Yankees Reach Halfway Mark With Many Question Marks

In the aftermath of the perfect game pitched by Domingo Germán, the Yankees could be forgiven a letdown in the last game of their 3-game series against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Especially since it was a dreaded day game after a night game. 

(The possibility that something might be worked out so that the Athletics' move to Las Vegas could happen next season, making this the last game the Yankees ever play in Oakland, rather than that happening next season, or the next, wouldn't enter into it.)

For the 1st time all season, the Yankees got both a decent performance from hole-in-the-rotation filler Clarke Schmidt and decent run support for it. Schmidt went 5 1/3rd innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks, striking out 3. The bullpen, well-rested since Germán's perfecto meant that nobody in it had been used the night before, allowed just 1 run the rest of the way. 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in the 1st 2 Yankee runs, with a home run in the 2nd inning and a sacrifice fly in the 4th. Then came an 8-run explosion in the 6th: A 472-foot 2-run home run by Josh Donaldson, a 2-RBI single by Gleyber Torres, a 2-run double by Giancarlo Stanton, a single by Harrison Bader, and a single for another RBI for IKF. Scoring 21 runs in the last 2 games of this series, which was considerably more than was necessary, makes it all the more puzzling why the Yankees could only get 1 run in the series opener, thus denying them a sweep of the worst team in Major League Baseball this season.

At any rate, this one ended Yankees 10, A's 4. WP: Schmidt (3-6). No save. LP: Hogan Harris (2-2).

*

This was the Yankees' 81st game of the 2023 regular season, meaning it is now, at least numerically, half-over. They are 45-36, a pace to win 90 games. Since the start of the Divisional Play Era in 1969, the number of games needed to win the American League Eastern Division has been 93. That is, from 1969 to 2022, not counting partial seasons, the average number of games won by the teams finishing 2nd has been 92.

The Yankees are 9 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, as the Rays are on a 112-win pace. However, the teams having played a different amount of games means the Yankees are only 8 games behind the Rays in the all-important loss column. If the current standings were to hold to the end of the regular season, the Yankees would receive the 5th seed in the AL Playoffs, which would not only not include the despised Boston Red Sox, but, by half a game, would n it including the "Red Sox South," the cheating Houston Astros.

On the plus side, the Yankees have, by and large, gotten good pitching. The team ERA is 3.62, 3rd in the AL; WHIP, 1.210, 5th. Nestor Cortés will return from the Injured List shortly, and if the Yankees have to go through the 2nd half of the regular season with a rotation -- not necessarily in this order chronologically, or of importance -- of Cortés, Germán, Schmidt, Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino, with Jhony Brito occasionally filling in, I think that side of things will be all right.

Carlos Rodón will make another minor-league rehab start tomorrow night. He could be ready after the All-Star Break, which would likely demote somebody -- possibly even perfect-game pitcher Germán, unless Severino fails to find a groove. And the bullpen has been pretty good, with Tommy Kahnle returning from injury to pitch with Clay Holmes, Ron Marinaccio and Michael King.

And one other plus: In spite of what has seemed like a lot of "Yankee RISPfail," failing to get runners in scoring position home, the Yankees actually have the fewest runners left on base of any team in the AL, 461.

On the minus side, the injuries remain a problem. We don't know when Aaron Judge is coming back. Same with Jonathan Loáisiga, who could have become the closer. Same with Scott Effross. Same with Ryan Weber. Same with Frankie Montas, who wasn't any good even before his injury. Oswald Peraza now seems like a long-term injury, as well. Willie Calhoun should be back by the All-Star Break. Lou Trivino had Tommy John surgery, and we'll be lucky to see him before next season's Opening Day.

Without Judge, who seems to make every hitter better, the Yankees really aren't hitting much. The currently injured Judge has an on-base percentage of .404. Otherwise: Anthony Rizzo .357, Gleyber Torres .323, Jake Bauers .312, Willie Calhoun .309, Billy McKinney .300, Harrison Bader .295, Anthony Volpe .290, DJ LeMahieu .289, Isiah Kiner-Falefa .288, Ginacarlo Stanton .260, Jose Trevino .253, Kyle Higashioka .252, Oswaldo Cabrera .243, Josh Donaldson .200 (and that's after heating up lately). Remember: These are on-base percentages, not batting averages. Overall, the Yankees are at .299, 12th in the AL.

The reliabilities of starters Germán, Schmidt and Severino remain uncertain. And the bullpen does remain another question mark. The Yankees have 4 or 5 guys who can pitch in the 7th or 8th innings, but no definitive closer. Wandy Peralta and Jimmy Cordero have both shown flashes of brilliance, but they're usually in clouds of mediocrity. And keeping Aroldis Chapman would not have been the answer: The Kansas City Royals haven't trusted him to be their closer, as he's only gotten 2 saves.

Fielding is also an issue: The Yankees have made 48 errors, 4th in the AL. But the amount of injuries and player substitutions means that the total is spread out a bit: Torres leads the team with 8, having played in 70 and started 66 of the 81 games. So that's not as bad as it looks. Next-worst is Volpe with 7, which is understandable, since he's a rookie and playing the most error-prone position, shortstop.

The Yankees can't worry about how the Rays or any other team is doing. All they can do is play the team that's in front of them, and concentrate on the business at hand on that day. Get that done, and that's more than half the battle. It seems like the Yankees will make the Playoffs. Once that's clinched, anything can happen, especially if Judge and the rotation both return, and to form.

The Yankees travel on, and begin an Interleague series with the St. Louis Cardinals tonight. Severino starts against Matthew Liberatore.

The 24 Major League Pitchers to Have Pitched a Perfect Game, In Perspective

With Domingo Germán having pitched a perfect game on Wednesday night, this is a good occasion on which to look back at previous perfect pitching performances.

A shutout is a complete game pitched without allowing any runs. A no-hitter is a complete game pitched without allowing any hits, although allowing a run is still possible. A perfect game is a complete game pitched without allowing any baserunners: 27 men up, 27 men down. All 9 players in the lineup go up 3 times, and none of them reach base on any occasion. A perfect game is also a no-hitter and a shutout.

1. Lee Richmond, Oberlin, Ohio (outside Cleveland), 1857-1929, lefthanded, Worcester Brown Stockings, caught by Charlie Bennett, against the Cleveland Blues, winning 1-0, at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds in Worcester, Massachusetts, outside Boston, on June 12, 1880.

Like the world at large, baseball was very different then, in particular because of pitching. For one thing, it really was "pitching," underhanded, not "throwing," overhanded. You've heard the expression of the pitcher being "knocked out of the box"? Well, in those days, there was no pitcher's mound, just a chalked off box, the center of which was 45 feet from home plate.

The Brown Stockings moved in 1883, becoming the Philadelphia Phillies. The Blues went out of business after the 1884 season. Charlie Bennett would help the Detroit Wolverines win the National League Pennant in 1887, then lose his legs in a train accident, but would still catch the ceremonial first ball on every Opening Day in Detroit until his death in 1927.

In 1896, Detroit's new ballpark was named Bennett Park for him. In the 1911-12 off-season, it was torn down, and a new ballpark was built on the site, named Navin Field for the Tigers' owner, Frank Navin. Bennett was still invited back. The ballpark would later be renamed Tiger Stadium.

2. John Montgomery Ward, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 1860-1925, righthanded, Providence Grays, caught by Emil Gross, against the Buffalo Bisons, winning 5-0, at the Messer Street Grounds in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 17, 1880, just 5 days after Richmond's perfecto.

At 20, "Monte" Ward remains the youngest pitcher ever to throw a perfect game in the major leagues, and the only one to later switch to another position, playing mostly shortstop, but also frequently 2nd base. He won the National League Pennant with the New York Giants in 1888 and 1889, and was the leading figure in the Players' League of 1890. In spite of this blatant act of betrayal of the team owners, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Grays and the Bisons both went out of business after the 1885 season -- and played their last game against each other.

In 1881, the pitching distance was moved back to 50 feet. In 1884, overhand throwing was made legal. In 1887, a new rule meant that pitchers had to have their back foot in contact with the back line of the pitcher's box, which was 5 1/2 feet behind the front line. That meant the distance was now 55 feet, 6 inches from home plate. In 1893, the box was converted into a raised mound of dirt, usually around 15 inches high (but not yet mandated as such), and was moved back another 5 feet, to the current 60 feet, 6 inches.

So that's where the extra 6 inches, which looks so odd next to an otherwise round number, came from. There was an urban legend that a groundskeeper misread "60 feet, 0 inches" "60 feet, 6 inches," and it stuck. But it's not true.

3. Denton True Young, Gilmore, Ohio, 1867-1955, righthanded, Boston Americans, caught by Lou Criger, against the Philadelphia Athletics, winning 3-0, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 5, 1904.

Cy Young -- shortened from "Cyclone," for his fastball -- was the 1st pitcher to pitch a no-hitter under the 60-and-6 distance. It was the 2nd of 3 no-hitters he would throw. He reached the major leagues in 1890, and was one of the few pitchers to be great both before and after the mound was moved back in 1893.

He had helped the Americans win the 1st World Series the season before, and would help them win the American League Pennant again, but the New York Giants refused to play them in a World Series. The 1904 season was also the year that the height of the mound was standardized at 15 inches. The Americans changed their name to the Red Sox in 1907.

Young won 511 games, more than any other pitcher. He also lost more than any player, and pitched more innings, and faced more batters, and so on. He was the 3rd pitcher elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, after Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson; and was named to the All-Century Team in 1999, 88 years after his last game. The award for the best pitcher in each League is named the Cy Young Award.

4. Adrian Joss (no middle name), Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, 1880-1911, righthanded, Cleveland Naps, caught by Nig Clarke, against the Chicago White Sox, winning 1-0, at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 2, 1908.

I have to address the names. The former Cleveland Blues renamed themselves after acquiring superstar 2nd baseman Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, and naming themselves the Naps until he left following the 1914 season. They then became the Cleveland Indians, and became the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.

And Jay Justin Clarke, like an earlier Cleveland player, pitcher George Cuppy, was a white man who had a complexion dark enough that he was nicknamed "Nig." It's disgusting, but it's true.

"Addie" Joss needed that perfect game, because the Naps, the Chicago White Sox, and the Detroit Tigers were in a tight 3-way race for the Pennant; and Big Ed Walsh struck out 15 batters in the same game. In the end, neither team won the Pennant: The Tigers did.

Joss died of meningitis, 2 days after his 31st birthday, just before the start of the 1911 season, which would have been his 10th season in the major leagues. For that reason, he did not meet the eligibility requirement for the Hall of Fame. In 1978, no longer able to ignore that he had the lowest WHIP in history, 0.968 (Walsh was 2nd, at 1.000), and the 2nd-lowest ERA, 1.88 (Walsh was 1st, at 1.82), and accepting that he almost made it to a 10th season, and it wasn't his fault that he didn't, and that 1 game in it would have qualified him, the rule of at least 10 seasons was set aside for him, and he was elected. The Indians honored him in their team Hall of Fame.

Interlude: Ernest Grady Shore, East Bend, North Carolina, 1891-1980, righthanded, Boston Red Sox, caught by Sam Agnew, against the Washington Senators, winning 4-0, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Shore did not start this game. Come to think of it, neither did Agnew. Babe Ruth was the starting pitcher for the Red Sox, and, to start the game, he faced Ray Morgan. Home plate umpire Clarence "Brick" Owens called ball 4 and put Morgan on 1st base. Ruth was so incensed that he punched Owens. Owens threw Ruth out of the game, and threw starting catcher Chester "Pinch" Thomas out, too.

Ruth was replaced by Shore, and Thomas by Agnew. Shore immediately picked Morgan off 1st, and then retired the next 26 batters in a row. Since he had retired 27 straight, Shore was given credit for a perfect game, until a 1991 ruling by Major League Baseball that Shore hadn't pitched a complete game, therefore he couldn't get credit for a perfect game or a no-hitter.

Shore pitched for the Red Sox when they won the 1915 and 1916 World Series, but was already in the service during the 1918 edition, as America had fully joined World War I.

5. Charles Culbertson Robertson, Nocona, Texas (outside Dallas), 1896-1984, righthanded, Chicago White Sox, caught by Ray Schalk, against the Detroit Tigers, winning 2-0, at Navin Field, Detroit Michigan, on April 30, 1922.

This was the 1st perfect game pitched in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era. Charlie Robertson was the 1st perfect game pitcher to be overshadowed by his catcher: At 49-80, with a .380 winning percentage, he is the least accomplished player on this list. Schalk is now generally regarded to have been elected to the Hall of Fame not so much because he was a great defensive catcher, although he was, but because he was a member of the 1919 White Sox team that wasn't in on the fix of the World Series. For many fans, if they had to drop one player from the Hall's ranks, he's the one.

6. Don James Larsen, "Gooney Bird," San Diego, California, 1929-2020, righthanded, Number 18, with Yogi Berra catching, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in Game 5 of the World Series, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 2-0, on October 8, 1956.

This was the 1st perfect game broadcast on radio, let alone on television; the 1st pitched with a black player on the winning side, and the 1st with one on the losing side; and the 1st pitched by a pitcher wearing a uniform number.

It was also the 1st no-hitter in postseason history, and while it is no longer the only one, or even the only one in World Series history, it remains the only perfect game in postseason history. Or, as Yogi put it, as only he could, "It's never been done before, and it still hasn't."

Larsen won the 1956 and 1958 World Series with the Yankees, losing in 1955 and 1957, and also lost to the Yankees with the San Francisco Giants in the 1962 World Series.

Interlude: Harvey Haddix (no middle name), South Vienna, Ohio (outside Columbus), 1925-1994, lefthanded, Number 31, Pittsburgh Pirates, caught by Smoky Burgess, against the Milwaukee Braves, at Milwaukee County Stadium, on May 26, 1959. Haddix is the only pitcher ever to pitch a perfect game into extra innings, and he kept it going for 12 innings: 36 men up, 36 men down.

But Lew Burdette of the Braves also had a shutout going, and he kept it going through the top of the 13th. In the bottom of the 13th, Pirate 3rd baseman Don Hoak made an error on a grounder hit by Félix Mantilla. The perfect game was off, but the no-hitter was still on. Eddie Mathews bunted Mantilla over to 2nd base. Hank Aaron was walked intentionally to set up the inning-ending double play. But Joe Adcock hit a game-winning home run. Except Aaron walked off the field without scoring, so Adcock was declared out for passing him, so what should have been a 3-0 Braves win was ruled a 1-0 win.

A 1991 ruling by Major League Baseball determined that, since Haddix lost the game, he would no longer receive credit for a no-hitter and a perfect game. He got robbed: He may not have finished the game, but did 27 up, 27 down. He should have gotten the credit.

7. James Paul David Bunning, Southgate, Kentucky (near Cincinnati), 1931-2017, righthanded, Number 14, Philadelphia Phillies, caught by Gus Triandos, against the New York Mets, winning 6-0, at Shea Stadium, on June 21, 1964.

Jim Bunning had previously pitched a no-hitter with the Detroit Tigers in 1958. This made him the 2nd pitcher, after Cy Young, to pitch a no-hitter in each League. It was Father's Day, and Bunning already had 6 children, and would eventually have 9.

The Phillies retired his number, and elected him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame. He was elected to 9 All-Star Games, to the Baseball Hall of Fame -- and to each house of Congress, as a Republican from Kentucky. It should be noted that his conservatism was known when he was elected, which should, but won't shut up the people whining about Curt Schilling not being elected.

8. Sanford Koufax (no middle name, born Sanford Braun), Brooklyn, New York, born in 1935, lefthanded, Number 32, Los Angeles Dodgers, caught by Jeff Torborg, against the Chicago Cubs, winning 1-0, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on September 9, 1965.

This was the 4th and last no-hitter for Sandy Koufax, "The Left Arm of God." The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allowed only 1 hit, so this game set a record that still stands for fewest hits by both teams combined in a single game.

Koufax had helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1959 and 1963, and would do so again in 1965, and win another Pennant in 1966. He appeared in 7 All-Star Games. The Dodgers retired his number, and, due to his early retirement, he was, at 36, the youngest person ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

9. James Augustus Hunter, Hertford, North Carolina, 1946-1999, righthanded, Oakland Athletics, Number 27, caught by Jim Pagliaroni, against the Minnesota Twins, winning 4-0, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, on May 8, 1968.

Jim Hunter already had the nickname "Catfish," but he didn't yet have the mustache. He helped the A's win the World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974, and the Yankees win it in 1977 and 1978, losing the World Series in 1976. He reached 8 All-Star Games. The A's retired his number (he wore 29 with the Yankees), and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Interlude: Milton Stephen Pappas, Detroit, Michigan, 1939-2016, righthanded, Chicago Cubs, Number 32, caught by Randy Hundley, against the San Diego Padres, winning 8-0, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, on September 2, 1972.

Pappas was 1 strike away from a perfect game, and had a full count on to pinch-hitter Larry Stahl, and seemed to have gotten a called 3rd strike. But home plate umpire Bruce Froemming called ball four. The instant replay showed that Froemming was wrong. Pappas then got Garry Jestadt to pop up, so he kept the no-hitter, but lost a perfect game on an obviously wrong call.

After the game, Pappas tried to reason with Froemming, pointing out that only 9 home-plate umpires had ever called a perfect game, and that he could have been only the 10th. Froemming said, "Milt, if I'd called that pitch a strike, I never would have been able to live with myself." That's when Pappas lost it, yelling, "How the hell do you live with yourself with all the other lousy calls you make?"

Froemming went on to make many more lousy calls before his retirement in 2007. The following year, a Chicago radio host got both of them on the air, and they still argued it.

10. Leonard Harold Barker, Langhorne, Pennsylvania (outside Philadelphia), born in 1955, righthanded, Cleveland Indians, Number 39, caught by Ron Hassey, against the Toronto Blue Jays, winning 3-0, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, on May 15, 1981.

This was the 1st perfect game pitched after 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher," after which the height of the pitcher's mound was lowered from 15 to 10 inches. It was also the 1st perfect game pitching during my lifetime. Although a sportswriter remarked, "How could it be perfect? It was pitched in Cleveland."

"Large Lenny" was considered a candidate to pitch a no-hitter, but not a perfect game, because he was wild. How wild was he? In a 1978 game, pitching for the Texas Rangers against the Boston Red Sox, he threw one pitch that ended up on the Fenway Park backstop.

11. Michael Atwater Witt, Anaheim, California (outside Los Angeles), born in 1960, righthanded, California Angels, Number 39, caught by Bob Boone, against the Texas Rangers, winning 1-0, at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, on September 30, 1984.

In 1940, Bob Feller pitched a no-hitter in his team's 1st game of the season, but this was the 1st time a pitcher threw one in the last game of the regular season. Since the Angels play their home games in Anaheim, this made Mike Witt the 1st pitcher to pitch a perfect game for his hometown team. He helped them win the AL Western Division title in 1982 and 1986, made 2 All-Star Games, and later pitched for the Yankees.

12. Thomas Leo Browning, Malone, New York, 1960-2022, lefthanded, Cincinnati Reds, Number 32, caught by Jeff Reed, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 1-0, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 16, 1988.

Tom Browning helped the Reds win the World Series in 1990, and made the All-Star Game the next season. In 1994, he broke his arm in mid-pitch, and only pitched in 1 more season. The Reds elected him to their team Hall of Fame.

13. José Dennis Martínez Ortiz, Granada, Nicaragua, born 1955, righthanded, Montreal Expos, Number 32, caught by Ron Hassey, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 2-0, at Dodger Stadium, on July 28, 1991. 

This made Dodger Stadium the 1st ballpark to host 2 perfect games, Hassey the 1st catcher to catch 2, and Dennis Martínez (the name he has always used) the 1st Hispanic pitcher, and the 1st pitcher born outside the United States, to pitch a perfect game.

His 245 wins surpassed Juan Marichal as the winningest Hispanic pitcher, but Bartolo Colón surpassed him with 247. "El Presidente" had helped the Baltimore Orioles reach 2 World Series, losing in 1979 and winning in 1983. He appeared in 4 All-Star Games.

14. Kenneth Scott Rogers, Dover, Florida (outside Tampa), born 1964, lefthanded, Texas Rangers, Number 37, caught by Iván Rodríguez, against the the California Angels, winning 4-0, at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, on July 28, 1994.

No relation to the country singer also named Kenny Rogers (Kenneth Ray Rogers), but, in line with one of his songs, the pitcher was nicknamed "The Gambler." He made 4 All-Star Games, and the Rangers elected him to their team Hall of Fame. He appeared in the postseason with the Yankees in 1996 (winning the World Series), the New York Mets in 1999, the Minnesota Twins in 2003, and the Detroit Tigers in 2006 (reaching but losing the World Series).

It should be noted that, like a later perfecto pitcher, Domingo Germán, he got caught using illegal "sticky stuff" on the mound -- but not during his perfecto.

15. David Lee Wells, San Diego, California, born in 1963, lefthanded, New York Yankees, Number 33, with Jorge Posada catching, against the Minnesota Twins, winning 4-0, at Yankee Stadium, on May 17, 1998.

"Boomer" claimed to have been hungover when he pitched this game. He appeared in 3 All-Star Games, won the 1992 World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays, lost the 1996 AL Championship Series to the Yankees with the Baltimore Orioles, won the 1998 World Series with the Yankees, lost the 2003 World Series with the Yankees, and also reached the postseason with the 2005 Red Sox, and in 2006 with his hometown San Diego Padres.

He and Larsen both graduated from Point Loma High School in San Diego, both were known for their hard-partying ways, and both pitched perfect games for the Yankees.

16. David Brian Cone, Kansas City, Missouri, born in 1963, righthanded, New York Yankees, Number 36, with Joe Girardi catching, against the Montreal Expos, at Yankee Stadium, winning, 6-0, on July 18, 1999.

The Yankees held Yogi Berra Day, and Larsen threw a ceremonial first pitch that Berra caught. It was the 1st no-hitter ever pitched in an Interleague game. A 5-time All-Star, "Coney" won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award with the Kanas City Royals. He arrived too late to appear with the Mets in the 1986 World Series, but was a member of their 1988 NL Eastern Division Champions. He won the World Series with the Blue Jays in 1992; and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

17. Randall David Johnson, Livermore, California (outside San Francisco), born in 1963, lefthanded, Arizona Diamondbacks, Number 51, with Robby Hammock catching, against the Atlanta Braves, at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia, winning 2-0, on May 18, 2004.

Few pitchers in the post-1968 Ten-Inch Mound Era have been as dominating as Randy Johnson. This was the 2nd no-hitter for the 6-foot-10 "Big Unit," who appeared in 10 All-Star Games, won 5 Cy Young Awards, including in both Leagues, and is the only perfect game pitcher to be a member of both the 300 Wins Club and the 3,000 Strikeouts Club. No lefty has more strikeouts than his 4,875, and, among righthanders, only Nolan Ryan has more. (Ryan pitched 7 no-hitters, but none was a perfect game.)

He reached the postseason with the Seattle Mariners in 1995 and 1997; the Houston Astros in 1998; the Diamondbacks in 2001 (winning the World Series) and 2002; and the Yankees in 2005 and 2006, The Mariners named him to their team Hall of Fame, the Diamondbacks retired his number, and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

18. Mark Alan Buehrle, St. Charles, Missouri (outside St. Louis), born in 1979, lefthanded, Chicago White Sox, Number 56, with Ramón Castro catching, against the Tampa Bay Rays, at U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago, winning 5-0, on July 23, 2009.

This was Buehrle's 2nd no-hitter. A 5-time All-Star, he reached the postseason with the ChiSox in 2000, 2005 (winning the World Series) and 2008; and with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015 (although he was injured and unavailable for the postseason roster). The White Sox retired his number.

19. Dallas Lee Braden, Stockton, California (outside Sacramento), born in 1983, lefthanded, Oakland Athletics, Number 51, with Landon Powell catching, against the Tampa Bay Rays, at the Oakland Coliseum, winning 4-0, on May 9, 2010.

Braden grew up as an A's fan, so he was the 2nd pitcher, after Mike Witt, to pitch a perfect game for his favorite team. The game was played on Mother's Day. Like David Wells, he claimed to have pitched his gem while hungover. But less than a year later, a shoulder injury meant that he would never pitch again, done at age 27.

20. Harry Leroy Halladay, Arvada, Colorado (outside Denver), 1977-2017, righthanded, Philadelphia Phillies, Number 34, with Carlos Ruiz catching, against the Florida Marlins, at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida, winning 1-0, on May 29, 2010.

Roy Halladay pitched his perfecto just 20 days after Braden's. Later in the season, he pitched MLB's 2nd postseason no-hitter, against the Cincinnati Reds, in Game 1 of the NL Division Series. He also pitched for the Phillies in the following year's postseason.  Unfortunately, like Addie Joss, "Doc" didn't live for very long after his perfect game, dying in a plane crash only 4 years after his retirement.

The Toronto Blue Jays named him to their team Hall of Fame, the Level of Excellence, and retired his Number 32. The Phillies named him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame, and retired his Number 34. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Interlude: Armando Antonio Galarraga Barreto, Cumana, Venezuela, born in 1982, righthanded, Detroit Tigers, Number 58, with Alex Avila catching, against the Cleveland Indians, at Comerica Park in Detroit, winning 3-0, on June 2, 2010.

This one should have counted, but didn't. Armando Galarraga got the 1st 26 batters out. The 27th was Jason Donald, and he grounded to 1st baseman Miguel Cabrera. Galarraga ran over to cover 1st base. Cabrera made the throw, and the instant replay proved that Donald was out. But umpire Jim Joyce called him safe. Under the rules of the time, there was no provision for overturning the call with an instant replay, and so, the perfect game and the no-hitter were ruined.

Joyce had been the 2nd base umpire for Braden's perfect game, just 22 days earlier. Unlike Bruce Froemming, 38 years earlier, Joyce accepted that he blew it: "I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay." Joyce apologized to Galarraga, and was widely praised for accepting his mistake.

21. Philip Gregory Humber, Carthage, Texas, born in 1982, righthanded, Chicago White Sox, Number 41, with A.J. Pierzynski catching, against the Seattle Mariners, at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle, Washington, winning 4-0, on April 21, 2012.

Philip Humber was with the Mets in 2006, and the Minnesota Twins in 2008 and 2009, but did not appear on the postseason roster on any of those occasions. He struggled badly after his perfect game, and last appeared in the major leagues only a year and a half later. He has fewer wins than any other perfect game pitcher, including the still-active Domingo Germán.

22. Matthew Thomas Cain, Germantown, Tennessee (outside Memphis), born in 1984, righthanded, San Francisco Giants, Number 18, with Buster Posey catching, against the Houston Astros, at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco, California, winning 10-0, on June 13, 2012.

Matt Cain was a 3-time All-Star, and he helped the Giants win the 2010 and 2012 World Series. However, "The Horse" was injured midway through the 2014 season, and was unable to be a part of a 3rd Series winner. The Giants elected him to their Wall of Fame.

23. Félix Abraham Hernández García, Valencia, Venezuela, bornin 1986, righthanded, Seattle Mariners, Number 34, with John Jaso catching, against the Tampa Bay Rays, at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle, winning 1-0, on August 15, 2012.

Three perfect games in 1 season, when it used to be a rare occurrence. Mariner fans called Hernández "King Felix," even though he never appeared in a single postseason game. He did, however, appear in 6 All-Star Games, and win 2 AL Cy Young Awards.

24. Domingo Germán (no middle name, unusual for a Hispanic person), San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, righthanded, Number 0 (formerly 55), with Kyle Higashioka catching, against the Oakland Athletics, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the Yankees winning, 11-0, on June 28, 2023.

Dallas Braden was part of MLB Network's coverage of this game. This makes him the 1st man to pitch a perfect game and broadcast another. David Cone is a member of the Yankees' broadcast staff, but did not broadcast this game.

Richmond, Haddix, Koufax, Browning, Rogers, Wells, Johnson, were lefthanded. The rest were righthanded.

Richmond, Young, Shore, Hunter, Barker, Rogers, Cone, Johnson, Humber were of English descent; Ward, Browning, Wells, Braden, Halladay and Cain, Irish; Robertson and Bunning, Scottish; Joss, Swiss; Larsen, Danish; Haddix, French; Koufax, German Jewish; Pappas, Greek; Witt and Buehrle, German; Martínez, Nicaraguan; Galarraga and Hernandez, Venezuelan; and Germán, Dominican. Although Germán is a black Hispanic, no African-American pitcher has ever pitched a perfect game in the major leagues.

Robertson, Haddix (sort of), Bunning, Witt, Johnson, Halladay, Humber and Germán did it on the road; the rest did it in their home parks.

Ward, Koufax, Barker, Browning were from the Northeastern U.S.; Richmond, Young, Joss, Haddix, Pappas, Cone, Buehrle were from the Midwest; Shore, Robertson, Bunning, Hunter, Humber, Cain, the Southeast; Halladay, from the Rocky Mountains; Larsen, Witt, Wells, Johnson, Braden, the West Coast; Martínez, Galarraga, Hernández and Germán from outside the U.S.

Career wins: Young 511, Johnson 303, Wells 239, Bunning 224, Hunter 224, Rogers 219, Buehrle 214, Pappas 209, Halladay 203, Cone 194, Hernández 169, Koufax 165, Ward 164, Joss 160, Haddix 136, Browning 123, Witt 117, Cain 104, Larsen 81, Richmond 75, Barker 74, Shore 65, Robertson 49, Germán (still active) 31, Braden 26, Galarraga 26, Humber 16.

Ward, Young, Joss, Bunning, Koufax, Hunter, Johnson and Halladay have been elected to the Hall of Fame. However, Richmond, Robertson, Larsen, Barker, Braden, Galarraga, Humber and Cain retired with losing records.

Uniform numbers during their perfect games: Germán 0; Bunning 14; Larsen and Cain 18; Hunter 27; Haddix 31; Koufax, Pappas, Browning and Martínez 32; Wells 33, Halladay and Hernández 34, Cone 36, Rogers 37; Barker and Witt 39; Humber 41, Johnson and Braden 51; Buehrle 56; Galarraga 58.

Koufax, Barker, Witt, Browning, Martínez, Rogers, Wells, Cone, Johnson, Buehrle, Braden, Galarraga, Humber, Cain, Hernández and the still-active Germán are still alive.

The 12 New York Yankees to Have Pitched a No-Hitter, In Perspective

Left to right: Joe Girardi, David Cone, Don Larsen,

Yogi Berra, David Cone and Jorge Posada.

The following 12 pitchers have pitched a no-hitter while playing for the New York Yankees:

1. George Anthony Mogridge, Rochester, New York, 1889-1962, lefthanded, pitching in the era before uniform numbers were worn, with Les Nunamaker as his catcher, against the Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the Yankees winning, 2-1, on April 24, 1917. He walked 3 batters, and the Yankees made 3 errors behind him.

He pitched in the era before there was an All-Star Game. He appeared in 1 postseason, but after leaving the Yankees, winning the 1924 World Series with the Washington Senators.

2. Samuel Pond Jones, "Sad Sam," Woodsfield, Ohio, 1892-1966, righthanded, pre-number, with Fred "Bootnose" Hofmann catching, against the Philadelphia Athletics, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Yankees winning, 2-0, on September 4, 1923. He didn't strike any batters out, walked 1, and the Yankees made an error behind him.

He pitched in the era before there was an All-Star Game. He had won the 1916 and 1918 World Series with the Boston Red Sox, won with the Yankees in 1923, and lost with the Yankees in 1922 and 1926.

In 1959, another pitcher named Sam Jones, with the Chicago Cubs, became the 1st black pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the major leagues.

3. Montgomery Marcellus Pearson, "Monte," Fresno, California, 1908-1978, righthanded, Number 16, with Joe Glenn (not Bill Dickey) catching, against the Cleveland Indians, at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader, the Yankees winning, 13-0, on August 27, 1938. He walked 2 batters.

Monte Pearson appeared in 2 All-Star Games, and was a member of the Yankees' 4 straight World Series wins from 1936 to 1939.

He pitched the 1st no-hitter at the original Yankee Stadium. is the only native of Fresno, California to pitch a no-hitter for a New York team. Tom Seaver was from Fresno, but, of course, pitched his only career no-hitter with the Cincinnati Reds, not the Mets.

4. Allie Pierce Reynolds, "the Superchief," Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1917-1994, righthanded, Number 22, with Yogi Berra catching, against the Cleveland Indians, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, the Yankees winning, 1-0, on July 12, 1951. He walked 3 batters, and the Yankees made an error.

Reynolds became the 2nd pitcher, of whom there are now 6, to throw 2 no-hitters in 1 season: Again with Yogi Berra catching, it was against the Boston Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 8-0, in the 1st game of a doubleheader, on September 28, 1951. He walked 4 batters, and the Yankees made an error. In the 2nd game of the doubleheader, they clinched the Pennant.

Reynolds pitched in 6 All-Star Games, and won the World Series with the Yankees in 1947, and then with their 5 straight World Champions of 1949 to 1953. The Yankees honored him with a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium -- so far, the only one of these so honored.

Charles "Chief" Bender of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a no-hitter in 1910, so Reynolds was the 2nd Native American pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the major leagues.

5. Don James Larsen, "Gooney Bird," San Diego, California, 1929-2020, righthanded, Number 18, with Yogi Berra catching, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in Game 5 of the World Series, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 2-0, on October 8, 1956.

It was the 1st no-hitter in postseason history, and while it is no longer the only one, or even the only one in World Series history, it remains the only perfect game in postseason history. Or, as Yogi put it, as only he could, "It's never been done before, and it still hasn't."

Larsen won the 1956 and 1958 World Series with the Yankees, losing in 1955 and 1957, and also lost to the Yankees with the San Francisco Giants in the 1962 World Series.

6. David Allan Righetti, "Rags," San Jose, California, born in 1958, lefthanded, Number 19, with Butch Wynegar catching, against the Boston Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 4-0, on July 4, 1983. He walked 4 batters.

Dave Righetti had been the 1981 American League Rookie of the Year, and had just been selected for the 1st of what would be 2 All-Star Games. But, by starting him in this game, manager Billy Martin ensured that Righetti wouldn't be able to pitch in the All-Star Game. It was a very hot day, but he finished the game in improbable fashion, by striking out Wade Boggs, one of the best contact hitters of all time.

Righetti had been with the Yankees when they lost the 1981 World Series, then was converted to a reliever in 1984. In 1986, he saved 46 games, a record at the time. He later served as the pitching coach on the San Francisco Giants teams that won the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series.

George "Hooks" Wiltse of the 1908 New York Giants and George Mullin of the 1912 Detroit Tigers also pitched no-hitters on the 4th of July. In Righetti's case, it was also the birthday of his boss, Yankees team owner George Steinbrenner.

7. James Anthony Abbott, "Jim," Flint, Michigan, born in 1967, lefthanded -- he was born without a right hand -- Number 25, with Matt Nokes catching, against the Cleveland Indians, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 4-0, on September 4, 1993. He walked 5 batters.

When Jim Abbott arrived in the major leagues, in 1989, with the team then named the California Angels, it was one of the most inspirational stories in baseball history. His closest call with the postseason was after leaving the Yankees, going back to the Angels, when they lost a Playoff for the American League Western Division title in 1995.

8. Dwight Eugene Gooden, "Doctor K" or just "Doc," Tampa, Florida, born in 1964, righthanded, Number 11, with Joe Girardi catching, against the Seattle Mariners, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 2-0, on May 14, 1996. It was the least "perfect" Yankee no-hitter, with 6 walks and an error.

Doc had been the great hope of New York Mets fans, winning the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1984 and its Cy Young Award in 1985, but by the time they won the 1986 World Series, he was already beginning to descend into cocaine addiction. He eventually appeared in 4 All-Star Games, before a combination of drugs and a rotator cuff injury led the Mets to let him go after he was suspended for the entire 1995 season.

George Steinbrenner, always a sucker for a redemption story, and also always there for getting one over on the Mets, signed him. It worked, and he helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series, was traded, was reacquired, and helped them win the 2000 World Series.

9. David Lee Wells, "Boomer," San Diego, California, born in 1963, lefthanded, Number 33, with Jorge Posada catching, against the Minnesota Twins, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 4-0, on May 17, 1998. It was a perfect game, although he claimed that he was hungover while he pitched it.

Wells appeared in 3 All-Star Games, won the 1992 World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays, lost the 1996 AL Championship Series to the Yankees with the Baltimore Orioles, won the 1998 World Series with the Yankees, lost the 2003 World Series with the Yankees, and also reached the postseason with the 2005 Red Sox and in 2006 with his hometown San Diego Padres.

He and Larsen both graduated from Point Loma High School, both were known for their hard-partying ways, and both pitched perfect games for the Yankees.

10. David Brian Cone, "Coney," Kansas City, Missouri, born in 1963, righthanded, Number 36, with Joe Girardi catching, against the Montreal Expos, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees winning, 6-0, on July 18, 1999. It was a perfect game.

The Yankees held Yogi Berra Day, and Larsen threw a ceremonial first pitch that Yogi caught. It was a terribly hot day, hotter even than for Righetti's no-hitter. Cone managed to finish the job, though. It was the 1st no-hitter ever pitched in an Interleague game. It was also, along with Gooden's, one of many no-hitters to have been pitched by a former Met before Johan Santana's dubious achievement of 2012.

A 5-time All-Star, Cone won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award with the Kanas City Royals. He arrived too late to appear with the Mets in the 1986 World Series, but was a member of their 1988 NL Eastern Division Champions. He won the World Series with the Blue Jays in 1992; and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

When the old Yankee Stadium was closed on September 21, 2008, a photo was taken on the mound, with the 3 perfect game pitchers and their catchers, as seen above.

11. Corey Scott Kluber, "Klubot," Coppell, Texas, born in 1986, righthanded, Number 28, with Kyle Higashioka catching, against the Texas Rangers, at Globe Life Field, in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, the Yankees winning, 2-0, on May 19, 2021. The only baserunner he allowed was a walk of Charlie Culberson with 1 out in the 3rd inning.

The Rangers represent the Dallas-Fort Worth "Metroplex," which includes Coppell, so Kluber is the only Yankee ever to pitch a no-hitter in his home region. Due to his injuries, the Yankees let him go after the season, making him the Yankee soonest let go after his no-hitter, beating Wells' record by 2 days. A 3-time All-Star, Kluber won the AL Cy Young Award with the Indians in 2014 and 2017.

12. Domingo Germán (no middle name, unusual for a Hispanic person), San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, born in 1992, righthanded, Number 0 (formerly 55), with Kyle Higashioka catching, against the Oakland Athletics, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the Yankees winning, 11-0, on June 28, 2023.

Higgy thus joined Yogi and Girardi as the only catchers to catch 2 Yankee no-hitters. Yogi lived to see Girardi do it, and he could have said, "I don't mind the company, especially when there's somebody else who did it."

Career wins: Wells 239, Jones 229, Gooden 194, Cone 194, Reynolds 182, Mogridge 132, Kluber 116, Pearson 100, Abbott 87, Righetti 82 (plus 252 saves), Larsen 81, Germán 31. Kluber and Germán are still active.

Wins with the Yankees: Reynolds 131, Righetti 74 (with 224 saves), Wells 68, Jones 67, Cone 64 (81 with the Mets), Pearson 63, Mogridge 48, Larsen 45, Germán 31, Gooden 24 (157 with the Mets), Abbott 20, Kluber 5.

Righetti, Abbott, Gooden, Wells, Cone, and the still-active Kluber and Germán are still alive.

A Perfect Game for Domingo Germán

Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees last night. No use "burying the lead."

The 30-year-old Dominican righthander was 18-4 in 2019, when he was suspended 81 games for an alleged violation of Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. That meant he would not be available for the postseason, and, due to the COVID-19 epidemic shortening it to 60 games, the entire 2020 season, including the postseason. That cost the Yankees dearly, as they really could have used one more really good -- or even competent -- starting pitcher in those postseasons.

Since his return in 2021, he has been terribly inconsistent, looking good in one start, looking terrible in the next. He's gone 10-15 with a 4.44 ERA since -- going into last night's game. This has included 2 suspensions for using "sticky stuff" on the mound. Clearly, that didn't work well.

The Yankees were in the 2nd game of a 3-game series against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. The A's have the worst record in baseball, and that, plus the deterioration of the Coliseum, which opened in 1966, and local authorities' inability to get a new stadium built for them, leading to the likelihood of the team moving to Las Vegas within the next few years, have given the A's the worst attendance in MLB. But the A's beat the Yankees 2-1 the night before, a nice pitching performance wasted with a lousy hitting effort.

Germán took the mound at the Coliseum with little indication that history was in the making. In the 1st inning, he got Tony Kemp to fly out to right, and struck out Ryan Noda and Brent Rooker. In the 2nd inning, he got Carlos Pérez to ground to 3rd, and Seth Brown to pop up to catcher Kyle Higashioka, and struck out Jonah Bride. In the 3rd inning, he got Aledmys Díaz to ground to short, Shea Langeliers to fly to left, and Esteury Ruiz to line to shortstop Anthony Volpe.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run in the top of the 4th, giving Germán a lead to work with. In the bottom of the 4th, he got Kemp to fly to right, and struck Noda and Rooker out -- exactly the same results as in the 1st. The Yankees broke out for 6 runs in the top of the 5th, on 5 hits, 2 walks and an error. In the bottom of the 5th, Germán got Pérez to fly to right and Brown to ground to 1st, and struck Bride out. In the 6th, Díaz flew to left, and Germán struck out Langeliers and Ruiz.

A sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson got the Yankees another run in the top of the 7th. In the bottom of the 7th, Kemp flew out, Noda struck out, and Rooker grounded to short. In the 8th, Pérez popped up to 1st. Brown grounded to 3rd. The YES Network announcers were doing whatever they could not to say the word "no-hitter" -- and a perfect game is a no-hitter -- for fear of jinxing it. I was watching, rather than listening to WCBS, but, surely, John Sterling used "the other N-word" several times.

Then came the biggest risk of the game: Germán went to a 3-ball-1-strike count on Bride, then induced a grounder to 3rd. Donaldson had a long throw, and it nearly pulled 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo off the bag. But Rizzo stayed on it. It seems as though every no-hitter has a defensive play great enough to make a fan say, "That's it: If he wasn't going to lose it on that play, he's gonna finish it."

The Yankees picked up 2 more runs in the top of the 9th, and the concern was going to be that a long inning might affect him. It didn't. He got Díaz to ground to short. He got Langeliers to fly to center. The batter was Ruiz. At 9:11 PM, Pacific Daylight Time (12:11 AM Eastern), he grounded to 3rd. Donaldson threw him out.

Ballgame over. Yankees win. "Baseball Immortality" achieved. Yankees 11, A's 0. WP: Germán (5-5). No save. LP: Former Yankee JP Sears (1-6).

It was the 4th perfect game in Yankee history. The 1st 3 were all pitched at the old Yankee Stadium:

* October 8, 1956: Don Larsen, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in Game 5 of the World Series. It is no longer the only no-hitter in World Series history, but it's still the only perfect game in postseason history.

* May 17, 1998: David Wells, against the Minnesota Twins.

* July 18, 1999: David Cone, against the Montreal Expos.

Germán threw 99 pitches, 72 of them for strikes. For comparison's sake, Larsen threw 97, Wells threw 120, and Cone threw 88.

The series concludes tomorrow, with a day game, which is going to be difficult, especially if the Yankees are doing some celebrating tonight. Clarke Schmidt starts against James Kaprielian.

Against A's, Yankee Pitching Gets a B, Hitting Gets an F

Yesterday, in the New York Daily News, Mike Lupica said in his column that, for all their problems, the Yankees were still better off than the Mets.

This is true. However, that absolute minimum is not good enough. Because, now, the Yankees' inability to hit means they're losing to the worst team in baseball.

The Yankees started a series away to the Oakland Athletics last night. It will be their only trip out there this season, and, given the increasing likelihood that the A's will move to Oakland within the next few years, there will only be a few more, possibly as few as one.

Josh Donaldson, who hasn't hit a lick this season, hit a home run leading off the 5th inning. Other than that, the Yankees never seriously threatened over the 1st 7 innings.

Don't blame the pitching. Jhony Brito had a good start, going 5 2/3rds innings, allowing only 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. The rest of the way, the bullpen allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk. That should have been good enough for the Yankee lineup to win the game.

They did try. In the top of the 8th, Aaron Boone sent Oswaldo Cabrera, who is batting .188, up to pinch-hit for Jose Trevino, who is batting .216. And Cabrera struck out. Brilliant move: Trevino could have done that. DJ LeMahieu drew a walk. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was sent in to pinch-run for him. Harrison Bader flew out. Anthony Rizzo drew a walk, and Giancarlo Stanton grounded out.

Gleyber Torres led off the 9th with a single. Donaldson struck out. Billy McKinney gave it a ride, but it was right at right fielder Seth Brown. And Kyle Higashioka, playing because the catcher, Trevino, had been pinch-hit for, struck out to end it.

A's 2, Yankees 1. WP: Paul Blackburn (1-0). SV: Sam Moll (1). LP: Brito (4-4). 

The series continues tonight. Domingo Germán starts against former Yankee, and current eschewer of initial periods, JP Sears.

1963: The Last Summer, Part I

The Summer of 1963 was a beginning for some, and an ending for many more. America would never quite be so young again as it was that year.

The Beach Boys emphasized youth as much as any rock and roll band ever has. Their home ground of Southern California, of course, features Summer weather all year long, and Summer activities all year long. And 1963 was the year of surf rock. The Beach Boys had released the album Surfin' U.S.A. on March 25. 

It contains the title track, which rose to Number 3 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. It's not the best Beach Boys song, but it is the most familiar one – much like the soon-to-be-recorded "She Loves You" became the prototypical early Beatles song. The album also contains the racing song "Shut Down," which became the B-side to "Surfin' U.S.A.," and also became a Top 40 hit.

It also includes 2 instrumentals that had been made famous the year before by lefthanded guitarist Dick Dale, considered the true father of surf rock: "Misirlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'." At the time, "trippin'" meant just that, going on a roadtrip, not feeling the effects of a mind-altering drug, or simply being crazy.

Beach Boys bass guitarist and main songwriter Brian Wilson was then dating a woman named Judy Bowles, whose brother Jim was a surfer, and knew all the surfing spots in the southern half of California. Brian thought of how Chuck Berry had listed a bunch of cities in his 1958 song "Sweet Little Sixteen," and decided to try the same thing.

Brian's brother, Carl Wilson, was one of the few guitarists who has ever been able to play Chuck Berry riffs as well as Chuck himself. But this song was so close to "Sweet Little Sixteen" that Chuck sued. A settlement was reached, and Chuck has been listed as the sole author of "Surfin' U.S.A." ever since. Chuck later told them that he loved the song.

The Beach Boys' 1st song, titled simply "Surfin'," was released in 1961, and was a regional hit. The next year, they released "Surfin' Safari," and it became a national Top 20 hit. "Surf rock" became a big deal, especially with instrumentals like "Misirlou," the Chantays' "Pipeline," and the Surfaris' "Wipe Out," with its epic drumming by Ron Wilson (no relation to the Beach Boys).

And yet, the only song about surfing that ever hit Number 1 on Billboard magazine's "Hot 100" chart was "Surf City," by Jan & Dean (Jan Berry and Dean Torrence), in their July 20 edition. As the skateboarding craze followed, Jan & Dean had a Top 20 hit with "Sidewalk Surfin'" in 1964.

The Beach Boys also specialized in songs about cars, and the racing thereof, like "Shut Down," "409," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Fun, Fun, Fun" (about a teenage girl and her Ford Thunderbird), and their 1st Number 1 hit, "I Get Around," which topped the chart in Summer 1964. They even recorded a Christmas album, which included "Little Saint Nick," which invoked Santa Claus working on his sleigh as if it were a hot rod.

The Beach Boys' car songs inspired others: "G.T.O." by Ronnie & the Daytonas, "Hey Little Cobra" by The Rip Chords, and "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean. The last of these, partly written by Brian Wilson, proved tragic and prophetic: In 1966, Jan Berry was badly hurt in a crash on North Whittier Drive, not far from the real-life curve mentioned in the song, at 9900 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Ironically, the only member of the Beach Boys who was a regular surfer was the other Wilson brother, Dennis, the drummer. Brian, Carl, their cousin and lead singer Mike Love, and rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, who had been Hawthorne High School quarterback Brian's best friend and star receiver, weren't surfers, though they all acted out the part, especially with their onstage clothes. Brian never went surfing until 1976.

In a further irony, Dennis died by drowning in 1983, although that was because he was drunk and fell off a boat, not because of a surfing accident.

*

On June 1, 1963, Jomo Kenyatta was sworn in as the 1st President of Kenya, which would achieve full independence from Britain on December 12. On June 3, Northwest Airlines Flight 293, a Douglas DC-7, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. All 101 people on board, including several U.S. military personnel, were killed.

Also on June 3, The Shoes of the Fisherman was published. This novel, by Morris West, was about a priest who had been a prisoner in a Soviet gulag, who was named Pope, affecting the Cold War. Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, a devout Catholic, would later call it his favorite novel, and hand out copies of it.

But the timing of its publication couldn't be worse: With the Second Vatican Council (a.k.a. Vatican II) still in progress, the real Pope, John XXIII, died of cancer that day. A new Pope would be selected on June 21: Giovanni Battista Montini, the Archbishop of Milan. He took the name Paul VI.

On June 4, reflecting the fact that professional athletes were paid so little that they had to have off-season jobs, Cleveland Browns safety Don Fleming and co-worker Walter Smith were electrocuted and killed on a construction site outside Orlando Florida. Fleming was only 25 years old. The Browns retired his Number 46.

This came just 17 days after the death of Ernie Davis, the 1st black player to win the Heisman Trophy, also signed by the Browns, but who died of leukemia without ever playing a professional down. Despite this, the Browns retired his Number 45. And that was just 8 days after the death of Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb of the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the top defensive linemen of the era, apparently from drugs.

On June 5, John Profumo, Britain's Secretary of State for War, resigned after revelations of an extramarital affair with Christine Keeler, who had also had an affair with a man who turned out to be a Soviet spy. One thing led to another, and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had to resign on October 18. On June 7, The Rolling Stones released their 1st single, "Come On." On June 9, actor Johnny Depp was born.

On June 10, actress Jeanne Tripplehorn was born. And President John F. Kennedy gave the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C. In it, he announced a plan for a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would be signed by the U.S., Britain and the Soviet Union on August 5. Following the incredibly close call of the Cuban Missile Crisis the previous October, JFK wanted a genuine peace:

Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children. Not merely peace for Americans, but peace for all men and women. Not merely peace in our time but peace for all time...

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

But the world, and its politics, move on. On June 11, Thích Quảng Đức, a 65-year-old South Vietnamese Buddhist monk, committed suicide by self-immolation, burning himself to death at a major intersection in the national capital of Saigon, to protest the oppression of Buddhists by the government of President Ngô Đình Diệm, who filled that government with his fellow Catholics.

It was, perhaps, the first sign that Americans had that, while the North Vietnamese were Communist and evil, the South Vietnamese may not have been "good" simply because they were capitalist and anti-Communist.

And June 11 would be a turning point in civil rights, as well.

*

The University of Cincinnati, despite being based in a "border" city, had featured one of the more racially-integrated college basketball teams in the country, including the most versatile player in the game, Oscar Robertson. He was already in the NBA, though, by the time the Bearcats won the NCAA Tournament, and thus the National Championship, in 1961 and 1962.

They reached the Final again in 1963, on March 23, at Freedom Hall in the Southern city of Louisville, Kentucky. Their opponents would be Loyola University of Chicago. In that Final, while Cincinnati started 2 black players, Loyola started 4 players, the 1st team ever to do so: Center Les Hunter, forwards Jerry Harkness and Vic Rouse, and guard Ron Miller. Only guard Jack Egan was white. Loyola won the game, 60-58 in an overtime classic.

On April 16, having been arrested in Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote what became known as the "Letter From Birmingham Jail." On May 3, there was another demonstration, and the police turned biting police dogs and fire hoses -- powerful enough to be called "water cannons" and cause real pain -- on the demonstrators. It made the white police look like totalitarian animals, and rendered their claims of the black protestors being "Communists" look damned stupid.

On January 14, George Wallace was inaugurated as Governor of Alabama, and, in his Inaugural Address, promised, "And I say to you: Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!" On June 11, he stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium, then both the main indoor athletic facility and the registration building for the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa. The purpose was to deny the registration of the school's 1st black students. Two were making the attempt: James Hood and Vivian Malone. He said, as Governor, he had to "denounce and forbid this unwarranted and illegal action by the central government!"

It was not illegal: The Supreme Court had ruled segregation illegal in 1954, so Wallace was the one breaking the law. And it was not unwarranted. So Kennedy wanted his Attorney General, also his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, to do something about it. RFK sent his Deputy, Nicholas Katzenbach, and federal marshals to Tuscaloosa. Katzenbach showed Wallace a federal warrant for his arrest, letting him known that if he did not get out of that door, he would  be handcuffed and arrested, and exposed as a federal criminal on national television.

Martin Luther King Jr. was willing to go to jail to challenge a law he believed was unjust. George Corley Wallace was not: He decided that looking weak was better than looking like a criminal, and he backed down. But he was still a hero to America's bigots.

Nevertheless, accompanied by Katzenbach and the marshals, Malone walked in, and became the 1st black person to register as a student at the University of Alabama. Hood followed.

That night, JFK spoke from the Oval Office of the White House, and announced he was having a Civil Rights Bill submitted to Congress. He said, "We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it... But are we to say to the world, and, much more importantly to each other, that this is the land of the free, except for the Negroes?"

Mere hours later, Medgar Evers, the field secretary for Mississippi by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was shot and killed in his driveway by white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith. Twice in 1964, all-white juries would be unable to reach a verdict. In 1994, a mixed-race jury finally convicted him.

Despite the Evers assassination, the civil rights bill would become law, as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- but JFK would not be the President who signed it into law.

And on August 28, Dr. King would speak at the Lincoln Memorial, the highlight of the March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In front of a crowd of 300,000 people, he said, "I have a dream that, one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal.'"

*

Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the most expensive and most-hyped movie ever made to that point, premiered on June 12. Somehow, it made a profit. Other notable films released in the Summer of 1963 included Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor, Irma la Douce, Jason and the Argonauts, PT 109 (about JFK's real-life World War II heroics), The Great Escape, Toys in the Attic, the Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello franchise-starter Beach Party, Flipper, Promises! Promises!, and a horror film whose title would become the name of perhaps the first "heavy metal" band: Black Sabbath.

Actress Helen Hunt was born on June 15. On June 16, Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the 1st woman in space, and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of Israel retired, handing the post over to Levi Eshkol. On June 17, in Abington School District v. Schempp, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that State-mandated Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional.

On June 18, Mexican actor Pedro Armendáriz died of cancer, and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman Bruce Smith was born. On June 20, the Moscow-Washington Hotline was authorized, to improve communications between the Cold War capitals. And the last episode of the ABC sitcom Leave It to Beaver aired.

On June 24, 94 people were killed in a landslide on Geoje Island in South Korea, and Britain granted Zanzibar self-rule. In 1964, Zanzibar would united with Tanganyika to form the Republic of Tanzania. Singer George Michael was born on June 25

*

President Kennedy traveled to Europe to meet with various national leaders. On June 26, 1963, 60 years ago today, he spoke at West Berlin's City Hall, with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and the man who would succeed him in that post, then the Mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt.

JFK addressed a crowd estimated at 450,000 people, roughly the same number that was on hand for Woodstock, 6 years later. Heinz Weber, of the German mission to the United Nations, translated Kennedy's English words to the crowd:

Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was "Civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin!

There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin!

And there are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin!

And there are even a few who say that it is true that Communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin!

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.

The great Boston Irishman had the Germans eating out of the palm of his hand. The Hall was 3 miles from the Wall, but the speech was broadcast on West German television and radio. How well the East Germans were able to jam the transmission is unknown, but, surely, some people in East Berlin heard Kennedy's words.

He closed with:

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one, and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

JFK's favorite part of the trip was a visit to his ancestral homeland, Ireland, on June 28. In 1843, Patrick Kennedy, JFK's great-grandfather, left Dunganstown in County Wexford. At this time, 120 years later, the biggest business in town was the Albatross Company, a fertilizer factory. JFK told the locals of Patrick, "If hadn't left, I'd be working at the Albatross Company."

Baseball Hall-of-Famer John "Home Run" Baker, a 3rd baseman for the 1910s Philadelphia Athletics, died on June 28.

Part II of this article will follow in August.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Losing: Yankees Didn't

All the signs were there, for the Yankees' series finale with the Texas Rangers, for an ugly loss. Gerrit Cole, our ace, did not have his good stuff. And the opposing starter with Nathan Eovaldi, who always seems to have great stuff against us, after Brian Cashman got rid of him too soon.

Sure enough, Cole gave up 3 runs in the 1st 2 innings, including, as he so often does, a home run. Meanwhile, the Yankees wasted a leadoff double by Gleyber Torres in the 1st inning.

But a funny thing happened on the way to losing: We didn't. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. And delivering a leadoff walk to Giancarlo Stanton is not a good look for a pitcher. But that's what Eovaldi did in the 2nd inning. He then gave up back-to-back doubles to Jake Bauers and DJ LeMahieu, and the Yankees were within 3-2.

That 3-2 score held until the bottom of the 8th. Anthony Volpe led off with a double. Jose Trevino singled, but Volpe couldn't score. Oswaldo Cabrera pinch-ran for Trevino. Torres hit a fly ball to right, but that was too short to score Volpe, either. But Harrison Bader doubled home Volpe and Cabrera, giving the Yankees the lead. Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked to set up a force play. It didn't work: Stanton singled Bader home.

Cole could not finish the 5th inning. But, between them, Jimmy Cordero, Nick Ramirez, Ron Marinaccio and Michael King pitched 4 1/3rd shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits and a walk. Overall, it was the kind of performance Cole should have given, but didn't.

In the end, we got the result: Yankees 5, Rangers 3. WP: Marinaccio (4-3). SV: King (5). LP: John King (no relation, 1-1).

With the season nearly half-over (hard to believe), the Yankees are 9 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, 8 games in the all-important loss column. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, the Yankees will have the 5th seed in the AL Playoffs.

The Yankees have a travel day today, flying out to the Pacific Coast, where they will play the Oakland Athletics -- probably not for the last time, as their lease at the Oakland Coliseum will keep them there at least through next season. But, with the Howard Terminal ballpark deal having fallen through, and Las Vegas ready to build them a new ballpark, their days in the East Bay may finally be numbered.

Top 5 Reasons Why the 1966 Batman Show Was Ridiculous (And 5 Why It was Underrated)

Adam West as Batman, and Burt Ward as Robin

In DC Comics, June 26 is the anniversary of the day that Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha were murdered in Gotham City, in front of their son, Bruce, usually suggested to be 8 to 10 years old at the time. This inspired him to wage a war on crime, using the family fortune and his indomitable will to become the superhero Batman. Bruce usually accesses the Batcave by opening a secret passage in his study, doing that by moving the hands of a grandfather clock to 10:47, the time of night when the murder occurred.

On January 12, 1966, the TV series Batman premiered on ABC. Before series star Adam West suits up as Batman, we first see him as a grown Bruce Wayne, telling of how he is using the family fortune to help alleviate poverty in Gotham City, in the hopes that people won't turn to a life of crime, so that others won't suffer the way he did, "when my parents were murdered by criminals."

The murder was mentioned only once more in the series. This was an earlier time, when darkness in TV shows was frowned upon, and actors whose characters were shot dead did not fall in a bloody mess. This was a TV show aimed at children and families, and so this was not a "film noir" version of Batman.

Top 5 Reasons Why the 1966 Batman Show Was Ridiculous (And 5 Why It was Underrated)

10. Ridiculous: The Names. No, I don't mean the names of the characters. I mean the names of places in and around Gotham City. While most outdoor shots show coastline and/or mountains, reflecting the fact that the scenes were shot in and around Los Angeles, the establishing shots at the beginning of every 2-part episode were of New York City, from which the fictional Gotham got its name. Usually, the shots are of Midtown Manhattan.

Across the Hudson River from New York City is New Jersey, which was named for Jersey, in Britain's "Channel Islands." The other major Channel Island is Guernsey, and so, across the Gotham River is "New Guernsey."

To get there, as stated in the episode "The Bookworm Turns," you cross the Amerigo Columbus Bridge -- named for Amerigo Vespucci, for whom America was named even though he only went to South American, not North America; and Christopher Columbus, who "discovered America," even though he never set foot on the U.S. mainland, although he did reach Puerto Rico.

At the time, the Mayor of the City of New York was John Lindsay. Gotham had Mayor Linseed. The Governor of the State of New York was Nelson Rockefeller. Gotham's State was never named, but it had Governor Stonefellow. The movie based on the show replaced the Pentagon with the Hexagon, and the United Nations with the United World.

9. Underrated: Batgirl. A relatively recent addition to the comics, the producers thought the addition of Batgirl might appeal to teenagers, and it did. And while she did occasionally get captured by the villains, she was no "damsel in distress": She was smart -- in her real identity, she was Barbara Gordon, a librarian and the Commissioner's daughter -- and she was tough. Yvonne Craig was a professional dancer, and incorporated high kicks -- while either standing or swinging from something, like a chandelier -- into her fighting skills. 

What could have looked like a desperate attempt to goose up the ratings -- which it was -- turned out to be a smart, stylist, and very sexy addition to the show.

8. Ridiculous: The Gotham City Police Department. It might bother me a bit more that Chief Miles O'Hara, a character created for the show and played by Stafford Repp, was so much of an "old Irish cop" stereotype if I were Irish meself. But what really bothered me is that the Gotham police, rather than being hopelessly corrupt -- except for Commissioner Jim Gordon and a few others that he trusted -- seemed here to be hopelessly incompetent.

In the 1st episode, in his office and surrounded by uniformed policemen, Gordon, played by Neil Hamilton, said, "Gentlemen, I don't know who he is under that mask, but he's always there when we need him, and we need him now!" It would have been better to have him say, "Gentlemen, this is the best police department in America. But there are some things that are beyond us. And this case is one of them." -- and then gone into how they needed Batman.

Hamilton as Gordon (left), Repp as O'Hara

7. Underrated: The Technology. Telephones in cars weren't very common in 1966: Only rich people could afford them. Batman had a phone in the Batmobile. More about this later.

In one episode, the Clock King (in the comics, a villain more associated with Green Arrow), played by Walter Slezak, disguised himself to pull off a crime. Batman used a printer in the Batmobile, and a pen, to prove that it was Clock King. It was an early form of facial-recognition software.

And both the Batcave and Commissioner Gordon's office -- in 1966, mind you -- had flat-screen TVs. Oddly, the living room of "millionaire Bruce Wayne" had a regular old curved-screen TV.

6. Ridiculous: The Campy Episodes. They weren't all campy, but they seemed to get campier as the show went along. "Surf's Up! Joker's Under." Batman and the Joker, surfing (off the coast of Gotham City?), wearing swimming trunks over their full costumes? Holy wipeout!

Cesar Romero as the Joker (left), and West as Batman, dude.

"The Londinium Larcenies," their only 3-part episode, had its moments. But it indulged every English stereotype, and, I'm sorry, but Rudy Vallée could not pull off the role of a crooked English lord. "The Sport of Penguins," with Batgirl (in costume) and Robin (not in costume but in his regular Dick Grayson persona) as jockeys in the Gotham Handicap, a race fixed by the Penguin, with assistance from a girlfriend played by Ethel Merman? There truly is no business like show business.

Vincent Price made an interesting villain as Egghead, but with Anne Baxter, as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, rendering him a secondary villain, made for a stupid pair of episodes. Let's face it: Star Trek's budget-slashed 3rd season had nothing on Batman's budget-slashed 3rd season.

Victor Buono played a distinguished history professor who, due to an accident had come to think of himself as King Tut, the ancient Egyptian Pharoah, and that he was now destined to rule the modern world. Tut's plots actually had some logic to them, despite the character's inherent mental illness. After all, the man behind the persona, however twisted, was still brilliant.

But Buono was one of those gay actors who seemed to be in a closet with a see-through door, and everything he did, including the King Tut character, was over-the-top. Had a more serious actor -- say, a pre-Airplane! Leslie Nielsen -- been cast, a proper balance between serious and silly could have been found, and the character might have seemed like more of a threat.

5. Underrated: Social Responsibility. In his last years, in response to fans' demands for an ever-darker Dark Knight, Adam West began to call his version the Bright Knight. And while most versions suggest that Batman is "the man's real personality" and Bruce Wayne is "the mask," West never forgot that the character was Bruce Wayne first: When we first see him in most 2-part episodes, he is out of costume, either trying to teach Dick Grayson something, or doing some fundraising for the Wayne Foundation's charities.

And he never speaks of any criminal, not even the Joker, as hopeless or irredeemable. He shows sympathy for the bereaved Mr. Freeze, for the mentally ill King Tut, and for the various henchmen, especially the henchwomen, believing that they can be rehabilitated. A couple of times, as Bruce, he spoke of prison reform, believing that making prisons more comfortable would lead to an easier transition when the criminal's sentence was complete. And the show never mentioned Arkham Asylum, the comics' hospital for the criminally insane.

I looked for a photo of Adam West and Michael Keaton together.

Sadly, I couldn't find one.

This would have been better with the Christian Bale

or Ben Affleck version.

Also, while, in the days before one could answer a car-phone by pushing a button (as later seen in the 2000 Cadillac OnStar commercials, pattered after the Tim Burton films), Batman would pick up the receiver of the Batphone in the Batmobile in the comics, he didn't do that on TV. Whenever West was driving, and the Batphone rang, it was always Robin who picked it up. And this would be the only time Robin would answer the Batphone: In Wayne Manor above or in the Batcave below, when it rang, it would be Bruce who picked up and said, "Yes, Commissioner?" Dick would only do so in costume, as Robin, in the Batmobile, so Batman could concentrate on driving.

4. Ridiculous: Bat-Everything. The movie took it to an extreme, with Bat-Shark Repellent and a Bat-Dust Separator. On the TV show, he always seemed to have exactly the Bat-Gadget necessary for the situation, sometimes even Bat-Pills to counteract the effects of whatever smoke bomb or other weapon was used.

3. Underrated: The Stories That Hold Up Well. Most of these were in the 1st 2 seasons. One of the darkest episodes, and one of the least campy, was the 1st appearance of Mr. Freeze, played by George Sanders. He appeared to have frozen Batman and Robin to death. They couldn't get out of it themselves, and were very carefully thawed out by doctors.

There was a plan to feature Two-Face, and Clint Eastwood, just becoming a big star with his "Man With No Name" Western movies, was approached to play him. He was willing to do it. But the makeup department couldn't make a mask that made former District Attorney Harvey Dent's acid-scarred left profile not look too scary for kids. Nor did Clayface appear, and the special effects for his appearance would have stretched the show's already stretched budget.

So, with Two-Face and Clayface not viable options, a new character was created: False Face, a master of disguise who could be anybody, including a Bat-ally, and was listed in the opening credits of both parts, and the closing credits of the 1st part, as simply "?" The closing credits of the 2nd part revealed the actor's name: Malachi Throne. False Face's shtick was counterfeiting -- not just money, but creating fakes of other things of value. That was a story that holds up.

Roddy McDowall played another character created for the show, the Bookworm. But, aside from the initial shock of a rather silly look, this master thief was very clever, an intellectual match for Batman on the level of the Riddler. His episode was dark, as it began by having him appear to have masterminded Commissioner Gordon's assassination, and it held up throughout the two-parter that this guy was no joke -- if not quite a Joker.

Van Johnson played the singing criminal the Minstrel, whose plan to bankrupt the Gotham Stock Exchange presaged Bane's plan in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. And, in the series' most-watched episode, Liberace played twins: Chandell, a renowned concert pianist, and his brother Harry, who used his brother's image (figuratively and literally) to commit crimes, assisted by a trio of women, musically named Doe, Rae and Mimi. A Batman '66 episode with Liberace in it? Surely, this must be the campiest episode of them all. It wasn't: It had an interesting pair of villains, a serious character study (Chandell was a reluctant criminal), and a pretty good plot.

2. Ridiculous: How Easily They Were Caught -- and Escaped. In order to keep ratings up, most stories were two-part episodes. At the end of the 1st part, Batman and Robin -- or, one of them, with the other looking unlikely to be able to save them -- would be rather easily captured by the villain. For modern Batfans, this seems impossible. He's the Batman. Batman always wins. No, he doesn't always win, but when he doesn't, he survives, and usually wins the rematch.

And the ways in which the Dynamic Duo got out of these traps usually held up scientifically no better than the traps themselves did. But these stories weren't meant to be scientifically accurate. Nobody cared about that in the late Sixties. They were meant to be entertaining. And they were.

1. Underrated: The Show Saved Batman. The comics' sales had been dropping for years, mainly because the character had gotten a little silly. But that was perfect for television, and the show exposed Batman, Robin, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and the various villains to a wider audience than ever. It restored Batman's popularity, and, if Batman is, today, more popular than Superman, the show is a big reason why.

Ironic: The most-easily-captured Batman saved the comic character, the world's greatest detective and the world's greatest hand-to-hand combatant -- and from an enemy more powerful than the Joker or any other that the original Caped Crusader had ever faced: Irrelevance.