October 13, 1996, 25 years ago: The Yankees win the American League Pennant. As with their regular season, it wasn't easy.
On October 1, at Yankee Stadium, they began the Playoffs in the American League Division Series. It was the 1st postseason game in the 25-year history of the Texas Rangers, and they were not intimidated by the power of the current Yankee team, or by the legacy of Yankee Stadium. A 5-run 4th inning included home runs by Juan Gonzalez and Dean Palmer off David Cone, and the Rangers win, 6-2.
Suddenly, what had been a magical season for the Yankees was in serious jeopardy. The Rangers looked like they're in control, especially after they take a 4-1 lead in he 3rd inning of Game 2 -- with Games 3 and, if necessary, 4 and 5 in Arlington.
Juan Gonzalez hit his 3rd homer of the series, a drive down the left-field line that was pulled into foul territory by a fan reaching across the foul pole. In other words, the fan did the exact opposite of what Jeffrey Maier does a week later. This yutz was soon caught a by Fox Sports camera, yammering on his mobile phone, about what he did and how he's on TV. I'm surprised he didn't get the crap beaten out of him, right there in the stands.
But the Yankees bounced back, tied it up, and sent it to extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Charlie Hayes attempted to bunt Derek Jeter over to 3rd base (and Tim Raines to 2nd). Ranger 3rd baseman Dean Palmer, who had homered in Game 1, threw the ball away, allowing Jeter to score the winning run. Yankees 5, Rangers 4.
The Rangers would not win another game that counted until April 1, 1997, and would not win another postseason game until October 6, 2010. In Game 3, Gonzalez hit his 4th home run of the series, but Bernie Williams hit the 1st homer of what became an epic postseason for him, and the Yankees won, 3-2, to take a 2-1 lead. On October 5, the Yankees closed the ALDS out. Bernie and Gonzalez of the Rangers each hit 5 home runs in the series, tying a postseason record. "Burn Baby Bern" hit 2, and "Juan Gone" 1, but the Yankees won, 6-4.
But the Yankees bounced back, tied it up, and sent it to extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Charlie Hayes attempted to bunt Derek Jeter over to 3rd base (and Tim Raines to 2nd). Ranger 3rd baseman Dean Palmer, who had homered in Game 1, threw the ball away, allowing Jeter to score the winning run. Yankees 5, Rangers 4.
The Rangers would not win another game that counted until April 1, 1997, and would not win another postseason game until October 6, 2010. In Game 3, Gonzalez hit his 4th home run of the series, but Bernie Williams hit the 1st homer of what became an epic postseason for him, and the Yankees won, 3-2, to take a 2-1 lead. On October 5, the Yankees closed the ALDS out. Bernie and Gonzalez of the Rangers each hit 5 home runs in the series, tying a postseason record. "Burn Baby Bern" hit 2, and "Juan Gone" 1, but the Yankees won, 6-4.
The Yankees moved on to the AL Championship Series, against the Orioles, whom they had beaten for the AL Eastern Division title, but had won the AL's Wild Card berth. (Only 1 per League from 1995 to 2011.) They had the Iron Man, Cal Ripken Jr.; veteran 1st baseman Eddie Murray, who had returned to the team after a few years away, and had joined the 500 Home Run Club and the 3,000 Hit Club; and pitching ace Mike Mussina, all future Hall-of-Famers.
They also had Rafael Palmeiro (proven in 2005 to be a steroid user), Brady Anderson (almost certainly a steroid user, because the 50 homers he had that year far outpaced his previous high of 21 and his next-best later total of 24), and Bobby Bonilla (never proven a steroid user but the guy had some incidents that suggest "roid rage").
Game 1 was held at the original Yankee Stadium on October 9. The Yankees trailed the Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th. The big, scowling, fearsome Armando Benitez was on the mound for the Orioles. He did not yet have a reputation as a pitcher who chokes in the clutch. He pitched to Jeter, the Yankees' rookie shortstop.
Jeter, as he would so often do, used an inside-out swing to send the ball to right-center field. Oriole right fielder Tony Tarasco went back, stood at the fence, and held up his glove. But he didn't jump for it. He should have, because, then, he would have had a case for interference.
Instead, Jeffrey Maier, a 12-year-old kid from nearby Old Tappan, Bergen County, New Jersey, stuck out his glove and caught the ball. (Not really: Bringing it back over the fence, he dropped it, and never got it.) The Orioles argued interference, but had a weak case. The game was tied, and Bernie won it with a home run in the 11th.
The Orioles were managed by Davey Johnson, who, 10 years earlier, had managed the Mets to New York baseball's most recent Pennant. He could have told his players that they couldn't change what happened, but they could win Game 2 -- which they did -- and then have the advantage going back to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the next 3 games.
Instead, he lost his cool, and had them all convinced they were robbed. It got into their heads, and they dropped all 3 games at home.
They led Game 3, 2-1 in the top of the 8th. But Jeter doubled, and was singled home by Bernie to tie it. Tino Martinez doubled, sending Bernie to 3rd base. Todd Zeile -- a good hitter who had homered earlier in the game, but would go on to make more errors than any other player in the 1990s -- took the relay throw from left field, and faked throwing to 2nd... and, in the process, dropped the ball, rolling toward Ripken. Bernie saw this, took off and scored, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
This may have rattled Mussina, who'd been dueling pretty well with Jimmy Key until now. He hung a curveball to Cecil Fielder, who hung it into the left field stands. That made it 5-2 Yankees, and that turned out to be the final score. The Yankees won Game 4 when Darryl Strawberry hit 2 home runs, and homers were added by Bernie and Paul O'Neill.
Game 5, October 13: The Yanks scored all of their runs in the 3rd inning‚ which featured homers by Jim Leyritz‚ Fielder‚ and Strawberry. Scott Erickson gave up all 3 homers in one inning‚ a first in LCS play. Bonilla‚ Zeile‚ and Murray homered for the O's. But it didn't matter: The Yankees won, 6-4‚ giving them the Pennant, 4 games to 1.
The last out of the game was a bit of a torch-passing moment: Ripken, the top shortstop in the game, and the face of the Oriole franchise for the last few years and possibly for the rest of his life, hit a ground ball to the Yankee shortstop, Jeter, who goes on to become the face of the Yankee franchise. Jeter threw to Tino at 1st, and Ripken, desperate to keep the series alive, slides head-first. He was too late, and the Yankees had their 1st Pennant in 15 years.
There's another torch-passing: From Johnson to the Yankees' manager, is Joe Torre, who, after 4,279 combined games as a player and a manager, more than anyone who's never participated in a World Series in either role, had finally made it.
I'll never forget (and this is another torch-passer) Reggie Jackson, in the Yankee dugout, with a big smile, giving Joe a big hug, and Joe trying to maintain his composure as Mr. October gives him his long-worked-for due.
However, after the game, Reggie is interviewed in the locker room, and he speaks a truth he knows full well: "They've got another leg to go. They've got another lap to make. Not done yet." He is right: There's still the matter of winning 4 more games against either the Cardinals or the Braves.
The Orioles, who last won a Pennant 13 years earlier, were frustrated, not in the least because of the Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1. However, they lost all 3 home games in the series, and a team that can't defend its home field in the Playoffs needs to zip their lips.
The Orioles, who last won a Pennant 13 years earlier, were frustrated, not in the least because of the Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1. However, they lost all 3 home games in the series, and a team that can't defend its home field in the Playoffs needs to zip their lips.
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October 13, 1862: In a game against Unions of Morrisania (now part of The Bronx), Jim Creighton of the Brooklyn-based Excelsiors hits a home run in the 6th inning, after doubling in each of his 1st 4 times at bat.
When he crosses home plate, the 21-year old Brooklynite complains of having broken his belt. It turns out to be a suspected ruptured inguinal hernia, caused by the torque created by his all upper-body hard swing with the bat. Medicine being what it was during the years of the American Civil War, he dies in agony 5 days later.
Creighton was the first true baseball superstar, and his monument in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery is rather outlandish. Had this not happened to him, he could have lived to see baseball in the 20th Century.
October 13, 1876: George Edward Waddell is born in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It's hard to describe Rube Waddell, as he was one of a kind. That's probably a good thing.
Early in his career, most of which was spent with the Philadelphia Athletics, he left the pitcher's mound in midgame, to go fishing. He had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks, and had run off the field to chase after them -- again, during games. He was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies or shiny objects, which seemed to put him in a trance on the mound.
An alcoholic for much of his short adult life, he reported spent his entire first signing bonus on a drinking binge. The Sporting News called him "the sousepaw." He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. His eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers, and scuffles with bad-tempered teammates.
His usual catcher, Ossee Schreckengost, was assigned to room with him. In those days, teams were usually either so hard-up for cash, or so cheap, that they rented rooms with 1 bed each, and forced the players to sleep in the same bed. One day, "Schreck" went to see manager and part-owner Connie Mack, and told him that he would quit baseball if it wasn't written into Waddell's contract that he couldn't eat crackers in bed. (Thus possibly inspiring a "Bert and Ernie" sketch on Sesame Street.) Mack agreed.
Explanations for Rube's weird behavior have ranged from him being retarded, to autism, to his having, as one more recent reviewer of his life put it, the worst case of attention-deficit disorder he'd ever known.
But, on the mound, he was a genius. He pitched 6 seasons for the A's, 1902 to 1907, and led both Leagues in strikeouts all 6 times. In 1904, he struck out 349 batters, a major league record until Sandy Koufax got 382 in 1965, and an American League record until Nolan Ryan got 383 in 1973. (For many years, it was recorded as 343, making Bob Feller's 348 in 1946 the presumed AL record.) The A's won the Pennant in 1902, and again in 1905, a season in which Rube led the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts, a feat now considered the Triple Crown of pitching.
But in 1908, even the kindly and pitching-concerned Mack could no longer ignore his players' inability to handle Rube's eccentricities, and he sold Rube to the St. Louis Browns for $5,000. That season, Rube struck out 16 batters in a game, an AL record until Feller fanned 17 in a 1936 game. But his drinking got worse, and he last pitched in 1910, finishing 193-146, with 2,316 strikeouts, then more than any pitcher except Cy Young.
It wasn't alcoholism or non-understanding teammates or even a jealous husband or boyfriend -- he said he'd lost track of how many women he'd married, but it was at least 3 -- but tuberculosis. He died on the eve of the 1914 season, just 37 years old. Schreckengost outlived him by only 3 months, dying at 39 from uremia, which could be properly treated once antibiotics were invented, but not then.
More than half a century later, Casey Stengel, who'd batted against Waddell, compared him with Feller and Koufax, saying, "You can forget about Feller. You can forget Waddell. The Jewish kid is the greatest of them all." That Casey was willing to remind people of how great Rube was, so long after he was gone, says something. So does the fact that he was willing to compare Rube to Feller and Koufax. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
Also on this day, William Edward Donovan is born outside Boston in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The pitcher went 186-139 in a major league career that lasted from 1898 to 1918, including winning National League Pennants with the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) in 1899 and 1900, and American League Pennants with the Detroit Tigers in 1907, 1908 and 1909.
"Wild Bill" managed the Yankees in 1915, '16 and '17, making him the 1st manager hired by new owner Jacob Ruppert. "The Colonel" fired him and replaced him with Miller Huggins, and the rest is history. He briefly managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1921, and, as manager of the New Haven Profs was on a train going to the winter meetings in Chicago on December 9, 1923, when it crashed in Ripley, New York, killing him at age 47.
October 13, 1889: The Brooklyn Bridegrooms -- so named because 4 of their players had gotten married during the 1887-88 off-season -- defeat the Columbus Solons, 2-1 at Recreation Park in Columbus. This clinches the American Association Pennant for the 'Grooms.
In 1890, the Brooklyn club will join the National League, and win the Pennant again. They will win 12 NL Pennants, making 13 in total. They will use various names, until 1932, when they will formally adopt a nickname they'd been informally called almost since the beginning, since Brooklynites were known for having to dodge the many trolleys that crossed the Borough: The Brooklyn Dodgers.
October 13, 1899: The Louisville Colonels score 4 runs in the 9th to take a 6-5 lead over the Pirates‚ but heavy black smoke from the Pittsburgh steel mills spills over the field, and the game is called because of poor visibility. The score reverts to what it was at the end of the previous inning: Pirates 5, Colonels 2. The Colonels, led by shortstop Honus Wagner, end the season today in 9th place, at 75-77.
This turns out to be their last game, as the NL contracts from 12 to 8 teams for the 1900 season. The Pirates' owners buy the Colonels franchise, lock, stock and Honus, and will win 4 of the next 10 NL Pennants, and will at least be in the race for most of the rest. Louisville has since been one of the top minor-league cities of the last 120 years, but it has never returned to the major leagues.
Charlie Emig, a lefthanded pitcher from Cincinnati, who started 1 game for the Colonels in 1896, was not only the club's last surviving player, but also the last surviving man who had played a Major League Baseball (as we would now call it) game in the 19th Century. He died on October 2, 1975, age 100.
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October 13, 1903: The Boston Americans, forerunners of the Red Sox, win the 1st World Series, 5 games to 3, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 in Game 8. Hobe Ferris singles home 2 runs in the 4th, and Bill Dineen, pitching his 3rd win of the Series, outduels Deacon Phillippe, pitching his 5th complete game. Boston is the champion of the baseball world.
As with my previous mention of the 1904 Americans/Red Sox, the last survivor was shortstop Freddy Parent, who lived on until 1972. Right fielder Tommy Leach was the last surviving 1903 Pirate, living until 1969.
October 13, 1914 The Boston Braves defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-1, at Fenway Park in Game 4, and complete the 1st-ever sweep of a World Series. The "Miracle Braves" completed one of the most amazing seasons any baseball team had ever had, although it is nearly forgotten now, partly because of the passage of time, meaning that just about everybody who attended a game of theirs is now dead (if not, he would probably be at least 110 years old), and partly because the Braves have since moved twice.
The Braves -- so named because team owner James Gaffney was a "Brave," an official in New York's Tammany Hall Democratic political machine -- were in last place on July 4, but went on a tear, and won the Pennant by 10 1/2 games over the 3-time defending Champion New York Giants. Then they demolished the A's, who had won 3 of the last 4 World Series.
They were managed by George Stallings, and had 2 future Hall-of-Famers: Johnny Evers, the 2nd baseman who had starred on the Chicago Cub Pennant winners of 1906-07-08-10, and Walter "Rabbit" Maranville, a rookie who would go on to be known for slick fielding and heavy drinking. Catcher Hank Gowdy was also considered a star. Their leading hitters were 1st baseman Butch Schmidt and left fielder Joe Connolly, while their top pitchers were Dick Rudolph, Bill James (no relation to the baseball stats guru of the same name) and Cuban star Adolfo "Dolf" Luque.
The Braves had abandoned their 43-year-old home field, the antiquated and too-small South End Grounds, in August 1914, choosing to rent Fenway from the Sox while awaiting construction of Braves field, which would seat 40,000 when it opened in August 1915. When the Sox won the Pennant in 1915, 1916 and 1918, the Braves returned the favor of 1914 by letting the Sox play their Series games at Braves Field. Despite the Sox winning 3 Pennants in 4 years, there were no World Series games played at Fenway between 1912 and 1946.
Fighting the rise of salaries caused by the Federal League, A's owner-manager Connie Mack sold off most of his stars after this Series, ending a run of 4 Pennants and 3 World Championships in 5 seasons. In fact, he had won 6 of the 1st 14 AL Pennants and was in the race nearly every year. In 1915, the A's would collapse to last place, and in 1916 they would produce a record of 36-117, the most losses in the major leagues between the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and the 1962 New York Mets, and still the lowest winning percentage since 1899, .235.
The Braves would not be unable to maintain their prosperity, either. They finished 2nd in 1915 and 3rd in '16, but in '17, Gowdy became the 1st big-leaguer to enlist in World War I. (In fact, he would go on to become the only big-leaguer to serve in that war and World War II.)
Like the A's, the Braves would go on to become symbolic of baseball frustration: From 1917 to 1932, the Braves would have one season above .500, and 4 seasons of at least 100 losses. A 4th-place finish in 1933 was followed by a 38-115 season in 1935, a .248 winning percentage that’s the lowest in baseball in the last 98 years and the lowest in the NL in 115, even less than the 40-120 '62 Mets' .250. Not until 1947 would they get back into a Pennant race, not until 1948 would they win another Pennant, and by the time they won another World Series, 1957, they would be in Milwaukee, and the Red Sox would be in Boston all alone.
Braves Field saw only 1 more Series, in 1948. It has not been totally demolished: The right field pavilion is now Nickerson Field, the sports stadium for Boston University, and the iconic Spanish-style ticket booth is now BU's police headquarters. Like Fenway, it can be seen from the Massachusetts Turnpike.
October 13, 1915: The Red Sox beat the Phillies 5-4 in Game 5, and win the World Series. The Sox would get to the next World Series, and another 2 years later. The Phillies would not get to another for 35 years.
This would be the last game in a Boston uniform for their superstar center fielder, Tris Speaker, who is soon traded to the Cleveland Indians. The trade doesn't hurt the Sox much, though, as a new star had his 1st full season in 1915, although he did not appear in the Series: Babe Ruth.
The last survivor of the 1915 Red Sox was pitcher Smokey Joe Wood, who lived until 1985.
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October 13, 1920: La Raine Johnson is born in Roosevelt, Utah. By the late 1930s, she was acting under various names, eventually settling on "Laraine Day." Her 2nd husband was baseball manager Leo Durocher, and she hosted the TV pregame show Day With the Giants.
The Braves -- so named because team owner James Gaffney was a "Brave," an official in New York's Tammany Hall Democratic political machine -- were in last place on July 4, but went on a tear, and won the Pennant by 10 1/2 games over the 3-time defending Champion New York Giants. Then they demolished the A's, who had won 3 of the last 4 World Series.
They were managed by George Stallings, and had 2 future Hall-of-Famers: Johnny Evers, the 2nd baseman who had starred on the Chicago Cub Pennant winners of 1906-07-08-10, and Walter "Rabbit" Maranville, a rookie who would go on to be known for slick fielding and heavy drinking. Catcher Hank Gowdy was also considered a star. Their leading hitters were 1st baseman Butch Schmidt and left fielder Joe Connolly, while their top pitchers were Dick Rudolph, Bill James (no relation to the baseball stats guru of the same name) and Cuban star Adolfo "Dolf" Luque.
The Braves had abandoned their 43-year-old home field, the antiquated and too-small South End Grounds, in August 1914, choosing to rent Fenway from the Sox while awaiting construction of Braves field, which would seat 40,000 when it opened in August 1915. When the Sox won the Pennant in 1915, 1916 and 1918, the Braves returned the favor of 1914 by letting the Sox play their Series games at Braves Field. Despite the Sox winning 3 Pennants in 4 years, there were no World Series games played at Fenway between 1912 and 1946.
Fighting the rise of salaries caused by the Federal League, A's owner-manager Connie Mack sold off most of his stars after this Series, ending a run of 4 Pennants and 3 World Championships in 5 seasons. In fact, he had won 6 of the 1st 14 AL Pennants and was in the race nearly every year. In 1915, the A's would collapse to last place, and in 1916 they would produce a record of 36-117, the most losses in the major leagues between the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and the 1962 New York Mets, and still the lowest winning percentage since 1899, .235.
The Braves would not be unable to maintain their prosperity, either. They finished 2nd in 1915 and 3rd in '16, but in '17, Gowdy became the 1st big-leaguer to enlist in World War I. (In fact, he would go on to become the only big-leaguer to serve in that war and World War II.)
Like the A's, the Braves would go on to become symbolic of baseball frustration: From 1917 to 1932, the Braves would have one season above .500, and 4 seasons of at least 100 losses. A 4th-place finish in 1933 was followed by a 38-115 season in 1935, a .248 winning percentage that’s the lowest in baseball in the last 98 years and the lowest in the NL in 115, even less than the 40-120 '62 Mets' .250. Not until 1947 would they get back into a Pennant race, not until 1948 would they win another Pennant, and by the time they won another World Series, 1957, they would be in Milwaukee, and the Red Sox would be in Boston all alone.
Braves Field saw only 1 more Series, in 1948. It has not been totally demolished: The right field pavilion is now Nickerson Field, the sports stadium for Boston University, and the iconic Spanish-style ticket booth is now BU's police headquarters. Like Fenway, it can be seen from the Massachusetts Turnpike.
The last survivor from the 1914 Braves was shortstop Jack Martin. A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, he later lived in the Shore town of Brick, and died in 1980, a few days after attending Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium. At the time of his death, he was also the last living New York Highlander (as the Yankees were called until 1912), and the oldest living Phillie.
The Atlanta Braves hardly even acknowledge their Boston past, as none of the Braves' 4 National Association and 11 National League Pennants, including the 1914 World Series title, were acknowledged with the Pennants on the façade of the left-field stands at Turner Field. (Nor are their 1957 World Series and 1958 Pennant win from Milwaukee. It remains to be seen how, if at all, they will display their pre-Atlanta history at SunTrust Park.) The closest the Braves come to honoring their Boston history in any way is the retired Number 21 of Warren Spahn, who debuted with Boston 28 years after the last Boston title.
From 1871 (the founding year of the National Association) through 1914, the Boston Red Stockings/Beaneaters/Rustlers/Doves/Braves won 13 Pennants in 44 years, an enviable achievement that marked them as the most successful sports franchise in North America to that point. In the 102 years since, they've won a grand total of 8 -- only 3 in the 76 seasons from 1915 to 1990. In Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, they have been one of the more underachieving sports franchises of the last 100 years. Maybe their World Series wins of 1957 and 1995 were the real "miracles."
From 1871 (the founding year of the National Association) through 1914, the Boston Red Stockings/Beaneaters/Rustlers/Doves/Braves won 13 Pennants in 44 years, an enviable achievement that marked them as the most successful sports franchise in North America to that point. In the 102 years since, they've won a grand total of 8 -- only 3 in the 76 seasons from 1915 to 1990. In Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, they have been one of the more underachieving sports franchises of the last 100 years. Maybe their World Series wins of 1957 and 1995 were the real "miracles."
Also on this day, Franklin Whitman Hayes is born in Jamesburg, Middlesex County, New Jersey. A catcher, Frankie Hayes was just 18 years old when he debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1933. In a 1936 game, hit tied the major league record by hitting 4 doubles. He made 6 All-Star Games, but never appeared in a World Series.
He last played in 1947, and moved to the Jersey Shore town of Point Pleasant Borough, in Ocean County, opening a sporting goods store. But he died in 1955, only 40 years old, of a stomach ailment.
October 13, 1915: The Red Sox beat the Phillies 5-4 in Game 5, and win the World Series. The Sox would get to the next World Series, and another 2 years later. The Phillies would not get to another for 35 years.
This would be the last game in a Boston uniform for their superstar center fielder, Tris Speaker, who is soon traded to the Cleveland Indians. The trade doesn't hurt the Sox much, though, as a new star had his 1st full season in 1915, although he did not appear in the Series: Babe Ruth.
The last survivor of the 1915 Red Sox was pitcher Smokey Joe Wood, who lived until 1985.
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October 13, 1920: La Raine Johnson is born in Roosevelt, Utah. By the late 1930s, she was acting under various names, eventually settling on "Laraine Day." Her 2nd husband was baseball manager Leo Durocher, and she hosted the TV pregame show Day With the Giants.
Despite marrying 3 times, and being married to Durocher with his myriad immoralities, she remained a devout Mormon until her death in 2007. She had 5 children, none with Leo the Lip. Leo died in 1991, and when he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994, she gave his induction speech. By this point, her all-but-retirement from acting to raise her children with her 3rd husband, and her long support for Richard Nixon and other Republican causes, meant that anybody who attended that ceremony -- including myself, there for Phil Rizzuto -- knew her only as a former Mrs. Durocher.
October 13, 1921, 100 years ago: For the last time, the World Series is a best-5-out-of-9 affair. Game 8 is played at the Polo Grounds, home for one more season after this of both the National League's Giants and the American League's Yankees. George "Highpockets" Kelly of the Giants hits a ball through the legs of Yankee shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh in the 1st, scoring a run. It is the 1st time Peckinpaugh has blown it in a Series game, but it will not be the last.
The game is still 1-0 in the 9th, when Aaron Ward draws a walk with 1 out. Frank "Home Run" Baker, previously a Series star for Connie Mack's A's against the Giants, hits a line shot that Giant 2nd baseman Johnny Rawlings snares, and throws to 1st to get Baker with the 2nd out. Ward, thinking the ball had gone through, heads for 3rd base, and Kelly throws across the infield to Frankie Frisch, and Ward is out on the double play. That's the game, and the 1st "Subway Series" (although the term wouldn't be used until the Yankee-Giant Series of 1936 and '37), as the Giants win, 5 games to 3.
For the Giants, it is their 2nd World Series win, their 1st since 1905. For Giants manager John McGraw, it is proof that his scrappy, run-scratching, pitching-and-defense-leading style of baseball, is better than the Yankee style, which is to get guys on base and wait for someone (most likely Babe Ruth, who was ineffective in this Series) to hit a home run. For the Yankees, their 1st World Series ends in disappointment. They will, however, be back.
The last survivor of the '21 Giants was Kelly, who died on October 13, 1984, exactly 63 years after this triumph.
Also on this day, Louis Henry Saban is born in Brookfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He played linebacker for Paul Brown on the Cleveland Browns, winning all 4 All-America Football Conference titles, 1946 to '49.
He did not play in the NFL. Rather, when the Browns joined in 1950, Saban was offered the head coaching job at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University. Like later coaches Larry Brown in basketball and Harry Redknapp in soccer, he would be known for never staying at a single job for very long.
His last head coaching job was in 2002, at Chowan University, a Division II school in North Carolina. In between, he would be the head coach at Northwestern, Western Illinois, Maryland, Miami University (of Ohio), Army, Central Florida, SUNY-Canton, the Boston Patriots, the Denver Broncos, and the Buffalo Bills on 2 separate occasions.
He is the only man ever to coach the Bills in a season in which they went as far as the rules would allow them to go, winning the 1964 and '65 American Football League Championships. Typical Bills luck, these would be the last 2 AFL Champions who would not face the NFL Champions in a world championship game, a.k.a. the Super Bowl.
Lou died in 2009. He was elected to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, but not yet the Pro Football Hall of Fame as he deserves. You may know him best as the father of Nick Saban, winner of National Championships at Louisiana State and Alabama.
Also on this day, Ivo Livi is born in Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy. The family escaped Italy's fascist regime, and moved to Marseille, France. He began singing in music halls, under the French name Yves Montand, and was discovered by Édith Piaf. He became one of Europe's biggest actors, living until 1991.
October 13, 1922: Clifton Nathaniel is born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and grows up in Chicago. At some point, his name was reversed to Nathaniel Clifton, shortened to Nat, and his life of soda got him nicknamed Sweetwater. He played for 3 legendary teams in black American sports: Baseball's Chicago American Giants, and basketball's New York Renaissance and Harlem Globetrotters.
Basketball had 3 "Jackie Robinsons." The way it worked out, Chuck Cooper was the 1st black player drafted by an NBA team, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton was the 1st signed to a contract, and Earl Lloyd was the 1st who actually got into a game. Lloyd made his debut on October 31, 1950, Cooper the next day, and Clifton 3 days after that.
Clifton was already 28 when he made his Knicks debut, but in his 1st seasons, 1950-51, 1951-52, and 1952-53, the Knicks won the Eastern Division Championship. But they lost the NBA Finals all 3 times.
He was named an All-Star in 1957 -- at age 34.
He became a cabdriver in New York, died in 1990, and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. He is also a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Considering his significance to their history, and how rarely it's given out, maybe the Knicks should retire his Number 8.
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October 13, 1931, 90 years ago: Edwin Lee Mathews is born in Texarkana, Texas, and grows up in Santa Barbara, California. The Hall-of-Famer is the only man to have played for the Braves in Boston (his rookie season, 1952, was their last there), Milwaukee (all 13 years the franchise played there) and Atlanta (their first season there, 1966, was his last with the team).
October 13, 1931, 90 years ago: Edwin Lee Mathews is born in Texarkana, Texas, and grows up in Santa Barbara, California. The Hall-of-Famer is the only man to have played for the Braves in Boston (his rookie season, 1952, was their last there), Milwaukee (all 13 years the franchise played there) and Atlanta (their first season there, 1966, was his last with the team).
His 47 home runs in 1953 was a franchise record, tied by teammate Hank Aaron in 1971, until Andruw Jones broke it with 51 in 2005. Mathews hit a 10th-inning walkoff home run to give the Braves Game 4 of the 1957 World Series, which they would win in 7 games. He hit his 500th career home run as a Houston Astro in 1967, finished his career as a World Champion with 512 home runs with the 1968 Detroit Tigers, and managed Aaron when he became the all-time home run leader in 1974.
The Braves retired Mathews' Number 41, and along with Mike Schmidt, George Brett and Brooks Robinson, he is one of the top 4 3rd basemen of all time -- or one of the top 5, if you count Alex Rodriguez as a 3rd baseman (and if you don't disqualify him for steroids use).
As great as Eddie was, he was not the greatest sports legend born on that day. That would be Raymond Kopasewski (no middle name), born in Nœux-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais, France. A son of Polish immigrants, he shortened his name to Raymond Kopa, became an attacking midfielder, and helped Stade Reims win France's top division of soccer in 1953 and 1955. "The Napoleon of Football" helped them win the Latin Cup, the closest thing there was at the time to a European Cup/Champions League, in 1953. In 1956, he led them into the 1st European Cup Final, against Real Madrid, but lost.
Real must have seen something they liked, because they bought Kopa, and he helped them win La Liga in 1957 and 1958, and the European Cup in 1957, 1958 and 1959. In 1958, he helped France reach 3rd place at the World Cup (their best finish until winning it 1998), and was awarded the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball, for world player of the year). Real sold him back to Reims, and he led them to League titles in 1960 and 1962.
In 1970, France awarded him its Legion d'honneur, the 1st soccer player to receive the nation's highest honor. He died on March 3, 2017, at age 85.
October 13, 1935: Bruce Meyerowitz is born in Brooklyn. You may not know his real name, and you may not know his face, but if you lived anywhere near New York in the 1960s and '70s, you know his voice.
He knew that having a Jewish name would hurt him in his chosen business, radio. (Maybe: Burton Mitchell Goldberg became B. Mitchell Reed. But maybe not: Jacob Spector became Jack Spector, and dropped a lot of Yiddish words on the air, and it didn't seem to hurt him. Both of them were from Brooklyn, too.) He told his then-girlfriend's mother that he was going to change his name for radio, and she told him to at least pick one with the same initial. So he opened a phone book to M, closed his eyes, and pointed. His finger landed on "Morrow." So he became Bruce Morrow.
That became his legal name, but it's not the name by which people would know him. In 1958, soon after joining legendary New York rock station WINS (they went all-news in 1964), a woman asked him, "Do you believe all people are related?" He said yes. She said, "Well, cousin, could you give me 50 cents for the bus?" He did. The word "cousin" stood out to him, and he started calling himself "Cousin Brucie" on the air. Best 50 cents he ever spent. (About $4.36 in 2018 money.)
From 1961 to 1974, he had the evening show on WABC, becoming the best-known disc jockey in the Eastern U.S. In 1971, afternoon host Dan Ingram complained that WABC was "only the 13th-ranked station... in Pittsburgh!" Which is 400 miles away.
When competitor WNBC hired the best-known DJ in the Western U.S., Robert Smith, a.k.a. Wolfman Jack, it was with the expressed purpose of breaking Brucie's stranglehold on the ratings. It failed. But Brucie was having problems with WABC, so WNBC struck while the iron was hot, and lured him away, giving him the Wolfman's slot, and keeping him until 1977, when Brucie decided that he'd had enough of the business.
As it turned out, what he'd really had enough of was not being able to call his own shots. He started buying small radio stations in New York State. From 1982 to 2005, given free reign by program director Joe McCoy (himself a former DJ on the station), he hosted a show on oldies station WCBS-FM on Saturday nights. He then moved to Sirius Satellite Radio, but is now back on WABC. So, as in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s, if you've got a request, "Give the Cuz a buzz."
What does he have to do with sports? Not much, although disc jockeys are sometimes called "jocks." In the 1960s, WABC called their DJs "the All-Americans," in response to rival WMCA (featuring the aforementioned Reed and Spector) calling theirs "The Good Guys." When the Mets started in 1962, they did a cross-promotion with the WABC jocks, including Brucie. Always a Brooklynite (though he has long lived in the northern suburbs of The City), he was a Dodger fan, and made the adjustment to the Mets, though giving the Yankees their due when they win.
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October 13, 1941, 80 years ago: Jimmie William Price (not "James") is born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A catcher, he played for the Detroit Tigers from 1967 to 1971, as backup to All-Star Bill Freehan. He only batted .214 lifetime, but he did fairly get a World Series ring in 1968. Since 1993, he has been a Tigers broadcaster.
Also on this day, Paul Frederic Simon is born in Newark, New Jersey, and grows up in Kew Gardens, Queens. In 1967, looking around at a world seemingly falling apart, he wrote a song that was used in the film The Graduate: "Mrs. Robinson." A Yankee Fan, he included a tribute to a Yankee player who exemplified a seemingly (but hardly) simpler, more innocent time: "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you."
Simon later met DiMaggio, who was puzzled by the reference, saying, "I haven't gone anywhere." Simon explained that the line was a longing for what DiMaggio represented. When Mickey Mantle asked Simon why his name wasn't used, Simon, who turned 10 as DiMaggio was replaced by Mantle, said (correctly, if not honest about that being the reason) that the rhythm and the syllables of the song wouldn't have worked for Mantle's name. Besides, Mickey was still an active player when the song was released, if only for a few more months.
Simon recorded it with his singing partner, Art Garfunkel. "Mrs. Robinson" hit Number 1 in June 1968, and it was on top of the charts when Robert Kennedy was assassinated, making its search for meaning and hope even more poignant than it already was.
In 1972, now gone solo, Simon released "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard." In 1988, he made a video of the song, filming it at Mathews-Palmer Playground, at 445 West 45th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues. Ind it shows him playing basketball (despite being only 5-foot-3), and then pitching (lefthanded) to kids in a stickball game.
And Mantle shows up. I guess Paul had to make it up to Mickey, and while Mickey whiffs on Paul's 1st pitch, Mickey blasts the next one, and then lip-synchs the title (though it's still Simon's voice we hear). Rappers Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie, basketball star Spud Webb and football coach-announcer John Madden also guest-starred.
Yes, it actually happened.
In 1999, after DiMaggio's death, his Plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park was replaced by a Monument, and Simon stood in Joe's former position of center field, and, with Joltin' Joe truly having "left and gone away," played "Mrs. Robinson" before a sellout crowd.
Simon is a good friend of longtime Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels. The 1st time Simon & Garfunkel appeared together after their 1970 breakup was on one of the 1st SNL
episodes in 1975. Later that season, he appeared with former Beatle George Harrison. Together, they sang Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" and Simon's "Homeward Bound." He has appeared on the show more times than any other musical guest, and, to this day, SNL's closing theme is his 1976 hit "Still Crazy After All These Years."
Also on this day, John Augustine Snow is born in Peopleton, Worcestershire, England. I don't know what makes a cricket player great, but he was regarded as English cricket's best fast bowler (pitcher) of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Clearly, this John Snow knew something.
He starred for Sussex County Cricket Club (south of London, on the coast of the English Channel), and became world-famous for helping England defeat the West Indies in 1968 and Australia in 1971. He was not fond of the cricket authorities, and the feeling was mutual. He titled his memoir Cricket Rebel. He is still alive.
October 13, 1946, 75 years ago: Game 6 of the World Series is played at Sportsman's Park. The St. Louis Cardinals score 3 runs in the 3rd inning, and hold on for a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox, and send the Series to a Game 7. It will prove to be one of the key games in Red Sox mythology -- and not in a good way.
Also on this day, John Emery Strohmayer is born in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. He pitched in the major leagues from 1970 to 1974, and was a member of the Mets team that won the 1973 National League Pennant. He later became a high school baseball coach. He died in 2019.
Also on this day, Grady Demond Wilson is born in Valdosta, Georgia, and grows up in New York. Dropping his first name, Demond Wilson became a dancer and an actor. He is best known for playing Lamont Sanford, the "Son" on Sanford and Son.
In the 1982-83 season, he played Oscar Madison alongside Ron Glass' Felix Unger in The New Odd Couple, with many of the same storylines as ABC's 1st go-around with it, but with Felix and Oscar being black. (The Pigeon Sisters were also black, but the other guys -- Murray, Speed, et al. -- were white, as before.) I thought it was good, but ABC didn't bring it back for a 2nd season.
He became an ordained minister in 1984. In 2004, he played Kenneth Miles, Lynn's father, on
Girlfriends. He hasn't acted since 2005, limiting himself to religious programming, often with his fellow 1970s and '80s acting star turned minister, Clifton Davis.
October 13, 1947: The 1st official National Hockey League All-Star Game is played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, home of the Stanley Cup holders, the Toronto Maple Leafs. An All-Star team made up of the NHL's other 5 teams at the time -- the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks -- beats the Leafs 4-3. Howie Meeker of the Leafs was the last surviving player from this game, dying on November 8, 2020.
In the 1982-83 season, he played Oscar Madison alongside Ron Glass' Felix Unger in The New Odd Couple, with many of the same storylines as ABC's 1st go-around with it, but with Felix and Oscar being black. (The Pigeon Sisters were also black, but the other guys -- Murray, Speed, et al. -- were white, as before.) I thought it was good, but ABC didn't bring it back for a 2nd season.
He became an ordained minister in 1984. In 2004, he played Kenneth Miles, Lynn's father, on
Girlfriends. He hasn't acted since 2005, limiting himself to religious programming, often with his fellow 1970s and '80s acting star turned minister, Clifton Davis.
October 13, 1947: The 1st official National Hockey League All-Star Game is played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, home of the Stanley Cup holders, the Toronto Maple Leafs. An All-Star team made up of the NHL's other 5 teams at the time -- the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks -- beats the Leafs 4-3. Howie Meeker of the Leafs was the last surviving player from this game, dying on November 8, 2020.
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October 13, 1960: Bill Mazeroski hits a home run off Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series, to give the Pittsburgh Pirates their 1st World Championship in 35 years.
Mazeroski is often called the greatest-fielding 2nd baseman in history. But he's primarily known for this home run -- which went about 420 feet, and may well have been the longest he ever hit. I honestly believe that if he hadn't hit it -- even if the Pirates had won the Series some other way -- he'd have been thought of first as the legendary glove man that he was, and he would have gotten into the Hall of Fame a lot sooner than he finally did, in 2001.
Today, William Stanley Mazeroski is 85 years old, retired and living in Panama City, Florida, and is a spring-training fielding instructor for the Pirates. The Pirates have retired his Number 9, and in 2010, on the 50th Anniversary of the homer, dedicated a statue to him outside PNC Park. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001, the same year PNC Park opened.
After the Series, Yankee owners Del Webb and Dan Topping fire manager Casey Stengel. They make Casey read a statement in which he says he is resigning. When Casey finishes reading the statement, he puts the paper down, and tells the press, "I guess this means they fired me." He later says that they forced him out due to his age: "I'll never make the mistake of being 70 again."
Competitively, firing Casey may have been the right decision: Ralph Houk managed the Yankees to the next 3 American League Pennants, and the next 2 World Championships. Given that 4 new teams were being expanded into existence, and managerial changes are common, the Yankees would have lost Houk if they hadn't made him manager.
Still, Casey was treated shabbily. Topping and Webb could have done something. Casey was rich, having made savvy investments when he was younger, and owning a bank in the Los Angeles suburbs where he lived in the off-season. They could have sold him a piece of the ownership. They could have made him a well-paid special consultant. They could have let him stay, or walk away, with dignity. Instead, they canned him. It would be 10 more years, after they sold the team, before new Yankee president Mike Burke invited Casey back, to make peace and to retire his Number 37.
The Bill Mazeroski Game was also the last game as Yankee general manager for George Weiss. For all his cheapness and bigotry, Weiss was an organizational genius. First as farm system director from 1932 to 1947, and then as GM, he helped to build 23 Pennants (counting the 4 won in the 4 years after he left), and 17 World Series.
But he saw the writing on the wall. He knew that the system he used, of trading multiple players, usually a mix of over-the-hill veterans and prospects, for 1 of 2 players who could help the Yankees win the Pennant that year, couldn't work much longer, as the farm system was drying up.
He also knew that Topping and Webb didn't care, as they were planning to sell. At his resignation, Weiss told the press, "I give it 5 years." He was right: 1961, World Series win; 1962, World Series win; 1963, World Series loss; 1964, World Series loss; 1965, 6th place, the 1st of 7 straight seasons without even coming close to contending.
The Baseball Gods were cruel to Ralph Terry that day in Pittsburgh, but they would be kind to him for the next 2 years, allowing him to win 39 regular-season games for back-to-back Yankee World Championship teams, to add the 1962 Cy Young Award to his honors, and to add his own shutout in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series. So, as bad as certain moments of Yankee history, such as the Bill Mazeroski Game, have been, there's usually a sequel that sets it all right, and goats become heroes.
Of the men who played in that game, 61 years ago, the following are still alive:
Pirates: 2nd baseman Mazeroski, shortstop Dick Groat, center fielder Bill Virdon, left fielder Bob Skinner, pinch-runner Joe Christopher (lost in the 1962 expansion draft to the Mets), and pitchers Vernon Law and Elroy Face. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: Shortstop Dick "Ducky" Schofield, outfielder Roman Mejias, catcher Bob Oldis, and pitcher Bennie Daniels.
Yankees: Pitchers Terry and Bobby Shantz, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek, and pinch-hitter Hector Lopez. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: Pitchers Bill Short, Fred Kipp, Johnny James and Hal Stowe. So the Pirates have 11 survivors, and the Yankees 9.
Still, Casey was treated shabbily. Topping and Webb could have done something. Casey was rich, having made savvy investments when he was younger, and owning a bank in the Los Angeles suburbs where he lived in the off-season. They could have sold him a piece of the ownership. They could have made him a well-paid special consultant. They could have let him stay, or walk away, with dignity. Instead, they canned him. It would be 10 more years, after they sold the team, before new Yankee president Mike Burke invited Casey back, to make peace and to retire his Number 37.
The Bill Mazeroski Game was also the last game as Yankee general manager for George Weiss. For all his cheapness and bigotry, Weiss was an organizational genius. First as farm system director from 1932 to 1947, and then as GM, he helped to build 23 Pennants (counting the 4 won in the 4 years after he left), and 17 World Series.
But he saw the writing on the wall. He knew that the system he used, of trading multiple players, usually a mix of over-the-hill veterans and prospects, for 1 of 2 players who could help the Yankees win the Pennant that year, couldn't work much longer, as the farm system was drying up.
He also knew that Topping and Webb didn't care, as they were planning to sell. At his resignation, Weiss told the press, "I give it 5 years." He was right: 1961, World Series win; 1962, World Series win; 1963, World Series loss; 1964, World Series loss; 1965, 6th place, the 1st of 7 straight seasons without even coming close to contending.
The Baseball Gods were cruel to Ralph Terry that day in Pittsburgh, but they would be kind to him for the next 2 years, allowing him to win 39 regular-season games for back-to-back Yankee World Championship teams, to add the 1962 Cy Young Award to his honors, and to add his own shutout in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series. So, as bad as certain moments of Yankee history, such as the Bill Mazeroski Game, have been, there's usually a sequel that sets it all right, and goats become heroes.
Of the men who played in that game, 61 years ago, the following are still alive:
Pirates: 2nd baseman Mazeroski, shortstop Dick Groat, center fielder Bill Virdon, left fielder Bob Skinner, pinch-runner Joe Christopher (lost in the 1962 expansion draft to the Mets), and pitchers Vernon Law and Elroy Face. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: Shortstop Dick "Ducky" Schofield, outfielder Roman Mejias, catcher Bob Oldis, and pitcher Bennie Daniels.
Yankees: Pitchers Terry and Bobby Shantz, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek, and pinch-hitter Hector Lopez. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: Pitchers Bill Short, Fred Kipp, Johnny James and Hal Stowe. So the Pirates have 11 survivors, and the Yankees 9.
Mazeroski and Roberto Clemente were the only players still with the Pirates when they won their next World Series, in 1971.
October 13, 1961, 60 years ago: Derek Ricardo Harper is born in Elberton, Georgia. A guard, he was an All-American at the University of Illinois, and a fine career with the Dallas Mavericks was interrupted by 2 seasons with the Knicks. The Mavericks retired his Number 12, and he now broadcasts for them.
Also on this day, Glenn Anton Rivers is born in Chicago, and grows up in neighboring Maywood, Illinois. He attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he was coached in basketball by Al McGuire. One of McGuire's assistants, Rick Majerus (later to build the program at the University of Utah), saw Glenn Rivers wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Julius "Dr. J" Erving, and started calling him Doc. He's been Doc Rivers ever since.
Doc was an All-Star point guard with the Atlanta Hawks in 1988, and a member of the Knicks team that reached the NBA Finals in 1994. He went on to a broadcasting career, but is best known as a coach, winning the NBA Championship with the 2008 Boston Celtics.
In 2013, he was named the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. In this role, he was the 1st NBA coach ever to coach his own son, point guard Austin Rivers. He is now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
This is also the day when, according to the TV show The X-Files, Fox William Mulder was born in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
And speaking of weird TV shows, this is the night that The Twilight Zone aired the episode "A Game of Pool." Jack Klugman, 9 years before playing Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple, plays Jesse Cardiff, the best pool player in Chicago at the time. But he wants to be known as the best ever, and that's not going to happen, since hanging on the wall is a photo of a man everyone knew well, the greatest of all time, Fats Brown -- effectively, the Babe Ruth of pool sharks. He's played by Jonathan Winters.
Jesse is too young to have met and played him, and wishes he could, to settle it for once and for all. Then Fats appears, and offers Jesse a bet: Beat me, and you will be recognized as the greatest pool player ever; lose, and you will die.
Jesse takes the bet. He ignores Fats' talk about how he did other things with his life besides play pool, while Jesse hasn't, saying that a game shouldn't be a man's whole life. Jesse thinks Fats is trying to, as we would say today, psych him out. Finally, Jesse wins -- and Fats thanks him. Jesse can't understand, but when Fats disappears, Jesse takes Fats' picture down, and tells no one in particular that he's the greatest of all time -- and this was before Muhammad Ali, still Cassius Clay, began saying this about himself in boxing.
The traditional Twilight Zone twist ending shows Jesse doing what Fats did when we first saw him: Sleeping on a pool table in the afterlife, awakened by a voice telling him to report to a pool hall where some punk kid wants to be remembered as the greatest of all time, if only he could beat the greatest. What was once Fats' burden is now Jesse's. And where is Fats? According to series creator and narrator Rod Serling, he's still in the afterlife, gone fishing.
There were actually 2 endings written. When the show was revived, the other ending was used for a 1989 episode. This time, Jesse, played by Esai Morales, loses to Fats, played by Maury Chaykin. Jesse is afraid that Fats will take him to Death, but this is not the case: Instead, Fats tells him that each man dies, but Jesse "will die in obscurity, as all second-raters do in the end." Fats walks out, and Jesse yells that he'll get better, and that, one day, he'll beat Fats. But, as we've seen, that wouldn't be for the best.
Also on this day, President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, visiting the U.S., is given a ticker-tape parade in New York.
October 13, 1962: Jerry Lee Rice is born in Starkville, Mississippi. He may be the greatest player in the history of American football. Certainly, he is the greatest receiver. He's in the Hall of Fame, the San Francisco 49ers (with whom he won Super Bowls XXIII, XXIV and XXIX) have retired his Number 80, and in 1999 -- while he was still at the peak of his career -- The Sporting News listed him at Number 2 on its list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, trailing only Jim Brown. With the stats he added afterward, he could now be Number 1.
He is also a member of the Mississippi and Bay Area Sports Halls of Fame, and the NFL's 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams.
And speaking of weird TV shows, this is the night that The Twilight Zone aired the episode "A Game of Pool." Jack Klugman, 9 years before playing Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple, plays Jesse Cardiff, the best pool player in Chicago at the time. But he wants to be known as the best ever, and that's not going to happen, since hanging on the wall is a photo of a man everyone knew well, the greatest of all time, Fats Brown -- effectively, the Babe Ruth of pool sharks. He's played by Jonathan Winters.
Jesse is too young to have met and played him, and wishes he could, to settle it for once and for all. Then Fats appears, and offers Jesse a bet: Beat me, and you will be recognized as the greatest pool player ever; lose, and you will die.
Jesse takes the bet. He ignores Fats' talk about how he did other things with his life besides play pool, while Jesse hasn't, saying that a game shouldn't be a man's whole life. Jesse thinks Fats is trying to, as we would say today, psych him out. Finally, Jesse wins -- and Fats thanks him. Jesse can't understand, but when Fats disappears, Jesse takes Fats' picture down, and tells no one in particular that he's the greatest of all time -- and this was before Muhammad Ali, still Cassius Clay, began saying this about himself in boxing.
The traditional Twilight Zone twist ending shows Jesse doing what Fats did when we first saw him: Sleeping on a pool table in the afterlife, awakened by a voice telling him to report to a pool hall where some punk kid wants to be remembered as the greatest of all time, if only he could beat the greatest. What was once Fats' burden is now Jesse's. And where is Fats? According to series creator and narrator Rod Serling, he's still in the afterlife, gone fishing.
There were actually 2 endings written. When the show was revived, the other ending was used for a 1989 episode. This time, Jesse, played by Esai Morales, loses to Fats, played by Maury Chaykin. Jesse is afraid that Fats will take him to Death, but this is not the case: Instead, Fats tells him that each man dies, but Jesse "will die in obscurity, as all second-raters do in the end." Fats walks out, and Jesse yells that he'll get better, and that, one day, he'll beat Fats. But, as we've seen, that wouldn't be for the best.
Also on this day, President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, visiting the U.S., is given a ticker-tape parade in New York.
October 13, 1962: Jerry Lee Rice is born in Starkville, Mississippi. He may be the greatest player in the history of American football. Certainly, he is the greatest receiver. He's in the Hall of Fame, the San Francisco 49ers (with whom he won Super Bowls XXIII, XXIV and XXIX) have retired his Number 80, and in 1999 -- while he was still at the peak of his career -- The Sporting News listed him at Number 2 on its list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, trailing only Jim Brown. With the stats he added afterward, he could now be Number 1.
He is also a member of the Mississippi and Bay Area Sports Halls of Fame, and the NFL's 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams.
October 13, 1967: The Seattle SuperSonics make their NBA debut. Walt Hazzard scores 30 points, but they lose 144-116 to the San Francisco Warriors at the Cow Palace. They will recover from a bad 1st season, and become a perennial contender, winning the 1979 NBA Championship, and reaching the Finals in 1978, 1979 and 1996, before being moved in 2008, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. From March 1917 to February 2014, they were the only Seattle team to win a World Championship in any sport.
Also on this day, also in the San Francisco Bay Area, the American Basketball Association has its 1st game, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now known as the Oracle Arena). The host Oakland Oaks defeat the Anaheim Amigos, 134-129.
The ABA will last 9 seasons, and 4 of its franchises will be absorbed into the NBA in 1976: The 2-time ABA Champion New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, the 3-time ABA Champion Indiana Pacers, the Denver Nuggets (who lost to the Nets in the last ABA Finals) and the San Antonio Spurs (who never won anything in the ABA but have been consistently successful in the NBA, winning 5 titles).
Also on this day, Trevor William Hoffman is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower, California. Having spent most of his career with the San Diego Padres, he finished his career as baseball’s all-time saves leader with 601.
Sports Illustrated dedicated their May 13, 2002 issue to Hoffman, calling him "the greatest closer in MLB history." I guess they forgot about Mariano Rivera: Not only did Mo go on to break Trevor's record, but the question was settled in the 1998 World Series, when Rivera got 3 saves and Hoffman blew one against… Scott Brosius?
Still, Hoffman is a class act. This year, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 3rd year of eligibility, after missing election by just 5 votes the year before. The Padres have retired his Number 51, and elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He now works in their front office. His brother Glenn Hoffman was also a big-league player, and briefly managed the Dodgers.
Also on this day, Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is born in Limonar, Cuba. He didn't get to compete in the 1984 or 1988 Olympics because his homeland boycotted them. But in 1992 in Barcelona, he won the Gold Medal in the high jump.
On July 28, 1989, he became the 1st man ever to high-jump 8 feet. On July 27, 1993, he made 8 feet, 1/2 inch. That remains the world record, 24 years later, and, to this day, Javier Sotomayor is the only human being to high-jump at least 8 feet. However, at times, he tested positive for cocaine and steroids, so perhaps we should take that achievement with a grain of salt.
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October 13, 1971, 50 years ago: The 1st night game in World Series history is played, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Baltimore Orioles blow a 3-0 lead, and the Pittsburgh Pirates win 4-3, on a pinch-hit single in the 8th by backup catcher Milt May. The Pirates have tied the Series at 2 games apiece.
Also on this day, also in the San Francisco Bay Area, the American Basketball Association has its 1st game, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now known as the Oracle Arena). The host Oakland Oaks defeat the Anaheim Amigos, 134-129.
The ABA will last 9 seasons, and 4 of its franchises will be absorbed into the NBA in 1976: The 2-time ABA Champion New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, the 3-time ABA Champion Indiana Pacers, the Denver Nuggets (who lost to the Nets in the last ABA Finals) and the San Antonio Spurs (who never won anything in the ABA but have been consistently successful in the NBA, winning 5 titles).
Also on this day, Trevor William Hoffman is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower, California. Having spent most of his career with the San Diego Padres, he finished his career as baseball’s all-time saves leader with 601.
Sports Illustrated dedicated their May 13, 2002 issue to Hoffman, calling him "the greatest closer in MLB history." I guess they forgot about Mariano Rivera: Not only did Mo go on to break Trevor's record, but the question was settled in the 1998 World Series, when Rivera got 3 saves and Hoffman blew one against… Scott Brosius?
Still, Hoffman is a class act. This year, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 3rd year of eligibility, after missing election by just 5 votes the year before. The Padres have retired his Number 51, and elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He now works in their front office. His brother Glenn Hoffman was also a big-league player, and briefly managed the Dodgers.
Also on this day, Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is born in Limonar, Cuba. He didn't get to compete in the 1984 or 1988 Olympics because his homeland boycotted them. But in 1992 in Barcelona, he won the Gold Medal in the high jump.
On July 28, 1989, he became the 1st man ever to high-jump 8 feet. On July 27, 1993, he made 8 feet, 1/2 inch. That remains the world record, 24 years later, and, to this day, Javier Sotomayor is the only human being to high-jump at least 8 feet. However, at times, he tested positive for cocaine and steroids, so perhaps we should take that achievement with a grain of salt.
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October 13, 1971, 50 years ago: The 1st night game in World Series history is played, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Baltimore Orioles blow a 3-0 lead, and the Pittsburgh Pirates win 4-3, on a pinch-hit single in the 8th by backup catcher Milt May. The Pirates have tied the Series at 2 games apiece.
Also on this day, Stafford Smythe dies of a bleeding ulcer in Toronto, at the age of 50, while awaiting trial on a charge of income tax evasion. In spite of the charges against him, his death was the worst thing that could have happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as he was the largest stockholder in the company that owned both the team and Maple Leaf Gardens, having been part of a group with John Bassett and Harold Ballard that bought the team from his father, longtime head coach and general manager Conn Smythe.
In 1932, at age 11, he was the Leafs' mascot, making him the youngest person ever to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. His ownership group, with head coach George "Punch" Imlach, built the Cup winners of 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967.
After his death, Ballard -- despite already being convicted of tax evasion -- bought Bassett's shares, and convinced the Smythe family to sell Stafford's shares to him, making him the team's sole owner, and plunging the Leafs into a decline from which they have never recovered. Despite reaching the last 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (under various names) in 1978, 1993, 1994, 1999 and 2002, they have never again reached the Finals. Ballard ended up serving a little over a year in prison, and his death in 1990 ended a period of Leaf mediocrity, but they've rarely been Cup contenders since.
Also on this day, in international soccer, Scotland beat Portugal 2-1 at Hampden Park in Glasgow. John O'Hare and Archie Gemmill, both of English Midlands team Derby County, are the goalscorers.
This was the 1st Scotland game for goalkeeper Bob Wilson, and also the 1st for midfielder George Graham, both of the Arsenal team that won the English Double the season before, both the League and the FA Cup. Wilson would only be called up for Scotland once more. Graham would play for his country 12 times. Centreback Frank McLintock, the Captain of that Arsenal team, only played for Scotland 9 times.
On this same day, England beat Switzerland 3-2 at St. Jakob Park in Basel. It was the 2nd England appearance for Arsenal forward John Radford. And it was the last.
As good as that Arsenal team was, their players were terribly shortchanged by their national teams. England manager Alf Ramsey made few callups from the Gunners. The list is galling. In addition to the preceding: Peter Storey, 19; Ray Kennedy, 17, and not until 1976, under Don Revie, after he was sold by Arsenal; Bob McNab, 4, the last in 1969, before the 1970 Fairs Cup win, let alone the 1971 Double; Charlie George, just 1, also in 1976 under Revie, after he was sold by Arsenal; George Armstrong, none (he was a winger, and Ramsey's team was nicknamed the Wingless Wonders); Peter Simpson, none.
Also on this day, Jay Omar Williams is born in Washington, D.C. A defensive end, he was with the St. Louis Rams when they won Super Bowl XXXIV. He now works as a gun dealer, and has sold weapons to several professional athletes.
October 13, 1972: The World Hockey Association's Quebec Nordiques play their 1st home game at Le Colisée de Québec. They beat the Alberta Oilers 6-0. They will reach the WHA Finals in 1975 and win the title in 1977.
Not so lucky are fellow WHA home debutantes the Philadelphia Blazers. First, they were frozen out of using Philly's new arena, the Spectrum, because it's owned by Flyers owner Ed Snider. So they had to use the much-older Convention Hall of the Philadelphia Civic Center.
Then, their 3 biggest acquisitions all got hurt in preseason: John McKenzie (also their head coach) and Derek Sanderson, from the 1970 and '72 Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins, and former Flyers goalie Bernie Parent. Then, on October 12, they lost their 1st regular-season game, 4-3, to the New England Whalers at the Boston Garden, where, presumably, some people had bought tickets expecting to see McKenzie and Sanders.
But on this night, when the Zamboni was driven onto the playing service, the improperly made ice could not support its weight, and it cracked. The game was postponed. They ended up losing their 1st 7 games, including their eventual home opener, on October 25, 8-2 to the Cleveland Crusaders. Their 1st win finally comes on October 27, 5-4 over the Los Angeles Sharks.
Incredibly, they go 38-33 (no ties) the rest of the way, and make the Playoffs, but are swept by the Crusaders. So few people came out to see them that they moved to Vancouver for 1973-74, and had to sell Parent back to the Flyers, where he helped them win back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Blazers became the Calgary Cowboys in 1975, and folded in 1977.
Also on this day, a Friday the 13th, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, taking off from Uruguay's capital of Montevideo and intending to land in Chile's capital of Santiago, crashes in the Andes Mountains outside Malargüe, Argentina. Of the 45 people on board, only 24 survived the crash.
The passengers were members of Old Christians, a rugby team from Montevideo, traveling to play Santiago team Old Boys. Those who survived did so as best they could, but their food ran out quickly. Eventually, they turned to cannibalizing the bodies of those killed. On October 29, 8 of the survivors were killed in an avalanche.
By the time they were finally rescued on December 23 -- a Christmas miracle -- only 16 of the passengers were still alive. Incredibly, 48 years later, 15 of those 16 are still alive. In 1993, the film Alive, starring Ethan Hawke, dramatized the events.
Also on this day, Summer Elisabeth Sanders is born in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, California. The swimmer won 2 Gold Medals at the 1992 Olympics. She now works as a sportscaster for NBC, is married to former Olympic skier Erik Schlopy, and is a member of the International Swimming and Bay Area Sports Halls of Fame.
October 13, 1973: The Houston Aeros beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 4-3 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. This WHA game is notable for the debut of the main forward line for the Aeros, consisting of Mark Howe at left wing, Marty Howe at center, and their father Gordie Howe on right wing.
The Detroit Red Wings legend, 45 years old, had come out of retirement to play with his sons, because the Red Wings weren't listening to his personnel and strategy suggestions, and, thinking they just wanted his historic name on their letterhead, he said, "I was tired of being vice president in charge of paper clips."
When the Aeros win the 1974 WHA Championship, Gordie will be awarded the Gary Davidson Trophy as league Most Valuable Player -- and the trophy, named for the league's founder (Davidson was also a founder of the ABA and the WFL), will be renamed for him.
The Aeros would win the 1975 WHA title and reach the Finals again in 1976, but money woes forced them to sell all 3 Howes to the New England Whalers. When the NHL took on 4 WHA teams in 1979, the renamed Hartford Whalers were one of them, and all 3 Howes were still there, as Gordie embarked on 1 last season, his 32nd in the major leagues and his 26th under the NHL banner. Mark would later become a defenseman, and join Gordie in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Also on this day, Brian Patrick Dawkins is born in Jacksonville, Florida. A devastating safety, he made 9 Pro Bowls, and the Philadelphia Eagles have retired his Number 20. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, and is also a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. He worked in the Eagles front office, finally getting a Super Bowl ring. He then resigned his post, to seek opportunities elsewhere.
October 13, 1978: Game 3 of the World Series. Joe DiMaggio throws out the ceremonial first ball at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers lead the Yankees 2 games to none. The Yankees are desperate for a win. They send out Ron Guidry, who has already won 26 games (including the Divisional Playoff against Boston and the Pennant-clincher against Kansas City) against only 3 losses, but is exhausted. And he doesn't have his best stuff: He strikes out only 4 and walks 7.
But… Graig Nettles puts on a fielding clinic at 3rd base, much as Brooks Robinson did 8 years to the week (including the day) earlier. He makes 6 sensational plays, including 2 scintillating stops that end innings with forceouts at 2nd base.
Roy White's 1st-inning home run gets the Yankees going, and, somehow, Guidry goes the distance in a 5-1 win, striking out the dangerous Ron Cey for the final out. The Yankees are still alive in the Series.
Also on this day, Billy Joel releases his album 52nd Street. It includes the songs "Big Shot," "Honesty" and "My Life," the last of these becoming the theme song to the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies, which launched Tom Hanks to stardom.
Just 11 days earlier, Billy Joel played the Boston Garden, mere hours after the Bucky Dent Game. I wonder if he sang, "Miami 2017 (Seen the Light Go Out On Broadway)," with its line about the apocalypse in New York, and the Yankees getting picked up for free.
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October 13, 1981, 40 years ago: Taylor Buchholz (no middle name) is born in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. Not to be confused with distant cousin Clay Buchholz, he was a member of the Colorado Rockies' 2007 Pennant winners, and last pitched in the majors with the Mets in 2011.
October 13, 1982: Ian James Thorpe is born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. "The Thorpedo" won 3 Gold Medals in swimming at the 2000 Olympics in his hometown, and 2 more in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Although he is now openly gay, he remains Australian sports' endorsement leader, and is also enormously popular in East Asia.
Also on this day, Michael Rashard Clayton is born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A receiver, he won a National Championship with Louisiana State in 2003, and Super Bowl XLVI with the Giants. He now runs a charitable foundation, and commentates on British network Sky Sports' broadcasts of NFL games.
Also on this day, The Clash play at Shea Stadium. Footage from this concert was used for the video for "Should I Stay Or Should I Go."
But on this night, the group known to its fanatical fans as "The Only Band That Matters" is the opening act. The headliner is The Who, on their Farewell Tour. The tour is such a success, they ended up having more "farewell tours."
October 13, 1984: Saturday Night Live shows a short film, with Billy Crystal, a white New York Jew, and Christopher Guest, a white English nobleman (no kidding: He's Baron Haden-Guest, as well as a great comedian), as elderly veterans of baseball's Negro Leagues: Guest is pitcher "King" Carl Johnson, and Crystal is speedy outfielder Leonard "The Rooster" Willoughby. The film features cameos of Yogi Berra, then the Yankees' manager, and Yankee star Dave Winfield.
Also on this day, Franklin Michael Simek is born in St. Louis, once considered the capital of American soccer. He was the 1st American ever to play for Arsenal Football Club, the pride of London. It was just 1 game, at right back, wearing Number 51, in the League Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Highbury on December 2, 2003. Arsenal won, 5-1, although he had neither a goal nor an assist.
He would later play for Queens Park Rangers, Bournemouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle United, last playing in 2013. He played 5 times for the U.S. national team, all in 2007.
October 13, 1985: The Cardinals rout the Dodgers 12-2, to even the NLCS at 2-2‚ but also lose rookie sensation Vince Coleman to one of the most bizarre injuries in sports history. Coleman is stretching before the game when his left leg becomes caught in Busch Memorial Stadium's automated tarpaulin as it unrolls across the infield‚ trapping him for about 30 seconds. He is removed from the field on a stretcher and will not play again this year.
This will turn out to be a critical injury – not for Coleman's life, or even for his career, but for the Cards' lineup, as they will not have their leadoff man and sparkplug for the World Series, in which they put up one of the most pathetic batting performances in postseason history.
Also on this day, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka sends 320-pound defensive tackle William Perry in... as a running back. So full of food, he's known as "The Refrigerator" (or "The Fridge" for short), he gets the ball twice, rushes for 4 yards, and blocks for Walter Payton on a touchdown. The Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 26-10 at Candlestick Park.
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October 13, 1990: The Target Center opens in Minneapolis. The NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves move in immediately, and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx do so in 1999.
October 13, 1984: Saturday Night Live shows a short film, with Billy Crystal, a white New York Jew, and Christopher Guest, a white English nobleman (no kidding: He's Baron Haden-Guest, as well as a great comedian), as elderly veterans of baseball's Negro Leagues: Guest is pitcher "King" Carl Johnson, and Crystal is speedy outfielder Leonard "The Rooster" Willoughby. The film features cameos of Yogi Berra, then the Yankees' manager, and Yankee star Dave Winfield.
Also on this day, Franklin Michael Simek is born in St. Louis, once considered the capital of American soccer. He was the 1st American ever to play for Arsenal Football Club, the pride of London. It was just 1 game, at right back, wearing Number 51, in the League Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Highbury on December 2, 2003. Arsenal won, 5-1, although he had neither a goal nor an assist.
He would later play for Queens Park Rangers, Bournemouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle United, last playing in 2013. He played 5 times for the U.S. national team, all in 2007.
October 13, 1985: The Cardinals rout the Dodgers 12-2, to even the NLCS at 2-2‚ but also lose rookie sensation Vince Coleman to one of the most bizarre injuries in sports history. Coleman is stretching before the game when his left leg becomes caught in Busch Memorial Stadium's automated tarpaulin as it unrolls across the infield‚ trapping him for about 30 seconds. He is removed from the field on a stretcher and will not play again this year.
This will turn out to be a critical injury – not for Coleman's life, or even for his career, but for the Cards' lineup, as they will not have their leadoff man and sparkplug for the World Series, in which they put up one of the most pathetic batting performances in postseason history.
Also on this day, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka sends 320-pound defensive tackle William Perry in... as a running back. So full of food, he's known as "The Refrigerator" (or "The Fridge" for short), he gets the ball twice, rushes for 4 yards, and blocks for Walter Payton on a touchdown. The Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 26-10 at Candlestick Park.
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October 13, 1990: The Target Center opens in Minneapolis. The NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves move in immediately, and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx do so in 1999.
October 13, 1991, 30 years ago: Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Kirby Puckett hits a home run off knuckleballer Tom Candiotti in the 1st inning, and the Minnesota Twins never look back, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 to take the Pennant.
For the Twins, it is their 3rd Pennant, and their 2nd in the last 5 seasons. For the Jays, it is their 15th season, and they are still waiting for a Pennant. They won the AL East in 1985, '89 and '91, and almost did so in '87, '88 and '90, but still haven't won a Pennant. They will need 1 more season.
October 13, 1993: The combined pitching of Tommy Greene and Mitch Williams gives the Phillies a 6-3 win over the heavily-favored Atlanta Braves and the NL Pennant, only the 5th flag in Fightin' Phils history. Dave Hollins hits a 2-run homer for the winners‚ while Mickey Morandini and Darren Daulton also drive in 2 runs each. Curt Schilling is named the NLCS MVP despite no victories: He gave up just 3 earned runs and struck out 19 in 16 innings, 2 no-decisions.
And, lest Phils fans forget, they would not have gotten that far if Williams hadn't been a terrific closer all year long, including getting the final out tonight at Veterans Stadium. I was at a Phillies game in August 2011, when John Kruk was inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Hall of Fame. Williams was one of the guests, and he got a nice hand. So Philadelphia sports fans do have some class, and some understanding.
With long hair, chewing tobacco, in a few cases being well overweight, and some bad manners, the 1993 Phillies were known as "Macho Row," and remain, despite the dream ending a little sourly in the World Series, one of the most popular teams in the history of Philadelphia sports. And, while they share Lenny Dykstra with the similarly slobbish 1986 Mets, any resemblance to the 2004 Red Sox "Idiots" is strictly coincidental.
Dykstra's legal troubles have been many. The lowlights: 1991, drunk driving; 2011, sexual assault, bankruptcy fraud, car theft and drug possession, never arrested on the sex charge but served 2 years in prison on the fraud and theft charges; and, in 2018, indicted for cocaine and methamphetamine possession, and making terroristic threats. That case has yet to go to trial.
He's gone from being a modern Pepper Martin to being the next Walter White: "Say my name." You're Nails. "You're goddamned right."
October 13, 1998: The Yankees win Game 6 of the ALCS over the Indians, 9-5 at Yankee Stadium, to take their 35th Pennant. Chuck Knoblauch, in his 1st game back in The Bronx after his Game 2 "brainlauch," leads off the bottom of the 1st, and gets a big hand from the fans, who've seen the big double plays he started late in both Game 4 and Game 5. "Apparently, all is forgiven," says Bob Costas on NBC.
October 13, 1999: Bernie Williams, who had previously hit one to win Game 1 of the '96 ALCS (the Jeffrey Maier Game), becomes the 1st Yankee to have hit 2 walkoff home runs in postseason play. His drive off Rod Beck goes over the center field fence to lead off the bottom of the 10th, and the Yankees win the 1st official postseason Yankees-Red Sox game, 4-3. (The 1978 "Boston Tie Party," a.k.a. the Bucky Dent Game, is counted by MLB as a regular season game.)
Red Sox fans, buoyed by the success of Pedro Martinez and Nomah Gahciahpawhah – or, at least, that’s how Nomar Garciaparra's name sounded in their New England accents – were sure that this was The Year that the Red Sox were finally going to "Reverse the Curse" and stick it to the Yankees. But Bernie remembered the script handed to him earlier that day by Yankee legend Yogi Berra: "We've been playing these guys for 80 years. They cannot beat us." Not yet, anyway.
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October 13, 2000: Extending his streak to 33 1/3 innings, Mariano Rivera breaks the 38-year-old record of Whitey Ford for consecutive scoreless frames in postseason play when the Yankees defeat the Seattle Mariners, 8-2 in Game 3 of the ALCS. The Yankees' Hall of Fame lefty had established the record from 1960 to 1962 with 33 innings as a World Series starter, and still holds the record as far as the World Series is concerned.
October 13, 2000: Extending his streak to 33 1/3 innings, Mariano Rivera breaks the 38-year-old record of Whitey Ford for consecutive scoreless frames in postseason play when the Yankees defeat the Seattle Mariners, 8-2 in Game 3 of the ALCS. The Yankees' Hall of Fame lefty had established the record from 1960 to 1962 with 33 innings as a World Series starter, and still holds the record as far as the World Series is concerned.
October 13, 2001, 20 years ago: The Yankees enter Game 3 at the Oakland Coliseum (or whatever corporate name the "Mausoleum" had at the time) down 2 games to none against the A's, and are desperate for a victory.
Jorge Posada homers in the top of the 5th, to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. That lead holds in the 7th, but Terrence Long drives one into the corner. Right fielder Shane Spencer heaves the ball home, but it's off the line. Jeremy Giambi, brother of star Oakland slugger Jason Giambi, will score for sure.
Except… out of nowhere comes Jeter, who sprints in, grabs the ball, and, holding it for less than half a second, flips it to Posada at the plate, and Posada juuuust barely tags Giambi on the back of the knee, before his foot touches the plate, completing one of the most amazing defensive plays in baseball history.
"The Flip" allows Mike Mussina and, in the 9th, Rivera to preserve the 1-0 shutout, and keep the Yankees from being eliminated. The Yankees would win the series in Game 5 at the old Yankee Stadium, with Jeter making another amazing play, tumbling into the stands to catch a foul pop, also off the bat of Terence Long.
Has it really been 19 years? Jeter retired in 2014, making him the last man who played in that game still active.
October 13, 2002: The Anaheim Angels – as they are officially known at the time – score 10 runs in the 7th inning on their way to a 13-5 win over the Minnesota Twins, winning the 1st Pennant in the team's 42-season history. Adam Kennedy is the hero for Anaheim with 3 homers and 7 RBIs. Scott Spiezio also homers for the Angels‚ with Francisco Rodriguez getting the win in relief.
Prior to the Angels' 1st Pennant, they were considered "cursed": The Curse of the Cowboy was named for legendary entertainer Gene Autry, who founded the team and died without them ever winning a Pennant. This one wasn't funny, as several players had died while still active with the Angels (most notably All-Star outfielder Lyman Bostock, shot in 1978), in addition to their 1979, '82 and '86 ALCS collapses, and their late-season swoon that cost them the '95 AL Western Division title.
Between 1959 and 1988, their rivals up Interstate 5, the Los Angeles Dodgers, had won 9 Pennants in a 30-year stretch, including 5 times winning the World Series. Since 2002, both the Dodgers and the Angels have been in the postseason 7 times in the last 14 seasons, but while that includes a World Championship for the Angels, the Dodgers still have no World Series wins in the last 31 years.
October 13, 2003: Game 4 of the ALCS is played at Fenway Park, delayed a day by rain. This gave the players time to calm down after the riotous Game 3. Tim Wakefield knuckleballs his way to 3-2 win over the Yankees, and the Red Sox tie the series at 2 games apiece.
October 13, 2004: Game 2 of the ALCS. Jon Lieber outpitches Pedro Martinez, as chants of "Who's your Daddy?" rain down from the stands at Yankee Stadium. Trailing 1-0 in the 6th, Pedro surpasses the 100-pitch mark, at which he becomes useless, walks Jorge Posada, and gives up a home run to John Olerud. The Yankees go on to win 3-1, and take a 2-0 lead in the series.
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October 13, 2012: Game 1 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium II. The Yankees trail the Detroit Tigers 4-0 going to the bottom of the 9th. By this point, the Yankees had left the bases loaded in 3 innings. But Russell Martin leads off with a single, and Ichiro Suzuki, in his 1st season with the Yankees after 11 years with the Seattle Mariners, and not really known for hitting home runs, does so. With 2 outs, Mark Teixeira draws a walk, and Raúl Ibañez, for the 3rd time in the postseason, sends a game to extra innings with a home run.
But the Tigers score a run in the top of the 12th. Then Jhonny Peralta hits a grounder to short. Derek Jeter, who had earlier gotten his 200th career postseason hit, which remains a record, breaks his ankle trying to field the grounder. He has to leave the game, and never plays in the postseason again, after a record 168 such games. That was the beginning of the end of the Yankee "dynasty" that never quite happened starting in 2009, as well as the beginning of the end of the Jeter-Rivera Era in Yankee history. The Tigers beat the Yankees, 6-4, and the Yankees don't win another game that counts until April 4, 2013.
Also on this day, Rutgers beats Syracuse in football, 23-15. With the Orangemen moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference and Rutgers to the Big Ten, this remains the last football game between the highest-ranking football-playing universities in the States of New Jersey and New York.
They were supposed to play each other again in Piscataway this year, but the COVID-19 epidemic changed that plan. They are now scheduled to meet again at the Carrier Dome in 2021. Syracuse leads the rivalry 30-12-1.
Also on this day, Barbara Field dies. Known as Bo Field or "Mets Lady," you might remember seeing her sitting behind home plate at Shea Stadium, twirling her fists to distract opposing pitchers. There are still people who think she was what caused Bob Stanley to throw the wild pitch that nearly hit Mookie Wilson and allowed the tying run to score in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
In real life, she was from Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey, and was a waitress at the Lyndhurst Diner in adjoining Lyndhurst, Bergen County.
Also on this day, Barbara Field dies. Known as Bo Field or "Mets Lady," you might remember seeing her sitting behind home plate at Shea Stadium, twirling her fists to distract opposing pitchers. There are still people who think she was what caused Bob Stanley to throw the wild pitch that nearly hit Mookie Wilson and allowed the tying run to score in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
In real life, she was from Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey, and was a waitress at the Lyndhurst Diner in adjoining Lyndhurst, Bergen County.
October 13, 2019: Game 2 of the ALCS at Minute Maid Park. The Yankees take a 2-1 lead in the top of the 4th inning on a home run by Aaron Judge, but can't find another run. Carlos Correa hits a home run off J.A. Happ in the bottom of the 11th, and the Houston Astros win 3-2, and tie the series.
The Yankees were so close to taking a 2-0 lead. If they had, they almost certainly would have won the Pennant, no matter how much the Astros cheated. Alas...
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