Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the St. Louis Hawks for Trading Bill Russell

Along with the late Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens,

Bill Russell is the only North American professional athlete

with more championship rings than he has fingers.

April 30, 1956: The NBA Draft is held in New York. With the 1st pick, the Boston Celtics -- having just completed their 1st 10 seasons, and not yet having appeared in an NBA Finals -- select Tommy Heinsohn, forward from the nearby College of the Holy Cross.

With the 2nd pick, the Rochester Royals selected Sihugo Green, a guard from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Green was a decent player, but hardly the kind of star you would expect to go as the 2nd pick overall.

With the 3rd pick, the St. Louis Hawks draft Bill Russell, a center who had led the University of San Francisco to back-to-back National Championships. It looked like the Hawks had gotten the better player.

But later that day, the Hawks traded the rights to Russell to the Celtics, for center Ed Macauley and forward Cliff Hagan.

Result: Over the next 13 seasons, Russell would lead the Celtics to 12 NBA Finals, and 11 NBA Championships. The Celtics became the most dominant team in North American sports history -- not winning as many World Championships as Major League Baseball's New York Yankees or the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, but winning more in a short period of time. 

Meanwhile, the Hawks won just 1 title, and were forced to move out of St. Louis, to Atlanta, where they have been a perennial letdown.

It is the biggest transactional blunder in the NBA's 75-year history. How could the Hawks have been so dumb?

How dumb were they? Maybe not as dumb as we've been led to believe.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the St. Louis Hawks for Trading Bill Russell

5. Money. As the biggest star coming out of college basketball, Russell was already believed to be ready to demand big money, which most NBA team owners didn't have. Hawks owner Ben Kerner didn't have it. Celtics owner Walter Brown did, because he also owned his arena, the Boston Garden, and the other team that played there, the NHL's Boston Bruins.

What's more, Brown owned the Ice Capades. At the time, it was a bigger moneymaker than the NBA or the NHL. So was the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It came to New York every April, and so the Madison Square Garden Corporation gave them choicer dates. This forced the Rangers in 1950, and the Knicks in 1951, to play Finals games on the road, possibly costing them titles.

4. The Rochester Royals. They had a chance to select Russell, but passed on him. Why? Because Brown made a deal with Royals owner Les Harrison: Select somebody other than Russell, and I'll add Rochester to the Ice Capades' tour. It was an offer Harrison couldn't refuse. (And no heads -- human, horse, or otherwise -- were hurt in the process.)

It was a short-term fix for the Royals. But that's the way the NBA had to operate at the time. A year later, Harrison moved the Royals to Cincinnati. They won the NBA Championship in 1951. In the 70 years since, this franchise, now known as the Sacramento Kings, has never been back to the NBA Finals. But Harrison did what he had to do to stay in business, and that meant giving up a chance at a man who could have become one of the NBA's greatest players ever, and did.

But he might not have:

3. The Big Man Theory. Until Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to 6 NBA Championships -- 3 with Bill Cartwright at center, and 3 with Luc Longley -- it was generally believed that you had to have a really good center, a big man in the middle, to win an NBA Championship:

1949, '50, '52, '53 and '54 Minneapolis Lakers: George Mikan.

1957, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '68 and '69 Boston Celtics: Bill Russell.

1958 St. Louis Hawks: Ed Macauley.

1967 Philadelphia 76ers, and 1972 Los Angeles Lakers: Wilt Chamberlain.

1970 and '73 New York Knicks: Willis Reed.

1971 Milwaukee Bucks, and 1980, '82, '85, '87 and '88 Los Angeles Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

1974 and '76 Boston Celtics: Dave Cowens.

1977 Portland Trail Blazers: Bill Walton.

1978 Washington Bullets: Elvin Hayes.

1979 Seattle SuperSonics: Jack Sikma.

1981, '84 and '86 Boston Celtics: Robert Parish.

1983 Philadelphia 76ers: Moses Malone.

1989 and '90 Detroit Pistons: Bill Laimbeer.

But did you notice? Until Russell, Mikan was the only big man who was able to lead a team to an NBA title. Until Russell, the NBA's best players had been smaller guys who were good outside shooters, guys like Joe Fulks (1947 Philadelphia Warriors), Buddy Jeannette (1948 Baltimore Bullets), Bob Davies (1951 Rochester Royals), Dolph Schayes (1955 Syracuse Nationals) and Paul Arizin and Tom Gola (1956 Philadelphia Warriors).

Before Russell, there were 3 truly great "big men" in college basketball. Mikan, from DePaul University in Chicago, was one. Another was Bob Kurland of Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State). He never played pro ball, instead taking a job with Phillips Petroleum, with a great benefits package, including playing for their "semipro" team. And the other was Clyde Lovellette of the University of Kansas. He had a good pro career, winning titles with the Lakers and later as Russell's backup on the Celtics. But he was never a pro star.

But there was no model for what kind of college stars would become pro stars. Like I said, the NBA was only 10 years old at this point. In hindsight, Mikan was the model. Russell admitted that Mikan was his idol. Mikan enjoyed being thought of the progenitor of the NBA's big men.

But at the time, he was seen as a freak of nature, a happy accident that the Lakers had gotten their hands on. Big men were considered to be slow. Mikan was a good shooter and a strong rebounder, but he wasn't fast. Bill Mazer, New York sportscaster, compared him to a stampeding elephant.

Russell was fast. Chamberlain turned out to be even faster.

In 2021 at the NBA's 75th Anniversary, in 1996 at the 50th, in 1971 at the 25th, Russell seemed like the obvious player to both select and hang onto. In 1956, he wasn't the obvious pick to do that. Maybe he should have been, but he wasn't.

2. St. Louis. It's not just that the Hawks were far behind the Cardinals in terms of popularity in the city. It's that St. Louis was a racially segregated city, in Missouri, a racially segregated State. Cardinal stars like Bob Gibson and Curt Flood would chafe under the policies that segregation forced, until federal law broke it.

Russell -- who would eventually, very accurately, title his autobiography Memoirs of an Opinionated Man -- might not have adjusted so well, having been a boy in segregated Louisiana, and grown up in noticeably (but not completely) more racially liberal Oakland. He eventually had problems with race relations in Boston. In St. Louis, it might have been worse. As a result, he might not have won all those titles with the Hawks.

Anyway, it's not as if the Hawks blew it completely:

1. The Hawks Won a Championship. In 1957, the Celtics and Hawks each made the NBA Finals for the 1st time. It went to double overtime of Game 7 before the Celtics won it. In 1958, both teams made it back, and Russell hurt his ankle in Game 3, and was out the rest of the way. The Hawks, led by the men traded for the rights to Russell, Hagan and St. Louis native Macauley, as well as Hall-of-Fame forward Bob Pettit, won the title in 6 games.

The 1958 NBA Champions.

Hagan is Number 16, Pettit 9, and Macauley 20.

In 1959, the Minneapolis Lakers won the Western Conference, and lost to the Celtics in the Finals. In 1960 and '61, the Hawks returned to the Finals, and lost to the Celtics both times. Still, at that point, the players the Hawks got for Russell had gotten them into 4 Finals, winning 1. It could have been better, but it was still better than anybody else except the Celtics were doing.

VERDICT: Guilty. In St. Louis and Atlanta (where they moved in 1968), the Hawks haven't won a title since 1958, or reached the Finals since 1961. And if Bob Gibson could play in St. Louis and win the fans over, Bill Russell could do it, too.

Usually, these Top 5 Reasons posts end with an acquittal. This one simply can't. None of the 5 reasons provides reasonable doubt. The Hawks might not have traded 17 NBA Championships overall, or the 11 that Russell won, for the 1 that they did win and the inability to stay put long-term. But they did make this trade.

That's how dumb they were.

How Long It's Been: Milwaukee Won a World Championship

April 30, 1971, 50 years ago: The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 118-106, at the Baltimore Civic Center, to complete a 4-game sweep, and win the NBA Championship.

The Bullets had 3 future members of the Basketball Hall of Fame: Forwards Wes Unseld and Gus Johnson, the latter being one of the NBA's earliest dunk artists; and guard Earl Monroe. "Earl the Pearl" was a sensational player. Walt Frazier of the Knicks was then his only competitor for the title of the NBA's flashiest player, and said, "I dreamt about a lot of women, but Earl Monroe was the only man I dreamt about." A year later, trying to regain the title they won in 1970, the Knicks traded for Monroe, paired him in the backcourt with Frazier, reached the Finals in 1972, and won the title in 1973.

But the Bucks, in only their 3rd season as an NBA expansion team, were also loaded. They had one of the greatest all-around players in basketball history, guard Oscar Robertson. And now, the Big O had been joined by the greatest player in college basketball history, center Lew Alcindor -- who, a year later, would announce his conversion to Islam, and the change of his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Oscar and Kareem would be named to the Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. As the league's 75th Anniversary arrives later this year, each is arguably still 1 of the 10 best players in NBA history.

Robertson (1), Abdul-Jabbar (33), forward Bob Dandridge (10) and guard Jon McGlocklin (14) would all eventually have their uniform numbers retired by the Bucks. Guard Lucius Allen (7) and forward Bob Boozer (20) had been All-Stars. Larry Costello, who had played on the Philadelphia 76ers team that won the 1967 NBA title, coached them to a 66-16 record. So while the Bullets were really good, this was not an upset.

The Bucks would reach the NBA Finals again in 1974, and lose a tough 7-game series to the Boston Celtics. Oscar retired after that Game 7. After another season, Kareem demanded a trade, to either his hometown of New York, or to Los Angeles, where he'd starred at UCLA. He was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and helped them win 5 titles.

The Bucks have won Division titles in 1972, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2001, 2019 and 2020; and reached the Conference Finals in 1972, 1983, 1984, 1986, 2001 and 2019. But they have never reached the NBA Finals since 1974 -- although, at this writing, they stand to be the 3rd seed in the 2021 Eastern Conference Playoffs. This may be their best chance since 1974.

But they haven't won an NBA Championship since 1971. In fact, no Milwaukee-based team has won a major league World Championship since then. The city has never had an NHL team, nor an MLS team. Nor did it have one in the ABA, the WHA or the NASL. The Milwaukee Braves won the 1957 World Series, but moved to Atlanta in 1966. The Milwaukee Brewers debuted in 1970, but have won only 1 Pennant, in 1982, and lost the World Series.

And while the Green Bay Packers used to play some "home" games in Milwaukee from 1933 to 1994, they don't count as a Milwaukee team, so their 13 NFL Championships can't be included. Milwaukee hasn't had a professional football team since the Milwaukee Chiefs of the 1940-41 version of the American Football League.

So the last Milwaukee title remains that of the Bucks, won on April 30, 1971. That's exactly 50 years, half a century. How long has that been?

*

The 1970-71 season was the 1st in the NBA for 3 teams: The Portland Trail Blazers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Buffalo Braves. The Braves have moved twice: They became the San Diego Clippers in 1978, and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984.

Of the NBA's 17 franchises, 7 -- the Blazers, the Cavs, the Braves, the Bucks, the Phoenix Suns, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Chicago Bulls -- had begun play no more than 5 years earlier. In addition to the Braves: The San Francisco Warriors moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland before the next season, changed their name to the Golden State Warriors, and kept that name despite moving back to San Francisco in 2019; the San Diego Rockets moved to Houston before the next season; the Cincinnati Royals became the Kansas City Kings in 1972 and the Sacramento Kings in 1984; the Bullets moved to the D.C. area for 1973, taking the name Capital Bullets for a season before taking the name Washington Bullets in 1974, and becoming the Washington Wizards in 1997; and the Sonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

The New York Knicks had moved into "the new Madison Square Garden Center" 3 years earlier. Not only has that version of The Garden now outlasted each of the 3 that came before it, but it is, by far, the oldest arena currently in use in the NBA, and the only one that was in use in both 1971 and 2021.

The home arenas of both 1971 finalists still stand. The Bucks played at the Milwaukee Exposition Convention Center and Arena, usually shortened to "The Milwaukee Arena" or, due to its initials, "The MECCA." It opened in 1950. They moved across the street to the Bradley Center in 1988, and across another street to the Fiserv Forum in 2019.

The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee still plays their home games at the MECCA (officially, now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena), but the Bucks (except for a regular season game celebrating their 50th Season in 2017), the basketball team at Marquette University, and minor-league hockey's Milwaukee Admirals have moved to each new arena in turn.

The Baltimore Civic Center opened in 1962, and was home to the Bullets from 1963 to 1973. It is now named the Royal Farms Arena, for a convenience store chain native to Maryland. Both it and the MECCA seat about 11,000 people, and while Baltimore would like to attract a new (or moved) NBA team, they will have to build a replacement, as there is no way to expand the older arena.

Several other arenas in use in the 1970-71 season still stand: The Suns' original home, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum; the building the Lakers were then using, the Forum in suburban Inglewood; the building the Warriors were then using, the Cow Palace in suburban Daly City; the building the Blazers were then using, the Portland Memorial Coliseum; the building the Rockets were then using, the San Diego Sports Arena, now known as the Pechanga Arena; and the building the Detroit Pistons were then using, Cobo Hall, now known as the TCF Center.

The American Basketball Association was in its 4th season of play, and their title would be won by the Utah Stars, who defeated the Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels in 7 games. Despite some strong seasons by the NBA's Utah Jazz, the '71 Stars remain the only Utah-based major league sports team to go as far as they were allowed to -- if, that is, you consider the ABA to be "major league," and not Major League Soccer, whose MLS Cup was won by Real Salt Lake in 2009.

Of the 11 franchises then in the ABA, only 4 survive today, having been absorbed into the NBA in 1976. But only 1 of them is still using the same name, the Indiana Pacers. They had won the title in 1970, and would win it again in 1972 and 1973. The Denver Rockets survive, but became the Denver Nuggets in 1974. The New York Nets, based on Long Island, won the ABA title in 1974 and 1976, became the New Jersey Nets in 1977 and the Brooklyn Nets in 2012. And the Dallas Chaparrals became the San Antonio Spurs in 1976.

None of those teams is using the same arena. But 8 of the 1970-71 ABA arenas still stand: The Pacers' Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, the Rockets' Denver Auditorium, the Chaparrals' Moody Coliseum, the Colonels' Freedom Hall, the Virginia Squires' Norfolk Scope, the Memphis Pros' Mid-South Coliseum, the Carolina Cougars' Charlotte Coliseum (now the Bojangles Coliseum), and the Miami Floridians' Miami Beach Convention Center.

(The Nets' Island Garden and the Stars' Salt Palace have both been demolished and replaced by new buildings with the same name. And the Pittsburgh Condors' Civic Arena is gone.)

Major League Baseball had 24 teams. The National Football League had recently finished its 1st season after the merger with the American Football League, with 26 teams. The National Hockey League was wrapping up a season with 14 teams, including the expansion Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks.

The defending World Champions in each sport were the Knicks in basketball, the Baltimore Orioles in baseball, the Baltimore Colts in football, and, in hockey, the Montreal Canadiens were 18 days away from completing their dethroning of the Boston Bruins, whom they'd already beaten in what is -- rather unfairly -- considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Joe Frazier.

Pete Maravich and Dave Cowens were pro rookies that season. Julius Erving and Bill Walton were in college. Moses Malone was in high school. Bernard King and Larry Bird were in junior high school. Magic Johnson was 11 years old. Isiah Thomas turned 10 that very day, and Dennis Rodman was about to turn 10.

John Stockton was 9. Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were 8. Karl Malone (no relation to Moses) was 7. David Robinson and Scottie Pippen were 5. Dikembe Mutombo was 4. Gary Payton was 2. Christian Laettner was a year and a half old. Alonzo Mourning was 1. Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant weren't born yet.

Tom Thibodeau, now the head coach of the Knicks, was 13. Lindy Ruff of the Devils was 11. Barry Trotz of the Islanders was 9. David Quinn of the Rangers was 4. Aaron Boone of the Yankees, Steve Nash of the Nets, Ronny Deila of NYCFC, Gerhard Struber of the Red Bulls, Robert Saleh of the Jets, Luis Roas of the Mets, Joe Judge of the Giants, and Walt Hopkins of the Liberty weren't born yet.

The Olympic Games have since been held in America 4 times; Canada 3 times; twice each in Japan, Russia, Korea; and once each in Germany, Austria, Bosnia, France, Spain, Norway, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain and Brazil. The World Cup has since been held in Germany twice, and once each in America, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.

The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, was a few weeks away from being ratified. The EPA and OSHA were new. Title IX hadn't yet happened. Abortion was legal in a few States, including New York, but Roe v. Wade was nearly 2 years away. Amy Coney Barrett, the newest Justice on the Supreme Court, wasn't born yet.

The gay rights movement was in its infancy. The idea that people of the same gender could marry each other, and have the legal protections of marriage, was ridiculous -- but so was the idea that corporations were "people," and entitled to the rights thereof.

The President of the United States was Richard Nixon. The Governor of the State of New York was Nelson Rockefeller; of New Jersey, William T. Cahill; and of the State that was home to the Bucks, Wisconsin, Patrick Lucey. The Mayor of the City of New York was John Lindsay; and of Milwaukee, Henry Maier.

The current holders of those offices? Joe Biden was in his 1st year in public office, on the New Castle County Council in Delaware. Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy were 13. Bill de Blasio was about to turn 10. Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee were in college.

Former Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, their wives, and the widows of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy were still alive. Gerald Ford was the House Minority Leader. Jimmy Carter was the Governor of Georgia. Ronald Reagan was the Governor of California. George H.W. Bush was America's Ambassador to the United Nations. Donald Trump was starting out in his father's real estate company. Bill Clinton was at Yale Law School, where he was about to meet Hillary Rodham. George W. Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard. (Sort of.) Barack Obama was 9 years old.

There were still living veterans of the Indian Wars and the Northwest Rebellion. Peter Mills, the last American known to have been born into slavery, was still alive. Norman Borlaug, leader of what was being called the food production revolution, was the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was Paul VI. The current Pope, Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was teaching at a seminary in his native Argentina.

The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau, and of Britain, Edward Heath. The monarch of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. Arsenal of North London was 3 days away from dethroning Everton of Liverpool as Champions of England's Football League, and 8 days away from dethroning Chelsea of West London as holders of the FA Cup. There have since been 10 Presidents of the United States, 10 Presidents of the United States, and 5 Popes.

Major novels of 1971 included The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines, Being There by Jerzy Kosinski, The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, Honor Thy Father by Gay Talese, and The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.

Under his pen name Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel published his environmental allegory The Lorax. Books that were edgy about sex were still very much in, including Joan Garrity's The Sensuous Woman and Xaviera Hollander's The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.

J.R.R. Tolkein was still alive. Stephen King was a newlywed, and had yet to publish a novel. George R.R. Martin was about to get his master's degree from Northwestern University. J.K. Rowling was 5 years old.

Major films of the Spring of 1971 included Summer of '42, Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Woody Allen's Bananas, Billy Jack, The Beguiled, They Might Be Giants (inspiring the name of a band), a remake of Wuthering Heights, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Klute, Carnal Knowledge, and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

Gene Roddenberry was kind of lost after the end of Star Trek, writing and producing the sexploitation film Pretty Maids All In a Row. George Lucas had just premiered his 1st directed film, THX 1138. Steven Spielberg's 1st, Duel, would premiere on ABC on November 13. Sean Connery had just wrapped up his last official James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. Jon Pertwee was playing The Doctor. George Reeves, dead for 12 years, was still the last live-action Superman, while Adam West was still a recent Batman.

All in the Family had recently debuted. The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, Columbo, McMillan & Wife, Soul Train and the PBS kids' show The Electric Company were on their way. CBS had just done its "Rural Purge," ending The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D. and Green Acres. ABC followed with The Johnny Cash Show. Also recently canceled were Family Affair, Julia, Hogan's Heroes, Dark Shadows and The Ed Sullivan Show. In the latter case, they had to: Ed was slipping into dementia, and died in 1974.

Robert Kardashian was early in his law practice. Bruce Jenner had just graduated from Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. Kris Houghton was in high school. None of them were famous yet, and, as far as I know, none of them knew each other.

No one had yet heard of John Shaft, Kwai Chang Caine, Fred Sanford, Leatherface, Arthur Fonzarelli, Barney Miller, Lestat de Lioncourt, Rocky Balboa or J.R. Ewing.

The Number 1 song in America was "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night. The Rolling Stones released their album Sticky Fingers, they introduced their lips-and-tongue logo, and lead singer Mick Jagger married model Bianca de Macias. John Denver released "Take Me Home, Country Roads," Stevie Wonder "If You Really Love Me," Jerry Reed "When You're Hot, You're Hot," Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story, Johnny Cash The Man In Black, Paul McCartney Ram, Ringo Starr "It Don't Come Easy," and Elvis Presley Love Letters from Elvis. The Carpenters and The Doobie Brothers each released their self-titled debut album. 

The Temptations released "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)," and Eddie Kendricks left the group. The Doors released L.A. Woman. Within weeks, lead singer Jim Morrison was dead. The 1st Glastonbury Festival was held, and promoter Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East in New York and the Fillmore West in San Francisco. Don McLean first performed his song "American Pie," and referenced the closings in the last verse: "I went down to the sacred store, where I'd heard the music years before, but the man there said the music wouldn't play."

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $6.49 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 8 cents, and a New York Subway ride 30 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 33 cents, a cup of coffee 46 cents, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $1.26, a movie ticket $1.65, a new car $3,742, and a new house $28,600. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that Friday at 941.75.

The tallest building in the world was the Empire State Building in New York, but the World Trade Center in New York and the Sears Tower in Chicago were both under construction, and would surpass it. Mobile telephones were still in development.

There were no home video game systems. Computers could still take up an entire wall. Steve Jobs was 16 years old, and Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee were about to be. Apollo 14 had landed on the Moon 3 months earlier. Automatic teller machines were still a relatively new thing, and many people had never seen one. There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.

During the Spring of 1971, there was a military coup in Argentina. East Pakistan declared its independence, becoming Bangladesh, and suffering a war, a famine and a cyclone, which led to the charity concert at Madison Square Garden, hosted by former Beatle George Harrison.

An earthquake killed over 1,000 people in Turkey. A plane crash in Rijeka, Yugolsavia killed 78 people, mostly British tourists. Neville Bonner became the 1st Indigenous Australian to sit in his country's Parliament. And the Montreal Canadiens overcame internal strife, made worse by recent Quebec separatist terrorism, to win the Stanley Cup.

In America, on the day of the decisive North London Derby, the largest antiwar demonstration in the nation's history, 750,000 people, hit Washington; and President Nixon ordered Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, named in memory of a former political rival, to be used as a giant holding center for arrestees, who numbered over 12,000 -- about 1 out of every 62 demonstrators.

Lieutenant William Calley was convicted in the My Lai Massacre. Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Federal Express were founded. The Supreme Court ruled that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation. The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers. President Richard Nixon declared the War On Drugs. And the day after the Bucks won the NBA Championship, Amtrak officially took over America's passenger rail service.

Thomas Dewey, and Igor Stravinsky, and Ogden Nash died. Ewan McGregor, and Selena Quintanilla, and David Tennant were born. So were legendary athletes Pavel Bure and Picabo Street.

April 30, 1971. The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Championship. No Milwaukee team has won a World Championship since.

Will it happen again? The only current teams that can make it happen are the Bucks and the Brewers. The Bucks look like they'll have a good Playoff seed, while the Brewers are currently in 1st place in the National League Central Division. The potential for ending a half-century's drought is there. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: On July 20, 2021, the Bucks won the NBA Championship, beating the Phoenix Suns, 105-98, in Game 6, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The Suns had won the 1st 2 games, but the Bucks took the next 4 straight. In Game 6, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks' Nigerian-Greek forward, scored 50 points, only the 7th time in the league's 75 years that this has been done.

No Vaccine for Not Hitting

Losing is a disease, as contagious as polio. Losing is a disease, as contagious as syphilis. Losing is a disease, as contagious as the bubonic plague. Ah, but curable.

-- Dr. Knobb the psychologist (played by Peter Poth), The Natural (Set in 1939, before the development of the polio vaccine.)

Last night, I had a date with a lady named Moderna. It went well. I got another date with her, for about a month from now. 

But there is no vaccine for the way the Yankees have hit in this young season -- and it ain't as young as it used to be.

Yesterday afternoon, in the finale of a 4-game visit to Camden Yards and an 8-game roadtrip, the Yankees showed that the previous night's laugher over the Baltimore Orioles was no cure.

They went down 1-2-3 on the 1st inning, wasted a 2-out walk in the 2nd, stranded 2 runners in a 2-out rally in the 3rd, and stranded 2 more in the 4th.

They trailed 1-0 going into the top of the 5th, as Jordan Montgomery was pitching well, but not quite well enough. Brett Gardner started the inning with a single, and DJ LeMahieu drew a walk.

Giancarlo Stanton was the batter. Yankee Fans could be forgiven for thinking a triple play was coming. Instead, he singled, but the dimensions of Camden Yards are such that even the speedy Gardner couldn't score.

Bases loaded, nobody out. This is where the Yankees should have broken the game wide open. But Aaron Judge was given another day off. He is looking less and less like he won't be what we thought he would be: "The Next Great Yankee." He has Mickey Mantle's power, but also his tendency toward injury. 

Gleyber Torres flew out. Gio Urshela struck out. These 2 at-bats are where the game was really lost. Rougned Odor singled home 2 runs, but Aaron Hicks grounded out. It was 2-1 Yankees, but it should have been more.

Montgomery gave up a home run to tie it in the 6th. The Yankees had runners eliminated by double plays in the 6th and the 7th. Urshela drew a walk to lead off the top of the 8th, but no cliché here: Aaron Boone sent Judge up to pinch-hit, but he struck out. So did Hicks. And Gary Sanchez grounded out.

Chad Green pitched a 1-2-3 7th, but Boone didn't leave him in for the bottom of the 8th. The 1st 2 batters Darren O'Day faced walked and doubled. Now we can say it: "Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety."

There was little confidence in a 9th inning rally on #YankeesTwitter. Mike Ford and LeMahieu walked, but in between, Gardner struck out. After it, Stanton struck out.

Torres was up. He needed a hit, very badly. The team as a whole needed it. He got it, driving a pitch to left-center. But this is how the Yankees' luck is going: It bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double. Ford scored, but LeMahieu could only advance to 3rd. And Urshela hit a line drive that Oriole shortstop Ramon Urias caught, ending the threat.

Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th. Enter extra innings, now the realm of Commissioner Rob Manfred's "ghost runner" rule.

Urshela started the top of the 10th on 2nd. Tyler Wade tried to do the right thing: Bunt the runner over to 3rd. But he fell behind 0-and-2, and binned again. Foul ball, meaning a strikeout. 

Hicks grounded out. Sanchez was up, but instead of taking the easy out, the Orioles walked him, to fill 1st base and set up the inning-ending force play. It wasn't necessary, as Ford struck out.

Jonathan Loaisiga, one of the few bright spots this season, was brought in for the bottom of the 10th, with a runner on 2nd. The Orioles did what the Yankees tried to do in their half of the inning: Bunt the runner over, sacrifice-fly him home.

Orioles 4, Yankees 3. WP: Tanner Scott (1-2). No save. LP: Loaisiga (2-1, although it wasn't much his fault). If all you can get from a 4-game series in the Baltimore bandbox is a split, then you need to get better, and fast.

The Yankees are now 11-14, 4 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 4 in the loss column, with a game in hand.

The Yankees close April by starting a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers, who are off to an even worse start, 8-18. Here are the projected starting pitchers:

* Tonight, 7:05: Gerrit Cole vs. Tarik Skubal. In 13 major league games, the 24-year-old lefthanded native of the San Francisco Bay Area has a record of 1-7 with a 5.47 ERA. But he's never faced the Yankees before, and you know what that means. (It means, "Thank God this fact isn't paired with either a Saturday afternoon game on Fox or a Sunday night game in ESPN, or the Yankees would be lose for sure, even with Cole on the mound.")

* Tomorrow, 1:05: Jameson Taillon vs. Spencer Turnbull. His name sounds like that of a soap opera character, and you know what that means. (See the preceding answer, minus the Cole reference.)

* Sunday, 1:05: Corey Kluber vs. Jose Urena.

Then, the Yankees have Monday off -- and then the Houston Astros come to town. Domingo German will start the opener. There's a lot to prove in that series, especially for German, who was not available for the 2019 AL Championship Series, and could have made all the difference in it.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Steve Smith for the Edmonton Oilers Losing the 1986 Stanley Cup

April 30, 1963: James Stephen Smith is born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grows up in Cobourg, Ontario, about halfway between Toronto and Oshawa. By the Autumn of 1980, he was in London -- Ontario, playing minor-league hockey.

In 1985, he made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers. He played 2 regular season games, and was not put on their Playoff roster, as they won their 2nd straight Stanley Cup. But in 1985-86, he was one of the League's top defensive rookies. He was about to turn 23, and it looked like he had a good career ahead of him.

April 30, 1986: Steve Smith has the worst birthday in hockey history. He took the ice with the Oilers against their Provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames, in Game 7 of the NHL Smythe Division Final, at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

The Flames stunned their Alberta rivals by taking a 2-0 lead, early in the 2nd period. But before that period ended, the Oilers tied the game.

At the 5:14 mark of the 3rd period, Smith took the puck near the side of his own net, and tried to pass it up the ice. But he made a mistake, and the puck went off the leg of Oiler goaltender Grant Fuhr, and into the goal.

Perry Berezan was the last Flames player to touch the puck, so he got credit for the goal. In soccer, the rule is different: Smith would have been "credited" with an "own goal."

The Flames' 3-2 lead held, and they won, eliminating the Oilers from the Playoffs. The Flames had lost to the Oilers in the Playoffs in 1983 and 1984, and would again in 1988 and 1991. This remains the only "Battle of Alberta" Playoff series that the Flames have won.

It is the most famous own goal in hockey history, and it produced the most devastating loss in the history of Edmonton sports. Oiler fans were outraged. But, led by Captain and superstar Wayne Gretzky, Smith's teammates stood up for him. The next year, the Oilers rebounded to win the Cup. When taking it from NHL President John Ziegler, Gretzky let Smith be the 2nd Oiler player to lift it, and the crowd at the Coliseum gave him a standing ovation. All was forgiven.

Smith would help the Oilers win the Cup again in 1988 and 1990, remaining with them for 1 more season. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks for the 1991-92 season, and helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He stayed with the Hawks through 1997, then closed his career with, oddly enough, the Flames, playing for them until 2000.

In 804 regular-season NHL games, he had 72 goals and 303 assists. And he reached 4 Stanley Cup Finals, winning 3. A decent playing career, with one awful moment. He has since worked as an assistant coach with the Flames, the Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres, and a scout with the Blackhawks.

But that one awful moment tends to stand out. Is that fair? Did he really cost the Oilers the 1986 Stanley Cup, and prevent them from matching the 1956-60 Montreal Canadiens' run of 5 straight?

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Steve Smith for the Edmonton Oilers Losing the 1986 Stanley Cup

5. The Montreal Canadiens. No, I don't mean the shadow of their late 1950s dynasty, or any of their other dynasties. The Flames went on to reach the 1986 Stanley Cup Finals, where the Canadiens beat them in 5 games. They might have beaten the Oilers, too.

4. Grant Fuhr. Although he was an easy choice for the Hockey Hall of Fame (he was the 1st black player so honored), this time, he had a rotten series. He allowed 4 goals in Game 1, 5 goals in Game 2 (which the Oilers won anyway), 4 goals in Game 4 (which the Oilers won anyway), and 4 goals in Game 5, before allowing the calamitous own goal.

He allowed 25 goals in the series, compared to the 24 allowed by the Flames' Mike Vernon, who's not in the Hall of Fame, but should be.

3. The Oilers' Defense. This was a team with Hall-of-Famer Paul Coffey, and also Kevin Lowe, Lee Fogolin, Charlie Huddy -- and Steve Smith, who was a good player. But it wasn't just Fuhr: The Edmonton defense allowed those 25 goals, too.

2. The Oilers' Offense. This was a team with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson, all of whom are now in the Hockey Hall of Fame. And yet, they scored only 1 goal at home in Game 1, 2 in Game 3, 1 at home in Game 5, and 2 at home in Game 7.

The most potent offense in NHL history, and they didn't get the job done.

1. The Calgary Flames. In a situation like this, it's tempting to say that the side that won was actually better. Certainly, the Flames weren't as talent-laden as the Oilers. But they did sweep their previous Playoff series, against the Winnipeg Jets. They won Games 1 and 5 in Edmonton, before winning this shocking Game 7 in Edmonton. And they won the Conference Final over the St. Louis Blues.

They had Hall-of-Famers Lanny McDonald, Brett Hull, Al MacInnis and Joe Mullen; plus All-Stars Mike Vernon, Joel Otto and Gary Suter; Doug Risebrough, who had won 4 Cups with the Canadiens in the late 1970s; John Tonelli, who had won 4 Cups with the New York Islanders in the early 1980s; and Nick Fotiu, who had reached the Finals with the 1979 New York Rangers.

They did lose the Stanley Cup Finals to the Montreal Canadiens, although 2 of their losses were by 1 goal. And a slightly revamped Flames team beat the Canadiens in the Finals just 3 years later. So it's not like the Oilers lost to an undeserving team.

VERDICT: Not Guilty.

Now, Thats More Like It

When the New York Yankees travel to Camden Yards to play the Baltimore Orioles, last night's game with the kind of game you expect to see. 

Let's start with the pitching. Domingo Germán started for the Yankees, and it was like the Summer of 2019 all over again. He was brilliant: They let him pitch 7 innings, and he allowed only 3 hits, just 1 through the 1st 6, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.

Pitching like that deserves to get backed up. Mike Ford led off the top of the 2nd with a home run. That would prove to be all the Yankees needed, but not all they got.

In the 3rd, they got 3 straight singles, by DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres, and a home run by Gio Urshela. That made it 5-0. For the 1st time all season, the Yankees looked truly comfortable.

Aaron Hicks drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the 5th, and Clint Frazier homered in the 8th. Yankees 7, Orioles 0. Now, that's more like it. WP: Germán (2-2). No save. LP: Dean Kremer (0-2).

By the way, for those of you complaining that MLB games take too long: This one ended in 2 hours and 33 minutes.

Except for Joe Biden, who delivered his 1st speech to a sort-of Joint Session of Congress last night (as is usually the case with a President's 1st such address, the words "State of the Union" were not used), no one had a bigger win than the Yankees last night.

The Yankee game, and the President's speech: In both cases, now, that's more like it.

Certainly not the Mets: A night after losing 2-1 to the Boston Red Sox, they lost 1-0 in a typical Jacob deGrom start. 

The Yanks-O's series concludes this afternoon. Jordan Montgomery starts against Jorge Lopez.

Yankee Bats Boost Kluber, Beat O's

Going into last night's 2nd game of a 4-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, the Yankees needed to start playing as advertised. I hate it when there's lies in advertising.

Before the game, the Yankees announced they'd traded verstaile outfielder Mike Tauchman to the San Francisco Giants, for Wandy Peralta, whose performance thus far in his career suggests that he is not the lefthanded reliever that the Yankees need; and a player to be named later. Not a good trade, or so it currently appears.

Fortunately, the Yankees did something they had only done once before this season: They scored a run in the 1st inning. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a double. Giancarlo Stanton grounded to 3rd, forcing DJLM to stay put, Aaron Judge singled, but it was too close for DJLM to score. But Gio Urshela hit a sacrifice fly to center, and DJLM was able to come home.

That early run was a big boost to Corey Kluber. He sent the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 1st, pitched a hitless 2nd, and sent them down 1-2-3 in the 3rd.

In the top of the 4th, Kyle Higashioka hit a home run. LeMahieu and Stanton singled, Judge walked to load the bases, and Urshela singled LeMahieu home. Stanton also tried to score, but was thrown out. But it was now 4-0 Yankees.

Kluber was great in the 1st 3 innings, but he faltered in the bottom of the 4th, allowing double, groundout, RBI single. But he then got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. He allowed a hit in the 5th, but no runs. He was allowed to start the 6th, and allowed a leadoff walk. (Hold your cliches.) He got an out, but allowed a single.

So it was 1st and 3rd, less than 2 outs. Going against the script, Aaron Boone kept him in. (Brian Cashman must have had a fit.) But Kluber got a lineout and a groundout to end that threat. He'd pitched 6 innings, allowing only 1 run. That was hoped for by most, but predicted by few.

He was rewarded with an insurance run, as Stanton led off the top of the 7th with a home run. Clutch? Clutch enough for me. And clutch enough for Boone, who sent Kluber out to start the bottom of the7th. He allowed a single, got a strikeout and a flyout, then allowed another single. That was enough for Boone, who brought Jonathan Loaisiga in, and he got out of it.

Loaisiga allowed a leadoff walk and a 1-out single in the 8th, but got out of it. Lucas Luetge pitched a 1-2-3 9th to end it. Yankees 5, Orioles 1. WP: Kluber (1-2). No save. LP: Bruce Zimmermann (1-3).

It wasn't quite the Camden Yards slugfest we were hoping for. But if the Yankees can get these kinds of key hits, and Kluber can keep pitching like this, the Yankees won't look like a 70-92 team. (They are currently 10-13, a percentage of .435, which translates to 70-92 over 162 games.)

The series continues tonight. Domingo German starts for the Yankees, and Dean Kremer for the O's.

Matt Harvey Passes the Audition, Shuts Yankees Down

In 2015, the Yankees struggled just to make the Playoffs, and lost the American League Wild Card Game, because they only got 3 hits and didn't score.

Meanwhile, across town, Matt Harvey was the ace of the Mets, and helped them win the Pennant, and was the toast of the town. He was 26, and although he had been part of the reason the team lost the World Series, he seemed to have a limitless future.

Harvey has battled injury ever since. He has pitched for 5 different teams in the last 4 seasons. And his control has been atrocious. As Yogi Berra might have said, Even when he can pitch, he can't pitch.

So his start, in the opener of a 4-game series between the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, perhaps the best hitter's park in the AL, should have been just the kind of occasion to let the Yankees have a very nice evening.

It wasn't. Aaron Judge, on his birthday -- the former "next great Yankee" is only 29 -- grounded into a double play to end a threat in the 1st inning. And Deivi Garcia, on only his 2nd pitch of the game, gave up a home run to Cedric Mullins. It was only one-nil to the Baltimore, and yet the game already felt lost, because of the Yankees' troubles with hitting.

Cruz didn't pitch badly after that, giving up only 1 more run, in the 3rd. But he was limited to 4 innings -- just 65 pitches -- and was sent down to the Yankees' "alternate site" after the game. Way to mess with a kid's confidence, especially after you've been bigging him up as one of the team's great "prospects." God, Brian Cashman ruins everything he touches.

The Yankees wasted 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the 2nd, and then Harvey didn't allow another baserunner until Clint Frazier walked to lead off the top of the 6th. This time, a leadoff walk didn't kill anybody, because DJ LeMahieu grounded into a double play. Then came back-to-back doubles by Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. If LeMahieu had simply struck out, the doubles would have made the score 2-2. Instead, it was 2-1 Orioles, and that was as close as the Yankees got.

Knowing Cashman, and his love of once-great, injury-riddled players, this was Harvey passing an audition to be a Yankee. And he knows the Yankees need better starting pitching. He'll probably trade a good player to get Harvey.

What good player? With our luck, Judge. Certainly, it won't be Stanton, or his golden boy, Gleyber Torres.

Lucas Luetge pitched the 5th without allowing a run, so the smart thing to do would have been to leave him in for the 6th. The smart thing was not done: Darren O'Day was brought in. Hit by pitch, single getting runner to 3rd, strikeout, balk. 3-1 Baltimore. Justin Wilson was brought in for the 7th. As with Cruz, the 1st batter he faced was Mullins. As with Cruz, he let Mullins hit a home run. 4-1 Baltimore.

Then came the top of the 8th. Frazier and LeMahieu started it with walks. The next 2 batters were Stanton and Judge. If they were the 2017 versions of Stanton and Judge, you would like your chances. Of course, the Yankees didn't have Stanton in 2017. Stanton flew out. But Judge drew a walk to load the bases. But Rougned Odor struck out.

The batter was Gio Urshela. He hit a line drive single to left. Frazier scored. LeMahieu made 3rd easily, and thought he could score. So did Oriole left fielder Austin Hays. But Hays did think he had a chance to throw Judge out at 3rd to end the inning. It was close, but Judge was out.

The real question was, did Frazier touch home plate before Judge was tagged out. If so, then that's another run that should count, making the score 4-3 instead of 4-2. The umpires ruled that the tag came first.

Aaron Boone was enraged, and demanded an instant replay to check to see if Frazier scored before the tag. Umpire Greg Gibson was told he'd taken too long to ask, and wouldn't get it.

In his book Planet of the Umps, former umpire Ken Kaiset said that there is one word you must never use to an umpire. Despite what the film Bull Durham suggested, that word is not "cocksucker." It's "you."

You can tell an umpire, "That was a bad call!' and stay in the game. But if you say, "You blew that call!" you get thrown out of the game. You can say, "That was a dumb call!" You can't say, "You're an idiot!"

Boone was told he didn't ask for a replay fast enough. He yelled, "You didn't give me a chance!" He used the Y-word (not the one used by fans of London soccer team Tottenham Hotspur), and he was tossed.

The replay shown on YES showed that Frazier did touch home plate before Judge was tagged out, so the run should have counted.

This afternoon, on his ESPN radio show, simulcast on YES, Michael Kay dropped the objectivity he had to show on the previous night's TV broadcast, and ripped everybody. He ripped Gibson for not granting the replay. He ripped Boone for taking too long. He ripped Judge (who did this on his birthday, mind you) for trying to take 3rd base, going against one of those classic "unwritten rules of baseball": Never make the last out of an inning at 3rd base. And he ripped the Yankees for not hitting.

And that last point should be the story of the game, more than the argument. Did the Yankees get robbed? You bet your sweet bippy. Did that make the difference in the game? We'll never know. Given the way this team has hit this season, it might not have. The Yankees went down quietly in the 9th, so if they didn't follow a successful replay challenge with hits, they still would have lost.

No, the fault for losing this game belongs to the hitters for not hitting enough, and Cashman for his horrible pitching strategy.

Orioles 4, Yankees 2. WP: Harvey (2-1). SV: Cesar Valdez (5). LP: Cruz (0-1).

The series continues tonight. Corey Kluber starts against Bruce Zimmermann.

Nelson's Riddle Blows Chance at Yank Sweep of Tribe

Before this series between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field, if you had told me the Yankees were going to take 3 out of 4, I would have gladly taken it.

And when they took the 1st 3, I was very pleased.

It's so much that they lost the 4th game, it's how.

Jameson Taillon started, and was fine for the 1st 3 innings, allowing just 1 baserunner, a single, and striking out the side in the 3rd inning.

Manager Aaron Boone tinkered with the batting order again. He put Brett Gardner in the leadoff spot, Giancarlo Stanton as the DH and batting 2nd, Aaron Judge 3rd, Rougned Odor at 2nd base and batting 4th, Gleyber Torres 5th, Gio Urshela 6th, Mike Ford at 1st base and batting 7th, Gary Sanchez 8th, and Mike Tauchman in left field and batting 9th.

And in the top of the 4th inning, this lineup looked like it might have paid off. Torres, who has really responded well to the criticism he faced earlier in the week, led off with a single. Urshela hit a home run to put the Yankees on the board. Then Odor hit one out, the first back-to-back home runs for the Yankees on the season -- in their 21st game. Which is an indication that general manager Brian Cashman's strategy of "Bomb the opposition out of the yard" hasn't worked too well.

Especially considering that the Indians not only erased that 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th, but took it. Taillon allowed single, single, single, home run, with Franmil Reyes' blast giving the Tribe a 4-3 lead.

The Yankees had their chances thereafter. Judge led off the 5th with a single, and advanced to 2nd on a groundout and 3rd on a wild pitch. Tauchman doubled and Frazier walked in the 6th. Odor reached on an error in the 7th. Sanchez was hit by a pitch in the 8th. None of them scored.

And if the Yankees had lost 4-3 like that, I wouldn't have liked it, but I could have lived with it. But that's not what happened.

Because, for the bottom of the 5th inning, Boone (almost certainly on the order of Cashman) brought in Nick Nelson. Yes, Nick Nelson, ol' Number 79, who pitches, as Colonel Sherman T. Potter (played by Harry Morgan) would have said on M*A*S*H, with all the efficiency of a one-legged man at a butt-kicking contest. Remember: The Yankees were only down by 1 run. But, to me, bringing Nelson in was a message: "This game is already lost."

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Nelson began the 5th with walk, lineout, wild pitch, single, sacrifice fly. 5-3 Indians.

Uncharacteristically, Boone left Nelson in for the 6th: Triple, groundout, RBI double, strikeout, RBI single. Luis Cessa, surprisingly, pitched a perfect 7th and a perfect 8th, but it didn't matter.

Indians 7, Yankees 3. WP: Sam Hentges (1-0). No save. LP: Taillon (0-2).

The Yankees are now 9-12, 4 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 3 in the loss column, as they have 2 games in hand. By the way: In those 1st 21 games, the Yankees still haven't scored a run in the 1st inning all season.

After the game, Nelson was sent down to the Yankees' "alternate site." A game too late, it would seem. He's a riddle. Not to be confused with mid-20th Century music giant Nelson Riddle.

The Yankees move on to 4 away games against the Baltimore Orioles. Deivi Garcia makes his 1st start of the season, against former Met "ace" Matt Harvey. We're all hoping Garcia pitches like 2015 Harvey -- not like 2016 onward Harvey. And we're hoping the Yankees do in Camden Yards what they usuall do there: Treat it like their own personal home run playpen. Come on you Bombers!

Face the Music: King Cole Beats Bieber

The 3rd game of this 4-game series between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field was billed as a great pitching tool between Gerrit Cole and Shane Bieber. And it lived up to that description: The game was scoreless going to the bottom of the 4th.

That was when the Indians struck first. With 1 out, Jose Ramirez hit a triple, and Eddie Rosario singled him home. Cole struck Franmil Reyes and Josh Naylor out to get out of it, but, given the opposing pitcher and the Yankees' hitting so far this season, that 1-0 deficit may as well have been 5-0.

But the Yankees managed to back "King" Cole up, and face the music, straighten up and fly right. Aaron Hicks decided to treat Shane Bieber as if he was Justin Bieber, and hit a long home run to tie the game. Bieber then struck Clint Frazier and Kyle Higashioka out, but Rougned Odor again justified his recent acquisition with a home run of his own. It was 2-1 Yankees.

That was all Cole needed, as he breezed through the 5th, the 6th and the 7th. Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone let him keep going because both Aroldis Chapman and Chad Green were unavailable for relief duty, since each had pitched 2 nights in a row.

Justin Wilson got into a little bit of trouble in the 8th, and Jonathan Loaisiga was needed for a 4-out save. Yankees 2, Indians 1. WP: Cole (3-1). SV: Loaisiga (1). LP: Bieber (2-2).

That's 3 in a row for the Yankees, for the 1st time all season. With the Boston Red Sox losing, the Yankees are now just 3 games behind them in the American League Eastern Division, 2 in the all-important loss column. We may have fully shaken off that horrible start to the season.

The series with the Indians concludes this afternoon, as the Yankees go for the sweep. Jameson Taillon pitches for us, Triston McKenzie for them.

Lineup Switch Boosts Yanks vs. Tribe

Maybe getting out of New York was, as I half-jokingly suggested, just what the Yankees needed. Or maybe it was some deviating from the established lineup by Aaron Boone, at long last.

Boone kept DJ LeMahieu as the leadoff hitter, but moved Giancarlo Stanton up to 2nd, ahead of Aaron Judge, moving Judge down to 3rd, Gleyber Torres up to 4th, Gio Urshela back down to 5th, Aaron Hicks to 6th, Gary Sanchez to 7th, Clint Frazier to 8th, and Rougned Odor to 9th.

Jordan Montgomery was the starting pitcher, and he started shaky, alowing the Cleveland Indians 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. After that, he settled down, and gave the Yankee bats the chance to bail him out.

They did. Hicks and Odor both hit home runs in the top of the 2nd, tying the game. In the 3rd, Stanton crushed one to left field, giving the Yankees the lead. In the 5th, he hit another long drive to right-center, making it 5-3 Yankees.

In 1961, it took until around this time of the year for manager Ralph Houk to move Roger Maris to 3rd in the batting order, ahead of Mickey Mantle, to give Maris better pitches to hit. The result was Maris hitting 61 home runs, Mantle 54, and the team roaring to a 109-win season and a World Championship. Now, 60 years later, is putting Stanton ahead of Judge the equivalent? Will we look at this Boone lineup change the same way?

Montgomery allowed a couple of runners in the 5th. He was 1 out away from qualifying for the win, presuming the Yankees could hold their lead. But Boone took him out, and he was upset.

The bullpen got the job done the rest of the way. Lucas Luetge came in, got the last out in the 5th, and pitched a scoreless 6th. Darren O'Day pitched a perfect 7th. Chad Green pitched a scoreless 8th. And Aroldis Chapman didn't tease us with any wild pitching, tossing a perfect 9th.

Yankees 5, Indians 3. WP: Luetge (1-0, his 1st win as a Yankee). SV: Chapman (4). LP: Logan Allen (1-3). That's 2 in a row, both games on this roadtrip so far.

The series continues tonight, and it's each team's ace: Gerrit "Old King" Cole for the Bronx Bombers, and Shane "Don't Call Me Justin" Bieber for the Tribe.

April 23, 1921: The Pitcher of the Century

In 1999, baseball fans voted for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Two of the pitchers chosen were Warren Spahn and Sandy Koufax.

Koufax rarely makes public appearances, but he went to Atlanta for the presentation of the team before Game 2 of the World Series, between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees. Spahn threw out the ceremonial first ball before Game 1, and Hank Aaron did so before Game 2, following the ceremony.

Koufax has never been a quote machine, preferring to let his performance do the talking. This time, he showed a sense of humor, about Spahn's selection: "He should be on the All-Century Team. After all, he pitched for most of the Century."

April 23, 1921, 100 years ago: Warren Edward Spahn is born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from that city's South Park High School, in South Buffalo. He was signed by the Boston Braves, and made his major league debut on April 19, 1942, at Braves Field in Boston, in relief, in a 5-2 loss to the New York Giants.

He wore Number 16 that year, and made only 4 appearances, with no decisions, and a 5.74 ERA. He got sent back down to the minors, where he went 17-12 with the Hartford Bees of the Eastern League. He was sent down because he refused a demand from his manager to throw at Pee Wee Reese of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1943, that manager would be hit by a cabdriver. A sportswriter would call that driver the person who had done the most for Boston sports during the year. The names of the writer and the driver have been lost to history. The name of the manager was Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel.

Spahn enlisted in World War II, and was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Stengel later said the way he handled Spahn was the worst mistake of his career: "I said 'no guts' to a kid who went on to become a war hero and one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers you ever saw. You can't say I don't miss 'em when I miss 'em."

Spahn said, "I matured a lot in 3 years, and I think I was better equipped to handle major league hitters at 25 than I was at 22." On July 14, 1946, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Spahn, now wearing the Number 21 he would wear for the rest of his career, finally got his 1st major league win, going the distance in a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite not getting discharged and returning to the roster until June, he went 8-5 that season.

In 1947, he went 21-10 with a 2.33 ERA that led the National League. In 1948, the Braves won their 1st National League Pennant since 1914, led by the pitching of the lefthanded Spahn and the righthanded Johnny Sain. After a Labor Day doubleheader, where each of them won a game, there were 2 scheduled days off, and then a rainout, and then Spahn won the next game, and Sain the next. Gerald V. Hern of the Boston Post wrote:

First we'll use Spahn

then we'll use Sain
Then an off day
followed by rain
Back will come Spahn
followed by Sain
And followed
we hope
by two days of rain.

This became "Spahn and Sain and two days of rain" -- or "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" -- in the public mind. It wasn't fair: Sain may have gone 24-15 and Spahn 15-12, but Vern Bickford went 11-5 and Bill Voiselle 13-13, and each had a better ERA than Spahn.

In 1999, looking at the Boston Red Sox, Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy saw a big dropoff in pitching ability after Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe, and wrote, "Pedro and Lowe, and three days of snow."

But the Braves did win the Pennant in 1948. It was almost an all-Boston World Series, but the Red Sox lost a single-game Playoff to the Cleveland Indians. The Indians went on to beat the Braves in the Series in 6 games, and no Boston team would win a Pennant again until the Red Sox in their "Impossible Dream" season of 1967.

In 1949, Spahn went 21-14, leading the NL in wins, complete games and strikeouts. In 1950, he went 21-17, leading in wins and strikeouts. In 1951, he went 22-14, but didn't lead the NL in wins. He did, however, lead in complete games, shutouts and strikeouts.

That year, he gave up the 1st home run of Willie Mays' career. The distance from the pitching rubber to home plate is 60 feet 6 inches, and Spahn told the press, "For the 1st 60 feet, that was a hell of a pitch." Mays hit it over the left field roof at the Polo Grounds. Mays had been 0-for-12 in his career to that point. Many years later, Stan Musial told Spahn, "If you'd just struck him out, we might have been rid of him forever!"

In 1952, Spahn again led the NL in strikeouts, but he went just 14-19, as the Braves flat-out collapsed. No longer able to compete with the Red Sox for New England baseball fans' attention, team owner Lou Perini moved the team to Milwaukee.

*

On April 14, 1953, at Milwaukee County Stadium, the Braves played their 1st game as a Milwaukee team. They beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 in 10 innings. Spahn went the distance for the win. That season, he went 23-7, with a 2.10 ERA, leading the NL in both wins and ERA.

He went 21-12 in 1954, 17-14 in 1955, and 20-11 in 1956. In 1957, Spahn went 21-11, leading the NL in wins and complete games. He was named the winner of the Cy Young Award, from 1956 to 1966 given to the top pitcher in both Leagues. (He finished 2nd in the voting in 1958, '60 and '61, and 3rd in '56.)

That season, the Braves put it all together. With Spahn, righthanded starter Lew Burdette, and sluggers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock, they won Milwaukee 1st Pennant. And with Burdette winning 3 games and Mathews hitting a walkoff home run in Game 4, the Braves beat the Yankees in the World Series.

In 1958, despite being 37 years old, Spahn went 22-11, leading the NL in wins, winning percentage and complete games. Again, the Braves won the Pennant. This time, though, the lost the World Series to the Yankees. Oh yes: Both times, the Yankee manager was Spahn's former Boston Braves manager, Casey Stengel.

The Braves just missed another Pennant in 1959. Spahn kept going and going and going: That season, he went 21-15, leading in wins, complete games and shutouts. In 1960, he went 21-10, leading in wins and complete games. On September 16, 1960, he did something he hadn't done before: He pitched a no-hitter, blanking the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0 at County Stadium. At 39, he was the oldest pitcher ever to pitch a no-hitter in the major leagues.

The next no-hitter pitched in MLB came on April 28, 1961. That one was also pitched by Spahn, 5 days past his 40th birthday, a 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants at County Stadium. That record of being the oldest to throw a no-hitter would last until Nolan Ryan did it at 43 in 1990, and again at 44 in 1991.

Later that season, on August 11, he beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at County Stadium, for his 300th career win. That season, including the no-hitter and the milestone, he went 21-13, leading in wins; his 3.02 ERA also led the NL; and he led in complete games and shutouts. In 1962, he went 18-14, but still led in complete games.

On July 2, 1963, the Braves played the Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Spahn started against Juan Marichal, a Dominican righthander who, like Spahn, was known for a high leg-kick. The goose eggs kept going up on the scoreboard. It was as if Spahn was unwilling to let this kid beat him. During the top of the 14th, Giant manager Alvin Dark went out to take Marichal out, but Marichal said, "Do you see that man pitching for the other side? Do you know that man is 42 years old? Im only 25. If that man is on the mound, nobody is going to take me out of here."

Marichal threw 227 pitches in the game. Spahn threw 201. His 201st came in the bottom of the 16th inning, and Willie Mays -- yeah, him again -- hit it out for a game-winning home run. Giants 1, Braves 0. Spahn allowed 9 hits and 1 walk in those 16 innings. In 2011, Jim Kaplan wrote a dual biography of Spahn and Marichal, focused on this game, titled The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century.

Spahn finished that 1963 season 23-7, tying his career high in wins. His ERA was 2.60. And his 22 complete games -- at age 42 -- led the National League. He appeared in his 17th All-Star Game. But in 1964, he finally seemed to slow down, going 6-13 with a 5.29 ERA.

On November 23, 1964, the New York Mets bought him from the Braves. This reunited him with his 1st major league manager, Casey Stengel. With the Yankees, Casey had won 10 American League Pennants and 7 World Series. Now, he was managing the worst team in baseball. Spahn said, "I'm probably the only guys who played for Casey before and after he was a genius."

Yogi Berra had become a coach under Casey, and even played 4 games, going 2-for-9 at the plate. On May 5, 1965, Casey wrote Yogi in as Spahn's catcher. The combination of pitcher and catcher is known as the "battery," and somebody asked Yogi if he and Spahnnie were the oldest battery ever. Yogi said, "I don't know if we're the oldest, but we're certainly the ugliest." Yogi had once been called "The Ape," and early in his career, Spahn was nicknamed "Hooks," not for his curveball, but for his nose. At Shea Stadium, Spahn went the distance, but lost 1-0 to the Phillies.

The Mets released him on July 17. Two days later, the Giants signed him. On October 1, 1965, the Cincinnati Reds clobbered the Giants at Candlestick, 17-2. Gaylord Perry was one of a few Giant pitchers who got hit hard, and Spahn relieved him in the 7th inning. He walked Johnny Edwards, allowed a ground ball by Leo Cardenas that turned into a run-allowing error, which led to Edwards trying to score and being thrown out at the plate, and then an RBI single by the opposing pitcher, Sammy Ellis. Manager Herman Franks took Spahn out. It was a hard end to a great career.

He retired with a record of 363 wins and 245 losses. Those 363 wins remain, to this day, the most by a lefthanded pitcher, and the most of any pitcher in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era. His ERA was 3.09, his ERA+ 119, and his WHIP 1.195. His 2,583 career strikeouts were, at the time, more than any lefthanded pitcher ever. This would be surpassed by Mickey Lolich, and there are now 3 lefthanders in the 3,000 Strikeout Club: Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia.

When Spahn first took the mound in a major league game, there were 16 teams, none further south than Washington or further west than Los Angeles. There were no black players. The newest stadium in MLB was Cleveland Municipal, which opened in 1931. The President was Franklin Roosevelt. Radio ruled media, television was in its infancy, and we were in the middle of World War II. 

When he last took the mound, there were 20 teams, coast to coast and border to border (well, Minneapolis to Houston, anyway). There were black players, some of them Hispanic, and his last game was also the last game for the 1st Asian-born MLB player, Masanori Murakami. The Astrodome had just opened. The President was Lyndon Johnson, most American-made TV shows had switched to color, and people were starting to get worried about the war in Vietnam.

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While serving in World War II at Camp Gruber, outside Tulsa, Oklahoma, he met LoRene Southard, a secretary for a local oil company. She would become his wife and his business manager, and they would become quite rich, running a ranch outside Hartshorne, Oklahoma. Together, they had a son named Greg and 2 granddaughters. LoRene died in 1978. Eventually, Spahn sold the ranch, and lived the rest of his live near a golf course in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

He managed the Tulsa Oilers from 1967 to 1971, winning the Pacific Coast League Pennant in 1968. (Yes, I know: Tulsa is nowhere near the Pacific Coast.) He also coached for the Cleveland Indians, the California Angels, the Mexican League's Mexico City Tigers, and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan's Central League.

In 1982, at age 61, Spahn pitched for a National League team against an American League team at an Old-Timers Game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. He gave up a home run to 74-year-old Chicago White Sox Hall-of-Famer Luke Appling. Granted, because of the configuration of RFK Stadium at the time, the left-field fence was just 260 feet from home plate. But Appling was not a slugger, much more a singles hitter, hitting just 45 round-trippers in a 21-season career.

As I said, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. That same year, The Sporting News named him to their 100 Greatest Baseball Players -- appropriately enough, ranking him 21st, 6th among pitchers, 1st among lefthanders. (Lefty Grove came in 23rd, Sandy Koufax 26th, Steve Carlton 30th, and Randy Johnson was still in the middle of his career and didn't make the Top 100.)

Spahn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame the same year, the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Miller Park (now American Family Field) Walk of Fame in Milwaukee in 2001.

The Braves retired Spahn's Number 21 in 1965, right after he retired as a player. However, they didn't start a team Hall of Fame until 1999. They immediately elected Spahn. They dedicated a statue of him outside Turner Field in 2003, which was moved to the new Truist Park in 2017. Copies of that statue stand outside Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, along with statues of Oklahoma natives Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench and Joe Carter; and at the Hartshorne Events Center near his ranch.

Warren Spahn made his last public appearance at the dedication of his Atlanta statue, although he had never played in Atlanta, as the Milwaukee-based team moved to Atlanta in 1966, just after his retirement. On November 24, 2003, he died at his home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, of natural causes, at the age of 82.

Kick in the Complacency Wakes Torres, Germán, Yankees Up

The atmosphere around the Yankees was getting rough. A 6-11 start, anger at the manager, anger at certain players.

None more so than general manager Brian Cashman's golden boy, Gleyber Torres, whose "excuse-me-check-swing" in the Wednesday night loss to the Atlanta Braves couldn't be faulted, but whose seeming refusal to run it out was, heavily.

We've heard it in all sports: Show passion. Play as if you care as much as we the fans do. We don't like failure, but we at least want to see you give the effort. You won't always win, but you always have to try.

Torres hasn't been hitting, and now this. It was beginning to look like Yankee Fans were turning on the 24-year-old Venezuelan 2nd-baseman-being-played-at-shortstop. It was time for him to step up.

It was also time for Domingo Germán to step up. Coming off what amounted to a year-and-a-half suspension for a domestic violence incident for which he was not criminally charged, but to which he has sort-of confessed, his 1st 2 starts this season were awful. If the Yankees are going to turn it around this season, his own turnaround has to be a part of it.

That turnaround was not apparent in the bottom of the 1st inning, at the beginning of an 8-game roadtrip, the 1st of a 4-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive (formerly Jacobs) Field. He allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and his own error on a play covering 1st base. His season, and the Yankees' had reached a new bottom, and it felt like it was going to get even worse.

But a funny thing happened on the way back to "the alternate site": Germán settled down. He wasn't great in any of them, but he kept the Indians from scoring again in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings. If those 3 runs he allowed had been staggered across the 6 innings, instead of all at once, we might have thought it was a really good performance. And it actually was.

But you gotta hit, and the Yankees haven't been hitting. That had to turn around, too. In the top of the 3rd, it did -- with help.

Kyle Higashioka, filling is as backup catcher to Gary Sanchez, continued his start as the Yankee with the best hitting numbers. He led off the inning with a double off Aaron Civale. A balk by Civale sent him to 3rd. Brett Gardner struck out, but DJ LeMahieu singled Higgy home. Aaron Judge struck out, but Mike Ford -- giving off a 2008 Jason Giambi vibe with that mustache and that batting stance -- drew a walk.

That brought Torres to the plate. Major clutch situation, about as major as you can get in April, anyway. He hit a line drive to right field, deep enough to score LeMahieu regardless of what happened next. Josh Naylor, the Cleveland right fielder, botched the play, allowing Ford to score all the way from 1st. 

Torres ended up on 3rd, although was only credited with a single and 1 RBI, due to the error. He'll take it, though. We all will. Tie ballgame, and it seemed to boost Germán's confidence on the mound. It was as if he thought, "If he can come through tonight, so can I." And he did get through the 6th without further damage.

Top of the 7th. Nick Wittgren came on to pitch for Cleveland. He struck LeMahieu and Ford out, but, in between, he walked Judge. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, even if they're not the leadoff variety. Torres got another hit. Aaron Hicks drew a walk to load the bases.

The batter was the newly-acquired Rougned Odor. He's been terribly inconsistent in the brief time he's been a Yankee. This time, he hit a ground ball with eyes, right up the middle, scoring Judge and Torres. 5-3.

That put Germán in position to be the winning pitcher. Aaron Boone brought Jonathan Loaisiga in to pitch. He has tremendously improved so far this season, and pitched a scoreless 7th. Cal Quantrill, son of former Yankee reliever Paul Quantrill, came in to pitch for the Indians, and was immediately greeted with a home run by Higashioka. Chad Green pitched a scoreless 8th, and Aroldis Chapman a scoreless 9th.

Yankees 6, Indians 3. WP: Germán (1-2). SV: Chapman (3). LP: Wittgren (0-1).

With the Boston Red Sox losing last night, the Yankees closed to within 4 games of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division. Maybe it was a little too soon to panic.

But, as Torres found out, and showed, it was not too soon for what Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) once called a "kick in the complacency."

The reaction to Torres on social media was overwhelmingly positive. To Germán, less so: Some people will never forgive him for what has been alleged against him. But, last night, both of them delivered the start of the turnarounds they needed. The team as a whole responded. May it continue.

The series continues tonight. Jordan Montgomery starts against Logan Allen.