Santa Claus Is a Superhero

Santa Claus is a superhero. Think about it:

* He makes the impossible happen, although with magic rather than what most of us would call "super-powers."

* He has an easily identifiable costume.

* He has a secret identity: Kris Kringle.

* He has a hideout, at the North Pole, which is also where Superman's Fortress of Solitude is said to be.

* He can't fly on his own, but he has a vehicle that gives the Batmobile a run for its money when it comes to coolness. Why, it may even be able to turn invisible, like Wonder Woman's plane, which explains why the U.S. and Royal Canadian Air Forces can't find it.

* He doesn't have a single sidekick, but he has the reindeer and the elves.

* He has a catchphrase: "Ho, ho, ho!"

* Instead of evil or self-interest, he uses his abilities for the good of humanity.

* He's certainly had plenty of movies made about him, some of which include an origin story, although there's disagreements about them.

* Which brings me to this, and this might not be a selling point: He's been around for a long time, with many different interpretations of what people think he should be, like some superheroes.

So I think he counts.

December 23, 1924: Basketball's 1st Big Man Is Born

December 23, 1924, 100 years ago: Robert Albert Kurland is born in St. Louis, and grows up in nearby Jennings, Missouri. He was considered basketball's first great "big man," standing 7 feet tall and weighing 220 pounds, and is the first player noted to have dunked in a collegiate game (if not the first to actually do it).

Bob "Foothills" Kurland led Oklahoma A&M to the National Championship in 1945 and 1946. (The school was renamed Oklahoma State in 1958.) His duels with George Mikan of DePaul, NIT Champions at the time (and thus, to many fans, the real "National Champions") became legend.

He never turned pro, instead working for Phillips Petroleum and playing for their company team, the Phillips 66ers, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He led the U.S. team to Olympic Gold Medals in 1948 in London, and in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland.

He stayed with Phillips long after his basketball career ending in 1952, rising to become an executive. He was one of the earliest inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame, in 1961. He died a year ago. 

Kurland died at his home on Sanibel Island in Florida, on September 29, 2013, at age 88. He was survived by his wife of 62 years, Barbara; their 4 children Alex, Ross, Dana, and Barbara; and 7 grandchildren.

December 22, 1984: The Subway Vigilante

The story of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, and his murder on a New York street, and the arrest of Luigi Mangione for the crime, has some parallels to a similar crime from a bygone age. Only this time, instead of the right wing, the people trying to make people think that the killer is actually a hero are on the left.

December 22, 1984, 40 years ago: Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 men on a New York Subway train, and becomes known as "The Subway Vigilante."

In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, crime had escalated in American cities due to rising poverty and drug use, and New York City seemed to be its symbolic capital. And with personnel cutbacks in police departments due to budget shortfalls, it seemed like no one was doing anything about it.

In New York, Subway stations and trains were seen as particularly bad. The graffiti that stained the stations and the trains didn't help. I grew up in Central Jersey, a 45-minute bus ride from Midtown Manhattan.

When my mother let me go into The City, it was always with her, and we always took taxicabs. Never mind that taxis were dangerous, because the drivers tended to be maniacs, and we once got into 3 accidents in a single ride: She said the Subway was unsafe. (Disclaimer: Her father had driven a taxi in The City, so she may have been biased.) Only once before I turned 15 did she let me go to a Yankee game via the Subway, and she went with me, hating every minute of both the ride up and the ride back.

Goetz was born in Queens, and grew up Upstate before being sent to boarding school in Switzerland. He came back for college, and became an electrical engineer. In 1981, he was attacked by 3 young black men in the Canal Street subway station, injuring and robbing him. The attackers were caught, but never served time. This angered him, and he applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. He chose a 5-shot .38-caliber revolver.

He was setting himself up to be life imitating art. In the 1974 film Death Wish, Charles Bronson played Paul Kersey, a man whose wife was killed and his daughter raped during a home invasion and robbery, and took to shooting criminals. He ended up shooting and killing 2 would-be muggers on a AA Train. Of course, in order to avoid the charge of racism, white actors were cast as the muggers.

(The AA was relabeled the K in 1985, and discontinued in 1988. Someone once asked me what would have happened if Kersey had met the titular gang from the 1979 film The Warriors on the Subway. The answer is obvious: Nothing would have happened. The Warriors, too, only wanted to get home safely, and would not have disturbed Kersey. So he would have left them alone, too.)

On December 22, 1984, 4 African-Americans from The Bronx boarded a downtown Number 2 Train. James Ramseur was 18 years old. The other 3 were all 19: Barry Allen (definitely not to be confused with the comic book character of the same name, the superhero known as The Flash), Troy Canty and Darrell Cabey. They told the police they were on their way to rob a video arcade in Manhattan.

When the train got to 14th Street and 7th Avenue, it was about 1:30 in the afternoon. Goetz, then 37 years old, boarded, and sat across from the 4 teenagers. They surrounded him, to prevent anyone from interfering, and Canty said, "Give me five dollars." He later told the police it was an attempt at panhandling, not a mugging. None of them had pulled any kind of weapon.

Goetz did, and fired it. He ended up wounding all four. Cabey was paralyzed, while the others' wounds were not nearly as serious.

Goetz got off the train, went home, gathered some belongings, and fled the city. He rented a car, and drove 185 miles to Bennington, Vermont, destroying the evidence: He burned his recognizable blue jacket, and dismantled the gun, scattering the pieces in the woods.

For a few days, the shooter's identity was unknown. But people praised him for standing up to criminals and taking action against them. Christmas came and went, and his identity was still unknown.

But on December 26, someone called the New York Police Department's anonymous tip line, and mentioned Goetz' name and his previous mugging. On December 29, the police got a warrant and searched his apartment. On December 31, New Year's Eve, having heard of these developments, Goetz knew the game was up. He drove to Concord, New Hampshire, and turned himself in to the police there. By the time the ball dropped in Times Square at 12:00 Midnight, the world knew his name.

(It took 9 days for Goetz to be announced to the public as the shooter. For Luigi Mangione, it was 5 days.)

Goetz told the Concord police that New York City was "lawless," and that the criminal justice system was "a joke," "a sham," and "a disgrace." On January 3, 1985, he was extradited to Manhattan.

It was between Ronald Reagan's re-election as President and his Inauguration for a 2nd term. It was the time of action films starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, and the aforementioned Charles Bronson. Except this was real, and Bernhard Goetz became a folk hero for the time, at least among right-wingers, angry at crime and bigoted toward black people in general. For liberals, he was no hero, but they had to admit that there had to be a better way to fight crime than what was being done.

Goetz would end up convicted of "criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree," but acquitted of the attempted murder and first-degree assault charges, due to his claims of self-defense. He was sentenced to 1 year in jail, 1 year of psychiatric treatment, 5 years of probation, 200 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine (about $15,000 in 2024 money). He ended up serving 8 months.

A civil trial found that Goetz had "acted recklessly and had deliberately inflicted emotional distress on" the paralyzed Cabey. Cabey was awarded $43 million (about $129 million today) -- $18 million for "pain and suffering," and $25 million in "punitive damages." Goetz soon declared bankruptcy. In a 2004 interview with Fox News host Nancy Grace, he admitted -- bragged? -- that he hadn't paid a penny.

Crime peaked in New York in 1990, then finally began to go down a little bit. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, a bill sponsored in the Senate by Joe Biden of Delaware, later to be President himself; and in the House by Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin of Illinois, both later to be elected to the Senate. Its provisions, including the hiring of new police officers, changes in tactics, and tougher penalties for crimes led to a huge dropoff in crime, especially in New York.

During the 1996 World Series, just 2 years later, the NYPD revealed that, despite being in the South Bronx, which had been one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in America, 96 percent of the crime within a block of Yankee Stadium was ticket scalping, a nonviolent offense. In 2006, New York ranked 194th out of 210 American cities with at least 100,000 people in terms of violent crime. By 2014, crime rates were comparable to those of the early 1960s, before the big wave began.

In 1986, James Ramseur was convicted of rape and robbery, served 14 years in prison, and died in 2011 of a drug overdose. He was 45 years old. Darryl Cabey remains paralyzed and brain-damaged, supposedly with the cognitive ability of an 8-year-old. Barry Allen also went to prison for an unrelated robbery, serving 4 years. Troy Canty went to drug rehab and got clean. I can find no reference as to what Allen and Canty are doing now. The 3 survivors are all 59 years old.

Goetz is 77. In 2013, he was arrested for selling marijuana, but the charges were dismissed the next year. He has became a vegetarian activist. In 2019, he publicly announced that he would no longer do interviews.

Also in 2019, the film Joker premiered. Director Todd Phillips delivered a variation on the story of the comic book villain, traditionally the nemesis of Batman. Setting it in 1981 in fictional Gotham City, he included a scene reminiscent of the Goetz case, and also of the Subway shooting scene in Death Wish.

Not counting individuals implied as being part of a group, like the Beatles and the performers at Woodstock, "Bernie" Goetz is 1 of 4 people mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire" who are still alive at the end of 2024. The others are Brigitte Bardot, Chubby Checker and Bob Dylan. Goetz is easily the youngest of them, and is likely to be the last survivor.

I'm hoping he turns out not to be. Like Luigi Mangione, he was no hero. But then, as with Mangione, neither were his victims. At least, with Goetz's victims, the only person known to have died through their actions, or inactions, is Ramseur himself. With Thompson's actions and inactions, many people have died.

Goetz's pulling the trigger probably saved no lives. Mangione's pulling the trigger probably won't end up saving any, either, but it will no longer be Thompson's fault.

Rickey Henderson, 1958-2024

When Willie Mays died earlier this year, I wrote a post on who had succeeded him as baseball's greatest living player. I made 4 nominations, one of whom was Rickey Henderson.

The others were Mike Schmidt, Ken Griffey Jr. and Albert Pujols. I said at the time that, of the 4, only Rickey would tell you that he was the greatest living player, although he never publicly said that he was.

Now, I have to take Rickey off that list. Not because of anything he's done to disgrace the game, like another man who died earlier this year, Pete Rose, did. But for a sad reason.

Rickey Nelson Henley was born on a Christmas Day, December 25, 1958, in Chicago. His mother, Bobbie Henley, delivered him in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital. Rickey later said, "I was already fast. I couldn't wait." He was named after singer Ricky Nelson. Within a few years, the singer preferred to be called "Rick." But the ballplayer was "Rickey" forever.

When he was 2 years old, his father, John L. Henley, left the family, and went to Oakland, California. From then until age 7, Rickey lived with his grandmother, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, then rejoined his father in Oakland. John died in a car accident when Rickey was 10. During Rickey's junior year of high school, his mother married a man named Paul Henderson, and Rickey took the Henderson name.

Unusually, especially for a non-pitcher, Rickey learned how to bat righthanded despite being a lefthanded thrower. He later said, "All my friends were right-handed and swung from the right side, so I thought that's the way it was supposed to be done."

In 1976, he graduated from Oakland Technical High School, where he was also an All-American running back on their football team. Other notable Oakland Tech athletes: Baseball players Taylor Douthit '19, Bernie DeViveiros '20, John Gillespie '20, Joe Mellana '22, Bruce Cunningham '23, Les Powers '27, Cookie Lavagetto '31, Linc Blakely '31, Tom Hafey '31, Len Gabrielson Sr. '33 and Jr. '57, Bob Greenwood '46, Jay Porter '50, Joe Gaines '55, Curt Flood '56, Terrell Lowery '88; pro quarterbacks John Brodie and Josh Johnson, and other football players Bill McKalip, Proverb Jacobs, Ray Norton, Roy Shivers and Marshawn Lynch; and basketball stars Jim Pollard, Leon Powe and Alexis Gray-Lawson.

Actor Clint Eastwood is probably the most famous Oakland Tech graduate, whose ranks also include actors Jack Soo, Robert Webber, Bernie Hamilton and Ted Lange; singers Tony Martin, and all of the Pointer Sisters; Muppets operator Frank Oz (Bert, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear); poet Rod McKuen; engineer Stephen Bechtel; Congressman Ron Dellums; and Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton. (Webber was the only actor to be one of the 12 Angry Men and one of The Dirty Dozen.)

Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, loved, in his own words, "Speed, speed, speed." And he loved players with lots of self-confidence. He would have loved to have Rickey Henderson on the Raiders. Rickey wanted it, too. But his mother told him that football players had considerably shorter careers, so he should play baseball instead. Good choice: After all, he seemed to play baseball forever -- and then, at least, tried to.

Shortly after graduating from Oakland Tech, Rickey was signed by his hometown Oakland Athletics, or the A's for short. In 1978, he played for their farm team, the Jersey City A's, who played their home games at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. They moved after that season, and professional baseball did not return to New Jersey until 1994.

Rickey made his major league debut on June 24, 1979, against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. He played left field, led off the A's lineup, and wore Number 35. Batting against pitcher John Henry Johnson, he hit a double to right field in his 1st major league at-bat. He singled to left in the 3rd inning, flew out to right field in the 5th, and flew out to right again in the 7th. The Rangers won, 5-1.

The A's were at a low ebb, as their cheap owner, Charlie Finley, had broken up their 1971-75 dynasty, and they lost 108 games in 1979. He sold the team in 1980, and Billy Martin was hired as manager. Rickey fit "Billy Ball" perfectly, as a contact hitter with speed. After stealing 33 bases as a rookie, Rickey stole 100 in 1980, batting .303 for the 1st of his 7 .300+ seasons, and making the 1st of his 10 All-Star Games.

In 1981, he stole far fewer bases, 56, but it was still enough to repeat as American League leader, and he won his only Gold Glove, leading the A's to the AL Western Division title. He finished 2nd in the AL Most Valuable Player voting, behind relief pitcher Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The A's fell apart again in 1982, but Rickey had a season like no other. The existing Oakland Athletics record for stolen bases in a season was 75, by Billy North in 1975; for the A's franchise, 81, by Eddie Collins in Philadelphia in 1910; for the American League, 96, by Ty Cobb with the Detroit Tigers in 1915; and for the major leagues, 118, by Lou Brock with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974. Rickey blew past them all, finishing with 130, a record that has never seriously been approached -- not even by himself, as his 108 the next season would be his last time topping 100. He also set a record by being caught stealing 42 times.

Basically, if you put Rickey Henderson on 1st base, it meant that he was going to get to 2nd base, and there was a good chance he would end up scoring. He became, beyond any doubt, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history.

*

In 1983, he married his high-school sweetheart, Pamela. They have three children: Angela, Alexis, and Adrianna. After the 1984 season, the Yankees sent outfielder Stan Javier and pitchers José Rijo, Jay Howell, Eric Plunk and Tim Birtsas to the A's for Rickey and pitcher Bert Bradley.

Bradley was a throw-in, who appeared in 3 games for the A's in 1983, and that was it for him in the majors. The A's got 5 serviceable players, although they ended up trading Rijo and Birtsas to the Cincinnati Reds for Dave Parker. That trade worked out well for both teams: Parker helped the A's win the 1989 World Series, but Rijo was the MVP of the 1990 World Series, in which the Reds beat the A's.

But Yankee Fans were thrilled to add Rickey to a team that already had Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly. Playing left field, and switching to the Number 24 that he wore for most of the rest of his career, Rickey thrilled fans with a "snatch catch": He would catch the ball, then whip his left down to his leg. I was always worried that he would drop it. A couple of times, he did, and got booed.

He was with the Yankees for 4 full seasons: They came within 2 1/2 games of the AL Eastern Division title in 1985, within 5 1/2 in 1986, were in 1st place at the All-Star Break in 1987, and got within 3 1/2 in 1988. Three times, Rickey raised the team record for stolen bases, to 80 in 1985, to 87 in 1986, and to 93 in 1988. None of those totals has been seriously challenged since. But the Yankees always seemed to be one starting pitcher short, and there would be no Playoff run in Pinstripes.

On June 21, 1989, tired of his ego and not willing to sign him to a new contract after the season, and wanting to get something for him, the Yankees traded Rickey back to the A's, regaining Plunk, and also getting pitcher Greg Cadaret and outfielder Luis Polonia.

Shortly after his return to Oakland, on July 29, Rickey had one of the strangest statistical lines in baseball history: No hits, no at-bats, but drew 4 walks, stole 5 bases, and scored 4 runs. None of it did much good, as the A's lost to the Seattle Mariners, 14-6 at the Oakland Coliseum.

The trade worked out a lot better for the A's, as Rickey helped them win the 1989 World Series, the 1990 AL Pennant, and the 1992 AL West title. On May 1, 1991, during a 7-4 A's win over the Yankees at the Coliseum, Rickey stole 3rd base in the 3rd inning. It was the 939th stolen base of his career, breaking the record held by Brock, who was on hand for the occasion.

A microphone was set up, and Henderson thanked, in turn, God, the Haas family (owners of the A's), the A's organization, the City of Oakland, the fans in the Coliseum, his mother, his friends, his loved ones, and former managers Tom Trebelhorn and Billy Martin (who had died in 1989).

Then he said, in words that another of his heroes, Muhammad Ali, might have appreciated, "Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But, today, I'm the greatest of all time. Thank you."

Brock took no offense, saying, "He spoke from his heart." But Henderson knew he had gone too far, later saying, "As soon as I said it, it ruined everything. Everybody thought it was the worst thing you could ever say. Those words haunt me to this day, and will continue to haunt me. They overshadow what I've accomplished in this game."

There is a difference between having a healthy ego, which is necessary to succeed in just about any endeavor, including professional sports; and having an excessive ego. Henderson certainly gave the impression of having the latter, not helping himself by being an illeist, a person who tended refer to himself in the third person, often calling himself "Rickey" instead of "I."

Just a few hours later, Henderson's thunder was stolen by Nolan Ryan's lightning. Ryan had pitched the 6th no-hitter of his career against the A's in 1989, and had made Henderson his 5,000th career strikeout victim in 1990. The same day that Rickey gained his 939th steal, Ryan pitched his 7th, no-hitter, against the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the oldest pitcher ever to throw one, at age 44, and striking out 16 batters. Rickey would follow Ryan as a player who seemed to just keep going and going, and excelling through most of it.

On July 31, 1993, at the trading deadline, the A's sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays, basically as a "rent-a-player" deal, and he helped the Jays win the World Series. He signed a new deal with the A's in 1994, got traded to the San Diego Padres in 1996, and helped them win the NL West title that year.

He was traded to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, returned to the A's in 1998, and helped the Mets reached the NL Championship Series in 1999. In 2000, the Mets traded him to the Seattle Mariners, and he helped them reach the AL Championship Series. He went back to the Padres, and, on October 7, 2001, in a 14-5 Padres loss to the Colorado Rockies, he blooped a double down the right-field line off John Thomson. It was the 3,000th hit of his career.

He played the 2002 season with the Boston Red Sox. No team was willing to take him on for the 2003 season, so he signed with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League. He was impressive enough for the Los Angeles Dodgers to sign him. On September 19, 2003, in the bottom of the 7th inning at Dodger Stadium, he pinch-hit for pitcher Guillermo Mota, against Jason Christiansen. He was hit by a pitch, and eventually scored, but the Dodgers lost to the Giants, 6-4. It turned out to be Rickey's last major league appearance.

He hung on, signing with the Newark Bears again for 2004, and in 2005 in another independent league, with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League. Nobody would take him for 2006. In 2007, the Mets took him on as hitting instructor, but his hope that he would be signed as a player -- at the age of 48 -- went unrealized. Finally, on July 13, 2007, he announced his retirement.

*

Henderson was baseball's greatest base stealer, with 1,406. To put that in perspective, Brock's 938 remains 2nd on the all-time list. He collected 3,055 hits. His lifetime batting average is not very impressive, .279; but all those walks pushed his on-base percentage to .401. His slugging percentage is .419, and his OPS+ is 127. He had a surprising amount of power, with 297 home runs despite spending the majority of his career in the pitching-friendly Coliseum. And he is baseball's all-time leader in runs scored, with 2,295; and is 2nd (and formerly 1st) all-time in walks, with 2,190.

Baseball statistician Bill James once said, "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall-of-Famers."

In 1999, while still an active player, The Sporting News ranked him 51st on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. And yet, he was not chosen by fans in balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2022, ESPN ranked him 23rd on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

In 2009, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 1st year of eligibility, and the A's retired his Number 24. In 2017, as part of the team's 50th Anniversary celebration, the playing surface at the Oakland Coliseum was renamed Rickey Henderson Field. Few players in baseball history have been as great as he has, and even fewer have done it with their hometown teams.

On September 26, 2024, Rickey was in attendance as the Athletics played their last game at the Oakland Coliseum, beating the Rangers, 3-2. They will play the next 3 seasons in Sacramento, before moving to a new stadium in Las Vegas. On October 30, he was in attendance again as A's and Yankees Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson hosted a charity softball game at the Coliseum.

It turned out to be Rickey's last public appearance. He was hospitalized a few days ago, for pneumonia, and died yesterday, December 20, 2024. He was 5 days short of his 66th birthday.

Rickey played his 1st major league game when I was 9 years old, and his last when I was 33. (He was 20 and 44, respectively.) He thrilled me at some times, and angered me at others. He amazed me with his talent, and he perplexed me that so much talent was given to a guy like him. In ways both good and not-so-good, he will remain a baseball icon.

Rickey Henderson was one of a kind. We shall not look upon his like again.

George Eastham, 1936-2024

George Eastham

American baseball had Curt Flood, who dared to attack the reserve clause, unsuccessfully; and Andy Messersmith, who provided the death blow to it.

English soccer had George Eastham, who killed its maximum wage.

George Edward Eastham was born on September 23, 1936 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. His father, George Richard Eastham, played as a forward for hometown team Blackpool F.C., and also for Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers. George Richard's brother Harry Eastham, also played forward for Blackpool, but spent most of his career on Merseyside, playing for Liverpool F.C. and Tranmere Rovers. The younger George became a forward, and starred for North-East club Newcastle United, starting in 1956.

Jimmy Hill had starred as a midfielder at West London team Fulham F.C., and later became Chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, the players' union. At the time of the case, Hill was the manager of Midlands team Coventry City. Despite now managing a team, he recognized that the players and the managers had a common "enemy" in the team owners.

Jimmy Hill

The maximum wage was £20 per week -- with inflation, equivalent to about £357 in 2024, or, with the current exchange rate, about $449. That's not even enough to rent your own apartment, not in the suburbs of New York or London, let alone in either city.

And Eastham fell out with Newcastle management, and wanted to be sold, but they didn't want to sell. As with baseball's reserve clause, English soccer's version, known as "retain-and-transfer," bound a player to a team for life unless the club wanted to sell, and NUFC didn't. They didn't care if he was happy: The wanted him available and compliant.

Like Curt Flood would in baseball a decade later, Eastham compared it to slavery:

Most people called it the "slavery contract." We had virtually no rights at all. It was often the case that the guy on the terrace not only earned more than us – though there's nothing wrong with that – he had more freedom of movement than us. People in business or teaching were able to hand in their notice and move on. We weren't. That was wrong.

Eastham went on strike at the end of the 1959-60 season, moving south to work for an old family friend, selling cork in Guildford, Surrey, a venture which earned him more money than his Newcastle contract paid. Finally, in October 1960, Newcastle relented, and sold Eastham to North London team Arsenal F.C. for £47,500, an enormous sum for the time.

But Eastham had only gotten one thing he wanted, and considered the rest, freedom of movement and the abolition of the maximum wage, worth fighting for. Hill convinced the PFA to provide £15,000 to pay for Eastham's legal fees, and he took NUFC to the High Court.

In Eastham v. Newcastle United, Eastham argued that retain-and-transfer was an unfair restraint of trade, and that Newcastle owed him £400 in unpaid wages and £650 in unpaid bonuses. The judge, Richard Wilberforce, later a Baron, ruled that, since Eastham had gone on strike, he was not entitled to the money. So Eastham did not gain personally, other than getting the transfer he wanted, which he already had.

Mr. Justice Wilberforce

But Mr Justice Wilberforce ruled that the retain-and-transfer system was unreasonable, and struck it down. Eastham had won. This makes him English soccer's Curt Flood and its Andy Messersmith.

Eastham starred for Arsenal for 6 years, although it was a down period for the team. He, Joe Baker, Geoff Strong and Alan Skirton formed a great attack, but they had a poor defense. It would take a complete rebuilding process for Arsenal to become a power again. Indeed, having lost back-to-back League Cup Finals in 1968 and 1969, fans began to point out that, "Arsenal haven't won a trophy since the Coronation." It was true. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned a month after Arsenal won the 1953 Football League title, and their next trophy was the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, before winning the League and the FA Cup, "The Double," in 1971.

Eastham was the only Arsenal player named to the England team that won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, although he didn't play in the tournament. He did play for England in the 1962 World Cup. After the '66 edition, he was sold to Staffordshire club Stoke City, and, along with fellow '66 England hero Gordon Banks in goal, helped the club win their only major trophy in their 161-year history, the 1972 League Cup.

He later moved to South Africa, set up a sportswear business, and defied the apartheid government by teaching the game to black kids. He even brought his father George with him to coach, and he did so until his death in 2000. George the son became the chairman of the South African Arsenal Supporters' Club.

He died yesterday, December 20, 2024, at the age of 88. News reports of his death have made no mention of survivors, including a wife or children.

His death means there are only 3 surviving players from the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. Geoff Hurst is the only one who played in the Final. The other two, Terry Paine and Ian Callaghan, like Eastham himself, were on the team, but did not play in the tournament at all.

Hill went into broadcasting, working on ITV's The Big Match from its 1968 premiere until 1973, moving to the BBC for Match of the Day until 1988. He died in 2015.

55: No Limit

Today, I turned Hideki Matsui years old. It's an age I certainly hoped to reach, but couldn't imagine myself being.

As Yogi Berra put it, "The future ain't what it used to be." And the 21st Century certainly hasn't gone the way I'd hoped it would. I wanted a world of peace, freedom, abundance and tolerance that extended to missions to Mars. Instead, I got dictators and drones. I wanted Presidents who looked forward. I got a couple. But I also got two who only looked out for themselves and their fellow rich guys.

I wanted more winning for my teams. I've gotten it. But I've also gotten some rotten stretches for them.

And I wanted my own wing of my family. That hasn't happened, and is unlikely to happen. On the other hand, aside from a current cold, my health is good, and the hip replacements have significantly reduced my pain.

The good times are never as good as we think, and the bad times are never as bad as we fear. I've gotten through a lot. I've survived a lot of crap. And I've experienced some wondrous things.

55 miles per hour is the classic legal (if not operational) speed limit for American cars. And I was never especially fast. But the age isn't going to limit everything I do. A lot of things, but not everything.

Being alive is an adventure. And, at 55, I'm not ready to bring it to a close. No matter what my opponents, from the White House to the playing fields, throw at me.

Bring it on.

December 16, 1899: Soccer Comes to Italy

Herbert Kilpin

December 16, 1899, 125 years ago: The Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club is founded in Milan, Lombardy. Its founder is an expatriate Englishman, Herbert Kilpin. It is the 1st professional soccer team in Italy.

Kilpin, a 29-year-old native of Nottingham, had played for Notts Olympic, and went to Italy to work for a textile merchant linked with his employer in Nottingham. There, he joined Internazionale FC Torino. (Both teams were defunct by 1916.) He founded the Milan club, giving it the English Cross of St. George as its crest, and shirts of red and black stripes, giving it the nickname Il Rossoneri, the Red and Black. He said, "We will be a team of devils. Our colours will be red like fire and black like the fear we will invoke in our opponents." 

He led the team to Italian titles in 1901, 1907 and 1909, and married an Italian woman, before dying from the effects of alcoholism in 1916, only 46 years old. In 1908, a dispute led to some players leaving the team, and forming a new one, Internazionale Milano, or "Inter." They chose black and blue stripes, making them Il Nerazzurri, the Black and Blue. The existing team became Associazione Calcio Milan, or "A.C. Milan," or just "Milan."

Since 1926, A.C. Milan have played their home games at a stadium in the San Siro neighborhood, and it is called "The San Siro." Inter have played there since 1947. Ironically, its official name is Estadio Giuseppe Meazza, after an Inter player who helped Italy win the 1934 and 1938 World Cups. Although it is the most famous sports venue in the country, both teams have expressed interest in replacing it, with plans being suggested that they would collaborate, or build separate stadiums.

The San Siro, prior to an AC Milan match

in the UEFA Champions League

Through the 2021-22 season, A.C. Milan have won Italy's national league, Serie A, 19 times, including in said 2021-22 season; the Coppa Italia, Italy's version of the FA Cup, 5 times, most recently in 2003;  and the European Cup/UEFA Champions League 7 times, more than any team except Real Madrid: In 1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 and 2007.

Inter have also won Serie A 19 times, and the Coppa Italia 8, including in 2021-22. Unlike A.C. Milan, they have won the League and Cup "Double," in 2006 and 2010. They have won the European Cup/Champions League 3 times, in 1964, 1965 and 2010 -- meaning that, in 2010, they won the only "European Treble" in Italian history. (UPDATE: In 2023, Inter won a 9th Coppa Italia; in 2024, a 20th Serie A title.)

Inter's badge

Both teams trail the 30 Serie A titles won by Turin-based Juventus Football Club, and their 14 Coppi Italia, althtough both have exceeded Juve's 2 Champions League titles, of 1985 and 1996. (UPDATE: Juve won a 15th Coppa Italia in 2024.)

Calendar year 1899 was a great year for soccer, as, in addition to A.C. Milan, several other legendary clubs were founded:

* January 8: SK Rapid Wien, in Vienna, Austria.

* March 8: Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899, the predecessor of Eintracht Frankfurt, in Frankfurt, Germany.

* May 3: Ferencvárosi Torna Club, commonly known as Ferencváros, in Budapest, Hungary.

* May 13: Esporte Clube Vitória, in Salvador, Brazil.

* May 14: Club Nacional de Football, in Montevideo, Uruguay.

* May 27: Rangers Football Club, in Glasgow, Scotland.

* August 31: Olympique de Marseille in Marseille, France.

* November 29: FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.

December 16, 1899 was also the day that British actor and playwright Noël Coward was born.