Friday, 25 July 2014

Father-son chefs prepare meals for seniors in home


Like many of the best business ideas, the one behind Chefs for Seniors came from the personal experience of Barrett and Nathan Allman, the company's father-son founders from Sun Prairie.


Chefs for Seniors, a first-of-its-kind grocery shopping and in-home meal preparation service exclusively for senior citizens in the Madison area, will finish its first year of serving clients in August.


Aimed at helping older people live longer on their own, the business started as a winning entry put together by Nathan Allman, now 21, in last year's Burrill Business Plan Competition at UW-Madison, the venerable annual contest recognizing outstanding student entrepreneurship across campus.


But Nathan, who has one semester left to earn a double major in finance and marketing, had been thinking about the idea that would drive the new business longer than that — ever since he and other relatives noticed about six years ago that his great-grandmother, Virginia McIlwain, wasn't eating enough.


Living alone in her home in Rockford, Illinois, she was forced at age 85 to make a change after it became clear she could no longer cook for herself.


"She went kicking and screaming into an assisted living facility," Nathan Allman recalled. "She had been living in her home for 60 years and had kids scattered all over. We looked around at different resources (to get help with meals) and there really wasn't anything good."


"Senior nutrition is a big issue and often an overlooked issue," he added, "and it's one that I hope our company can shed some light on and help solve."


"We wondered why there was not a service available that would prepare customized, nutritious meals for seniors in their homes," agreed Barrett Allman, 46, a professional chef and restaurant owner for the past 14 years who most recently operated a cafe in Monroe.


Channeling their frustration over needed senior services into a new business endeavor — while doing something they both found enjoyable — made sense for the Allmans as a family. But it also was a savvy business decision to target older customers, based on demographic studies for the U.S. population.


The huge baby boom generation, born between 1946 and 1964, are reshaping the face of housing, health, consumer and other services to an unprecedented degree — promising both outsized need and business opportunities.


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At the same time, one thing that hasn't changed is the importance of eating well. Eating enough and eating nutritiously are as vital for seniors as they are for anyone else, even as the realities of growing older seem to conspire against it happening.


Betty Abramson, deputy director of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, has seen the grim downward spiral that can occur with food issues.


"For a lot of older adults, the nutrition of their food, and therefore their health, declines enormously as they age," she said, "either because of arthritis or some other condition that prevents them from cooking the way they used to, or from getting out to get the groceries, and, most important, because of eating alone, for some people. Particularly older men, after their spouse dies and they don't have anybody to eat with or cook for — it gets really lonely and they don't eat well or at regular times anymore."


"They don't like eating without somebody," agreed Michelle Neeb, who runs a personal services business for seniors in the Madison area that includes meal preparation for some clients. Neeb sits down and shares some of the meals she makes for clients.


"I primarily focus on their nutritional needs, but sometimes they want that companionship, so we'll sit together then and eat a meal I make," Neeb said. "I think there is an extreme need out there for people to spend more time with the aging population."


Carving out time to socialize with clients during business visits to their homes is easy to do for Barrett Allman, who closed his Monroe cafe at the end of 2012 to work full time with his son starting last year.


"I always found that my favorite customers in my restaurants were the seniors," he said. "I'm just one of those people that really enjoys listening to a senior talk about their memories. I literally can do it all day long."


"A lot of people stand in their kitchens and tell us what we're doing wrong," Nathan added. "We love that. It's really a two-way street. The service is at its best when our clients are opinionated and there's give and take."


At a recent appointment in the home of Sharon Hanson, a Verona client, the Allmans spent more than an hour making a variety of dishes, including salmon cakes, pork tenderloin with apples and thyme, a Mediterranean-style pasta dish and pumpkin pancakes.


While they cooked, Hanson watched and casually joked and chatted with Barrett, whom she's known for many months. She wasn't shy about grading him on his entrees, either, at one point noting she didn't like the gravy and biscuits that he made last time but did like the banana nut pancakes and wanted more of those.


"It's always kind of a surprise when I open the fridge and see what he's made," said Hanson, who first hired the company to make meals for her in January, after a total knee replacement at the end of December left her unable to shop or do much cooking of her own.


Unlike many other clients, Hanson still works a full-time job, in addition to being a resident manager at the Verona senior apartment building where she lives.


"It was very nice," she said. "All I had to do was take care of myself. Now it's a nice convenience. I just pop the food in the microwave. I know how important it is, too — for the hours I work, I have to eat properly."


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Chefs for Seniors now boasts 34 clients, with five chefs hired for the operation in addition to Nathan and Barrett Allman, who each still see a handful of clients. They hope to expand into Rockford by the end of the year.


The Allmans said they begin their service by taking an inventory of a new client's kitchen and then meeting with them to learn about special dietary needs they may have, as well as personal likes and dislikes. Some clients prefer their own recipes, while others are more open to trying new dishes.


The Allmans charge an hourly rate of $30 for the time they're in a home cooking, and a flat $15 fee for grocery shopping.


One cost-saving technique they use is making several meals from one main ingredient. For example, cooking a whole rotisserie chicken and dividing it up to make a stir fry, chicken salad and a pasta dish with chicken and fresh vegetables. Or using lean ground beef to make a meatloaf, meatballs with marinara sauce and a shepherd's pie.


"It saves time and money, and it's important that there is no unused product that would have to be stored," Barrett Allmann said. "It also gives the chef an opportunity to introduce new ideas and be creative."


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It typically takes a couple of hours to prepare meals for a week or two for most clients, the Allmans said, adding that they can work within most seniors' budget by varying the number and frequency of meals.


Like most professional chef companies, the service includes chefs putting prepared food into reheatable containers, labeling them and storing them in the refrigerator. The chefs also use their own cooking equipment and clean up after themselves before they leave, the Allmans said.


Nathan Allman's business plan for the company took fourth place in the Burrill contest, winning the pair $1,000 for start-up costs. Those have been minimal, they said, because they don't have to rent a storefront or pay outside utilities, running the business from the family home and cooking in clients' homes.


It has also gone smoothly because Nathan Allman, who will spend his last semester this fall earning an environmental studies certificate, devoted time to figuring out how the company could be best operated for the business plan contest, said John Surdyk, a faculty associate at UW-Madison who runs the contest.


"What really stood out (about Nathan's plan) is that he had clearly been thinking about this long enough to answer the important questions of what it would take to deliver the service effectively and cheaply," he said.


Barrett Allman also credited his son's work on the plan for the company's success, noting he's found it "incredibly rewarding" to blend his own years of practical experience in food preparation with his son's knowledge of the latest business management trends and techniques through his education at UW-Madison.


"The fact that (Nathan's) idea is meeting a need is what makes it such a good idea," Barrett Allman said. "It changes lives. It's a business that solves a problem."


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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://bit.ly/1h0h8BG


This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Wisconsin State Journal



This Date In Baseball


July 27


1918 — Brooklyn rookie Henry Heitman completed one of the shortest careers in major league history. Heitman appeared on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals, gave up four consecutive hits and then left the game, never to play a major league game again.


1930 — Ken Ash of Cincinnati got his last major league victory by throwing one pitch. Ash came into relieve in the fifth inning and got Chicago's Charlie Grimm to hit into a triple play. Ash was removed for a pinch hitter and the Reds beat the Cubs 6-5.


1946 — Rudy York of Boston hit two grand slams and drove in 10 runs as the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 13-6.


1950 — Del Ennis of the Philadelphia Phillies drove in seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings of a 13-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Ennis doubled with the bases loaded in the seventh and hit a grand slam in the eighth.


1959 — New York lawyer William Shea announced the formation of the Continental League. New York, Houston, Toronto, Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul were the five cities named and Branch Rickey was named league president.


1978 — Duane Kuiper of Cleveland tied a major league record by becoming the third player in the 20th century to hit two triples in a game, Both came with the bases loaded as the Indians beat the New York Yankees 17-5.


1984 — Montreal's Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb for the most singles in a career with No. 3,053, against the Philadelphia Phillies.


1986 — Two 300-game winners faced each other as Don Sutton hurled six strong innings to outpitch Tom Seaver and give the California Angels a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.


1996 — The San Diego Padres pounded the Florida Marlins, 20-12. Wally Joyner led the way with five RBIs, while John Flaherty hit a grand slam. The Padres were the sixth club to score 20 runs in a game this season. The last time that happened was 1929.


2008 — Oakland reliever Brad Ziegler recorded six outs to set a major league record with 27 scoreless innings to begin his career. Ziegler broke the previous mark of 25 innings set by Philadelphia Phillies right-hander George McQuillan in 1907.


2009 — Washington's Josh Willingham became the 13th player to hit two grand slams in a game, achieving the feat in the Nationals' 14-6 win at Milwaukee. Willingham's eight RBIs were the most in Nationals history and tied the franchise mark.


2009 — Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate for the New York Yankees in an 11-4 win over Tampa Bay.


2011 — Major League Baseball acknowledged umpire Jerry Meals made the wrong call in Atlanta's 4-3, 19th-inning win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates filed a formal complaint hours after the longest game in team history, and MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre said it appeared Meals got the call wrong.


2011 — Ervin Santana pitched the first solo no-hitter for the Angels in nearly 27 years, striking out 10 and leading Los Angeles over Cleveland 3-1. Santana allowed two runners — an error on the leadoff batter that resulted in a first-inning run and a walk in the eighth. It was the Angels' first complete-game no-hitter since Mike Witt's perfect game on Sept. 30, 1984, against Texas. Mark Langston (7 innings) and Witt (2 innings) combined to hold Seattle hitless on April 11, 1990.


2011 — Seattle snapped its 17-game losing streak as Ichiro Suzuki and rookie Dustin Ackley led a 17-hit attack in a 9-2 win over the New York Yankees. It was the longest skid in the major leagues since Kansas City lost 19 in 2005.


2011 — The Tampa Bay Rays broke one of baseball's oldest records when they played their 705th consecutive game with a starting pitcher younger than 30 years old. The Rays lost to Oakland 13-4.


2013 — Tampa Bay Rays rookie Chris Archer helped American League teams pitch a trio of 1-0 games, the first time that's happened on the same day in nearly a half-century. The last time three AL games ended 1-0 on the same day was Sept. 4, 1965. Archer and Tampa Bay edged New York at Yankee Stadium, Justin Masterson and the Cleveland bullpen blanked Texas and Wade Davis and Royals relievers shut out the Chicago White Sox by the same 1-0 score.


Today's birthdays: Ryan Flaherty 28; Max Scherzer 30; Alex Rodriguez 39.


July 28


1931 — Bob Fothergill of Chicago hit a home run and a triple in an 11-run eighth inning. The White Sox set an American League record by recording 12 hits in the inning and beat the New York Yankees 14-12.


1940 — King Kong Keller hit three homers to give the New York Yankees a 10-9 win over Chicago in the first game of a doubleheader split.


1951 — Clyde Vollmer of Boston hit a grand slam in the 16th inning, the latest ever hit in a major league game. The Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4, in 16.


1958 — For the sixth time in his career, Mickey Mantle hit home runs from both sides of the plate. New York beat the Athletics 14-7.


1971 — Sixteen-time Gold Glove winner Brooks Robinson committed three errors in the sixth inning against the Oakland A's. Frank Robinson's three-run homer in the ninth won the game for the Orioles.


1976 — John Odom (five innings) and Francisco Barrios (four innings) combined on a no-hitter as the Chicago White Sox beat Oakland 2-1.


1979 — Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hit three home runs in a game for the second time in the season and became the sixth player in major league history to accomplish the feat. Kingman's homers weren't enough as the Cubs lost to the New York Mets 6-4.


1983 — AL president Lee McPhail ruled that George Brett's "pine tar" home run against New York on July 24 should count. The umpires had disallowed the homer because the pine tar on Brett's bat exceeded the 18-inch limit. The rest of the game was played Aug. 18 with the Kansas City Royals beating the Yankees, 5-4.


1990 — Shawon Dunston tied a major league record with three triples and led the Chicago Cubs to a 10-7 win over the Montreal Expos.


1991 — Dennis Martinez pitched a perfect game as the Montreal Expos beat Los Angeles 2-0 at Dodger Stadium.


1993 — Ken Griffey Jr. tied a major league record by homering in his eighth consecutive game, but it wasn't enough for the Seattle Mariners in a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins.


1994 — On the night the baseball players set an Aug. 12 strike date, Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched a perfect game for a 4-0 victory over California.


1999 — For the first in 12 years, the U.S. baseball team beat the world champion Cubans, scoring five runs in the ninth inning for a 10-5 victory at the Pan American Games. Marcus Jensen's three-run homer broke a 5-5 tie.


2001 — Vinny Castilla hit three homers and drove in five runs, but Houston still lost 9-8 to Pittsburgh. Down 8-2 with two outs in the ninth inning, the Pirates scored seven runs, including Brian Giles' game-winning grand slam.


2004 — Troy Percival recorded his 300th save after John Lackey allowed three hits over 8 1-3 innings to help Anaheim beat Texas 2-0.


2006 — Houston rookie Luke Scott hit for the cycle and drove in five runs, but the Astros lost to Arizona 8-7.


2009 — Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle set a major league record by retiring 45 straight batters. Coming off a perfect game in his last start against Tampa Bay, Buehrle retired the first 17 Twins batters to surpass the record of 41 straight set by and San Francisco's Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007. The streak ended with two outs in the sixth and Minnesota went on to win 5-3.


July 29


1908 — Rube Waddell struck out 16 as the St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia A's 5-4.


1911 — Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns with a 5-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader. Wood fanned 12 and allowed three baserunners on two walks and a hit batsman.


1915 — Honus Wagner, 41, became the oldest player to hit a grand slam as Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn 8-2. The grand slam was an inside-the-park homer. Wagner remained the record holder until 1985, when Tony Perez hit one the day before his 43rd birthday.


1928 — The Cleveland Indians scored eight runs in the first inning and nine more in the second and went on to beat the New York Yankees 24-6 at Dunn Field. Johnny Hodapp singled twice in the second and sixth innings.


1936 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 22-7, in the first game of a doubleheader, then lost the second game 5-4.


1955 — Smoky Burgess of the Cincinnati Reds hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in a 16-5 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field.


1968 — George Culver of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a 6-1 no-hitter against the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader at Philadelphia.


1983 — Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres ended his NL record of 1,207 consecutive games. The streak ended when he dislocated his thumb in a collision with Atlanta pitcher Pascual Perez while trying to score.


2000 — Eddie Taubensee hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth and homered again in the 11th to lead Cincinnati to a 4-3 win over Montreal.


2001 — Craig Monroe homered in his first major league at-bat as the Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-0.


2003 — Boston's Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.


2006 — Tomas Perez tied a major league record with four doubles, going 5-for-5 and leading the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to a 19-6 rout of the New York Yankees.


2010 — Anibal Sanchez pitched a one-hitter in the Florida Marlins' 5-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Sanchez retired his first 13 batters and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts.


Today's birthdays: Chad Billingsley 30; Mike Adams 36.


July 30


1870 — Monmouth Park, in Long Branch, N.J., opened with a five day race meet.


1917 — Ty Cobb Bobby Veach and Ossie Vitt, each went 5-for-5 in Detroit's 16-4 win over Washington.


1933 — Dizzy Dean struck out 17 Cubs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat Chicago 8-2.


1947 — The New York Giants beat Ewell Blackwell and the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 in 10 innings, ending Blackwell's 16-game winning streak.


1959 — Willie McCovey had four hits in four at-bats in his major league debut, with the San Francisco Giants. His hits included two triples in a 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.


1968 — Washington shortstop Ron Hansen pulled off an unassisted triple play, but the Cleveland Indians still won the game 10-1.


1973 — Jim Bibby of the Texas Rangers pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Oakland A's.


1980 — Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard had a stroke during a workout at the Astrodome and underwent surgery to remove a blood clot behind his right collarbone.


1982 — The Atlanta Braves returned Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee to left field after losing 19 of 21 games and blowing a 10½-game lead. The teepee was removed for more seats. The team recovered to regain first place.


1990 — George Steinbrenner was forced to resign as general partner of the New York Yankees by baseball commissioner Fay Vincent.


2003 — Chicago White Sox shortstop Jose Valentin hit three home runs by the fifth inning in a 15-4 win over Kansas City. It was the second three-homer game of his career, and the third time he has homered from both sides of the plate.


2005 — Jonny Gomes had the first three-homer game in Tampa Bay franchise history in a 7-3 victory over Kansas City.


2006 — New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran tied a major league record with his third grand slam this month in a 9-6 victory over Atlanta. Beltran became the ninth player in major league history to hit three grand slams in a calendar month.


2008 — Kelly Shoppach of Cleveland tied a major league record with five extra-base hits, including a game-tying homer in the ninth, but Detroit beat the Indians 14-12 in 13 innings. Shoppach had two homers and three doubles.


2010 — Carlos Gonzalez, Ian Stewart and Dexter Fowler homered and Colorado used a record-setting 12-run eighth inning to a 17-2 rout of the Chicago Cubs. Gonzalez had four hits, two in the eighth when the Rockies set a major league record with 11 straight hits in the inning. The Rockies had 13 hits in the inning, a franchise record. The Rockies batted around twice in the inning against relievers Sean Marshall, Andrew Cashman and Brian Schlitter.


2011 — The New York Yankees broke loose for 12 runs in the first inning of the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader, setting a franchise record en route to a 17-3 rout of Baltimore.


2012 — Kendrys Morales homered from both sides of the plate during a nine-run sixth inning, capping the burst with a grand slam that sent the Los Angeles Angels romping past the Texas Rangers 15-8. Morales became the third switch-hitter in major league history to homer as a lefty and righty in the same inning. Carlos Baerga did it for Cleveland in 1993 and Mark Bellhorn of the Chicago Cubs duplicated the feat in 2002.


July 31


1930 — Lou Gehrig drove in eight runs with a grand slam and two doubles as the New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 14-13.


1932 — Cleveland's Municipal Stadium opened and Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A's beat the Indians 1-0 before 76,979 fans.


1934 — The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 in 18 innings at Cincinnati as Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas both went the distance.


1954 — Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Adcock's 18 total bases set a major league record at the time. Adcock homered in the second inning off Don Newcombe, doubled in the third and homered in the fifth off Erv Palica. He connected off Pete Wojey in the seventh and off Johnny Podres in the ninth. Adcock saw only seven pitches and his double off the left-center field fence just missed going out by inches.


1961 — The All-Star game ended in a 1-1 tie at Fenway Park as heavy rain halted play.


1981 — The second baseball strike ended after 42 days.


1990 — Nolan Ryan, 43, won his 300th game, reaching the milestone in his second try, as the Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.


2002 — Mike Mussina became the second pitcher in major league history to give up six doubles in one inning, during the New York Yankees' 17-6 loss to Texas. Hall of Famer Lefty Grove allowed that many with Boston in 1934 against Washington.


2003 — John Smoltz broke his own record as the fastest pitcher to record 40 saves by pitching a scoreless ninth in Atlanta's 7-4 win over Houston. Last year, he got his 40th save on Aug. 8, en route to breaking the NL record with 55.


2006 — Orlando Hudson hit home runs from both sides of the plate, including his first career grand slam, as Arizona beat the Chicago Cubs 15-4.


2007 — The New York Yankees tied a franchise record by hitting eight home runs, including a pair by Hideki Matsui, in a 16-3 rout of the Chicago White Sox. New York last hit eight homers in a game in a doubleheader opener at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939.


2010 — Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-ending home run to complete the cycle, and Colorado rallied to a 6-5 win after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning to the Chicago Cubs.


2011 — Justin Verlander came within four outs of another no-hitter, outpitching an angry Jered Weaver as the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2. Maicer Izturis lined an RBI single to left field with two outs in the eighth for the Angels' only hit. Weaver was ejected for throwing a pitch over Alex Avila's head in the seventh, right after Carlos Guillen showboated on a solo home run — infuriating the right-hander.


2011 — Ricky Nolasco scattered 12 hits, Emilio Bonifacio homered and Florida handed the Atlanta Braves the 10,000th loss in franchise history. With the 3-1 loss, the Braves become the second team in big league history with 10,000 losses. The Phillies reached that mark in 2007.


2012 — A.J. Burnett pitched a one-hitter, Neil Walker drove in five runs and Pittsburgh beat Chicago 5-0. Burnett's no-hit bid ended with two outs in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Adrian Cardenas lined a 3-2 pitch to right for a single.


Today's birthdays: Jose Fernandez 22; Rene Rivera 31.


Aug. 1


1906 — Harry McIntire of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched 10 2-3 innings of no-hit ball before Claude Ritchey of Pittsburgh singled. McIntire weakened in the 13th and lost 1-0 to the Pirates on an unearned run, finishing with a four-hitter.


1941 — New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez walked 11 St. Louis batters in a 9-0 victory to set a major league record for walks in a shutout.


1962 — Bill Monbouquette of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat the White Sox 1-0 at Chicago.


1970 — Willie Stargell of Pittsburgh hit three doubles and two home runs to power the Pirates to a 20-10 rout of the Braves in Atlanta.


1972 — Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader with five home runs and two singles. San Diego beat the Atlanta Braves in both games, by scores of 9-0 and 11-7.


1977 — Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit two home runs, including his 18th career grand slam, a total that still leads the National League.


1978 — Pete Rose went 0-for-4 against Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber to end his 44-game hitting streak as the Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 16-4.


1986 — Bert Blyleven threw a two-hitter and struck out 15 to become the 10th major league pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts as he led the Minnesota Twins to a 10-1 victory over the Oakland A's.


1994 — Baltimore's Cal Ripken became the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games as the Orioles beat Minnesota 1-0.


1998 — Switch-hitter Tony Clark set an AL record by homering from both sides of the plate for the third time this year as the Detroit Tigers defeated Tampa Bay 8-0.


2005 — Rafael Palmeiro was suspended 10 days following a positive test for steroids, less than five months after the Baltimore Orioles' first baseman emphatically told Congress: "I have never used steroids. Period."


2006 — Carlos Guillen hit for the cycle in Detroit's 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay.


2009 — Andrew McCutchen homered three times and had a career-high six RBIs to help Pittsburgh rout Washington 11-6.


Today's Birthdays: Madison Bumgarner 25; Drew Storen 27; Roenis Elias 26; Adam Jones 29; Brandon Kintzler 30.


Aug. 2


1906 — The "Hitless Wonder" Chicago White Sox began their AL record 19-game winning streak with a 3-0 win over Boston. The record would be tied by the 1947 New York Yankees.


1907 — Walter Johnson made his major league debut with the Washington Senators and lost 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers. The first hit he yielded was a bunt single by Ty Cobb. The Tigers beat "The Big Train" 7-6 exactly 20 years later on Walter Johnson Day in the nation's capital.


1933 — Mickey Cochrane of the Philadelphia A's hit for the cycle in a 16-3 win over the New York Yankees.


1938 — The Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals used a yellow baseball in the first game of a doubleheader as an experiment. The two teams went back to the white ball in the second game as the Dodgers swept the doubleheader 6-2 and 9-3.


1959 — Bill Bruton of Milwaukee hit three triples, including two with the bases-loaded, to lead the Braves to an 11-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the nightcap of a doubleheader.


1979 — New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson died in the crash of his private plane while practicing takeoffs and landings at the Canton, Ohio, airport.


1987 — Kevin Seitzer went 6-for-6, hit two homers and drove in seven runs to pace a 20-hit Kansas City attack as the Royals beat the Boston Red Sox 13-5 in 102-degree heat.


1987 — Eric Davis led off the bottom of the 11th inning with his 30th home run of the season to give the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Davis's homer made him the seventh — and earliest player in major league history — with 30 homers and 30 steals in the same season.


1998 — The Cuban national team claimed its 22nd gold medal at the World Baseball Championships, beating South Korea 7-1 and extending its winning streak at the event to 41 games since 1986.


2007 — Jermaine Dye homered twice and doubled twice, including a go-ahead drive that led the Chicago White Sox to a 13-9 victory over the New York Yankees. The White Sox and Yankees each scored eight runs in the second inning. It was the second time in major league history both teams scored eight or more in an inning.


2009 — Melky Cabrera became the first Yankees player in 14 years to hit for the cycle, leading New York to an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Cabrera hit a three-run homer in the second to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead, doubled in the fourth, had an RBI single in the fifth, and completed it with a triple in the ninth.


2010 — Travis Snider hit two of an AL record-tying six doubles in a seven-run fifth inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays an a 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees. Snider began the barrage of doubles with a leadoff hit against A.J. Burnett and finished it with a drive off Sergio Mitre. In between, Fred Lewis, Jose Bautista, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill all doubled off Burnett.


2010 — Washington's Ivan Rodriguez became the fifth catcher to hit 300 homers in a 3-1 win over Arizona.


2011 — New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira set a major league record when he homered from both sides of the plate in a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. It was the 12th time the switch-hitting Teixeira has homered from both sides in a game, breaking a tie with Eddie Murray and Chili Davis. Teixeira hit a two-run homer batting right-handed against John Danks in the third and added a slot shot batting left-handed against Jason Frasor in the seventh.


Today's birthdays: Onelki Garcia 25; Huston Street 31; Grady Sizemore 32; Colby Lewis 35; Matt Guerrier 36.



Torre, Cox and La Russa manage their way into Hall


Joe Torre still needs a pinch or two, just to make sure.


"It's still sort of unbelievable," he said. "Cooperstown was always something way out there. OK, I know where it is. Doesn't mean I'm going there to visit, much less be inducted. I never had a goal of getting to the Hall of Fame."


That's exactly where he's headed Sunday.


Torre will be inducted with fellow former managers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa in what is a banner year for the baseball shrine. Pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and slugger Frank Thomas also will enter.


Torre, La Russa, and Cox were unanimously elected in December by the Hall's Expansion Era committee.


It was a tense time for Torre.


"I sort of was torn emotionally with the fact that Bobby and Tony were on the ballot," he said. "I remember having dinner with Tony the night before the announcement. Whoever gets in, if the other one doesn't get in, it's sort of going to feel unfair. Our three careers just really mirrored each other."


"When the three of us got in, I think it just made it that much sweeter. It was probably the first time we stopped lying to each other," he said.


There's always been a mutual admiration among La Russa, Cox and Torre, contemporaries who rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in all-time managerial wins.


"I always felt like Joe was the best at teaching a team the right way to win and lose," said La Russa, who compiled 2,728 wins in 33 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis, behind only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). "A loss, they never made excuses. Just got beat."


"But they won. They won a lot, and they never showed up the other side," La Russa said. "They never embarrassed you because they beat you, and I can't say the same for other teams and other managers."


While Torre excelled as a player — in 1971 he won National League MVP honors with a signature season that included 230 hits and a .363 average, 97 runs, and 137 RBIs for the Cardinals — he became something special in the New York Yankees' dugout. Despite mediocre stints managing the New York Mets, Atlanta and the Cardinals (five winning seasons in 15 years), Torre was hired by the Yankees prior to the 1996 season.


"That was a good sign for me, trust me," said Torre, the only man to amass more than 2,000 hits (2,342) as a player and win more than 2,000 games (2,326) as a manager, according to STATS.


"After you've been fired three times and then you get hired by the Yankees, that was a good sign. I figured it was all said and done by that point in time," he said.


Ever the diplomat, Torre somehow managed to assuage the most demanding of owners in George Steinbrenner, maintaining his coolness amid all the Bronx craziness while keeping all those egos in check. The result: 10 division titles, six AL pennants and four World Series triumphs in 12 years as he helped restore the luster to baseball's most successful franchise.


Heady territory for a guy who never played in the Fall Classic.


"It was magical. I never took it for granted," said Torre, who today serves as Major League Baseball's executive vice president for baseball operations. "I just think it's so important to respect this game, just the fact that you can leave your mark and possibly wind up in a place like this, even though that's not why you play the game. It's just been an amazing ride for me."


La Russa's teams finished first 12 times and won six pennants, and he was picked as Manager of the Year four times, finishing second in the voting five other times. He went to the World Series three straight years from 1988-90 and also lost in the 2004 World Series when his Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox.


That La Russa found success in the dugout and not as a player is not a surprise. He made his big league debut as a teenage infielder with the 1963 Kansas City Athletics and appeared in just 132 games over six seasons, hitting .199 with no home runs and seven RBIs.


"How lousy I was, I was hoping the guy wouldn't call me in to play. That's the truth," La Russa said. "Then I got to thinking, I can't make a living, so I went to law school."


La Russa tried to finance his way through law school as a player-coach in the White Sox organization, and quickly learned there was a lot more to managing than simply making out a lineup card. That allowed La Russa the opportunity to question and second-guess and it all "got my fires going."


After graduation, La Russa decided to see if he could manage in the minors to get the bug out, with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer. The White Sox gave him Double-A and Triple-A assignments, and he was hooked, becoming a devoted student of the game.


In 1983, he managed the White Sox to their first postseason berth in 24 years, and 13 years later he rewarded new Cardinals owners with a division title in his first season in St. Louis (1996). That ended the franchise's nine-year postseason slump, and they made it to the playoffs nine times in 16 seasons overall.


La Russa also had 70 postseason victories, trailing only Torre's 84, and he and his role model, Sparky Anderson, are the only managers to win the World Series in both leagues. La Russa credits early conversations with Anderson, Paul Richards, Earl Weaver, Chuck Tanner, Gene Michael, and Billy Martin for much of his success.


"We watched all these masters," La Russa said. "We would study the managers, and there was this one guy in Toronto that after the second series we played against him we agreed, 'Hey, this guy is as good as any of them.' His name was Bobby Cox."


The fiery Cox — he was ejected a major league record 161 times — guided the Braves to an unprecedented 14 straight division titles and 15 playoff appearances. Many of those wins came with Maddux and Glavine on the mound for him.


When Cox, who also spent four years in Toronto, retired after the 2010 season he was the fourth-winningest manager with 2,504 victories in 29 seasons.


To be sure, induction day will be one to remember.


"The entire thing can never happen again in a million years, I don't think," Cox said. "A manager being able to go in with two of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball, and then going in with two fellow managers at the same time. I don't think that's ever, ever going to happen again."



US agency probes Hyundai Sonata air bag problem


U.S. safety regulators are investigating whether an electrical problem can knock out the air bags on some older Hyundai Sonatas.


The probe announced Friday covers about 394,000 midsize cars from the 2006 through 2008 model years.


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 83 complaints about the problem. The agency says a sensor inside the seat belt buckle might fail. This can cause the air bags to malfunction or not inflate if there's a crash.


The problem also can affect the mechanism that tightens the seat belts before a crash. The problem can happen in either the driver or passenger buckles. In most cases the air bag warning light came on.


Investigations can lead to recalls but none has been issued so far in this case.



Business events scheduled for the coming month


FRIDAY, Aug. 1


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases employment data for July, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for June, 8:30 a.m.; Institute for Supply Management releases its manufacturing index for July, 10 a.m.; Commerce Department releases construction spending for June, 10 a.m.


DETROIT — Automakers release vehicle sales for July.


Procter & Gamble Co. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.


Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reports quarterly financial results after the market closes.


TUESDAY, Aug. 5


WASHINGTON— Commerce Department releases factory orders for June, 10 a.m.; Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for July, 10 a.m.


FRANKFURT, Germany — Automaker BMW AG reports second-quarter earnings.


WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases international trade data for June, 8:30 a.m.


BERLIN — Germany's Economy Ministry releases June industrial orders figures for Europe's biggest economy.


THURSDAY, Aug. 7


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases consumer credit data for June, 3 p.m.


NEW YORK — Selected chain retailers release July sales.


FRANKFURT, Germany — European Central Bank's governing council meets to set monetary policy for the eurozone.


BERLIN — Germany's Economy Ministry releases June industrial production figures for Europe's biggest economy.


GENEVA — Swiss food and drink giant Nestle reports half year results.


FRIDAY, Aug. 8


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for June, 10 a.m.


BERLIN — Germany's Federal Statistical Office releases export and import data for June.


TUESDAY, Aug. 12


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for June, 10 a.m.; Treasury releases federal budget for July, 2 p.m.


BERLIN — Germany's ZEW institute releases its monthly index of investor confidence in Europe's biggest economy.


WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases retail sales data for July, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases business inventories for June, 10 a.m.


TOKYO — Preliminary GDP data for April-June.


THURSDAY, Aug. 14


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.


BERLIN — Germany's Federal Statistical Office releases second-quarter economic growth figure.


FRIDAY, Aug. 15


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for July, 8:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases industrial production for July, 9:15 a.m.;


MONDAY, Aug. 18


WASHINGTON — National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for August, 10 a.m.


TUESDAY, Aug. 19


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases housing starts for July, 8:30 a.m.; Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for July, 8:30 a.m.


WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20


WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July interest-rate meeting.


THURSDAY, Aug. 21


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; ; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for July, 10 a.m.; Conference Board releases leading indicators for July, 10 a.m.


MONDAY, Aug. 25


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases new home sales for July, 10 a.m.


BERLIN — Germany's Ifo institute releases its monthly business confidence index, a key indicator for Europe's biggest economy.


TUESDAY, Aug. 26


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases durable goods for July, 8:30 a.m.; Standard & Poor's releases S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for June and the second quarter, 9 a.m.; The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for August, 10 a.m.


THURSDAY, Aug. 28


WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases second-quarter gross domestic product, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; National Association of Realtors releases pending home sales index for July, 10 a.m.


BERLIN — Germany's Federal Labor Agency releases August unemployment figures for Europe's biggest economy.


FRIDAY, Aug. 29


WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for July, 8:30 a.m.


—All times are Eastern



Weekly Wrap Up: Astronauts, "Inversions," and the VP and a White Board

This week, some astronauts stopped by the White House (hint: think 1969), we talked about "inversions" (more on that later), the President awarded the Medal of Honor, and the Vice President got a marker and white board and gave us a little bit of history on our nation's infrastructure.


Check out what else you may have missed in this week's wrap up.


"You Are Why I Ran for President in the First Place"


Yesterday, President Obama spoke under sunny skies at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. He talked about the progress that we've made since he took office and training our workers for a 21st-century economy.


Watch on YouTube


The President called for a new sense of optimism and collective patriotism in this country: "Cynicism is a choice, and hope is a better choice. And if we can work together, I promise you there's no holding America back."


He also talked about something known as "inversions." What's an "inversion," you ask? Learn more here.


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'I Love Your Country,' New House Member Tells U.S. Officials


Rep. Curt Clawson hasn't been in Congress long – he was sworn into office exactly one month ago. We mention that as a caveat, because in a congressional hearing Thursday, Clawson seems to have mistaken Americans who work in the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce for representatives of India's government.


As relayed by Foreign Policy's The Cable blog, Clawson, a Republican from Florida, seemed eager to show that he's a fan of India and its culture, speaking about Bollywood movies and Indian cities in which he's done business — and in an apparent misunderstanding, telling the two witnesses, "I am familiar with your country; I love your country."


Those witnesses were Nisha Biswal, the assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and Arun Kumar, who is both the U.S. Commerce Department's director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and the assistant secretary for Global Markets International Trade Administration.


Thursday's session of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific centered on how business and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and India might improve under its newly elected government — something Clawson said he was enthusiastic about.


But The Cable's John Hudson calls the meeting, Clawson's first day on the panel, "intensely awkward," noting that Biswal and Kumar seemed unsure how to respond to the freshman lawmaker's seeming assumption that they represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.


In one exchange, Clawson highlighted the need for India to ease the path for U.S. investments there, saying, "I ask cooperation and commitment and priority from your government in so doing. Can I have that?"


Biswal paused before responding, "I think your question is to the Indian government, and we certainly share your sentiments, and we certainly will advocate that on behalf of the U.S."


"Of course," Clawson said.


Seated at Biswal's side, Kumar smiled.


Clawson's office hasn't responded to "multiple requests" for a comment, The Cable says.



As Political Disenchantment Soars, Lines At The Polls Grow Shorter



An official, right, assists a voter at a polling station inside Fort Garrison Elementary School in Pikesville, Md., on primary day, June 24, 2014. As in many states this primary election season, turnout was low in Maryland.i i


hide captionAn official, right, assists a voter at a polling station inside Fort Garrison Elementary School in Pikesville, Md., on primary day, June 24, 2014. As in many states this primary election season, turnout was low in Maryland.



Patrick Semansky/AP

An official, right, assists a voter at a polling station inside Fort Garrison Elementary School in Pikesville, Md., on primary day, June 24, 2014. As in many states this primary election season, turnout was low in Maryland.



An official, right, assists a voter at a polling station inside Fort Garrison Elementary School in Pikesville, Md., on primary day, June 24, 2014. As in many states this primary election season, turnout was low in Maryland.


Patrick Semansky/AP


Several new surveys show voter interest is low, anti-incumbent sentiment is high, and voters from both parties are questioning whether their elected leaders should return to Congress next year.


In short, the electorate is disengaged and disgusted with politics.


Voter turnout in the 2010 primaries was only about 18 percent, and now it's even lower. Less than 15 percent of eligible citizens cast ballots in the 25 states that have held state-wide primaries this year, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.


"Turnout is low because the American people are deeply discontented and disenchanted with American politics," explains Peter Wehner, a Republican analyst. "The country is in bad shape – it's in bad shape economically, and the world is aflame. There's a sense that we're the victims of events rather than in control of events."


Washington's current state of paralysis doesn't help either, says Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.


"Gridlock is at an all-time high," he says. "The productivity of Congress is at an all-time low, and many Americans are asking themselves, 'How much difference does it make who the people are and what the party balance is if nothing seems to change election after election?'"


Though Washington gridlock isn't new, low interest elections are a departure from recent years. In 2006, Democrats and independents were fired up against the Iraq War and President George W. Bush, while in 2010, Republicans and independents reacted strongly against President Obama.


"I would describe [2014] as a slog; essentially people are not focused on this election," says Curtis Gans, director of CSAE. "With the exception of strong partisans in each party, people are not engaged."


Carroll Doherty, director of political research at Pew Research, recently completed a new survey on voter engagement. He notes that Republicans maintain an edge in this off year election, but their advantage is not as big as it was in 2010.


"You see a little less enthusiasm on the Republican side than you saw in 2010. It doesn't appear as if Democrats are any more engaged than they were then in 2010," he says. "And so, the sense is that right now, while the Republicans have a clear advantage in engagement, it's nothing like the advantage they held four years ago."


But Republicans don't need a big GOP wave this fall. They are still well-positioned to win the ultimate prize: control of the Senate.


That's because historically Republicans turn out in higher numbers than Democrats in midterm elections, and the president's party loses an average of seven Senate seats in the second-term midterm. Add that to a 2014 Senate map that is full of red state pickup opportunities for Republicans. Democrats are defending 21 of the 35 Senate seats at stake this fall and a net turnover of just six seats would flip control of the Senate to the GOP.


"I find it difficult to believe that Democrats are going to be able to swim against the historical tide, unless some of their core supporters are a lot more mobilized and enthusiastic than they appear to be right now," says Galston.


Democrats, of course, are working hard to register and turnout their core supporters, but right now those efforts are invisible and it's also impossible to measure the results those efforts with a poll.


In the meantime, voters are continuing to tune out.


Doherty notes the Pew poll also found that just over half of registered voters could correctly identify the party of their own representative.


"Now, remember this is a guess that you have a 50 percent chance of being right; there are only 2 options," he notes. "53 percent got it right, which is a pretty low number."


It's not clear what the partisan consequences of such a disengaged electorate will be in the fall, but both parties lose when so few voters are interested or invested in the political process.



Week In Politics: Violence In Gaza And Paul Ryan's Anti-Poverty Plan



Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.





Regular political commentators, E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and David Brooks of The New York Times, discuss U.S. policy options in the Gaza Strip and Rep. Paul Ryan's anti-poverty plan.



Central American Leaders Stop By White House To Talk Border Crisis



Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.





The presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras met with President Obama at the White House Friday, discussing the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border from Central America. So far, Obama has not seen eye to eye with Congress on possible solutions to the crisis.



Army War College Opens A Probe Into Sen. Walsh's Alleged Plagiarism



Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.





The U.S. Army War College has determined in a preliminary review that Sen. John Walsh of Montana appeared to have plagiarized his final paper to earn a master's degree. An investigative panel is reviewing the evidence.



More than 3.81 Million Records Released

In September 2009, the President announced that—for the first time in history—White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in April 2014. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to more than 3.81 million—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.


A Day in the Life: Deric From Maryland

Meet Deric.


Deric Richardson had been out of work for over a year. He had a GED and a Microsoft Office certificate, but needed an opportunity to improve his skills. That opportunity came in the form of tuition-free training in laboratory skills provided by the nonprofit BioTechnical Institute of Maryland. Shortly after successfully completing the training, Deric was hired by Baltimore-based Paragon Bioservices in July 2010.


Today, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez is traveling to Baltimore to meet with him.


Deric’s story is just one great example of how job-driven training is working for Americans across the country. When we talk about "job-driven" training, we're talking about making sure we're providing people with the skills that employers are looking for right now to fill available jobs. Earlier this week, President Obama signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which will elevate more job-driven programs like BTI.


This is the second in a series of “day in the life” trips Secretary Perez -- in addition to other secretaries across the President's cabinet -- will be taking over the next few months. It's a chance to talk directly with the people the Labor Department works for every day.


We want to make sure you see what he sees, too. Follow along today to see live updates and highlights from Secretary Perez’s day.


Secretary Perez Arrives in Baltimore.


Deric meets Secretary Perez outside BTI, where he received the training that launched his career.



Connecting African Leaders to U.S. Industry Beyond the Beltway

The upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, which is the largest single engagement by any U.S. President with our African partners, will help the United States play a driving role in the continent’s future development.


Many Americans are aware that sub-Saharan Africa is a fast-growing region with tremendous potential, but they may not know about significant plans to develop infrastructure across the continent. We believe that these plans represent enormous business opportunities for U.S. companies of all sizes, and that is why we have invited key African decision-makers to meet with private-sector leaders in Chicago and Houston prior to the Summit.


These African Leaders’ Visits, which the U.S. Trade and Development Agency is partnering with the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Energy to host from July 30 to August 1, will highlight the United States’ experience fostering economic growth through key infrastructure investments. These Visits are the only commercially focused events to take African leaders to major U.S. cities outside of Washington, D.C. on the occasion of the Summit.


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