I Don't Trust This Long Season

Going back to their founding in 1977, a trip west to face the Seattle Mariners has usually meant trouble for the Yankees. This time, with both teams struggling, it looked like such a visit was, Cliche Alert, just what the doctor ordered.

But the Yankees' recent slump was like organized crime, as described by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather Part III (set in 1979, a bad year for the Yankees): "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

The series began on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park, formerly Safeco Field. Justus Sheffield, a former Yankee "prospect" that Brian Cashman was actually willing to admit wasn't going to work out, and trade away, starting for the M's, leading some people to think he was going to do what so many former Yankees, especially pitchers, do when we give up on them: Turn into, for this 1 game, the kind of player we'd hoped they would become.

Jameson Taillon, a weak link in the Yankees' starting rotation thus far, pitched his best game with the team, going 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 9. A performance like that deserved a lot of support, and he got it. Cliche Alert: The Yankees scored early and often. And Sheffield did not have the steel necessary to stop it.

The game began with a single by DJ LeMahieu, a flyout by Aaron Judge that was deep enough for DJLM to tag up and go to 2nd base, a walk by Gary Sanchez, and a home run by Giancarlo Stanton. In the 2nd inning, the Yankees loaded the bases, got a wild pitch, and got a 2-RBI single by Luke Voit. 6-0.

3rd inning: A walk by Rougned Odor, a single by Miguel Andujar, a popup by Tim Locastro, and RBI single by DJLM, and RBI double by Judge. 8-0 Yankees. They didn't score again in the 4th, but another Voit RBI single in the 5th made it 9-0.

Over the 1st 5 innings, the Yankees' scoreline was 33201. That ZIP Code is not in use. If it was, it would be in Miami.

In the 8th, the Yankees added a 3-run homer by Odor. Having an 11-run lead in the 8th is a good time to help a struggling reliever work the kinks out. Although he walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the 8th, Wandy Peralta got the next 3 men out.

Having an 11-run lead in the 9th is a good time to help a struggling reliever work the kinks out. But Aaron Boone did not leave Peralta in. Instead, he brought in the pitcher most in need of a strong outing, the closer who began the year so brilliantly, but has pitched horridly of late: Aroldis Chapman.

He put on the kind of performance that, had it happened earlier in the year, we would have said, "Well, at least he got the job done in the end. But, given his recent outings, this was worrying. He allowed a single, then got a strikeout. He walked a better, then got a strikeout. He delivered another walk to load the bases, bringing a lot of us to ask, "He can't blow an 11-run lead in a pitcher's park, can he?" And then he got another strikeout to end it.

He walked the bases loaded and struck out the side. This is where John Sterling might say to Suzyn Waldman, "You know, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball." But with Aroldis Chapman, such an occurrence wouldn't be all that hard to predict.

At any rate, it was over: Yankees 12, Mariners 1. WP: Taillon (3-4). No save, not with an 11-run lead. LP: Sheffield (5-8).

*

The Wednesday night game would be less comfortable, on more than one level. Domingo German was supposed to start, but he had to undergo an emergency root canal. So that's 3 times in this turn of the rotation that the Yankees needed an unintended starter. In this case, it was Nick Nelson.

Back-to-back singles in the 1st by Voit and Gleyber Torres gave Nelson a 3-0 lead before he even took the mound, but he couldn't handle it. He started with a strikeout, but then hit a batter, walked the next, nearly allowed a game-tying home run that turned into a long flyout, walked a batter and allowed a run on a wild pitch at the same time, and walked another batter to load the bases.

Boone had seen enough, and brought in Luis Cessa. It seemed a good time to worry. It wasn't: Not only did Cessa get out of this jam, he pitched 3 more innings without allowing a runner past 1st base. It might have been his best performance as a Yankee. And he was rewarded in the 2nd inning with a double by Locastro and a homer by Judge.

With his anesthesia worn off, German was brought in to pitch the 5th. He got 2 strikeouts, then a flyout. So it remained 5-1 in the Yankees' favor into the 6th. But that inning began with an error by Gio Urshela, and that unsettled German, until he allowed a home run that made it 5-4.

But that would be the Mariners' last baserunner. German pitched a perfect 7th, Jonathan Loaisiga a perfect 8th, and Chad Green a perfect 9th. Yankees 5, Mariners 4. WP: Cessa (2-1). SV: Green (3). LP: Yusei Kikuchi (6-4).

*

So that was 3 games in a row that the Yankees, both at the plate and on the mound, had gotten the job done. Things were looking up. Little did anyone know that the Yankees' output in the 1st inning of Game 1 of the series would be greater than their entire output in Game 3.

Jordan Montgomery started the Thursday afternoon finale. He had an average game, getting into the 7th inning and allowing 3 runs. The Yankees should have been able to overcome that.

They didn't. Starting the 2nd inning, Stanton doubled, and Voit was hit by a pitch. And LeMahieu was hit by a pitch in the 9th -- which led to the exchanges of some words and dirty looks. Those were the only baserunneres of the game.

It was reminiscent of an exchange from the move Major League, where Bob Uecker plays Harry Doyle, a broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians, a character based less on his real-life persona and more on Harry Caray of the Chicago Cubs, and says, on the air, "That's all we got? One goddamned hit?" His broadcast partner covers the microphone, and says, "You can't say, 'goddamned' on the air." And Harry says, "That's okay, nobody's listening, anyway."

Peralta gave up a home run in the 8th to make the final score Mariners 4, Yankees 0. WP: Logan Gilbert (3-2). No save. LP: A hard-luck Montgomery (3-4).

*

So the Yankees are 44-42, 9 games (8 in the loss column) behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, and 4 1/2 games out of the 2nd AL Wild Card slot. According to FanGraphs, the Yankees now have an 8 percent chance of winning the Division, and a 37 percent chance of making the Playoffs.

And now, we have to close out the official 1st half of the season, before the All-Star Break, by going to Houston to play the cheating Astros, who are currently tied with the Red Sox and the Los Angeles Baseball Team for the best record in the major leagues.

This could be a long weekend, especially if the weather predictions hold up, although that won't affect the Yankees, who will be playing under a dome. Throw in the Break, and it could be a long week.

It's already been a long season. In Bull Durham, Susan Sarandon's character, Annie Savoy, said, "It's a long season, and you've got to trust it." And we've heard many times, so I have to say, "Cliche Alert": A baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint.

The New York City Marathon has been canceled twice in the last 9 years.

The Yankees' championship parade has been canceled 11 years in a row. It looks like it will be 12. Because I don't trust Cashman, I don't trust Boone, I don't trust these players, and I don't trust this long season. Do you?

July 6, 1971: Louis Armstrong Dies

You might be cool, but you'll never be as cool as

Louis Armstrong on the phone, wearing pajamas and a Mets cap,

in his home recording studio.

July 6, 1971, 50 years ago: Louis Armstrong dies of a heart attack at his home in the Corona neighborhood of the Borough Queens, in New York City.

The all-time icon of jazz had been billed as being born in New Orleans, which was correct, on the 4th of July, 1900, which was not. It was later discovered that his actual date of birth was August 6, 1901, so he was not quite 70 when he died. He was buried at Flushing Cemetery in Queens.

Known as "Satchelmouth" for his big mouth, which was later shortened to "Satchmo" and "Satch," and "Pops" as he got older, Louis was a big sports fan. In the 1930s, he sponsored Negro League baseball teams. He had season tickets to the Yankees until Shea Stadium was built just a few blocks from his house, and so he switched to the Mets.

Billy Crystal remembered that, for his first live major league game, on May 30, 1956, his father had used his connections in the music business, and got Louis' seats at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees beat the Washington Senators, and Mickey Mantle hit a home run off the facade on the right field roof, less than 2 feet from going completely out of the Stadium.

And for some reason, unusual for black Americans in his time, Louis loved tennis. When the National Tennis Center was established in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in 1978, the stadium known as the Singer Bowl, built for the 1964 World's Fair, was made its centerpiece, and it was renamed Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The original Louis Armstrong Stadium

When Arthur Ashe Stadium was built in 1997, it was decided to tear Armstrong Stadium down and build a new stadium with the name, to act as the U.S. Open's secondary facility. It opened in 2018, and seats 14,000 people.

The new Louis Armstrong Stadium

Angry over the lack of progress in New Orleans, Louis chose to keep his residence in New York. Nevertheless, on August 4, 2001, in honor of the Centennial of his birth, the city renamed its airport Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Time to Declare Independence from Cashman and Boone

After their 9th inning disaster against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, The biggest thing the Yankees needed was what they got, a day off on Thursday, to calm down, regroup, collect their thoughts, see where they went wrong, and prepare adequately for their next series.

But the last thing they needed was a series against The Other Team. Unfortunately, that's what they got.

As so often happens when the Yankees play the Mets, there was a rainout, but that gave them an additional day, to think things through, and better prepare. It didn't work.

At 1st, it looked like this Saturday afternoon game wasn't going to be so bad. Jordan Montgomery and Tajuan Walker traded goose eggs for 4 innings. If you had told me before the game that the Yankees weren't going to allow any runs in the 1st 4 innings of this game, I would have gladly taken it, especially given their propensity this season for allowing runs in the 1st inning.

Then came the top of the 5th. Montgomery got the 1st out, then allowed 3 straight singles, and a run came home. Aaron Boone panicked, and took Montgomery out. Maybe that wasn't such a bad decision. What was a bad decision it was bringing in Lucas Luetge, the 2nd half of that 9th and a meltdown from Wednesday night. He allowed 2 more runs, and at 3-0, the game seemed over.

Boone brought Justin Wilson into pitch the 6th. He got nobody out: He allowed 3 straight singles, then a walk, then a double. Boone brought Michael King in, and, by comparison, he wasn't so bad, allowing just one more run.

Going into the bottom of the 6th inning, the Yankees had shown no hunger. Which makes sense, because the score was "ate nothing." And Walker was pitching a no-hitter. This was well on its way to becoming the greatest regular season game in Mets history. It could have been repeated as part of the series Mets Classics on SNY as soon as the postgame show was over.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 6th, Aaron Judge had a home run. It looked like it wouldn't matter at all. Giancarlo Stanton singled, Luke Voit was hit with a pitch, and Gleyber Torres walked to load the bases.  And Gio Urshela singled home 2 runs.

It was only 8-3, but now, there was a glimmer of hope. After all, one of the constants about the Mets over the years has been their lousy bullpen. Except that not materialize. Urshela's single would be the Yankee's last baserunner of the game. Mets 8, Yankees 3. WP: Walker (7-3). No save. LP: Montgomery (3-3).

It was the 81st game of the regular season, the exact midpoint. The Yankees were 41-40, 1 game over .500. Disgraceful.

*

So, due to the Friday rainout, Sunday was going to feature a separate-admission doubleheader. This inadvertently revived a baseball tradition: A doubleheader on the 4th of July. At least the Yankees had Gerrit Cole pitching the opener.

But things can always get worse. Three batters into the game, Cole gave up a home run to Dominic Smith. At 1-0 to the Flushing boys, the game already seemed lost.

Stanton led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Urshela reached on an error. Torres grounded into another. Brett Gardner was hit with a pitch. Then Kyle Higashioka doubled Stanton and Torres home. And the newly-acquired Tim Locastro hit a sacrifice fly to score Gardner. It was 3-1 Yankees, and there was hope. In the 3rd, Judge singled, Voit singled him over to 3rd, and a Stanton groundout got Judge home. It was 4-1 Yankees, and there was more hope.

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cole walked Michael Conforto to start the top of the 4th. Then he gave up a single to Jeff McNeill. Then he walked Billy McKinney to load the bases with nobody out. A single by Tomas Nido brought Conforto home. Cole struck out Luis Guillorme, but gave up a single to Brandon Nimmo that scored McNeil.

Then Boone panicked again. He brought in Jonathan Loaisiga, sooner than he usually comes in. He gave up a single to Francisco Lindor, scoring McKinney. It was 4-4.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, LeMaheiu singled. Judge singled him over to 3rd. A wild pitch got LeMahieu home, and it was 5-4 Yankees. But Voit and Stanton both flew out, and that was a sign that the Yankees weren't going to score any more runs.

It was still 5-4 Yankees going to the top of the 7th, the last inning, since that's the new rule for doubleheaders. Boone brought Aroldis Chapman in to close. He badly needed to nail down the save, not just for the team, but for himself, as his last few games, especially his last, were atrocious.

He got a 1-2 count on Pete Alonso... and gave up a game-tying home run. Then he hit Conforto with a pitch, possibly intentionally. Then he walked McNeil, certainly not intentionally. Boone took him out, and we'll never know what percentage of the vociferous boos was for Chapman, and what percentage was for Boone.

Boone brought in Luetge. So it was a repeat performance of Wednesday against the Angels: Single, strikeout, double, single, single. Six runs in the inning. Naturally, the Yankees went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th.

Mets 10, Yankees 5. WP: Jeurys Familia (3-1). No save. LP: Aroldis Chapman (5-3).

The Yankees were now at .500, 41-41. The fact that this disaster was against the Mets was mostly irrelevant. The what mattered a lot more than the who.

*

So Nestor Cortes was sent out to salvage the series finale. Not usually a starter, but with the game being only 7 innings, it wouldn't have been a terrible thing if he could only go 4. And he did get into the 4th, before Boone took him out.

Voit led off the 2nd with a double. Rougned Odor bunted him over to 3rd, and beat it out. Looked like great "small ball" -- until Urshela hit a home run. That's what you gotta do: Get men on base, and then hit the home run. 3-0 Yankees.

Cortes allowed a Smith double with 1 out in the 4th, and Boone took him out, for Darren O'Day. O'Day gave up a home run to Alonso, making it 3-2. Cue Han Solo: "I've got a bad feeling about this!" Then O'Day walked the next 2 batters, and it looked like the rout was on. But he settled down, and got the next 2 out.

Chad Green pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 5th. With 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, Gardner and LeMahieu drew walks. Judge moved them over with a groundout. With Gary Sanchez up, Miguel Castro threw a wild pitch that got Gardner home. But Sanchez struck out to end the threat.

Fortunately, Green pitched a 1-2-3 6th, and struck out the side in the 7th. Finally. Yankees 4, Mets 2. WP: Green (3-4, he got the win because the starting pitcher didn't go 5 innings). No save. LP: Corey Oswalt (1-1).

*

So we've passed the halfway mark of the regular season, and we've passed the 4th of July. The Yankees are 42-41. They are 10 games behind the hated Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 9 in the loss column. They are 5 1/2 games, 4 in the loss column, out of the 2nd AL Wild Card berth.

They have no ace: Ever since that crackdown on "Spider Tack," Cole has been good, but not great. Corey Kluber and Luis Severino are still injured. Montgomery and Domingo German have been inconsistent. Jameson Taillon has been a bust.

The bullpen is a mess: Ever since that crackdown on Spider Tack, Chapman has gone from absolutely unhittable to absolutely crushable. Luetge has also fallen apart. Loaisiga has been inconsistent. Zack Britton has been hurt. O'Day is awful. King is worse.

This team simply isn't hitting enough. It's making mistakes on the basepaths. There seems to be no sense of urgency.

And, as the late, great Yogi Berra would have said, It's getting late early out there.

And now, they fly to the Pacific Coast, where they have historically had trouble.

Explain to me why Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman still have jobs. Hal Steinbrenner should declare independence from them.t game ork Met

July 2, 1981: The Meadowlands Arena Opens

July 2, 1981, 40 years ago: The arena planned for the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey opens. It is named the Brendan Byrne Arena, for the outgoing Governor who got it built.

It is 7.7 miles west of Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City -- like its football neighbor, Giants Stadium, roughly the same distance as Yankee Stadium in The Bronx and Shea Stadium in Queens, but across a State Line, so there is, however subtle, a culture shift.

The Complex is off Exit 16W of the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike, at the intersection of New Jersey Route 3. New Jersey Route 120 -- at the time, Route 20 -- bisects the complex: The Stadium and the Racetrack are to the west, the Arena to the east. For most of the arena's existence, its address has been 50 Route 120.

The 1st event was a concert by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Bruce, a native of Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, began a 6-night stand there. Other notable acts to perform there during their heyday include the Rolling Stones in 1981, Queen in 1982, Rush and New Jersey natives Bon Jovi in 1986, Michael Jackson in 1988, and The Dave Matthews Band in 1999.

On December 7 and 8, 2003, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel played the Arena during their Old Friends Reunion Tour. The opening act was one without whom they never would have made it: The Everly Brothers.

The intended main tenant for the building was the NBA's New Jersey Nets, who had spent the previous 4 seasons at the 9,000-seat Rutgers Athletic Center after moving from Long Island as the New York Nets. Their 1st game was on October 30, 1981, and they lost to their neighbors (they were rarely "rivals"), the New York Knicks, 103-99.

The Nets made the Playoffs in their 1st 5 seasons in the building, and in 15 of their 29 overall seasons there. They won the NBA Eastern Conference title in 2002 and 2003. They won the Atlantic Division in 2002, '03, '04 and '06. Sounds decent.

But they had as many horrible seasons as good ones. They went 19-63 in 1987-88, 17-65 in 1989-90, 16-34 in 1999, and 26-56 4 times. They were 12-70 in their last season in the building, 2009-10. And when they finally got into the NBA Finals, they were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002, and lost in 6 games to the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.

Finally, on March 24, 2004, Bruce Ratner bought the team, and announced the intention to move them to a new arena he was planning for Brooklyn. It didn't open until the start of the 2012-13 season, leaving the Nets as a lame duck franchise for a whopping 8 years, the last 2 (2010-11 and 2011-12) at the Prudential Center in Newark.

From 1985 to 2007, Seton Hall University, in nearby South Orange, Essex County, used the Arena for games too big for their 1,655-seat on-campus Walsh Gymnasium. They reached the NCAA Final in 1989, losing to the University of Michigan in overtime. In the 2010-11 season, after every other tenant had left, Fordham University in The Bronx used it as home court for 4 games.

In 1996, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament held its Final Four at the Arena, and this remains the only time it's been held in the New York Tri-State Area since 1951. On March 30, the Semifinals were held: The University of Kentucky beat the University of Massachusetts, 81-74; and Syracuse University beat Mississippi State University, 77-69. In the Final on April 1, Kentucky beat Syracuse, 76-67.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees the Meadowlands Complex, also wanted to bring an NHL team to the Arena. On May 27, 1982, they got one: The New Jersey Devils. The franchise had begun play in 1974, as the Kansas City Scouts. After 2 terrible seasons, they were sold to a group that moved them to Denver, Colorado, and renamed them the Colorado Rockies, a name that would later be given to Denver's Major League Baseball team.

The Devils played their 1st regular-season game on October 5, 1982, a 3-3 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins. For 5 years, they were terrible, enduring such slights as a 13-4 loss away to the Edmonton Oilers in 1983, after which Wayne Gretzky called the Devils "a Mickey Mouse operation"; a snow-ridden game in 1987 that attracted only 334 fans; and games against nearby teams like the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins that seemed like home games for the visitors.

Finally, in the 1987-88 season, the Devils made the Playoffs, and got to within 1 game of the Stanley Cup Finals. They did so again in 1993-94, but lost a Game 7 to the Rangers in double overtime at Madison Square Garden, after blowing Game 6 at home.

They became more successful than the Nets ever have, winning the Stanley Cup at home on June 24, 1995, beating the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2, to complete a 4-game sweep. They won the Cup on the road in Dallas in 2000, and at home again in 2003 against Anaheim. The Devils appeared in 1 other Finals, in 2001, losing at home in Game 6 and in Denver in Game 7.

Scott Stevens lifts the Stanley Cup at the Brendan Byrne Arena,

June 24, 1995. One of the greatest nights of my life.

In the Spring of 2003, the Arena hosted both the NBA and the NHL Finals, something only done by 4 other arenas, ever: The Boston Garden in 1957, '58 and '74; Madison Square Garden in 1972 and '94; The Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1980; and the Chicago Stadium in 1992. (None has ever won both, with some John Starks bricks preventing the closest call in 1994.) The Arena hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1982, and the NHL All-Star Game in 1984.

In 1996, a Republican-controlled State legislature, angry at Byrne for signing the State's income tax into law, vengefully took his name off the building, and put, of course, a corporation's name on it, that of Continental Airlines, based at Newark International Airport. Byrne said, "I was immortal for 15 years." Byrne lived until 2018, outliving the usefulness of the arena named for him, if not the building itself. Byrne also outlived Continental Airlines: They were bought out by United Airlines in 2012.

Building a sports complex in East Rutherford, just off the New Jersey Turnpike, close to the Lincoln Tunnel and to New York City, seemed like a great idea in the 1970s. But after Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack opened in 1976, the drawbacks kicked in.

There was plenty of parking, but it was poorly managed. Getting in and out took forever. Taking public transportation was no good: You couldn't do it from most of New Jersey, as the Meadowlands Rail Line didn't open until 2009 (in time for the football teams to move next-door to what's now MetLife Stadium), and the buses from New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal got stuck in traffic on Routes 495 and 3.

And the smell wasn't too good, even before all that exhaust settled over the area, and combined with the natural swamp air to form what Jerry Seinfeld might have called "some sort of mutant funk."

The arena that opened in 1981, known as the Izod Center from 2007 until the building's official closing in 2015 -- didn't improve things. One level of concourse for two levels of seats simply doesn't work if there's more than 12,000 people in the building. Then again, until the Nets got good in the 2001-02 season, that was rarely a problem for them. It wasn't a problem all that often after that, either. And it wasn't often a problem for the Devils, either.

The arena was drafty, especially in the upper deck. The sight lines weren't great: The older Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum both had better ones. The sound didn't carry well, even though the sound system was always too loud -- perhaps to cover up for the fact that crowds generally weren't big, unless championship teams with marquee players were in.

The Nets and the Devils both had to get out of that arena. Both did: The Devils opened the Prudential Center in downtown Newark in 2007, the Nets moved there in 2010, and finally the Barclays Center in Brooklyn opened in 2012, and the Nets moved there.

Surrounded by the American Dream Meadowlands retail complex

The Meadowlands Arena, all naming rights having lapsed, was closed in 2015, and was targeted for demolition. But not so fast: It has found a second life, converted into a TV and film studio, for productions such as the new version of The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, who, under her original name of Dana Owens, was an All-State basketball player at nearby Irvington High School in Essex County.

Not what we expected the Arena to be on its 40th Anniversary -- but at least it got to have one. Some stadiums and arenas with better histories don't last that long.

July 2, 1921: Boxing's 1st Million-Dollar Gate

July 2, 1921, 100 years ago: For the 1st time, a professional prizefight takes in more than $1 million in gate receipts. The era of the "Million-Dollar Gate" is on.

Jack Dempsey won the Heavyweight Championship in 1919, but he hadn't served in World War I. In 1920, a photo was produced showing Dempsey working in a shipyard, which should have ended the controversy right there. But someone noticed that he was wearing patent leather shoes in the photo, making some people think the photo was staged to take the curse off him.

Soon, evidence came to light that he had tried to enlist, but, despite being a very strong man for his size (he'd be classified as a cruiserweight today), the Army had classified him "4-F": "Registrant not acceptable for military service." This classification is nearly always applied to a person who fails either the physical or the psychological examination upon enlistment or reporting for the draft.

But some people still weren't satisfied. This became especially controversial in 1921, when he defended his title against the Light Heavyweight Champion, Georges Carpentier, a French pilot who had been awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire. The contrast between the much-decorated Carpentier and the "slacker" Dempsey was staggering.

Professional boxing would still be illegal in the State of New York, not just the City of New York, for 2 more years. So George "Tex" Rickard, boxing's leading promoter, decided to put the fight as close to Midtown Manhattan as possible. He found a plot of land owned by John F. Boyle, a mile south of Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, only 6 miles from Midtown Manhattan. There, Rickard built what was intended as a temporary structure, wooden bleachers to seat 90,000 people, calling it "Boyle's Thirty Acres."

Fire laws? We don't need no stinkin' fire laws.

The fight was a sellout, and generated $1,789,238, about $27 million in 2021 money. It was no contest: Dempsey knocked Carpentier out in the 4th round. Much of the crowd booed, but Carpentier showed no hard feelings. He kept the Light Heavyweight Championship for another year, and lived until 1975.

It wasn't until Dempsey was "robbed" in the "Long Count" fight against Gene Tunney in 1927 that he became a near-universal hero. He lived until 1983.

The year 1927 would also see the end of Boyle's Thirty Acres, having hosted boxing champions such as Dempsey, Benny Leonard and Jim Braddock, a Hudson County resident who would win the Heavyweight Championship in 1935. The site is now mixed residential and industrial. 

July 1, 1941: Network Television Debuts In New York

Logo adopted for NBC radio in 1943

July 1, 1941, 80 years ago: WNBT, owned by the National Broadcasting Company, begins broadcasting out of New York City, on Channel 4. It becomes WRCA on October 18, 1954, and WNBC on May 22, 1960.

On the exact same day, WCBW, owned by the Columbia Broadcasting Service, begins broadcasting on Channel 2. It becomes WCBS on November 1, 1946.

The Federal Communications Commission licensed them with the instruction to sign on simultaneously on July 1, so that neither of the 2 major broadcasting networks, NBC nor CBS could claim exclusively to have the 1st commercial television station in New York City. (ABC, the American Broadcasting Company, did not yet exist.) But NBC cheated, going on the air at 1:30 PM, a full hour before the time to which CBS had agreed.

New York’s other VHF TV stations:

* WABD, Channel 5, began airing on the DuMont network on May 2, 1944; moved to Metromedia on August 6, 1956; became WNEW on September 7, 1958; and joined the Fox network and became WNYW on March 7, 1986.

* WATV, Channel 13, began airing as an independent station on May 15, 1948; switched to National Educational Television (NET) and the letters WNDT on September 16, 1962; and became WNET, with NET becoming the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on October 1, 1970.

* WPIX, Channel 11, began airing as an independent station on June 15, 1948; joined The WB Network on January 11, 1995; and moved to The CW on September 17, 2006.

* WJZ, Channel 7, began airing on ABC on August 10, 1948; and became WABC on March 1, 1953.

* WOR, Channel 9, began airing as an independent station on October 11, 1949; became WWOR on April 29, 1987; joined UPN on January 16, 1995; and moved to MyNetwork on September 17, 2006.

*

July 1, 1941 was a Tuesday. Baseball was the only sport in season at the time, and these games were played on that day, most of them broadcast on radio, but none on television:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. In the opener, Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-4, in support of Marius Russo, extending his hitting streak to 43 games, as the Yankees won, 7-2.

In the nightcap, DiMaggio went 1-for-3 with an RBI, making it 44 straight, tying the major league record set in 1897 by Willie Keeler, then with the National League's Baltimore Orioles. (Keeler would be an original Yankee, or rather an original New York Highlander, from 1903 to 1909.) Bill Dickey hit a home run in support of Ernie "Tiny" Bonham, and the Yankees led, 9-2 after 5 innings, when the game was called due to darkness. Yankee Stadium didn't get permanent lights until 1946, using temporary lights to host boxing cards.

Ted Williams went 2-for-6 in the doubleheader, en route to a .406 batting average for the season. DiMaggio would break Keeler's record the next day, extending his streak to 56 straight games with a hit, before Cleveland stopped him on July 17.

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 6-4 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Ebbets Field. Stan Benjamin singled home 2 runs of Hugh Casey in the top of the 10th inning. The Dodgers went on to win the Pennant, anyway, but this was a foreshadowing of Casey's trouble against the Yankees in the World Series.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 10-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-7 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 10-6 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And the Chicago Cubs were supposed to play the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, but the game was rained out, and was never made up.

Absolutely the Worst

Last night, June 30, 2021, could have been a really good night for the Yankees. It was looking like it, even into the top of the 9th inning. 

Instead, it became a date which will live in infamy.

Let me put this another way: Last night, in the suburbs of Atlanta, the Mets lost to the Braves, 20-2. And that was not the ugliest game in New York baseball on the night. It may well have been the ugliest day in the history of New York baseball -- at least, competitively speaking.

Domingo Germán started for the Yankees, against Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese pitcher and slugger for the Los Angeles Angels. It was clear that Germán didn't have it, as he allowed 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning. 

And, with manager Aaron Boone having given both Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela the night off, with a day game the next day, there seemed to be little hope in coming back, even from this very early 2-run deficit.

But the bottom of the 1st was a nightmare for Ohtani and the Angels. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. And the early favorite for the American League's Most Valuable Player award walked the 1st 3 batters he faced: DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit and Gary Sánchez. 

This was followed by RBI singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres. Rougned Odor struck out, but a groundout by Miguel Andújar got a 3rd run home. Ohtani then hit Clint Frazier with a pitch. Given his control last night, and the fact that it reloaded the bases, this probably was not intentional. Then he walked Brett Gardner, forcing home another run.

Joe Maddon, former the dirty manager of the Tampa Bay Rays and the manager who won the World Series with the Chicago Cubs -- because he had a general manager, Theo Epstein, willing to trade 20 years of Torres for 3 months of Aroldis Chapman -- now manages the Angels. 

At this moment, he finally took Ohtani out, bringing in Aaron Slegers. He allowed a bases-clearing double to LeMahieu, runs charged to Ohtani, before allowing a long flyout to Voit that was nearly a home run for another 2 runs. The Yankees scored 7 runs on just 3 hits and no errors, but 4 walks and a hit batsman.

But, given a 5-run lead, Germán couldn't stand prosperity, allowing a run in the top of the 2nd. In the bottom of the 3rd, with the score still 7-3 in the Yankees' favor, there was a rain delay, and it began to look like that 7-run inning would be wasted. As it turned out, it would be, but not because of the rain.

When the delay ended, Boone refused to put Germán back out for the top of the 4th. Good choice. He brought Justin Wilson, newly returned from the Injured List, in to pitch. Good choice: He got the Angels out 1-2-3. Then Boone brought Luis Cessa in to pitch the top of the 5th. Bad choice: He allowed a home run, making it 7-4.

That inning was played with the rain falling again, but Cessa had just enough to get 3 outs. And then the tarp was brought back onto the field. Now, if the umpires had called the game, it would have been official.

The game was not called. It was announced that the game would be restarted at 11:30 PM. We were playing a team from the Pacific Coast, and now, it was looking like the game would end after 1:00 AM Eastern Time, as if we were playing them on the Pacific Coast.

Somebody on Twitter wrote, "They're actually resuming?" And I responded, "MLB wants theYankees to lose." That tweet got 2 "Likes" and a retweet. Apparently, some people figured it out that, however unintentionally, that tweet was not just an insult to MLB, it was a prediction.

Boone didn't bring Cessa back out to pitch the top of the 6th. Good choice. He brought in Darren O'Day, recently returned from the Injury List. Good choice: He got the Angels out 1-2-3. He didn't bring O'Day out to pitch the top of the 7th. Good choice. He brought in Jonathan Loáisiga. Good choice: He got the Angels out 1-2-3 in both the 7th and the 8th.

But here's the problem: It shouldn't have taken Wilson, Cessa, O'Day and Loáisiga to hold the Angels to 1 run over 5 innings. At the least, Wilson should have been kept in for the 5th. And maybe Loáisiga should have been held back, in case closer Aroldis Chapman didn't have it on the night.

Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the 8th with a home run. At 8-4 with 1 inning to go, and Chapman pitching the 9th, it looked like the Yankees had the game in the bag. According to Baseball-Reference.com, after the 1st inning, the Yankees had an 89 percent chance of winning the game. At the start of the 9th, 98 percent.

But there's that cliché again: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Chapman began by walking Taylor Ward. He got Juan Lagares to ground into a forceout. Then he walked Max Stassi. Then he walked Anthony Rendon. At this point, I tweeted, "Aroldis gotta Aroldis." New cliché? He always seems to make the game more interesting than it has to be.

Now, the tying run was at the plate, in the form of Jared Walsh. A YES Network camera focused on Boone, who was standing on the top step of the dugout, and broadcaster Michael Kay asked if Boone would now take Chapman out, given that Lucas Luetge -- with the more effective Loáisiga no longer available -- was now warming up in the bullpen. Boone left Chapman in.

I was worried that Chapman was going to walk him, too. I wish he had. Instead, he served up a perfectly juicy meatball that Walsh deposited over the right-center field fence. Home run. Grand slam. And we had ourselves a tie ballgame.

Only now did Boone come out to remove Chapman, and both were thoroughly booed, and bring in Luetge. A batter earlier, YES had put up a graphic showing the statistics of Chapman's 1st 18 appearances on the season, and his last 13.

Now, they showed it updated. His ERAs: 0.00 and 10.13. His opponents' batting average: .089 and .341. His strikeout-to-walk ratio: 36-7 to 13-12. Home runs allowed: 0 to 4.

What the hell happened to him between his 18th and 19th appearance? Did he suddenly turn into a Cuban version of 1973 Steve Blass?

So it was now 8-8. And to make matters worse, Luetge was as bad as Chapman. He walked Phil Gosselin, to start the process all over again. A chant of "Fire Boone!" went up in Yankee Stadium. He gave up a single to David Fletcher. Finally, he got the 2nd out, by striking José Iglesias out. Luetge got what Johnny Carson used to call "sympathy applause."

But Maddon decided on a little gamesmanship. With Gosselin on 3rd, he sent Fletcher to steal 2nd, hoping the Yankees would go after him, giving Gosselin the chance to pull off the double steal and score the go-ahead run. The Yankees didn't fall for it, but that put runners on 2nd and 3rd. That meant that, if Luis Rengifo got a hit, 2 runs would score instead of 1. And that's what happened. 10-8 Angels. And Taylor Ward hit a double to score Rengifo. 11-8.

Finally, Luetge struck Juan Lagares out. The booing was merciless. Now, the Yankees needed 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, just to keep it going. And remember: Neither Judge nor Urshela was in the lineup, although both were, theoretically available for pinch-hitting duty.

Neither was brought to the plate. Stanton hit a weak grounder to short. Torres hit a weak grounder to 3rd. And Odor struck out. The Yankees' worst game of the season -- maybe the worst since that 16-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 AL Division Series -- was over: Angels 11, Yankees 8. WP: Mike Mayers (2-3). SV: Raisel Iglesias (15). LP: Luetge (2-1, although Chapman is getting most of the online blame.)

Blame the players, for not getting the job done. Blame Boone, for a few decisions that cost the team dearly.

And that's just for last night's game. Overall, with the season almost exactly at its halfway point, the Yankees are 41-39, 8 1/2 games behind the 1st place Red Sox, 8 in the loss column. Behind the Rays, who currently hold the 2nd AL Wild Card slot, the Yankees are 5 1/2 behind, 5 in the loss column.

Blame the players, for not getting the job done. Blame Boone, for many, many decisions that cost the team dearly. Blame general manager Brian Cashman, for having hired Boone, and for the orders he gives Boone that he must follow. Blame operating owner Hal Steinbrenner, for having hired Boone and Cashman.

It was announced that Hal would be having a Zoom meeting with the media this morning. That meeting has happened. And both Cashman and Boone still have their jobs.

Hal said that he is not "contemplating or even thinking about" the Yankees being sellers ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline.

He said that he will “absolutely consider” exceeding the luxury tax if the Yankees need another piece to reach the playoffs. He used the Masahiro Tanaka signing as an example. But he also said that Aaron Boone and the current coaches are “absolutely” the right people to lead this team.

On firing personnel in-season, he said that his father George “certainly did that a lot. What people forget is that a lot of times, it didn’t work.” Well, on that, Hal is right.

He said, “Am I mad at what I see? Absolutely. I’m aggravated, frustrated, angry. But that’s not going to push me into a knee jerk reaction.”

He keeps using that word, "absolutely." I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

I know what it means. And last night's game was absolutely the worst the Yankees have played this season.

And you know the old saying: "Cheer up: The worst is yet to come."