Ozzie Smith is 70: Down in Alabama – harputburgerwiesbaden

Ozzie Smith turns 70 today.

The Gold Glove-winning Hall of Fame shortstop from Mobile is 7-0.

In a sport where the most athletically skilled defensive players are often shortstops (sorry catchers), the Wizard of Oz has won 13 straight National League Gold Gloves at the position. In the 1980s, Mel Allen’s “This Week in Baseball” should have changed the name of its weekly highlights segment to “What Ozzie Smith Did This Week.”

Today’s report follows. Thanks for reading,

Ike

RIP Hudson Meek

A child actor died last weekend after falling from a moving vehicle, AL.com’s Carol Robinson reports.

Vestavia Hills’ Hudson Meek has numerous film credits, including a role as a young version of the title character in 2017’s “Baby Driver,” which featured Kevin Spacey, John Hamm and Jamie Foxx in supporting roles. Along with fellow actor and brother Tucker Meek, Hudson appeared in the Lifetime movie “The Santa Con” in 2014.

Authorities say Meek died at UAB Hospital after suffering blunt force injuries in a fall from a moving vehicle on Canyon Road in Vestavia.

Hudson Meek was 16 years old.

Union activity in North Alabama

Workers at a Huntsville Amazon facility and a Scottsboro Starbucks have joined national strikes against their employers in recent days, AL.com’s William Thornton reports.

The North Alabama Area Labor Council led its unions on the picket line at Amazon in Huntsville last Thursday and Friday and Starbucks in Scottsboro starting Tuesday.

There were about 18 Teamsters on the line at Amazon, but it was part of a holiday season strike by about 10,000 workers nationwide.

Starbucks in Scottsboro has seen union activity for several years.

Another festival at Sloss

Sloss Furnaces is expected to host a new music festival in October, AL.com’s Williesha Morris reports.

The Iron Hills Country Music Festival has announced that it will be held October 11-12 at the Furnaces, which has been the site of music events such as Slossfest and Furnace Fest.

Iron Hills has announced that it will “bring the heart and soul of country” to Furnaces, leaving open the possibility that there could be country music at a country music festival. Unfortunately, no artists have been announced, so we’ll have to see.

The Iron Hills Country Music Festival social media accounts have more information.

Imagine this

NASA Vacation Pictures — A composite image of NGC 2264, known as the Christmas Tree Cluster. The cone-shaped green clouds resemble an evergreen tree, with stars visible as patches of white, blue, violet, and red light.X-rays: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optics: Clow, M.; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand

NASA recently released color-enhanced space images to recognize the Christmas season.

The images were captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

This image shows a “Christmas Tree Cluster” with optical data captured last month by Arizona astrophotographer Michael Clow. The cluster is about 2,500 light-years from Earth and has stars between 1 and 5 million years old.