October 10, 1936: The 1st "Script Ohio"

October 10, 1936, 90 years ago: The Ohio State University Marching Band first performs their Script Ohio formation, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Their football team is not up to the task: It loses to the University of Pittsburgh, 6-0.

The formation is based on the sign at the Loew's Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus, although the capital O now resembles the block O in Ohio State's logos. They march to "Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse," a French poem by Paul Cézano (not to be confused with the painter Paul Cézanne), set to music by Robert Planquette and arranged and expanded into a military march by Joseph-François Rauski. It was composed in 1870 -- the same year in which The... Ohio State University was founded.

At the various junctions in the formation, the band members swing their horns. This is especially difficult for those with heavy instruments, like the sousaphone. At the conclusion of the formation, the drum major leads a sousaphone player to the top of the lower case i in "Ohio," and he "dots the i." It's always a senior, and the seniors get their choice of games. The one with the most seniority inevitably chooses the Michigan game.

"Dotting the i" is considered the highest honor at Ohio State. The following people have been honorary i-dotters:

* 1971: Novice Fawcett, University President, 1956-72.

* 1974: Richard Heine, Band head composer and arranger, 1935-85, making him, essentially the father of Script Ohio.

* 1978: Bob Hope, entertainer, who grew up in Cleveland.

* 1979: Jack Evans, Band Director, 1952-64.

* 1983: Dr. Paul Droste, Band Director, 1970-83.

* 1983: Woody Hayes, head football coach, 1951-78.

* 1985: Robert Ries, Ohio State ticket director, 

* 1990: James "Buster" Douglas, a Columbus native, then in his brief reign as Heavyweight Champion of the World.

* 1995: Dr. E. Gordon Gee, University President, 1990-98, and again 2007-13.

* 2006: Jack Nicklaus, golf legend, Columbus area native, played at Ohio State. He left a few credits short of a degree, but was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1972.

* 2009: John Glenn, former astronaut and U.S. Senator, and his wife, Annie Glenn, advocate for people with disabilities. Both graduated from nearby Muskingum College, but maintained ties to Ohio and to OSU.

* 2011: Dr. Jon Woods, band director, 1984-2012.

* 2011: Lex Wexner, Ohio State Class of 1959, CEO of L Brands, makers of women's lingerie and beauty products, and a major OSU donor.

* 2016: Earle Bruce, head football coach, 1979-87.

* 2024: Archie Griffin, Ohio State running back, the only 2-time winner of the Heisman Trophy, 1974 and '75.

On occasion, the Band will do a "Double Script": A Script facing each side. On Homecoming, they join with the Alumni Band to do a "Quadruple Script." 

October 10, 1926: Grover Cleveland Alexander vs. Tony Lazzeri

October 10, 1926, 100 years ago: For the 1st time, Yankee Stadium hosts a Game 7 of the World Series. The Yankees trail the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning, but Cardinal starter Jesse Haines, a future Hall-of-Famer, develops a blister on his hand, and can’t pitch any further.

Rogers Hornsby, the great-hitting 2nd baseman who doubles as the Cardinal manager, brings in another future HOFer, Grover Cleveland Alexander. Old Alex (also nicknamed "Pete") had pitched and won Game 6 the day before, but celebrated afterward, and legend has it that he was really hungover.

Even if he wasn't, he had gone the distance the day before. And he was 39 years old, and an alcoholic, and also suffered from epilepsy, and was troubled by what he had seen in World War I (which, along with his epilepsy, he tried to treat with his drinking.)

He was, and 100 years later he remains, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He would retire with a total of 373 victories, tied for 3rd all-time with Christy Mathewson (sharing 1st all-time in National League wins, as Walter Johnson's 417 were all in the American League and Cy Young's 511 were split between both Leagues). But in the Autumn of 1926, he was a shadow of his former self.

And he comes in with a 1-run lead, the bases loaded, and a dangerous hitter at the plate, Tony Lazzeri. Although just a rookie at the major-league level, the nearly 23-year-old native of San Francisco had hit 60 home runs in a Pacific Coast League season, and would have been the American League's Rookie of the Year had the award existed in 1926.

Italians in New York loved how his hits would "push up" baserunners, and, in their accent, he became known as "Poosh-em-Up Tony." Aside from Babe Ruth, he was probably already the 2nd-most popular player on the Yankees, ahead of Lou Gehrig. (He would not remain so, as Gehrig's 1927 season allowed him to surpass all ballplayers except Ruth in popularity.)

Lazzeri hits a long drive down the left-field line, but just foul. That brings the count to 0-and-2.  Alexander fires in, and Lazzeri swings and misses. He's out.

It is the most famous strikeout in baseball history -- unless you want to count the one by "the mighty Casey" in Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey At the Bat" -- and, according to legend, it ended the World Series, turning Alexander into a bigger hero than ever.

Except it didn't end the game. There were 2 more innings to play. Alexander got through the 8th, and with 1 out to go in the 9th, he walked Babe Ruth. Then, for reasons known only to him -- Yankee manager Miller Huggins said he hadn't given him the signal to try -- the Babe tried to steal 2nd base. Catcher Bob O’Farrell threw in, and Hornsby slapped the tag on him.

The Babe was out, the game was over, and for the 1st time in 40 years -- since the Cardinals, then known as the Browns, won the 1886 American Association Pennant and defeated the Chicago team now known as the Cubs in a postseason series -- a St. Louis baseball team was World Champions.

This was also the 1st time the Yankees had played a Game 7 of a World Series, and they lost it. Actually, the Yankees' record in World Series Game 7s isn't especially good. They've won in 1947, 1952, 1956, 1958 and 1962; and they've lost in 1926, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1964 and 2001, for a record of 5-6. At home at the old Yankee Stadium, it was even worse: 1-3. But they've still won more World Series in a Game 7 than all but 6 franchises have won Series regardless of how long they've gone – and the number drops to 4 if you only count the Series they've won in their current cities.

Alexander was a hero all over again. But it was a last stand. He helped the Cards back into the World Series in 1928, but, that time, the Yankees knocked him around. He spent much of his retirement walking into bars, and trading his story of how he struck out Lazzeri for drinks.

In 1945, interviewed for John P. Carmichael’s book My Greatest Day In Baseball, he told of meeting Lazzeri on the street in New York, and telling him, "Tony, I'm getting tired of fanning you." And Lazzeri told him, "Perhaps you think I'm not." Alexander's health problems killed him in 1950, aged only 63.

Incredibly, he outlived Lazzeri. Poosh-em-Up Tony would rebound from this strikeout to help the Yankees win 5 World Series, bridging the 1920s Ruth-Gehrig Yankees to the 1930s Gehrig-DiMaggio Yankees. But he, too, had epilepsy. In 1946, he suffered a seizure at his home, fell down the stairs, and broke his neck. He was just 43.

And, unlike Alexander, he did not live long enough to see his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was finally elected in 1991, 53 years after Alexander was so honored. Sadly, for all each man did, each had a hard life, and each is still best remembered for that one at-bat.

This is due in large part to the 1952 film The Winning Team, starring Ronald Reagan as Alexander, Doris Day as his wife Annie, and Frank Lovejoy as Hornsby.

Reagan as Alexander

Bob Lemon, still in the middle of a Hall of Fame career as a pitcher at that point, played Jesse Haines. Also playing players were real-life players Harry "Peanuts" Lowery, George "Catfish" Metkovich, Irv Noren, Hank Sauer, Al Zarilla, and future managing star Gene Mauch. But the actor playing Lazzeri is not credited.

The last survivor from the 1926 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals was infielder George "Specs" Toporcer -- so nicknamed because he was one of the few players to wear glasses on the field in that era -- a Manhattan native who died in 1989 on Long Island, age 90.

The Cardinals have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1926 World Champions, they have inducted team owner Sam Breadon, general manager Branch Rickey, 2nd baseman and manager Rogers Hornsby, 1st baseman Jim Bottomley, left fielder Charles "Chick" Hafey and pitcher Jesse Haines -- but, oddly, through the 2025 season, not pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Bottomley and Hornsby were elected to the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame. Rickey and Hornsby were elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Tony Lazzeri is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but has never been honored with a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. When the Yankees began wearing uniform numbers, he was given 6. The Yankees have retired that number, but for later manager Joe Torre.

Mike Ditka, 1939-2026

The NFL Network has a series titled A Football Life. In 2023, they did an episode on Mike Ditka. But if anybody has lived "a football life," he did. By his own admission, "My life has been a miracle since, because of this game."

Michael Keller Dyczko Jr. was born on October 18, 1939, the same exact day as Lee Harvey Oswald. Suffice it to say that Ditka was more admired. He was born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, southwest of Pittsburgh. His father sort-of anglicized the family name to Ditka.

He grew up in Aliquippa, northwest of Pittsburgh, just down the Ohio River from Joe Namath's hometown of Beaver Falls, and a short drive from Pittsburgh International Airport. At Aliquippa High School, he played football, basketball and baseball under head coach Peter "Press" Maravich, who is now best known as the father and coach of "Pistol Pete" Maravich. (Pete was 8 years younger than Ditka, and never a teammate.)

Other notable graduates of Aliquippa High include Press himself; later NFL stars Sean Gilbert, Ty Law and Darrelle Revis; baseball pitcher Joe Beggs; and composer Henry Mancini. Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Dorsett, star linebacker Paul Posluszny, and pitcher/dentist George "Doc" Medich all lived in Aliquippa, but later moved to nearby Hopewell and attended high school there. Future baseball player John "Tito" Francona (father of Terry) lived in Aliquippa, but moved to nearby New Brighton.

A star at the University of Pittsburgh, which retired his uniform Number 89, Mike Ditka practically invented the position of tight end with the Chicago Bears, winning the NFL Rookie of the Year award in 1961, and helping them win the 1963 NFL Championship. In 1967, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles; in 1969, to the Dallas Cowboys. He helped them win Super Bowl VI, and caught a touchdown pass in the game.

Football players did not have mustaches in those days.

He retired after the 1972 season, with 427 receptions for 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns. He was the 1st tight end elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team in 1994, and its 100th Anniversary Team and the Bears' 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players in 2019. In 1999, even though he was, by then, an analyst for NBC, John Madden, then with Fox, named him to his "All-Madden All-Millennium Team."

When The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, Ditka was ranked 90th. When the NFL Network named its 100 Greatest Players in 2010, Ditka rose to 59th.

Although he was only 33 years old when he retired, Cowboy head coach Tom Landry immediately named him assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. He helped the Cowboys reach 3 more Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XII in 1978.

In 1982, Ditka became the last head coach hired by George Halas, the founder of the Bears and a co-founder of the NFL. Halas died during the next season. He got them into the Playoffs 7 times, including winning Super Bowl XX over the New England Patriots on January 26, 1986. In other words, the Bears haven't won a World Championship without Ditka having some part in it in 80 years.

That 1985 Bears team, pushed by the Chicago media and the various TV commercials their players did, became one of the most iconic teams in NFL history, even before they could fully cement themselves as one of the greatest teams in NFL history.

Walter Payton, tackle Jim "Jimbo" Covert, defensive ends Richard Dent and Dan Hampton, defensive tackle Steve McMichael and linebacker Mike Singletary have been elected to the Hall of Fame; center Jay Hilgenberg and safety Gary Fencik probably should be; and 320-pound defensive tackle turned trick-play running back William "the Refrigerator" Perry became a folk hero.

But, like the New York Mets team that won the World Series 9 months later, that edition of "The Monsters of the Midway" became "a dynasty of one." After that Super Bowl, the growing rift between Ditka and his defensive coordinator, James "Buddy" Ryan, meant that they couldn't both stay. Ryan was offered the head coach's job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Ditka kept the Bears in the Playoffs in 4 of the next 5 years, but only reached 1 more NFC Championship Game, and was let go after missing the Playoffs in 1992.

Ditka was hired as an analyst for NBC's NFL studio show, NFL Live. He played off his tough-guy-with-a-sense-of-humor image, boosted by his often contentious press conferences as Bears coach. He said things like, "A man without fear belongs in an asylum. Or on special teams." And, "If God wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn't have given us arms."

Also playing off this image was a Saturday Night Live sketch: "Bob Swerski's Super Fans," which imagined a sports-talk show in Chicago. George Wendt, best known as Norm Peterson on the Boston-based Cheers, was a Chicago native, and played Bob, the show's host, his name a takeoff on Chicago Bulls broadcaster Chuck Swirsky. He had 3 sidekicks on the show: Robert Smigel, the sketch's creator, a New Yorker who moved to Chicago to start his comedy career, played Carl Wollarski; Mike Myers, a Toronto native, played Pat Arnold; and Chris Farley, ironically a Wisconsin native and a fan of the Bears' arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, played Todd O'Connor.

Left to right: Farley, Smigel, Myers and Wendt

The radio show was said to be broadcast live from the original Mike Ditka's Steakhouse (since closed, at the Tremont Hotel at 100 East Chestnut Street on the Near North Side). They all adopted Ditka's look: Slicked-back hair, aviator sunglasses, big bushy mustaches, and a Bears sweater. Wendt smoked a cigar like Ditka tended to do.

They would brag about the accomplishments of their favorite football and basketball teams, making ridiculous predictions (Todd always predicting shutouts, while Pat once said Ditka would "find a way" to hold an opponent to minus-7 points), exaggerating their accents with stretched-out vowels and S's: "Da Bearssss!" "Da Bullssss!" which would be accompanied by raising their beer mugs in a toast.

They never mentioned hockey's Blackhawks, and only once did I hear them mention either of the city's baseball teams: "Da Cubs!" Never the White Sox as "Da Sox!" They talked smack, they drank beer, they ate Polish sausages, and, in a running gag that now seems cringey, especially in light of Farley's death from a drug-induced heart attack, Farley's Todd would have a heart attack, but quickly recover. The sketch ran 11 times from 1991 to 1997, before Farley's death at the end of that year.

In 1997, Ditka left NBC to become the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. In 1999, he traded all their draft picks, and their 1st round pick for the next season, to the Washington Redskins for their 1st round pick, which was used on Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ricky Williams. It turned out to be a bad match, and Ditka had the worst season of his coaching career -- and, as it turned out, the last.

He joined CBS in 2000, and ESPN in 2002, remaining with them through the 2015 season. After a long estrangement, the Bears finally retired his Number 89 in 2013.

When the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986, the space shuttle Challenger blew up 2 days later, and their scheduled White House reception with President Ronald Reagan was canceled. In 2011, 25 years later, President and Chicago resident Barack Obama invited the team to the White House to make it up to them.

Despite Ditka and several of the players being very conservative -- Ditka later openly supported Donald Trump, and was even approached to run against Obama for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois in 2004, but thought a loss would hurt his restaurant chain, and chose not to -- he gave Obama the traditional gift, a team jersey with the President's name on the back. Sometimes, the number on the jersey is 1, sometimes it's the President's sequential number (in Obama's case, 44); this time, it was the year of the title, 85.

Ditka, Tom Flores, Tony Dungy and Doug Pederson are the only 4 men to win a Super Bowl as a player and as a head coach. Dikta and Flores are the only 2 to also win one as an assistant coach. Steve Owen, Ray Flaherty, Joe Stydahar and Buddy Parker also won NFL Championships in the pre-Super Bowl era as non-coaching players, and also won a title as non-playing head coaches. Halas, Elgie Tobin, Guy Chamberlin, Jimmy Conzelman and Curly Lambeau won early titles as player-coaches.

Ditka was married to his first wife, Marge, from 1961 to 1973. They had 4 children together, each, like them, having a name starting with an M: Sons Mike III, Matt and Mark; and daughter Megan. In 1977, Mike married Diane Trantham. They eventually moved to Naples, Florida, for Mike's health, as he'd had heart attacks and strokes, and had gotten each hip replaced twice. But they missed Chicago, and returned to the city's Gold Coast.

At his number retirement, December 9, 2013

Mike Ditka died today, October 9, 2026, in Chicago, 9 days before what would have been his 87th birthday. His family asked for the announcement to be made by a Chicago sports-talk radio show host: Jarrett Payton, son of his favorite player, Walter Payton, who passed away in 1999. (I've already seen 2 AI-generated images of Payton walking Ditka into Heaven.)

In watching ESPN's coverage of his death, one phrase came to my mind: "Mike Ditka was one of a kind." And both ESPN football analyst Chris Berman and Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken also said, on the air, that he was one of a kind. So, yeah, it seems obvious.

Also on ESPN, on Pardon the Interruption, Chicago native co-host and Bears fan Michael Wilbon pointed out the man's iconic status: "To those of us who cared about the Bears. Ditka was everything we believed in, everything Chicago believed in. Decades later, people don't go to NFL games dressed like Parcells, or Walsh, or Shula! They come dressed like Mike Ditka! Iron Mike! Da Coach! Our world is so much less interesting without him."

He's right. People go to Raiders games dressed like biker gang members or Darth Vader. People go to Washington games with pig masks, or at least rubber snouts, in remembrance of the 1980s "Hogs." But in Chicago, they still show up in shades and fake mustaches in tribute to "Da Coach."

Da Tribute

With his death, there are 4 surviving players from the 1963 NFL Champion Chicago Bears: Defensive back Richie Petitbon, defensive end Ed O'Bradovich, running back Ronnie Bull and offensive lineman Bob Wetoska.

October 9, 1996: The Jeffrey Maier Game

October 9, 1996, 30 years ago: Game 1 of the American League Championship Series is held at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yankees trail the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th. The big, scowling, fearsome Armando Benitez is on the mound for the Orioles. He does not yet have a reputation as a pitcher who chokes in the clutch. He is about to get one.

He pitches to Derek Jeter, the Yankees' rookie shortstop. Jeter, as later fans might guess, uses an inside-out swing to send the ball to right-center field. Oriole right fielder Tony Tarasco goes back, stands at the fence, and holds up his glove.

Tarasco is a fool. Take a look at the tape: His glove wasn't lined up right. He played it totally wrong. Instead of falling into his glove, it would have hit the fence above him and to his right -- or from the view of the TV fan, "back and to the left." It's baseball's "Zapruder Film." The ball would have gone for at least a double, possibly a triple, putting the tying run in scoring position.

See? Back, and to the left.

Except that’s not what happened. Jeffrey Maier, a 12-year-old fan from Old Tappan, Bergen County, New Jersey, ran over, and reached out with his glove. The ball hit his glove, and as he tried to pull it into the stands, he lost control of it. That's right: He didn't even get the ball.

Umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run, tying the game. Tarasco was furious. Oriole manager Davey Johnson -- at that moment, still the last man to manage a New York team to a Pennant, the 1986 Mets -- runs out to protest. To no avail.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Randy Myers, who had pitched for Johnson on the '86 Mets and had won a World Series under Lou Piniella for the 1990 Cincinnati Reds, pitched to Bernie Williams, the star of the Yanks' AL Division Series win over the Texas Rangers. On radio station WABC, John Sterling said this:

Theeee pitch, swung, and it's driven to deep left! It is high! It is far! Iiiiiiiit… is gone! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!

It wasn't the first time Sterling had used the line, but it was the first time I'd heard him drag it out that much. Final score: Yankees 5, Orioles 4.

After the game, the media asked Yankee manager Joe Torre about the fan-assisted Jeter home run. Without missing a beat, or changing his expression, The Man of One Face said, "Did anybody see Bernie's home run? That wasn't bad." Laughter in the press room.

The Orioles won Game 2. The series went to Baltimore, and the Yankees won 3 straight, and won the Pennant. Torre was in the World Series for the 1st time, having been a player from 1960 to 1977, and a manager since then. They lost the 1st 2 games of the World Series to the Atlanta Braves, then took the next 4 to dethrone them as the World Champions. The Yankees had won for the 1st time in 18 years.

The Orioles have since made the Playoffs in 1997, 2012, 2014 and 2016. But they still haven't won the World Series, or even a Pennant, since 1983.

Their fans still say they were robbed of a Pennant: If Garcia had made the correct call, interference, then Jeter would have been out, and the Orioles would have won Game 1, they still would have won Game 2, and would have been unstoppable in winning the Pennant, and would have beaten the clearly vulnerable Braves in the World Series.

But they didn't. It was all because of that kid.

The Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame Jeffrey Maier for the Baltimore Orioles losing the 1996 American League Pennant

5. Tony Tarasco. He blew the play. If he had tracked the ball properly, he would have gotten under it and jumped for it. Jeffrey Maier probably saved him from being the biggest goat in the history of Baltimore sports. Tarasco still owes Maier a steak dinner, in my opinion. At the very least, now that Maier is about to turn 39, he could buy him a beer.

4. Bernie Williams. He not only hit the Game 1 winner, but torched the O's in Games 3 and 4 in Baltimore as well.

3. The Bullpens. The Yankees had Graeme Lloyd, Jeff Nelson and a rookie named Mariano Rivera setting up John Wetteland. The Orioles had Benitez setting up Myers.

2. The Managers. Joe Torre kept his cool. Davey Johnson lost his cool. He got so upset over the call that his anger spread to his team. He could have calmed them down afterward and said, "Aw, forget it. We got screwed, but it's just one game. If we win Game 2 here tomorrow, we can come home with a tie, and we'll be in great shape to take this thing. Put it out of your minds and win tomorrow." He didn't.

This wasn't the first such example in postseason history, and it hasn't been the last. Frankly, I think the Mets won that 1986 in spite of Johnson, not because of any leadership he provided. A better manager, and the Mets might have won the Pennant in 1988, too, and at least won the National League East in 1985, 1987 and 1990.

1. The Yankees Were Better. Yes, they were. They did win the Division (the Orioles had won the Wild Card), they didn't need steroids (the Orioles had Rafael Palmeiro, who was caught, and Brady Anderson, who has never been publicly outed but whose season and career fit the profile), and they won all 3 games at Camden Yards.

The next season, the Cleveland Indians would win 2 of the 3 ALCS games in Baltimore. The Orioles have a record of 1-5 in ALCS games played at Camden Yards.

From their 1st postseason home game, Game 3 of the 1966 World Series, to Game 6 of the 1971 World Series, they were 13-2 in home postseason games. From Game 7 of the 1971 World Series to today, the Orioles' home record in postseason play is 13-18. That's at home.

Or, to put it another way, they have won just 1 home game in ALCS play in the last 38 years. And you can't say, "Curse of Camden Yards," because they were playing at Memorial Stadium for some of that. If you can't defend your home field in the Playoffs, you have no right to blame a kid in the stands at an away game.

The Yankees proved they were better going on to win that Pennant, a stretch of 6 Pennants and 4 World Championships in 8 years. The O's? Still looking for their 1st Pennant since Ronald Reagan's 1st term.

Jeffrey Maier went on to play baseball at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he became the school's all-time hits leader. He served as an extra and assisted with baseball skills training for the actors in ESPN’s miniseries about the 1977 Yankees, The Bronx is Burning.

He now works with Internet company LeagueApps in Manchester, New Hampshire. Yes, Jeffrey Maier (who now prefers to be called Jeff) lives and works in "Red Sox Nation." Beyond that, his wife Andrea is a Sox fan.  He says, "I've been able to look past that flaw in her character." They have 3 children, all boys. Recent photos of him have been hard to come by.

Come to think of it, the Orioles' last World Series win came on October 16, 1983. Maier was born on November 15, 1983, just 1 month later.

The Curse of Jeffrey Maier? Or the Curse of Tony Tarasco?

 

October 9, 1986: The Fox Network Premieres

October 9, 1986, 40 years ago: The Fox television network premieres. The sitcom Married... with Children becomes its signature program, full of stereotyping and gross-out humor.

This would be followed by many animated shows that upped that ante, although it's hard to say that Homer Simpson of The Simpsons and Peter Griffin of Family Guy were less cartoonish than MWC's Al Bundy. Certainly, when it came to height of hair, the red har of MWC's Peg Bundy gave the blue hair of Marge Simpson of The Simpsons a run for its money.

In 1994, Fox Sports was developed. Although its Fox NFL Sunday pregame, halftime and postgame shows will be a lot of fun, their baseball broadcasting has always been terrible, and their hockey experiment flopped, in part due to a special effect called the "glow-puck." It was supposed to make the puck easier to find on the TV screen, but it backfired: Grownups found it distracting, and kids would wonder why the puck wasn't glowing when they were taken to live games.

In 1996, Fox News began, with a Sunday-morning program to compete with those of the big three (ABC, CBS and NBC) and CNN, a 24-hours news channel to compete with CNN, and the perennial dual lie that it was "fair and balanced."

The network claimed to stand for conservative values and traditional morality. And yet, it broadcast shows like Married... with Children and Temptation Island; and had news personalities like Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson.

October 9, 1966: A World Series Sweep for Baltimore

Left to right: Brooks Robinson, Andy Etchebarren, Dave McNally

October 9, 1966, 60 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series is played at Memorial Stadium. This could be the clincher for the home team.

From 1902 to 1953, the St. Louis Browns were one of the least successful teams in what would become known as Major League Baseball. They won just 1 American League Pennant, in 1944. In only 3 other seasons -- 1902, 1922 and 1945 -- did they even come within 10 games of 1st place at the end of the season.

For the 1954 season, they were sold and moved, becoming the Baltimore Orioles. In 1960, they got into their 1st Pennant race. In 1964, with Hank Bauer managing them, and 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson winning the AL's Most Valuable Player award, they came within 2 games of the Pennant, behind the New York Yankees, with whom Bauer had won 9 Pennants as a right fielder.

In 1966, they obtained right fielder Frank Robinson. Having won the National League's MVP with the Cincinnati Reds in 1961, he was immediately named team Captain, and he led the O's to win the Pennant by 9 games over the defending Champion Minnesota Twins. The clincher came on September 22, a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Athletics, at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

Frank won the Triple Crown, and became the 1st player ever to win the MVP in both Leagues. In 2024, Shohei Ohtani became the 2nd.

To win the World Series, they would have to beat the defending Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and their lefty-righty combination of ace pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. In Game 1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Polish-born reliever Moe Drabowsky had to bail out Dave McNally, and set a Series record for relief pitchers that still stands, with 11 strikeouts. Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson both hit 1st-inning home runs, and the Orioles beat the Dodgers, 5-2.

In Game 2, Dodger center fielder Willie Davis, having trouble seeing a white baseball against the smog-gray L.A. sky, committed 3 errors in 1 inning, enabling the Orioles to win 6-0, and head back to Baltimore with a 2-0 lead. Jim Palmer, 9 days short of his 21st birthday, outdueled Koufax, who struggled with the Oriole bats, Davis' fielding, and the pain in his elbow. Koufax hadn't told very many people yet, but he had already decided that this would be his last major league season, so this was his last game. He was not yet 31. This could be called a "generational hinge" game.

Game 3 was the 1st World Series game played in the State of Maryland. The host Orioles continued their shocking upset, beating the Dodgers, 1-0. Wally Bunker pitched a shutout.

Memorial Stadium, in its 1954-69 configuration

Game 4 was decided by a home run, when Frank Robinson took a Drysdale pitch deep over the left field fence in the 4th inning. The lone run being scored on a homer for only the 5th time in the history of the Fall Classic, and the complete-game shutout thrown by McNally, Baltimore completed the 4-game sweep.

It was the 1st World Championship won by a Baltimore baseball team in 70 years, since the original version of the Orioles won the 1896 National League Pennant. For the Dodgers, 33 consecutive innings without scoring a run is a Series record for futility. Their streak would run to 38 innings before they scored in the 5th inning of Game 1 of the 1974 World Series, and remains a record.

The Orioles went on to win 4 Pennants and the 1970 World Series under manager Earl Weaver, and the 1983 World Series under manager Joe Altobelli. The Dodgers, however, went into rebuilding mode, winning the Pennant again in 1974.

There are 5 players still alive from the 1966 World Champion Baltimore Orioles: Luis Aparicio, Jim Palmer, John "Boog" Powell, Russ Snyder and Wally Bunker.

October 8, 1956: Don Larsen's Perfect Game

October 8, 1956, 70 years ago: Game 5 of the World Series is played at the original Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The previous year, the Brooklyn Dodgers had beaten the New York Yankees in the Series. They had previously been 0-7 in World Series, including 0-5 against the Yankees.

This time, the Dodgers had won Games 1 and 2 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. This included the Game 2 start of the Yankees' Don Larsen, who didn't get out of the 2nd inning, but also didn't end up as the losing pitcher, since the Yankees came back to retake the lead, and then lost it again. The Yankees took Games 3 and 4 at Yankee Stadium.

For Game 5, Yankee manager Casey Stengel took a chance on Larsen, who'd had only 3 days rest (in those days, when it was an All-New York "Subway Series," there were no travel days), but had pitched less than 2 full innings. He also had a "no-windup delivery," which was easier on his arm.

A 27-year-old righthanded pitcher born in Michigan City, Indiana, who grew up in San Diego, Donald James Larsen was unremarkable for most of his career. Indeed, like the only man ever to pitch back-to-back no-hitters, Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds, he had a losing won-lost record for his career: 81-91. Much of that was due to his 3-21 performance for the 1954 Baltimore Orioles, although he did go 11-5 for the Yankees in the 1956 regular season.

Starting for the Dodgers was Sal Maglie, the former ace of the New York Giants and one of the most hated opponents in Brooklyn history, but who had come to the Dodgers in midseason and pitched a no-hitter of his own -- something he hadn't done for the Giants. It is still the last no-hitter pitched by a player for a National League team in New York -- unless you believe that Carlos Beltran’s line drive really was foul, thus giving Johan Santana a no-hitter for the Mets in 2012.

Maglie was a proven veteran, Larsen a journeyman. And Game 6 would be at Ebbets Field. If necessary, so would Game 7.

It wasn't looking good for the Bronx Bombers.

Here was the Dodgers' starting lineup:

2B 19 Jim "Junior" Gilliam
SS 1 Harold "Pee Wee" Reese
CF 4 Edwin "Duke" Snider
3B 42 Jackie Robinson
1B 14 Gil Hodges
LF 15 Edmundo "Sandy" Amoros
RF 6 Carl "The Reading Rifle" Furillo
C 39 Roy Campanella
P 35 Sal "The Barber" Maglie

Granted, Walter Alston was the manager of the defending World Champions, but what was he thinking? Robinson, an ideal leadoff man but not with much home run power, batting 4th? Furillo, a former batting champion, 7th? Campy, a terrific power hitter, 8th?!?

And for the Yankees:

RF 9 Hank Bauer
1B 15 Joe Collins
CF 7 Mickey Mantle
C 8 Lawrence "Yogi" Berra
LF 17 Enos Slaughter
2B 1 Billy Martin
SS 12 Gil McDougald
3B 6 Andy Carey
P 18 Don Larsen

The umpires were:

* At home plate, Ralph "Babe" Pinelli, a former 3rd baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, who was calling his last games before retiring after 22 seasons as a National League umpire.

* At 1st base, Hank Soar, an American League ump who had been a two-way back for the football New York Giants, appearing in 5 NFL Championship Games, winning in 1938.

* At 2nd base, Lynton "Dusty" Boggess, an NL ump and a former St. Louis Cardinal farmhand.

* At 3rd base, Larry Napp, an AL ump, a Brooklyn native, and a former minor league catcher, who would be the 1st base umpire for Catfish Hunter's perfect game in 1968.

* In left field, Tom Gorman, a Manhattan native who pitched 4 games for the Giants in 1939 before becoming an NL ump.

* And, in right field, Ed Runge, an AL ump whose son Paul and grandson Brian also became major league umps. 

At 1:02 PM, Eastern Time, Pinelli yelled, "Play ball!" and a crowd of 64,519 was ready to go. Larsen began the game by striking Gilliam out. He got to 3 balls on Reese, but struck him out. He would not get to 3 balls on another batter that day. He got Snider to line out to right. In the Yankee half of the 1st, Bauer popped to short, Collins was unable to beat out a bunt to 3rd, and Mantle flew to left.

The closest call came leading off the top of the 2nd inning, when Robinson hit a sharp grounder off Carey's glove. McDougald, who moved from 3rd to short in the Yankee lineup after Phil Rizzuto was released a few weeks earlier, took it, and just barely threw Robinson out. Larsen then struck Hodges out, and got Amoros to pop to 2nd. For the Yankees, Berra popped to short, Slaughter flew to left, and Martin struck out.

In the 3rd, Larsen got Furillo to fly to right, struck Campanella out, and got Maglie to line out to Mantle. McDougald grounded to 3rd, Carey popped up behind the plate where the ball was caught by Campanella, and Larsen did the same.

In the top of the 4th, Larsen got Gilliam to ground to 2nd, got Reese to do the same, and struck Snider out. Maglie, whom Dodger fans despised when he was the headhunting ace of their arch-rivals, actually had a perfect game going himself going into the bottom of the 4th. He got Bauer to ground to 2nd, and struck Collins out. But Mickey Mantle broke it up with a home run into the right field seats. It wasn't one of Mantle's famed towering drives, but it wasn't a "short porch" home run, either: It would have been a home run in just about any ballpark. Maglie then got Berra to line to center, but it was 1-0 Yankees.

In the 5th, Robinson hit a long fly to right, but Bauer caught it. Hodges came up, and drove the ball to Yankee Stadium's famed left-center "Death Valley." Mantle made a running, onehanded, backhanded catch. It was about 420 feet from home plate, and was nearly as remarkable as the 440-foot catch Willie Mays had made 2 World Series earlier. Perhaps even more so, since, unlike Willie, Mickey wasn't known as a spectacular fielder (though that may have been because so much fuss was made about his hitting). Larsen got Amoros to ground to 2nd.

Slaughter led off the bottom of the 5th with a walk. Martin tried to bunt him over, but the Dodgers got Slaughter as the lead runner. And then McDougald hit a line shot at Reese, who caught it, and threw over to Hodges to double Martin off. End of 5, Yankees 1, Dodgers 0.

Larsen got Furillo to pop up to 2nd, then got Campanella to do the same, and struck Maglie out. With 6 innings gone, people began to talk about the fact that a no-hitter was in progress. But old superstitions die hard. No one wanted to say the word "no-hitter" for fear of jinxing it.

After all, none had ever been pitched in the World Series before. The Yankees' Herb Pennock came within 4 outs of a perfect game in 1927. In 1947, the Yankees' Bill Bevens needed 1 more out against the Dodgers, but he had walked 10 batters, and Cookie Lavagetto cost him the game with a 2-RBI double. That was only 9 years earlier, and 1 Yankee from that game was in this one: Berra.

When Larsen sat down in the dugout, everybody near him got up and moved to the other end of the dugout. After the 7th, he purposely sat down next to Mantle, and said, "Hey, Mickey, can you believe I got a no-hitter going?" Mickey jumped up, and said, "Get away from me!"

Equally nervous was Berra, who said, many years later, "I think I woulda thought more about it if we had a 9-0 lead: 'Ooh, he's got a no-hitter goin'.' But, at 2-0, I was just worried about winning the game."

Yogi was right to worry. Snider was that season's NL home run leader and the previous season's RBI leader, and would end up with 407 career home runs. At the time, comparing him to Mantle and Willie Mays among New York's center fielders was no joke. Hodges would end his career with 370 home runs. Campanella had won 3 NL Most Valuable Player awards, and had been the NL RBI leader in 1953. That same year, Furillo had been batting champion. Robinson was batting champion and MVP in 1949. These were dangerous hitters, as Larsen had found out firsthand in Game 2.

Carey led off the bottom of the 6th with a single. Larsen sacrificed him to 2nd. Bauer singled him home. Collins singled, but Mantle grounded into a double play. End of 6: Yankees 2, Dodgers 0.

Top of the 7th: Larsen got Gilliam to ground to short, Reese to fly to center, and Snider to fly to left. Bottom of the 7th: Berra popped to 3rd, Slaughter flew to left, Martin singled to left, McDougald walked, and Carey grounded to short for a force play.

Top of the 8th: Robinson grounded back to Larsen. Hodges lined out to Carey. Amoros flew to center. Bottom of the 8th: Maglie was still pitching strong, and struck out the side: Larsen, Bauer and Collins.

Top of the 9th. A huge audience was watching Mel Allen call the game on NBC-TV, and listening to Bob Wolff on CBS radio. There had never been a no-hitter pitched in 53 years of World Series play. And the term "perfect game" wasn't widely known, either: It had been done by such luminaries as John Montgomery Ward, Cy Young and Addie Joss, but hadn't been done by anyone since another journeyman, Charlie Robertson, did it for the Chicago White Sox in 1922.

Furillo led off, and hit a long drive to right, which went barely foul. He flew to right again, but, this time, it was a comparatively easy catch for Bauer. Campanella grounded to 2nd. Just 1 out to go.

Alston sent Dale Mitchell up to pinch-hit for Maglie. As a Cleveland Indian, Mitchell had been in the opposing dugout for Mays' catch, but had always hit well against the Yankees. He was a .312 lifetime hitter, a 2-time All-Star, and a member of the Indians' 1948 World Champions. This would, however, turn out to be the last career at-bat for the 35-year-old lefty-hitting left fielder from Colony, Oklahoma.

Larsen threw a pitch that Pinelli called a ball. Then he threw a pitch that Pinelli called a strike.

At this point, Wolff told his audience, "I guarantee you that nobody, but nobody, has left this ballpark. And if somebody did, by chance, manage to leave early, man, he is missing the greatest! Here comes the pitch: A swing and a miss, strike 2!"

It was 3:08 PM. The count was 1-and-2. Larsen threw his 97th pitch of the afternoon. It snuck over the outside corner. Mitchell took the pitch. He died in 1987, still insisting that the pitch was a ball. Well, even if Pinelli had called it as such, the count would have been 2-and-2, and not to Mitchell's advantage.

But Pinelli called, "Strike three!" Ballgame over. Shutout over. No-hitter over. Perfect game over. Yankees win.

Wolff's call: "Two strikes, ball one, here's the pitch: Strike three! A no-hitter, a perfect game for Don Larsen! Yogi Berra leaps on Larsen!"

Two years later, Wolff would be behind the mike at Yankee Stadium again, calling the 1958 NFL Championship Game, in which the Baltimore Colts beat the football version of the New York Giants in overtime, the so-called "Greatest Game Ever Played."

It remains the greatest pitching performance in baseball history, and it was by an ordinary pitcher who was usually so unserious, his teammates called him Gooney Bird. But he had done what no other pitcher -- not Christy Mathewson, not Walter or Randy Johnson, not Lefty Grove, not Bob Feller, not Whitey Ford, not Sandy Koufax, not Bob Gibson, not Tom Seaver, not Steve Carlton, not Roger Clemens, not Greg Maddux -- has ever done: Pitch a no-hitter in the World Series. And he made it a perfect game. And he did it against the defending World Champions, with only a 2-0 lead, in what was really a must-win game.

The series shifted back to Ebbets Field. Bob Turley of the Yankees and Clem Labine of the Dodgers both went all 10 innings of Game 6, before a walkoff single by Jackie Robinson ensured a Game 7 for the Dodgers.

That Game 7 would prove calamitous for the Brooks, as Don Newcombe got shelled. Yogi hit 2 homers, Elston Howard added one, and Moose added another, a grand slam. Johnny Kucks pitched a 3-hit shutout, and the Yankees won, 9-0, avenging the previous year's defeat.

The last out was Jackie Robinson. Kucks struck him out, but Berra couldn't handle it. Perhaps remembering Game 4 of the 1941 World Series, where a similar play cost the Dodgers against the Yankees, Robinson ran to 1st. Unlike the ill-fated Mickey Owen in 1941, however, Yogi was able to get the ball, and throw Jackie out.

No one knew it at the time, but that was Jackie's last at-bat. He retired in the off-season. Also not known at the time: That Game 7 was the last World Series game the Brooklyn Dodgers ever played. After 1 more season, they moved to Los Angeles. At the same time, the Giants moved to San Francisco. There would not be another "Subway Series" until 2000, Yankees vs. Mets.

On May 17, 1998, David Wells pitched a perfect game for the Yankees. He went to the same high school as Larsen, Point Loma in San Diego. On July 18, 1999, the Yankees honored Yogi, and had him catch a ceremonial first ball from Larsen. Wells had been traded, so he wasn't there. David Cone pitched a perfect game as Larsen and Berra watched.

Yogi and Don, on an Old-Timers' Day

On September 21, 2008, the last game was played at the old Yankee Stadium. As part of pregame ceremonies, the 3 men who pitched perfect games there, and their catchers, assembled on the mound: Larsen and Berra, Wells and Jorge Posada, and Cone and Joe Girardi.

Left ot right: Girardi, Cone, Larsen, Berra, Wells, Posada

Larsen's gem is no longer the only no-hitter in postseason history. Roy Halladay turned the trick for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010. Five Houston Astros pitchers combined to pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series. But Larsen's perfecto is still the only perfect game in postseason history, and still the only no-hitter by a single pitcher in a game later than the Division Series.

In spite of having been a heavy drinker in his youth, which turned him prematurely gray, Don Larsen turned out to be the last surviving player from his perfect game, living until January 1, 2020, at the age of 90.