Yankee Honors Levels

The Yankees have announced that they will honor Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia on September 26, a Saturday night, prior to their game with the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium II. They will retire his uniform Number 52, and give him a Plaque in Monument Park.

He absolutely should have a Plaque. But the retired number? It's the 23rd separate number retired by the team -- Number 8 having been retired for 2 players -- and, so far, the highest. This has messed with the roster, to the point where the current best player on the team, Aaron Judge, wears Number 99, and that will almost certainly be retired someday.

Even Whitey Ford, who received both honors, once said, "There's only four numbers that should be retired, and mine's not one of them." He meant Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle: 3, 4, 5 and 7. The Mount Rushmore of the Yankees.

Here's the list of Retired Numbers:

1 Billy Martin, 2nd base, 1950-57; manager, on and off from 1975 to 1988.

2 Derek Jeter, shortstop, 1995-2014.

3 Babe Ruth, right field, 1920-34.

4 Lou Gehrig, 1st base, 1923-39.

5 Joe DiMaggio, center field, 1936-51.

6 Joe Torre, manager, 1996-2007.

7 Mickey Mantle, center field, 1951-68.

8 Bill Dickey, catcher, 1928-46; manager, 1946; coach, 1949-60.

8 Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, catcher-left field, 1946-63; manager, 1964 and 1984-85; coach, 1975-83.

9 Roger Maris, right field, 1960-66.

10 Phil Rizzuto, shortstop, 1941-56; broadcaster, 1957-96.

15 Thurman Munson, catcher, 1969-79.

16 Whitey Ford, pitcher, 1950-67.

20 Jorge Posada, catcher, 1995-2001.

21 Paul O'Neill, right field, 1993-2001; broadcaster, 2002-present.

23 Don Mattingly, 1st base, 1982-95; coach, 2004-07.

32 Elston Howard, catcher-left field, 1955-67; coach, 1969-80.

37 Charles "Casey" Stengel, manager, 1949-60.

42 Mariano Rivera, pitcher, 1995-2013.

44 Reggie Jackson, right field, 1977-81.

46 Andy Pettitte, pitcher, 1995-2003, 2007-13.

49 Ron Guidry, pitcher, 1975-88.

51 Bernie Williams, center field, 1991-2006.

52 CC Sabathia, pitcher, 2009-19.

Jeter, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Torre, Mantle, Dickey, Berra, Rizzuto, Ford, Stengel, Rivera, Jackson and Sabathia are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But if you consider retiring the number to be a higher category, then even Hall induction isn't necessarily enough. Along with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle: Jackson and the pair of Jeter and Rivera defined a generation of Yankees; Yogi was the greatest catcher ever, and a pop culture figure on top of that; Rizzuto was part of the Yankee family longer than anybody; Munson died while still the team Captain; Ford was the greatest Yankee starting pitcher; Howard was the 1st black Yankee; and Stengel and Torre should be honored as the greatest managers.

So, instead of:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46, 49, 51, 52.

It should be:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 32, 37, 42, 44.

14 retired numbers. That's enough. It frees 8 (now 9) numbers up.

Honored in Monument Park, but number not retired:

11 Vernon "Lefty" Gomez, pitcher, 1930-42.

15 Charles "Red" Ruffing, pitcher, 1930-46.

22 Allie Reynolds, pitcher, 1947-54.

24 Tino Martinez, 1st base, 1996-2001, 2005.

30 Mel Stottlemyre, pitcher, 1964-74; coach, 1996-2004.

30 Willie Randolph, 2nd base, 1976-88; coach, 1994-2004.

54 Rich "Goose" Gossage, pitcher, 1978-83, 1989.

Hall-of-Famers: Gomez, Ruffing, Gossage.

So that's 21 players honored. Well, 20: Billy Martin is there for his managing.

Honored in Monument Park, but never wore a number:

Jacob Ruppert, team owner, 1915-39.

Miller Huggins, manager, 1918-29.

Ed Barrow, general manager, 1921-45.

Joe McCarthy, manager, 1931-46.

Mel Allen, broadcaster, 1939-64, 1976-90.

Bob Sheppard, public address announcer, 1951-2007.

George Steinbrenner, team owner, 1973-2010.

You read that right: Joe McCarthy never wore a number, even though he managed in the major leagues as late as the end of the 1950 season. Huggins died in office in 1929, the 1st year that the Yankees wore numbers, but he didn't wear one, either.

Ruppert, Huggins, Barrow and McCarthy are in the Hall of Fame. Allen and Red Barber (with the Yankees, 1954-66, after broadcasting for the Brooklyn Dodgers) were the 1st recipients of the Hall's Ford Frick Award for broadcasters.

Receiving "Monuments," rather than "Plaques": Huggins in 1932, Gehrig in 1941, Ruth in 1949, Mantle in 1996, DiMaggio in 1999, Steinbrenner in 2010. DiMaggio and Mantle had gotten their Plaques together in 1969, and copies were placed on the outfield wall in 1970, before being replaced by Monuments after their respective deaths.

The original DiMaggio and Mantle Plaques are now on display at the Yogi Berra Museum on the campus of Montclair State University, in Little Falls, New Jersey.

Apparently, a Monument is only for the highest of the high, and only after the figure has died. And if Stengel didn't get one, after managing 10 Pennants and 7 World Series wins in 12 years, Jeter and Rivera aren't getting them when they reach that great ballpark in the sky.

Steinbrenner's Monument is the biggest of them all, bigger than the Plaques of Ruppert and Barrow that hung on the outfield wall, along with the Plaque honoring the Papal Mass of Pope Paul VI in 1965. All of these Plaques, and the 3 existing Monuments, were moved to the original Monument Park when the old Stadium was reopened in 1976, after the renovation.

Anyway, that's 28 Yankee figures honored. There are also Plaques honoring non-Yankee Jackie Robinson as modern baseball's 1st black player; Nelson Mandela, for his 1990 rally at Yankee Stadium; the 9/11 victims and rescue workers; the Stonewall Uprising, as a "baseball is for everyone" message; and Plaques donated by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic advocacy organization, honoring the Papal Masses delivered at the old Stadium by Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. So, counting Sabathia, there will be 35 notations.

Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who played for the Yankees for at least 5 years, or played less than that but helped them win at least 1 Pennant, but are not honored with a retired number or a Plaque in Monument Park:

Clark Griffith, pitcher, 1903-07; manager, 1903-08.

Jack Chesbro, pitcher, 1903-09.

Willie Keeler, right field, 1903-09.

Frank "Home Run" Baker, 3rd base, 1916-22.

1 Earle Combs, center field, 1924-35.

6 Tony Lazzeri, 2nd base, 1926-37.

6 Joe Gordon, 2nd base, 1938-46.

11 Waite Hoyt, pitcher, 1921-30.

12 Herb Pennock, pitcher, 1923-33.

12 Wade Boggs, 3rd base, 1993-97.

17 Enos Slaughter, left field, 1954-59.

21 Joe Sewell, 3rd base, 1931-33.

24 Rickey Henderson, left field, 1985-89.

29 Jim "Catfish" Hunter, pitcher, 1975-79.

31 Dave Winfield, outfield, 1981-90.

31 Tim Raines, left field, 1996-98.

35 Mike Mussina, pitcher, 2001-08.

36 Johnny Mize, 1st base, 1949-53.

In addition, Bucky Harris managed the Yankees to the 1947 World Championship, and Bob Lemon led them to the 1978 World Championship; and Larry MacPhail was the general manager who built the '47 title. But these men are in the Hall of Fame for other reasons. George Weiss was the farm system director from 1932 to 1947, and the general manager from 1948 to 1960. He's in the Hall of Fame, but if the Yankees ever give him a Plaque, they'll have to work around his known racism.

And then there's these guys, who haven't received any of these honors, but should at least be in Monument Park:

Frank Messer, broadcaster, 1968-84.

Bill White, broadcaster, 1971-88.

John Sterling, broadcaster, 1989-2024.

1 Bobby Murcer, center field, 1965-74, (switched to 2) 1979-83; broadcaster, 1983-2008.

2 Herbert "Red" Rolfe, 3rd base, 1934-42.

6 Roy White, left field, 1965-79.

9 Charlie Keller, left field, 1939-49.

9 Graig Nettles, 3rd base, 1973-83.

14 Lou Piniella, outfield, 1974-84; coach, 1984-85; manager, 1986-87, 1988.

15 Tommy Henrich, right field, 1937-50.

22 Jimmy Key, pitcher, 1993-96.

24 Mark Teixeira, 1st base, 2009-16.

25 Joe Girardi, catcher, 1996-99; (switched to 27) manager, 2008-17.

28 Sparky Lyle, pitcher, 1972-78.

33 David Wells, pitcher, 1997-98, 2002-03.

36 David Cone, pitcher, 1995-2000; broadcaster, 2011-present.

55 Hideki Matsui, left field, 2003-09.

You'll notice I did not include:

20 Russell "Bucky" Dent, shortstop, 1977-82.

As much as he contributed to 3 Pennant-winning teams, I didn't want to dilute it that much.

I also did not include:

13 Alex Rodriguez, 3rd base, 2004-16.

22 Roger Clemens, pitcher, 1999-2003, 2007.

25 Jason Giambi, 1st base, 2002-08.

I don't care what the stats say: Nobody in the history of professional sports has embarrassed his team, while playing for them, as much as A-Rod embarrassed the Yankees. And the steroids were only part of it. Giambi is also out, due to steroid reasons. Let the record show, though, that Clemens is not known to have failed a steroid test.

Of this last category, Murcer, Piniella, Lyle, Wells, Cone and Matsui at least received a Yankeeography from the YES Network. Probably the best player not to receive a Yankeeography, due to the passage of time leading to insufficient film footage and insufficient surviving teammates, was Bill Dickey.

So, based on their achievements, what they meant in Yankee culture, and my personal opinion, here's what the levels should be -- keeping in mind, I've listed them in chronological order, not by number; I've demoted Huggins, Steinbrenner, and the Pennant-less Wonder, Donnie Regular Season Baseball; and I haven't included any active players, not even Aaron Judge:

Monuments and Retired Numbers: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle.

Plaques and Retired Numbers: Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Joe Torre.

Plaques, but not Retired Numbers: Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Earle Combs, Tony Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller, Allie Reynolds, Billy Martin, Roger Maris, Mel Stottlemyre, Bobby Murcer, Roy White, Sparky Lyle, Graig Nettles, Lou Piniella, Catfish Hunter, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Goose Gossage, Dave Winfield, Bernie Williams, Wade Boggs, Paul O'Neill, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, David Cone, Tino Martinez, Joe Girardi, Mike Mussina, Hideki Matsui, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira.

Plaques, with no number to retire: Jacob Ruppert, Miller Huggins, Ed Barrow, Joe McCarthy, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, Frank Messer, Bill White, George Steinbrenner, John Sterling, and the 3 Popes.

Would deserve Plaques if they had won even one Pennant: Clark Griffith, Jack Chesbro, Willie Keeler, Don Mattingly.

Falling just short of Plaque status: Frank Baker, Joe Sewell, Red Rolfe, Joe Gordon, Johnny Mize, Enos Slaughter, Rickey Henderson, Jimmy Key, Tim Raines, Sparky Lyle, David Wells.

Of course, while the Mets have elected Ed Kranepool and Bud Harrelson to their team hall of fame, along with Gary Carter, they haven't retired Carter's Number 8. Even though he won them a World Series, while Mike Piazza, 31, and David Wright, 5, did not.

February 26, 1926: Louis Armstrong Gets the Heebie Jeebies

Left to right: Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong,

Johnny St. Cyr, Kid Ory and Lil Hardin Armstrong.

February 26, 1926, 100 years ago: Louis Armstrong gets the heebie jeebies.

His band was billed as "Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five." His wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, played piano. It was she who "took the country out of him" and convinced him to assert himself, both on the bandstand and with money. This would end up working against her: Within a few years, he divorced her for spending too much of his money.

The others were musicians he'd previously worked with in his hometown of New Orleans: Edward "Kid" Ory on trombone, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, and Johnny St. Cyr on guitar, and sometimes banjo.

Although all of the Hot Five got their professional starts in New Orleans, their initial recording, on November 12, 1925, was in Chicago, at the studio of Okeh Records. He had previously recorded as the trumpet player in the jazz band of Joe "King" Oliver, but this was his 1st time recording a band he led. They recorded Louis' compositions "Yes! I'm in the Barrel" and "Gut Bucket Blues," and Lil's composition "My Heart."

Their next session was on February 26, 1926. Among the songs they recorded was "Heebie Jeebies," written by saxophone player Boyd Atkins. The term "heebie jeebies" was coined by Billy DeBeck, the cartoonist who wrote the Barney Google strip. It means a feeling of anxiety or apprehension.

In addition to playing trumpet like nobody's business, Louis, known as "Satchelmouth" for his big mouth, eventually shortened to "Satchmo" or "Satch," tried scat singing, and this made the record his first real hit.

Armstrong, Ory and St. Cyr would all later admit that the reason Armstrong was scatting -- something already well-known in jazz circles, but not on record -- is that he didn't know the words, and was reading them off a sheet of paper, and he dropped it, and had to improvise. His scatting was the defining "roar" of the Roaring Twenties.

(There's an old joke: "Why does a hummingbird hum? Because he doesn't know the words." And another: Musicians are playing in an apartment, and a woman in the apartment building next door opens her window and yells across the alley, "Don't you know people are trying to sleep?" And the bandleader, acting as if "People Are Trying to Sleep" is a song title, says, "No, but if you hum a few bars of it, we'll catch on!")

In 1928, Armstrong formed a new Hot Five, replacing everyone but himself with members of the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra: Fred Robinson on trombone, Jimmy Strong on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Earl Hines (later nicknamed "Fatha," short for "Father") on piano, Mancy Carr on banjo, and Arthur "Zutty" Singleton on drums. So now it really was Louis Armstrong and a Hot Five. It was this group that recorded the landmark instrumental "West End Blues" in 1928.

Louis Armstrong died on July 6, 1971, of heart trouble, in New York, a few days short of his 70th birthday. Lil Hardin Armstrong died a few weeks after that. Johnny Dodds, the greatest jazz clarinetist of the 1920s, was an alcoholic, and it gave him a fatal heart attack in 1940. Mancy Carr followed in 1946, Johnny St. Cyr in 1966, Kid Ory in 1973, Zutty Singleton in 1975, Jimmy Strong in 1977, Earl Hines in 1983, and Fred Robinson in 1984.

In 1956, rock and roll pioneer Little Richard recorded a different song titled "Heebie Jeebies." It was not a hit.

February 25, 1986: Ferdinand Marcos Is Deposed

February 25, 1986, 40 years ago: The "People Power Revolution" comes to the Philippines, ending the 20-year dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.

Born in 1917, Marcos was one of the Filipinos taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II, but was released after 4 months. The reason is not clear. He later claimed to be "the most decorated war hero in the Philippines," but most of those decorations were found to have been granted many years thereafter -- by himself, once in power. (Similarly, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was awarded his country's highest honor, "Hero of the Soviet Union," for his 60th birthday, and he awarded himself the honor 3 more times, even though his military service was not especially noteworthy.)

He became a lawyer, and served in each house of the national legislature, before getting elected President in 1965. He managed to grow the economy for much of the Pacific island nation, but also left great poverty and great repression.

In 1972, a series of bombings added to the difficulties he would have in getting elected to a 3rd term. They may have been "false flags," his own "Reichstag Fire": He imposed martial law, and revised the Constitution to make it easier for him to do what he wanted. Freedom of the press came to an end under his rule.

At this time, he had Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, the leader of the opposition, arrested. He released Aquino in 1980, so he could travel to America for medical treatment. On August 21, 1983, knowing he could be arrested, or even killed, upon his arrival, Aquino flew back to his homeland. Sure enough, as soon as he set foot on the tarmac at Manila International Airport, he was shot and killed by soldiers, a brazen assassination. Even President Ronald Reagan, who supported Marcos because he was a strong anti-Communist, began to back away from supporting him.

In 1985, the national Assembly attempted to impeach Marcos -- not for the assassination of Senator Aquino, but for corruption. The impeachment drive failed. Also failing was Marcos' health: He had lupus, underwent a kidney transplant that failed, and underwent a second transplant that worked. His wife Imelda Marcos began to be seen as his public spokesperson. People who hated him now hated her, too.

So, in spite of having another year left in his term, he called a snap election for February 7, 1986. The opposition nominated Corazon Aquino, Ninoy's widow, for President. The Commission On Elections (COMELEC) ruled that Marcos had won, with 53.7 percent of the vote. However, the National Movement for Free Elections said that Aquino had won, with 52.5 percent. Fraud was alleged -- by both sides.

Who was right? The answer came when 35 COMELEC computer technicians issued a statement, saying that the official results were manipulated to favor Marcos. Some Marcos allies defected to the opposition, including one man who said an assassination attempt against him was a fake, an attempt to generate sympathy for the ruling regime.

Demonstrations were held all over the country. On February 25, Mrs. Aquino participated in a non-binding inauguration ceremony. It was clear that, even if Marcos had rightly won the election, he couldn't win one now: The country wanted him gone.

Marcos telephoned Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada, a close friend and ally of President Reagan, who advised him, "Cut, and cut cleanly." With the U.S. military still having a presence in the country, over 40 years after World War II, Marcos made a deal, and the U.S. Air Force took him to Guam, and then to Hawaii.

Mrs. Aquino was officially sworn in as President, and at the end of the year, Time magazine would name her its Person of the Year. She would eventually face counter-coups that would fail. After she left office in 1992 -- constitutionally and willingly -- the airport where her husband was assassinated was renamed for him: She died in 2009. Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Their son, Benigno Aquino III, a.k.a. Noynoy, served as President from 2010 to 2016.

Stories of the Marcoses' luxurious habits leaked out of both Manila and their home-in-exile in Hawaii. Particularly grabbing people's attention, on both sides of the Pacific, were Imelda's collection of thousands of shoes. They began to look like an Asian version of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. In fact, the Bakkers were amateurs compared to the Marcoses: Jim convinced his followers to give to him, while Marcos looted an entire country.

He died in 1989. Imelda was allowed to return to the Philippines, and reinter her husband's remains there. As of February 25, 2026, she is still alive, 96 years old.

Currently, the country's Constitution limits the President to one term, so Rodrigo Duterte, who was an even more oppressive leader than Marcos was, had to leave office. So the Marcoses' son, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a.k.a. Bongbong Marcos, ran in the 2022 election, and won, with Sara Duterte, the outgoing President's daughter, as Vice President. A Marcos daughter, Imee Marcos, now serves in the Senate.

February 25, 1956: Khrushchev's "De-Stalinization" Speech

February 25, 1956, 70 years ago: Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, addresses the 20th Party Congress in Moscow. It had been less than 3 years since the death of Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.

Khrushchev gives what became known as the "Secret Speech," laying out some of Stalin's crimes, and the "conditions of insecurity, fear, and even desperation" created by Stalin. He shocked his listeners by denouncing Stalin's dictatorial rule and his cult of personality, as inconsistent with Communism and with Party ideology. Among other points, he condemned the treatment of the Old Bolsheviks, people who had supported Communism before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, many of whom Stalin had executed as traitors.

The speech was shocking. There were reports that some of those present suffered heart attacks, and others later took their own lives, due to shock at the revelations of Stalin's use of terror. The ensuing confusion among many Soviet citizens, raised on permanent praise of the "genius" of Stalin, was especially apparent in Georgia, Stalin's homeland, where days of protests and rioting ended with a Soviet army crackdown on March 9.

In the West, the speech politically devastated organized Communists. The Communist Party USA lost more than 30,000 members within weeks of the speech's revelation to the West. The speech was also later cited as a cause of the Sino-Soviet split, as China's dictator Mao Zedong had been a committed supporter of Stalin.

Khrushchev did stay popular among the Soviet people, and without using cult-of-personality tactics. It could be argued that the country peaked in 1961, with the start of the space program, the building of the Berlin Wall, and their success in international sports. But by 1964, enough Politburo members had had enough of Khrushchev that he was removed from power. He lived in exile until 1971.

 

February 25, 1946: The Beginning of VHF TV

February 25, 1946, 80 years ago: The prewar U.S. 18-channel VHF (Very High Frequency) allocation is officially ended in favor of a new 13-channel VHF allocation, due to the appropriation of some frequencies by the military and the relocation of FM radio. Only five of the old channels are the same as new channels in terms of frequency, and none have the same number as before.

This opens the door for the 2 through 13 system that most of us would come to know. As known here in New Jersey while I was growing up:

* Channel 2 in New York: WCBW from 1941 to 1946, then WCBS; on CBS.

* Channel 3 in Philadelphia: WPTZ from 1941 to 1956, then WRCV until 1965, then KYW; NBC until 1995, then on CBS. This station, along with KDKA, Channel 2 in Pittsburgh, are the only CBS-affiliated stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.

* Channel 4 in New York: WNBT from 1941 to 1954, then WRCA until 1960, then WNBC; on NBC.

* Channel 5 in New York: WABD from 1944 to 1958, then WNEW until 1986, then WNYW; on DuMont until 1956, then Metromedia until 1986, then Fox.

* Channel 6 in Philadelphia: WFIL from 1947 to 1971, then WPVI; on ABC.

* Channel 7 in New York: WJZ from 1948 to 1953, then WABC; on ABC.

* Channel 8: None.

* Channel 9 in New York: WOR from 1949 to 1987, then WWOR; an "independent" station until 1995, then UPN until 2006, then MyNetwork TV. Studios moved from Manhattan to Secaucus, New Jersey in 1983.

* Channel 10 in Philadelphia: WCAU from 1948 onward; on NBC until 1995, then on CBS.

* Channel 11 in New York: WPIX from 1948 onward; Tribune Broadcasting until 1995, then The WB until 2006, then The CW.

* Channel 12 in Philadelphia: WHYY from 1957 onward; NET until 1970, then PBS. Moved to nearby Wilmington, Delaware in 1961.

* Channel 13 in New York: Actually based in Newark, New Jersey for its entire history. WATV from 1948 until 1958, then WNTA until 1962, then WNDT until 1970, then WNET. Independent through 1962, then NET until 1970, then PBS.

The nearest Channel 8 to New York was WTNH, an ABC affiliate in New Haven, Connecticut. The New York edition of TV Guide would list their programming, and also that of WFSB, Channel 3, the CBS affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut.

When I was growing up, closer to New York than to Philly, we were able to get the New York stations: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. The Philly stations were nearly impossible, although, if I turned the TV's antenna right, we got a fuzzy picture on Channel 6. In contrast, my grandparents lived down the Shore, about equidistant from the 2 cities, and got both cities' channels. On rare occasions, I was able to get a similarly fuzzy picture of the New Haven Channel 8.

Channels 14 to 83 were relegated to Ultra High Frequency (UHF). Many of these stations became public, and eventually part of PBS. In the New York area, the New Jersey Network was a subset of PBS, and had Channels 23 in Trenton, 50 in Camden, 52 in Montclair and 58 in New Brunswick. And there were 2 Spanish-language stations: Channel 41, Univision, and Channel 47, Telemundo, which has since entered into an agreement with NBC-4. Channel 68 became the 1st movies-only station, before deregulation in the 1980s made the cable explosion possible.

So what happened to Channel 1? It was removed from service in 1948. During the experimental era of TV operation, Channel 1 was moved around the lower VHF spectrum repeatedly, with the entire band displaced upward at one point due to an early 40 megaherz allocation for the FM broadcast band. After FM was moved to its current frequencies in 1946, TV Channel 1's last assigned band was 44 to 50 MHz. This allocation was short-lived.

Until 1948, Land Mobile Radio and television broadcasters shared the same frequencies, which caused interference. This shared allocation was eventually found to be unworkable, so the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reallocated the Channel 1 frequencies for public safety and land mobile use, and assigned TV channels 2 through 13 exclusively to broadcasters.

Aside from the shared frequency issue, this part of the VHF band was, and to some extent still is, prone to higher levels of radio-frequency interference RFI than even Channel 2 (System M).

As cable TV became a thing, more and more channels meant a greater spreading of the TV audience. TV ratings will never again be what they were in 1953, when more people watched the episode of I Love Lucy where "Little Ricky" was born than watched President Eisenhower's Inauguration the next day; or in 1964, when 73 million people watched The Beatles' debut on The Ed Sullivan Show; or in 1983, when 121 million people watched the final episode of M*A*S*H.

Eventually, depending on where people lived, Channels 2, 3 and 4 were made available for video game systems -- in the cases of New York and North and Central Jersey, 3; in those of Philadelphia and South Jersey, 2. Later, Channel 8 became used for very local programming, with "EBTV" running out of the East Brunswick Public Library starting in 1977. This later changed to Channel 3, until becoming Channel 26 on our local cable system.

Bill Mazeroski, 1936-2026

Only one human being, living or dead, has ever hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of a Game 7 to win a World Series. Now, he is no longer living.

And the odd thing is, he was a great fielder first, and a timely hitter second.

William Stanley Mazeroski was born on September 5, 1936 in Wheeling, West Virginia, and grew up on the other side of the Ohio River, in Tiltsonville, Ohio. He starred in baseball and basketball in high school.

In 1988, Sports Illustrated published an article on "The Valley Boys." The were all from the same area in southeastern Ohio: Mazeroski, knuckleballing baseball pitchers Phil and Joe Niekro, basketball star Alex Groza, his football-playing brother Lou Groza, and basketball star John Havlicek. Mazeroski turned out to be the last survivor of that group.

Also contemporaries from that place and time, but not mentioned in the article: Bill's Pirate teammate Gene Freese, football coach Lou Holtz, and football stars Bob Gain, Calvin Jones, Chuck Howley and Bob Jeter. Baseball relief pitcher Rollie Fingers, a bit younger, moved with his family to California before he reached high school.

Mazeroski turned down college scholarship offers from nearby schools Duquesne, Ohio State and West Virginia to play baseball. He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a shortstop, but made a lot of errors. Branch Rickey, running the Pirates after building winners of multiple Pennants with the St. Louis Cardinals and then the Brooklyn Dodgers, saw how good he was at turning double plays, and had him moved to second base. It was a decision that changed the history of baseball.

He made his major league debut on July 7, 1956, at the Polo Grounds in New York. Batting 8th, playing 2nd base, and wearing the Number 9 he would wear throughout his career, he went 1-for-3, as the Pirates lost to the New York Giants, 3-2.

In 1958, despite playing his home games at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, whose dimensions were similar to those of the pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium -- 300 feet to right field, but 457 to center, and 360 to left, not good for a righthanded hitter like Mazeroski or his teammate Roberto Clemente -- Mazeroski hit 19 home runs, which would remain his career high. He batted .275 with 68 RBIs. It was the 1st of 7 seasons that would see him reach the All-Star Game, and the 1st of 8 in which he would win the National League's Gold Glove at 2nd base.

After a dropoff in 1959, in 1960, he batted .273, with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs. He helped the Pirates win their 1st NL Pennant since 1927 -- 33 years. They hadn't won a World Series since 1925, and were facing the team that had beaten them in 1927, the New York Yankees, who were heavily favored.

The Yankees won Game 2, 16-3. They won Game 3, 10-0. They won Game 6, 12-0. But the Pirates won Game 1, 6-4. They won Game 4, 3-2. And they won Game 5, 5-2. The Series went to a Game 7. On that Thursday afternoon, 36,683 people jammed themselves into Forbes Field. Millions more listened to Pirates announcer Bob Prince and Yankees announcer Mel Allen call the game for television on NBC. Still more millions listened to NBC radio, with Baltimore Orioles announcer Chuck Thompson and Chicago Cubs announcer Jack Quinlan.

Forbes Field

The game went back and forth, and was tied, 9-9, going to the bottom of the 9th inning. On NBC radio, Chuck Thompson, usually the voice of the Baltimore Orioles, said, "Well, a little while ago, when we said this one was going right down to the wire, little did we know." Mazeroski led off, against Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry. His 1st pitch was high, ball 1. Terry threw a 2nd pitch. The time was 3:36 PM. Thompson's call on radio:

Here's a swing, and a high fly ball, going deep to left, this may do it! Back to the wall goes Berra, it is over the fence, home run, the Pirates win!

In case you're curious, the building behind the scoreboard

is the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

"I don't know it's out," Mazeroski recalled during a Pirates telecast in 2015, 55 years after the fact. "I don’t know it's a home run. But I know I;m going to end up on third if he misplays that ball off the wall. So I;m busting my tail getting around there, and by the time I hit second base, I looked down the line and the fans went crazy. From second base, I didn't touch the ground all the way in."

After pausing to let the cheering be heard, Thompson started again, and was so excited, he got the score wrong at first:

Ladies and gentlemen, Mazeroski has hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field fence at Forbes Field to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of ten to nothing! Once again, that final score, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 1960 World Champions, defeat the New York Yankees. The Pirates ten, and the Yankees nine! And Forbes Field is an insane asylum!

Mel Allen, so often accused of being a "homer" for the Yankees, called it this way on TV for NBC:

There's a drive into deep left field, look out now! That ball is going, going, gone! And the World Series is over! Mazeroski hits it over the left field fence, and the Pirates win it, 10–9, and win the World Series!

The ball went over Berra's head, at around the 406-foot mark in left field, and landed among the cherry trees in Schenley Park. Mazeroski took off his batting helmet and swung it around as he circled the bases. 

The ball was found by Andy Jerpe, 14 years old. Mazeroski would sign the ball for him, but he foolishly used the ball in a neighborhood game, and it was lost. No one knows where it is now. The Pirates don't have it. Neither does the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 during the Series, but the Pirates won it, 4 games to 3. Richardson had a Series record 12 RBIs, and remains the only player from a losing side to be named the MVP of a World Series. Mazeroski? He batted .320 in that Series, and that was his 2nd homer in it, for his 5th RBI in it, and he played his usual good games in the field. He got robbed. But I'm sure he'd rather have the title.

Not being old enough to remember 1960, I can hardly begrudge the Pirates that amazing victory. But there are Yankee Fans who are old enough to remember, and it still hurts. It shouldn't: They won the next two World Series, and another seven since. And Mazeroski was always a good guy.

There's a bronze statue of a young Mazeroski -- arms outstretched, cap in his right hand, right leg kicked up behind him -- along the Allegheny River outside PNC Park. The likeness is surrounded by a brick wall that includes an actual section of the outfield wall over which Mazeroski homered; the 406-foot marker is still visible in white.

Another part of Forbes Field's outfield wall still stands in place in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, just off Roberto Clemente Drive, and there’s a plaque recognizing the spot where Mazeroski homered. Every Oct. 13, the "Game 7 Gang" gathers at that site, listens to the radio broadcast and celebrates the anniversary of Mazeroski's famous home run at exactly 3:36 PM.

"That doesn't happen anywhere else, does it?" Mazeroski said with a smile in February 2020, approaching the 60th Anniversary of the event.

*

He never again batted higher .271. He never again hit more than 16 home runs in a season. He peaked at 82 RBIs in 1966. But it's as a fielder that he became best-known. He led NL 2nd basemen in double plays turned every year from 1960 to 1967. He led them in fielding percentage in 1960, '65 and '66, and retired with a career .983 fielding percentage. He led them in assists 9 times, and led all of the big leagues in 5 of those seasons. He still holds the Major League record for double plays turned by a 2nd baseman, with 1,706.

For the record, the holders at the other positions are: 1st base, Mickey Vernon, 2,044; shortstop, Omar Vizquel, 1,734; 3rd base, Brooks Robinson, 618; catcher, Ray Schalk, 222; center field, Tris Speaker, 146; pitcher, Greg Maddux, 98; right field, Harry Hooper, 86; left field, Joe Vosmik, 23.

Mazeroski was involved in 2 triple plays in his career, in 1966 and 1968. He never hit into one in real life. But on June 27, 1967, at Shea Stadium, he was filmed staging such an event for the film version of The Odd Couple: Just before the regular game, he was filmed batting against Jack Fisher of the Mets. The play required 2 takes, as he hit the 1st ball foul. The point of the scene was that a phone call from Felix Ungar (played by Jack Lemmon) to Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) in the press box at Shea causes Oscar to miss a triple play that ends the game in victory for the Mets. (Felix's surname was spelled "Ungar" in the play and the film, "Unger" in the TV show.)

Mazeroski and Clemente were the only 1960 Pirates still there when they won the World Series again in 1971. Mazeroski retired after the 1972 season, with a lifetime batting average of .260, and 2,016 hits including 138 home runs.

For many years, he was considered one of the best players not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The argument for him was that the best-fielding player, ever, at every position should be in, and he was the best-fielding 2nd baseman ever. The argument against him is that he wasn't good enough of a hitter, and that nobody's defense made enough of a difference to put him over the top. In 2001, he was finally elected.

People who were against his election to the Hall have claimed that the real reason he's in is that home run. I would make the exact opposite argument: 

I think the home run changed people's perception of him. Think about it: The 1st thing that comes to mind when you hear his name is, "He hit the home run that won the 1960 World Series." Imagine that the Series had ended any other way, even one favorable to the Pirates. Suppose Mazeroski had led the inning off with a single, and scored the title-winning run on somebody else's hit. Then, the 1st thing that would come to mind when you hear his name is, "He's the greatest-fielding 2nd baseman who ever lived." He probably would have gotten in much sooner.

At a still-standing, ivy-covered piece of the

Forbes Field outfield wall, October 13, 2010,

the 50th Anniversary of the home run.

The Pirates retired his Number 9, and dedicated a statue of him outside PNC Park, depicting him running around the bases, swinging his batting helmet around. They also elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He was also elected to the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

He retired to a suburb of Pittsburgh. In 1987, he ran for the Democratic Party's nomination for Westmoreland County Commissioner, but lost. Eventually, he and his wife the former Milene Nicholson, moved to Panama City, Florida, enabling him to go down to Bradenton to serve as a Spring Training instructor for the Pirates. They had 2 sons: Darren, who became a college baseball coach; and Dave, an atmospheric scientist.

On October 23, 1993, Joe Carter became the 2nd player to end a World Series by hitting a home run, for the Toronto Blue Jays over the Philadelphia Phillies, at the SkyDome (now named the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. However, that was in a Game 6, not a Game 7. It appears that Mazeroski and Carter never met.

Bill Mazeroski died yesterday, February 20, 2026, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Landsale, Pennsylvania. He was 89 years old.

With his death, there are 3 surviving players from the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates: Bob Skinner, Vernon Law and Bennie Daniels.

There are 4 surviving players who played in Game 7 of that World Series: Skinner and Law of the Pirates, and Bobby Richardson and Tony Kubek of the Yankees. Kubek, famously, had to leave the game when a ground ball hit a pebble in Forbes Field's poor infield and struck him in the throat, helping to keep the Pirates' 8th-inning rally alive, and make Mazeroski's 9th-inning heroism possible.

And there are 11 surviving players from the 1971 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates: Al Oliver, Steve Blass, Manny Sanguillén, Bob Robertson, Gene Alley, Richie Hebner, Luke Walker, Bob Johnson, Milt May, Dave Cash and Carl Taylor.

How did Mazeroski want his career to be remembered: For his Hall of Fame defense, or for hitting arguably the greatest home run of all time?

"Oh," he said, laughing, "I'll take the home run."

If it had been me, so would I.

February 19, 1946: Baseball's "Mexican Jumping Beans"

Danny Gardella

February 19, 1946, 80 years ago: Danny Gardella, an outfielder for the New York Giants, becomes the 1st Major League Baseball player to announce he is "jumping" to the Mexican League.

It is considered an "outlaw" league because, unlike the American League, the National League, and most of North America's minor leagues, it is not under the control of MLB and its Commissioner. The Commissioner is controlled by the MLB team owners. And if there is one thing a major league sports team owner values more than money, it is control.

Jorge Pasquel was the man infringing on their control. He and his brothers began their fortune with a cigar factory in the port city of Veracruz. Jorge and Bernardo Pasquel had the ML's Azules de Veracruz -- in English, the Veracruz Blues -- and minority ownership of some other teams among their assets.

Jorge Pasquel

In 1943, knowing that the ML had no "color line" like the American majors did -- given the racial makeup of Mexico, such a ban would have been both hypocritical and nearly impossible to enforce -- he signed several players away from the Negro Leagues, and some found success in the ML. Among them was Monte Irvin, a future Hall-of-Famer, who said it was the best decision he made in baseball, and that he had never felt so free.

With World War II having ended, Pasquel began to offer high salaries to bring major league talent over to the Mexican League. He may have been driven by nationalism, and by a dislike for American imperialism, possibly spurred by the U.S. invasion of his hometown in 1914, when he was a child. (The year 1946 having been the 100th Anniversary of the start of the Mexican-American War also might have had something to do with it.) Pasquel further aided his family's fortune later in 1946, by getting his cousin, Miguel Alemán Valdés, elected President of Mexico.

A total of 22 players, including 8 Giants, moved to the Mexican League, becoming known as "the Mexican Jumping Beans." Commissioner Albert B. "Happy" Chandler banned all 22 players for life. In addition to Gardella, they included Mickey Owen, the catcher whose dropped 3rd strike cost the Brooklyn Dodgers Game 4 of the 1941 World Series; and Sal Maglie, a Giants pitcher who would go on to become the best-known of these players.

But Pasquel's plan didn't last long. Owen quickly returned to the U.S., citing poor playing conditions.  A long legal battle ensued, after which Owen was determined to owe Pasquel $35,000 for breach of contract. The league took large financial losses in 1947.

In 1948, Gardella filed a lawsuit against Chandler, and the League Presidents, Ford Frick of the NL and Will Harridge of the AL. He charged that they were engaged in interstate commerce, because the defendants had made contracts with radio broadcasting and television companies that sent narratives or moving pictures of the games across state lines.

This suit hit the team owners where it really hurt: Their money and their sense of control. If Gardella won his case, not only would it mean the end of the reserve clause, which would force them to pay much higher salaries than they wanted, but it would mean the end of their special antitrust exemption that had been granted in 1922, as fallout from their 1914-15 battle with the Federal League.

The team owners decided to save the reserve clause, save the antitrust exemption, and save face. They settled the case, offering all of the Jumping Beans amnesty. Their suspensions were ended, and all were free to return -- to the teams which had held their rights before they jumped.

Gardella and Owen barely played in the majors afterward, both having been traded by their teams. Both lived until 2005. The most successful returnee was Maglie, who became the Giants' ace, a key figure in their winning Pennants in 1951 and 1954. Knowing for having one of the best curveballs in the game, and nicknamed "Sal the Barber" because he threw close to batters' heads, giving them "a close shave," he went 119-62 in the major leagues, despite not becoming a regular starter there until he was 33. Had he not taken 2 years off to work in a defense plant during World War II (a sinus issue made him 4-F), and lost 4 years in the ML, he could have approached Hall-of-Fame-worthy career statistics. He lived until 1992.

Sal Maglie

Jorge Pasquel wasn't so lucky. Although his cousin the President enabled him and his brother Bernardo to make a great deal of money in the Mexican oil industry, the brothers lost a sizeable chunk of change in baseball. They sold their teams in 1952, but maintained ownership of Mexico City's largest ballpark, Parque Deportivo del Seguro Social (Social Security Sports Park), taking in rent from the teams' new owners. Jorge was killed in a plane crash in 1955. He was only 48 years old.

Founded in 1925, the Mexican League reached an agreement with MLB in 1955, becoming an official Class AA league. In 1967, it was promoted to Class AAA. Today, it has 20 teams, 10 each in a North Division and a South Division. The Diablos Rojos del México -- the Mexico City Red Devils, formerly simply the Mexico City Reds -- have won the most titles, 18 Pennants, including in 2024 and 2025.