September 30, 1996: Arsène-al

September 30, 1996, 25 years ago: His contract with Japanese soccer team Nagoya Grampus Eight having run out, Arsène Wenger is free to manage another team, and he officially takes charge as manager of Arsenal Football Club of North London.

Wenger wasn't much of a player, winning Ligue 1 as a defensive midfielder at his hometown club, Racing Club Strasbourg Alsace (usually just listed as "Strasbourg"), in 1979. But as manager of AS Monaco, which is in the French league even though Monaco is a separate (but tiny) country, he won Ligue 1 in 1988 and the national cup, the Coupe de France, in 1991. He led Nagoya to Japan's national cup, the Emperor's Cup, in 1995.

Just short of his 47th birthday, and already successful as a manager, he seemed like a good choice for The Arsenal, who had won 6 trophies from 1987 to 1994, but had struggled in the Premier League, finishing 10th in 1993, 4th in 1994, 12th in 1995, and 5th in 1996.

But, at the time, it was rare for a manager not from the British Isles to manage in England. One newspaper printed the headline, "ARSENE WHO?" No less a personage than Arsenal's captain, centreback Tony Adams, asked, "What does this Frenchman know about English football?"

Wenger knew enough to know that Adams had recently made a public admission of being a recovering alcoholic. He straightened out the team's diet (including no booze the night before a game) and exercise program.

He also brought in several European players, including fellow Frenchmen Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka, and Dutchman Marc Overmars. Together with already-present Dutch star Dennis Bergkamp, and the club's English core of Adams, David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn, Martin Keown, David Platt, Ray Parlour and the legendary striker Ian Wright, in 1996-97, he finished his 1st season in charge in 3rd place. In 1998, he won the Premier League and the FA Cup, a.k.a. "doing The Double."

He finished runner-up in both in 1999, and Anelka, only 19 years old, thought his performances demanded a big raise, or a sale to a bigger club. Wenger sold him to Real Madrid, and used half the profits to build a new training ground, and the other half to buy young French winger Thierry Henry, whom he converted into a striker, who broke Wright's club record for career goals.

Wenger would also sign a great pair of wingers in Sweden's Freddie Ljungberg (in 1998) and France's Robert Pires (in 2000), develop great young defenders in Ashley Cole and Kolo Toure, and make the stunning acquisition (in 2001) of English centreback Sol Campbell, who had been captain of Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur.

Wenger finished 2nd and lost the UEFA Cup Final in 2000, finished 2nd and lost the FA Cup Final in 2001, won The Double again in 2002, finished 2nd and won another FA Cup in 2003, and, in the 2003-04 season, did something that had not been done since the League had only a 22-game season: He went unbeaten. As the broadcaster Jon Champion (appropriately named for the occasion) said after it was achieved: "Played 38, won 26, drawn 12, lost exactly none!" He would win another FA Cup in 2005, and reach the Final of the UEFA Champions League in 2006.

But the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury after its neighborhood, only seated 38,000, and its east and west stands had been built in the 1930s. A modern stadium was needed if Arsenal was to compete, but paying for it meant that transactions needed to be made, perhaps sacrificing trophies for expediency.

The new Emirates Stadium opened in 2006, and here's what happened: Arsenal lost the League Cup Final in 2007, finished 2nd in the League in 2008, reached the Semifinals of the Champion League and the FA Cup in 2009, lost the League Cup Final in 2011, just barely scraped into Champions League qualification in 2012 and 2013, were struck by several injuries in just about every season, and had to sell several players because of financial concerns: Vieira in 2005, Pires in 2006, Henry in 2007, Manuel Almunia and Gilberto Silva in 2008, Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor in 2009, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in 2011, and Robin van Persie in 2012.

But Wenger built another great team: Signing Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky in 2006, Bacary Sagna in 2007, Aaron Ramsey in 2008, Laurent Koscielny in 2010, Per Mertesacker and Héctor Bellerín in 2011, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla in 2012, Mesut Özil and Nacho Monreal in 2013, Alexis

Sánchez in 2014, Petr Čech in 2015, Mohamed Elneny in this year's January transfer window, and Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi in 2016. The result has been continuous Champions League knockout round qualification, and the FA Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Wenger is known for his clichés, which seem a little grammatically odd when they move from his French mind to his English words: A player who is good, "He has the quality"; if he's smart, "He has the mental strength"; if he's unsure of himself, "He lacks the confidence"; and dropping the qualifier "a little bit" into phrases, i.e., "He lacked a little bit the confidence." He doesn't like it when opposing players foul his, but when one of his players is charged, he tells the media, "I did not see it."

Whereas some managers want to win in the worst way, Wenger wanted to win in the best way. He is a remarkable man, an idealist in a cynical age. I hope he will not turn out to be the last such idealist.

He left Arsenal at the end of the 2017-18 season, after 22 years in charge, 3 League titles, 7 FA Cups, the new stadium, and with a world-class setup in place. His critics are glad he is gone, but the next manager, Unai Emery, squandered what Wenger left him. One of Wenger's former Captains, Mikel Arteta, has picked up the pieces.

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September 30, 1861, 160 years ago: William Mills Wrigley Jr. is born in Philadelphia. His father sold soap, but he didn't want to sell soap. In 1891, at 29, with $32 (about $994 in today's money), he moved to Chicago, and sold... soap. He managed to get his hands on some baking powder, and found it sold better than soap. In 1893, he began giving his customers 2 packages of chewing gum for each can of powder, and found that this was more popular still. Thus was born the Wrigley chewing gum empire.

By 1916, he was fabulously wealthy, and bought part-ownership of the Chicago Cubs. As the other part-owners' businesses failed, he bought them out, and by 1925, he was sole owner. That same year, for the Cubs' top farm team, the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League, he built a stadium that was a near-duplicate for Cubs Park. He named it Wrigley Field. He soon renamed Cubs Park "Wrigley Field" -- so L.A. had a Wrigley Field before Chicago had one, even though the Chicago park was older.

He developed Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of L.A., as a resort and a nature preserve. For a while, the Cubs had their Spring Training there. In 1924, he built the Wrigley Building, on North Michigan Avenue, overlooking the Chicago River. In 1931, he built the Wrigley Mansion and the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, leading him to move the Cubs' Spring Training to Phoenix. The Cubs have trained in the Phoenix area ever since, and William Wrigley is thus the founding father of Spring Training in Arizona, a.k.a. the Cactus League.

But he didn't enjoy his Mansion long, dying in 1932 at age 70. Under his ownership, the Cubs won Pennants in 1918 and 1929, but no World Series. His son, Philip K. Wrigley, owned the gum company and the Cubs until his death in 1977. His son, William Wrigley III, sold the Cubs to the Tribune Company in 1981. His son, William Wrigley Jr. II, a.k.a. Bill Wrigley, about to turn 56, is executive chairman of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, but is retired as CEO. The family no longer owns any piece of the Cubs.

September 30, 1921, 100 years ago: Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer is born in Glasgow, Scotland. A magnificent redhead, Deborah Kerr starred in From Here to Eternity, The King and I, An Affair to Remember, and many other classic films. She lived until 2007.

September 30, 1922: The University of Alabama defeats Marion Military Institute of Marion, Alabama, in football, 110-0. It is the highest point total, and the highest margin of victory, in the long and glorious history of Crimson Tide football.

Also on this day, the Yankees clinch their 2nd American League Pennant, and their 2nd straight. They beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 at Fenway Park, to eliminate the St. Louis Browns, who probably had their best team ever, a more talented one than the 1944 team that won the only Browns Pennant.

September 30, 1945: Hank Greenberg, recently discharged from the U.S. Army, hits a grand slam off Nelson Potter in the top of the 9th inning, and gives the Detroit Tigers a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park, clinching the American League Pennant, which the Browns had won the previous season, for the only time in their history.

September 30, 1946, 75 years ago: Bernardus Adriaan Hulshoff is born in Deventer, Netherlands. We know him as Barry Hulshoff. Playing for Amsterdam soccer team AFC Ajax, the centreback won 7 national league (Eredivisie) titles, 4 national cups (KNVB Beker), and 3 straight European Cups (the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League), in 1971, '72 and '73.

Despite his playing pedigree, he only played 14 times for the Netherlands national team, and never made their World Cup squad. He later managed Ajax and several teams in the Netherlands and Belgium, and died this past February 16.

September 30, 1947: Game 1 of the World Series. The Brooklyn Dodgers have won the Pennant, and, all together, Jackie Robinson and his 24 white teammates, stand on the 3rd-base line at Yankee Stadium, hearing the National Anthem.

Jackie would write in his memoir I Never Had It Made that this was the highlight of his career: It was not only that he had played in the white major leagues, but that he had been accepted by his teammates, and, together, they had succeeded. They were the National League Champions.

But they still had a World Series to play, in front of 73,365 people -- over twice the capacity of Ebbets Field. Dodger Captain Pee Wee Reese scores all the way from 2nd base on a wild pitch by rookie starter Frank "Spec" Shea in the 7th inning. But that's the only real highlight for the Dodgers, as the Yankees batter 21-year-old 21-game winner Ralph Branca for 5 runs in the 5th, and go on to win 5-3.

Also on this day, Mark Feld (no middle name) is born in Stoke Newington, East London. We knew him as Marc Bolan, lead singer of the "glam rock" band T. Rex. His songs "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" and "20th Century Boy" became classics in the early 1970s. I still don't know what "Well, you're built like a car, you got a hubcap-diamond-star halo" means, but it sounds like a cool thing to say to a girl.

He was killed in a car crash in Barnes, Southwest London in 1977. He had never learned to drive, and the Mini 1275GT was driven by his girlfriend, American soul singer Gloria Jones, the mother of his son Rolan Bolan. Earlier this year, long overdue, he was posthumously elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the 2006 British TV series Life On Mars, Sam Tyler (Jon Simm), a present-day cop in Manchester, England somehow sent back to 1973, meets Bolan (William Matheson) at a music club. Forgetting that Bolan wasn't the driver, he warns Bolan, "Drive carefully, especially in Minis."

In the U.S. version that aired in the 2008-09 season, Sam (here, a New York cop played by Irish actor Jason O'Mara) meets Jim Croce (Don Puglisi), and, knowing that he'll be killed in a plane crash within weeks, warns him about small planes, while "Get It On" by T. Rex plays.

September 30, 1950: As they had 28 years to the day earlier, the Yankees clinch the Pennant at Fenway Park, beating the Red Sox 6-5. Yogi Berra hits a home run, and Tommy Byrne outpitches Mel Parnell. 

September 30, 1951, 70 years ago: After being 13 1/2 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 11, the New York Giants think they have the Pennant won, as they beat the Boston Braves 3-2 at Braves Field in Boston. The hero, with a home run, is 3rd baseman Bobby Thomson.

But the Dodgers, having blown that huge lead, aren't done yet. At Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Jackie Robinson makes a sensational catch at 2nd base in the bottom of the 12th inning, then hits a home run in the top of the 14th, and the Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8. There will be a best-2-out-of-3 Playoff for the National League Pennant, starting the next day.

A coin is tossed to determine home-field advantage. The Dodgers win the toss -- and elect to host Game 1 at Ebbets Field, thus letting the Giants host Games 2 and 3 at the Polo Grounds. This will turn out to be one of the greatest blunders in the history of baseball.

In the meantime, the American League Champions, the Yankees, wait to see whom they will face in the World Series. Mickey Mantle, the Yankees' rookie right fielder their center fielder in waiting, asks his teammates who he should root for. He's told it should be the Giants, since Ebbets Field seats only 31,000 people, while the Polo Grounds seats 56,000, and the gate receipts, and thus the winners' share, will be much bigger if the Giants win.

Johnny Sain is the winning pitcher. The Yankees gave up Lew Burdette to get Sain from the Boston Braves. Burdette would help the Braves, by then in Milwaukee, drive the Yankees crazy in the 1957 and '58 Series. But Sain helped the Yankees big-time, so it was an even trade.

September 30, 1956: The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-6 at Ebbets Field, and clinch the National League Pennant. Duke Snider and Sandy Amoros each hit 2 home runs. Jackie Robinson adds 1, Vern Law is knocked out of the box in the 1st inning, and Don Newcombe gets the win.

As it turns out, Jackie's home run is the last he will hit, and this is the last Pennant won by a National League team in New York City for 13 years.

Also on this day, Mickey Mantle finishes a season in which he batted .353, hit 52 home runs, and had 130 RBIs. He led both Leagues in all 3 categories, and that hasn't happened since. He was the 2nd Yankee, after Gehrig, to win the Triple Crown. None has done it since. Babe Ruth didn't do it. Nor did Joe DiMaggio, nor Reggie Jackson, nor Don Mattingly, nor Derek Jeter, nor Alex Rodriguez.

Also on this day, the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Wayne Belardi hits a home run, and Billy Hoeft wins his 20th game of the season.

The losing pitcher is Bob Feller, who falls to 0-4 on the season, and 266-162 for his career, with 2,581 strikeouts, despite missing nearly 4 full seasons due to military service. Nearly 38, this is the last major league appearance for perhaps the best pitcher of his generation. It is interesting that it happens on the 29th Anniversary of Walter Johnson's last appearance.

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September 30, 1964: The Philadelphia Phillies complete what remains the most stunning regular-season collapse in Major League Baseball history, losing their 10th straight game, losing 8-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Tim McCarver hits a home run for the Cards, while Alex Johnson hits one for the Phils.

Ironically, the winning pitcher for the Cards is Curt Simmons, whose drafting into the Korean War in 1950 cost him the chance to pitch for the Phils in their last World Series to this point, in 1950.

Going into the games of September 21, the Phillies led the National League by 6 1/2 games. Now, they are 2 1/2 behind the Cardinals, while the Cincinnati Reds are 1 game back. The Phils have 2 games left, the Cards 3, the Reds 4. The Phils could still win the Pennant if they win their last 2 games, although a 3-way tie for the Pennant is still possible.

Also on this day, Monica Anna Maria Bellucci is born in Città di Castello, Umbria, in Central Italy. One of the most beautiful actresses of her generation, in 2015 she played Lucia Sciarra in the James Bond film Spectre, making her, at 51, the oldest "Bond Girl" ever. She still has the face and the body for it.

September 30, 1966: The Yankees lose 6-5 to the Chicago White Sox in 11 innings at Comiskey Park. In the 9th inning, Roger Maris pinch-hits for Dooley Womack -- yes, the Dooley Womack -- and hits a home run. But a single by Johnny Romano drives in Wayne Causey, and makes a 20-game loser out of Mel Stottlemyre.

This drops the Yankees' record to 68-89, and assures that they will finish in 10th place in the single-division American League. This is the 1st time in 54 years that the Yankees have finished in last place. They have only done so once more, in 1990.

After the season, the final insult of the Webb-Topping regime -- they sold their last shares to CBS soon after -- was delivered, trading Roger even-up to the St. Louis Cardinals for Charlie Smith. And if you're asking, "Who?" I'm answering, "Exactly."

September 30, 1972: The Mets lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0 at Three Rivers Stadium. Roberto Clemente hits a double off Jon Matlack, for his 3,000th career hit. A quote, which may be apocryphal given what happened 3 months later, suggests Roberto's determination: "I have to get that hit this year. I might die."

September 30, 1973: The last game is played at Yankee Stadium before its renovation. The Yankees lose 8-5 to the Detroit Tigers. Duke Sims hits the last home run, but Lindy McDaniel implodes in the 8th inning, allowing 6 runs, making a winning pitcher of John Hiller. The last play is Mike Hegan hitting a fly ball to, appropriately, center field, once patrolled by Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, this ball caught by Mickey Stanley. Attendance: 32,238, in a Stadium whose capacity was then listed as 65,010.

Lasting until 1980, Fred Stanley was the last remaining Yankee who had played a home game at the pre-renovation Stadium, although Bobby Murcer had been traded away and reacquired, and played his last game on June 11, 1983, nearly 10 years later.

After the game, manager Ralph Houk resigns, tired of the meddling of the team's 1st-year owner, George Steinbrenner. The next day, the renovation begins. Claire Ruth, the Babe's widow, receives home plate. Eleanor Gehrig, Lou's widow, receives the 1st base that was used in the last game. The Yankees will play the 1974 and '75 seasons at Shea Stadium, and Yankee Stadium will reopen on April 15, 1976, and will remain open until September 21, 2008.

The 1923-73 version of The Stadium saw 27 Pennants and 20 World Championships in 51 seasons -- the 1st 2 Yankee Pennants coming at the Polo Grounds. The 1976-2008 version saw 10 Pennants and 6 World Championships in 33 seasons.

Also on this day, the Buffalo Bills play their 1st game at their new stadium, south of the city, in suburban Orchard Park, New York. Originally known as Rich Stadium, for the Rich family of meat-product producers, O.J. Simpson and his teammates beat the Jets, 9-7.

The stadium will be renamed Ralph Wilson Stadium for the team's founding owner in 1998, and, in 2015, was renamed New Era Field, as naming rights were bought by the New Era sports cap company. But New Era asked to be let out of the agreement earlier this year, and, this year, the stadium was renamed Highmark Stadium. The Bills' new owners are looking to build a new stadium.

September 30, 1978: Ed Figueroa becomes the 1st pitcher born in Puerto Rico to win 20 games in a season, pitching a 5-hit shutout. The Yankees knock Cleveland starter Mike Paxton out of the box before he can get an out, and Rick Wise pitches the rest of the way, with Reggie Jackson homering off him in the 5th inning. (Mr. October was pretty good in September, too.) Given the boost, Figgy cruises to a 7-0 victory at Yankee Stadium.

The next day is the last day of the regular season. All the Yankees need to do is beat the Indians again, or have the Boston Red Sox lose to the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park, and the Yankees will win their 3rd straight American League Eastern Division title.

They didn't get the win, and they didn't get the Boston loss. It would go to a Playoff at Fenway. Well, we know how that story ends, don't we?

Figueroa was just short of his 30th birthday. In a major league career that lasted from 1974 to 1981, and also included playing for the California Angels, the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics, he went 80-67. He had almost pulled off the feat in his 1st season with the Yankees, 1976, going 19-10 but he did help the Yankees win the Pennant. In 1977, he went 16-11, helping the Yankees win the World Series. He finished the 1978 season 20-9, going 13-2 down the stretch, and a World Champion again.

Injuries struck him, and he was traded. As he did with the '77 Yanks, he helped Billy Martin reach the Playoffs with the '81 A's, but injury prevented him from pitching in the AL Championship Series -- against the Yankees, who won.

Today, almost 73, he owns a pair of restaurants, one in Old San Juan, and one near San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. He remains the only Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. That's got less to do with Puerto Ricans than with the major leagues' switch from the 4-man rotation common in his time to the 5-man rotation in the early 1990s.

September 30, 1979: The Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium. This is the last game for Lou Brock, who goes 0-for-4 to end his career with 3,023 hits and, then a major league record and still a National League record, 938 stolen bases. The Cardinals retire his Number 20.

It is also the last game for Ed Kranepool, the last original Met from 1962. He pinch-hits for pitcher John Pacella in the top of the 7th, and doubles off Bob Forsch. It is the 1,418th hit of his career, which will remain a Met record until surpassed by David Wright. He remains the Mets' all-time leader in games played with 1,853, and in at-bats with 5,436. He hit .261 lifetime, with an OPS+ of 98, and 118 home runs.

The commercial he did for Gillette Foamy was correct: From 1962 to 1970, he batted .227. From 1971 to 1977, he batted .283. Whether he actually shaved every other inning after that, only he knows. He did make the All-Star Team in 1965, and won the World Series with the Mets in 1969 and the Pennant in 1973.

Also on this day, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium, and clinch the NL East title. Willie Stargell, the "Pops" of this "Family," hits a home run to back the pitching of Bruce Kison.

That night, NBC airs a baseball-themed TV movie, The Kid from Left Field, a remake of a 1953 film. Gary Coleman, of the same network's Diff'rent Strokes, plays the son of a former major leaguer now down on his luck, making ends meet as a food vendor for the San Diego Padres, played by Robert Guillaume, of the ABC sitcom Benson. The film also stars Gary Collins, Ed McMahon, Tricia O'Neal, and Tab Hunter, who had been the star of the film version of the musical Damn Yankees.

The 1953 original starred Billy Chapin and Dan Dailey in the Coleman and Guillaume roles, respectively.

Also on this day, Justin Smith (no middle name) is born in Jefferson City, Missouri. A defensive end, he made 5 Pro Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers, and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. He helped the 49ers win the 2012 NFC Championship, although they lost Super Bowl XLVII. He is about to become eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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September 30, 1981, 40 years ago: The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2. It is the last game at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. Pete Mackanin hits a home run for the Twins, but Clint Hurdle of the Royals hits the last home run. The next season, the Twins will move to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

Also on this day, Dominique Helena Moceanu is born in Los Angeles. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team that won the all-around Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

September 30, 1988: The Yankees are eliminated from the American League Eastern Division race, losing to the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Tiger Stadium. They finish only 3 1/2 games behind the Red Sox, but in 5th place behind the Sox, the Tigers, the Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

September 30, 1989: The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at the new SkyDome in Toronto, and clinch the AL East title. The O's, who had lost 107 games the season before, had a remarkable rebound season under their former star player, now manager, Frank Robinson.

They had to sweep the Jays 3 straight in Toronto on the final weekend to win the Division, just as the Yankees had to do in 1985 at the Jays' previous home, Exhibition Stadium. The pattern held, as the O's won the Friday night game. Unfortunately, the pattern held for the rest of the series as well, as the Jays won the Saturday afternoon game before losing the Sunday afternoon game.

This was the last NBC Game of the Week. Aside from a few postseason games from 1995 to 1999, and the 1996 and 1998 All-Star Games, NBC has never televised baseball again.

Also on this day, Neil Young is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. The Toronto native wears 2 Toronto Maple Leafs patches on his jeans, and sings his 1972 anti-drug song "The Needle and the Damage Done" and his current hit, "Rockin' in the Free World."

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September 30, 1990: The Chicago White Sox play the last game at Comiskey Park, closing the 81st and final season of what is, for the moment, Major League Baseball's longest-lasting stadium. Having opened in 1910, it is the last remaining ballpark in which Cy Young pitched. Ironically, the final opponent is the newest team in the American League, the Seattle Mariners.

Longtime coach Minnie Miñoso presents the final lineup card. Mayor Richard M. Daley, son of the longtime Mayor Richard J. Daley, and a lifelong resident of the Bridgeport neighborhood in which Comiskey was built, throws out the ceremonial first ball. (When the new ballpark opens, the first ball will be thrown out by the outgoing Governor, Jim Thompson, who got the bill providing for its construction through the Illinois legislature, thus saving the team from being moved to Tampa Bay.)

The ChiSox trail 1-0 in the bottom of the 6th, but Lance Johnson leads off with a triple, is singled home by rookie sensation Frank Thomas, and Thomas is tripled home by Dan Pasqua, once a highly-touted Yankee prospect who didn't pan out.

That's it for the scoring, as Jack McDowell goes 8 innings, and Bobby Thigpen finishes it off with his 57th save of the season, a new major league record. The last play is Harold Reynolds grounding to 2nd, with Scott Fletcher throwing to 1st, to Steve "Psycho" Lyons, in as a defensive replacement for Thomas. The Pale Hose defeat the M's 2-1.

To a full house of 42,849, organist Nancy Faust plays one last rendition of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" -- to the season (in which the White Sox made a gallant but short run at the AL Western Division title), to the ballpark, and to the fans, who will, with the team, move across the street into the new Comiskey Park the next year. It is now Guaranteed Rate Field.

September 30, 1994: The film The Scout premieres. Albert Brooks plays a scout that the Yankees banish to the Mexican League after one of his signings goes bust. He finds a hotshot pitcher played by Brendan Fraser, who comes with his own problems.

This film is totally fiction, and it's a comedy. Judged on that basis, it's okay. The old Yankee Stadium looks great. And George Steinbrenner does all right playing himself. But if you're looking for Yankee glory, well, look elsewhere.

20th Century Fox scheduled it for release just as the 1994 MLB Playoffs were supposed to begin, but then came the strike. Despite the success of Ken Burns' nostalgia-tugging Baseball documentary
miniseries on PBS, nobody was interested in spending $4.00 to watch a baseball movie. It would have been better if they had held the film back until the following Summer.

September 30, 1995: The FleetCenter opens in Boston, right behind the Boston Garden. The new home of the NBA's Celtics and the NHL's Bruins is now named the TD Garden.

September 30, 1999: The San Francisco Giants, who nearly moved because Candlestick Park was so bad, to Toronto for 1976 and to Tampa Bay for 1993, finally play their last game at the big wind tunnel. They lose to their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-4. Marvin Bernard homers for the Giants, but Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers hits the last home run, making a winner of Jeff Williams over Shawn Estes.

The Giants will move into what is now named Oracle Park. The difference? Besides the location, the transport access, the sight lines, and the atmosphere (both literal and figurative) all being far better? In 40 seasons at The 'Stick, the Giants made 5 postseasons, winning 2 Pennants, and no World Series. In their 1st 21 seasons at The Phone Booth, they've made 7 postseasons, winning 3 Pennants, and taking the World Series all 3 times.

September 30, 2007: One of the darkest days in Mets history. This is the game that got Tom Glavine branded "The Manchurian Brave" by Met fans.

Having led the NL East by 7 games with 17 to go, the Mets have collapsed, but they go into the regular-season finale, against the Florida Marlins at Shea Stadium, needing a win or a Philadelphia Phillies loss to clinch their 2nd straight NL East title, and a win or a Colorado Rockies loss to at least win the 1 Wild Card available at the time.

Glavine starts. He walks Hanley Ramirez. He gets Dan Uggla to ground into a force play at 2nd base. So far, not terrible. But the roof caves in. He gives up a single to Jeremy Hermida. He gives up a single to Miguel Cabrera, scoring Ramirez. He gives up a double to Cody Ross, and when the ball comes back to him in the infield, he tries to throw Ross out at 3rd, and makes a bad throw, and Ross becomes the 3rd run of the at-bat.

He allows a single to Mike Jacobs. He walks Matt Treanor. He gives up a single to future Met Alejandro de Aza, loading the bases. He faces the opposing starting pitcher, Dontrelle Willis, and hits him, forcing Jacobs in. Manager Willie Randolph has seen enough, and removes him with the score 5-0. He'd faced all 9 batters in the Marlin starting lineup, and had gotten exactly 1 of them out.

Jorge Sosa is the new pitcher, and he strikes Ramirez out. But he allows a double to Uggla, who drives in Treanor and de Aza, both of whose runs are charged to Glavine. When he finally gets Hermida to ground to 1st, it is Marlins 7, Mets 0.

By the time the game mercifully ends, the Mets have used 8 pitchers, and lost 8-1. The Phillies beat the Nationals, 6-1 at Citizens Bank Park, and win a Playoff berth and the Division for the 1st time in 14 years. And the Rockies complete their own amazing surge, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-3 at Coors Field. It's not enough to win them the NL West, but it's enough to get them a tie with the San Diego Padres for the Wild Card berth, instead of it going to the Mets.

"I'm not devastated," Glavine says after the game. "I'm disappointed, but devastation is for much greater things in life." Feeling pretty devastated themselves, Met fans never forgive him for this, and he never pitches for them again. He is released, and returns to Atlanta for a final season.

One of the pitchers the Mets used was former Yankee star Orlando Hernández, who pitches the 3rd inning, allowing 2 long fly outs, a triple to Willis, and then a foul pop to end the threat. It turns out to be the last MLB appearance of El Duque's career.

Also on this day, the Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 3-0 at Minute Maid Park. It is the last game for future Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio, who goes 1-for-4.

All the way across the country from Shea, Met legend Mike Piazza plays his last game on this day. He leads off the bottom of the 9th for the Oakland Athletics, who are tied with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at the Oakland Coliseum. He singles, and is replaced by pinch-runner Shannon Stewart. Marco Scutaro bunts Stewart over to 2nd. Jack Hannahan singles to load the bases with nobody out. Kurt Suzuki singles to give the A's a 3-2 win. So Piazza is far luckier on this day than his old team is.

September 30, 2016: The Golden 1 Center opens in downtown Sacramento, built to save the NBA's Sacramento Kings from moving. They almost moved to Anaheim in 2012 and Seattle in 2013, before the deal to build this new arena, to replace the Sleep Train (formerly ARCO) Arena, was done in 2014.