Arm Chair Experts on Windycityhometown.com

20/11/2023

Here’s the link to all the info for the FEZtival of trees. Please share with friends and neighbors. 📸

Look at this post on Facebook https://go.rallyup.com/feztivaloftrees/Campaign/Details?ReturnUrl=%2FCampaigns%2FSetup%2F810680%2FPageDesign&fbclid=IwAR1jaLALZnJ5brBj-qEHk_btDWwxYRrEEqgg6qAllVf1Tv8HZJBGBzWLUpY_aem_AfvdWmz5frrnlyySgIwP-DvyHQGNiDJH0yfLxh5FJcHN_ElosriuyBZly96rwaJdTnM

16/11/2023

Stop by the Medinah Shrine to check out the holiday tree display for a fun time for all . Info in the video below. Please share with friends and neighbors.

The Non-Profit Organizations of The Medinah Shriners & Knights of Columbus #650 PresentsTHE FEZTIVAL OF TREESNOVEMBER 20 – 25, 2023AT MEDINAH SHRINE CENTER55...

24/12/2020

My friend Steve Alspach is a baseball fan, historian, and stat guru, although I do give the mystical Stat Boy credit for many things. Steve recently sent an e-mail out about a discovery and a pilgrimage to a cemetery in Skokie, IL I wanted to share.

Yesterday, while doing some Christmas Shopping, I made a quick stop to the mausoleum of Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, just to the east of Old Orchard Mall, to see the tomb of Arndt Jorgens. The name may not ring a bell, but he was not only a former major leaguer, but he was the only major league born in the 20th Century from Norway.

Arndt (or Art) had an interesting career. He never played in a World Series game, but he has four WS rings to his credit - 1932, 1936, 1937, and 1938. (Okay, he played three games in 1939, but I'm not sure that counts.) But when you're playing backup to Bill Dickey, you won't see much post-season playing time. He went to Lane Tech, and lived in Wilmette at the time of his death.

On June 10, 1933, in the second game of a double-header, while Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig went hitless, Art walked twice, but also his only two home runs of the season, one a first-inning grand-slam, against Merritt "Sugar" Cain of the Philadelphia A's. Alas, thanks to a blown save from Lefty Gomez, the A's won 8-7, but Arndt knocked in 6 of New York's 7 runs in that game.

Why did I do this? I'm not sure - I somehow hit Arndt's page in Baseball-reference and was surprised to learn that he was laid to rest in Skokie, of all places. I explained to the guy who led me to his tomb (it's a BIG mausoleum!) who Arndt was. Arndt and his wife are laid out side-by-side. (The guy also told me that Mike Brady himself, Robert Reed, is in that same cemetery.)

So a tip of the hat to you, Arndt. I hope that you get other visitors from time to time. Hvil i fred.

11/12/2020

Well, it's been awhile since there was a post here. We've not done a podcast for some time. However, I keep getting notices that people are looking at the page so let's see who reads this.
I've been reading how Major League Baseball is trying their best to gut Minor League Baseball and to a certain extent, I understand it from the economic standpoint. I'm having a hard time understanding it from the historic standpoint and from the standpoint of generating interest in the game and getting a new generation of fans.
I'm going to look at what was lovingly called the "Bush Leagues" of baseball back in the days. We're talking starting with Class D. Yeah, back in the day, the minor leagues ranged from AAA all the way down to D.
I'll be curious about the teams and who came out of those leagues and who wound up there. I'll post these articles here and I'll be looking for your comments.

19/01/2019

Our first extravaganza for the new year. We talked about getting Christmas decorations down. We rehashed the Bears game (it wasn't all Parkey's fault), the weekend conference championship games and who we think will win (we're on opposite sides in each just to make it interesting). We talked Bulls basketball and how bad they can be. We talked Baseball free agents, specifically will Manny Machado actually play for the White Sox. Give a listen!

Arm Chair Experts

03/01/2019

OK...it's after Christmas, but here's our Christmas podcast. We sent a shout out to Tim Caravia. We talked Bears football. We talked Bulls basketball and wondered if they thought they were going to get their participation ribbons and wondered why John Paxson still has a job. We talked about the White Sox and the to do over Harold Baines and Lee Smith in the Hall of Fame. We even had some Christmas music because it just ain't Christmas without Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto by James Brown, Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Joseph Spence, I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas by Yogi Yorgenson and the 12 Drinks of Christmas by Fay McKay. Thanks for listening to another epic.

Arm Chair Experts Created with Movie Studio Platinum

04/12/2018

Anybody figure out why John Paxson and Gar Forman got away with handing Fred Hoiberg the crap teams he had and they're still employed and he's fired? Who do they have pictures of?

23/11/2018

An hour and change of our nonsense. We wished Rich a Happy Birthday, reminisced about Sabatino's Restaurant closing, we talked about moving only to the web and our new freedom. We told a Bill Kurtis story and used the same word that Bill always wanted to use on the air. We complained about our former radio outlet and some of the history of our time there. And we even talked sports...Bears mostly. And since it was right before Thanksgiving, we named our Turkey of the year, the late WRHS (moment of silence..that's enough. That's more than they deserve!)

Arm Chair Experts

20/11/2018

Here is the list of the players appearing on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for 2019. The first 15 are carryovers from last year with Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff being on the writers ballot for the final time. Are either of them worthy of election? In the first time list, certainly Mariano Rivera is a pretty sure shot for 1st ballot election. But I have to ask about one name....Rick Ankiel?????

Rk Name YoB % of Ballots
1 Edgar Martinez 10th 70.40%
2 Mike Mussina 6th 63.50%
3 Roger Clemens 7th 57.30%
4 Barry Bonds 7th 56.40%
5 Curt Schilling 7th 51.20%
6 Omar Vizquel 2nd 37.00%
7 Larry Walker 9th 34.10%
8 Fred McGriff 10th 23.20%
9 Manny Ramirez 3rd 22.00%
10 Jeff Kent 6th 14.50%
11 Gary Sheffield 5th 11.10%
12 Billy Wagner 4th 11.10%
13 Scott Rolen 2nd 10.20%
14 Sammy Sosa 7th 7.80%
15 Andruw Jones 2nd 7.30%
16 Mariano Rivera 1st
17 Roy Halladay 1st
18 Todd Helton 1st
19 Andy Pettitte 1st
20 Lance Berkman 1st
21 Roy Oswalt 1st
22 Miguel Tejada 1st
23 Placido Polanco 1st
24 Kevin Youkilis 1st
25 Derek Lowe 1st
26 Freddy Garcia 1st
27 Vernon Wells 1st
28 Ted Lilly 1st
29 Travis Hafner 1st
30 Jason Bay 1st
31 Michael Young 1st
32 Jon Garland 1st
33 Darren Oliver 1st
34 Juan Pierre 1st
35 Rick Ankiel 1st

20/11/2018

That game between the Rams and the Chiefs last night was incredible. There were 105 points scored and 1,001 yards rushing. Great if you love offense and it was fun to watch. It does beg the question, is defense still relevant in the 2018 version of the NFL? Is this a phase that the defensive gurus will find a way to combat?

19/11/2018

We've changed our name a little. With the demise of WRHS-FM 89.7 (moment of silence..ok that's long enough) we will now be exclusively on the web at windycityhometown.com. You can also find the archives of the 117 shows we've previously done at http://windycityhometown.com/archive.html along with all the other shows that our guy John Divita programs. Our latest show will be up soon.

19/10/2018

Another hour of us. We talked Norridge Flag and John Divita making the front page of the local paper in 1974, a discussion of baseball thanks to Stat Boy which led us into a look at some interesting stats from this past year pointing out an interesting trend in the game. We talked about the Bears and are optimistic about Sunday against the Patriots. We'll see how smart we are this week.

Arm Chair Experts

19/09/2018

Another hour with us. We talked Bears and Packers game. We had a missive from Stat Boy that led to a baseball discussion and some White Sox talk and we managed to even make mention of Burt Reynolds too.

Arm Chair Experts

23/08/2018

Another hour and change with us...Ridgewood memories including who liked who back in the days and those who have passed...yeah, we're always ready to cheer you up...and we finally got around to talk sports, WWE, Jim the Anvil Niedhart, Lebron, Cubs, Bears....the usual nonsense.

Arm Chair Experts

09/08/2018

Yes, I forgot to post this. Did you miss it? We talked about a bunch of things, like people who died. But don't worry, it got more positive after that.

Arm Chair Experts

26/06/2018

An hour of us talking about Summer's signs including the screen porch up in John's back yard, reunions and passings of neighborhood friends. We talked about the NBA draft and spent time on the White Sox and their rebuild.

Arm Chair Experts Created with Movie Studio Platinum

14/06/2018

Another hour and change of our geniousness talking about Ridgewood and our class reunion next year and thinking about Original Joe's Subway Sandwiches, Roger Badesch becoming the answer to a WGN Radio trivia question, a lot of Cubs talk, NBA Finals talk and how Lebron James could have been surrounded with more talent since they're going to get swept.

Arm Chair Experts