Father Knickerbocker, the old-time spirit of New York,
bridges "The City" and Brooklyn on the 1941 World Series program.
After choking last night, as they always do when they get close to a title, the Mets and their fans are bringing back the old Brooklyn Dodger motto: "Wait Till Next Year."
October 6, 1941, 75 years ago: The Yankees beat the Dodgers, 4-1, and win their 9th World Series, clinching in 5 games at Ebbets Field. Ol' Reliable himself, Tommy Henrich, the previous day's hero, hits a home run. He also turns out to be the last survivor of the 1941 Yankees living until 2009.
The Brooklyn Eagle's headline reads, "WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR." A catchphrase is coined. It will take another 14 years, and several agonizing close calls, including 4 more World Series losses, all to the Yankees, before "Next Year" finally arrives for Brooklyn. In an unfortunate twist, the Brooklyn Eagle went out of business, publishing its last edition on January 29, 1955 -- just 9 months and change before Dem Bums finally dooed it.
The Brooklyn Eagle's headline reads, "WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR." A catchphrase is coined. It will take another 14 years, and several agonizing close calls, including 4 more World Series losses, all to the Yankees, before "Next Year" finally arrives for Brooklyn. In an unfortunate twist, the Brooklyn Eagle went out of business, publishing its last edition on January 29, 1955 -- just 9 months and change before Dem Bums finally dooed it.
This is the last Major League Baseball game before America enters World War II, although some players, including Detroit Tiger Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg, are already in the U.S. armed forces. Not until April 16, 1946 will baseball again be played without players missing due to military service.
This is also the 1st World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers. There would be 11 over a stretch of 41 seasons, 1941 to 1981: 7 all-New York "Subway Series," 4 Coast-to-Coast N.Y./L.A. series. There hasn't been one in 35 years, though, despite both teams having made the Playoffs in 1995, 1996, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2015.
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That figure of Father Knickerbocker on the program looks a bit like Benjamin Franklin. It's not.
October 6, 1723: By his own estimation, this is the date on which Boston native Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, then the other major city in British America, to start a new life. He will become more identified with the city than even its founder, William Penn. He's also the most famous person to realize that, to make it, you gotta get out of Boston and get to a better city.
Thus starting a rivalry that led to some intense basketball and hockey games, if not baseball and football. (Though the Eagles' most recent Super Bowl was against the New England Patriots.)
October 6, 1744: James McGill is born in Glasgow, Scotland. He moved to Canada, and was elected to the colonial assembly of Lower Canada in Montreal, and founded Montreal's McGill University. He died in 1813.
Not only is McGill University the closest thing Canada has to a Harvard, right down to crimson red being its school color, but, in 1874, Harvard and McGill played a football game combining the rules each side knew, with McGill's basically being rugby. This was crucial in the development of American football.
October 6, 1836, 180 years ago: John Taylor is born in Hamilton, Mercer County, New Jersey. At the age of 17, he became a clerk in a grocery store in neighboring Trenton. By the 1860s, he was the biggest grocer in the State Capital. He was elected to the City Council and the State Senate, but refused to run for a 2nd term there.
In 1888, he put all of his businesses together into the Taylor Provision Company. He had invented a sliced pork product that he called "Taylor's Prepared Ham." In 1906, the passage of the Pure Food & Drug Act set legal definitions of various meat products, and Taylor's product no longer fit the definition of "ham." Therefore, he changed it to "Taylor's Pork Roll," and this company still sells it in supermarkets with that name. He died in 1909, at the age of 72.
A sandwich of pork roll, egg and cheese, especially on a Kaiser roll with ketchup, salt and pepper, is also known as the Jersey Breakfast. People in Central Jersey and South Jersey call it "pork roll," but people in North Jersey call it "Taylor ham." Let's end the debate right now: If the people who invented it and produce more of it than anybody else call it "pork roll," then it's "pork roll."
What does this have to do with sports? Well, you know the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race? Many teams, major-league and minor-league alike, have variations based on food products. The Lakewood BlueClaws, the Class A farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies, representing the Jersey Shore, have such a race, featuring the items in the Jersey Breakfast: Pork roll, egg and cheese race. I swear, I am not making that up.
That figure of Father Knickerbocker on the program looks a bit like Benjamin Franklin. It's not.
October 6, 1723: By his own estimation, this is the date on which Boston native Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, then the other major city in British America, to start a new life. He will become more identified with the city than even its founder, William Penn. He's also the most famous person to realize that, to make it, you gotta get out of Boston and get to a better city.
Thus starting a rivalry that led to some intense basketball and hockey games, if not baseball and football. (Though the Eagles' most recent Super Bowl was against the New England Patriots.)
October 6, 1744: James McGill is born in Glasgow, Scotland. He moved to Canada, and was elected to the colonial assembly of Lower Canada in Montreal, and founded Montreal's McGill University. He died in 1813.
Not only is McGill University the closest thing Canada has to a Harvard, right down to crimson red being its school color, but, in 1874, Harvard and McGill played a football game combining the rules each side knew, with McGill's basically being rugby. This was crucial in the development of American football.
October 6, 1836, 180 years ago: John Taylor is born in Hamilton, Mercer County, New Jersey. At the age of 17, he became a clerk in a grocery store in neighboring Trenton. By the 1860s, he was the biggest grocer in the State Capital. He was elected to the City Council and the State Senate, but refused to run for a 2nd term there.
In 1888, he put all of his businesses together into the Taylor Provision Company. He had invented a sliced pork product that he called "Taylor's Prepared Ham." In 1906, the passage of the Pure Food & Drug Act set legal definitions of various meat products, and Taylor's product no longer fit the definition of "ham." Therefore, he changed it to "Taylor's Pork Roll," and this company still sells it in supermarkets with that name. He died in 1909, at the age of 72.
A sandwich of pork roll, egg and cheese, especially on a Kaiser roll with ketchup, salt and pepper, is also known as the Jersey Breakfast. People in Central Jersey and South Jersey call it "pork roll," but people in North Jersey call it "Taylor ham." Let's end the debate right now: If the people who invented it and produce more of it than anybody else call it "pork roll," then it's "pork roll."
What does this have to do with sports? Well, you know the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race? Many teams, major-league and minor-league alike, have variations based on food products. The Lakewood BlueClaws, the Class A farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies, representing the Jersey Shore, have such a race, featuring the items in the Jersey Breakfast: Pork roll, egg and cheese race. I swear, I am not making that up.
October 6, 1845: The 1st recorded baseball game using Alexander Cartwright's rules, the basis for the game we have today, is played between members of the Knickerbocker Club, of which he is a member. It was, as we would say today, an intrasquad game. In a way, this could mean that October 6 is baseball's birthday.
Only 14 players participate as Duncan Curry's team defeats Cartwright's team 11-8, in a shortened game of only 3 innings. The Knickerbocker Club will play at least 14 recorded games during the fall of 1845.
October 6, 1848: James Smith (no middle name) is born in Fordyce, Scotland. A founding member of Glasgow club Queen's Park, he played for Scotland in the 1st international football match ever played, against England at Hamilton Crescent in the Partick section of Glasgow, in front of 4,000 paying customers, on November 30, 1872.
James was a defender, and his brother Robert, also a player for Queen's Park, played forward. It had rained for days before the match, and the field was soggy. Not surprisingly, the game ended 0-0.
Little is known of the Smith brothers after their playing days ended in the 1870s. In 1890, James was reported as having died "some years ago in London." Robert was said to have been dead by 1920. Given the medical procedures available at the time, this is not surprising.
October 6, 1848: James Smith (no middle name) is born in Fordyce, Scotland. A founding member of Glasgow club Queen's Park, he played for Scotland in the 1st international football match ever played, against England at Hamilton Crescent in the Partick section of Glasgow, in front of 4,000 paying customers, on November 30, 1872.
James was a defender, and his brother Robert, also a player for Queen's Park, played forward. It had rained for days before the match, and the field was soggy. Not surprisingly, the game ended 0-0.
Little is known of the Smith brothers after their playing days ended in the 1870s. In 1890, James was reported as having died "some years ago in London." Robert was said to have been dead by 1920. Given the medical procedures available at the time, this is not surprising.
October 6, 1854: The Wilson yarn factory in Gateshead, England, explodes, starting a fire that not only devastates the city, but crosses the River Tyne, and devastates the larger city of Newcastle as well. It is believed that 53 people died.
The 2 cities of England's North-East came together in a spirit of community to rebuild. This has been seen time and time again, during labor strife, the German bombings in both World Wars, and in the struggles of Newcastle United Football Club: Even when they've been relegated to English soccer's 2nd division (as they currently are), they fill St. James Park 52,000 strong.
October 6, 1868: In a match that decides the Championship of amateur baseball for the year, the Atlantics of Brooklyn pound the Unions of Morrisania (now part of The Bronx)‚ 24-8‚ at Morrisania. The Atlantics win the best-2-out-of-3 from the defending Champions.
October 6, 1872: John Joseph Dunn is born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, outside Erie, and grows up in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey. Despite a childhood accident that damaged and nearly cost him his left arm, he became a pitcher and a 3rd baseman, helping the Brooklyn Superbas (forerunners of the Dodgers) win the 1899 National League Pennant, and the New York Giants win it in 1904.
In 1907, he became the manager of the International League's Baltimore Orioles, and bought the team in 1909. In 1914, due to the encroachment of the Federal League, he had to sell his recently-acquired biggest star, a lefthanded pitcher who grew up in a nearby reform school: George Ruth. He sold Ruth to the Red Sox, where he became known as "Jack Dunn's Baby," shortened to "Baby" and then "Babe."
He built a dynasty in Baltimore, winning 7 straight Pennants, despite selling some of his best players to Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics, who had loaned him some of the money he needed to buy the team in the first place. He was still the Orioles' owner when he died in 1928, only 56 years old. The Dunn family continued to be involved with the minor-league Orioles, and then with the major league version, and still retains a part-ownership today.
October 6, 1880: The Cincinnati Red Stockings refuse to accede to the restrictions approved by the NL 2 days earlier: No alcohol sold at games, and no games on Sundays. They are thrown out of the NL. This leads directly to a new club in Cincinnati that founds the American Association, nicknamed "The Beer and Whiskey League." They will also sell tickets for 25 cents, half the cost of NL games.
Also on this day, the University of Southern California is founded in Los Angeles. It becomes the leading private university in the State, and its football and baseball programs are legendary.
October 6, 1882: In the 1st postseason matchup between AA and NL Champions -- nobody is calling it "the World Series" or even "the World's Series" -- the AA Champion Cincinnati Red Stockings shut out the NL Champion Chicago White Stockings (forerunners of the Cubs) 4-0 behind Will White.
The next day, Chicago returns the favor by blanking Cincinnati 2-0. At this point Cincinnati‚ under pressure from the AA‚ reluctantly cancels the exhibition series to avoid expulsion from the league. So, with the NL still the unquestioned superior league, the White Stockings are the unofficial World Champions, for the 3rd year in a row.
October 6, 1886: After pitching 3 1-hitters and 4 2-hitters earlier in the season‚ 20-year-old lefthander Matt Kilroy finally gets a no-hitter‚ beating the Pittsburgh Alleghenys 6-0. Pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, who are in last place in the AA, "Matches" still manages a won-lost record of 29-32.
Kilroy was still officially a rookie in 1886. He struck out 513 batters, still a record for a pitcher. It should be noted that the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate was 50 feet, not reaching 60 feet, 6 inches until 1893. By that point, he was already in decline, and was not with the Orioles when they joined the NL in 1892 and won Pennants in 1894, '95, '96 and nearly again in '97. He won 141 games against 136 losses, mostly for bad teams, and was never a serious candidate for the Hall of Fame.
A Philadelphia native, he died there in 1940, age 74, and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery at the city's northern edge, as are Connie Mack, 1910s Red Sox star Steve Yerkes, 1970s Mayor Frank Rizzo and Olympic rowing champion John B. Kelly Sr. (father of Olympic rowing champ Jack Kelly and actress-princess Grace Kelly).
The Alleghenys will join the NL in 1887, and the franchise officially traces its birth to that season, not its actual debut with the founding of the AA in 1882. In 1890, with the game in flux because of the establishment of the Players' League, the Alleghenys sign 2nd baseman Lou Bierbauer of the AA's Philadelphia Athletics (not the later AL team). That Athletics publicly claim the move was "piratical." The Pittsburgh club just goes with this, renaming themselves the Pirates for the 1891 season, and claims that the Athletics did not reserve him, making him a free agent and fair game to sign. An arbitrator agreed.
That was the last season of the AA, and the Orioles joined the NL at that time, as did the Reds, and the St. Louis team that would become the Cardinals.
October 6, 1888: Roland Georges Garros is born in Saint-Denis, on Réunion Island, a French colony east of the African island nation of Madagascar. On August 3, 1914, he flew an airplane into a German zeppelin, knocking it down, thus winning the 1st air battle in the history of human warfare.
On April 18, 1915, he was shot down by a German plane, but survived, and was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp. On February 14, 1918, he escaped, and rejoined his unit. But on October 5, just 1 day before his 30th birthday, he was shot down over Vouziers, in the Ardennes Forest, and killed.
October 6, 1888: Roland Georges Garros is born in Saint-Denis, on Réunion Island, a French colony east of the African island nation of Madagascar. On August 3, 1914, he flew an airplane into a German zeppelin, knocking it down, thus winning the 1st air battle in the history of human warfare.
On April 18, 1915, he was shot down by a German plane, but survived, and was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp. On February 14, 1918, he escaped, and rejoined his unit. But on October 5, just 1 day before his 30th birthday, he was shot down over Vouziers, in the Ardennes Forest, and killed.
A true war hero of the Allies, but what does he have to do with sports? In 1928, the French government built a 14,840-seat tennis stadium in the 16th Arrondissement of Paris, to stage their defense of the Davis Cup, and named it Stade Roland Garros. The French Open has been held there ever since.
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October 6, 1900: Morris Stanley Nichols is born in Stondon Massey, Essex, England. I don't know what makes a cricket player great, but Stan Nichols of the Essex County Cricket Club was considered "the leading all-rounder in English cricket for much of the 1930s." He was a lefthanded bastman but a righthanded bowler (pitcher). He died in 1961 in Newark -- that's the one in Nottinghamshire, whose name was taken in 1666 for the city in New Jersey.
October 6, 1904: The Pirates beat the Cardinals 10-1. In spite of the loss, the Cards' Jack Taylor hurls his 39th consecutive complete game of the season, still a major league record under the 60 & 6 distance. His streak started on April 15, and totaled 352 innings pitched.
October 6, 1905: Helen Newington Wills is born in Fremont, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was the most dominant female tennis player of the 1920s and '30s. In those days, not many tennis players (male or female) made the long trip to Australia to play their Open. If she had, she might have won the Grand Slam, because she won the other 3 in 1928 and 1929.
Between 1923 and 1938, she won Wimbledon 8 times (a record until Martina Navratilova surpassed it in 1990), the U.S. Open 7 times, and the French Open 4 times -- but never entered the Australian Open. When tennis was an Olympic sport in Paris in 1924, she won the women's Gold Medal. On 7 occasions, a Grand Slam Final came down to "The Two Helens," with Helen Wills Moody (she used her married name from 1930 onward) beating Helen Hull Jacobs in 6 of them.
She wrote an instruction manual in 1928 (titled simply Tennis), a mystery novel in 1939 (with more imagination, titled Death Serves an Ace), and articles for The Saturday Evening Post, and painted up until her death in 1938. Both Jack Kramer and Don Budge -- who lived long enough to see Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles -- called her the best female tennis player ever.
October 6, 1906: Not one of the best-known games between the teams now known as the Yankees and the Red Sox, due to the passage of over a century, but it deserves to be mentioned. The New York Highlanders beat the Boston Americans 5-4 at Hilltop Park, behind the pitching of Long Tom Hughes.
But Charles Sylvester "Chick" Stahl, the 33-year-old center fielder and manager for Boston, hits a 2-run homer off Hughes in the top of the 8th. It's not enough, but it does turn out to be the last at-bat of his career. He remains the most notable player to hit a home run in his last major league at-bat, until another Red Sox star does it in 1960: Ted Williams.
The 1907 season will be the 1st one for the club under the Red Sox name. But Stahl will not be there. Not as a player (he had already announced his retirement), and not as manager. Back in his native Indiana, where he was conducting spring training, he committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid on March 28.
A star of the Boston club's 1903 and '04 Pennant winners, he was despondent about something, and told his teammates, "Boys, I just couldn't help it. It drove me to it." No one has been able to determine what he was talking about, although it was known that he had cheated on his wife Julia, and it has been retroactively suggested that he was dealing with mental illness. It has also been suggested that he was depressed about having to dismiss his predecessor and ex-teammate, future Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Collins.
A year and a half later, on November 15, 1908, Julia died, too, under circumstances that have never been explained. Although Jake Stahl was also a prominent Red Sock of the pre-Curse of the Bambino years, he and Chick were not related.
October 6, 1909: Christy Mathewson pitched for the Yankees? Not officially. The Highlanders and the Detroit Tigers oppose each other in a postseason benefit game for Sam Crane, a sportswriter and former big-league 2nd baseman who had recently recovered from a severe illness, and had been unable to pay his medical bills.
Mathewson pitched for the Yankees, while his former Giant teammate Iron Joe McGinnity came out of retirement to pitch for the Tigers. This was likely arranged by Hughie Jennings, the Tiger manager, who was a teammate of Giant manager John McGraw on the 1890s Orioles. Jennings, for the last time in a brilliant baseball career, plays shortstop, a position at which he was so good that he might have gotten into the Hall of Fame had he never managed a game. (He had just clinched the Tigers' 3rd straight Pennant, and probably viewed this as not just a good deed for an old friend, but as a good warmup for the World Series.)
Last year, when I first learned about this game, I had to write, "Oddly, I can't find a result for this game anywhere." This year, I looked again, and I found the result: Tigers 8, Highlanders 4. Money raised: $7,000, equivalent to about $170,000 today.
Last year, when I first learned about this game, I had to write, "Oddly, I can't find a result for this game anywhere." This year, I looked again, and I found the result: Tigers 8, Highlanders 4. Money raised: $7,000, equivalent to about $170,000 today.
Crane's playing career ended in 1890, when he was arrested after having an affair with the wife of a fruit dealer and stealing $1,500 from the husband -- about $40,000 in today's money. But he became a better writer than a player, and lived until 1925, age 71.
A few years later, there would be another infielder named Sam Crane, and his own amorous difficulties got him in even hotter water. This one was a shortstop who played for 4 teams, including the Brooklyn Dodgers, from 1914 to 1922. "Red" Crane (he was a redhead, and the accusations against him do not include Communism) was convicted of the jealous murder of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend on August 3, 1929, and was sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison.
He proved to be a model prisoner. His former manager Connie Mack argued for his parole for 15 years, and he finally got it in 1944. He then lived in comparative tranquility until 1955.
He proved to be a model prisoner. His former manager Connie Mack argued for his parole for 15 years, and he finally got it in 1944. He then lived in comparative tranquility until 1955.
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October 6, 1911: Cy Young appears in his last major league game, starting for the Boston Rustlers (forerunners of the Braves, then named for their owner, William H. Russell). It doesn't go so well. The Brooklyn Superbas (forerunners of the Dodgers) win, 13-3. The old Cyclone, age 44, goes 6 1/3 innings, giving up 11 hits. Here are the results of his last 8 at-bats: Triple, 4 straight singles, 3 straight doubles.
Young then retired, with all-time records for wins (511), losses (316), appearances by a pitcher (906), innings pitched (7,356), batters faced (29,565), starts (815), complete games (749), hits allowed (7,092), runs allowed (3,167), earned runs allowed (2,147 -- meaning, in those days of inadequate gloves, he allowed 1,020 unearned runs), and strikeouts (2,803). His records for appearances, runs (but not earned runs) and strikeouts have been broken. The rest still stand, 105 years later.
His ERA+ was 138, and his WHIP was 1.130, so he wasn't just lasting a long time amassing some big stats, as has been leveled against more recent pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton: He was great even by the standards of his own time.
His ERA+ was 138, and his WHIP was 1.130, so he wasn't just lasting a long time amassing some big stats, as has been leveled against more recent pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton: He was great even by the standards of his own time.
Five hundred and eleven wins. The next-closest pitcher is Walter Johnson, with 417 -- 94 less. The winningest living pitcher is Greg Maddux with 355. The winningest active pitcher is Bartolo Colon with 233. CC Sabathia is next with 223. The pitcher under age 30 with the most is Clayton Kershaw with 126. So unless there's a change in baseball as radical as that of the Dead Ball Era to the Lively Ball Era in 1920, Young's 511 wins, and his other still-standing records, are as safe as records can be.
Young, who lived until 1955, age 87, was interviewed in 1945 by Chicago Daily News sports editor John P. Carmichael for his anthology My Greatest Day In Baseball. Young's choice was his 1904 perfect game for the Boston Americans (Red Sox). He added, "In my last game, I was beaten 1-0 by a kid named Grover Cleveland Alexander." Alexander was a rookie in 1911, but if he did beat Cy Young 1-0 that season, it wasn't in Young's last game. (I looked up Baseball-Reference.com, but their pitching logs only go back to 1913.)
October 6, 1912: In Cincinnati‚ Pirates right fielder Owen "Chief" Wilson hits a 9th inning 3-run triple off the Reds' Frank Gregory, but, in trying to stretch it into a home run, he is nipped at the plate. The Pirates roll‚ 16-6. It is his 36th triple of the season, a still-standing record.
On the same day, the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3. Cubs 3rd baseman Heinie Zimmerman, goes 0-for-3, and has had just 2 hits in the last week. But he holds on to win the Triple Crown‚ leading by 1 home run and 1 run batted it. Or so it was then thought: Years later‚ a recount of the totals will drop Zim from 103 RBIs to 99‚ and cost him the Triple Crown.
October 6, 1917: Camp Randall Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The Badgers beat Beloit College 34-0. They had been playing football on the site since 1895.
The big bowl, with an upper deck on only one side, now seats 80,321, and is known for having the best atmosphere in the Big Ten: Thanks to the UW campus, Madison is known as Mad City.
October 6, 1917: Camp Randall Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The Badgers beat Beloit College 34-0. They had been playing football on the site since 1895.
The big bowl, with an upper deck on only one side, now seats 80,321, and is known for having the best atmosphere in the Big Ten: Thanks to the UW campus, Madison is known as Mad City.
October 6, 1919: Game 5 of the World Series, following a Sunday rainout. Reds pitcher Hod Eller pitches a 3-hit shutout against the Chicago White Sox. In the 2nd and 3rd innings, he strikes out 6 players in a row: Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg, Ray Schalk, opposing pitcher Lefty Williams, Nemo Leibold and Eddie Collins.
In addition, the Reds score 4 runs in the 6th on, among other things, bad throws by Shoeless Joe Jackson and Happy Felsch. Schalk gets thrown out of the game arguing a safe call on a slide into the plate by the Reds' Heinie Groh.
The Reds win, 5-0, and go up 4 games to 1 in this best-5-out-of-9 Series. One more win, and the Reds take the title.
Jackson, Felsch, Gandil, Risberg and Williams will later be found to be on the take. Eddie Cicotte did not appear in the game. Fred McMullin, usually a backup, did not appear, and of course Buck Weaver ended up being suspended for not reporting the fix, not because he was part of it (he wasn't). So of the 7 players in on it, 5 appeared, and all had something to do with the defeat.
Also on this day, Thomas Lawton (no middle name) is born in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. A forward, he starred for several English soccer teams, but never his hometown Bolton Wanderers, or any other team in the Manchester area.
He helped Liverpool-based Everton with the League in 1939, played for West London's Chelsea in their friendly against Soviet champions Dynamo Moscow in their 1945 postwar tour of Britain, and later starred for Notts County of Nottingham and Arsenal of North London. However, by the time England started playing in the World Cup in 1950, he was considered too old to make the team.
He was briefly manager of West London's Brentford (player-manager), Northamptonshire's Kettering Town (twice, the 1st time as player-manager) and Notts County. He lived until 1996, age 77. His family had him cremated, and donated the urn with his ashes to the National Football Museum in downtown Manchester.
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October 6, 1920: Hal Chase and the aforementioned Heinie Zimmerman are indicted on bribery charges, as an aftermath of the investigation into the previous year's World Series. New York Giants manager John McGraw would end up testifying that he released them after the 1919 season for throwing games, and for trying (apparently, without success) to entice Fred Toney, Rube Benton and Benny Kauff to join them.
Zimmerman denies the charges. Chase ignores them, and the case against both gets dropped because California refuses to extradite Chase to Illinois, due to an incorrectly issued arrest warrant. Both will be banned for life from baseball by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis when he becomes Commissioner.
Game 2 of the World Series is played on the same day as the indictment. Wheeler Johnston pinch-hits for the Cleveland Indians in the 9th inning. His brother Jimmy Johnston is playing 3rd base for the Brooklyn Robins (forerunners of the Dodgers). They thus become the 1st brothers to take opposite sides in a World Series. The Robins win, 3-0, on a shutout by spitballer Burleigh Grimes, and tie the Series 1-1. But this will be the high point of World Series play for the Brooklyn franchise until 1947.
October 6, 1921: Game 2 of the World Series. Waite Hoyt pitches a 2-hit shutout, and the Yankees beat the New York Giants 3-0, taking a 2 games to 0 lead. The talk is that the style of Babe Ruth (power, power and more power hitting) has supplanted that of Giant manager John McGraw (strategy, strategy and more strategy), especially since McGraw had ordered starting pitcher Art Nehf to "unintentionally-intentionally walk" Ruth, and he did so, 3 times.
But Ruth tried to foil this strategy by stealing 2nd and 3rd base after one of the walks. When he slid into 3rd, he scraped his elbow, and it got infected. It didn't end up killing him (though, in those pre-antibiotic days, it sure could have), but he had to leave Game 3 early, and the wound was lanced, rendering him unable to swing a bat for the rest of the Series. It was the 1st time a baserunning miscalculation by the Babe had cost the Yankees a World Series. It would not be the last.
October 6, 1922: Game 3 of the World Series. Neither the Yankees nor the controversial ending to yesterday's game can stop the Giants momentum, as Jack Scott pitches a 4-hit shutout, and singles and scores the Giants' 1st run in the 3rd inning, as the Giants win 3-1.
Also on this day, Joseph Filmore Frazier is born in Liberty, North Carolina. An ordinary outfielder in the major leagues from 1947 to 1956, he became a manager, and won Pennants with 5 different minor-league teams, including the Tidewater Tides, the Mets' top farm team, in 1975. He was then promoted to Mets manager for 1976, and led them to a 3rd place finish.
But he lost 30 of the 1st 45 games in 1977, and he was fired. Joe Torre, then still playing, was hired to replace him. Frazier managed in the Cardinal organization afterward, and died in 2011, age 88. Being white, he was no relation to the boxing champion of the same name, who died 8 months later.
October 6, 1923: In a regular-season game, Ernie Padgett of the Boston Braves, in only his 2nd major-league appearance, pulls off an unassisted triple play in a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies. It is the 1st such play in NL history.
October 6, 1921: Game 2 of the World Series. Waite Hoyt pitches a 2-hit shutout, and the Yankees beat the New York Giants 3-0, taking a 2 games to 0 lead. The talk is that the style of Babe Ruth (power, power and more power hitting) has supplanted that of Giant manager John McGraw (strategy, strategy and more strategy), especially since McGraw had ordered starting pitcher Art Nehf to "unintentionally-intentionally walk" Ruth, and he did so, 3 times.
But Ruth tried to foil this strategy by stealing 2nd and 3rd base after one of the walks. When he slid into 3rd, he scraped his elbow, and it got infected. It didn't end up killing him (though, in those pre-antibiotic days, it sure could have), but he had to leave Game 3 early, and the wound was lanced, rendering him unable to swing a bat for the rest of the Series. It was the 1st time a baserunning miscalculation by the Babe had cost the Yankees a World Series. It would not be the last.
October 6, 1922: Game 3 of the World Series. Neither the Yankees nor the controversial ending to yesterday's game can stop the Giants momentum, as Jack Scott pitches a 4-hit shutout, and singles and scores the Giants' 1st run in the 3rd inning, as the Giants win 3-1.
Also on this day, Joseph Filmore Frazier is born in Liberty, North Carolina. An ordinary outfielder in the major leagues from 1947 to 1956, he became a manager, and won Pennants with 5 different minor-league teams, including the Tidewater Tides, the Mets' top farm team, in 1975. He was then promoted to Mets manager for 1976, and led them to a 3rd place finish.
But he lost 30 of the 1st 45 games in 1977, and he was fired. Joe Torre, then still playing, was hired to replace him. Frazier managed in the Cardinal organization afterward, and died in 2011, age 88. Being white, he was no relation to the boxing champion of the same name, who died 8 months later.
October 6, 1923: In a regular-season game, Ernie Padgett of the Boston Braves, in only his 2nd major-league appearance, pulls off an unassisted triple play in a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies. It is the 1st such play in NL history.
Born in Philadelphia in 1899, the infielder would only last 5 seasons in the majors, and died in 1957 in East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey.
Also on this day, 2 of the classic stadiums of the Big Ten Conference open. Memorial Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign. The Fighting Illini beat Nebraska 24-7, and, led by sophomore running back Harold "Red" Grange, go on to win the National Championship.
The stadium's dedication game wouldn't come until the next season, October 18, 1924, when Grange would put on a legendary show in a win over Michigan.
Also on this day, College Field opens on the campus of Michigan State College in East Lansing, but not with a game. The school would be renamed Michigan State University on its Centennial in 1955; the stadium, Macklin Field in 1935, Macklin Stadium in 1948, and Spartan Stadium in 1957. John Macklin was their football coach from 1911 to 1915.
It opened with 14,000 seats. By the time Clarence "Biggie" Munn was coaching the school's 1st great team in the early 1950s, it seated 51,000. When Hugh "Duffy" Daugherty coached its great team of the mid-1960s, it had peaked at 76,000. Today, it seats 75,005. It switched to artificial turf in 1969, and has kept it.
Also on this day, Minnesota hosts Iowa State at Northrop Field in Minneapolis. Iowa State's lone black player, Jack Trice gets hurt on the 2nd play of the game, breaking his collarbone. He insists he is all right, and stays in the game. But in the 3rd quarter, he tries to tackle a runner, falls, and 3 Minnesota players trample him. He is taken to a hospital, but doctors don't think his life is in danger, and is released as fit to travel back to Iowa State's campus in Ames. But he has suffered internal bleeding, and dies 2 days later at age 21.
Trice was from the Cleveland area, and in 1979, that city's major paper, The Plain Dealer, investigated. A surviving Iowa State teammate, Johnny Behm, said, "One person told me that nothing out of the ordinary happened. But another who saw it said it was murder."
In 1997, Iowa State's home field was named Jack Trice Stadium. It is the only stadium in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division I-A) named for a black person. A statue of him stands outside.
October 6, 1926, 90 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Someone got a message to Babe Ruth, asking him to hit a home run for a sick kid in a hospital.
Also on this day, 2 of the classic stadiums of the Big Ten Conference open. Memorial Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign. The Fighting Illini beat Nebraska 24-7, and, led by sophomore running back Harold "Red" Grange, go on to win the National Championship.
The stadium's dedication game wouldn't come until the next season, October 18, 1924, when Grange would put on a legendary show in a win over Michigan.
Also on this day, College Field opens on the campus of Michigan State College in East Lansing, but not with a game. The school would be renamed Michigan State University on its Centennial in 1955; the stadium, Macklin Field in 1935, Macklin Stadium in 1948, and Spartan Stadium in 1957. John Macklin was their football coach from 1911 to 1915.
It opened with 14,000 seats. By the time Clarence "Biggie" Munn was coaching the school's 1st great team in the early 1950s, it seated 51,000. When Hugh "Duffy" Daugherty coached its great team of the mid-1960s, it had peaked at 76,000. Today, it seats 75,005. It switched to artificial turf in 1969, and has kept it.
Also on this day, Minnesota hosts Iowa State at Northrop Field in Minneapolis. Iowa State's lone black player, Jack Trice gets hurt on the 2nd play of the game, breaking his collarbone. He insists he is all right, and stays in the game. But in the 3rd quarter, he tries to tackle a runner, falls, and 3 Minnesota players trample him. He is taken to a hospital, but doctors don't think his life is in danger, and is released as fit to travel back to Iowa State's campus in Ames. But he has suffered internal bleeding, and dies 2 days later at age 21.
Trice was from the Cleveland area, and in 1979, that city's major paper, The Plain Dealer, investigated. A surviving Iowa State teammate, Johnny Behm, said, "One person told me that nothing out of the ordinary happened. But another who saw it said it was murder."
In 1997, Iowa State's home field was named Jack Trice Stadium. It is the only stadium in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division I-A) named for a black person. A statue of him stands outside.
October 6, 1926, 90 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Someone got a message to Babe Ruth, asking him to hit a home run for a sick kid in a hospital.
He hit one. And another. And another. It was the 1st time a player had hit 3 home runs in a World Series game. The Yankees win, 10-5, and tie up the Series with the Cardinals.
The boy's name was Johnny Sylvester. He got well, later met the Babe, and lived to be 74. In legend, the boy was dying, and the Babe visited him in the hospital, and promised him he'd hit a home run for him, and ended up hitting 3, and, hearing the game on the radio, little Johnny instantly began to get well. The truth is great enough, is Ruthian enough.
October 6, 1927: Game 2 of the World Series. The Yankees score 3 runs in the 2nd inning and 3 more in the 8th, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2. They lead the Series 2 games to 0 as it heads to New York.
Also on this day, The Jazz Singer premieres, starring the biggest stage star of the Roaring Twenties, Al Jolson. At 17 minutes and 25 seconds into the film, silent thus far, even in its apparent musical sequences, Jolson, as Jakie Rabinowitz, singing under the name Jack Robin, speaks words that Jolson (born Asa Yoelson) tended to say in his stage act: "Wait a minute, wait a minute: You ain't heard nothin' yet, folks!"
It is often called "the first sound film" or "the first talking picture." It isn't, but it is the 1st feature-length motion picture with not only a synchronized recorded music score, and the 1st feature-length motion picture with lip-synchronous singing and speech.
Remakes have been done in 1952 with Danny Thomas, 1959 with Jerry Lewis, and 1980 with Neil Diamond. Its scenes of Jolson, singing Southern songs in blackface, have been parodied and, retroactively, critically assailed.
Also on this day, Wilbur King (no middle name) is born in Bloomington, Illinois. Better known as Bill King, he began his broadcasting career in World War II, on the Armed Forces Network. He broadcast high school and college sports until 1958, when the San Francisco Giants hired him.
Frank Mieuli, a minority owner of the Giants, bought the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962, and moved them to San Francisco, and in 1971 to Oakland, where he renamed them the Golden State Warriors. He hired King to broadcast for the Warriors as well. In 1966, King began doing the Oakland Raiders' games, and in 1981 made himself all Oakland by switching from the Giants to the Athletics.
He went to Los Angeles with the Raiders in 1982, and left the A's and the Warriors after 1983. Raider owner Al Davis fired him in 1992, and didn't take him back when they returned to Oakland in 1995. In all, he called 7 World Championship teams: The 1972, '73 and '74 A's; the '75 Warriors; and the '76, '80 and '83 Raiders.
The A's gave him World Series rings, and the Raiders gave him Super Bowl rings. He is 1 of only 2 people ever awarded both. The other is the longtime public-address announcer for the Yankees and the football Giants: Bob Sheppard.
Bill King died in 2005, having hidden his age for many years, but his son Michael confirmed that he was 78.
October 6, 1928: Joseph Warren Hutton Jr. is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. A guard, he was a member of the 1952 NBA Champion Minneapolis Lakers. He later coached high school ball in Minneapolis, and died in 2009.
October 6, 1929: The Boston Braves close out the season by losing 9-4 to the New York Giants at Braves Field. Johnny Evers, 48 years old, and Hank Gowdy, 40, both coaches and previously Braves players, briefly come out of retirement to play. Evers hadn't played in 7 years. They even play their old positions, 2nd base and catcher, respectively.
Evers becomes the oldest 2nd baseman in major league history, and remains so. This is the last appearance by any of the Tinker-Evers-Chance combination of the 1906-10 Chicago Cubs. Frank Chance had already been dead for 5 years. Gowdy would play 16 more games in 1930.
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October 6, 1930: Richard Benaud (no middle name) is born in the Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. As I said before, I don't know what makes a cricketer great, but he starred for the State team of New South Wales from 1948 to 1964. He was Australia's Test Captain from 1958 until 1964, helping to bring the country back to the top of the cricket world. In 1963, he became the 1st player in the world to reach 200 wickets and 2,000 runs in Test cricket.
After retiring as a player, he became an admired commentator. Australian sportswriter Gideon Haigh has called him "perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War." Sri Lankan cricket writer Harold de Andrado has said, "Richie Benaud, possibly next to (earlier Australian star) Sir Don Bradman, has been one of the greatest cricketing personalities as player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organizer, adviser and student of the game." Like I said, I don't know what makes a cricketer great, but these men do know. Benaud died in 2015.
October 6, 1931: Oscar Cox dies unexpectedly at age 51, in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The half-English, half-Brazilian sportsman had learned soccer while attending school in Lausanne, Switzerald. In 1901, he organized Brazil's 1st "futebol" match. In 1902, he founded Fluminense of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's 1st great soccer team, and still one of the most popular teams in the country.
October 6, 1933: Game 4 of the World Series. Carl Hubbell of the Giants outduels Monte Weaver of the Washington Senators, winning 2-1 in 11 innings. The winning run is scored when shortstop John "Blondy" Ryan singles home Travis Jackson, who led off with a surprise bunt and was then sacrificed to 2nd. The Senators' Heinie Manush is thrown out of the game by umpire Charlie Moran, for pulling on his bow tie during an argument.
October 6, 1934: The Tigers defeat the Cardinals, 10-4 at Navin Field in Detroit (later renamed Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium). Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean -- or Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean, depending on which story Ol' Diz liked to tell on any given day -- inexplicably runs onto the field when player-manager Frankie Frisch calls for a pinch-runner, and is hit in the head by a throw. He is taken to a hospital, examined, and released.
He tells the press, apparently without realizing what he's saying, "They examined my head, and they didn't find anything." The next day, a newspaper says, "X-rays of Dean's head show nothing." Dean will have the last laugh, though.
Also on this day, Columbia Municipal Stadium opens, on the campus of the University of South Carolina. The home team beats Virginia Military Institute (VMI) 22-6. The stadium was renamed Carolina Stadium in 1941, and Williams-Brice Stadium in 1972. It was named for Martha Williams and Thomas Brice, who had bequeathed funds for the stadium's expansion. Since South Carolina's teams are called the Gamecocks, their fans like to call it "The Cock Pit."
It seated 17,600 at its opening, and those original east and west grandstands, built by the Works Progress Administration, are still in use. Capacity was boosted to 34,000 in 1949, 42,517 in 1957, 56,140 in 1971, 72,400 in 1982, and 80,250 in 1996. It was used as the stadium of the fictional Eastern State University in the 1992 film The Program, starring James Caan as a conflicted head coach, and Halle Berry in an early role as a tutor.
October 6, 1935: Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino is born in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Italy. He was malnourished as a result of living in Italy under Benito Mussolini's fascist regime and the conditions of World War II. When the family moved to Pittsburgh in 1950, his new classmates teased him for it. He built himself up and learned to fight and wrestle, became a local strongman, and then a professional wrestler.
Also on this day, Columbia Municipal Stadium opens, on the campus of the University of South Carolina. The home team beats Virginia Military Institute (VMI) 22-6. The stadium was renamed Carolina Stadium in 1941, and Williams-Brice Stadium in 1972. It was named for Martha Williams and Thomas Brice, who had bequeathed funds for the stadium's expansion. Since South Carolina's teams are called the Gamecocks, their fans like to call it "The Cock Pit."
It seated 17,600 at its opening, and those original east and west grandstands, built by the Works Progress Administration, are still in use. Capacity was boosted to 34,000 in 1949, 42,517 in 1957, 56,140 in 1971, 72,400 in 1982, and 80,250 in 1996. It was used as the stadium of the fictional Eastern State University in the 1992 film The Program, starring James Caan as a conflicted head coach, and Halle Berry in an early role as a tutor.
October 6, 1935: Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino is born in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Italy. He was malnourished as a result of living in Italy under Benito Mussolini's fascist regime and the conditions of World War II. When the family moved to Pittsburgh in 1950, his new classmates teased him for it. He built himself up and learned to fight and wrestle, became a local strongman, and then a professional wrestler.
Bruno Sammartino is the greatest professional wrestler of all time. If there were an all-time battle royal, with each of them in their prime getting into the ring, he could have kicked the asses of all the serious challengers who came after him: Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena and C.M. Punk. And the ones who came before him, like Frank Gotch, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Bronko Nagurski. (Yes, the football legend: Wrestling paid better back then.) He certainly beat the best of his own time, like Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, Gorilla Monsoon, Killer Kowalski, Ernie Ladd (who, like Nagurski, became famous as a football player first) and Rocky Johnson (The Rock's father).
Bruno also became a promoter, making sure everybody -- good guys and bad guys, big names like himself and smaller names -- got paid on the cards on which he fought. He still makes appearances at wrestling events.
October 6, 1936, 80 years ago: The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants in Game 6 of the World Series, 13-5 at the Polo Grounds, and clinch their 5th World Championship. It remains the most runs scored by a team in a Series-clinching game.
At this point, the following teams have won 5 World Series: The Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, and the Philadelphia Athletics. (The A’s wouldn’t win another until 1972, by which point they were in Oakland. The Red Sox have never won another. Not without cheating, anyway.)
By beating the Giants, who have 4, the Yankees move ahead of the Giants into 1st place in New York, and they have never relinquished it. Now, they are tied with the Sox and A’s for 1st among all teams. They have never been 2nd again. Nor will they be.
Frank Crosetti was the last survivor of the '36 Yanks, living until 2002.
Also on this day, Thomas Francis Kearns Jr. is born in Manhattan. A point guard at St. Ann's High School in Brooklyn, he was part of the "Underground Railroad" established by former St. John's basketball coach Frank McGuire at the University of North Carolina, taking mostly his fellow Irish Catholics, but at least 1 Jew, Lennie Rosenbluth.
Despite being just 5-foot-11, McGuire had Tommy Kearns guard the 7-foot-1 Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas in the 1957 National Championship game. It worked, as Carolina beat Kansas in triple overtime, to complete an undefeated season.
His pro career was a bust, as he played just 1 season in the NBA, 1958-59 with the Syracuse Nationals, scoring exactly 1 basket for 2 points. (Rosenbluth fared little better, playing 2 years with the Philadelphia Warriors.) But his Number 40 was retired by his school. In 2000, he played the high school basketball coach in the film Finding Forrester. He is still alive.
October 6, 1937: Game 1 of the World Series. Carl Hubbell isn't so lucky this time: The Yankees torch him, and 2 other pitchers, for 7 runs in the top of the 6th at the Polo Grounds: 5 singles, 3 walks and 2 errors. Lefty Gomez pitches superbly, and the Yankees beat the Giants 8-1. The Giants never recovered in the Series, and wouldn't win another Pennant for 14 years.
Frank Crosetti was the last survivor of the '36 Yanks, living until 2002.
Also on this day, Thomas Francis Kearns Jr. is born in Manhattan. A point guard at St. Ann's High School in Brooklyn, he was part of the "Underground Railroad" established by former St. John's basketball coach Frank McGuire at the University of North Carolina, taking mostly his fellow Irish Catholics, but at least 1 Jew, Lennie Rosenbluth.
Despite being just 5-foot-11, McGuire had Tommy Kearns guard the 7-foot-1 Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas in the 1957 National Championship game. It worked, as Carolina beat Kansas in triple overtime, to complete an undefeated season.
His pro career was a bust, as he played just 1 season in the NBA, 1958-59 with the Syracuse Nationals, scoring exactly 1 basket for 2 points. (Rosenbluth fared little better, playing 2 years with the Philadelphia Warriors.) But his Number 40 was retired by his school. In 2000, he played the high school basketball coach in the film Finding Forrester. He is still alive.
October 6, 1937: Game 1 of the World Series. Carl Hubbell isn't so lucky this time: The Yankees torch him, and 2 other pitchers, for 7 runs in the top of the 6th at the Polo Grounds: 5 singles, 3 walks and 2 errors. Lefty Gomez pitches superbly, and the Yankees beat the Giants 8-1. The Giants never recovered in the Series, and wouldn't win another Pennant for 14 years.
October 6, 1938: The Yankees defeat the Cubs, 6-3 at Wrigley Field, and take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the World Series. Dean, now with the Cubs following an arm injury that will ultimately end his meteoric career at age 31, takes a 3-2 lead into the 8th inning, but Frank Crosetti's homer gives the Yanks a lead they will not relinquish. Joe DiMaggio added a homer in the 8th. It becomes known as Dizzy Dean's Last Stand, although he did pitch another 3 seasons.
The winning pitcher is Gomez, making him 6-0 in World Series play. Although he appears in 3 more Series with the Yankees, this will be his last Series decision. But although Whitey Ford with 10 and Bob Gibson with 7 will win more Series games, Gomez has the best winning percentage in Series history to this day.
October 6, 1939: John Patrick Cullen is born in Newark, New Jersey. A pitcher, he appeared in 19 games for the Yankees in the 1962, '65 and '66 seasons, compiling a 4-4 record with a 3.07 ERA. He is still alive.
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October 6, 1942: Alan Thomas Hinton is born in Wednesbury, West Midlands, England. A left wing, he played for Wolverhampton Wanderers (effectively, his hometown club), Nottingham Forest, and their East Midlands arch-rivals, Derby County, winning the Football League title in 1972 and 1975.
He came to America, to the original North American Soccer League, and played for the Dallas Tornado in 1977 and the original version of the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1978. He then managed the Tulsa Roughnecks in 1979, the original version of the Seattle Sounders from 1980 to 1982, the Whitecaps in 1984, the Tacoma Stars from 1985 to 1990, and a new version of the Sounders in 1994.
He remained in the Pacific Northwest, coaching youth teams, and is known as Mr. Soccer in the region. He helped bring the 1994 World Cup to the U.S. (although not to the Northwest, as the Kingdome was domed and Husky Stadium was considered antiquated), and ensured that the new Sounders eventually got into MLS. He now broadcasts for them.
October 6, 1943: Robert Cooper, father of Cardinal pitcher Mort Cooper and their catcher Walker Cooper, dies. A telegram reaches Yankee Stadium to inform the brothers before Game 2 of the World Series. But they play on: Walker goes 1-for-3 at the bat, and Mort pitches the Cards to a 4-3 win over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
Mort leaves for home, Independence, Missouri (outside Kansas City), after the game. (He wouldn't have been asked to start again until at least Game 5, anyway.) The Yankees win the next 3 games to take the Series, at which point Walker goes home, too.
October 6, 1944: Game 3 of the World Series. Five singles and a wild pitch by the Cardinals' Fred Schmidt give the Browns 4 runs in the 3rd inning. With Jack Kramer (no relation to the tennis great of the same name) striking out 10 Redbirds, the Browns win 6-2, and take a 2-games-to-1 lead.
This is the all-time high-water mark for the St. Louis Browns: Not until 1966, as the Baltimore Orioles, would they ever win 3 games in a World Series, much less 4.
This is the all-time high-water mark for the St. Louis Browns: Not until 1966, as the Baltimore Orioles, would they ever win 3 games in a World Series, much less 4.
On the same day, Boris Petrovich Mikhailov is born in Moscow. He was a left-wing right-winger, playing for the Soviet hockey team from 1962 to 1981, as captain from 1972 to 1980. Playing for the Army team, CSKA Moscow, he scored 427 goals, a career record in the Soviet league at the time. He won Olympic Gold Medals in 1972 and 1976.
Alas, he's best known for a game he lost. In the buildup to the U.S.-U.S.S.R. game at Lake Placid, New York on February 22, 1980, U.S. coach Herb Brooks said, "Boris Mikhailov looks like Stan Laurel." In the game in question, he played as if he was built like Laurel's comedy partner, the corpulent Oliver Hardy, and "We beat the Russians!" 4-3. The Soviets still won the Silver Medal, while we won the Gold.
He has since coached some teams, including CSKA Moscow, which, since the fall of the Soviet Union and the transition to the Russian Federation, is no longer affiliated with the Red Army. At 72, he now looks a bit like American talk-show host Dennis Prager -- who's right-wing in politics rather than in sports.
Also on this day, José Carlos Pace is born in Mairiporã, São Paulo state, Brazil. He won the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix, but was killed in 1977 -- not in a racing crash, but in a plane crash. He was 32.
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October 6, 1945: Game 4 of the World Series is held at Wrigley Field. William "Billy Goat" Sianis is the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, across from Chicago Stadium, home of the NHL's Blackhawks and the Midwest’s premier boxing venue. He has a goat as his bar's mascot, and he buys 2 tickets to this game, one for himself and one for the goat.
At the time, there is no rule against this. But fans around him complain to the ushers that the goat smells bad, and Sianis and his goat are kicked out of the ballpark.
A Greek immigrant and a superstitious man, Sianis puts a curse on the Cubs. The Tigers win the game, 4-1, all their runs coming in the 4th inning, after Sianis and the goat are kicked out. The Tigers win the Series in 7, and afterward, Sianis sends a telegram to Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley, asking, "Who stinks now?"
In 1963, Sianis would move his bar, a precursor to today's sports bars, to its current location on Michigan Avenue, just north of the Loop, near the Tribune Tower and the Sun-Times Building, making it a popular watering hole for journalists. He died in 1970, about a year after the Cubs’ 1969 September Swoon.
His nephew Sam Sianis has run the place ever since, and when William Wrigley Jr. sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company in 1981, Sam offered to lift the Curse of the Billy Goat. A number of times, Cub management has allowed Sam to take his bar's current mascot onto the field in an attempt to lift the Curse. It hasn't worked: Apparently, Billy's curse is stronger even than his own flesh and blood.
The Cubs haven't been back to the World Series in 71 years -- nearly 3/4 of a century without a Pennant, by far MLB's record. The next-longest drought: The crosstown Chicago White Sox going 46 years without one, 1959 to 2005.
The Cubs haven't been back to the World Series in 71 years -- nearly 3/4 of a century without a Pennant, by far MLB's record. The next-longest drought: The crosstown Chicago White Sox going 46 years without one, 1959 to 2005.
Is the goat the reason? Well, let's put it this way: In 1945, the Cubs had already not been World Champions for 37 years, and had already had a number of weird things happen to them in Series play, including a 10-run inning by the A's in 1929, Babe Ruth's alleged "called shot" in 1932, and Stan Hack leading off the 9th with a triple with what would be the tying run and then getting stranded there to lose Game 6 and the Series to the Tigers in 1935. The goat curse doesn't explain any of that.
So what's the real reason the Cubs haven't won the World Series in 108 years now? If you're not willing to say, "Bad management," then your guess is as good as mine.
Shortstop Lennie Merullo on May 30, 2015, at 98 years old. He was the last living man to have played for the Chicago Cubs in a World Series.
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October 6, 1946, 70 years ago: Game 1 of the World Series. The Cardinals' Whitey Kurowski is awarded home plate on a controversial obstruction call after he gets tangled up with Red Sox 3rd baseman Pinky Higgins, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the 8th inning.
The Red Sox tie the game in the 9th when a seemingly easy grounder takes a freak bounce, and goes through the legs of Marty Marion, the Cardinals' All-Star shortstop, a man known as The Octopus for snaring so many grounders it seems like he has 8 hands. Rudy York homers off Howie Pollet in the top of the 10th, and the Sox win 3-2. Thus the allegedly bad call ends up not mattering, because the team that got the short end of it won the game anyway.
The Red Sox tie the game in the 9th when a seemingly easy grounder takes a freak bounce, and goes through the legs of Marty Marion, the Cardinals' All-Star shortstop, a man known as The Octopus for snaring so many grounders it seems like he has 8 hands. Rudy York homers off Howie Pollet in the top of the 10th, and the Sox win 3-2. Thus the allegedly bad call ends up not mattering, because the team that got the short end of it won the game anyway.
It looks bad for Marion, but he will not be the shortstop anyone remembers from this Series. Indeed, a case can be made that both he and Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky belong in the Hall of Fame.
Also on this day... Apparently, October 6 is a good birthday if you want to be a great cricketer. Anthony William Grieg is born in Queenstown, South Africa. His parents were Scottish, so he qualified to play his international cricket for either South Africa or England.
Tony and his younger brother Ian played for England, and Tony was captain from 1975 to 1977. Tony played county cricket for Sussex, became an announcer, moved to Australia, and died in 2012.
October 6, 1947: Game 7 of the World Series, the Bronx Bombers and Dem Bums at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers threaten in the top of the 9th, but catcher Bruce Edwards grounds into a double play -- shortstop Phil "the Scooter" Rizzuto to 2nd baseman George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss to 1st baseman George McQuinn (no nickname that I can find) -- which clinches the 5-2 win for the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series. It is the Yankees’ 11th World Championship. The next-closest team is the just-dethroned Cardinals with 6.
This was the 1st World Series to be broadcast on television, on NBC, although it wasn't the 1st set of baseball games on coast-to-coast TV. That wouldn' happen until the 1951 Giants-Dodgers Playoff. President Harry Truman had received the 1st TV set to be installed in the White House the previous day (and had delivered the 1st televised State of the Union Address the preceding January 6). Though a big baseball fan (he never missed a Washington Senators Opening Day as President, and threw out the first ball at the 1st major league game in Kansas City in 1955), he admitted his skipped the last innings.
This was also the 1st integrated World Series, with Jackie Robinson playing for the Dodgers. However, it was Italians who were the major figures in the Series: Yogi Berra for hitting the 1st pinch-hit home run in Series history in Game 3, Cookie Lavagetto for breaking up Bill Bevens' no-hitter with 1 out to go in Game 4, Joe DiMaggio for coming through for the Yankees again with a homer in Game 5, Al Gionfriddo for robbing DiMaggio with a spectacular catch in Game 6, and Rizzuto for starting the game-ending twin killing in Game 7.
An interesting note is that, while Bevens, Lavagetto and Gionfriddo were the biggest heroes of in this Series, and all played in Game 7, none of them would ever play another major league game. With Yogi's death, Yankee Bobby Brown and Dodger Ralph Branca are the only surviving players from the rosters of this World Series, 69 years later.
October 6, 1948: Game 1 of the World Series. For the 1st time in a career that dates back 12 years (but included nearly 4 years missed due to World War II), Bob Feller is pitching in the Fall Classic, pitching for the Indians against Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves at Braves Field.
As could be guessed with such great starting pitchers, the game was scoreless in the bottom of the 8th. But Feller walked catcher Bill Salkeld, and manager Billy Southworth (who was managing in his 4th World Series, having taken the Cardinals there in 1942, '43 and '44 -- but not '46, Eddie Dyer managed that one) pinch-ran Phil Masi, also a catcher, for him. Mike McCormick bunted him over to 2nd, and Feller walked Eddie Stanky intentionally to set up a double play. Southworth sent in another pinch-runner, Sibby Sisti.
Then Feller tried to pick Masi off 2nd, and Lou Boudreau, the Cleveland shortstop and manager, appeared to tag him out. But umpire Bill Stewart called him safe. Tommy Holmes singled Masi home, and the Braves won 1-0.
The next day, the picture taken by an Associated Press photographer showed that Masi was out. Now, there's no guarantee that the Braves wouldn't have won the game anyway -- after all, it was still scoreless at the time. But there was quite a to-do about Stewart's call. It would probably be remembered much more, along the lines of the Don Denkinger play in the 1985 World Series, if the Braves had gone on to win the Series, but they didn't.
Masi was actually a pretty good player, a good-fielding catcher who batted a decent .264 and made 4 All-Star Games. He died on May 29, 1990 at the age of 74. Upon his death, his will revealed that he knew he really was out on the pick-off play. He deserves to be known for more than that.
Masi was actually a pretty good player, a good-fielding catcher who batted a decent .264 and made 4 All-Star Games. He died on May 29, 1990 at the age of 74. Upon his death, his will revealed that he knew he really was out on the pick-off play. He deserves to be known for more than that.
As does Stewart, who really got a bum rap. He was one of the larger sports figures of his time. This was his 3rd World Series, and he would be assigned to a 4th, in 1953. He had also umpired in his 3rd All-Star Game in 1948, and was assigned to a 4th in 1954. He was also named crew chief for the 1951 Dodgers-Giants Playoff series. He had been behind the plate for Johnny Vander Meer's 2nd straight no-hitter in 1938. Following none of those games did the losing team question his calls.
And calling the Vander Meer achievement wasn't the biggest thing he did in 1938: The native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who had been a pro baseball and hockey player, coached the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1938 Stanley Cup, making him the 1st American-born coach to win it. He also refereed in hockey, and lived until 1964, age 70.
And calling the Vander Meer achievement wasn't the biggest thing he did in 1938: The native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who had been a pro baseball and hockey player, coached the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1938 Stanley Cup, making him the 1st American-born coach to win it. He also refereed in hockey, and lived until 1964, age 70.
Also on this day, Laurence Valentine Lloyd is born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. A defender, Larry Lloyd played for hometown soccer team Bristol Rovers, before helping Liverpool win the Football League and the UEFA Cup in 1973, and the FA Cup in 1974.
He was purchased by Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, and he helped them win the League and the League Cup in 1978, the European Cup and the League Cup in 1979, and the European Cup again in 1980. He now manages an amateur team in Spain.
October 6, 1949: Game 2 of the World Series. After yesterday's 1-0 duel between Allie Reynolds of the Yankees and Don Newcombe of the Dodgers, Preacher Roe pitches a shutout and wins 1-0, to tie up the Series. But the Dodgers won't win another Series game for 3 years.
Also on this day, Robert E. Hannegan dies in St. Louis of heart disease. He was only 46 years old. He and Fred Saigh bought the St. Louis Cardinals in 1947, but, knowing he was sick, Hannegan sold his share to Saigh shortly before his death.
Bob Hannegan was the Democratic political boss of St. Louis, and when Tom Pendergast, the big boss of the Democratic Party in Kansas City, went to prison, Governor Lloyd Stark challenged Pendergast's considerably more honest protege in the Primary for U.S. Senator from Missouri. Hannegan got the vote out among the Irish Catholics of St. Louis, and Pendergast's protege was re-elected. He didn't forget this. His name was Harry Truman.
In the original 1947 version of Miracle On 34th Street, Hannegan's name is invoked when Kris Kringle's lawyer says that the U.S. Postal Service "recognizes him as Santa Claus."
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October 6, 1950: Game 3 of the World Series. The Phillies lead the Yankees 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, getting yet another fine start out of their exhausted pitching staff, from Ken Heintzelman. But he runs out of gas and control, and walks the bases loaded. Jim Konstanty comes in, and gets Bobby Brown to ground to short, but Granny Hamner misplays it, and the game is tied. The Yankees load the bases again in the bottom of the 9th, and Jerry Coleman singles home the winning run, 3-2.
The Phils had now played 3 games in this Series, and lost each of them by 1 run. Rotten luck, to be sure, but a champion finds a way to win those games. The Yankees did. The "Whiz Kids" were hardly outclassed, but they were outplayed.
October 6, 1951: The World Series returns to the Polo Grounds for the 1st time in 14 years. In the bottom of the 5th, Rizzuto tries to turn a double play, but Eddie Stanky, the former Dodger and Braves playing his last games before retiring, kicks the ball out of the Scooter's glove. This opens the door to a 5-run inning, highlighted by Whitey Lockman's 2-run homer.
The Giants win 6-2, and take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the Series. The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff continues... but it stops the next day.
What does not stop is Rizzuto's hatred of Stanky. The Scooter was a very generous and forgiving man, but Stanky was 1 of 3 people in baseball he could never forgive. The others, unfortunately, were his bosses: Manager Casey Stengel, whom he'd never forgiven for turning him away for a tryout with the Dodgers in 1937 when Casey managed them, and had, in Phil's mind, treated Phil's idol Joe DiMaggio badly; and general manager George Weiss, who was cheap as hell (and racist, although that didn't affect Phil) and released him unceremoniously in 1956.
The Giants win 6-2, and take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the Series. The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff continues... but it stops the next day.
What does not stop is Rizzuto's hatred of Stanky. The Scooter was a very generous and forgiving man, but Stanky was 1 of 3 people in baseball he could never forgive. The others, unfortunately, were his bosses: Manager Casey Stengel, whom he'd never forgiven for turning him away for a tryout with the Dodgers in 1937 when Casey managed them, and had, in Phil's mind, treated Phil's idol Joe DiMaggio badly; and general manager George Weiss, who was cheap as hell (and racist, although that didn't affect Phil) and released him unceremoniously in 1956.
Also on this day, Manfred Winkelhock (no middle name) is born in the Stuttgart suburb of Waiblingen, Germany. A Grand Prix driver, he was killed in a crash at a race outside Toronto in 1985. He was 33. His brother Joachim and his son Markus are also auto racers.
October 6, 1952: Game 6 of the World Series. Duke Snider hits 2 home runs, becoming the 1st man other than Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig to hit 4 of them in a single Series. The 1st one puts the Dodgers up 1-0 in the 6th. The Dodgers are 9 outs away from their 1st Series win.
But Dodger starter Billy Loes falls apart in the top of the 7th. He gives up a game-tying home run to Yogi Berra and a single to Gene Woodling singles, and then he balks Woodling over to 2nd. Vic Raschi, the opposing pitcher, hits the ball off Loes, and it goes into right field, scoring Woodling. Loes would later say, "I lost it in the sun."
How do you lose a ground ball in the sun? Believe it or not, he wasn't trying to be funny: The way Ebbets Field was built, the setting autumn sun came through the decks, and got in his eyes.
Mickey Mantle leads off the top of the 8th with a home run, his 1st in Series play. There would be more. Snider hits his 2nd homer of the game in the bottom of the 8th, but Casey Stengel calls on Allie Reynolds to relieve, and he slams the door, giving the Yankees a 3-2 win, and sending one of the best World Series ever to a decisive Game 7 at Ebbets Field tomorrow.
He is the club's all-time leader in appearances, and they have retired his Number 44 and elected him to their Roughrider Plaza of Honour. He is also a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
October 6, 1955: Anthony Kevin Dungy is born in Jackson, Michigan, where his father was a college professor (and had been a Tuskegee Airman during World War II), and his mother was a high school teacher.
He was a quarterback at the University of Minnesota, but those were the days when black quarterbacks usually didn't get drafted. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed him as a safety, and he led the team in interceptions in their 1978 title season. He got a ring for winning Super Bowl XIII -- and then he got traded to the San Francisco 49ers, going from the penthouse to the outhouse. The 49ers cut him after 1 season, so he wasn't a part of their subsequent revival.
He was a quarterback at the University of Minnesota, but those were the days when black quarterbacks usually didn't get drafted. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed him as a safety, and he led the team in interceptions in their 1978 title season. He got a ring for winning Super Bowl XIII -- and then he got traded to the San Francisco 49ers, going from the penthouse to the outhouse. The 49ers cut him after 1 season, so he wasn't a part of their subsequent revival.
He retired, and the Steelers took him back, making him defensive backs coach in 1981 (at 25, the youngest assistant coach in NFL history) and defensive coordinator in 1984 (at 28, the youngest coordinator, offensive or defensive, in NFL history). He later coached defensive backs for the Kansas City Chiefs and was defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. All along, he was being called a future head coach, but, being black, he never seemed to be anybody's 1st choice.
Until 1996, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a joke franchise for nearly all of their 20-year history, got desperate. In his 2nd season, 1997, he got the Bucs into the Playoffs. In 1999, he won the NFC Central Division title, and got them to the NFC Championship Game. He got them to the Playoffs again in 2000 and 2001, but never into the Super Bowl. Then he was fired, Jon Gruden was hired -- and then the Buccaneers, building on Dungy's success, won Super Bowl XXXVII.
Tony was hired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, got them into the Playoffs all 7 years he was there, won the AFC South Division 5 straight times from 2003 to 2007, reached the AFC Championship Game in 2003, and in 2006 led them to Super Bowl XLI, beating the Chicago Bears. He thus became the 1st black head coach to win a Super Bowl, and the 3rd man, after Mike Ditka and Tom Flores, to win a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach. (Ditka tops them by also having won one as an assistant coach. Other players had won NFL Championships as a player and a coach in the pre-Super Bowl era.)
After the 2008 season, he retired with a record of 139-69, plus another 9-10 in the postseason. He was the 1st head coach to have defeated all 32 current teams. The Colts have inducted him into their Ring of Honor. This year, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Since retiring as a coach, he has been an NFL studio analyst for NBC.
October 6, 1956, 60 years ago: Game 3 of the World Series. Billy Martin sure did love hitting against the Dodgers, and he comes through with another home run. Enos Slaughter hits one, Whitey Ford pitches a complete game, and the Yankees win, 5-3. The Dodgers still lead the Series, 2 games to 1, but the Yankees are back in it.
Also on this day, with both Manchester United and the England national soccer team having games today, 3 United players are called up to the England squad, so forward Bobby Charlton, 5 days away from his 19th birthday, makes his senior debut for United, at Old Trafford in Salford.
Ironically, the opponent is the South London team named Charlton Athletic. His family has no connection to the club, although his brother is Leeds United defender Jack Charlton, Newcastle United legend Jackie Milburn was a cousin on his mother's side, and Leeds players Jack, George and Jim Milburn were his uncles. Bobby scores 2 goals on his debut, and United beat Charlton Athletic 4-2.
Charlton would go on to win 4 League titles, an FA Cup and a European Cup for United, and be England's leading scorer as it won the 1966 World Cup on home soil. (Jack Charlton also played for that team.) Now nearly 79 years old, Sir Bobby is one of the most admired living sportsmen in the world.
Also on this day, with both Manchester United and the England national soccer team having games today, 3 United players are called up to the England squad, so forward Bobby Charlton, 5 days away from his 19th birthday, makes his senior debut for United, at Old Trafford in Salford.
Ironically, the opponent is the South London team named Charlton Athletic. His family has no connection to the club, although his brother is Leeds United defender Jack Charlton, Newcastle United legend Jackie Milburn was a cousin on his mother's side, and Leeds players Jack, George and Jim Milburn were his uncles. Bobby scores 2 goals on his debut, and United beat Charlton Athletic 4-2.
Charlton would go on to win 4 League titles, an FA Cup and a European Cup for United, and be England's leading scorer as it won the 1966 World Cup on home soil. (Jack Charlton also played for that team.) Now nearly 79 years old, Sir Bobby is one of the most admired living sportsmen in the world.
October 6, 1957: Game 4 of the World Series. This was the Shoe Polish Game, in which Braves pinch-hitter Vernal Leroy "Nippy" Jones claimed to have been hit on the foot by a Tommy Byrne pitch, and a smudge of polish on the ball revealed him to be telling the truth, leading to a Brave run.
Nippy, who had been sent up to pinch-hit for Warren Spahn, was replaced by pinch-runner Felix Mantilla, who was sacrificed to 2nd by Red Schoendienst, and then came Mathews' blast. Like Jones, Schoendienst had played on the 1946 World Champion Cardinals. Mantilla, later an original 1962 Met, should not be confused with Felix Millan, also a Met 2nd baseman and a member of their 1973 Pennant winners.
Eddie Matthews hits what we would now call a "walkoff" home run, off Yankee pitcher Bob Grim in the bottom of the 10th, to give the Milwaukee Braves a 7-5 win, and even the World Series at 2 games apiece.
Another World Series shoe-polish incident would occur in favor of the Mets in 1969, with Cleon Jones – although they are not related, as Nippy was white and Cleon is black. Cleon's hit-by-pitch was also followed by a home run, by Donn Clendenon, although it was the 6th inning, and the Mets had yet to take the lead -- but they did.
Players from this game who are still alive, 59 years later: From the Braves, Schoendienst, Mantilla, Hank Aaron and Del Crandall; from the Yankees: Tony Kubek (a Milwaukee native who didn't have a major league team while growing up there) and Bobby Shantz. Whitey Ford is still alive, but did not appear in this game.
Also on this day, Bruce David Grobbelaar is born in Durban, South Africa, and grows up in neighboring Rhodesia. He was a good cricketer in his youth, and was offered a baseball scholarship in the U.S. But soccer was his first love, and the civil war in his homeland was his first duty. He saw things no man should see, and his side lost.
Rhodesia had a white-supremacist government (not that this was Grobbelaar's fault), and, when the black majority won, the country became Zimbabwe. The new President, Robert Mugabe, was hailed around the world for defeating a murderous regime. But his own has been just as bad, and, 36 years later, he's still in power.
Grobbelaar did come to North America, following the opposite path of many players in his time: First the North American Soccer League, then stardom in Europe. He was a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps team that won the 1979 NASL title, although he made just 1 appearance (not in the title game, a.k.a. the Soccer Bowl). He was the starting goalkeeper in 1980.
From 1981 to 1994, he played for Liverpool F.C., winning the following: 6 League titles, 3 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, and the 1984 European Cup. He was on hand for the 2 great Liverpool-connected tragedies of the 1980s. First, the Heysel Stadium Disaster on the night of the 1985 European Cup Final, which Liverpool lost to Juventus when he couldn't save a dubiously-awarded penalty kick from Michel Platini. Before the game, Liverpool fans had charged at the Italians who had come to Brussels, Belgium to support Juventus. Had they stood their ground, they would have at least survived. But they ran, and crashed into a stadium wall that collapsed, killing 39 of them.
On April 15, 1989, Liverpool were playing Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Semifinal, on neutral ground at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Someone opened the wrong gate, and there was a crush of fans, and 96 people died. It was not immediately clear that this was not a "pitch invasion" by hooligans, and so the media didn't get it at first. As soon as Grobbelaar "got it," his military training kicked in, and he ran to help. But the police, who had already made a bad situation a horrible one, made it worse by not letting him help. He could have saved some lives.
He continued to play regularly until 1997, and made the occasional one-off appearance until 2007. He is now back in Canada, as goalkeeping coach for the Ottawa Fury.
October 6, 1958: Game 5 of the World Series. Bullet Bob Turley, about to become the 1st Yankee to win the Cy Young Award, comes up with one of the great clutch performances in team history, pitching a 5-hit shutout. Gil McDougald hits a home run, and the Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-0.
The Series goes to a Game 6 in Milwaukee, and the Yankees have turned the Braves' momentum around.
Also on this day, Bruce David Grobbelaar is born in Durban, South Africa, and grows up in neighboring Rhodesia. He was a good cricketer in his youth, and was offered a baseball scholarship in the U.S. But soccer was his first love, and the civil war in his homeland was his first duty. He saw things no man should see, and his side lost.
Rhodesia had a white-supremacist government (not that this was Grobbelaar's fault), and, when the black majority won, the country became Zimbabwe. The new President, Robert Mugabe, was hailed around the world for defeating a murderous regime. But his own has been just as bad, and, 36 years later, he's still in power.
Grobbelaar did come to North America, following the opposite path of many players in his time: First the North American Soccer League, then stardom in Europe. He was a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps team that won the 1979 NASL title, although he made just 1 appearance (not in the title game, a.k.a. the Soccer Bowl). He was the starting goalkeeper in 1980.
From 1981 to 1994, he played for Liverpool F.C., winning the following: 6 League titles, 3 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, and the 1984 European Cup. He was on hand for the 2 great Liverpool-connected tragedies of the 1980s. First, the Heysel Stadium Disaster on the night of the 1985 European Cup Final, which Liverpool lost to Juventus when he couldn't save a dubiously-awarded penalty kick from Michel Platini. Before the game, Liverpool fans had charged at the Italians who had come to Brussels, Belgium to support Juventus. Had they stood their ground, they would have at least survived. But they ran, and crashed into a stadium wall that collapsed, killing 39 of them.
On April 15, 1989, Liverpool were playing Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Semifinal, on neutral ground at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Someone opened the wrong gate, and there was a crush of fans, and 96 people died. It was not immediately clear that this was not a "pitch invasion" by hooligans, and so the media didn't get it at first. As soon as Grobbelaar "got it," his military training kicked in, and he ran to help. But the police, who had already made a bad situation a horrible one, made it worse by not letting him help. He could have saved some lives.
He continued to play regularly until 1997, and made the occasional one-off appearance until 2007. He is now back in Canada, as goalkeeping coach for the Ottawa Fury.
October 6, 1958: Game 5 of the World Series. Bullet Bob Turley, about to become the 1st Yankee to win the Cy Young Award, comes up with one of the great clutch performances in team history, pitching a 5-hit shutout. Gil McDougald hits a home run, and the Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-0.
The Series goes to a Game 6 in Milwaukee, and the Yankees have turned the Braves' momentum around.
October 6, 1959: A crowd of 92,706, still the largest ever for a baseball game that counts, plows into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Game 5 of the World Series. Dick Donovan shuts out the Dodgers, and Sherm Lollar grounds into a double play that forces home a run, and the White Sox win, 1-0, with Bob Shaw outdueling Sandy Koufax (not yet a star). This will remain the last World Series game won by a Chicago team for 46 years.
Players from this game who are still alive, 56 years later: From the Dodgers: Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Joe Pignatano, Wally Moon, Don Demeter, Ron Fairly, Chuck Essegian and Stan Williams; from the White Sox: Luis Aparicio, Jim Landis and Jim Rivera.
Also on this day, Dennis Ray Boyd is born. The Red Sox pitcher will be nicknamed "Oil Can," because that’' what people in his native Meridian, Mississippi called a can of beer. Despite helping them to the 1986 World Series, Boyd will be remembered for his eccentricities more than his pitching, which led to a career record of 78-77.
He recently wrote a memoir detailing his drug use during his career, and played Satchel Paige in 42, the movie about Jackie Robinson -- a nod to his father, Willie Boyd, who pitched in the Negro Leagues.
Also on this day, Walter Ray Williams Jr. is born in Eureka, California. If you count bowling as a sport, then he's one of the few sports personalities who uses 4 names, counting the Junior. A 7-time Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year, he currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles with 47, and total PBA earnings with over $4.4 million.
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October 6, 1960: Game 2 of the World Series. The Pirates' Game 1 victory seems like a lifetime ago as the Yankees pound them 16-3. Mickey Mantle hits 2 home runs, and a 7-run 6th inning knocks the Bucs off.
The pattern for the Series is set: The Yankees win their games in blowouts, the Pirates win their games close, but they count just the same.
Also on this day, the 5-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens open their season at the Montreal Forum by retiring the Number 9 of the recently retired Maurice "Rocket" Richard. They properly honor him by beating their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0.
October 6, 1962: Richard Martin Yett is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona, California. He pitched his 1st season (1985) and his last (1990) with the Minnesota Twins, and in between he pitched for the Cleveland Indians. Rich Yett ended his career with a 22-24 record.
Also on this day, Thomas Stephen Caton is born in Kirkby, Lancashire, England. A centreback, Tommy Caton helped Manchester City reach the 1981 FA Cup Final, but retired due to heart trouble in 1991. He died 2 years later.
October 6, 1963: Game 4 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mickey Mantle hits a home run off Sandy Koufax, his 15th in Series play, tying Babe Ruth's record. It ties the game in the top of the 7th inning.
But in the bottom of the inning, Jim Gilliam hits a high hopper to 3rd baseman Clete Boyer. He leaps to make the grab, and fires to 1st base. But Joe Pepitone can't see the white ball against the white-shirted background. The ball hits him in the arm and rolls down the right field line, allowing Gilliam to get to 3rd. He scores on Willie Davis' sacrifice fly, and the Dodgers win, 2-1, and take the Series in 4 straight. Koufax had also won Game 1, with 15 strikeouts.
This is the 1st time the Dodgers have ever won a World Series at home -- in Brooklyn or Los Angeles. The Dodgers used just 4 pitchers: Koufax, 1955 Series hero Johnny Podres, Don Drysdale and Ron Perranoski, and they gave up just 4 runs in the 4 games.
The Yankees had come into this 1st West Coast version of Yankees vs. Dodgers having won 104 games, but would not win another until next April. It is also the 1st time the Yankees have ever been swept in a Series, having done it to St. Louis in 1928, the Cubs in 1932 and 1938, Cincinnati in 1939 and Philadelphia in 1950. The Reds would get revenge for 1939 by sweeping the Yankees in 1976.
This was also the 1st-ever Finals meeting, in any sport, between New York and Los Angeles. The Yankees would beat the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978, but the Dodgers would win in 1981. (The Mets and Angels have never met in a World Series, though 1986 was a very close call.) The Knicks beat the Lakers in the 1970 and 1973 NBA Finals, and the Lakers beat the Knicks in 1972. The Los Angeles Kings beat the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals and the Rangers in 2014, but the Devils beat the Anaheim Ducks (if you want to count that as "New York" vs. "Los Angeles") in 2003. Neither the Giants nor the Jets have ever played a Los Angeles team in an NFL (under the Super Bowl name or before) or AFL Championship Game.
The baseball gods -- if such beings exist -- were kind to Willie Davis on this day, allowing him to drive in the winning run of the World Series under weird conditions. They will turn on him 3 years later, in the same stadium, also under weird conditions.
Still alive from the '63 Dodgers, 53 years later: Koufax, Perranoski, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Frank Howard, Ron Fairly, Wally Moon, Ken McMullen, Al Ferrara, Dick Calmus, Pete Richert (who would also win the Series with the '66 Orioles), Dick Tracewski (who would also win the Series as a player with the '68 Tigers, and as a coach with the '75 & '76 Reds and the '84 Tigers) and Doug Camilli (son of Brooklyn Dodger great Dolph Camilli).
Also on this day, after 3 seasons as the Dallas Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs play their 1st regular-season game in their new hometown. They beat the Houston Oilers 28-7 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
October 4, 1964: Ricky Alan Berry is born in Lansing, Michigan, while his father Bill Berry was playing basketball at Michigan State University. He grew up in Sacramento when his father became a high school coach there, and later played for his father at San Jose State University.
In 1988-89, the forward had a decent rookie season with the Sacramento Kings. But on August 14, 1989, at his home in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks, California, he shot and killed himself. He was a little short of turning 25. He left no suicide note, and there seemed to be no signs of depression. His suicide remains a mystery.
Also on this day, Thomas Michael Jager is born in East St. Louis, Illinois. Tom Jager won 5 Olympic Gold Medals in swimming, in 1988 in Seoul, Korea and in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. They were all in relay events. Individually, he won a Silver Medal in 1988 and a Bronze Medal in 1992. He and his brothers have all become renowned swimming coaches.
Also on this day, Rubén Angel Sierra García is born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. A 4-time All-Star, he starred in right field with the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics, leading the AL with 119 RBIs in 1989. At the time, he was arguably the best player in Ranger history, especially if you consider that Fergie Jenkins and Nolan Ryan had spent most of their careers elsewhere. He helped the A's win the AL West in 1992.
In 1995, the A's traded Sierra to the Yankees for Danny Tartabull. He hit a tremendous blast for a home run in Game 2 of the AL Division Series, followed immediately by Don Mattingly's "hang onto the roof" homer, and later by Jim Leyrtiz' walkoff shot. But he batted just .174 in that series, which the Yankees lost.
Joe Torre was hired as manager the next season, and he didn't like Sierra's attitude, so he was traded to the Tigers for Cecil Fielder, and that made a big difference come October. Apparently, lots of other people didn't like his attitude, as he played for 6 different teams in 4 seasons from 1995 to 1998.
He must have changed his attitude, because in 2001, he was back with the Rangers, and won AL Comeback Player of the Year. Torre apparently approved, because the Yankees reacquired Sierra in 2003, and he finally played in a World Series. He helped the Yankees win the AL East in 2004 and '05, and the Twins win the AL Central in 2006, and then hung 'em up.
He finished his career with 306 home runs, and the Rangers elected him to their team Hall of Fame. As far as I know, he is not currently employed in baseball, and has never returned to Yankee Stadium (old or new) for Old-Timers' Day.
Also on this day, Jürgen Kohler is born in Lambsheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. A centreback, he helped Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga in 1990. He went to Italy, and helped Juventus win the UEFA Cup in 1993 and the Double (Serie A and the Coppa Italia) in 1995. He then moved back to Germany, and helped Borussia Dortmund win the Bundesliga in 1996 and 2002, and the Champions League in 1997.
He helped West Germany win the 1990 World Cup, and the combined German national team win Euro 96. He now manages SC Hauenstein in Germany's 5th division.
October 6, 1966, 50 years ago: Game 2 of the World Series. Dodger outfielder Willie Davis, having trouble seeing a white baseball against the smog-gray L.A. sky, commits 3 errors in 1 inning, enabling the Baltimore Orioles to win 6-0, and take both World Series games at Dodger Stadium, and head back to Memorial Stadium with a 2-0 lead. Jim Palmer, days short of his 21st birthday, outduels Koufax, who struggles with the Oriole bats, Davis' fielding, and the pain in his elbow.
After their fight on that preseason tour, Quinn pulled off his T-shirt, stained with McMahon's blood, so he wouldn't be denied entry into a dance club, danced his arse off (as they'd say in the British Isles), and, seen wearing only a pair of cutoff jeans by a Man City fan who was in the club, heard that fan sing, to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes Forever,"…
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Also on this day, Walter Hagen dies of throat cancer at his home in Traverse City, Michigan. He was 76. Between 1914 and 1929, he won 2 U.S. Opens, 4 British Opens and 5 PGA Championships. In the 1920s, "The Golden Age of Sports," he was to golf what Babe Ruth was to baseball, Red Grange to football, Howie Morenz to hockey, Jack Dempsey to boxing and Bill Tilden to tennis.
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October 6, 1970: Darren Christopher Oliver is born in Kansas City, Missouri, where his father, Bob Oliver, was then a 1st baseman for the Kansas City Royals. Darren grew up in Rio Linda, California, outside Sacramento, and became a pitcher. He reached the postseason with the 1996 Rangers, the 2004 Astros, the 2006 Mets, and the 2007, '08 and '09 Angels, before returning to the Rangers and helping them win their 1st Pennants in 2010 and '11.
He last pitched with Toronto in 2013, ended his career with a record of 118-98, and now works in the Rangers' front office.
October 6, 1972: Mark Schwarzer (no middle name) is born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He first played as a soccer goalkeeper in 1990 for Marconi Stallions, a semi-pro team in the Sydney suburbs. He went on to play in his ancestral Germany, and, starting in 1996, in England.
With North-East club Middlesbrough, he won the League Cup in 2004. That same year, he led Australia to win the OFC Nations Cup. As recently as 2013, he was the starter at West London club Fulham, helping them reach the 2010 Europa League Final. In 2016, he finally won a League title, as Kasper Schmeichel's backup at Leicester City. Leicester have since released him, but, at 44, he has not announced his retirement.
Also on this day, Rebecca Rose Lobo is born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grows up in nearby Southwick, Massachusetts. In 1995, she led the women's basketball team at the University of Connecticut to a 35-0 record and the National Championship. She then won a Gold Medal with the U.S. team at the 1996 Olympics.
The WNBA then started, and she starred for the New York Liberty, but never won a title. She is now an announcer for ESPN. She married Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin at the Basketball Hall of Fame, of which she is (unfairly) not yet a member. They have 4 children.
Also on this day, Sylvain Legwinski is born in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The midfielder won France's Ligue 1 with AS Monaco in 1997 and Girondins de Bordeaux in 2000. He also played in England, for Fulham and Suffolk club Ipswich Town. He is now back at Monaco, as an assistant coach.
October 6, 1974: Per Anders Kenny Jönsson is born in Ängelholm, Sweden. The defenseman led his country to Olympic hockey Gold Medals in 1994 and 2006, and was a 1999 NHL All-Star with the Islanders. He is now back in Sweden, an assistant coach for Helsingborg.
Also on this day, Helmuth Koinigg is killed in a crash at the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York State. The 25-year-old Austrian was in only his 2nd Grand Prix race.
October 6, 1975: The Detroit Lions play their 1st game at the Silverdome in suburban Pontiac, Michigan, after 37 seasons at Tiger Stadium. They lose to the Dallas Cowboys 36-10.
October 6, 1976, 40 years ago: Freddy Antonio García is born in Caracas, Venezuela. The pitcher had quite a career, reaching the postseason with the 2001 Seattle Mariners (winning 116 games before falling to the Yankees in the ALCS), the 2005 Chicago White Sox (winning the clinching Game 4 of the World Series), the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies, the 2011 and '12 Yankees, and the 2013 Atlanta Braves.
The Braves released him in 2014, and he spent the season playing in Taiwan. The Dodgers signed him in 2015 Spring Training, but released him after 4 bad starts at Triple-A. He spent the 1st month of this season in the Mexican League, and was released. But he's fooled people before, and he might not be done. He was an All-Star in 2001 (leading the AL in ERA) and '02, and his career record currently stands at a fine 156-108.
Also on this day, Richard John Hatton is born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. He's been Light Welterweight and Welterweight Champion of the World. In 2005, The Ring magazine, "the Bible of Boxing," named him Fighter of the Year. Ricky is now a boxing promoter.
October 6, 1979: Game 4 of the ALCS. Pat Kelly (not the later Yankee 2nd baseman) hits a home run and drives in 3, Scott McGregor pitches a shutout, and the Orioles beat the California Angels 8-0 to take the Pennant. It is Baltimore's 5th flag in the last 14 seasons, but their 1st in 8.
Also on this day, David di Elias Alemu Tommaso is born in Échirolles, France. A centreback, he helped AS Monaco win the French league in 2000. He died of a heart attack on November 29, 2005, while still an active player, for Dutch club FC Utrecht. He was only 26.
Also on this day, the 5-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens open their season at the Montreal Forum by retiring the Number 9 of the recently retired Maurice "Rocket" Richard. They properly honor him by beating their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0.
October 6, 1962: Richard Martin Yett is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona, California. He pitched his 1st season (1985) and his last (1990) with the Minnesota Twins, and in between he pitched for the Cleveland Indians. Rich Yett ended his career with a 22-24 record.
Also on this day, Thomas Stephen Caton is born in Kirkby, Lancashire, England. A centreback, Tommy Caton helped Manchester City reach the 1981 FA Cup Final, but retired due to heart trouble in 1991. He died 2 years later.
October 6, 1963: Game 4 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mickey Mantle hits a home run off Sandy Koufax, his 15th in Series play, tying Babe Ruth's record. It ties the game in the top of the 7th inning.
But in the bottom of the inning, Jim Gilliam hits a high hopper to 3rd baseman Clete Boyer. He leaps to make the grab, and fires to 1st base. But Joe Pepitone can't see the white ball against the white-shirted background. The ball hits him in the arm and rolls down the right field line, allowing Gilliam to get to 3rd. He scores on Willie Davis' sacrifice fly, and the Dodgers win, 2-1, and take the Series in 4 straight. Koufax had also won Game 1, with 15 strikeouts.
This is the 1st time the Dodgers have ever won a World Series at home -- in Brooklyn or Los Angeles. The Dodgers used just 4 pitchers: Koufax, 1955 Series hero Johnny Podres, Don Drysdale and Ron Perranoski, and they gave up just 4 runs in the 4 games.
The Yankees had come into this 1st West Coast version of Yankees vs. Dodgers having won 104 games, but would not win another until next April. It is also the 1st time the Yankees have ever been swept in a Series, having done it to St. Louis in 1928, the Cubs in 1932 and 1938, Cincinnati in 1939 and Philadelphia in 1950. The Reds would get revenge for 1939 by sweeping the Yankees in 1976.
This was also the 1st-ever Finals meeting, in any sport, between New York and Los Angeles. The Yankees would beat the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978, but the Dodgers would win in 1981. (The Mets and Angels have never met in a World Series, though 1986 was a very close call.) The Knicks beat the Lakers in the 1970 and 1973 NBA Finals, and the Lakers beat the Knicks in 1972. The Los Angeles Kings beat the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals and the Rangers in 2014, but the Devils beat the Anaheim Ducks (if you want to count that as "New York" vs. "Los Angeles") in 2003. Neither the Giants nor the Jets have ever played a Los Angeles team in an NFL (under the Super Bowl name or before) or AFL Championship Game.
The baseball gods -- if such beings exist -- were kind to Willie Davis on this day, allowing him to drive in the winning run of the World Series under weird conditions. They will turn on him 3 years later, in the same stadium, also under weird conditions.
Also on this day, after 3 seasons as the Dallas Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs play their 1st regular-season game in their new hometown. They beat the Houston Oilers 28-7 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
October 4, 1964: Ricky Alan Berry is born in Lansing, Michigan, while his father Bill Berry was playing basketball at Michigan State University. He grew up in Sacramento when his father became a high school coach there, and later played for his father at San Jose State University.
In 1988-89, the forward had a decent rookie season with the Sacramento Kings. But on August 14, 1989, at his home in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks, California, he shot and killed himself. He was a little short of turning 25. He left no suicide note, and there seemed to be no signs of depression. His suicide remains a mystery.
Also on this day, Thomas Michael Jager is born in East St. Louis, Illinois. Tom Jager won 5 Olympic Gold Medals in swimming, in 1988 in Seoul, Korea and in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. They were all in relay events. Individually, he won a Silver Medal in 1988 and a Bronze Medal in 1992. He and his brothers have all become renowned swimming coaches.
October 6, 1965: Game 1 of the World Series at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, the 1st World Series game ever played in that State. The Minnesota Twins are hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose ace is still Sandy Koufax. Koufax, being Jewish, does not pitch today, because it is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. So he is pushed back to Game 2, and Don Drysdale is started today. No problem, right? Big D is also a future Hall-of-Famer, right?
Not today: Don Mincher and soon-to-be AL MVP Zoilo Versalles (who hit only 2 homers in the regular season, and got the MVP for his contact hitting, speed and defense) hit home runs off Drysdale, and when manager Walter Alston comes to take him out in the 3rd inning, Drysdale says to him, "I bet you wish I was Jewish, too!"
Jim "Mudcat" Grant allows only 1 hit, a home run by Ron Fairly, and the Twins, in the 1st World Series game in their history (unless you count their Washington Senators days, in which case it's their 1st in 32 years), win 8-2.
To make matters worse for the Dodgers, Koufax loses Game 2 as well. The Dodgers will come back,
though, and win the Series in 7 games. The Twins will not get this close to a World Championship again for another 22 years.
Also on this day, Rubén Angel Sierra García is born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. A 4-time All-Star, he starred in right field with the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics, leading the AL with 119 RBIs in 1989. At the time, he was arguably the best player in Ranger history, especially if you consider that Fergie Jenkins and Nolan Ryan had spent most of their careers elsewhere. He helped the A's win the AL West in 1992.
In 1995, the A's traded Sierra to the Yankees for Danny Tartabull. He hit a tremendous blast for a home run in Game 2 of the AL Division Series, followed immediately by Don Mattingly's "hang onto the roof" homer, and later by Jim Leyrtiz' walkoff shot. But he batted just .174 in that series, which the Yankees lost.
Joe Torre was hired as manager the next season, and he didn't like Sierra's attitude, so he was traded to the Tigers for Cecil Fielder, and that made a big difference come October. Apparently, lots of other people didn't like his attitude, as he played for 6 different teams in 4 seasons from 1995 to 1998.
He must have changed his attitude, because in 2001, he was back with the Rangers, and won AL Comeback Player of the Year. Torre apparently approved, because the Yankees reacquired Sierra in 2003, and he finally played in a World Series. He helped the Yankees win the AL East in 2004 and '05, and the Twins win the AL Central in 2006, and then hung 'em up.
He finished his career with 306 home runs, and the Rangers elected him to their team Hall of Fame. As far as I know, he is not currently employed in baseball, and has never returned to Yankee Stadium (old or new) for Old-Timers' Day.
Also on this day, Jürgen Kohler is born in Lambsheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. A centreback, he helped Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga in 1990. He went to Italy, and helped Juventus win the UEFA Cup in 1993 and the Double (Serie A and the Coppa Italia) in 1995. He then moved back to Germany, and helped Borussia Dortmund win the Bundesliga in 1996 and 2002, and the Champions League in 1997.
He helped West Germany win the 1990 World Cup, and the combined German national team win Euro 96. He now manages SC Hauenstein in Germany's 5th division.
October 6, 1966, 50 years ago: Game 2 of the World Series. Dodger outfielder Willie Davis, having trouble seeing a white baseball against the smog-gray L.A. sky, commits 3 errors in 1 inning, enabling the Baltimore Orioles to win 6-0, and take both World Series games at Dodger Stadium, and head back to Memorial Stadium with a 2-0 lead. Jim Palmer, days short of his 21st birthday, outduels Koufax, who struggles with the Oriole bats, Davis' fielding, and the pain in his elbow.
Koufax hasn't told very many people yet, but he's already decided that this is his last major league game. He is not yet 31. This could be called a "generational hinge" game.
On this same day, LSD is declared illegal throughout the United States.
Also on this day, Niall John Quinn is born in Dublin, Ireland. Most Americans don’t know who he is. He was a soccer forward played on Arsenal’s 1987 League Cup-winning team, and, phased out in favor of Alan Smith, was a reserve on their 1989 League Championship team.
He moved on to Manchester City, where he became a star, and even performed admirably in an emergency stint it goal. But on their 1992 preseason tour in Italy, he got in an altercation with teammate Steve McMahon, who had been on the other side when Arsenal beat Liverpool in the season finale that decided that League title. McMahon looked like a fool that night, signaling to his teammates that there would be just 1 minute of injury time, when there turned out to be 2, with Michael Thomas scoring the winning goal in said 92nd minute. But Quinn didn't play in that game.
After their fight on that preseason tour, Quinn pulled off his T-shirt, stained with McMahon's blood, so he wouldn't be denied entry into a dance club, danced his arse off (as they'd say in the British Isles), and, seen wearing only a pair of cutoff jeans by a Man City fan who was in the club, heard that fan sing, to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes Forever,"…
Niall Quinn's disco pants are the best!
They go up from his arse to his chest!
They are better than Adam and the Ants!
Niall Quinn's disco pants!
Quinn, who has called it "the song that will follow me to the end of my career," admits that he no longer has those pants. However, they can't possibly fail to be better than Adam and the Ants. They sucked.
Quinn finished his playing career for Sunderland A.F.C., saying, "I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland." He then went into management, eventually buying a part-ownership of the Sunderland team and being made its chairman. He has since sold his stake in the team, and has returned to color commentary on soccer games (or, should I say, "colour commentary on football matches").
In 2006, Sunderland, then in English football's 2nd division, were playing away at Cardiff City, along with Swansea City one of two teams from Wales in the 92-team English Football League. Sunderland won, and Quinn got on the plane that was to take him, the players, and a few fans back to Sunderland. Already, there was a problem, as Cardiff's airport wasn't willing to take them. They had to go 40 miles across a bay to Bristol, England. Recognized by some fans, who’d already had a few drinks that night, they started singing "Niall Quinn’s Disco Pants." At the top of their lungs.
A few of the other passengers complained, and the pilot had 80 people thrown off the plane. The airline, EasyJet, told them they could have seats on the first plane out the next morning, at no extra charge -- but wouldn't give them a place to spend the night. They were really in a bind.
Quinn pulled out the club checkbook – since it's Britain, I should say "chequebook" -- and hired taxis. He paid 8,000 pounds, about $15,000 at the time, to take them up Britain's M5 Motorway, from Bristol in the southwest of England to Sunderland in the northeast -- about 300 miles, or roughly the distance from New York to Portland, Maine. Or from Philadelphia to Boston.
This would have been chump change for a big club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United (or, now, Manchester City). But for Sunderland, it was a pretty penny. Sunderland fans -- a.k.a. "Mackems" -- have never forgotten this act of generosity, and adapted the song, including taking a pot-shot at Freddy Shepherd, then owner of their arch-rivals, Newcastle United, a.k.a. the Magpies or Mags (and since replacing him with Mike Ashley, current Newcastle owner):
Niall Quinn's taxi cabs are the best!
So go shove it up your arse, EasyJet!
Fat Freddy/Fat Ashley wouldn't do it for the Mags!
Niall Quinn’s taxi cabs!
I don't like Sunderland, but, using the U.K. vernacular, Niall Quinn is a top man.
October 6, 1967, 50 years ago: Berndt Kennet Andersson is bornin Eskilstuna, Sweden. Dropping his 1st name, Kennet Andersson (not to be confused with the American quarterback Ken Anderson or the American basketball player Kenny Anderson) was a forward who led IFK Göteborg to the title in Sweden's top league,the Allsvenskan, in 1990 and '91, and to a "Double" with the Svenska Cupen in 1991, a season in which he was the league's leading scorer.
He later helped Sweden win 3rd place at the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., won minor cups in Italy with Bolgna and Lazio, and the Turkish league with Istanbul's Fenerbahçe in 2001.
October 6, 1968: Game 4 of the World Series at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Bob Gibson of the Cardinals earns his 7th straight Series win: After losing Game 2 to the Yankees in 1964, he then won Games 5 and 7, and Games 1, 4 and 7 in 1967, before his 17-strikeout masterwork in this year's Game 1, and now this. He has lived up to the hype of his 1.12 ERA regular season.
Denny McLain of the Tigers, however, has not lived up to the hype of his 31-6 season, having now been beaten by Gibson twice. Lou Brock misses the cycle by a single, and his stolen base gives him 7 in the 1st 4 games. The Cardinals win 10-1, and need 1 more win to wrap up the Series. If they can't do it in Game 5 in Detroit tomorrow, Games 6 and 7 will be at home in St. Louis.
Eddie Mathews, formerly the Hall of Fame 3rd baseman for the Milwaukee Braves, goes 1-for-2 with a walk for the Tigers. It is his last major league appearance.
Eddie Mathews, formerly the Hall of Fame 3rd baseman for the Milwaukee Braves, goes 1-for-2 with a walk for the Tigers. It is his last major league appearance.
Before the game, Detroit's own (well, Motown Records' own, since he's actually from Washington, D.C.) Marvin Gaye sings the "The Star-Spangled Banner." An overtly sexy black man singing the National Anthem? In 1968, the year of Martin Luther King's assassination and the accompanying race riots? The man who chose Detroit's anthem singers must have had some real guts.
The man chosen to choose the anthem singers for the Tiger Stadium games had guts, all right. He was a World War II Marine. True, he never saw combat, but he was still a Marine. He was also an ordained minister. And a published songwriter. And a Tiger broadcaster, so he was qualified on any level to choose the Tigers' anthem singers. He was Ernie Harwell.
Marvin sings the Anthem straight, gets a nice hand, and no one seems to object. That will not be the case with tomorrow's singer. When Marvin, in the midst of an ill-fated comeback, sings the Anthem before the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, it will be a very different performance.
Also on this day, Marlin Briscoe starts at quarterback for the Denver Broncos, after coming in as an injury replacement in the 4th quarter the week before. This made the 23-year-old native of Omaha the 1st black man to start at quarterback in a professional football game. He led the Broncos to a 10-7 win over the expansion Cincinnati Bengals at Mile High Stadium.
He was traded to the Buffalo Bills, moved to receiver, made the Pro Bowl as one in 1970, and won 2 Super Bowl rings with the Miami Dolphins, and played in the NFL through 1976. He then moved to Los Angeles, became a financial broker, and now runs the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, California.
Also on this day, Marlin Briscoe starts at quarterback for the Denver Broncos, after coming in as an injury replacement in the 4th quarter the week before. This made the 23-year-old native of Omaha the 1st black man to start at quarterback in a professional football game. He led the Broncos to a 10-7 win over the expansion Cincinnati Bengals at Mile High Stadium.
He was traded to the Buffalo Bills, moved to receiver, made the Pro Bowl as one in 1970, and won 2 Super Bowl rings with the Miami Dolphins, and played in the NFL through 1976. He then moved to Los Angeles, became a financial broker, and now runs the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, California.
Also on this day, Bjarne Goldbæk is born in Copenhagen, Denmark. A midfielder, he led Kaiserslautern to the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) in 1990, and the national league (Bundesliga) title in 1991. He returned home, and led FC Copenhagen to the 1997 Danish Cup. He went to London and helped Chelsea win the 2000 FA Cup.
He was not selected for the Denmark team that won the country's only tournament title, Euro 1992, but he did play for them in the 1998 World Cup. He is now a pundit for TV network Eurosport.
October 6, 1969: Tommie Agee, Ken Boswell and Wayne Garrett all hit home runs, leading the Mets to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 7-4 at Shea Stadium, and sweep the 1st-ever National League Championship Series. As they did after the NL Eastern Division clincher on September 24, the Met fans storm the field.
It is the 1st Pennant won by a New York team in 5 years. A long time by New York standards. But for Met fans, the children of a "shotgun wedding" between 2 groups of fans who once hated each other, to use the late scientist and former Giant fan Stephen Jay Gould's phrase, "with that love that only hate can understand," it is the 1st Pennant in either 13 years (Dodgers) or 15 years (Giants).
After 7 bad years, 5 of them absolutely horrible, in Year 8 the Mets have won the Pennant. It is the fastest any team has reached the World Series since the early days of the competition. It will be 1980 – or 1973, if you count the Mets' 2nd Pennant – before a team other than one of the "Original 16" reaches the World Series again.
The 1st-ever American League Championship Series also ends in a sweep today. Paul Blair gets 5 hits and Don Buford 4, as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins 11-2 at Metropolitan Stadium. The Series is set: The heavily-favored 109-win Orioles will face the surprising 100-win "Miracle Mets."
Also on this day, Walter Hagen dies of throat cancer at his home in Traverse City, Michigan. He was 76. Between 1914 and 1929, he won 2 U.S. Opens, 4 British Opens and 5 PGA Championships. In the 1920s, "The Golden Age of Sports," he was to golf what Babe Ruth was to baseball, Red Grange to football, Howie Morenz to hockey, Jack Dempsey to boxing and Bill Tilden to tennis.
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October 6, 1970: Darren Christopher Oliver is born in Kansas City, Missouri, where his father, Bob Oliver, was then a 1st baseman for the Kansas City Royals. Darren grew up in Rio Linda, California, outside Sacramento, and became a pitcher. He reached the postseason with the 1996 Rangers, the 2004 Astros, the 2006 Mets, and the 2007, '08 and '09 Angels, before returning to the Rangers and helping them win their 1st Pennants in 2010 and '11.
He last pitched with Toronto in 2013, ended his career with a record of 118-98, and now works in the Rangers' front office.
October 6, 1972: Mark Schwarzer (no middle name) is born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He first played as a soccer goalkeeper in 1990 for Marconi Stallions, a semi-pro team in the Sydney suburbs. He went on to play in his ancestral Germany, and, starting in 1996, in England.
With North-East club Middlesbrough, he won the League Cup in 2004. That same year, he led Australia to win the OFC Nations Cup. As recently as 2013, he was the starter at West London club Fulham, helping them reach the 2010 Europa League Final. In 2016, he finally won a League title, as Kasper Schmeichel's backup at Leicester City. Leicester have since released him, but, at 44, he has not announced his retirement.
October 6, 1973: Game 1 of the NLCS at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Both the Mets and the Reds have something to prove: The Mets, that their 1969 "Miracle" wasn't a fluke; and the Reds, that they could win the big one, after losing the World Series in 1970 and '72.
Tom Seaver goes the distance for the Mets. Perhaps manager Yogi Berra left him in for too long: Johnny Bench takes him deep for a walkoff home run, and the Reds win 2-1. The big hits of this series have begun -- and they won't all be with the bats.
Also on this day, Rebecca Rose Lobo is born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grows up in nearby Southwick, Massachusetts. In 1995, she led the women's basketball team at the University of Connecticut to a 35-0 record and the National Championship. She then won a Gold Medal with the U.S. team at the 1996 Olympics.
The WNBA then started, and she starred for the New York Liberty, but never won a title. She is now an announcer for ESPN. She married Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin at the Basketball Hall of Fame, of which she is (unfairly) not yet a member. They have 4 children.
Also on this day, Sylvain Legwinski is born in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The midfielder won France's Ligue 1 with AS Monaco in 1997 and Girondins de Bordeaux in 2000. He also played in England, for Fulham and Suffolk club Ipswich Town. He is now back at Monaco, as an assistant coach.
October 6, 1974: Per Anders Kenny Jönsson is born in Ängelholm, Sweden. The defenseman led his country to Olympic hockey Gold Medals in 1994 and 2006, and was a 1999 NHL All-Star with the Islanders. He is now back in Sweden, an assistant coach for Helsingborg.
Also on this day, Helmuth Koinigg is killed in a crash at the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York State. The 25-year-old Austrian was in only his 2nd Grand Prix race.
October 6, 1975: The Detroit Lions play their 1st game at the Silverdome in suburban Pontiac, Michigan, after 37 seasons at Tiger Stadium. They lose to the Dallas Cowboys 36-10.
October 6, 1976, 40 years ago: Freddy Antonio García is born in Caracas, Venezuela. The pitcher had quite a career, reaching the postseason with the 2001 Seattle Mariners (winning 116 games before falling to the Yankees in the ALCS), the 2005 Chicago White Sox (winning the clinching Game 4 of the World Series), the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies, the 2011 and '12 Yankees, and the 2013 Atlanta Braves.
The Braves released him in 2014, and he spent the season playing in Taiwan. The Dodgers signed him in 2015 Spring Training, but released him after 4 bad starts at Triple-A. He spent the 1st month of this season in the Mexican League, and was released. But he's fooled people before, and he might not be done. He was an All-Star in 2001 (leading the AL in ERA) and '02, and his career record currently stands at a fine 156-108.
October 6, 1977: Game 2 of the ALCS. After being embarrassed by Paul Splittorff yesterday, the Yankees need a big-game pitcher. For the 1st time, Ron Guidry proves to be one, scattering 3 hits as the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2. The series is even as it heads to Kansas City.
Also on this day, Daniel Jean-Claude Brière is born in Gatineau, Quebec, outside Ottawa. The center captained the Philadelphia Flyers into the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, and retired last year after 19 seasons, 2 All-Star appearances and 309 goals.
Also on this day, Daniel Jean-Claude Brière is born in Gatineau, Quebec, outside Ottawa. The center captained the Philadelphia Flyers into the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, and retired last year after 19 seasons, 2 All-Star appearances and 309 goals.
Also on this day, Shimon Gershon (no middle name) is born in Jaffa, Israel. A centerback, he led Hapoel Tel Aviv to the Israeli Premier League title in 2000, and the Israel State Cup in 1999, 2000 (for a Double) and 2006. He led Beitar Jerusalem tothe League in 2007, the Double in 2008, and the Cup in 2009. While still playing, he began a hit music career, which he continues.
October 6, 1978: Game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium. The winner will take a 2-1 lead in the series. George Brett of the Royals hits 3 home runs off Catfish Hunter, still the only 3-homer performance in LCS play in either league.
October 6, 1978: Game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium. The winner will take a 2-1 lead in the series. George Brett of the Royals hits 3 home runs off Catfish Hunter, still the only 3-homer performance in LCS play in either league.
But in the bottom of the 8th, with the Yankees trailing 5-4, Thurman Munson steps up against Royals reliever Doug Bird, and crushes a pitch 470 feet to left-center field. On ABC, Howard Cosell, who admired Munson a lot, laughs: "Ho-ho! The damaged man!"
Goose Gossage finishes it off for Catfish, and the Yankees win, 6-5. Reggie Jackson had also homered, his 2nd of this series, after taking K.C. closer Al "the Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky deep in Game 1 at Royals Stadium.
This is what I love most about Munson: At the moment when the Yankees most needed him to hit a home run, the banged-up Captain hit the longest home run of his career. Appropriately, it went into Monument Park. At this point, the only players honored there were the big 4: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle – along with owner Jacob Ruppert, general manager Ed Barrow, managers Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel, and the plaque honoring the Mass delivered by Pope Paul VI.
The next Plaque to be dedicated would be the one for the Mass delivered by Pope John Paul II, but the next one for a Yankee would be, sadly, for Munson himself.
Also on this day, Richard John Hatton is born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. He's been Light Welterweight and Welterweight Champion of the World. In 2005, The Ring magazine, "the Bible of Boxing," named him Fighter of the Year. Ricky is now a boxing promoter.
October 6, 1979: Game 4 of the ALCS. Pat Kelly (not the later Yankee 2nd baseman) hits a home run and drives in 3, Scott McGregor pitches a shutout, and the Orioles beat the California Angels 8-0 to take the Pennant. It is Baltimore's 5th flag in the last 14 seasons, but their 1st in 8.
The Angels' 1st trip to the postseason, after 19 years of trying, is a disappointment, although their Don Baylor (later a Yankee) will edge the O's Ken Singleton (now a Yankee broadcaster) for the AL Most Valuable Player award.
Also on this day, Richard Vershaun Seymour is born in Gadsden, South Carolina. A 7-time Pro Bowler, the defensive end won 3 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, and was named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team and the Patriots' 50th Anniversary Team. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Also on this day, Richard Vershaun Seymour is born in Gadsden, South Carolina. A 7-time Pro Bowler, the defensive end won 3 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, and was named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team and the Patriots' 50th Anniversary Team. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Also on this day, David di Elias Alemu Tommaso is born in Échirolles, France. A centreback, he helped AS Monaco win the French league in 2000. He died of a heart attack on November 29, 2005, while still an active player, for Dutch club FC Utrecht. He was only 26.
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October 6, 1980: Having lost 3 straight to the Dodgers, the Houston Astros must now play them in a one-game Playoff to decide the NL West title, and at Dodger Stadium, no less.
No problem: Art Howe drives in 4 runs (which is more than the Astro 2nd baseman ever did for the Mets as their manager), and Joe Niekro knuckleballs his way to his 20th win of the season, and the Astros win, 7-1. In what is unofficially the 1st postseason game in their 19-year history, they officially advance to the Playoffs for the first time.
October 6, 1981: Game 1 of the AL Division Series, forced by the strike season's split-season format. Billy Martin, now managing the Oakland Athletics, becomes the 1st manager to take 4 franchises into the postseason: 1969 Twins, 1972 Tigers, 1976 & '77 Yankees, 1981 A's.
The A's are facing the Royals, in Kansas City, and due to his exile there from the Yankees in 1957 and his 1976 and '77 Playoff battles against them, he hates Kansas City, and, more than usual, wants to win there.
The A's are facing the Royals, in Kansas City, and due to his exile there from the Yankees in 1957 and his 1976 and '77 Playoff battles against them, he hates Kansas City, and, more than usual, wants to win there.
No problem: Mike Norris tosses a 6-hit shutout, and the A's win 4-0, their 1st win in a postseason game in 7 years.
On the same day, Game 1 of the NL Division Series is played. Alan Ashby, a light-hitting catcher, hits a walkoff home run to give the Astros another big win over the Dodgers, 3-1.
The pitcher who gave up the home run was Dave Stewart. Both he and the Dodgers would have more luck as the postseason went on, first together, then apart.
October 6, 1982: Reggie Jackson may now be back on the West Coast, and no longer wearing Pinstripes, but he's still Mr. October: He hits a home run, and the Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2. The Halos are now 1 win away from their 1st Pennant in 22 seasons of trying.
October 6, 1983: Orioles rookie Mike Boddicker ties the LCS record with 14 strikeouts in a 4-0 shutout of the White Sox. The ALCS is tied 1-1.
October 6, 1983: Orioles rookie Mike Boddicker ties the LCS record with 14 strikeouts in a 4-0 shutout of the White Sox. The ALCS is tied 1-1.
October 6, 1984: A dark day in the long, gray history of the Chicago Cubs, 39 years to the day after the Day of the Goat. Leading the NLCS 2 games to 1, needing only 1 more win to take their first Pennant since 1945, they are tied with the San Diego Padres in the bottom of the 9th at Jack Murphy Stadium. But closer Lee Smith gives up an opposite-field homer to former Dodger "hero" Steve Garvey, and the Padres win, 7-5, to tie up the series.
Fans of lots of teams hated Garvey, due to his smugness and, as it turned out, his hypocrisy. But I think Cub fans hate him even more than Philadelphia and Cincinnati fans do. Certainly, they hate him more than Yankee Fans do – and that's a lot.
October 6, 1985: With the Yankees having been eliminated from the AL East race the day before, manager Billy Martin sends 46-year-old knuckleballer Phil Niekro (Joe's brother) out to pitch an otherwise meaningless game at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. He allows only 4 hits, becoming the oldest pitcher ever to pitch a complete-game shutout – top that, Nolan Ryan!
Mike Pagliarulo, Henry Cotto and Don Mattingly hit home runs, and the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-0 at Exhibition Stadium. Niekro has his 300th career win.
Also on this day, the Mets close their best season in 12 years by losing to the Montreal Expos 2-1 at Shea Stadium. Rusty Staub, beloved by fans of both teams, is sent up to pinch-hit for catcher Ronn Reynolds by Met manager Davey Johnson with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, in the hopes of winning this officially meaningless game. He grounds to 2nd, and the game, and his career, are over.
Also on this Day, Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles is born in Miami. A 3-time All-Star, the center for the Minnesota Lynx led her team to the 2015 WNBA Championship.
October 6, 1989: Tyler Foster Ennis is born in Edmonton. A left wing, he is an alternate captain for the Buffalo Sabres.
Also on this day, Luís Miguel Afonso Fernandes is born in Bragança, Portugal. Known as Pizzi, the midfielder has helped Lisbon soccer giants Benfica win the last 2 Primeira Liga titles.
Also on this day, Albert Dominique Ebossé Bodjongo Dika is born in Douala, Cameroon. The forward known as Bodjongo was playing for playing for JS Kabylie in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria against visiting USM Alger, who won, 2-1. Although Bodjongo had scored JSK's only goal, the fans were furious with the team's performance, and one threw something at him, hitting him in the head, and killing him at age 24.
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Mike Pagliarulo, Henry Cotto and Don Mattingly hit home runs, and the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-0 at Exhibition Stadium. Niekro has his 300th career win.
The Yankees will release him after the season, despite his having won 16 games for them at age 45 and again at 46. He will pitch 2 more seasons, with his home-State Cleveland Indians, the Blue Jays, and 1 more game with his original team, the Braves – he is the last active player who had played for the Braves in Milwaukee – reaching 318 wins for his Hall of Fame career.
That makes him 16th on the all-time list, but among pitchers who’d spent most of their careers in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era, only his ex-Brave teammate Warren Spahn, and the still-active Ryan, Steve Carlton and Don Sutton had more wins before him. He has since also been passed by Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux.
With Joe having won 221, the Niekro brothers are the winningest brother combination in MLB history, with 539 wins between them. Phil also struck out 3,342 batters, then 8th all-time and now 11th. In 1973, he pitched the 1st no-hitter in Atlanta history. It took 5 tries before he was finally elected to the Hall of Fame.
The Yankees finish 2 games behind the Jays in the American League Eastern Division, their closest finish to 1st place between 1981 and 1996 (not counting strike-shortened 1994). They win 97 games, the most they won in any season from 1980 to 1998. Yet, with the MLB setup of the time, they do not reach the postseason. Also on this day, the Mets close their best season in 12 years by losing to the Montreal Expos 2-1 at Shea Stadium. Rusty Staub, beloved by fans of both teams, is sent up to pinch-hit for catcher Ronn Reynolds by Met manager Davey Johnson with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, in the hopes of winning this officially meaningless game. He grounds to 2nd, and the game, and his career, are over.
Also on this Day, Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles is born in Miami. A 3-time All-Star, the center for the Minnesota Lynx led her team to the 2015 WNBA Championship.
October 6, 1989: Tyler Foster Ennis is born in Edmonton. A left wing, he is an alternate captain for the Buffalo Sabres.
Also on this day, Luís Miguel Afonso Fernandes is born in Bragança, Portugal. Known as Pizzi, the midfielder has helped Lisbon soccer giants Benfica win the last 2 Primeira Liga titles.
Also on this day, Albert Dominique Ebossé Bodjongo Dika is born in Douala, Cameroon. The forward known as Bodjongo was playing for playing for JS Kabylie in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria against visiting USM Alger, who won, 2-1. Although Bodjongo had scored JSK's only goal, the fans were furious with the team's performance, and one threw something at him, hitting him in the head, and killing him at age 24.
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October 6, 1991, 25 years ago: The final game is played at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Orioles lose to the Tigers, 7-3. Afterward, while the music from Field of Dreams plays, Brooks Robinson trots back out to his old position of 3rd base, followed by Frank Robinson into right field, Jim Palmer to the pitcher's mound, and so on, until Cal Ripken goes to shortstop as the last player, and Earl Weaver gives one last lineup card (no doubt with little room on it) to an umpire.
This ceremony paves the way for many ballpark closing ceremonies since, including the farewell to the old Yankee Stadium (which, neatly, was against the Orioles).
The Orioles moved into Oriole Park at Camden Yards the following April, and the NFL's Ravens played their 1st 2 seasons (1996-97) at Memorial before moving into their own stadium at Camden Yards. Memorial Stadium, built in 1954, is demolished in 2002, 80 years after the 1st event was played at the original facility at the site, Municipal Stadium, in 1922. Senior citizen housing was built on the site.
The Orioles moved into Oriole Park at Camden Yards the following April, and the NFL's Ravens played their 1st 2 seasons (1996-97) at Memorial before moving into their own stadium at Camden Yards. Memorial Stadium, built in 1954, is demolished in 2002, 80 years after the 1st event was played at the original facility at the site, Municipal Stadium, in 1922. Senior citizen housing was built on the site.
The same day that Memorial Stadium hosted its last baseball game, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia hosts an interesting and troubled one. With a policeman watching his every move from the Met dugout, and the fear of being arrested at any moment due to rape allegations (which were later proven false), David Cone ties a National League mark for strikeouts as he fans 19 Phillies, en route to a 7-0 victory in the season’s finale.
In spite of the charges against him having come to nothing, the Mets let him get away in the off-season, and, except for a brief comeback in 2003, he never pitched for them again. He did, however pitch for another New York team, and far more successfully than he ever did for the Mets.
That 1991 season remains the last one in which the Mets finished with a better attendance than the Yankees.
October 6, 1992: The long-awaited NHL debut of Eric Lindros happens at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. He scores a goal, but so does Mario Lemieux, and Lindros' Philadelphia Flyers and Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins finish in a 3-3 tie.
October 6, 1993: The Florida Panthers make their NHL debut, at Chicago Stadium. They get goals from their 1st Captain, Brian Skrudland, and also from Andrei Lomakin, Scott Mellanby and Gord Murphy. It's not enough, as they finish in a 4-4 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Also on this day, something happens of greater concern to the usual denizens of Chicago Stadium: Michael Jordan retires from basketball for the 1st time, after 3 straight NBA Championships, at the age of 30. He says he has "lost his desire" for basketball.
The speculation at the time was that he was distraught over the death of his father, James, murdered in North Carolina the previous summer. Jordan would later confirm this. The speculation now is that his gambling debts put him in trouble with organized crime, and NBA Commissioner David Stern, having to punish him but not willing to throw away the greatest meal ticket his league will ever have, asked Jordan to compromise: Step away from the game for a while, in such a way that it looks like your decision, and settle things.
Whatever the truth was, on March 18, 1995, he announced, "I'm back."
October 6, 1995: Game 3 of the ALDS, the 1st postseason game ever played in Seattle. Bernie Williams becomes the 1st player to hit a home run from each side of the plate in a postseason game. But Randy Johnson shuts the Yankees down, and the Seattle Mariners win 7-4, for their 1st-ever postseason victory.
October 6, 1993: The Florida Panthers make their NHL debut, at Chicago Stadium. They get goals from their 1st Captain, Brian Skrudland, and also from Andrei Lomakin, Scott Mellanby and Gord Murphy. It's not enough, as they finish in a 4-4 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Also on this day, something happens of greater concern to the usual denizens of Chicago Stadium: Michael Jordan retires from basketball for the 1st time, after 3 straight NBA Championships, at the age of 30. He says he has "lost his desire" for basketball.
The speculation at the time was that he was distraught over the death of his father, James, murdered in North Carolina the previous summer. Jordan would later confirm this. The speculation now is that his gambling debts put him in trouble with organized crime, and NBA Commissioner David Stern, having to punish him but not willing to throw away the greatest meal ticket his league will ever have, asked Jordan to compromise: Step away from the game for a while, in such a way that it looks like your decision, and settle things.
Whatever the truth was, on March 18, 1995, he announced, "I'm back."
October 6, 1995: Game 3 of the ALDS, the 1st postseason game ever played in Seattle. Bernie Williams becomes the 1st player to hit a home run from each side of the plate in a postseason game. But Randy Johnson shuts the Yankees down, and the Seattle Mariners win 7-4, for their 1st-ever postseason victory.
Also played today is Game 3 of the NL Division Series. The Colorado Rockies win a postseason game for the 1st time, defeating the Braves 7-5 in 10 innings at Coors Field, to stave off elimination.
October 6, 1997: Johnny Vander Meer dies of an abdominal aneurysm at his home in Tampa. He was a few days short of turning 83. The native of Midland Park, Bergen County, New Jersey was a 4-time All-Star, a member of the 1940 World Champion Cincinnati Reds, and, on June 11 and 15, 1938, the only man ever to pitch back-to-back no-hitters.
October 6, 1998: Mark Belanger dies of lung cancer in New York. He was 54. He was the Orioles' shortstop from 1965 to 1981, including the 1966 and '70 World Champions, and the Pennant winners of 1969, '71 and '79. He was a 1976 All-Star and an 8-time Gold Glove winner.
October 6, 1999: The Sovereign Bank Arena opens in Trenton, New Jersey. It is now known as the Sun National Bank Center. The 8,600-seat arena was home to minor league hockey's Trenton Titans from 1999 to 2013, and has hosted high school and college basketball, professional "wrestling" and concerts.
Earlier this year, along with my mother and my 8-year-old twin nieces, I saw the Harlem Globetrotters there. Mom and I had previously seen the Globies at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands in 1985 and 1986. Contary to my previous belief, she had not seen them with her parents at the old Madison Square Garden in the 1950s.
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October 6, 2000: The Minnesota Wild make their NHL debut, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Marian Gaborik scores their 1st goal, but they lose 3-1 to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
October 6, 2001: Another farewell in Baltimore. At Camden Yards, in front of a full house including Orioles notables both Robinsons, Palmer and Weaver, as well as Commissioner Bud Selig and former President Bill Clinton, Cal Ripken plays his 3,001st and final game. The Orioles retire his Number 8. After a hitless night for the 41-year-old, the final out of the 5-1 loss to Red Sox is made as Cal watches from the on deck circle.
In Seattle, with their 116th win, the Mariners tie the 1906 Cubs as the winningest team in major league history. Bret Boone's 37th home run of the season and the shutout pitching of 5 Seattle pitchers prove to be the difference in the 1-0 historic win over the Texas Rangers. But the Yankees will prove to the M's that 116 don’t mean a thing if you ain't got that ring.
At Shea Stadium, with his 151st career pinch hit, Lenny Harris breaks the major league mark established by Manny Mota. Coming off the Met bench to bat for Rey Ordonez, he lines a 1-2 pitch off Expo starter Carl Pavano for a single to become the career leader in pinch hits.
Also on this day, the Edmonton Oilers open their new season at home the Skyreach Centre (Formerly the Northlands Coliseum) by retiring the Number 17 of Hall-of-Famer Jari Kurri. They beat the Phoenix Coyotes 6-2.
October 6, 2002: Chuck Rayner dies of a heart attack in the Vancouver suburb of Langley, British Columbia. He was 82. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was the starting goaltender for the New York Rangers from 1945 to 1953.
This included their run to Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, where he allowed an overtime goal to Pete Babando of the Detroit Red Wings. Unlike Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers a little less than a year later, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" escaped the anger of his team's fans. This is almost certainly down to 2 reasons, neither of which is his talent or his personality, which were almost universally admired, before and after. The reasons were the fact that hockey was already a distant 4th among New York's team sports, and also trailed boxing and horse racing at the time; and that the game wasn't on television. When Branca gave up Bobby Thomson's home run, it was on TV.
Also on this day, the Edmonton Oilers open their new season at home the Skyreach Centre (Formerly the Northlands Coliseum) by retiring the Number 17 of Hall-of-Famer Jari Kurri. They beat the Phoenix Coyotes 6-2.
October 6, 2002: Chuck Rayner dies of a heart attack in the Vancouver suburb of Langley, British Columbia. He was 82. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was the starting goaltender for the New York Rangers from 1945 to 1953.
This included their run to Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, where he allowed an overtime goal to Pete Babando of the Detroit Red Wings. Unlike Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers a little less than a year later, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" escaped the anger of his team's fans. This is almost certainly down to 2 reasons, neither of which is his talent or his personality, which were almost universally admired, before and after. The reasons were the fact that hockey was already a distant 4th among New York's team sports, and also trailed boxing and horse racing at the time; and that the game wasn't on television. When Branca gave up Bobby Thomson's home run, it was on TV.
October 6, 2003: Game 5 of the ALDS. The Red Sox beat the A's 5-4, and complete the overcoming of a 2-games-to-none deficit to win. They will face the Yankees in the ALCS.
Also on this day, the Toyota Center opens in downtown Houston. The 1st event is a concert by Fleetwood Mac. The NBA's Houston Rockets have played there ever since. It would also be home to the WNBA's Houston Comets until 2007, and the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros until 2013, until those teams folded.
Also on this day, Joe Baker dies of a heart attack in Wishaw, Scotland, at age 63. He and his brother Gerry Baker were professional soccer players, and they were Scottish through and through. However, because of the rules of the time, neither of them could play for the Scotland national team.
Because Gerry was born in 1938 in New Rochelle, New York, where their parents were living at the time. And Joe was born in 1940 in the Woolton section of Liverpool. Joe had to play for the England team, and in 1959 he made his debut with them, becoming the 1st player for England who had never yet played for an English club side. (Owen Hargreaves, then playing for Bayern Munich, is the only other player for whom this has been true, and it stopped being true when he signed for Manchester United.)
To make matters worse, when Joe flew from Edinburgh into London, he told a taxi driver at Heathrow Airport to take him to the England training ground. Hearing Joe's accent, the driver thought he was a spy for Scotland, and refused to take him. And, despite his talent, Joe was not selected for England for the 1962 or 1966 World Cup.
Which is too bad, because he was a sensational striker, despite being only 5-foot-7. He starred for Edinburgh club Hibernian, a.k.a. Hibs. After a brief stay at Torino, where he became the 1st great British "footballer" to not play well in Italy (Wales' John Charles had succeeded at the other Turin club, Juventus, so others were tried, with no success), he was signed by North London's Arsenal, and starred for them for 4 years.
But Arsenal were at a low point while he was there: They had a great attack, but a lousy defense, and were nearly relegated in 1966. Joe worked his way back north, to Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and back to Scotland with Hibs and Raith Rovers. He briefly managed Albion Rovers of Coatbridge, Scotland, ran a pub, and was what we would now call a "gameday ambassador" for Hibs before his death.
As for Gerry, also a forward, he also played for Hibs, though not at the same time; and for Scottish clubs Motherwell and St. Mirren, and for English clubs Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Coventry City. Forced to play his "international football" for the U.S., he played 7 times in the 1968-69 season, for the last time on May 11, 1969, in a 1-0 loss to Haiti at Balboa Park in San Diego, that eliminated the U.S. from a shot at qualifying for the 1970 World Cup -- the closest the U.S. came to qualifying between 1950 and 1990. Gerry later worked for Jaguar Cars, and lived until 2013.
Also on this day, the Toyota Center opens in downtown Houston. The 1st event is a concert by Fleetwood Mac. The NBA's Houston Rockets have played there ever since. It would also be home to the WNBA's Houston Comets until 2007, and the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros until 2013, until those teams folded.
Also on this day, Joe Baker dies of a heart attack in Wishaw, Scotland, at age 63. He and his brother Gerry Baker were professional soccer players, and they were Scottish through and through. However, because of the rules of the time, neither of them could play for the Scotland national team.
Because Gerry was born in 1938 in New Rochelle, New York, where their parents were living at the time. And Joe was born in 1940 in the Woolton section of Liverpool. Joe had to play for the England team, and in 1959 he made his debut with them, becoming the 1st player for England who had never yet played for an English club side. (Owen Hargreaves, then playing for Bayern Munich, is the only other player for whom this has been true, and it stopped being true when he signed for Manchester United.)
To make matters worse, when Joe flew from Edinburgh into London, he told a taxi driver at Heathrow Airport to take him to the England training ground. Hearing Joe's accent, the driver thought he was a spy for Scotland, and refused to take him. And, despite his talent, Joe was not selected for England for the 1962 or 1966 World Cup.
Which is too bad, because he was a sensational striker, despite being only 5-foot-7. He starred for Edinburgh club Hibernian, a.k.a. Hibs. After a brief stay at Torino, where he became the 1st great British "footballer" to not play well in Italy (Wales' John Charles had succeeded at the other Turin club, Juventus, so others were tried, with no success), he was signed by North London's Arsenal, and starred for them for 4 years.
But Arsenal were at a low point while he was there: They had a great attack, but a lousy defense, and were nearly relegated in 1966. Joe worked his way back north, to Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and back to Scotland with Hibs and Raith Rovers. He briefly managed Albion Rovers of Coatbridge, Scotland, ran a pub, and was what we would now call a "gameday ambassador" for Hibs before his death.
As for Gerry, also a forward, he also played for Hibs, though not at the same time; and for Scottish clubs Motherwell and St. Mirren, and for English clubs Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Coventry City. Forced to play his "international football" for the U.S., he played 7 times in the 1968-69 season, for the last time on May 11, 1969, in a 1-0 loss to Haiti at Balboa Park in San Diego, that eliminated the U.S. from a shot at qualifying for the 1970 World Cup -- the closest the U.S. came to qualifying between 1950 and 1990. Gerry later worked for Jaguar Cars, and lived until 2013.
October 6, 2006, 10 years ago: After failing to advance past the 1st round of the AL Playoffs in their previous 5 postseason appearances, the Oakland Athletics beat the much-favored Minnesota Twins, 8-3, to complete a 3-game ALDS sweep. The victory, which was the team's 10th opportunity to win a clinching game, puts Oakland in ALCS for the 1st time since 1992.
This remains the only postseason series ever won by a team with Billy Beane as its general manager. He's been the A's GM for 20 seasons, and has never won a Pennant -- indeed, has never won an ALCS game. Explain to me again how Beane is a "genius"?
Also on this day, Negro Leagues legend John "Buck" O'Neil dies at age 94. A few weeks earlier, the star 1st baseman and manager of the old Kansas City Monarchs had suited up for an "independent" minor-league game in Kansas City, Kansas, becoming the oldest pro baseball player ever. (His former Monarch teammate, Satchel Paige, remains the oldest major league player, at 59.) He drew a walk, made it to 1st base, and was removed for a pinch-runner.
By appearing in Ken Burns' 1994 Baseball miniseries, and by founding the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Buck had essentially been the voice of the Negro Leagues since then, and was among the most beloved men in the game. Yet he still hasn't been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Also on this day, Negro Leagues legend John "Buck" O'Neil dies at age 94. A few weeks earlier, the star 1st baseman and manager of the old Kansas City Monarchs had suited up for an "independent" minor-league game in Kansas City, Kansas, becoming the oldest pro baseball player ever. (His former Monarch teammate, Satchel Paige, remains the oldest major league player, at 59.) He drew a walk, made it to 1st base, and was removed for a pinch-runner.
By appearing in Ken Burns' 1994 Baseball miniseries, and by founding the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Buck had essentially been the voice of the Negro Leagues since then, and was among the most beloved men in the game. Yet he still hasn't been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
October 6, 2007: The Bug Game! Has it really been 9 years? In Game 2 of the ALDS at Jacobs Field, the Indians score the tying run on a wild pitch thrown by a bug-covered Joba Chamberlain. A rare infestation of Lake Erie Midges, which appeared en masse in the 8th inning, impacts the rookie Yankees reliever, who suffers his 1st blown save of the season.
We may never know why Joe Torre didn't tell the umpires, "Stop play until the bugs are gone, or I'm pulling my team off the field, and taking my chances with the Commissioner's office!" Would John McGraw have put up with that kind of shit? Would Leo Durocher? Would Casey Stengel? Would Earl Weaver? Would Billy Martin? Would they hell! But Torre did.
The Yankees lost the game, 2-1, as several players -- not just Alex Rodriguez -- seemed to forget how to hit. So it wasn't just the bugs.
Also played today is Game 3 of the NLDS. With their 17th win in 18 games, the Rockies beat the Phillies at Coors Field, 2-1, completing a 3-game sweep to advance to their 1st-ever NLCS. The Wild Card team will have to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, the NL Western Division Champions, to win the Pennant and earn a trip to the World Series.
Among all the disappointments in Phillies history, this one is usually given a pass. The Phils had come from 7 games back with 17 to go, and even entered the last day of the regular season not even assured of a Wild Card berth, but won the NL East. It was a thrilling season that marked the beginning of the greatest period in club history.
Also on this day, the Chicago Blackhawks play their home opener at the United Center, and beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 in a shootout.
Their owner, Bill Wirtz, had died 10 days earlier. He had run the team into the ground, to the point where they didn't even have a TV contract. They hadn't won the Stanley Cup since 1961, reached the Finals since 1992, or even the Conference Finals since 1995. He was despised by the fans, and when, before the National Anthem, the public address announcer requested a moment of silence in his memory, they booed instead.
A classless act? His son Rocky Wirtz was given control of the team, and he straightened things out. He got a great TV contract. He boosted the team's public-relations efforts. He brought in terrific players. They won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Apparently, the best thing Bill Wirtz did for the Hawks in his 41 years running them was the last thing he did for them: He died.
Also on this day, the Chicago Blackhawks play their home opener at the United Center, and beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 in a shootout.
Their owner, Bill Wirtz, had died 10 days earlier. He had run the team into the ground, to the point where they didn't even have a TV contract. They hadn't won the Stanley Cup since 1961, reached the Finals since 1992, or even the Conference Finals since 1995. He was despised by the fans, and when, before the National Anthem, the public address announcer requested a moment of silence in his memory, they booed instead.
A classless act? His son Rocky Wirtz was given control of the team, and he straightened things out. He got a great TV contract. He boosted the team's public-relations efforts. He brought in terrific players. They won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Apparently, the best thing Bill Wirtz did for the Hawks in his 41 years running them was the last thing he did for them: He died.
October 6, 2009: With 1 out in the bottom of the 12th inning in the AL Central tiebreaker, the Twins beat the Tigers, 6-5, when Alexi Casilla's single plates Carlos Gomez from 2nd base with the winning run.
The Metrodome victory finishes an amazing comeback by Minnesota, going 17-4 in the final month to close a 7-game deficit, and completes a colossal collapse for the Tigers, who become the 1st team in big league history to surrender a 3-game lead with only 4 contests to play. This, just 3 years after the Tigers blew a 15 1/2-game AL Central lead over the Twins, the biggest Division (or pre-1969 League) choke ever.
Of course, the Tigers won the Wild Card and ended up beating the A's, who'd beaten the Twins, for the Pennant. And, while they won the Pennant in 2006 and 2012, they've won just 1 World Series game in 30 years. They've made the Playoffs 4 straight seasons (2011-14), but have won just 1 World Series game sinc
Of course, the Tigers won the Wild Card and ended up beating the A's, who'd beaten the Twins, for the Pennant. And, while they won the Pennant in 2006 and 2012, they've won just 1 World Series game in 30 years. They've made the Playoffs 4 straight seasons (2011-14), but have won just 1 World Series game sinc
Some people have taken to calling the post-2000 Yankees "the Atlanta Braves of the American League." Maybe they should take a closer look at the Tigers.
The result of this game -- which, for statistical purposes, is still counted as part of the regular season -- also mean that Twins catcher Joe Mauer wins his 3rd batting title, becoming the 1st player to accomplish the feat in consecutive seasons since Nomar Garciaparra lead the AL in 1999-2000. His .365 mark establishes a major league record for the highest batting average by a backstop.
October 6, 2010: At Citizens Bank Park, Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay throws the 2nd no-hitter in postseason history, and becomes the 1st NL hurler to do it, when he beats the Reds, 4-0, in Game 1 of the NLDS. He had also thrown a no-hitter in the regular season.
October 6, 2011: Game 5 of the American League Division Series. The winner takes the series. The paid attendance of 50,960 fans remains the highest in the history of the new Yankee Stadium. They go home disappointed.
In the top of the 1st inning, before the Yankees can even come to bat, Detroit Tigers Don Kelly and Delmon Young hit home runs off Ivan Nova. Nova should never have been started, due to tightness in his arm, and left after the 2nd inning, trailing 2-0. I remember being furious with Girardi for taking him out so soon, not knowing of his injury.
What I should have been mad at Girardi for was his typical musical chairs with the bullen. He brought in Phil Hughes, who had pitched the 8th inning in Game 4, 2 days earlier. He was okay, but Girardi took him out in the 4th, and brought in Boone Logan. As risky as this was, Logan ended the threat. Then Girardi brought CC Sabathia in for the 5th, and he didn't have it, and allowed another run. Despite Robinson Cano hitting a home run in the bottom of the 5th, and Rafael Soriano, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera pitching 3 2/3rds perfect innings, the Yankees lose, 3-2, and their season is over.
Jorge Posada went 2-for-4 as the designated hitter, including a single off Doug Fister in the 4th, a single off Max Scherzer in the 6th, and a groundout against Joaquin Benoit in the 8th. This turned out to be his last game. No one could have guessed it at the time, but it was also the final postseason appearance for Rivera.
October 6, 2012: The 1st-ever win-or-go-home Wild Card Playoff games are played in each League. In the AL, the Orioles eliminate the 2-time defending League Champion Texas Rangers, 5-1. The victory sends the surprising Baltimore team into the Playoffs for the 1st time in 15 years, to a best-3-out-of-5 ALDS against the Yankees.
But the NL play-in game is a riot -- almost literally. The visiting Cardinals beat the Braves 6-3, in a game that will be best remembered for a disputed infield fly rule call in the 8th inning. The irate Turner Field fans show their displeasure with the umpires' decision on what appears to be a key Redbird error on a dropped pop fly in the outfield by littering the playing field with debris, causing a 19-minute delay while the ground crew cleans up the assorted trash.
It is the 1st such reaction by baseball fans since Red Sox fans hurled garbage onto the field during Game 4 of the 1999 ALCS, when the Yankees, aided by some umpiring mistakes, turned a 3-2 9th inning lead into a 9-2 win.
October 6, 2013: Ulysses Curtis dies in Toronto at age 87. Born in Albion, Michigan, the running back became the 1st black player for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts in 1950, and helped them win the 1950 and 1952 Grey Cups. Like his contemporary, Hall of Fame Los Angeles Rams receiver Elroy Hirsch, he was known as Crazy Legs. He stayed in Toronto after retiring from football, and became a teacher and coach, and ran a drycleaning business.
October 6, 2014: Bill Campbell dies at age 91 in Camden, New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, whose greatest sportscaster he had been. The Atlantic City native was sports director on radio station WCAU from 1946 to 1966, and on WCAU-Channel 2 (the call letters are now on Channel 10) from 1948 to 1966.
He announced for the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors from the 1946 debut until their 1962 move to San Francisco, including the 1947 and 1956 NBA Championships, and the 1st 4 seasons of Wilt Chamberlain, including Wilt's 100-point game on March 2, 1962. He broadcast for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles from 1952 to 1966, including their 1960 NFL Championship. He broadcast MLB's Philadelphia Phillies from 1963 to 1970, including their 1964 Pennant run and collapse, and the closing of Connie Mack Stadium in 1970. And he broadcast for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers from 1972 to 1981, including their NBA-worst 9-73 season in 1973 and their NBA Finals appearances in 1977 and 1980.
He later became one of the charter announcers for Philly's all-sports station, WIP, and received the Curt Gowdy Award, tantamount to Hall of Fame election for basketball announcers, in 2005. This year, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association introduced the Bill Campbell Broadcast Award. The 1st honoree was Merrill Reese, now celebrating his 40th season as Eagles announcer.
Also on this day, Vic Braden dies of a heart attack in the Los Angeles suburb of Trabuca Canyon, California. He was 85. Although the native of Monroe, Michigan was not much of a player, he became perhaps the greatest tennis coach ever, running what he called a "tennis college" with Jack Kramer. He wrote several books on the sport, the 1st and most influential being Vic Braden's Tennis for the Future, published in 1977.
October 6, 2015: The American League Wild-Card Play-In Game is played at the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had home-field advantage, and they had Masahiro Tanaka on the mound. Unfortunately, they didn't have any offense at all.
You can credit Dallas Keuchel, who rightly won the AL's Cy Young Award, and a good case could have been made for him as the Most Valuable Player, for pitching very well. But with what general manager Brian Cashman spent on the Yankees, they should have gotten more than 5 baserunners: Singles by Carlos Beltran, Greg Bird and Didi Gregorius, and walks by Chris Young and Chase Headley.
The Houston Astros, in their 1st AL Playoff game after 53 as an NL team (57 if you count their only World Series), won 3-0. Colby Rasmus hit a home run in the 2nd inning, and Carlos Gomez hit one in the 4th. After that, the Yankees never looked like winning.
For the moment, this stands as the Yankees' last postseason game. Or, to put it another way, they have played 1 postseason game in the last 4 seasons. That is unacceptable. And yet, the Steinbrenner Brothers have not held either Cashman or manager Joe Girardi accountable.
October 6, 2013: Ulysses Curtis dies in Toronto at age 87. Born in Albion, Michigan, the running back became the 1st black player for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts in 1950, and helped them win the 1950 and 1952 Grey Cups. Like his contemporary, Hall of Fame Los Angeles Rams receiver Elroy Hirsch, he was known as Crazy Legs. He stayed in Toronto after retiring from football, and became a teacher and coach, and ran a drycleaning business.
October 6, 2014: Bill Campbell dies at age 91 in Camden, New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, whose greatest sportscaster he had been. The Atlantic City native was sports director on radio station WCAU from 1946 to 1966, and on WCAU-Channel 2 (the call letters are now on Channel 10) from 1948 to 1966.
He announced for the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors from the 1946 debut until their 1962 move to San Francisco, including the 1947 and 1956 NBA Championships, and the 1st 4 seasons of Wilt Chamberlain, including Wilt's 100-point game on March 2, 1962. He broadcast for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles from 1952 to 1966, including their 1960 NFL Championship. He broadcast MLB's Philadelphia Phillies from 1963 to 1970, including their 1964 Pennant run and collapse, and the closing of Connie Mack Stadium in 1970. And he broadcast for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers from 1972 to 1981, including their NBA-worst 9-73 season in 1973 and their NBA Finals appearances in 1977 and 1980.
He later became one of the charter announcers for Philly's all-sports station, WIP, and received the Curt Gowdy Award, tantamount to Hall of Fame election for basketball announcers, in 2005. This year, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association introduced the Bill Campbell Broadcast Award. The 1st honoree was Merrill Reese, now celebrating his 40th season as Eagles announcer.
Also on this day, Vic Braden dies of a heart attack in the Los Angeles suburb of Trabuca Canyon, California. He was 85. Although the native of Monroe, Michigan was not much of a player, he became perhaps the greatest tennis coach ever, running what he called a "tennis college" with Jack Kramer. He wrote several books on the sport, the 1st and most influential being Vic Braden's Tennis for the Future, published in 1977.
October 6, 2015: The American League Wild-Card Play-In Game is played at the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had home-field advantage, and they had Masahiro Tanaka on the mound. Unfortunately, they didn't have any offense at all.
You can credit Dallas Keuchel, who rightly won the AL's Cy Young Award, and a good case could have been made for him as the Most Valuable Player, for pitching very well. But with what general manager Brian Cashman spent on the Yankees, they should have gotten more than 5 baserunners: Singles by Carlos Beltran, Greg Bird and Didi Gregorius, and walks by Chris Young and Chase Headley.
The Houston Astros, in their 1st AL Playoff game after 53 as an NL team (57 if you count their only World Series), won 3-0. Colby Rasmus hit a home run in the 2nd inning, and Carlos Gomez hit one in the 4th. After that, the Yankees never looked like winning.
For the moment, this stands as the Yankees' last postseason game. Or, to put it another way, they have played 1 postseason game in the last 4 seasons. That is unacceptable. And yet, the Steinbrenner Brothers have not held either Cashman or manager Joe Girardi accountable.
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