I wasn't sure if I should do October Milestones (plus September 28 to 30, and November 1 to 8) this year, but I decided, let's do it at least one more time. Maybe next year, I'll do only the actual milestones: 10 years ago, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90, 100, 125, 150, 200, 300, and so on.
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September 28, 1960, 60 years ago: Having announced his retirement, Ted Williams plays his last game. The Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles are both way out of the American League race, which the Yankees wrapped up a few days ago. It's a Wednesday afternoon. The weather? As Ted later recalled, "Lousy day, damp." Only 10,454 fans come out to Fenway Park in Boston to say goodbye to "the greatest hitter who ever lived."
In the bottom of the 8th, the Orioles lead 4-2. with 1 out. Ted comes to bat against Jack Fisher, and cranks a home run to straightaway center field. He is easily the greatest player ever to hit a home run in his last career at-bat.
It is his 521st career home run -- at the time, good for 3rd all-time behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx -- and his 2,654th hit. It's hard to believe, until you see it in print, but, because he lost 5 years to military service, Ted Williams not only didn't get 3,000 hits, he didn't even get all that close. His lifetime batting average was .344, which remains the highest of any player whose career began after 1917. (Rogers Hornsby began that year, and batted .358.)
He rounds the bases with his head down, shakes hands with on-deck batter Jim Pagliaroni (later to become semi-famous as a 1969 Seattle Pilot as a result of Jim Bouton's book Ball Four), and walks back into the dugout. Fans are hoping that he will come out and tip his cap, something he swore he would never do after being abused by Boston fans early in his career. He does not. As John Updike wrote in his acclaimed New Yorker magazine piece about the game, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, "Gods do not answer letters."
Ted's career is over, but the game is not. Carroll Hardy replaces him in left field for the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th, with the O's leading 4-3, Marlan Coughtry singles, Vic Wertz (yes, the man robbed by Willie Mays 6 years minus 1 day earlier) doubles him to 3rd, Pumpsie Green (the 1st black Red Sock) walks to load the bases, and Willie Tasby grounds to 2nd, where Marv Breeding mishandles the ball, allowing Coughtry and Wertz to score, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 walkoff win.
There 8 players from this game who are still alive, 60 years later: From the Red Sox, Willie Tasby and Don Gile; from the Orioles, Brooks Robinson, Jackie Brandt, Ron Hansen, Jim Gentile, Albie Pearson, and the pitcher who gave up the home run, Jack Fisher. (UPDATE: Gile died in 2021.)
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September 28, 48 BC: Gnaeus Pompeius, a Roman general known as Pompey the Great, is assassinated in Pelusium, Egypt, to which he had fled after losing to Julius Caesar -- his rival for Roman supremacy, and his former father-in-law -- after losing the Battle of Pharsalus in central Greece a few weeks earlier. He was a day short of his 58th birthday.
His name lives on, in Portsmouth, England -- ironically, not an army but a navy town. The nautical location is known as Portsmouth Point, which was been shortened in ships' logbooks to "Po'm. P." or "Pompey." The local soccer team, Portsmouth Football Club, is also nicknamed Pompey, and "The Westminster Chimes" -- you know, "the chimes of Big Ben" -- have been rewritten as "The Pompey Chimes": The club's supporters sing, "PLAY up, POM-pey... Pom-PEY play UP!"
September 28, AD 935: Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, is assassinated on the orders of his brother, who succeeds him. Whereas the outgoing Duke was known as Wenceslaus the Good, his brother became known as Boleslaus the Cruel.
The Duke's martyrdom gave rise to a reputation for heroic virtue that results in his elevation to sainthood and a status as the patron saint, first of Czech nationalism, then of the nation of Czechoslovakia, and since 1993 of the Czech Republic, or Czechia.
He is also the subject of the song "Good King Wenceslas," which tells of his good deeds "on the Feast of Stephen," or St. Stephen's Day, December 26, the day after Christmas. Even though the events take place the day after, it has become a Christmas carol.
September 28, 1821: The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted in the National Palace in Mexico City. Mexico becomes independent from the Spanish Empire after a long war.
Nowhere in that declaration is it written that their national soccer team won't be full of players who dive, or have fans who will avoid bigoted chants.
September 28, 1872: Franz Adolf Louis John is born in Pritzwalk, Brandenburg, Germany. A photographer and a soccer player for athletic club MTV 1879 Munich, he was among 11 players upset in 1900 that the club's steering committee wouldn't let the team join the SFV, the group that ran soccer in southern Germany at the time. So he led them to walk out, and form a new club.
They named it Munich Football Club Bayern (meaning "Of Bavaria"), and he served as its 1st president, from 1900 to 1933. Today, known as Fußball-Club Bayern München, it is the most popular (but also the most-hated) sports team in Germany, having won 28 league titles (including the last 6) and 6 European Cup/Champions League titles: 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013 and 2020.
Franz John did not see most of this. He left Munich in 1904, moved back to his hometown of Pankow, near Berlin, and died in 1952. Bayern won its 1st title in 1932, then didn't win another until 1969, after the 1963 founding of the national league (the Bundesliga).
September 28, 1878: Blackburn Rovers Football Club are founded in Blackburn, Lancashire -- the city famously said to have had "four thousand holes" by John Lennon in the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life," on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The soccer team famous for its two-tone shirts, blue on the right, white on the left, won the FA Cup in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890 and 1891 -- a dynasty. They won the Football League in 1912 and 1914. They won the Cup again in 1928. Then they went into a long decline, occasionally reviving, reaching the FA Cup Final in 1960, losing to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In 1994, under the big spending of new owner Jack Walker, a steel magnate and a longtime fan, they modernized Ewood Park, their home since 1890, and finished 2nd to Manchester United in the new Premier League. They then went to the last day of the 1995 season with a chance to win it. They lost on the last day, but when word arrived a minute later that Man U had lost as well, they were League Champions for the 1st time in 81 years.
They've struggled since. They won the League Cup in 2002, but Walker had died 2 years earlier, and his family sold the team to an Indian company in 2010. They were relegated to the 2nd division, the Championship, in 2012, and have not been able to get back to the Premier League since.
September 28, 1887: Avery Brundage (no middle name) is born in Detroit, and grows up in Chicago. He became a remarkable athlete, even though his high school didn't have a sports program. In a 1980 profile in Sports Illustrated, William Oscar Johnson invoked a popular American author of the late 19th Century, calling Brundage "the kind of man whom Horatio Alger had canonized -- the American urchin, tattered and deprived, who rose to thrive in the company of kings and millionaires."
He graduated from the University of Illinois, starred for its track team, and used his engineering degree to enter the construction business and get rich. He competed at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, although he didn't win any medals. World War I meant that there would be no 1916 Olympics. Still, he was a better athlete than most of us will ever be.
By 1919, he was part of the governance of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the governing body for amateur sports in America. In 1928, just 41 years old, he was elected President of the United States Olympic Committee. So far, so good.
The turning point came in 1933. The Olympics for 1936 had been awarded to Germany: The Winter Games for Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Bavaria, and the Summer Games for the capital of Berlin. But Adolf Hitler and his Nazis had maneuvered their way into power, and their view of "Aryan supremacy" meant religious and racial discrimination. Many people, including American officials, wanted the Olympics moved; or, failing that, for America to boycott the games. Brundage put his foot down, and said the Americans would go to Garmisch and Berlin.
They did, and Jesse Owens, America's great black sprinter, embarrassed the hosts with his performance. He won Gold Medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the long jump. So as not to embarrass the Nazis any further, Brundage ordered that Marty Glickman (later a great broadcaster) and Sam Stoller, both Jewish, dropped from the 4x100-meter relay team, replaced by Owens and Ralph Metcalfe (also black, later a Congressman).
Did this stain Brundage's record forever? Only in hindsight. In 1952, he was named President of the International Olympic Committee, and stayed in the job for 20 years, including the black athletes' protests in Mexico City in 1968 and the Black September killings in Munich in 1972. He died in 1975, and is now regarded as one of the most shameful figures in the history of American sports. He should have been one of the shiners of light. Instead, he did his damnedest to block it.
September 28, 1889: The General Conference on Weights and Measures, meeting in the Paris suburb of Sèvres, defines the length of a meter (or "metre") as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with 10 percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice. In other words, 39.37 inches, or about 1.0936 yards.
This will have consequences in sports: The modern Olympic Games will start in 1896, and, deviating from what was then the English system, which had used yards, will use meters for the various races -- foot, bicycle, and boat, and eventually skiing with the introduction of the Winter Olympics in 1924.
In the 1970s, some Major League Baseball stadiums began to mark their home run distances not just in feet, but in meters. Fenway Park in Boston, despite its age, had the foul pole on the left field wall, the Green Monster, marked as 315 feet, and 96 meters, from home plate. In 1995, it was redesignated as 310 feet, and 94.5 meters. In 2002, they painted over the metric markers.
The Rogers Centre in Toronto, as Canada uses the metric system, marks its poles as 328 feet, or 100 meters. Marlins Park in Miami is now the only only MLB stadium to do it. It remains to be seen if, presuming MLB does return to Montreal, they use metric distances as well, which they did at the Olympic Stadium from 1977 to 2004.
September 28, 1892: For the 1st time, an organized football game is played at night under artificial light. It is between 2 colleges in Northeastern Pennsylvania: Wyoming Seminary, in Kingston, hosted Mansfield State Normal School (now Mansfield University), which is in Mansfield.
Wyoming is about 130 miles west of Midtown Manhattan, and 20 miles southwest of Scranton. Mansfield is 114 miles northwest of Kingston, and about 30 miles south of the small New York State cities of Corning and Elmira.
At halftime, with the game still scoreless, the lights gave out. This game would be depicted in a General Electric TV commercial in 1992, 100 years later.
September 28, 1893: Foot-Ball Club do Porto is founded in Porto, the 2nd-largest city in Portugal. Eventually known by the more Portuguese-sounding name of Futebol Club do Porto, or FC Porto, they are, along with Lisbon's Benfica and Sporting, one of the country's "Big Three" soccer teams. Their rivalry with Benfica is called O Clássico (The Classic).
They have won Portugal's Primeira Liga 29 times since 1935, including in 2020, and 21 times in 29 seasons from 1985 to 2013. They have won the Campeonato de Portugal and its successor the Taça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) 20 times, most recently in 2011. They have won the Portuguese version of "The Double," the League and the Cup, 7 times: In 1956, 1988, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011. (UPDATE: Due to COVID, the 2019-20 Liga season had not yet been decided. Porto won it. They finished 2nd in 2021.)
They won the European Cup in 1987, and its successor tournament, the UEFA Champions League, in 2004. And they won the UEFA Cup in 2003 and its successor the UEFA Europa League in 2011.
They have played in the 50,000-seat Estádio do Dragão (the club has long been known as the Dragons, nothing to do with Game of Thrones) since 2003.
They have played in the 50,000-seat Estádio do Dragão (the club has long been known as the Dragons, nothing to do with Game of Thrones) since 2003.
September 28, 1894: Abraham Stark (no middle name) is born in Brooklyn. From 1931 to 1957, on the bottom of the scoreboard on the right field wall at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, there was an advertisement, 30 feet long by 3 feet high: "HIT SIGN WIN SUIT -- ABE STARK, 1514 Pitkin Ave., Brooklyn's leading clothier."
In those 27 seasons, thanks to right fielders Dixie Walker and Carl Furillo, the only Brooklyn Dodger opponent to hit the sign and get a free suit was Mel Ott of the New York Giants. It was suggested to Stark that Furillo had saved him so much money, he should give Furillo a free suit. He did.
The sign made him famous enough that he ran for the City Council, and he was elected its President in 1953. In 1957, running for re-election, he was part of the effort to save the Dodgers from being moved. He lost that battle, but he won the election. He was elected Borough President in 1961 and 1965.
He died in 1972. An elementary school in the Spring Creek section of Brooklyn and a skating rink on the Coney Island Boardwalk are named for him. The store was in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. A laundromat is on the site today.
September 28, 1895, 125 years ago: The Baltimore Orioles are the World Champions of baseball. They beat the New York Giants, 5-2 at the Polo Grounds, and win the National League Pennant, the only league then available.
Manager Ned Hanlon had the smartest, but also the dirtiest, team in baseball, including John McGraw, Wilbert Robinson, Hughie Jennings and Kid Gleason. Like him, all would become Pennant-winning managers.
Also on this team were Wee Willie Keeler (one of the best hitters in baseball despite being only 5-foot-4), Big Dan Brouthers (6-foot-2 made him really big for the time) and Joe Kelley. Except for Gleason, who might have made it if not for the 1920 entry coming up, all of these men would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This was the 2nd of 3 straight Pennants for the Orioles, but they would fall apart, and be contracted out of existence after the 1899 season. In 1954, the American League’s St. Louis Browns would move, and become the new and current Baltimore Orioles.
Catcher Bill "Boileryard" Clarke was the last survivor of the old Baltimore dynasty, living until 1959.
September 28, 1897: George Harold Beadles is born in Llanllwchairn, Wales. A hero of the British Army in World War I, Harry Beadles returned home to play soccer as a forward, and was a member of the Liverpool FC team that won the Football League title in 1922 and 1923.
He returned to Wales, and played for Cardiff City in the 1925 FA Cup Final, which they lost to Sheffield United. He died in 1958, at age 60.
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September 28, 1901: The American League's 1st season ends. The Chicago White Stockings (later renamed the White Sox) win the Pennant by 4 games over the Boston Americans (Red Sox), 8 1/2 over the Detroit Tigers, 9 over the Philadelphia Athletics, 13 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles (the team that would fold the next year, making the franchise that became the Yankees possible), 20 1/2 over the Washington Senators, 29 over the Cleveland Bluebirds (later the Indians), and 35 1/2 over the Milwaukee Brewers (no relation to the current team of that name, this one became the St. Louis Browns the next season and the new Baltimore Orioles in 1954).
The White Stockings are managed by a Chicago baseball hero, and still an ace pitcher, Clark Griffith, who had starred for the earlier White Stockings of the National League, now called the Cubs. In 1903, he will be named the 1st manager of the New York Highlanders, to be renamed the Yankees in 1903.
Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, 2nd baseman of the Athletics, leads the League in just about every offensive category, including batting average (.426, an AL record that still stands), home runs (14), and runs batted in (125), giving him the AL's 1st Triple Crown.
Also on this day, The Gillette Company is founded in Boston by King C. Gillette, to make safety razors. It has long had a sponsorship agreement with Major League Baseball, and from 1977 to 1998 was the main sponsor of This Week In Baseball, a.k.a. The Greatest TV Show That Has Ever Existed. Or so it seemed to a boy who didn't have cable and couldn't watch highlights on ESPN.
In 2002, after CMGI went bust, taking the naming rights with it, Gillette bought the naming rights to the New England Patriots' new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It has been Gillette Stadium ever since. In 2005, Gillette has been owned by Procter & Gamble.
Also on this day, the Battle of Balangiga takes place in the Philippines. The "Philippine Campaign" has been more or less written out of American history, but it was America's 1st land war in Asia.
The sides were about evenly matched, about 500 men on each side. The Philippine side ambushed the U.S. 9th Infantry, killing 54 against 28 of their own losses. At the time, it was considered the U.S. Army's worst defeat since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. U.S. forces retaliated, and concluded the war in victory on July 2, 1902.
Also on this day, William Samuel Paley is born in Chicago. With his father, his brother-in-law, and some other partners, he bought a small chain of radio stations, and in 1928 he turned them into the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the 2nd major radio network in America, after NBC. In 1947, again following NBC, he made it the 2nd major TV network in America. CBS Sports became a major shaper of how we view sports in America, particularly with its football broadcasts, both college and the NFL.
On the exact same day, another key CBS figure arrived: Edward Vincent Sullivan is born in the Harlem section of Upper Manhattan -- at the time, not yet America's foremost black neighborhood. In 1947, with CBS having televised the New York Daily News' Harvest Moon Ball, Paley noticed the host, then the paper's Broadway columnist, and hired him to do a Sunday night variety show, Toast of the Town. In 1955, it was renamed what everybody was calling it anyway: The Ed Sullivan Show. From then until it was canceled in 1971, it was the biggest show on television.
Ed loved vaudeville, and put vaudeville-style acts on his show, including bringing in such acts from all over the world. But he stayed current: After first insisting that he would never have Elvis Presley, the biggest star of 1956, on his show, he relented, and hosted Elvis 3 times. In 1963, he visited England, saw the fuss over the Beatles, signed them, and on February 9, 1964, got 73 million viewers to see them -- at the time, a record for a single network's telecast. He also signed black performers and edgier rock performers when few other variety show hosts would.
What did he have to do with sports? He was a tremendous sports fan, especially of boxing. As with great entertainers, when a great athlete was in the audience, he would interrupt the show and introduce them, and ask them to stand and wave to the audience.
On March 2, 1969, a day after Mickey Mantle announced his retirement from baseball, he invited Mickey to come onto the show, and allowed him to explain why: "Well, it got to where I couldn't hit anymore," he half-joked.
On October 19 of that year, 3 days after the Mets won their "Miracle" World Series, he brought the whole team onstage to sing a song from a baseball-themed musical, ironically titled Damn Yankees: "You Gotta Have Heart." Each was identified with graphics, but by their full name, resulting in 3 of their pitches being listed as "G. Thomas Seaver," "Frank L. McGraw" and "L. Nolan Ryan."
September 28, 1907: Albert Glen Edwards is born in the inartfully-named town of Mold, Washington. A 2-way tackle, I don't know how he got the nickname "Turk," but he and Mel Hein, later the star center of the Giants, helped Washington State University reach their 1st Rose Bowl in 1931.
He then became an original member of the NFL's Boston Braves in 1932, the team that became the Boston Redskins in 1933; the Washington Redskins, and NFL Champions, in 1937; and "The Washington Football Team" this year.
Unfortunately for him, his last game as a player was the 1940 NFL Championship Game, in which the Redskins lost to the Chicago Bears 73-0, the biggest blowout in NFL history.
He later coached the Redskins, and ran a sporting goods store in Seattle. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969, and was introduced at the induction ceremony by Hein, a charter inductee in 1963, who said, "The thing I'll remember most about Turk Edwards is that he was a true sportsman, a true gentleman, and still is."
He lived until 1971. He was named to the NFL's 1930s All-Decade Team and, on the Redskins' 70th Anniversary in 2002, to the 70 Greatest Redskins.
September 28, 1911: Howard Cunningham is born, probably in Chicago. The 1975 Happy Days episode "Howard's 45th Fiasco" establishes that he shares his birthday with the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. And the show was established as having taken place 19 years in the past, making the date in the episode September 28, 1956.
In a later episode, Howard said he was living in Chicago at age 15 when he ran away from home, went to New York, and saw Babe Ruth play for the Yankees. If this date is correct, then it was in the 1926 season. The show never made it clear why he ended up in Milwaukee, where he married Marion Phillips (played by Marion Ross), and had children Richie (Ron Howard) and Joanie (Erin Moran).
Howard was written as a stereotypical late 1950s father, not always understanding the changes in the world around him, but still wanting to figure out what was best for his family, his community, his country, and the world, and then trying to do it. Clearly, Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) thought "Mr. C" was cool enough for him. If he was cool enough for The Fonz, then he was cool enough for anybody.
Tom Bosley, Howard's portrayer, was born in 1927 and lived until 2010, at the age of 83. If we presume the character lived just as long, then Howard Cunningham would have died in 1994.
September 28, 1913: Alice Marble (no middle name) is born outside Sacramento in Beckworth, California. She won the U.S. Open in 1936, 1938, 1939 and 1940, and Wimbledon in 1939. She later worked for DC Comics, advising on the early development of Wonder Woman, and worked for the OSS, the precursor of the CIA. In this capacity, she was shot by a Nazi, but recovered.
In 1950, she wrote an editorial for American Lawn Tennis Magazine, arguing for the desegregation of the sport: "If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites." Shortly thereafter, Althea Gibson became the 1st black player of either gender permitted to enter the U.S. Open.
Alice Marble continued her career as a tennis instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area until her death in 1990. She is a member of the International Tennis and Bay Area Sports Halls of Fame.
September 28, 1916: Leonard Duns (no middle name) is born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. A right wing, his hometown soccer team Newcastle United weren't interested in him. Big mistake: Len Duns went to their arch-rivals, Sunderland, and helped them win the 1936 Football League title and the 1937 FA Cup.
He remained with the Black Cats until 1952, and lived until 1989. That 1936 title remains Sunderland's last, but Newcastle haven't won the League since 1927.
September 28, 1917: Natan Panz (no middle name) is born in Vitebsk, Russia -- now part of Belarus. At the age of 4, his family took him out of the early Soviet Union, to Mandatory Palestine, where he grew up to star for soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 1936, they toured North America. They beat a New York City all-star team at Yankee Stadium, and an American Soccer League team at both Ebbets Field in both Brooklyn and Franklin Field in Philadelphia. They drew with the Toronto All-Stars at Varsity Stadium, and lost to the St. Louis Stars at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and to the Boston Celtics (a soccer team, the basketball team hadn't been founded yet) at Braves Field.
He was then offered a contract by the ASL, but he turned it down, because he wanted to fight for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Teams named Maccabi are named for the ancient freedom fighters, the Maccabees. Teams named Hapoel (meaning "worker") are run by labor unions. And teams named Beitar (or Betar) are both Zionist (nationalist) and right-wing. In 1939, Panz transferred to Beitar Tel Aviv, leading them to a league title and two of the country's version of the FA Cup.
In 1947, the British Mandatory Government disbanded Beitar Tel Aviv, and Panz transferred back to Maccabi Tel Aviv. He also aided the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah (the forerunner of the Israeli Defense Forces), and its more miltant offshot, the Irgun, in which he became a ranking officer. On April 25, 1948, he was killed in a British attack in Jaffa. He was only 30 years old. Just 20 days after his death, on May 14, Israel declared its independence. A statue of him now stands near the spot where he died.
September 28, 1918: Angel Amadeo Labruna is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He played for hometown club River Plate, as part of the offense known as La Máquina -- "The Machine" -- along with fellow forwards Juan Carlos Muñoz, José Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera and Félix Loustau. Together, they won Argentina's national league in 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947.
Oddly, Labruna never played for Argentina in the World Cup until 1958, when he was nearly 40 years old. He later managed Rosario Central to a league title in 1971, River Plate to 6 titles from 1975 to 1980. He died in 1983. Muñoz was the last survivor of La Máquina, living until 2009.
September 28, 1919: The last day of baseball's regular season features a game in which both sides clearly wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. In the shortest 9-inning game in MLB history, just 51 minutes from first pitch to last out, the New York Giants defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at the Polo Grounds.
Jesse Barnes goes the distance for the Giants, finishing the season 25-9. Lee Meadows goes all the way for the Phils, finishing 12-20. He allowed 13 hits, so it's not clear why the game went so quickly.
Also on this day, Thomas Dudley Harmon is born outside Chicago in Rensselaer, Indiana. A running back, known as "Old 98" for his retired uniform number at the University of Michigan, he led his team to the 1940 National Championship, and won the Heisman Trophy.
World War II interrupted his playing career, and he rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces, and was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. He later played for the Los Angeles Rams, and became CBS' top NFL announcer, before wrapping up his media career broadcasting for UCLA football. He also did some acting, and lived until 1990.
His son, Mark Harmon, went into both family businesses: He quarterbacked UCLA in the 1972 and '73 seasons, then became an actor. In addition to starring in a baseball-themed movie, Stealing Home, he played Drs. Robert Caldwell on St. Elsewhere and Jack McNeil on Chicago Hope, before becoming the iconic Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.
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September 28, 1920, 100 years ago: Eight Chicago White Sox players are suspended indefinitely for their roles in "throwing" the previous season's World Series to the Cincinnati Reds: Left fielder Joe Jackson, 1st baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil, shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg, 3rd baseman George "Buck" Weaver, center fielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, utility infielder Fred McMullin, and pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams.
In Gandil's case, it didn't matter: He had already announced his retirement after the previous season. For the other 7, it did matter. Weaver did not take part in the fix, but he was suspended because he knew about it and didn't tell anyone. And "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
At the time of the suspension, the White Sox were just half a game behind the Cleveland Indians in the American League, and the Yankees 3 back, with the Sox having 11 games left to play. When the season ended on October 3, the White Sox were actually closer, 2 games behind, and the Yankees 3. So did losing those players really hurt? Actually, yes: Not until 1957 would the White Sox get into another Pennant race, and not until 1959 would they win one.
None of the "Eight Men Out" ever played in "organized baseball" again, just in "outlaw leagues." Despite being found not guilty of fraud at their trial on August 2, 1921, the next day, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned them all permanently anyway.
Jackson was the 1st to die, in 1951. McMullin -- who was a marginal player, and only included in the fix because he'd overheard the ringleaders, Gandil and Felsch, talking about it and demanded in on it in exchange for his silence -- followed in 1952, Weaver in 1956, Williams in 1959, Felsch in 1964, Cicotte in 1969, Gandil in 1970, and Risberg was the last survivor, living until 1975. William "Kid" Gleason, their manager and a member of those 1890 Orioles, predeceased all of them, dying in 1933.
Also on this day, Joseph Andre Maca is born in Brussels, Belgium. A defender, he played professional soccer in his homeland before World War II, and fought in their Resistance against the Nazis.
After The War, he moved to New York, played for local club sides, and -- under the rules of the time, this was allowed -- played for his adopted country. He was the left back on the U.S. team that shocked England at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Later in the tournament, he took a penalty and scored against Chile. But the U.S. team did not advance to the knockout round. He lived until 1982.
A few months before that World Cup, he became the father of a son, Alain Maca, who would also play for the U.S. national team, and in the North American Soccer League. He later managed JFK Airport and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and is still alive.
September 28, 1922: Lawrence Harry Munson is born in Minneapolis. An Army medic in World War II, Larry Munson worked at radio stations in North Dakota and Wyoming, and succeeded Curt Gowdy (a basketball player at the school) as lead broadcaster for University of Wyoming football.
He moved on to Vanderbilt University football, and in 1966 was hired for the University of Georgia and the 1st broadcast team for the Atlanta Braves. He was a Braves broadcaster for only 2 seasons, but stayed with UGa through the 2007 season.
His calls became legendary. After the Bulldogs took the lead over arch-rival Florida at neutral-site Jacksonville in 1975, he yelled, "Gator Bowl! Rocking! Stunned! The girders are bending now!" Also against Florida, in a key game in Georgia's 1980 National Championship run, as Lindsay Scott ran 92 yards for the winning touchdown, he yelled, "Complete to the 25! To the 30! Lindsay Scott, 35, 40! Lindsay Scott, 45, 50, 45, 40! Run, Lindsay! 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!" It's become known as "Run Lindsay Run," even though that's not quite what Larry said.
On Thanksgiving weekend in 1997, against the other big Bulldog rival, Georgia Tech, he said, "Our hearts, they was torn out and bleeding! We picked it up and we stuck it back inside! I can't believe this! We won, 27-24, and at the end we had no business winning this game!" At the end of Georgia's 2001 win over Tennessee, it was, "We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their face!"
He died in 2011. Over 3,500 fans attended a memorial service for him at Georgia's Sanford Stadium. He was elected to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
September 28, 1923: Alexander Gus Spanos is born in Stockton, California. He won varsity letters in track and diving at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, then turned a food truck into a real estate empire. By 1977, he was the largest apartment builder in America.
In 1984, he bought the San Diego Chargers from Gene Klein, who was so sick of the NFL and his fellow owners, he wrote the words, "Thank you, Alex" several times in his memoir First Down and a Billion.
Since 1993, his son Dean Spanos has run the Chargers -- by necessity since 2008, as Alex fell into dementia. It was Dean who extorted the City of San Diego, telling them to build him a new stadium or else he'd move the team. Knowing that the Spanoses had, through their personal fortune and real estate contacts, both the money and the means to build a stadium without one penny of the people's tax dollars, the City called Dean's bluff, and told him to forget it.
Prior to the 2017 season, Dean showed that he wasn't bluffing, and moved the Chargers back to their original hometown of Los Angeles, leaving San Diego without an NFL team. Right now, he is the most hated man in San Diego County. And Alex had no idea about this. He died on October 9, 2018, at the age of 95.
But the Rams, having moved back from St. Louis, got a 1-year head start, and while they accepted the Rams' invitation to share the new stadium the Rams were building in Inglewood, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and the City of Pasadena (owners of the Rose Bowl stadium) wouldn't let the Chargers use their stadiums as stopgap facilities.
So the Chargers played their 2017, '18 and '19 home games at what is now named Dignity Health Sports Park in suburban Carson, home of Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy. This meant that they were using the smallest NFL stadium in the post-World War II era, topping out at 23,574 fans. It became especially embarrassing when their fans were outnumbered by fans of visiting teams: The Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Redskins, and, still having a lot of nearby fans due to their 1982-94 L.A. sojourn, the Oakland Raiders.
The Chargers lost their 1st 4 games, including 3 at home, but still managed to go 9-7, winning their last 5 home games. Had they simply beaten the Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime on November 12, they would have made the Playoffs. Along with the Rams, they have now moved into the new SoFi Stadium.
September 28, 1924: Harry Bradshaw dies in Wandsworth, South London at age 71. He never played professional soccer, but managed Lancashire team Burnley to a 3rd place finish in England's Football League Division One in 1899, a place they would not top until winning the League in 1960.
He then moved to Woolwich Arsenal, then in South London, and got them promoted to Division One for the 1st time in their history in 1904. But he then moved to West London team Fulham, winning the Southern League in 1906 and 1907, earning them promotion to the Football League Division Two. His sons Joe and William played for both Arsenal and Fulham, and Joe managed Fulham from 1926 to 1929.
September 28, 1925: Herbert Thomas Appenzeller is born in Greensboro, North Carolina. A running back at Wake Forest University, Herb Appenzeller was elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 2018.
September 28, 1926: Camille Oscar Van Brabant is born outside Detroit in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. "Ozzie" pitched in 11 major league games, all for the Athletics, 9 in Philadelphia in 1954, and 2 in Kansas City in 1955.
He made only 2 starts, both in 1954, both against the Boston Red Sox, and lost both. He died in 2018, at age 91.
September 28, 1928: Richard Edward Gernert is born in Reading, Pennsylvania. A 1st baseman, Dick Gernert spent most of his career with the Boston Red Sox. He won the 1961 National League Pennant with the Cincinnati Reds, and closed his career as an original 1962 Houston Colt .45 (Astro).
He was a longtime major league scout, including for the Mets, and a major league coach with the Texas Rangers in 1975 and '76. He died in 2017.
September 28, 1929: The football teams at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles play each other for the 1st time, at both teams' home field, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It is no contest, as USC beats UCLA 76-0.
The teams play for a Victory Bell, which is painted in the winning team's colors after the game. USC leads, 47-32-7.
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September 28, 1930, 90 years ago: Albert Douglas Holden is born in Manchester, England. A right wing, Doug Holden appeared in 3 FA Cup Finals, losing with Bolton Wanderers in 1953, winning with them in 1958, and losing (though scoring a goal) with Preston North End in 1964. He later coached in both England and Australia. He, Tommy Banks and Brian Birch are the 3 surviving members of Bolton's '58 Cup winners.
Also on this day, Suburban Station opens in Philadelphia, taking the place of the old Broad Street Station. The Pennsylvania Railroad's link from Center City to its national connection, 30th Street Station, it became part of the SEPTA system (SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) in 1965. In 1984, Market East Station (now Jefferson Station) replaced the old Reading Terminal, finally providing an in-city link between the former Pennsylvania and Reading railroads.
September 28, 1932: Game 1 of the World Series. The Chicago Cubs score 2 runs in the 1st inning, but the Yankees outscore them 37-17 over the rest of the Series. Lou Gehrig hits a home run, and the Yankees win, 12-6 at Yankee Stadium.
September 28, 1933: Robert Joseph Hogan is born in Manhattan. In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, he was one of those "actors who's on every show." He was a friend of Bernard Fein, who created the World War II-themed sitcom Hogan's Heroes, and named the lead character after him: Colonel Robert Hogan, U.S. Army Air Force. He appeared in some soap operas in the 1990s, and is still acting. (UPDATE: He died on May 27, 2021.)
Does he have anything to do with sports? Yes: On an episode of Batman that aired on February 2 and 3, 1966, "Instant Freeze" and "Rats Like Cheese," he played Paul Diamante, pitcher for the Gotham City Eagles. "Diamante" is Spanish and Italian for "Diamond," part of the inside joke: Mr. Freeze (George Sanders) is committing crimes with the theme of ice, and not only does a baseball field have a "diamond," but diamonds are known as "ice."
Dodger Stadium stands in for the Gotham City ballpark, as it would 40 years later for the Metropolis ballpark in Superman Returns. Diamante, a righthanded pitcher, appears to be based on Dodger pitcher and occasional actor Don Drysdale. Among the Eagles' opponents are the Pets (obviously based on the Mets), the Motor City Wheels (standing in for the Detroit Tigers), and the Windy City Wildcats (not clear whether they stand in for Chicago's Cubs or White Sox, so we don't know which League the Eagles are in).
September 28, 1934: Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is born in Paris. Perhaps the greatest iconic of French feminine beauty, from 1952 to 1973 she graced the silver screen, before retreating to private life.
The good news: She's still alive, at age 86, and has been a major animal rights' activist. The bad news: She is a supporter of the Front Nationale, France's right-wing political party, led by the Le Pen family. Her husband since 1992, Bernard d'Ormale, was once a major figure in the party.
September 28, 1935: Louis Andrew Michaels is born in Swoyersville, in Northeastern Pennsylvania. A linebacker and placekicker, he was named 1957 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year at the University of Kentucky.
He made 2 Pro Bowls, and helped the Baltimore Colts reach the 1964 NFL Championship Game, but they lost to the Cleveland Browns. They beat the Browns in the 1968 NFL Championship Game, but then lost Super Bowl III to the Jets. By the time they won Super Bowl V, Lou Michaels was gone.
He died in 2016. He was the younger brother of Walt Michaels, who was an assistant coach with the Jets in Super Bowl III, and later coached them to the 1982 AFC Championship Game.
Also on this day, Henry Joseph Schmidt is born outside Los Angeles in South Gate, California. A defensive tackle, Hank Schmidt washed out in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, but made 4 AFL Championship Games, winning in 1963 with the San Diego Chargers and 1965 with the Buffalo Bills (over the Chargers), and losing in 1961 and 1964 with the Chargers (the latter to the Bills). He played with the Jets in 1966, and then retired.
He is still alive, and he should not be confused with the also still-living Hall of Fame linebacker Joe Schmidt (Joseph Paul Schmidt). (UPDATE: Hank Schmidt died on May 17, 2021.)
Also on this day, Robert Andrew Dustal is born in Sayreville, Middlesex County, New Jersey, and grows up in adjoining South River. Several football stars have graduated from South River High School, but Bob Dustal is the only SRHS grad to have reached Major League Baseball.
A pitcher, he appeared in 7 major league games, all early in the 1963 season, with the Detroit Tigers, going 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. He pitched in the minor leagues from 1955 to 1971, going 111-76. He later managed in the Tigers' farm system, and died in 2015.
September 28, 1936: Thomas Albert Witcher is born in Burnet, Texas. A linebacker, Al Witcher is a surviving member of the 1st AFL Champions, the 1960 Houston Oilers.
Also on this day, Raymond Edward Joseph Brunel is born in St. Lupicin, Manitoba. A center, Ray Brunel never played in the NHL, but was a longtime junior star, helping the Cleveland Barons win the 1964 Calder Cup, the championship of the American Hockey League. He died in 2010, as a member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.
September 28, 1938: Having come from well behind the Pittsburgh Pirates to tie them for 1st place in the National League, the Chicago Cubs are tied with them, 5-5 in the bottom of the 9th. Since Wrigley Field -- at the time, like most major league ballparks -- had no lights, the umpires announced that this would be the last inning.
Charles "Gabby" Hartnett, the Cubs' catcher and now their manager as well, swings with 2 outs and 2 strikes and hits the ball into the left-center field bleachers. The Cubs win, 6-5, and surge into 1st place. It becomes known as "The Homer in the Gloamin'." The Cubs completed the sweep the next day, and would clinch the Pennant 3 days after that. It was the Cubs' greatest moment between 1908 and 2016.
Cub right fielder Phil Cavarretta was the last living player from this game, living until 2010.
Also on this day, Benjamin Earl Nelson is born in Henderson, North Carolina, and grows up in Harlem, Manhattan. We knew him as Ben E. King. He formed a doo-wop group called The Five Crowns. In 1958, George Treadwell, who owned the rights to the name The Drifters, fired the group then using the name, and hired the Crowns to be the new Drifters.
Ben sang lead on their hits until the end of 1960, including their only Number 1 hit, "Save the Last Dance for Me." He turned solo in 1961, and his hits included the original version of a song he wrote with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, "Stand By Me." He died in 2015.
September 28, 1939: Bruce Neal Froemming is born in Milwaukee. He began umpiring in the National League in 1971, was made a part of the joint MLB umpiring crew in 2000, and served through 2007. Over those 37 seasons, he became baseball's worst umpire ever.
On September 2, 1972, Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs was 1 out away from a perfect game against the San Diego Padres, when he threw what should have been a called strike 3 past Larry Stahl. Froemming called it ball 4. Pappas finished the no-hitter, but Froemming had cost him the perfect game. After the game, Pappas tried to appeal to Froemming's ego, reminding him that he could have been one of the few umpires ever to call a perfect game. Froemming told him, "Milt, if I had called that pitch a strike, I never would have been able to live with myself." Pappas had held his anger back, but no longer, yelling, "How the hell do you live with yourself with all the other stupid calls you make?"
Late in Game 4 of the 1976 World Series, with the Yankees about to be swept by the Cincinnati Reds, Billy Martin came out to argue a call Froemming made. Froemming tossed him, yelled at him, and pointed his finger in Billy's face. Billy came back with a retort picked up by the microphone for the official World Series highlight film: "Don't you be intimidating me!"
Game 4 of the 1977 National League Championship Series is known as Black Friday among Philadelphia Phillies fans. With 1 out to go to take a 2-1 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Davey Lopes hits a ball that bounces off Mike Schmidt, and goes to Larry Bowa, and the replay showed that Bowa had thrown Lopes out. Froemming ruled Lopes safe, allowing the tying run to score. The Dodgers went on to win the game and the Pennant.
On September 26, 1981, Froemming was behind the plate for Nolan Ryan's record-breaking 5th no-hitter. On July 28, 1991, he was behind the plate for Dennis Martinez' perfect game, but that doesn't redeem him for the one he blew for Pappas 19 years earlier. He would eventually be in the umpiring crews for a record 11 no-hitters. In 2001, with Miller Park opening in his hometown of Milwaukee, he was named the plate umpire for the 1st game there.
On July 24, 2004, he was the plate umpire when Bronson Arroyo of the Red Sox purposely hit Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees in the back. A-Rod cursed Arroyo out, and Sox catcher Jason Varitek, cowardly leaving his mask on, shoved his mitt in A-Rod's face. Froemming correctly threw Varitek out of the game. He incorrectly threw A-Rod out. And he incorrectly chose not to throw Arroyo out.
Froemming's last screwing-over was, to my dismay, of the Yankees, in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Cleveland Indians. This was the Bug Game, when Lake Erie Midges descended onto Progressive Field. Froemming refused to suspend the game due to unplayable conditions, costing the Yankees a 1-0 lead and, eventually, the series. He is still alive -- from the neck down, anyway.
September 28, 1941: Ted Williams enters the last day of the regular season with a batting average of .39955, which would have been rounded up to .400. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offers to let him sit and protect his ".400 batting average." But the Splendid Splinter, all of 23 years old, understands what his place in baseball history would have really been, and insists on playing the doubleheader, against Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park.
He singles to right in the 2nd inning, hits a home run leading off the 5th, singles to right in the 6th, hits an RBI single to right in the 7th, and reaches on an error in the 9th, by the A's 2nd baseman -- Lawrence Columbus "Crash" Davis of Durham, North Carolina, for whom the Kevin Costner character in the movie Bull Durham would be named. So the one time he doesn't get a hit, he gets on base anyway. Despite a 9-run A's outburst in the 5th inning, the Sox win 12-11.
Ted's batting average is now .404. Even if he goes 0-for-4 in the nightcap, he will still finish at .4004. (Going 0-for-5 would have made him .39956.) He plays anyway. He singles to right in the 2nd, doubles to center in the 4th, and flies to left in the 7th.
Because Pennsylvania had only legalized professional sporting events on Sunday in 1934, and had a 7:00 PM curfew for them on Sundays, the A's were already up 7-1, and Ted's .400 was secure, it was agreed between the umpires and the managers, Cronin and Mack, that the 1st game would end after 8 innings, thus denying Ted a 4th at-bat in the game. He finishes the season with 185 hits in 456 at-bats, for a batting average of .405701754, rounded off to .406.
Ironically, the Sox pitcher in the 2nd game was former A's star Lefty Grove. It was the last appearance of a Hall of Fame career in which he went 300-141. A's pitcher Fred Caligiuri, who lived to be 100 and died in 2018, was the last living player from this doubleheader.
Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees was awarded the American League MVP. Red Sox fans, now 3 generations removed, remain angry about this. They say Ted's .406 average was a greater achievement than DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak the same season. They forget that the award is named Most Valuable Player, not Most Outstanding Player. Ted's great season did not get the Red Sox above 6th place. Joe's great season put the Yankees on a run that led to them winning the World Series.
In 1957, Ted came close to .400 again, at age 39, batting .388. In 1977, Rod Carew was over .400 for much of the season, and finished at .388. In 1980, George Brett was over .400 in September, and finished at .390. In 1994, Tony Gwynn was at .394 when the strike hit on August 12. Ted died in 2002, and since then, there have been no living human beings who have hit .400 in a season. (Bill Terry of the 1930 New York Giants, at .401, remains the last to do it in the National League.)
On the same day, Charles Robert Taylor is born outside Dallas in Grand Prairie, Texas. One of the earliest great football players at Arizona State University, Charley Taylor played 14 seasons with the Washington Redskins, including their 1972 NFC Championship and their appearance in Super Bowl VII.
He was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1964, and an 8-time Pro Bowler. When he retired in 1977, he was the NFL's all-time leader with 649 receptions and 9,110 receiving yards. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team, the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame, and the Washington, D.C. Sports Hall of Fame. The Redskins do not officially retire uniform numbers (except for Sammy Baugh's 33), but Taylor's 42 remains out of circulation. He coached with the Redskins from 1981 to 1993, and is now a consultant for the team.
September 28, 1942: Grant Dwight Jackson is born in Fostoria, Ohio, outside Toledo. The lefthanded pitcher was an All-Star for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969, and won a Pennant with the Baltimore Orioles in 1971. The Yankees traded for him in 1976, and he was instrumental in winning the Pennant that year.
They traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he won the 1979 World Series with them. He nearly won another Pennant with the Montreal Expos in 1981. He retired with a career record of 86-75, plus 79 saves. He later coached with the Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, and is still alive. (UPDATE: He died on February 2, 2021.)
Also on this day, Norman Earl Evans is born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. An offensive tackle, Norm Evans was an original member of 2 NFL franchises: The 1966 Miami Dolphins and the 1976 Seattle Seahawks. In between, he made 3 Pro Bowls, and helped the Dolphins win Super Bowls VII and VIII. He was named to the Dolphins' 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and is still alive.
September 28, 1943: Robert Hope (no middle name) is born in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, Scotland. No relation to the English-born American entertainment legend Bob Hope, this Bobby Hope was a forward for several professional soccer teams, mostly Birmingham-area side West Bromwich Albion, whom he helped to win the 1966 League Cup and the 1968 FA Cup.
He later played in America for the Philadelphia Atoms and the Dallas Tornado. He now West Brom's chief scout.
Also on this day, William Stewart Hillis is born in Clydebank, Scotland. Dropping his first name, Stewart Hillis was the doctor for Scottish soccer team Clydebank F.C. from 1970 to 1997, and for the Scotland national team from 1982 to 2010. He died in 2014, and was posthumously elected to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.
September 28, 1946: Cliff Bastin plays for Arsenal for the last time, in a 5-2 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford. It was a tame end to a career that saw the outside left (today, we would call him a left winger) win 5 League titles and 2 FA Cups.
The Exeter native retired at the end of the season, and ran a cafe and a pub, and wrote for the Sunday Pictorial. He lived until 1991. He would not live to see his club record of 178 goals surpassed in 1997 by Ian Wright, or Wright's 185 surpassed by Thierry Henry in 2005, eventually reaching 228.
September 28, 1947: While the Yankees officially count Lou Gehrig Day, July 4, 1939, as the 1st Old-Timers' Day, the first of the annual event at Yankee Stadium is held on this day.
Among the guests are Babe Ruth, then age 52, wearing a suit and his camel-hair coat, and appearing in spite of the cancer that will take him within a year; Ty Cobb, 61, wearing a Detroit Tigers uniform, Number 25; Tris Speaker, 59 and a coach for the Cleveland Indians, wearing his uniform, Number 43; and Cy Young, 80, who pitched for both the Indians and the old National League team, the Cleveland Spiders, wearing an Indians uniform, Number 29. Cobb, Speaker and Young all retired before numbers were regularly worn.
Left to right: The Georgia Peach, the Sultan of Swat,
and the Grey Eagle. Between them, 10,579 hits.
Also on hand were Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper, who, with Speaker, formed the great Red Sox outfield that won the 1912 and 1915 World Series, before Speaker was traded to the Indians. With Ruth as a young pitcher, Lewis and Hooper won the Series again in 1916 and 1918. Had Walter Johnson, who died of cancer the year before, still been alive, he likely would have been invited as well, as he had pitched to Ruth in a war bond drive game in 1942.
Left to right: Cy Young, Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker,
Harry Hooper and Ty Cobb.
There's also a regular game, the last of the regular season. The Yankees beat the Athletics, 5-3. Johnny Lindell hits a home run off Lou Brissie, the war hero who has to wear a metal plate on his shin to protect his surgically-repaired leg. The winning pitcher is Bill Wight -- not to be confused with Bill White, later a fine 1st baseman, a longtime Yankee broadcaster, and a President of the National League.
With the regular season over, Ted Williams has won the Triple Crown for the 2nd time: He batted .343, hit 32 home runs, and had 114 RBIs. Again, Joe DiMaggio leads the Yankees to the World Championship. Again, DiMaggio, not Williams, is named the AL MVP.
Also on this day, the St. Louis Browns start Dizzy Dean against the Chicago White Sox. Dean had been retired for 6 years due to an injury, and was broadcasting for the Browns. A few days earlier, frustrated with their pitching, said, on the air, "Doggone it, I can pitch better than 9 out of the 10 guys on this staff." (He never did say who the 10th guy was, the one who could pitch better.)
The Brown pitchers' wives complained to management, and they decided to put their money where Dean's mouth was. Since Dean was still only 37, they chose the last day of the season, when the spectator-poor Browns would have even more trouble than usual filling Sportsman's Park, to have Dean pitch for the Browns. It doesn't work: Attendance is only 15,910, about half the ballpark's capacity.
He goes 4 innings, and gets a hit off future Yankee All-Star Eddie Lopat, but pulls a muscle rounding 1st base, and has to leave the game. The Browns' bullpen proves Ol Diz' point as much as he does, losing the game for him: Although the game is scoreless going into the 9th inning, it ends White Sox 5, Browns 2. Lopat goes the distance for the win for the Pale Hose.
Interviewed on what would normally be his own postgame radio show, Diz says, "I said I can pitch better than 9 out of the 10 guys on this staff, and I can. But I'm done playing. Talking's my game now, and I'm glad that muscle I pulled wasn't in my throat."
He broadcast for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1946, the Browns from 1941 to 1948, the Yankees in 1950 and 1951, Mutual Broadcasting in 1952, ABC in 1953 and 1954, CBS from 1955 to 1965, and the Atlanta Braves -- probably since he was the best-known living Southern-born baseball figure -- from 1966 to 1968.
He was known for his fractured syntax ("Zarilla slud into third" being the best-remembered example), and was the template for football quarterback turned broadcaster Terry Bradshaw: The redneck who wasn't nearly so dumb as he appeared.
September 28, 1948: Melvin Dean Gray is born in Fresno, California. In 1967, while attending Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, outside San Francisco, Mel Gray, also a receiver on the school's football team, set a national high school record by running a 100-yard (not 100-meter) dash in 9.4 seconds.
That caught the attention of college football programs, looking to duplicate the success of Olympic sprinter and Dallas Cowboy Bob Hayes. Mel went to the University of Missouri, and made 4 straight Pro Bowls with the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1974 to 1977. He closed his career in the USFL, with the 1985 Arizona Outlaws. He is still alive, and a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
He should not be confused with the Mel Gray who came from Williamsburg, Virginia (where he was a high school teammate of Lawrence Taylor and Ron Springs), and became a star kick returner, also making 4 Pro Bowls, with the Detroit Lions in the 1990s. Oddly, they were almost teammates: The earlier Mel Gray was with the USFL's Los Angeles Express in 1983, and the later one with them in 1984 and '85.
September 28, 1949: Mario Miguel Guerrero Abud is born in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. A shortstop, Mario Guerrero started in baseball in the Yankees' farm system. But in 1972, not yet having reached the majors, he and Danny Cater were traded to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle.
It was a lopsided trade: Lyle became a star in The Bronx, while Cater didn't hit, and Guerrero played just 8 seasons in the major leagues, only 1 of them as a starter, with the 1978 Oakland Athletics. He is still alive.
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September 28, 1950, 70 years ago: John Thomas Sayles is born in Schenectady, New York. He directed Eight Men Out, the 1988 film version of Eliot Asinof's book about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. In it, he also played sportswriter Ring Lardner, who covered the World Series. For directing the film, Ken Burns interviewed him for his 1994 miniseries Baseball.
Among the other films that Sayles has directed are Return of the Secaucus 7 (not to be confused with the group of the same nickname that then owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets), The Brother from Another Planet, Matewan, City of Hope, Sunshine State and Silver City.
He also wrote the screenplay for Battle Beyond the Stars, a science-fiction version of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (and John Sturges' Western, The Magnificent Seven); the horror films Piranha, Alligator and The Howling; and, uncredited, Apollo 13. He also wrote the 2018 TV version of Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist.
September 28, 1951: A sweep of a doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium means the Yankees will clinch the Pennant. They win the 1st game 8-0, as Allie Reynolds pitches his 2nd no-hitter of his career -- and his 2nd of the season, having blanked the Cleveland Indians on July 12. He is backed by home runs by Joe Collins and Gene Woodling.
The part-Cherokee fireballer known as the Superchief was the 1st AL pitcher to throw 2 no-hitters in a season. The only other major league pitchers to do it, through 2019: Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds (the only back-to-back no-hitters in MLB history), Virgil Trucks of the 1952 Detroit Tigers (one of them against the Yankees), Roy Halladay of the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies (one a perfect game, the other in the Playoffs), and Max Scherzer of the 2015 Washington Nationals.
The last out Allie needed for the 2nd no-hitter was Ted Williams, often called "the greatest hitter who ever lived." Allie got the Splendid Splinter to pop up in foul territory, but catcher Yogi Berra dropped it. Yogi goes to the mound to apologize, but Allie says, "Don't worry, Yogi, we'll get him again." He was right: He induced another pop-up, but Yogi caught this one.
Charlie "Paw Paw" Maxwell, later an All-Star 3rd baseman for the Detroit Tigers, is the last surviving player from this game, 69 years later. Yogi was the last surviving Yankee from it, living until 2015. (Bobby Brown is he last surviving '51 Yankee, but did not play in this game.) (UPDATE: He died on March 25, 2021.)
The nightcap was not as spectacular, but no less effective: A Pennant-clinching 11-3 win. Vic Raschi was the winning pitcher, backed by a home run by Joe DiMaggio, the 361st of his career -- and, as it turned out, his last in regular-season play. He would hit 1 more in the upcoming World Series, and then retire.
Also on this day, David Christopher Rajsich is born in Youngstown, Ohio, about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. A lefthanded pitcher, he was with the Yankees in their 1978 World Championship season, and then pitched 2 seasons for the Texas Rangers and 1 more in Japan. He is now a pitching coach in the Chicago Cubs' system.
Also on this day, Christian Marlowe (no middle name) is born outside Los Angeles in Santa Monica, California. A volleyball star at San Diego State University, Chris Marlowe kept playing after college, and helped the U.S. team win the Gold Medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Since then, he has broadcast for the NBA's Denver Nuggets. He is a member of the U.S. Volleyball Hall of Fame, San Diego State's Aztec Hall of Fame, and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
September 28, 1952: The Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers are tied 5-5 after 12 innings at Ebbets Field, when the managers and umpires agree to stop playing. No one knows it yet, but this is the last competitive game the Braves will play as a Boston team. The next year, during Spring Training, they will move to Milwaukee.
Their last home game had been a week earlier, on September 21, at Braves Field, an 8-2 loss to the Dodgers. Del Crandall is now the last living former Boston Brave. (UPDATE: He died on May 5, 2021.)
Also on this day, The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum opens in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The 10,240-seat arena was built for the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons and minor-league hockey's Fort Wayne Komets. But Fort Wayne proved to be too small a city for a major league team, and they moved to Detroit in 1957. Now seating 13,000, it still stands, and the Komets still call it home.
September 28, 1954: Stephen Michael Largent is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The greatest player in the history of both the University of Tulsa and the Seattle Seahawks, he broke Charley Taylor's records with 819 receptions and 13,089 receiving yards, although was surpassed in receptions by Art Monk, and in both categories by Jerry Rice.
He was a 7-time Pro Bowler, but the closest he got to a Super Bowl was getting the Seahawks to the 1983 AFC Championship Game. (They switched to the NFC in 2002.) His Number 80 was the 1st they retired. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL's 1980s All-Decade Team, and the Seahawks Ring of Honor. He is a member of the Oklahoma and Washington Sports Halls of Fame. In 1999, he was named the only Seahawk on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players, coming in 46th.
In 1994, he was elected to Congress from a Tulsa district, as a very conservative Republican. He won 3 more terms, but resigned in 2002 to run for Governor of Oklahoma. He lost the general election by 7,000 votes. He is now a lobbyist for the telecommunications industry.
September 28, 1955: Game 1 of the World Series, at the original Yankee Stadium. Yes, a World Series game was played on a September 28. This was also the 1st World Series game broadcast in color, on NBC (as were all World Series from the 1st telecast of one in 1947 until 1975), although hardly anyone has a color TV set at this point, and no TV recording of it, in color or otherwise, is known to survive.
There is film footage, though. That footage shows Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers stealing home plate against the New York Yankees. Home plate umpire Bill Summers rules him safe. Yankee catcher Yogi Berra says Jackie was out, and has a fit.
Whitey Ford was pitching, and he insists to this day that Jackie was out. But Phil Rizzuto claimed that Jackie was safe, and he knew, because he was playing shortstop, and had the best view of the play.
Whitey didn't like that, so he looked it up. The steal was in the top of the 8th inning -- and in the bottom of the 6th, manager Casey Stengel had pinch-hit Eddie Robinson for the Scooter! In the top of the 7th, a new shortstop took the field: Jerry Coleman (normally a 2nd baseman). Coleman was playing short when Jackie stole home. Oops on the Scooter.
So who was right? Judge for yourself. Here's the film. It's hard to tell from there. But this photo makes it obvious: He was out! See: Yogi's mitt was between Jackie's foot and the plate.
And if the Yankees had lost the game, and the World Series, because of this, there would have been an uproar -- or, as the Dodgers' legendary broadcaster, ironically now with the Yankees, Red Barber, would have put it, a rhubarb.
But the Yankees did not lose the Series, or even the game, because of the steal. Indeed, the Yankees won the game, 6-5. Left fielder (and backup catcher) Elston Howard, a "rookie" at age 30, hit a home run off Don Newcombe in the 2nd inning, while 1st baseman Joe Collins hit 2 homers off Big Newk. Carl Furillo and Duke Snider hit home runs off Ford.
Like Carlton Fisk's home run in Game 6, 20 years later, Robinson's steal of home was a spectacular moment, but, ultimately, it had no effect on the result of the Series.
Still, stealing home plate has become Jackie Robinson's signature, along with his grace under more pressure than any American athlete has ever faced. He stole home plate 19 times in the regular season, plus this 1 time in the World Series -- still the last steal of home in a World Series game. (One of the many records that Ty Cobb set, and one that he still holds, is the most steals of home in a career: 54.) It even became a point of reference in Buddy Johnson's 1949 song about Jackie, with the Count Basie Orchestra having made the best-known recording:
Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?
Did he hit it?
Yeah!
And that ain't all:
He stole home!
Yes, yes, Jackie's real gone.
"Gone" meaning "cool." Not as in "has left the vicinity" or "gone in the head." No player ever kept his head -- or had to -- as much as Jack Roosevelt Robinson of Pasadena, California (and Stamford, Connecticut).
Ford and Eddie Robinson are the only players from this game who are still alive, 65 years later. (UPDATE: Ford died on October 8, 2020.)
This Series was a classic, and it went to 7 games. In the end, as would be said in the Brooklynese accent, the Dodgers finally dooed it. After World Series losses in 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953 (the last 5 of those 7 against the Yankees), losses in Playoffs for the National League Pennant in 1946 and 1951 (the latter against the hated New York Giants), losing the Pennant on the final day of the regular season in 1942 and 1950, and finishing 2nd to the Giants in 1954 -- 10 close calls in a span of 14 years -- 1955 turned out to be the "Next Year" that Dodger fans from Williamsburg to Coney Island, from Morristown to Montauk, from Poughkeepsie to Point Pleasant, had waited for.
Also on this day, Donald Laurie Edwards is born in Hamilton, Ontario. With the Buffalo Sabres, "Dart" was a 2-time NHL All-Star, and won the 1980 Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender. He is still alive, and a member of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
September 28, 1958: The Philadelphia Eagles, after 25 years of bouncing around the city, play their 1st game at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. They lose 24-14 to the Washington Redskins. But in 1960, they will reach, host, and win the NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field, beating the Green Bay Packers. They remain there until Veterans Stadium opens in 1971.
September 28, 1959: Game 1 of the National League Playoff. It was the Braves' move to Milwaukee, with its (then) modern stadium and its huge parking lot, that made Walter O'Malley want a better ballpark for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and ultimately made him move the team to Los Angeles. Now, after the Braves have won the last 2 Pennants, there is a tie for the flag, and these 2 teams, representing cities that didn't even have teams 7 seasons ago face off at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Dodger manager Walter Alston starts Danny McDevitt, who pitched a shutout in the last game at Ebbets Field, 2 years and 4 days earlier. But he doesn't get out of the 2nd inning this time, as he falls behind, 2-1. Alston brings Larry Sherry in to relieve, and he goes the rest of the way. John Roseboro hits a home run off Carlton Willey, and the Dodgers win, 3-2, to take a 1-0 lead back to L.A.
Also on this day, Todd Roland Worrell is born outside Los Angeles in Arcadia, California. While Ken Dryden won Hockey's Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff Most Valuable Player despite barely having played in the regular season, and then won the next season's Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, Todd Worrell almost duplicated this feat. Had the St. Louis Cardinals won the 1985 World Series, and they almost did, he might have been named the Series' MVP; and he was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1986.
A relief pitcher, he helped the Cardinals win another Pennant in 1987. But injuries cost him the entire seasons of 1990 and 1991. In 1993, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and helped them make the Playoffs in 1995 and 1996, before injuries ended his career with a record of 50-52 and 256 saves. He was a 3-time All-Star.
He is now the pitching coach on the baseball team at Westminster Christian Academy, a private high school in St. Louis, and is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Cardinals. His brother Tim also pitched in the major leagues, and his son Josh played in the Kansas City Royals' farm system.
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September 28, 1961: Steve Hamilton (born "Steven" with no middle name) is born in Niagara Falls, New York. A defensive end, he played 5 seasons in the NFL, all with the Washington Redskins, including winning Super Bowl XXII. He is still alive.
September 28, 1962: Irving Dale Fryar is born in Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey. Like Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Famer Franco Harris, he is a graduate of Mount Holly's Rancocas Valley Regional High School. He played on the Nebraska team that fell 2 points short of putting together the greatest season in college football history in 1983.
A 5-time Pro Bowl receiver, he won the 1985 AFC Championship with the New England Patriots, and also played for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. He caught 851 passed for 12,785 yards and 84 touchdowns. In 2009, he was named to the Patriots' 50th Anniversary Team.
He is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and probably never will be, partly because of a couple of domestic abuse incidents, and partly because of a 2015 conviction for mortgage fraud -- and his mother was convicted along with him. He served 8 months in prison.
Also on this day, Grant Scott Fuhr is born in the Edmonton suburb of Spruce Grove, Alberta. A 6-time All-Star, he won the Stanley Cup with his hometown Edmonton Oilers in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990, although by 1990 he had been replaced as the starter by Bill Ranford.
In 1984, he had 14 assists, still an NHL record for a goaltender. In 1988, he was the winning goaltender for all 16 of the Oilers' postseason wins, the 1st time this had been done. In 1995-96, playing for the St. Louis Blues, he set NHL single-season records for goalies with 79 games and 76 consecutive games.
In 1998, he was ranked Number 70 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2003, he was the 1st black player elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Oilers retired his Number 31. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. He is also a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. Wayne Gretzky, his Oiler teammate, is convinced that Grant Fuhr is the greatest goalie in hockey history.
September 28, 1963: The Yankees lose to the Minnesota Twins 6-3. Joe Pepitone hits a home run. Yogi Berra pinch-hits for pitcher Al Downing in the 9th, and lines out to 3rd base. It is his last at-bat as a Yankee.
He managed the Yankees to a Pennant in 1964, was fired, and then was hired as a coach by the Mets, returning to play a few games in 1965.
Also on this day, Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. is born in Washington, D.C. A guard, he was on Mike Krzyzewski's 1st Final Four team at Duke in 1986, and was named Naismith Player of the Year. Duke retired his Number 24. He played 9 seasons in the NBA, for San Antonio, Philadelphia and Detroit.
He returned to Duke as Coach K's assistant in 1998, and stayed until 2008, when he was given the head coaching job at Stanford. He led them to win the NIT in 2012 and 2015. Since 2016, he has been the head coach at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando.
September 28, 1964: Gregory Cephus Lasker is born in Conway, Arkansas. A star safety at the University of Arkansas, he was a member of the Giants' Super Bowl XXI winners as a rookie, but only played 2 more seasons in the NFL. He is now a professor at Purdue University.
Also on this day, David Dwayne Fulcher is born in Los Angeles. A safety, he made 3 Pro Bowls with the Cincinnati Bengals, helping them to win the 1988 AFC Championship, although they lost Super Bowl XXIII. He was named to the Bengals' 50th Anniversary Team. In 2016, he became the 1st head football coach of Cincinnati Christian University, an NAIA school. In the middle of the 2019 season, he lost his job because the school shut down, due to a lack of funding. The football team never won a game, although that was hardly Fulcher's fault.
September 28, 1965: With substitutions now being legal in English Football League games, manager Billy Wright makes Arsenal's 1st-ever Football League game substitution, sending Alan Skirton in for midfielder Jon Sammels, in what turns out to be a 1-1 draw with Northampton Town at Highbury.
This would be Arsenal's worst season in the post-World War II era, finishing 12th, but only 4 points above the relegation zone. Wright, one of the best English players of his generation, was fired, and replaced with Bertie Mee, who built the team into the 1971 League and FA Cup "Double" winners.
Also on this day, Brian Boyer Bliss is born in the Rochester suburb of Webster, New York. Like Joe Maca, born 45 years to the day earlier, he was a defender, and played for the U.S. national team in its 1st World Cup since 1950, in 1990.
He later played for 3 German clubs, and when Major League Soccer was founded in 1996, he became an original member of the Columbus Crew. In 1997, he played for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, the team that became the New York Red Bulls. In 1999, he was a player-manager for the New Britain-based Connecticut Wolves.
He has since been an interim manager for the team now known as Sporting Kansas City, for the Columbus Crew, and for the Chicago Fire, and is now Sporting KC's director of player development.
September 28, 1968: Mickey Mantle plays what turns out to be his last major league game. It's an unseasonably warm early Autumn Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park in Boston, the next-to-last day of a season that sees both teams, the Yankees and the hosts and Pennant holders, the Boston Red Sox, well out of the American League race, which has been won by the Detroit Tigers. Nevertheless, a decent crowd of 25,534 comes out, possibly suspecting that it might be Mickey's last game -- 15,000 more than came to see off hometown hero Ted Williams 8 years to the day earlier.
In the top of the 1st inning, Mantle comes to bat against Jim Lonborg, the previous season's AL Cy Young Award winner, with Horace Clarke on 1st base and 1 out. Clarke steals 2nd, but that doesn't help Mantle much: He pops up to short left field, where the ball is caught by Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli -- with some irony, a New York native (from Brooklyn).
Mickey gets another standing ovation. In the bottom of the 1st, instead of Mickey, the player who goes out to play 1st base is Andy Kosco. Manager Ralph Houk had switched center fielder Mantle and 1st baseman Joe Peptione at the start of the 1967 season, to ease the strain on Mickey's legs. Had there been a designated hitter at the time, it would have been Mickey.
Mel Stottlemyre gives up 3 runs on 3 hits and 5 walks in 6 innings. Lindy McDaniel pitches perfect ball the rest of the way. With some irony, it is Mantle's replacements who are the home run heroes, Kosco and Pepitone. The Yankees win, 4-3.
The teams close out the season the next day. Kosco starts at 1st, and again the Yankees win 4-3. The following March 1, having defied the rumors of his retirement long enough to go to Spring Training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Mickey realizes, at age 37, that it's just too much for him, and announces his retirement.
He finishes with a .298 lifetime batting average, 2,415 hits including 536 home runs, 12 Pennants and 7 World Series. For perspective, in their entire history, 1901 to 2017, the Red Sox have won 13 Pennants and 8 World Series.
It has now been more than half a century since Mickey Mantle played a regular-season game. So, if you remember him as an active player, you are, at the least, in your late 50s. If you remember him in his prime, you're either on Social Security and Medicare, or close to it.
I got to see Mickey Mantle on Old-Timers' Days. So I did get to see Mickey Mantle in his Pinstriped uniform Number 7. But I never got to see Mickey Mantle play baseball in person. So if you are one of those over-60 people, I have some envy for you.
Also on this day, Purdue University, with the Number 1-ranked football team in the country, makes the short trip across northern Indiana from West Lafayette to South Bend to play Number 2-ranked Notre Dame.
Number 1 vs. Number 2 matchups this early in the season were always rare, and, with the Bowl Championship Series and now the College Football Playoff system in effect, rankings are now no longer done until mid-October, so it can never happen this early again.
Led by head coach Jack Moellenkopf and star running back Leroy Keyes, Purdue win, 37-22. But 2 weeks later, they will travel to Number 4 Ohio State, and lose 13-0, swinging the Number 1 ranking, the Big Ten Championship, the league's Rose Bowl bid, and a shot at the National Championship, all of them, to the Buckeyes, who would go on to win them all.
Purdue, which had tied for the Big Ten title the season before, and, with the Big Ten's no-repeat rule for their Rose Bowl berth blocking titlists Michigan State, won the Rose Bowl the season before, would also go on to lose to Minnesota, finishing 8-2. Notre Dame would finish 7-2-1, also losing to Michigan State, and being tied by Southern California, and their star running back, who would win the Heisman Trophy: O.J. Simpson.
Keyes would finish 2nd to O.J. in the Heisman voting, and go on to a brief NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles, and an administrative career in Purdue's Athletic Department. O.J. would have a Hall of Fame pro career. At this point, though, he would probably prefer to switch lives with Keyes.
Also on this day, Naomi Ellen Watts is born in Shoreham, Kent, England. She's one of the top actresses of her generation. Imagine a celebrity baseball game with Kelly Hu's on 1st, and Watts on 2nd.
September 28, 1969: The Minnesota Vikings defeat the Baltimore Colts 52-14 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. Johnny Unitas is the Colts' quarterback, but the passing star of the day is the Vikes' Joe Kapp, who ties the NFL record by throwing 7 touchdown passes.
Also on this day, the Atlanta Braves clinch the 1st-ever National League Western Division title, their 1st 1st-place finish since 1958 in Milwaukee. They beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).
Pat Jarvis outpitches Clay Kirby. Hank Aaron goes 1-for-4, Rico Carty hits a home run for the Braves, and Ollie Brown hits one for the expansion Padres. Like fellow expansion team the Montreal Expos, they finish a horrendous 52-110. The Braves aren't great for a 1st place team, either, finishing 88-74.
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September 28, 1970, 50 years ago: Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, mere hours after he had convened an Arab League summit. He was only 52, but was a heavy smoker and already had arteriosclerosis and diabetes.
A key figure in the coup that overthrew King Farouk in 1952, he had been President of Egypt since 1956, and had become internationally famous for nationalizing the Suez Canal, leading to the downfall of the governments of Britain and France. But he had lost the Six-Day War with Isreal in 1967, and never recovered, either politically or physically.
He set the standard for Middle East dictators to follow, with his cult of personality, his prominent mustache, and his willingness to wear whatever was required for the occasion, be it business suit, military uniform or religious attire.
He was succeeded by his Vice President, Anwar Sadat, who would launch yet another war against Israel in 1973, lose it, and then do something unthinkable to Nasser: Make peace.
Also on this day, Bill Beutel joins Eyewitness News on WABC-Channel 7, as co-anchor with Roger Grimsby. As the theme music -- Lalo Schifrin's "Tar Sequence" from the film Cool Hand Luke -- faded out, Grimsby would begin the broadcast by saying, "Good evening, I'm Roger Grimsby. Here, now, the news." Or maybe it was "Hear now the news." I was never sure. When the broadcast ended, Grimsby would say, "Hoping your news is good news, I'm Roger Grimsby." And Buetel would say, "And I'm Bill Beutel. From all of us at Eyewitness News, good luck, and be well." Which rhymed.
They remained co-anchors until 1986, when Grimsby was fired due to sagging ratings. The ratings went back up. When Grimsby died in 1995, the only member of the old Eyewitness News crew willing to be interviewed and say something nice about him was restaurant critic Bob Lape. Even Beutel introduced the segment dispassionately, as if Grimsby were a celebrity he had never met.
From 1986 to 1988, the 6:00 broadcast was anchored by Beutel and either Kaity Tong or John Johnson; from 1988 to 1990, by Beutel and Johnson; and from 1990 to 1999, by Beutel alone. Through that entire period, the 11:00 broadcast was anchored by Beutel and Diana Williams.
By 1999, it was noticeable that Beutel was making more mistakes on the air. He was replaced as 11:00 anchor by Bill Ritter, the idea being that limiting him to the 6:00 broadcast would make it easier for him to concentrate. It didn't work, and in 2001, Ritter replaced him at 6:00 as well. From then until 2003, Beutel closed the 6:00 broadcast with a pre-recorded "Final Thought." Even this became too much: He was diagnosed with dementia, retired, and died in 2006.
September 28, 1971: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Mets 5-2 at Shea Stadium. Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan are the starting pitchers, and will one day be the top 2 pitchers in career strikeouts. Carlton lives up to his billing, and pitches a complete game, for his 20th win of the season.
Ryan does not: He walks the 1st 4 batters of the game: Lou Brock, Ted Sizemore, Matty Alou and Joe Torre. He then gives up a 2-run single to Ted Simmons, and is relieved. Brooklyn native Bob Aspromonte grounds out to 2nd against Carlton in the 8th. Just 3,338 fans come out to Shea on a Tuesday afternoon for this game, which appears to be meaningless.
The meaning of this game becomes clear in the off-season. It is the last game that Carlton pitches for the Cardinals, as he is stupidly traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, for Rick Wise, a good but hardly great pitcher, all because Cards owner Gussie Busch, a billionaire from his beer company, wouldn't give him an extra $10,000 for the 1972 season. (About $62,000 in today's money.) It is also the last game that Ryan pitches for the Mets, as they make possibly an even dumber trade, sending him and his control problems to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi.
And Aspromonte never plays again -- making this the last game ever played by a man who had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, 14 years after their move. Willie Mays, the last active New York Giant, is still with the Giants, although the Mets will acquire him the next season.
September 28, 1972: The "Summit Series" between Canada and the Soviet Union comes to a close with Game 8 at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports in Moscow. Team Canada had made a big mistake in only letting NHL players ply for them, meaning that Bobby Hull, who had signed a contract with the Winnipeg Jets of the new World Hockey Association, wasn't eligible. Also, Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins was injured. If either of the Bobbys was able to play, it would have been a very different series.
But the Soviets, led by goaltender Vladislav Tretiak and left wing Valery Kharlamov, shocked the Canadians, who had to win the last 3 games of the series to win it. With 34 seconds left, Paul Henderson of the Toronto Maple Leafs scores to give Canada a 6-5 win and the series. It is the most famous goal in the sport's history.
Bill Goldsworthy of the Minnesota North Stars died in 1996. Gary Bergman of the Detroit Red Wings died in 2000. Jean-Paul Parise of the North Stars died in 2015. Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks died in 2018. Pat Stapleton of the Blackhawks died in 2020.
The remaining 23 Canadian players are still alive, 49 years later: Phil Esposito, Don Awrey and Wayne Cashman of the Boston Bruins; Gilbert Perreault of the Buffalo Sabres; Tony Esposito (Phil's brother), Dennis Hull (Bobby's brother) and Bill White of the Chicago Blackhawks; Red Berenson and Mickey Redmond of the Detroit Red Wings; brothers Frank and Pete Mahovlich, Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens; Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield, Brad Park and Rod Seiling of the New York Rangers; Bobby Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers; and Paul Henderson and Ron Ellis of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
(UPDATE: Tony Esposito of the Blackhawks and Rod Gilbert of the New York Rangers died in 2021.)
September 28, 1973: Brian Christopher Rafalski is born outside Detroit in Dearborn, Michigan. A 2-time NHL All-Star, he won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000 and 2003, and with his hometown Detroit Red Wings in 2008. Not trying to re-sign him is a mistake by then-general manager Lou Lamoriello for which the Devils are still paying.
Now retired, Raffy is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and should be considered for the main Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He is eligible.
September 28, 1975: The New Orleans Saints play their 1st game at the Louisiana Superdome. They lose 21-0 to the Cincinnati Bengals. It is said that the building, now named the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, was built on a burial ground, and that this has cursed the Saints.
New Orleans native, jazz saxophonist and Saints fan Branford Marsalis points out that the Saints had played 7 seasons at Tulane Stadium, which wasn't built on a burial ground. "The Saints were losing before they played on a burial ground. How do you explain that?"
Well, for one thing, Tulane University, including its old stadium, and its replacement nearly on the same site, Yulman Stadium, were built on a sugar plantation -- hence, New Orleans' New Year's Day game is called the Sugar Bowl -- and the plantation was worked by slaves.
So there might have been a curse at work there, too. After all, Tulane has won just 1 Conference Championship since 1949. At any rate, the Saints have since won postseason games, including Super Bowl XLIV, so if there was a curse, it's gone now.
Also on this day, the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2. Both teams had battled the Boston Red Sox for the American League Eastern Division title, but the Sox had won it. It is the last home game the Yankees played at Shea Stadium while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated -- and remains the last home game they've played at a ballpark not named Yankee Stadium, except for 1 in 1998 that was, in an emergency, moved to Shea.
The game has a bizarre ending. With the O's leading 2-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, Roy White leads off with a single off Mike Flanagan. Thurman Munson singles him to 3rd. Rick Dempsey, later the greatest catcher in Oriole history, draws a walk to load the bases. Oriole manager Earl Weaver removes Flanagan for Dyar Miller, who strikes out Chris Chambliss. Terry Whitfield singles home White and Munson to tie it, sending Dempsey to 3rd.
Then, with Rich Coggins the batter, Weaver orders a pickoff play to 3rd. For Dempsey. A backup catcher. Who was never fast, even at his peak. And certainly wasn't going to steal home in a meaningless game, not even for running-crazy (and just plain crazy) Yankee manager Billy Martin. Miller throws the ball away, and Dempsey calmly trots home with the winning run.
Weaver liked to say, "The Oriole Way is pitching, defense, and three-run homers." In other words, not just home runs, but homers with men on base. This time, he only got 1 homer, and it was a solo drive by Don Baylor. And, at the end, his pitching and his defense failed him, in the form of the same person at the same time.
September 28, 1976: Jennifer Brigid O'Malley is born in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, and grows up in nearby Franklin, Massachusetts. She captained the softball team at nearby Tufts University, and earned a political science degree there.
And so, it would be in politics, rather than sports, that she made her mark. (This would also be true of her 2nd cousin, Matt O'Malley, currently a member of Boston's City Council.) She has worked on the Presidenntial campaigns of Al Gore in 2000, John Edwards in 2004 and 2008, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Under her married name of Jen O'Malley Dillon, she began the 2020 campaign cycle by working for Beto O'Rourke. When O'Rourke suspended his campaign and endorsed Joe Biden, she went with him. Unfortunately, her 1st day of work was March 12, the day so much shut down due to the COVID-19 epidemic. She essentally tele-ran the campaign until things could open up again. Fellow Bostonian Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC has called her the toughest interview to get among all people associated with the 2020 Presidential race.
(UPDATE: She has been named Deputy White House Chief of Staff. If you watched The West Wing, this puts her in the Josh Lyman role.)
September 28, 1977: Joseph Robert Redmond is born outside Los Angeles in Carson, California. A running back, J.R. Redmond was a key player on the New England Patriots' winning drive in Super Bowl XXXVI.
September 28, 1978: Pope John Paul I dies of a heart attack at the Papal residence, the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, after only 33 days on the Papal throne. The former Albino Luciani, a native of Veneto in northeast Italy (the province where Venice is located), was 65 years old.
There are conspiracy theories around his death, including that the Vatican Bank (then embroiled in scandal), the Mafia, Fascists and Communists were involved. (Obviously, not all, if any, were.)
That night, as the American League Eastern Division race was down to its last 4 days, Charles
Laquidara of Boston radio station WBCN began his broadcast, "Pope dies, Sox still alive." Of course, earlier in the year, when his predecessor, Pope Paul VI, died, good Catholic Phil Rizzuto said, on the air, "Well, that puts a damper on even a Yankee win."
September 28, 1979: The Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Neil Allen blows a save in relief of Pete Falcone, but ends up as the winning pitcher, while future Yankee George Frazier takes the loss in relief of John Urrea.
The Amazins get a 4-for-5 day from light-hitting, poor-fielding shortstop Frank Taveras, and Gil Flores' triple wins it in the 11th inning. For the Cards, shortstop Garry Templeton goes 2-for-2, and becomes the 1st switch-hitter to get 100 hits from each side of the plate in the same season.
Keith Hernandez goes 1-for-2. When the season wraps up 2 days later, the future Met Captain will have won the National League batting title with a .344 average. When the voting for the NL's Most Valuable Player award is done, there will be a tie for 1st place, between Hernandez and Pittsburgh Pirate legend Willie Stargell.
Also on this day, the Cincinnati Reds -- without Pete Rose or Tony Perez, but still with Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and George Foster -- clinch their 6th NL Western Division title of the decade, beating the Atlanta Braves 3-0 at Riverfront Stadium. Cesar Geronimo, another holdover from the 1975-76 Big Red Machine, hits a home run, and rookie Frank Pastore pitches a 4-hit, 1-walk shutout.
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September 28, 1980, 40 years ago: Cosmos premieres on PBS, a 13-part miniseries hosted by astronomer Carl Sagan. Like fellow PBS stars Fred Rogers and Julia Child, and later Bob Ross and Bob Vila, Sagan explained difficult things in a way that the average viewer could understand, without treating them like a child (or, in Mr. Rogers' case, he was talking to children, but treated them as though their feelings mattered.)
The show would be updated in 2014, by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a former student of Sagan's, but on Fox, which meant commercials. It seemed like every time Tyson said, "Come with me," Fox would break for commercial.
September 28, 1981: David Andrew Baas is born in Bixby, Oklahoma, and grows up in Sarasota, Florida. A center, he was with the Giants when they won Super Bowl XLVI, but a neck injury ended his career in 2014.
September 28, 1984: Ryan Wallace Zimmerman is born in Washington, North Carolina, and grows up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Originally a 3rd baseman, he has played for the Washington Nationals since their 1st season in 2005, and holds several team offensive records, and is thus known as "Mr. National." He became a 1st baseman in 2015.
He's a 2009 and 2017 All-Star and a 2009 Gold Glove, with a .297 lifetime batting average and 270 home runs. He has helped the Nationals reach the postseason in 2012, '14, '16, '17 and '19. Last year, he hit the 1st World Series home run in franchise history, and they got their 1st title.
Also on this day, Robert Emery Meachem is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A receiver, he was a member of the New Orleans Saints when they won Super Bowl XLIV. He is now a high school coach in New Orleans. He goes by "Robert," and, note the spelling of the surname, is not related to Bobby Meacham, a Yankee shortstop at the time he was born.
September 28, 1985: David Rocastle makes his debut for Arsenal, in a scoreless draw with Newcastle United at Highbury. He would score the winning goal in the 1987 League Cup Semifinal against arch-rival Tottenham, a goal that is often credited with beginning manager George Graham's run of success that included the 1989 and 1991 League titles.
But Graham sold "Rocky" after the 1992 season, and the team didn't come close to another League title until winning it in 1998. Rocastle developed lymphoma, and died in 2001, only 33 years old.
September 28, 1987: "Encounter at Farpoint," the 2-hour premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, airs in syndication. This was a Star Trek that I could watch develop from the beginning, unlike what's become known as "The Original Series," which I watched in reruns with my father, an original Trekkie from 1966. (No, he never went to a convention or cosplayed, but he did put up
Starlog magazine posters of both series' versions of the starship USS Enterprise in his home office.)
The opening shot of the premiere showed a sweeping front view of the new Galaxy-class USS
Enterprise-D, and Dad said, "I want that ship!" He would say this many times over the show's 7-year run.
The opening shot of the premiere showed a sweeping front view of the new Galaxy-class USS
Enterprise-D, and Dad said, "I want that ship!" He would say this many times over the show's 7-year run.
Sports was rarely mentioned on the original series or TNG. Deep Space Nine would mention sports, particularly baseball, a lot, but, sadly, it said that, in the Star Trek universe, baseball died out, with the clinching game of the last World Series being played in 2042 (only 22 yers from now), and it was attended by only 300 people. I suppose it was due to the lingering effects of World War III, which lasted from 2026 (just 6 years from now!) until 2053. DS9's Captain Benjamin Sisko would be responsible for reviving baseball in the United Federation of Planets.
The 1995 DS9 episode Past Tense, which sent the characters back to 2024 (only 4 years from now), said that the 1999 Yankees would be considered one of the greatest teams ever. That's a prediction that they got right. What they didn't get right (along with, hopefully, the "Sanctuary Districts") was an MLB team in London that, by 2015, would be another contender for the title. And, on Voyager, it would be revealed that the Yankees would win the 2032 World Series in 6 games, although their opponent was not mentioned.
September 28, 1989: The Oakland Athletics clinch their 2nd straight American League Western Division title, beating the Texas Rangers 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Dave Stewart wins his 21st game of the season, while former Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Dave Parker continues his fine comeback with a home run.
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September 28, 1990, 30 years ago: Marvin Mychal-Christopher Kendricks is born in Fresno, California. Using the name Mychal Kendricks, the linebacker was Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year with the University of California in 2011, and helped the Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LII.
But he asked to be traded, and was released on May 29, less than 4 months after his big win. On June 5, he was signed by the Cleveland Browns. But on August 29, he was indicted for insider trading, charged with having made $1.2 million from illegal investments. The Browns immediately released him.
He pleaded guilty on September 6, and then the Seattle Seahawks signed him on September 13, knowing that he was probably going to prison. He played 3 games, and was suspended indefinitely on October 2, a suspension reduced to 8 games. But he got hurt in his next game, and was played on injured reserve. His sentencing keeps getting pushed back, currently scheduled for October 14, 2020. He could be in prison for up to 3 years, meaning he'd be 33 before he could play again.
His brother, Eric Kendricks, is also a linebacker, and plays for the Minnesota Vikings.
September 28, 1991: Ian Wright scores his 1st League goal for Arsenal, and his 1st hat trick for them, leading them to a 4-0 wipeout of Hampshire club Southampton, at Southampton's old ground, The Dell.
Also on this day, Saturday Night Live premieres its 17th season. It is the debut of castmembers Ellen Cleghorne, Siobhan Fallon, and Robert Smigel, who writes the "Bob Swerski's SuperFans" sketch. It features a TV talk show focused on Chicago sports fans and the things they like to eat and drink.
George Wendt of Cheers, not a regular cast member but a Chicago native in real life, plays the host of the show, Swerski, conducting the show from Bears coach Mike Ditka's Chicago restaurant. Smigel played Carl Wollarski, Chris Farley played Todd O'Connor, and Mike Myers played Pat Arnold. So, 2 Poles and 2 Irishmen.
All of them tried to resemble Ditka by wearing Bears caps (or Bulls caps, depending on the time of year), sunglasses and mustaches. They extolled "Da Bears" and "Da Bulls," spoke with exaggerated Chicago accents, and joked about heart attacks -- which got a lot less funny in retrospect after Farley's drug-induced heart attack death in 1997.
I first visited Chicago on September 13, 1990, 4 months before the sketch's debut on January 12, 1991. When I got back, I was asked if I noticed any distinctive accent in the city. I thought about it, and realized that I hadn't. Once I saw the sketch, I realized why: The Chicago accent, with its "dis, dat, dese, dose" and stretched-out vowels, is so similar to the accents of New York City and North Jersey that I didn't notice it. Between that, and the neighborhood around Wrigley Field resembling the North Jersey neighborhoods of my parents, I felt right at home! I love Chicago.
Also on this day, Miles Davis dies at St. John's Hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, California. The legendary jazz trumpet innovator had been suffering from pneumonia, and had a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 65.
September 28, 1992: Arsenal defeat Manchester City, 1-0 at their North London home of Highbury. Ian Wright scores the game's only goal. It was Arsenal's 6th home game of the season, but only the 1st goal they'd scored at the stadium's north end that season.
People were beginning to talk about the Curse of the Mural. The 79-year-old stadium's North Bank stand, previously all-standing, had been demolished, and was being rebuilt as an all-seater, to comply with the post-Hillsborough disaster Taylor Report. To hide the construction, a giant mural showing what it would look like when finished had been put up, showing 8,000 faces. Arsenal had scored 7 goals in their 1st 5 home games, all at the southern end of the stadium, the Clock End.
This was the 1st season of the new Premier League, and it would be a bad one for Arsenal, as they finished 10th. But they became the 1st team ever win both of England's domestic cup tournaments in 1 season, the FA Cup and the League Cup. The double-decked new North Bank opened before the next season, and Highbury maintained its seating capacity of 38,419 until it closed in 2006, in favor of the new 60,704-seat Emirates Stadium.
September 28, 1994: Ken Burns' PBS miniseries Baseball concludes with its segment "Ninth Inning: Home," covering the years 1970 to 1992. Its coverage of the struggles of black baseball players and battles between players and management was the most in-depth that baseball fans had yet seen. And its film footage, going as far back as a 1906 clip of Christy Mathewson pitching for the New York Giants, was stunning. It was a great medicine for those of us sickened by the cancellation of that year's postseason.
Four years earlier, from September 23 to 27, 1990, PBS had aired Burns' miniseries The Civil War. That war began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. The order for the Union Army to return fire was given by the fort's second-in-command, Major Abner Doubleday. So Doubleday was present at the start of an important American phenomenon that would later be covered by Ken Burns -- but it wasn't baseball.
September 28, 1995, 25 years ago: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 9-7 at the Olympic Stadium Montreal. Former Met Pete Schourek is the winning pitcher, Pedro Martinez the loser. But neither has the most notable pitching feat in this game.
Greg Harris, who had debuted with the Mets in 1981, reached the postseason with the 1984 Padres and the 1990 Red Sox, and had never been especially remarkable, closes his career with something he'd wanted to try for a while. A righthanded pitcher, he had a special glove made so that he could switch hands, and try pitching lefthanded. With the Expos out of the race, he was allowed to try.
In the 9th inning, righthanded, he retires Reggie Sanders. Then, lefthanded, he walks Hal Morris, and gets Ed Taubensee to ground out. Finally, righthanded, he gets Bret Boone to ground back to him. Thus does he become the 1st switch-pitcher in a regular-season game since Tony Mullane in 1894, 101 years earlier. He donated the glove to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which now has it on display.
Also on this day, Albert Johanneson dies of meningitis in Leeds, England. He was only 55. One of the 1st black South Africans to make it big in soccer, the left winger took to English pitches at a time when there weren't many black players in the country at all, and faced terrible discrimination, although not as much as did Jackie Robinson, in his sport and in his own country, a generation earlier.
Nevertheless, he helped Yorkshire club Leeds United gain promotion to the Football League Division One in 1964, finish runners-up in both the League and the FA Cup in 1965, and win the League in 1969.
September 28, 1996: At their home ground of Highbury in North London, Arsenal defeat North-East club Sunderland 2-0. They leave it late, with John Hartson scoring the winner in the 73rd minute, and Ray Parlour adding an insurance goal in the 88th.
This is the last game for Pat Rice, the Captain of Arsenal's 1979 FA Cup-winners, as "caretaker" manager. After the firing of Bruce Rioch in the Summer, Arsenal were waiting until the former winner of the French league at AS Monaco could see out his contract with Japanese team Nagoya Grampus. Two days later, they were legally able to introduce him. His name was Arsène Wenger. Rice served as one of his assistants until retiring in 2013.
Also on this day, Saturday Night Live premieres the "Saturday TV Funhouse" animated sketch "The Ambiguously Gay Duo," designed to look like a 1970s-style Saturday morning cartoon, and playing with the idea that Batman and Robin are a gay couple.
Ace, voiced by Stephen Colbert, is the "Batman," the alpha male. Gary, voiced by Steve Carell, is the "Robin," the less experienced, younger, shorter, not quite as power-arrayed, but equally-muscled sidekick. (Their names start with A and G, as in "Ambiguously Gay.")
While they can both fly, they tend to get around in a suspiciously-shaped "Duocar." Their main adversary is a villain named Bighead, voiced by the series' creator, Robert Smigel, a.k.a. Carl from the Chicago Superfans (Da Bears) sketch.
The sketch appeared 4 times in the 1996-97 season, and occasionally thereafter. Both allies and enemies spend much of the episodes wondering if the Duo are gay. The evidence that they are is plentiful, but not definitive. As far as I know, gay activist groups have never protested the sketch.
September 28, 1998: The Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, having finished in a tie for the NL's Wild Card berth, face each other in a Playoff game at a raucous Wrigley Field, 60 years to the day after "The Homer In the Gloamin'." Former Minnesota Twins World Series winner Gary Gaetti hits a home run, and Rod Beck holds off his former team to save a fine performance by Steve Traschel, and the Cubs win, 5-3.
Sammy Sosa goes 2-for-4 for the Cubbies, and scores 2 runs. Barry Bonds goes 0-for-4 for the Jints. I guess Sammy's steroids were working that night, and Barry's weren't.
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September 28, 2000, 20 years ago: The last game is played at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Milwaukee Brewers lose 8-1 to the Cincinnati Reds. Juan Castro and Sean Casey hit home runs for the visitors. A postgame ceremony is held, with many greats of the Braves (1953-65) and Brewers (1970-2000) on hand, including Hall-of-Famers Hank Aaron, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor.
September 28, 2002: Arsenal beat Leeds United 4-1 at Elland Road in Leeds, Yorkshire. This breaks the 1977-78 record set by Nottingham Forest, 22 away games without a loss. They also beat a 1929-30 record set by Chesterfield: Scoring in 47 consecutive League games.
Also on this day, Hartland Molson dies in Montreal at age 95. A member of the Molson brewing family, he attended the Royal Military College at Kingston, Ontario, Canada's "West Point," where he was on the hockey, football, track and boxing teams. He flew 62 missions with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Battle of Britain.
He was on the board of directors of Molson Breweries, Sun Life Assurance and the Bank of Montreal, was a major donor to medical schools and institutes, and served in Canada's Senate from 1955 to 1993. In 1957, he and his brother Thomas bought a controlling interest in the Montreal Canadiens, and he sold his interest in 1968, following 6 Stanley Cup wins. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.
September 28, 2003: Two of the stadiums of the expansion era, necessary to keep their teams in town, but also past their useful life, close. The Philadelphia Phillies play the last game at Veterans Stadium, and lose 8-3 to the Atlanta Braves. The Eagles had already moved across the street to the south, to Lincoln Financial Field, and the Phillies were preparing to move across the street to the east, to Citizens Bank Park.
The closing ceremony features several former Phillies, including most of the 1980 World Champions. After the introductions, Steve Carlton walks out to the mound and pretends to throw one last pitch. Then Mike Schmidt swings a bat and takes one more trip around the bases. And Tug McGraw, dying of cancer (he didn't live long enough to see the new ballpark's opening) and his catcher Bob Boone reenact the stadium's greatest moment, the strikeout that ended the 1980 World Series. It ends with Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas saying The Vet "is... outta here!" It was demolished the following March.
The San Diego Padres end up no better at the finale for San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium, losing 10-8 to the Colorado Rockies. Tony Gwynn, not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame but "Mr. Padre," involved in both their 1984 and their 1998 Pennant, throws out a ceremonial last pitch to Bruce Bochy, a former big-league catcher who managed their 1998 Pennant winners.
Also on this day, "The Three Tenors" have their last concert together, at Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center (now named the Value City Arena) in Columbus. Their 1st concert was at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy, on the eve of the 1990 World Cup Final, watched by a global television audience of around 800 million.
It is somewhat appropriate that they got together on a soccer occasion. Plácido Domingo – lampooned on Sesame Street with the Muppet bird Placido Flamingo – is a native of Madrid, and a fan of Real Madrid. José Carreras – the "Ringo" of the group, to the point where he was known as simply "The Other Guy" on an episode of Seinfeld – is a native of Barcelona, and a fan of Real's arch-rivals, FC Barcelona. And Luciano Pavarotti, from Modena, Italy, once dreamed of becoming a goalkeeper, and was a fan of Turin-based Juventus. Between them, these 3 clubs have won 94 league titles and 20 European Cups. They also performed together before the World Cup Finals in 1998 in Paris and 2002 in Yokohama, Japan.
Pavarotti died in 2007, at age 71. Domingo is 78, and recently issued an apology for what I'll politely call "Me Too" actions. Carreras is 73.
September 28, 2008: An emotional day for both New York teams. The Yankees, having closed the old Yankee Stadium a week earlier with a 7-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles, and a star-laden pregame ceremony and a postgame lap of honor, but eliminated from postseason eligibility for the 1st time in 15 years in their next game, beat the American League Eastern Division Champion Boston Red Sox 6-2 at Fenway Park.
Xavier Nady hits a home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka, who came into the game 18-2. But the big story is Mike Mussina, who has announced his retirement, and this is his last game. He wins his 20th game of the season, the only time he ever did that. No Yankee has won 20 in a season since. It is the 270th win of Moose's career.
But at Shea Stadium, the Mets endure "Groundhog Day." Having blown a September Division lead and lost to the Florida Marlins at home on the last day of the season to miss the Playoffs completely last season, it happens again. They lose the last scheduled game at Shea, 6-2 to the Marlins.
The Phillies didn't wait until the last day to clinch the National League East this time, although they do beat the Washington Nationals 8-3. And when the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1, they clinch the NL Wild Card, and eliminate the Mets. There will be no more games at Shea, with Citi Field nearing completion beyond center field.
A postgame ceremony is held, with Mets going back to the first team in 1962, prior to Shea's opening in 1964, coming onto the field, including most of the 1969 and 1986 World Champions. Despite his Yankee connections, 1973 Pennant-winner manager Yogi Berra gets a nice hand. So does Dave Kingman, a slugger known for his long home runs, but also for his strikeouts, bad fielding and moodiness. So does Willie Mays, even though he wasn't a Met for very long.
The close has the greatest of all Mets, Tom Seaver, take the mound, and throw a last pitch to Mike Piazza. But it's a bad pitch, bouncing in front of the plate. (Seaver threw a strike to Piazza for the ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field the following April.) Then, to the tune of "In My Life," not one of the songs the Beatles playing in their 1965 and 1966 concerts at Shea, Seaver and Piazza walk across the field, give one last wave to the fans at the center field gate, and walk out.
Why Seaver and Piazza? Why not representatives of both World Series teams, who were both already in the Hall of Fame? Why not Seaver and Gary Carter, who was still alive and well? If they wanted representatives of all the Mets' Pennant-winners, why not Seaver (1969 and 1973), Piazza (2000) and Carter (1986)? If they wanted representatives of all the Mets' Playoff teams, why not Seaver (1969 and 1973), Piazza (1999 and 2000), David Wright (2006) and Carter (1986 and 1988) -- making a "Met Mount Rushmore"? The organization had little control over the game, but they had absolute control over the closing ceremonies. Yet another error on the Mets.
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September 28, 2010, 10 years ago: On the 16th anniversary of the conclusion of Ken Burns' miniseries Baseball, PBS airs the 1st part of his sequel: Baseball: The Tenth Inning. It covers the years 1993 to 2009, and includes the steroid controversy and the Boston Red Sox' 2004 World Series victory -- but, being a Red Sox fan himself (though born in Brooklyn, he's lived his adult life in New Hampshire), Burns does not point out that the two phenomena are inescapably linked.
He did cover the Yankees' return to glory with proper respect. He also covered the Strike of '94, Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's "Iron Man" record, baseball's response to the 9/11 attacks, and the dominant role that Hispanic players have taken in baseball.
September 28, 2011: This was one of the most remarkable days in the history of regular season baseball. The Yankees have won the American League East, with help from the Red Sox, who went 7-20 in September, a month they began by leading the Division by 1 game and the Wild Card by 9.
But the Baltimore Orioles come from 3-2 down in the bottom of the 9th at Camden Yards, as Robert Andino singles off Jonathan Papelbon to give the O's a 4-3 win. This gives the Yankees the Division title. The Sox can still win the Wild Card, but the Rays complete a sweep of the Yankees, coming from 7-0 down to win 8-7 in the 12th inning on Evan Longoria's 2nd home run of the game.
Ordinarily, this would be a great embarrassment for Yankee Fans. But they end up having a good laugh: The Sox become the 1st team ever to miss the postseason completely after having a 9-game lead for any berth in September. The Sox may have won the World Series twice in the 8 years following, but this night adds to their long list of chokes.
The Atlanta Braves also choke, having led the St. Louis Cardinals by 10 1/2 games for the NL Wild Card on August 25, but going 11-20 since, while the Cards went 23-9. On the final day, the Cards beat the Houston Astros 8-0 as Chris Carpenter pitches a 2-hit shutout, while the Braves lose to the Phillies, 4-3 in 13 innings. The Braves are out.
Also on this day, the Florida Marlins play their last game under that name, and their last game at the Miami Dolphins' stadium. They lose 3-1 to the Washington Nationals, ending 19 years of play in the suburb of Miami Gardens. The next season, they will be named the Miami Marlins, and move to the new, garish, retractable-roof Marlins Park, built on the Little Havana site of the Orange Bowl.
It is also the last game for Ivan Rodriguez, playing out the string for the Marlins, whom he and his steroids helped win the 2003 World Series.
September 28, 2012: The Barclays Center opens in Brooklyn, across from the Long Island Rail Road's Flatbush Avenue Terminal, on the site that Walter O'Malley originally wanted for his new Dodger Stadium. Designed by Frank Gehry, it is the strangest-looking sports venue in North America.
The 1st event is a concert by Brooklyn native rapper Jay-Z. The NBA's Nets, finally getting to rebrand themselves as "Brooklyn" after playing their last 8 seasons in New Jersey as a lame duck franchise, have to delay their entry even further, as Hurricane Katrina postpones their opener. The New York Islanders move in for the 2015-16 season, but are building a new arena, adjacent to horse racing's Belmont Park on Long Island, with the hope of opening it for the 2021-22 season.
September 28, 2013: The Yankees beat the Houston Astros 2-1 at Minute Maid Park. It is Andy Pettitte's last major league game, and the Yankee pitcher, who had a 3-year (2004-06) sabbatical with the Astros, the team he grew up rooting for in the Houston suburbs, pitches a complete-game victory in his hometown. It is the 256th win of his career, his 219th for the Yankees. Only Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231) have won more for the Yankees.
Right, Joe Girardi let his starter pitch a complete game, after the Yankees were eliminated from the Playoffs, and the game no longer means anything to anybody but Pettitte. He allows 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, with 5 strikeouts, and gets the win, as the Yankees get 2 runs in the 6th thanks to some poor Astro fielding.
Also on this day, Arsenal set a record of 12 consecutive away wins -- no losses, no draws -- beating Swansea City 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales. Aaron Ramsey and Serge Gnabry are the goalscorers.
September 28, 2014: The Yankees beat the Red Sox 9-5 at Fenway Park. Michael Pineda outpitches Clay Buchholz. With the game scoreless in the top of the 3rd, Francisco Cervelli leads off with a walk. Chris Young strikes out, but Jose Pirela singles, and Buchholz moves the runners over with a wild pitch. Ichiro Suzuki triples the runners home.
Derek Jeter, the designated hitter on this day -- Stephen Drew is the shortstop -- hits a ground ball to 3rd base. Garin Cecchini fields it, but Jeter beats the throw, and Ichiro scores, to make it 3-0 Yankees.
It is Jeter's 3,465th career hit. Only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Tris Speaker have more -- meaning Jeter has more hits than all but 2 living people (Rose and Aaron), and more hits than anyone born after April 14, 1941 (when Rose was born).
Girardi sends Brian McCann -- perhaps the slowest runner on the team, but whose bat will fill the DH slot -- in to pinch-run, and the Fenway crowd, which despises the Yankees and has long maintained that Jeter and his teammates "suck," gives him a standing ovation as he leaves a major league field for the last time. It is 46 years to the day after Mickey Mantle played his last game for the Yankees, also at Fenway.
Mantle had played in more games, 2,401, and in more seasons, 18, than anyone in Yankee history. Jeter broke both of those records: 2,747 games and 20 seasons. I didn't get to see Mantle play, but I saw Jeter play many times. I even got to see him hit a home run at Fenway Park, in a 13-3 Yankee demolition of the Red Sox on July 30, 1999. Great memory.
My in-person memories of Mantle are limited to Old-Timers Days, and an appearance (in a suit rather than a uniform) on Phil Rizzuto Day. And while I saw Joe DiMaggio a few times at Yankee Stadium, it was only in a suit, never a uniform, although his 1995 Opening Day first ball ceremony meant that, at the least, I got to see Joe DiMaggio throw a baseball. Which is more than I can say for Mantle. And I never got to see Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig, who died long before I was born.
But I've seen plenty of legends in person, at various ballparks and at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So I've had some luck -- if not, as Gehrig would say, become the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.
September 28, 2016: Shimon Peres dies from the effects of a stroke. He was 93 years old, the last surviving founding father of Israel from 1948. He was a member of their Parliament, the Knesset, from 1959 to 2007; and was Prime Minister 3 times: Briefly in 1977, from 1984 to 1986, and again in 1995-96, following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
He once said, "Sometimes people ask me, 'What is the greatest achievement you have reached in your lifetime?' So I reply that there was a great painter named Mordecai Ardon, who was asked which picture was the most beautiful he had ever painted. Ardon replied, 'The picture I will paint tomorrow.' That is also my answer."
UPDATE: September 28, 2020: The Coronavirus-delayed NHL season finally comes to a conclusion, on neutral ice at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Brayden Point scores in the 1st period, and Blake Coleman in the 2nd, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Dallas Stars 2-0, and win the Stanley Cup.
The Lightning had previously won the Cup in 2004. They had lost in the Finals in 2015, and had been among the favorites to win it in 2019, but ignominiously lost in the 1st Round. Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs. (The NHL is the only one of the "Big Four" sports that names an MVP for the entire postseason, not just the Finals.)
Patrick Maroon, with the St. Louis Blues the season before, was the only Lightning player to have won the Cup before. Hedman, Captain Steven Stamkos, Braydon Coburn, Alex Killron, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, Cedric Paquette and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had been on the Bolts' 2015 Finalists. This was Coburn's 3rd Finals, as he had also lost with the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers. Ryan McDonagh had lost the Finals with the 2014 New York Rangers.
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