Why Don Mattingly and Keith Hernandez Do Not Belong In the Baseball Hall of Fame

Keith Hernandez has 2,182 career hits. Don Mattingly has 2,153. 

Do those look like Hall of Fame-worthy stats to you? Because they sure don't look like Hallworthy stats to me.

The following 1st basemen with fewer than 2,200 hits are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, having played all or most of their careers from 1900 onward:

Bill Terry 2,193

Harmon Killebrew 2,086

Johnny Mize 2,011

Gil Hodges 1,921

Dick Allen 1,848

George "High Pockets" Kelly 1,778

Hank Greenberg 1,628

Career home runs: Killebrew 573, Hodges 370, Mize 358, Allen 351, Greenberg 331, Mattingly 222, Hernandez 162, Terry 154, Kelly 148. Think about that: Mattingly and Hernandez combined would barely be 2nd on this list.

Career RBIs: Killebrew 1,584, Mize 1,337, Greenberg 1,274, Hodges also 1,274, Allen 1,119, Mattingly 1,099, Terry 1,078, Hernandez 1,071, Kelly 1,020.

Career OPS+: Greenberg 159, Mize 158, Allen 156, Killebrew 143, Terry 136, Hernandez 128, Mattingly 127, Hodges 120, Kelly 109.

.300 batting average seasons: Terry 11 (including the National League's last .400 season, in 1930), Greenberg 9, Mize 9, Kelly 7, Allen 7, Mattingly 7, Hernandez 6 (and just missed 2 others), Hodges 2, Killebrew none (topping out at .288).

30+ home run seasons: Killebrew 10, Greenberg 6, Hodges 6, Allen 6, Mize 3 (plus once leading the NL with 28, but also with 51), Mattingly 3, Kelly and Terry none (despite each playing home games in the Polo Grounds, although Kelly did once lead the NL with 23), Hernandez none (peaked at 18).

100+ RBI seasons: Killebrew 9, Mize 8, Hodges 7 (just missing an 8th), Greenberg 7, Terry 6, Kelly 5 (just missed a 6th, and once led the NL with 94), Mattingly 5, Allen 3, Hernandez 1 (but just missed a 2nd). And Greenberg missed nearly 4 seasons due to war, Mize 3.

World Series appearances: Hodges 6, Mize 5, Greenberg 4, Kelly 4, Terry 4, Hernandez 2, Killebrew 1, Allen 0, Mattingly 0.

Yes, I know, "World Series appearances" is a team stat. Well, these guys contributed to that many of them.

You say Hernandez and Mattingly had back injuries that shortened their careers? So did Greenberg, who retired at age 36. Hodges had a knee injury that ended his status as a productive player at 35.

Kelly is often cited as one of the "Frisch Five," players the Veterans Committee elected due to the advocacy of former teammate and legitimate Hall-of-Famer Frankie Frisch. For this reason, he is on a lot of people's lists of "If you had to drop 5 players from the Hall of Fame, who would they be?" So barely exceeding Kelly, statistically, doesn't help a case. Not exceeding him at all hurts it.

Along with Hernandez and Mattingly, the only one of these considered to be a good-fielding 1st baseman, let alone a great one, is Hodges. In his time, he was as highly regarded with the glove as Hernandez and Mattingly were in theirs. But, in all 3 cases, that may have been due to the New York media pushing them into the public imagination as such.

Baseball-Reference.com has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100. Mattingly is at 134, suggesting that he's an easy choice. Hernandez is at 86, suggesting that he falls well short.

B-R also has "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career achievement, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Mattingly is at 34, and Hernandez is at 32, suggesting that neither comes close.

B-R also has "Similarity Scores," which, weighted toward players of the same position but not completely tied to them (except for pitchers), shows the 10 players who are most statistically similar to that player.

For Hernandez, those players are, in descending order from most statistically similar: Wally Joyner, Mark Grace, Hal McRae, Joe Kuhel, Ken Griffey Sr., Chris Chambliss, Cecil Cooper, José Cruz Sr., Joe Judge and Bob Elliott. None of those players is in the Hall of Fame, and the only one who ever seems to get any consideration for it is Grace.

For Mattingly, those players are Cooper, Joyner, McRae, Kirby Puckett, Will Clark, Adrián González, Magglio Ordóñez, Jeff Conine, Tony Oliva and... Hernandez. Puckett and Oliva are in the Hall of Fame, but Puckett, despite being elected in his 1st year of eligibility, is a borderline case; and Oliva had an injury-shortened career, and had to wait until the Veterans' Committee elected him when he was 84 years old. Clark also gets consideration, but is unlikely to ever get in.

Based on career offensive statistics, neither Don Mattingly nor Keith Hernandez belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What about defense? Hernandez was awarded 11 Gold Gloves, Mattingly 9. If a player is the best ever, defensively, at his position, that should be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, even if he's a flat-out bad hitter.

Ozzie Smith is often called the best-fielding shortstop ever. He is in, and he couldn't hit sand if he fell off a boardwalk. Bill Mazeroski is often called the best-fielding 2nd baseman ever. He is in, and he was an ordinary hitter, who happens to be the only man ever to win a World Series Game 7 with a home run.

Brooks Robinson is, without much doubt, the best-fielding 3rd baseman ever. He is in, and he was a good hitter: While he played 23 seasons, he played them in a pitcher's park, and still managed to collect 2,848 hits, including 268 home runs. He was named American League Most Valuable Player in 1964, in a season in which he hit his career peaks of batting average, home runs and RBIs, leading the League in RBIs.

Is Keith Hernandez the best-fielding 1st baseman of all time? Is Don Mattingly the best-fielding 1st baseman of all time? The fact that their careers largely coincided shows that neither one is, definitively, the best-fielding 1st baseman even of his own time, or even in his own city at that time.

So the best argument for either one gets canceled out by not just the presence, but the proximity, of the other. This wasn't like the 1950s arguments in New York, over center fielders Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider; or over catchers Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella, who were Hall of Fame-quality hitters as well as great defensive catchers. It's more like over shortstops Phil Rizzuto and Pee Wee Reese, who were great defenders, and, offensively, sparkplugs rather than sluggers.

Were they great defensive 1st basemen? Yes. Was either good enough at it to put them over the top if they are, offensively, borderline cases? Maybe. The problem is, their advocates are suggesting that, offensively, they are not merely borderline cases, but good cases. And they're not. Not even when compared to other borderline cases like Hodges and Allen.

(Allen, like Killebrew, started as a 3rd baseman, but was awful, and, in those pre-DH days, his bat had to be kept in the lineup, so they moved him to 1st base, where it was thought he would do the least damage. That worked for Allen and Killebrew. It did not work for former outfielder Dick Stuart, a.k.a. "Dr. Strangeglove," who became Allen's backup on the 1965 Philadelphia Phillies.)

Admit it: If you want either Mattingly or Hernandez in the Hall of Fame, it's because you grew up in New York City, or somewhere near it, in the 1980s, and you love him. It's not because he deserves election. Because he doesn't. Neither one of them does.

And that has nothing to do with character, in either case. It's based solely on performance. Neither one was quite good enough.

October 10, 1945: "The World's Worst Series"

Hal Newhouser

October 10, 1945, 80 years ago: Game 7 of the World Series is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It would be the last game in what would later be called Major League Baseball to be affected by the manpower drain of World War II, as V-J Day had come 2 months earlier, but many players were still in the service.

How drained was the game at this point? Frank Graham, the sports columnist for the New York Journal-American, called it "the fat men versus the tall men at the office picnic." Warren Brown, writing for the Chicago Herald-American, wrote, "I don't think either one of them can win it." A year later, he published a book titled Win, Lose or Draw, in which he called this contest the "World's Worst Series."

Wartime travel restrictions, which led to the cancellation of the All-Star Game for the 1st time (it wouldn't happen again until the COVID shutdown of 2020), meant that the location of the Series would shift only once, regardless of length, instead of a potential twice: The 1st 3 games would be played at the home of the American League Champions, and any games after that would be played at the home of the National League Champions.

The AL Pennant-winners turned out to be the Detroit Tigers, for the 4th time in a 12-season span. Hank Greenberg, the slugging 1st baseman who had been the 1st major league player to enlist in the armed forces, was one of the earliest to be discharged, and had hit a grand slam on the last day of the season to clinch the Pennant.

In 1944, Tiger ace Hal Newhouser went 29-9 with a 2.22 ERA. In 1945, he went 25-9 with a 1.89 ERA. There was no Cy Young Award at the time, but, both times, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player. Fans arguing that he was merely taking advantage of war-strapped teams were silenced in 1946, when, against fully-restocked teams, he went 26-9 with a 1.94 ERA, and finished 2nd in the MVP vote behind Ted Williams of the Pennant-winning Boston Red Sox. It capped a 3-year stretch in which he went 80-27.

The NL Champions were the Chicago Cubs. Their 1st baseman, Phil Cavarretta, batted .355 to win the batting title, and was named the NL's MVP. Hank Wyse went 22-10, but a bigger story was Hank Borowy: The native of Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey had been a big reason why the New York Yankees won the 1943 World Series. But on July 27, the Cubs paid $97,000 to get him from the Yankees. Having gone 10-5 for the Yankees, he went 11-2 for the Cubs the rest of the way, finishing 21-7.

Hank Borowy

The Series began on October 3, at Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Borowy pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Newhouser. Cavarretta hit a home run, and the Cubs won, 9-0. A Greenberg homer gave the Tigers a 4-1 win in Game 2. Claude Passeau pitched a 1-hit shutout in Game 3, the only hit a single by Rudy York in the 2nd inning, and the Cubs won, 3-0, taking a 2-1 into the Detroit phase of the Series.

*

Billy Sianis and his 1945 mascot

Game 4 of the World Series is held at Wrigley Field on October 6. The Chicago Cubs are preparing to host the Detroit Tigers, with the Cubs leading 2 games to 1.

William "Billy Goat" Sianis was the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, across from Chicago Stadium, home of the NHL's Blackhawks and the Midwest’s premier boxing venue. He had a goat as his bar's mascot, and he bought 2 tickets to this game, one for himself and one for the goat. At the time, there was no rule against bringing an animal into the ballpark. But fans around him complained to the ushers that the goat smelled bad, and Sianis and his goat were kicked out of the ballpark.

Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series.

Note that the now-famous marquee includes the words

"NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS."

It would be a long time before it could say that again.

Game 4, at Wrigley Field, was the source of "The Curse of the Billy Goat." William "Billy Goat" Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, across from Chicago Stadium, bought 2 tickets to this game: One for himself, and one for his bar's mascot, a goat. At the time, there was no rule against bringing an animal into the ballpark. But fans around him complained to the ushers that the goat smelled bad, and Sianis and his goat were kicked out of the ballpark.

A Greek immigrant and a superstitious man, Sianis put a curse on the Cubs. The Tigers won the game, 4-1, with all their runs coming in the 4th inning, after Sianis and the goat were kicked out.

Newhouser outpitched Borowy in Game 5, and the Tigers won, 8-5, taking a 3-2 lead. In Game 6, the Tigers scored 4 runs in the top of the 8th, and the game went to extra innings. Stan Hack doubled Bill Schuster home in the bottom of the 12th, giving the Cubs an 8-7 win, and forcing a Game 7 on their home field.

Cubs manager Charlie Grimm used Borowy, on no rest, for the last 4 innings of Game 6, making him the winning pitcher. Game 7 was pushed back a day due to rain, and Grimm decided that, despite having pitched 18 innings in the preceding 7 days, Borowy was his best choice to pitch Game 7. Tiger manager Steve O'Neill went with Newhouser, who had pitched 12 innings to that point, but would be on 2 days' rest. Maybe, as the teams took the field on October 10, Warren Brown was right: Neither team could win.

The game was decided before Newhouser faced a single batter. Borowy had gotten the Cubs to within 1 win of a title, but he had nothing left to give: He began the game by giving up singles to Skeeter Webb, Eddie Mayo and Doc Cramer.

Already down 1-0, Grimm took the exhausted Borowy out, and brought in Paul Derringer, who'd helped the Cincinnati Reds win the 1940 World Series. He got an out, then Grimm ordered an intentional walk to load the bases and set up a play at any base, and Derringer got a 2nd out. But a bases-loaded walk made it 2-0, and Paul Richards hit a bases-clearing double to make it 5-0.

Cavarretta singled a run home in the bottom of the 1st, but that was as close as the Cubs would get. Newhouser went the distance, striking out 10 batters, and the Tigers won, 9-0. Within minutes of the last out, Billy Sianis sent a telegram to Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley, asking, "Who stinks now?"

Billy Sianis, and the 1945 edition of his mascot

This also remained, for 71 years, the last World Series game the Chicago Cubs had ever played. Left fielder Ed Mierkowicz was the last survivor from the '45 Tigers, while shortstop Lennie Merullo was the last survivor from the '45 Cubs. From Merullo's death on May 30, 2015 until October 25, 2016, there were no living people who had played in a World Series game for the Chicago Cubs.

Newhouser's 170 wins during the 1940s made him the winningest pitcher of the decade. Later, as a scout, he discovered Jim Palmer, whose 186 wins during the 1970s made him the winningest pitcher of that decade.

September 30, 1945: Lieutenant Hank Greenberg Clinches the Pennant

Swinging two bats in the on-deck circle

was a common sight before the Yankees' Elston Howard

invented the "bat donut" in the 1960s.

Hank Greenberg was one of the few players

who was strong enough to swing three bats.

September 30, 1945, 80 years ago: Hank Greenberg, recently discharged from the U.S. Army, hits a grand slam off Nelson Potter in the top of the 9th inning, and gives the Detroit Tigers a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park, clinching the American League Pennant, which the Browns had won the previous season, for the only time in their history. The Tigers go on to win the World Series over the Chicago Cubs in 7 games.

The 1st player to go into the service was Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Hugh Mulcahy, drafted on March 8, 1941, and he served for the duration of The War. As my grandmother taught me, she and everyone else who lived through it, even if they never left "the home front," always called it "The War," Capital T, Capital W. 

Greenberg had been the 1st major baseball star to volunteer for the U.S. armed forces in preparation for World War II, inducted into the Army on May 7, 1941. So it was only natural that he was the 1st player to return, discharged on June 14, 1945, with Nazi Germany having surrendered, but not, as yet, Imperial Japan. He had scouted bombing targets for B-29 bombers in the China/India/Burma Theater of Operations, and was discharged with the rank of 1st Lieutenant.

Already known as Hammerin' Hank before Henry Aaron was even born, he had lost his seasons of age 31, 32 and 33, and the 1st half of his age 34 season. He finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .313 and 331 home runs. He should have had at least 150 more home runs. He never regretted it, saying, "My country comes first."

Nor did Chief Petty Officer Bob Feller, U.S. Navy, who lost his seasons of ages 23, 24, 25 and most of 26. He won 266 games and struck out 2,581 batters, all for the Cleveland Indians. Based on his 1941 and 1946 performances, he should have had at least another 90 wins and 1,000 strikeouts, which could have made him the all-time strikeout leader, and, with another 98 wins, the pitcher with the most in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era.

He knew The War was more important. He also knew that people like Ty Cobb and Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes, who compared sports to war, were blowhards, saying, "Anybody who says sports is war has never been in a war."

Warren Spahn had appeared in 4 games before going into the service, and was the winning pitcher in exactly none of them. By the time he rejoined the Boston Braves, 1st Lieutenant Warren Spahn, U.S. Army, had missed his age 22, 23 and 24 seasons, and had gotten frostbite in the Battle of the Bulge and been wounded at the Remagen Bridge.

But his wartime experience may have matured him. From age 25 to 44, he did become the Lively Ball Era's winningest pitcher, and the winningest lefthanded pitcher regardless of era, with 363. So maybe his stats didn't suffer.

The stats of Sergeant Joe DiMaggio, U.S. Army Air Force, did suffer, as he lost his age 28, 29 and 30 seasons. He finished with a .325 batting average, and 2,214 hits including 361 home runs. He should have had at least another 550 hits and another 75 home runs.

And then there was Ted Williams, who served as a flight instructor in World War II and a fighter pilot in the Korean War. By the time he left the service for the last time in 1953, Captain Theodore S. Williams, U.S. Marine Corps, had damaged hearing, and had lost his seasons of age 24, 25 and 26, and most of those of age 33 and 34.

He batted .344 for his career, with 2,654 hits and 521 home runs. It shouldn't surprise people who know a little about baseball history that Ted reached 500 homers, only the 4th to do so after Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott. But it is surprising that the man often called "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived" didn't even get close to 3,000 hits. (He also never got 200 hits in a season.) By missing 4 1/2 prime seasons, he may have missed out on as many as 600 hits and 200 home runs, which would have put him past the 714 of Ruth, the record before Aaron reached 755.

In contrast, Ruth only missed 1 month due to World War I, September 1918, and that was because everybody missed at least that much, since the season was cut short. And Aaron was never drafted. Mickey Mantle was classified 4-F, medically unfit for service.

Willie Mays did serve in the Korean War, missing most of his age 21 season and all of his 22, probably costing him around 350 hits on top of his 3,293, and at least 50 homers on top of his 660, meaning he might have gotten to 715 before Aaron did. Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford (1951 and '52) and Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Don Newcome (1952 and '53) also missed 2 seasons serving in Korea.)

Seaman 1st Class Stan Musial, U.S. Navy, the best hitter in the National League while Ted was the best in the American League, only missed 1945, his age 24 season, due to World War II. He had 3,630 hits and 475 home runs, so he may have missed 200 hits and maybe the 25 homers that would have put him over 500.

One man was a veteran of both D-Day and Major League Baseball. In his case, he was just 19 when he was in a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Normandy, and his service probably didn't delay his entry into the major leagues by much. He may have been the calmest man in the battle, later saying that the exploding shells looked like fireworks. He was Seaman 2nd Class Lawrence Peter Berra. Yogi.

Yankee shortstop and Seaman 1st Class Phil Rizzuto missed his age 25, 26 and 27 seasons due to those huckleberries Hitler and Tojo. His Dodger counterpart, Chief Petty Officer Harold "Pee Wee" Reese, missed his age 24, 25 and 26 seasons. And Army 1st Lieutenant Jack Roosevelt Robinson missed his age 24, 25 and 26 seasons in the Army. Of course, at that point, he had no idea that he would ever play professional baseball in any capacity, much less the one that would make him the most important player of all time.

Bobby Shantz, who just turned 100, is the last remaining veteran of both World War II and Major League Baseball. 

September 19, 1934: Hank Greenberg Does Not Play On Yom Kippur

September 19, 1934, 90 years ago: The Detroit Tigers take the field at their home ballpark of Navin Field. They do so against what is, aside from themselves, the best team in the American League, the New York Yankees. What's more, they do so without their best player, 1st baseman Hank Greenberg.

The Tigers went into the game 7 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees, 8 in the loss column, with 11 games left for them and 10 left for the Yankees. No one thought in terms of a "magic number" to clinch in those days, but the Tigers' was 4: Any number of Tiger wins and Yankee losses the rest of the way, adding up to 4, and the Tigers would win the AL Pennant.

But they hadn't wrapped it up yet. There hadn't yet been a team with a significant lead in September that ended up blowing it. This was before the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers, the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, the 1969 Chicago Cubs, the 1978 Boston Red Sox, the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays, the 1995 California Angels, and the 2007 New York Mets. (Indeed, the Jays, the Angels and the Mets didn't even exist yet.)

But the New York Giants, winners of the previous year's World Series, had led the National League by 7 games as late as September 6, and now led the St. Louis Cardinals by only 3 1/2 games, and did end up blowing it in the last 2 days of the regular season. So such a collapse was already considered possible.

And the idea that Greenberg might not play in this game worried Tiger fans. But, as a series of TV commercials for Hebrew National Kosher hot dogs would say, decades later, he answered to a higher authority.

Henry Benjamin Greenberg was born on January 1, 1911 in Manhattan. He grew up in The Bronx, attended James Monroe High School, and became the Tigers' starting 1st baseman in 1933. Henry Aaron was born on February 5, 1934, and would go on to become baseball's all-time home run leader. But his nickname, "Hammerin' Hank," was first given to Hank Greenberg.

On September 18, 1934, Greenberg hit a home run, his 25th of the season, off fellow future Hall-of-Famer Red Ruffing, and the Tigers beat the Yankees, 2-0, as Lynwood "Schoolboy" Rowe pitched a 6-hit shutout.

But, in 1934, from sunset on September 18 to sunset on September 19, was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, the conclusion of Judaism's "high holy days" that begins with the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

And Greenberg was Jewish. Rosh Hashanah fell on September 10 and 11 that year, and Greenberg did play on the afternoon of the 11th. (The Tigers' ballpark wouldn't get lights until 1948, making it the last in the AL to do so.) The Tigers lost that game to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 in 11 innings, as Hall-of-Famer Lefty Grove pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief for the win, and Greenberg went 0-for-3, although he did walk twice and was driven in both times.

Some Jewish people suggested that the defeat, and Greenberg's hitless performance -- few people thought in terms of on-base percentage in those days -- was God's punishment for playing on the holy day. So, with Yom Kippur coming up, he was facing pressure from both sides: Tiger fans who wanted him to play on September 19, and Jews who didn't want him to play.

He announced that he would not play. On the morning of the 19th, he attended a service at a synagogue: Congregation Shaarey Zedek, whose name translates to "Gates of Righteousness." It was located at 2900 Chicago Avenue. Clinton Street Greater Bethlehem Temple Church occupies the site now. In 1962, Shaarey Zedek moved to their current location, is now in suburban Southfield, Michigan, at 27375 Bell Road.

And when the Tigers took the field against the Yankees, their 1st baseman was Frank Doljack. He did reach base twice, with a single and a walk. It was the Tigers' other stars who fell short that day. Between them, Greenberg, 2nd baseman Charlie Gehringer, and left fielder Leon "Goose" Goslin were known as the "G-Men," in this year that was the 1st of big publicity for the FBI, whose agents were also called that (the G standing for "Government men"). Goslin went 0-for-4. Gehringer went 0-for-3 with a walk. And Mickey Cochrane, both the Tigers' manager and their catcher, only appeared as a pinch-hitter, although he had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

So they had 3 future Hall-of-Famers in their lineup, instead of the usual 4. That, along with their other regulars, should have been enough to help them win. Especially since the Yankees did not have Babe Ruth in this game. (It would be his last season with them.)

But the Yankees did have Lou Gehrig, on his way to becoming the 1st Yankee ever to win the Triple Crown. (In spite of this, Cochrane would be named the AL's Most Valuable Player.) Gehrig went 0-for-3. But they had another Hall-of-Famer, Tony Lazzeri, and his 2-run double in the 6th inning made the difference, and the Yankees won, 5-2.

All over America, Jews celebrated Greenberg for sacrificing an important game for the sake of his faith. Tiger fans? Their concerns faded, and a doubleheader sweep of the Chicago White Sox on September 26 gave the Tigers their 1st Pennant in 25 years. Greenberg became a hero to anyone who wasn't an anti-Semite.

The Tigers lost the World Series to the Cardinals. The next season, they won the Pennant again, with Greenberg being named AL MVP, and won the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, the 1st World Championship for a Detroit baseball team since the 1887 Wolverines, 48 years earlier.

Greenberg would have 184 RBIs in 1937, falling 1 short of Gehrig's AL record. In 1938, he hit 58 home runs, falling 2 short of Ruth's major league record. In 1940, he led the Tigers to another Pennant, having been moved from 1st base to left field, and becoming the 1st player ever to be named MVP at 2 different positions. But he got hurt in the World Series, and they lost to the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1941, he became the 1st major league player to enlist in the U.S. Army, as World War II threatened to drag America into it. He was discharged in 1945, between V-E Day and V-J Day, and returned to the Tigers to hit a grand slam on the last day of the season, to clinch their 4th Pennant with him, and beat the Cubs to win another World Series.

A bad back convinced Greenberg to retire after the 1946 season, but the Pittsburgh Pirates asked him to come back, so he could tutor their young slugger Ralph Kiner. They offered him baseball's 1st $100,000-a-year salary. (With inflation, it would be worth $1.33 million in 2022.) He took it on the condition that it be his last season. Kiner never forgot Greenberg's kindness.

Nor did Jackie Robinson, whose 1st season was Greenberg's last. Facing anti-Semitism on a greater scale than any player ever had, Greenberg was the one player who could, and did, truthfully say to modern baseball's 1st black player, "I know what you're going through."

On May 17, 1947, when the Pirates played the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson laid down a bunt, and, in his effort to reach 1st base, collided with Greenberg. Neither man was hurt. Later in the game, Greenberg walked, and, as Robinson was also playing 1st that season (moving to 2nd the next year), they had a chance to talk:

Greenberg, then: "Don't pay attention to these guys who are trying to make it hard for you. Stick in there... I hope you and I can get together for a talk. There are a few things I've learned down through the years that might help you and make it easier."

Robinson, to the press after the game: "Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg."

Despite being just short of 37 years old, due to his injury, Greenberg did indeed retire after the 1947 season. Lifetime batting average: .331. OPS+: 158. Hits: 1,628, including 379 doubles (including 63, 4 off the all-time record, in 1934) and 331 home runs (including the 58 in 1938). RBIs: 1,276 (including the 184 in 1937). All this in what amounted to just 10 full seasons. If he'd been exempt from military service and had been able to play until he was 40, he would have had about 600 home runs, might have collected 3,000 hits, and perhaps joined Ruth and Aaron, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols as the only men with 2,000 RBIs.

In 1999, The Sporting News placed him at Number 37 on its list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, in spite of his abbreviated career. In his book Ted Williams' Hit List, Williams named his Top 20 Hitters, and he put Greenberg at Number 11. Whether he was ranked that high (ahead of Tris Speaker and Mickey Mantle) due to peak value or to their friendship, I don't know. But Ted always said Hank was a wonderful guy.

Bill Veeck, owner of the Cleveland Indians, offered him a front-office position, and together they helped make the Indians the 1948 World Champions. Greenberg tutored another young slugger, a Jewish one like himself, third baseman Al Rosen. When Veeck sold the team, the new owners kept Greenberg, promoting him to general manager, and another Pennant-winner was built in 1954. When Veeck bought the Chicago White Sox, he brought in Greenberg as a part-owner, and another Pennant-winner was built in 1959.

That was Greenberg's last job in organized baseball, although his son Steve later played in the minors, not making it to the majors due to injury. Steve later founded Classic Sports Network, bought by ESPN and turned into ESPN Classic, one of the great treasures of American broadcasting.

In one of the weirdest occurrences in baseball history, Hank Greenberg, Ralph Kiner and Al Rosen all retired sooner than they could have due to bad backs. It didn't keep Greenberg out of the Hall of Fame: He was elected in 1956. It almost kept Kiner out: He was elected in 1975, his 15th and last year of eligibility under the baseball writers' vote. It has, thus far, kept Rosen out, although he later went on to become, like Greenberg, one of baseball's finest executives, building postseason teams in New York (the 1978 World Champion Yankees), Houston (the 1986 National League Western Division Champion Astros) and San Francisco (the 1989 NL Champion Giants).

Greenberg never hesitated to speak of his admiration for his heroes, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, his teammate and manager in Detroit Mickey Cochrane, and, even though he was several years younger, Jackie Robinson. As Jackie said, class tells: Men such as Robinson, Williams, Kiner and Rosen spent the rest of their lives telling of Greenberg's hitting talent and his great decency. Greenberg died on September 4, 1986, at the age of 75.

Tigers principal owner Frank Navin died on November 19, 1935. This made Walter Briggs the team's sole owner. In the 1937-38 off-season, Briggs expanded the ballpark into what became its familiar configuration, and renamed it Briggs Stadium. He died in 1952, and his son Walter Jr., a.k.a. Spike Briggs, inherited the team. In 1956, Spike sold the Tigers to a group led by John Fetzer. In 1961, Fetzer renamed the ballpark Tiger Stadium. The Tigers remained there until the 1999 season, and then moved into their current home, Comerica Park.

In 1965, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, then the best pitcher in baseball, refused to start Game 1 of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. The Dodgers lost to the Minnesota Twins, and when manager Walter Alston came to take their other Hall of Fame pitcher, Don Drysdale, out of the game, Drysdale said, "I bet you wish I was Jewish, too!"

To make matters worse, Koufax lost Game 2. But the Dodgers came back, and Koufax pitched shutouts in Games 5 and 7 to win the Series. The fact that Koufax took a bigger risk, and the fact that, unlike Greenberg, a star of radio and black & white newsreels, his sacrifice took place in the era of TV and color film, made Koufax an even bigger legend than Greenberg.

But Greenberg did it first. As with anything else, the first one to do something will always be special.

September 19, 1934 was a Wednesday. Yom Kippur does not prohibit the birth of Jewish babies, and, in Liverpool, England, Brian Epstein, the man who would go on to manage The Beatles, was born on this day.

November 3, 1953: No More Gloves On the Field

November 3, 1953, 70 years ago: Baseball's rules committee restores the pre-1939 rule which says that a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat.

Also‚ the committee votes for the "no gloves on the field rule." Hank Greenberg‚ the Hall of Fame-to-be slugger who is now the general manager of the Cleveland Indians, had proposed the change‚ saying, "Aside from the possibility of hindering the play‚ gloves on the field look sloppy." It also made it easy for opposing players to sneak creepy-crawly or otherwise disgusting things into the glove of an easily scared player, such as the Yankees' Phil Rizzuto.

The committee also makes a rule that any runner will be called out for deliberately running the bases backwards, or even taking a lead off the base in the wrong direction.

A new balk rule is instituted which gives the batter an option: If he gets a hit after a balk is called‚ he has the option of accepting the outcome of the pitch‚ instead of being limited to the advance of the runner(s). This is the baseball equivalent of a football team that is the beneficiary of a penalty having the option to decline it, if the outcome of such is more advantageous to them than the outcome of the penalty.

Rule suggestions that are rejected include the re-legalization of the spitball‚ 2 bases for an intentional walk‚ and the option of declining ball 4. None of these ideas have been picked up since.

October 27, 1922: Ralph Kiner Is Born

October 27, 1922, 100 years ago: Ralph McPherran Kiner is born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, about 150 miles northwest of El Paso, Texas. He was 4 years old when his father died, and his mother moved him to the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra, California, and he grew up there.

As his contemporary Duke Snider pointed out, the Southern California weather enabled kids to play baseball all year long, which led to the Pacific Coast League (including the less-weather-friendly Oregon and Washington State) producing a seemingly endless stream of baseball talent, which continues to this day. It's why the College World Series is dominated by the Sun Belt: California teams, Arizona teams, Texas teams, Louisiana State, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Florida teams.

Ralph was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, played in the low minors in 1941 and '42, and in 1943 was a member of the first sports team to be named the Toronto Maple Leafs, then the Pirates' top farm team. But World War II was raging, and his country called.

When he came back from serving as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, he was 23 years old, and ready to make the big club. On April 16, 1946, he made his major league debut for the Pirates, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park. Batting 3rd and playing center field, he had a single and a walk in 5 trips to the plate. The Pirates won, 6-4, a bump in the road for the Cardinals, as they went on to win their 4th Pennant and 3rd World Series in a 5-year stretch. He hit his 1st major league home run 2 days later, on April 18, in the top of the 8th off the Cardinals' Howie Pollet. But the Cards won that game, 6-2, as Stan Musial also homered.

After that, Ralph was mainly a left fielder. He wore Number 43 in his rookie season, the last year in which the Pirates wore red, white & blue uniforms. In 1947, he was given Number 4, and the Pirates wore blue & white. In 1948, they switched to black & gold, the same colors as the football team that had been named for them but was now called the Steelers, and they have worn those colors ever since.

In that 1st season, 1946, he led the National League by hitting 23 home runs, a pretty good total for a man whose home games were in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. "The Old Lady of Schenley Park," home to the Buccos from 1909 to 1970, had dimensions very close to those of the pre-renovation, 1923-73 version of Yankee Stadium: Close in the right-field corner, but pretty distant everywhere else. Left field was 360 feet away, its furthest point was 462 to left-center, and straightaway center was 442. Terrible conditions for a righthanded hitter, which Ralph was.

But in '46, Ralph was just getting warmed up. In 1947, the Pirates brought in Hank Greenberg, the great slugger of the Detroit Tigers, making him baseball's 1st $100,000 a year player. (That's about $1.33 million in today's money, meaning, compared to today's players, even the highest-paid player in the game's history to that point was underpaid.) To help him out, the Pirates put an inner fence in left field, in front of Forbes' familiar scoreboard, reducing the left-field pole from 360 to 335. The area between the fences was called Greenberg Gardens. After playing in '47, Greenberg retired, and the area was renamed Kiner's Korner. The inner fence was removed after he was traded.

Kiner always credited Greenberg with making him a better hitter, and the results speak for themselves: 23, 51, 40, 54, 47, 42, 37, 35. Those were his seasonal home run totals from 1946 to 1953, making him easily the best slugger in the National League during the Truman Administration.

Those 54 homers in 1949 were the most by a National Leaguer between Hack Wilson's 56 in 1930 and Mark McGwire's 70* in 1998. It's a total that was never reached by Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson or Mike Schmidt -- and only once by Mickey Mantle.

Indeed, from 1938, when Greenberg hit 58, until 1997, when steroids allowed McGwire and others to rewrite the record book, the only player who hit more than that in a season was Roger Maris, his "61 in '61" breaking Babe Ruth's 1927 record of 60.

As Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn said, "Ralph Kiner could wipe out your lead with one swing."

The Pirates' broadcasters at the time were Bob Prince, a.k.a. "The Gunner," and Albert "Rosey" Rowswell, the man who nicknamed the Pirates "the Buccos." (A "buccaneer" was a kind of privateer, not quite a pirate.) These men were the other kind of "homers," broadcasters favoring the home team, to the extent that they made Yankee mikemen Mel Allen, Phil Rizzuto and John Sterling sound objective by comparison. Rosey, who grew up outside Pittsburgh, claimed not to have missed a Pirates home game since 1909, the year Forbes Field opened and Honus Wagner led them to win the World Series for the first time.

Rosey had a trick: When a Pirate hitter, more often Kiner than anyone else, would hit a ball that looked like it would be a home run, he imagined an old lady whose house faced Forbes Field, and he would yell, "Open the window, Aunt Minnie, here it comes!" Then Prince, or whoever was handy at the moment, would drop a box full of items to make it sound like glass was breaking, and say, "Too late!" (I've also heard that Rosey would smash a light bulb there in the broadcast booth, but that sounds a little too dangerous.)

On Opening Day of the 1948 season, the year after Kiner hit 51 to set a club record (which he would break in '49), entertainer Bing Crosby, a minority owner of the Pirates, was in the booth with Rosey, but he kept talking through a Kiner swing, and Rosey had to interrupt him: "Open the window, Aunt Minnie!... There it goes, clean clear over the scoreboard! Home run for Ralph Kiner, his first of the 1948 season! Let's hope it's the first of 61!"

Rosey died on the eve of the 1955 season, by which point his Aunt Minnie routine could be seen as just an act, because television was beginning to take over, and fans watching at home could see that there was nothing but parkland for a few blocks beyond the left and center field fence, until the Carnegie Museum, which can be seen behind that scoreboard in the famous photo of Bill Mazeroski's home run that won the 1960 World Series.

In spite of Ralph's home run heroics, the Pirates were a bad team. In 1952, they lost 112 games, the most of any NL team between the 115 of the 1935 Boston Braves and the 120 of the 1962 Mets. In The Road to Bali, one of the "Road Pictures" he made with his pal Bob Hope (himself a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians at the time), Dorothy Lamour asked Bing, "Do you still have pirates in America?" And Der Bingle said, "Yes, but they're in the basement."

Branch Rickey, the man who built championship teams in St. Louis and Brooklyn, and was now the general manager in Pittsburgh. It was said, "He had money and players, and didn't like to see them mix."

And on June 4, 1953, Rickey traded Ralph to the Chicago Cubs, along with fellow future broadcaster Joe Garagiola, George "Catfish" Metkovich, and, ironically, the man who had given up Ralph's first homer, Howie Pollet.

In exchange, he got 6 players and $150,000. The only player of the 6 who might be familiar to a New York fan was the former Brooklyn outfielder Gene Hermanski, by then washed up. Rickey wanted Hermanski to take over in left field, but he really wanted the money, and Cubs owner Phil Wrigley, he of the chewing-gum fortune, was one of the few among the 16 team owners who was willing to spend it -- not that it did him much good after 1945.

Ralph didn't want to go. He liked Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh fans loved him. But he made $90,000 in 1952 -- the highest in the game at that point, as Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio, the 2nd $100,000 man, had retired; and Ted Williams, the 3rd, only got about $25,000 of his scheduled $125,000 that year before the Marines called him to Korea. Ralph's 1952 $90,000 works out to a shade over $1 million today.

Looking to not have to pay him a similarly huge sum, or more, in the future, Rickey told him, keeping in mind that 8th place was last in the League at the time, "We finished 8th with you, and we can finish 8th without you."

Of course, putting a power hitter in Chicago's Wrigley Field, with its close power alleys and its wind frequently blowing out, should have helped Ralph a lot. It did, at first. And, like Greenberg did for him, he was able to help out a young player just coming up: Ernie Banks, who would go on to become one of the best sluggers in baseball in the late 1950s and all through the 1960s.

But a back injury made it hard for Ralph to swing. After the 1954 season, the Cubs sent him to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Sam Jones. A rare good move for the Cubs, as Jones, that next season, became the 1st black pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the major leagues.

But the Indians' GM at this point was Ralph's mentor, Greenberg, and he thought Ralph could help the Tribe, who had won the American League Pennant, but were under no illusions about the Yankees trying to reclaim it (which they did).

Ralph wore Number 9 for the Indians, but his back injury limited him to 390 plate appearances. That, and the distant fences at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, limited him to a .243 average, 18 homers and 54 RBIs. In other words, when he could play at all, he could still hit the ball a long way. But, like Greenberg, a bad back led him to call it a career early.

The same thing would happen to his Indians teammate, Al Rosen. Those back injuries meant that none of them got the career statistics necessary to get them into the Hall of Fame in the early years of their eligibility. Greenberg and Kiner lived long enough to make it and enjoy it. Supporters of Rosen, also dead now, are still waiting.

Kiner was just short of 33 years old when he played his last game, on September 25, 1955 -- 3 days before Jackie Robinson stole home plate, in the World Series, 5 days before James Dean was killed in a car crash, 6 days before The Honeymooners premiered on CBS, and 8 days before the Dodgers won Brooklyn's only World Series.

Years later, I was watching a Mets game, and a player had hit his first major league home run. And Tim McCarver said something shocking: "I don't remember my first major league home run. You'd think I would, since I didn't hit very many of them!" Ralph said, "I remember my first home run. I don't remember my last home run. Because, at the time, I didn't think it would be my last!"

His last home run was on September 10, 1955, off Ellis Kinder of the Red Sox at Fenway, and it was significant, since it was part of a 5-run 7th inning that gave the Wahoos a 10-7 win, their 5th straight win, moving them to a game and a half ahead of the Yankees. But they only went 6-7 the rest of the way, and finished 3 games back. It was the only Pennant race Ralph ever played in. (Ted Williams didn't homer in the game, but he did go 3-for-5 with an RBI.)

Greenberg didn't forget his friend, though, and appointed him as GM of the Indians' top farm team at the time, the San Diego Padres of the PCL. (The major league team with that name replaced them in 1969.) He'd be working a 2 1/2-hour drive from home in Los Angeles. It looked like, again, Ralph was following Hank's path.

But in 1961, the Chicago White Sox -- for whom Greenberg was now the GM -- offered him a broadcasting post. This was something Greenberg hadn't done. The next year, the expansion New York Mets offered him one of their initial broadcasting slots.

*

Ralph was a one-dimensional player. He couldn't hit for average. He was one of the slowest players in the game at the time. He didn't embarrass himself in the field, but had he played in the AL after 1973, he would likely have been a designated hitter.

But what a job he did in that one dimension. He led the NL in homers every season from 1946 to 1951, had 7 100+ RBI seasons including a League-leading 127 in 1949, led the NL in on-base percentage once and in slugging percentage 3 times.

His career home run total was 369. That may not sound like much, but, keep in mind, he was limited -- by war at the beginning, and by injury at the end -- to just 10 seasons. Now, doubling his career to 20 seasons wouldn't necessarily have doubled his career total to 738 -- more than Babe Ruth had, but less than Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds ended up with -- but 500 certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibility, even if he had played the rest of his career in "Cavernous Cleveland Stadium."

Knowing Greenberg, he might have brought Ralph to the White Sox, whose Comiskey Park wasn't exactly conducive to sluggers, although, in 1959, with Ted Kluszewski bopping 'em out, they won the Pennant. A healthy Ralph Kiner, then approaching his 37th birthday, could have made a difference in the World Series, even if only in a veteran's pinch-hitting role like the Yankees had in that decade with Johnny Mize and Enos Slaughter.

To put those 369 homers in another light: At the time he retired, in 1955, it was 6th all-time, behind Ruth's 714, Jimmie Foxx's 534, Mel Ott's 511, Gehrig's 493, and the still-active Williams' 394 (of the 521 with which he would finish). Among righthanded hitters, only Foxx had more; among NL hitters, only Ott did. DiMaggio had 361, Mize 359. Musial would end up with 475, but, at the time, had only 325. Kiner's homer rate was, until the Steroid Era, 2nd only to Ruth's.

Ralph has often been cited as being the player who said, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, singles hitters drive Fords." The line actually predates him, but he did add to it, by explaining why he wouldn't choke up on the bat to try to raise his average: "Cadillacs are down at the end of the bat."

Hits: 1,451 -- meaning he should have had about 2,500, which wouldn't have gotten him into the magic circle of 3,000, but would have put him ahead of Mantle's 2,415 and DiMaggio's 2,245. Batting average: .279, nothing special. On-base percentage: .398, which is very good. (He walked at least 98 times in 7 different seasons.) Slugging percentage: .548 -- at the time, 10th, trailing only Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx, Greenberg, DiMaggio, Rogers Hornsby, Mize and Musial. OPS+: 149, meaning he was 49 percent better at producing runs than the average player in his time.

Unfortunately, that shortened career, and people by that point knowing him mainly as a broadcaster, nearly kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Those 10 seasons in the major leagues meant that he met the minimum requirement for election (which has been waived in a few special cases, such as Negro League players). And by 1971, by which point 11 players had joined the 500 Home Run Club, his 369 no longer seemed like such a big number.

It wasn't until 1975, his 15th and last year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot, that he got the necessary 75 percent of the ballots to be elected -- and, even then, he got 273 votes, 2 more than the 75 percent needed. (Had he missed out that time, he would have had to wait a few years, until he was eligible through the Veterans' Committee.)

Even then, he had to wait 45 minutes to find out. Why? Because Jack Lang, the sportswriter whose job it then was to call the newly-elected to tell them that they had, in fact, been newly elected, kept calling him, and calling him, and calling him, but kept getting a busy signal. Why? As Ralph explained when Jack finally got through to him, his mother-in-law had been calling him every 5 minutes to ask if he'd made it on this last try.

The Pirates would eventually retire his Number 4. The Sporting News listed him at Number 90 on their end-of-the-century list of the 100 Greatest Players, and he was a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 1995, in his book Ted Williams' Hit List, Ted named him one of the Top 20 Hitters of all time. He has been honored with a statue in his hometown of Alhambra.

He was introduced, along with many of the All-Century Team finalists, before the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park, and with 48 of the other 60 living Hall-of-Famers before the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

*

Bing, knowing Ralph was both a Southern Californian and a highly-paid, highly-eligible bachelor, set him up with some of Hollywood's finest. In 1949, he accompanied 17-year-old Elizabeth Taylor to the premiere of Twelve O'Clock High. He dated Ava Gardner, before she married Frank Sinatra.

You may remember the 1994 film Angels In the Outfield, which used the California Angels as the team that needed divine intervention. It was a remake of a 1951 film, which used the then-downtrodden Pirates, and Ralph was in it. It starred Janet Leigh -- before she married and divorced Tony Curtis, became the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis, and got hacked to death in Psycho by Anthony Perkins, who played ballplayer and eventual broadcaster Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out -- and Ralph was her date for the premiere.

Shortly after that premiere, Ralph got married for the 1st of 3 times, to tennis player Nancy Chaffee.
Greenberg was his best man. That year, Nancy was ranked Number 4 in the world among female players, and she and Patricia Todd reached the Finals in the U.S. Open ladies' doubles. The year before, she'd reached the Semifinals of ladies' singles at the U.S. Open and the Quarterfinals at Wimbledon. But that was as close as she ever got to winning a major, since, by her own admission, she now liked Ralph more than she liked tennis.

Together, she and Ralph had 3 children. Possibly encouraged by Greenberg, who was good at the game, he took up tennis as well. In a memoir, Baseball Forever, Ralph mentioned that he once beat her in tennis. Only once. "Of course," he added, "she was 8 months pregnant at the time." They eventually divorced, and she married another sportscaster, Jack Whitaker. She even became an announcer herself. She died of cancer in 2002, at the age of 73.

Ralph later married a woman named Barbara George, which also ended in divorce. A 3rd marriage, to DiAnn Shugart, lasted for the rest of her life. He would eventually have 5 children, who, between them, presented him with 12 grandchildren.

*

Like Phil Rizzuto, Richie Ashburn, Herb Score, and some other players, it could be said that the demarcation line between whether you're old yet or not could be if you remember Ralph Kiner as a player, or only as a broadcaster. That's no longer the case: If you remember him as a player, you're probably at least 75 years old.

But 3 generations of New York sports fans got to know him only as a broadcaster -- although, unlike those other men, not for any of the teams for which he played. He joined the original Mets broadcast team, with Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy. As those 2 men were eventually honored with the Hall of Fame's recognition for broadcasters, the Ford Frick Award, it could be said that the Mets had an all-Hall of Fame broadcast team from 1962 to 1979 -- 18 seasons.

Ralph broadcast with Lindsey and Murph on WOR-Channel 9, which had been the Dodgers' station from 1950 until they left Brooklyn after the 1957 season. That triad took Met fans through the awful beginnings of the team at the Polo Grounds, the early days when the biggest draw at the brand-new Shea Stadium was the stadium itself; and on through the "miracle" World Championship season of 1969, the Pennant year of 1973, and the collapse of 1977, caused by team president M. Donald Grant's salary dumps, by which point attendance dropped so much, Shea began to be called "Grant's Tomb."

In 1980, Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon bought the team, and brought in Frank Cashen as GM, and the Mets began to climb out of the hole. With Nelson retiring, and Murphy now mainly doing radio, there was a new team of Kiner, former major league catcher Tim McCarver, and Steve Zabriskie. Upon his retirement as a player, Rusty Staub joined them on Channel 9, which became WWOR in 1987.

This was the Mets' greatest period, where they finished 1st or 2nd in the NL Eastern Division every year from 1984 to 1990, including the 1986 World Championship, which remains the franchise's last. In fact, a one-day's delay due to rain meant that they won it on October 27, which was Ralph's 64th birthday.

Starting in 1963, Channel 9 began airing Kiner's Korner, hosted by Ralph, usually as a postgame show or between games of doubleheaders. The show ran until 1995, and old episodes can now be seen on SNY -- something you can't see on the Yankees' YES Network, since they had no equivalent show on WPIX-Channel 11; or, if they did, none of the broadcasts have survived.

Bob Murphy, Lindsey Nelson in one of his hideous sportsjackets,

and Ralph in the Kiner's Korner studio at Shea Stadium

Ralph was an expert interviewer, and occasionally a great caller of games. He was credited with a line that actually originated with Dan Hafner of the Los Angeles Times in 1978: Saluting the Gold Glove center fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, by saying, "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The other third is covered by Garry Maddox."

It's lucky he didn't goof, and call him "Elliott Maddox." It would have been an easy mistake to make, since Elliott played center field for the Mets, and Ralph saw him a lot more.

It would have been especially easy for Ralph to make that mistake. Like Herb Score of the Indians, Jerry Coleman of the Yankees and Padres, and a few others, he dropped some beauts in his time on the air. A few times, he began a broadcast with, "Hello again, everybody, and welcome to New York Mets baseball. I'm Ralph Korner."

Another time, he opened a broadcast with, "Hello, again, everybody. Welcome to New York Mets baseball. I'm Ralph Kiner, along with Tim MacArthur." After the game, which the Mets lost, Tim McCarver said, "You know, Ralph, Douglas MacArthur said, 'Chance favors the prepared mind,' and the Mets obviously weren't prepared tonight." Ralph said, "He also said, 'I shall return,' and so shall we, right after these messages."

You know the old legal disclaimer given during baseball telecasts? "This copyrighted telecast is presented by the authority of Major League Baseball, and is intended solely for the private, noncommercial use of our audience. Any rebroadcast or retransmission of the pictures, descriptions and accounts of this game, without the expressed written consent of the New York Mets and Major League Baseball, is similarly prohibited." Ralph had trouble with the word "similarly," until he changed it to "likewise prohibited." (I always heard Yankee announcers Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer and Bill White say it as "strictly prohibited.")

Among the inept early Mets was 1st baseman Marv Throneberry. Among the Mets who didn't make it to the 1986 title was former Cincinnati Reds slugger George Foster. Once, Ralph called Darryl Strawberry "Darryl Throneberry"; another time, "George Strawberry." On another occasion, Ralph got Darryl's name right, but one of his achievements wrong: "Darryl Strawberry has been voted to the Hall of Fame five years in a row." (He meant the All-Star Team. Darryl has not been elected to the Hall of Fame, and probably never will be.)

He once had Hubie Brooks as a guest on Kiner's Korner, but kept calling him "Mookie," as in Wilson. And he also called Hubie "Foster Brooks." (It wasn't just confusion with George Foster: Foster Brooks was a comedian who, in spite of being a teetotaler in real life, was known for his drunk act.) Calling Sid Fernandez "Sid Hernandez" was easy enough, since Keith Hernandez was also on the Mets at the time. He also once called Gary Carter "Gary Cooper." (Well, Cooper did play a Hall-of-Famer, Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees.)

When Vince Coleman was on the Mets, Ralph called him "Gary Coleman" a few times. I'm surprised he didn't call him "Ronald Colman," after an actor who was a contemporary of Gary Cooper's. But he never called him "Choo Choo Coleman," after an early Met catcher.

In a mistake that happened to Ralph, rather than because of him, he asked Choo-Choo, whose real name was Clarence, "Tell us about your wife: What's her name, and what's she like?" Choo-Choo said, "Her name is Mrs. Coleman, and she likes me." Choo-Choo and attended the Mets' 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2012, at which point, he denied that he said the famous line. The broadcast is lost, so we can't prove it either way, but it was cited in early accounts of the team. (He died in 2016.)

Ralph doubled down on one, in a game against the Pirates: Dale Berra, Yogi's son, was coming around to score. Rather than make the mistake of calling him "Yogi," he instead confused him with Pirate catcher Ed Ott (I don't see how, they looked nothing alike), and called him Mel Ott. (No relation to Ed.)

Some more choice Kinerisms:

"Tickets to all Mets home games are available in advance from Tricketron." (Admittedly hard to say, Ticketron was bought out by Ticketmaster in 1991.)

"The reason the Mets have played so well at Shea this year is, they have the best home record in baseball."

(On the other side of the coin) "All of the Mets' road wins against the Dodgers this year occurred at Dodger Stadium." (I once heard Bobby Murcer say on a Yankee broadcast, "The Detroit Tigers are very tough at home, especially when they play at Tiger Stadium.")

(On a slump by Dodger pitcher Don Sutton) "Sutton lost 13 games in a row without winning a ballgame."

"The Pirates will be a very competitive team this season because they made some great off-season accusations." (He meant "acquisitions.") 

"The Mets have gotten their leadoff batter on only once this inning." (He meant "this game.")

(Seeing Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter get hurt) He's going to be out of action for the rest of his career. (He meant "the rest of the season.")

"Solo homers usually come with no one on base." (Can't argue with that one!)

"All of Rick Aguilera's saves have come in relief appearances." (Ditto.)

"Kevin McReynolds stops at 3rd, and he scores." (This is similar to "He slides into 2nd with a standup double." Both Score and Coleman are said to have used that one, but Ralph apparently never did.)

(Discussing a new Hall-of-Famer, who allegedly called himself "the straw that stirs the drink")
"Reggie Jackson called himself the spoon that stirred the cup."

(Seeing Jesse Jackson, a friend of Reggie's but not a relative of his, in the stands) "We'd like to give the Reverend Reggie Jackson a warm Shea Stadium welcome."

(Seeing the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, visible in the distance from Shea) "It reminds me of the Golden State Bridge." (Okay, the Golden Gate Bridge is in the Golden State, but it's painted flame-red, not battleship-gray like the Whitestone.)

"Tony Gwynn was named Player of the Year for April." (He meant Player of the Month.)

"The Mets just had their first .500-or-better April since July of 1992." (I think he meant their first .500-or-better month.)

"The Mets are winless in the month of Atlanta."

(Seeing Jason Isringhausen start against Todd Stottlemyre) "This will go down in history as the game where the pitchers have the most initials." (He meant "letters.")

Ralph once blamed his malaprops on having to listen to original Met manager Casey Stengel (1962-65), and also Yogi Berra during his time as Met coach (1965-71) and manager (1972-75). Casey and Yogi, of course, were also known for their mangled syntax, although Yogi is on record as having said some doozies before he ever met Casey. And, indeed, Ralph once said, on the air, "If Casey Stengel were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave." (He may have gotten that one from President Gerald Ford, who allegedly said it about Abraham Lincoln.)

Ralph's usual home run call was, "It is going, it is going, it is gone, goodbye!" But, like Mel Allen with, "It is going, it is going, it is gone!" and John Sterling with, "It is high, it is far, it is gone!" he would occasionally futz it up: "This one deep to right, and it is way back, going, going, it is gone, no, off of the top of the wall."

The line most often cited as the biggest Kinerism is, "On this Father's Day, we again wish you all Happy Birthday." Along the same lines, he once said of a father-and-son pair of players, "There's a lot of heredity in that family."

But the all-timer came in the late 1970s, when both the Yankees and the Mets had Manufacturers Hanover -- a.k.a. Manny Hanny, later bought out by Chemical Bank and then Chase -- as a broadcast sponsor. Anyway, Ralph ended an inning by saying, "We'll be right back, after this message from Manufacturers Hangover."

(One of Manny Hanny's previous incarnations was the Brooklyn Trust Company, which, due to the Dodgers' financial difficulties in the 1930s, owned a 1/4th share of the team's stock. In 1942, they needed to appoint a new trustee to oversee that share. They chose a 38-year-old lawyer for the company: Walter Francis O'Malley. In 1944, O'Malley bought that quarter-share from his employers, and the rest is history. The other man they considered, among the lawyers working for them, was a 35-year-old former Georgetown basketball player named William Alfred Shea. Yes, the same Bill Shea that Mayor Robert Wagner would turn to in order to help bring National League baseball back to New York, for whom the Mets' stadium was named, and who became a good friend of Kiner's. As Mel Allen would say, "How about that?")

*

Ralph attended every induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame from his own in 1975 until 2013. Of course, he even managed to goof on that on the air: "The Hall of Fame ceremonies are on the 31st and 32nd of July."

In 1986, my grandmother and I attended the induction ceremony for the first time. Ralph was seated next to Ted Williams, and all through the ceremony (at which the inductees were Willie McCovey, Bobby Doerr and Ernie Lombardi), Ted kept talking to Ralph. At one point, Ralph turned to talk to whoever was sitting on his other side... and Ted reached over and, literally, bent his ear, to turn his attention back to him. For the rest of her life, Grandma wondered what Ted was saying to Ralph.

(I attended 2 more induction ceremonies, but will never go to another. Unless a player you absolutely loved is going in, don't go. By all means, go to Cooperstown, visit the Hall and the area's other attractions. But Induction Weekend is the absolute worst time to go: A town of 1,794 (as of the 2020 Cenus) simply can't handle 100 times that many people visiting.) 

In 1995, Ralph suffered a stroke, and developed Bell's palsy. This affected the muscles in his face, leading to a small but noticeable change in his voice. Other than that, though, he continued to broadcast.

But like a lot of aging broadcasters, he began to cut back, doing only home games, and, in the last few years, going into the booth only on Friday nights or on special occasions. When Citi Field opened in 2009, the TV booth was named in his honor, and the radio booth was named in Murphy's memory.

  

Ralph Kiner died on February 6, 2014, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 91 years old. It was a remarkable life, and a career that spanned so much of baseball history. Although he had left New Mexico at age 4, he was buried there, at Greenlawn Cemetery in Farmington. 

When he played his first professional game in 1941, men like Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Mel Ott, who had begun in the 1920s, were still playing. When he broadcast his last game in 2013, he was watching players who could still be playing into the mid-2030s. That's a span of over 100 years.

Baseball Forever was the title of his memoir. "Baseball Forever," indeed.

Right In the Yankees' Wheelhouse

To paraphrase the question from the old game show To Tell the Truth, the question every Yankee Fan was asking going into last night's game was, "Will the  real New York Yankees please stand up?"

Well, last night, there were 2 massacres in Cleveland, and they were both self-inflicted as much as anything else. Donald Trump acted like an ass in the Presidential debate, and Joe Biden made him pay for it. And the Cleveland Indians kept putting pitches right in the Yankees' wheelhouse, and they showed up, and hit them.

Gerrit Cole had said that what he liked about starting Game 1 of a best-2-out-of-3 series was "the stakes." He pitched like he knew how high the stakes were: He went 7 innings, allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, and -- I love saying this about a Yankee pitcher -- no walks. He struck out 13 batters.

He pitched like he didn't think he could expect much run support. He got it anyway. Home runs were hit by Aaron Judge in the 1st inning, Gleyber Torres in the 5th, Brett Gardner in the 7th and Giancarlo Stanton in the 9th.

Much was made online before the game about Aaron Boone's decision to start Gardner in left field over the hot-hitting Clint Frazier. Boone must have remembered that Frazier is still a "Doctor Strangeglove" in the field. But Gardner did the business with the bat, too. As has been said before, under different circumstances, "Let Gardy bang." 

Much was made online after the game about Stanton hitting a garbage-time home run, as he has done so often, not unlike a man to whom he has often been compared, Alex Rodriguez. Still, it was good to see.

The Yankees led 11-2 after 7 innings. Boone considered the lead safe enough to bring in Luis Cessa, and save his relievers for Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3. Cessa did allow a run, but, with Stanton's homer, the final score was Yankees 12, Indians 3.

In other American League Playoff action yesterday:

* The Houston Astros scored 3 runs in the 9th to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1. This was the Twins' 17th straight postseason game lost, far and away a record.

In the postseason, the Twins are so bad! (How bad are they?) They're so bad, the Astros didn't need to cheat to beat them.

I think.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-1. Lucas Giolito took a perfect game into the 7t inning, before allowing 2 hits.

* And the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1.The Rays were the only home team to win.

Tomorrow, the National League Playoffs get underway, and every series will be played on the day: Cincinnati at Atlanta at 12 noon, Houston at Minnesota at 1 (12 Central), Miami at the Chicago Cubs at 2 (1 Central), the Chicago White Sox at Oakland at 3 (12 Pacific), Toronto at Tampa Bay at 4, St. Louis at San Diego at 5 (2 Pacific), Yankees at Cleveland at 7, and Milwaukee at Los Angeles at 10 (7 Pacific).

Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to start for the Yankees, and Carlos Carrasco for the Indians. Come on you Bombers: Close this one out!

*

September 30, AD 420: Jerome of Stridon dies near Bethlehem, said to be the birthplace of Jesus. He is believed to have been 73 years old. A native of the Roman province of Dalmatia, now in Croatia, he was known for his teachings on Christian moral life, especially to women. He was canonized as St. Jerome, and September 30 is now recognized as his feast day.

September 30, 1399: Having deposed King Richard II, his 1st cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby and Northampton, Duke of Hereford and Duke of Lancaster, is proclaimed Henry IV, King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland.

Whether Richard II should have been deposed -- and killed a year later -- is a separate debate. But the rise of Henry IV set in motion what would become England's Wars of the Roses, between 2 branches of the House of Plantagenet: Henry's House of Lancaster, whose symbol was a red rose; and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose.

These 2 families, each representing one of the North of England's historic counties, would fight on and off between 1455 and 1485, until King Richard III was killed in battle, ending the Yorkists' reign, and Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and a direct descendant of King Edward III (grandfather of Richard II and Henry IV), was proclaimed King Henry VII, and reunited the houses by marrying Princess Elizabeth of York, daughter of Richard's brother, King Edward IV.

What does this have to do with sports? Well, Lancaster and York still harbor deep resentments toward each other, over 600 years since the start of the conflict and over 500 years since the Wars of the Roses. In sports, this is most evidence in soccer rivalries. Manchester United, now in the separate "metropolitan county" of Greater Manchester but formerly in Lancaster (as was Liverpool, now in the metropolitan county of Merseyside), developed a rather nasty rivalry with the biggest team in Yorkshire, Leeds United.

Even the roses live on in soccer: Leeds United have a white rose in their crest, while Blackburn Rovers, one of the larger teams within the remaining County of Lancashire, have a red rose in theirs.

And many places in America have been named Lancaster and York, including in Eastern Pennsylvania, separated by 30 miles (less than Manchester and Leeds) and the Susquehanna River. Speaking of which...

September 30, 1833: Matthew Stanley Quay is born in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, outside York. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1863. The rest of his life was considerably less heroic.

He became a part of Pennsylvania's corrupt Republican Party machine, and served as Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1873 to 1882, Treasurer from 1886 to 1887, U.S. Senator from 1887 to 1899, and as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1888 to 1891, while serving in the Senate. (Then, as now, this was legal.)

This last post turned out to be key. In 1888, he became campaign manager to Republican Presidential nominee Benjamin Harrison. In the popular vote, the incumbent Democrat, President Grover Cleveland, came out slightly ahead. But the Electoral Vote went to Harrison, 233-168.

Harrison won his home State of Indiana by 2,348 votes, New Hampshire by 2,272, California by 7,087, and Quay's home State of Pennsylvania by 79,458 votes. Those close votes gained him 57 EVs, which could have swayed the election to Cleveland, 225-176. Pennsylvania alone would have made it 203-198, meaning 1 more State could have given Cleveland the win.

Harrison, a deeply religious man, said, "Providence has given us the victory." He wasn't talking about the capital of Rhode Island, another fairly closely-won State. Quay said, "He ought to know that Providence didn't have a damned thing to do with it!" In other words, as they had in 1876, and might have done in 1880, and would do again in 1968, 2000, 2004 and 2016, the Republicans stole it.

Having been accused of a separate scandal in 1899, Quay was not allowed to return to his Senate seat, and a special election was held. He won, and died in office in 1904, at age 70.

September 30, 1846: William Thomas Green Morton, a 27-year-old Boston dentist, used ether to render a patient unconscious, allowing him to painlessly extract a tooth. It was the 1st use of anesthetic in any form of surgery.

September 30, 1861: William Mills Wrigley Jr. is born in Philadelphia. His father sold soap, but he didn't want to sell soap. In 1891, at 29, with $32 (about $941 in today's money), he moved to Chicago, and sold... soap. He managed to get his hands on some baking powder, and found it sold better than soap. In 1893, he began giving his customers 2 packages of chewing gum for each can of powder, and found that this was more popular still. Thus was born the Wrigley chewing gum empire.

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

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

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

September 30, 1866: Thomas Benedict Cotter is born outside Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts. A pitcher, Tom Cotter was a late-season callup for the Boston Reds in 1891, helping them to win the last American Association Pennant. He never apeared in the major leagues otherwise, and died in 1906, only 40 year old.

September 30, 1878: The baseball season ends, and the National League has its 1st Triple Crown winner. Paul Hines, a center fielder for the Providence Grays, led the NL in batting average with .358, home runs with 4, and RBIs with 50.

He would be the next season's batting champion as well, and help the Grays win the 1879 Pennant. He retired with a .302 average, and died in 1935, at the age of 80.

September 30, 1882: Charles Evard Street is born in Huntsville, Alabama. Nicknamed for his talkativeness, Gabby Street wasn't much of a player, batting .208 as a backup catcher from 1904 to 1912, the last of these seasons with the New York Highlanders, soon to become the Yankees.

The highlight of his career came on August 21, 1908, during his brief tenure as the starting catcher for the Washington Senators. He bet that he could catch a ball dropped from the Washington Monument, which is 555 feet high. Journalist Preston Gibson took some balls to the top. After being unable to catch the 1st 12, Gabby caught the 13th, earning himself a place in baseball lore, if not quite in baseball immortality.

Like a lot of smart guys who were mediocre athletes, he went into coaching, and excelled there. He managed in the minor leagues, was brought up to the St. Louis Cardinals' coaching staff in 1929, and served as acting manager for 1 game, an 8-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on July 23. After the season, Bill McKechnie left to manage the Boston Braves, and Gabby was made permanent manager, and won Pennants the next 2 years, losing the World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1930 and beating them in 1931.

"The Old Sarge" was fired in the middle of the 1933 season, and returned to the minor leagues before being called back to St. Louis, managing the Browns in 1938. He then became a broadcaster for both St. Louis teams, mentoring Harry Caray on Cardinals broadcasts, before dying in 1951. He was named to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

September 30, 1884: George Napoleon Rucker is born outside Atlanta in Crabapple, Georgia. From 1907 to 1916, "Nap" Rucker pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers -- or, as they were known at the time, the Superbas from 1899 to 1910, the Dodgers from 1911 to 1913, the Robins from 1914 to 1931, and the Dodgers from 1932 onward.

He went 134-134, but with a 2.42 career ERA, pitching for mostly awful Brooklyn teams. He pitched a no-hitter in 1908, and finally helped them win a Pennant in 1916. In spite of all their great pitchers after him, including strikeouts artists Dazzy Vance, Sandy Koufax and Fernando Valenzuela, he still holds the Dodger franchise record for strikeouts in a game, with 16.

He later made a fortune in business, and served as Mayor and Water Commissioner for Roswell, Georgia. He was elected to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, and lived until 1970. His nephew Johnny Rucker pitched in the majors, but for the Dodgers' arch-rivals, the New York Giants.

September 30, 1899: Admiral George Dewey, the naval hero of the previous year's Spanish-American War for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines, becomes the recipient of one of New York City's earliest ticker-tape parades.

*

September 30, 1904: John Thomas Allen is born in Lenoir, North Carolina. A pitcher, Johnny Allen helped the Yankees win the World Series as a rookie in 1932. He was an All-Star with the Cleveland Indians in 1938, won another Pennant with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941, and closed his career with the New York Giants in 1944. He pitched for the Giants in the "Tricornered Game" against the Yankees and the Dodgers to raise war bonds.

How good was he? Ask a couple of Hall-of-Famers: Al Simmons said Johnny Allen was the toughest pitcher he ever faced; and Hank Greenberg called him 1 of the top 5 he faced. He finished with a career record of 142-75. He died in 1959, and was posthumously elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

September 30, 1907: The Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers play for 17 innings at Columbia Park in Philadelphia, before the game is called due to darkness. A rainout the day before meant that a doubleheader was supposed to be played. They almost got 2 full games' worth of baseball in, but no result. That hurt the A's, and helped the Tigers win the Pennant.

The A's led 3-0 after the 1st inning, 7-1 after 6, 8-4 after 7, and 8-6 after 8. But Ty Cobb, still only 20 years old, hit a home run in the 9th to tie the game. Each team scored in the 11th, but that was it. Wild Bill Donovan went all 17 innings for the Tigers.

In an interview for John P. Carmichael's 1945 book My Greatest Day in Baseball, Cobb named this game as his: "The Athletics made 20 hits that day to our 15, and we had 17 runners left on base to their 13. They made 6 errors, so during the long afternoon, there was just about everything to be found in baseball." In his 1981 book Baseball's 10 Greatest Games, John Thorn included this game as his 1st, chronologically.

Also on this day, Edwin James (no middle name) is born in Winnipeg. A 2-way back, Eddie "Dynamite" James starred in Canadian football for the Regina Roughriders (now the Saskatchewan Roughriders), before returning to his hometown, before helping the Winnipeg Football Club (a.k.a. the 'Pegs, forerunners of the Blue Bombers) win the 1935 Grey Cup. He died in 1958.

The Eddie James Memorial Trophy is given to the leading rusher in the Canadian Football League's West Division. His son Gerry James also starred for the Blue Bombers. Both are in the Canadian Football and Manitoba Sports Halls of Fame.

September 30, 1908: Lewis Edward Hayman is born in Manhattan, and grows up in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey. Lew Hayman played football and basketball at Syracuse University, and kept going north, becoming head coach of the Toronto Argonauts, leading them to 4 Grey Cup wins: 1932, 1937, 1938 and 1942. He hired one of the CFL's earliest black players, Herb Trawick; and one of its earliest black assistant coaches, Green Bay Packer Hall-of-Famer Willie Wood.

In 1946, he became the general manager of one of the charter teams in the NBA, the Toronto Huskies, hosting the league's 1st game at Maple Leaf Gardens, losing to the Knicks. In 1949, he coached a 5th Grey Cup winner, the Montreal Alouettes. He later served as President of the CFL, and died in 1984, having lived long enough to see his election to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

September 30, 1914: Buford Garfield Ray is born in Una, Tennessee. With a name like that, he needed a nickname. Unfortunately, it was "Baby" Ray. A 2-way tackle, he starred at Vanderbilt University, and was a 4-time All-Pro, helping the Green Bay Packers win the 1939 and 1944 NFL Championships. He was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 1986.

September 30, 1917: Benjamin Hatskin (no middle name) is born in Winnipeg. One of the 1st Canadian students to win an athletic scholarship to an American university, he played football at the University of Oklahoma, and later for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, winning the Grey Cup in 1939 and 1941.

He also played junior hockey, and raised racehorses. He tried to get in on the NHL's expansions of 1967, 1970 and 1972, but was denied each time. So he followed the lead of Lamar Hunt, who founded the AFL when the NFL wouldn't let him buy in: He became one of the founders of the World Hockey Association, and signed the league's 1st star, Bobby Hull, naming his team the Winnipeg Jets after Hull's nickname, the Golden Jet.

The Jets reached the WHA Finals in their 1st season, and won the title in 1976, 1978 and 1979. The trophy for best goaltender, equivalent to the NHL's Vezina Trophy, was named the Ben Hatskin Trophy in his honor. But when the merger with the NHL came in 1979, he couldn't afford the entry fee, and sold the Jets, and lived until 1990. They hung on as long as they could with their small market, and moved to Arizona in 1996. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets.

He was elected to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, and when the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame was established in 2010, he was an inaugural inductee. But he is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He should be.

Also on this day, Bernard Rich (no middle name) is born in Brooklyn. Buddy Rich has been called the greatest drummer who ever lived, having backed the "Big Bands" of Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and Count Basie in the 1940s and '50s.

In 1981, he guest-starred on The Muppet Show, and Kermit the Frog called him "the world's greatest drummer." He had a drum battle with Animal, the drummer for the house band, Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem. Rich won. Animal knew it, but he didn't like it. Rich survived this, but died of cancer in 1987.

*

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

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

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

September 30, 1924: William Goldwyn Nunn Jr. is born outside Pittsburgh in Homewood, Pennsylvania. He played basketball at Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh, where 2 of his teammates were Chuck Cooper, the 1st black player drafted by an NBA team, and Earl Lloyd, the 1st black player to play in a game.

(Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton was the 1st black player signed by an NBA team. All debuted in the 1950-51 season, but Lloyd's Syracuse Nationals played before Cooper's Boston Celtics and Clifton's New York Knicks.)

Bill Nunn was good enough to be considered by the Harlem Globetrotters, but already had a job as a sportswriter with the local black newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier. He stayed with it until 1970, when the Rooney family reorganized the Pittsburgh Steelers, and hired him as a scout. He stayed in the organization until his death in 2014, and helped build 6 Super Bowl-winning teams.

He was named to the Steelers' Hall of Honor, and was the 1st sportswriter elected to the Black College Football Hall of Fame. His son Bill Nunn became an actor, playing Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing and Robbie Robertson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, before dying of leukemia in 2016.

September 30, 1926: Robin Evan Roberts is born in Springfield, Illinois. He was the Captain of the basketball team at Michigan State University in 1950, but it would be in baseball where he would make his mark. He was the biggest reason the Philadelphia Phillies' "Whiz Kids" won the 1950 National League Pennant.

He was a 7-time All-Star, and 7 times won 20 or more games, 6 seasons in a row. In 1952, he won 28 games, a feat not achieved by any major league pitcher since, with 1 exception: Denny McLain with 31 for the 1968 Detroit Tigers. His career record, despite pitching for some terrible Phillies teams, was 286-246.

He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the team halls of fame of the Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles. Phillies fans elected him their greatest all-time player in a 1969 poll, and named him to their Centennial Team in 1983.

The Phillies made his Number 36 the 1st they ever retired, made him their 1st inductee into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame (along with longtime Athletics owner and manager Connie Mack), and dedicated a statue of him outside Citizens Bank Park. A minor-league ballpark in Springfield is named Robin Roberts Stadium, and he is also in the Philadelphia Sports, Pennsylvania Sports and Michigan State University Athletics Halls of Fame.

He was also, sort of, the subject of this commercial, filmed at Veterans Stadium with the unrelated Leon "Bip" Roberts, and Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn.

He died in 2010, having lived to see their 1976-83 quasi-dynasty, the replacement of Connie Mack Stadium with Veterans Stadium, the replacement of The Vet with The Bank, the dedication of his statue, and their 2008 World Championship and 2009 Pennant.

He was not related to Robin René Roberts, the African-American ABC journalist who got her start doing sports on ESPN. She played basketball at Southeastern Louisiana University. Like Robin Evan (17), Robin René got her college basketball uniform number retired (21).

September 30, 1927: George Herman "Babe" Ruth hits a drive down the right field line at Yankee Stadium, off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators. It is his 60th home run of the season, breaking the record of 59 that he set in 1921. The Yankees win the game 4-2. Herb Pennock is the winning pitcher, in relief of George Pipgras.

If you've ever seen film footage purporting to be from this game, it's not: There were no cameras, not even the newsreels. If you've ever heard a radio broadcast of it, that's also fake, a recreation: The Yankees didn't broadcast their games until 1939.

When the Sultan of Swat gets back to the dugout, he says, "Sixty! Count 'em, sixty! Let's see some other son of a bitch match that!"

Not until 1961 -- would another player match it. Roger Maris, also a lefthanded-hitting right fielder for the Yankees, did, and surpassed it, 34 years and 1 day later. Much is made of the small crowd when Maris hit Number 61, but when Ruth hit Number 60, only 8,000 showed up on a Saturday afternoon. It should be noted though that, in each case, the Yankees had already wrapped up the American League Pennant.

This game is notable for another reason: It was the last major league playing appearance for Walter Johnson, the Senators pitcher who would, like Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson, be 1 of the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Oddly, he did not appear as a pitcher, although he could have, had the Senators tied it and sent it to the bottom of the 9th: The Big Train pinch-hit for Zachary. He did not reach base.

Babe Ruth, baseball's greatest player;

and Walter Johnson, perhaps baseball's greatest pitcher.

No, I don't know why the Great Bambino and the Big Train are holding roosters in that photo. But at they seemed to be friends. That was not the case between Ruth and Cobb, although they came around later. Cobb and Johnson were great admirers of one another.

I once saw a photo of Cobb, in street clothes, talking with Mathewson in the Giants' dugout in the 1911 World Series. Later, they served together in the same Army unit in World War I. Despite a professional rivalry, Cobb and Wagner were friends. I know nothing of the relationships, if any, between Ruth and Mathewson, Ruth and Wagner, or Wagner and Mathewson.

I do know that, when the 1st Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in 1939, Mathewson was already dead, and Cobb was delayed and didn't make it to the ceremony on time, but Ruth, Johnson and Wagner had no issue with posing together.

Also on this day, Benjamin Eugene Taylor is born in Metropolis, Illinois. A 1st baseman, Ben Taylor had "cups of coffee" with the 1951 St. Louis Browns, the 1952 Detroit Tigers, and the 1955 Milwaukee Braves. He died in 1999. 

He was not related to the Ben Taylor who played in the early Negro Leagues, and was later elected to the hall of Fame. But his nephew, Robert "Hawk" Taylor, also played for the Braves, and for the early Mets, and was an original 1969 Kansas City Royal. He died in 2012.

*

September 30, 1931: Angeline Brown (no middle name) is born in Kulm, North Dakota, and grows up in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, California. We know her as Angie Dickinson. Starting in 1956, she was one of the most glamorous actresses in the business, and, due to her work with Frank Sinatra and his pals in several films, she is often called the last surviving member of The Rat Pack.

In 1974, she began starring as Sergeant Leeann "Pepper" Anderson on Police Woman, making her the 1st woman to star in a cop show. She hasn't acted since 2009. For a time, she was married to songwriter Burt Bacharach.

It's been suggested that, if she ever wrote her memoirs, they would be the biggest-selling in history, because she is believed to have had affairs with both Sinatra and President John F. Kennedy. She has denied the fling with JFK.

September 30, 1932: John Joseph Podres is born in Witherbee, Essex County, New York. A 4-time All-Star, he shut the Yankees out in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, giving the Brooklyn Dodgers their only World Championship before their move to Los Angeles. He was given the Babe Ruth Award as World Series Most Valuable Player, and Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year.

He led the NL in ERA in 1957, and also helped the Dodgers win the 1959, 1963 and 1965 World Series, and the 1966 National League Pennant. He was an original San Diego Padre in 1969, and closed his career that season, with a 148-116 regular-season record.

He married figure skater Joni Taylor, and was a longtime major league pitching coach, including with the 1993 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. He died in 2008, age 75.

September 30, 1933: Gertrude Dunn (the only name I have for her) is born outside Philadelphia in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. In 1952, she played for the South Bend Blue Sox, and was named Rookie of the Year in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

The league was founded in 1943 to make up for the manpower shortage in World War II, and continued for a while. But, as with the Negro Leagues and the minor leagues, TV providing major league games for free ruined it, and it folded after the 1954 season.

But baseball might not have been her best sport, or even her 2nd-best. She played on the U.S. women's field hockey team, and also played lacrosse, and was elected to the national halls of fame in each sport. She died in 2004, a day before her 71st birthday -- not as a result of the ailments of advancing age, but in a plane crash outside Philadelphia.

September 30, 1934: The regular season ends, with the Yankees losing 5-3 to the Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, despite a home run from Lou Gehrig. Babe Ruth goes 0-for-3, and it turns out to be his last appearance for the Yankees.

The Yankees finish 2nd in the AL, 7 games behind the Detroit Tigers. This is in spite of having players winning both the batting and the pitching Triple Crown. Gehrig batted .363, with 49 home runs and 165 runs batted in. Lefty Gomez won 26 games (against just 5 losses, and no Yankee has matched those 26 wins since), had a 2.33 earned-run average, and struck out 158 batters. All of those figures led the League.

So why didn't the Yankees win the Pennant? Yes, the Tigers had a great team, but that didn't usually stop the Yankees between 1921 and 1964. Part of the problem was injuries. Center fielder Earle Combs hit his head on an unpadded outfield wall, played only 63 games, and was never the same. In addition, 3rd baseman Red Rolfe played only 89 games.

And while Gomez and Red Ruffing were, as usual, the best lefty-righty combo in AL pitching, there wasn't really a good 3rd starter, let alone a 4th. Between them, center fielder Myril Hoag, 3rd baseman Jack Saltzgaver, and starting pitchers Johnny Broaca, Johnny Allen and Johnny Murphy (usually the team's top reliever) were not, well, Johnny-on-the-spot.

Gehrig was the 1st Yankee to win the Triple Crown. Only one has done it since, as you'll see a little later.

Also on this day, Alan A'Court is born in Rainhill, Merseyside, England. A winger, he starred for hometown team Liverpool Football Club, but mostly during the 1950s, a down period for them. When they finally won the Football League in 1964, he had missed the entire season due to injury. He made just 1 appearance the next season, when they won the FA Cup, so he didn't get a winner's medal for that, either.

He played for England at the 1958 World Cup, and later managed Norwich City, Stoke City and Nantwich Town. He died in 2009.

September 30, 1935: John Royce Mathis is born outside Dallas in Gilmer, Texas, and grows up in San Francisco. Johnny Mathis is one of the last surviving big singers of the 1950s, and also one of the last surviving singers of notable Christmas recordings.

September 30, 1936: Game 1 of the World Series. George Selkirk hits a home run, but that's the only run Carl Hubbell, in the middle of his 24-game regular-season winning streak, allows, as the New York Giants beat the Yankees 6-1 at the Polo Grounds. Dick Bartell homers for the Jints.

Also on this day: Wayne Harrison Walker is born in Boise, Idaho. A linebacker, his Number 55 was retired by the University of Idaho, and he made 3 Pro Bowls for the Detroit Lions. He later moved to San Francisco, and broadcast for the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Athletics. He died on May 19, 2017.

He was named to the Lions' 75th Anniversary Team, the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. As yet, however, he has not been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Triborough Stadium was renamed J.J. Downing Stadium in 1955, and hosted Negro League games, the New York Cosmos in 1974 and '75, and the New York Stars of the 1974 World Football League. The 22,000-seat horseshoe was demolished in 2002, and the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium, used mostly for track and field, opened on the site 2 years later.

September 30, 1939: For the 1st time, a football game is broadcast on television. W2XBS, the RCA-owned station that will become WNBC-Channel 4, sets their cameras up at Triborough Stadium on Randall's Island in New York, and shows Fordham University, of The Bronx, beat Waynesburg University of Southwestern Pennsylvania, 34-7.

Having previously used the Polo Grounds and the original Yankee Stadium, Fordham suspended their football program after the 1954. They revived it in 1970, and moved up to Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS) in 1989. Since the revival, they have played their home games at their former baseball field, Jack Coffey Field, which was retrofitted into a 7,000-seat football stadium on their main campus in The Bronx.

Football and television is an epic love story, but it was far from love at first sight. It would really take another 19 years, and the 1958 NFL Championship Game -- Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17, in overtime at Yankee Stadium -- for it to become more than a flirtation. If there is an event that can be called "the wedding," it's probably Super Bowl III, 10 years after that, on January 12, 1969.

But the couple is inseparable, partly because of the shared TV revenue which allows Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a metropolitan area of 300,000 people, to compete on the same level as New York City, with a metro area of nearly 24 million people. It's also why the Big Ten Conference wanted to add Rutgers and the University of Maryland: Between the markets of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, they added about 40 million.

The NFL's TV revenue is so big (How big is it?), it's been said that the NFL can shut the doors of all 16 stadiums hosting games in a given weekend, with a total official attendance of zero, and still make a profit.

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September 30, 1940, 80 years ago: Henry Winston Jerome is born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. A sprinter, specializing in the 100-meter dash, he was one of many track legends at the University of Oregon. He won a Bronze Medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and Gold Medals at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Ontario and the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

He became a teacher in Vancouver, and helped Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau start Canada's Ministry of Sport. He died of a brain aneurysm in 1982. He was named to the Order of Canada, Canada's Walk of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchwan Sports Hall of Fame, and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. A statue of him stands in Stanley Park in Vancouver.

September 30, 1942: Game 1 of the World Series. Red Ruffing of the Yankees takes a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, before Terry Moore breaks it up with 2 out. In the bottom of the 9th, the Cardinals score 4 runs, and then manage to load the bases, bringing Stan Musial -- then a rookie, a few years away from getting his nickname "Stan the Man," but already one of the game's top hitters -- to the plate as the winning run.

Yankee manager Joe McCarthy brings Spurgeon "Spud" Chandler in to relieve. He gets Musial to ground out. Final score: Yankees 7, Cardinals 4.

As historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, 3 months away from being born, would later say, "There's always these omens in baseball." Going into that bottom of the 9th, the Yankees led 7-0. Over the rest of the Series, including that bottom of the 9th, the Cardinals outscored the Yankees 21-11.

September 30, 1943: Marilyn McCoo (no middle name) is born in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, and grows up in Los Angeles. The lead singer of vocal group The 5th Dimension, she has long been married to fellow group member Billy Davis Jr., and they still perform together. 

Also on this day, Austin Robbins (no middle name) is born outside Orlando in Leesburg, Florida. A forward, "Red" Robbins (nicknamed for his hair, not for his last name, sounding like "Red Robin") never played in the NBA, but reached the ABA Finals 3 times: Losing with the 1968 New Orleans Buccaneers, winning with the 1971 Utah Stars, and winning with the 1975 Kentucky Colonels. He died in 2009.

September 30, 1944: James Connolly Johnstone in born in Viewpark (now Uddingston), a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. (James Connolly is a common name for Irishmen, for a martyr of the Easter Rising of 1916.) An outside right (a right winger in today's formations), Jimmy Johnstone, a.k.a. Jinky Johnstone, played for hometown soccer team Celtic from 1961 to 1975, winning 9 League titles and 4 Scottish Cups, and was voted the club's greatest player ever by its fans.

In 1967, he was the big star of their team that became the 1st British side to win the European Cup (the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League), defeating Internazionale Milano at Lisbon, Portugal, earning the team the nickname the Lisbon Lions. Later that year, he played for the Scotland national team that beat World Cup holders England, leading Scottish fans to proclaim their team "World Champions." (Boxing works that way, but soccer does not.)

In 1975, he played for the original San Jose Earthquakes, in the original North American Soccer League. He died in 2006.

September 30, 1945, 75 years ago: Hank Greenberg, recently discharged from the U.S. Army, hits a grand slam off Nelson Potter in the top of the 9th inning, and gives the Detroit Tigers a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park, clinching the American League Pennant, which the Browns had won the previous season, for the only time in their history.

Also on this day, John Sissons (no middle name) is born in Hayes, Middlesex -- now a part of West London. A forward, he was a member of the West Ham United team that won the 1964 FA Cup (becoming the youngest player to score in an FA Cup Final at the old Wembley Stadium) and the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup. He briefly played in America, helping the Tampa Bay Rowdies win the 1975 North American Soccer League title. He is still alive.

Also on this day, Ehud Olmert is born in Binyamina, a suburb of Haifa, in present-day Israel. He served as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003, and Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, when his government collapsed due to allegations of corruption. Ironically, his replacement was Benjamin Netanyahu, who had previously held the office and lost it due to corruption.

But Netanyahu did not go to prison. Maybe he should, for the way he has led Israel the 2nd time around has been even worse than the 1st, but he hasn't. Olmert did, and served 16 months. He is still alive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 1948: Rosendo Torres Hernández is born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and grows up in The Bronx. We know him as Rusty Torres. An outfielder, he debuted with the Yankees in 1971, and closed his career with the Kansas City Royals in 1980, but was released and did not appear on their postseason roster. His lifetime batting average was just .212.

He played in the 3 most recent forfeited games in the American League. On September 30, 1971 -- his 23rd birthday -- he was with the Yankees during the last Washington Senators home game. More on that later. On June 4, 1974, he was with the Cleveland Indians on Ten-Cent Beer Night, and was on 2nd base, standing to be the winning run, against the Texas Rangers -- the team the Senators became. But the fans rushed the field, and the game was forfeited to the Rangers.

And on July 12, 1979, he was with the Chicago White Sox when Disco Demolition Night was held between games of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park. He had scored the only run in the Pale Hose's 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the opener. When fans rushed and tore up the field following the blowing-up of the records in center field, the umpires realized the field was unplayable, and forfeited the game to the Tigers.

He later founded a charity that brings at-risk teenagers into sports, but was arrested in 2012, on what once would have quaintly been called "morals charges." In 2014, he was convicted on 5 counts, and served 3 years in prison.

Also on this day, Edith Roosevelt dies at Sagamore Hill, the Roosevelt family home, overlooking Oyster Bay on New York's Long Island. She was 87. The wife of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, she was the 1st First Lady to have an official staff, and was one of the most popular First Ladies of all time, just as TR was one of the most popular Presidents. She outlived him by nearly 30 years. They had 5 children together, and also raised TR's daughter Alice from his tragic 1st marriage.

Although she put up with her husband's and children's "Strenuous Life" shenanigans, as far as I can tell, she was uninterested in athletic endeavors of any kind. While some subsequent First Ladies have accompanied their husbands to sporting events, she was not one of them.

September 30, 1949: Isaiah Blessitt (no middle name) is born in Detroit. An outfielder, Ike Blessitt played just 4 games in the major leagues, all for his hometown Tigers, as a September callup in 1972. Although the Tigers won the American League Eastern Division, he was not put on the Playoff roster. He is still alive.

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September 30, 1950, 70 years ago: As they had 28 years to the day earlier, the Yankees clinch the Pennant at Fenway Park, beating the Red Sox 6-5. Yogi Berra hits a home run, and Tommy Byrne outpitches Mel Parnell. 

Also on this day, two new college football stadiums open. Byrd Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, outside Washington, D.C. Maryland defeats the nearby U.S. Naval Academy 35-21.

It still stands, and the Terrapins still use it, but it is now named Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. The playing surface's naming rights were sold, but the name of the stadium itself was changed upon objections to Harry "Curley" Byrd, who served the University as football coach, athletic director and eventually president, having been a segregationist.

It was also the home field for the USFL's Baltimore Stars in 1985. Having moved from Philadelphia, they wanted to fill the gap left by the Colts' move to Indianapolis, but, for legal reasons, they couldn't use Memorial Stadium that year, so they used Byrd Stadium, which is considerably closer to D.C. (The USFL's Washington Federals had moved to become the Orlando Renegades, so they weren't a block to it.) The Stars won the USFL title, and a deal was reached to allow them to play at Memorial Stadium from 1986 onward. But there would never be another USFL game.

I visited Byrd Stadium on September 26, 2009, and saw Rutgers beat Maryland 34-13. It rained all game long, and the steep grade of the stands and the rain made it treacherous. It may not be a bad stadium when it's dry, but if UMd wants to replace it, I won't mind a bit.

On this same day, Baylor Stadium opens in Waco, Texas, home to Baylor University. Baylor defeats the University of Houston 34-7. In 1988, it was renamed Floyd Casey Stadium, after Casey's son Carl donated the money needed to renovate it. Baylor moved into the new McLane Stadium in 2013, and the old stadium was demolished in 2017.

On the same day, Lynn St. John dies in Columbus at age 73. He was Ohio State University's basketball coach from 1911 to 1919, its baseball coach from 1913 to 1928, and its athletic director from 1912 to 1947. Ohio State's arena was named for him in 1956, and he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1962.

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

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

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

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

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

Also on this day, Catharine Northcutt Ball is born in Jacksonville. A former world record holder in 3 swimming events, Catie Ball won a Gold Medal as part of a U.S. relay team at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

The University of Florida didn't have a women's swimming team. So she not only attended classes there, but was named its head coach. In their 1st season, 1972-73, they went undefeated in dual meets.
She became an interior decorator, and has been elected to the International Swimming and Florida Sports Halls of Fame. She is still alive.

September 30, 1953: Game 1 of the World Series. Gil Hodges, George "Shotgun" Shuba and Jim "Junior" Gilliam hit home runs for the Dodgers. It's not enough, as Yogi Berra and Joe Collins do the same for the Yankees, who win 9-5.

September 30, 1955, 65 years ago: Game 3 of the World Series. The Dodgers get back into the Series, thanks to the pitching of Johnny Podres and a home run by Roy Campanella. They beat the Yankees 8-3, and close to within 2 games to 1.

Also on this day, James Dean is killed in a car crash on California State Route 466 (since rebannered as Route 46) at the intersection of State Route 41, in San Luis Obispo County, California. (The nearest town was Cholam.) The star of a recent film version of John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden was one of the rising stars of Hollywood, and was just 24 years old.

He had just finished filming Edna Ferber's novel Giant, and Rebel Without a Cause was about to be released. That film, following East of Eden, it cemented his legend as an "angry young man." As humorist Clive James later put it, "James Dean was so moody, he made Marlon Brando look like Danny Kaye."

He was driving a Porsche 550 Spyder convertible, on which he had painted the words "Little Bastard," and was heading to the Salinas Road Races that were starting the next day. The "chickie run" in his film Rebel Without a Cause was art imitating life: He loved fast cars, and had competed in but sanctioned races himself in Palm Springs, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara, California.

Ironically, just a few days earlier while still in his Western costume on the set of Giant, he had filmed one of television's first public service ads. Interviewed by Gig Young, who would also die under mysterious circumstances, he said that when he drove, "I'm always extra cautious." The ad ended with Young asking Dean if he had any advice for young people. He said, "Take it easy, you know? The life you save might be mine!" (Instead of the more familiar "might be your own.")

At the time of his death, he had been signed to play Middleweight Champion Rocky Graziano in the film version of his memoir Somebody Up There Likes Me. That film made a star out of Paul Newman. Newman also loved to race cars (his last role was as the voice of Doc Hudson in the Cars animated films), and, unlike Dean, actually won some races. But he never crashed, and, although 6 years older than Dean, lived until 2008. 

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 1957: Anthony Wayne Green is born in Cape May City, New Jersey, and grows up in nearby Woodbine, Cape May County. Bubba Green starred in football and track at North Carolina State University, and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts as a defensive tackle in 1981.

He played the 1st 15 games of his rookie season, starting 10, but injured his knee, and never played again. He remained in the Baltimore area, and lived there until his death in 2019, of cancer, at age 61.

Also on this day, Francine Joy Drescher is born in Flushing, Queens, New York City, and grows up a couple of neighborhoods away in Kew Gardens. In 1975, 2 future CBS sitcom stars graduated from Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens: Fran Drescher of The Nanny and Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond. In real life, her N'Yawk accent is slightly less abrasive than it was on The Nanny.

September 30, 1958: The Rifleman premieres on ABC. Chuck Connors, a former MLB and NBA player, plays Lieutenant Lucas McCain, a Civil War veteran who recently lost his wife, and takes his 12-year-old son Mark, played by former Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer Johnny Crawford, to a ranch outside the fictional North Fork, in what was then the New Mexico Territory. The show runs for 5 seasons.

McCain's signature weapon was a customized rapid-fire rifle, which Connors used to fire 13 shots in the show's famous opening. Although the show was set in the 1870s and 1880s, the actual rifle didn't go that far back: It was an 1892 Winchester that fired .44-caliber bullets.

In 1965, Connors began starring in another Western, Branded. This time, the Irish-American former Army officer he plays is Captain Jason McCord, disgraced for his actions in a Native massacre of a U.S. fort. Except, as Alan Alch, who both wrote and sang the theme song said, "He was innocent, not a charge was true." He took the fall to preserve a peace treaty and to protect the reputation of his senile commanding officer.

The opening sequence shows McCord getting his buttons and epaulets torn off, as he is literally drummed out of the corps. Then the fort's new commander takes his sword, breaks it over his knee, and tosses the handle part out of the fort. Connors said he wanted another "gimmick" weapon, like McCain's Winchester. The broken sword filled that need. The show lasted 2 years. Connors lived until 1992.

*

September 30, 1960, 60 years ago: The Philadelphia Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys for the 1st time. The Eagles win, 27-25, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Cowboys are headed for a winless season; the Eagles, for a Championship. No one yet knows that, though. Nor do they yet know that a rivalry has been born.

Also on this day, The Flintstones premieres on ABC. It runs for 6 years, and becomes the most popular cartoon in TV history, with a franchise that ended up greatly expanding. It is quickly obvious that the Hanna-Barbera Production is a ripoff of Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners, set in the Stone Age.

Alan Reed is the voice of Fred Flintstone, the Ralph Kramden equivalent, right down to the love of bowling and the membership in a lodge. Jean Vander Pyl voices his wife Wilma, a redhead like Ralph's wife Alice. Eventually, they become the parents of a daughter, Pebbels, and Vander Pyl does her voice as well.

Mel Blanc, best known as the voice of Bugs Bunny, voices the Ed Norton analogue, Fred's best friend, Barney Rubble. Unlike on The Honeymooners, where Ralph is a bus driver and Ed a sewer worker, Fred and Barney work together at a construction company. Bea Bendaret voices Barney's wife and Wilma's best friend, Trixie -- I mean, Betty. They become parents of a son, Bamm-Bamm, voiced by Don Messick, later to become legend as the voice of Scooby-Doo.

September 30, 1962: David Joseph Magadan is born in Tampa, a cousin of Lou Piniella. In 1983, the 3rd baseman batted .525 for the University of Alabama, still a Southeastern Conference record, and earned one of college baseball's player of the year awards, the Golden Spikes Award.

He made his major league debut with the Mets in September 1986, too late to appear on their World Series roster. He was an original Florida Marlin in 1993, and bounced around a bit before ending his career with the 2001 San Diego Padres, with a .288 batting average. He has coached for the Padres, the Boston Red Sox (winning a World Series ring in 2007), the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies. For his achievements with the Crimson Tide, he was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard is born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The son of immigrants from the Netherlands' South American colony of Surinam (now an independent country), the Jheri-curled midfielder helped hometown club Ajax win 5 Eredivisie (Dutch league) titles and the 1995 Champions League.

This was in 2 separate stints with the club. In between, he played in Italy for AC Milan, along with fellow Dutchman Marco Van Basten and fellow Dutch-Surinamese Ruud Gullit. Together, they combined Dutch totalvoetbaal, South American samba, and Italian catenaccio defense to form perhaps the best club side in soccer history, winning 2 Serie A (Italian league) titles, and the European Cup in 1989 and 1990 -- still the last team to win the tournament now named the Champions League back-to-back.

The 3 Milan players also helped the Netherlands win their only international tournament to date, Euro 1988. Rijkaard also managed Barcelona to the 2005 and 2006 La Liga (Spanish league) titles and the 2006 Champions League. He, his Milan teammate Carlo Ancelotti, and Zinedine Zidane are the only men to win the Champions League as both a player and a manager.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also on this day, a rare trade is made in English "football." Usually, there are sales, a player for cash. This time, 2 London clubs trade players and cash. George Graham goes from Chelsea in West London to Arsenal in North London, while Tommy Baldwin goes from Arsenal to Chelsea, along with £50,000.

Graham had helped Chelsea win the 1965 League Cup, and would be a key figure in Arsenal's wins in the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the 1971 League title and FA Cup. He would later go into management, and the fun-loving player was gone, replaced by a man so strict, his own players called him "The Ayatollah." He freely admitted, "The player I was couldn't have played for the manager I am."

He managed Arsenal to the League Cup in 1987, the League title in 1989 and 1991, both the FA Cup and the League Cup in 1993 (the 1st time the "Cup Double" had ever been down), and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. Arsenal had to let him go the next season due to financial improprieties. He would later manage Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham, to the 1999 League Cup. He is still alive, at age 76.

September 30, 1967: The Boston Red Sox host the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park on the next-to-last day of the season. They and the Detroit Tigers are all still eligible for the AL Pennant.

Oddly, NBC is not televising it as the Game of the Week. Fortunately, Boston's Channel 5, then WHDH, a CBS affiliate (it's now WCVB and part of ABC), is televising it, and keeps a copy. As far as we know, this is the earliest surviving entire TV broadcast of a Major League Baseball game in color.

Twins starter Jim Kaat is cruising until the 3rd inning, when he is injured, and has to leave the game. Jim Perry comes in, and holds the Sox off until the 5th. Reggie Smith leads off with a double, and Dalton Jones singles. Perry strikes out opposing pitcher Jose Santiago and Mike Andrews, but Jerry Adair and Carl Yastrzemski use back-to-back singles to turn a 1-0 Twins lead into 2-1 Red Sox.

The Twins tie the game in the 6th, but home runs by George Scott in the 6th and Yaz in the 7th make it 6-2 Sox. Harmon Killebrew homers for the Twins in the 9th, but Gary Bell (later to become famous as Jim Bouton's Seattle Pilots roommate in Ball Four) shuts them down, and the Sox win, 6-4.

The Sox and Twins are now tied. Whichever wins tomorrow will have at least a tie for the Pennant. The Tigers are rained out, and will play a doubleheader tomorrow. If they sweep, a Playoff will be necessary. If they only split, or lose both, the Sox-Twins winner takes the flag.

Also on this day, Philadelphia's new arena, The Spectrum, opens across from the north end zone at John F. Kennedy Stadium. To the north of The Spectrum, construction is underway on Veterans Stadium, to be the new home of MLB's Phillies and the NFL's Eagles.

The 1st event at The Spectrum is the Quaker Jazz Festival. Over the next few weeks, the NBA's 76ers and the NHL's Flyers will move in. Villanova University will also use it for games whose ticket demand exceed their on-campus arena. The building will be home to 4 championship teams: The back-to-back Stanley Cups of the Flyers in 1974 and 1975, the 76ers' 1983 NBA title, and Villanova's 1985 NCAA Championship.

It will be replaced as home of the Sixers, Flyers and 'Nova, and as the Delaware Valley's leading concert center, in 1996, by the building now known as the Wells Fargo Center, which will be built on the site of JFK Stadium. It will be demolished in 2010.

September 30, 1968: Bull Tales is first published in the Yale Daily News, a.k.a. the Daily Yalie, the official newspaper of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The lead character of the comic strip is "B.D.," the quarterback of the Yale football team, based on real-life quarterback Brian Dowling. He had led the Bulldogs to the Ivy League title in 1967, and would lead them to a share of another in 1968, the season ending with the famous tie with Harvard.

The strip was drawn by Garry Trudeau. In 1970, it would be retooled and nationally syndicated, but Trudeau would rename it for B.D.'s roommate at fictional Walden College, Michael J. Doonesbury.

Doonesbury still runs today.

*

September 30, 1970, 50 years ago: Eric Todd Piatkowski is born in Steubenville, Ohio. The son of former ABA player Walt Piatkowski, Eric was a guard who had his Number 52 retired by the University of Nebraska. For his achievements there, he was named to the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame.

He played 14 seasons in the NBA, from 1994 to 2008, for the Los Angeles Clippers, the Houston Rockets, the Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. For his skill at 3-point shooting, he became known as the Polish Rifle, a nickname previously used for former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski. He now broadcasts for Nebraska basketball.

September 30, 1971: The last Washington Senators game is played, against the Yankees at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. Team owner Bob Short, having already moved the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles in 1960, has announced he's moving the Senators to the Dallas area, to become the Texas Rangers. He complains about the low attendance, despite having the highest ticket prices in the American League, and no subway access to RFK Stadium. (Washington's Metro would not open until 1976.)

Frank Howard, the Senators' most popular player in their 2nd go-around of 1961-71, hits the last home run. Dick Bosman starts, and stands to be the winning pitcher as the Senators lead 7-5 with 1 out left in the 9th. All he has to do is get Bobby Murcer out.

But he can't, through no fault of his own. Angry fans from the "crowd" of 14,461 people storm the field. The umpires cannot restore order, and they forfeit the game to the Yankees.

The next April, Bosman also starts the team's 1st game as the Rangers. Major League Baseball will not return to the Nation's Capital, except for the occasional preseason exhibition game, until the 2005 season. Only 2 AL games have been forfeited since, both promotions that turned into fiascos: The Cleveland Indians' Ten-Cent Beer Night in 1974, and the Chicago White Sox' Disco Demolition Night in 1979. As I mentioned, Rusty Torres, who turned 23 on this day, was also in uniform on each of those occasions.

Also on this day, the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 5-1, at what was then named San Diego Stadium. (Jack Murphy, Qualcomm, now SDCCU Stadium.) They clinch the National League Western Division title on the last day. This is their only postseason berth between 1962 and 1987.

Also on this day, the Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Shea Stadium. Tom Seaver gets the win, his 20th of the season, and will go on to win his 2nd Cy Young Award. A young right fielder named Ken Singleton, who had grown up in New York as a Met fan, hits 2 home runs. But he will become better known for playing for the Baltimore Orioles, and broadcasting for the Yankees.

No one knows it at the time, but this is the last game the Mets will play with Gil Hodges as their manager. At the end of Spring Training in 1972, he suffers a heart attack and dies, not quite 48 years old.

Also on this day, Gregory Jay Myers is born in Tampa, and grows up in Windsor, Colorado. A safety, he was named to the Western Athletic Conference's All-Conference and All-Academic teams all 4 years he was at Colorado State, 1992 to 1995. In 1995, he won the Jim Thorpe Award as the country's top college defensive back.

He played 4 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, and another with the Dallas Cowboys. He is now an anesthesiologist in Denver. He has been elected to the College Football and Colorado Sports Halls of Fame.

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

Also on this day, Martin Stadium opens in Pullman, eastern Washington. Washington State University loses the 1st game at its new stadium, 44-25 to the University of Utah.

A new stadium was necessary because Wazzu's previous home field, Rogers Field, burned down on April 4, 1970. It was soon generally accepted that the cause was arson. The Cougars played the 1970 and '71 seasons at Joe Albi Stadium in nearby Spokane while Martin Stadium was built on the site of Rogers Field.

Clarence D. Martin Jr. donated the money necessary to build it, on the condition that it be named for his father, a former Governor of the State. Ironically, Clarence Sr. was a graduate of WSU's arch-rivals, the University of Washington. At 32,952 seats, Martin Stadium is the smallest football facility in the league now known as the Pacific-12 Conference.

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 1975: Carlos Alfonso Guillén is born in Maracay, Venzuela. A shortstop, he reached the postseason with the 2000 and 2001 Seattle Mariners, and with the 2006 and 2011 Detroit Tigers. He was a 3-time All-Star, and finished his career with a .285 lifetime batting average. 

Also on this day, Happy Days airs the episode "Fearless Fonzarelli." In 1956, the Fonz (Henry Winkler) tries a what would, by 1975, be considered "an Evel Knievel stunt" on his motorcycle. He does it, but pays the price.

September 30, 1977: Del Pratt dies in Texas City, Texas at age 89. A 2nd baseman, he debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1912, and led the American League in RBIs in 1916. In 1918, the Yankees traded pitcher Urban Shocker to get him.

While Pratt was a decent player, this trade was a big mistake. In his 1979 book This Date In New York Yankees History, Nathan Salant called it the worst trade in Yankee history to that point, saying that not having Shocker, whom they later reacquired, cost the Yankees the 1920 and 1924 Pennants, and almost cost them the one in 1922, when the Browns nearly beat the Yankees out.

Essentially, to replace Shocker, the Yankees traded Pratt to the Red Sox in 1921, for Waite Hoyt, who became a Hall-of-Famer. Pratt played until 1924, batting .292 lifetime. He also served as head baseball and assistant football coach at the University of Michigan.

Also on this day, Michael Stuart Solwold is born in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. A center, Mike Solwold was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they won Super Bowl XXXVII.

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

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

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

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

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

Today, almost 72, he owns a pair of restaurants, one in Old San Juan, and one near San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. He remains the only Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. That's got less to do with Puerto Ricans than with the major leagues' switch from the 4-man rotation common in his time to the 5-man rotation in the early 1990s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*

September 30, 1980, 40 years ago: Martina Hingisová is born in Košice, Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia). We know her as Martina Hingis. In 1997, she won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, but missed the Grand Slam because she lost the Final of the French Open. She won the Australian again in 1998 and 1999. But she never completed the "Career Grand Slam," losing another French Open final in 1999. She did, however, win the Grand Slam in doubles in 1998. She had done all that while still a teenager.

She never reached another singles Final. Injuries doomed her, and she retired in 2003, made a comeback in 2005, was suspended for cocaine use in 2007, and, upon her return, stuck to doubles matches, where she won a few tournaments. She retired again in 2017. She has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She is now living in Switzerland, married, with a daughter, a year and a half old.  

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

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

September 30, 1982: Bill George, Hall of Fame linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the 1950s and '60s, is killed in a car crash in Rockford, Illinois. He was only 52.

Also on this day, NBC airs the pilot episode of Cheers, "Give Me a Ring Sometime." It introduces Sam Malone, a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a recovering alcoholic, who owns a bar in Boston's Back Bay section -- and his motley crew of employees and customers.

A photograph of a Sox pitcher hangs on a post at the bar, purported to be Sam. It's actually an earlier Sox pitcher, Jim Lonborg, the American League Cy Young Award winner when the Sox won their "Impossible Dream" Pennant in 1967. This establishes Sam's uniform number as being the same as Gentleman Jim's, 16. In reality, on the Pennant-winning Sox of 1975, 16 was worn by outfielder Rick Miller.

September 30, 1985: Fasheed Rashad Najm is born in Tallahassee, Florida. The rapper abbreviated his hometown, and took the nom de rap T-Pain. He recently played Stevie Wonder on Epic Rap Battles of History, against Indian-Canadian YouTube personality Lilly Singh as Wonder Woman. Wonder vs. Wonder.

In February 2019, he won the 1st season of Fox's U.S. version of the Korean-born franchise The Masked Singer, as "The Monster," in an effort to prove that he can sing without autotune.

September 30, 1986: Olivier Giroud (no middle name) is born in Chambéry, Rhône-Alpes, France, and grows up in nearby Froges, near the 1968 Winter Olympic city of Grenoble. The forward starred for local club Grenoble 38 Foot and Tours FC, before leading the national league, Ligue 1, in scoring in 2011-12, and leading his club, Montpellier, to an improbable title.

That convinced Arsène Wenger, manager of North London team Arsenal, to sign him. There were many Arsenal fans, for whom 2nd place is "failure" and 4th place (out of 20 in the English Premier League) is "midtable mediocrity," with constant complaints about him: That he didn't score enough, that he wasn't "world-class" or "clinical," that he didn't have enough "pace," and was "useless unless the ball is put right on his foot" -- ignoring all the goals scored with what NBC Sports announcer Arlo White calls "the meaty French forehead of Olivier Giroud!"

When he scored, the Arsenal fans sang, to the Beatles' "Hey Jude," "Na, na na, na na na na... Na na na na... Giroud!" They also sang, to "The Roof Is On Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three, "Giroud! Giroud! Giroud is on fire!" 

Nevertheless, the man known as Oli G, who makes women swoon and men "confused," scored 105 goals in 253 appearances for The Arsenal over 5 1/2 seasons, before being sold to West London team Chelsea, whom he helped beat Arsenal in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final. He also helped get the French national team to the Final of Euro 2016, and to win the 2018 World Cup. He was unable, however, to help Chelsea beat Arsenal in the 2020 FA Cup Final.

Chelsea? I refuse to believe such a beautiful player can play for such an ugly organization. I prefer to believe that he is unavailable to Arsenal due to injury. This is a lie, of course, but, given Arsenal's recent history, it's a very believable lie. (UPDATE: He helped Chelsea win the UEFA Champions League in 2021. He was then sold to Italian team AC Milan. I can respect him again.)

Also on this day, Quinn Marcus Johnson is born in New Orleans, and grows up in nearby Edgard, Louisiana. A running back, he was with the Green Bay Packers when they won Super Bowl XLV.

This turns out to be Willie Randolph's last game as a Yankee player, and he goes 0-for-4. He will remain in the major leagues until 1992, and will coach for the Yankees, Baltimore and Milwaukee, and manage the Mets to a Division title in 2006.

September 30, 1987: Kenley Geronimo Jansen is born in Willemstad, Curaçao, part of the Dutch Caribbean. A pitcher, he has made 3 All-Star Games and the 2017 and '18 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He goes into the 2020 postseason with 312 career saves.

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

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

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

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

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

*

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 1991: Star Trek: The Next Generation airs the episode "Darmok." The crew of the USS Enterprise-D encounters a species on whom their universal translator is virtually useless, since their language is based on storytelling and myth.

Their Captain, Dathon (played by Paul Winfield, who previously played a Federation starship Captain in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), has himself and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) beamed down to a planet, in the hopes of using the situation there, similar to their ancient story "Darmok and Jelad at Tenagra," to make a communications breakthrough.

Picard cannot save Dathon from being killed by the analog to "The Beast of Tenagra," but Dathon lives long enough to keep talking, to the point where Picard figures it out, in time to save his ship from attack and to make an official diplomatic "first contact."

Also on this day, at the other end of television quality, The Jerry Springer Show begins airing in syndication. It was taped in Chicago until 2009, and in Stamford, Connecticut from then until its final episode, which aired on July 26, 2018.

September 30, 1992: Ezra Matthew Miller is born in Wyckoff, Bergen County, New Jersey. He plays Barry Allen, the Flash, in the DC Comics film universe. He should not be confused with the star of The CW's TV show The Flash, Grant Gustin, who is... wait for it... Better Than Ezra. Nevertheless, the 2 of them were put together for 2 minutes during the CW crossover event Crisis On Infinite Earths in January 2020.

A Flash film has been announced for mid-2022. Miller will star in an adaptation of the 2011 DC Comics Flashpoint story, in which Barry went back in time to save his mother from being murdered, with disastrous consequences for the world.

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

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

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

September 30, 1995, 25 years ago: The FleetCenter opens in Boston, right behind the Boston Garden. The new home of the NBA's Celtics and the NHL's Bruins is now named the TD Garden.

Also on this day, Saturday Night Live premieres its 21st season. It is the debut of castmembers Darrell Hammond, Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Jim Breuer, David Koechner and Nancy Wells.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 1997: Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium. What is expected to be a pitchers' duel between wily veterans David Cone of the Yankees and Orel Hershiser of the Cleveland Indians does not develop.

The Indians torch David Coney for 5 runs in the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 6th, it is 6-3 Cleveland. But Tim Raines, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill hit 3 straight home runs, to win the game 8-6, with Ramiro Mendoza getting the win in relief.

September 30, 1998: Dan Quisenberry dies of brain cancer in the Kansas City suburb of Leawood, Kansas. He was only 45. The "submarine style" relief pitcher gave the Kansas City Royals the bullpen stopper they were missing in their 1976, '77 and '78 Playoff losses to the Yankees, enabling them to win the 1980 American League Pennant (finally beating the Yankees in the AL Championship Series) and the 1985 World Series. He finished his career with a record of 56-46, and 244 saves.

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

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

*

September 30, 2004: The Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4, and clinch the AL East title. No one had any idea at the time, but this would be the last clincher at the Yankee Stadium: The Division titles of 2005 and 2006, the ALDS win of 2004, and the Wild Card clincher of 2007 would all be on the road.

September 30, 2006: On Arsène Wenger's 10th Anniversary in charge, Arsenal visit South London club Charlton Athletic, and win 2-1. Robin van Persie scores a wonder goal.

van Persie could have been an all-time legend at Arsenal if he had stayed, or at his hometown club, Feyenoord in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, had he stayed there. 

Instead, he got greedy, and demanded to be sold. He was sold to Manchester United, where he won the League title in 2013, then saw manager Alex Ferguson retire, leaving the club in a bit of a mess. He moved on to Fenerbahçe of Istanbul, one of Turkey's greatest teams, but won nothing there. He has returend to Feyenoord, and helped them win last season's KNVB Beker (the Dutch version of the FA Cup).

He could have been a legend at Feyenoord. He could have been a legend at Arsenal. Instead, he has become a footnote in the history of every team for whom he's played. That is what he got along with that 1 League title. Was it worth it?

Also on this date, Julio Franco breaks his own record as the oldest player ever to hit a home run in a major league game. He's 48 years old as he takes Beltran Perez deep in the 2nd inning. David Wright, Shawn Green, Ramon Castro and Endy Chavez also homer for the Mets, who beat the Washington Nationals, 13-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

The Mets are the Champions of the National League Eastern Division -- the only time they will finish 1st between 1988 and 2015. They are the favorites for the NL Pennant as the regular season comes to an end.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 30, 2009: The Mets lose to the Washington Nationals, 7-4 at Nationals Park. It is the last major league game for Gary Sheffield, playing for the Mets, the team for whom his uncle, Dwight Gooden, once starred. He pinch-hits for pitcher Tim Redding in the top of the 7th, and draws a walk.

Sheff retires with 509 home runs. He is eligible for the Hall of Fame, but the steroid cloud hanging over him has kept him out thus far.

Also on this day, the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 at Great American Ball Park. It is the last major league game for Atlanta Braves legend John Smoltz, who starts and loses the game for the Cards.

It looked like the A's have it won in the top of the 12th, as Josh Reddick leads off with a walk, gets bunted to 2nd by Jed Lowrie, advances to 3rd on a wild pitch by Jason Frasor, and then scores on a single by Alberto Callaspo.

But in the bottom of the 12th, Eric Hosmer triples with 1 out, and Christian Colon singles him home with the tying run. Colon steals 2nd, and Salvador Perez singles him home with the run that puts the Royals in the Playoffs proper, 9-8.

*

September 30, 2012: Barbara Ann Scott dies in Amelia Island, Florida. She was 84. Known as "Canada's Sweetheart," the Ottawa native won the women's figure skating Gold Medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She later became a champion equestrienne.

September 30, 2014: The current and former Kansas City teams face off in the American League Wild Card game at Kauffman Stadium. The Oakland Athletics score 5 runs in the top of the 6th inning to take a 5-2 lead over the Kansas City Royals, but the Royals score 3 in the bottom of the 8th to stun the A's and send the game to extra innings.

September 30, 2015: The Toronto Blue Jays clinch their 1st AL East title, and their 1st Playoff berth, since 1993. They beat the Baltimore Orioles 15-2 at Camden Yards. And the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, to clinch the NL Central title.

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

September 30, 2017: The Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium II. Aaron Judge hits his 52nd home run of the season, a record for rookies that will last 2 years, in support of CC Sabathia. Jacoby Ellsbury starts in center field for the Yankees, and goes 0-for-3. Through the end of the 2019 season, this remains his last major league game.

Also on this day, Andrew Romine, an infielder for the Detroit Tigers, plays all 9 positions, including the 4th pitching appearance of his career. The Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Target Field.

He is the 5th player to do so in an MLB game, following Bert Campaneris of the 1965 Kansas City Athletics, Cesar Tovar of the 1968 Twins (against Campaneris and the now-Oakland A's), Scott Sheldon of the 2000 Texas Rangers, and Shane Halter of the 2000 Tigers.

The son of former Red Sox outfielder Kevin Romine, and the brother of Yankee catcher Austin Romine, he now plays for the Seattle Mariners. He made 3 pitching appearances in 2018, and now has a career record of 0-0, a 12.75 ERA, a WHIP of 2.647, 1 strikeout and 5 walks in 5 2/3rds innings pitched.

Also on this day, Saturday Night Live premieres its 43rd season. It is the 15th for cast member Kenan Thompson, a new record, surpassing the 14 of Darrell Hammond, who replaced the late Don Pardo as the show's announcer. This means that Thompson has been on the show for exactly 1/3rd of its existence (14 out of 42 seasons). He has now made it 16 out of 44.