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    Tribute: Joe Morgan gave The Big Red Machine wings to fly

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     By J.D. Crowe | jdcrowe@al.com

    RIP Joe Morgan

    This is an opinion cartoon.

    2020 has hit the Baseball Hall of Fame fraternity hard. We’ve already lost baseball greats Al Kaline, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Whitey Ford this year.

    And now Joe Morgan. I have nothing but love for all these great players. But this one really hurts. The speedy Hall of Famer and two-time NL MVP is one of my favorite players of all time. Without Joe Morgan, there would be no Big Red Machine.

    ‘The best player I ever saw:’ Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Joe Morgan dies at 77

    As a kid growing up in rural Kentucky, three seasons determined if a year was good or bad: Tobacco season, University of Kentucky’s basketball season and the Cincinnati Reds’ MLB season. If we had a bad tobacco crop, that just meant our family of five kids might have to skimp on a few things – like Christmas and store-bought school clothes. But as long as the UK Wildcats and/or the Reds were rolling, all was good as far as I was concerned.

    In the 70′s, I lived and breathed the Reds. I listened to all their games on the radio. When they played late west coast games on a school night, I hid under the covers with the transistor turned down real low, like it was audio porn or something.

    Cincinnati Reds mourn Joe Morgan on Twitter

    Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose led Cincy to the World Series in 1970, only to be defeated by Brooks Robinson and the all-star pitching staff of the Baltimore Orioles. 1971 was an off year for the Reds, with several key players suffering injuries and slumps. They didn’t make the playoffs. Slugging first baseman Lee May and Gold Glove second baseman Tommy Helms pretty much carried the team and were then traded in the off season. To the Houston Astros. For some little feller named Joe Morgan. The Astros also threw in a pitcher and an out-fielder nobody ever heard of. Reds fans were livid. But not for long.

    The minute Joe Morgan put on the Reds uniform in 1972 he transformed the team. With his combination of speed, defense, power, clutch hitting and leadership, Morgan brought electricity to a talented team that seemed stuck in the mud.

    Joe Morgan was like Red Bull. He gave the Big Red Machine wings to fly.

    In the 70s, all was good in my Kentucky holler hood. Our best tobacco crop ever was in 1975, the year Joe won his first NL MVP and the Reds beat the Red Sox in a World Series classic. In ’76, Morgan was again the NL MVP and the Reds swept the Yankees in the World Series. Don’t remember much about the ’76 tobacco crop, but pretty sure we didn’t go to school nekkid. If we did it didn’t matter.

    Excerpts from Cincinnati.com: “Joe wasn’t just the best second baseman in baseball history, he was the best player I ever saw and one of the best people I’ve ever known,” Johnny Bench said. “He was a dedicated father and husband, and a day won’t go by that I won’t think about his wisdom and friendship. He left the world a better, fairer, and more equal place than he found it, and inspired millions along the way.”

    “I remember after my second Most Valuable Player Award, Tony Pérez came in one day, I was feeling pretty good, and he said, ‘I want you to remember this: When you played for Houston, no one even knew who you were. We brought you here and made you a star,’ Morgan said in 1990, smiling. “And you know what, he was right. I say thank you to those guys every day.”

    More words and stuff

    The pitcher in the Astros trade, Jack Billingham, be-came the Reds’ number one starter. The outfielder, Cesar Geronimo, grew into a Gold Glove centerfielder with a Roberto Clemente-esque arm. Nobody with a lick of sense tried to take an extra base on that guy.

    Big Red Machine ‘Great Eight:’ Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, Davey Concepcion, and Cesar Geronimo.

    In a recent Facebook post, I listed Joe Morgan as one of my 10 all-time favorite athletes. Love the guy. He laid it all out on the field as a player. As a sports broadcaster, he laid it all out on the line. Loved his insight and stories from his playing days. Special, inspiring man on the field, in the broadcast booth and in life. Met him once, briefly. He was at a hotel bar with Reds Manager Lou Piniella after a Reds/Padres game in San Diego in 1990. That was the year the Reds went wire-to-wire to sweep the heavily favored Oakland A’s in the World Series. They were talking, I didn’t wanna interrupt. I just did the Goober thing and said, “Hey. Love you, man.”

    Rest in power, Joe Morgan.

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    Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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    This College Chaplain Fills The Pews By Teaching, Not Preaching Lawrence Lockett Jr., Morgan State University chaplain. Credit: Lawrence Lockett Jr. via LinkedIn By REV. DOROTHY S. BOULWARE (Source: Amsterdam News) It’s understandable for parents of strong faith to worry about the spiritual lives of their children who’ve gone away to college. After all, it’s easy for a young person, perhaps on their own for the first time, to suc-cumb to the temptations of partying late on Saturday night and sleeping in on Sunday morning. But Minister Lawrence Lockett Jr., chaplain at Morgan State University in Baltimore, is packing them into the pews most Sundays. He is engaging them in lively ways during the week. And students are joining the choir, accompanying worship on various instruments, and serving as readers and leaders throughout the service. It is by the grace of God for sure, but also by the loving service of Lockett, who’s beginning his second year as the school’s director of chapel. He has grown his flock from the 25 or so students who showed up at his first services to more than 200 each Sunday. Sometimes, it’s standing room only. “We’ve been trying to figure out what to do next because on Easter Sunday we had 342 people, and some were standing in the back,” he said. Word In Black talked to Lockett about the secrets of his success: how his adjustment of Sunday ser-vices got people into the pews, why his philosophy for guiding students on their spiritual journey centers on independent thought, and how his “Spin the Block” initiative is shaking things up on campus. The in-terview has been edited for length and clarity. Word in Black: The first thing we want to know is, how do you get so many young people to chapel every Sunday?. Lawrence Lockett: Well, first of all, I changed the time of service from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. I realized a lot of the students like to sleep in late. It gives them time to do whatever they need to do. I’m sure many of them still like to party hearty over the weekend. So they have a good chance just to kind of refocus, recali-brate, get themselves lunch, and then come over to the chapel for service. When I started in November, maybe 20-25 students came, but now it’s over 200 that come every Sun-day, and it’s pretty cool. So now we’re repositioning ourselves to go after the freshman class this year. If we have the same success as last year, there’s definitely not going to be any room. Word in Black: Tell me about pastoring on a college campus. Lawrence Lockett: Morgan actually started as a biblical institute, so the Christian traditions have al-ways been here. As a pastor or shepherd, I’m walking students through their questions, not always just trying to preach answers to them. It’s about being vulnerable. I tell them I was in their same position, just trying to figure it out. And it’s not me just trying to give them answers. Having been there helps me really walk with them and anchor them in the storm of life that’s going to come. I want them to understand that their soul really matters. A lot of students focus on mental health, but they really need to focus on spiritual health as well. It should be one and the same. So I’ve been trying to preach that, if anything, spiritual health is just as important as your mental health. But we do encour-age the use of the counseling center, for sure, if there is a mental health crisis. WIB: What does Monday through Friday look like for you? LL: Mondays, we are usually off because of Sundays. On Tuesdays, we have Bible studies, so I’ll host a Bible study at noon along with my colleagues that work in the chapel. And then, I’m teaching a class called Hip-hop and the Gospel on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m., dealing with mixing culture and religion. On Wednesdays, we do something called “breath and balance,” which is just a meditative type of pro-gram with breathing exercises as stress relievers. We work with the School of Nutrition Science and the food resource center so that the students get a nice free meal and practice breathing exercises and meth-ods to feel good about the day. For Thursdays, we started something called the mosaic, in which we have different campus ministers gather in small groups, just like a mosaic painting. So the students who come on Sundays then get plugged into small groups on Thursdays. And on Fridays at 1 p.m., we do prayer for Muslims.. We have an imam lecture and then lead in corporate prayer. It’s a good mix. WIB: What is “Spend a Block?” Didn’t you receive an award for it? LL: That started last year. We just basically do services outside: outside the residence halls, in the quad, wherever it may be. Honestly, worship on a college campus looks different than it did 20 or 30 years ago. Students want something real and authentic, something they can gravitate to, and something that’s convenient. So when we’re outside, people are like, “What’s all the noise outside? What’s all the music?” Then they come outside, and there are chairs, so they grab one and sit and enjoy the service. We come to them. They don’t have to come to us. At the very beginning of the semester, we do services outside the four resi-dence halls. And that kind of gives us a steamroll into homecoming week. And we’ve seen a lot of success because of that. WIB: What should I expect when I arrive for Sunday service? LL: You’re gonna see a lot of involvement with students. I’ve learned that students like to feel invested, and they want to participate in what’s going on. They don’t want to be told by adults what they should and shouldn’t do. So when you go to the service, you’ll see our praise team full of students. You’ll see a choir full of students. You’ll see students reading scripture. You’ll see students giving testimonies. And then I’ll come in and give a sermon, or I’ll have a guest friend or a guest preacher come in to do the sermon. But you’re gonna see a lot of student involvement, and I think that also assisted with a lot of the growth be-cause when they see fellow students, they understand they’re just like me, and if they can do it, I can do it. WIB: What about musicians and choir? LL: The musicians are also students. They say, “Hey, I love to play. I wanna use my gifts in some way, shape, or form.” And they’ll ask whether or not there’s a spot for them. And we say absolutely. And there is a chapel choir. Some of the members are also members of the university choir. WIB: What is the “next” you see for the chapel? LL: I want the students to know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. The chapel really is the heartbeat of the campus, and I want students to know more about where faith, hope, and belonging really stem from. 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