Laine Hits Dead End

Or
End of the Road for Laine

Or
End of the Laine
Frankie Laine, one of the most popular singers of the 1950s and the best Frankie Laine-type voice of the 1970s, has died of heart failure at the age of 93. In the days before rock and roll, Laine was a fixture on the Top 10 charts, selling more than 100 million records and earning more than 20 gold records with highlights including “That’s My Desire,” “Mule Train,” “Jezebel,” “I Believe” and “That Lucky Old Sun.” Laine also carved a niche for himself signing title songs on westerns: "Gunfight At the OK Corral," "3:10 To Yuma," "Bullwhip" and, before Elwood and Joliet Jake, his was the definitive version of the theme song to Rawhide. Based on that success, Mel Brooks advertised that he was looking for a Frankie Laine-type voice for the title song of Blazing Saddles. Two days later, Laine was in Brooks’ office belting it out. Brooks didn’t have the heart to tell him it was a parody and was embarrassed by how much heart Laine put into the song. Laine’s treatment added an authentic Western flavor and helped score a Best Song Oscar nomination. Also along the way, this son of Al Capone’s barber saved Perry Como’s son from drowning and lost a dance marathon because his partner, Anita O’Day, was only 14.

Last year’s champ Paul knew Laine had no reason to go there, but expected him to take that train anyway and scores his first hit of the year, a solo shot to jump his Bunch of Stiffs into a 9th place tie.

Overall, the 13th hit of the year keeps up the frenetic flurry that is 6 weeks ahead of last year and has us on pace for 70 hits.

Ill-waukee Brave
Lew Burdette, who went 3-3 for the 1965 Philadelphia Phillies, has died of lung cancer at the age of 80. He’s better known for his MVP performance against the New York Yankees in 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves won their only world championship with Burdette winning 3 games, allowing 2 runs in 3 complete games. In the rematch the following year, Burdette had the chance to win the clincher in Game 5 and Game 7 but lost both. In 1959, Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings in a game against the Braves, but Burdette matched him shutout inning for shutout inning, winning in the 13th when Haddix finally proved mortal. For his career, Burdette went 203-144, including a 1960 no-hitter against the Phillies .