Sports Legend Lost - Cartoonist Bill Gallo Passes Away at 88

Growing up in New York City, it was hard to be a sports fan and not be influenced by the work of NY Daily News sports cartoonist Bill Gallo. His work had a way of touching the hearts and minds of sports fans. This combination of visceral imagery and timely topics were a treat for sports fans on a daily basis, and Gallo also gave credit to them to connect with his subjects on an emotional and intellectual level. Of course, Gallo possessed great humor, and that is no doubt the aspect of his work that will be remembered as fondly as the man himself.

Bill had the talent for capturing the essence of a great sports moment. We always hear that pictures say one thousand words; if that is the case, Gallo's drawings spoke ten times that. He could take something so astounding - like Joe Frazier beating Muhammad Ali - and sum it up with an amazing image, in this case of the constantly boasting Ali with his mouth zippered shut. This was the kind of work he did - connecting with what the sports fan was feeling and going beyond for a catharsis as well.

Over the years there were so many great images, but as a Mets fan I am very partial to Basement Bertha. Though Gallo covered all sports teams for the paper with his drawings, the ones of the slightly strange, overweight, and unattractive Bertha - as representative of all the suffering Mets fans - struck a chord with the public. With Bertha we Mets fans suffered, but we never suffered alone.

There are so many amazing Gallo cartoons, but he was also known for writing his column. I would always look forward to read what he had to say about sports legends, and his tenure at the News enabled him to encounter many of the greats. It goes without saying that Gallo was universally loved by all, even those who were depicted in his drawings in sometimes less than flattering ways. George Steinbrenner - drawn as the grunting, angry, irascible General von Steingrabber - got the joke and was honored to be in those cartoons.

Bill Gallo also wrote beautifully about his experiences during World War II. He sometimes included images of a GI in his cartoons, and my Dad (as a WWII vet) always felt an affinity for Gallo, thinking that he displayed the same pluck and heroism in the newspaper each day as he had done on the battlefield in Iwo Jima.

When a great sports broadcaster - like Howard Cosell - passes away, it is usually said that he was "silenced" in death. In this case we can say that a great sports cartoonist's hand has been stopped, and the emptiness of those pages in the NY Daily News, ones that will never be graced with another Gallo masterpiece, will speak louder than words.

Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team

Article first published as Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team on Blogcritics.


Donald Trump - the man known for strange hair and the iconic line "You're fired" - has made it known that he would like to buy a piece of the New York Mets. Why, you may ask? To help a friend? Well, yes he and Mets owner Fred Wilpon are chums. Could it be exposure? The Donald likes exposure as much as the south wall of your house. What other reason is motivating Trump to get in on this? My thoughts are that he probably thinks the Wilpons are going down, and who better to be there to pick up the pieces and take on the whole team once Fred and Jeff are gone.

One thing is very certain: if Trump comes on board things will get interesting very quickly. The Wilpons have never been interesting. They don't even register a blip on New York sports pages - except if they are involved with the infamous Bernie Madoff. Living in this town we Mets fan have always had to endure the back page headlines about another sports owner - the late George Steinbrenner (and now his sons). He was always hiring and firing Billy Martin, warning Reggie Jackson (and everyone else from Horace Clarke to Joba Chamberlain), and basically creating for himself a colorful personality that increased the Yankee brand.

Even famed New York Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo couldn't resist creating a recurring cartoon character in Steinbrenner's honor. Mets fans had one too - the oh so lovely Basement Bertha. This figures to be the Mets' fate: the Yankees get a general and we get an overweight woman living in the cellar. That is our lot in this town.

But, oh how things would change with The Donald in charge of the show. Can you imagine the press generated by Trump as he came to games? He would be more exciting than Lady Gaga sitting in the stands in her pajamas. Never one to mince words, there are probably hundreds of different headlines just ready to burst out of his mouth over the course of the season. Trump's presence in the owner's box would be an event, would help ticket sales, and most certainly bolster sagging TV ratings.

Heck, I even propose if The Donald is in that the Mets TV channel (SNY) create a new series - Donald Trump's NY Mets Apprentice. This would be a fabulous weekly series where players had to work for the Donald - on and off the field. Wouldn't it be worth it just to see the Donald sitting across the table from Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez saying, "You're fired!"

As a Mets fan, I am totally behind Trump buying into the Mets. I think lots of fans would agree with me. So come on, Fred Wilpon. Take the Donald's call and lets get the ball rolling. It might not save this season, but it certainly will make for a hilarious time, and we Mets fans need a reason to laugh right now.

Photo Credits:



Donald Trump - celebritysmackblog


Basement Bertha - NY Daily News

A New York Mets Fan Remembers George Steinbrenner

Article first published as A New York Mets Fan Remembers George Steinbrenner on Blogcritics.

When Marcus Antony gives his famous oration over the corpse of his good friend Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare's brilliant play, he says, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." As a Mets fan and a New Yorker, I cannot think of better words to be said over a man that I and many of my fellow city dwellers loved to hate.

Whatever I think and feel about the New York Yankees is all because of Mr. George Steinbrenner, who died of a heart attack today at 80 years of age. Before he swooped in and bought the team in 1973, the Yankees were pretty much a faded flower in my town. The New York Mets had won the World Series in 1969 and almost did again in 1973, while the Yankees seemed to be perpetually out of it in the AL East.

Along came a big fat spider named George, and he spun more than a few webs to get his team going in the right direction. He spent lots and lots of money through a new thing called "free agency," while the Mets sat on their hands and then went about trading away members of the team I loved, including the still unforgivable deal that sent Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds.

Anyway, sitting on the other side of town and seeing the team that I hated win the World Series in 1977 (and again in 1978), well, what could a good Mets fan do but grumble about how George bought the championship - which he did - and set the Yankees on course for greatness once again.

Steinbrenner, with the help of general manager Brian Cashman, extended the old Yankee dynasty into the 1990s, when they captured three championships, and then in the 2000s, when they won it all in the year 2000 (against my beloved Mets) and again in 2009.

Most New Yorkers (Yankees and Mets fans) got into the soap opera of "As Steinbrenner Turns" because it was the stuff back page headlines are made for. How many times could he fire Billy Martin? As many as he could hire him: five. How many threats could he make about firing players? How far would he go to get the dirt on one of his own players (think Dave Winfield)? Oh, how the drama played out and how the fans sucked it up.

Despite all his faults and his cementing of the Yankee blue blood mentality and legacy, we working class Mets fans have to hand it to the old coot. He was a feisty old general who got the troops moving and winning battles, and sometimes ultimately, the war. NY Daily News sports cartoonist Bill Gallo even created an alter ego, General Von Steingrabber. This barking orders German general was featured in many hilarious cartoons in the paper. Apparently, Steinbrenner appreciated the humor behind it and Gallo's supreme talent for capturing the essence of the man and the events of the time.

George was the guy we liked to blame for everything. He was at fault for all the wrongs suffered by the Mets and their fans. He stole everyone from Catfish Hunter to Reggie Jackson to A-Rod over the years in our minds (and probably in the minds of plenty of other baseball teams' fans too). He was like the Darth Vader of baseball, and you could just imagine those confrontations with Billy Martin, battling each other using light sabers (to make the vision complete).

Through it all, George did something for baseball that, if nothing else, made it exciting and stirred up controversy galore. He was responsible for giving baseball a much needed shot in the arm, and the whole modern era of free agency and the shape of the way teams are today are thanks to him.

Of course, then we get back to that evil Shakespeare thing. There are those who think (and not just Red Sox and Mets fans) that George is the cause of the lack of balance in the game today. There will always be the haves and have-nots in Major League Baseball, based on money. If we want to blame anyone for ruining baseball with buckets of cash, we can look no further than to George Steinbrenner, the King of Cash, for doing just that.

I guess the way I'll remember him is when he hosted Saturday Night Live. Man, did that take a lot of courage even for a guy with an ego as bloated as his. I will also remember him as he was lampooned in Seinfeld by Larry David, making him seem more cartoonish than Bill Gallo. But the bluster was all in good fun. And maybe that is the nicest way to remember the man who changed the face of baseball forever, even if he left more than a few casualties in his wake.