And Then There Were Four


For the first time in years, I don’t have a team in the MLB post-season.

My beloved Rangers won their first World Series last year but they didn’t even make the playoffs this year.  I wasn’t happy about having to support the Astros but, since they were the only Texas team left, I cheered for them until they were eliminated in the Wild Card.

With the League Championships starting later today, there are four teams left.  Playing in the ALCS will be the Yankees and the Indians Guardians.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers and the Mets will be competing for the National League Championship and the right to move on to the World Series.

I’ve given it a lot of thought and, out of those four, I’ll be cheering for the Guardians.  I thought it was a largely performative and dumb move for Cleveland to change their team’s name but, of all four teams left, the Indians-turned-Guardians have gone the longest without a World Series win.  The last time Cleveland won the World Series was in 1948!  For Cleveland to finally win another World Series after a 76-year draught would be a great baseball story.  Who knows?  If the Guardians win, maybe it will cause all the other teams that have struggled to make it to or win the post-season to change their names too.

Good luck to all four teams in the Championship Series!

Go Guardians!

The Covers of Science Fiction Adventures


In the 1950s, there was actually two magazines called Science Fiction Adventures.  Neither one of them ran for very long.  The first Science Fiction Adventures lasted for two years, from 1952 to 1954 and it was canceled due to low sales.  The name was then used for another magazine, that ran from 1956 to 1958 and which was also canceled for low sales.  After the second cancellation, publishers got the hint and didn’t use the name again.

Below is a handful of covers from both versions of Science Fiction Adventures.

November, 1952, by H.R. Van Dongen

March, 1954. By Mel Hunter

December, 1956. By Edmumd Emshwiller

August, 1957. By Robert V. Engle

September, 1957. By Edmund Emshwiller

December, 1957. By Edmund Emshwiller

January, 1958. By John Schoenherr

April, 1958. By Edmund Emshwiller