Wild card

Pencil Point

911

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Quick Points

This and that

• Under intense criticism for his government’s poor response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump visited the island Tuesday and praised himself and his administration for a “great job” and an “A-plus” performance. Time to update the dictionary definition of “dumpster fire.”
• Asked whether he could guarantee President Donald Trump will not get a tax cut under the GOP tax reform proposal, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump’s objective is to not give rich people tax cuts. “We’ll explain to the American people how that works,” he said. Steve, we know exactly how that works.
• Homeland Security officials said after the Las Vegas massacre that there are no specific credible threats to other public venues in the United States. That’s comforting. But it’s worth noting there didn’t appear to be any specific credible threats before the Las Vegas massacre.
• Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after disclosures that he used domestic charter flights that cost taxpayers more than $400,000. But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who took similar flights but not as many, remain on the job. So, is the measuring stick the principle, the volume of flights, or Trump’s frustration with Price over the failure of the Obamacare repeal?
• Do Spanish riot police and the officials who give them orders understand that attacking Catalans who went to the polls to vote for independence is part and parcel of why Catalans went to the polls to vote for independence?
• Please, a show of hands for anyone surprised that Twitter’s group of guinea pigs to test the 280-character limit did not include President Donald Trump? Thought so.
• First, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States has back-channel communications with North Korea in an attempt to negotiate over its nuclear weapons program. Then President Donald Trump tweeted that Tillerson was wasting his time. Perhaps Trump and Tillerson should engage in some back-channel negotiations.
• Polls find that senior citizens, who are working more now than ever, are worried more about running out of money than about dying. The polls did not explore the relationship between those two.
• Cashless tolling on New York City bridges and tunnels is wonderful, but no cure for the six-lanes-into-three congestion Queens-bound drivers experienced Sunday night at the Throgs Neck Bridge. No, we’re not bitter.
• Monty Hall died at age 96. Now there’s a guy who could close a deal.

Michael Dobie

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Daily Point

Cuomo, Trump and Puerto Rico

As President Donald Trump was flying to Puerto Rico Tuesday morning, preparing to act as comforter and cheerleader in chief, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was at Westchester County Airport preparing to send more than 100 medical personnel and additional supplies to the storm-ravaged island.

The timing of Cuomo’s latest announcement, and his carefully chosen words, couldn’t have been coincidental, for they so clearly paint a contrast between the two leaders.

“We want the people of Puerto Rico to know, they are not alone,” Cuomo said. “They have friends, that we are with them, and that we love them.”

When asked about Trump Tuesday, Cuomo said federal officials “made an operational error in not pre-deploying sufficient resources.”

On Trump, Cuomo said, “I think it’s good that he’s going there now. I think it would’ve been better if he had gone earlier. My first rule is, show up. Show up because there’s a human dynamic to this . . . Showing up when you’re in a position of power as president of the United States would give such a reassurance.”

Cuomo went to Puerto Rico on Sept. 22, two days after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory.

Randi F. Marshall

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Bonus Point

Play ball

This day, Oct. 3, has been an auspicious day in baseball history.

Ty Cobb became the first player to win the Triple Crown on Oct. 3, 1909.

Bobby Thompson hit the “shot heard ’round the world” to defeat the Dodgers on Oct. 3, 1951 — and the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.

Frank Robinson became baseball’s first black manager on Oct. 3, 1974.

Hank Aaron’s last major league at-bat came on Oct. 3, 1976.

But one of the most consequential events came in 1919, when Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque, a native of Cuba, became the first player from Latin America to appear in the World Series.

When the New York Yankees host the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium in the wild-card playoff game on Tuesday night, there will be 13 players from Latin America in uniform — more than 25 percent of the teams’ combined rosters. That’s not unusual: Nearly 30 percent of the players on baseball’s opening day rosters this season were foreign-born.

And that diversity is good business. University of Michigan researchers in 2010 found that adding a foreign-born player to a major league roster increases ticket revenue by $500,000 — because, the authors said, fans now prefer teams with international players.

¡Play ball!

Michael Dobie