September 30, 1973: The Last Game at the Pre-Renovation Yankee Stadium

September 30, 1973, 50 years ago: The last game is played at Yankee Stadium before its renovation. The Yankees lose 8-5 to the Detroit Tigers.

The renovation was necessary, not because the Mets were talking about how much better Shea Stadium was, but because there were actual structural issues. The institution of Bat Day led to kids sitting in the upper deck, banging their bats on the floor, weakening the stadium structure.

So Mayor John Lindsay negotiated a deal in which the Department of Parks of the City of New York, which already owned Shea, bought both Yankee Stadium and the land on which it sat -- previously owned by separate entities -- and would renovate it, to reopen in time for the 1976 season. The Yankees would play the 1974 and '75 seasons at Shea.

This also forced the football Giants out of Yankee Stadium after 2 games, a 34-14 win over the Houston Oilers on September 16, and a 23-23 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles on September 23. The rest of their home schedule for 1973, and all of it for 1974, would be played 70 miles to the northeast, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

Lindsay, angry that the Giants had already negotiated a deal to build a stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, in time for the 1976 season, denied them the use of Shea, so they had to look elsewhere. So they made the deal to play '73 and '74 at the Yale Bowl. Lindsay's successor, Abe Beame, had no such grudge, and allowed the Giants to play the 1975 season at Shea -- meaning that it was hosting both of New York's MLB teams and both of its NFL teams at the same time.

(In other words: In 1975, the New York Tri-State Area had 8 teams playing in 3 buildings: Shea Stadium had the Yankees, the Mets, the Giants and the Jets; Madison Square Garden had the Knicks and the Rangers; and the Nassau Coliseum had the Nets and the Islanders. In 2023, with the Devils making it 9 teams, they are playing in 7 separate buildings.)

In order to avoid the kind of damage that fans had done to other ballparks in their recent closures, the Monuments were removed from center field, and the Plaques from the wall, before the game.

Duane "Duke" Sims, catching in the last game at the pre-renovation Stadium instead of Thurman Munson, hits the last home run, off Fred Holdsworth in the 7th inning. But Lindy McDaniel, in relief of Fritz Peterson, implodes in the 8th inning, allowing 6 runs, making a winning pitcher of John Hiller.

Sims' 1974 Topps card. Topps tended to take

players' card pictures in New York,

going back to the Polo Grounds.

The last play is 1st baseman Mike Hegan hitting a fly ball to, appropriately, center field, once patrolled by Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. This one is caught by the Tigers' Mickey Stanley.

Attendance: 32,238, in a Stadium whose capacity was then listed as 65,010.

For all the greats who had played in Yankee Stadium, the only future Hall-of-Famer who played in this game was the Tigers' Al Kaline.

After the game, Yankee manager Ralph Houk resigned, tired of the meddling of the team's 1st-year owner, George Steinbrenner. George found finding a replacement difficult, as he tried to hire Dick Williams, who, after the subsequent World Series despite winning it, had quit as manager of the Oakland Athletics. A's owner Charlie Finley contended that Williams couldn't manage anywhere else as long as his contract with him was running. So George hired former Pittsburgh Pirate manager Bill Virdon. Houk was signed to manage the Tigers.

The day after the last game, the renovation began. Claire Ruth, the Babe's widow, was given home plate. Eleanor Gehrig, Lou's widow, was given the 1st base that was used in the last game.

The 1923-73 version of Yankee Stadium saw the home team win 27 American League Pennants and 20 World Series in 51 seasons. (The 1st 2 Yankee Pennants, 1921 and '22, came at the Polo Grounds.) It also hosted 3 NFL Championship Games in the pre-Super Bowl era: 1956, when the Giants beat the Chicago Bears; 1958, when the Giants lost to the Baltimore Colts in an overtime classic that has been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played"; and 1962, when the Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers.

It also hosted the Army-Navy Game in 1930 and '31; and 22 Army-Notre Dame games, including 1928, when Knute Rockne told his team to "Win one for the Gipper," and they did; and 1946, when both teams came in undefeated, and left that way, a "Game of the Century" that didn't live up to the hype, ending 0-0. And it hosted a long run of boxing champions, from Jack Dempsey to Floyd Patterson, including Joe Louis' 1938 knockout of Max Schmeling.

Remaining with the team until 1980, shortstop Fred Stanley was the last Yankee who had played a home game at the pre-renovation Stadium, although center fielder Bobby Murcer would be traded away and reacquired, playing his last game on June 11, 1983, nearly 10 years later.

*

September 30, 1973 was a Sunday. Other Major League Baseball games of note that were played on this day:

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Cubs won the opener 1-0, with Rick Reuschel and Bob Locker combining for an 8-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Jerry Koosman was backed by 3 hits from Rusty Staub, 2 each by Wayne Garrett and Felix Millan, and a home run by Cleon Jones, as the Mets won 9-2.

The regular season should have been over, but the National League Eastern Division race was a wild one that no one seemed to want to win. The Mets ended the day 1 game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, a game and a half ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3 ahead of the Montreal Expos, and 4 ahead of the Cubs -- who finished closer to the Mets this time than they had in their in famous 1969 "September Swoon."

But because of rainouts, the race still wasn't decided. The Cards had completed their schedule, but the Mets had 2 games left to play, the Pirates 1. It was still possible for any of the 3 to win the Division. 

* Because the Cardinals had beaten the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Pirates had beaten the Expos, 10-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Pirates would play a rainout makeup against the San Diego Padres at home, while the Mets would stay at Wrigley and play another doubleheader with the Cubs.

The Mets won the opener, 6-4, and clinched the Division. Until the 1986 Pennant, this would remain their only clincher on the road. (The 1969 and 1986 Division titles, the 1969 and 1973 Pennants, and the 1969 World Series win would all occur at Shea.) They beat the Cubs, and barely beat the rain, which canceled the nightcap, which was now unnecessary. It was made more so when the Pirates lost 4-3 to the Padres.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) This was the 3,739th and last regular-season game managed by Leo Durocher, who was soon fired. He first managed with the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers, while he was still an active player.

Hank Aaron got 3 hits, but none of them was a home run, so he finished the season with 713 career home runs. It would be a long off-season before he got the chance to break the career record then held by Babe Ruth. He hit Number 714 on April 4, 1974 in Cincinnati, and then Number 715 on April 8 at home to Los Angeles.

* Also of note: The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. The ChiSox won it in the top of the 10th, on a bases-loaded walk drawn by shortstop Russell "Bucky" Dent, who would later write his name in Yankee history. Speaking of which: Reggie Jackson did not play for the A's, but Catfish Hunter started, and did not get the decision. The A's would go on to beat the Mets in the World Series.

And there were NFL games played on the day. The New York Giants lost to the Cleveland Browns, 13-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. And the New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 9-7. It was the Bills' 1st game at their new stadium, south of the city, in suburban Orchard Park, New York. Originally known as Rich Stadium, for the Rich family of meat-product producers, O.J. Simpson and his teammates beat the Jets, 9-7.

The stadium was renamed Ralph Wilson Stadium for the team's founding owner in 1998, and, in 2015, was renamed New Era Field, as naming rights were bought by the New Era sports cap company. But New Era asked to be let out of the agreement in 2020. It was renamed Highmark Stadium.

A new facility, also to be named Highmark Stadium, seating 62,000, is now being built adjacent to Erie Community College's south campus, across the street from the existing stadium, which will be demolished following the completion of the new one.

Brooks Robinson, 1937-2023

After the 1970 World Series, one of its umpires, Ed Hurley, spoke of Brooks Robinson, the 3rd baseman of the victorious Baltimore Orioles, said, "He came down from a higher league."

Now, he is in one.

Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. was born on May 18, 1937 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Central High School, 2 years and a Summer before the integration crisis there. The University of Arkansas offered him a basketball scholarship. But scout Art Ehlers signed him for the Baltimore Orioles.

He made his major league debut on September 17, 1955, just 4 months after his graduation. Batting 6th, playing 3rd base, and wearing Number 40, he popped up to the catcher in the 2nd inning, singled to left in the 4th, popped up to 2nd base in the 6th, and singled a run home in the 8th inning. He fielded just 1 grounder, successfully. The Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. No one knew it yet, but, in only the Orioles' 2nd season in Baltimore, they had found their signature player.

After spending most of the 1956 and '57 seasons in the minor leagues, he became the regular 3rd baseman in 1958, wearing the Number 5 that he would wear for the rest of his career. In 1960, he batted .294, hit 14 home runs, had 88 RBIs, made his 1st All-Star Game, received his 1st AL Gold Glove, and helped the O's into their 1st Pennant race, finishing 2nd in the American League, 8 games behind the Yankees. He finished 3rd in the voting for the AL Most Valuable Player, behind Yankee stars Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.

He wouldn't miss the All-Star Game again until 1975, playing in 18 (there were 2 a year from 1958 to 1962); and he would receive the Gold Glove for AL 3rd basemen every year until then, 16 years. In 1964, he batted he .317, hit 28 home runs, and led the AL with 118 RBIs. These would all be career highs, and helped the Orioles finish just 2 games behind the Yankees. He was named the MVP, the 1st Oriole to receive the honor.

After the 1960 season, he married Constance Butcher, a flight attendant for United Airlines. They had sons Brooks David, Chris and Michael, and daughter Diana.

In the 1965-66 off-season, the Orioles traded for power-hitting right fielder Frank Robinson. He was black, while Brooks was a white Southerner, and had just lost his position as the best player on the team, through no fault of his own. It didn't stop him from making a friend of Frank, who told the media, "It's easy to tell us apart: I wear 20, and he wears 5."

Frank was immediately named team Captain, and he won the Triple Crown and the MVP. The Orioles won their 1st Pennant, and their 1st World Series. But that was Frank's season, and Frank's Series. Brooks' moment in the sun was yet to come. The team was not one of the 4 that took the 1967 AL race down to the wire, and they were a distant 2nd to the Detroit Tigers in 1968.

The 1969 season was the 1st in Divisional play, and the O's won 109 games to take the AL Eastern Division, then swept the Minnesota Twins in 3 straight to win the 1st AL Championship Series. But they were upset in the World Series by the New York Mets.

For Brooks, the Series was summed up in the top of the 9th inning of Game 4: Trailing 1-0, he had a chance to drive in the tying and winning runs against a tiring Tom Seaver, and sent a shot into right field, but was robbed by a spectacular catch by Ron Swoboda. It did get the trying run home on a sacrifice fly, but the Mets won in the 10th, and won Game 5.

In 1970, it looked like a repeat: 108 wins, running away with the AL East, sweeping the Twins in the ALCS, and a World Series, this time against the Cincinnati Reds. Their Big Red Machine won 102 games, and were favored to beat the Orioles. But, at age 33, with the attention of the sports world on him like never before, Brooks Robinson went from beloved in Baltimore and respected around baseball, but not much of a star, to all-time legend.

Game 1, at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. This was the 1st World Series game ever played on artificial turf, and the 1st in which both teams wore names on the backs of their uniforms. And it was the 1st World Series with a black umpire, Emmett Ashford, who had become MLB's 1st black umpire in 1966, and was retiring at the end of the season: At the time, 55 was a mandatory retirement age for umpires, but he was allowed to come back for one more season and officiate in a World Series. The Jackson 5 sang the National Anthem.

Brooks, 1st baseman John "Boog" Powell, that season's AL MVP, and catcher Elrod Hendricks hit home runs. Brooks made a backhanded stop of a grounder by Lee May, spinning, and firing a throw that bounced into Boog's glove, getting May out. Jim Palmer outpitched Gary Nolan. Orioles 4, Reds 3.

Game 2, in Cincinnati. Boog hit another homer in the 4th inning, and the O's tacked 5 runs on in the 5th. As with Game 1, Brooks went 1-for-4 with an RBI, but the hit was a single, not a homer. Orioles 6, Reds 5. With fans seeing vacuum cleaners being used on the artificial turf, they began calling Brooks "The Human Vacuum Cleaner," and "Mr. Hoover," after the brand of vacuum cleaner. 

Game 3, back on the natural grass and dirt infield of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks took over the game immediately. In the top of the 1st, he snared a Tony Pérez grounder, and started a double play. In the bottom of the 1st, the Orioles loaded the bases, and Brooks doubled home 2 runs. In the top of the 2nd, he made a tough play to throw out Tommy Helms. In the 6th, Johnny Bench hit a liner that should have gone through the hole, but Brooks snared it on the fly.

Dave McNally pitched a complete game, and became the 1st pitcher ever to hit a grand slam in a World Series game. (Through 2022, he's still the only one.) Frank Robinson and Don Buford added home runs. Orioles 9, Reds 3. What had been predicted as a tight Series was now in danger of becoming a dominating sweep, as with the Orioles over the defending Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966.

Game 4, in Baltimore. The Orioles came in with a 17-game winning streak: Their last 11 of the regular season, 3 straight in the ALCS, and the 1st 3 of the Series. Brooks went 4-for-4, taking Nolan deep on a home run. But the Reds showed up, scoring 3 runs in the 8th inning, and saved some face. Reds 6, Orioles 5.

Game 5, in Baltimore, on October 15. The Reds scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st, and, for a moment, the greatest comeback in sports history seemed possible. But Baltimore put a stop to that, scoring 2 runs in each of their 1st 3 innings, allowing Mike Cuellar to settle down and keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard until next April. Brooks went 1-for-5, and robbed Bench again. Orioles 9, Cincinnati 3.

Baltimore were the World Champions of baseball. Just 3 months later, the Colts won Super Bowl V, and Baltimore were the World Champions of baseball and football at the same time. And 3 months after that, the Bullets reached the NBA Finals. Alas, a 4-game Finals sweep by the Milwaukee Bucks an MLB-NFL-NBA treble, which has still never been achieved.

(The Raiders prevented Oakland from doing it in 1974-75. Pittsburgh doesn't have an NBA team, so there was no chance in 1979-80. The Rams couldn't make it happen for Los Angeles in 1981-82, and neither then nor the Raiders could make it happen in 1988-89. The Knicks blew New York's chance in 1986-87. And the Celtics blew Boston's chance in 2004-05.)

Brooks Robinson had shown the world the peak of fielding at 3rd base. He was awarded the Series' Most Valuable Player award. With it came a new car. Bench said, "If we had known he wanted a car that badly, we'd all have chipped in and bought him one." And, just as, earlier in the year, the Boston Bruins had won the Stanley Cup, and this was said about their great star, Bobby Orr, umpire Ed Hurley said of Brooks, "He came down from a higher league."

Before him, there had been Jimmy Collins, Harold "Pie" Traynor, and Eddie Mathews. People now began to speak of Brooks Robinson as the greatest 3rd baseman of all time. Since then, there has been Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones, Adrián Beltré, and, for the 2nd half of his career, Alex Rodriguez. Most baseball observers still rank Brooks as the greatest 3rd baseman in American League history, behind only Schmidt overall.

He helped the Orioles win another Pennant in 1971, as part of the "Leather Curtain" that gave Baltimore the best infield defense in the sport, with shortstop Mark Belanger, 2nd baseman Davey Johnson, and 1st baseman Boog Powell. But the O's lost that World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would help them win the AL East again in 1973 and 1974, losing the ALCS to the Oakland Athletics both times.

A thumb injury in 1975 was the beginning of his end, and he lost his starting job to Doug DeCinces in 1976. In 1977, at 42, he played only 24 games, the last on August 13. With catcher Rick Dempsey coming off the Disabled List, and a roster spot necessary, Brooks announced his retirement on August 21. Brooks Robinson Day was held on September 18, 1977, and his Number 5 became the 1st number ever retired in Baltimore sports.

He finished with a lifetime batting average of .267; 2,848 hits including 482 doubles, 68 triples and 268 home runs, decent totals for a man who spent 23 seasons in a pitcher's park like Memorial Stadium. Those 23 seasons were the most that any player had spent with any one team, a record tied by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox in 1983, but never broken.

Jim Murray, the great sports columnist of The Los Angeles Times, wrote during Robinson's career that "In the future, Brooks Robinson will be the standard every third baseman will be measured by." In his 2015 biography Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, Doug Wilson said, "That statement has withstood the test of time."

In 1983, Brooks was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. When the Orioles established their team Hall of Fame, he and Frank Robinson were the 1st 2 honorees. He was also elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. When the Orioles played their last game at Memorial Stadium on October 6, 1991, he and Colts quarterback legend Johnny Unitas threw out ceremonial first balls -- in Unitas' case, a football. In 2012, a statue of Brooks was dedicated outside their new home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked their 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Brooks was ranked 80th, trailing Traynor (70th), Mathews (63rd) and Schmidt (28th) among 3rd basemen. That year, fans voted Brooks and Schmidt as the 3rd basemen on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2022, 23 years after TSN did their rankings, ESPN ranked their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and Brooks came in 67th, trailing Mathews (64th), Boggs (45th), Brett (43rd), A-Rod (26th) and Schmidt (18th).

Brooks broadcast for the Orioles from 1978 to 1993. He formed a group that ran several minor-league teams, including the York Revolution, in York, Pennsylvania, where he had once played minor-league ball for the York White Roses. Their ballpark, WellSpan Park, has the address of 5 Brooks Robinson Way. That ballpark also has a statue of him. A 3rd statue is in downtown Baltimore, on Washington Boulevard.

Brooks survived cancer in 2009, but an infection in 2011 affected his health thereafter. He died yesterday, September 26, 2023, in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, Maryland, at the age of 86.

Frank Robinson predeceased him in 2019. He once said, "I've never known anyone, in any profession, more adored than Brooks."

With his death, there are now 7 surviving players from the 1966 World Champion Baltimore Orioles: Luis Aparicio (the only title won by the Hall of Fame shortstop, better known for playing for the Chicago White Sox), Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, Davey Johnson (also the manager of the 1986 World Champion New York Mets), Russ Snyder, Wally Bunker and Eddie Fisher (no relation to the singer of the same name).

There are 9 surviving players from the 1970 World Champion Orioles: Palmer, Powell, Johnson, Merv Rettenmund, Bobby Grich, Pete Richert, Terry Crowley, Eddie Watt and Dave Leonhard.

And there are 10 surviving players from the 1999 selections for the All-Century Team: Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., and the man who replaced Brooks Robinson as the signature player of the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken Jr.

September 27 & 29, 1963: The Baby Colts & the Greatest Hitter In Baseball History

September 27, 1963, 60 years ago: The Houston Colt .45s, an expansion team at the end of their 2nd season, 35 games out of 1st place, try something. After all, what have they got to lose? Three more games, at most.

In their 3rd-from-last game of the season, against their fellow 1962 expansion team, the New York Mets, at Colt Stadium -- a 32,000-seat, single-decked, mosquito-infested temporary stadium with no protection from the brutal Texas Sun, used as a stopgap facility until the Astrodome can be built next-door Manager Harry Craft tries what becomes known as the "Baby Colts" experiment. For the 1st time in major league history, and it remains the only time, Craft started a lineup made up entirely of players who had made their major league debuts that season.

Colt Stadium

Here's his starting lineup:

Shortstop, Number 29, Roland "Sonny" Jackson, 19 years, 80 days.

2nd Base, 12, Joe Morgan, 19 years, 8 days.

Center Field, 18, Jimmy Wynn, 21 years, 200 days.

1st Base, 10, Daniel "Rusty" Staub, 19 years, 179 days.

Right Field, 17, Aaron Pointer, 19 years, 160 days.

Left Field, 29, Brock Davis, 19 years, 344 days.

3rd Base, 4, Glenn Vaughan, 19 years, 223 days.

Catcher, 8, Jerry Grote, 20 years, 356 days.

Pitcher, 42, Jay Dahl, 17 years, 295 days.

Joe Morgan, 1963

So, 7 out of the 9 starters were still teenagers, and the starting pitcher wasn't even 18 years old.

In the 3rd inning, Craft relieved Dahl with Danny Coombs (Number 41; 21 years, 188 days). The next inning, he sent John Weekly (26; 26, 105) to pinch-hit for Coombs. In the 4th, he sent Joe Hoerner (44; 26, 319) out to pitch.

For the 6th, he moved Vaughan to shortstop, and sent Ernie Fazio (11; 21, 245) to 3rd base, replacing Jackson in the leadoff spot in the batting order. Later that inning, he sent Mike White (16; 24, 283) to pinch-hit for Hoerner.

In the 7th, his new pitcher was Jim Dickson (34; 25, 160), and he sent Dave Adlesh (24; 20, 74) to replace Grote as catcher. In the 8th, he sent Carl Warwick (20; 26, 212) to pinch-hit for Dickson. In the 9th, he sent Dick Drott (36) in to pitch. 

Jackson, Dahl, Coombs, Hoerner were making their major league debuts. Pointer's debut had come 5 days earlier; Morgan, Grote and White, 6 days; Vaughan, 7 days; Wynn had debuted on July 10; Dickson on July 2; Adlesh on May 12; and Staub and Davis had both debuted on April 9. Fazio and Weekly had debuted in 1962; Warwick, in 1961. Drott debuted back in 1957, and, at 27 years and 188 days, was the oldest Houston player in the game. It wasn't his 1st major league game, but it turned out to be his last.

Rusty Staub, 1963

Did it work? No: The Mets scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning, and 5 in the 3rd, on their way to a 10-3 win. The Mets even sent their own teenager into the game: Ed Kranepool, 18 years and 322 days old, was a defensive replacement for Tim Harkness at 1st base.

This game would turn out to be Dahl's only major league appearance. The native of Colton, California, outside San Bernardino, developed a back injury that made pitching impossible for the entire 1964 season. He only appeared in 11 games, all as an outfielder, for the Statesville Colts in the Western Carolinas League. In 1965, he started 7 games for the Durham Bulls of the Carolina League, then went 5-0 for the Salisbury Astros of the Western Carolina League. He seemed to be on the way back up.

On June 20, 1965, with the Colt .45s having moved into the Astrodome, next-door to Colt Stadium, and changed their name to the Houston Astros, Dahl was the winning pitcher as Salisbury beat Gastonia, 7-3. That night, the players were invited to a steak dinner at the home of the team's owner, G.M. Hamilton. Dahl and a teammate, Gary Marshall, left the dinner in Marshall's Pontiac GTO. They picked up Marshall's girlfriend, Patricia Ann Troutman, and went to see a movie.

As Marshall drove Troutman home, at 11:24 PM, he hit a patch of sand on Lincolnton Road in Salisbury, skidded for 185 feet, and crashed into a tree. Troutman died instantly. Dahl died about 3 hours later, on June 21. Marshall was blinded. He went home to Kansas, later moved to Dallas, became a minister, tending to the newly blinded, and lived until 2008.

As of September 27, 2022, Jay Dahl remains the last player under age 18 to appear in a major league game; and, at 19 years and 197 days, the youngest former major league player to die.

Some of the Baby Colts fared better. Morgan would make the Baseball Hall of Fame, winning 3 Pennants, 2 World Series and 2 National League Most Valuable Player awards with the Cincinnati Reds; come back to the Astros, and help them to 2 Playoff berths; and win another Pennant with the Philadelphia Phillies. Staub would become a star with the Astros, the Montreal Expos, the Mets, and the Detroit Tigers, collecting 2,716 hits, and become a beloved broadcaster with the Mets.

Warwick would win a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964, and Hoerner would do so in 1967. There is some appropriateness to this, as, before the Colts, the Cardinals had a farm team there, the Houston Buffaloes. Grote would be the starting catcher on the Met teams that won the 1969 World Series and, with Staub as a teammate, the 1973 Pennant. Wynn, "the Toy Cannon," would hit 291 home runs, 228 of them as an Astro, making him the franchise's all-time leader until Jeff Bagwell came along.

There was one more rookie of note for the '63 Astros: One of their broadcasters was in his 1st season in the major leagues, after 2 seasons with the Pacific Coast League's Hawaii Islanders. He would remain with the Astros through 1970, moving to the Philadelphia Phillies, and building a Hall of Fame career with them that would last for the rest of his life. His name was Harry Kalas.

*

The next day, of the previous day's players, the only ones the Astros sent out were Vaughan, Morgan, Staub, Wynn and Fazio. And they won, 6-1. And then, the next day...

September 29, 1963, 60 years ago: John Paciorek becomes the greatest hitter in the history of baseball.

What's that? You've never heard of John Paciorek? Do you know of any other hitter with a 1.000 lifetime batting average?

John Francis Paciorek was born on February 11, 1945 in Detroit. His brother Tom, 1 year younger, would be a major league outfielder, playing from 1970 to 1987, appearing in the 1974 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1983 American League Championship Series with the Chicago White Sox, and even making the 1981 All-Star Game with the Seattle Mariners.

His brother Jim, 15 years younger, would be a major league 1st baseman and outfielder, playing 48 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987, and then playing in Japan until 1993.

John did not play in even 48 games in the major leagues. He played in one.

In this season finale, Craft again started Morgan at 2nd base, batting 2nd; Wynn in left field, batting 3rd; and Staub at 1st base, batting 4th. Batting 7th, playing right field, wearing uniform Number 22, and making his major league debut, was John Paciorek, 18 years and 230 days old.

There seemed little reason to call him up: He played most of the season for the Modesto Colts of the Class A California League, and batted only .219, although he showed some power, with 9 home runs and 49 RBIs. Still, there was no indication that he was going to become a historic figure in baseball, even briefly.

''It's funny, but I can't remember a whole lot about the game,'' he told The New York Times in 1983, in an article for the game's 20th Anniversary. ''It was around 120 degrees in Colt Stadium for a Sunday afternoon game, I remember that. Paul Richards was the general manager, and Harry Craft was the manager, but I don't remember who asked me to play."

In the bottom of the 2nd inning, batting against Met pitcher Larry Bearnarth, Paciorek drew a walk. So had Bob Aspromonte, who thus moved to 2nd base. John Bateman then tripled them home, giving the Colts a 2-0 lead.

But the Mets took a 4-2 lead. The Colts made them pay for that, beginning the bottom of the 4th with 6 straight singles: By Staub, Aspromonte, Ivan Murrell, Paciorek, Bateman and Al Spangler. This was followed by an RBI sacrifice fly by one of the few veterans on the team, although a Texas native, Pete Runnels; a strikeout by Morgan, and an RBI single by Wynn. The Colts led, 7-4.

There was more to come in the 5th. With Ed Bauta now pitching for the Mets, Aspromonte led off with a triple, and Paciorek singled him home. He would be singled home by Bob Lillis. Tracy Stallard, who had given up Roger Maris' 61st home run of the 1961 season, was brought in to pitch, but he walked the bases loaded, and then he walked Wynn and then Staub to force runs in. The Colts led, 11-4.

Paciorek came up again in the 6th, batting against Grover Powell. He drew a walk, and scored on another single by Lillis. Again against Powell, he led off the 8th with a single. The Colts won, 13-4.

Paciorek was 3-for-3, with 2 walks, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. It was, arguably, the greatest debut in the history of Major League baseball.

But that debut would also be his finale. He had a bad back, and it plagued him through the 1964 season. In 49 minor-league games, he batted just .135. He had spinal fusion surgery, and, as a result, missed the rest of the season, and all of the next. In that 1965 season, the Colts moved into the Astrodome, and changed their name to the Houston Astros.

In 1966, he played 77 minor-league games in the Astro organization, and batted just .193. In 1967, he played only 32, batting .104, and the Astros released him.

He got a second chance in 1968, being signed by the Cleveland Indians. In 95 minor-league games, he hit 20 home runs. In 1969, he played for the Waterbury Indians of the Class AA Eastern League, but was only batting .214 through 29 games, when he tore his Achilles tendon. They released him, and, not yet 23 years old, he had played his last professional game.

While recovering from his back surgery, he had studied physical education at the University of Houston. Having been released, he was able to complete his degree. He married twice, had 4 sons and 4 daughters, became a phys ed teacher, and wrote 2 books about baseball instruction.

Ironically, while his minor-league career was little more than a disaster, his major league career was perfect. His 3 hits in 3 at-bats gave him a "lifetime" batting average of 1.000. Top that, Ty Cobb. Since all 3 hits were singles, that 3 total bases, so he had a slugging percentage of 1.000. Top that, Barry Bonds. His 2 walks meant that he reached base in 5 out of 5 plate appearances, so he had an on-base percentage of 1.000. Top that, Ted Williams. This means that he had an OPS of 2.000. Top that, Babe Ruth. And he had an OPS+ of 495. Top that, anybody.

Oh, yes, his fielding: He had 2 chances in the field, and had 2 putouts. So his fielding average in right field was 1.000. Top that, Roberto Clemente. His baserunning? He did not attempt to steal any bases, so I can't say, "Top that, Rickey Henderson." But he didn't get picked off or thrown out at any bases, either.

Oh, you want to know what his WAR was? Well, it was only 0.2. After all, it was just 5 plate appearances.

There have been 22 other players who picked up at least 3 hits without making an out in their MLB debut. But each of those 22 also played in more big league games, and watched their batting averages drop.

Through the 2021 season, 83 players had a major league "career" that saw them go 1-for-1, while 10 went 2-for-2. John Paciorek is the only one, so far, who has gone 3-for-3.

"It's kind of a dubious honor," Paciorek said. But I guess I’m immortalized. I did something no one else has ever done."

Ol' Number 22 could hit -- at least, for one day.

Like Jay Dahl in 1965, John Weekly died in a car crash, in 1974. Dick Drott died in 1985, Harry Craft in 1995, Joe Hoerner in 1996, Glenn Vaughan in 2004, Dave Adlesh in 2016, Ernie Fazio in 2017, Rusty Staub in 2018, Jimmy Wynn and Joe Morgan in 2020.

As of September 27, 2023, the following are still alive: Carl Warwick is 86, Jim Dickson is 85, Mike White is 84, Aaron Pointer and Danny Coombs are 81, Jerry Grote is 80, Brock Davis and Sonny Jackson are 79; John Paciorek is 78.

*

Another game from September 29, 1963 is worth mentioning: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Dal Maxvill doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

It was the last game for retiring Cardinal legend Stan Musial, and his Number 6 was retired. In the bottom of the 6th, the 42-year-old Stan the Man singled Curt Flood home. It was the 3,630th hit of his career, a National League record. In one of the neatest coincidences in sports history, he got exactly 1,815 hits in home games, and 1,815 hits in away games.

The single went between 1st and 2nd base, past the Reds' diving 2nd baseman, soon to be named the NL Rookie of the Year, and just 5 months old when Stan made his major league debut on September 17, 1941, 22 years and 12 days earlier. His name was Pete Rose. In 1981, Pete surpassed Stan as the NL's all-time hit leader. In 1985, he surpassed Ty Cobb as the major leagues' all-time hit leader. In 1989... um, let's move on.

Also, Hockey Hall-of-Famer Dave Andreychuk was born on this day, in Hamilton, Ontario. He scored 640 goals in his career, and won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.

The Failed 2023 New York Yankees: Which One's the Dummy?

Yesterday, in the makeup of a rainout, the Yankees beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-4. Officially, the paid attendance was 41,096. But, given the nature of the rearrangement, the timing of it being a Monday afternoon, and the weather still being damp, actual attendance was probably less than 10,000, the smallest Yankee home crowd since the COVID restrictions.

The day before, the Yankees were eliminated from Playoff contention. It's the 1st time since 2016 that the Yankees have missed. It's the 1st time since 2014 that both New York teams have missed. Manager Aaron Boone said that it sucks, and he's right.

“We’re not very good right now,” he said. “We understand that. And certainly, this is a low point for us. The silver lining in it all is it is in front of us, and we control that, and we understand that.”

Aaron Judge, the team's Captain and best player, said, “I know guys have missed time. “That always hurts. From the rotation, from even my standpoint. Missing all the games I did doesn’t help.”

Many guys were hurt. Many guys were healthy, but underperformed. This is the team that Brian Cashman, the general manager, built. And firing Boone won't make any difference: Cashman will just hire another yes-man who will follow orders, and be his "press secretary," handling the tough questions so Cashman doesn't have to.

Judge gets it: “Every year I’m not standing here talking to you guys after a championship, it’s a failure. It’s about bringing a championship back. That’s why we play. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I came back to New York with this group of guys, was to build something and get New York back to where it’s supposed to be. When you don’t show up and you don’t produce and you get kicked out like this in the regular season, that’s a big failure right there.”

He continued: “It’s not gonna happen overnight, so we gotta hit the ground running, especially when the season ends. We got a lot to work on, a lot of things to change, and a lot of stuff going on around here that needs to be fixed.”

But Cashman doesn't get it. So firing Boone isn't the answer. It would "throw red meat," but he'd just be replaced by another piece of meat, set up to take the fall. Yes, I'm mixing my metaphors. So what? Boone is a symptom, not the disease. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Why fire the doll, and keep the ventriloquist?

Which one's the dummy?

Yankee Cy Young Award Winners -- and Those Who Should Have Been

Would Have Been, Had There Been One at the Time

1904 Jack Chesbro

1921 Carl Mays

1922 Joe Bush

1923 Sam Jones

1927 Waite Hoyt

1928 Waite Hoyt

1932 Lefty Gomez

1934 Lefty Gomez

1937 Lefty Gomez

1938 Red Ruffing

1939 Red Ruffing

1942 Tiny Bonham

1943 Spud Chandler

1949 Vic Raschi

1950 Vic Raschi

1951 Eddie Lopat

1953 Allie Reynolds

1958 Bob Turley

1961 Whitey Ford

1962 Ralph Terry

1963 Whitey Ford

Did Win

1977 Sparky Lyle (1st AL relief pitcher to win it)

1978 Ron Guidry

2001 Roger Clemens

Should Have Won

1996 Andy Pettitte (Pat Hentgen won it)

1998 David Wells (Roger Clemens with Toronto)

1999 Mariano Rivera (Pedro Martinez)

2003 Mariano Rivera (Roy Halladay)

2006 Chien-Ming Wang (Johan Santana)

2009 CC Sabathia (Zack Greinke)

Will Win

2023 Gerrit Cole

Phil Sellers, 1953-2023

The greatest of all Rutgers basketball players is no longer with us.

Phillip Sellers Jr. (no middle name) was born on November 20, 1953 in Brooklyn. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School there, and was recruited to play for Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey by Dick Vitale, an assistant to head coach Tom Young. He helped Rutgers reach the NIT in 1973 and 1974, and reach the NCAA Tournament in 1975.

Now, under coach Tom Young, they had a basketball team ready to challenge the rest of the country. The usual starting lineup was guards Mike Dabney and Eddie Jordan, forwards Phil "the Thrill" Sellers and Hollis Copeland, and center James Bailey, a freshman.

It was one thing to beat regional rivals like Princeton and Seton Hall (also in New Jersey); Columbia, Fordham, Manhattan College and Long Island University (New York City); the University of Pennsylvania and Temple (Philadelphia); Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette (Northeastern Pennsylvania); the University of Delaware; the Naval Academy (Maryland); American University (Washington, D.C.); the University of Connecticut; and Boston College.

But beating bigger teams was another thing. On December 4, 1975, they beat Big Ten team Purdue. Between Christmas and New Year's, they went to Greenville, South Carolina to play in the Poinsettia Classic, and beat The Citadel (not a big deal) and Georgia Tech (which was a big deal. They beat West Virginia at Madison Square Garden on February 5.

By this point, home games at the 3,200-seat College Avenue Gymnasium were next to impossible to get into unless you were a student. It got so loud, paint chips fell from the ceiling. The decision to build a new arena was made.

Rutgers beat the University of Pittsburgh, then Syracuse. On March 1, they closed the regular season at home to St. Bonaventure, still undefeated at 25-0. The Bonnies took an early lead, but the Scarlet Knights came back, and won, 85-80. They entered the ECAC Metro Tournament at Princeton's Jadwin Gymnasium, and beat LIU and St. John's, Queens and Brooklyn, to go 28-0.

It was on to the NCAA Tournament. This was only the 2nd time RU had made the Tournament, having gotten in the year before, and going out in the 1st Round. They had gotten to the Semifinals of the NIT in 1967, with future North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano playing for them.

They played Princeton -- not in New Jersey, but at the Providence Civic Center in Rhode Island. (It's now named the Dunkin' Donuts Center. It was the closest game of the season, but Rutgers beat their ancient rivals, 54-53.

On to the Regional Semifinal, in Greensboro. Connecticut was not yet the power it would become, and Rutgers won, 93-79. That led to the Regional Final, also in Greensboro, against VMI. This time, Rutgers was solidly favored, and won, 91-75. They were undefeated. They were 31-0. They were ranked Number 4 in the country. And they were on their way to the Final Four.

Since it was 1976, the Bicentennial year, the Final Four, and the All-Star Games for MLB, the NBA and the NHL, were held in Philadelphia. On March 27, against the University of Michigan, ranked Number 9 entering the Tournament, the bubble finally burst. The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, and the Knights just couldn't get into their game. Michigan won, 86-70, and RU were 31-1.

In those days, there was a 3rd Place Game, and Rutgers lost that, too, 106-92 to defending National Champion UCLA, to finish 31-2. Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight, and featuring future NBA players Kent Benson, Scott May and Quinn Buckner, beat Michigan, and completed an undefeated season, 32-0. There hasn't been an undefeated season in college basketball since.

Calendar year 1976 was magical for Rutgers: In the Autumn, the football team also went undefeated, 11-0, but was not invited to a bowl game.

In 1977, Rutgers moved into the Rutgers Athletic Center, across the Raritan River, on the Livingston Campus in Piscataway. Now named the Jersey Mike's Arena, it only seats 9,000, and has never been very good. Plans for renovation, or for a new arena in downtown New Brunswick, have been floated, but it looks like the current nondescript chunk of concrete is going to stay. The College Avenue Gym still stands, and hosts the RU wrestling and volleyball programs.

Despite being the team's top player, Phil Sellers played just 1 season in the NBA, with the 1976-77 Detroit Pistons. Hollis Copeland played 2 seasons with the New York Knicks. James Bailey lasted 9 seasons, playing for both the Knicks and the New Jersey Nets, among other teams.

Eddie Jordan had the most successful pro career, playing 7 seasons, 3 of them with the Nets, and 3 with the Los Angeles Lakers, including winning the 1982 NBA Championship. He later coached the NBA's Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers.

After his release by Detroit, Sellers played for the Jersey Shore Bullets in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), and then for BV Amstelveen in the Netherlands. He tried out for the Pistons again in 1979, then coached by his former assistant coach at Rutgers, Dick Vitale, but was cut before the season began. He returned to Rutgers as an assistant coach for four years in the 1980s, before moving to work in the private sector, and doing some fundraising for the University.

He remains Rutgers' all-time leader with 2,399 points and 1,115 rebounds. In 1988, the University retired his Number 12. In 1993, it inducted him into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

After a series of health setbacks, Phil Sellers died from a stroke yesterday, September 20, 2023, at the age of 69. Having been predeceased by his wife Pat, he was survived by son Phil Sellers Jr., daughter Kendra Sellers Palmer, and a granddaughter.

RU athletic director Pat Hobbs called him "a special player, and an even better person." Teammate Eddie Jordan said, "I will miss him with all my heart."

How Long It's Been: Arsenal Played a Champions League Match

This afternoon, at 3:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time, Arsenal Football Club, a professional soccer team of whom I am both a fan and a supporter -- and, as some of their own "fans" have proven, there is a difference -- will play a UEFA Champions League match.

They will be at home, at the Emirates Stadium in North London, and will play Philips Sport Vereniging, or "Philips Sport Association," of Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. (Eindhoven is in Brabant. Not "Holland." Saying someone from Brabant is for "Holland" is like calling a Scotsman "English" -- or a Texan a "Yankee.") That team was formed by Philips, the former electronics giant, which is now focused on health technology. Along with Ajax in Amsterdam and Feyenoord in Rotterdam, they are one of the "Big Three" of Dutch soccer, and were 2nd in the Dutch league, the Eredivisie, last season.

Arsenal made the Champions League every season from 1998-99 to 2016-17. They never won it, and only reached the Final once, in 2006. They got to the knockout stage every season from 2003-04 to 2016-17, but lost in the Round of 16 every season from 2010-11 onward. (The role that the officiating played in these defeats is a story for another time.)

To some fans, getting there every year was a great success. To others, getting there every year, but losing in this fashion, was a failure. And seeing other English teams -- Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and now Manchester City, with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa having previously done so -- win it was considered unfortunate by the former group, and a grand humiliation by the latter.

And yet, once Arsène Wenger, the manager who built this achievement, and had also won 3 Premier League titles and a record 7 FA Cups, including 2 "Doubles" and the 2003-04 "Invincible" season, left in 2018, the latter group seemed to be just fine with missing the CL entirely, and reaching the Final of the secondary European tournament, the UEFA Europa League, under new manager Unai Emery.

Well, that Final was a disastrous loss to Chelsea, and the team's best player, Mesut Özil, could be seen yelling at Emery, "I swear to God, you are not a coach!" And he proved it the next season, giving Arsenal its worst start in memory. He was fired, replaced as a caretaker manager by former team star Freddie Ljungberg, until another former Arsenal star, Mikel Arteta, could be acquired. He took Arsenal to the 2020 FA Cup, and to a 2nd place finish last season, and into the CL this season.

And so, Arsenal will take the pitch today against PSV. It will be their 1st Champions League match since March 7, 2017, a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich at the Emirates, completing a 10-2 aggregate loss, to then as now, the dominant team in Germany.

I would tell you what I wrote about it at the time, but, apparently, I wrote nothing about it at the time. Though I did write about Arsenal the day before, ripping the "Wenger Out Brigade," pointing out that he had spent a lot of money on "world-class players," and it hadn't worked. Therefore, in their "diseased minds," as I put it, it must be his fault, not the players', and certainly not the WOB's for giving in to their demands.

It's been 6 years, 6 months and 12 days. How long has that been?

*

Here was Arsenal's starting XI: Goalkeeper David Ospina; right back Héctor Bellerín; centerbacks Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny; left back Nacho Monreal; midfielders Granit Xhaka, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey; right wing Theo Walcott; left wing Alexis Sánchez; and centre forward Olivier Giroud.

Substitutes who got into the game, all in the 72nd minute: Mesut Özil for Alexis, Francis Coquelin for Ramsey, and Lucas Pérez for Giroud. Listed as available substitutes, but not getting into the game: Goalkeeper Petr Čech, left back Kieran Gibbs, and centreback Gabriel Paulista.

Among those on the roster, but not listed for the game, due to injury, insufficient experience, or perhaps some other reason: Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez; centrebacks Per Mertesacker and Rob Holding; midfielders Santi Cazorla, Mohamed Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles; and forwards Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi.

Of those 26 players, 6 1/2 years later, only 1 is still on the Arsenal roster: Elneny.

Let the record show that Arsenal were leading 1-0 (albeit trailing 5-2 on aggregate) on a goal by Walcott when Koscielny was sent off with a bogus red card in the 53rd minute, and that all 5 of Bayern's goals came after that.

This Arsenal team finished 5th in the Premier League, 18 points behind League winners Chelsea and 1 point behind 4th-place Liverpool, keeping them out of the 2018-19 Champions League. But they won the FA Cup, beating Chelsea in the Final. Real Madrid of Spain beat Juventus of Turin, Italy in the Champions League Final.

The titleholders in American sports were the Chicago Cubs in baseball (it still doesn't seem possible), the New England Patriots in football, the Cleveland Cavaliers in basketball, the Pittsburgh Penguins in hockey, and the Seattle Sounders were the holders of the MLS Cup. The WBA and the IBF recognized Anthony Joshua as the Heavyweight Champion of the World, while the WBC recognized Deontay Wilder.

Since then, the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals have won their 1st World Series, the Philadelphia Eagles their 1st NFL Championship since 1960, and the Kansas City Chiefs their 1st Super Bowl since 1970; the Toronto Raptors their 1st NBA Championship, and the Milwaukee Bucks their 1st since 1971; and the Washington Capitals, the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights their 1st Stanley Cups.

The Atlanta Braves and the Texas Rangers have opened new ballparks; the San Diego Chargers have moved to Los Angeles, and the Oakland Raiders have moved to Las Vegas; the Chargers, the Raiders, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Atlanta Falcons have opened new stadiums; the Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken have begun play; and those NHL expansion teams, the New York Islanders, the Arizona Coyotes, the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors have opened new arenas.

All the major league sports teams in the New York Tri-State Area have changed their manager or head coach at least once. As hard as it is to believe, the senior field boss in New York now is Aaron Boone of the Yankees, hired on December 4, 2017.

Duck Dynasty, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Americans, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Veep, Game of Thrones and Drunk History were still on the air.

And Queen Elizabeth II, Chuck Berry, Whitey Ford and Tom Seaver, among others, have since died.

March 7, 2017. Arsenal played a UEFA Champions League game. They have not played one since.

That ends today. Hopefully, in victory.

September 20, 1973: Tennis' Battle of the Sexes

September 20, 1973, 50 years ago: A made-for-TV spectacle is held at the Astrodome in Houston: A tennis match labeled "The Battle of the Sexes."

Bobby Riggs was a great tennis player once. The Los Angeles native wasn't big and strong, but he was quick, and relied on a speed game. He once won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and reached the Final of the French Open, all in the same year.

That year was 1939. In 1941, he won the U.S. Open again. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he won the U.S. Pro title in 1946, '47 and '49. (Professionals were barred from the "Grand Slam" tournaments -- Wimbledon and the U.S., French and Australian Opens -- until 1968.)

Bobby had to turn professional, because he was a compulsive gambler. He always needed money. He became known as a hustler, a man who would do anything for money, and, remarkably, could usually do it. Indeed, after what I'm about to talk about was all over, this was spoofed on an episode of the TV show The Odd Couple. He had a massive ego, but, like his contemporary Dizzy Dean and later baseball star Reggie Jackson, he could usually back it up.

As early as 1951, he challenged one of the top female tennis players, Pauline Betz -- an ex-girlfriend of his. She won the U.S. Open in 1942, 1943 and 1944, and both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 1946. They were on tour, and played each other in a series of matches, as the warmup act before a series of matches between pro stars Jack Cramer and Pancho Segura. In 1967, he was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

If that had been the end of the story, he might be mostly forgotten today -- but most of those who would, today, have been familiar with his story would have thought better of him. That was not the end of the story.

In 1973, he was 55 years old, well past the age where he could make money playing tennis -- or so it seemed. But the sport was as big then as it has ever been. It was the high tide of feminism, and, in this sport as in few others, the women were stars as big as the men.

Whether he actually liked that, only he knew for sure. But he played the part of a proud male chauvinist pig. Bobby Riggs claimed that women's tennis was inferior, and that not even a top female player could beat him, not even at his age. Most tennis fans under the age of 40 said, "Who the hell is Bobby Riggs?"

They soon found out. He challenged the top female player of the time, Billie Jean King. In 1972, she had nearly won the Grand Slam: Winning Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the French Open. (British player Virginia Wade won the Australian Open, beating Australian player Evonne Goolagong in the Final.) More than that, she was an advocate for making tennis tournaments give their female players prize money equal to male players. It wasn't happening quickly, but it was happening, one by one.

Sports Illustrated recognized that she had a social value on top of her competitive achievements, and made her the 1st female "Sportsman of the Year" -- but made her share the award with UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, the 1st time the award had been split.

Like Riggs, she was from Los Angeles -- or, more accurately, from adjoining Long Beach, California. Like him, she was known for wearing horn-rim glasses. Unlike him, she did not look like the popular comedian Arte Johnson. But she did consider his challenge a joke, and rejected it.

So he challenged another major women's star, the Australian Margaret Court. They played each other on May 13 -- Mother's Day, and Court was then one of the few women to have returned to a star level in tennis after having children -- in the San Diego suburb of Ramona, California. He was 55, she was 30. It should have been a mismatch.

It was -- the other way. He got into her head, and won 6-2, 6-1. It was known as the Mother's Day Massacre. It got him on the cover of both Time and its sister publication Sports Illustrated, the latter carrying the headline, "NEVER BET AGAINST THIS MAN." And his insults to women's tennis, and to women in general, got bigger than ever. And male chauvinists loved it. (Shades of Donald Trump, but only nasty, not criminal in nature.)

Now, brimming with confidence, he challenged King again. Everyone told Billie Jean that she had to accept, for womankind, and for the sake of sportsmanship, because Bobby was a pig first, and a male chauvinist pig second.

The match would be held at the Astrodome in Houston, televised live on ABC -- meaning that it would be anchored by one of the few figures in sports more polarizing than Riggs: Howard Cosell. (Give Riggs credit for this: He had better hair than Cosell. Not better than too many others, but better than Cosell.) The prize was winner-take-all: $100,000. (About $658,000 in today's money.)

The opening ceremonies were a farce. No pair of boxers ever entered the ring like this, and no such pair has since, not even in a Rocky movie. Professional wrestlers may have learned a thing or two from it. King entered first, carried in on a feather-adorned litter by four bare-chested bodybuilders, making her look like Cleopatra and them like her slaves. She had a look on her face suggesting, "I can't believe I agreed to this."

Did you think I was kidding?

Riggs was no less ridiculous: He came in seated in a rickshaw, drawn by busty models. He presented King with a giant lollipop -- a Sugar Daddy. She countered by giving him a piglet, pointing out that he was a "pig." The piglet was squealing, suggesting that at least one living thing less wanted to be in the Astrodome than she did. But she knew she had to do it.

Did Riggs really think he could win? One fact suggests that he didn't: Tootsie Roll, makers of the Sugar Daddy, gave him $50,000, half of what he stood to win upon winning the match, to wear a tracksuit jacket with the Sugar Daddy logo on it. He took it off midway through the 1st set.

Again, Bobby was 55. Billie Jean was 29. Still, knowing what he had done to Margaret Court, Las Vegas oddsmakers made him the favorite. Indeed, he jumped out to a 3-2 lead after breaking Billie Jean's serve in the 1st set.

But, now into the actual match and able to take things seriously, she came right back and broke his serve in the next game. He played his usual game (at this stage of his career), dropping lobs and making soft shots. She countered these effectively, and made him use his old legs. It was the tennis version of jujitsu: She turned his fighting style against him.

She won the 1st set, 6-4. She won the 2nd set, 6-3. Even today, women's tennis is best-2-out-of-3 sets, while the men's version is best-3-out-of-5. This was to be best-3-out-of-5, and that was another reason the oddsmakers favored Riggs: In spite of King's age advantage, they thought women couldn't handle 5 sets.

She didn't need to: She won the 3rd set, 6-3. After match point, Riggs, quite spry for 55, jumped over the net as if he'd won, and shook her hand.

Riggs' relevancy was over. King's was just beginning. By the time she was done, she had won 12 women's singles titles at majors: Wimbledon 6 times, in 1966, '67, '68, '72, '73 and '75; the U.S. Open 4 times, in 1967, '71, '72 and '74; the Australian Open in 1968; and the French Open in 1972. Throw in 16 women's doubles titles from 1961 to 1979 -- 18 years apart -- and 11 mixed doubles titles from 1967 to 1976, and that's a total of 39 majors. An average of 2 a year.

But beyond the victories: Along with Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, she is 1 of the 5 most important American athletes of the 20th Century, because of how she raised the profile, and the prize money, of women's sports. And, with Ali's death in 2016, she's the only one of those still alive.

To put it into a baseball perspective: She had Hank Aaron's talent, Curt Flood's drive to make the sport more fair, and Andy Messersmith's success at that endeavor, and took as much heat for it as all 3 put together.

In 1975, Seventeen magazine polled its readers, and they named Billie Jean their most admired woman. Not just their most admired female athlete, their most admired woman in any field. Then again, these were the days when The Weekly Reader polled grade school kids, and the biggest "hero" of both genders was O.J., Simpson, ahead of Moon lander Neil Armstrong.

The fact that she did all of this while staying in the closet until she no longer could, and then accepted her role as a gay rights icon as well as a feminist icon and a sports icon, makes her even more remarkable.

She is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and the National Tennis Center at New York's Flushing Meadow-Corona Park is named for her. (The main stadium is named for Arthur Ashe, but the entire complex is named for Billie Jean.) In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

To put her work in perspective: The men's and women's winners from Wimbledon in 2022 -- Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina respectively -- each got $2.4 million.

Today, Billie Jean King is 78 years old, and still promoting tennis, and women's sports in general, wherever she can. She and Riggs actually became friends, and when he died in 1995, she spoke at his funeral.

In 2017, it was alleged that Riggs had bet heavily on King and then thrown the match, to pay off his gambling debts. This was denied by most people who knew him. It really was a ridiculous idea: Had he won, not only would he have taken home the $100,000 prize, but the endorsement deals he would have gotten would have more than paid off any debts he had.

The story has been filmed twice. In 2001, ABC aired a TV-movie, When Billie Beat Bobby, starring Holly Hunter and Ron Silver, in a rare mustache-less role for him. In 2017, the feature film Battle of the Sexes was released, staring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. Unlike the ABC TV-movie, this film did look at King's struggle to hide being gay. It was also made into a Broadway play, Balls, in 2018.

Billie Jean King, flanked by the stars of Balls:

Donald Corren and Ellen Tamaki,

wearing copies of each player's outfit in the match.

Born Billie Jean Moffitt, her brother is former San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Moffitt. From 1965 to 1987, Billie Jean was married to Larry King. Not the talk-show host: Unlike the late Lawrence Henry Zeiger, King is his real name. He was a sports promoter, and helped her promote the women's tennis tour. She was told that, if she came out as gay, it would ruin the women's tour. Finally, for legal reasons, she did. It didn't.

They split when Billie Jean fell in love with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss, a Jewish South African. They have been together ever since, and were married in 2018. They are now a part of Magic Johnson's group that owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Lakers, and the WNBA's Sparks; and are among the owners of Angel City FC, the L.A. team in the National Women's Soccer League.

*

September 20, 1973 was also the day that rock singer Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash. And it was the day of "The Ball Off the Wall Game." The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Shea Stadium, across Roosevelt Avenue from Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, where the U.S. Open would be moved from Forest Hills, also in Queens, in 1978.

There was a 5-way dogfight for the National League Eastern Division title. Going into the game, the Pirates were in 1st place, the Montreal Expos were 1 game back, the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals both a game and a half back, and the Chicago Cubs 4 games back. Even so, the Pirates, winners of the 1971 World Series and the last 3 NL East titles, struggling all year after the death of Roberto Clemente in a plane crash the previous New Year's Eve, were the only team above .500, at 75-74. It seemed like no one wanted to win that Division.

But the Metropolitans and Buccos sure played this game like they both wanted to win it. The game's only home run was hit by Pirate (and future Met) Richie Hebner in the 7th inning, but the Mets tied it 2-2 in the 8th. Both teams scored in the 9th to make it 3-3 and send it to extra innings.

It went to the top of the 13th inning. With 1 out, Richie Zisk singled off Ray Sadecki. Manny Sanguillen flew to right for the 2nd out. Dave Augustine, a 23-year-old center fielder from West Virginia in only his 5th major league game, hit one deep to left. It looked like a home run.

Except it hit the top of the fence, and, instead of bouncing over for a homer, it bounced back, right into Cleon Jones' glove. That's a hit. But Jones pivoted, and fired to Wayne Garrett (playing shortstop instead of his usual 3rd base). Garrett saw that Zisk was trying to score, and threw home to catcher Ron Hodges. Zisk was out at the plate.

The bottom of the 13th began with walks drawn by John Milner and Ken Boswell. Don Hahn popped up to 1st base. But Hodges singled to left, scoring Milner with the winning run. The Mets went on to win the Division, by a game and a half over the Cardinals, 2 1/2 over the Pirates, 3 1/2 over the Expos and 5 over the Cubs. (Although he was on the Mets roster for this game, Willie Mays, soon to announce his retirement, did not play.)