May 29, 1995: Derek Jeter's 1st Major League Game

May 29, 1995. 30 years ago: The New York Yankees played the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome in Seattle. Making his major league debut was a player originally from West Milford, New Jersey, but growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a student at the University of Michigan, a month short of his 21st birthday. His name was Derek Jeter.

Reflecting his publicly-stated desire to reach the Yankees while they still had a single-digit uniform number available, he wore Number 2, started at shortstop, and batted 9th.

The Mariner starter that night was Rafael Carmona, and if you've never heard of him, don't worry about it: He, too, was a rookie, making his own big-league debut just 11 days earlier. He made a grand total of 81 major league appearances, all for the Mariners. Despite the M's making the Playoffs that year and in 1997, he made no postseason appearances for them, and made his last appearance for any major league team just 4 years later, almost to the day. His opposition of Jeter that night is the only truly remarkable thing about him.

Jeter led off the top of the 3rd for his 1st at-bat, and flew out to right field. The right fielder was Darren Bragg -- not the ex-Yankee Jay Buhner. He led off the top of the 5th, and grounded to shortstop Félix Fermín -- whom the Yankees wanted to trade Mariano Rivera to the Mariners for the following Spring, as they didn't think Jeter was ready. (No, I'm not making that up. It could have been the worst MLB trade of the era.) In the 6th, he hit a line shot to right that was caught by Bragg. In the 9th, he grounded to 2nd.

The game went to extra innings, and he struck out to end the 11th. The Yankees lost in 12 innings, 8-7, when Rich Amaral hit a home run off Scott Bankhead. Jack McDowell started for the Yankees, and Randy Velarde and Dion James hit home runs for them.

Yes, Jeter went 0-for-5 in his big-league debut. If 0-for-4 is "the horse collar" (or just "the collar"), then 0-for-5 is "the collar plus one." Only 18,948 fans saw it, having no idea that they were watching the beginning of a legend.

Mariano Rivera had made his major league debut on May 23. Andy Pettitte had made his on April 29. Jorge Posada went on to make his on September 4. And that was the Core Four.

The next day, May 30, Jeter led off the top of the 5th, against Tim Belcher, and hit a ground ball through the hole for a single to left field, the 1st hit of what turned out to be 3,465.

Think about that total for a moment: Only 5 human beings who have ever lived have collected more major-league hits than Jeter: Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Tris Speaker. With Rose's death last September, Derek Jeter has more hits than any living person.

He has also reached the postseason more times than any other player, 17 times. He played on 7 Pennant winners and 5 World Championships, easily more than any active player. He was voted onto 14 American League All-Star Teams. He was the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, and while he was never awarded the Most Valuable Player, he finished in the top 10 in the voting 8 times, and in the top 3 on 3 occasions. He was truly robbed of the MVP in 1999 and 2009, and possibly in 2006. Contrary to the opinions of people who hate the Yankees, he was a great defensive shortstop, winning 5 Gold Gloves.

Derek Jeter surpassed Cal Ripken Jr. as the greatest shortstop in AL history, and is behind only Honus Wagner among all-time shortstops. No, Ernie Banks isn't ahead of him. Neither is Luke Appling, nor Luis Aparicio. Remember the debate about whether Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez were better? Well, now, nobody remembers A-Rod as a shortstop anyway (and who would want to put him ahead of Jeter, knowing what we now know?), and Nomar's career flamed out due to injury and diva behavior.

In 2017, the Yankees retired Jeter's Number 2, and dedicated a Plaque for him in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. In 2020, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 1st year of eligibility: Out of 397 voters, he got 396 votes. The one writer who voted against him has never been publicly identified, nor has he ever, even anonymously, divulged his reason. In 2022, ESPN named its 100 Greatest Baseball Players. They ranked Jeter 28th.

1985: English Soccer's Year of Blood

The Kenilworth Road Riot

March 4, 1985: A Football League Cup Semifinal (the tournament then known as the Milk Cup, since it was sponsored by Britain's milk board) is won by North-East club Sunderland AFC over Chelsea FC, at Chelsea's West London home of Stamford Bridge. But Chelsea fans, unhappy with the result, run riot. A fight breaks out between their hooligan "firms," the Chelsea Headhunters and the Seaburn Casuals.

This is the first of several incidents that will mark 1985 as the worst calendar year in the history of English soccer. At the time, Chelsea were not known as a good team, and were infamous for the Headhunters, and Stamford Bridge was a known recruiting ground for the far-right National Front.

As we've seen more recently, with their "racist, and that's the way we like it" behavior on the Paris Metro, on-field success hasn't tamed the Chelsea animals. They remain an ugly club with despicable fans.

*

March 13, 1985: A Football Association Cup Quarterfinal match is held at Kenilworth Road Stadium, in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. Host Luton Town FC defeat South London club Millwall FC. And then the real story begins.

Millwall were already known for having the nastiest fans in Britain, not just England. Their home ground, The Den, on the aptly-named Cold Blow Lane, was considered the most dangerous away ground in the League. Their firm, the Bushwackers, not only beat up innocent home fans, but tore seats out, and threw them onto the field. They even started fires in the stands, which were quickly put out before they got out of control.

Millwall's manager at the time was former Arsenal FC star George Graham. He couldn't control the Millwall fans, but he did well enough there that Arsenal called him back to become their manager a year later. In 9 years with the club, he led them to 6 trophies, including 2 League titles. Luton's manager was David Pleat, who would become the next manager at Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur FC -- with much less savory results, both competitively and personally. (Pleat had to resign as manager due to a sex scandal.)

The Kenilworth Road Riot was the most disgraceful display ever captured on TV or film at a British soccer game. For a few years by this point, many stadiums had "perimeter fencing" to prevent pitch invasions. The idea was, if they're going to behave like animals, we're going to put them in a cage. Arsenal's stadium, known as Highbury for its North London neighborhood, was one of the few major stadiums that didn't have it. As a result, the privilege it had long enjoyed, of hosting the always-neutral-site FA Cup Semifinals was taken away.

As John Motson, the BBC's announcer for the Luton-Millwall match, said, "This is what British football has got to contend with now." But things would get worse before they got better.

*

May 6, 1985: Everton FC, the blue club on Merseyside, beat West London team Queens Park Rangers, 2–0 in front of over 50,000 at Goodison Park in Liverpool, and clinch the Football League Division One championship, for the first time since 1970. Howard Kendall was a star player on that team, and was now their manager.

With the great goalkeeper Neville Southall; renowned defenders in Derek Mountfield, team Captain Kevin Ratcliffe, Gary Stevens and Pat Van Den Hauwe; midfielders Paul Bracewell, Peter Reid, Kevin Sheedy and Trevor Steven; and forwards Andy Gray, later one of the game's top broadcasters, and Graeme Sharp, Everton had perhaps the best team in their history.

Goodison Park was on the opposite side of Liverpool's Stanley Park from Anfield, home stadium of Liverpool FC, making the "Reds" and Everton's "Toffees" among the closest rivals in sports. The stadiums were 17 miles from the "border" between England and Wales, and both are very popular in Wales. As a result, both teams had a significant Welsh presence. In Everton's case at the time, that meant Southall, Ratcliffe and Van Den Hauwe.

Liverpool, as a city, is also a terminus on a ferry with Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. And both teams have had some fine Irish players: In the case of 1985 Everton, Sheedy. Like Liverpool, Everton also had a noted Scottish contingent, with Gray and Sharpe.

Everton put together a streak of 28 consecutives games unbeaten in all competitions, which came to an end 5 days later. But something much worse would happen in English soccer on May 11.

*

May 11, 1985: Bradford City Association Football Club, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, hosts their last home game of the season at their stadium, Valley Parade. It turns into a disaster -- and not the kind of disaster their fans would have considered a 4-0 defeat to be.

Unlike American sports teams, English "football" "clubs" tended to keep their old stadiums for as long as possible. This was a bad idea, since many of them still had wood in their construction, and fans liked to smoke, and drop their cigarettes.

On this day, at Valley Parade, which opened in 1886 and had hardly been modernized at all since, Bradford, in England's Football League Division Three, were playing Lincoln City, of Lincolnshire. This game is the most interesting thing that has ever happened to the "Imps." Bradford, the "Bantams," should be so lucky: They had won Division Three that season, earning promotion to Division Two, and nobody outside Bradford remembers that. And their only major trophy is the 1911 FA Cup, and that's so far back that nobody remembers that, either.

The match was covered by British network ITV, so the key moments survive without a film crew arriving in mid-disaster. At 3:40 PM, ITV commentator John Helm remarked upon a small fire in the main stand. In less than 4 minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand, trapping some people in their seats.

In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch, but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. Many were burned to death at the turnstile gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. A total of 56 people died, making it the biggest disaster in the history of English football to that point. (This was topped in Scotland by the 66 who died at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow in 1971, and would be surpassed by the 97 deaths that have now been attributed to the Hillsborough Disaster in Sheffield in 1989.)

Helm reported that he could feel the heat, from all the way across the stadium. As he put it, "Quite extraordinary scenes at Valley Parade. This was supposed to be a day of utter joy, triumph and celebration. It's turning into a nightmare."

There were many cases of heroism, with more than 50 people later receiving police awards or commendations for bravery.

Nevertheless, a bad year for English soccer -- which had already seen several notorious incidents of hooliganism, including a riot of Millwall fans at Luton Town 2 months earlier -- got even worse. On the same day as the Valley Parade fire, Birmingham City's promotion from the Second Division was marred by a riot by Leeds United fans, in which a 14-year-old spectator was crushed to death by a collapsing wall.

Both clubs were then known for their infamous hooligan firms: Leeds had the Leeds Service Crew, while Birmingham City had the Zulu Army -- named in tribute to the 1964 film that launched Michael Caine to stardom, but also because it was the first widely-known hooligan firm to have been racially integrated.

*

May 15, 1985: Having already won the Football League title, Everton win the European Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Rapid Vienna 3-1 at Feijenoord Stadium (a.k.a. De Kuip, "the Bathtub") in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Toffees qualified for the tournament by winning the previous season's FA Cup, a 2-0 win over Hertfordshire team Watford FC.

They are underdoing the most remarkable season in their history, and they still have a big game to go.

May 18, 1985: Everton lose the FA Cup Final, 1-0 to Manchester United at the original Wembley Stadium in West London. The game was scoreless after the full 90 minutes, but United's Norman Whiteside scored in extra time, the 110th minute. United thus deny Everton "The Double," winning both the League and the Cup.

United Captain Bryan Robson received the Cup from the President of the Football Association, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

What Evertonians, players and fans alike, don't yet know is that what should be the greatest era in the club's history is about to get short-circuited. Because of the Heysel ban that I'm going to get to in a moment, they are prevented from defending the Cup Winners' Cup. They wouldn't have done so anyway, since, as League Champions, they would've been entered into the European Cup, but they will be banned from playing in that, too, through no fault of their own.

They are the unluckiest club in English football, having also won the League in 1915 and 1939, and being unable to defend those titles since the game was subsequently suspended for the World Wars. They also won the League in 1891, 1928, 1932, 1963 and 1970. They would finish 2nd in 1986 and win the League again in 1987, but with the Heysel ban still in effect, they wouldn't enter the next season's European Cup, either. They won the FA Cup in 1906, 1933, 1966 and 1984, and would do so again in 1995. That win remains their last major trophy. In 2025, they closed Goodison Park, having played there since 1892, and are moving into a new stadium, at Bramley-Moore Dock on the River Mersey.

*

May 29, 1985: The European Cup Final is held at the Heysel Stadium, the national stadium of Belgium in Brussels. It should not have been played there. And, while pregame ceremonies were already underway, it should have been canceled.

In the 1983-84 season, Liverpool FC, a power in English football for the preceding 20 years, won the Football League, and also the European Cup -- the competitions now known as the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, respectively. Winning either one would have qualified them for the 1984-85 European Cup.

But the 1984 Final was tainted. The Finals are set for neutral sites, much like American football's Super Bowls, but that year's final was set for the Stadio Olimpico in Rome -- and one of that stadium's teams, A.S. Roma, advanced to the Final.

Liverpool beat them, but not before their fans were attacked by Roma thugs, many of them doing not drive-by shootings, but drive-by slashings, riding those little Italian motor scooters past anyone who looked English, and reaching out with switchblade knives.

So when the 1985 European Cup Final turned out to be Liverpool against another Italian team, Turin-based Juventus FC, the Scouse fans were ready for it.

The game was played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, which was in bad shape and unfit to host such an important event. I've talked to Arsenal fans who were there for the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, where they lost to Spanish club Valencia CF, and they said it was in bad shape then.

Each team, at the time, was the most hated in the country. Sure, they were the most successful, and that attracted gloryhunters ("frontrunners," as we would say in America), as with American sports teams like the New York Yankees and the football team at the University of Notre Dame; but also many people who were sick of these teams' successes.

A common saying in Italy is, "Amo il calcio, quindi odio Il Juve" -- "I love football, therefore I hate Juventus." Fans of the Rome teams, A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio -- and fans of the Milan teams, A.C. Milan and Internazionale Milano -- will even support their arch-rivals against Juventus. It's called gufare, meaning "to support against": A Milan fan won't support Inter, but he will support against Juve.

Likewise, many English fans' "second team" became Everton, Liverpool's neighbor; or Manchester United, Liverpool's most frequent challenger for national honors. When United finally surpassed Liverpool's record total of League titles, with their 19th in 2011, many celebrated the fact that United had, as their manager Sir Alex Ferguson had said he would do, "knocked Liverpool off their fucking perch." ("Perch" because Liverpool's symbol is a bird, a "Liverbird." United won a 20th title in 2013. Liverpool won a 19th in 2020 and a 20th this year.)

So, for the 1985 European Cup Final, there were millions of people in the British Isles rooting for Liverpool, but also millions of others rooting for Juventus. Likewise, there were millions in Italy rooting for Juventus, but also millions rooting for Liverpool. And the memory of the fan clashes prior to the previous year's Final was still fresh in everyone's memories.

Normally, before a football match, to avoid a pregame "off" between opposing sets of fans, barriers are put up to keep each teams' fans in their own separate sections. This time, however, there was a neutral zone, ostensibly set aside for locals and neutrals, and there was no barrier between them and the Juventus fans, and no barrier between them and the Liverpool fans. As it turned out, it was mostly Juventus fans who occupied it.

At around 7:00 PM local time, a group of Liverpool fans ran toward them. Had the Juve fans stood their ground and fought, many of them might have gotten hurt, but it wouldn't have been as bad as what actually happened.

Instead, they ran, and many of them crashed into a wall, which collapsed. People and chunks of concrete fell onto people below, and 39 people died, and over 600 others were hurt.

The aftermath

At the other end of the stadium, Juventus fans began to riot in retaliation for the events in section Z. They stormed the pitch towards the Liverpool fans, and were stopped by the police. It took 2 hours to clear the field, meaning the game started over an hour late. 

Officials from UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, went into each team's locker room, and informed them of the disaster. Officials from both teams recommended that the game be canceled, as playing would be considered disrespectful to the dead. The Royal Belgian Football Association, responsible for staging the event, won the argument by saying that things might get worse between the sets of fans if the game were called off.

The respective team Captains, Liverpool right back Phil Neal and Juventus sweeper Gaetano Scirea, were given microphones to talk to their fans, and plead for calm. Over the years, Neal stuck by his belief that the game should have been called off.

The field was cleared, and the game kicked off at 8:15 PM, Central European Time -- 7:15 PM in Liverpool and the rest of the British Isles, 2:15 on the U.S. East Coast.Each team was in its traditional uniform: Liverpool in all red, Juventus in their black and white stripes, the Mersey Reds vs. the Bianconeri. Both teams were a bit subdued, not really wanting to play, and there were few highlights in the 1st half.

In the 56th minute, Juve's Polish striker, Zbigniew Boniek, was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by centreback Gary Gillespie, who wasn't even supposed to play, but came on as a substitute when Mark Lawrenson was hurt early in the game. Liverpool protested that the foul was outside the penalty area. André Daina, the Swiss referee, awarded the penalty anyway. It was taken by midfielder Michel Platini (despite his Italian roots, he was born and raised in France), and Juve were up 1-0.

In the 74th minute, Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan was brought down in the penalty area by midfielder Massimo Bonini. This time, Daina did not award a penalty. Questionable decisions like these gave rise to the belief, already long present in Italy and maintained to this day, that Juventus cheat, that they buy off referees. They are known as I Ladri: The Thieves.

There were chances for Liverpool the rest of the way, but nothing came of them. Juventus won. Platini took the European Cup. Fans all over Italy declared to it be a Coppa de Sangue: Cup of Blood, won practically on the dead bodies of their own fans.

Michel Platini and the Cup of Blood

Liverpool had previously won it in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984, but this was Juve's 1st. They would win another in 1996, without the tragic circumstances, but have generally had bad luck in the tournament: Despite a record 36 Serie A titles, they are 2-7 in European Cup/Champions League Finals, including including 0-5 since the 1996 win. And this includes the 2003 Final, when they became the 1st team ever to lose the Final to a team from their own country, A.C. Milan. (That game was not played in Italy: It was played at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.) No team has lost more CL Finals.

UEFA had previously banned individual English clubs from playing in their various competitions, at first indefinitely, and then limiting it. This had happened to North London team Tottenham Hotspur after the 1974 UEFA Cup Final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands against Rotterdam club Feyenoord. It had also happened to Leeds United after the 1975 European Cup Final in Paris against Bayern Munich.

Both English clubs lost the games in question, and both had their bans lifted after 2 years. This time, instead of just sanctioning the team involved, UEFA banned all English clubs for 5 years, and tacked on an additional year for Liverpool.

This was punishment far beyond the offense: What did any other English club have to do with this? Were they blaming all English clubs for what one club did -- which it didn't actually do?

What did the British government do about this insult? Led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, they actually supported the decision. The Iron Lady (more like the Iron Bitch) hated sports, and particularly viewed football club supporters as undereducated, manners-lacking scum -- and likely to vote for her opponents in the Labour Party, rather than her own Conservative Party, anyway.

For this reason, football-mad areas such as Merseyside (home to Liverpool and Everton), Manchester, Birmingham (home to Birmingham City and Aston Villa), the North-East (home to Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough), and the cities of Scotland and Wales still tend to vote Labour: Because of a backlash against Thatcher that has lasted 40 years, and has not abated since her death.

By this point, even English liberals were angry at Liverpool, blaming them for their clubs not being able to compete in the European Cup (then a tournament for the defending champions of the various countries' national leagues), or the UEFA Cup (for other high-placing teams), or the European Cup Winners' Cup (competed by the winners of the previous season's various national cups like the FA Cup).

The overreaction was staggering. True, 39 fans had died, but not one died as a result of a direct attack by one person on another. Contrary to what fans of teams that hate Liverpool still claim, the Liverpool fans were not, as opposing fans, especially of Manchester United, claim, "murderers."

An unexpected side effect was that Glasgow-based Rangers FC realized that the ban applied only to English clubs, not to British clubs or to English players. They signed several English players by offering them a chance to keep playing in Europe, and hoped that this would allow them to dominate the Scottish League over the next few years, and to win European tournaments.

They signed Ipswich Town centreback Terry Butcher, Tottenham centreback Graham Roberts, Everton's right back Gary Stevens and midfielder Trevor Steven, and former Nottingham Forest forward Trevor Francis and former Chelsea and Man United midfielder Ray Wilkins. (The latter two had gone to Italy in the interim, to keep playing in Europe.)

Results: They won the Scottish League in 1987, 1989 and 1990; and the League Cup in 1988 and 1989. However, they did not win the Scottish Cup. More to the point, they didn't win a European trophy during the Heysel ban. The closest they came was the Quarterfinals of the 1988 European Cup.

Between the Heysel ban (which wasn't entirely Liverpool fans' fault) and Liverpool's perennial success (in 1986 they won the Double), pretty much anybody who wasn't already a Liverpool fan hated Liverpool's guts. (In other words, they were then what Manchester United would become.) When the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster occurred in 1989, causing the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, some fans finally found sympathy with them -- but some doubled down on their hatred of the Mersey Reds, saying they got what they deserved, especially after Heysel.

Relations between Liverpool and Juventus have been cordial since, and the teams have played both European tournament games and friendlies (exhibition games), with some of the proceeds being donated to the families of the victims of Heysel and Hillsborough. This included a Champions League Quarterfinal on April 5, 2005, at Liverpool's home of Anfield, when a plaque was dedicated. Liverpool went on to win the European Cup that time, and in 2019, they made it 6 wins, more than any other British team.

Left to right: Phil Neal, Michel Platini, Ian Rush

Heysel Stadium was demolished in 1990. In 1995, the new King Baudouin Stadium was built on the site. It seats a little over 50,000 people.

It hosts matches for the Belgium national team, and hosted 5 games in the Euro 2000 tournament. As yet, however, it has not hosted the Final of any European tournament.

*

August 4, 1985: The Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees, 4-1 at Yankee Stadium. Tom Seaver was the winning pitcher for the White Sox. For the former New York Mets star, it was 300th win of his career, and a lot of Met fans were among the 54,032 fans in attendance.

It was Phil Rizzuto Day, as the Yankees honored their beloved shortstop-turned-broadcaster, and that's why I, 15 years old at the time, was there. I sat in the right field boxes, with a good view not only of mound, the batter's box, and Seaver combining the two to show his famed pinpoint control; but also of the right-field bleachers, where the Met fans and the Yankee fans, not separated (as is usually the case in North American sports), got into a fight. Everybody else in the stands seemed to cheer them on.

The security guards managed to break it up, and about 50 fans were ejected. I don't know how many were arrested. I don't think any were hospitalized.

In American baseball, in any era, such a fight in the stands was considered a disgrace. In English soccer, in 1985, it would have been considered just another matchday.

In the 1990s, the rise of better security, including closed-circuit cameras, and all-seater stadiums made in-stadium incidents rare. It also led to the removal of the perimeter fencing. In the years since, most of the pitch invasions have been in celebration, not to start a fight.

There is, of course, even now, the occasional "off" outside the ground. Old habits die hard: The old hooligans outgrew their need to fight, but there would always be younger men in the firms to replace them.

Yanks Sweep Angels, Face Dodgers Again

Knowing that Gerrit Cole was out for the season, Luis Gil was out until June, and Clarke Schmidt was out until May, the big fear among Yankee Fans was that we wouldn't have enough pitching to make a serious Playoff run, let alone defend our American League Pennant.

As Mickey Rivers, the center fielder on the Yankees' 1976-78 Dynasty, once said, "Ain't no sense in worryin' about things you got control over. 'Cause if you got control, ain't no sense worryin'. And there ain't no sense in worryin' about things you got no control over. 'Cause if you got no control, ain't no sense worryin'."

Translation, at least on this occasion: Maybe we shouldn't have worried so much. In the Yankees' 1st 55 games, we've held the opposition to 2 or fewer runs 21 times, and have gone 20-1 in those games. They are 28-5 when holding teams to 3 or fewer.

Last night, the Yankees completed a 3-game series against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. On Monday night, Ryan Yarbrough, who had a terrific rookie season with the Tampa Bay Rays but had been a journeyman ever since, again proved himself a good free agent pickup. He went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. The bullpen of Yerry De los Santos, Mark Leiter Jr. and Luke Weaver pitched shutout ball.

In the top of the 4th, 3 straight singles by Ben Rice, Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge loaded the bases with nobody out. Cody Bellinger drew a walk to force in a run. After Jasson Domínguez struck out, Anthony Volpe doubled Grisham and Judge home. Austin Wells later added a run with a sacrifice fly, and the Yankees won, 5-1.

On Tuesday night, Carlos Rodón gave the Yankees perhaps their best start of the season so far: 7 innings, no runs, 5 hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts. Jonathan Loáisiga, much-missed last season due to injury, pitched a perfect 8th.

Rice hit a home run in the 4th, Volpe singled home a run in the 6th, and Oswald Peraza hit a home run in the 7th. So, to give Weaver some rest, Aaron Boone sent Devin Williams in to protect a 3-0 lead in the 9th.

Giving Weaver some rest was not a mistake. Sending Williams in to close was. He allowed a home run and a single, got a flyout, then allowed another single, and let another run scored on a groundout. The tying run was on 1st base, and the winning run was at the plate. I was having flashbacks to Aroldis Chapman, Boone Logan, Scott Proctor, Kyle Farnsworth and Jeff Weaver. Fortunately, Williams induced a pop-up to end it. Yankees 3, Angels 2.

Last night, Paul Goldschmidt led off the game with a double. Grisham struck out. With 1st base open, Judge was intentionally walked. Bellinger drew a walk that was not intentional. Volpe hit a sac fly to center that scored Goldschmidt. It was one-nil to the Bronx Bombers.

That 1 run held up, because Schmidt, who's done pretty well since coming off the Injured List, was seriously dealing. He went 6 innings, allowing no runs on 4 hits and a walk, striking out 4. Over the last 3 innings, Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill and Leiter allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk. Yankees 1, Angels 0.

Over 27 innings, the Yankees hit only 2 home runs, but held the Halos to 3 runs. It was like a 1996 Yankees series, not a "Bomb them out of the yard and hope the entire pitching staff holds them off" Brian Cashman special.

*

We are 55 games in. Which is 1 more than the 1/3rd mark of the season. The Yankees are 35-20, on a pace to go 103-59. They are already leading the AL Eastern Division by 7 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, 8 over the Toronto Blue Jays, 9 1/2 over the Boston Red Sox, and 16 over the Baltimore Orioles. The only teams in MLB with a better record are the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Yankees have today off. But they're staying in the Los Angeles area, because they're playing the Dodgers this weekend. Although it's a rematch of last year's World Series, winning it wouldn't be revenge. It would, however, be a good way to show everyone, including (especially?) themselves, that this is a different Yankee team, ready to go all the way.

Here are the scheduled matchups:

* Friday (tomorrow) night, 1st pitch 10:10 PM New York Time (7:10 local), broadcast on Amazon Prime: Max Fried vs. Tony Gonsolin.

* Saturday night, 7:15 (4:15 local, so it will still be daylight through most of the game), on Fox (WNYW-Channel 5): Will Warren (for 5 innings at most, then the bullpen) vs. Landon Knack.

* Sunday night, 7:10 (4:10 local, so, again, daylight), on ESPN: Not yet assigned, but it will be Yarbrough's turn in the rotation, vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Bring on Dem Bums.

How Long It's Been: The Philadelphia Flyers Won the Stanley Cup

May 27, 1975, 50 years ago today: The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup. They beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 in Game 6 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

NOTE: This is an update of a piece I wrote for May 27, 2015, which also included the last NBA Championship for the Golden State Warriors, a drought that ended within days.

This was the 1st Stanley Cup Finals that didn't have either the Montreal Canadiens or the Boston Bruins in it since 1964. It was also the 1st Finals that didn't have any of the "Original Six" teams -- Montreal, Boston, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings -- in it since the 1925-26 season, the season before the Rangers, Hawks and Wings began play.

This was the Finals best remembered for Game 3, the Fog Game. Not because Flyers coach Fred Shero was nicknamed Freddy the Fog, but because Buffalo, a city famed for cold and not used to heat, didn't have an air-conditioning system in "The Aud," which had been built in 1940 and was already obsolete.

Seriously: There's atmosphere, and then there's too much atmosphere. And so fog developed on the ice: Players, the officials, and the puck were practically invisible. During stoppages in play, the grounds crew skated around the ice, carrying bedsheets, in an attempt to dissipate the fog. During others, the players just skated around in circles. Neither of these tactics worked for very long.

It could have been called the Bat Game. Just a few minutes before the fog started to form, a bat started flying low over the players. (Buffalo stood in for 1939 New York in the film version of The Natural, but it's never been confused for Batman's Gotham City!) Sabres center Jim Lorentz had finally had it with this mother-freakin' bat in that mother-freakin' arena, and slapped it with his stick. As far as has been recorded, this is the only time a player has ever killed an animal during an NHL game.

Some Buffalo fans, already used to bad luck, began to worry that this was an omen. But the game went to overtime, and René Robert -- along with Gilbert Perrault and Rick Martin, part of the Sabres' French Connection Line -- scored the game-winner.

That brought the Sabres to within 2 games to 1, and they tied the series. But the Flyers took the last 2 to win the Cup. Goaltender Bernie Parent was the big hero, allowing just 12 goals in 6 games, including a shutout in the clincher. He became the 1st player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs, an award established in 1965) in back-to-back years; only Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby have done it since.

In addition to Parent (Number 1), Captain Bobby Clarke (16) and Bill Barber (7) got their uniform numbers retired and were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Also elected were Coach Shero, general manager Keith Allen, and owner Ed Snider. (Barry Ashbee, injured the previous year but still got his name on the Cup, was an assistant coach on this team, and his Number 4 was retired after his early death.)

Other interesting figures included the defenseman brothers Joe and Jimmy Watson, former Toronto Cup-winner Ted Harris, vicious defenders Ed Van Impe and Andre "Moose" Dupont, the even more vicious Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, 1974 Cup-clinching goalscorer Rick MacLeish, 1975 Cup-clinching goalscorer Bob "Hound" Kelly, future 1989 Calgary Flames Cup-winning had coach Terry Crisp, and future broadcasters GaryDornhoefer and Bill Clement.

It's also worth noting that the 1975 Flyers were the last Cup winners with an entirely Canadian roster. The Montreal dynasty that began the next season had an American, Rick Chartraw.

The Flyers haven't won the Cup since. Even the ancient Israelites, also guilty of many sins, got out of the wilderness after 40 years.

It's not that the Flyers haven't had good teams. Frequently, they've been very good. The Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1976 (got swept by the Montreal Canadiens), 1980 (lost to the New York Islanders, partly thanks to referee Leon Stickle if you ask Philly fans), 1985 (lost to the Edmonton Oilers), 1987 (lost to the Oilers again), 1997 (got swept by the Detroit Red Wings) and 2010 (lost to the Chicago Blackhawks). Infamously, they lost Eastern Conference Finals to the New Jersey Devils in 1995 (Claude Lemieux vs. Ron Hextall) and 2000 (Scott Stevens vs. Eric Lindros). But they've never won the Cup again.

Why not? Look no further than Parent. In 1979, Parent took a shot to the eye. His mask wasn't like the helmets of today: He sustained an eye injury, and never played again. The Flyers have never had another great goalie. Pete Peeters petered out, Pelle Lindbergh drank and drove and crashed into a South Jersey school and died, Ron Hextall was Ron Hextall, John Vanbiesbrouck was over the hill, Garth Snow melted, Brian Boucher wasn't good enough, Roman Cechmanek's empire fell, and so on, and so on, and so on.

It's been 50 years -- fifty, half a century -- since the Philadelphia Flyers went all the way. How long has that been?

*

It was a bad time for New York sports, except for the 2 teams then calling the Nassau Coliseum home. Although the New York Nets won ABA titles in 1974 and 1976, this was the season in between. The Islanders, in their 3rd season of existence, shocked the Rangers in the Playoffs, and then came from 3-games-to-none down to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then almost did the same to the defending champion Flyers, before "Shero's Heroes" won Game 7.

The Rangers then went into the next season, and blew it all up, firing longtime boss Emile Francis first as head coach, then as general manager. They traded popular goalie Eddie Giacomin to the Wings, which became a public relations nightmare when their next home game was against the Wings. Then they traded club legends Jean Ratelle and Brad Park for Bruins superstar Phil Esposito, a move which worked out okay for the Rangers, but better for the Beantown Brats.

None of the others did much. Because of the renovation of the original Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium played host to a record 4 major league sports teams in 1 calendar year: The usual Mets and Jets, and the tenant Yankees and Giants. Although the Yankees were still in the American League Eastern Division race by Labor Day, they couldn't sustain it, and none of the others came even that close in their leagues. The Knicks were in their 1st season after the retirements of Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere and Jerry Lucas, and, left with Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Earl Monroe, couldn't hold it together. The Devils, of course, did not exist: The franchise was in its 1st season, 1974-75, and was the Kansas City Scouts.

There were 18 teams in the NHL, including the expansion Scouts and the Washington Capitals. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976 and the Devils in 1982. The Atlanta Flames became the Calgary Flames in 1980. The Oakland-based California Golden Seals became the Cleveland Barons in 1976. They and the Minnesota North Stars were the most financially-strapped teams in the NHL, and they were merged in 1978, keeping the North Stars name, making the Barons, named for one of the most successful minor-league teams, the last team in North American major league sports to, essentially, go out of business. The North Stars became the Dallas Stars in 1993.

There were 14 teams in the World Hockey Association, including the Houston Aeros, with Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, winning their 2nd straight title. But when 4 WHA teams were absorbed into the NHL in 1979, the Aeros were not among them. Probably because the Howes had gone to the New England Whalers, who became the Hartford Whalers upon joining the NHL, and the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.

The Quebec Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. The Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, and the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. The only WHA team still competing in their original city is the Edmonton Oilers (although not their original name, as, in the 1st WHA season, 1972-73, they were the Alberta Oilers, fooling no one in Calgary into supporting them).

Several new expansion teams have been added: The San Jose Sharks in 1991, the Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992, the Anaheim Ducks and the Florida Panthers in 1993, the Nashville Predators in 1998, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000, the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, and the Seattle Kraken in 2022. The Thrashers became the new version of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011, and the old Jets, the Coyotes, became the Utah Hockey Club in 2024, waiting a year to pick a permanent name, and coming up with the Utah Mammoth.

There were 18 teams in the NBA. In addition to the Bullets now being the Wizards: The Buffalo Braves became the San Diego Clippers in 1978 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984; the expansion New Orleans Jazz became the Utah Jazz in 1979; the Kansas City Kings became the Sacramento Kings in 1985; and the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

The NBA title was won, 2 days earlier, by the Golden State Warriors. It would take them 40 years to win another, but that was a part of winning 3 in 4 seasons, and 4 in 7.

The ABA title was won by the Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels, but when the league folded the next year, the Colonels were not 1 of the 4 teams absorbed into the NBA: The New York Nets (who became the New Jersey Nets in 1977 and the Brooklyn Nets in 2012), the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets.

There were 24 teams in MLB, and 26 teams in the NFL. There were 28 combined teams in basketball, and 32 combined teams in hockey. So that's a total of 110 teams -- 94 of which still exist. Of those 94 teams, only 10 are playing in the same buildings they were using in May 1975. 

The Knicks are the only ones in the NBA, and the Rangers are the only ones in the NHL. Their efforts to build a replacement for "the new Madison Square Garden" are currently stalled. There are 5 MLB teams currently using pre-1975 ballparks: The Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Kansas City Chiefs, and both Los Angeles-area teams, the Dodgers and the Angels. The 3 NFL teams currently using pre-1975 stadiums are the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Buffalo Bills -- and the Bills hope to open a new stadium in 2026.

(The Chicago Bears claim Soldier Field was built in 1924, but the original was totally demolished except for those colonnades on each side, which, unlike at the original, you can no longer see from inside the stadium opened on the site in 2003.)

A few of the old NHL stars were still playing in the WHA: Howe, Bobby Hull, Jacques Plante, Dave Keon. Henri Richard had just retired as the grand old man of hockey, winning a record 11 Stanley Cups in his 20 seasons.

Current Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet, who scored 232 of his 440 career goals as a player for the Flyers, was 11 years old. Of the New York Tri-State Area managers and head coaches: Tom Thibodeau of the Knicks was 17 and at New Britain High School in Connecitcut, Patrick Roy of the Islanders was 9, Mike Sullivan of the Rangers was 7, Aaron Glenn of the Jets was about to turn 3, Aaron Boone of the Yankees and Brian Daboll of the Giants were 2; and Carlos Mendoza of the Mets, Sheldon Keefe of the Devils and Jordi Fernández of the Nets weren't born yet.

The Flyers had made it back-to-back Cups -- a feat last achieved by an American team in 1954-55 by the Red Wings. The Golden State Warriors had won the NBA Championship 2 days earlier. The Pittsburgh Steelers had recently won their 1st Super Bowl. The defending World Series winners were the Oakland Athletics. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," the Heavyweight Champion of the World was Muhammad Ali.

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

There were 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. (There are now 28.) The idea that corporations were "people," and entitled to the rights thereof, was ridiculous. But then, so was the idea that two people of the same gender could marry each other, and be entitled to the legal protections of marriage. The Supreme Court has since permitted both.

The President of the United States was Gerald Ford. Former President Richard Nixon, his wife, and the widows of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry Truman were still alive.

Jimmy Carter had just left the Governorship of Georgia, and announced his campaign for President. Ronald Reagan had done the same after leaving the Governorship of California. George Bush the father was Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China -- America didn't officially have diplomatic relations with them at the time -- while George Bush the son was failing in the energy business. Bill Clinton was teaching law at the University of Arkansas, while Hillary Clinton was practicing law in Little Rock. Barack Obama was in junior high school in Hawaii. Joe Biden was in his 1st term as U.S. Senator from Delaware. And Donald Trump and his father were settling a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice over their racist renting practices.

The Governor of New York was Hugh Carey. The Mayor of New York was Abe Beame. The Governor of New Jersey was Brendan Byrne. The Mayor of Philadelphia was Frank Rizzo, whose hamfisted tactics and steadfast standing with his former fellow cops made him "the original Rudy Giuliani"; and the Governor of Pennsylvania was Milton Shapp. As for the current holders of those offices: Kathy Hochul, Eric Adams and Phil Murphy were in high school, Cherelle Parker was 2 years old, and Josh Shapiro was about to turn 2.

There were still surviving veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, and the Mahdist War. There were still living survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, the Brownsville Affair, and the Black Sox Scandal -- Charles "Swede" Risberg, the last survivor, would die that October.

The Pope was Paul VI. The current Pope, Leo XIV, was then Robert Francis Prevost, and was near Philadelphia, a student at Villanova University. The current holders of the Nobel Peace Prize were Irish activist Sean McBride (for his actions toward reconciliation not in his homeland, but in Africa) and former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato of Japan (for bringing the nations of Asia closer together). Sato would die just 7 days after the Flyers' Cup win. He remains the only Japanese person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and the only person to die as a current holder of it.

The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau. The monarch of Great Britain was Queen Elizabeth II, and the Prime Minister was Harold Wilson. East Midlands soccer team Derby County, for the 2nd time in 4 seasons, had shocked the nation by winning England's Football League, while East London club West Ham United had just won the FA Cup.

There have since been 9 Presidents of the United States, 11 Prime Ministers and 2 monarchs of Britain, and 6 Popes.

Major novels of 1975 included Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow, Shogun by James Clavell, Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, Looking for Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner, and Black Sunday by Thomas Harris -- about a terrorist attack on the Super Bowl. It was Harris' 1st novel, and every novel he has published since has featured the serial-killing psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter.

Stephen King was putting the finishing touches on 'Salem's Lot. George R.R. Martin published And Seven Times Never Kill Man. J.K. Rowling was about to turn 10.

In addition to Lecter, no one had yet heard of such literary characters as Lestate de Lioncourt, T.S. Garp, Arthur Dent, Jason Bourne, Kinsey Millhone, Celie Harris, Forrest Gump, Jack Ryan, Alex Cross, Bridget Jones, Robert Langdon, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen.

Major films in theaters at the time of the Flyers' title included Escape to Witch Mountain, Death Race 2000, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Eiger Sanction, The Happy Hooker, The Other Side of the Mountain, The French Connection II, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Strongest Man In the World, The Wind and the Lion, a film version of The Who's rock opera Tommy, and 2 of the more surreal motion pictures in a surreal era for them: The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail.

No one had yet heard of Rocky Balboa, Howard Beale, Michael Myers, Max Rockatansky, the Blues Brothers, Jason Voorhees, Ash Williams, John Rambo, the Terminator, the Ghostbusters, Freddy Kreuger, Marty McFly, Robocop, John McClane, Jay & Silent Bob, or Austin Powers.

Gene Roddenberry had just begun working on a revival of Star Trek, with the idea that it would be a TV series that would launch Paramount Pictures' bid for a 4th major TV network, challenging ABC, CBS and NBC. George Lucas, still in the afterglow of American Graffiti, had just completed the 2nd draft of a film he wanted to title The Star Wars. Steven Spielberg was mere days away from premiering Jaws.

Barney Miller had recently premiered. That week, the following celebrities were panelists on Match Game: Scoey Mitchell, Brett Somers, Gary Burghoff, Karen Morrow, Richard Dawson, and Fannie Flagg. Burghoff had been filling in for Charles Nelson Reilly, who was doing a play (starring in and directing).

The final episodes of Gunsmoke, Ironside, Mannix, Adam-12, and the original versions of The Odd Couple and Kung Fu had recently aired on television. The writers of M*A*S*H responded to McLean Stevenson's desire to leave the show by cruelly killing off his character, the Army unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, M.D. It was the 1st time a TV show had done this to a major character, aside from having to do so due to the death of the actual actor.

TV was escapism: We watched it to get away from the awful things of real life, even with a war-based show like M*A*S*H. On TV, things might look bad for 25 or 55 minutes, but, barring those dreaded words "To Be Continued... ", at the end of the half-hour or the hour, you knew that things were going to be okay.

The death of Henry Blake meant that this could never be taken for granted again. Within a year, James Evans Sr. (John Amos) would be killed off on Good Times. Four years after that, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) would be shot on Dallas, inventing the TV end-of-season cliffhanger. After this came everything from the Moldavian wedding massacre on Dynasty to the assassination of Kate Todd (Sasha Alexander) on NCIS; from the various gut-wrenching Castle cliffhangers to anything that happens on Game of Thrones.

We had yet to see the debuts of such legendary TV characters as Mork from Ork, William Adama, Arnold Jackson, Coach Ken Reeves, Sam Malone, Christine Cagney & Mary Beth Lacey, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Zack Morris, The Seinfeld Four, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder, Andy Sipowicz, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Doug Ross, Xena, Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, Leslie Knope, Sarah Manning and Maggie Bell. Nor had we been introduced to such animated icons as Mario, He-Man, Goku, the Thundercats, Bart Simpson, Ash Ketchum and Master Chief.

Roger Moore was playing James Bond. Tom Baker was playing The Doctor. But the the only Superman we had was the Super Friends version, voiced by Danny Dark; and the only Batman we had was the same show's version, voiced by Olan Soule. We were still 3 years away from Christopher Reeve, and 14 years away from Michael Keaton.

On the day of the Flyers' Cup win, Paul McCartney released the Wings album Venus and Mars. John Lennon had recently been a guest on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show; it would turn out to be his last televised interview. Elton John released Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, which became the 1st album ever to debut at Number 1 on Billboard magazine's album chart. Elvis Presley had just turned 40, and released Today, an album of, ironically, mostly cover versions. Frank Sinatra was touring with a big band led by old friend Woody Herman. The Jackson 5, including 16-year-old Michael, had just released the album Moving Violation, including the hit single "Dancin' Machine."

The Number 1 song in America was "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind & Fire. Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form Rainbow. Pete Ham of Badfinger killed himself by hanging. Ron Wood officially debuted with the Rolling Stones; by 1992, he had been their rhythm guitarist longer than Brian Jones and Mick Taylor combined. Stevie Wonder performed before 125,000 people in the Human Kindness Day concert at the Washington Monument.

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $6.03 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 10 cents, and a New York Subway ride 35 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 53 cents, a cup of coffee 61 cents, a McDonald's meal $1.65, a movie ticket $2.06, a new car $4,951, and a new house $42,600. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 826.11 on May 27, 1975. 

The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. Mobile telephones existed, mainly in cars. Handheld phones were being made, but were big and bulky, and hardly anyone had ever seen one.

Personal computers were debuting. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee all turned 20 in 1975. Jobs had just founded Apple with Steve Wozniak. Gates and Paul Allen had just founded Mircosoft. Berners-Lee was at Oxford University. Pong, the 1st game you could play on your TV set, had just been introduced.

Automatic teller machines were still a relatively new thing, and many people had never seen one. There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.

In the Spring of 1975, American troops left Vietnam for the last time. Communist troops took over there, and in Cambodia. The U.S. did manage to rescue the S.S. Mayaguez from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, but lost more people in the rescue than it rescued.

The Red Army Faction terrorists took hostages in Sweden, leading to the term "Stockholm Syndrome." Junko Tabei became the 1st woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. A bus crashed in Grassington, North Yorkshire, England, killing 32 people, the worst automotive disaster in British history. The Busch Gardens theme park "The Old Country" opened in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Chiang Kai-shek, the dictator of Taiwan, and Moe Howard, the last surviving member of the Three Stooges, and William Hartnell, the first Doctor Who, died. So did baseball legend Lefty Grove. Within days, track star Steve Prefontaine would be killed. Christina Hendricks, and Ray Lewis, and David Beckham were born. On the day the Warriors won the title, Lauryn Hill was born; on the day the Flyers won, Andre 3000 and Jamie Oliver.

May 27, 1975. The Philadelphia Flyers won their sport's World Championships, the Stanley Cup. It hasn't happened in the 50 years since.

With 76 points, the Flyers finished last in the NHL's Eastern Conference this season. Only 3 teams in the West had fewer points. So it doesn't look like they'll be contending for another Cup anytime soon.

May 27, 1935: "Black Monday" vs. the New Deal

The Supreme Court, 1935. Top row, left to right:

Pierce Butler, Harlan Stone, Owen Roberts, Benjamin Cardozo.

Bottom row, left to right: Louis Brandeis, James McReynolds,

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Willis Van Devanter, George Sutherland.

May 27, 1935, 90 years ago: A bad day for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, at the Supreme Court of the United States. Among FDR's advisors, the "Brain Trust," it becomes known as "Black Monday."

In Humphrey's Executor v. United States, FDR, a Democrat, had fired William Humphrey, a Republican, from the Federal Trade Commission. Humphrey sued to get his job back, and to get back pay. He died before the case could be heard, so his wife, as the executor of his estate, kept the suit going. The Court ruled in favor of Mrs. Humphrey.

FDR was not used to losing. He had never lost an election in his own right: State Senator from Dutchess County in 1910 and 1912, Governor of New York in 1928 and 1930, President in 1932. He had been on the losing side of the 1920 Presidential election, but as the Democratic nominee for Vice President, with Governor James M. Cox of Ohio as the top of the ticket and the official loser. He'd even gained seats for the Democrats in the 1934 Congressional election. So, this hurt a little. If that had been the end of it, it probably would've been a footnote in the story of his Administration.

Then, the Court announced its ruling in Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford. The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act of 1934 was designed to give aid to debt-ridden farmers. But the Court ruled that it violated the "Takings Clause" of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: While the States could not impair contract obligations, the federal government could, but it could not take property in such a manner without compensating the creditor. Two losses for FDR in one day. Unpleasant, but not really a big deal.

But the last decision the Court read was a very big deal. In A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, the Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, a key piece of New Deal legislation, in its entirety.

The details of what became known as "the Sick Chicken Case" involved the Schechter brothers violating laws governing the sale of poultry in the State of New York, both State and federal, including the NIRA.

(Ironically, the symbol of the NIRA -- or just the NRA, at that point better-known than the National Rifle Association -- was a bird, a blue eagle. This inspired the naming of a professional football team that started play in 1933, which later switched its main color from blue to green: The Philadelphia Eagles. And until becoming contenders during World War II, they seemed to play more like sick chickens than soaring eagles.)

In a unanimous 9-0 vote, the Court ruled that the NIRA was in violation of both the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment, and also of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.)

If the 1st 2 cases rolled off FDR like water off a duck's back, this last one stung. Four days later, he held a press conference, saying Schechter had "relegated the nation to a horse-and-buggy-definition of interstate commerce.

At the time, there were 3 factions on the Court:

* The Four Horsemen were ultraconservative: Willis Van Devanter, appointed by William Howard Taft, a Republican; James McReynolds, appointed by Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat but a Southern one; and George Sutherland and Pierce Butler, both appointed by Warren Harding, a Republican.

* The Three Musketeers were liberal: Louis Brandeis, the 1st Jewish Justice on the Court, appointed by Wilson and considerably more liberal than McReynolds; Harlan Stone, appointed by Calvin Coolidge, a Republican; and Benjamin Cardozo, appointed by Herbert Hoover, a Republican. But both Stone and Cardozo tended to vote FDR's way. Not in Schechter, though.

* The swing votes were Charles Evans Hughes, once an Associate Justice appointed by Taft, a predecessor of FDR's as Governor of New York, the 1916 Republican nominee for President, very nearly beating Wilson, and appointed Chief Justice by Hoover, to replace Taft, who had been appointed by Harding; and Owen Roberts, another Hoover appointee.

FDR knew that the Four Horsemen were a threat to his legislation, and that the two swing votes were both Republicans. But he didn't expect a unanimous vote against the NIRA.

After being re-elected in 1936, FDR proposed what became known as "the Court-packing plan," allowing the President to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court without there being a vacancy, one such Justice for every member of the Court that was at least 70 years old. In the Spring of 1937, that would have meant six, for a total of 15.

(Incidentally, the Constitution has never said, anywhere its text, either the original or the Amendments, how many Justices should be on the Supreme Court; only that the Court should exist, and what it should do. The number has been fixed at 9 since the Civil War, mainly because there were 9 "circuits" in the federal court system, although it was not traditional to have 1 Justice from each of the 9 circuits. Since 1981, there have been 11 circuits.)

But even the Democrats in Congress wouldn't go along with FDR on this one. It was too much of an overreach, and it seemed like a power grab, upsetting the separation of powers between the branches of the federal government. The plan was never even voted on by Congress.

FDR didn't get what he wanted, but he got the next-best thing: The plan struck fear into the Justices, and led them to look at his New Deal legislation more closely. On March 29, 1937, Justice Roberts (no relation to current Chief Justice John Roberts) voted with Hughes and the Three Musketeers in West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish, upholding minimum wage laws.

He had been expected to vote the other way, which would have made the vote 5-4 against, striking all such laws down. It became known as "The Switch In Time That Saved Nine," and was a sign that the Court -- or, at least, that Roberts -- had gotten FDR's message.

Despite the many successes, some of them political landmarks, of his 1st term, FDR hadn't gotten a chance to replace any of the Justices. Starting with his 2nd term, his chances began to come:

1. On June 2, 1937, Van Devanter retired, and was replaced by Senator Hugo Black of Alabama. Despite having once been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, the inaptly-named Black became one of the Court's leading voices for the forward movement of civil rights.

2. On January 17, 1938, Sutherland retired, and was replaced by Stanley Reed, FDR's Solicitor General, the person who argues before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government -- in other words, FDR had appointed the man who lost the Black Monday cases to the Court.

3. On July 9, 1938, Cardozo died, and was replaced by Felix Frankfurter, one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a longtime professor at Harvard Law School, FDR's alma mater.

4. On February 13, 1939, Brandeis retired, and was replaced by the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William O. Douglas, who served longer on the Court than anyone yet has: 36 years.

5. On November 16, 1939, Butler died, and was replaced by Frank Murphy, who had been FDR's Attorney General, and, before that, Governor of Michigan and Mayor of Detroit.

6. On January 31, 1941, 11 days after FDR was sworn in for a 3rd term, McReynolds retired, and was replaced by Senator James F. Byrnes of South Carolina. In 1942, with World War II on, FDR decided Byrnes was more valuable in a different role, and replaced him with federal Judge Wiley Rutledge.

7. On June 30, 1941, Hughes retired, and FDR promoted Stone to Chief Justice.

8. To replace Stone as Associate Justice, FDR appointed Robert H. Jackson, who had replaced Murphy as U.S. Attorney General, and had replaced Reed as U.S. Solicitor General, and before that had been an Assistant Attorney General in the Tax and Antitrust Divisions.

FDR appointed 9 Justices -- but only replaced 8 of those he inherited. With some appropriateness, the only Justice he didn't replace was Roberts, who retired from the Court on July 31, 1945, 3 months after FDR died. President Harry Truman replaced him with Harold Burton, a Senator from Ohio and former Mayor of Cleveland, and a Republican, as a bipartisan gesture in the closing days of World War II.

May 26, 2000: Scott Stevens vs. Eric Lindros

May 26, 2000, 25 years ago: The New Jersey Devils complete a 3-games-to-1 comeback in the NHL Eastern Conference Finals, beating the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at the First Union Center (now named the Wells Fargo Center), and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the 2nd time in team history. The 1st time they did so, in 1995, they also beat the Flyers, and went on to win the Cup both times.

The game is remembered less for the Devils coming back, and for their Captain, Scott Stevens, making the Flyers' former Captain, Eric Lindros, look like he would never come back.

Eric Bryan Lindros was born on February 28, 1973 in London, Ontario. The joke is that, instead of the doctor slapping him, he let Scott Stevens do it. In 1991, he was projected to be the top pick in the NHL Draft. The Quebec Nordiques had the top pick, and they chose him. But they were one of the smallest markets in the League, and, along with Montreal, the only one where the majority language wasn't English. It was French, which he didn't speak. He chose to remain in junior hockey for the 1991-92 season, rather than sign with the Nords.

At the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, the Nordiques worked out trades involving Lindros with both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. They sent the rights to Lindros to the Flyers for the following: Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, 2 players to be named later that turned out to be Chris Simon and Nolan Baumgartner, $15 million, the Flyers' 1st-round picks in the 1992 and 1993 NHL Drafts, and (most importantly, other than goaltender Hextall) the rights to Swedish star-in-the-making Peter Forsberg. That's 7 players, including All-Stars Hextall, Ricci and eventual Hall-of-Famer Forsberg, plus 2 draft picks, and $15 million, a considerable sum at the time.

The trade with the Rangers had the Nordiques also receiving a starting goaltender, John Vanbiesbrouck, plus All-Stars Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev and Doug Weight; plus the Rangers' 1st-round picks in 1993, 1994 and 1996; and $12 million. That's 4 players, arguably a better package than what they would have gotten from the Flyers (if Forsberg hadn't panned out), plus 3 draft picks, and $12 million. Clearly, Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut was interested in the cash.

The Flyers, believing they had made their deal first, filed a complaint. On June 30, 1992, 11 days after the draft, arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi ruled in favor of the Flyers. The Rangers kept their core together, although Vanbiesbrouck was replaced as starting goalie by Mike Richter, and they won the 1994 Stanley Cup.

Years later, Lindros would say that it wasn't the language barrier or the small size of Quebec City's market that made him refuse to play with the Nordiques. It was his unwillingness to play for Aubut, whom he didn't trust. He may have been right: Despite the skill of Forsberg, and the $15 million, Aubut was a poor and untrustworthy businessman, and sold the team late in the 1994-95 season. The new owners moved them to Denver, and the players the team received in the Lindros trade allowed them, under the name of the Colorado Avalanche, to win the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001.

The Flyers? Lindros, forming the Legion of Doom Line with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, helped them reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 1995, losing to the New Jersey Devils. He was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player. He was 22 years old. In 1996, he scored 47 goals, which turned out to be a career high. In 1997, having regained Hextall, the Flyers won the Eastern Conference title, but were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Lindros was 24, one of the best players in the sport, and the Captain of one of the top teams in the sport. It was still possible for him to live up to his nickname: As Wayne Gretzky was "The Great One," Lindros was called "The Next One." As with some other athletes -- as had been predicted in Philadelphia for football star Randall Cunningham and basketball star Charles Barkley, and was about to be predicted there for basketball star Allen Iverson -- the question for Lindros wasn't if he would lead his team to a World Championship, but how many.

But it didn't happen. Injuries to Lindros were a reason why. These included concussions that caused him to miss time. Out of a possible 82 games, he played in 52 in 1996-97, 63 in 1997-98, 71 in 1998-99, and 55 in 1999-2000.

He was also held back by disputes with Flyer management. As a player, Bobby Clarke remains the greatest player and the most beloved figure by the fans in Flyer history. As general manager, Bob Clarke, as he had come to be called, was terribly unpopular, for some bad moves. He publicly undermined Lindros, and claimed that his parents, Carl and Bonnie, acting as his agents, were making unfair demands. Their main demand was that the team take his concussions seriously. In the middle of the 1999-2000 season, Clarke stripped Lindros of the captaincy, giving it to defenseman Eric Desjardins.

The Flyers reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and took a 3-games-to-1 lead over the Devils. Game 5 and, if necessary, Game 7 would be at their new arena, then known as the First Union Center. (Or, as Flyer fans gleefully called it, "The F.U. Center.") They achieved this with Lindros being unavailable due to a concussion.

When the Devils won Game 5, Lindros was activated for Game 6. He scored a goal, but it was the team's only goal, and the Devils won, 2-1. He played in Game 7, but, at one point, came over the blue line with his head down, when Devils defenseman and Captain Scott Stevens him him with a shoulder check, knocking him unconscious and suffering yet another concussion -- the 7th of his career, and his 2nd of the season.

He was able to get off the ice with help from teammates. The Flyers lost, 2–1, and the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup. Say what you want about Flyer fans, and they certainly don't like the Devils, their closest opponent geographically, but they know their hockey: They have always conceded that, as vicious as it was, it was a clean hit.

Lindros became a restricted free agent. He refused to accept a two-way qualifying offer with a minor league provision from the Flyers, who still owned his rights. After he was cleared to play in December, he asked to be traded to the team he grew up rooting for, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Flyers refused to deal his rights to the Leafs, and so he sat out the entire 2000-01 season.

On August 20, 2001, he was finally graded to the Rangers, for considerably less than the Nordiques would have gotten had the arbitrator ruled in the Rangers' favor. He was still only 28, and should have had at least half his career in front of him. He scored 37 goals and had 36 assists, and was selected for the 2002 All-Star Game -- but had to miss it due to an injury. In the middle of that season, he was selected for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He played in 6 of their 7 games, scored a goal, and helped them win the Gold Medal.

He had his only injury-free season in 2002-03 (missing only 1 game as a "healthy scratch"), but declined in production. The following year, he suffered his 8th concussion, and played in only 39 games. The next season, 2004-05, was the lockout season, so nobody played any games.

The lockout settled, and his contract up, he finally signed with the Leafs, but played only 33 games, scoring only 11 goals. In 2006, he signed with the Dallas Stars, playing 49 games, but scoring only 5 goals. On November 8, 2007, not having been signed by any team, Eric Lindros retired.

He was 34 years old, and the most-hyped career of any incoming player ever was over. He was supposed to be an all-time legend, and it just didn’t happen, for reasons that were as much psychological as medical. As noted hockey writer Eric Duhatschek said, "This wasn't the next Gretzky. This wasn't even the first Lindros." His career looked like a failure.

Unfair? Well, he did score 372 goals in what amounted to 12 full seasons – suggesting he could have scored about 600 in a full career, unencumbered by the 8 concussions he sustained and tiffs with the Flyers' front office. He did get the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, and was a 6-time All-Star by the time he was 27 years old. He sure seemed like a future Hall-of-Famer at that point, when Stevens introduced him to The Shoulder and literally knocked him, and metaphorically the Flyers, out of the 2000 Playoffs. And he did win an Olympic Gold Medal.

In 2007, in London, Ontario, he donated $5 million to the London Health Sciences Centre. A few days later, the NHL Players' Association appointed him to the newly created post of NHLPA ombudsman. He held that post for a year and a half.

He played in the 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and in the Flyers' and Penguins' 50th Anniversary Alumni Game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in 2017, both times for the Flyers' alumni, and was wildly cheered by Flyer fans both times.

In 2016, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017, the NHL selected him for its 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. In 2018, the Flyers retired his Number 88.