November 4, 1956: Revolution and Sport In Hungary

Ferenc Puskás

November 4, 1956, 60 years ago: Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian Revolution that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter of a million people leave the country. (Today, the population is about 10 million.)

Soccer team Budapest Honvéd FC was out of the country at the time, playing Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup. Eliminated, they managed to get their families out of the country. Their stars, the bulk of the "Mighty Magyars" team that won the 1952 Olympics, embarrassed England in 1953, and reached the 1954 World Cup Final, went elsewhere, including some staying in Spain: Ferenc Puskás to Real Madrid, and Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor to Barcelona. 

Since that year's Olympics were given to Melbourne, Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, they began on November 22 so the weather would be warm. Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from the host nation and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when Laszlo Papp won a Gold Medal.

A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its match against the Soviet Union which became known as the Blood In the Water Match. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with blood streaming from a cut over his eye, a riot almost broke out. But police restored order, and the game was called early, with Hungary leading 4–0. The Hungarians went on to win the Gold Medal.

At the end of the calendar year, Time magazine named the Hungarian Freedom Fighters their Men of the Year. This was before they made the distinction "Person (or People) of the Year," although women had been recognized as such before.

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November 4, 1650: Willem Henrik, Prins van Oranje, Graaf van Nassau is born in The Hague, the Netherlands, the son of William II, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the Netherlands. He became Stadtholder upon his father's death in 1672. He married to Mary Stuart, Protestant daughter of the ousted Catholic British King James II. As a result of the "Glorious Revolution" in Great Britain in 1688, the British Parliament named him King William III. He resigned until his death in 1702.

The Protestants called him King Billy. Early in his reign, the Battle of the Boyne was fought in what is today Northern Ireland, and the Protestants won. To this day, it is a sore spot on the Emerald Isle. It is even invoked in the rivalry between soccer giants in Glasgow, Scotland: Rangers, the Protestant club, vs. Celtic, the Catholic club.

When Celtic won the European Cup in 1967, the 1st British team to do so, their captain was Billy McNeill. And their fans still sing, "There's only one King Billy, and it's McNeill." (He is still alive, age 76, but is not well.)

November 4, 1791: The Battle of the Wabash is fought near present-day Fort Recovery, at the western edge of Ohio, near the Indiana State Line. It is the greatest military victory in the history of Native American tribes, and, proportionally, the worst defeat the U.S. Army has ever had: Fully 1/3rd of the Army of that time, 933 men, was either killed, incapacitated, or taken prisoner.

General Arthur St. Clair and his men were taken by surprise at dawn. President George Washington fired him (or, rather, told him to resign his commission), and, for the 1st time, Congress launched an investigation of the executive branch of the federal government, to determine whether the Department of War could be fixed so that such a defeat never happened again.

Because of their experience in the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers tended not to trust large standing armies. "St. Clair's Defeat" showed them that America having one was necessary after all. Washington sent General Anthony Wayne west to rebuild that section of the Army. In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson established the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. By 1814, despite some more shocking defeats, the U.S. Army was able to fight Britain in another war, and hold them to a draw.

And while the "Indians" would have their victories in the years to come (most notably Little Big Horn in 1876), never again would they inflict a large percentage of casualties on an American force.

November 4, 1808: James Madison, then Secretary of State to outgoing President Thomas Jefferson, is elected the 4th President of the United States. The Father of the Constitution, and the nominee of the Democratic-Republican Party, he defeats Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was making his 2nd run, 122 Electoral Votes to 47. Madison won 12 States to Pinckney's 5.

November 4, 1856: James Buchanan is elected the 15th President of the United States. He wins 19 States for 174 Electoral Votes. John C. Fremont, the 1st man to run for President as the nominee of the Republican Party, wins 11 States for 114. Millard Fillmore, the 13th President, in his only run for the top job, was the nominee of the American Party -- an anti-immigrant group known as "The Know-Nothings" for the way they tried to cover up their activities -- wins only Maryland, and its 8 Electoral Votes.

Fremont was a hero General of the Mexican-American War. In the early 21st Century, the History Channel series The Conquerors would call him "The Conqueror of California." He was 1 of the State's 1st 2 U.S. Senators, and, long after this election, served as Territorial Governor of Arizona. He was also the 1st major-party nominee to have facial hair, in his case a mustache and a beard.

(Abe Lincoln didn't yet have the beard in 1860, but from 1864 to 1908, every man elected President but 1, William McKinley, would have at least a mustache, and most of them had beards. But aside from the mustachioed Thomas Dewey in 1944 and 1948, no major-party nominee has had facial hair since 1916.)

Despite being the only President who never married -- legends that he was gay remain, though hardly proven -- Buchanan must have seemed like the perfect guy at the time: He had served Pennsylvania in both houses of Congress, had been Secretary of State under President James K. Polk, and had been U.S. Minister (today, we would say, "Ambassador") to both Britain and Russia. Indeed, the fact that he was serving as Minister to Britain under President Franklin Pierce, so unpopular that he couldn't possibly be re-elected, and wasn't available to speak out on the issue of slavery, meant he had offended no one.

That would change. Buchanan satisfied no one, combining a depression shortly after he was sworn in (the Panic of 1857) with an unwillingness to do anything to stop the rising tensions leading to the Civil War. He was every bit as bad as Pierce was -- the 2 worst Presidents this country has ever had. Yes, worse than Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

(This is where Donald Trump would say, "Hold my beer... " Except he says he doesn't drink. Then again, he lies about everything else... )

November 4, 1873: Roderick John Wallace is born in Pittsburgh. Because he played so long ago, and mainly for a pair of teams that no longer exist and can't honor him with a team hall of fame plaque or a retired number, "Bobby" Wallace is all but forgotten.

As a pitcher, he went 24-22 -- aside from Babe Ruth, probably the best pitcher who went on to become a Hall of Fame player at another position. In his case, it was shortstop, and he was the 1st great shortstop in the American League, playing for the St. Louis Browns, who became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

The closest he came to a Pennant was in 1895, his rookie season, when his Cleveland Spiders finished 2nd to the original Orioles in the National League, and then beat them in the postseason Temple Cup series. He closed his career in 1918, playing shortstop at the age of 44, which was a major league record until broken by Omar Vizquel in 2012.

He finished with a .268 lifetime batting average, and 2,309 hits. There were no Gold Gloves in those days, but he was regarded as a superb fielder. He became an umpire, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953, and died on November 3, 1960, the day before his 87th birthday.

November 4, 1879: William Penn Adair Rogers is born in Oologah, Oklahoma Territory. Will Rogers was a stage performer and newspaper columnist, one of the nation's leading commentators and humorists in the early 20th Century, until his death in a plane crash in 1935.

What did he have to do with sports? As far as I know, nothing. But on January 1, 1947, the Will Rogers Bowl was played at Taft Stadium in Oklahoma City. Pepperdine beat Nebraska Wesleyan 38-13. Only 800 people paid to see it, so it was never played again.

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November 3, 1882: Francis Clarence McGee is born in Ottawa. A center, he lost the use of an eye due to being hit with a hockey puck. Despite this, and despite being only 5-foot-6, he led the Ottawa Silver Seven -- later the original Ottawa Senators -- to the Stanley Cup in 1903, 1904 and 1905.

Frank Patrick, with his brother Lester also one of the best players of the time and later a great hockey executive, said of Frank McGee, "He was even better than they say he was. He had everything: Speed, stickhandling, scoring ability and was a punishing checker. He was strongly built but beautifully proportioned and he had an almost animal rhythm."

He retired at age 23, because he was working for the Canadian government, and they wouldn't let him travel with the team anymore. Despite his size and his half-blindness, he enlisted in the Canadian Army for World War I, and was killed in action in the Battle of the Somme, in Courcelette, France on September 16, 1916. He was only 33 years old. In 1945, he was named 1 of the 1st 9 players elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, Robert L. Douglas -- I can find no reference to what the L stands for -- is born in Saint Kitts, in what was then the British West Indies. With a neighboring island, it now forms the independent nation named The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Known as the Father of Black Professional Basketball, Bob Douglas owned and coached the New York Renaissance team from 1923 to 1949. Their record under his leadership: 2,318 wins and 381 losses, a percentage of .859. Over an 82-game season, that's a pace for 70 wins -- and he kept that up for over a quarter of a century.

In a way, the "Rens" -- so named because their home court was the floor of Harlem's Renaissance Ballroom -- were the original Harlem Globetrotters, with the traveling and great talent, but without the clowning. In the late 1920s, their games with the all-white, mostly-Irish Catholic, New York-based team called the Original Celtics was the 1st great pro basketball rivalry, and the 1st true popularization of the pro game. In 1932-33, they won 88 straight games. In 1939, they won the World Professional Basketball Tournament. In 1940, they lost the Final to the Globetrotters. In 1948, they lost the Final to George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers.

Bob Douglas was the 1st black person elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, in 1972. He died in 1979, at the age of 96.

November 4, 1884: One of the closest and nastiest elections in American history ends. Grover Cleveland was the Democratic nominee, the Governor of New York. He had a reputation for honesty, to the point where, when he was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock, institutionalizing the mother to keep her quiet, and putting the kid up for adoption, and his advisers asked him what to do, he said, "Above all, tell the truth." So they said nothing.

In contrast, the Republican nominee was, as the song went, "Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine! The continental liar from the State of Maine!" He was a U.S. Senator, and had been Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and Secretary of State under President James Garfield. Indeed, he was standing next to Garfield when he was shot. Had Charles Guiteau's aim been a little off, Garfield would likely have been running for re-election against Cleveland, and, without Blaine's many scandals (which had nothing to do with Garfield), he would have won easily.

Just before the election, Blaine had attended a dinner in New York, where one of the speakers, the Rev. Samuel Burchard, called the Democrats "the Party of Rum, Romanism and Rebellion!" In other words, they were against the movement for the Prohibition of alcohol, they had great support among Roman Catholics (and thus, it was believed, would be puppets of the Pope in a country dominated by Protestants), and supported slavery and the South during the Civil War.

That speech hit the papers. It cost Blaine the State of New York, which was wobbling on Cleveland even though he had been popular as Governor and as Mayor of Buffalo. And it made all the difference: By winning New York, Cleveland took the Electoral Vote 219 to 182. He won just 48.9 percent of the popular vote, to Blaine's 48.3. In fact, Cleveland ran for President 3 times, and won the popular vote all 3 times (though he lost the Electoral Vote in 1888, winning it again in 1892), but on none of those occasions did he win a majority.

When Cleveland was beaten in 1888, under dubious circumstances, his opponent, Benjamin Harrison, returned Blaine to the State Department, but he resigned due to ill health in 1892, and died just before the term ended in 1893. Had Burchard -- not related to another Republican activist by that name, a Congressman from Wisconsin -- kept his mouth shut, Blaine would have become the 22nd President of the United States, and Cleveland would only be remembered for, "Ma! Ma! Where's my pa?" Instead, the Democrats' answer was, "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"

So what was the truth? In 1874, between offices and in private law practice (he had been Sheriff of Erie County), Cleveland paid child support for Maria Halpin and her son, named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Maria was, apparently, mentally ill, and was institutionalized, though it can't be proven that it was on Cleveland's request. The boy was adopted, was given the name James E. King Jr., and became a doctor like his adopted father.

The thing was, Grover Cleveland was not the only possible father. Another possible father was Cleveland's law partner, whose name was Oscar Folsom. But of the several possible fathers, Cleveland was the only one who was not married at the time, and thus would be the one least scandalized -- or so he thought.

Today, we would find what Cleveland really did next much worse: He married Frances Folsom, the daughter of Oscar Folsom, who had died and left her guardianship to him. She was 21 when they married in 1886, making her by far the youngest First Lady ever, and their wedding the 1st ever held in the White House itself.

But as icky as their relationship sounds, it lasted for the rest of his life, until 1908. She died in 1947 -- as did Oscar Folsom Cleveland/Dr. James D. Fox Jr. Grover and Frances Cleveland had 5 children: Ruth, Esther, Marion, Richard and Francis. Ruth was not, as the legend says, the namesake of the Baby Ruth candy bar. She died of diphtheria at age 12. The rest all lived until at least 1974, and Francis lived until 1995.

November 4, 1888: John J. O'Brien -- I can find no reference as to what the J stands for -- is born in Brooklyn. He was a pioneer in pro basketball administration, founding the Metropolitan Basketball League, and serving as President of the American Basketball League from 1928 to 1953, by which point the NBA had rendered it a minor league. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961, and died in 1967.

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November 4, 1909: Bertrand Arthur Patenaude is born in the Boston suburb of Fall River, Massachusetts. A forward, Bert Patenaude starred for his local soccer team, the Fall River Marksmen, whom he led to 6 titles in the original American Soccer League.

He played for the U.S. national team that went to the 1st World Cup, in Uruguay in 1930. In America's 1st World Cup game, against Belgium at Estadio Parque Central in the capital of Montevideo, he scored the last goal in a 3-0 win.

Four days later, at the same stadium, he scored 3 goals against Paraguay, in the 10th, 15th and 50th minutes. The 2nd goal was long in dispute, as it wasn't clear whether it was scored by Patenaude, or Tom Florie, or an own goal by Aurelio González. Two days later, an Argentine player scored 3 against Mexico. In 2006, FIFA finally confirmed that Patenaude had scored the goal in question, entering him forever as the man who scored the 1st World Cup hat trick.

The U.S. thus won its group, advancing to the Semifinal against Argentina on July 26, 1930, but losing 6-1 at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo. Uruguay beat Yugoslavia in the other Semifinal, and then beat Argentina in the Final to become the 1st World Cup winners. In the 76 years since, America has never gotten any closer to the World Cup. And Bert Patenaude's 4 goals in 1 World Cup remain a U.S. record.

After the World Cup, with the Marksmen in financial trouble due to the Great Depression, he was sold to the ASL's Newark Americans. They only lasted from 1930 to 1932. He later played for German-American dominated teams in Philadelphia and St. Louis, retired from the game, returned to Fall River, and died there on November 4, 1974, his 65th birthday, 3 years after being elected to the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, James Laverne Webb is born in Meridian, Mississippi. An infielder, "Skeeter" Webb played in the major leagues from 1932 to 1948, including winning the 1945 World Series with the Detroit Tigers. But he was never more than a backup. He died in 1986.

November 4, 1922: Edwin Frank Basinski is born in  Buffalo. An infielder, he was a wartime callup for the Brooklyn Dodgers, appearing in 39 games in the 1944 season, and 108 more in 1945. He had 56 more games, all with the 1947 Pittsburgh Pirates, finishing with a "lifetime" batting average of just .244. He did, however, play in the minor leagues until 1959, including a long tenure with the Portland Beavers, which earned him a place in the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

At age 94, he is 1 of 26 living former Brooklyn Dodgers, and is the last living player whose name is mentioned in jazz singer Dave Frishberg's ode to ballplayers of his youth, "Van Lingle Mungo."

November 4, 1923: Howard William Meeker is born in the Hamilton suburb of Kitchener, Ontario. Howie Meeker is born. He is the last surviving player from the 1947 Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs, and won that season's Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year. He and Phil Samis are the last 2 survivors of the 1948 Cup-winning Leafs. He and Tod Sloan are the last 2 survivors of the 1949 Cup-winning Leafs. And he, Sloan, John McCormack and Danny Lewicki are the last 4 survivors of the 1951 Cup-winning Leafs.

A right wing on the ice, Howie was also one in politics, being elected to Canada's House of Commons as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1951. He discovered that being an active athlete and an active politician did not work out well, and did not run again in 1953. He coached the Leafs in the 1956-57 season, and later became a broadcaster, receiving the Foster Hewitt Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

November 4, 1924: President Calvin Coolidge, who took the office on the death of Warren Harding the year before, is elected to a full term in his own right. The Republican, who had been Governor of Massachusetts before being Vice President, took advantage of a split in the Democratic Party that nullified a split in the Republican ranks.

The slogan was "Keep Cool with Coolidge," and the nation agreed. He won 382 Electoral Votes, and 54 percent of the popular vote. John W. Davis, a former Congressman from West Virginia and U.S. Ambassador to Britain, won 136 Electoral Votes, but his 29 percent represents the lowest popular-vote total in the history of the Democratic Party. Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, formerly a Republican, won his home State for 13 Electoral Votes, and took 16 percent of the vote.

Coolidge had recently lost his 16-year-old son John to an infection that could have been easily treated had antibiotics been invented. He had also recently watched the Washington Senators win the District of Columbia's only World Series to date. He did not like baseball, but his wife Grace did.

He was known as "Silent Cal" for his reticence. Legend has it that 2 women, seeing him at a party, made a bet. So one walked up to him and said, "I made a bet with my friend that I could get you to say 3 words to me." And Coolidge said, "You lose."

Even when he decided not to run for a 2nd full term, he was brief: He told the press simply, "I do not choose to run for President in 1928," and walked away. He may have seen the Crash of 1929 coming, and didn't want to get blamed for it. He should be, but he left his successor, Herbert Hoover, holding the bag.

November 4, 1927: William Calhoun (no middle name) is born in San Francisco. A forward, Bill Calhoun is 1 of 2 surviving players from the 1951 Rochester Royals, the only NBA Championship for the franchise now known as the Sacramento Kings. Frank Saul is the other.

November 4, 1930: Richard Morrow Groat is born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsville, Pennsylvania. Dick Groat is a rare 2-sport star. He played basketball at Duke University long before that was cool, setting an NCAA record with 839 points in the 1952 season, and his Number 10 was the 1st they ever retired. He played the 1952-53 season with the Fort Wayne Pistons.

He gave up basketball because he was better at baseball. A 5-time All-Star, the shortstop won the World Series, the National League batting title, and the NL Most Valuable Player with the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. His hometown team traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals, and he won another World Series in 1964. He has since gone back to basketball, broadcasting for the University of Pittsburgh's team.

Also on this day, Richard F. MacPherson -- I can find no reference to what the F stands for -- is born in Old Town, Maine. A center and linebacker at Springfield College in Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball, Dick MacPherson went on to coach on staffs at 4 Division I colleges and the Denver Broncos, before being named head coach at the University of Massachusetts, where he won the Yankee Conference in 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1977.

After 3 years as linebackers coach for the Cleveland Browns, in 1981 he was named head coach at Syracuse University. There was no Big East Conference for football at the time, but he went 11-0-1 in 1987, winning Coach of the Year, and missing a National Championship when the 1988 Sugar Bowl ended in a 16-16 tie with Auburn. He went 10-2 in 1988, winning the Hall of Fame Bowl, and won the 1989 Peach Bowl and the 1990 Aloha Bowl.

The native New Englander was named head coach of the New England Patriots, but it was a disaster, for reasons both within and out of his control. He went 6-10 in 1991, and 2-14 in 1992. That season was so bad that there were rumors the team would move, either to Baltimore or St. Louis. Robert Kraft bought the team and rebuilt it, firing Dick and hiring Bill Parcells.

Dick MacPherson went 111-73-5 as a college coach, but just 8-24 in the NFL. His "coaching tree" includes Jim Tressel of Ohio State, and Randy Edsall of Connecticut and Maryland. He now serves as an analyst on Syracuse football's radio broadcasts, having previously done college games on CBS, with one of the most obvious New England accents you'll ever hear.

UPDATE: He died on August 8, 2017, in Syracuse, at age 86.

November 4, 1931: William Dodgin Jr. (no middle name) is born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. The son of Bill Dodgin Sr., a wing-half for several English soccer teams in the 1930s, he became a centreback for North London club Arsenal, playing 1 game in their 1953 League title season. He later played for and managed West London's Fulham, and died in 2000.

November 4, 1935: James M. Gregory -- I can find no reference to what the M stands for -- is born in Port Colborne, Ontario, outside Niagara Falls. A graduate of St. Michael's College School and a student official for its hockey team, Jim Gregory later managed it to the 1961 Memorial Cup, the championship of Canadian junior hockey.

He coached the Toronto Marlboros, a farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs, to the 1964 Memorial Cup. He was general manager of the Leafs from 1969 to 1979, building a team that reached the Stanley Cup Semifinals in 1978. (They've also been 1 of the last 4 teams standing in 1993, 1994 and 1999, but that's as far as they've gotten since their 1967 Stanley Cup win.)

Leafs owner Harold Ballard decided to fire him after the team was eliminated from the 1979 Playoffs in the Quarterfinals. But before Ballard could get word to him, the NHL office reached him, and offered him the post of Director of the NHL Central Scouting Service, as they wanted him to judge the talent that had begun to defect from, or be allowed by their countries to leave, Eastern Europe.

In 1998, he was named Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee, and he still holds the post. In 2007, the Committee deservedly elected him.

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November 4, 1950: Grover Cleveland Alexander dies on his farm in his hometown of St. Paul, Nebraska, after years of drinking and epilepsy wrecking his health. He was 63. He won Pennants with the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies, the 1918 Chicago Cubs, and the 1926 and 1928 St. Louis Cardinals. He won 373 games, sharing the all-time NL lead with Christy Mathewson, and 3rd all-time behind Cy Young (split over both leagues) and Walter Johnson (American League). He pitched 90 shutouts, 2nd only to Johnson.

He will forever be best remembered for pitching the most famous strikeout in baseball history, to Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, with the Cards up 3-2. What everybody -- including the 1952 film The Winning Team, starring Ronald Reagan as Alex -- tends to forget is that it didn't end the game.

After Mathewson, Johnson and Young, he was only the 4th pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame. In 1999, The Sporting News listed him 12th on their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, trailing only Johnson (4th) and Mathewson (7th) among pitchers. Since he played before uniform numbers were worn, the Phillies honor him with a "P" stanchion with their retired numbers.

November 4, 1952: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the great American hero of World War II, is overwhelmingly elected President. The Republican nominee won 442 Electoral Votes, while the Democratic nominee, Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, won only 9 States for 89 Electoral Votes. "Ike" won the popular vote, 55 to 44 percent, ending 20 years of Democratic governance in the White House. The Republicans also win both houses of Congress.

November 4, 1955: Cy Young dies in Newcomerstown, Ohio. Belying his name, he was 88. The next season, Major League Baseball instituted the Cy Young Award, for the most valuable pitcher in baseball. In 1967, they began handing them out for the most valuable pitcher in each League.

His 511 wins -- and 313 losses -- will never be approached under the current rules and thought processes of baseball. In 1999, 88 years after he pitched his last game, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and The Sporting News named him Number 14 on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, behind only Johnson, Mathewson and Alexander among pitchers.

November 4, 1959: Claude "Lefty" Williams dies in Laguna Beach, California, where he operated a garden nursery. He was 66 years old. He was 82-48 for his career, which included winning the 1917 World Series with the Chicago White Sox, before he was banned in 1920 for having participated in the fix of the 1919 Series.

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November 4, 1967: Tampa Stadium opens, adjacent to Tampa's minor-league ballpark, Al Lopez Field. At first, it seated 46,481 people. A 1975 expansion raised capacity to 74,301. Its unusual shape led to its nickname, The Big Sombrero.

It became home to the football team at the University of Tampa, but they dropped their program after the 1974 season. It was home to the Tampa Bay Rowdies from 1975 to 1993, and they won the Tampa Bay area's 1st league championship, the North American Soccer League title, in 1975.

The NFL's expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved in for 1976, and lost their 1st 26 games. They managed Division titles in 1979 and 1981, but were mostly awful. Indeed, the Tampa Bay Bandits may have been -- along with the Philadelphia Stars -- the only United States Football League team better-run than the NFL team in the same market.

Tampa Stadium hosted Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 (Los Angeles Raiders over Washington Redskins) and Super Bowl XXV in 1991 (Giants over Buffalo Bills). It hosted the Outback Bowl from 1986 to 1998, and the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer from 1996 to 1998. In 1997, the University of South Florida entered Division I and played there.

In 1996, restaurant chain Houlihan's bought the naming rights, and until its replacement by the adjacent Raymond James Stadium in 1998 and its demolition the next year, it was known as Houlihan's Stadium.

Also on this day, Eric Peter Karros is born in Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey, and grows up in San Diego. The 1st baseman won NL Rookie of the Year for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992, and reached the postseason with the Dodgers in 1995 and '96, the Chicago Cubs in 2003, and the Oakland Athletics in 2004. He hit 284 career home runs, 270 with the Dodgers, the most in the Los Angeles portion of their history. He is now a color commentator on Fox.

November 4, 1972: Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo is born in Almada, Portugal. The left wing won the Taça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) with Lisbon club Sporting Clube de Portugal in 1995. With Barcelona, he won the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1997, the "Double" of La Liga and the Copa del Rey in 1998, and La Liga again in 1999. He was one of the most beloved players in Barcelona's history. In 2000, he won the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) as World Player of the Year.

But by that point, Barça's buyout clause for him had been triggered by their arch-rivals, Real Madrid, and perhaps the biggest rivalry in club soccer got nastier than ever. Barça fans, too blinkered to blame the club rather than the player, threw so many objects at him on his 1st game back in Barcelona with Real, he had to stop taking corner kicks. A banner, when translated into English, read, "We hate you so much, because we loved you so much." Two years later, someone threw a pickled pig's head onto the field near him.

He helped Real win La Liga in 2001 and 2003, and the UEFA Champions League in 2002. Sold to Internazionale Milano, he won Italy's Serie A in 2006, '07, '08 and '09, and the Coppa Italia in 2006 for a Double He also led Portugal to the Final of Euro 2004 on home soil, but they lost to Greece.

Figo is the founder of Network90, a private members' networking site for the Professional Football Industry. He now lives in Sweden, homeland of his wife, Helen Svedin, a model. They have 3 children.

November 4, 1975: Orlando Lamar Pace is born in Sandusky, Ohio. It's not often that an offensive lineman becomes a star in football, but he did, becoming known as The Pancake Man at Ohio State. "Pancake" is a term for the action of an offensive lineman knocking a defensive lineman on his back, flat as a pancake. When Sports Illustrated named its 85-man College Football All-Century Team in 1999, he and Bill Fralic of the University of Pittsburgh were named the starting offensive tackles.

Pace was just getting warmed up. In 1997, the St. Louis Rams, having given the Jets 5 picks for the top pick of the NFL Draft, chose him, making him the 1st offensive lineman chosen 1st overall in 29 years. It paid off, as he made 7 Pro Bowls, and protected quarterback Kurt Warner so well that the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV and reached (but lost) Super Bowl XXXVI. He was named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Rams retired his Number 76.

November 4, 1977: Larry Robert Bigbie is born in Hobart, Indiana. The left fielder played 6 seasons in the major leagues, including with the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

November 4, 1978: John William Grabow is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia, California. A lefthanded pitcher, he went 24-19 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs from 2003 to 2011.

November 4, 1979: The Iran Hostage Crisis begins. Islamic militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and take 80 hostages, a number that will drop to 52. At first, the nation rallies around President Jimmy Carter, as the nation tends to rally around the President when a crisis occurs.

It helps Carter that, on this same day, CBS Reports airs an hourlong program focusing on Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is rumored to be running for President. (He ends up announcing his candidacy 3 days later.) Teddy made the huge mistake of making what turned out to be his only run for President in the 1 election between 1972 and 1996 when the incumbent President was a fellow Democrat.

He hurts himself further by taking the simple question of host and interviewer Roger Mudd, "Why do you want to be President?" and, unlike his brothers Jack in 1960 and Bobby in 1968, coming up with an answer that is neither direct nor brief; indeed, it is stammering and rambling. He also seriously mishandles Mudd's question about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Incident that cast a shadow over his life and career from that moment onward. His campaign never really gets off the ground, and not winning the Primary in neighboring New Hampshire wrecked it.

But the longer the Hostage Crisis goes on, the greater the anger at Carter for not successfully resolving it grows. By April 25, 1980, when the failed "Desert One" rescue attempt occurs, Carter has the Democratic nomination sewed up, and people (including some Republicans crossing over) start voting for Kennedy as a protest vote, knowing he can't win, but the Primaries he wins can, and do, damage Carter. As you'll see in the next entry.

Also on this day, Morris Chalfen dies at age 72. In 1943, he co-founded the Holiday on Ice Show. In 1947, he and some partners bought the bankrupt Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League, moved them, and made them the Minneapolis Lakers. In 1957, they sold the team to Bob Short. In the intervening 10 years, they'd won 6 league titles: 1948 in the NBL, and 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954 in the National Basketball Association.

Short moved the Lakers to Los Angeles in 1960, and Chalfen is forgotten today. As the founder of the NBA's 2nd-most-successful franchise -- the Lakers have now won 16 titles in their 2 cities combined, 1 short of the Boston Celtics' 17 -- he should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame. But he isn't.

*

November 4, 1980: Ronald Reagan, former actor and former Governor of California, begins an era of Republican dominance, winning 489 Electoral Votes to be elected President. President Jimmy Carter, the Democratic incumbent, wins only 6 States: His home State of Georgia, his Vice President Walter Mondale's home State of Minnesota, Rhode Island, Maryland, West Virginia and Hawaii; plus the District of Columbia, for 49 Electoral Votes.

The popular vote was considerably closer, but still a very solid Republican win: Reagan won 51 percent, Carter 41 percent, and an independent candidate, Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who had run in that year's Republican Primaries, 6.6 percent, though he didn't take a single County, let alone State, and didn't exceed 16 percent in any State. The Republicans also gain control of the Senate.

It was exactly 1 year since the Iran Hostage Crisis began. Carter would work almost literally to the last minute of his Administration, on January 20, 1981, to end it, before leaving for the Capitol with Reagan for the Inauguration ceremony. The announcement that the hostages were free was made at 12:35 PM Eastern Time, 35 minutes after Reagan took the Oath of Office.

Some conservative voters are so dumb (How dumb are they?), they believe Reagan deserves the credit for getting the hostages home. After all, he was President when they were freed; he hosted the welcome home ceremony at the White House a week later; and, they believe, the reason the Iranians let the hostages go was that they were afraid Reagan would drop an atomic bomb on them if they didn't let them go while Carter was still President.

These people are so dumb, they would probably not believe you if you told them that the U.S. win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympic hockey tournament happened while Carter, not Reagan, was President. But it did.

November 4, 1982: Devin Devorris Hester is born in Riviera Beach, Florida. The Chicago Bears receiver is a 4-tie Pro Bowler, and is pro football's ultimate return man. He is the holder of the following NFL records: 20 career kick return touchdowns, 14 career punt return touchdowns, and (he shares this one) 5 kick return touchdowns in a season.

He was named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team, and looks like a sure bet for the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- once he's eligible. He has to retire first. He now plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

November 4, 1984: Dustin James Brown is born in Ithaca, New York. The Captain of the Los Angeles Kings led them to the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cups.

November 4, 1988: The expansion Charlotte Hornets make their NBA debut. It didn't go so well: They got clobbered, 133-93 by the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Charlotte Coliseum. Laker legend Kurt Rambis and Bloomfield, New Jersey native Kelly Tripucka each put up 16 points for the Hornets, but the Cavs got 22 points from Ron Harper and 20 from Brad Daugherty.

November 4, 1989: The expansion Orlando Magic make their NBA debut, at the now-demolished Orlando Arena (a.k.a. the O-Arena). The New Jersey Nets spoil the party, winning 111-106. Dennis Hopson scored 24 points for the visitors, while the Magic's Terry Catledge led all scorers with 25.

November 4, 1996, 20 years ago: Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers becomes the 1st NFL player to catch 1,000 passes. He catches another for a touchdown, and the 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-14 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Easily the greatest receiver ever, and possible the greatest player, he finished his career with 1,549 receptions, 22,895 receiving yards, 23,546 all-purpose yards, 197 receiving touchdowns, and 208 overall touchdowns, all still records.

*

November 4, 2001: Game 7 of the World Series, at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix. Although the record has been tied, this remains the latest date that a Major League Baseball game that counts has ever been played.

It started as a duel between 2 of the greatest and most controversial pitchers of the time, Roger Clemens for the Yankees, and Curt Schilling for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both of them would become much more controversial as the years went on.

Both lived up to the occasion and the matchup, and pitched very well: Schilling held the Yankees to 1 run on 4 hits over the first 7 innings; Clemens held the Diamondbacks to 1 run on 7 hits before Yankee manager Joe Torre called on Mike Stanton to get the last 2 outs in the top of the 7th.

Diamondback manager Bob Brenly stuck with Schilling for the top of the 8th, with the game tied 1-1, and Alfonso Soriano hit a home run. 2-1 Yankees, and it looked like Soriano had become one of the biggest World Series heroes ever -- the man who had hit the 2nd-latest home run in World Series history, behind only Bill Mazeroski's bottom-of-the-9th homer to beat the Yankees for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960.

Brenly brings Randy Johnson, who'd already beaten the Yankees in Games 2 and 6, in to relieve. One day's rest? It's Game 7: Win or lose, there's no tomorrow, and you've got until late February to rest. Torre relieves Stanton by sending supercloser Mariano Rivera out for a 2-inning save.. He'd gotten away with that 5 times in this postseason. This was the 6th time he'd tried it.

It was still 2-1 Yankees in the bottom of the 9th, and Mariano needed to get just 3 more outs to give the Yankees their 4th straight World Championship, their 5th in the last 6 years, their 27th overall.

It didn't happen. Mark Grace led off with a single to center. Brenly sent in David Dellucci to pinch-run for him. Damian Miller grounded back to Mariano, who threw to 2nd to start a double play -- and threw it away. Tying run on 2nd. World Series-winning run on 1st.

Brenly sent Jay Bell up to pinch-hit for the Big Unit. He bunted, and Mariano threw to 3rd to get Dellucci on a force. The tying run is still on 2nd, the World Series-winning run is on 1st, but now there's 1 out. Just need to get 2 more.

Mariano wouldn't get his next 2 outs until April 3, 2002 -- 5 months later, or 148 days.

Brenly sends Midre Cummings to pinch-run for Miller at 2nd. Tony Womack doubles down the right field line. Cummings scores. Bell reaches 3rd with the run that could win the Series, and could score on a sacrifice fly.

Craig Counsell, who had been the man who drove in the tying run and scored the winning run for the Florida Marlins in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, comes up with the chance to be the hero again. Mariano hits him with a pitch. Not known as a purpose pitcher, Mariano was, for one of the very few times in his career, rattled.

Up steps Luis Gonzalez. A man whose seasonal home run totals had been 13 at age 23, 10 at 24, 15 at 25 (okay, he was playing his home games in the Houston Astrodome), 8 at 26 (1994, strike-shortened season), 13 at 27, 15 at 28 (the last 2 as a Chicago Cub, and remember that the wind blows in at Wrigley Field half the time), 10 at 29 (back in Houston, still in the Astrodome), and then...

He hit 23 home runs at age 30. Yes, he was now playing for the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium, but this was also 1998. The year of whatever it was that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were using to hit 70 and 66 home runs, respectively. Gonzalez hit 26 at 31, and 31 at 32. Very good, but no big deal -- until you realize that those last 2 years were with the Diamondbacks, playing their home games at "The BOB," which, like the Astrodome but unlike most other indoor stadiums, is a bad ballpark for hitters. At age 34, Gonzalez hit 28 homers. At 35, 26. At 36, 17. At 37, 24. At 38 and 39, 15 both times. He closed his career with 8 homers at age 40 in 2006. Respectable numbers, if they were achieved honestly.

In 2001, at age 33, the year of Barry Bonds hitting 73 home runs, Luis Gonzalez hit 57 home runs. That's 26 more than he had ever hit before, and 29 more than he would ever hit again. People talk about Brady Anderson hitting 50 in 1996, when he'd only topped 16 once before, had never topped 21, and would never top 24 again nor 19 but once, and they suspected steroids.

What Luis Gonzalez did on the night of November 4, 2001 did not suggest steroids. Just as Bobby Thomson said that, 50 years earlier, he didn't need help to know that Ralph Branca was going to throw a meaty fastball. Doesn't mean Thomson didn't take advantage of the help that the Giants had been offering for the last few weeks. And it doesn't mean that Gonzalez hadn't been using steroids since 1998.

Gonzalez hit a looper into center field for a base hit. Bell scored the run that won the World Series for the Diamondbacks in only their 4th season.

At the time, I was terribly disappointed. But not crushed. There were a lot of really good players on that team who had played for a long time, some with awful teams, and had struggled to get to this point, and really deserved it: Grace with the Cubs. Johnson with the Mariners. Schilling with the Philadelphia Phillies. Gonzalez with the Astros. Bell and Womack with the Pirates. Matt Williams with the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians.

For the Yankees, Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius retired, and Tino and Chuck Knoblauch were allowed to leave via free agency. So 4 starters needed to be replaced. The game had a true "end of an era" feel, emphasized by Buster Olney when he titled his book about the 1996-2001 Yankees, and especially this game, The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty.

Some Yankee Fans were heartbroken. Not me. I was over it fairly quickly, and by Opening Day I was really optimistic again.

Over the next few years, things would change, and make this defeat something to get really angry about. Williams would be revealed as a caught steroid user. Gonzalez would call a press conference and angrily deny that he had used them, after a newspaper article danced around the question of whether he did. Although never publicly revealed to have been caught, people have often wondered about Johnson and Schilling, chosen the co-Most Valuable Players of this Series.

And, of course, accusations have also been leveled at some of the Yankees from this Series, including Clemens (the proof has still never been publicly revealed), Knoblauch (who admitted taking human-growth hormone, or HGH, but also said that it hurt more than it helped, which doesn't take him completely off the hook, but hardly makes him a cheater on the level of, say, David Ortiz), and Andy Pettitte (the one thing that can be proven was a brief moment the next season,which didn't help the Yankees win a Pennant).

But no one suggests the D-backs' win was "tainted." Indeed, the only team whose World Series wins or Pennants are said to not be fairly won are those of the Yankees.

Take out all suspected steroid cheats, and declare their World Series wins vacant, and, between 1996 and 2013, you've got the '97 Marlins (they didn't have Ivan Rodriguez yet), the '02 Angels, the '05 White Sox, the '06 and '11 Cardinals, the '08 Phillies, and the '10 and '12 Giants. That's it: 8 out of 18.

Unless you're prepared to vacate the titles won by the Diamondbacks in 2001; the Marlins in 2003; and the Red Sox in 2004, 2007 and 2013, then don't tell me the Yankees cheated.

*

November 4, 2004: With the original Charlotte Hornets having been moved to New Orleans 2 years earlier, the expansion Charlotte Bobcats make their NBA debut, 16 years to the day after the original Hornets did.

This game was also played at the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum, but it didn't go much better: The Washington Wizards beat the 'Cats, 103-96. Emeka Okafor scored 19 for the hosts, but Antawn Jamison (a North Carolina graduate) dropped 24 on them for the Wiz.

When the Hornets changed their name to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Bobcats were given the Charlotte Hornets name and records (1988-2002), and have added them to the Bobcats' history (not that it was much).

November 4, 2008: History is made when America elects a black man as its President. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee, wins 365 Electoral Votes and 53 percent of the popular vote. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, wins 173 Electoral Votes and 45 percent of the popular vote.

At about midnight -- 11:00 PM, local time -- Obama took the stage at Grant Park in Chicago to deliver his victory speech. In the audience was Oprah Winfrey, media mogul and America's 1st black female billionaire. She had tears of joy in her eyes over this magical moment of history. A few feet away from her, so did the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had finished 3rd in Democratic delegates in 1984 and 2nd in 1988. A civil rights activist for nearly 30 years, he could have been excused for thinking, "It should have been me" (as the 1st black President). I saw none of that in his face.

I had no personal stake in electing the 1st black President -- or the 1st female President. I had a huge stake in having the best possible President. When the campaign began, I thought Senator Hillary Clinton of New York should be the one. But Obama out-argued her on the subject of the Iraq War, and then beat McCain on that issue and on the economy, which crashed in September.

McCain, 72, had taken the inexperienced and very flaky 44-year-old Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, the 2nd woman and the 1st Republican woman nominated for Vice President. In contrast, Obama, 47, had taken the 66-year-old Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Sarah Palin for John McCain Losing the 2008 Election

5. Sarah Palin. While her flakiness and extremism turned off a lot of moderates, it (and her looks -- she was a former beauty pageant winner) turned on a lot of conservatives (including McCain). We'll never know how many people, who didn't quite trust McCain, that she brought back into the fold, but it may have canceled out the people she lost by being, well, Sarah Palin.

4. Barack Obama. He ran a great campaign.

3. The Iraq War. The outgoing President, George W. Bush, knew that his father, President George H.W. Bush, had won a war with Iraq in 1991, but ended it when Iraqi troops were kicked out of Kuwait. Bush the father didn't go on to Baghdad to take over and occupy, because, as someone who understood the world, he knew it would "lose the peace." Bush the son thought not going on to Baghdad was a big reason why his father lost in 1992.

So Bush the son dragged his war out. He didn't want to win the war; he only wanted to have the war, to use as a club over people's patriotism. And the American people got sick of it, giving the Democrats control of both houses of Congress in 2006.

McCain, to his credit, thought the war should come to an end. But he thought America should end the war by winning it. He didn't say how he would do it, only that he would. The voters wanted to end it sooner rather than later, and didn't trust him to do it. They trusted Obama, who, unlike Hillary, had never supported it. McCain's suggestion that he would attack Iran next further turned voters off.

2. The Economy. Already in recession when the calendar year began, it crashed in September, and got worse in October. And McCain was the nominee of the incumbent party. There was no way to defend it: The usual Republican idea of tax cuts had helped to bring the crash on, and the people weren't buying it. They knew that Republicans, the party of conservative businessmen, couldn't be trusted to fix an economy that was wrecked by conservative businessmen. Like...

1. George W. Bush. He was the reason for Reason Number 3 and Reason Number 2. He, not Palin, and not even McCain himself, was the Republican who caused McCain to lose.

November 4, 2009: Game 6 of the World Series. The Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 at the new Yankee Stadium, and clinched their 27th World Championship, 8 years to the day after they should have.

Hideki Matsui, in what turned out to be his last game with the Yankees, drove in 6 runs, including hitting a home run, a blast, off a "blast from the past," Pedro Martinez. I don't think any Yankee homer -- not by Chris Chambliss, Reggie Jackson, Bucky Dent, Don Mattingly, Jim Leyritz, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Derek Jeter, even Aaron Boone -- has ever made me feel better, because of what Pedro the Punk represents.

Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Jorge Posada, the holdovers from 2001, got their rings, Posada his 4th (his 5th title, though I don't think he got a ring for 1996), the others their 5th. For Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia, their 1st. And Pedro never appeared in another major league game.

The slates had been wiped clean. As Hank Steinbrenner requested, the universe had been restored to order.

Let's hope that no future baseball season will ever have to wait until November 4 to be resolved. We need scheduling reform.

November 4, 2010: George "Sparky" Anderson dies of a lengthy illness in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks, California. He was 76. A backup shortstop whose sole major league experience was with the 1959 Phillies, he was elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager. He reached the postseason 7 times, winning 5 Pennants, and was the 1st manager to win the World Series in both Leagues: With the 1975 and '76 Cincinnati Reds, and the 1984 Detroit Tigers. The Reds retired his Number 10, the Tigers his Number 11.

November 4, 2011: The Jerry Sandusky scandal breaks, on an off-week for the Penn State football team. Not surprisingly, the Nittany Lions lose 3 of their last 4 games (and barely win the other). Very surprisingly, after this date, Joe Paterno is removed from power, proving to him that he is not, as he believed, the most powerful person in the Pennsylvania State University system, and he never coaches another game.

The fact that Paterno was already dying of cancer was not known meant that he wouldn't have coached in 2012 and beyond anyway. But it should not generate sympathy for him. His tolerance of Sandusky's indefensible actions is his greatest crime, but hardly his only one. For decades, his supporters said he "ran a clean program." Even before November 4, 2011, this had been revealed as a lie. But we had no idea just how big the lie was.