April 8, 1966: Time Magazine's "Is God Dead?" Cover

April 8, 1966, 60 years ago: Time magazine prints its most famous cover, asking a big question: "Is God Dead?"

Why did the question come up? The question was already steeped in German philosophy in the 19th Century. In 1797, German writer Jean Paul wrote Siebenkäs (Sevencheese), in which a character says, "'The Dead Christ Proclaims That There Is No God." Philipp Mainländer and George Hegel had also written on the subject. In 1862, French writer Victor Hugo had his character Gerard de Nerval say, "God is dead, perhaps" in Les Misérables.

In his 1882 book The Gay Science (sometimes translated as "The Joyful Science," it has nothing to do with homosexuality), Friedrich Nietzsche came right out and said it: "Gott ist tot." He said, "The belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable," adding that everything that was "built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it," including "the whole of European morality," is bound to "collapse." He repeated the line "God is dead" in his next and most-known book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

The World Wars of the 20th Century, in which both Germany as aggressor and the nations defending themselves used God as justification, would likely have convinced him that he was right, at least about the collapse part.

What's more, Nietzsche believed it was a good thing: He often wrote of an "overman" who was "beyond good and evil," superseding established concepts of what was moral and what was not. And that was part of the problem: After his death in 1900, this belief in an Übermensch was twisted into the official beliefs of the aggressors of the World Wars, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

It was an American of German descent, Otto Fuerbringer, who, as editor of Time, released that cover, the magazine's first without a photograph in its 43 years of publishing to that point. But the issue did not attempt to answer the question. In more recent terms, the cover was "clickbait."

Otto Fuerbringer

The article accompanying the magazine cover, titled "Toward a Hidden God" and written by the magazine's religion editor, John T. Elson, mentioned the so-called "God Is Dead" movement only briefly in its introduction. In a footnote, it identified the leaders of the movement, and explained how those theologians had been trying to construct a theology without God.

The article pointed out that, while this movement had roots in the philosophy of Nietzsche, it also drew on a broader range of thinkers, who had expressed concerns about the role of God in an increasingly secularized world. The immediate reality did not indicate a death of God, or a death of religion, and the article pointed out that the recent Second Vatican Council had done much to revitalize Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular.

The article cited a poll in which 97 percent of Americans declared a belief in God, but only 27 percent called themselves "deeply religious."

Time received around 3,500 letters to the editor, still the largest number of responses to any one story in the history of the magazine. In its issue of December 26, 1969, Time ran a follow-up cover story asking, "Is God Coming Back to Life"?

A month before the controversial cover, John Lennon of The Beatles gave an interview in which he said, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now." When it was published in the American magazine Datebook on July 29, evangelical Americans lost their minds, and convinced radio stations to ban the Beatles, and even held record burnings, as if it was Nazi Germany. Lennon had to apologize.

On November 29, 1993, Time did a cover story on psychology, discussing how people were moving away from the teachings of Sigmund Freud. Freud had died in 1939, and was famously atheist: He wouldn't have said God was dead, he would have said God never existed in the first place. But the 1993 cover showed a painting of Freud, with his head coming apart like pieces of a puzzle, asking, "Is Freud Dead?"

And on April 3, 2017, with Donald Trump having become President, despite so many of his statements having been proven to be lies, Time printed this cover.

Trump was defeated in 2020, so the answer became, "No, but it sure was sick for a while." Trump was returned to the Presidency in 2024, so truth remains seriously ill.

Otto Fuerbringer died in 2008; John T. Elson, the following year.

April 8, 1966 was a Friday -- indeed, it was Good Friday, the traditional date of the Crucifixion of Jesus, with Easter to follow on Sunday. Actresses Cynthia Nixon and Robin Wright were born on this day.

The Real Yankee Bullpen Has Shown Up

This past Saturday night, at home to the Miami Marlins, the Yankees allowed as many runs as they did in the 1st 7 games combined... and they still won!

Ryan Weathers started, and he had nothing, allowing 3 runs in less than 4 innings. Paul Blackburn allowed another run before ending the top of the 4th. Fortunately, in the bottom of the 5th, Aaron Judge singled (yes, he gets hits that are not home runs), and Clay Bellinger hit a home run, to make it 4-2.

Tim Hill pitched a scoreless top of the 6th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Paul Goldschmidt led off the bottom of the 6th with a walk. José Caballero was hit with a pitch. Ryan McMahon struck out, but Trent Grisham singled Goldschmidt home, Judge singled Caballero home, and Bellinger's sacrifice fly scored Grisham. The Yankees added a run on a passed ball in the 7th, and it was 6-4 Yankees.

But Camilo Doval couldn't hold the lead in the top of the 8th, and it was 6-6. Fortunately, again, walks, including a leadoff walk, worked in the Yankees' favor. McMahon led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk. Grisham flew out. Judge walked. Bellinger flew out. Ben Rice walked to load the bases. Giancarlo Stanton singled McMahon and Judge home. Another passed ball brought Chisholm home.

That made Brent Headrick the pitcher of record. But David Bednar allowed 3 singles and a walk to make it 9-7. Finally, he shut the door for the save.

Half the pitching staff injured, starting shortstop injured, starting 3rd baseman a genuine hole in the batting order, superstar still not hitting great, and the Yankees were still 7-1 -- and it really should have been 8-0.

*

And then, yesterday, after a long rain delay to start, the real Yankee bullpen finally showed up. A 3-run Rice homer in the 1st, and a fielder's choice with Rice up in the 3rd, made it 4-3 Yankees. Max Fried ran out of gas in the 7th, and Fernando Cruz had to finish the inning. But he walked a batter with 1 out in the top of the 8th. Aaron Boone brought Jake Bird in, and he allowed a walk, hit a batter, and gave up a lead-switching double. Ryan Yarbrough came in, and allowed a 2-run single before ending the mess. It was 7-4 Marlins.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, the Yanks mounted a comeback. Bellinger and Rice drew walks. Stanton struck out. Chisholm doubled home both runners, and was thus the tying run. Austin Wells was intentionally walked to set up the play at any base. J.C. Escarra was sent up to pinch-hit for Caballero, and struck out to end it. Marlins 7, Yankees 6.

In other words: 1st 7 games, 7 runs; last 2 games, 14 runs. The bullpen, my biggest concern coming into the season, was bad for 2 games, and the Yankees only got away with it once.

*

So at the end of the 1st full week of play, here's where we stand:

* The Yankees are 7-2. They are tied with the defending World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball. In the American League Eastern Division, they are 3 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays, 4 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, and 5 ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

* Starting pitchers are 5-0 with a 1.78 ERA.

* Good OPS+'s: Rice, 299; Stanton, 184; Goldschmidt, 176; Bellinger, 162; Judge, 146.

So there is plenty of reason to to be encouraged. But also reason for worry:

* Relief pitchers are 2-2 with 3.52.

* Bad OPS+'s: Grisham, 92; Chisholm, 51; Wells, 36; McMahon, 11; Caballero, 0; Amed Rosario, -9 in 7 plate appearances; Escarra, -100 in 6 appearances; and Randal Grichuk, -100 in 2 appearances.

The Yankees have the night off. Tomorrow, they begin a home series with the Sacramento Athletics.

April 6, 1996: The 1st Major League Soccer Game

April 6, 1996, 30 years ago: Major League Soccer debuts, ending North America's 12-year drought without a top-flight soccer league.

MLS had hoped to start a year earlier, within months of the 1994 World Cup on American soil. But, given how other insurgent leagues failed, it was probably for the best that they had an additional year to get their administrative act in order. And the timing was right, after all: They played their season concurrent with baseball, and baseball was in a bad spot at the time, following the Strike of '94. So there was room for another major league sport in fans' hearts.

The 1st game is played at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. The San Jose Clash hosted Washington-based D.C. United. The game was scoreless until the 88th minute, when Eric Wynalda scored to win it for the Clash, 1-0.

Previously, the San Francisco Bay Area had been represented by the Oakland Clippers, the one and only champions of the National Professional Soccer League in 1967; the San Francisco Golden Gate Gales, who played in the United Soccer Association that year, the league's only season; the Oakland Stompers in the North American Soccer League in 1978; and the San Jose Earthquakes in the NASL from 1974 until that league folded following the 1984 season.

The Earthquakes then played in the Western Soccer Alliance until it folded in 1988. The Western Soccer League was founded in 1989, with a team named the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks. In 1994, they were renamed the San Jose Clash, and were taken into MLS.

They bought the rights to the Earthquakes name in 1999, and won the MLS Cup in 2001 and 2003. Like so many other Bay Area teams, they developed a rivalry with the Los Angeles team in their league, the L.A. Galaxy, a rivalry that became known as the California Clásico.

After the 2005 season, the team's owners, upset at being unable to get a soccer-specific stadium -- Spartan Stadium, now CEFCU Stadium, was built for San Jose State University football in 1933 -- moved them, and they became the Houston Dynamo. Rubbing further salt in the Bay Area's wounds, the Dynamo won the MLS Cup in the franchise's 1st 2 seasons in Texas.

But Lewis Wolff, then the owner of the Oakland Athletics, bought the rights to an MLS expansion team, and the 3rd edition of the San Jose Earthquakes began play at Spartan Stadium in 2008. In 2015, they opened Avaya Stadium, an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, now named PayPal Park.

Although D.C. United lost the 1st MLS game, they won the 1st MLS Cup in 1996, and the 2nd in 1997, and the 4th in 1999, and the 9th in 2004. They also won the U.S. Open Cup (America's version of the FA Cup) in 1996 (making them the 1st MLS team to win "The Double"), 2008 and 2013; the Supporters' Shield, as regular-season Champions, in 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2007; and the CONCACAF Champions League in 1998.

The next week saw the debuts of these teams:

* On April 13, the lone teams then representing the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas played each other. The Los Angeles Galaxy beat the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, 2-1 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. The MetroStars, or "Metro" for short, became the New York Red Bulls in 2005.

* Also on the 13th, the Columbus Crew beat D.C., 4-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Also on the 13th, the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City) beat the Colorado Rapids (Denver's team), 3-0 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* Also on the 13th, the Tampa Bay Mutiny beat the New England Revolution (Boston's team), 3-2 at Tampa Stadium. The Mutiny folded after the 2001 season.

* On April 14, the Dallas Burn played the Clash to a scoreless tie at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and then won a shootout, 3-2. The team is now known as F.C. Dallas.

April 5, 1976: The Soiling of Old Glory

April 5, 1976, 50 years ago: A disgusting act of racism at City Hall in Boston, birthplace of the American Revolution, casts a shadow over the nation's Bicentennial celebrations.

The act occurs within a 2-minute walk of the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre of 1770, which is generally considered to be the beginning of the Revolution, and a 3-minute walk of Faneuil Hall, another landmark of the Revolution. Within a 5-minute walk is the Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party got started in 1773. The Old City Hall, built in 1865, is also within a 5-minute walk.

Boston's new City Hall was built in 1969, and it has severely divided public opinion. Some people think it's wonderful. Others think it is so ugly. How ugly is it? In 2013, Paul McMorrow, a columnist for The Boston Globe, wrote:

City Hall is so ugly that its insane upside-down wedding-cake columns and windswept plaza distract from the building's true offense. Its great crime isn't being ugly; it's being anti-urban. The building and its plaza keep a crowded city at arm's length.

I have to agree. While the David D. Dinkins Municipal Building, the Beaux-Arts skyscraper a block away that serves as Manhattan's Borough Hall as well as space for various City offices, New York's City Hall, built in 1812, is short and easily accessible from street level. Philadelphia's, opening in 1901, has a clock tower that made it, for a few years, the tallest building in the world; but its ground level provides excellent access, and it even hosts the city's skating rink and Christmas market.

In contrast, to get to Boston's New City Hall, you have to climb steps, or use a handicap-accessible elevator. And there's a reason that style of architecture was, at the time, labeled "Brutalist."

But it will never be as ugly as the most famous event ever to happen there -- and I don't mean the "Yankees suck!" chant that goes up there every time a celebration is held for a Boston team winning its sport's World Championship, even if it's not the Red Sox.

In the years after the Revolution, Boston was the center of the American movement for the abolition of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison published his newspaper The Liberator at 21 Cornhill Street, espousing the cause of the abolition of slavery from 1831 until it happened in 1865. With some irony, the site of the building was wiped out to build New City Hall.

One of the most famous all-black units of the American Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, whose memorial is across Beacon Street from the "new" State House. As recently as 1955, Boston had a role to play in the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. earned his doctorate of divinity at Boston University.

But times changed. In the 1960s, fans jammed the Boston Garden to see the all-white Boston Bruins, no matter how bad they were; while the building was half-empty for the integrated Boston Celtics, until the Playoffs. Then, the Boston fans became front-runners as the Celtics won 11 NBA Championships in 13 years. Celtics star Bill Russell publicly described Boston as a "racist city."

The Boston Red Sox were the last Major League Baseball team to integrate, with Elijiah "Pumpsie" Green in 1959. The Bruins actually had a black player first, Willie O'Ree, in 1958. But the Red Sox also had Earl Wilson, the 1st black pitcher to pitch a no-hitter in the American League, in 1962; and Russell was named head coach in 1966, making him the 1st black head coach in major league sports (unless you count Fritz Pollard in the fledgling NFL in 1920). So the record is mixed.

On June 21, 1974, in the case of Morgan v. Hennigan, federal Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. ruled that Boston's public schools had to be desegregated. When the buses with black students arrived at previously all-white South Boston High School on September 12, white parents -- not kids, parents -- threw rocks at the buses.

The black kids were harassed both inside and outside the school. Finally, the black parents called on the one man they thought might have been able to reach the white people of "Southie": Senator Ted Kennedy, brother of a President and a Presidential candidate, both martyred, now the standard-bearer of Boston's, and America's, most famous Irish Catholic family.

But when he pleaded with them to leave the black students alone, they threw rocks at him. One woman yelled out, "You're a disgrace to the Irish!" Ted, for all his faults, had too much class to yell back, "You're a disgrace to the Americans!" The harassment continued into the 1975-76 schoolyear.

On April 5, 1976, Ted Landsmark, a 29-year-old civil rights attorney, born in Kansas City and raised in New York's famous black neighborhood of Harlem, went to City Hall to assist minority contractors in getting opportunities in the construction industry. He later said, "I had difficulty finding a parking space in downtown Boston, and I was running a few minutes late for the meeting in City Hall. So I was in a hurry and perhaps not paying as much attention as I might have as I approached a corner, where the young demonstrators were coming in the other direction. I did not see them until both they and I were at that corner."

There was a protest against the busing going on, and two of the white protestors saw Landsmark, knocked him down, and broke his nose.

However, what the picture seemed to show was not what was actually happening. One of the anti-busing protestors, James M. Kelly, a South Boston High School graduate, looked like he was holding Landsmark's arms to make him an easier target. In fact, he was helping Landsmark up.

The other major figure in the photo was Joseph Rakes. Looking more like a 1960s San Francisco hippie than a 1970s Boston racist, he had brought an American flag to the protest, and he was waving it. But the photo made it look like he was trying to stab Landsmark with the pointed end of the flag's pole.

Rakes later claimed he was simply waving the flag at Landsmark, and there is no video to either back up or dispute his claim. But even if this were true, it seemed to be sending a message: "This is my flag, and represents me and my people, not you and your people."

In 1824, a merchant seaman named William Driver commanded a ship on which he raised an American flag, telling his crew, "Behold, Old Glory." The flag has carried "Old Glory" as a nickname ever since, along with "The Stars & Stripes" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald American took the photograph that appeared to show Rakes trying to stab Landsmark, and it made the next day's front page. It became known as "The Soiling of Old Glory," and it took the sails out of the busing protests. These white Bostonians, so proud of their patriotism, began to see that they were taking it too far.

Stanley Forman, 2013

The image of the hippie-looking white kid appearing to assault the well-dressed black man with a flag was similar to a collegiate psychology experiment, in which a white guy with greasy hair, stubble, a T-shirt, jeans and a knife was shown holding that knife up to a black man in a nice suit, and then, at the end of the class, the professor asked the class whether the white man or the black man was holding the knife, and got a split answer.

Rakes was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and two years' probation. The jail sentence was suspended. In 1983, Rakes assaulted his sister's boyfriend, who later died from the injuries sustained in the attack. He fled prosecution, but returned in 1988 after the murder charge was dropped. Rakes carried the stigma of being known as "the flag kid," but eventually married and had children while laboring as a construction worker and later in hazardous waste.

James M. Kelly was not stigmatized by his presence in the photo. He was elected to the City Council in 1984, and was continually re-elected until his death in 2007.

Landsmark parlayed the attention to increase awareness on the racial unrest in Boston. He was later hired by Mayor Raymond Flynn -- another graduate of South Boston High -- to improve youth and workforce development in the city. He taught at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts College of Art. From 1997 to 2014, he was president of Boston Architectural College. He left that post when another Mayor, Marty Walsh, named him to the board of directors for the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

Ted Landsmark, 2024

As of April 5, 2026, Landsmark, Rakes and Forman are still alive. In a 2016 interview, Landsmark said that he and Rakes had never met again after the incident, the way some such meetings have been conducted, as with the Little Rock Nine and their tormentors after 1957 Arkansas, or the descendants of Homer Plessy and Judge John Ferguson to commemorate their court case.

Yankees Continue Fine Form In Home Opener; Ken Clay, 1954-2026

Yesterday was the home Opening Day at Yankee Stadium II, against the Miami Marlins. The ceremonial first balls were thrown out by U.S. Olympic hockey Gold Medalists Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, and Aerin Frankel, a native of Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York, a goaltender for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League -- which, in the wake of the growth of the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League, really should get more attention. Nikki M. James, a Tony Award winner from Summit, Union County, New Jersey, currently starring in an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, sang the National Anthem.

Will Warren was slated to start. This is one of the holes in the rotation caused by the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt and Carlos Rodón. I was not optimistic. And, sure enough, in the 1st inning, he gave up a home run to Xavier Edwards.

But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk, and Aaron Judge hit a no-doubt-about-er, a no-short-porch-necessary blast. It was the 371st home run of his career, passing New York baseball legend Gil Hodges on the all-time list.

When Hodges, Brooklyn Dodger 1st baseman and Met manager, retired in 1963, he was 10th on the all-time list. He is now 84th, and among those he trails are current Yankees Judge, Paul Goldschmidt with 373, and Giancarlo Stanton with 454. In case you're wondering: Duke Snider hit the most home runs for what became the Los Angeles Baseball Team, with 389 of his 407 home runs for them. Hodges is 2nd, with 361 of of his 370. Shohei Ohtani? At the moment, 281.

Anyway, Judge's dinger gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Did I mention what leadoff walks can do? Marlin starter Eury Pérez did it again in the 2nd, walking Jazz Chisholm. He struck Austin Wells out, but Chisholm stole 2nd and 3rd.

Was that necessary? Maybe not, but it sure worked: Pérez was clearly unnerved, because he then also walked José Caballero. A would-be double steal put Caballero on 2nd, but there was no throw, so Chisholm stayed put. And Pérez walked Ryan McMahon to load the bases, then walked Grisham to force in a run, then hit Judge with a pitch to force in another. (Clearly, he didn't have the control to make it intentional, and that would have been dumb at any rate.) He managed to get the next 2 outs, but it was 4-1 Yankees.

Warren settled down after that, going through the 3rd and the 4th 1-2-3. But he allowed a home run to Owen Caissie in the 5th, and back-to-back 2-out singles in the 6th. Aaron Boone sent Tim Hill in to get out of the inning, and he did.

Tyler Phillips relieved Pérez in the 5th, and his control was no better. He led off the 6th by walking Wells. Caballero reached on an error. McMahon flew out, Caballero stole 2nd, and Grisham struck out. But Judge walked to load the bases, and with Cody Bellinger up, Phillips threw a wild pitch to bring Caballero home. It was 5-2 Yankees.

Ben Rice led off the bottom of the 7th, against Michael Petersen. Yankee Stadium organist Ed Alstrom played Elton John's 1974 chart-topper "Bennie and the Jets" for him. It seems to work better for the Yankees than for the New York Jets: After hitting a screaming liner that curved just foul, Rice hit another that just squeaked onto the short porch in right field. That made it 6-2.

Walks hurt the Marlins again in the 8th. Lake Bachar walked Grisham. Judge singled, but Grisham was thrown out at 3rd, a challenged call that went in the Marlins' favor. But Judge stole 2nd, Bellinger drew a walk, and Rice doubled them home.

Jake Bird pitched a perfect 7th, Brent Headrick pitched a perfect 8th, and Ryan Yarbrough pitched a hitless 9th, hitting a batter but then picking him off. Look, I understand that Boone wants to see what the relievers can do -- and so does Brian Cashman -- but I'm old enough to remember when this game would have featured, say, Jim Beattie as the starter, with Dick Tidrow bailing him out in the 6th and pitching the 7th, and Goose Gossage pitching the 8th and the 9th. You don't need 4 relievers to pitch 3 1/3rd innings. You don't need to test 3 guys in 1 game.

Anyway, the fine form continues: Yankees 8, Marlins 2, in front of a sellout crowd of 48,788. The Yankees are now 6-1, as they also started the Pennant season of 2024. The only better 7-game start? 7-0 in... 1933. The Yankees did not win the Pennant that year.

In those 7 games, the Yankees have allowed just 8 runs, on 37 hits and 12 walks -- an average of 1.14 runs, 5.29 hits and 1.71 walks per game. Their ERA is 1.16. Their WHIP is 0.786. Their strikeout-to-walk ratio is 5.42. These are 1968 "Year of the Pitcher"-style stats. And that's without Cole, without Schmidt, and without Rodón, with Warren starting 2 games and Ryan Weathers 1.

That's insane.

But, in the words of the immortal Captain Benjamin Sisko, I think I can live with it. I can live with it!

Tonight, at 7:05, Weathers starts against Max Meyer.

*

Speaking of Yankee relievers, and in particular of "my era," Ken Clay died on March 26, in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, from a long-term kidney ailment. He was 71. He made 21 appearances in 1977, and 28 in 1978, mostly in relief, and was key to winning the World Series both times.

His 1978 Topps card

But, Cliché Alert: He had a million-dollar arm and a five-cent head. Jim "Catfish" Hunter and Albert "Sparky" Lyle both said that Clay didn't take advice from veterans. Sparky said that Clay had a tendency to wear his arm out in practice, and thus would not be at full strength for the day's game. Team owner George Steinbrenner, who owned a stable for racehorses, backed this up, calling Clay a "morning glory," a term for a horse that performs best in the morning workouts prior to the actual race. Catfish, with his typical country blunt honesty, summarized Clay: "Great arm, great slider, bad brains." He was awful in 1979, was traded in 1980, and last pitched in Spring Training 1982.

Post-baseball work didn't suit him, either, and he got into a long string of legal trouble. He cut a deal to avoid prison time for grand larceny in 1986, having stolen $16,000 from his employer, the Jostens school ring company. He got a suspended sentence, 5 years of probation, and over $16,000 in fines.

In 1992, he was working for a Virginia car dealership, when he stole a car. Having also gotten 2 DUIs, he was sentenced to 4 years in a county jail. He moved to the Tampa Bay area, and went on a fraud spree, including forgeries, again cutting a deal, getting 15 years of probation and paying $40,000 in fines.

In 2005, he forged again, and this time, he turned down a plea deal, one that would have gotten him only 6 months in prison. He was convicted, and was sentenced to 5 years. After getting out, he went back to Lynchburg.

With his death, there are 25 surviving players from the 1977 World Champion New York Yankees: Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Roy White, Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers, Bucky Dent, Ed Figueroa, Sparky Lyle, Cliff Johnson, Fred Stanley, Mike Torrez, Fran Healy, Carlos May, Dave Kingman, Dell Alston, Mickey Klutts, Gene Locklear, Larry McCall, Gil Patterson, Marty Perez, Stan Thomas and George Zeber. Coach Bobby Cox, better known as the later manager of the Atlanta Braves, is also still alive.

And there are 26 surviving players from the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees: Jackson, Guidry, Randolph, White, Nettles, Chambliss, Piniella, Rivers, Dent, Figueroa, Lyle, Johnson, Stanley, Klutts, McCall, Goose Gossage, Ron Davis, Andy Messersmith, Rawly Eastwick, Brian Doyle, Gary Thomasson, Mike Heath, Jim Beattie, Dave Rajsich, Doming Ramos and Dennis Sherill. Broadcaster Bill White is also still alive.

The next season, 1979, Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash. The year after that, 1980, coach and catching legend Elston Howard died of a rare heart ailment. Dick Howser, the 3rd base coach, died of cancer in 1986. Billy Martin, manager in 1977 and the 1st half of 1978, was killed in a pickup truck crash on Christmas Day 1989. Cedric Tallis, the 1978 general manager, died from a heart attack in 1991. Gabe Paul, the 1977 general manager, died from a stroke in 1998. Catfish Hunter died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's Disease, in 1999.

Bob Lemon, former star pitcher in Cleveland who saved the Yankees as manager in the 2nd half of the 1978 season, died of a stroke in 2000. Broadcaster Frank Messer died of a hear attack in 2001. Jim Spencer (acquired in 1978) died of a heart attack in 2002. Bob Kammeyer (rookie call-up in 1978) died of a pulmonary embolism in 2003. Elrod Hendricks (on the 1977 team, but not '78) died of a heart attack in 2005. Paul Lindblad (acquired in 1978) died of early-onset Alzhheimer's disease in 2006. Pitching coach Art Fowler died of unknown causes in 2007. Broadcaster and legendary shortstop Phil Rizzuto died of a long-term illness in 2007. Dock Ellis (traded early in the 1977 season) died of long-term liver trouble in 2008.

Team owner George Steinbrenner died from a long-term illness in 2010. Clyde King, a 1978 coach, died of unknown causes in 2010. Paul Blair died of a heart attack in 2013. Dave Bergman (on the 1977 team, but not '78) died of cancer in 2015. Al Rosen, former star 3rd baseman in Cleveland who served as Yankees team president in 1978, died of unknown causes in 2015. Coach and catching legend Yogi Berra died of natural causes in 2015. Gene Michael, 1st base coach in 1978, and later manager and general manager, died of a heart attack in 2017.

Jimmy Wynn (acquired and released in 1977) died in 2020, of unknown causes, but apparently not COVID. Dámaso Garcia (rookie call-up in 1978) died of cancer in 2020. Jay Johnstone (acquired in 1978) died of COVID-aided dementia in 2020. Dick Tidrow and 1977 coach Cloyd Boyer both died of unknown causes in 2021. Don Gullett and Ken Holtzman (traded in 1978) both died from heart trouble in 2024. And, as just stated, Ken Clay died of kidney failure in 2026.

Fine Yankee Pitching Continues In Seattle

The Yankees swept their season-opening series with the San Francisco Giants, and moved up the Pacific Coast to play the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park (formerly Safeco Field). The Yankees have had trouble with playing in Seattle ever since the Mariners came into the American League in 1977, regardless of how good either team is.

And this continued in the 1st game of the series. It was the 4th game of the season, and so, after using Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren as starters, the Yankees were down to Ryan Weathers, son of 1990s Yankee reliever David Weathers. Like Warren 2 days earlier, he didn't get out of the 5th inning, but allowed only 1 run, in his case on 4 hits and 2 walks, with 7 strikeouts. The bullpen pitched shutout ball through the 8th inning.

But the bats did not come through. Jazz Chisholm reached on an error in the 2nd inning, but was stranded. In the 3rd, José Caballero drew a 1-out walk, but was erased when Trent Grisham grounded into a force play; and Aaron Judge drew a walk, but Cody Bellinger struck out to strand them. In the 4th, Giancarlo Stanton was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. In the 5th, Caballero singled, but was picked off 1st base.

José A. Ferrer -- no relation to the late, great actor José Ferrer -- took the mound for the M's in the 7th. Ben Rice led off with a single, Stanton reached on an error, Chisholm grounded into a force play, and Amed Rosario hit a sacrifice fly to score Rice. That tied the game, but Austin Wells grounded out to end the inning.

Judge singled in the 8th, but was stranded. Stanton doubled with 1 out in the 9th, but was taken out for a pinch-runner, who was stranded. The Yankees had gotten only 5 hits, and their run was driven in without one.

In the bottom of the 9th, Paul Blackburn gave up a leadoff single to Leo Rivas, got Cole Young to fly to right, and gave up a single to Brendan Donovan. Cal Raleigh came to bat. "The Big Dumper" was greeted with chants of "MVP!" just as Judge, who actually won the American League Most Valuable Player last season, had been booed. Raleigh did not hit a home run, but did single to right, to score Rivas and end the game. Mariners 2, Yankees 1.

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The Tuesday night game was very different. The Yankees went right to work in the 1st inning, with a Bellinger single, a Rice RBI double, and a Stanton RBI single. Grisham led off the 6th with a ground-rule double. Judge struck out, but Bellinger singled and stole 2nd, and Grisham scored on Raleigh's bad attempt to throw him out. Rice walked, and Stanton doubled Bellinger home, and Chisholm singled Rice home.

Fried was brilliant, going 7 innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. Brent Headrick pitched a scoreless 8th, and Tim Hill a perfect 9th, to preserve the 4-hit shutout. Yankees 5, Mariners 0.

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The Wednesday afternoon game looked like it would be similar to the one before. Rice doubled Bellinger home in the 1st. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. In the 6th, Grisham and Rice drew walks, and Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run to make it 4-0. Schlittler took a 2-hit, no-walk, 7-strikeout shutout into the 7th, Fernando Cruz finished the 7th.

But Camilo Doval allowed 2 runs in the 8th, and manager Aaron Boone had to bring in closer David Bednar to get out of it. Rice homered in the top of the 9th to give the Yankees a little more room, but Bednar was shaky in the bottom of the 9th. He got Josh Naylor to ground out, but allowed a 1-out double by Randy Arozarena. He got Luke Raley to ground to short, holding Arozarena on 2nd, but allowed an RBI single to Dominic Canzone. Finally, he ended it by getting Cole Young to fly out. Yankees 5, Mariners 3.

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The good news: In spite of having key injuries, especially in their starting rotation, the Yankees are 5-1, tying them for the best record in Major League Baseball. The other teams in the AL Eastern Division: The Toronto Blue Jays are 4-2, the Baltimore Orioles are 3-3, the Tampa Bay Rays are 2-4, and the Boston Red Sox are 1-5.

The pitching has been absolutely brilliant: An ERA of 1.01, a WHIP of 0.844, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.58. Rice has an OPS+ of 277; Stanton, 265; Goldschmidt, 153; Bellinger, 133.

The bad news: There are still key injuries. And several key hitters are off to slow starts that have given them sub-100 (average) OPS+'s: Grisham, 94; Judge, 54, although he does have 2 home runs; Austin Wells, 27; Caballero, 25; Chisholm, 15; Rosario, -8, and the formula that makes a negative OPS+ possible is complicated; and Ryan McMahon, -25. (Two other batters have gotten into games: J.C. Escarra is 0-for-4, and Randall Grichuk is 0-for-2. Coming to bat without reaching base means you have the lowest possible OPS+, which is -100.)

Can this spectacular pitching continue? My confidence in Fried and Schlittler remains high. It is considerably less high in Warren and Weathers, and the early schedule providing enough days off to not require a 5th starter. So, as Dennis Haysbert said when playing Cuban voodoo priest/slugger Pedro Cerrano in Major League, "Have to wake up bats!"

Tomorrow afternoon, at 1:35 PM, weather permitting -- rain may be a factor -- the Yankees will have their home opener, against the Miami Marlins. The ceremonial first balls will be thrown out by U.S. Olympic hockey Gold Medalists: Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, and Aerin Frankel, a native of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, New York, who is the goaltender of the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League.

Will Warren is set to start against Eury Perez. Come on you Pinstripes!

April 1, 2001: Major League Baseball In Puerto Rico

April 1, 2001, 25 years ago: For the 1st time, a regular-season Major League Baseball game is played in Puerto Rico. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 8-1 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.

The 1st at-bat was the Jays' Esteban Loaiza hitting the Rangers' Rusty Greer with a pitch. He was then erased in a double play. But Alex Rodriguez, playing his 1st game for the Rangers after signing a record $252 million contract, singled, and Rafael Palmeiro doubled him home.

That would be the highlight for the Rangers. In the 3rd, Shannon Stewart hit Puerto Rico's 1st regular-season MLB home run. Tony Batista would also hit a home run for the Jays.

Built in 1962, the stadium was named for Hiram Gabriel Bithorn Sosa, the 1st Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues. Light-skinned enough to be considered "white" in that segregated era, "Hi" Bithorn debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 1942, and led the National League in shutouts in 1943 with 7, then served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, missing the Cubs' Pennant season of 1945.

He returned to the Cubs in 1946, and pitched with the Chicago White Sox in 1947. His major league record was 34-31, with a 3.16 ERA. In 1951, still in professional baseball, he was murdered by a Mexican policeman who falsely accused him of being a Communist. Bithorn was only 35 years old. The policeman served 8 years in prison.

In 1973, an arena, the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, opened next-door to Bithorn Stadium. This was appropriate, not just because of all that Clemente, who had died a few weeks earlier, did for Puerto Rico, but because he had played for the team that still plays its home games at Bithorn Stadium, Cangrejeros de Santurce (the Santurce Crabbers).

The Expos played 11 "home games" at Bithorn Stadium in 2003, and again in 2004, but between San Juan and Montreal, they were unsuccessful in 3 languages, and were moved to become the Washington Nationals for 2005.

In 2010, Major League Baseball returned to the stadium, as the Florida Marlins faced the New York Mets in a 3-game series during the regular season. Known as the Miami Marlins since 2012, they were to play the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 30 and 31, 2016 in honor of Roberto Clemente Day. However, on May 6, 2016, it was announced that the Puerto Rico games would be postponed due to the Zika virus outbreak, and moved to Marlins Park in Miami.

The Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins played a 2-game series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on April 17 and 18, 2018. Another series, between the Marlins and the Mets, was scheduled for April 2020, but was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bithorn Stadium has also hosted Caribbean "Winter league" games and World Baseball Classic games.