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Issue #31 On Friday Albert Pujols hit his 699th and 700th career homeruns, making him only the fourth player to ever reach that milestone (Ruth, Aaron, Bonds). At age 42 and in his 22nd season in the big leagues, Prince Albert is feasting on left-handers at an impressive .354/.403/.752 clip with 13 HR in only 113 at-bats. (While only batting .208 against RHP, he does have 8 HR against them.)

Good morning one and all, and welcome to the annual Baseball’s Most Handsome Managers ranking. Yes, the feature that started as filler on a slow news day when I was super hungover eight years ago and which has since morphed into first-paragraph-of-my-obituary stuff and which I bring to the masses on this final Free Thursday of the year. And, whether you choose to subscribe or not, by all means, if you could share this post, it’d be much appreciated:

Issue #38 Miguel Cabrera just finished his 20th season and has 507 career HRs. He is 14th all-time in RBIs and doubles, and 16th all-time in total bases. An All-Star 12 times, he won four batting titles, two MVP awards, the AL Triple Crown in 2012, and is clearly a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He was born and grew up in Maracay, Venezuela—and has been the best Major League player from that country to-date.

Installment 6: “Clem Labine died yesterday. It was his unparalleled success against Musial, an otherwise notorious Dodger-killer, that Labine maintained was his proudest accomplishment. He retired Stan the Man an incredible 49 consecutive times.” . –New York Daily News, 2007 1. In 1950, Stan Musial won the fourth of his seven batting titles, and Clem Labine made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Over the next 13 years, as they faced each other dozens of times, Musial would be the National League’s best left-handed hitter, while Labine would find a sturdy role as one of the league’s better right-handed relievers.

This week I’m visiting Bath Beach, a small neighborhood on the southwest shore of Brooklyn bordering Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst. Some would say it is part of Bensonurst, but not me, mainly because I discovered that after I wrote this whole thing. Though it was named after the medieval spa city of Bath in England, Bath Beach has no spa to speak of. Well, that’s not entirely true. After scouring Yelp, I found out that there is, in fact, one spa in the neighborhood, the Angel Day Spa, located at 1938 86th St.

First of all, they should've called it "Training Cry" because the bulk of 1955's so-called war drama takes place during training for a group of World War II Marines. The film's first — and only — battle doesn't arrive until the two hour and 10-minute mark. And it's absolutely horrible stuff, some of the worst battle scenes in a Hollywood movie, ever. Or maybe "Love Cry," since most of the story is about the various romances into which the soldiers fall in and out.

Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, it’s all about the babka, baby. Readpast posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate. Chocolate homestyle babka at Zabar’s You can also order online.  I am slowly getting back to my writing routine after slowly crawling out of a stress/depression hole due to life circumstances. When that happens I honestly don’t really know what to write about because none of the food I have eaten feels interesting.

Thanks for joining me for the 27th issue of the Golden Stats Warrior, a newsletter for data-based insights about the Bay Area. If this is your first time reading, welcome! You can sign up here. I am grateful for your support. Before I get the main business of this week’s newsletter, a little personal news. After more than four wonderful years at Quartz, I am taking some time off to work on personal projects (like this newsletter) and figure out what’s next.

By now we all know I’m in the midst of my bean era and many of you can probably relate. Beans are the perfect food because they’re carby, high protein, fibre-rich and extremely versatile. The other day I made golden creamy butter beans which many of you loved, and these these Beans alla Vodka are definitely up to par; in fact I might even love them more. They are essentially the bean-y version of Penne alla Vodka: white beans simmered in a creamy vodka sauce (made creamy with coconut milk, very non-traditional but delicious) and topped with parm, fresh basil and a good drizzle of olive oil.