June 25, 1966: The Brooklyn Navy Yard Closes

A recent photo of the Navy Yard,

which has been redeveloped for residential and retail use.

The Williamsburg Bridge is in the background.

June 25, 1966, 60 years ago: The Brooklyn Navy Yard is closed, emblematic of New York City's loss of industry.

At the height of World War II production, what was officially named the New York Naval Shipyard had 75,000 people working there. In 1947, it was down to 10,000 workers. It doubled back up to 20,000 by the end of the Korean War in 1953, but after that war ended, it was back to 10,000 again.

In 1960, with the Yard's workforce 11,000 strong, the aircraft carrier USS Constellation was being built there, and an accident caused a fire that killed 49 people. The investigation showed that, although this fact was not responsible for the fire, the Yard was obsolete, especially since it was determined that, in order to reach the open sea, ships built there had to pass under the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge; and ships going there for repairs also had to pass under those bridges -- and most new ones were too big. 

And so, on June 25, 1966, a closing ceremony was held at the Yard, with work stopping for good on June 30, and the last 9,500 workers were laid off.

This was symbolic of the loss of industry in New York City. The loss of jobs crushed the Borough economically, and was much more damaging to the communities of Brooklyn than the so-often-cited move of baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957 had been.

Indeed, it was crushing to the City as a whole. It wasn't the first time industry had been phased out: The Gashouse District, between 1st Avenue and the Hudson River, from 14th to 23rd Street, its name already appropriated for baseball's St. Louis Cardinals, "the Gashouse Gang," was torn down in World War II, to build the housing projects Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

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June 25, 1966 was a Saturday. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dikembe Mutombo was born on this day. 

Yanks Take 2 of 3 In Detroit, Head for Boston

"Who loves ya, baby?"

Since the 2006 American League Division Series, the Detroit Tigers have provided the Yankees with more difficulty than they had before it, including 3 postseason series wins. The Yankees went to Comerica Park for a 3-game series in the Motor City.

After a few years with the Houston Astros, including some postseason trouble for the Yankees, Framber Valdez signed as a free agent with the Tigers. Again, on Monday night, he gave the Yankees trouble, going 6 strong innings. In contrast, Gerrit Cole only pitched 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits. At least his control was good: Of 89 pitches, 62 were strikes, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough went the rest of the way, allowing just 2 baserunners, both walks by Yarbrough.

The Yankees stranded men on 1st & 2nd in the 1st inning. With 2 out in the 2nd, José Caballero walked and stole 2nd, and Ali Sánchez doubled him home. It was 1-0 Yankees. They stranded men on 1st & 2nd in the 3rd, and then fell 3-1 behind the Tigers, and then 4-1 behind in the 4th, and 5-1 in the 5th.

With 2 out in the 7th, Sánchez was hit by a pitch, and Amed Rosario hit a home run. But they could get no closer, again stranding men on 1st & 2nd in the 8th. Tigers 5, Yankees 3.

*

Carlos Rodón was a bit better on Tuesday night, allowing 3 runs over 5 1/3rd. The bullpen, with Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar, was scoreless the rest of the way, allowing just 2 hits and a walk.

At one point, Jazz Chisholm went out to 2nd base with a green lollipop in his mouth. Aaron Boone got upset with that. What if he got hit with a line drive? Even if it wasn't in the mouth, having that lollipop would have been unsafe.

Well, in the top of the 6th, with the Tigers up, 2-1, Paul Goldschmidt singled, and Chisholm hit a home run. Getting back to the dugout, he held his bucket of lollipops up to the camera. As a great New Yorker, Telly Savalas, who was at the Chris Chambliss Game in 1976, would have said while sucking on a lollipop while starring on Kojak, "Who loves ya, baby?" After the game, Boone said he can have as many lollipops as he wants, just not on the field.

After the homer, Spencer Jones struck out, but Caballero singled, and Austin Wells doubled him home, making it 4-2 Yankees. The Tigers closed to within 4-3 in the bottom of the 6th, but that was as close as they got.

*

Last night, Goldschmidt led off the game with a home run. He hit another in the 3rd. Both were off Tarik Skubal, possibly the best pitcher in baseball right now, These homers were the 385th and 386th of his career, and, on the all-time list, he surpassed Dwight Evans and... Aaron Judge. He tied Aramis Ramírez. Next up for him: Johnny Bench, with 389.

Ryan Weathers started for the Yankees, and was strong: 6 innings, 2 runs, only 1 earned, 6 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts. Camilo Doval, Cruz and Bednar went scoreless the rest of the way. Jasson Domínguez added a homer in the 6th, and the Yankees won, 4-2, to take the series.

Meanwhile, in a rain-forced doubleheader, the Mets got swept by the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field, 10-3 and 10-5. Twenty runs in one day? So much for "run prevention." And you thought Brazil beat Scotland badly.

*

The Yankees are 48-31, on a pace to go 98-64. They have the best record in the AL. They lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 3 games in the AL Eastern Division, though just 2 in the loss column, as the Rays have 2 games in hand.

Ryan McMahon has an infection, so he's been put on the Injured List. Oswaldo Cabrera has been called back up, having not played for the big club since May 12, 2025, though he was doing well at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year. He hasn't been called up because Chisholm, Caballero and McMahon, and sometimes even Anthony Volpe, have been doing well at the positions he can play. There hasn't been a place for him. Now, there is.

And now... off to the Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, for 4 games. Fortunately, the Yankees did not follow the pattern of unloading a bunch of runs right before going to Boston, and then playing as if we'd used them all up, as has not always happened, but has happened often enough to stand out. Hopefully, this means we have a few runs to spare, to spread all over that little green pinball machine in the Back Bay.

I also hope, for our fans' sake, the Hub City has restocked the bars, now that the Tartan Army have gone down to Miami. Scotland fans took over Fenway Park last week, while their team was playing World Cup games in Foxborough, and made an appearance at Yankee Stadium II as well. They were certainly better behaved than most Red Sox fans. Better dressed, too.

Here's the pitching matchups:

* Tonight, first pitch scheduled for 7:10 PM, on YES: Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early.

* Friday, 7:10, on YES: Will Warren vs. Payton Tolle.

* Saturday, 1:00, on ABC: Gerrit Cole vs. Jake Bennett.

* Sunday, 7:20, on NBC: Carlos Rodón vs. former Yankee Sonny Gray.

I must say, I'm liking MLB's return to the classic networks, NBC (Saturday Game of the Week) and ABC (Monday Night Baseball). If only we had This Week In Baseball as a pregame show. I can hear the opening theme now. And the closing theme... 

Anyway, BEAT THE SCUM!

June 25, 1876: The Battle of the Little Bighorn

June 25, 1876, 150 years ago: The Battle of the Little Bighorn is fought in the Montana Territory. The 7th Cavalry of the U.S. Army fights several tribes of Native Americans. The tribes win.

The main group of Natives was the Lakota Sioux, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The Cavalry was led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. He had graduated 35th and last in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1861. Because the Civil War was raging, he rose fast, and had the brevet (temporary) rank of Major General. After the war, his questionable actions led the Army to drop him back down to Lieutenant Colonel.

Custer had managed some victories against Natives in the intervening 11 years, and began to believe he was invincible. But on the Little Bighorn River, he found out otherwise. The legend that there were no U.S. Army survivors isn't even close to being true, but of the 700 men under Custer's command, 274, including Custer himself, a 36-year-old Ohioan, died. The Natives lost about half that many, out of around 2,500.

Reports of the battle began to reach the Eastern United States on Centennial Day, July 4, 1876. The anger of "the white man" toward "the red man" was stronger than ever. A year later, Crazy Horse was captured and executed. Sitting Bull, too, would eventually face what the white man would call "justice," in 1890, at Standing Rock, South Dakota, not long before the last major battle with the Natives, called Wounded Knee.

The most familiar photograph of Sitting Bull.

There is no known photograph of Crazy Horse,

due to a Native superstition about a camera "capturing the soul."

The battle was nicknamed Custer's Last Stand, and Custer was seen as a hero. In truth, he was an unearned egomaniac, and deserves to be ridiculed by history.

The site of the battle is now part of the Crow Indian Reservation, in the southeastern part of the State of Montana. The closest city is Billings, 60 miles to the northwest. The closest major league city is Denver, nearly 500 miles south -- unless you consider the Canadian Football League to be a "major league," in which case the closest is Regina, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 460 miles northeast.

In 1960, novelty singer Larry Verne had a Number 1 hit with "Mr. Custer." Even by the standards of that time, in which Westerns dominated television and were still big in movies, it was racist as hell toward Natives. It also perpetuated the myth of the cavalry charge order, "Forward, ho!" No such order has ever existed in the U.S. Army.

June 23, 2016: The Brexit Referendum

June 23, 2016, 10 years ago: Voters in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland vote to leave the European Union in a national referendum. It was called "Brexit," short for "British Exit," in the leadup to the vote.

Britain had been a member of the European Communities since 1973, and of its successor, the European Union, since 1993. But many of its citizens were angry about the E.U. dictating economic policy, especially trade policy. And many (with considerable overlap with the previous group) were angry about the E.U.'s immigration laws, making Europe as a whole, and Britain in particular, more black, brown, and Muslim -- and less white and Christian.

Some voters admitted that they didn't really want to separate from the European Union, they just wanted to "send a message" to them. The message they intended to send was, "Respect us more." The message the EU received was, "We don't want you, so we're fucking off." The final vote was 17,410,742 for "Leave," and 16,141,241 for "Remain." Percentage-wise, that's 51.9 to 48.1.

As with American national elections, the city vote and the country vote were very different. In England, the vote was 53.4 Leave, 46.6 Remain. Most of the cities, including London, Liverpool and Manchester, voted to Remain. But the suburbs and the countryside vote to Leave. Wales was 52.5 Leave, 47.5 Remain. But Scotland was 62.0 to 38.0 Remain. Northern Ireland was 55.8 to 44.2 Remain, with the Catholic precincts being largely Remain, but its Protestant precincts were largely Leave. (The Republic of Ireland is an E.U. member, and has no desire to change that.)

The result? Within hours, Britain's financial markets crashed. In 48 hours, the pound lost 1/5th of its value, although, within the week, it recovered to the point where the loss was "only" 1/8th of its value. Prime Minister David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, was forced to resign both posts on July 13, 2016.

His successor, Theresa May, didn't complete the Leave process fast enough for the "Brexit Means Brexit" crowd, and she was forced out of office on July 24, 2019, giving the job to Boris Johnson, Britain's 1st openly bigoted Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher was forced out in 1990.

Soon, the people behind a recent failed referendum on Scottish independence began talking about a new referendum, on whether Scotland should leave the U.K. and rejoin the E.U.

On June 3, 2026, nearly 10 years after the referendum, a poll by Statista Research Department showed that 57 percent of British citizens thought Leave was a mistake, while only 30 percent thought it was right -- a net shift of 13 points. Statista called it "Bregret."

A YouGov poll showed that thinking Leave was a mistake was an opinion held by 56 percent of people in England, 61 percent in Wales, and 75 percent in Scotland.

It may just be that, by the time the Duke of Cambridge becomes King William V, he will reign over "The United Kingdom of England-but-not-London-or-Merseyside and East Belfast," a stagnant country, while London, Liverpool, Wales, Scotland and a united Ireland are in a thriving European Union. And those left behind will have not buyer's remorse, but seller's remorse.

June 23, 1926: Aimee Semple McPherson Is Found

June 23, 1926, 100 years ago: Aimee Semple McPherson is found, safe and sound. Well, safe, anyway.

She was born as Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy on October 9, 1890 in Oxford, Ontario, Canada. Her mother worked with the poor in Salvation Army soup kitchens, and little Aimee preached sermons to her dolls, and then to her classmates. But she eventually deviated from this by reading novels and going to movies and dances.

In 1907, at age 17, she went to a revival meeting, where she met Robert J. Semple, a Pentecostal missionary from Ireland. She gave herself to him, body and soul, marrying him in a Salvation Army ceremony and preaching by his side.

But this marriage ended on a 1910 tour of China, when he died of dysentery, leaving her alone and pregnant, through no fault of either of them. Her daughter, Roberta Semple, was subsequently born in Hong Kong. Already well-known as "Sister Aimee," she ministered to her fellow passengers on the ship back to America.

She went back to working for her mother with the Salvation Army. In 1912, in New York, she met Harold McPherson, and married him. Their son, Rolf McPherson, was born the next year. After having her appendix taken out in 1914, she claimed to hear a voice telling her to go back to preaching. In 1915, she left Harold, took the children, went back to preaching, and, a few weeks later, sent him a note, asking him to join her.

He must have still loved her, because he sold their house, and they lived out of what they called their "Gospel Car," a series of vehicles that culminated in the most famous of these, a 1918 Oldsmobile. But, by 1918, he wanted a more stable life, and went back to Rhode Island, and sued for divorce, citing "abandonment."

Maybe he should have waited just a little longer. At this time, she settled in Los Angeles, and in 1923, opened the 5,300-seat Angelus Temple for her Foursquare Church. She got 40 million visitors within the 1st 7 years. She embraced the nascent medium of radio, and broadcast her Pentecostal sermons to the growing metropolis of Southern California. Her voice was one of those that made "The Roaring Twenties" roar.

Her politics were all over the place. She denounced Communism as "ruling without God," and denounced fascism as "wrongly stating to represent the power of God." She was among the earliest Americans to support a Jewish homeland in what was then called Palestine. In 1925, she broadcast her support of the prosecution of John T. Scopes in the Tennessee "monkey trial." But she also supported organized labor, saying, "A gangster's money is no more unclean than the dollars of the man who amasses his millions from underpaid factory workers."

On May 18, 1926, at the age of 35, and with her fame still rising, she went to Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica. When she didn't return to her beach blanket, it was feared she had drowned. After a month of searching, including receiving fake leads, some of them ransom notes, and wild speculation from the tabloid journalism of the time, Mildred Kennedy, who had come to Los Angeles, decided that her daughter was dead, and held a memorial service at Angelus Temple on June 20.

But on June 23, Mrs. Kennedy got a phone call from Douglas, Arizona. Aimee was alive there, at a hospital. She said that, on the beach, she had been approached by a couple who wanted her to pray over their sick child. She went with them to their car, where she was knocked out by chloroform. She was taken to the Mexican desert, but escaped, walked for hours, collapsing in the border town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. She was taken across the border to Douglas, where she recuperated before returning to Los Angeles.

The newspaper barons smelled a rat, and contributed $500,000 to a grand jury investigation. It was determined that she had made the whole thing up. The story that was released was that she and a former employee, Kenneth Ormiston, had run off together, to a California resort town, and then to Mexico. He had gone along with her proposed story of a kidnapping, and dropped her off in Agua Prieta, where she walked not for 17 hours, but for one.

She stood by her story for the rest of her life, but on November 3, Aimee, her mother, Ormiston and others who assisted her were indicted for criminal conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice. Ormiston took a bullet for her by identifying another woman as the one who stayed with him. With the evidence against her falling apart, the charges were dismissed on January 10, 1927. 

Sister Aimee's disappearance may have inspired British mystery writer Agatha Christie to try the same thing, later in the year.

She had fallen out of favor with the press, and even with her mother. So she took to a new medium: Film. As we would say today, she glammed herself up, and became an early darling of the newsreels. She married for a 3rd time in 1932, to singer David Hutton. Despite her own previous hypocrisy, she was infuriated by his billing of himself as "Aimee's man" in his cabaret act, and was often photographed with scantily clad women. She divorced him in 1934.

When World War II began, she was fully supportive of the Allied effort: "It is the Bible against Mein Kampf. It is the Cross against the Swastika. It is God against the Antichrist of Japan... This is no time for pacifism." (Another cleric in mass communication, Bishop Fulton Sheen, also compared symbols with the Nazi Swastika, taking to the radio and calling World War II "the Cross against the Double Cross.")

In 1942, she sold $150,000 worth of war bonds in a single hour, and she matched this achievement in 1944. She collected 2,800 pints of blood for the Red Cross. She organized drives for rubber and gasoline, and instead of driving her latest Gospel Car to and from the Angelus Temple, she began driving a horse and buggy, to emphasize conservation for the war effort. Choosing to forget her indiscretion of 18 years earlier, Newsweek called her "The World's Greatest Living Minister."

She wasn't living for much longer. On September 26, 1944, she died from an overdose of sleeping pills, apparently a mistake, at a hotel in Oakland, where she had planned a revival. She was only 53 years old.

Aimee's mother, Mildred Kennedy, outlived her, lasting until 1947. Her daughter, Roberta Semple, married Harry Salter, a radio producer. Together, they went on to develop early TV game shows, including the original version of Name That Tune. She lived until 2007, at age 96. Her son, Dr. Rolf McPherson, led the Foursquare Church from then until his retirement in 1988. He lived until 2009, also 96.

Cincinnati Makes Both New York Teams See Red

Last week, the Cincinnati Reds came to New York, first to play the Mets, then an Interleague series with the Yankees. They embarrassed the Mets (who usually don't need help in embarrassing themselves), 12-0, before getting a more conventional 5-3 win, and then the Mets salvaged the finale, 9-1.

Off to The Bronx. Cam Schlittler took the mound for the Yanks on Friday night, and the only way he could have been much better is if Brian Cashman had let him. In 6 innings, he allowed no runs, 4 hits, no walks, and struck out 13 batters. But he threw 96 pitches (66 of them for strikes), and Aaron Boone is under orders.

On the other hand, the Yankees already had a 4-0 lead, thanks to 2nd-inning home runs by Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice. So why risk their phenom any more than is necessary? Anthony Volpe added an RBI single in the 8th inning; and Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and David Bednar each pitched a hitless inning to complete the 4-hit shutout. Yankees 5, Reds 0.

Will Warren started on Saturday afternoon. He struck out the side in the top of the 1st inning. Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run in the bottom of the 1st. Things were looking good for the Yankees. 

But Warren allowed a 2-run double in the 3rd, and then came the 5th, starting with an error by the man who has been the Yankees' best player this season, Ben Rice; followed by a groundout, a double, a sacrifice fly, a walk, and a 3-run homer. Ryan Yarbrough had a rotten 8th inning, and the Reds got 4 more, looking like the Big Red Machine of the 1970s. The Yankees pulled a run back in the bottom of the 8th, but never got close. The Reds won, 10-2.

For Goldschmidt, it was his 12th home run of the year, and the 384th of his career. This meant that, on the all-time home run list, he passed Larry Walker, and tied Harold Baines. Next up, at 385, are Dwight Evans and... his own teammate, Aaron Judge, injured and stuck on 385.

Elmer Rodríguez was called back up to start the Sunday game. He got through the 1st 3 innings okay, and was given a 1-0 lead on a Rice home run. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. He walked the leadoff man in the top of the 4th, then got 2 strikeouts, and then allowed a single and a homer. He walked the leadoff man in the 5th, and Boone pulled him, and Tim Hill got out of the inning without more damage.

Rodríguez has made 4 major league appearances, all starts, all this season, all for the Yankees. He is 0-2, is averaging 4 1/3rd innings per start, and has a 4.76 ERA and a 1.765 ERA. He turns 23 in August. He is not ready for the major leagues. Maybe he will be, next season. But not yet.

At any rate, the Yankees left 8 men on base, the Reds tacked on another run in the 9th, and they won, 4-1. They came into New York, took 2 out of 3 from the Mets, and then did the same to the Yankees.

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Despite the bad series, the Yankees are 46-30, which is the best record in the American League, with the regular season about 47 percent complete. They lead the AL Eastern Division by 2 games, over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Toronto Blue Jays are 8 1/2 back, the Baltimore Orioles are 10 1/2 back, and the Boston Red Sox are 14 1/2 back. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, the Rays trail by 1, the Jays 9, the O's 12, and the Sox 14.

Rodríguez has, rightly, been sent back down. So have Bird and backup catcher J.C. Escarra. Catcher Austin Wells has been reinstated from the Injured List. As for other notable injuries:

* Trent Grisham: Boone says he's "performing light on-field agility exercises," and, "We're really encouraged by how well he's doing." He could be back by July 1.

* Giancarlo Stanton: An MRI on June 15 showed an injury setback. He might return sometime in July, but don't expect him back before the All-Star Break.

* Max Fried: Had a bullpen session on June 19. Boone said he might resume facing hitters by the end of June, or early in July. Presumably, that means a minor-league rehab appearance. Two weeks, plus 4 minor-league starts, would put his return at around the early-to-mid-20s in July.

* Clarke Schmidt: Had a bullpen session on June 17. Boone said he is "a couple of weeks out" from facing hitters. This sounds like the same schedule as Fried.

* Aaron Judge: Will be reevaluated on July 17, which is the 1st day back after the All-Star Break. That doesn't mean he'll be reinstated that day, only that they'll check his recovery process. If he's back before August 1, I will be surprised.

* Luis Gil: Resumed throwing on June 14. Expected back in August.

The Yankees have hit the road, and begin a series against the Tigers in Detroit tonight.

June 22, 1986: Diego Maradona's "Hand of God"

June 22, 1986, 40 years ago: A World Cup Quarterfinal match is played between England and Argentina, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. In the 51st minute, Argentina's star, Diego Maradona, slaps the ball with his left hand, and it goes past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead.

The referee, Ali Bin Nasser of Tunisia, gave the goal. There was no Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in those days. Maradona's postgame comments gave the goal its name: "The Hand of God." It is the most famous cheat in the history of sports on planet Earth.

Five minutes later, with the England players still in angry shock, Maradona scored again, a dizzying display of dribbling ending with a great shot that became known as "The Goal of the Century." Gary Lineker scored in the 81st minute, but England got no closer, and were out, 2-1.

If Nasser had correctly waved the 1st goal off, would Maradona have scored the 2nd? Would the England players have been able to stop him? Would they then have won 1-0 thanks to Lineker's goal? Would they then have beaten Belgium in the Semifinal, as Argentina did? Would they then have beaten West Germany in the Final, as Argentina did? We'll never know.

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César Luis Menotti managed Argentina to the 1978 World Cup win. A Socialist, the opposite of his country's government at the time, he said:

There's a right-wing football and a left-wing football. Right-wing football wants to suggest that life is struggle. It demands sacrifices. We have to become of steel and win by any method... obey and function, that's what those with power want from the players. That's how they create retards, useful idiots that go with the system.

In contrast, by 1986, the ruling military junta was gone, and Argentina had a more liberal government. Its World Cup team was managed by Carlos Bilardo, a physician who had played as a midfielder who helped Estudiantes de La Plata win 3 straight Copas Libertadores (South America's version of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League) in 1968, '69 and '70. He had been a league winner with Estudiantes as a player in 1967, and as their manager in 1982.

Like Menotti, he believed in free-flowing football; and, in Maradona (who starred with Boca Juniors and Italian team Napoli), Jorge Valdano (a forward for Real Madrid, known as "The Philosopher of Football"), and Jorge Burruchaga (a midfielder who starred for Avellenada team Independiente, now with French team Nantes), he had the team for it. After beating England in the Quarterfinal, they beat Belgium in the Semifinal.

Franz Beckenbauer had starred for Bayern Munich, and captained West Germany to the 1974 World Cup. Now, he was their manager, and they were not merely loaded, but fired up to win the World Cup, after losing the 1982 Final to Italy.

Bayern presented Die Mannschaft with midfielder Lothar Matthäus, and their former forward, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, was now at Italy's Internazionale Milano, and served as the Captain. Werder Bremen produced forward Rudy Völler. Hamburger SV produced forward Felix Magath. And goalkeeper Harald Schumacher came from FC Köln in Cologne. They advanced to the Final.

NBC broadcast the game live in America. Argentina had taken a 2-0 2nd half lead, on goals by José Luis Brown of French club Stade Brestois in the 23rd, and Valdano in the 56th. Rummenigge scored in the 74th minute, and Völler scored in the 81st, and West Germany had tied the game.

No team had ever blown a 2-goal lead in a World Cup Final before, and it was just desserts for Argentina, due to Maradona's "Hand of God" in the Quarterfinal. But Burruchaga spared his homeland's blushes by scoring the winning goal in the 84th minute.

Argentina had now won 2 World Cups -- both under incredibly dubious circumstances. And least this one was won while they had a democratic government.

The teams played each other again in the 1990 Final, with Germany winning that one. It remains the only Final ever to be a rematch of the preceding World Cup's Final. A unified Germany faced Argentina in the 2014 Final, and Germany won.

Maradona died in 2021, a few days after his 60th birthday. His unrepentant treachery lives on.