May 16, 2006: The Yankees Win a Game for Me (Or So It Seemed)

In the 2005 U.S. film adaptation of Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch, Jimmy Fallon played Ben Wrightman, a high school math teacher, a baseball coach, and a fanatic Boston Red Sox fan. One of his students/players asks him, "You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?"

Fallon must be a good actor: In real life, he is a fan of the Red Sox' arch-rivals, the New York Yankees.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I am also a Yankee Fan. (I usually try to write that with capital letters: Capital Y, Capital F.) I have loved the Yankees since the 1977 season, for nearly 50 years.

Have they ever loved me back? One time, it felt like they did, and at a time when I really needed it.

May 16, 2006, 20 years ago: My mother and I returned to my grandmother's house in Brick, not far from the Jersey Shore, for the first time since her death, 5 days earlier. I was still in a daze, not really in the right frame of mind to go through the place, and to see what I wanted to take back home. It was once a house full of comfort for me -- my safe zone, my happy place. Now, it felt completely empty. Even her cat wasn't there: Mom had already taken him with her.

We were met outside by Grandma's across-the-street neighbor. Sadly, I can't remember her name. For 5 years, they had gone together to games of the nearby minor-league baseball team, the Lakewood BlueClaws (now named the Jersey Shore BlueClaws). Grandma was a Met fan, and a Brooklyn Dodger fan before that, but the neighbor was a Yankee Fan.

I told her not to watch the Yankee game: Apparently, having no connection to Grandma, the Yankees were also in a daze: Playing at the old Yankee Stadium, they fell behind the Texas Rangers, 9-0 after 2 innings. Starting pitcher Shawn Chacón had nothing, and reliever Aaron Small didn't have much more.

But the Yankees stormed back. Derek Jeter hit a home run in the 6th to give them an 11-10 lead. But Joe Torre trusted Scott Proctor to pitch the 7th, and, as he did so often, he blew it, making it 12-11 Rangers. The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning, and then Mariano Rivera allowed a run in the 9th, making it 13-12 Rangers. In the bottom of the 9th, Johnny Damon singled, and Jorge Posada hit a home run. Final score: Yankees 14, Rangers 13.

It was the first time I could remember feeling good since it became clear that Grandma wasn't going to make it. And, for the first time, I felt like the Yankees had actually won a game just for me.

But I've always felt a little guilty about telling the neighbor not to watch the game. Hopefully, she's since seen it on the YES Network's Yankees Classics.

The next day, Arsenal lost the UEFA Champions League Final, under dubious circumstances. And I knew nothing about it at the time. I'm glad I didn't: Being an established Arsenal fan, and then losing that right after Grandma's death and funeral, might have been more than I could bear at the time. I guess God knew I wasn't ready for it.

May 16, 1986: "Top Gun" Premieres

Kelly McGillis and Tom Cruise

May 16, 1986, 40 years ago: Top Gun premieres, directed by Tony Scott -- at this point, better known as the younger brother of director Ridley Scott. It was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and would prove to be typical of Bruckheimer fare.

This was not a film to watch while you were actually on a plane. Unfortunately, I did, on a flight from Orlando to Newark the following November, which was nearly as rough as the flight scenes.

The name "Top Gun" refers to the U.S. Navy's Fighter Weapons School, at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

This was a typical 1980s movie. It is full of swagger and smiles and patriotism, like the man then President of the United States. And, just like said President, it is all phony as hell. Including the fact that, had these events actually happened, it would have meant World War III.

Yes, Top Gun, like so much about the 1980s, is phony. Right down to the main couple: Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. At least Kelly now admits that she's gay in real life.

The critics were mixed -- sometimes with themselves. Gene Siskel, like his At the Movies TV partner Roger Ebert, liked the action scenes, but he didn't like the romantic subplot, writing that "It belongs in a teenage sex-fantasy film, and not in a movie that deserves the genuine romantic value of An Officer and a Gentleman." And Pauline Kael said the film suggested that it was "as if narcissism is what being a warrior is all about."

Nevertheless, Top Gun was the highest-grossing film of 1986. It helped inspire the spoof films Hot Shots! in 1991 and Team America: World Police in 2004, but also the series TV series Pensacola: Wings of Gold and JAG -- and, indirectly, the NCIS franchise that started as a spinoff of JAG.

Nostalgia can be a powerful thing. The sequel, Top Gun: Maverick -- named for the call sign of Cruise's character, Pete Mitchell -- became the highest-grossing film of 2022. Apparently, it's okay for Cruise to still play Maverick at the age of 60, but it wasn't okay for Roger Moore to still play James Bond in his 50s.

The sequel even worked Val Kilmer's fatal illness into the plot, as, with the aid of a voice replicator, Kilmer was able to play one final role, returning as former "Iceman" Tom Kazansky, and give Maverick his dying approval.

In the 2023 film The Flash, the titular superhero's messing with the timeline resulted in a rearrangement of some classic 1980s films: Eric Stoltz was not replaced as Marty McFly by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, Fox played Ren McCormack in Footloose instead of Kevin Bacon, Bacon played Maverick instead of Cruise in Top Gun, and Cruise was not mentioned, although Top Gun was hardly his first big movie, so he likely still had a big career.

May 16, 1976: Montreal Produces Hockey's Triumph of Skill Over Violence

Left to right: Serge Savard (18), Larry Robinson (19),

Yvan Cournoyer (12), Guy Lapointe (5), Jacques Lemaire (25).

This looks more like the Boston Garden than The Spectrum,

So it could be the 1977 or the 1978 clincher, instead of 1976.

May 16, 1976, 50 years ago: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3 at The Spectrum, and clinch a 4-game sweep for the Stanley Cup, defeating the 2-time defending Champions. The slogan "Hat Trick in '76" did not come true for the "Broad Street Bullies."

Coached by Scotty Bowman, the Canadiens had gone 12-1 during the Playoffs. That remains the best postseason record since the 1967 expansion. (The 1960 Canadiens and the 1952 Detroit Red Wings went 8-0 -- in the Wings' case, the 8 wins needed inspiring the creation of the throwing of the 8-legged octopus onto the ice.)

The Canadiens had 9 Hall-of-Famers on their roster: Goaltender Ken Dryden; defensemen Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard and Larry Robinson; center Jacques Lemaire; left wings Steve Shutt and Bob Gainey; and right wings Yvan Cournoyer (their Captain) and the man who would go on to become the franchise's all-time leading scorer, Guy Lafleur. Arguably, they should be joined by centers Doug Risebrough and Doug Jarvis (who would eventually hold the NHL's record for consecutive games played, since broken). 

They would make this the 1st of 4 straight Stanley Cups for Les Habitantes, and help the NHL move away from the era epitomized by the Flyers and Boston's "Big Bad Bruins" into one of style and flair, later exemplified in the 1980s by the Edmonton Oilers. In between those 2 dynasties, the New York Islanders would combine the formats.

*

May 16, 1976 was a Sunday. The World Hockey Association Playoffs were a little behind the NHL. The Houston Aeros, 2-time defending WHA Champions, beat the New England Whalers, 2-0 at The Summit in Houston, to reach the Finals for the 3rd straight season. But they were swept in 4 straight by the Winnipeg Jets. (The Summit is now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

May 16, 1966: The Greatest Day In American Music -- and a Bad Day In China

Left to right: Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson,

Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine

May 16, 1966, 60 years ago: Was this the greatest day in the history of American music? Three epochal events happened. No one fully realized just how epochal until later.

The Beach Boys released their album Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson -- born on June 20, 1942, 2 days after Paul McCartney of The Beatles -- admitted that Pet Sounds was his response to the Beatle album Rubber Soul, released on December 3, 1965. Wilson viewed Pet Sounds as a solo album, and attributed its inspiration partly to his marijuana use, and an LSD-rooted spiritual awakening. 

He said he aimed to create "the greatest rock album ever made," surpassing Rubber Soul, and extending the innovations of producer Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound." This explains the use of an orchestra, and some instruments that even Spector hadn't used before.

It included 2 of the group's most-loved singles, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which led off Side A, and "God Only Knows," which led off Side B. It also included "Sloop John B," an adaptation of the folk song "The Wreck of the John B." Oddly, given how much it sounds like it's in the spirit of the album, it does not include "Good Vibrations," which became the group's 3rd and last Number 1 hit, and is often called their greatest song.

John Lennon, the other main creative voice in The Beatles, said Brian was "doing some very great things." With Revolver about to be released on August 5, McCartney later said that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on June 1, 1967, was his -- if not his band's -- response to Pet Sounds. Brian tried to top it with Smile, but, battling his inner demons, was unable to finish it.

Along with The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and The Band, Lifehouse by The Who, The Black Album by Prince, and Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses, Smile became one of the great talked-about-but-unreleased albums in rock and roll history. Of course, all of these were eventually released. In Smile's case, in 1993.

*

On the same day, the aforementioned Bob Dylan released his album Blonde On Blonde. He's never said it was a response to anything.

Neither the name of the performer

nor the title of the album was on the front cover.

Bob already had that much oomph.

One of the things I love about Bob is that he came up with such great song titles. One of the things that drives me crazy about him is that sometimes, those titles are not mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, making it hard for someone who hears the song, but not the title, to know it. Typical of this is the song that leads off the album, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," better known by its chorus: "Everybody Must Get Stoned."

"I Want You" and "Just Like a Woman" were hit singles. The 9-verse, 7-minute "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" is fantastic. I once discovered that it fit the rhythm of Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat," and imagined Dylan singing it to the tune. The album also includes "Visions of Johanna" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

It's a double album, 4 sides, although the 4th and last side is just 1 song, the 11-minute-23-second "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." Based on the lyrics, and the word "lowlands," we can presume that this song, along with some of the other songs on the album, were written about Sara Lownds, to whom he was married from 1965 to 1977. Their breakup inspired Dylan's best post-crash album, Blood On the Tracks, in 1975.

I say "post-crash" because, on July 29, 1966, just 76 days after releasing the album, Dylan was badly hurt in a motorcycle crash near his home in Woodstock, in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. He didn't record again for nearly a year, and didn't tour again until 1974.

In 1987, celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine named its 100 Greatest Albums, though not limiting it to just the last 20 years. Sgt. Pepper came in 1st, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen 2nd, Blonde on Blonde 3rd, and Pet Sounds 8th.

The magazine dropped Blonde on Blonde to 9th in 2003, and all the way to 38th in 2020. Perhaps there were 6 better albums released between 1987 and 2003, but there's no way in hell that 29 better albums were released between 2003 and 2020.

Pet Sounds was ranked 8th in 1987, rose to 2nd in 2003, and kept that honor in 2020. Sgt. Pepper has remained 1st.

*

Those 2 albums being released on the same day would make the day epic enough. But, also on that day, Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, outside Chicago. The youngest of the 9 singing siblings, she not only became the 2nd-most successful among them, but, by 1986, was able to establish her own "brand," separate from her megastar brother Michael, although they did occasionally work together. Judged solely on her own merits, she also became one of the biggest music stars in the world.

And, while this has nothing to do with music, another celebrity was born on the day: Thurman Thomas, running back for the Buffalo Bills, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

*

Unfortunately, May 16, 1966 was also the day that Chinese dictator Mao Zedong began what he called the Cultural Revolution. In 1958, he launched a plan to transform China into a modern industrialized state, a plan he called "the Great Leap Forward." He thought that establishing "people's communes" in the countryside, focused mostly on producing steel, would be a good way to go about it.

Taking people who only knew farming and getting them to leave their fields to become steelworkers had worked in America, earlier in the 20th Century. But that was by those men's own choices, because they believed that packing everything up and leaving the South to go North, or West, and learn the necessary skills, however hard it might be, was a better life than living in segregation and rural poverty -- a poverty so bad, it made white men as well as black ones leave.

In contrast, Mao was forcing his decision on people who didn't ask for it, and were completely unprepared for it, and over 30 million people starved to death. Li Jingquan, the Party boss in Sichuan, told Mao that 10.6 million people had died in his province alone by 1961.

In terms of numbers, the Great Leap Forward may have been the greatest blunder in human history. But there's a big difference between a blunder and a crime.

Mao abandoned the program after getting the numbers. Thereafter, moderates in China reversed many of the Great Leap Forward policies, and even began cutting Mao out of economic decision-making. Having an ego as big as his country, Mao didn't like this. In 1964, he saw that the Soviet Union had removed Nikita Khrushchev from power, and figured the same thing could happen to him, and he needed to do something about it. So he determined who had questionable loyalty, and secured his position by removing them from powerful positions, replacing them with sycophants.

Then, on May 16, 1966, there was a "notification": Mao declared the beginning of what he called the "Cultural Revolution." He said the moderate approaches that followed the catastrophe of the Great Leap Forward were bad, and that the Communist Party of China had to re-impose Maoism.

He called on his cult followers to rise up in violent class struggle, proclaiming, "To rebel is justified." On January 5, 1964, he published Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (that's how his name was usually written in English during his lifetime). By 1966, he had over 1 billion copies of this "Little Red Book" made up, so that it could fit in the pocket of every person in China. (The country didn't have a billion people yet, but it would become the 1st country to reach that figure.) Among the better-known of these quotations:

* "War is a continuation of politics."

* "Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed."

* "In waking a tiger, use a long stick."

* "Despise the enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically."

* "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

* "All reactionaries are paper tigers."

Countless people were persecuted, massacres were abundant, and millions more died. And, because intelligent people are more likely to question the leader, intellectuals were maligned, and schools were closed. In an intentionally cruel reversal of his Great Leap Forward, Mao forcefully transported 17 million young, urban intellectuals to the countryside to be made to work as farmers, as punishment for their less-than-fully-loyal thinking.

All of this proved every bit as ineffective, if not as fatal. By 1971, knowing that the Cultural Revolution was failing, and that his health was also beginning to fail, Mao was willing to meet with the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Mao died in 1976, and the power struggle thereafter was won by Deng Xiaoping. Because he was willing to experiment with free-market reforms, he was able to do what Mao was not: Turn China into a modern industrial nation -- though still a brutal totalitarian regime.

May 14, 1996: Dwight Gooden's No-Hitter

May 14, 1996, 30 years ago: For the 2nd time in 72 hours, following Al Leiter pitching the 1st no-hitter in Florida Marlins history, a former Met finishes off a no-hitter. This one really hurts Met fans, because it's something they never could have imagined 10 years ago when they were heading toward an "inevitable" World Championship, or even 2 months ago: Dwight Gooden pitching a no-hitter… for the Yankees.

Pitching for the Mets, at the ages of 19 and 20, Gooden was one of the best pitchers anyone had ever seen. At 21, he was less than that, but still very good, and a World Series winner. At 22 and 23, he was still one of the best pitchers in baseball, but had already become addicted to alcohol and cocaine and gone through rehab once.

At 24, he missed half the season due to injury. At 25, he was really good again. But the injuries and the substance abuse piled up. At 26, 27 and 28, when he should have been at his peak, he was just another pitcher. At 29, he was busted for drugs again. At 30, he sat out the entire year with a suspension.

At 31, he was signed by the Yankees, as team owner George Steinbrenner was a sucker for 2 things: A redemption story, and anything that made the Mets look bad. Gooden came into the game of May 14, against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium, with a record of 1-3 and an ERA of 5.67. It was becoming clear that the only reason he was in the rotation was that his former Mets teammate, David Cone, who was supposed to be the Yankees' ace, would be out with an injury until September.

On this night, he would be facing a team that had beaten the Yankees in the previous season's Playoffs, the Seattle Mariners. Their lineup no longer had Tino Martinez, whom the Yankees had obtained in an off-season trade, but it had Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, and a not-quite-21-year-old Alex Rodriguez. And if that wasn't enough, Gooden was pitching knowing that his father was scheduled for heart surgery the next morning.

And the Yankees had trouble backing him up. It took them until the top of the 6th inning to score. Wade Boggs led off with a single, Joe Girardi singled (and was probably wondering why Mariner starter Sterling Hitchcock, part of the Tino trade, was still pitching despite a shutout to this point), Paul O'Neill advanced the runners with a groundout, Rubén Sierra was walked intentionally, Tino got Boggs home with a sacrifice fly, and Jim Leyritz singled home Girardi. At this point, Yankee Legend turned Mariner manager Lou Piniella was so flustered, he brought Michael Jackson in to pitch. (Not that one.)

Gooden began the game with a walk, and walked another batter in the 1st inning. Good fielding helped him get out of it. He walked a batter in the 2nd, and another in the 3rd. Tino made an error in the 6th. But the man once known as "Doctor K" for his many strikeouts, and now, usually, as just plain "Doc," kept getting out of it, without allowing a run, or even a hit.

Gooden took the mound for the top of the 9th, with only a 2-0 lead, and a famous "short porch" behind him in right field. He still had to worry about winning the game first, and making history second. He walked A-Rod. He got Griffey to ground out to Tino, unassisted, which advanced Griffey to 2nd. He walked Edgar. Now, the tying runs were on base. With Buhner up, he threw a wild pitch. Now, the tying runs were in scoring position.

Gooden struck Buhner out. It was only his 5th strikeout, to 6 walks -- but no hits. The game fell into the hands of Paul Sorrento. He popped up to short, and the Yankees' rookie shortstop, Derek Jeter, caught it for the last out.

Ballgame over: Yankees 2, Mariners 0. Dwight Gooden had pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees.

This was the 1st indication that this season, the 1st of the post-Don Mattingly era, might be something special.

I had the chance to go to this game. I had the time, the money, and the day off. I decided against it, because I didn’t want to mess with rush hour traffic (road and subway) in New York. I chose instead to see the game the following Saturday afternoon. The Yankees lost that game to the Milwaukee Brewers, and a broken water main in Times Square meant it took me ages to get back to Port Authority. That'll teach me.

Gooden finished the season 11-7, with a 5.01 ERA. Manager Joe Torre left him off the postseason roster, due to exhaustion.

Dan Gooden, Dwight's father, survived the surgery, performed in their hometown of Tampa, but never fully recovered, and died the following January 12, at the age of 69.

After pitching for Cleveland, Houston and Tampa Bay, Gooden returned to the Yankees in 2000, appearing in 1 game each of the AL Division Series and Championship Series. He did not appear in the World Series -- against the Mets -- but the Yankees won it. Gooden then retired, just short of his 36th birthday.

His career record was 194-112. His ERA was 3.51. He struck out 2,293 batters. It wasn't just the substance abuse that shortened his career: It was multiple injuries, too, injuries that had nothing to do with amber liquid or white powder. He might have stayed totally clean, and still not made the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Mets elected him to their team Hall of Fame, and retired his Number 16. He won 2 World Series with the Yankees, 1 with the Mets. He has appeared at both teams' Old-Timers Day celebrations.

Not a Good Way to Go Into the Series With the Mets

For the Yankees, Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore has often been a home away from home. Not this week.

Ryan Weathers started on Monday night, and took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, striking out 9. But the Yankees didn't hit for him, either. Ben Rice hit a home run in the 3rd inning, but they stranded 2 runners in the 1st, stranded 1 in the 3rd, wasted a leadoff double by Aaron Judge in the 6th, and wasted a 1-out double by Max Scheumann in the 7th.

Weathers ran out of gas in the 7th, allowing a single and a walk. Aaron Boone, as he occasionally does in such situations, panicked, and brought in Brent Headrick. He gave up a home run to Colby Mayo, turning a 2-0 Yankee lead into a 3-2 Oriole lead. That would be the final score, as the Yankees got just 1 baserunner in the last 2 innings.

Will Warren started on Tuesday night, and got into the 6th inning, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. This time, the Yankees hit right away: Paul Goldschmidt hit the 1st pitch of the game for a home run. It was the 376th of his career, surpassing the still-active Manny Machado, and tying Carlton Fisk. Next up, at 377: Norm Cash and Jeff Kent.

Austin Wells led off the top of the 3rd with a single. After Goldschmidt flew out, Judge and Rice drew walks to load the bases. Cody Bellinger grounded into a force play that scored Wells, Amed Rosario singled Judge home, and Trent Grisham hit a home run. That was enough, as the bullpen allowed no more runs. Yankees 6, Orioles 2.

But yesterday's game was a disaster -- perhaps not just on the scoreboard. Max Fried started, and had to leave with arm stiffness after allowing 3 runs in 3 innings. We finally got Carlos Rodón off the Injured List, and Gerrit Cole will be coming off it soon, and now, we may have to put Fried on it.

Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough were no better, and it wouldn't have mattered if they were. Here are all the Yankee baserunners on the day: Grisham led off the game with a walk, but was eliminated by Judge grounding into a double play; a Chisholm double and a Spencer Jones walk in the 5th; a Rice walk in the 6th; a Jones walk in the 8th, erased when J.C. Escarra grounded into a double play; and a leadoff walk by Grisham in the 9th, stranded.

Orioles 7, Yankees 0, the worst game of the season.

We can now officially say that the Yankees are in a slump. They have lost 6 of their last 8. They trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 2 games in the American League Eastern Division, 3 in the All-Important Loss Column.

They had today off. Then, it's a weekend series, against The Other Team at Pity Field. Getting at least 2 out of 3 is an absolute must. Here are the projected pitching matchups:

* Friday, 1st pitch 7:15 PM: Cam Schlittler vs. former Yankee reliever Clay Holmes.

* Saturday, 7:15: Carlos Rodón vs. a pitcher to be determined (TBD). If the Mets hold to their rotation, it will be Huascar Brazobán.

* Sunday, 1:40: Ryan Weathers vs. TBD. If the Mets hold to their rotation, it will be Freddy Peralta.

May 14, 1951: TV's 1st Sitcom Is Blacklisted

Gertrude Berg (left) and Philip Loeb

May 14, 1951, 75 years ago: American TV's 1st sitcom is canceled, because its creator and star stood up for her co-star when he was blacklisted.

Gertrude Berg had created the radio program The Rise of the Goldbergs for NBC radio in 1929. From the beginning, she played Molly Goldberg, described by an announcer as "a woman with a place in every heart and a finger in every pie." In 1936, it moved to CBS and became simply The Goldbergs.

According to the show, Molly lived at 1038 East Tremont Avenue in The Bronx, New York City, with her husband Jake, their son Sammy, their daughter Rosalie, and Molly's Uncle David. The generation gap was typical of immigrant families in America at the time: David, who came over on the boat, was still very much an "old country" man; Molly and Jake, who had grown up in New York, wanted to be Americans without giving up any of their Jewish heritage; while Sammy and Rosalie wanted to be totally assimilated.

Berg was not averse to incorporating serious real-world issues which affected Jewish families. One 1939 episode addressed Nazi Germany, including a rock through the family window as the Goldbergs had their Passover Seder. Other episodes during World War II alluded to friends or family members trying to escape the Holocaust.

But these were sporadic deviations from the show's main theme of family, neighborhood and the balance between old world values and new world assimilation. Molly shows viewers the strong matriarch she is by constantly helping others with their dilemmas, and proving to be the hero time and time again.

The role of husband Jake Goldberg was originally played by Himan Brown, and later, James R. Waters. When Waters died suddenly in 1945, Berg resisted recasting the role. Instead, she simply had Molly refer to Jake, occasionally setting up dialogue in which his reply was not heard when she spoke to him.

On September 26, 1949, The Goldbergs premiered on CBS television, and it is considered to be American TV's 1st "situation comedy" or "sitcom." Philip Loeb was cast as Jake. Eli Mintz played Uncle David, Larry Robinson played Sammy, and Arlene McQuade played Rosalie.

Each episode began with Berg opening her window and yelling to a neighbor, "Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Bloom!" Mrs. Bloom was never seen, and was thus TV's first unseen character, paving the way for the titular detective's wife on Columbo, Phyllis Lindstrom's husband Lars on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Carlton the Doorman on Rhoda, the bullying Gooch on Diff'rent Strokes, Norm Peterson's wife Vera on Cheers, and Niles Crane's wife Maris on Frasier.

Berg, now 50 years old, continued to write every episode. By this point, World War II was over, and the State of Israel had won its war of independence. But she knew that hearing about situations was one thing, while seeing them was another. So she avoided issues that could be considered political, while still using Jewish mannerisms. It worked: Not only was the TV version of the show a hit, but, in 1950, she won the 1st Emmy Award for Best Actress.

(The transition from sound to pictures was a reason that Amos & Andy, one of the most popular radio shows, didn't make a successful transition to TV: It was one thing for white Americans to hear white men pretending to be black men for comedic effect, it was another thing to see black men, and they didn't like it.)

But, shortly after that, Loeb was named as a Communist in the publication Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. He denied it. But General Foods, whom Berg had personally recruited as the show's main sponsor, demanded that Loeb be dropped from the show. She refused. On May 14, 1951, CBS aired the show's 2nd season finale, and received word that General Foods had canceled their sponsorship. CBS canceled the show.

Berg didn't give up. She tried to find other sponsors, but none would stand up for Loeb. Finally, Loeb sacrificed himself, telling Berg to go on without him, and to recast the character. On January 7, 1952, 8 months later, NBC agreed to pick up the show, with Harold Stone playing Jake. Robert H. Harris took over the role the next season, and played it for the rest of the show's run.

The show continued into 1955, when the family moved from The Bronx to Haverville, a fictional suburb, presumably also in the State of New York. In-universe, the family's adjustment was initially difficult, but they and their new suburban neighbors soon adapted to each other. In reality, though, the move was the death knell for the show, as the viewers now saw the Goldbergs as fish out of water.

The final episode aired on February 26, 1957 -- pretty much mirroring the move of baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles at the end of the year. This would be mirrored in the 1991-93 CBS series Brooklyn Bridge, created by Gary David Goldberg (no relation), about a Jewish family in Brooklyn, and the show's final episode discussed the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, 10 days after the last game at Ebbets Field, and 4 days before the Dodgers officially announced the move.

Philip Loeb did not last as long as the show that made him famous: In 1955, he took an overdose of sleeping pills. He was 65 years old. The right-wing fanatics who drove him to it never expressed so much as one single unit of remorse. They didn't have a guilty conscience. They had no conscience.

Berg lived until 1966, shortly before her 67th birthday. Mintz, who played a character a generation older than Molly and Jake, was actually younger than either Berg or Loeb, and lived until 1988. Harris lived until 1981, Stone until 2005, Robinson until 2006, and McQuade until 2014.

In 2013, ABC debuted a sitcom titled The Goldbergs. Aside from the title, and the family's obvious Jewishness, it had nothing in common from the original show. It was more like Brooklyn Bridge, in that it was created by someone with the surname, Adam Goldberg; and took place in the past, in this case in the 1980s, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It ran for 10 seasons.