Johan Cruijff, 1947-2016

Note: While his name was usually written as "Cruyff" for the English-speaking world, I'm going to spell it "Cruijff" throughout this post, since that's how he spelled it, except where, when quoted by others, it's spelled "Cruyff."

In his book Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, David Winner quoted Xander van der Drift, a Dutch poet, writing for a fan magazine in 1999: "Question of the 21st Century: Where were you when Johan Cruyff died?"

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (pronounced "croyf") was born on April 25, 1947, on the east side of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He grew up in a house on Akkerstraat, just a 5-minute walk from De Meer Stadion, then the home ground of Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (pronounced "EYE-ax," and named for the mythical Greek hero), the leading club in the largest Dutch city and the nation's capital.

In 1959, his father, Hermanus, a great Ajax fan, died of a heart attack. His mother, Petronella, would leave the store she and her husband ran, and became part of the staff at Ajax. She would remarry, to Henk Angel, a field hand at Ajax. With his mother, his stepfather, and the memory of his father in mind, the soccer influence stayed in the Cruijff home, and Johan was more determined than ever to become a great player.

Had he been born in America, he could have been a great baseball player. He joined Ajax's youth system at age 10, and was both a pitcher and a catcher. But it was obvious that his true talent was in soccer, and so, at age 15, he concentrated exclusively on that.

On November 15, 1964, just 17 years old, his made his senior debut for Ajax, in an Eredivisie (Dutch top league) game against GVAV (the club now named FC Groningen), scoring the club's only goal in a 3-1 loss. In 1965-66, he scored 25 goals, leading Ajax back from an awful finish the season before, their worst ever, to the league title, the 1st of 8 he would win with the club.

In 1967, Ajax again won the league, and also won the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond Beker -- the Royal Dutch Football Association Cup, usually written as the KNVB Cup. This was the 1st time Ajax had won the Dutch equivalent of "The Double," the 1st of 4 times they would do so with Cruijff.

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In 1969, Ajax advanced to the European Cup Final, losing to AC Milan, led by perhaps the greatest Italian player of them all, Gianni Rivera. This may have had an effect on Cruijff and Ajax manager Rinus Michels, who began to devise what became known as "totaalvoetball" -- "Total Football."

The idea is that any outfield player -- anyone ahead of the goalkeeper -- can move to another part of the field, and another player can move to slip into the space vacated by the preceding player. This had been previously been attempted by the great Real Madrid and Hungary teams of the 1950s, and the Burnley side in England that won the 1960 Football League title, but they didn't maintain it for long.

In his book, Winner described what they made Dutch soccer into as being like Dutch art: "Cruyff became the greatest exponent and teacher of totaalvoetball. His vision of perfect movement and harmony on the field was rooted in the same sublime ordering of space that one sees in the pictures of Vermeer or church painter Pieter Jansz Saenredam. It was the music of the spheres on grass."

In 1970, Ajax's arch-rivals, Rotterdam-based Feyenoord, having won the previous season's Eredivisie title, became the 1st Dutch team to win the European Cup. But Ajax again won The Double, and launched the most stunning run of soccer play Europe has ever seen.

Cruijff hurt his groin at the start of the 1970-71 season. On October 30, 1970, he returned, and a legend was born. Previously, he had worn Number 9, which had usually been the number of a centre-forward. But he began wearing Number 14. By this point, numbers higher than 11 were only worn on national teams (1 to 22, with 23 later added), except by substitutes (and then, it would be 12, 14 or 15, as 13 was usually seen as bad luck).

Crujiff nearly always wore 14 from this point onward, and with the exception of Pelé and Diego Maradona with 10, no single athlete in the history of sports on this planet has become more identified with a single number -- not even Jackie Robinson with 42, Mickey Mantle with 7, Michael Jordan with 23 or Wayne Gretzky with 99.

In 1971, Ajax progressed all the way to the Final of the European Cup again (at that time, only a defending national league champion could appear in it, unless they were the previous season's European Cup winners), and were set to play Panathinaikos of Athens, Greece.

The Final of what was known from 1955 to 1992 as the European Cup and since 1992 as the UEFA Champions League has always been set for a neutral site, although it hasn't always worked out that way. For 1971, the site chosen was the original Wembley Stadium in London. This factor cannot be underemphasized: The European Cup Final was the only non-English soccer game broadcast live on British television at the time, and, because it was at England's national stadium, the BBC promoted the heck out of this game.

Ajax had already played Arsenal, the North London side that won the League and FA Cup Double in that 1970-71 season, in the Semifinal of the 1969-70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, with Arsenal winning and then beating Belgium's Anderlecht in the Final.

In that 1970 match, the similarity between Ajax and Arsenal was mainly visual: Arsenal's famous red shirts with white sleeves seemed to be copied, but not quite, by Ajax's red fronts and backs with white sides. However, since Ajax had only the single uniform (or "kit," or "strip") at the time, even at home at Highbury, Arsenal had to wear their "change strip" of yellow shirts and blue shorts (a common combination in England at that time, as so many teams wore red and this was a common contrast).

The London leg of the '70 Fairs Cup Semifinal,

at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury.

Cruiff appears to be in the background, to the left.

The Arsenal player in the middle is John Radford.

The British interest wasn't just about fans' recent familiarity with Ajax, and how good they already believed Ajax to be. There was also intense interest in their Greek opponents. Pana had modeled themselves after a great British side, Glasgow-based Celtic, down to wearing green uniforms and having a shamrock as their logo; and were managed by Ferenc Puskás, who not only starred for the aforementioned Real Madrid side, but whose masterclass for the aforementioned Hungary side at Wembley in 1953 resulted in the England national team's 1st defeat on home soil to a team from outside the British Isles. (Scotland, Wales and Ireland had all done it by this point.)

In those days, teams generally didn't seek out foreign players or managers. Puskás wasn't Greek, but all of his players were. Sweeper Velibor Vasović, a Serb from Yugoslavia, and substitute defender Horst Blankenburg of Germany, were the only non-Dutch players to get into this game for Ajax. The others: Goalkeeper Heinz Stuy; defenders Wim Suurbier and Barry Hulshoff; midfielders Cruijff, Nico Rijnders, Johan Neeskens, Gerrie Mühren and substitute Arie Haan; and forwards Sjaak Swart, Piet Keizer and Dick van Dijk -- yes, his name was pronounced like "Dick Van Dyke."

van Dijk scored in only the 5th minute, and Pana desperately held on, looking for an equalizer, and not finding it, before Haan put the game away with a goal in the 87th. Ajax won, 2-0, and had become Champions of Europe for the 1st time.

Despite manager Michels being lured away by the money of Spanish club Barcelona, Ajax repeated in 1972 under Romanian manager Stefan Kovacs, winning the Netherlands' 1st European Treble: League, Cup and European title. They lost only 1 game all season long, including knocking Arsenal out in the European Cup Quarterfinal.

The 1972 European Cup Final proved to be Total Football's finest hour. They faced Internazionale of Milan, a team which had won the European Cup in 1964 and 1965, and lost to Celtic in the 1967 Final, with a system called catenaccio (a word meaning "padlock"): Defense above all. "Il Grande Inter" had been so successful with the system, in contrast to the free-flowing format of their groundsharing rivals AC Milan, that they were considered the hallmark of soccer defense.

Italian sportswriter Gianni Brera, a man often thought of as an Inter fan (he denied it), reflected the dominant thought of the Italian game at this point, writing that the perfect game of "calcio" (what the Italians call soccer) would end 0-0.

No such luck for Inter on this night: Despite having the great Sandro Mazzola and world-class defenders Giacinto Facchetti and Tarcisio Burgnich, Cruijff controlled the game from first whistle to last, scoring in the 47th and 78th minute to provide the 2-0 margin of victory.

"The Death of Catenaccio" was reported all over Europe. The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad wrote, "The Inter system undermined. Defensive football is destroyed." To make the moment all the sweeter, the venue was Stadion Feijenoord in Rotterdam, home ground of hated Feyenoord.

Ajax did it again, as Johnny Rep scored in the 5th minute for the only tally in the 1973 European Cup Final, defeating another Italian side, Turin-based Juventus, 1-0 at the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Serbia). Three straight European Cups would be done again by Bayern Munich in the next 3 years, but it hasn't been done in the 40 years since. Indeed, 2 straight hasn't been done since AC Milan in 1989 and '90.

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But all good things must come to an end. In August 1973, due to infighting at Ajax, Cruijff wanted out, and he got it: His former manager Michels brought him to FC Barcelona, for what was then a world record transfer fee, worth about $2 million at the time. Barça fans, known as cules, were ecstatic, getting the man then generally regarded as the best player in the world, something their arch-rivals, Real Madrid, had previously had with Puskás and Alfredo Di Stéfano. Now, it was La Blaugrana who had this advantage over Los Merengues.

Crujiff married a woman named Danny Coster. They had daughters Chantal in 1970 and Susila in 1972. They maintained a home in Barcelona from 1973 onward. On February 9, 1974, their son was born. Johan gave his son a Catalan name: Johan Jordi Cruijff. Naming his son after Jordi, Catalonia's patron saint, further endeared him to the Catalan people, especially since Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (who would be dead within 2 years), said to have fixed titles in favor of Real Madrid, had banned all use of Catalan national symbols. (Jordi Cruyff, as his name has usually been written, went on to have a decent career as a player, but people always expected more from the son of Cruijff.)

But what the cules really loved about him came just 8 days later: On February 17, 1974, Barcelona went to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid's mighty 100,000-seat home stadium, and beat them 5-0. If Crujiff had never played another game for La Blaugrana, they would have loved him forever for that alone.

Note that the captain's armband is the Catalan flag.

Barcelona won La Liga in 1974. It all seemed to be setting Cruijff up for the greatest prize of all: The World Cup. The tournament was being held in West Germany, and the Dutch team seemed to have the best of all Dutch worlds.

From Ajax (currently or formerly) came Cruijff, Neeskens, Haan, Kiezer, Suurbier, Rep and defender Ruud Krol. From Feyenoord came goalkeeper Eddy Treijtel; defenders Wim Rijsbergen, Wim Jansen, Rinus Israel and Harry Vos; and midfielders Willem van Hanegem and Theo de Jong. From PSV Eindhoven came defender Pleun Strik and twin brother midfielders René and Willy van de Kerkhof. From Twente Enschede came goalkeeper Piet Schrijvers and defender Kees van Ierssel. From FC Amsterdam came starting goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed. From Belgian club Anderlecht came forward Rob Rensenbrink. And from Anderlecht's arch-rivals, Club Brugge, came midfielder Ruud Giels.

The Netherlands -- often incorrectly called "Holland," but that name only refers to 2 provinces of the kingdom, albeit those containing Amsterdam and Rotterdam -- defeated Uruguay 2-0, drew 0-0 with Sweden, and demolished Bulgaria 4-1 to advance to the 2nd Group Stage. There, they beat Argentina 4-0, East Germany 2-0 and defending champions Brazil 2-0.

It was beginning to look easy. They had played 6 games, and had an aggregate advantage of 14-1. With their flowing football, flowing hair and bright orange uniforms, they had captivated the entire world -- especially since this was, for many countries, still the early days of color television.

Cruijff and Beckenbauer in the Final.

The fact that the Dutch wore a bright color

and the Germans wore black and white

seemed symbolic of each country's soccer style.

On July 7, 1974, at the Olympiastadion in Munich, the dream seemed to be coming true. The Dutch lined up for the Final against a West Germany side dominated by players from Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich, including defender Franz Beckenbauer, goalie Sepp Meier and forward Gerd Müller. In only the 1st minute of the game, Crujiff advanced into the penalty area, and Bayern's Uli Hoeness brought him down. A penalty was rightly awarded, the 1st ever awarded in a World Cup Final, and Neeskens converted to give the Dutch a lead before 2 minutes had passed.

But the Dutch may have scored too soon, and rested on their laurels. The Germans fought back, and got a legitimate penalty of their own in the 25th minute. Müller scored in the 43rd to give West Germany the lead. The half soon came, and Cruijff argued with the referee, Englishman Jack Taylor, and was booked for this.

The Dutch came a little unglued, and although they fell no further behind, neither did they get any closer. West Germany won, 2-1. It was not a home soil victory: Indeed, in the 2nd half, they had a goal waved off for offside, and were denied what looked like another legitimate penalty.

Despite the defeat in the Final, Cruijff was awarded the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball), as World Player of the Year, for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. There was no doubt that he was now the best player in the world, even if he couldn't quite get his country to the greatest prize of all.

In 1977, Cruijff announced his retirement from international soccer, refusing to play in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. For 30 years, it was believed that he was protesting the military dictatorship that took over Argentina in 1976, after the country was awarded the tournament. But in 2008, he revealed the truth: There was a threat against his family, and it got into his head, and he didn't think he would be at his best for the tournament.

Again, the Netherlands reached the Final, even without Cruijff; but, this time, it was a home soil victory, as the Argentines' mere qualification for the Final under the system then in place was dubious, and they scored 2 dubious goals in extra time to win 3-1. There were some Dutch players who were quoted as saying they didn't know if they would leave the stadium alive if they won.

Cruijff has been called the greatest player that Europe has ever produced. However, the lack of a World Cup sticks out on his resume, as it does for players like Puskás, Argentina's Di Stéfano and (so far) Lionel Messi, France's Raymond Kopa, Wales' John Charles, Northern Ireland's George Best, Italy's Paolo Maldini, and Portugal's Eusébio and (so far) Cristiano Ronaldo.

For some of those players (particularly Charles and Best), it's because their countrymen were not up to their level. For Maldini, it was down to luck: He was considered too young to make the national side in 1982 and too old in 2006, despite his 25 years of top-flight football.

But the Netherlands has had so much talent, yet their only major tournament win has been Euro 88. They would lose the World Cup Final again in 2014, to Spain. No other country that's been in at least 3 Finals has failed to win at least 1.

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In 1979, the North American Soccer League was desperate to have a legendary player come into their league, with Pelé having retired. They set their sights on Cruijff, hoping to get him for Pelé's former team, the team in the biggest market, the New York Cosmos -- putting him and Beckenbauer on the same team at last. He did play in 2 exhibition games for the Cosmos, wearing the very unfamiliar number of 30.

But a deal to play for them regularly fell through, and, instead, he played for the Los Angeles Aztecs, co-owned by rocker Elton John. Just as the Cosmos made their away jerseys green with yellow trim to match Pelé's Brazil, so, too, did the Aztecs alter their away jerseys to be Dutch orange for Cruijff. Although they did not win the league title, Cruijff won Player of the Year.

In 1980, he moved to the nation's capital to play for the Washington Diplomats, and this is how most Americans will remember him. He didn't help them win a title, either (as this cover of Soccer Digest suggests), but, as much as anybody other than Pelé, Cruijff made the old NASL, however briefly, cool.

In 1981, he returned to Ajax, and led them to league titles in 1982 and 1983 (a Double season). But after that Double season, Ajax didn't offer him a new contract. Offended, he came up with the ultimate revenge: Signing with rivals Feyenoord, and leading them to the Double in the 1984 season. At the end of that season, he retired at age 37.

John Charles with Cardiff City? Luis Figo with Real Madrid?

Sol Campbell with Arsenal? Michael Owen with Manchester United?

All happened. None were as jarring as Cruijff with Feyenoord.

It would have been like seeing Tom Seaver with the Yankees.

Greatness recognizes greatness:

* Franz Beckenbauer, a rival for in the European Cup for Bayern Munich, at the World Cup for Germany, and in the NASL with the Cosmos: "When players like (Gareth) Bale and (Cristiano) Ronaldo are worth around €100 million, Johan would go in the billions."

* Eric Cantona, Manchester United: "I loved the Dutch in the '70s. They excited me, and Cruyff was the best. He was my childhood hero; I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall. He was a creator. He was at the heart of a revolution with his football. Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all."

* César Luis Menotti, manager of Argentina's 1978 World Cup winners: "There have been four kings of football – Di Stéfano, Pelé, Cruyff and Maradona."

* Michel Platini, star of France's Euro 84 winners and Juventus' 1985 European Cup winners: "Johan was my childhood hero, my idol and my friend."

* Gary Lineker, English star of the 1980s and later studio pundit, said Cruijff "did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history."

* Vincent Kompany, Captain of the Manchester City team that won the 2012 and 2014 Premier League titles: "I don't think anyone has ever influenced the game as much as he has done."

* Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal's 1998 and 2002 Double winners and the 2004 "Invincibles" team that went through the Premier League season undefeated: "I have a big respect in general for the Dutch school, and Johan Cruyff especially... That personality, the character to say, 'Yes, I believe in this game, and I'm strong and brave enough to apply it on the pitch.' That's what I admired."

* Rafael Benitez, manager of Liverpool's 2005 Champions League winners: "He has been inspirational to me along my career. When I was giving my first steps as a footballer, he was a myth, an icon to follow. Afterwards, when I became a football manager, Cruyff was one of my references."

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And that's as good a segue as any. If playing were the extent of Johan Cruijff's impact on the sport of soccer, he would still be one of its all-time legends. But he was just getting warmed up.

In 1985, he and Ajax straightened things out, and he was named their manager. He immediately led them to the KNVB Cup. In 1987, he led them to that trophy again, and to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

In 1988, he moved back to Barcelona. As manager, he brought in some of the greatest players of the era into a "Dream Team": Brazil's Romário, Denmark's Michael Laudrup, Romania's Gheorghe Hagi, Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov, his countryman Ronald Koeman, and Catalan Josep "Pep" Guardiola.

In his 1st season, 1988-89, they won the Cup Winners' Cup, beating Sampdoria of Genoa, Italy. The next year, they won the Copa del Ray (King's Cup, Spain's version of the FA or KNVB Cup). The year after that, they won La Liga for the 1st of 4 straight times.

In 1991, Cruijff had heart bypass surgery, and quit smoking. Like Telly Savalas on Kojak, he took to sucking on lollipops to curb his oral fixation. Also like Kojak, he frequently wore a raincoat. But unlike Savalas, who was famously bald, he mostly kept his hair.

Cruijff in his trademark raincoat, with a young Guardiola

He was rewarded for quitting smoking in the 1991-92 season with another La Liga title, and Barcelona's 1st European Cup win -- the last time the tournament was called that, before being rebranded by the Union of European Football Associations as the UEFA Champions League. (The trophy for winning it is still called the European Cup, or "Ol' Big Ears.") Again, they beat Sampdoria in the Final, with Koeman's goal in extra time, in the 112th minute, making the difference. It remains the most famous goal in Barça's history.

Cruiff, Laudrup and Stoichkov with Ol' Big Ears

Cruijff's greatest contribution to Barça may have come earlier, in 1979, but he certainly cultivated it more as manager. He wanted to copy the Ajax Academy that had produced himself and so many other great players. It was established on land owned by the club, outside a 1702 house known as La Masia ("The Farmhouse"), and La Masia has remained the academy's name ever since. It has kept the talent flowing, well into the age of Lionel Messi.

"He changed the idiosyncrasy of the club," midfielder Xavier "Xavi" Hernández said. "He introduced the philosophy to keep the ball, to play in triangles, to attack. That philosophy remains true to this day. We're all students of Cruyff and his school of thought."

He was offered the chance to manage the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup in America, but the negotiations broke down. Like Brian Clough in England, he is regarded as the greatest manager that his national side never had.

After winning nothing in the 1995 and 1996 seasons, Cruijff was sacked as Barça manager. He never managed again, unless you count the unofficial Catalonia national team from 2009 to 2013. In 2008, he was offered the post of technical director at Ajax, but that deal also fell through, due to a renewal of his feud with Marco van Basten, the greatest Ajax and Netherlands player since Cruijff himself.

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Cruijff's legacy is on multiple levels. He practically made one club into a European giant, Ajax; restored another to such a place, Barcelona; made his homeland a worldwide soccer power; and helped boost the game in 3 countries: The Netherlands, Spain and America. Between playing and managing, he won 14 League titles, 10 national cups, 4 European Cups and 2 Cup Winners' Cups.

And he revolutionized the way the game is played and the way the game is taught. To put it in a North American perspective: Imagine that Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel were the same man, with both men's achievements. Or Sammy Baugh and Vince Lombardi. Or Maurice Richard and Scotty Bowman. Or that Bill Russell had been as good a coach without himself as a player as he was with himself as one.

The Dutch Football Talent of the Year award is the Johan Cruijff Prijs -- the Johan Cruyff Prize. The trophy given to the winner of the preseason match between the winners of the previous season's league title and cup, their version of England's Community Shield, is the Johan Cruijff Schaal -- the Johan Cruyff Shield.

Like Stengel, and like Clough, Cruijff became known for one-liners, which have been called Cruyffisms:

* "Every advantage has its disadvantage." 
* "In Spain, all 22 players make the Sign of the Cross before a game. If it worked, every game would be a tie."
* "Italians cannot beat you, but you can certainly lose to them."
* "I don't want to be a thief of my own wallet."
* "There is only one ball, so you need to have it."
* "Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster."
* Perhaps most quoted of all: "Football is simple, but the hardest thing there is, is to play simple football."
* When his Barcelona team, as European Cup winners, lost to Telê Santana's São Paulo, South American champions, in the 1992 Intercontinental Cup (predecessor to the Club World Cup): "If you're going to get run over, it's better if it's a Rolls-Royce that does it."
* "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."
* "Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal."
* Sometimes, his Cruyffisms sounded like Yogi Berra lines: "Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake."
* "Sometimes, something's got to happen before something is going to happen."
* "If I wanted you to understand, I would have explained it better."
* It was also Cruijff who gave Barcelona its motto: "Barcelona is more than a club." Or, in Catalan, "Mes que un club."

In 1999, he was named European Player of the Century. In 2003, he was named the Netherlands' greatest player ever.

In 2006, when Arsenal opened the Emirates Stadium with a testimonial to Dennis Bergkamp, who had started at Ajax, Ajax were invited to be the opponent. Cruijff played the last 10 minutes, at the age of 59.

Cruijff dribbling, with Arsenal's Patrick Vieira following him

On April 18, 2007, in anticipation of his 60th birthday, Ajax retired the Number 14 that he made so famous.

Eventually, his smoking habit, though long abandoned, came back to haunt him. In October 2015, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died this morning, at the age of 68.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands released an official statement: "He has enriched and personified our football. He was an icon of the Netherlands. Johan Cruijff belonged to all of us."

On those great Ajax teams, he was preceded in death by Nico Rijnders (who had a heart attack during a 1972 game and never recovered, dying in 1976, only 28 years old), Dick van Dijk (a heart infection killing him at 51 in 1997), Velibor Vasović (2002) and Gerrie Mühren (2013); and on the 1974 Dutch World Cup squad by Mühren and Harry Vos (2010). (UPDATE: Piet Keizer died on February 9, 2017.)

Johan Cruijff prided himself on being a teacher. This may be his greatest lesson: Don't smoke.

His shadow will long outlive him.

UPDATE: Cruijff was cremated. There is no final resting place. But his spirit is at every soccer field (or "football pitch") on Earth.

In his posthumously released autobiography My Turn: The Autobiography, Cruijff revealed his dream all-time XI, in his favorite formation, the 3–4–3 "diamond":

* Lev Yashin, goalkeeper, 1960s Soviet Union and Dynamo Moscow

* Ruud Krol, full-back/wing-back, 1970s Netherlands and Ajax

* Franz Beckenbauer, central defender/libero, 1970s West Germany and Bayern Munich

* Carlos Alberto, full-back/wing-back, 1970s Brazil and Santos

* Pep Guardiola, holding midfielder/midfield anchor, 1990s Spain and Barcelona

* Piet Keizer, winger, 1970s Netherlands and Ajax

* Garrincha, winger, 1950s Brazil and Botafogo

* Bobby Charlton, forward, 1960s England and Manchester United

* Alfredo Di Stéfano, forward, 1950s Argentina and Real Madrid

* Diego Maradona, playmaker/attacking midfielder/second striker, 1980s Argentina and Napoli

* Pelé, centre-forward/striker, 1960s Brazil and Santos.

For humility, Cruijff didn't put himself in there, but there is a spot for his pupil, Pep Guardiola; and his former teammates, Krol and Keizer. It's a typically attacking lineup, but Cruijff explained the selection in detail: "For the ideal squad, I also try and find a formula in which talent is used to the maximum in every case. The qualities of one player have to complement the qualities of another."

Also in the book, he explained why he made a set of 14 basic rules (matching his uniform number), which are displayed at every Cruyff Court in the world:

I read an article once about the building of the pyramids in Egypt. It turns out that some of the numbers coincide completely with natural laws, the position of the moon at certain times and so on. And it makes you think: how is it possible that those ancient people built something so scientifically complex? They must have had something that we don't, even though we always think that we're a lot more advanced than they were.

Take Rembrandt and van Gogh: who can match them today? When I think that way, I'm increasingly convinced that everything is actually possible. If they managed to do the impossible nearly five thousand years ago, why can't we do it today?

That applies equally to football, but also to something like the Cruyff Courts and school sports grounds. My fourteen rules are set out for every court and every school sports ground to follow. They are there to teach young people that sports and games can also be translated into everyday life.

And he listed his 14 basic rules that include:

• 1.) Team player – To accomplish things, you have to do them together.
• 2.) Responsibility – Take care of things as if they were your own.
• 3.) Respect – Respect one another.
• 4.) Integration – Involve others in your activities.
• 5.) Initiative – Dare to try something new.
• 6.) Coaching – Always help each other within a team.
• 7.) Personality – Be yourself.
• 8.) Social involvement – Interaction is crucial, both in sport and in life.
• 9.) Technique – Know the basics.
• 10.) Tactics – Know what to do.
• 11.) Development – Sport strengthens body and soul.
• 12.) Learning – Try to learn something new every day.
• 13.) Play together – An essential part of any game.
• 14.) Creativity – Bring beauty to the sport.

The Curse of Kevin Mitchell: Now 29 Years

October 27, 1986: The Mets win the World Series. I was not happy about this.

They have not done so since. I am very happy about that.

After Game 7 was pushed back a day by rain, the Red Sox actually seem to be shaking off the historical, hysterical Game 6 loss. They lead the Mets, 3-0 in the bottom of the 6th inning. Bruce Hurst, with an extra day's rest, is doing just fine. The Sox have chased Ron Darling. Sid Fernandez has relieved him. The Sox are just 12 outs away from their 1st World Championship in 68 years after all.

Can they hold it? These are the Boston Red Sox, what do you think? The Mets tie it up in the 6th. The idiot manager John McNamara brings in Calvin Schiraldi, who choked in the 10th the night before, to pitch the 7th, and Ray Knight leads off with a home run.  he Mets make it 6-3 by the inning's end.

The Sox make it 6-5 in the top of the 8th, so there's still hope, but then Al Nipper serves one up to Darryl Strawberry, and he hits one out, and takes a leisurely stroll around the bases, allowing NBC to run about a dozen commercials.

The Mets let reliever Jesse Orosco bat for himself, and he drives in another run, and he gets the last out by striking out Marty Barrett. Mets 8, Red Sox 5. Orosco hurls his glove high into the Flushing air.

The Mets won their 1st World Championship on October 16, 1969. It took them 17 years and 11 days, but they had now won their 2nd World Championship.

Anyone then thinking that they wouldn't win their 3rd World Championship for at least another 29 years would have been asked what he was smoking.

*

But, tonight, the Mets will play Game 1 of the 2015 World Series, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and are still looking for that 3rd World Championship. They've won just 1 more Pennant and just 1 more World Series game since that night. To make matters worse, following that 1 Pennant, they went on to lose to the Yankees in the World Series, 1 of 5 the Yankees have won since 1986.

Indeed, since October 27, 1986, the Mets have reached the Playoffs only 5 times, the Yankees 18 times. As late as 1992, before the Yankees started contending again, it could be argued that the Mets were the top baseball team in New York. It has never been true again -- even now, it cannot be credibly said to be true. Even if they do win this World Series, it will still be 27 to 3, with 2000 a permanent cloud over them.

What the hell happened? Well, when something goes wrong, people like to look for scapegoats. Someone frustrated with the Red Sox' inability to win a World Series since 1918 thought he found a reason: They hadn't won since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919, and the phrase "The Curse of the Bambino" was born. The phrase was popularized by Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy, and became the title of his 1990 book about the history of that franchise.

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December 11, 1986, a date which lives in Flushing infamy: The Mets sent Kevin Mitchell, Shawn Abner, Stan Jefferson, Kevin Armstrong and Kevin Brown (no, not that Kevin Brown, though he did also pitch for the Padres later) to Mitchell's hometown, San Diego, for Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter and Adam Ging. Forget everyone else, if you hadn't already: The keys to this trade were Mitchell and McReynolds.

McReynolds was a good player, but he was not a member of the glorious '86 team that went all the way. When the Mets didn't go all the way again, he became a scapegoat, and got the hell booed out of him. Fair? Of course not.

But it wouldn't have mattered so much if Mitchell hadn't panned out. And, as far as his hometown Padres were concerned, he didn't: On July 5, 1987, not even at the All-Star Break of his 1st season with them, he was batting just .245 in 62 games, so they sent him, and pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts, up the coast to the San Francisco Giants, getting back 3rd baseman Chris Brown, reliever Mark Davis (both of whom became All-Stars but never helped the team into the Playoffs) and 2 guys you dont need to remember. So Mitchell-for-McReynolds didn't help the Mets or the Padres.

These two Mitchell trades, however, helped the Giants tremendously. Before the trade, they had been in San Francisco for 29 years and had reached the postseason exactly twice, the last time, 16 years earlier. In 1987, the Giants won the NL West, as Mitchell responded to the change of scenery by hitting .306 with 15 homers and 44 RBIs in just 69 games for them.

In 1988, Mitchell tailed off a little, and the Giants tailed off a lot. But in 1989, he hit 47 home runs, had 125 RBIs, put up a sick OPS+ of 192, and made one of the great catches of all time, a running barehanded catch in St. Louis -- off the bat of defensive "Wizard" Ozzie Smith, no less -- that almost sent him barreling into the stands. Not since the salad days of Willie Mays had the Giants seen that kind of outfield defense.

He won the NL's Most Valuable Player award, and helped the Giants win only their 2nd Pennant in 35 years, while the Mets finished 2nd in the NL East for the 5th of 6 times in a span of 8 years – the others being the '86 crown and the '88 Division title.

Problems with his weight and other disciplinary issues led to Mitchell being traded several times. But he did help the Cincinnati Reds into 1st place in the NL Central Division when the Strike of '94 hit, and still had an OPS+ of 138 as late as 1996. But he played his last big-league game in 1998 at age 36, and after bouncing around the independent minors, including stints in New Jersey with the Newark Bears and Atlantic City Surf, he called it a career. Sort of: At 52, he is back in his native San Diego, playing in an "adult baseball league" (no, no porn stars involved – that I know of), and won a title with his team in 2009.

Mitchell had an adolescence connected to gangs in San Diego. He has been arrested for assault twice since his last major league game, although on neither occasion did the case go to trial. He was once listed as a tax delinquent to the tune of over $5 million. And then there's the shocking story that Dwight Gooden told, in his first memoir, of an act of animal cruelty -- a story which Doc, in his new memoir, now admits that he made up.

I don't know Kevin Mitchell. For all I know, these things were all blown out of proportion and he's really a good guy. For all I know, it could all be true, and he's one of those people who should be avoided at all costs.

But it seems silly to suggest that he was angry about being traded by the Mets so soon after winning the Series, certainly not so angry that he would place a "curse" on them. After all, he went to his home town, the team he grew up rooting for. They soon traded him, but that worked out really well for him.  Perhaps not in terms of team success, but in terms of fame and fortune, getting away from the Mets was the best thing that could have happened to him.

Mitchell, in a recent photo

Still, the fact remains that the Mets won a World Series, and were expected to win more; then, just 45 days after they won said Series, they traded Mitchell away, and they haven't won one since.

Are the Mets cursed? Or have they just been hit with a quarter-century-long combination of good competition and their own incompetence -- on the field, in the dugout, and in the boardroom?

Other teams have waited a longer. Some, a lot longer. Some of those teams have had bizarre moments and crashes-and-burns that suggest being cursed. Some haven't, and have just... not... gotten it done.

The Mets?

* Chokes in 1988, '98, '99, 2006, '07 and '08.

* Near-misses, aside from those, in 1987, '89, '90 and 2001.

* Injury-riddled seasons, aside from those, in 1995, '96, '97, 2002, '09, '10 and '11.

* The Madoffization of the Wilpons' finances in 2008, from which the club is still suffering.

* And losses to teams they considered rivals in '87 and '06 (Cardinals), '89 (Cubs), '98 and '99 (Braves), '00 (Yankees), and now '07 and '08 (Phillies). That's... 18 out of 25 seasons with possible "Curse Material."

The Curse of Kevin Mitchell? Do you believe?

Met fans like to use the old line of 1965-74 relief pitcher Tug McGraw: YA GOTTA BELIEVE!

I'd rather believe in the curse on the Mets than believe in the Mets themselves.

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October 27, 1275: This is the traditional founding day of the city of Amsterdam, the capital and artistic center of The Netherlands. Home of lax laws regarding prostitution and drug use, Heineken and Amstel Light beers, and the mighty Amsterdamsche Football Club (AFC) Ajax (pronounced "EYE-ax"), founders of "Total Football," which has given the world Johan Cruijff (sometimes spelled "Cruyff"), Johan Neeskens, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Louis van Gaal, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Arsenal stars Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Nwankwo Kanu and Thomas Vermaelen.

October 27, 1682: This is the known-for-sure founding day of the city of Philadelphia. Home of American independence, Benjamin Franklin, the former Pennsylvania Railroad, the cheesesteak sandwich, the Number 8 pretzel, real-life heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, cinematic heavyweight champ Rocky Balboa, 7 World Series Championships (5 by the Athletics from 1910 to 1930, and the Phillies in 1980 and 2008), the NFL's Eagles (Champions 1948, '49 and '60 but apparently cursed ever since), the NBA's 76ers (Champions 1967 and '83, as the now-Golden State Warriors were in 1947 and '56), the NHL's Flyers (Stanley Cup winners in 1974 and '75 but another long drought), and the basketball-playing "Big 5" colleges: The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, St. Joseph's University, La Salle University and Villanova University.

October 27, 1858: Theodore Roosevelt is born at 28 East 20th Street in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan. Over a century and a half later, he remains the only President to have been born in New York City – although others have, at some point or another, lived in the City: Washington, both Adamses, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Obama. (Eisenhower was, for a time, president of Columbia University, and Obama was a student there. So was Monroe, at a time when it was still called King's College.)

TR was a member of the boxing team at Harvard University. (Yes, colleges once had boxing teams, even the Ivies.) He loved tennis, although, knowing it was considered an elitist sport, refused to allow the press to photograph him while he played. (He warned his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, not to let them take his picture while he played golf, another sport then considered elitist, but Taft didn't listen to him.)

Seeing a newspaper photo of a bloodied Swarthmore College player, Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, in 1905, TR called in the top football officials of the time, and told them to do something about the violence in the game, or he would act. Not knowing how far he would go, fearing he might pass a law banning the game, in 1906 they formed what became the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and passed rule changes including the forward pass.

Had he ordered football shut down, that might have given soccer its best chance to succeed in America until the current boom. But he didn't.

October 27, 1866: In Philadelphia‚ the Unions of Morrisania‚ with future Cincinnati Red Stockings star George Wright playing shortstop‚ upset the Athletics‚ 42-29. In other words, in late October, a baseball team from The Bronx pounds a team from Philadelphia.

This Philadelphia Athletics had no connection to the later American League team of the same name, which now plays in Oakland.

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October 27, 1904: The first Subway line opens in New York. It runs from City Hall to Grand Central Station (roughly today's 4, 5 and 6 trains), then turns onto 42nd Street (today's S, or Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle), then up Broadway to 207th Street (today's 1 train) before making one final curve into the Bronx to Bailey Street (this part is part of today's A train).

The Polo Grounds of the time, and its 1911 successor, were served by the 155th Street station that opened on this day; it is supposedly on this line in 1908 that Jack Norworth, a songwriter, saw a sign saying, "Baseball To-Day, Polo Grounds," inspiring him to write the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

It would be 1918 before "34th St.-Penn Station" opened to service the 1910-built Pennsylvania Station, and the successor station and the "new" Madison Square Garden built on the site. The 34th Street station on the 8th Avenue side of Penn Station opened in 1932, as did the 42nd Street station that serves the Port Authority Bus Terminal that opened in 1950, and the 50th Street station that served the old Garden from 1932 until its closing in 1968.

The current 4 train station at 161st Street and River Avenue opened in 1917, and began serving Yankee Stadium at its opening in 1923; the D train station there opened in 1933, probably to coincide with the opening of the nearby Bronx County Courthouse. The Prospect Park station now used by the Q train became part of the City Subway in 1920, and was used to get to games at Ebbets Field.

The station now served by the 7 train opened in 1939 for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, well predating the 1964-65 World's Fair and the opening of Shea Stadium and the National Tennis Center. It was named "Willets Point Blvd." from 1939 to 1964 and "Willets Point-Shea Stadium" from 1964 to 2008, and has been renamed "Mets-Willets Point," as the MTA did not want to use the name "Citi Field" due to CitiGroup's role in the 2008 financial crisis.

October 27, 1918: Muriel Teresa Wright is born in Manhattan. Dropping her first name, Teresa Wright played Eleanor Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees. She died in 2005, the last surviving major castmember of the film.

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October 27, 1922: Ralph McPherran Kiner is born in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. He grew up in Alhambra, California, outside Los Angeles. From 1946 to 1952, he led the National League in home runs every year, twice topping 50 homers in a season.

He was a one-dimensional player, but he was the best player the Pittsburgh Pirates had. Still, the team wasn't doing well, on the field or at the gate, and team president Branch Rickey said, "We finished last with you, and we can finish last without you," meaning, "We can finish last without having to pay your salary," and sold him to the Chicago Cubs.

A back injury ended his career in 1955, after only 10 seasons. But in those 10 seasons, he hit 369 home runs. If it had been 20 years, double that, and it becomes 738 home runs – not as many as Hank Aaron and the cheating Barry Bonds ended up with, but more than the man who held the record then, Babe Ruth. Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn said, "Ralph Kiner can wipe out your lead with one swing."

Kiner allegedly said, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, singles hitters drive Fords." That line has also been attributed to Luke Appling, but he probably didn't say it, since he was a singles hitter (albeit one of the best ever).

Kiner went into broadcasting, and joined the staff of the expansion New York Mets in 1962. His postgame show Kiner's Korner did so much to teach a generation of us about the game. But Ralph's broadcasting, well, had its moments. Remembering early Met Marv Thronberry and '73 Met George Theodore, he called Darryl Strawberry "Darryl Throneberry" and "George Strawberry." He said, "Darryl Strawberry has been voted into the Hall of Fame five times in a row" – he meant the All-Star Team. He called Gary Carter "Gary Cooper." He called himself "Ralph Korner" many times.

He once called his broadcasting partner "Tim McArthur." At the end of the game, Tim McCarver said, "Well, Ralph, Douglas MacArthur said, 'Chance favors the prepared mind, and the Mets obviously weren't prepared tonight.'" Kiner said, "He also said, 'I shall return,' and so will we, right after these messages."

Then there was, "Today is Father's Day, so for all you dads out there, Happy Birthday." Like Herb Score in Cleveland and Jerry Coleman in San Diego, he is sometimes cited as having said, "He slides into second with a standup double." But he definitely said, "Kevin McReynolds stops at third, and he scores." Like Phil Rizzuto across town with the Yankees, he frequently called home runs that ended up off the wall or caught.

My favorite Kinerism is when he cued up an ad for Manufacturer's Hanover, a bank now owned by CitiGroup, by saying, "We'll be right back, after this message from Manufacturer's Hangover."

He blamed his malaprops on hanging around Casey Stengel and Yogi Berra so much in the Mets' early days. But when he did call a home run correctly, it was with a variation on the classic theme: "That ball is going, it is going, it is gone, goodbye!" And he paid one of the great tributes to a player, when he cited the fielding of the Phillies' 1970s center fielder: "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The other third is covered by Garry Maddox."

A bout with Bell's palsy left him with a noticeable speech impediment, and as he reached the age of 80, his workdays were cut back, but into the 2010s, he still did Met games on Friday nights. As the Mets' radio booth is named for Bob Murphy, their TV booth is named for Kiner. The Pirates retired his Number 4, the Mets elected him to their team Hall of Fame, and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 2014, at age 91, and was, deservedly so, one of the game's most revered figures.

October 27, 1924: Ruby Ann Wallace is born in Cleveland. Known professionally as Ruby Dee, she played Rachel Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story, while Jackie played himself. It's a little weird that two actresses (Ruby and Teresa Wright) who played wives of Baseball Hall-of-Famers, in films only 8 years apart, would have the same birthday.

Dee was married to Ossie Davis, who, among his own many acting achievements, did many of the voiceovers, including some concerning Jackie, for Ken Burns' Baseball miniseries. Until her death earlier this year, Ruby lived in New Rochelle, New York, only 18 miles from Rachel Robinson in Stamford, Connecticut.

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October 27, 1932: Harry Gregg is born in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. A soccer goalkeeper, he played 5 years for Doncaster Rovers before being sold to Manchester United before the 1957-58 season.

He was on the plane that crashed and killed 20 of its 44 passengers, including 8 United teammates, in a snowstorm in Munich, Germany on the way back from a European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). He pulled teammates Bobby Charlton, Jackie Blanchflower and Dennis Viollet, and manager Matt Busby, from the wreckage, probably saving their lives.

The Munich Air Disaster is blamed for short-circuiting United's great team of the 1950s, and (considerably less fairly) for preventing England from winning the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.  Gregg played for Northern Ireland in 1958 and was voted the outstanding goalkeeper of the tournament. But injuries prevented him from playing in United's 1963 FA Cup Final win, and from getting enough appearances to qualify for league championship medals when United won in 1965 and '67. He later managed 4 different League teams, and is now retired from active service in the game.

He and Sir Bobby Charlton are the only players who were on the plane who are still alive, 57 years later. The other people on board who are still alive are: Stewardess Rosemary Cheverton; Eleanor Miklos, wife of a travel agent who was killed; Nebojša Bato Tomašević, a Yugoslavian diplomat; and 2, technically 3, others who were saved by Gregg: Passenger Vera Lukić, her baby daughter Vesna, and her unborn child, who became her son Zoran. (An urban legend had it that her unborn son grew up to be 1980s Arsenal goalkeeper John Lukic, an Englishman of Serbian descent, but this is not the case.)

October 27, 1939: John Marwood Cleese is born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in the West Country of England. The Monty Python performer is not an athlete? You try doing "Silly Walks" sometime. He's also narrated and starred in a documentary explaining soccer in a humourous vein. (You were expecting something completely different?)

While Somerset currently has no soccer team in the top flight, he is a fan of the East London club West Ham United. (I had previously believed he was a fan of West London's Chelsea, but this was an error.)

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October 27, 1945, 70 years ago: Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva is born. President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010, "Lula" is largely responsible for the South American nation being one of the few countries that has thrived in the 2007-current global slowdown, and spearheaded the movement to get Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

October 27, 1949: Marcel Cerdan is killed. The French boxer, once the welterweight champion of Europe, won the middleweight championship of the world by knocking out Tony Zale at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, but lost it in his 1st defense, against Jake LaMotta at Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit, as he had to drop out of the fight due to a dislocated shoulder.

He was flying from Paris to New York to prepare for his rematch with "the Raging Bull" when his plane crashed in the Azores. He was only 33. His career record was an amazing 113-4, although it should be noted that nearly all his fights were against Europeans, not exactly the best of competition.

In 1983, Marcel Cerdan Jr. played his father in the French film Edith et Marcel, which told of the affair Cerdan Sr. had with the legendary French singer Edith Piaf, played by Evelyn Bouix. In 2007, Jean-Pierre Martins played him opposite Marion Cotillard in her Oscar-winning role as Piaf in La Vie en Rose.

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October 27, 1951: Jayne Harrison (no middle name) is born in Washington, D.C. The first black woman to win the Miss USA version of Miss Ohio, she became an actress under her married name of Jayne Kennedy. She was a regular correspondent on CBS' The NFL Today in the 1978 and 1979 seasons, the first black actress to appear on the cover of Playboy (but she didn't pose nude for the magazine), and the first black woman to host an exercise video. Some people were calling her "the black Farrah Fawcett."

She's stayed out of the public eye the last 30 years, and has raised 4 now-grown daughters.

October 27, 1952: Peter Dennis Vukovich is born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. An original member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1977, he was a part of the best trade in Milwaukee Brewers history: From the St. Louis Cardinals, they got him, catcher Ted Simmons, and (by way of the San Diego Padres) reliever Rollie Fingers. It didn't matter who they gave up.

In 1981, Pete Vukovich led the American League in wins, and Fingers had a mind-boggling year that earned him the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, and the Brewers reached the Playoffs for the 1st time. In 1982, Vukovich got the Cy Young Award, and the Brewers won their 1st Pennant. Ironically, they lost the World Series to the Cardinals -- and they've never been to another.

A torn rotator cuff cut short his career in 1986, leaving with a record of 93-69. In 1989, he appeared in the film Major League -- not as a pitcher, but as a rather repulsive slugger for the Yankees, Clu Haywood. He has since served as a Brewers broadcaster, pitching coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates (for all intents and purposes, his hometown team), in the Pirates' front office, and now in the Seattle Mariners' front office.

October 27, 1954: The divorce of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe is certified in San Francisco. Apparently, Joe wanted Marilyn to stay home and be a good little Italian wife -- even though, with a birth name of Norma Jeane Mortensen, Marilyn was of Scandinavian descent. And she wanted to keep acting. Supposedly, the last straw was the skirt-billow over the subway grate scene, filmed for The Seven Year Itch.

It's been alleged that Joe hit her on occasion. Even if that despicable possibility is true, in 1961 he got her out of a psychiatric institution to which she'd been committed. And, with rumors abounding that they might remarry, after she died in 1962, he organized her funeral and kept all the Hollywood leeches out.

For 20 years, he had roses sent to her grave every day, until he found out they were being stolen by tourists and local kids. He seemed never to have gotten over her. Nor have we all: Even in the first verse of "We Didn't Start the Fire" and the spoken-word part of "Vogue," respectively, Billy Joel and Madonna rhymed their names.

To paraphrase Elton John, I would've liked to have known her, but I wasn't born yet -- her candle may have burned out, but the world never will forget.

October 27, 1955, 60 years ago: Clark Griffith dies at the age of 85. "The Old Fox" would probably have been elected to the Hall of Fame strictly on his pitching with the Chicago White Stockings (forerunners of the Cubs), but he also managed the Chicago White Sox to the first American League Pennant in 1901, and nearly managed the New York Highlanders (forerunners of the Yankees) to the Pennant in 1904 – in each case, while still an All-Star quality pitcher -- or he would have been considered such, had there been All-Star Games back then. He managed the Washington Senators, and was still pitching for them at age 45 in 1914.

He bought the Senators in 1919, and their home, National Park, was renamed Griffith Stadium. However, in a play on the phrase describing George Washington, a comedian named Charley Dryden called them, "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League."

With Walter Johnson pitching, and 26-year-old "boy manager" and second baseman Bucky Harris leading the way, the Senators finally won a World Series in 1924 and another Pennant in 1925. With yet another "boy manager," shortstop Joe Cronin – who married Griffith's adopted daughter, Mildred Robertson – they won the Pennant again in 1933. But that was it: They finished 1 game out in 1945, and no Washington team has ever come close again.

Griffith's nephew and adopted son, Calvin Griffith, took over, and in 1959 publicly said he would never move the Senators. Of course, he did, just a year later. A monument to Griffith stood outside Griffith Stadium, and was moved first to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium and then to Nationals Park. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in the Pioneers & Executives category.

October 27, 1957: Glenn Hoddle is born in the Hillingdon section of West London. The midfielder starred for North London soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, leading them to the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982, and the UEFA Cup in 1984. He also helped AS Monaco, which is located outside of France but is a member of France's Ligue 1, to the 1988 Ligue 1 title and the 1991 Coupe de France. At the time, their manager was Arsene Wenger, who went on to manage Spurs' North London arch-rivals, Arsenal. Hoddle last played as a player-manager for the West London club Chelsea in 1995.

Wenger has said, "His control was superb, and he had perfect body balance. His skill in both feet was uncanny... I couldn't understand why he hadn't been appreciated in England. Perhaps he was a star in the wrong period, years ahead of his time."

Others have appreciated him, calling him the best English player of his generation. But that may just be because Tottenham are a classically "English" team -- while Arsenal, long having had stars who were Scottish and later Irish, and more recently French, Dutch and African, are a "foreign team" and thus unworthy of standing up to "English" clubs like Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and the Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and North-East clubs.

Hoddle's status as a player made the English want to like him as a manager, but in that capacity he was a joke. He got Chelsea to the FA Cup Final in 1994, and Tottenham to the 2002 League Cup Final, but he was unable to consummate the hype and lead either of his former clubs to glory. In between, he managed the England national team to an ignominious crash out of the 1998 World Cup at the first knockout round, and his evangelism, his reliance on (not an affair with) "faith healer" Eileen Drury, and his remarks that the disabled were "being punished for sins in a former life" -- which would seem to conflict with the tenets of Christianity -- led to his sacking. He also failed as manager of Southampton, Swindon Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers, his last managing job, in 2006.

In 2008 he established a soccer academy, not in his native England but in Spain. He said he had received 26 management offers since then but has had to turn them all down "until the academy is able to run itself." In 2014, he joined the staff of another whacked-out London football personality, Harry Redknapp, at West London club Queens Park Rangers, but left the club in February 2015 when Redknapp also did. He's now a pundit for BT Sport (British Telecom).

Tony Cascarino, a former Chelsea teammate, has said Hoddle was "completely besotted with himself. If he had been an ice cream, he would have licked himself."

October 27, 1959: Richard Preston Carlisle is born in Ogdensburg, New York, on the St. Lawrence River, across the border from Canada. Hockey player? No, basketball. He was a University of Virginia teammate of Ralph Sampson, was a guard on the Boston Celtics' 1986 World Champions, and briefly played with both the Knicks and the Nets. That would be quite a career for most guys.

Rick Carlisle was just getting warmed up. After retiring, the Nets kept him on as an assistant coach. He joined the staff of the Portland Trail Blazers, and his Celtic teammate Larry Bird brought him to the Indiana Pacers. He became head coach of the Detroit Pistons in 2001 (winning NBA Coach of the Year as a rookie in 2002), the Pacers in 2003, and the Dallas Mavericks in 2008, guiding them to the NBA Championship in 2011.

He enters the 2015-16 season, his 14th as a head coach, with a record of 619-431, having made the Playoffs in 11 of his 13 previous seasons, and is 1 of 10 men to win the NBA title as a player and as a coach. Four others have been Celtics: Bill Russell, Bill Sherman, Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, who coached Carlisle on the 1986 title. The others are Buddy Jeannette, Red Holzman, Pat Riley, Billy Cunningham and Phil Jackson.

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October 27, 1960: Trying to jump ahead of the National League‚ the American League admits Los Angeles and Minneapolis to the League, with plans to have the new clubs begin competition in 1961 in the new 10-team League.

At the same time, Calvin Griffith is given permission to move the existing Washington Senators franchise to Minneapolis/St. Paul‚ the "Twin Cities," where he will settle the "Minnesota Twins" at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, on the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi River but equidistant from the downtowns of both cities. An expansion team is given the Washington Senators name.

(Coincidentally, the new Senators will be moved in 1972, to an existing and greatly-expanded minor-league park at point halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, and take the name of the State instead of that of a city: The Texas Rangers.)

AL President Joe Cronin says the AL will play a 162-game schedule‚ with 18 games against each opponent. The NL will balk‚ saying the two expansions are not analogous and that the AL was not invited to move into L.A.

Also on this day, Thomas Andrew Nieto is born in Downey, California. A backup catcher, Tom Nieto played in the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985 and lost. He was not listed on the World Series roster for the Minnesota Twins, but he did play for them in 1987 and won a World Series ring for them that way. He served as a coach for both New York teams. He managed the Twins' Triple-A team, the Rochester Red Wings (a longtime Baltimore Orioles affiliate), and now manages the Yankees' affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, the bottom of minor league baseball.

October 27, 1965, 50 years ago: Catcher Bob Uecker‚ 1st baseman Bill White and shortstop Dick Groat are traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Art Mahaffey‚ outfielder Alex Johnson‚ and catcher Pat Corrales.

In his 1st at-bat for the Phils against the Cards, White has to hit the deck, as a pitch from his former roommate, Bob Gibson, comes perilously close to his head. White would later say that Gibson's message was clear: "We're not teammates anymore."

Uecker, as has been his custom, found humor in the trade: "I was pulled over by the police. I was fined $400. It was $100 for drunk driving, and $300 for being with the Phillies."

October 27, 1968: Vincent Samways (no middle name) is born in Bethnal Green, East London. A midfielder, Vinny won the FA Cup with Tottenham Hotspur in 1991 and Everton in 1995 -- in each case, the club's last major trophy.

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October 27, 1972: Brad William Radke is born in Eau Claire, in a part of Wisconsin that tilts toward Minneapolis rather than Milwaukee.  Somewhat appropriately, he pitched his entire 12-year career for the Twins, and was a member of their Playoff teams of 2002, '03, '04 and '06. He won 148 games in the majors, and has been elected to the Twins' Hall of Fame.

October 27, 1973: Jason Michael Johnson is born in Santa Barbara, California. The pitcher has had some terrible luck: He was a member of the original 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays; he was traded away by the Detroit Tigers (2005-06) and the Cleveland Indians (2006-07) the seasons before each reached their next Playoff berths; he played for the Boston Red Sox in 2006, the one season between 2002 and 2010 that they did not make the Playoffs; he pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their NL Western Division Championship season of 2008 but did not appear in the Playoffs; and was injured throughout 2009, resulting in his release by the Yankees.

All this would be bad enough, but he is also a diabetic, and he was the 1st MLB player to receive permission to wear an insulin pump on the field during games. His career record was 56-100.

October 27, 1978: Sergei Viktorovich Samsonov is born in Moscow. A longtime left wing for the Boston Bruins, he came very close to winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, when his Edmonton Oilers fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in 7 games. He is now a scout for the Hurricanes.

*

October 27, 1983: Martín Manuel Prado is born in in Maracay, Venezuela. In a major league career that began in 2006, he has played 538 games at 3rd base, 273 games at 2nd base, 256 games in left field, 56 games at 1st base, 16 games at shortstop, 9 games in right field, and 1 game as a designated hitter. In other words, he's played every position except pitcher, catcher and center field -- and I wouldn't be surprised to see him experimented at those as well.

He's been to the All-Star Game and the postseason once each, with the 2010 and 2012 Atlanta Braves, respectively. On July 31, 2014, the Yankees got him from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Peter O'Brien, and he batted .316 in 37 games. Foolishly, general manager Brian Cashman refused to keep him as a possible 2nd baseman in place of the pathetic Stephen Drew, and on December 19 traded him and David Phelps to the Miami Marlins. But the trade worked out anyway, since the Yankees got Nathan Eovaldi. Prado's lifetime batting average stands at a nice .291.

Also on this day, Brent Aaron Clevlen is born in Austin, Texas. Despite his name, the outfielder has never played for the Cleveland Indians. He did, however, reach the World Series as a rookie with the 2006 Detroit Tigers. But he's been out of the majors since 2010, and is now playing in the Mexican League.

October 27, 1984: Brayden Tyler Quinn is born in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Though with a name like Brady Quinn and coming from a town named Dublin, it's not surprising that the quarterback spurned Ohio State for Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish. An All-American, he is now a color commentator for The NFL on Fox. He's married to gymnast Alicia Sacramone.

Also on this day, Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne is born in the Westminster section of London. The singer and actress (who is probably not partially named for actress Michelle Lee) is not actively involved in sports in any way, but her father, a singer of some renown, is a native of Birmingham, England, and a big fan of that city's Aston Villa F.C. But her brother Jack roots for arch-rival Birmingham City F.C.

It's also been joked that Ozzy is an "expert batsman," although this has nothing to do with either baseball or cricket.

October 27, 1985, 30 years ago: The Kansas City Royals rout the St. Louis Cardinals 11-0 in Game 7, to win their 1st World Championship, and the 1st All-Missouri World Series since the Cardinals-Browns matchup of 1944. They become only the 6th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit and win the Series (and remain the last to do so). Series MVP Bret Saberhagen pitches the shutout while Cardinals ace John Tudor allows 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings.

The Cards are still upset over the blown call that cost them Game 6 – 30 years later, despite 5 Pennants and 3 World Series wins, they and their fans still are – and allowed it to affect their performances and their minds for Game 7.

After being lifted from the game‚ Tudor punches an electric fan in the clubhouse and severely cuts his hand. Fellow 20-game winner Joaquin Andujar is ejected for arguing balls and strikes during Kansas City's 6-run 5th inning, screaming at Don Denkinger, who blew the call at first base the night before and is now behind the plate. The Cardinals finish the World Series with a .185 team batting average‚ lowest ever for a 7-game Series.

Are the Royals cursed? They never won another Pennant until last season -- never even made the postseason again. And they lost last year's World Series despite having Games 6 and 7 at home. (They won Game 6, but lost Game 7.) At this writing, they are preparing for Game 1 of a new World Series tonight, at home. They have the home-field advantage again, as in 1985, but this is not 1985.

Also on this day, Billy Martin is fired by the Yankees for an unprecedented 4th time (not counting all those firings in 1977 that didn't take), and is replaced by former Yankee outfielder Lou Piniella‚ who had been the team's hitting instructor since retiring as a player in 1984.

October 27, 1986: On the very day the Mets won their last World Series to date, Jonathon Joseph Niese is born in Lima, Ohio. He's pitched for the Mets since 2008, with a career record of 61-61.

October 27, 1987: Andrew Bynum (no middle name) is born in Plainsboro, Mercer County, New Jersey. After 2 years at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, the center transferred to St. Joseph's High School of Metuchen, whose faculty and students still deny that they've ever recruited a student solely for his athletic ability. (There are black Catholics, but, as far as I know, Bynum is not one of them.)

After reneging on an agreement to attend the University of Connecticut, he declared himself for the 2005 NBA Draft. The Los Angeles Lakers made him the youngest NBA draftee ever, and, after preseason with with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- formerly the oldest NBA player ever -- on November 2, 2005, he played 6 minutes against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, becoming the youngest NBA player ever: 18 years and 6 days old. The Lakers won, 99-97.

He won NBA Championships with the Lakers in 2009 and '10, and was an NBA All-Star in 2012. But he's already missed the entire 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons due to injuries, and is now a free agent, his career in jeopardy at age 28. But then, he does have 2 titles, and I don't think we'll be seeing any more 18-year-olds playing in the NBA -- certainly not for a team with a pedigree anywhere near the Lakers'.

Also on this day, Yi Jianlian is born in Heshan, Guangdong Province, China. Also a center, he is again playing in his homeland, after playing in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks.

October 27, 1989: After a 10-day delay following the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the World Series resumes at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Rescue workers from both sides of San Francisco Bay, San Francisco and Oakland, throw out ceremonial first balls.

The title song from the 1936 musical film San Francisco, about the 1906 quake ("San Francisco, open your Golden Gate... ") is sung on the field by the cast of a San Francisco-based drag-queen stage show, Beach Blanket Babylon, and in the stands by 60,000 people. After the events of the last 10 days, suddenly no one has the energy to make bigoted or silly remarks about gay people, drag queens and people dealing, directly or otherwise, with AIDS.

Game 3 begins, but it is over nearly as quickly as it was 10 days earlier, as the Oakland Athletics, hit 5 home runs, to beat the San Francisco Giants, 13-7. The A's can wrap it up tomorrow.

*

October 27, 1991: The Minnesota Twins become World Champions with a 1-0 victory in 10 innings over the Atlanta Braves, behind Jack Morris's masterful pitching. Gene Larkin's single off Alejandro Pena scores Dan Gladden with the game's only run.

The game is the 1st Game 7 to go into extra innings since the Senators-Giants Series in 1924. Morris is named the Series MVP for the Twins‚ who win all 4 games in the Metrodome while losing all 3 in Atlanta -- repeating their pattern against St. Louis in 1987. Four of the 7 games are decided on the final pitch‚ while 5 are decided by a single run‚ and 3 in extra innings. All are Series records. Morris's 10-inning masterpiece is the last extra-inning complete game of the century.

Through the 2015 season, the Twins' record in World Series play is 11-10: 11-1 at home (3-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in '65, 4-0 at the Metrodome in '87 and again in '91, and they have yet to get that far at Target Field) and 0-9 on the road. However, since that day 24 years ago, they have never won another Pennant. The Braves have, although once in the World Series, they've rarely been better off.

October 27, 1992: Stephan El Shaarawy is born in Savona, Liguria, Italy. The son of an Egyptian father and a Swiss-Italian mother, he could have played his international soccer for Italy, Switzerland or Egypt. He chose Italy, where he is known as Il Faraone (The Pharoah) due to his Egyptian heritage.

Because the winger was born in 1992, he wears Number 92 with A.C. Milan, but, currently on loan to French league club AS Monaco, he is wearing 22.

October 27, 1999: The Yankees defeat the Braves‚ 4-1‚ to win their 25th World Championship. Roger Clemens gets the win‚ hurling 4-hit ball before leaving the game in the 8th inning, to finally get his first World Series ring, 13 years after his only previous appearance, with the ill-fated '86 Red Sox.

Mariano Rivera gets the save‚ his 2nd of the Series. Jim Leyritz hits a solo homer in the 8th, the last home run, and the last run, in baseball in the 20th Century. The last out is Keith Lockhart flying out to left field, where the ball is caught by Game 3's hero, Chad Curtis. Rivera wins the Series MVP award.

Four years earlier, as the final out was registered of the 1995 World Series, NBC's Bob Costas called the Braves "The Team of the Nineties." That label made sense at the time. Going into this Series, in the decade, the Braves had won 8 Division Titles and 5 Pennants, but just that 1 World Series; the Yankees had won 3 Division Titles (4 counting the strike-shortened 1994), 3 Pennants and 2 World Series.

This Series decided it, and in indisputable fashion, as the Yanks were now 2-0 over the Braves in Series play in the decade. This time, after the final out, Costas says it right: "The New York Yankees. World Champions. Team of the Decade. Most successful franchise of the Century."

*

October 27, 2001: Game 1 of the World Series, the 1st ever played in the Mountain Time Zone. The Arizona Diamondbacks pound the Yankees by a score of 9-1 behind Curt Schilling, who hurls 7 innings to win his 4th game of the postseason. Craig Counsell and Luis Gonzalez (cough-steroids-cough) homer for Arizona as Mike Mussina takes the loss for New York.

October 27, 2002: The Angels win their 1st World Series in 42 years of play – under any name -- as they defeat the San Francisco Giants‚ 4-1‚ in Game 7. John Lackey gets the Series-clinching win, making him the 1st rookie to win Game 7 of a World Series since Babe Adams of the 1909 Pirates. (My, how times have changed.)

Garret Anderson's bases-loaded double in the 3rd inning scores 3 runs for Anaheim. Troy Glaus is named Series MVP. The Giants had a 5-0 lead in Game 6, and were up 5-3 and just 9 outs away from winning the Series, but they blew it.

Soon, people begin to wonder if the Giants are a "cursed team." The Curse of Horace Stoneham? The Curse of Captain Eddie (Grant)? The Curse of Candlestick? The Kurse of Krukow? Who knows. And, now that the Giants finally have won 3 World Series as a San Francisco team (and are in great position to win a 3rd), who cares?

This is the 21st World Series to be played between two teams of the same State, the 7th from a State other than New York, and the 4th from California. In each case, it remains, through 2015, the last.

October 27, 2003: The Red Sox announce that manager Grady Little's contract will not be renewed for 2004. They also say it has nothing to do with Little's decision to stay with Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the ALCS. Readers of Jim Bouton's book Ball Four have the right words for this: "Yeah, surrrre!"

Sox fans come up with a rather cruel joke: "What do Grady Little and Don Zimmer have in common? Neither could take out Pedro."

October 27, 2004: The Curse of the Bambino is finally broken. Well, sort of. The Boston Red Sox win their 1st World Series in 86 years with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Derek Lowe ends up as the winning pitcher in all 3 postseason series-clinchers for the Sox, the first pitcher of any team to do so. (Andy Pettitte became the second in 2009.) Johnny Damon hits a home run for Boston. Manny Ramirez is voted Series MVP‚ as he leads Boston to the 4-game sweep with a .412 BA and 4 RBI.

Some people had joked that the Red Sox winning the World Series would be a sign of the Apocalypse. Well, according to the Bible, one such sign is the Moon turning blood red -- and, in fact, there was a full lunar eclipse during the game. (Although this was hardly a surprise, as newspapers and news networks had mentioned it before nightfall.)

A sign held aloft at the victory parade in Boston sums it all up: "Our (late) parents and g'parents thank you." So many people said, "We wanted them to win it in our lifetime, just once." Well, as Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe said in the following weeks, "There was no spike in the obits. We checked. All those people who said they couldn't die until the Red Sox won a World Series decided to live a little longer."

Of course, they didn't win it just once in those people's lifetimes – except for those who died between October '04 and October '07. And now that we know that the Red Sox are a bunch of lying, cheating, dirty, low-down, no-good motherfuckers, we can tell the truth: They still haven't really won a World Series since 1918*. The Curse lives.

So all those Sox fans who weren't old enough to suffer through Harry Frazee, Johnny Pesky, Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, Larry Barnett, Bobby Sprowl, Bucky Dent, John McNamara and Bill Buckner – though most of them did get through what Nomar, Pedro and Grady put them through – and showed more bastardry in victory than their forebears ever showed in defeat can kiss my 27 rings (well, 7 in my lifetime – for the moment), and then they can kiss my Pinstriped ass.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah. Also on this day, Paulo Sergio Oliveira da Silva dies. Better known as Serginho, the Brazilian played for São Caetano as a defender, and was playing for his team in a Campeonato Brasileiro match against São Paulo when he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest 60 minutes into the match.

A later autopsy showed Serginho's heart to weigh 600 grams, twice the size of an average human heart, causing mystery towards his real cause of death. He had just turned 30, and his team was defending league champions. His son Raymundo followed in his father's footsteps and also played in the Brazilian league.

October 27, 2006: The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2, to take the 2006 World Series. Jeff Weaver – Jeff Fucking Weaver? Are you kidding me?!? – gets the win for St. Louis, who get a pair of RBIs from Series MVP (and former Trenton Thunder shortstop) David Eckstein. Sean Casey homers for Detroit.

After the 2004 Series, when the Cardinals lost to the Red Sox, Cardinal fans began to speculate about a Curse of Keith Hernandez. Hernandez had helped the Cards win the 1982 Series, but manager-GM Whitey Herzog didn't like him and traded him to the Mets in 1983. After this, the Cards reached but lost the Series in '85 (on the Don Denkinger blown call and their Game 7 11-0 meltdown) and '87, blew a 3-games-to-1 lead in the ’96 NLCS, reached the Playoffs in 2000 and '02 but failed to win the Pennant, and looked awful in losing the '04 Series. Someone brought up pitcher Jeff Suppan's baserunning blunder in '04, and noted that he wore Number 37, Hernandez’s number in '82.

But this win, in the Cardinals' 1st season at the 3rd Busch Stadium, their 10th title, 2nd all-time behind the Yankees and 1st among NL teams, erases any possibility of a curse on them. It should be noted that the Cards' 83 regular-season wins are the fewest of any team to win a World Series in a full 162-game, or even 154-game, season.

Also on this day, Joe Niekro dies. The longtime knuckleballer, and brother of knuckleballing Hall-of-Famer Phil Niekro, had pitched in the postseason for the Houston Astros in 1980 and '81, and finally got his ring with the '87 Twins. He won 221 games, joining with Phil to become the winningest brothers in baseball history. On May 29, 1976, he hit his only big-league home run, off Phil. He died of a brain aneurysm at age 61.

His son Lance Niekro pitched for the San Francisco Giants, and is now the head coach at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

October 27, 2007: In the 1st World Series game ever played in the State of Colorado, Daisuke Matsuzaka becomes the 1st Japanese starting pitcher in World Series history, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits in 5 1/3rd innings, to get the win against the Rockies in the 10-5 Red Sox Game 3 victory. (Hideki Irabu was on the Yankees' World Series roster in 1998 and '99, but did not start. Hideo Nomo never appeared in a World Series.)

After paying $51.1 million for the rights simply to negotiate with the right-hander, Boston obtained "Dice-K" from the Seibu Lions, signing the World Baseball Classic MVP to a 6-year deal worth $52 million.

With where the Sox have been since, especially with Dice-K missing so many games due to injury, how does the deal look now? Pretty good, since he did help them win a World Series. (Well, as far as I know, he isn't one of the steroid freaks that helped the Sox cheat their way to said victory -- but with all of those injuries, you could wonder.)

October 27, 2008: Game 5 of the World Series begins at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. But it doesn't end on this night, and I don't mean because it ends after midnight tonight. Unless you mean well after midnight tonight.

The Phillies take a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning when Shane Victorino knocks in Jayson Werth and Chase Utley. Tampa Bay cuts the lead in the top of the 4th, as Carlos Peña doubles and scores on Evan Longoria's single. The Rays then tie the game in the top of the 6th when B. J. Upton scores from 2nd base on a Peña single.

But it had already been raining all game, and as the Phillies get out of the inning, the umpires suspend the game. After the game was suspended, umpiring crew chief Tim Tschida told reporters that he and his crew ordered the players off the field because the wind and rain threatened to make the game "comical." The Phils’ Chase Utley agreed, saying that by the middle of 6th inning, "the infield was basically underwater."

Under normal conditions, games are considered to be official games after 5 innings, or 4 1/2 if the home team is leading at that point. However, postseason games are operated by the Commissioner's Office, thus are subject to the Commissioner's discretion of how to handle the scheduling of the games.

So, with rain for the rest of the night in the forecast for Philadelphia, and remembering the fuss made when, due to entirely different circumstances, he had declared the 2002 All-Star Game a tie after 11 innings, Commissioner Bud Selig informed both teams' management before the game began that a team would not be allowed to clinch the Series in a rain-shortened game.

This was the 1st game in World Series history to be suspended. There had been 3 tied games in the history of the World Series: 1907, 1912, and 1922, all of them called due to darkness, as artificial lighting had not yet been brought to ballparks. (Not until 1949 would lights be used on a dark day for a Series game, and not until 1971 would a Series game start at night.) In general, no ties would be needed under modern rules, which provide for suspension of a tied game and resumption of it at the next possible date. Weather has caused numerous delays and postponements in Series history (notable postponements beforehand coming in 1911, 1962, 1975, 1986, 1996 and 2006), but never any suspended games before 2008.

Rain continues to fall in Philadelphia on Tuesday, further postponing the game to Wednesday, October 29, when the Phils finish it off.

October 27, 2010: Game 1 of the World Series, the 1st ever for the Texas Rangers. It doesn't go so well for them. The highly-anticipated matchup of the Rangers' Cliff Lee and the San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum goes by the boards, and turns into a slugfest. The Giants score 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning, and win 11-7.

October 27, 2011: Game 6 of the World Series. In 1986, the Red Sox had a 2-run lead in the 10th inning of Game 6, and were 1 strike away from winning their 1st World Series in 68 years... and blew it. Almost exactly 25 years later...

The Texas Rangers had a 2-run lead in the 9th inning of Game 6, and were 1 strike away from winning the 1st World Series in the 51 years of the franchise, 40 of them in their current location... and blew it... and then had the exact same setup in the 10th inning, and blew it again! David Freese hit a game-tying triple in the 9th. He wasn't involved in the 10th inning comeback, but in the bottom of the 11th, he hit a walkoff home run, and the Cardinals won, 10-9.

If the '86 Red Sox were not officially off the hook for the biggest World Series choke ever seen to that point, thanks to the Red Sox of 2004 and '07, they were now, thanks to the Rangers having a bigger one.

October 27, 2012: Game 3 of the World Series. Gregor Blanco triples home Hunter Pence in the top of the 2nd, and Brandon Crawford singles home Blanco. Those are the only runs of the game, as the Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0. Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum and Sergio Romo combine on a 5-hit shutout, moving the Giants to within 1 game of the title.

October 27, 2013: As if the interference call ending last night's game wasn't weird enough, Game 4 of the World Series also has a weird ending. The Red Sox win the 1st World Series game to ever end on a pickoff, beating the Cardinals, 4-2.

Kolten Wong, a 23 year-old rookie pinch-running for Allen Craig, is caught off 1st base by Boston closer Koji Uehara, ending the Busch Stadium contest with the dangerous Carlos Beltran at the plate.

The Cardinals had momentum after the previous night's wacky ending, but now, they won't win another game that counts until March 31, 2014.