July 19, 1976: Nadia Comăneci Is Perfect

July 19, 1976, 50 years ago: For the 1st time, a gymnast scores a perfect 10 in Olympic competition. Her name was Nadia Comăneci, she was 14 years old, and she was from Onești, Romania.

For people who only follow gymnastics at Olympic time, this may have been a surprise. For people who follow the sport regularly, it was not. The previous year, at the World Championships in Skien, Norway, she had won 4 Gold Medals: In the All-Around competition, the uneven bars, the balance beam and the vault.

In March 1976, she competed in the American Cup at Madison Square Garden in New York. She achieved the 1st perfect 10s that any gymnast had ever received, in any sanctioned competition, for her vault in the preliminary stage and her floor exercise in the final, leading to her winning the all-around.

So when the Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, she was, despite her age, fully ready for the world stage. She scored 7 perfect 10s: 4 on the uneven bars, 3 on the balance beam. She ended up winning 3 Gold Medals: The All-Around, the uneven bars and the balance beam; a Silver Medal, for Romania in the Team competition; and a Bronze Medal, in the Floor Exercise. She had totally stolen the spotlight from the gymnastic heroine of the previous Olympics, Ukrainian star Olga Korbut, who nonetheless helped the Soviet team win the team Gold Medal.

For its Olympic coverage, ABC used an instrumental titled "Cotton's Dream" as background music for highlights of her performances. She never used it as performance music, but it became known as "Nadia's Theme." Ironically, the song was already being used as the theme song for a show on another network, CBS' soap opera The Young and the Restless. The composers, Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr., released it under their own names, under the title of "Nadia's Theme," and it hit Number 8 on the U.S. charts.

Nadia became one of the biggest stars in the world, and a big propaganda tool for her home country and its Communist government. In 1980, she competed in the Olympics again, in Moscow, winning Golds in the balance beam and the floor exercise, and Silvers in the team and the all-around.

On a 1981 tour of the U.S. by Romanian gymnasts, she met American gymnast Bart Conner for the 3rd time -- but, now being 19, this was the 1st time she really noticed him. Her coaches, Béla and Márta Károlyi, defected from the tour. With typical Communist paranoia, the Romanian government kept her under tight control. While they did not join the Warsaw Pact boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, they only let her go as an observer, not a competitor. Conner was part of the U.S. team that won the men's Gold Medal.

On November 27, 1989, about a month before the revolution that finally toppled and executed dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, Nadia was part of a group of Romanians that crossed the border at Cenad, into Hungary, made their way to Austria, and got on a plane to America. (Just 1 month later, on Christmas Day, rebels executed Ceaușescu and his wife, and Romania was free. But she has no regrets about her timing.)

She settled in Oklahoma, teaching at Conner's gymnastics school. In 1996, they went to Romania together for their wedding, and she was welcomed back as a national hero. Their son Dylan was born in 2006. As of July 19, 2026, they are still together.

Also on July 19, 1976, English actor Benedict Cumberbatch was born. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he played Dr. Strange. Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man. Each of them had played a version of Sherlock Holmes. I think the Marvel writers missed an opportunity: Neither actor had the chance in any Marvel film to say to the other, "No shit, Sherlock!" 

July 18, 1966: The Death of Bobby Fuller

Left to right: DeWayne Quirico, Bobby Fuller, Randy Fuller, Jim Reese

July 18, 1966, 60 years ago: With his 1st big hit still on the charts, and another one coming up, Bobby Fuller is found dead in his car in Los Angeles. He was only 23, just a little older than his fellow West Texan, Buddy Holly, whom he tried hard to copy, was when he died.

Robert Gaston Fuller was born on October 22, 1942 outside Houston in Baytown, Texas. Along with his family, including his brother Randy, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and then, in 1956, to El Paso, Texas. In high school, he began forming bands, with Randy on bass guitar as the only constant. Basically, they copied Holly's style, down to Bobby playing the Fender Stratocaster, which Holly had made famous, and even going to Norman Petty's recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico, where Holly had recorded with The Crickets.

In 1964, the Fuller brothers moved to Los Angeles, and formed The Bobby Fuller Four, with rhythm guitarist Jim Reese and drummer DeWayne Quirico. They signed with Mustang Records, and were produced by Bob Keane, who had produced Ritchie Valens, who had died in the same 1959 plane crash as Holly.

Their first album was released in November 1965: KRLA King of the Wheels, with a title track about a hot rod that became a mascot for a Los Angeles radio station, at 1110 AM. (It was a Top 40 station from 1959 to 1977, and is now a Christian talk station with the call letters KWVE.) KRLA played the single "Let Her Dance" enough to make it a regional hit, but that's as far as they got.

In 1958, Sonny Curtis wrote "I Fought the Law," and he recorded it in 1959 when he joined the Crickets, after Buddy Holly left them. The song was included on their 1960 album In Style with the Crickets, but received very little airplay. The Fuller Four recorded it in 1964, but their original version didn't get very far, either. But a much more professional-sounding version was recorded with Keane, who released it in October 1965, and it reached Number 9 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in February 1966.

The group subsequently recorded an album titled I Fought the Law, which included the title track and "Let Her Dance," releasing it in February. Quirico left the group shortly thereafter, and was replaced by Dalton Powell.

They recorded another Crickets song, this one written and sung by Holly, "Love's Made a Fool of You." Like a lot of acts in the 1960s, they copied the formula that made them hits: It had a sound very similar to "I Fought the Law." As The Four Tops had recently put it, "It's the Same Old Song." (That song sounded a lot like their Number 1 hit "I Can't Help Myself.") Sometimes, as with that Tops song, the formula worked; other times, it didn't: "Love's Made a Fool of You" only reached Number 26. They released one more single, "The Magic Touch," but it wasn't a hit at all.

They played both hits on Hollywood a Go Go, a local TV show on independent Los Angeles station KHJ-Channel 9. (That channel became KCAL in 1989, and has been a CBS affiliate since 2002.) They also backed Nancy Sinatra on 2 songs in the film The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, a comedy that was an attempt to combine several film trends of the era: Beach, horror, and biker movies. It was released on April 6, and, despite starring Tommy Kirk and Deborah Whalley, and also having horror icon Boris Karloff and, in one of his last films, former Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone, it flopped.

Things went from bad to worse for the band: In July, Reese received a draft notice. Knowing he wouldn't need it, he decided to sell his sports car, a Jaguar XKE, to Bobby at the band's next meeting, on July 18. And Powell had decided that, at that meeting, he would announce that he was leaving the band, to return home and support his family.

We'll never know how the Fuller brothers would have responded to this: That meeting took place, but Bobby didn't show up for it. His body was found, beaten inside his car, a 1962 Oldsmobile, parked just outside of his Hollywood home. Evidence suggests that he had ingested gasoline. Initially, these details were not released to the public.

The Los Angeles medical examiner could not reach a conclusion, checking the boxes for "accident" and "suicide," but putting question marks next to each. The police officially ruled it a suicide. Randy and Powell went on record as saying they didn't believe that.

Powell, in particular, believed Bobby was incapable of suicide. In a 1996 interview, he said, "I saw the body. Anybody who can write it off as a suicide is either totally incompetent or scared to death... Whoever did this had the connections," meaning to have the case end up ignored.

Speculation arose that he was killed by the Mob, because he'd taken a hitman's girlfriend. One version says that Phil Spector had it done: The biggest producer in L.A. liked to claim organized crime connections, and he was certainly mean enough to have it done. He attended Bobby's funeral, and was seen smiling there. But he wouldn't seem to have had a motive: Bobby never worked with him, and he isn't known to have had a rivalry with Keane, either.

Another version suggests Keane himself had it ordered, since he knew the band was breaking up, and that dead rock stars sell better than live ones. But that's almost certainly not what happened. Another version says that Frank Sinatra had it done, because he thought Bobby had been fooling around with his daughter Nancy. That doesn't seem likely, either: While it's possible that they'd met, Frank knew Nancy, who was 2 years older and already divorced, was her own person, and wouldn't have appreciated it. As her producer, Lee Hazelwood, put it, "You're not a sweet young thing," telling her to sing like she wasn't one on "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'."

We may never know the truth. Those who have tried, well, in a way, they, too, have fought the law, and the law has, thus far, won. The name of the alleged hitman and the girlfriend have been lost to history. ("Melody," with some irony, has been suggested as her name.)

Bobby Fuller's name is remembered. And "I Fought the Law" remains one of the all-time rock and roll classics. The Clash had a hit with it in their native Britain in 1979, although it didn't make the U.S. charts. It's also been recorded by, among others, Hank Williams Jr., the Dead Kennedys, Status Quo and Green Day.

Randy Fuller was convinced by DeWayne Quirico to continue his musical career. He formed a new band, naming it The Randy Fuller Four, but had no hits. He occasionally reunited with other members of the band. In 2015, Randy collaborated with Miriam Linna, drummer for the punk band The Cramps, and later a rock historian, to write I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller, the first authorized biography of Bobby and his band. Quirico also remained active as a session drummer, and sometimes toured with Randy.

Jim Reese and Dalton Powell went back to Texas, and formed a band named Murphy's Law -- perhaps appropriate, given what had happened to their previous band: "Murphy's Law" is a cliché that says, "Anything that can go wrong, will." After a few years, that band broke up, and Powell played in a series of bands. Reese stayed out of the spotlight.

On October 26, 1991, after playing a round of golf, Jim Reese suffered a heart attack, and died at the age of 54. Bob Keane died on November 28, 2009, at 87. Randy Fuller died on May 16, 2024. He was 80. As of July 18, 2026, DeWayne Quirico and Dalton Powell, the 2 drummers, are still alive.

*

July 18, 1966 was a Monday. Dan O'Brien, winner of the Gold Medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Olympics, was born.

July 16, 1951: "The Catcher in the Rye" Is Published

July 16, 1951, 75 years ago: The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company. The author, J.D. (Jerome David) Salinger, was then 32 years old, a native of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and had already published several short stories.

The novel tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a name that Salinger had used in earlier stories based on his experiences serving in World War II. In this novel, taking place during the Christmas season of 1948, Holden, obviously a different character, is 16 years old.

He has been expelled from a private prep school in Pennsylvania, and goes home to New York to see his family, especially his younger sister, Phoebe, to whom he is close. While there, he has a number of disappointing experiences, with people he ultimately describes as "phonies."

He hears a boy singing, "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye." He begins to imagine himself as a protector of children playing in a field of rye near the edge of a cliff, and catching them when they start to fall off.

But Phoebe, only 10 years old, correctly reminds him that the line in Robert Burns' 1782 poem is, "If a body meet a body... " His beautiful illusion shattered by the last person who still matters to him, Holden starts crying. He ends up in a psychiatric ward, and tells conflicting stories of his goals: Either he will live with his brother, D.B., a Hollywood screenwriter, or go to another private school.

Some schools, including East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, which I attended in the mid-1980s, have included the novel in their English Department curriculum. Other schools have banned it, because Holden mentions seeing graffiti reading, "FUCK YOU." (Ironically, Holden might have agreed with them: The graffiti was near an elementary school, and he didn't want small children finding out the words' meaning.)

The novel has never been filmed. Salinger was furious with the way one of his stories was adapted for a film, and shut down attempts to film CITR. He stopped writing in 1965, and retreated to a house on a hilltop in New Hampshire, seeing as few people as possible.

In 1962, as part of his parody album Allan Sherman's Mother Presents My Son, the Celebrity, Sherman sang:

Do not make a stingy sandwich.

Pile the cold cuts high.

Customers should see salami

coming through the rye.

On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman, having read the novel, bought a new copy in New York, went to the Dakota Arms Hotel at 72nd Street and Central Park West, waited for former Beatle John Lennon, shot him, and then sat down on the sidewalk, pulled out the new copy of the book, and started reading it. Lennon died within minutes. Chapman claimed that Lennon, by abandoning what he had once been, had become "the ultimate phony." Chapman was convicted, has been in prison ever since, and the book will always have that cloud over it.

In 1982, W.P. Kinsella published Shoeless Joe, in which a farmer in Iowa tracks Salinger down, rekindles Salinger's love of baseball, and takes Salinger with him on a journey that ends at the Iowa farm with the baseball field built into it. In 1989, the film Field of Dreams was released, based on the novel. However, to avoid a lawsuit, the author character was changed to the fictional Terence Mann, his race from white to black, the character's favorite baseball team from the New York Giants to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and his peak years of writing from the 1950s to the 1960s.

The character of William Forrester, played by Sean Connery, in the 2000 film Finding Forrester is also based on Salinger. In 2017, Nicholas Hoult played Salinger in the film Rebel in the Rye, which may be as close as we ever get to a film version of CITR.

A rare photo of an older Salinger. Rarer still because he's smiling.

Salinger married 3 times, and died in Cornish, New Hampshire in 2010, at the age of 91. He had 2 children, both with his 2nd wife, Claire Douglas. His daughter Margaret Salinger wrote a memoir of him, titled Dream Catcher.

His son Matt Salinger became an actor, and played superhero Captain America in a 1990 film, before moving into producing plays and films. He has said of his sister's memoir, "I can't say with any authority that she is consciously making anything up. I just know that I grew up in a very different house, with two very different parents from those my sister describes."

Yankee All-Star Appearances, 1933-2026

Stan Musial and Mickey Mantle,

1975 All-Star Game, Milwaukee County Stadium

This list takes into account all times a player was named to an All-Star Team, whether he got into the All-Star Game or not; but not the doubled-up ASGs of 1958 to 1962. It does not include managers. And it only includes berths in the Game while with the Yankees, not with other teams.

Also, while the All-Star Game was canceled twice, in both cases due to travel restrictions, in 1945 because of World War II and in 2020 due to COVID-19, All-Star Teams were still named in those seasons.

Keep in mind also that the All-Star Game did not start until 1933. If it had started earlier -- say, in 1920 -- Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, in particular, would have had many more appearances.

Players in Yankee Blue are Monument Park honorees. Players in bold are Baseball Hall of Fame inductees.

Mickey Mantle, 16: 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968
Yogi Berra, 15: 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962
Derek Jeter, 14: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
Joe DiMaggio, 13: 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951
Mariano Rivera, 12: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013
Bill Dickey, 11: 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946
Elston Howard, 9: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
Whitey Ford, 8: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964
Dave Winfield, 8: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
Aaron Judge, 8: 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Lefty Gomez, 7: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940
Bobby Richardson, 7: 1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966
Alex Rodriguez, 7: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011

Lou Gehrig, 6: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938
Red Ruffing, 6: 1934, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942
Joe Gordon, 6: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946
Thurman Munson, 6: 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977
Don Mattingly, 6: 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
Tommy Henrich, 5: 1942, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950
Phil Rizzuto, 5: 1942, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
Allie Reynolds, 5: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954
Gil McDougald, 5: 1952, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
Mel Stottlemyre, 5: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970
Graig Nettles, 5: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
Reggie Jackson, 5: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
Willie Randolph, 5: 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1987
Bernie Williams, 5: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
Jorge Posada, 5: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007
Robinson Canó, 5: 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Red Rolfe, 4: 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940
Charlie Keller, 4: 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946
Spud Chandler, 4: 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947
Vic Raschi, 4: 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952
Bill "Moose" Skowron, 4: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
Bobby Murcer, 4: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974
Rich "Goose" Gossage, 4: 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982
Ron Guidry, 4: 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983
Rickey Henderson, 4: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
Wade Boggs, 4: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Paul O'Neill, 4: 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998

Dellin Betances, 4: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Ben Chapman, 3: 1933, 1934, 1935

Joe Page, 3: 1944, 1947, 1948
Hank Bauer, 3: 1952, 1953, 1954
Tony Kubek, 3: 1958, 1959, 1961
Roger Maris, 3: 1960, 1961, 1962
Joe Pepitone, 3: 1963, 1964, 1965
Sparky Lyle, 3: 1973, 1976, 1977
Jason Giambi, 3: 2002, 2003, 2004
Curtis Granderson, 3: 2010, 2011, 2012

Gerrit Cole, 3: 2021, 2022, 2023

Babe Ruth, 2: 1933, 1934
George Selkirk, 2: 1936, 1939
Frank Crosetti, 2: 1936, 1939
Johnny Murphy, 2: 1937, 1939
Monte Pearson, 2: 1936, 1940
Tiny Bonham, 2: 1942, 1943

Hank Borowy, 2: 1944, 1945
George McQuinn, 2: 1947, 1948
Bob Turley, 2: 1955, 1958
Ryne Duren, 2: 1958, 1959
Tom Tresh, 2: 1962, 1963
Roy White, 2: 1969, 1970
Jim "Catfish" Hunter, 2: 1975, 1976
Tommy John, 2: 1979, 1980
Bucky Dent, 2: 1980, 1981
Dave Righetti, 2: 1986, 1987
Steve Sax, 2: 1989, 1990
Jimmy Key, 2: 1993, 1994
Andy Pettitte, 2: 1996, 2001
David Cone, 2: 1997, 1999

Roger Clemens, 2: 2001, 2003
Alfonso Soriano, 2: 2002, 2003
Hideki Matsui, 2: 2003, 2004
Gary Sheffield, 2: 2004, 2005

Mark Teixeira, 2: 2009, 2015

CC Sabathia, 2: 2011, 2012

Masahiro Tanaka, 2: 2014, 2019

Luis Severino, 2: 2017, 2018

Gary Sánchez, 2: 2017, 2019

Gleyber Torres, 2: 2018, 2019

DJ LeMahieu, 2: 2019, 2020

Aroldis Chapman, 2: 2019, 2021

Clay Holmes, 2: 2022, 2024

Tony Lazzeri, 1: 1933

Marius Russo, 1: 1941
Buddy Rosar, 1: 1942
Johnny Lindell, 1: 1943
Rollie Helmsley, 1: 1944

Nick Etten, 1: 1945

Oscar Grimes, 1: 1945
George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss, 1: 1946
Aaron Robinson, 1: 1947
Frank "Spec" Shea, 1: 1947
Billy Johnson, 1: 1947
Tommy Byrne, 1: 1950
Jerry Coleman, 1: 1950
Eddie Lopat, 1: 1951
Johnny Mize, 1: 1953
Johnny Sain, 1: 1953
Irv Noren, 1: 1954
Billy Martin, 1: 1956
Johnny Kucks, 1: 1956
Bobby Shantz, 1: 1957
Bob Grim, 1: 1957
Jim Coates, 1: 1960
Luis Arroyo, 1: 1961
Ralph Terry, 1: 1962
Jim Bouton, 1: 1963
Al Downing, 1: 1967
Fritz Peterson, 1: 1970
Bobby Bonds, 1: 1975
Chris Chambliss, 1: 1976
Mickey Rivers, 1: 1976
Ron Davis, 1, 1981
Phil Niekro, 1: 1984
Scott Sanderson, 1: 1991
Roberto Kelly, 1: 1992
Mike Stanley, 1: 1995
John Wetteland, 1: 1996
Tino Martinez, 1: 1997
David Wells, 1: 1998
Scott Brosius, 1: 1998
Mike Stanton, 1: 2001
Robin Ventura, 1: 2002
Javier Vázquez, 1: 2004
Tom Gordon, 1: 2004
Nick Swisher, 1: 2010
Phil Hughes, 1: 2010
Russell Martin, 1: 2011
David Robertson, 1: 2011
Brett Gardner, 1: 2015

Carlos Beltrán, 1: 2016

Andrew Miller, 1: 2016

Giancarlo Stanton, 1: 2022

Jose Trevino, 1: 2022

Nestor Cortes, 1: 2022

Juan Soto, 1: 2024

Jazz Chisholm Jr., 1: 2025

Max Fried, 1: 2025

Carlos Rodón, 1: 2025

Ben Rice, 1: 2026

Cody Bellinger, 1: 2026

Cam Schlittler, 1: 2026

DiMaggio played 13 seasons, missing 1943, 1944 and 1945 due to service in World War II, and made the All-Star Game every season. He's the only player with as many seasons to make the All-Star Game every season.

Living Yankee All-Stars, in chronological order: Bobby Shantz, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Al Downing, Roy White, Sparky Lyle, Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Mickey Rivers, Willie Randolph, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage, Tommy John, Bucky Dent, Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Dave Righetti, Steve Sax, Roberto Kelly, Wade Boggs, Jimmy Key, Paul O'Neill, Mike Stanley, Andy Pettitte, John Wetteland, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, David Cone, Derek Jeter, David Wells, Scott Brosius, Jorge Posada, Roger Clemens, Mike Stanton, Jason Giambi, Alfonso Soriano, Robin Ventura, Hideki Matsui, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Javier Vázquez, Tom Gordon, Robinson Canó, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Phil Hughes, Curtis Granderson, CC Sabathia, Russell Martin, David Robertson, Masahiro Tanaka, Dellin Betances, Brett Gardner, Carlos Beltrán, Andrew Miller, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Clay Holmes, Jose Trevino, Nestor Cortes, Juan Soto, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Cam Schlittler.

Cone, Beltrán and Soto are the only players to be named to the All-Star Game as a Yankee and as a Met.

Based solely on most All-Star berths, this would be the all-time Yankee lineup:

1B Lou Gehrig
2B Bobby Richardson
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
LF Dave Winfield
CF Joe DiMaggio
RF Aaron Judge
DH Mickey Mantle
C Yogi Berra
SP1 Whitey Ford
SP2 Lefty Gomez
SP3 Red Ruffing
SP4 Allie Reynolds
SP5 Mel Stottlemyre

RP Mariano Rivera

Yanks End 1st Half With Sweep In Washington

Although 96 games means nearly 60 percent of the regular season is done, the All-Star Break is the official halfway point, and the Yankees closed the official 1st half with a series away to the Washington Nationals.

Ryan Weathers started on Friday night, and allowed 1 run on 6 hits and no walks. He was backed by home runs from Ben Rice in the 1st inning and Jasson Domínguez in the 4th, and left with a 2-1 lead in the 6th. But Tim Hill allowed back-to-back home runs in the 7th, so, in spite of the Nats going with a bullpen game, the Yankees trailed 3-2 with 1 out in the top of the 9th.

But Domínguez singled, and Jazz Chisholm and Austin Wells hit home runs. David Bednar pitched 2 perfect innings for the win. Yankees 5, Nationals 3.

Cam Schlittler started on Saturday afternoon, and allowed home runs to the Nats' 2 best hitters, James Wood and Curtis Mead, in the 1st inning. After that, he was brilliant, lasting into the 7th inning. But, despite the Nats again going with a bullpen game, the Yankees trailed 2-0 with 1 out in the 8th.

Then came a home run by Ryan McMahon, a walk by Rice, a home run by Trent Grisham, and a home run by Paul Goldschmidt, the 387th of his career. That made the Yankees 4-2 winners, and Brent Headrick the winning pitcher.

Will Warren started on Sunday afternoon. RBI singles by Chisholm and Wells in the 5th inning staked him to a 2-1 lead. And he'd only thrown 83 pitches. But Aaron Boone panicked, and brought Hill in, and he blew the lead. It was 3-2 Nats with 2 outs in the top of the 8th.

Then Max Schuemann singled, Grisham drew a walk, and Rice hit a triple to bring them home. They added a run in the 9th, and won, 4-2. Ryan Yarbrough was the winning pitcher.

So the Yankees managed to get a 3-game sweep on the road, even though they trailed late in all 3, and none of their starting pitchers ended up as the winning pitcher.

*

So here's where the Yankees stand at the All-Star Break:

* They are 54-42, for a winning percentage of .563. Over a 162-game span, that works out to a record of 91-71. That should be enough to make the Playoffs, but it probably won't be enough to in the American League Eastern Division.

The Tampa Bay Rays lead the Division by 3 games over the Yankees, 10 over the Boston Red Sox, 11 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles, and 12 over the Toronto Blue Jays. In the all-important loss column, the Rays lead the Yanks by 4, the Sox by 10, and the O's and the Jays by 12.

* If the current standings hold to the end of the season, the Yankees would be the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs. In other words, they would make the Playoffs, but not win the Division, putting them in a bad position to win the Pennant. In other words, for the Brian Cashman Era, the usual.

* They have achieved this despite the usual rotten luck with injuries. At no time this season have they had 3 of their planned 5 starting pitchers available: They began the season with Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt and Carlos Rodón on the Injured List; and they go into the All-Star Break with Schmidt, Rodón and Max Fried on it. Hitting-wise, they began the season with Domínguez, Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera on it; now, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are on it; and, in addition to the preceding, Goldschmidt and Wells have spent significant time on it.

* Rice, Judge, Goldschmidt, Grisham, Cody Bellinger have been productive. McMahon, Max Schuemann, Amed Rosario, José Caballero have been nice surprises.

* On the other hand, Stanton has barely played. Volpe, Domínguez, Wells and, so far, highly-touted prospect Spencer Jones have been letdowns.

* Schlittler is 9-5, with a 2.05 ERA and a 0.944 WHIP, both of which lead the AL. Before getting hurt, Fried was 4-3, 3.21 and 1.005; Rodón was 4-2, 3.30 and 1.252. Filling holes in the rotation, Warren is 7-4, 4.03 and 1.363; and Weathers is 3-7, 4.15 and 1.239. So Warren has a good record, while Weathers has a good WHIP.

* On the other hand, both Warren and Weathers are too high in ERA, and Weathers has a bad record. Cole came back too soon: He's 3-4 and 4.04, although his WHIP is 1.204.

* The bullpen has been a mixed bag. Bednar has 18 saves, Yarbrough 2, and 1 each for Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval and Paul Blackburn. ERAs for relievers with at least 30 innings pitched: Headrick 1.55, Blackburn 2.22, Cruz 2.25, Bednar 2.70, Yarbrough 4.14, Hill 4.50, Jake Bird 4.50, Doval 4.58. WHIPs: Blackburn 1.089, Bednar 1.100, Hill 1.111, Headrick 1.187, Yarbrough 1.216, Cruz 1.225, Doval 1.358, Bird 1.367.

Hill is typical of this. He has a great WHIP, but a horrible ERA for a reliever. He has given up 7 home runs, more than any Yankee pitcher except Weathers, Warren, Schlittler and Cole, all starters. And he has hit 4 batters, more than any Yankee pitcher except Bird, with 5. And if you count hit batsmen as baserunners for which he's responsible, his WHIP rises to 1.222, which is very good for a starter, not so much for a reliever.

* Injury updates: Fried threw live batting practice on Saturday, and will make a rehab start on Friday, so he should be back before July ends. Rodón threw today, and is set to throw every day this week, which is encouraging. Stanton has resumed running, and is expected to return later in the month. Schmidt is having bullpen sessions, and is expected to begin facing hitters this month, which suggests an August return. Judge is set for a re-imaging during the Break, so we still don't know when he's coming back. This is also true of Luis Gil.

The All-Star Game will be tomorrow night, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Judge was elected as a starter, but isn't playing. Rice, who will be in tonight's stupid Home Run Derby, Bellinger and Schlittler were named as reserves.

In case anyone cares, the only Met on the National League team is Juan Soto, who was elected as a starter. As always, every team, no matter how bad, is entitled to at least 1 player on their League's team, although if that 1 player is injured, a replacement from the same team can be chosen. And, although it usually works out so that every player gets used, that is not required: Only that starting pitchers go at least 2 innings, and starting hitters at least 3, with exceptions, of course, for injury.

July 13, 1966: Jim Brown Retires

July 13, 1966, 60 years ago: Jim Brown retires from playing football. He is 30 years old.

It is not due to injury. It is because he is a black man who is his own man, and does not like a white man telling him what to do -- unless, possibly, it's by a film director.

Brown had played 9 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, 1957 to 1965, and had led the NFL in rushing yardage in 8 of those seasons, all but 1962. In 1963, he rushed for 1,852 yards, which stood as a single-season record for 10 years. In 1964, he helped the Browns win the NFL Championship, still the last they have ever won. In 1965, he got them back into the NFL Championship Game, losing to the Green Bay Packers.

He was still the best running back in professional football, already the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 12,312 yards (a record that would stand until 1984), and was eventually selected in 1999 by The Sporting News as the greatest player in NFL history.

He was now trying his hand as an actor, filming the World War II movie The Dirty Dozen in London. He was enjoying himself, feeling freer than he ever had.

But preseason training camps were underway, and Browns owner Art Modell told him to leave and come back to join his teammates in Berea, Ohio, 13 miles southwest of downtown Cleveland.

Brown refused, telling Modell, already a noted cheapskate, that he could make more money and sustain fewer injuries as an actor than as a football player. Brown retired from football, taking away the one power that Modell had over him, which was to have an undue affect on his football career, but giving up that football career.

He was 30. As of July 13, 2022, Jim Brown is 86 years old, and has never regretted his decision. As he put it, "What would you rather do: Get hit by Dick Butkus, or make love to Raquel Welch?" (Brown and Welch went on to film one of the earliest interracial love scenes in American movies, in the 1969 Western 100 Rifles. Though she was considered "white," Jo Raquel Tejada was of Bolivian descent.)

He went on to star in several "blaxploitation" films, including the Slaughter series. In 1988, he was among the stars of such films who joined Keenen Ivory Wayans in his parody of such films, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, playing Slammer to Isaac Hayes' Hammer, the two men's characters having retired from fighting crime on the streets of their city to run a barbecue restaurant.

Modell made peace with Brown, and named him a team consultant. Modell continued to own the Browns until 1995, never reaching another World Championship game, until moving them to become the Baltimore Ravens. They won Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. He sold the team in 2003, and died in 2012, beloved in Maryland, but despised in Ohio.

A new Browns team began play in 1999, and Brown was named a consultant to their front office. He still holds this post. A statue of him stands outside their home, FirstEnergy Stadium, built in 1999 on the site of their home in his era, Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Brown died on May 18, 2023, at the age of 87.

July 13, 1966 was a Wednesday. Singer Gerald LeVert was born. This was also the night that Richard Speck killed 8 student nurses in Chicago.

July 11, 1966: Marvel Comics Introduces the 1st Black Superhero

Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa

July 11, 1966, 60 years ago: Marvel Comics publishes Fantastic Four #52, introducing the character of Black Panther, generally considered to be the 1st black superhero in mainstream comic books.

The name "Black Panther" long predates the character -- and the Black Panther Party, which formed a few weeks later. In World War II, the U.S. Army's segregated 761st Tank Battalion was known as the Black Panthers. And Portugal's Mozambique-born soccer star Eusébio, already world-famous but about to become more so as the World Cup began, was already nicknamed "The Black Panther." (He was also nicknamed "The Black Pearl," as was his fellow Portuguese speaker, Brazilian star Pelé.)

There had been black heroes in comic books before, but no major publisher had dared try it. In 1947, with Jackie Robinson debuting in Major League Baseball and Joe Louis as Heavyweight Champion of the World, All-Negro Comics #1 was published. But it sold so poorly that there was no issue #2.

Marvel, under a previous name, Atlas Comics, had published Jungle Tales, including Waku, Prince of the Bantu, clearly an inspiration for the character to come. But that magazine ran only 7 issues, from September 1954 to September 1955, and, as was all too common at the time, indulged in too many stereotypes. In 1963, Marvel had included Private Gabriel Jones in the World War II-themed book Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

With the knowledge that the Lone Ranger had been partly inspired by an African-American lawman named Bass Reeves (1838-1910), Dell Comics released Lobo in December 1965. Bearing no resemblance to the later DC character of the same name, which is Spanish for "wolf," this was a gunslinger who bore stylistic resemblances to the protagonists of 2 current TV series: Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive and Captain Jason McCord of the Western Branded: The cover identified him as "Branded for Life: An honest man... blamed for a crime he did not commit!"

On the heads of his defeated foes, would leave a gold coin imprinted with the letter L and the image of a wolf, similar to the Lone Ranger leaving a silver bullet and Zorro using his sword to cut a letter Z on his opponents' shirts.

Lobo #1 was released after the March On Washington, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- but also after the riots in Harlem, North Philadelphia and Watts. It didn't sell well, not even in black neighborhoods. When Marvel released the issue of Fantastic Four with Black Panther, Dell thought to try again, and, in September 1966, released Lobo #2. But that didn't sell well, either, and, except for a brief revival in 2017-18, the character has never appeared again.

A character's in-story origin sometimes gets embellished, but rarely has substantive change. But, as was often the case with Marvel and its boss man, Stan Lee, there is a dispute as to this character's real-world origin. Smilin' Stan said that a black hero was the next step in Marvel's progress.

But Marvel's main artist, Jack Kirby, said, "I came up with the Black Panther because I realized I had no blacks in my strip. I'd never drawn a black. I needed a black. I suddenly discovered that I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else." Lee's story was backed up by writer Roy Thomas, who later succeeded him as Marvel's editor; while Kirby's story is backed up by documentation, including drawings that predate the issue.

With Black Panther, the in-story origin of the character is not the only thing that matters: There's also the origin story of his homeland, the African nation of Wakanda. At some point in the past, a meteorite landed there. It was made of vibranium, and this fictional material allowed Wakanda to develop technology beyond anything the world had yet seen, including the ability to conceal themselves from the outside world. Their King decided to do this, for fear that the technology could be stolen. (Vibranium would eventually be found elsewhere, and was used to make Captain America's shield.)

In-universe, the title "Black Panther" is a rank of office, chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan. As chieftain, the Panther is entitled to consume a special heart-shaped herb which, in addition to his mystical, shamanistic connection with Bast, the Panther Goddess, grants him superhumanly acute senses, strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, healing, and reflexes. In essence, he has the powers of Spider-Man, without the addition of web-shooters.

In the comics, the King of Wakanda, and thus the Black Panther, is named T'Challa, whose father and predecessor, T'Chaka, was murdered by a rival. Thus, like so many other superheroes, T'Challa is motivated to fight for justice in remembrance of, and to avenge, a parental figure. Just as so many other heroes protect a city -- or, in the case of Daredevil, just one neighborhood -- T'Challa protects an entire country.

In the story that introduced him, he invited the Fantastic Four to Wakanda, and then tested their abilities. The tests passed, he made amends by explaining that he needed to see if they would be worthy allies. They subsequently fought a would-be invader. Black Panther later joined the Avengers, and, for a time, was married to Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm of the X-Men.

T'Challa made his television debut in the 1994-96 Fantastic Four animated series, where he was voiced by Keith David. Djimon Hounsou provided the voice of T'Challa for a 2011 animated series. Chadwick Boseman played the character in 4 live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe films: Captain America: Civil War, in 2016, in which he's on the pro-registration side; Black Panther, in 2018, the 1st superhero film with a black lead that wasn't a comedy (I'm counting Wesley Snipes' Blade films as more horror than superhero films); Avengers: Infinity War, also in 2018, in which he was one of the heroes who was "snapped away" by Thanos; and Avengers: Endgame, in 2019, in which the Hulk snaps him back, and he leads Wakanda's army in the final battle against Thanos.

Boseman, who had previously played black American icons Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown, became beloved all over the world for his portrayal of T'Challa. Unbeknownst to the world at large, he was already battling cancer during the filming of Endgame, and died in 2020. So, while the character still lives in comic books, in the MCU, the 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever reveals that their version of T'Challa has died from an incurable illness, and his sister, Shuri, played by Letitia Wright as in the previous film, becomes the new Black Panther.