Joel Willie: Liberian Scam Artist? NO!

I just saw this on CBS-TV's 'Sunday Morning'. An especially heartening, life-affirming story!

See the whole story here!

Joel Horlen, pitcher

Joel Edward Horlen is a right-handed former Major League Baseball pitcher. Horlen pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1961 to 1971, and the Oakland Athletics in 1972.

In his career, Horlen won 116 games against 117 losses, with a 3.11 earned run average and 1,065 strikeouts in 2,002 innings pitched.

He is the only baseball player to play for teams that won a Pony League World Series (1952), a College World Series (Oklahoma State-1959), and a Major League World Series (Oakland-1972).

College

Horlen was a star pitcher at Oklahoma State University. He was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America second team, as he helped lead Oklahoma State to the College World Series in 1959.

Major league career

Chicago White Sox (1961-71)

Horlen was signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1959.

He made his Major League debut against the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a September 4, 1961 doubleheader. He won the game in relief while wearing a numberless uniform —- as the only available road uniform did not have a number.

Horlen pitched as a spot starter in his first two full seasons with the White Sox.

In 1964 he earned a spot in the starting rotation, posting a 13-9 record and setting career bests in earned run average (1.88; 2nd in the American League only to Dean Chance's 1.65) and strikeouts (138). He also led the majors by allowing only 6.07 hits per 9 innings, bettering Sandy Koufax's National League-leading 6.22. In the next 42 years, only 8 right-handed pitchers bettered that ratio in a season. He also led the AL in Walks + Hits per IP (WHIP) (.935).

That year his White Sox battled the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles for the pennant, but finished second, one game behind the Yankees and one game ahead of the Orioles.

In 1965 he was 2nd in the league in shutouts (4), and was 3rd in walks/9 IP (1.60). In 1966 he led the league in wild pitches (14), was 6th in hit batsmen (6), and was 2nd in ERA (2.43).

Horlen’s best season was in 1967; he finished 19-7 and led American League pitchers with a 2.06 ERA and 6 shutouts, was 2nd in W-L percentage (.731), 4th in wins, complete games (13), and walks/9 IP (2.02), and 7th in innings pitched (258). He also led the AL in Walks + Hits per IP (WHIP) (.953). He was named to the American League All-Star team for the only time in his career, but did not pitch in the game. The highlight of Horlen’s season was a clutch performance on September 10 as the White Sox were involved in a four-way pennant race with the Twins, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers; he no-hit the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park. The no-hitter was one of eight thrown by a Jewish pitcher, and the only one by a Jewish right-hander, in a decade spanning from 1962 through 1971. The others: Bo Belinsky - 1962; Sandy Koufax - 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965; and Ken Holtzman - 1969 and 1971. Not until Mark Buehrle in 2007 would another no-hitter be pitched by a White Sox in a White Sox home game.

Horlen recorded victories in his next three starts, the next one coming five days later against the Twins. However, on September 27, which would be known by White Sox fans as “Black Wednesday,” the lowly Kansas City Athletics swept a doubleheader from the White Sox and effectively eliminated Eddie Stanky's "Hitless Wonders" (as the team was known because no regular batted above .250) from pennant contention. Horlen lost the second game, with 21-year-old Catfish Hunter shutting out the White Sox 4-0. On an interesting note, the two games were the last played by the Athletics in Kansas City; they would move to Oakland for the start of the 1968 season. The White Sox finished fourth, three games behind the Red Sox who, after finishing next to last in 1966, won the pennant on the final day, finishing one game ahead of the Twins and Tigers.

Horlen finished runner-up to Jim Lonborg, the star of the Red Sox staff, in the American League Cy Young Award balloting, and 4th in MVP voting.

In 1968 he led the AL in hit batsmen (14). In 1970 he was 5th in walks/9 IP (2.14).

In spring training of 1972, two weeks after voting unanimously in favor of a strike, the White Sox released Horlen, who had been the Sox’ player representative.

Oakland Athletics (1972)

He later signed with Oakland, and pitched mostly in relief as the Athletics won the World Series — the first in franchise history since 1930.

After the major leagues

In 1989, Horlen played for the St. Lucie Legends of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion or comment by the Blogger may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.

Joel Dondis- chef, caterer, owner joels.com website

Joel began his culinary sojourn at the age of eleven, serving classic French cuisine to his family and friends in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Many years later after attending and graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, in New York, Joel traveled Europe to expand his knowledge of the culinary arts, fine dining and perfect service. He worked at the Schloss Hotel and Restaurant Gargantua, both of which are Michellin Rated establishments in Frankfurt, Germany.




Upon his return to the United States Joel worked for the Brennan family in their restaurant Mr. B's. Next stop, Emeril's (for three years) where he eventually earned the responsibility and title of Sous Chef. Since his departure from the world-renowned Emeril's Restaurant, Joel has been quite successful in bringing the elements of fine dining and service to the catering and event-planning arena. A business he built from the kitchen of a small gourmet sandwich shop, not far from the Big Easy, has grown to offer full-service catering needs for social clients as well as corporate clients the likes of Eastman Kodak, American Express, CBS Eyemark, J.P. Morgan and a host of many others. Joel has traveled to the Bahamas, Florida, Washington DC, and New York City to cater some noted high-profile events. Joel was requested to train Princess Margaret's chef in the Lower Grenadines and he also catered a backstage bash for the Eagles in the New Orleans Superdome.

Joel's philanthropic contributions favor the arts, children, music and education. Joel's latest feather in his cap is the marketing success of his now famous White Chocolate Pecan Pie. The pie was featured in the pages of InStyle Magazine as a "Top 100 Gourmet Food Gift" and appeared on the NBC Today Show during a "Holiday Gift Giving" segment. As Joel continues to grow his business, the niche he fills places him at the top of his craft.

-from the www.joels.com website



Joel Stein, Woidsmythe

Joel Stein is desperate for attention. He grew up in Edison, N.J., went to Stanford and then worked for Martha Stewart for a year. After a year of fact-checking at various important publications (okay, Readers Digest Books and TV Guide), he got hired as a sports editor at Time Out New York, where they paid him to write sentences. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world.

But the luck was just beginning.

Two years later he lucked into a job as a staff writer for Time magazine, where over seven and a half years he wrote a dozen cover stories on subjects such as Michael Jordan, Las Vegas, the Internet bubble and — it being Time and he being a warm body in the office — low-carb diets.

Being desperate for attention, he has appeared on any TV show that asks him: VH1's "I Love the Decade You Tell Me I Love," HBO's "Phoning It In," Comedy Central's "Reel Comedy" and E! Entertainment's "101 Hottest Hot Hotties' Hotness." This, to his surprise, is the only thing anyone knows him for. But he’ll take it any way he can.

After teaching a class in humor writing at Princeton, he moved to L.A. at the beginning of 2005 to write a column for the Los Angeles Times and work as a sitcom writer. In addition to working for the failed show Crumbs, he has already had two failed pilots at ABC and hopes to expand into failed pilots at other networks.

He still contributes to Time and whatever magazines allow him to. Did he mention that he taught at Princeton? The University?

And, yes, he’s married. To a woman. Shut up.

For an unbiased view, you can go to wikipedia. Warning: It isn’t all nice. But it’s accurate, except the part about my first boss, Martha Stewart, firing me twice in one day. She doesn’t have time for two firings. The woman has jellies to jar.

Bio written by Joel Stein; used with his permission. He also has his very own theme song at http://thejoelstein.com/thejoelstein.com/Theme%20Song.html!







Joel Brodsky, rock photographer

Joel Brodsky was one of the most important and prolific photographers of album cover art during the classic rock era. His photos adorn LP covers by the Doors, Van Morrison, Kiss, Tom Waits, Eric Anderson, Otis Spann, Isaac Hayes, The Ohio Players, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Funkadelic, Salsoul Orchestra, Joan Baez, Harry Chapin, Judy Collins,The Box Tops, Country Joe & the Fish, the Stooges and the MC5. His many photos of Jim Morrison and the Doors merit special attention.

Joel Brodsky was born on October 7, 1939 and first developed an interest in photography at a young age. After graduating Syracuse University and a stint in the Army, he set up a studioin NYC in 1966. One of his fiest gigs was Eric Anderson's second LP cover, 'Bout changes n Things. Anderson's record label, Vanguard, used him a lot after that.



When Elektra records signed the Doors, they turned to Brodsky to shoot photos for their first LP. The cover was good, but his black & white photos of a young, drunken, shirtless Jim Morrison were great. Even (and perhaps especially) after Morrison's death in 1971, the "Young Lion" session photos became the core of poster, t-shirt and other merchandising. From that first lp, through the interestingly Fellini-esque cover of Strange Days and onwards, almost every Doors album is graced with his work.



Somehow, Brodsky had a knack for conveying the essence of an artist or group. Take a look at the sexy Ohio Players covers. Consider the power of Isaac Hayes. And Brodsky's covers for the Stooges and MC5 in 1969 conveyed the raw power of the new punk movement.



In the 1980's Brodsky picked up some pretty major corporate clients outside the music industry. He directed commercials and did print ads for DuPont, Avon, Revlon & Bloomingdale's. He died of a sudden heart attack on March 1, 2007; age 67.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.



Joel Barlow, American poet, politician

Joel Barlow was an American poet and politician, born in Redding, Fairfield county, Connecticut, on the 24th of March 1754. He graduated at Yale in 1778, was a post-graduate student there for and from September 1780 until the close of the revolutionary war was chaplain in a Massachusetts brigade. He then, in 1783, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, established there in July 1784 a weekly paper, the American Mercury, with which he was connected for a year, and in 1786 was admitted to the bar.

At Hartford he was a member of a group of young writers including Lemuel Hopkins, David Humphreys, and John Trumbull, known in American literary history as the “Hartford Wits.” He contributed to the Anarchiad, a series of satirico—political papers, and in 1787 published a long and ambitious poem, The Vision of Columbus, which gave him a considerable literary reputation and was once much read.

In 1788 he went to France as the agent of the Scioto Land Company, his object being to sell lands and enlist immigrants. He seems to have been ignorant of the fraudulent character of the company, which failed disastrously in 1790. He had previously, however, induced the company of Frenchmen, who ultimately founded Gallipolis, Ohio, to emigrate to America. In Paris he became a liberal in religion and an advanced republican in politics. He remained abroad for several years, spending much of his time in London; was a member of the “London Society for Constitutional Information “; published various radical essays, including a volume entitled Advice to the Privileged Orders (1792), which was proscribed by the British government; and was made a citizen of France in 1792.

He was American consul at Algiers in 1795—1797, securing the release of American prisoners held for ransom, and negotiating a treaty with Tripoli (1796). He returned to America in 1805,and lived near Washington, D.C., until 1811, when he became American plenipotentiary to France, charged with negotiating a commercial treaty with Napoleon, and with securing the restitution of confiscated American property or indemnity therefor. He was summoned for an interview with Napoleon at Wilna, but failed to see the emperor there; became involved in the retreat of the French army; and, overcome by exposure, died at the Polish village of Zarnowiec on the 24th of December 1812.

In 1807 he had published in a sumptuous volume the Columbiad, an enlarged edition of his Vision of Columbus, more pompous even than the original; but, though it added to his reputation in some quarters, on the whole it was not well received, and it has subsequently been much ridiculed. The poem for which he is now best known is his mock heroic Hasty Pudding (1793). Besides the writings mentioned above, he published Conspiracy of Kings, a Poem addressed to the Inhabitants of Europe from another Quarter of the Globe (1792); View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expenditure of the United States (1800); and the Political Writings of Joel Barlow (2nd ed., 1796).

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.



Karl Amson Joel, Billy Joel's grandfather

Karl Amson Joel was born in 1889 in Colberg, Germany, about 40 miles west of Nuremberg. He expanded upon his father's textile trade, becoming both a manufacturer and retailer of textiles and clothing. In 1928 he founded a mail order business in Nuremberg, which quickly rose to become one of the three foremost mail order textile firms in Germany.

After the rise of Nazism in the early 1930's, Joel found it increasingly difficult to conduct business. As a highly visible and succesful Jew, he was targeted for all manner of discrimination. Like so many others, he was eventually forced to sell his business to a non-Jew, Josef Neckermann, at an extremely low price.

He was fortunate enough to be able to escape to Switzerland with his wife and son in 1938. Not surprisingly, he was unable to access the proceeds of his business sale, which were supposedly in a trust account in Germany.

The family wanted to find a place they could call home, moving to France, then to England, then to Cuba, and at last reaching the United States in 1942. Joel established a small hair ribbon business in the Bronx.

In 1957 Joel got two million German Marks compensation from the Neckermann family; the equivalent of roughly $500,000. A very tidy sum in 1957, but not nearly what the company had been worth at the time of its "Aryanization".

Karl Amson Joel returned to Nuremberg in 1964, and remained until his death in 1982 at the age of 92.

Note: Some of the bio's and/or photos in The Book of Joels are paraphrased or taken verbatim from Wikipedia citations. According to Wikipedia guidelines, such use is permissable so long as appropriate attribution is given. Please construe this notice as appropriate attribution. Any content derived from Wikipedia may be copied and used by any other party, my own copyright on the entire work notwithstanding. Anyone who has legitimate legal reason to object to any insertion may notify me. Anyone whose bio is included may submit an alternative bio.