DAILY DIRT: Gerry and the Pacemakers…music to snooze by

One of the first .45s I ever purchased was “Girl On A Swing”…. Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 319 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Let’s salute another of the Daily Dirt’s all-time favorite rock bands.

Today we present our favorite songs from one of the top soft-rock groups of the 1960s, Gerry and the Pacemakers.

• 1. “Girl On A Swing” (1966): Like the Beatles, Gerry Marsden and the Pacemakers came from Liverpool. Both groups were managed by the legendary Brian Epstein.
• 2. “Ferry Cross the Mersey” (1964): The group’s sound was called “Merseybeat”.
• 3. “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” (1964): Marsden died in 2021 at age 78 from a blood infection in his heart. None of the original Pacemakers are still living.
• 4. “I Like It” (1963): Gerry and Pacemakers had three No. 1 songs: “How Do You Do It?”, “I Like It” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
• 5. “How Do You Do It?” (1963): This was the band’s breakthrough hit — 59 years ago.

2. The BleacherReport.com website offers all sorts of baseball rankings (my kind of site!).

Here is who it says are the top 10 MLB stars right now:

• 1. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels: This guy will never receive the credit he deserves, mostly because od the disastrous teams ownership has put in place around him.
• 2. Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals: He can hit. He can field. And he plays with a fire missing in many of today’s alleged stars.
• 3. Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians: An incredible talent who may have one a couple of MVP awards by now if he had played in a major market.
• 4. Max Scherzer, New York Mets: The epitome of a big-game pitcher. Just give him the ball.
• 5. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres: He always seems to carry a chip on his shoulder, but if the Padres are ever going to get past the Dodgers they will need Man-oh-man-oh- Manny to lead the way.
• 6. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels: This is the player who should probably be at the top of this list. A top-flight pitcher AND hitter. How can he not be No. 1?
• 7. Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies: Is it just me, or does it seem like Harper should be about 40 years old? He’s been around forever. (He’s 29, by the way.)
• 8. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays: This is the future of MLB power baseball. At some point, he’s going to hit 60 home runs.
• 9. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: And Judge might hit 70, depending on which team he signs with in the offseason.
• 10. Juan Soto, Washington Nationals: Either the Nationals have to figure out a rebuild, or trade Soto to a contender so his talent is not wasted over the next decade in this sad-sack operation.

3. Some more words of wisdom from the dry wit of Steven Wright:

• “Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.”
• “I intend to live forever – so far, so good.”
• “I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. So I said, “Got any shoes you’re not using?”
• “Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.”
• “Borrow money from pessimists. They don’t expect it back.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Steve says always watch out for those jet engines.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. I wonder how many of the Pacemakers now have pacemakers?