October 14, 1976: The Chris Chambliss Game

The 1977 New York Yankees Yearbook,

with the Chambliss home run on the cover

October 14, 1976, 50 years ago: For the 1st time in 12 years, the Yankees are in Major League Baseball's postseason. For the 1st time ever, a Kansas City team is. The Yankees lead the Royals in the deciding Game 5, 6-3, in the top of the 8th inning. But George Brett slams a long home run off Grant Jackson to tie it.

The game goes to the bottom of the 9th, and a few fans had thrown garbage onto the field, delaying action. Mark Littell, the Royals' closer at the time, had to restart his warmup pitches, and it may have unsettled him just a little bit.

Leading off the inning was Yankee 1st baseman Chris Chambliss. Carroll Christopher Chambliss was born on December 26, 1948 in Dayton, Ohio, but his family moved around a lot, because his father was a U.S. Navy chaplain. They settled in Oceanside, California, outside San Diego. He played baseball at UCLA, and was drafted as a 1st baseman by the Cleveland Indians. He was the American League's Rookie of the Year in 1971, and the Yankees traded for him in 1974.

He was a good player, very good with the glove, and had a little power. But he was not a big-time slugger like Graig Nettles, the Yankees' 3rd baseman, who led the American League in homers that year with 32; or Reggie Jackson, the newly-minted free agent, who had starred with the Oakland Athletics, and was moonlighting in the ABC booth with Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell.

The scoreboard showed that the time was 11:43 PM. Littell threw one pitch. Just one pitch. Phil Rizzuto, who once wore the Number 10 now worn by Chambliss, had the call on WPIX, Channel 11:

He hits one deep to right-center! That ball is… outta here! The Yankees win the Pennant! Holy cow, Chris Chambliss on one swing!

And the Yankees win the American League Pennant. Unbelievable, what a finish, as dramatic a finish as you'd ever wanna see! With all that delay, we told you, Littell had to be a little upset. And, holy cow, Chambliss hits one over the fence, he is being mobbed by the fans, and this field will never be the same, but the Yankees have won it in the bottom of the 9th, 7-6!

And on the scoreboard, they're placing, "We're Number 1!" And I wanna tell you, the safest place to be is up here in the booth!

The man known as "The Scooter" wasn't kidding: The fans jumped over the fences and came pouring onto the field by the thousands. This had happened in many a ballpark celebration, and I'm sure some of them had seen their fathers or older brothers do it in 1969 when the Mets did all 3 of their clinchings (Division, Pennant and World Series) at home at Shea Stadium. The Mets had also clinched the Pennant at home in 1973.

I'm sure there were a few "Yankee fans" running onto the field that night in '76 who had been "Met fans" in '69 and '73. Maybe some were now running onto their 2nd New York ballfield. Maybe it was the 3rd, 4th, 5th or… 3 in '69, 2 in '73… 6th time performing what English soccer fans would call a "pitch invasion."

Chambliss threw his arms into the air before reaching 1st base. As soon as he turned for 2nd, a fan ran over and pulled the base out. Who says you can't steal 1st base? The New York Police Department and Yankee Stadium's orange-capped, orange-blazered ushers, that's who. But there was little they could do at this point, as they were hopelessly outnumbered.

So was Chambliss. He touched 2nd, but was then tripped up. He later said his big fear was falling and being trampled by fans. By the time he got to the 3rd base area, the base was gone. He did the best he could, ran by home plate, and, remembering his training as a high school football player, threw a couple of blocks, and got into the dugout.

On Channel 7, doing the game for ABC, this is what happened: Reggie noticed that, as cold as it was, Chambliss had the top button of his jersey undone, something that would likely have gotten him fined today. Of course, Reggie did that a lot, too, once he came to the Yankees and was no longer wearing a pullover jersey, like he had in Oakland and in his one, just-concluded season with the Baltimore Orioles.

Reggie: Chambliss is so hot right now, he's got his top button undone. He’s in heat!
Keith: Mark Littell delivers, there’s a high drive, deep to right-center field… 
Howard, interrupting: That’s gone!
Keith: It could be, it is… gone!
Howard: Chris Chambliss has won the American League Pennant for the New York Yankees! A thrilling, dramatic game with overtones of that great sixth game in the World Series last year, and the seventh game, too! (Etc., etc., etc., in that oft-imitated Cosellian way.)

The scoreboard – ignoring for the moment that there was still a World Series to play – flashed, "WE'RE #1" for a minute, and then, "N.Y. YANKEES 1976 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS."

When they got into the locker room, the big question was asked: "Did you touch home plate?" Of course, Chambliss didn't touch home plate! He didn't see home plate! There wasn't a home plate left to see!

(In case you're wondering, the home plate that was used at the old Yankee Stadium before the renovation that began in 1973 was given to Claire Ruth, the Babe's widow. Eleanor Gehrig got 1st base. So the plate that was stolen that night in '76 was valuable, but it wasn't the same priceless artifact. Most teams, when they move to a new ballpark, tend to take the plate from the old one with them, and the Yankees did that in 2008-09, but not in 1973-76.)

Fortunately, Lee MacPhail, President of the AL and a former general manager of the Yankees (and son of former Yankee part-owner Larry MacPhail), was at the game, and the ruling for him to make was easy: Since the ball left the field of play, and no one was on base for Chambliss to pass, which would have nullified one or more bases, the home run stood, and the Yankees remained 7-6 victors.

Just to be sure, Chambliss, the umpires, and a couple of cops cleared a path through the fans, walked him over to the locations of 3rd base and home plate, and he stepped on the spots where they were supposed to be, and all was official.

Carlo Gambino, then the most powerful boss in American organized crime, was a big Yankee fan. But he was too ill to attend, so he watched the game on television at his home in Massapequa, Long Island. The next morning, with the TV still on Channel 7, he was found in his chair, dead of a heart attack at age 74.

Major League Baseball's League Championship Series were a best-3-out-of-5 from their institution in 1969 until 1984. Since 1985, they have been a best-4-out-of-7. Chambliss was the first player to win an LCS with a home run. Through the 2021 season, it has also been done by Aaron Boone of the 2003 Yankees, Magglio Ordóñez of the 2006 Detroit Tigers, Travis Ishikawa of the 2014 San Francisco Giants, and José Altuve of the 2019 Houston Astros (against the Yankees).

This, of course, does not include the best-2-out-of-3 Playoff won by Bobby Thomson of the 1951 New York Giants. Nor does it include home runs in the top of the last inning (9th or later) that turned out to be Pennant-winners: Jack Clark of the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals and Tony Fernández of the 1997 Cleveland Indians. Nor does it include the home runs that won games earlier in an LCS. Nor does it include the home runs that ended World Series: Bill Mazeroski of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates and Joe Carter of the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays.

Chambliss was a major factor in the Yankees' 1977 and 1978 World Series wins. After the 1979 season, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Rick Cerone, as the Yankees needed a catcher after the plane crash that killed Thurman Munson. But the Jays quickly traded him to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Barry Bonnell. Playing for Braves manager Joe Torre, he helped them win the National League Western Division title in 1982.

He played for the Braves through 1986, and was named a Yankee coach. He was reactivated for 1 game in 1988, striking out in his only plate appearance. He ended his career with a .279 batting average and 185 home runs.

In 1990, The Sporting News named him Minor League Manager of the Year, after he led the London Knights, of London, Ontario, Canada, to the Pennant in the Class AA Eastern League. He coached under Torre with the St. Louis Cardinals, and with the Yankees, earning World Series rings again in 1996, '98, '99 and 2000. He later coached for the New York Mets, the Cincinnati Reds and the Seattle Mariners. As of October 14, 2022, he is still alive.

October 13, 2001: The Jeter Flip

October 13, 2001, 25 years ago: The New York Yankees enter Game 3 of the American League Division Series at the Oakland Coliseum (then carrying the corporate name "Network Associates Coliseum") down 2 games to none against the Oakland Athletics, and are desperate for a victory.

Jorge Posada homers in the top of the 5th, to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. That lead holds in the 7th, but Terrence Long drives one into the corner. Right fielder Shane Spencer heaves the ball home, but it's off the line. Jeremy Giambi, brother of star Oakland slugger Jason Giambi, will score for sure.

Except… out of nowhere comes shortstop Derek Jeter, who sprints in, grabs the ball, and, holding it for less than half a second, flips it to Posada at the plate, and Posada juuuust barely tags Giambi on the back of the knee, before his foot touches the plate, completing one of the most amazing defensive plays in baseball history.

"The Flip" allows Mike Mussina and, in the 9th, Mariano Rivera to preserve the 1-0 shutout, and keep the Yankees from being eliminated. The Yankees would win the series in Game 5 at the old Yankee Stadium, with Jeter making another amazing play, tumbling into the stands to catch a foul pop, also off the bat of Terence Long.

Jeter's critics like to say he was "a poor defensive shortstop." He "had no range." He "couldn't go to his left." This one play makes them all look like idiots.

We literally have more footage of great plays by Derek Jeter than we do of any other player. That doesn't mean there weren't other players who made better plays, only that much of their footage does not survive, while most of Jeter's does. So if you want to see whether he was a great defensive shortstop, you just have to look up the plays, and watch. He was one.

*

October 13, 2001 was a Saturday. In Game 3 of the other ALDS, the Cleveland Indians clobbered the heavily-favored Seattle Mariners, 17-2 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. The Mariners would win the series in 5 games, but the Yankees would beat them for the Pennant.

In the National League Championship Series, the Atlanta Braves finished off a sweep of the Houston Astros the day before; and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. But the Diamondbacks won Game 5, then beat the Braves for the Pennant, and beat the Yankees in a classic World Series.

There were college football games that day, including the following:

* There were a few upsets, including Number 1 Florida losing to Auburn, 23-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. Florida bounced back, and won the Orange Bowl.

* Number 2 Miami beat their arch-rivals, Number 14 Florida State, 49-27 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. Miami went on to win the Big East Conference title. 

* Number 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 38-10 at David Booth Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma later lost to rival Nebraska, but bounced back to reach the Cotton Bowl.

* Number 4 Nebraska beat Baylor, 48-7 at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas. Miami beat Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, and won the National Championship.

* Number 5 Oregon beat California, 48-7 at California Memorial Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Berkeley. Oregon won the Pacific-Ten Conference title.

* Number 6 Virginia Tech beat Boston College, 34-20 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. But Tech lost their next 2 games, hurting their title chances.

* Number 7 UCLA beat Number 10 Washington, 35-13 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

* Number 8 Fresno State beat Colorado State, 25-22 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado.

* Number 9 South Carolina were upset by Arkansas, 10-7 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Arkansas reached the Cotton Bowl, but lost to Oklahoma.

* Number 11 Tennessee were idle, and went on to reach the Number 2 ranking and the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Number 12 Michigan beat Number 17 Purdue, 24-10 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 20 Colorado beat Number 25 Texas A&M, 31-21 at Folsom Field in the Denver suburb of Boulder, Colorado. Colorado later beat Texas in the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game, but lost the Fiesta Bowl to Oregon.

* Number 21 Ohio State lost to Wisconsin 20-17 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Notre Dame, unranked, beat West Virginia, 34-24 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Illinois, unranked, beat Indiana, 35-14 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois won the Big Ten Conference title.

* Louisiana State, unranked, beat Kentucky, 29-25 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky. LSU went on to upset then-Number 2 Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, followed by an upset of then-Number 7 Illinois in the Sugar Bowl.

* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Wyoming, 24-13 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Army lost to East Carolina, 49-26 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy lost to Rice, 21-13 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* And among New Jersey teams, Rutgers lost to temple, 30-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia; while Princeton lost to Brown, 35-24 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.

The NBA season wouldn't start for another 17 days. There were 12 NHL games:

* The New York Rangers played the Ottawa Senators to a tie, 2-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4 at the Nassau Coliseum. Steve Yzerman scored the winning goal with 2:28 left in overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. 

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Florida Panthers, 5-2 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Dallas Stars, 4-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Craig Conroy scored the winning goal with 40 seconds left in overtime.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Los Angeles Kings, 1-0 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Compaq Center (now the SAP Center) in San Jose, California.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-0 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

* And the Chicago Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Buffalo Sabres, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal beat Southampton, 2-0 at the St. Mary's Stadium in Southampton, Hampshire. 

Top 10 Italians Worthier of an American Parade Than Christopher Columbus

October 12, 1492: Christoffa Corombo – as he was known in his native Genoa, or Christophorus Columbus as he was known in Latin, or Cristobal Colon as his patron, Queen Isabella I of Spain, calls him -- finally gets his ships to land.

He believes he has reached South Asia. He names the island on which he lands San Salvador, after Jesus. Eventually, the island will be taken over by the English, and renamed Watling Island. Today, it is a part of the Bahamas.

Born in 1451, probably between August 25 and October 31, in Genoa, in what is now northwestern Italy, the man the English-speaking world knows as Christopher Columbus ended up making 4 voyages west. He went to his death on May 20, 1506, at age 54 in Valladolid, Spain, never fully realizing he was in what became known as "the New World," always thinking he was in Asia. But he did start the wave of European exploration that will make the Americas -- eventually named for rival Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci – possible.

Yet, considering previous voyages of the Vikings (and, some believe, the Chinese), it is disingenuous to say, "Columbus discovered America." In fact, he never set foot on the soil of the continental U.S., coming the closest when he reached Puerto Rico.

As far as I can tell, it was Juan Ponce de León, who came with Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, who was the 1st European to set foot on present-day U.S. soil, reaching Florida in 1513. Vespucci did reach land in what’s now called South America, but not North America. The Vikings reached present-day Canada, and possibly present-day Maine.

It's also not true that Columbus "proved the world is round." The ancient Greeks had proven it in the 6th Century BC. By 1492, most people already believed it. Even so, it would be 1522, and the conclusion of the Ferdinand Magellan expedition, before anyone sailed all the way around the world and back to his starting point, and proved through firsthand experience that the world was round.

Today, there is a Triple-A minor league baseball team in Columbus, Ohio, and a Double-A team in Columbus, Georgia. And a major league team in Washington, District of Columbia. And, of course, there is a tremendous amount of talent in lands that Columbus revealed to the Old World, including the places now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

The first Columbus Day celebration took place on October 12, 1792, when the Columbian Order of New York, better known as the Tammany Society, the precursor to the Tammany Hall political machine, held an event to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the historic landing. The same year, the Columbus Obelisk was erected in Baltimore.

For the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1892, following the lynchings of 11 Italian immigrants by a mob in New Orleans the year before, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration.

In 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus, and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, Congress passed a statute stating: "The President is requested to issue each year a proclamation (1) designating October 12 as Columbus Day; (2) calling on United States government officials to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings on Columbus Day; and (3) inviting the people of the United States to observe Columbus Day, in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies that express the public sentiment befitting the anniversary of the discovery of America." President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded by making such a proclamation.

In 1966, Mariano A. Lucca, from Buffalo, New York, founded the National Columbus Day Committee, which lobbied to make Columbus Day a federal holiday. On June 28, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation for it, effective in 1971, to be celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October. This year, it happens to fall on the actual anniversary, October 12.

But it's kind of a "half-holiday": Some things are closed, but some are open, like federal government buildings, including post offices. Banks are open, as are stock markets.

Do Italian-Americans deserve a holiday, complete with a parade of ethnic pride? Certainly. Should it be for Columbus? No, he was a horrible person. It's no wonder some places have replaced Columbus Day with "Indigenous Peoples Day," to instead honor the people he hurt, or led to the hurting of.

Top 10 Italians Worthier of an American Parade Than Christopher Columbus

These are in chronological order. And I separate "Italian" from "Roman": We can debate when "Romans" became "Italians," but the 1st of these may have been the 1st true "Italian" celebrity:

1. Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. With his Divine Comedy, an epic poem of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, he became the 1st popular writer in the Italian language.

2. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519 -- and the other major Renaissance artists, especially those who got "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" named after them: Donatello di Betto Bardi (1386-1466), Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564), and Raffaello da Urbino (Raphael, 1483-1520). Their advancements of art and science helped to make the modern world possible.

3. Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1807-1882. The uniter, and thus the liberator, of Italy. He also aided anti-colonial movements in South America, thus making him a hero on not just one, not just two, but three continents.

4. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 1850-1917. The 1st American-born person canonized as a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church was a nun who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Today, Mother Cabrini's system provides education, health care, and other services to the poor in 15 nations.

One name that will not be on this list, but would be here chronologically if he was, would be Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), the father of radio broadcasting. He went on to be an early supporter of Benito Mussolini and Fascism. Vaffanculo!

5. Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970. He was the greatest coach in pro football history, and I don't want to hear about no Bill Belichick. He not only became the modern model of what an NFL coach should be, to the point where the trophy awarded to the winning team in the Super Bowl is named for him, but, every bit as much as the next 2 names on this list, he helped to pull Italian-Americans into the mainstream of American life.

There are many Italian-Americans in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For a while, The Boot could claim the 2 greatest defensive ends of all time: Leo Nomellini of the San Francisco 49ers and Gino Marchetti of the Baltimore Colts. Now, in addition to the greatest coach ever, they can legitimately claim the greatest quarterback ever, Joe Montana -- and I don't want to hear about no Tom Brady.

6. Joe DiMaggio, 1914-1999. The greatest of all Italian baseball players. Shout-out also to his Yankee teammates Tony Lazzeri, Lawrence "Yogi" Berra and Phil Rizzuto. But not Billy Martin.

Other players of Italian descent in the Baseball Hall of Fame: Ernie Lombardi, Roy Campanella (Italian father, black mother), Ron Santo, Rollie Fingers, Craig Biggio, John Smoltz and Mike Piazza. And managers Tommy Lasorda, although he was not a good guy, and Tony La Russa. And a great player who became a great manager, Joe Torre. And broadcasters Rizzuto and Joe Castiglione. Fingers and Smoltz are both Italian on their mother's sides.

Joe Tinker, of "Tinker to Evers to Chance," and Eppa Rixey have been mistakenly listed as Italians in the Hall of Fame, but neither was of even partial Italian descent.

In basketball, I must mention 2 men: Hank Luisetti (1916-2002) became the 1st player to regularly shoot with just one hand, opening up players' mobility. However, he peaked in the 1930s, at Stanford University, when the only pro leagues were minor ones. By the time the NBA was founded in 1946, he was 30, not too old to play, but his regular job was paying more than the NBA.

And Danny Biasone (1909-1992), owner of the Syracuse Nationals (who became the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963), came up with the idea of the 24-second shot clock in 1954, speeding up the game and making the NBA viable in the long term.

7. Frank Sinatra, 1915-1998. Yes, he could be a bully. Yes, he hung out with Mob guys. Yes, he switched from Democrat to Republican. But his daughter Nancy says he hated Donald Trump as far back as when Trump was just a local annoyance.

The Chairman of the Board was the greatest entertainer of the 20th Century: He recorded more music than anyone, and almost better than anyone; and, unlike Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, he was a very good actor, legitimately winning an Academy Award. He stood up for his fellow Italian-Americans by refusing to change his name when his then-boss, bandleader Harry James, demanded it. He stood up for black performers, doing so for Nat King Cole even before he met Sammy Davis Jr. 1945 Frank did the all-inclusive "The House I Live In," which 1972 Frank and especially 1984 Frank would have done well to remember.

Also worth noting, given today's occasion: On October 12, 1944, his show at the Paramount Theater in New York's Times Square led to teenagers going wild in the streets, something they never did for Elvis or The Beatles. It became known as the Columbus Day Riot.

DiMaggio and Sinatra were once close friends, but split when Sinatra made a move on DiMaggio's ex-wife, Marilyn Monroe.

And so many other great singers. I'm not even going to get into opera, although I will point out that Enrico Caruso toured America, and was eventually played in a movie by Mario Lanza. But: Dean Martin, Al Martino, and all those doo-woppers, like Dion DiMucci and Frankie Valli. And, of course, Bruce Springsteen. For years, I thought he was Jewish, and that the family name had been "Springstein," or something like that. No, his mother Adele Zerilli, daughter of an immigrant from the Naples area.

8. Rocky Marciano, 1923-1969. The only Heavyweight Champion of the World who never lost a fight. There have been a lot of great Italian-American boxers, and Italy's own Nino Benvenuti. But the Rock topped them all -- and this would include Rocky Balboa if he were real. By the way, Sylvester Stallone, for all his achievements, does not get counted here. Balboa would be worth celebrating; Stallone is not.

Honorable Mention: Lee Iacocca, 1924-2019. Yes, he designed the Ford Pinto. And, yes, he was a Republican. But he also designed the Ford Mustang. He left the Ford Motor Company when it did not make sufficient amends after the Pinto scandal. He saved Chrysler from bankruptcy. What's more, he did his own commercials. You've heard of Italian-Americans praising somebody by saying, "He's a stand-up guy," right? Iacocca was a stand-up guy, putting his own reputation on the line, by telling you about his cars, and saying things like, "If you can find a better car, buy it!"

He probably inspired a lot of bosses to do their own commercials. Yes, chicken producer Frank Perdue was already doing them. But most of them were only on a local basis at the time, like New York ice cream man Tom Carvel and Los Angeles car dealer Cal Worthington. After Iacocca, Herman Lay started doing ads for Frito-Lay products, Orville Redenbacher started doing his own popcorn commercials, and Remington's Victor Kiam was saying, "I was so impressed, I bought the company!"

9. Sophia Loren, born 1934 and still alive as I write this. More than Gina Lollobrigida, more than Claudia Cardinale, more than any other Italian actress, she has defined Italian femininity, and Italian acting.

Not far from where I live, there's a pizzeria that used to have on its wall a photo of Sophia, wearing an apron, dishing out spaghetti with a big smile on her face. She never looked better. The place has since taken the picture down. And now I'm sad.

10. Robert De Niro, born 1943 and still alive as I write this. What's so great about him? As the man himself might say, "I heard things." He's played good guys, bad guys, good guys who did bad things, bad guys who did good things, mostly tough guys, but also some guys who had to accept that they weren't so tough. De Niro saw through Trump early on, and would probably hate Trump's guts, if Trump had any guts, which he doesn't.

Honorable Mention to his 2 biggest directors, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese; and to several of his fellow actors, including Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.

There you have it: Lots of Italians, and Italian-Americans, to celebrate with an ethnic-pride holiday.

I'd say, "To Hell with Christopher Columbus," but I'd be over 500 years too late.

October 12, 1986: The Dave Henderson Game

October 12, 1986, 40 years ago: Game 5 of the American League Championship Series is played at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The host California Angels (now named the Los Angeles Angels) have the Boston Red Sox one loss away from elimination. Trailing 5-2 entering the 9th inning‚ the Red Sox stage one of the most improbable comebacks in postseason history.

After Don Baylor's 9th-inning home run reduces the deficit to 5-4‚ reserve outfielder Dave Henderson slugs a 2-out‚ 2-run homer off Donnie Moore to give Boston a 6-5 lead. California ties the score with a run in the bottom of the 9th, but Henderson‚ who had appeared to be the goat when he dropped Bobby Grich's long fly ball over the fence for a home run in the 7th inning‚ delivers a sacrifice fly in the 11th for the winning run.

Red Sox 7, Angels 6. Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports has called this the greatest game he's ever seen.

The Sox would win the Pennant 3 days later. Three years after that, still despondent over having given up the home run that blew the Pennant for the Angels, Moore shot his wife, then himself. She lived, he didn't. A loss in a baseball game may be a terrible disappointment, but there is a difference between disappointment, however great, and tragedy.

Henderson would also hit the home run that appeared to give the Sox Game 6 of the World Series, and their 1st title in 68 years. That they did not finish the job, and how they failed, has become legend. If they had, Henderson would have become a god in New England, as David Ortiz eventually did. That he is not is no fault of his.

Hendu would later help Oakland with 3 straight Pennants, and he was invited to throw out the ceremonial first ball before Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS between the Red Sox and Angels. Unfortunately for the Sox, it didn't work any more than the Yankees bringing out Bucky Dent to do the honors before Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS between the Yanks and the Sox. He died of a heart attack in 2015, only 57 years old.

In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game at 8th on their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward.

Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was played that day, at Shea Stadium. The Houston Astros shook off the previous day's walkoff loss to the New York Mets, and won, 3-1, to tie up the series at 2 apiece. Alan Ashby hit a home run. So dids Dickie Thon, the once-promising 2nd baseman whose career nearly ended early in 1984, when he was beaned by Mike Torrez, then with the Mets.

October 11, 2006: The Cory Lidle Crash

October 11, 2006, 20 years ago: Cory Lidle, newly acquired by the Yankees as pitching help for the stretch drive and the postseason, dies when his single-engine plane crashes into an Upper East Side apartment high-rise. He was 34. Killed with him is his pilot instructor, Tyler Stanger.

Cory Fulton Lidle was born on March 22, 1972 in Los Angeles, and grew up in nearby West Covina, California. He both began and ended his career in New York, reaching the major leagues with the New York Mets in 1997. After spending 1998 in the minor leagues, he was with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999 and 2000, and helped the Oakland Athletics reach the postseason in 2001 and 2002,

He pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2003, the Cincinnati Reds in 2004, and the Philadelphia Phillies from 2004 until July 30, 2006, when the Yankees got him as a throw-in along with hard-hitting right fielder Bobby Abreu. They gave up 4 minor-league players, who, between them, had played 26 games in the majors, and would finish with 67.

The trade was a steal: Abreu gave the Yankees sold help the rest of the way, and was a good hitter for them in 2007 and '08. Lidle went 4-3 down the stretch, albeit with a rather high 5.16 ERA. The Yankees won the American League Eastern Division, but lost the AL Division Series to the Detroit Tigers in 4 games. Lidle made 1 appearance in the series, allowing 3 runs in 1 1/3rd innings in Game 4. It would be his last major league appearance, with a career record of 82-72.

Four days later, on a day when the Yankees, rather than the Tigers, could have been playing in Game 2 of the AL Championship Series, Lidle and co-pilot/flight instructor Tyler Stanger were flying a Cirrus SR20, a propeller-driven monoplane, when it crashed into the Belaire Apartments complex, at 524 East 72nd Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. A strong wind from the East River caused the plane to be blown into the side of the building. There were no other deaths, but 26 people were injured, about half of them New York firefighters.

Lidle was survived by his wife, the former Melanie Varela, and their son, Christopher Taylor Lidle, who had recently turned 6.

Earlier in the day, the Tigers had beaten the Oakland Athletics, 8-5 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum), to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS. That night, the New York Mets were scheduled to open the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium, but the rain that fell shortly after Lidle's crash got the game postponed. It was just as well.

This was the only season between 1988 and 2015 in which the Mets were still playing after the Yankees were eliminated. 

October 11, 1986: The Reykjavik Summit

October 11, 1986, 40 years ago: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev meet for a summit in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Although Iceland was, and remains, a member of NATO, it is the member with the smallest population, and the only one without a standing army, just a lightly armed coast guard. So Gorbachev accepted it as a suitable, if not quite neutral, location.

Discussions were held at Höfði (pronounced HOFF-dee), a coastal house that had previously served as the French Consulate and the British Embassy.

Reagan sought to include discussion of human rights, including the emigration of Soviet Jews and dissidents, and the war caused by the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Gorbachev sought to limit the talks solely to arms control.

Gorbachev had proposed banning all ballistic missiles, but Reagan wanted to continue research on the missile-defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, mocked by its opponents as "Star Wars"), which involved the militarization of outer space. Yet Soviet suspicion of SDI continued, and relations between the countries were strained.

Despite getting unexpectedly close to the potential elimination of all nuclear weapons, the meeting adjourned with no agreement. But both sides discovered the extent of the concessions the other side was willing to make. Observers have referred to the summit as an enormous breakthrough, which eventually facilitated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that was signed at the Washington Summit on December 8, 1987.

Some time later, Gorbachev was asked by a journalist when he knew "the Cold War was lost." He said, "Reykjavik." In other words, when he knew that Reagan wouldn't give up SDI. Except SDI was far from ready. Reagan believed (incorrectly) it would be ready by the time he left office on January 20, 1989, presuming.(correctly) that Gorbachev would still be in office.

Reagan was too ignorant to realize that he was bluffing, but Gorbachev was too timid to call his bluff. If he had, things might have been different.

Mikhail Gorbachev died on August 30, 2022. On October 11, 2026, he has been dead for 4 years, Ronald Reagan has been dead for 22 years, the Soviet Union has been dead for 35 years, Vladimir Putin has operationally been in charge of Russia for nearly 27 years, the Republican Party has held the Presidency of the United States for 26 of the last 46 years -- and the Strategic Defense Initiative is still not operational.

October 11, 1946: The Reynolds-Gordon Trade

Allie Reynolds

October 11, 1946, 80 years ago: A trade is made in baseball, and it is a rarity: One that works out very well for both teams.

The New York Yankees trade 2nd baseman Joe Gordon to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Allie Reynolds. Gordon, the 1942 American League Most Valuable Player, was nicknamed "Flash," not because of his flashy defense, but because he reminded people of science-fiction film hero Flash Gordon, played by Buster Crabbe, who also played another sci-fi hero, Buck Rogers.

Joe Gordon secured his (posthumously-elected) Hall of Fame status by helping the Indians win the 1948 World Series, on October 11, 2 years to the day after the trade. This was his 5th title, having won 4 with the Yankees. But the Yankees had gotten George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss in a separate trade, and then had Jerry Coleman, Billy Martin and Bobby Richardson at the keystone sack for the next 15 years.

Joe Gordon

The Indians needed a veteran infield presence like Gordon, and their owner, Bill Veeck, was willing to trade any pitcher except the future Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller. Yankee general manager Larry MacPhail asked his best player, Joe DiMaggio, which one he should take. The Yankee Clipper said, "Take Reynolds. I'm a fastball hitter, but he can buzz his hard one by me any time he has a mind to." In other words, "He's really good, so even if he does nothing for us, at least he won't be doing anything to us."

That fastball, and his Cherokee heritage, got Reynolds a nickname that applied to Native Americans and a famous train of the time: The "Superchief." Still, he was only 51-47, with a 3.31 ERA, for his career when the Yankees acquired him. There was no indication that he would become a great pitcher.

But he did. In a rotation that already included Vic Raschi, the "Springfield Rifle," the Yankees won the 1947 World Series. In 1948, the Yankees obtained Eddie Lopat, a lefthander specializing in off-speed pitches, known as "the Junkman."

And with new manager Charles "Casey" Stengel coming in for the 1949 season, and pitching the speedy righthander Reynolds followed by the junkballing lefty Lopat, followed by the speeding righthander Raschi, the Yankees had a very tough combination that won the next 5 World Series: 1949, '50, '51, '52 and '53 -- each time with a different 4th starter. So this trade helped the Yankees get 6 titles.

Reynolds only won 20 games once, in 1952, but that was partly because Stengel also frequently used him as a reliever. Had he come along 30 years later, he might have been a big blazing righthanded closer in the mold of Goose Gossage, Rob Dibble or Rod Beck. He hurt his back in 1954, but still managed to go 13-4 at age 37. He then retired: Having invested in oil wells in Oklahoma, he could afford to play for the love of the game, and then walk away.

The Yankees honored him with a Plaque for Monument Park in Yankee Stadium in 1989, although they have never retired his Number 22. He died in 1994.

*

October 11, 1946 was a Friday. There was baseball action on this day, Game 5 of the World Series at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3. Ted Williams singled in a run in the bottom of the 1st inning, and Cardinal manager Eddie Dyer panicked, taking out starter Howie Pollet. While Al Brazle got out of the jam, he gave up a home run to Leon Culberson in the 6th inning, and fell apart in the 7th. In contrast, Joe Dobson went the distance for the Sox, holding Stan Musial to a 1-for-3 day.