July 27, 1964: The Galimore-Farrington Crash

July 27, 1964, 60 years ago: A car crash in Rensselaer, Indiana, near the Chicago Bears' training camp, kills 2 of their players: Running back Willie Galimore and tight end Bo Farrington. It had been 7 months since they had helped the Bears win the NFL Championship. Now, a new season would be draped in tragedy.

Both players were black, and had gone to "historically black" colleges. Willie Lee Galimore was born on March 30, 1935 in St. Augustine, Florida. He went to Florida A&M, playing for head coach Jake Gaither, a man who said of players, "I like 'em ag-ile, mob-ile and host-ile." He saw a lot of progress in his lifetime, but it came at a price: In the 1980s, Bobby Bowden built an integrated power at Florida State, which, like A&M, is in Tallahassee. Before he died in 1994, Gaither said, "Today, if they're agile, mobile and hostile, they go to Florida State."

Galimore was drafted by the Bears in the 5th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He's been called "probably the last great find before NFL scouting became sophisticated." Doug Atkins, the great Bear defensive end who had to face him in practice, and Chuck Bednarik, the legendary Philadelphia Eagles linebacker, both called him one of the best runners they ever faced.

It was said that he could run from side to side as fast as most men could run in a straight line. His running style has been compared to that of later stars Billy Sims, a Heisman Trophy winner whose pro career was cut short by injury, and Terrell Davis, a Hall-of-Famer.

John R. Farrington was born on January 18, 1936, outside Houston in Missouri City, Texas. I can't find a reference to what the R stands for, or how he got the nickname Bo. He played at Prairie View A&M, in the Houston area. The Bears drafted him in the 16th round in 1960. By 1961, he was a starter, catching a 98-yard touchdown pass from Bill Wade that season. In 4 seasons, he had played 45 games, starting 28 of them, catching 55 passes for 881 yards and 7 touchdowns.

In the 1963 NFL Championship Game, on a frozen surface at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the New York Giants' vaunted defense held Galimore to only 12 yards on 7 rushes, and Farrington caught no passes. But their own defense was even stronger, and the Bears won, 14-10. It was the franchise's only title between the seasons of 1946 and 1985.

The St. Augustine movement, a wing of the Civil Rights Movement, brought Galimore back to his Florida hometown, and he became the 1st black person to register as a guest at the previously all-white Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge. His activism there is celebrated with a historical marker outside the house where he grew up, a community center with his name on it, and a mural painted by schoolchildren.

Then he went to Bears training camp, at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, 85 miles southeast of Chicago. On July 27, 1964, he gave Farrington a ride back to their hotel in his Volkswagen. He was unable to negotiate a curve, and flipped over, killing both of them. Galimore was 29 years old, Farrington 28.

Having lost Galimore after the 1964 Draft, the Bears had trouble replacing him for that season. So, in the 1965 Draft, they chose Gale Sayers of Kansas. As great (if brief, due to injuries) a career as Sayers had, the Bears would not have drafted him if Galimore had been alive and well.

Farrington wore Number 84, and that number is still available for Chicago Bear players. But the Bears did retire Galimore's Number 28.

Ron Galimore, Willie's son, was named the 1st black member of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team. Unfortunately, that was in 1980, when the U.S. boycotted the Games in Moscow. He served as Chief Operating Officer of USA Gymnastics from 2011 to 2018.

July 26, 2014: Arsenal Play In New Jersey

Thierry Henry and Jack Wilshere

July 26, 2014, 10 years ago: For the 4th time, Arsenal Football Club of North London came to North America.

The 1st was in 1972. On May 31, days after an FA Cup Final defeat and a year after winning the Football League and FA Cup "Double," they played the Miami Gatos of the old North American Soccer League at the Orange Bowl. Arsenal won 3-2, on goals by Charlie George, John Radford and Ray Kennedy. Attendance: A mere 4,725.

But they came back to this continent the next year anyway, possibly hoping that Canada's status as a nation still in the British Commonwealth would help attendance. If so, I can't find a reference to how many came out. On May 23, 1973, they played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, against a team called Toronto Select. Charlie George, the 1971 FA Cup Final hero, scored again, in a game that ended, as a later song would say, "One-nil to The Arsenal."

They stayed away for a long time. On August 6, 1989, they returned to Miami, apparently forgetting that Florida is hot as hell, especially in the Summer. At the Dolphins' new stadium (then named Joe Robbie Stadium, now named Hard Rock Stadium), they came as newly-crowned Champions of the Football League Division One, predecessors of the Premier League.

They played Club Atletico Independiente, of Avellaneda in the province of Buenos Aires, the defending champions of Argentina. This was for the Zenith Data Systems Challenge Trophy, a phony "world championship." David "Rocky" Rocastle scored from open play in the 1st half, and from a penalty in the 2nd half, giving The Arsenal a 2-1 win. Attendance: 10,042, the vast majority of them Hispanics rooting for the South American team.

It would be a quarter of a century before they returned. They came to New York, held several events in The City during the week, and played at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey, home of Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls -- then featuring Arsenal's all-time leading scorer, Thierry Henry.

Because of my membership in the NYC Arsenal Supporters, I had the opportunity to be among the early birds eligible for the group's ticket offer, putting us in the upper deck of the North Ward, opposite the Red Bulls' supporters' section in the South Ward. It cost me $60 (about $75 in 2022 money), but I knew it would be worth it. Since I became an Arsenal fan in 2008, I have had online wisenheimers, some of them even Arsenal fans, taunt me by saying, "You've never seen your team in person!" That is no longer true.

People really did come from all over the world, not just all over the country. It was natural that people would come from London, elsewhere in England, elsewhere in the British Isles. But when the game was actually played, there were banners for fan clubs from Australia, China and Africa. This was huge. If someone had decided to move this game to the 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands, I guarantee it would have sold out.

Instead, it was played at Red Bull Arena. In North Jersey. My old stomping grounds. (Okay, mine were Bloomfield and Newark, not Harrison, across the Passaic River.) As they would say in London, The Arsenal were on my manor.

I got there early enough to see Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger give an interview. It was a thrill just to see him. It was a bigger thrill to hear a crowd announced as 25,219 -- most of them Arsenal fans, not (or not just) Red Bulls fans, give him a standing ovation right before the game, and sing his song, to the tune of "Guantanamera": "One Arsène Wenger! There's only one Arsène Wenger!" Especially given how much certain people claiming to be Arsenal fans have abused him, both in person and online.

Henry and Wenger

I arrived in time to watch pregame warmups. Due to the World Cup, several players who had played in it were allowed to stay home and rest, without having to make the flights and the appearances. From Champions Germany, midfielder Mesut Özil, forward Lukas Podolski and centreback Per Mertesacker stayed home.

This was not a tragedy for me: I had previously seen Özil play for Real Madrid against AC Milan at Yankee Stadium in 2012; and had seen Poldi and the 6-foot-6 Mertesacker play for Germany against the U.S. at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington in 2013.

Also not making the trip, due to their participation in the World Cup, were forwards Olivier Giroud of France and the newly-acquired Alexis Sánchez of Chile; midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of England; and centrebacks Laurent Koscielny of France, Thomas Vermaelen of Belgium (Arsenal's official Captain) and Johan Djourou of Switzerland.

Despite having played for England, midfielder Jack Wilshere did make the trip. So did midfielder Santi Cazorla of Spain. They proved to be among the most popular players on the team, and interacted with the fans more than any other players.

The World Cup-induced shortage forced Wenger to bring a lot of young reserves, and put some players in unusual positions. Here was the starting lineup:

1 Goalkeeper: Wojciech Szczesny of Poland.
25 Right back: Carl Jenkinson of England.
45 Centreback: Isaac Hayden of England.
18 Centreback: Nacho Monreal of Spain, normally a left back.
3 Left back: Kieran Gibbs of England.
35 Right wing: Gedion Zelalem of the U.S.
8 Central midfield: Mikel Arteta of Spain, Captain for the day.
10 Central midfield: Jack Wilshere of England.
16 Central midfield: Aaron Ramsey of Wales.
19 Left wing: Santi Cazorla of Spain.
7 Forward: Tomáš Rosický of the Czech Republic, normally a midfielder.

Zelalem, born in Germany to Ethiopian parents, grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He was only the 3rd American ever to play for Arsenal, after Frank Simek in 2003 and Danny Karbassiyoon in 2004. As a result of this game, he also became the 1st player from a CONCACAF nation to play for Arsenal in any CONCACAF nation, let alone his own.

Since this was a friendly, permissible substitutions were limited only by the size of the roster. For the 2nd half, Wenger made these changes: In goal, Szczesny off, Emiliano Martinez of Argentina on; at RB, Jenkinson off, Héctor Bellerin of Spain on; at CB, Hayden off, Ignasi Miquel of Spain on; at RW, Zelalem off, Number 20, Mathieu Flamini of France on; at CM, Arteta off, Number 34, Francis Coquelin of France on; and at CM, Ramsey off, Number 24, Abou Diaby of France on.

In the 71st minute, Wenger replaced Rosicky at forward with Number 38, Chuba Akpom of England; Cazorla on left wing with Number 53, Kristoffer Olsson of Sweden, and Wilshere in central midfield with Number 56, Jon Toral of Spain.

Only Gibbs and Monreal played the whole game -- ironically, 2 men who usually play the same position.

For the Red Bulls: Luis Robles of the U.S. was in goal, Chris Duvall of the U.S. was at right back, Jámison Olave of Colombia and Ibrahim Sekagya of Uganda were at centreback, Roy Miller of the U.S. was at left back; the midfielders were Lloyd Sam of England, Dax McCarty of the U.S., Tim Cahill of Australia, and Ambroise Oyongo of Cameroon; and the forwards were, of course, Thierry Henry of France; and Bradley Wright-Phillips of England, son of Ian Wright, who set Arsenal's team record for career goals, 185 -- broken by Henry, who raised it to 228.

Subs: 46th, Armando Lozado of Spain at CB for Olave, Eric Alexander of the U.S. at LB for Miller and Andre Akpan of the U.S. at FW for BWP; 57th, Peguy Luyindula of France at FW for Henry; 62nd, Matt Miazga of the U.S. at CB for Sekagya; 63rd, Michael Bustamante of Colombia at MF for Cahill; 70th, Ruben Bover of Spain at MF for McCarty; 78th, Kosuke Kimura at RB for Duvall; 81st, Ryan Meara of the U.S. in goal for Robles, and Connor Lade of the U.S. for Sam (with the South Ward fans chanting, "We got Lade!"). Only Oyongo played the whole game.

Listed time for the kickoff was 5:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time -- meaning Arsenal fans back in London had a kickoff time of 10:00 PM. A small price to pay for those of us having to watch the traditional 3:00 PM Saturday kickoff at 10:00 AM -- leading to the title of a San Francisco-based Arsenal blog, 7AM Kickoff.

There was a light rain falling for much of the day, and maybe they waited a few minutes for it to stop. It did. At 5:12 PM on July 26, 2014, Henry kicked off, and, from that moment onward, anyone who has ever said that I've never seen Arsenal play live has been a liar.

Of course, being what the English call "bellends" (the American equivalent would, literally, be "dickheads"), they qualify it: They say friendlies don't count, or that I've never seen them play in England. And if I did see them play in anything other than a Premier League match, they'd say that doesn't count, either. As we would say in American football, these bellends keep "moving the goalposts."

Being an exhibition game, the action wasn't especially intense. No one wanted to get hurt -- and, given both teams' tendencies toward an "injury crisis," this was understandable. The point for the Red Bulls was to give themselves some credibility alongside one of the world's most beloved sports teams; the point for The Arsenal was to grow their brand in the U.S.; and the point for both was much more to put on a show than to win. This was not a Herman Edwards contest: Playing to win the game was secondary.

In the 32nd minute, Henry took a corner kick. Sekagya got to it, headed it, and it landed in front of BWP, who put it past Szczesny. There would be no "One-nil to The Arsenal" song today; it was 1-0 to the Jersey Boys.

Given their experience -- even for the kids -- Arsenal were not fazed. In the 38th, Zelalem passed to Wilshere, who fired at goal, but Robles made a great save to stop him.

Henry was no longer the best player in the world, as he was while with Arsenal from 2002 to 2006, but he still had a lot of moves. When he was subbed off in the 52nd minute, he got as good an ovation as he ever has.

Shortly thereafter, Diaby got the ball. Following a broken ankle in the 2005-06 season -- and he was injured on purpose by Sunderland's Dan Smith -- injuries had rendered the hope that he would be the "next Patrick Vieira" for Arsenal impossible. He was beloved by Arsenal fans, but he always seemed to play poorly when I watched on TV. He didn't seem to grasp that you're supposed to pass to the guys wearing the same color shirts. As Yogi Berra would say if he were a soccer fan, Even when he can play, he can't play.

Which makes what happened here a great irony: Diaby charged toward the north goal, right under us, and fired a shot past Robles. Tie ballgame! The 1st Arsenal goal I had ever seen, and it was by Diaby!

No, it wasn't: The linesman ruled it offside. Incorrectly, I thought. Some things never change: Even in meaningless games on other continents, The Arsenal get screwed over by the officials.

Aside from that, the officiating wasn't bad. There was very little in the way of dirty play. Cahill was shown a yellow card at the end of the 1st half, and Kimura received one in the game's final minute.

In the 79th, Akpom broke away, and it was just he and Robles. A shot, and Robles made a kick-save with his left foot that, across the Passaic at the Prudential Center, New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur would have appreciated.

Since this was a friendly, and there were no injuries, there was no stoppage time at the end of either half. Final score, New York Red Bulls 1, Arsenal 0. Or, as it would be written in world soccer circles, Metro 1-0 Arsenal.

I left the game disappointed at the result. But thrilled at the entire experience. I saw The Arsenal play in New Jersey, something that would have been unimaginable 10 years earlier, and incredibly unlikely even 6 years earlier when I started watching them, just as the growth of international TV coverage of soccer was in mid-explosion.

I saw Arsenal shirts in the Ironbound bars, in Newark Penn Station, and on New Jersey Transit trains.

I saw a team that knew that, due to finances, I couldn't go to see them, so they came to see me.

The Yankees, the Devils, and any other team I support have never had to do that, because they're close. The Arsenal are not.

Yet they came to me. And I was there.

I will always be grateful to them for that. There have been times when I've watched them when I've regretted following this sport. But I have never regretted making them my team.

Arsenal returned to North America in the Summer of 2016, played 2 games in California. On July 28, they beat the MLS All-Stars, 2-1 at what's now PayPal Park in San Jose, home of MLS' San Jose Earthquakes, on goals by Joel Campbell and Akpom. And on July 31, they beat C.D. Guadalajara of Mexico, a.k.a. "Chivas," 3-1 at what's now Dignity Health Sports Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, home of MLS' L.A. Galaxy, on goals by Rob Holding, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Akpom. Despite his success in these friendlies, Akpom never impressed Arsenal management, who loaned him out to 6 teams in 5 years, before selling him in 2018.

In the Summer of 2019, Arsenal came to America to participate in the International Champions Cup. As a warmup, on July 15, they went to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado, and beat the host team, the Colorado Rapids -- also owned by Stan Kroenke -- 3-0. Goals were scored by Bukayo Saka, James Olayinka and Gabriel Martinelli.

On July 17, they beat Bayern Munich 2-1 at Carson, thanks to an own goal and an 88th minute winner by Eddie Nketiah. On July 20, they beat Fiorentina of Florence, Italy, 3-0 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, with Nketiah scored 2 and Joe Willock 1. And on July 23, they played Real Madrid at FedEx Field (now Commanders Field) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland, home of the NFL team now known as the Washington Commanders. Alexander Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored in a 2-2 draw, but Real Madrid won the game on penalties, 3-2.

Arsenal had intended to come back for the Florida Cup in 2021, but a COVID breakout canceled that. So they tried again in 2022, and went 3-0 on the trip. On July 16, they beat Liverpool-based Everton 2-0 at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, with goals by Gabriel Jesus and Saka. On July 20, they went to Exploria Stadium (now Inter&Co Stadium) in Orlando, and beat MLS' Orlando City 3-1, with goals by Martinelli, Nketiah and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. And on July 23, they clobbered West London's Chelsea, 4-0 at Camping World Stadium (formerly known as the Citrus Bowl) in Orlando, with goals by Jesus, Martin Ødegaard, Saka and Sambi Lokonga.

Overall, Arsenal's record in the United States is 10-2. In North America, 11-2. Not too shabby.

In the Summer of 2023, Arsenal beat the MLS All-Stars, 5-0 at Audi Field in Washington. They lost to Manchester United, 2-0 in front of 82,262 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands -- though that sellout, which I predicted 9 years earlier, was achieved with a lot of Man U fans. And they beat FC Barcelona, 5-3 before 70,223 at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles. This made Arsenal's record in the State of New Jersey 0-2, and in the other 49 States combined 10-0. That wouldn't bother me so much if I weren't from New Jersey!

Arsenal will play in America again in Summer 2024: On July 27, against Manchester United, at SoFi; and on July 31, against Liverpool, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

And Still, Cashman Has a Job

July 25, 2016, 8 years ago: With the Major League Baseball trading deadline 7 days away, Brian Cashman, the general manager of the New York Yankees, traded his main relief pitcher, Aroldis Chapman, to the Chicago Cubs for infielder Gleyber Torres, outfielders Rashad Crawford and Billy McKinney, and pitcher Adam Warren.

It is true that Cashman got Chapman back before the start of the 2017 season. In the interim, he had helped the Cubs win the World Series.

It's been 8 years, exactly. What have those 4 acquirees done for the Yankees? Warren was a horrible reliever. McKinney got to the major leagues in 2018, played 2 games for the Yankees, was traded, was reacquired in 2023, played 48 games, batted .227, and was let go again.

The key, of course, was Torres. The much-hyped Venezuelan reached the Yankees on April 22, 2018. Since then, he has helped the Yankees reach the Playoffs 5 times, but coming no closer to an American League Pennant than Game 6 of the 2019 AL Championship Series. In 2018 and 2019, his hitting was such that he was named to the All-Star Game; in 2022 and 2023, he should have been. In 2020 and 2021, he was lousy. In 2024 so far, he has been weak, although he has perked up lately.

He's not a great baserunner. His fielding was atrocious at shortstop, and is only a little better at 2nd base. What's more, he's lazy, often not running grounders out, making it look like he doesn't care. He's 27. We may already have seen as good as it's ever going to get with him.

It was one of the worst trades in Yankee history. And it was just 1 of 4 awful trades that Cashman made that week.

And still, Brian Cashman has a job.

The Yankees have continued to acquire big boppers who are injury-prone, players whose greatest talent is for hitting the ball right at infielders,  players who can play multiple positions but none of them well, injury-prone pitchers, and relievers who can't be trusted any further than they can throw the ball.

Since winning the World Series in 2009, the Yankees have not won a Pennant; gotten to the ALCS in 2010, 2012, 2017, 2019 and 2022; gotten to the AL Division Series in 2011, 2018, 2020; lost in the Wild Card round in 2015 and 2021; and missed the Playoffs completely in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2023.

Fourteen seasons. Fourteen failures.

And still, Cashman has a job.

*

From March 28 to June 14, the Yankees were 50-22. Then, the annual injury crisis kicked in, and, through July 14, the start of the All-Star Break, they went 8-18. That was unacceptable.

The Tampa Bay Rays came to Yankee Stadium for a 4-game series. Time to step up. On Friday night, Juan Soto went 4-for-4 with a walk, and Anthony Volpe went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. The Yankees got 6 strong innings from Gerrit Cole, and won, 6-1.

But on Saturday afternoon, Nestor Cortés had nothing, allowing 6 runs in 4 innings. Until the 9th inning, when Soto led off with a triple and Jahmai Jones brought him home with a groundout, the Yankees had no runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. The Rays won, 9-1.

Marcus Stroman had a weak start on Sunday, and the bullpen made it worse. Aaron Judge hit his 35th home run of the year, and the Yanks brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 9th, to no avail: Rays 6, Yankees 4.

Fortunately, Carlos Rodón pitched his best game of the season in a Monday matinée: 7 innings, 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 10. DJ LeMahieu finally hit his 1st home run of the season, Volpe and Austin Wells each hit his 7th, and Soto hit his 24th and his 25th. Yankees 9, Rays 1, gaining a split.

*

A few weeks ago, the Yankees lost 2 games to the Mets at Citi Field. Now, The Other Team came into Yankee Stadium II. Since June 14, the Yankees have had the worst record in baseball; the Mets, the best.

The Tuesday night game was a good game, with a bad result. Luis Gil of the Yankees and Jose Quintana of the Mets each pitched well for 5 innings. But Michael Tomkin blew it in the top of the 6th, giving up a double to Pete Alonso and a home run to Jeff McNeil. The Yankees tried to come back in the bottom of the 6th, but could only get 1 run on former Yankee Adam Ottavino. That made it 3-2 Mets.

Here's what the Mets did with Judge in that game: Walked him in the 1st inning, walked him in the 3rd, walked him in the 5th, and intentionally walked him in the 7th. That's 4 walks. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, and the score 3-2 Mets, Jake Dikeman unintentionally walked Soto, bringing Judge up with the chance to hit a game-winning home run. Diekman struck him out looking. It was close, but it was a strike, not a hose-job by home plate umpire John Bacon. And then Ben Rice, who has hardly had a hit at all since his 3-homer game, grounded to 2nd to end it, 3-2.

And then, last night was the Yankees' worst game of the season. It wasn't so bad at first, because the Yanks led, 2-1 after 3 innings. But Cole, whose one flaw is the gopher ball, gave up a home run to Alonso in the 2nd, one to Travis Taylor in the 4th, and another to Francisco Lindor in the 5th. And the bullpen dissolved in the top of the 8th, allowing 6 runs.

Torres and Soto each got 2 hits, while the rest of the team combined only got 2. The Mets won, 12-3, and when it was over, out of a crowd listed at 48,760, pretty much everybody still there in the 9th inning was one of the Flushing Heathen, who enjoyed a 4-game sweep of the season series with the Yankees.

*

The regular season is 64 percent over -- nearly 2/3rds. The Yankees are 60-44. From March 28 to June 14, they were 50-22. Then, the annual injury crisis kicked in, and, since then, they've gone 10-22.

When they Yankees score at least 5 runs, they are 45-6. When they don't, they are 15-38. Not having Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Jasson Domínguez available has really hurt. Having Gleyber Torres (mostly) available, but not getting the job done, has compounded things. Without that kind of lineup protection, Alex Verdugo and Anthony Volpe have gone into slumps. Really, it's been just Judge and Soto doing the business. Everybody else has been failing.

The one saving grace for the Yankees is that the Baltimore Orioles are also not exactly playing great, and thus have been unable to pull away. They only lead the Yankees by a game and a half, although it's 3 games in the all-important loss column. The Boston Red Sox are 6 games back, the Tampa Bay Rays 9 1/2, and the Toronto Blue Jays 14. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, the Yankees would have the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs.

Here's the latest on the significant players out due to injury, in descending order of believed availability:

* Giancarlo Stanton: Asked if Stanton could return for this weekend's series against the Red Sox, Boone said, "I don't want to say no, but I don't know. I'm not necessarily expecting it." Sounds like he's "day-to-day." Cliché Alert: We're all day-to-day.

* Clarke Schmidt: He has resumed throwing bullpen sessions. He might be back in the 1st week of August.

* Cody Poteet: Of course, the pitcher meant to take the place of the injured Schmidt gave us a little taste of talent, and then got hurt himself. He may be available in the 1st week of August.

* Jasson Domínguez: He was mere days away from returning from his last injury when he was stricken with a new one. He will begin playing Triple-A games in the 1st week of August. He might be back in the majors a week after that.

* Anthony Rizzo: He "went through agility drills on Tuesday," which is a good sign. He might be back in mid-August after all.

* Ian Hamilton: The reliever "has begun a throwing program." Sounds like mid-August.

* Jose Trevino: He's "doing some running." Sounds to me like, "Good luck on getting him back before September call-ups."

* Jonathan Loáisiga: He had Tommy John surgery. Hopefully, see you in 2025.

The Yankees have today off. Tomorrow night, they begin a series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Cliché Alert: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. And while it might continue the downward spiral, it might also be just what the doctor ordered.

Of course, for years, the doctor has also been ordering the firing of Brian Cashman.

And still, Cashman has a job.

Barry Bonds: A 60th Birthday Assessment

July 24, 1964, 60 years ago: Barry Lamar Bonds is born outside Los Angeles in Riverside, California. The son of baseball All-Star Bobby Bonds, he had all the tools to become the greatest player of his generation.

Through the 1998 season, the left fielder had been to 8 All-Star Games, and had won 8 Gold Gloves and 3 National League Most Valuable Player awards. Had nothing changed, he probably would have had over 3,000 career hits, maybe 600 of them home runs, and would now, following the death of his godfather, Willie Mays, be regarded as baseball’s greatest living player.

But he was jealous. He saw the love that fellow sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. were getting. And he had heard the rumors that McGwire and Sosa had achieved their shockingly high home run totals through the use of steroids.

So after that "Long Gone Summer," he began using steroids. He bulked up -- even his head seemed to grow more than one size -- and went on to set new records: For home runs in a season, 73 in 2001; home runs in a career, 762; highest slugging percentage in a single season, .863, also in 2001; highest on-base percentage in a single season, .609, in 2004; largely because pitchers, angry at his cheating, intentionally walked him so much that he set records for walks in a season, 232 that year; and in a career, 2,558. Oddly, he fell short of 3,000 hits, ending with 2,935.

Because he used steroids, and got caught, he has not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. If his steroid use doesn't bother you, remember this: You have the right to have your own opinion, but you do not have the right to have your opinion taken seriously. And if you believe Bonds should be in, but Alex Rodriguez (who never failed a test) and Roger Clemens (whom they've never even proven used) shouldn't be in, then your opinion simply cannot be taken seriously.

One more thing. In 1974, Hank Aaron set a new career home run record, with 715. I was 4 years old, it was 9:07 PM, and my mother wouldn’t let me stay up to watch. She didn’t have to: I didn't ask, because, at 4, I didn't know it was happening.

In 2007, Bonds set a new career home run record, with 756. I was 37 years old, it was 11:49 PM (Eastern Time), and I was asleep. This time, it was my own choice: I didn't want to see it.

July 23, 1974: The Restoration of Greek Democracy

Konstantinos G. Karamanlis

July 23, 1974, 50 years ago: After 7 years of a right-wing military dictatorship, democracy is restored to the birthplace of the concept, Greece.

On April 21, 1967, a group of colonels in the Greek Army overthrew the caretaker government, a month before scheduled elections which Georgios Papandreou's Centre Union party was favored to win. King Constantine II and his family fled to England, and the monarchy was never restored.

King Constantine II, 2019

The military dictatorship was led by Georgios Papadopoulos, and was characterized by policies such as anti-communism, restrictions on civil liberties, and the imprisonment, torture and exile of political opponents. In other words, the kind of things the Greek people had fought so hard against in World War II, only a generation before. The coup is believed to have been heavily influenced by America's CIA, in a bid to ward off Communist influence, spilling over from neighboring Albania and Bulgaria.

As internal dissatisfaction grew in the early 1970s, and especially after an abortive coup by the Navy in early 1973, Papadopoulos attempted to legitimize the regime by beginning a gradual "democratization." On June 1, 1973, he formally abolished the monarchy, and declared Greece a republic, with himself as President. He was confirmed in office via a controversial referendum. He furthermore sought the support of the old political establishment, but secured only the cooperation of Spiro Markezinis, who became Prime Minister.

Concurrently, many restrictions were lifted, and the Army's role significantly reduced. An interim Constitution created a presidential republic, which vested sweeping, almost dictatorial, powers in the hands of the President. The decision to return to at least nominal civilian rule, and the restriction of the Army's role, was resented by many of the regime's supporters, whose dissatisfaction with Papadopoulos would become evident a few months later.

On November 14, 1973, students at the Athens Polytechnic University went on strike, and started protesting against the junta. An assembly formed spontaneously, and decided to occupy the Polytechnic. On the 15th, thousands of people from Athens poured in to support the students. On the 16th, the demonstrators proclaimed that the students were aiming to bring down the junta. During the afternoon, demonstrations and attacks against neighboring ministries took place. Central roads closed, fires erupted, and Molotov cocktails were thrown.

In the early hours of November 17, the transitional government sent a tank crashing through the gates of the Polytechnic. Soon after that, Prime Minister Markezinis asked President Papadopoulos to reimpose martial law.

An official investigation undertaken after the fall of the junta declared that no students of the Athens Polytechnic were killed during the incident. However, 24 civilians were killed outside the campus, including a 5-year-old boy caught in crossfire.

It was the end of the line for Papadopoulos: On November 25, he was overthrown by a hardliner, Dimitrios Ioannidis. This began a string of events that would culminate in the fall of the regime, sparked by Ioannidis' ill-advised invasion, on July 15, 1974, of the island nation of Cyprus, which inflamed tensions with neighboring Turkey, which invaded on July 20.

Ioannidis could not survive such a humiliation, and was pushed out by "The Coup of the Generals" on July 23. They invited Konstantinos Karamanlis, who had served as Prime Minister 3 times between 1955 and 1963, to return from exile, and end the military rule.

Papadopoulos was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1999, at the age of 80. Ioannidis was sentenced to life, and died in prison in 2010, at 87. Karamanlis served as Prime Minister until the election of 1980, making him President, holding the office until his resignation in 1985. Despite being 81 years old, he was elected again in 1990, and retired again in 1995. He died in 1998, at 91. His nephew, Konstantinos A. "Kostas" Karamanlis, served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2009.

King Constantine II, as his opponents reminded him, was not ethnically Greek. He was German and Danish. He was a grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and a great-grandson of both Queen Victoria of Britain and King Christian IX of Denmark -- which made him a 3rd cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, who allowed him and his family to settle in London after the 1967 coup.

He married another 3rd cousin, Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. They were permitted to return to Greece in 2013, although there was no chance of the monarchy ever being legally restored. The King died in 2023. The former Queen is still alive. The current head of the royal family, the House of Glücksburg, is Crown Prince Pavlos, 57, who runs an investment firm in New York, and would be King Paul II in the incredibly unlikely event that the monarchy was restored.

He is a 4th cousin of King Charles III of Britain, at whose Coronation the photo above was taken; and a 1st cousin of King Felipe VI of Spain (who had been his roommate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.) and King Frederik X of Denmark.

July 22, 1934: John Dillinger Is Gunned Down

 

July 22, 1934, 90 years ago: John Dillinger, "Public Enemy Number One," is killed.

John Herbert Dillinger Jr. was born on June 22, 1902 in Indianapolis. As a boy, he bullied smaller children. In 1922, he was arrested for auto theft. The following year, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, but soon deserted, and was dishonorably discharged. He was arrested for stealing $50 from a grocery store, and served 9 years in State prison.

He was released on May 10, 1933. Just 42 days later, using advice he got from fellow prisoners, he robbed his 1st bank, getting $10,000 (about $207,000 in today's money) from a bank in New Carlisle, Ohio, outside Dayton. On August 14, he robbed another in Bluffton, Ohio, outside Toledo. But he got caught, and was sent to another prison. He escaped on October 12, and formed what became known as the Dillinger Gang.

On January 25, 1934, the Dillinger Gang was arrested in Tucson, Arizona, and extradited to Indiana, where one of their robberies had led to the death of a policeman. Local police boasted that the prison was escape-proof. On March 3, 1934, Dillinger proved them wrong.

He formed a new gang, made up of those members of his original gang not presently in jail, and other gangs, including Lester Gillis, a.k.a. "Baby Face Nelson." On March 20, the gang and FBI Agents had a shootout in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dillinger was wounded in the leg, but got away, and laid low in Minneapolis to recover. Eventually, he got to Chicago. One member of his gang, Eddie Green, was shot and killed by St. Paul police on April 10. Another, John Hamilton, was shot and killed by police in nearby Aurora, Illinois on April 26.

On May 23, 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed by a posse in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Dillinger and fellow Midwestern bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd apparently never met either Bonnie or Clyde (or each other), but both sent flowers to their funerals in Dallas.

Like Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger was embraced by a section of the public that didn't like how the banks were foreclosing on their homes during the Great Depression. Also like Bonnie and Clyde, he was a ruthless killer who didn't deserve the adulation. That adulation, and his escapes from jail, much more than his crimes themselves, led J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to name him "Public Enemy Number One."

Hoover put Melvin Purvis on the case, and Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI's Chicago office. On July 22, 1934, John Dillinger went to the Biograph Theater at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue, on the North Side of Chicago, to see the film Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy. FBI Agents, including Purvis, aware that Dillinger liked to go to the movies, were already staking the place out.

At 10:40 PM, Dillinger walked out, and the Agents opened fire. He was hit 4 times, with 1 bullet entering through the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord, going into his brain, and coming out of his right eye. He was dead before he hit the ground. He was 31 years old.

As the body was taken away, souvenir hunters dipped things into his blood, like newspapers and handkerchiefs. A photo of his dead body showed his arm folded over his body, giving rise to the legend that Dillinger was phenomenally endowed. He was a known womanizer, but none of his girlfriends ever mentioned him "packing a cannon" other than his gun.

The rest of the Dillinger Gang didn't last much longer. Homer Van Meter was shot and killed by St. Paul police on August 23. Charles Makley was killed by guards at Ohio State Prison during an escape attempt on September 22. And Baby Face Nelson died in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Illinois on November 27, a few days after a shootout with police in nearby Barrington. Pretty Boy Floyd, not part of the Dillinger Gang, was given Dillinger's place as "Public Enemy Number One" by the FBI, and died on October 22, after a shootout with police in East Liverpool, Ohio. The year of "public enemies" was over.

Purvis became nationally famous. This angered Hoover, a publicity hound who wanted the credit for the Bureau in general and himself in particular. He went out of his way to marginalize Purvis, who ended up quitting the Bureau the next year, and, like the Communist leader he so despised, Joseph Stalin, "wrote his enemy out of history": Even when Purvis died in 1960, shot in the head, rather than tell the true story -- which the coroner couldn't determine, but the evidence suggests an accident -- Hoover smeared Purvis in the press, saying that he was mentally ill and that his death was definitely a suicide.

Dillinger was played by Lawrence Tierney in the 1945 film Dillinger, Leo Gordon in the 1957 film Baby Face Nelson, Nick Adams in the 1965 film Young Dillinger, Warren Oates in the 1973 film Dillinger, Robert Conrad in the 1979 film The Lady In Red, Mark Harmon in the 1991 TV-movie Dillinger, Martin Sheen in the 1995 film Dillinger and Capone (which was mostly fictional, as it appears that Dillinger and Al Capone never met), and Johnny Depp in the 2009 film Public Enemies.

July 20, 1944: The Plot to Kill Hitler

July 20, 1944, 80 years ago: Operation Valkyrie is carried out. The intention is to kill Chancellor Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany. It is not successful.

A previous attempt to kill him was made on November 8, 1939, in Munich, as Hitler was celebrating the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi Party's failed attempt to take over the government of the German state of Bavaria in 1923. Hitler left earlier than expected, so he was not among the 8 people killed by a bomb planted by Georg Elser.

Elser was quickly found and imprisoned. With some irony, not only was he not executed immediately, but he outlived many of the 1944 plotters -- and almost outlived Hitler anyway, only being executed at the Dachau concentration camp on April 9, 1945.

By July 1944, on the Western Front, the Allies had made their D-Day invasion, and were rolling through France. On the Eastern Front, the Soviets had pushed Nazi troops out of their country. For the first time, it was clear that Germany was losing the war.

Generals begged Hitler for trains, to move troops and equipment to the fronts. Hitler said, "No, I need the trains to kill the Jews." In other words, to transport them to the concentration camps. So the generals knew that the thing that would most help them in the war was not coming.

So a plot was hatched to remove Hitler from power. And since he had been granted absolute power by the Reichstag years earlier, the only way to do that was to kill him. The hope was that the successor government would then be able to make peace with the Allies, and that Germany would be able to keep what it still had by that point.

The plotters had an inside man. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was an aide to the senior staff of the Germany Army, the Wehrmacht. Hitler had scheduled a meeting of the senior staff for his retreat, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) in Rastenburg, East Prussia, for July 20.

Stauffenberg walked into the briefing room carrying a briefcase containing two small bombs. But he only had time to arm one of the bombs. He left the briefcase under the conference table, as close to Hitler as he could get it. Then, as part of the plan, someone walked in and told Stauffenberg that there was a phone call for him. He excused himself, and left the room.

At 12:42 PM, Stauffenberg looked back, and saw the explosion and the smoke. He presumed that Hitler was dead. He got into a staff car, driven by his aide Werner von Haeften, and left the Wolfsschanze complex for the nearby airfield. By 1:00, he was airborne, with a plane whose flight was arranged by another conspirator.

At 4:00, Stauffenberg's plane landed at Berlin's Templehof airport, and he called the Bendlerblock, the Nazis' version of the Pentagon, telling them that Hitler was dead. This was his biggest mistake: It immediately made him something he had not been before the call: A suspect.

Had he waited for confirmation -- or, as it turned out, for denial -- he might not have become a suspect. Becoming one was bad for him, because Hitler was alive. When Stauffenberg left the briefing room, Colonel Heinz Brandt moved the briefcase. As a result, while the explosion did kill 4 people and injure almost everyone else in the room, Hitler was shielded by a leg of the solid oak conference table. Shrapnel ripped through his pants, giving him minor wounds to his legs. And, like almost everyone else in the room, Hitler suffered a perforated eardrum. But that was the extent of his injuries.

The Gestapo ended up arresting more than 7,000 people, executing 5,000 of them, including Stauffenberg, shot by a firing squad the next day. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was a part of the plot, but, as Germany's greatest living military hero, he was given the option of suicide, and the use of a cover story that he had died in battle, which would protect his name and his family from dishonor.

The Allies continued closing in, and Hitler lasted another 9 months before taking the easy way out. The Soviets attempted to destroy the Wolfsschanze, but it was so solidly reinforced that conventional explosives couldn't do the job. The remains are now a historic site, and the redrawing of national borders after the war means that they're now located in Kętrzyn, Poland.