They had previously won the title in the National Basketball League in 1945. They will become the Cincinnati Royals in 1957, the Kansas City Kings in 1972, and the Sacramento Kings in 1985. Their long-term future in Sacramento is now settled, as they've opened a new arena.
Earl Lloyd, a forward wearing Number 11, scores 2 baskets and 2 free throws for the Capitols, for a total of 6 points. It doesn't sound like much, but his mere presence in the game makes him the NBA's 1st black player.
Chuck Cooper had been the 1st black player drafted, by the Boston Celtics, but, the way the schedule worked out, Earl beat him to the court by 1 day. Chuck should not be confused with another early black star, Charles "Tarzan" Cooper, who played for the New York Renaissance (a.k.a. the Rens) in the 1930s. Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, formerly of the Rens and the Harlem Globetrotters, had been the 1st black player actually signed, by the New York Knicks, but Earl beat him to the court by 4 days.
Earl Lloyd was born in 1928 in Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. His hometown team, having fired coach Red Auerbach in 1949, was 10-25 on January 9, 1951, and folded, leaving the nation's capital without an NBA team for the next 22 years. Lloyd was then drafted, and served in the Korean War.
Discharged in 1952, "the Big Cat" (also the nickname of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Mize, then wrapping up his career with the Yankees) played for the Syracuse Nationals until 1958, and the Detroit Pistons from then until his retirement in 1960. He averaged 8.4 points per game in his 9 NBA seasons. The Pistons then hired him as a scout. In 1968, they named him the 1st black assistant coach in the NBA, and the 2nd black head coach (after Bill Russell of the Celtics) and 1st non-playing black head coach in 1972. But the Pistons were awful then, and his career coaching record was just 22-55.
He worked for the Detroit school system, helping students find jobs, then did the same thing for a company run by Pistons Hall-of-Famer Dave Bing. He retired to Tennessee. In 2003, the Basketball Hall of Fame elected him as a "contributor," for his historical prominence. In 2007, T.C. Williams High School, the integrated Alexandria school into which his former all-black school, Parker-Gray, had been consolidated (a tale told in the football-themed film Remember the Titans), named their new gym's court after him. He was also elected to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and died in 2015, a few weeks short of his 87th birthday.
Also on this day, John Franklin Candy is born in Newmarket, Ontario, outside Toronto. In the closing minutes of Super Bowl XXIII, when the Cincinnati Bengals had just scored to take the lead, the San Francisco 49ers were nervous, when quarterback Joe Montana pointed out of the huddle to the stands and said, "Isn't that John Candy?" The question relaxed the players, and Montana drove them for the winning touchdown.
Candy played Cubs broadcaster Cliff Murdoch in Rookie of the Year, and I give him a lot of credit for playing someone similar to, but not a total caricature of, Cubs broadcasting legend Harry Caray. On the other side of Chicago, he shot a scene at the old Comiskey Park in its closing days for Only the Lonely. Considering his weight, I'm not surprised that he died young (43), but I'm still sorry about it. He gave us a lot, but, based on how he switched from comedy to pathos in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, he had a lot more to give.
Also on this day, Margaret Jane Pauley is born in Indianapolis. Dropping her first name, she was the longtime co-host of The Today Show on NBC, and is married to Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau. She recently took over for the retiring Charles Osgood as the host of CBS Sunday Morning.
October 31, 1951, 70 years ago: Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is born in Fairmont, West Virginia. It will surprise no fans of Southeastern Conference football to learn that Nick Saban has Halloween as his birthday. The son of legendary football coach Lou Saban, Nick hasn't yet moved around to as many coaching jobs, but he has moved around with considerably less ethics than his father.
He did, however, lead Louisiana State to the 2003 National Championship, and Alabama to the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017 editions. He's won 9 Southeastern Conference Championships, in 2001 and 2003 at LSU; and in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020 at Alabama. (Alabama lost, oddly, to LSU in 2011, thus denying them a place in the SEC Championship Game, but because they were Number 2 in the final rankings, they still got into the National Championship Game.) He and Bear Bryant, with Kentucky and Alabama, are the only coaches to win SEC Championships at 2 different schools. He also won a Mid-American Conference at the University of Toledo in 1990.
His career record currently stands at 263-66-1. Alabama is currently 7-1, holding the Number 3 ranking, after losing Number 1 following a loss to Texas A&M.
October 31, 1959: Louisiana State University hosts the University of Mississippi at Tiger Stadium in a foggy Baton Rouge. LSU comes into the game ranked Number 1, Ole Miss Number 3. Late in the 4th quarter, Ole Miss leads 3-0.
Jake Gibbs, Ole Miss' quarterback and punter, and later a catcher for the Yankees, punts, and Billy Cannon, who led LSU to the National Championship the year before, returns it 89 yards, breaking 7 tackles and running the last 60 yards untouched through the fog, for a touchdown that wins the game, 7-3. It becomes known as "Billy Cannon's Halloween Run," and it effectively clinches the Heisman Trophy for him.
But LSU lost to the University of Tennessee the next week, 14-13, as Cannon was stuffed on an attempt for a 2-point conversion, costing LSU a 2nd straight national title. A rematch with Ole Miss was set up for the Sugar Bowl, and Ole Miss won.
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October 31, 1961, 60 years ago: Hurricane Hattie makes landfall in Central America, killing over 300 people.
Also on this day, Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr. is born in Dublin, Ireland. Larry Mullen Jr. is the drummer for the band U2.
Also on this day, Peter Robert Jackson is born in Wellington, New Zealand. He directed the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, including winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for the 2003 finale, The Return of the King. He also directed the 2005 remake of King Kong, and The Lovely Bones.
He recently made The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary about the making of their album Let It Be, using footage from the previous documentary based on it, some of it not used.
October 31, 1962: The Number 1 song in America on this Halloween is "Monster Mash," credited to Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. Pickett was a 24-year-old native of the Boston area who loved horror films, and had a nightclub act where he would sing doo-wop songs while imitating such actors as Boris Karloff, who played the monster in the 1931 version of Frankenstein, and the title character in the 1932 version of The Mummy; and Bela Lugosi, who played the title character in the 1931 version of Dracula.
In May 1962, he wrote and recorded as a parody of dance crazes like the Twist and the Mashed Potato -- hence, "Monster Mash." He was signed by Gary Paxton, who ran Garpax Records and had been the lead singer of The Hollywood Argyles, who hit Number 1 in 1960 with a novelty song about a comic strip caveman, "Alley Oop." The piano player on "Monster Mash" was a young Leon Russell.
The key to the joke is one that I didn't get for years: In the 1950s, Karloff had a kids' show on New York radio station WNEW, so his voice became familiar to the Baby Boom generation, even though he had hardly any lines as the Frankenstein Monster. (Remember: Frankenstein was the mad scientist, though the name is often mistakenly given to the Monster.) In 1958, Karloff came full circle, playing the scientist in Frankenstein 1970. So it wasn't odd for Pickett to play Karloff as the scientist in the song -- even though, at the end, Igor, "you impetuous young boy," sounds more like the Monster than the classic scientist's hunchbacked assistant.
One thing Pickett didn't do was use the word "antipasto," which, due to the impression of another horror-themed radio show host, John Zacherle, "the Cool Ghoul," became the word to use when imitating Karloff, who died in 1969, 3 years after narrating the TV special How the Grinch Saved Christmas. Another thing he didn't do was pronounce the location of his work a "la-BORE-a-tory" like an Englishman like Karloff would, instead of "LAB-oratory."
Pickett never had another serious hit, although "Monster Mash" being overused every late October meant that he never had to work another day in his life, which ended in 2007. Zacherle made it until 2016, age 98.
October 31, 1963: A propane leak at a concession stand at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum causes an explosion that kills 74 people during a Holiday On Ice show.
Opened in 1939, the 6,800-seat building still stands, known as the Indiana Farmers Coliseum. It was the 1st home of the Indiana Pacers, from 1967 to 1974, and they won the American Basketball Association title there in 1970, 1972, and 1973.
It has also been home to a series of minor-league hockey teams. The Indianapolis Capitals won the Calder Cup, the championship of the American Hockey League, in 1942 and 1950. The Indianapolis Ice won the Turner Cup, the championship of the International Hockey League, in 1990; and the Ray Miron Cup, the championship of the Central Hockey League, in 2000. The Indiana Ice won the Clark Cup, the championship of the United States Hockey League, in 2009 and 2014. The current team is called the Indy Fuel.
Also on this day, Fredrick Stanley McGriff is born in Tampa. In 1982, the Yankees traded LP1st baseman Fred McGriff, young pitcher Mike Morgan and outfielder Dave Collins to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Dale Murray and 3rd baseman Tom Dodd. Dodd did play 1 year in the majors, but for Baltimore. Murray got hurt and never contributed to the Yankees, either. Collins was pretty much finished.
In contrast, in 2001, 19 years after the trade, Morgan pitched against the Yankees in the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and McGriff was also still active. By trading him, the Yankees essentially traded 493 home runs for nothing. It was a horrible trade.
Or was it? McGriff was 19 at the time, and did not reach the majors for another 4 years. Had he done so with the Yankees, he would have smacked right into Don Mattingly at his peak. And the Yankees seemed to be loaded with designated hitters and pinch-hitters at that time. They may not have had any place to put him.
McGriff was involved in some other big trades: The Jays traded him to the San Diego Padres in 1990, a trade which brought them Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar, key figures in their 1992 and '3 World Champions; and the Padres sent him to the Atlanta Braves as part of their 1993 "fire sale," a pure "salary dump."
McGriff hit the 1st home run at the Rogers Centre (then called the SkyDome) in 1989. With the Jays that season and the Padres in 1992, McGriff became the 1st player in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era to lead both leagues in home runs. He helped the Braves win the World Series in 1995, and later played for his hometown Tampa Bay Rays. He served as the head baseball coach at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Lou Piniella's alma mater, and now works in the Rays' front office and hosts a sports-themed radio show in Tampa.
He has been eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame since the election of January 2010. He has not yet made it. He fell just 7 homers short of the magic 500 Club, and has a career OPS+ of 134. He has never been seriously suspected of steroid use. Baseball-Reference.com's Hall of Fame Monitor, on which a score of 100 is a "Likely HOFer," has him at exactly 100, meaning he should make it. Their Hall of Fame Standards, on which a score of 50 matches the "Average HOFer," has him at 48, meaning he falls slightly short.
According to B-R, his 10 Most Similar Batters (weighted toward players of the same position) includes 5 HOFers: Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell, Jeff Bagwell, Frank Thomas and Billy Williams; a guy not yet eligible who has a decent shot, Paul Konerko; a guy now eligible who could get in, Carlos Delgado; and 3 guys who would probably make it if they weren't tainted by steroids: David Ortiz, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield. (At this point, Ortiz may make it in even though everybody knows he's a big fat lying cheater.) He was always popular – ESPN's Chris Berman took the public-service-announcement character of "McGruff the Crime Dog" and nicknamed McGriff "Crime Dog." And he was on winning teams. So why hasn't he been elected? He is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and his son Erick McGriff played wide receiver at the University of Kansas.
Also on this day, according to the movie Halloween, Michael Myers, despite being only 6 years old, kills his older sister and babysitter, Judith, in their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. (There is a Borough of Haddonfield in the Philadelphia suburbs of Camden County, South Jersey, but the one in the Halloween movies, presumably a suburb of Chicago, does not actually exist.)
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October 31, 1964: East Brunswick High School, later to be my high school, but at this point in only its 4th season of varsity football, plays on Halloween for the 1st time. This is also their 1st game against neighboring school Edison. EB wins, 29-0.
Also on this day, Marcel van Basten is born in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Better known as Marco van Basten, the striker starred for Ajax Amsterdam, winning League Championships in 1982, '83 and '85 and the Dutch Cup in '83, '86 and '87 – meaning they won "The Double" in 1983. He moved on to AC Milan in Italy, winning Serie A in 1988, '92 and '93, and back-to-back European Cups (now the Champions League) in 1989 and '90. He led the Netherlands to the European Championship in 1988.
Despite an ankle injury that essentially ended his career at age 28, 3 times he was named European Player of the Year, and the magazine France Football placed him 8th in a poll of the Football Players of the Century. He has managed both Ajax and the Netherlands national team, and is now a technical director at FIFA, the world governing body for the sport.
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October 31, 1970: East Brunswick defeats Cedar Ridge of Old Bridge, 29-0. Cedar Ridge was in its 2nd season of varsity football, and had yet to win a game.
Also on this day, Stephen Christopher Trachsel is born in Oxnard, California. In 1996, the Chicago Cubs pitcher was named to the All-Star Team. On September 8, 1998, Steve gave up Mark McGwire's steroid-aided 62nd home run.
But just 20 days later, he was the winning pitcher for the Cubs over the San Francisco Giants in the Playoff for the NL Wild Card berth. Since the Cubs only made the Playoffs 4 times in the 61 seasons between 1946 and 2006, this makes him a Wrigleyville hero for all time. He also pitched for the Mets, winning the NL East with them in 2006. He now lives outside San Diego.
October 31, 1971, 50 years ago: Elgin Baylor of the Los Angeles Lakers announces his retirement due to a knee injury, early in his 14th season in the NBA. The Lakers lose to the Golden State Warriors, 109-105 at The Forum in Inglewood. They are 6-3 in the young season, and it's beginning to look like the chance for an NBA title has passed them by, following 8 losses in the NBA Finals, including 1959, Baylor's rookie season, in Minneapolis.
This turns out not to be the case: Their next game, on November 5, starts them on a record inning streak that will result in a title.
October 31, 1978: In the 1st movie in the Halloween franchise, premiering 6 days earlier, this is the day on which Michael Myers escapes from the psychiatric institution where he was being kept, and begins his killing spree.
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October 31, 1980: Harold McLinton is hit by a car and killed on Interstate 295 in Washington, D.C., after stopping to help another driver with a flat tire. He was only 33, and just 2 years into retirement from a career as a linebacker with the Washington Redskins.
He was a member of the Redskins team that won the 1972 NFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl VII. On the franchise's 70th Anniversary in 2002, he was named one of the 70 Greatest Redskins.
Also, this was "The Night the Cylons Landed." That's the title of this 2-part episode, which has a Halloween storyline, of Galactica 1980, the ill-fated sequel to the original version of the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica, which aired on ABC on April 13 and 20, 1980.
As with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 2 years later, landing on Earth on or near Halloween helps to prevent a panic, since everyone believes the aliens are simply people in costumes. This also worked for the "transgenics" on a 2001 episode of Dark Angel, taking place in the year 2020.
October 31, 1981, 40 years ago: Having already blown a shot at the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs in last week's loss to Cedar Ridge, East Brunswick loses again, 29-22 to Edison, which was favored anyway, and ended up winning the Middlesex County Athletic Conference title.
Also on this day, Michael Anthony Napoli is born in the Miami suburb of Hollywood, Florida. The 1st baseman is best remembered for his time with the Red Sox, with whom he made the 2012 All-Star Game and won * the 2013 World Series. He also won an AL West title with the 2009 Los Angeles Angels, a Pennant with the Rangers in 2011, and a Pennant with the Indians in 2016.
He has an unusual distinction, having led the AL in errors at 2 different positions: Catcher in 2009 and 1st base in 2016. He is now a coach with the Chicago Cubs.
Also on this day, in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry's parents, Lily & James Potter, are murdered by Lord Voldemort. Harry was just 1 year old.
October 31, 1983: George Halas dies at age 88. He was the founder of the Chicago Bears, for all intents and purposes the founder of the NFL, and even a pretty good player by the standards of his time. As part of their 100th Season celebrations, the Bears named him to their 100 Greatest Players.
He was formerly the winningest coach in NFL history (324), and no coach in the history of professional football has won as many league championships, 8: 1921, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946 and 1963.
To put it another way: When he was first involved with the NFL, the President was Woodrow Wilson, Chicago was best known as the site of America's most famous fire, most people didn't yet have cars or telephones, there were no objects being launched into space by any nation, radio broadcasting was a few weeks away from being introduced, movies were silent, the Yankees had never won a Pennant, the NHL was new, there was no professional basketball to speak of, and professional football was a small-time thing.
When he was last involved with the NFL, the President was Ronald Reagan, there had been 4 different British monarchs and 7 different Popes, Chicago was known as the home of Al Capone and Mayor Richard J. Daley and his demonstrator-beating cops, pretty much everybody had telephones, pretty much everybody who didn't live in a city where it wasn't necessary had a car, many even had personal computers, space shuttles were being launched and returned, the Yankees had won 33 Pennants, the and NFL was a titan of television and America's favorite pro sports league.
One of his last acts as owner was to hire former Bears star Mike Ditka as head coach, and Ditka would lead them to a 9th World Championship in 1985. When asked by Bob Costas in the locker room after that Super Bowl XX if he thought of "Papa Bear," he said, "I always think of Coach Halas."
This was in spite of Halas having a reputation for being cheap, which led a younger Ditka to say, "George Halas throws nickels around like manhole covers." It was also Halas' cheapness that kept the Bears in Wrigley Field, with a football capacity of just 47,000, in spite of Soldier Field having over 65,000 seats and lights, because he didn't want to pay the rent the City of Chicago was demanding. The Bears didn't move there until 1971, when the money available to teams on Monday Night Football, which couldn't be played at then-lightless Wrigley, more than offset the cost of the rent.
In spite of his infamous penuriousness, when the aforementioned Brian Piccolo got sick, Halas paid all his medical expenses and for his funeral. He died on what would have been Piccolo's 40th birthday.
An NFL Films documentary from 1977, Their Deeds and Dogged Faith, showed Halas walking through the Bears' practice facility at suburban Lake Forest, Illinois (the main building is now named Halas Hall), and announcer John Facenda said it was "like visiting Mount Vernon and seeing George Washington still surveying the grounds."
The NFC Championship Trophy is named for him, and, after his death, the Bears put the initials GSH, for George Stanley Halas, on their left sleeves. Unique among NFL teams, they have retained this tribute to their founder on their uniforms. (Even the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't keep Art Rooney's initials on a patch for more than one season.)
He had planned to hand the team over to his son George Jr., but "Mugs" predeceased him in 1979. Upon Papa Bear's death, his daughter Virginia handed control to her husband, Ed McCaskey. Unfortunately, Big Ed handed a lot of control over to his and Virginia's son, George's grandson, Mike McCaskey, who ran the franchise into the ground before Big Ed took it back and handed it over to another son, George Halas McCaskey.
Big Ed has since died, but Virginia is still alive, and is the sole owner of Da Bears. At 98, she is, as was her father before her, the oldest owner in the NFL. She and son George have entrusted team president Ted Phillips with operational control.
October 31, 1986: East Brunswick High School plays John P. Stevens High School of Edison in football. The last 2 years, Stevens had beaten EB in the Central Jersey Group IV Championship Game. EB had won the Conference title in 1984, Stevens in 1985. This game would go a long way toward deciding the 1986 edition.
Stevens went into the game with a 22-game winning streak, and it was their Homecoming, on Halloween, with 5,000 green & gold fans baying for our Green & White blood. It was not to be, as Da Bears spoiled the Halloween party 17-12. What a fantastic game. What a fantastic night.
EB won its last 2 games, then waited for the results on Thanksgiving, as we wrapped up our season earlier. Stevens lost to crosstown rival Edison High, thus throwing the title to us. They then lost the State Final to Middletown North, ending their bid for 3 straight.
Stevens had long been our most difficult opponent, but, historically, have been succeeded by Piscataway, Sayreville and Old Bridge. Conference realignment means we don't even play them every season anymore, although we opened the 2020 season with a resounding victory over them. And, the way the calendar worked out, EB would not play on Halloween again for 17 years.
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October 31, 1991, 30 years ago: Bad weather hits the U.S. A storm over the New England States became known as "The Perfect Storm," inspiring a feature film of that title.
That storm killed 13 people. It also caused another storm to, literally, stop cold over the Midwest, resulting in a Halloween Blizzard that dumped up to 3 feet of snow and killed 22 people.
October 31, 1992: Rutgers plays Virginia Tech in a Halloween Homecoming thriller, in the next-to-last game at the old Rutgers Stadium. The stars were quarterback Bryan Fortay of East Brunswick, running back Bruce Presley of Highland Park, tight end Jim Guarantano of Lodi, and receiver Chris Brantley of Teaneck. RU wins on the final play, 50-49. Yes, that score is in football, not basketball.
October 31, 1994: The NFL's oldest rivalry is played in a chilly, windy Halloween rainstorm at Soldier Field in Chicago, broadcast on Monday Night Football. ABC's announcers got it right:
Frank Gifford, former New York Giants running back: "Guys, we've got some weather. This is about as bad as I've seen it in a long time."
Al Michaels, never a pro athlete, acknowledging the holiday: "I don't know whether we should've dressed up as the Three Stooges or the Three Frozen Turkeys tonight!"
Dan Dierdorf, former offensive tackle for the St. Louis Cardinals, 2 years away from joining Gifford in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: "Some people think we're the Three Blind Mice. Tonight, I think it's the Three Drowned Rats!"
ABC later put up a film from the October 25, 1976 Monday Night Football game between St. Louis and Washington at a rainy, muddy Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, a game Gifford broadcast and Dierdorf played in. The Redskins won it 20-10.
For this game, both teams wear "throwback uniforms" (with modern protection, of course) as part of the NFL's 75th Season celebration. The Chicago Bears wear the 1925 uniforms made famous by Red Grange. The Green Bay Packers wear the uniforms of their 1936 NFL Championship team, led by Cal Hubbard and Don Hutson.
The Packers lead 14-0 at halftime. Then, a long-overdue ceremony is held, as the Bears retire the Number 40 of running back Gale Sayers -- on what would have been Brian Piccolo's 51st birthday -- and the Number 51 of linebacker Dick Butkus.
Both were drafted by the Bears in 1965, and played into the early 1970s, and sometimes looked as if they were the only decent players on the team. But both battled knee injuries and became all-time legends. Walter Payton, who succeeded Grange and Sayers as the Bears' greatest running back, was also on hand.
Introducing the honorees was Mike McCaskey, grandson of Bears founder George Halas and son of owners Virginia and Ed McCaskey, who was seen as having broken up the great Bear team of the 1980s. He was heavily booed.
After the ceremony, the crowd, held to 47,381 due to the weather, almost disappears, not wanting to stick around to see a mediocre Bears team get beat. Which they do, as the Packers win, 33-6.
October 31, 1997: The Washington NBA team makes its debut under the Wizards name, having dropped "Bullets" because of the District of Columbia's reputation as "the murder capital of America."
Chris Webber and Juwan Howard, formerly of the University of Michigan's "Fab Five," combine for 32 points, but it's not enough, as the Wiz fall to the Detroit Pistons, 92-79 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Grant Hill leads all scorers with 25 points, and Lindsey Hunter adds 23.
Also on this day, Marcus Rashford (no middle name) is born in Manchester. The forward helped Manchester United win the FA Cup in 2016, and, within days, scored on his England debut, and became the youngest England player ever to do so. Already, Man U's idiot fans were calling him "the next Thierry Henry." Despite that exaggeration, he also helped Man U win the Europa League in 2017. He helped England reach the Semifinal of last year's World Cup, its best performance in 28 years.
In 2020, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), not for his playing achievements, but for his work against homelessness hunger and poverty in Britain.
October 31, 1998: On this day, within the Star Trek chronology, Harmon Buck Gin Bokai is born in the Marina del Rey section of Los Angeles. A switch-hitting shortstop, Buck Bokai debuted with the London Kings in 2015, not yet 17 years old, and led them to one of the greatest seasons in baseball history, presumably winning the World Series. In 2026, he broke Joe DiMaggio's record of a 56-game hitting streak.
In 2032, he led the Kings to another Pennant, but they lost the World Series to the Yankees in 6 games. He continued to play until 2042, at age 44, and hit a home run in Game 7 to win the Series for the Kings. But only 300 people paid to attend, and Major League Baseball suspended play, never to return.
While never specified, a reason could be that, according the Star Trek chronology, World War III had been waged since 2026, with an eco-terrorist attack that killed 37 million people, and would continue until 2053, devastating Earth, and making professional sports a luxury the world could not afford. By the time Bokai died in 2132, age 134, Earth had rebuilt as a near-utopian society.
The 2026 breaking of DiMaggio's record was cited by Data (Brent Spiner) in the 1988 Next Generation episode "The Big Goodbye," but he was interrupted before he could give the player's name. In the 1993 Deep Space Nine episode "The Storyteller," Bokai's name was mentioned, and Ricardo Delgado, who worked on set design for the show, decided that, since Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) was a fan of baseball and eventually worked to revive interest in it, he should have a baseball card in his office. Delgado had Greg Jein, a model maker for the show, pose in a uniform, and the character was named after the title character in the 1984 movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.
For a later episode in 1993, "If Wishes Were Horses," a simulation of Bokai appears on the station, interacting with Sisko and his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton). The Bokai simulation was played by Keone Young, who bore a striking resemblance to Jein.
In real life, the Kansas City Royals won the 2015 World Series. As of the conclusion of the 2020 season (which only had 60 regular-season games), DiMaggio's record still stands, and there are no plans to expand MLB, although the Yankees and the Red Sox played 2 games against each other at the London Olympic Stadium in 2019, in the hopes of boosting Britain's minimal interest in the sport.
Whether we have a World War III by 2026 is pretty much up to Donald Trump, and to those who could stop him if they have the will. Two of the big problems I have with the Star Trek mythos is the spectre of World War III and its resultant death of baseball.
I prefer to think of the 1994-95 science fiction series Space Precinct, which takes place in 2040, and shows no sign of a worldwide war, but does show the Yankees playing Game 1 of the World Series against the Yomiuri Giants at a Tokyo Dome that is absolutely packed.
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October 31, 2001, 20 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series. It's not just Halloween -- the 1st time a Major League Baseball game has been played on the day, due to the 9/11 postponements -- it's also a night of a Full Moon.
During batting practice at Yankee Stadium, Arizona Diamondbacks 1st baseman Mark Grace, who so long played for the Chicago Cubs without winning a Pennant and is enjoying his 1st World Series, can be seen on the official Series highlight film looking up, and saying, "Full Moon! You know what that means: Strange things happen!"
The Yankees trail the Diamondbacks 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, and are about to fall behind in the World Series by the same margin of games. This is due in large part to the fine pitching of Curt Schilling, who was asked about the "mystique" of Yankee Stadium. He said, "Mystique, Aura, those are dancers in a nightclub." (Three years later, pitching for Boston, he would prove he was still not intimidated by Yankee Stadium, saying, "I can't think of anything better than making 55,000 Yankee fans shut up.") Schilling had outpitched the Yankees' Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Grace had homered for the Snakes, Shane Spencer for the Yankees.
Byung-Hyun Kim, a "submarine" style pitcher from Korea, tries to close the Yankees out. But Paul O'Neill singles, and, after Bernie Williams strikes out, Tino Martinez comes to the plate as the Yankees' final hope. Tino electrifies the crowd by slamming a drive toward the right-center-field Bleachers. The home run ties the game, and sends it into extra innings.
On the video, a fan in the front row of the Bleachers tries to catch the ball, but it bounces off his hand. Now, imagine you are that fan: Are you excited that the Yankees have come back in this World Series game, or are you mad that you were unable to catch this historic homer (and probably hurt your hand in the process)?
As the clock strikes midnight, for the 1st time ever, Major League Baseball game is played in the month of November. It is the bottom of the 10th, and Derek Jeter steps to the plate against Kim. A fan holds up a sign saying, "Mr. November." Michael Kay, broadcasting this game for the Yankees, has asked, "How did he know to hold up that sign for Jeter?" The answer is easy: He didn’t hold it up specifically for Jeter. Jeter was just the batter when the clock struck 12, making him the first batter for whom it could be held up.
At 12:03 came a typical Jeter hit, an inside-out swing to right-center, and it just... barely... got over the fence for a game-winning home run. Kay yells out, "See ya! See ya! See ya!" Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 3. The Series was tied. The old ballyard was shaking. The "Yankee Mystique" had struck again. It is hits like this that got Jeter the nickname "Captain Clutch."
The next night, the 1st game to officially be played in the month of November, a fan made up a sign that said, "BASEBALL HISTORY MADE HERE" on what looked like an ancient scroll. Another fan made up a sign that said, "MYSTIQUE AND AURA APPEARING NIGHTLY." (Two years later, in what became known as the Aaron Boone Game, that same fan made up one that said, "MYSTIQUE DON’T FAIL ME NOW." It didn't.)
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October 31, 2008: For the 1st time since conference realignment in 1975, my alma mater, East Brunswick High School, plays New Brunswick in football, at Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick. Both teams had recently won State Championships in their respective enrollment groups, but both were struggling this season.
This was the 1st time I had ever had to go through a security checkpoint at a high school football game, despite having previously gone to games at Memorial Stadium, and also to games in Perth Amboy, Paterson and Bayonne. Apparently, there'd been an increase in local gang activity. East Brunswick got an early lead, and hung on to beat New Brunswick 26-21.
After the game, I walked to the New Brunswick train station -- not fearing for my safety -- and took a train to New York, so that I could take the overnight bus to Boston. I like to do that at this time of year, to see the changing of the leaf colors in New England, and also because, while I despise its sports teams, I like Boston as a city. Nothing particularly eventful happened to me in Boston, and I got home okay.
But before I could get on the Greyhound out of Boston, I saw New York on Halloween Night. I didn't get to see the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (that had happened earlier), but I saw lots of costumes. The Dark Knight was still in theaters, so there were a lot of Batman-themed costumes. I saw 4 Jokers, 3 Batmen, and 1 Catwoman -- an incredibly tight Catwoman costume made of rubber. Worn by a man. Some things cannot be unseen.
Outside Port Authority Bus Terminal, I saw a guy on a bicycle. He was wearing a Superman costume. Why would Superman need a bike?
October 31, 2009: Game 3 of the World Series, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Alex Rodriguez's fly ball in the right-field corner becomes the subject of the 1st instant replay call in World Series history. The Yankee 3rd baseman's hit, originally ruled a double, is correctly changed by the umpires to a home run, after the replay clearly shows the ball going over the fence before striking a television camera and bouncing back to the field.
It figures that A-Rod's 1st World Series home run would be controversial, even though all he did was hit the ball. But it does help make the difference, as the Yankees win, 8-5, and take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the Series, retaking home-field advantage after the Phillies won Game 1.
Also on this day, Sam Zell sells the Chicago Cubs to Tom Ricketts. At last, the Cubs have an owner with both the means and the desire to win the World Series.
Also on this day, soccer teams Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur play a North London Derby that I like to call "45 Seconds of Hell."
The game is scoreless until the 43rd minute, when Robin van Persie scores for Arsenal. It takes about 40 seconds to restart the game, and almost immediately, Cesc Fàbregas takes the kickoff, goes through Spurs' defense like a hot knife through butter, and scores. Dispirited, Spurs have nothing for the rest of the game, and Arsenal win, 3-0.
This game is treasured by Arsenal fans, a.k.a. Gooners (a takeoff on the club's nickname, the Gunners), even though both Fàbregas (in August 2011) and van Persie (in July 2012) would whine their way off the team: The former to his former club Barcelona, the latter to Manchester United.
Cesc was largely forgiven for his treachery by Gooners, until Barcelona no longer wanted him, and he begged Wenger to take him back. Wenger refused, because treason is forever. Then Cesc signed with Chelsea, and Arsenal fans finally woke up to his treachery, and began calling him "the Snake." RVP, or "the Dutch skunk" as the author of Arseblog has dubbed him, has never been forgiven. (Like Ashley Cole, he also gets called "Judas.") October 31, 2014: Due to a scandal that echoes the one at Penn State 2 years earlier, the football team at Sayreville War Memorial High School in Middlesex County, New Jersey has its season cancelled, and its remaining games forfeited.
This was supposed to be the day of its game against neighboring East Brunswick, my alma mater. This enables E.B. to get enough wins to make the State Playoffs for the only time in the 2010s. Sayreville quickly recovered, as if the whole thing had never happened. But it did.
October 31, 2015: Game 4 of the World Series at Citi Field. Tim McGraw, country music superstar and son of Met legend Tug McGraw, both sings the National Anthem and throws out the ceremonial first ball. As far as I know, no other person has ever been given both honors at a major league game. Unlike his famously lefthanded father, he throws righthanded.
Michael Conforto's home run gives the Mets a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning, and another Conforto homer in the 5th makes it 3-1. He is the only Met ever to hit 2 home runs in a World Series game. As late as the top of the 8th, they lead the Kansas City Royals 3-2.
But for the 4th straight game -- actually, the 5th, since they did it in Game 5 back in 2000 -- the Mets blow a lead in a World Series game. Tyler Clippard walks the 1st 2 Royals in the 8th. With Jeurys Familia brought in to pitch, Daniel Murphy, the Mets' biggest postseason hero thus far, makes a key error that allows the tying run to score. Mike Moustakas singles home the go-ahead run, and the Royals tack on another. Yoenis Cespedes, the other big Met hero of the season, gets doubled off 1st base following a soft line drive to end it, in a 5-3 Royals win.
The Mets had thrilled the baseball world the last 3 months. Now, they were clowning their way to an ignominious defeat.
October 31, 2018: The world's tallest statue is dedicated in Kevadia, in the State of Gujarat, India. Known as the Statue of Unity, the 597-foot monument honors Vallabhbhai Patel, on the 143rd anniversary of his birth, for his work in bringing India's principalities together to form a unified nation.
