Will's Actor's Studio

So Robert Redford has died. This blog doesn't want to hear a lot of talk about Redford being a commie. The man was a talented actor, a talented American actor. Redford represented the rugged American, a man on his own. See for example western Jeremiah Johnson, or spy thriller Three Days of the Condor. Redford could also make good unpretentious family dramas like A River Runs through it, or Quiz Show about a game show contestant's rise and fall. Redford was a hell of an actor and movie man. We'll not see his like again. 

Ah, Charlie Sheen. We have not delved into Part 2 of the Charlie Sheen documentary. We're just not ready for all the winning. We have been listening to Sheen's Joe Rogan appearance though. Younger reader(s), try to understand how cool Charlie Sheen was in the late 80s and early 90s. He did serious drama like Platoon and Wall Street, and action movies like Navy Seals. Sheen was in the action comedy Major League (the best baseball movie ever made), and the Jim Abrams' Top Gun parody Hot Shots, which Sheen plays absolutely straight to great comedic effect. 

Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets. Speaking of cheating the Mets, they made two god awful trades in 1989. First they traded Roger McDowell, the team prankster, and Lenny Dykstra, the team hustler, to the Phillies for free swinging outfielder Juan Samuel. Samuel was at one time a dynamic player with speed and power. But in 1989 Samuel was on the downside of his career. The Mets first approached the Phillies about Von Hayes, a left handed hitting outfielder who could hit for power and average and steal some bases. Now McDowell and Dykstra for Hayes and Samuel is defendable. But the Phillies talked Mets' management into Samuel alone. Good thing they weren't on a date.

A few weeks later the Mets unloaded five players for Twins lefty Frank Viola. 

Neither of these moves worked and the Mets finished six games back of the Cubs with a depleted roster and still having no idea what to do with brat Greg Jeffries. Samuel played centerfield but was a second basemen by trade, but Jeffries was there. The Mets stuck Samuel in centerfield. The clubhouse was as divided as ever.