This was a tough week in the world of sports and entertainment.
We lost a true baseball immortal in the man known as Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose. This was a man that I have had the pleasure of being around since the World Series of 1976. During that Series as great as he and his teammates including Johnny Bench was, he couldn’t help notice the absolute greatness of Yankee catcher Thurman Munson. He couldn’t believe how one player could almost will his teammates into not giving up even though the Yankees would be swept. Rose thought that he was the only player who played like that. Well he was wrong and he would go out of his way to make sure he personally told Munson. Rose had an incredible appreciation for the game and knew it better than most. His knowledge for the history of the game was great. If there was a course at Columbia University for the history of the game then Pete would have been a professor. I will not touch Pete’s bad habits because who am I to judge? Don’t we all make mistakes?
In the world of entertainment, we lost John Amos. Most of the world first knew of him from the wonderful television series Good Times. I come from a really bad broken home. My father would give me up for adoption so that he didn’t have to pay child support. There were many things that happened. This show and the John Amos character showed me that all man of color don’t always abandon their families when things get tough. John Amos skills as an actor convinced me that in family, Love could conquer all.
Naturally, Amos was great in America’s first great mini-series Roots, and who didn’t love him in coming to America with Eddie Murphy?
On a personal and positive note, I have been having a blast working on the upcoming television show Heavy Hitters. It’s about professional baseballs pre-draft combine and I guess you can say the coming and goings. It shows that it’s much more than just throw the ball and hit the ball. Producer / Director Candice Cain shows the emotions and true love of the game that these players have to go through. She brings to life the intensity and determination and intense dreams that so many of these kids live through. Cain also shows the pain and frustration and disappointment that so many players live through.
Baseball is the American Dream and Heavy Hitters will cinematically bring it to life.
