (he was accused of having weapons of mass destruction), that the United States would assemble a “coalition of the willing” to do it for him.

Saddam didn’t. So George Bush’s United States and troops from 48 other countries backed the plan. Four countries eventually put boots on the ground—us, the UK, Australia, and Poland). More than three dozen other countries provided some troops but not major numbers. Some don’t even had standing armies but provide other kinds of help.

The coalition did not hold and it became a topic of political ridicule (Busch had offered foreign aid to participants, a policy that one columnist termed “a coalition of the billing” and another observer considered “a coalition of the shilling.”) By mid-2009 everybody but the United States and the United Kingdom coalition had backed away.  The Coalition of the Willing was considered ended in 2010.

President Bush assembled his coalition before the fight began.  President Trump just barged right in—BOMBED his way right in—to a new war and did not ask for help until Iran fought back and closed the Straits of Hormuz. Only then did he look for friends in NATO only to find he didn’t have very many anymore.

He’s watching his foreign policy by sledgehammer wielded by amateurs turn into quicksand. He is so desperate that he has lessened some sanctions against Russia—imposed as a reaction to the invasion of Ukraine—in an effort to relieve some pressure on the oil supply which seemingly could help finance further Russian operations against Ukraine, if we understand where this policy is leading.  He’s firing missiles the way kids fire bottle rockets on July 4th while China watches our war-making or defensive armaments dwindle and also watches Taiwan. The early talk about not using troops is ominously sounding like —using troops.

Some observers have suggested that Iran is Trump’s Ukraine.

“Some people will die, I guess,” the President has said.

Order the tenth obelisk. Too bad the state can’t send the bill for it to President Trump.

A few weeks ago, my state representative, Dave Griffith, asked me if I could find how many Missourians died in the wars of the eighth and ninth obelisks (Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan).  I could not locate numbers but I did find a website that listed the names of all of the military people who died in those conflicts. I picked out the Missouri names and sent them to him.

Their names won’t be on the obelisks although the number of those who died will be someday.

Their names are on their own monuments scattered throughout the graveyards of Missouri and elsewhere, unfortunately soon to be joined by similar monuments from Trump’s War.  Here is the list from President Bush’s War, with the date of official notification.  We pray their tragic coalition will not be joined by a new coalition from Mr. Trump’s War, but we fear it will be.

Let us know if your loved one killed in these long wars is not on the list.

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The Boodle Scandal, part Two

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Monday we promised you an opportunity to see a forgotten Missouri political, one of the most sensational ones of the Twentieth Century. Muckraker Lincoln Steffens described how money can distort public policy, a common and visible public concern today.

What was this scandal about?  An innocent everyday-used substance that is part of our diet today. Steffens’ magazine article is long. As you read it, you might think, “Nothing has changed.”  We’ll comment afterward what happened to some of the participants in his historic controversy.

Enemies of the Republic

Lincoln Steffens

[Reprinted from McClures, VOL. XXIll, October, 1904 No.6]

THE POLITICAL LEADERS WHO ARE SELLING OUT THE STATE OF MISSOURI, AND THE LEADING BUSINESS MEN WHO ARE BUYING IT – BUSINESS AS TREASON-CORRUPTION AS REVOLUTION

EVERY time I attempted to trace to its sources the political corruption of a city ring, the stream of pollution branched off in the most unexpected directions and spread out in a network of veins and arteries so complex that hardly any part of the body politic seemed clear of it. It flowed out of the majority party into the minority; out of politics into vice and crime; out of business into politics, and back into business; from the boss, down through the police to the prostitute, and up through the practice of law, into the courts; and big throbbing arteries ran out through the country over the State to the Nation-and back. No wonder cities can’t get municipal reform! No wonder Minneapolis, having cleaned out its police ring of vice grafters, now discovers boodle in the council ! No wonder Chicago, with council-reform and boodle beaten, finds itself a Minneapolis of police and administrative graft! No wonder Pittsburg, when it broke out of its local ring, fell, amazed, into a State ring! No wonder New York, with good government, votes itself back into Tammany Hall!

They are on the wrong track; we are, all of us, on the wrong track. You can’t reform a city by reforming part of it. You can’t reform a city alone. You can’t reform politics alone. And as for corruption and the understanding thereof, we cannot run ’round and ’round in municipal rings and understand ring corruption; it isn’t a ring thing. We cannot remain in one city, or ten, and comprehend municipal corruption; it isn’t a local thing. We cannot “stick to a party,” and follow party corruption; it isn’t a partizan thing. And I have found that I cannot confine myself to politics and grasp all the ramifications of political corruption; it isn’t political corruption. It’s corruption. The corruption of our American politics is our American corruption, political, but financial and industrial too.

Miss Tarbell is showing it in the trust, Mr. Baker in the labor union, and my gropings into the misgovernment of cities have drawn me everywhere, but, always, always out of politics into business, and out of the cities into the state. Business started the corruption of politics in Pittsburg; upholds it in Philadelphia; boomed with it in Chicago and withered with its reform; and in New York, business financed the return of Tammany Hall. Here, then, is; our guide out of the labyrinth. Not the political ring, but big business,-that is! the crux of the situation.

Our political corruption is a system, a regularly established custom of the country, by which our political leaders are hired, by bribery by the license to loot, and by quiet moral # support, to conduct the government of city, state, and nation, not for the common good, but for the special interests of private business. Not the politician, then, not the bribe-taker, but the bribe-giver, the man we are so proud of, our successful business man-he is the source and the sustenance of our bad government. The captain of industry is the man to catch. His is the trail to follow.

We have struck that trail before. Whenever we followed the successful politician his tracks led us into it, but also they led us out of the cities-from Pittsburg to the State Legislature at Harrisburg; from Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania, to the National Legislature at Washington. To go on was to go into state and national politics and I was after the political corruption of the city ring then. Now I know that these are all one. The trail of the political leader and the trail of the commercial leader are parallels which mark the plain, main road that leads off the dead level of the cities, up through the States into the United States, out of the political ring. into the System, the living System of our actual government. The highway of corruption is the ” road to success.”

Almost any State would start us right, but Missouri is the most promising.

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Sports: Tigers Could Play Billikens in NCAA Tournament; St. Jo Goats; An Explanation of NFL Contract Restructuring; And More, as Usual. 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(NCAA)—It is possible.

But it is not likely.

The Missouri Tigers and the St. Louis University Billikens could meet in the NCAA Tournament.

The winner would play for the national championship.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Billikens are a nine seed in the west regional and will play 8th seed Georgia in the first round.  Missouri, a ten seed in the Midwest regional will play number 7 Miami. The second round will be much tougher.  St. Louis likely would go against number one Michigan and Missouri’s likely opponent would be second seeded Purdue.

(MIZZOUBB)—-The question for Missouri is the same question we’ve had all year. Which Tigers will show up?   

Three straight losses, two in the regular season and one-and-gone game in the SEC tournament—three games they might have won on one of those proverbial “any game” situations.

Good enough to beat teams in the last ten of the top 25 most of the time but far from being called “elite.”  Except for Mark Mitchell, who paid a price for being with a mid-pack team by being only a second-team all SEC choice.

To start the NCAA Tournament, Missouri will face a Hurricanes team that was 25-8 under new coach Jai Lucas after finishing 7-24 a year earlier and going to an interim coach at mid-season. They lost in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament.

Tipoff of the game, which will be in St. Louis, is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. Friday.

Coach Dennis Gates: What to know about the Miami Hurricanes ahead of Mizzou’s NCAA Tournament matchup

(BILLIKENS)—-The St. Louis University Billikens finished the regular season 28-5 after losing to Dayton in the ACC tournament semifinals.  Coach Josh Schertz, in his second season, is taking the school into its first NCAA tournament since the 2018-2019 season.

They’re a nine seed and they’ll play Georgia, seeded 8th. Georgia was 22-10

Their game will be Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.

(MOSTATE)—The Missouri State men’s tean is done for the year but the women are headed to the tournament after winning the Conference-USA tournament title, beating Louisiana Tech 43-38.  The Lady Bears had gone into the conference tournament as the sixth seed. They’re 22-12. Techn finished 26-6. They’re into the NCAA tournament for the 18th time.

It’s a play-in game against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. If the Lady Bears win, they’ll go into the tournament as a 16 seed against top-ranked Texas.

The Missouri State Men’s team finished 9-23 under former Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin, who coached previously in Springfield 2008=2011 and was Dennis Gates’ predecessor (2017-2022) at Missouri. It might have been a losing record but it was an improvement over the previous year’s 9-23.

(PORTER)—Former Missouri basketball player Jontay Porter, banned for life from the NBA, appears to have found new life with the independent United States Basketball League.

Porter’s His first few games have been sad reminders of what might have been.

In his debut with the Seattle Superhawks, he racked up 21 points, 14 rebounds and an equal number of assists plus a couple of steals and three blocked shots.

 

 

 

 

Later, against the Salem Capitols, he broke the USBL rebounding record with 32, breaking the record of 28 jointly held by former NBA players Manute Bol and Anthony Man. He finished the game with 29 points, seven assists, four steals and five blocks.

Porter, whose Missouri career was shortened by a knee injury, was with the Toronto Raptors when he got involved with sports gamblers.

(CARDINALS)—A key figure in one of the big offseason trades for the Cardinals won’t be ready for opening day. Pitcher Hunter Dobbin had ACL surgery last July is still rehabbing the knee. He’s been throwing on the back fields but the Cardinals don’t want him to rush his recovery. He had been the 13th best prospect in the Red Sox’s organization when he was hurt. He came to the Cardinals in the Wilson Contreras trade.

He did pitch in thirteen games for the Red Sox last year before he was hurt. He struck out 45 and walked only 17 in 62 innings while hanging up a 4.43 ERA.

Seven more players were cut on Sunday as the roster-whittling goes into the final days before opening day in less than two weeks.

Ten Cardinals are at the World baseball Classic representing eight countries. None are on the United States team.

(ROYALS)—The Royals started the weeks with 21 pitchers, 2 catchers,  eight infielders, two catchers, and nine outfielders on the roster, as of yesterday morning.  Second baseman Jonathan India is sidelined with a groin strain that he felt this weekend.

They’re hoping this will be the breakout year for Joe Caglionone, who struggled against big time pitching last year.  He’s on Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic and has heled the team get to the semifinals while hitting .364 in four games.

He’s joined on the team by first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino who became the first WBC player to hit three home runs in one game. Before leaving the Royals camp, he was ripping the ball—three balls at more than 115 mph including one home run that was measured at 120.2 coming off his bat.

The Royals have seventeen players at the classic. Only three, pitchers Michal Wacha and Matt Strahm and shortstop Bobby Witt are playing for the USA team. The others are playing for teams from nine other countries.

(GOATS)—For those who need a football fix in the gap months between the UFL season and the resumption of NFL play can catch the St. Joseph Goats, who start their Arena Football League play on May 29 against the Arkansas Diamonds in Hot Springs.

The Goats are moving from Kansas Cit mto St. Jo his year.Their home opener is a week later, June 6 against the Ozark Lunkers at St. Joseph’s Civic Arena.

They’ll also have games against the Iowa Woo (Waterloo), the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Axemen,

Memphis (Tennessee) Hound Dogs,  Grand Island (Nebraska) Siege,  and the Monroe (Louisiana) Greenheads.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs have upgraded their backfield with the signing of Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III away from the Seattle Seahawks. They’re investing $45 million in him hoping he’ll have three years that are at least as solid as his 2025 that saw him rush for more than a thousand yards including 65 carries for 313 yards and four touchdowns for the Super Bowl and two other playoff games.

Walker hit the market after the Seahawks refused to name him a franchise player, which would have given him about $14 million next year.  The NFL Network says his contract with Kansas City makes him the highest paid running back in NFL history.

In his four-year career in Seatle, he’s averaged better than four yards per carry (821/3555). He’s also caught 131 asses for another 1005 yards. Walker is 25, five feet-9 and 211 pounds. He played college ball at Wake Forest and at Michigan State.

They’ve also grabbed former Chargers safety Alohi Gilman for three years and $24.75 million. He’ll replace Bryan Cook, who found Cincinnati’s three-year deal for $40.25 million irresistible. Gilman is two years older than Cook but the Chiefs are familiar with him because he has spent most of his career with the Chargers before going to the Ravens last year.

The Chiefs have gained about $2.5 million in cap space by renegotiating the contract of linebacker Drue Tranquill, who drops from $6 million to $3.5 for the coming season. Three million dollars of that is guaranteed.

IF YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT HOW RESTRUCTURING FREES UP CAP SPACE, TAKE A LOOK AT :

NFL Compensation: Contract Restructure Mechanics

Travis Kelce decided not to go the free agent route to his fourteenth season. He has signed a one-year deal for $12 million. He said on the Pa McAfee Show, “I’m still in love with this game. I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game.”

The Washington Commanders have signed DE Charles Omenihu for one year and as much as seven million dollars.

Penalty-prone right tackle Jawaan Taylor was released after a Chiefs career marked by false stars and illegal formation penalties. He has joined teammate Trent McDuffie with the Rams.

As we were going to press, ESPN’s Adam Schefter was reporting Kansas City is giving the New York Jets a 2027 sixth-round draft pick to get Justin Fields to be Parick Mahomes backup. The Jets were ready to let Justin Fields to go after an undistinguished career with them and after trading for Geno Smith with the Raiders.  The Chiefs are paying only $3 million of his ten million dollar salary.

The Chiefs have been looking for a replacement for Gardner Minshew, who left for the Cardinals. They still have their backup to the backup and the backup to the backup to the backup quarterbacks, Chris Oladokun and Jake Haener, who combined to start three games.

Fields was drafter by the Bears in 2021. With the Jets last year he was 2-7 as a starter had a QB rating of 37.3, which was 31st out of 36 passers. He is 16-37 in his career starts.

The Jets still have former Missouri quarterback Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe on their roster as backups to Smith.

(MAHOMES)—Coach Andy Reid says Patrick Mahomes is doing serious work rehabbing his knee.  Reid told reporters recently, “He spends a ton of time here, seven hours a day. He’s in there cranking away and making progress every day. It’s great to see. Julie grinds on him and makes sure he stays on task and challenges him. He keeps showing up. That’s about half the battle on these things when you have these injuries. It’s not going to be a pleasant thing. Every day, you’ve got to fight through it, and you’ve got to attack the challenge of the workout and rehab. He’s doing a great job with that.”

(“Julie” is trainer Julie Frymyer.  She helped him deal with his ankle injury in 2022.)

Enough of the stick and ball stuff.

(INDYCAR)—Kyle Kirkwood ran down Alex Palou from more than two seconds back and made an aggressive pass with fifteen laps to go and won the first Grand Prix of Arlington—a race on a special track laid out around the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys stadiums in Arlington Texas.

Kirkwood and Palou made their last pit stops with 21 laps left and Palou’s team got him out almost two seconds faster than Kirkwood’s crew finished its work.  He caught and passed Palou on lap 55 and seven laps later turned the fastest leader lap of the race in building a five-second lead.  The lead was closed, however, by Christian Rasmussen’s crash on the last lap led to a one-lap shootout.

Kirkwood  and teammates Will Power and Marcus Erricsson took three of the top four positions in the race. Palou’s second kept the race from being a podium sweep for Andretti Global. Will Power’s third-place finish is his first top ten for his new team.

The win boosts Kirkwood into the IndyCar points lead over Palou. But it’s only the third race of a schedule that runs into September. The series is taking next weekend off before a race at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on the 29th.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin has become  the tenth biggest winner in NASCAR history, driving through the field to win his first race of the year, at Las Vegas. He tied Kevin Harvick for tenth last year. Hamlin was 31st after a pit speeding penalty but came back to lead 134 laps and finish a half-second ahead of Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron.

Hamlin said after the race that he’s “fortunate” to be on the list with legends of the sports, men who “were far more talented than I have ever thought about being.”

His sixtieth career victory last year was a personal goal that he wanted to reach while his father was still alive. His father, in failing health, died a few weeks later in a fire that destroyed his parents’ house.  His loss in last year’s championship race and the loss of his father left him questioning whether he wanted to get back in a race car.  “I knew it took a few eeks to feel like driving,” he said. Over the last couple weeks, I definitely regained my love of it, got refocused. These are great opportunities for us.”

(FORMULA1)—President Trump’s War in the Middle East has forced Formula 1 to cancel two of its scheduled races—Saudi Arabia on April 12 and Bahrain a week later.

Kimi Antonelli became the second-youngest driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix at Shanghai during the weekend.  He finished ahead of his veteran Mercedes teammate, George Russell. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton took his first podium finish since joining Ferrar two years ago.

Antonelli was 19 years, six months, and 18 days old. Max Verstappen, was 18 years, seven months and 15 days old when he won the Grand Prix of Spain ten years ago.

(Photo Credits: Missouri-Miami—MU; Porter—Anthony Hopkins, Goats Shirt—St. Jo Goats; Kirkwood—Rick Gevers; Hamlin—Bob Priddy)

The Boodle Scandal, Part One

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I want to take you back to the early Twentieth Century when muckraking reporters such as Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Upton Sinclair, and Jacob Riis—to name a few—were writing powerful newspaper and magazine articles exposing the ugly underside of government and business and the partnerships between the two that sometimes amounted to a betrayal of our country or our state for their personal or corporate benefit.

Today we call them investigative reporters, people who burrow into the inner workings of business/government relationships that corruptly enrich a few and harm the many—not unlike too many things we are seeing today at the national and even the state levels wherever you might live.

In our entries today and on Wednesday we are going to bring you Lincoln Steffens’ “Enemies of the Republic” from the October, 1904 issue of McClures magazine.  But first, we need to set the stage.

“Boodle” in those days referred to bribery.  A boodler was one who gave or who accepted bribes to influence public policy.

The story of the great boodle scandal in Missouri came to me many years ago in researching the stories of the ministers of my church in Jefferson City and the brief career here of Crayton S. Brooks, a fiery temperance preacher who came to what was then a pretty wide open town particularly when the legislature was in session every other year.

On Sunday evening, March 1, 1903 Rev. Crayton S. Brooks—whose preaching earlier had led to the closing of pool halls and gambling houses—asserted from his pulpit at the First Christian Church four blocks from the Capitol that “there were $1,000 bills being exchanged in Jefferson City by men not in the habit of handling such amounts of money,” the implication being that they were buying votes in the legislature.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Joseph J. McAuliffe happened to be in one of the pews that night and wrote about the sermon. There is a lot I wish we knew about their relationship  and why a St. Louis reporter “happened” to be at the church that night, but we do know that Brooks admired St. Louis prosecutor Joe Folk for his earlier work to bring down Ed Butler, the St. Louis political boss and had made a trip to St. Louis earlier in the year, although the accounts do not say why, leaving the door open to some speculation.

Representative Edward Eversole of St. Louis was named to lead a committee investigation and started summoning witnesses from among the lobbying corps. He said, “We saw men we wanted standing about the corridors and lobby of the Capitol four deep, but as soon as one or two were served there was a wild stampede and the greatest time you ever heard of getting out of town.”

He investigation eventually led to the indictments of four Senators who were accused of taking bribes for their votes on a bill concerning the ingredients of baking powder. Steffans will explain that in  his article.  Lieutenant Governor John Adams Lee, who planned to run for governor in 1904, was exposed as the middle man who delivered the bribes from the Royal Baking Powder Trust to the four legislators, resigned and fled to Chicago.

Steffens’ article said, “There is nothing partisan about graft. Only the people are loyal to party. The ” hated” trusts, all big grafters, go with the majority. In Democratic Missouri, the Democracy is the party of “capital.” The Democratic political leaders, crying down the trusts, corner the voters like wheat, form a political trust, and sell out the sovereignty of the people to the corporation lobby. And the lobby runs the State, not only in the interest of its principals, but against the interest of the people.”

In 1992, Missourians adopted term limits, an amendment that missed the target it should have hit and as we have seen in the years since opened the door to loss of legislative independence and replaced it with—too often—outside influence.  As it was put in 1992, adoption of term limits will end corporate memory in the legislature and the power to set public policy will pass from the legislative chambers to the hallways.

I watched it happen. Only after term limits went into effect did I hear the sponsor of a bill ask someone with an amendment, “Have you run this by so-and-so in the hall?” The question became unnecessary as cell phones proliferated and lawmakers could get messages while debating bills.  House and Senate rules ban lobbyists from the legislative floors.  But the cell phone’s texting app puts them there electronically.

Ineffective campaign spending limits and a U. S. Supreme Court ruling that corporations are, for political speech purposes, to be considered “people,” have had a profound effect on who gets access, how much of it they get and how they become manipulative of the process.

Understand that this is not saying all of our elected officials are crooked or can be bought. We have to trust the people we elect but we also must be aware of the awful pressures they endure to serve and the all-consuming world they live in for four intense months every year. Political courage sometimes is weakened in that climate because they are human and we sometimes are disappointed when the podium we put them on is not as high as we think it is.

We voters have a responsibility to pay attention to the issues they are dealing with so that our lawmakers are regularly reminded who they really work for.

Citizen cynicism is easy to come by and is a reflection on the citizen who refuses to maintain at least a modicum of awareness and is therefore less likely to be “cornered like wheat.”

That is where the reporter has a place—to expose as well as report. A good reporter has to have a bit of the spirit of Lincoln Steffens inside and our media must recognize the responsibility they have to be unafraid to rake muck when necessary.

Good reporters do not want to be liked by the people they report about. Nor do they want to be hated. They do hope to be respected as a necessary element of a free society. And they should be conscious of their responsibilities to citizens on both sides the aisle. They also must be unafraid, and expect those who employ them to be unafraid, too.

On Wednesday, you will read Lincoln Steffens’ Enemies of the Republic. It, unfortunately, has elements of truth that you will recognize in our present times.

(Picture Credit: Brooks—St. Louis Republic

The Missouri  Optimist

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Two years from now, we will observe the sesquicentennial of the publication of the first edition of the Blue Book, the Official State Manual as it is more formally called. Secretary of State Michael McGrath published it in 1878 not only to list the people and agencies that constituted Missouri government then but to use it as a one-man state chamber of commerce.  Amidst his extensive horn-blowing, we find some things still true of ourselves. We also find some things to which we still should aspire almost 150 years later.

This is his Foreword to “The Almanac and Official Directory of Missouri:”

MISSOURI. It is a truth that must be admitted, that very many outside of Missouri, and some even in it, know but little of its vast resources or of its immense wealth and unexampled prosperity, and when told scarcely believe it, so great is the extent and magnitude thereof.

There is no territory of equal size on the continent which contain so varied and such large quantities of the most useful minerals. Missouri may safely challenge the world to produce a Superior in this respect.

It is estimated by those who have computed the quantity of Iron in Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain, that there is, above the surface of these mountains alone, iron sufficient to afford an annual supply of 1,000,000 tons for two hundred years.

Lead and Zinc Ores are found almost everywhere in South Missouri, and the lead mines of Granby, Joplin, and Mine LaMotte, are almost inexhaustible.

Iron and Coal underlie some of the richest lands in the State. In many cases it is difficult to determine whether the agricultural or mineral resources are most remunerative. If Missouri were as densely populated as England, it would have a population of 25,000,000, and by the extent and diversity of its resources is far better able to support this vast number in competency and independence than England is to maintain its present population. This seems incredible but is nevertheless the fact.

 Missouri presents to the farmer conditions of soil and climate favorable to his calling. The richness of the soil cannot be surpassed. Farms, after bearing without artificial fertilization twenty-five successive crops, have failed to show scarcely any decrease in productiveness; water is abundant, and streams and springs are found in every portion of it,

Its climate is delightful; the winters are short and mild, and the summers long and temperate. In Missouri, agriculture will compensate the skillful and industrious follower with independence and wordly riches. To it manufacturers are invited, with the offer of rich facilities, and if natural adaptation, be any evidence of the future, Missouri will at no distant day become the workshop of the Great Valley of the Mississippi.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the articles that ought to be manufactured in it; there is scarcely a want or luxury of domestic manufacture known to the human family but what can be readily supplied from it. Railroads traverse all portions of the State, and reach almost every city, town and village in it.

Missouri, being already rated the fifth State in the confederation, and soon to become the fourth with an area exactly equal to that of all the New England States put togeiher, and once and a half as large as tbe great State of New York; and in the City of St. Louis, now the third in size and population in the Union, as its Metropolis, it requires no prophecy to foretell the millions who will within the next twenty years seek homes within it.

A calculation based upon the census is all that the prediction demands. The present population, according to the last State census of 2,100,000 is entirely insufficient to develop her vast resources, and it therefore seeks the co-operation of colonists from the Eastern, Northern, and Southern States, and of the sturdy and industrious immigrants who annually arrive in this free country, fleeing from oligarchal and despotic governments, to better themselves. It invites also the overcrowded of the seaboard cities of this country, to cross the father of waters and make their homes within her.

Missouri may be regarded as offering greater inducements, as to climate, soil and fertility to the farmer, artisan, laborer, colonist and immigrant than any of the other States or parts of the country. Missouri promises to all a cordial welcome, and liberal compensation for labor. Millions may settle within her borders without exhausting the ample means in store for them. Her schools, both public and private, are the best in the country.

It may be said without fear of contradiction that Missouri is today the most prosperous and best governed State in the Union. In fact, no location in the Republic presents a more encouraging field for the honest laborer or the aspiring citizen.

Tbe contentions of the war have long since disappeared. Liberalism and toleration in politics and religion, are noted characteristics of her people. They are generous, hospitable and enterprising. Among them poverty and humble birth present no barrier to the attainment of wealth, distinction and honor. True merit is the criterion of success, and is fostered by hearty encouragement and profitable recognition.

Occupying, as she does already, a front rank among the States of the Union, it is easy to forecast her future as one of glory and renown! M. K. McG.

We recognize this is a certain amount of puffery intended to promote Missouri and we frankly see the same sort of thing today although in modern language.

One line jumps out, however.

The present population, according to the last State census of 2,100,000 is entirely insufficient to develop her vast resources, and it therefore seeks the co-operation of colonists from the Eastern, Northern, and Southern States, and of the sturdy and industrious immigrants who annually arrive in this free country, fleeing from oligarchal and despotic governments, to better themselves.

Would he write that about us today?

 

Sports: Inconsistent Tigers; Chiefs Major Rebuilding Moves; A Penske Sweep 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZBB)—The Missouri Tigers limp into the SEC tournament, salvaging a bye for the first round and likely to face a bottom-half opponent in the second round. But with this team, there is no guarantee that Missouri will be playing in the third round.

But then again, there’s no guarantee with this bunch that they won’t.

The Tigers’ last two regular season game, both considered winnable, became losses. They took a two-game winning streak, including a win over then 22nd ranked Tennessee, into their game in Norman and let the Sooners run up an 80-64 win.  In their last game at home, against an Arkansas team that had beaten them in Fayetteville by eight points, Missouri again made crucial mistakes at crucial times and lost in overtime.

Mark Mitchell set a new game high for himself with 32 points and along the way became the eighth Tiger to top 1,000 points in two years. He scored 700 more in his first two years at Duke. He has at least two more games to add to his 1713 total collegiate sports.

He joined two of last year’s players, Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates on the list of two-year thousand point players.

Arkansas Coach John Calipari also reached a milestone—his 900th win.

Missouri got a first-round bye and will play Thursday morning in the second round against the winner of Wednesday’s first round game between Kentucky, the 9 seed, and LSU, the 16th seed.  Kentucky matched Missouri’s 10-8 conference record and went 19-12 in the regular season. LSU finished last in the conference at 3-15.

Kentucky, the expected Thursday opponent, closed out the season the same way Missouri did—with two straight losses. Missouri beat Kentucky 73-68 in Lexington earlier this year.

If Missouri gets past Kentucky it runs into Florida, the top seed.  Kentucky went 25-6 in the season and was 16-2 in the conference with one of those losses to Missouri, in Lexington—the only time the two teams played this season.

(OUT)—Former Missouri Tiger star Kim English will not be back to coach the Providence Friars next year.  He’s been at Providence for three years. With a team he inherited from coach Ed Cooley, English took the Friars to a 21-14 record and an NIT appearance. But his teams went 12-20 and then 14-16.  They were 7-12 in the Big East this year. Before going to Providence, English led George Mason to a 20-13 record in his only season there. English played all four years of his college ball at MU, winning the MVP award in the Big 12 Tournament in his last year, 2012. He scored 1570 points in his Tiger career.

He played a few games for the Detroit Pistons in a short NBA career.

(BILLIKENS)—The St. Louis University Billikens took a bad tumble in their last game of the regular season, falling to George Mason 86-57. St. Louis finishes 27-4 but still have the number one seed in the Atlantic Ten conference.

Team leader, center Robbie Avila got into immediate foul trouble in the first half and was benched five minutes in, scoreless. He finished with two points and one rebound in the two minutes he was in the game in the second half.

St. Louis U gets a bye in the A-10 tournament and will play the winner of a game between Fordham and George Washington on Friday.

(CHIEFS)—-The Kansas City Chiefs are looking to the 2026 NFL draft as a way to shake off “Super Bowl Fatigue,” a condition in which a championship team has been saddled with generally low draft choices year after year.

The Chiefs continued their dealings in the last week with a major trade sending cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a flock of draft picks—in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds this year and a third-round pick next year.

Some speculation has Kansas City and Tennessee doing some swapping that could bring Notre Dame running back Jeremiya Love or edge rusher Rueben Bain from the Miami Hurricanes.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach told reporters at the Combine a few days ago, “Every year when we were picking 31 and 32, I’d always say, ‘Man, if we were just at (pick) 24 or 25, we’d be exactly where we want to be.’ Now, we’re at nine and I’m like, ‘Man, if we were just at four, five, we’d be exactly where we want to be.”

—Meaning that he’s probably not done.

As for the recently-traded cornerback Trent McDuffie, whose trade to the Rams brought the Chiefs those draft picks: The Rams have made him the highest paid cornerback in NFL history with a four-year, $124 million dollar contract, $100 million of it guaranteed.

McDuffie had been in line for $13.6 million if he had stayed with the Chiefs this year.

The deal is especially sweet for McDuffie, who played his high school ball in California with two guys who are Rams this year. Last August, at a charity event, he was asked if there was another team he would like to play for. “That’ll probably be the LA Rams, so that my family can come see every single game,” he replied.

(BATTLEHAWKS, ETC)—Spring football, the UFL, starts in a couple of weeks. Several players from Missouri schools are on the rosters for seven of the eight teams in the league.

The St. Louis Battlehawks open the season with two Missourians on their roster. Former Tiger kicker Tyler McCann, who hopes to follow          of the LA Rams into the NFL, and Kevon Latulas from Missouri State.

The Birmingham Barons have Missouri running back Nate Noel.

The Columbus Aviators have  former Tigers WR Keke Chisum, a wide receiver, and DT Walter Palmore.

Three Missourians are on the roster for the DC Defenders—former Tiger center Michael Maieti, Missouri State WR Tyrone Scott, and Missouri Southern OT Lacolby Tucker from Missouri Southern.

The Louisville Kings have OL Keith Russell from Missouri Western.

Moving along to a spring sports with a round ball—

(CARDINALS)—Word from Jupiter is that outfielder Jordan Walker has been doing a lot of work on the back fields on his hitting, looking for better swing rhythm. Results of that part of his training aren’t impressive. He’s 4 for 19 (.211) after hitting .215 last year.  and his fielding. Manager Oliver Marmol says his outfield work is better than last year. Former Cardinals and Royals outfielder Jon Jay is getting credit for that.

Lars Nootbar’s heels still not being counted on for opening day. The Cardinals have used thirteen left fielders in spring training so far.  One possible prospect is Joshua Baez, who is hitting .333 in 18 at-bats.

Pitcher Andre Pallante is impressing the coaches in Florida after an awful second half last year.  He went four innings and struck out two Sunday in a 2-2 tie with the Marlins. Marmol said afterwards he looked to be throwing his five pitches “in midseason form.”  Marmol says his attitude is better, that he’s more relaxed than when he was going 1-10 after last year’s All-Star break with a 6.64 ERA.

Several players and coaches in the Cardinals system, including some on the major league roster, are involved in the World Baseball Classic that goes for another week.  Some are pitching for other nations’ teams.  A player musts be a citizen of the country they represent or have been born in that country or have permanent residency or have at least one parent who was born of a citizen of the nation.

Leonardo Bernal, a strong catcher prospect in the system, is playing for Panama. Mexico has one of the team’s most recent international signings, Luis Gastelum. Gordon Graceffo, who was and down from the minors last year and is considered a likely bullpen member this year, is playing for Italy, as is Thomas Saggese, a “super-utility man in the making,” according to the Cardinals..

Great Britain has outfielder Matt Koperniak. Some think he might come up to the bigs later in the year.  A member of the Israel team is Zach Levenson, an outfielder and Noah Mendlinger, a third basemen.

Outfielder Brian Torres, who has hit .328 in his last two minor league seasons, is an outfielder for Puerto Rico.

Four Cardinal coaches are involved in the tournament: Yadier Molina is managing Puerto Rico’s team for the second tournament. His team reached the quarterfinals in the last tournament, in 2023. Coach Stubby Clapp is the third base coach for Canada; Julio Rangel is with the Panamanian team; Chris Conroy is  Puerto Rico assistant trainer.

(ROYALS)—Some of the big name major leaguers and some littler names from the Royals system are in the World Baseball Classic:  Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Wacha represent the United States: Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia, and Luinder Avila are with the Venezuelan team. Vinnie Pasquantino  and Jac Caglianone are with Italy; Seth Lugo is pitching for Puerto Rico; Carlos Estevez is with the Dominican Republic. Israel has Eli Morgan; Nicaragua has Oscar Rayo; and Jorge Alfaro is with Colombia.

Back in Kansas City, the Royals have welcomed Eric Hosmer home.

He’ll join the Royals TV broadcast crew as a part-time analyst, one-third of a rotation that includes Jeremy Guthrie and Rex Hudler. Regular play-by-play guys Ryan Lefebvre and Jake Eisenberg will be in their usual slots. Jeff Goldberg and Jeff Montgomery will be the pregame and postgame hosts. New to the broadcasts will be host and sideline reporter Bridget Howard.

Hosmer’s first show will be March 13 when the Royals play the Diamondbacks.

Hosmer retired after the 2023 season after 13 years in the big leagues, half of those years with the Royals. He was a member of the 2025 World Series championship club before signing a big deal with the San Diego Padres. He was there for five years before wrapping up things with the Red Sox and the Cubs. He was a lifetime .276 hitter

Motoring on—-

(INDYCAR)—-Phoenix became a great place during the weekend to celebrate Roger Penske’s sixtieth year in auto racing.  His drivers won both of the major races, the IndyCar race on Saturday and the NASCAR race Sunday.

Penske’s first race as a team owner was the 1966 Daytona 24 Hour endurance race. His cars have raced in several major racing series—with his first IndyCar entry in 1968 and his first NASCAR entry in 1972.

Penske driver Josef Newgarden tracked down race leader Kyle Kirkwood and got past him in the closing laps to go on Saturday for his 32nd career win. Newgarden admitted he was surprised to win, given his mediocre performance in the middle of the race.  But adjustments by his pit crew gave him “a rocket ship” after his last stop that let him get past pole-sitter and teammate David Malukis and then Kirkwood.

It’s the second win in a row for Newgarden and Penske on the one-mile oval at Phoenix—-although it took eight years go to it. IndyCar had not raced there since 2918.

It was a highly-competitive race with a record 565 on-track passes but none was as important as Newgarden’s power move past Kirkwood. Newgarden had pitted for new tires under the last yellow of the race, caused when former teammate Will Power cut a tire in close racing with another car. Kirkwood was among the drivers who gambled they could go the rest of the way with what they had.

Kirkwood took the lead on lap 242 of the 250 laps but his tires gave up and he faded to 11th while Newgarden started eating into Kirkwood’s six-tenths of a second lead and flew past him with six laps left.

The win puts Newgarden on top of the point standings, ending a long string of races at the top for defending series champion Alex Palou, who had not been out of first place since June 2024. Palou was the victim of an early crash and finished 24th.

IndyCar moves on to a new venue next weekend in Arlington, Texas on a course that winds its way around the baseball and football stadiums of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys.

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney finished the Penske-first weekend on Sunday. He clawed his way back from 24th after a poor pit stop and took the lead in a fiercely contested race with ten laps left and then held off Christopher Bell the rest of the way.  The race featured 23 lead changes and a record dozen cautions.  Bell had dominated the latter part of the race until the last restart gave Blaney the break he needed to pull in front.

Blaney twice had problems with loose wheels that forced him to drive from the back to the front. Bell’s car was the 49th car he passed during the race, a record.

Penske driver Joey Logano started from the pole but was eliminated in a crash early.

Tyler Reddick, who had won the first three races of the year, a NASCAR record, finished eighth.

NASCAR heads to Las Vegas for next week’s race.

(Photo Credits: McDuffie–YouTube; Pallante—STL Cardinals;  Hosmer—MLB; Newgarden –Rick Gevers, in Phoenix; Blaney—Sean Gardner, Getty Images)