Orel Hershiser, who grew up in Cherry Hill, Camden County, New Jersey, had already won Game 2, following a regular season that he concluded with a record that still stands, of 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. He allows just 4 hits in this game, and is named the Most Valuable Player of the Series. Mickey Hatcher starts the Dodger scoring with a 2-run homer in the 1st off Storm Davis‚ his 2nd homer of the Series.
The win gives the Dodgers a tremendous upset, and their 5th World Championship since moving to Los Angeles 30 years earlier, their 6th overall. It also caps a decade in which they had made the Playoffs 5 times, also winning the World Series in 1981.
But it would take them 29 years, until last season, to win another Pennant. It couldn't have all been due to the Curse of Donnie Baseball: Don Mattingly was only there from 2008 (2011 as manager) until 2015.
Since buying the Dodgers in 2012, billionaire businessman and former basketball superstar Earvin "Magic" Johnson has done what the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner did: He has spared no expense in his desire to build a World Series winner. It took George 5 seasons, 1973 to 1977. This is Magic's 7th season as owner, and he got them to Game 7 last year, before losing to the Houston Astros.
Having blown last night's chance to clinch their 1st back-to-back Pennants since 1977-78, tonight, the Dodgers will play Game 7 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The Brewers are seeking their 2nd Pennant, their 1st since 1982, their 1st since switching Leagues in 1998.
But it would take them 29 years, until last season, to win another Pennant. It couldn't have all been due to the Curse of Donnie Baseball: Don Mattingly was only there from 2008 (2011 as manager) until 2015.
Since buying the Dodgers in 2012, billionaire businessman and former basketball superstar Earvin "Magic" Johnson has done what the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner did: He has spared no expense in his desire to build a World Series winner. It took George 5 seasons, 1973 to 1977. This is Magic's 7th season as owner, and he got them to Game 7 last year, before losing to the Houston Astros.
Having blown last night's chance to clinch their 1st back-to-back Pennants since 1977-78, tonight, the Dodgers will play Game 7 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The Brewers are seeking their 2nd Pennant, their 1st since 1982, their 1st since switching Leagues in 1998.
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October 20, 1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase, making possible the major-league cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Denver. If you count cities that have major-league teams in other sports but not baseball, add to the list New Orleans and Oklahoma City.
October 20, 1819: Daniel Edgar Sickles is born in Manhattan. A New York State Senator and later a Congressman, he was no hero in peacetime. Among other things, in 1859, he discovered that, as revenge for his infidelities, his wife was having an affair with Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key. Sickles shot and killed him. He was the 1st murder defendant in American history to use temporary insanity as a defense, and it worked: He was acquitted.
He rose to the rank of Major General (2 stars) in the American Civil War, but his blundering nearly lost the Battle of Gettysburg. He lost his leg there. He was, however, later awarded the Medal of Honor, and was returned to Congress. He died in 1914, at age 94.
October 20, 1864: Brigadier General Charles Russell Lowell dies in Middletown, Virginia, after having been wounded the day before in the Civil War's Battle of Cedar Creek. He was only 29, and ended up as the 2nd-highest-ranking Union officer to be killed in combat.
The highest-ranking? There were 2 2-star Generals killed in action. John F. Reynolds was killed at Gettysburg on the 1st day, July 1, 1863. The native of nearby Lancaster, Pennsylvania was 42. And at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864, John Sedgwick was told to get down, and responded, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" He was immediately proven wrong, at age 50.
October 20, 1882: Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó is born in Lugos, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I redrew the map of Europe, the town was named Lugoj, and placed in Romania. Bela was not Romanian, however: His father was Hungarian, and he identified as Hungarian throughout his life, while his mother was Serbian.
He went into acting, interrupting his career to serve in the Austro-Hungarian Army, was wounded on the Russian front, was decorated, and rose to the rank of Captain. The ever-changing political situation of Europe after the the war meant he moved to pursue his career: To Budapest, Hungary; to Vienna, Austria; to Berlin, Germany; and then, in 1920, to New Orleans, before settling in New York in 1921. He renamed himself for his hometown: Bela Lugosi.
He became a Broadway star, and was cast as Count Dracula -- with some irony, a character that came from Romania, from the Transylvania section -- in a 1927 play. It was a hit, and he toured America in it, staying in Los Angeles when the play finished its run there, so he could get into films.
When Dracula was filmed in 1931, several other actors were considered, before he was hired. His natural look and accent were perfect for the part, and have defined the character ever since, to the point where, when Bram Stoker's Dracula was released in 1992, and Gary Oldman was made to look like the 1897 Stoker novel said the vampire Count looked, people were surprised by the contrast.
But Lugosi was typecast as horror characters and evil Europeans. And the pain from his wartime injuries led to an addition to painkillers. He died in 1956.
October 20, 1890: Sherman Minton (no middle name) is born in Georgetown, Indiana. The Democrat served a term in the U.S. Senate, and on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1949 to 1956, including the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that overturned public-accommodations segregation. He died in 1965.
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October 20, 1910: The Philadelphia Athletics dispose of Chicago Cub starter Ed Reulbach in 2 innings‚ then pin the loss on reliever Harry McIntire‚ who lasts 1/3rd of a inning. A's pitcher Jack Coombs coasts on 1 day's rest‚ 12-5‚ and helps himself with 3 hits.
Cub manager/1st baseman Frank Chance becomes the 1st player ejected from a World Series game when umpire Tom Connolly chases him for protesting a Danny Murphy home run drive against a sign over the right field bleachers. Chance opines too loudly that it should be a ground-rule double.
Also on this day, Robert Leo Sheppard is born in Richmond Hill, Queens, the same neighborhood that would produce Rizzuto. He played quarterback for St. John's University in Queens, and later taught public speaking there.
In between, he taught public speaking at John Adams High School in the Ozone Park section of Queens. This means he could, arguably, have had, as one of his students, my Grandma. (Sadly, family concerns forced her to drop out, so she never did graduate. And I didn't find out about the possibility until after both of them had died, so I couldn't ask either if Grandma had been taught by Sheppard.)
When the NFL had a team called the Brooklyn Dodgers, speech professor Sheppard did the public-address announcements for their games. Football Dodgers owner, and Yankees co-owner, Dan Topping heard him, and asked Sheppard to do the Yankees' games. He accepted, and from 1951 until 2007, he hardly ever missed a game. Ill health forced him to miss the 2008 and 2009 seasons, but… 57 years! On top of that, from 1956 to 2005, 50 years, he did the football Giants' games.
Sheppard was a generous gentleman and a complete professional, from sounding like an announcer, not a shameless shill (unlike such braying animals as Bob Casey of the Minnesota Twins, may he rest in peace, and Ray Clay of the Chicago Bulls); to accepting with humility the appellation that Reggie Jackson gave him: "The Voice of God."
Such was the appeal of Sheppard, and such is the pull of Derek Jeter, that Jeter asked that a recording of Sheppard introduce him before every at-bat, for the rest of his career, even after Sheppard died, which happened in 2010, just short of his 100th birthday. (A recording of Sheppard was also used to introduce Mariano Rivera when he came out for his final big-league appearance in 2013.)
He said he liked the Hispanic and Japanese names due to all the vowels, saying that they were "euphonious." But he said his favorite name to introduce was Mickey Mantle, with whom he shared his birthday. Mantle told Sheppard, "I got goose bumps when he introduced me." Sheppard said, "So did I."
Also on this day, Ben Hill Griffin Jr. is born in what's now Fort Meade, Florida. A citrus magnate, he served in both houses of the Florida legislature, and unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 1974. A graduate of the University of Florida, he donated heavily to it, with the result being the renaming of Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He died in 1990.
Also on this day, David B. Hill dies of the kidney disorder Bright's disease in Albany, New York at age 67. He had been Lieutenant Governor of New York when Governor Grover Cleveland was elected President in 1884, making him Governor. He served in that office until he was elected to a vacant U.S. Senate seat in 1891, serving until 1897.
When the Democratic Party split into pro-gold standard and free silver factions at the 1896 Democratic Convention, he announced that he wouldn't be joining the "Goldbugs" -- including outgoing President Cleveland himself -- in supporting Republican nominee William McKinley, but he wouldn't be all that enthusiastic about supporting Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan. He announced, "I am a Democrat still -- very still." Today, if he is remembered at all, it is for that quote.
October 20, 1915: Hieronym Anthony Jacunski is born in the Hartford suburb of New Britain, Connecticut. An end, both offensive and defensive, he was a member of the Fordham University line known as the Seven Blocks of Granite, as were future Hall of Fame center Alex Wojciechowicz and guard, and future Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi. They went 18-2-5 in his 3 years on the varsity, ranked 8th, 3rd and 18th in the nation.
Harry Jacunski became a Green Bay Packers legend well before Lombardi did: He was an All-Pro as a rookie in 1939, helping the Packers win the NFL Championship that year, and again in 1944. He was named to the Packers Hall of Fame. He later coached at Notre Dame, and at both Harvard and Yale, serving 33 years as a Bulldogs assistant.
When I was born, my parents lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey, next-door to Harry's son Dick, his wife Lynn, and their 3 daughters, Johanna, Elizabeth and Barbara. The families have been friends for 50 years. Although the wear and tear of early pro football left him in constant pain, Harry's mind was still clear when died on February 20, 2003, at age 87.
October 20, 1921: Manuel Leaonedas Ayulo is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, California. He began racing Formula 1 cars in the late 1940s, and was one of the earliest F1 drivers to move into "Indy car" racing. But he never won a race, and was killed in a crash at the 1955 Indianapolis 500. He was only 33.
October 20, 1923: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The Sooners defeat Washington University of St. Louis 62-7. The playing surface is later named Owen Field for longtime OU football and basketball coach Bennie Owen.
In 2002, after a gift from the Gaylord family, publishers of the State's largest newspaper, the Daily Oklahoman, the structure was renamed Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Its current listed seating capacity is 86,112.
October 20, 1927: Joyce Diane Bauer is born in Manhattan, and grows up in Far Rockaway, Queens. We knew her as famed psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers. She appeared on The $64,000 Question in 1955, and became the 1st and only woman ever to win the eponymous top prize -- worth about $600,000 in 2018 money. Her subject was boxing, and it led to her becoming the 1st female commentator for a televised prizefight, the middleweight championship fight on CBS on September 23, 1957, in which Carmen Basilio took the title from Sugar Ray Robinson at Yankee Stadium.
In 1958, she became the 1st advice columnist to have her own TV show. In 1974 (a pair of weeklong stands), 1976, and again in 1978, she was a panelist on Match Game. In 1981, she played herself as a guest on "James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party" on Saturday Night Live, with Eddie Murphy playing "The Godfather of Soul and Hot Tub Man Number 1, James Brown!" Great sketch. Dr. Brothers died in 2013, at age 85.
October 20, 1928, 90 years ago: David Jack -- or, to give his full legendary name, David Bone Nightingale Jack -- makes his debut for North London soccer team Arsenal. The inside forward -- today, we would call him a central midfielder -- helps Arsenal defeat North-East club Newcastle United, 3-0 at St. James Park in Newcastle.
Jack previously played for his hometown club Bolton Wanderers, and scored the 1st goal at the original Wembley Stadium in the 1923 FA Cup Final, leading the Manchester-area club to defeat East London club West Ham United. He scored the only goal in the 1926 FA Cup Final as well, leading Bolton over Manchester City.
But with Wanderers in financial trouble, Arsenal snapped him up. He would help Arsenal win the Cup in 1930, and the Football League in 1931, 1933 and 1934, establishing Arsenal's dynasty under manager Herbert Chapman, who broke the English purchase record to get him. He then retired, and managed a few teams before dying in 1958, age 60.
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October 20, 1931: Mickey Charles Mantle is born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, and grows up in nearby Commerce. His father, Elvin "Mutt" Mantle, named him after his favorite baseball player, Philadelphia Athletics catcher Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane. Mickey would later say he was glad his father didn't name him Gordon. But he could have been "Gordie Mantle." The nickname "Gordie" certainly didn't hurt hockey player Gordon Howe.
In northeastern Oklahoma in the 1930s and '40s, there wasn't anything to do but work in the mines, and, until you were old enough to do that, play football and baseball. Mickey played baseball, and the rest is history.
"Baseball has been very good to me," he said on Mickey Mantle Day, June 8, 1969, with his Number 7 being retired and a Plaque in his honor dedicated, "and playing 18 years in Yankee Stadium for you folks is the greatest thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer."
Those 18 years in a Yankee uniform would stand as a club record until 2013, when both Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera suited up for a 19th season. Mariano would retire after that, but Derek would play for a 20th season. Derek would also break Mantle's club record for games played, 2,401, extending it to 2,747.
He was honored in Monument Park (with a Plaque at his retirement in 1969, and a Monument in 1996 after his death the year before), with election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility in 1974, and in 1999 with being named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Players (ranking 17th) and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. A statue of him stands outside the Triple-A ballpark in Oklahoma City, on a street renamed for him.
On the same day, Richard S. Caliguiri (I don't have a record of what the S stands for) is born in Pittsburgh. He was elected Mayor in 1977, and served until his death in 1988. Although he was criticized for the continued decline of industry during his time in office, he did help set up Pittsburgh's rebirth as a technology and health care city.
He gathered a group that bought the Pirates and prevented them from moving to Miami. For the remainder of the 1988 season, the Pirates wore his initials RSC on their sleeves.
October 20, 1932: Roosevelt Brown is born in Charlottesville, Virginia. The greatest offensive tackle of his time, he anchored the New York Giants line that reached 6 NFL Championship Games in 8 years, including the 1956 World Championship.
Although his Number 79 has not been retired by the Giants, he is a member of their Ring of Honor at MetLife Stadium and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him Number 57 on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Still the greatest offensive lineman in the history of New York Tri-State Area football, he died in 2004.
Also on this day, William Christopher is born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. He made up for not being born with a middle name by playing Lieutenant, later Captain, John Patrick Francis Mulcahy, S.J, on M*A*S*H. He says he has often been asked near his Southern California home, "Father Mulcahy, say a prayer for the Dodgers.""I suppose I should actually say one for the Angels," he says, "but I do root for the Dodgers."
In a 1st-season episode, the officers are listening to Armed Forces Radio for the Army-Navy football game, when Mulcahy walks in with his Notre Dame pennant. He’' told Notre Dame, America's unofficial Catholic university due to its legendary football program, isn't playing today. "Then what's all the commotion?"
In another early episode, he is playing in a pickup game in camp, wearing a helmet that's Notre Dame gold, but anachronistically has a two-bar facemask. Hawkeye asks him how the game's going. He says, "Protestants 7, Catholics 3, but we'll get 'em!" He then catches a pass, and is tackled by the entire opposing team.
Mulcahy was also a big boxing fan, having coached boxing at the CYO in his native Philadelphia, and would minister to a former boxing champion who ended up dying at the 4077th while on a tour for the troops. But Christopher admitted knowing nothing about boxing.
Mulcahy also had "my sister the Sister," who took the nom de nun of Sister Angelica, who first played and then coached basketball at her all-girls' high school in Philly.
In 1975, Christopher played an Army doctor on Good Times -- an inside joke on CBS' part, I suppose. He later teamed up with castmate Jamie Farr in a stage version of The Odd Couple -- I'm presuming Christopher played Felix and Farr played Oscar -- and with Farr and Loretta Swit on Diagnosis Murder and Lois & Clark. He again played priests on Heaven Sent, Mad About You, and, in 2013, Days of Our Lives. He died of lung cancer in Pasadena, California, on December 31, 2016. He was 84.
October 20, 1934: Ted Drake, who had nearly signed for Tottenham as a teenager but was now in his 1st full season with their North London arch-rivals, Arsenal, scores 3 goals in a 5-1 win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane. He is the 1st Arsenal player ever to score a hat trick in a competitive match against Spurs. There has been only one other since, Alan Sunderland in 1978, and he also did it at The Lane.
Drake was just getting warmed up: A year later, on December 14, 1935, he would tie a league record for most goals in a Division One match, tallying 7 against Aston Villa. No player has matched or beaten that since.
In 1955, Drake would become the 1st man to win the League as both a non-managing player and a non-playing manager, taking Chelsea to the title. It was the only title in their 1st 99 seasons, and the only manager ever to take Chelsea to the League title without Roman Abrmovich's ill-gotten Russian energy billions is an Arsenal man.
October 20, 1935: Fabio Cudicini is born in Trieste, Italy. A goalkeeper, he helped AS Roma win the 1961 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (the tournament now named the UEFA Europa League) and the 1964 Coppa Italia (Italy's version of the FA Cup). He then helped AC Milan with Serie A (the Italian league)and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1968, the European Cup in 1969, and the Coppa Italia in 1972.
He was known as Il Ragno Nero, the Black Spider, which was also the nickname of the great Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin. But he never played for the Italian national team, because the Azzurri then had an embarrassment of riches in goal: Lorenzo Buffon of AC Milan, Internazionale and Genoa (a distant relative of Gianluigi Buffon); Enrico Albertosi of Internazionale and Cagliari; and Dino Zoff of Napoli and Juventus.
He is still alive. His father, Guglielmo Cudicini, was a defender for hometown club Ponziana Trieste. His son, Carlo Cudicini, was a star goalkeeper in England.
October 20, 1937: Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez is born in Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic. Known for his high leg-kick during his windup, he won more games in the 1960s than any other pitcher, and until Dennis Martinez surpassed him, his 243 career wins were the most of any Hispanic pitcher.
He helped the San Francisco Giants to the 1962 National League Pennant and the 1971 NL Western Division title, although they fell just short a few other times while he was there. They have retired his Number 27, and dedicated a statue to him outside AT&T Park. He was the 1st Dominican player, and the 1st Hispanic pitcher (aside from Negro League star Martin DiHigo, who was not strictly a pitcher), elected to the Hall of Fame.
Sadly, like the other serious contender for the title of the greatest Hispanic pitcher, Pedro Martinez, he is best known for a moment of violence, hitting Dodger catcher John Roseboro over the head with his bat in a tight Pennant-race game in 1965. Unlike Pedro, however, this was out of character for Marichal, and Roseboro not only accepted his apology, but, after Marichal failed to be elected to the Hall in his 1st 4 years of eligibility, Roseboro spoke up on his behalf, and he was elected on the 5th try.
He went on to become a broadcaster for a Spanish-language network in the Caribbean, and called games in the 1990 World Series, including the 2 won by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jose Rijo, who not only wore Number 27 in tribute to Marichal, but at the time was married to Marichal's daughter Rosie, who can be seen on the official highlight film, yelling from the stands, "Let's go, Rijo!"
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October 20, 1940: John Talbut (no middle name) is born in Headington, Oxfordshire, England. A centreback, he helped Lancashire team Burnley win the 1960 Football League title, and Birmingham-area team West Bromwich Albion win the 1968 FA Cup. He later managed in Belgium. He is still alive.
October 20, 1941: Lieutenant Ken Farnes of the Royal Air Force is killed in a training flight near Chipping Warden, Oxfordshire. He was only 30 years old. Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, a.k.a. The Bible of Cricket, had named him Cricketer of the Year in 1939.
October 20, 1943, 75 years ago: Chris Lawler (his full name, not "Christopher") is born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. A right back, he helped hometown club Liverpool FC win League titles in 1964, 1966 and 1973; the FA Cup in 1965 and 1974; and the UEFA Cup in 1973.
The retirement of manager Bill Shankly led to his assistant Bob Paisley taking over, and he made Phil Neal the regular Liverpool right back. Chris bounced around a bit, including playing for the Miami Toros of the old North American Soccer League in 1976. He has since served as an assistant coach and a scout for Liverpool, and also runs a children's soccer camp in Sweden.
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October 20, 1950: Thomas Earl Petty is born in Gainesville, Florida. The leader of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and also "Charlie T. Wilbury Jr." of the Traveling Wilburys, died last year. But, as he promised, he stood his ground, and he didn't back down.
Also on this day, Edward J. Kelly dies in Chicago, which he served as Mayor from 1933 to 1947. As host of the 1940 Democratic Convention, to get the Delegates behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a 3rd term, he yelled into a microphone, "We want Roosevelt!" And a chant started, and FDR was off and running.
October 20, 1951: Alex Groza, Ralph Beard and Dale Barnstable of the Indianapolis Olympians are arrested for taking bribes from gamblers to "shave points" while they were at the University of Kentucky. When the dust settled in 1952, they were banned from the NBA for life. UK got its 1952-53 season canceled, and was banned from competing in the NCAA Tournament and the NIT in 1954.
UK went 25-0 in 1954, and the Helms Foundation declared them -- not NCAA Champion LaSalle or NIT Champion Holy Cross -- National Champions. Groza -- brother of Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Lou Groza -- would later coach in college and in the ABA. Barnstable later became a golfer, winning senior tournaments. But neither he nor Beard were ever involved in the NBA again, as their bans were never listed.
Also on this day, Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa plays football against Oklahoma A&M – the name will be changed to Oklahoma State in 1958 – at Lewis Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Drake quarterback Johnny Bright, one of the 1st black players to receive serious consideration for the Heisman Trophy, is assaulted by white A&M defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith. "Unnecessary roughness"? Smith knocked Bright unconscious 3 times in the 1st 7 minutes of the game, the last time breaking his jaw.
A&M won the game, 27-14. It was Drake's 1st loss of the season. Photographs of what becomes known as "the Johnny Bright Incident," by Don Ultang and John Robinson, were featured on the front page of the next day’s Des Moines Register, and won the Pulitzer Prize.
Neither his school nor the Missouri Valley Conference disciplined Smith, nor did the Conference discipline the school or any of its coaches, in any way. As a result, Drake left the league in protest. So did Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois, also integrated by that point. The NCAA issued new rules about blocking and tackling, and mandated better head protection, including facemasks for helmets.
Bright recovered, and finished 5th in the Heisman balloting, which was won by Dick Kazmaier of Princeton, who will likely remain the last Ivy Leaguer to win it. (Ed Marinaro of Cornell finished 2nd in 1971, and remains the last one to even come close. He later played a cop on Hill Street Blues.)
Drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, Bright didn't want to play there -- not because he thought Philadelphia was a racist city (long before Dick Allen and Curt Flood thought so, and Jackie Robinson had been already notoriously subjected to racist abuse there), but because he knew there were a lot of Southern players in the NFL. He would play in Canada, and receive many honors (or, as they would spell it, "honours") there, including 3 straight Grey Cups with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, Bright didn't want to play there -- not because he thought Philadelphia was a racist city (long before Dick Allen and Curt Flood thought so, and Jackie Robinson had been already notoriously subjected to racist abuse there), but because he knew there were a lot of Southern players in the NFL. He would play in Canada, and receive many honors (or, as they would spell it, "honours") there, including 3 straight Grey Cups with the Edmonton Eskimos.
When he retired in 1964, he was the CFL's all-time leading rusher, with 10,909 yards, a total then surpassed in the NFL only by Jim Brown, but Brown's amazing 5.2 yards per carry, often cited as a reason why he's the game's greatest ever player, never mind running back, is actually surpassed by Bright, with 5.5, making him North America's all-time leader in that stat at the time. Only 2 CFL players have passed him in rushing yardage since.
He is a member of the Eskimos' Wall of Honour, and the College Football and Canadian Football Halls of Fame. Drake retired his Number 43 (he wore 24 with the Esks) and named the field at Drake Stadium after him. After serving as a teacher and principal at an Edmonton high school, he died in 1983 from complications from surgery. Ernie Davis of Syracuse became the 1st black Heisman winner in 1961.
Also on this day, Claudio Ranieri (no middle name) is born in Rome. A centreback, he briefly appeared with hometown soccer club AS Roma, before helping Calabria club Catanzaro and Sicilian clubs Catania and Palermo win promotion to Serie A, Italy's top league.
He has managed 15 different clubs, including Roma, and Spanish club Valencia twice, and the national team of Greece. He got Sardinia club Caglario promoted from Serie C1 to Serie A in the minimum 2 years, got Florence club Fiorentina promoted and won them the 1996 Coppa Italia, won Valencia the 1999 Copa del Rey, and got Monaco promoted back to France's Ligue 1 in 2013.
He's best known for his time at West London club Chelsea, managing them into the 2002 FA Cup Final and the 2004 Champions League Semifinal, but winning no trophies. He became known as the Tinkerman for his frequent rotation of his players. After the 2003-04 season, Roman Abramovich's 1st as club owner, "the Mad Russian" fired the Tinkerman, hiring Jose Mourinho.
In the 2015-16 season, he pulled off the 5,000-to-1 feat of managing Leicester City, who'd barely escaped relegation the season before, to the Premier League title. They succeeded Chelsea, who had brought Mourinho back, but had fired him again after dropping to 16th place in December. They eventually got back up to 10th. He managed French club Nantes last season, and is currently without a club.
October 20, 1953: Keith Barlow Hernandez is born in San Francisco. Elaine: "Who does this guy think he is?" Keith: "I'm Keith Hernandez!"
He also thinks he's the 1979 NL batting champion and co-MVP (a unique tied vote, shared with Willie Stargell), a member of World Series winners with the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1986 New York Mets, and one of the best-fielding 1st basemen ever.
These days, he thinks he's a broadcaster with the Mets. He also thinks he's really smart, which he is, but he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. Although his acquisition made the Mets a contender and then a champion again after some very dark years, they have strangely not retired his Number 17. Nor has he been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Also on this day, Harry Cameron dies at age 63. A Stanley Cup winner with the 1914 Toronto Blueshirts, the 1918 Toronto Arenas (not the same team as 1914) and the 1922 Toronto St. Patrick's (the same team as 1918, and now known as the Maple Leafs), he was a pioneer of rushing defenseman and curved hockey stick blades. He was posthumously elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
On December 26, 1917, he had a goal and an assist, and won a fight, the 1st time in the history of the brand-new NHL that a player had what would later be called a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" -- even though, in his incredibly long career, Howe only did that twice. The Arenas beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-5 at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto.
October 20, 1954: Lee Roy Selmon is born in Eufala, Oklahoma. Along with his brothers Lucious and Dewey, he was a star defensive lineman at the University of Oklahoma, winning the National Championship in 1974 and 1975. In 1975, he won the Lombardi Award as college football's best lineman, and the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman.
In 1976, he and Dewey were original members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They survived their 26-game losing streak to start their history, and helped them reach the 1979 NFC Championship Game. Lee Roy was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and Dewey was also named to the Pro Bowl.
A 6-time Pro Bowler, he was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL's 1980s All-Decade Team, the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Ring of Honor, and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. His Number 63 was the 1st retired by the team. He later served as athletic director at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and died of a stroke in 2011. He was nearly 57. Florida State Road 618, connecting downtown Tampa with MacDill Air Force Base, has been renamed the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Lucious, the oldest brother, never played in the NFL, playing in the World Football League, and then going back to Oklahoma as an assistant coach, later working on NFL staffs in Denver, Jacksonville and Oakland. He is now 66. Dewey went back to Oklahoma and earned a Ph.D. He is about to turn 64.
October 20, 1955: Aaron Pryor (no middle name) is born in Cincinnati. The former Junior Middleweight Champion of the World overcame drug abuse, and is now an ordained minister and an anti-drug counselor. His sons Aaron Jr. and Stephan have also become professional boxers.
October 20, 1956: Arsenal defeat Tottenham 3-1 in a North London Derby at Highbury. This was to be Arsenal's last match with Tom Whittaker as manager. He died 4 days later. He and Herbert Chapman remain the only Arsenal managers to die in office. Whittaker had played for them, and had been the physiotherapist (we would say "trainer") on their 1930s dynasty, and had managed them to the Football League title in 1948 and 1953 and the FA Cup in 1950.
October 20, 1958, 60 years ago: David Michael Krieg is born in Iola, Wisconsin. A 3-time Pro Bowler, he quarterbacked the Seattle Seahawks to their 1st Conference Championship Game in 1983, and their 1st Division Championship in 1988. The Seahawks have elected him to their Ring of Honor. He is now a real estate investor in Phoenix.
October 20, 1959: Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith makes a public statement that he will not move the team. As Congressman Joe Wilson would say, 50 years later, to a better man than either of them, "YOU LIE!"
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October 20, 1960: Ralph Houk, former Yankee catcher, former Yankee coach, and manager of the 1957 International League Champion Denver Bears, is officially named manager of the Yankees. He will lead them to the next 3 AL Pennants and the next 2 World Championships.
As callous as the Yankees seemed in firing Casey Stengel, they had to make Houk their manager. With 2 new expansion teams coming into the American League for the 1961 season, and 2 more into the National League in 1962, and with plenty of teams changing managers during the course of a season, Houk would have been hired by somebody, so the Yankees needed to promote him in order to keep him. It was a matter of "Use it or lose it."
The results spoke for themselves -- until the farm system ran dry.
October 20, 1961: Ian James Rush is born in St. Asaph, Wales. He was a superstar in the English soccer league, leading Liverpool to 6 League titles. He scored more goals in FA Cup play than any player in the 20th Century, shares with 1966 World Cup hero Geoff Hurst the record for most goals scored in League Cup play, and is the all-time leading goalscorer in Merseyside derbies (Liverpool vs. Everton).
There was a daunting statistic that Liverpool had never lost a game in which Rush scored. That stat held until the 1987 League Cup Final at the old Wembley Stadium, when he scored, and then North London-based Arsenal came back with 2 goals by Charlie Nicholas to win, 2-1.
Rush had a difficult 2-year spell with Juventus in the Italian league, before returning to Liverpool. Not the 1st British player to be a bust in Italy, nor the last, he was asked if the language barrier would be a problem. He denied it: "I don't even speak English that well." (The Welsh do have their own separate language, but Rush can be understood in English, unlike later Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, whose Scouse accent is so thick he needs a translator.)
After a brief spell managing Chester City, which had been his 1st pro club as a player, he became a pundit for Sky Sports. He is now a club ambassador for Liverpool. With 346 goals, he is their all-time leading scorer.
October 20, 1962: Florida State University beats the University of Georgia, 18-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens which has a hedge ring surrounding the field, and it is said that, there, football is played "Between the Hedges."
Dean Coyle Moore, a professor at Florida State and a member of the school's athletic board, had told the Seminoles, "Bring back some sod from Between the Hedges at Georgia." The victory complete, team captain Gene McDowell pulled a small piece of grass out, and showed it to Moore at the next football practice. Coach Bill Peterson took the grass to the practice facility, Harkins Field, and planted it. A plaque was made, and the Sod Cemetery was born.
Ever since, every time the Seminoles win an away game in which they are the underdog, or at the University of Florida, or at bowl games, or, since the Atlantic Coast Conference established a championship game, said game, the team captains cut out a small piece of the playing surface, and have it planted inside the gates of Harkins Field.
By 1970, it had been done 23 times in 9 seasons. But in the 5 seasons before Bobby Bowden arrived, 1971 to 1975, it hadn't been done at all. Although the 'Noles lost their 1st 3 games under Bowden, and 6 of their 1st 8, on October 9, 1976, they went up to The Hub and beat Boston College, and took a piece of Alumni Stadium turf home with them -- the 1st artificial turf to be planted there. Their recent victory away to Miami was the 99th such occurrence, so they're looking forward to the 100th.
Also on this day, Ray Childress is born. A 5-time Pro Bowler for the Houston Oilers, he made the NFL's end-of-season all-star game as both a defensive end and later as a defensive tackle. In a 1988 game against the Washington Redskins, he set an NFL record which has never been tied, let alone broken, recovering 3 fumbles.
He now runs an energy corporation, and the Childress Foundation to aid Houston high school students. He is also a part-owner of the Oilers' replacement franchise, the Houston Texans.
October 20, 1963: Stanislaus "Stan" Henricus Christina Valckx is born in Arcen, the Netherlands. A centreback, he won the Dutch league (Eredivisie) with PSV Eindhoven in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1997 and 2000; and the Dutch Cup (KNVB Beker) in 1989 (a Double), 190 and 1996. With Lisbon's Sporting Clube de Portugal, he won the Taça de Portugal in 1995.
Stan Valckx played for the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup in America. He is now part of the management team at Venlose Voetbal Vereniging Venlo -- known as, no, not "VVVV" or "V4," but as "VVV-Venlo." (I didn't decide that, they did.)
October 20, 1964: Former President Herbert Hoover dies of a gastrointestinal ailment in his suite at the Waldorf Towers in New York. He was 90, older than any former President before him except John Adams. (He has since been surpassed by Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W.H. Bush.)
Hoover was a member of Stanford University's 1st graduating class in 1895. He was student manager of their 1st baseball and football teams. Former President Benjamin Harrison was a founding professor of Stanford's law school, and wanted to attend a football game. Young Hoover made old Harrison pay the admission fee: 25 cents -- about $7.00 in today's money.
Hoover attended Game 5 of the 1929 World Series at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, and was cheered as he threw out the ceremonial first ball. Just a year earlier, he had been elected in one of the biggest landslides ever. Then the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression began. He threw out the first ball at Shibe Park for Game 1 of the 1930 World Series, and this time, fans plagued by the Depression and Prohibition booed him and chanted, "We want beer!" When the Philadelphia Athletics won the Pennant again in 1931, Hoover did not show up for the World Series. In 1932, he lost by an even greater margin than his 1928 win.
October 20, 1965: Just 1 year after he helped the Cardinals win the World Series and was named NL Most Valuable Player, team Captain Ken Boyer is traded to the Mets, for pitcher Al Jackson and 3rd baseman Charlie Smith.
Jackson had been one of the few respectable players in the Mets' early years, while Smith is best known for getting traded by the Cardinals just a year later, even-up, for Roger Maris. An insult to Maris.
Also on this day, Mikhail Alekseyevich Shtalenkov is born in Moscow. A Gold Medal winner as the starting goalie for the post-Soviet "Commonwealth of Independent States" team at the 1992 Winter Olympics, he starred for Dinamo Moscow, was an original Mighty Duck of Anaheim in 1993, and played in the NHL until 2000.
October 20, 1966: Allan Anthony Donald is born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He is considered one of his country's all-time greatest cricket bowlers (pitchers). He recently managed of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, and is now an assistant coach at Kent County Cricket Club in England.
October 20, 1967: Having just moved the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland, owner Charlie Finley names Bob Kennedy as their 1st manager. He does not, however, try to trade for Yankee 3rd baseman John Kennedy. Nor does he try to hire Hockey Hall-of-Famer Ted Kennedy as a consultant.
October 20, 1967: Having just moved the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland, owner Charlie Finley names Bob Kennedy as their 1st manager. He does not, however, try to trade for Yankee 3rd baseman John Kennedy. Nor does he try to hire Hockey Hall-of-Famer Ted Kennedy as a consultant.
Also on this day, the expansion Seattle SuperSonics make their home debut, at the Seattle Center Coliseum. They face the other expansion team, the San Diego Rockets, and lose 121-114. John Block scores 32 and Johnny Green 30 for the Rockets, who will move to Houston in 1971. Walt Hazzard scores 32 for the Sonics, who will win the 1979 NBA Championship and become the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.
Also on this day, the Patterson-Gimlin Film, a.k.a. the Bigfoot Film, is made outside Orleans, California.
Roger Patterson died of cancer in 1972, and maintained until his death that he thought that what was shown in the film was real. Bob Gimlin, now 87 years old, doesn't quite go that far, but he does deny that it was a hoax.
Bigfoot is a hoax, based on the Native American folklore of the Sasquatch, similar to the Himalayan creature the Yeti, a.k.a. the Abominable Snowman. And yet, 2 sports teams -- the now-departed Sonics and the NHL's Colorado Avalanche -- have based their mascots on it.
Also on this day, Star Trek airs the episode "The Doomsday Machine." James Doohan, who played Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, called this his favorite episode. It's easy to see why: Not only does it give "Scotty" more to do than just about any episode, but it's superbly well-written by star science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, and shows USS Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and USS Constellation Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom) dealing with the risks of commanding a ship.
The recent remastering of the Original Series episodes helps this episode more than any other. The "planet killer" looked pretty ridiculous in the Sixties. Now, it looks like a real threat. Also, the damage it did to the Constellation is shown to be much more stark, and the way the ships had to move in order to do what needed to be done to stop the machine was much better rendered.
October 20, 1969: The Mets get their ticker-tape parade for winning the World Series.
Also on this day, Juan Alberto González Vázquez is born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Known as Juan Gonzalez, the All-Star right fielder for the Texas Rangers hit 434 home runs in his career, won AL MVP awards in 1996 and 1998, and scared the hell out of us Yankee Fans by nearly ruining the 1996 season with his 3 home runs in the 1st 2 games of the ALDS.
But injuries ruined his career, leading him to being traded repeatedly, and his nickname "Juan Gone" began to refer less to the balls he hit, and more to his propensity for being out of the lineup. He had his last productive season at 33, and he was done at 35. Wow, he really, really fits the steroid profile. Both Jose Canseco and the Mitchell Report accused him of using. He still denies it. He is eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he'll never get in.
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October 20, 1970: Sander Bernard Jozef Boschker is born in Lichtenvoorde, the Netherlands. A goalkeeper, he won the KNVB Cup with Twente Enschede in 2001, won the Eredivisie with Ajax Amsterdam in 2004, then returned to Twente an won the 2010 Eredvisie and the 2011 KNVB Cup.
Sander Boschker backed up Maarten Stekelenburg on the Dutch team that lost the 2010 World Cup Final to Spain in extra time, but, as his backup, ended up making only 1 appearance for the national side, and it wasn't in that tournament. He is now retired.
October 20, 1971: Laura Mendez is born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is a lawyer, a fitness advocate, Mrs. Jorge Posada, and, through the experience of her son Jorge IV, a fundraiser for childhood facial and cranial difficulties.
I met her once, at a YES Network function. As in, YES, she looks just as good in person. And, YES, she's as nice as you would hope someone who looks that good is. And, YES, he ended up with her. So here's hope for all of us.
Also on this day, Eddie Charles Jones is born in Pompano Beach, Florida. (Why "Eddie Charles"? If you're going with Eddie instead of Edward, why not Charlie or Chuck instead of Charles?) The Temple University guard was the 1994 Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year and a 3-time NBA All-Star. But he had lousy luck, being traded away from both the Los Angeles Lakers (in 1999) and the Miami Heat (in 2005) a season before they won NBA titles.
Also on this day, Calvin Corodzar Broadus Jr. is born outside Los Angeles in Long Beach, California. The king of West Coast rap, Snoop Dogg -- he's also used "Snoop Doggy Dogg,""Tha Doggfather" and "Snoop Lion" -- is part of a family that includes P-Funk bass master Bootsy Collins, the late rapper Nate Dogg, and brother-and-sister singers Brandy Norwood and Ray J. (Not to be confused with Bill Saluga, a.k.a. Raymond J. Johnson Jr., a.k.a. Mr. "You can call me Ray, or... ")
Mariah Carey, often called a diva, once did a duet with him, and said, "Snoop is a much bigger diva than I am." He also likes his herb: As Arsenio Hall said when Snoop and his mentor Dr. Dre appeared on his show in 1993, "They gave a whole new meaning to the term 'green room.'" He dropped references to his usage when he played Moses against Nice Peter's Santa Claus in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History.
Like a lot of the 1980s and '90s L.A. rappers, he became a big fan of the Raiders, staying one even after they moved back to Oakland. He's also a Dodger, Laker and USC fan. He took classes to become a certified football coach, and coached his son Cordell Broadus, a receiver and defensive back, at John A. Rowland High School in the L.A. suburb of Rowland Heights. Ironically, Cordell went to USC's arch-rivals, UCLA, but has since left the football program, though not the school.
October 20, 1972: William John Heaton Greenwood is born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. Yeah, the place with the "4,000 holes." Will Greenwood found a few holes playing rugby for London club Harlequins and Leicester Tigers. He was a member of the England team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He is now a rugby analyst for Sky Sports.
Also on this day, The Odd Couple airs the episode "I'm Dying of Unger." New York Herald sports columnist Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) is trying to write a novel titled Knockout, about a boxer. He has total writer's block. His roommate Felix Unger (Tony Randall) figures out what's wrong: To survive in the ring, a boxer needs a "killer instinct," which Oscar, a rough guy but, at heart, a nice guy, doesn't have.
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October 20, 1973: The Sydney Opera House, Australia's most famous structure, opens. The Rolling Stones hit Number 1 on the U.S. singles charts with "Angie." The Six Million Dollar Man premieres on ABC, starring Lee Majors as astronaut-turned-bionic-federal-agent Steve Austin. (Definitely not to be confused with the Stone Cold "professional wrestler" using the same name.)
And Game 6 of the World Series is played at the Oakland Coliseum. The Mets just need to win 1 of the last 2 games against the Athletics in Oakland, and they will have their 2nd World Championship in 5 seasons -- it has been 11 years since the Yankees went all the way. And Tom Seaver, "The Franchise," is on the mound. What can go wrong?
This can go wrong: Met manager Yogi Berra has sent Seaver out on just 3 days' rest, hoping that "Tom Terrific" can close out the defending World Champions on their own patch, so that no Game 7 will be necessary.
But Reggie Jackson, not yet a New York baseball legend, hits 2 doubles, scores 1 run and knocks in 2. Jim "Catfish" Hunter, also a future Hall-of-Famer, pitches brilliantly. The A's beat the Mets 3-1. So there will be a Game 7 tomorrow.
To this day, many Met fans are angry at Yogi for starting Seaver on short rest. I'm sure some of them think of Yogi as a Yankee and hate him for that reason alone. They shouldn't: There are only 5 human beings who have managed the Mets to a Pennant: Yogi, Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine and Terry Collins. And only Johnson, Valentine and Collins are still alive.
Also on this day, the Capital Bullets -- who will change their name again to the Washington Bullets next season -- play their 1st home game after 10 years in Baltimore, at the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland. At this point, the Bullets are one of the better teams in the NBA, and they prove it, beating the Boston Celtics 96-87. Phil Chenier leads all scorers with 26 points.
But the big story of October 20, 1973 is, unlike that game, actually in Washington, and it has nothing to do with sports, unless you consider politics to be a "contact sport." The day before, in an effort to get away with whatever he did that was recorded on his Oval Office tapes, President Richard Nixon offered a compromise: He would allow Senator John Stennis to review the tapes, and present Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox with summaries.
On this day, Cox publicly refuses to accept this compromise. He knows that Stennis is not only a conservative from Mississippi and a supporter of Nixon's -- he's a conservative Southern Democrat, a.k.a. a "Dixiecrat," and no friend of mainstream Democrats -- but also hard of hearing. If those tapes reveal that Nixon committed an impeachable offense, Stennis might not hear it properly. And even if he does, he might refuse to admit it to Cox, and claim his poor hearing caused him to miss it. Cox isn't buying it, and has enough guts to press onward.
Nixon decides that, in order to survive as President, he has to fire Cox -- whom he had never fully trusted, as Cox had been Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and an old friend of
JFK's, and thus a partisan Democrat.
So he instructs his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, the man with the power to fire Cox, to do it. Richardson refuses, because he thinks it will spark a Constitutional crisis. Nixon says do it or you're
fired. Richardson does the honorable thing, and resigns his post.
So Nixon goes to the next man in line, Richardson's Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus. He tells Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. He refuses. Nixon says do it or you're fired. Ruckelshaus still refuses, but does not resign. Nixon fires him.
So with the top 2 men in the U.S. Department of Justice now gone, Nixon goes to the Number 3 man, the Solicitor General, and tells him to fire Cox. He does, because he values Nixon more than he values the Constitution.
Word quickly gets out, and the Washington press corps quickly dubs these events "The Saturday Night Massacre." People wake up the next morning to bold headlines in their Sunday papers. The Sunday morning news shows, NBC's Meet the Press, CBS' Face the Nation, and ABC's Issues and Answers (the predecessor program to This Week), can talk about nothing else.
The pressure on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Nixon vastly increases. And, with the Vice Presidency vacant, as Spiro Agnew has resigned and Gerald Ford has not yet been confirmed by either house of Congress as the new VP, the next man in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Carl Albert -- a Democrat, and, while from a Southern State, Oklahoma, considerably more liberal than Stennis. This would have been a political earthquake, much bigger than the end of Nixon's Presidency actually turned out to be.
Within days, Nixon realizes what a blunder he has committed, and tells the Acting Attorney General to appoint a new Special Prosecutor. That man would be Leon Jaworski. By December 6, Ford would be confirmed by both houses and sworn in as Vice President, and the danger of Nixon being impeached and removed, and replaced by a President of the other party, was gone, and things calmed down in Watergate -- for a while.
There would be ramifications, of course -- some lasting much longer than the Nixon Administration itself. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed that same former Acting Attorney General to the U.S. Supreme Court, as his judicial views fit the archconservative vision that Reagan had for the country. But his role in the Saturday Night Massacre was held against him -- although it's possible that he might have been rejected by the Senate anyway. His name was Robert Bork.
On April 26, 1974, the Yankees would trade 4 pitchers to the Cleveland Indians: Fritz Peterson, Fred Beene, Steve Kline and Tom Buskey. Essentially sending away half their pitching staff, this became known as the Friday Night Massacre. But the trade was necessary: It got rid of 4 pitchers who didn't take the game as seriously as they did their social lives, and it brought in 2 players who would be essential in the Yankees' late 1970s Pennants: 1st baseman Chris Chambliss and pitcher Dick Tidrow. (They also got pitcher Cecil Upshaw, but he was injured, turned out to be a nonfactor, and was traded after the season.)
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October 20, 1976: Game 4 of the World Series is postponed by rain. Not that it will do the Yankees much good, as they trail the Cincinnati Reds 3 games to none.
Also on this day, the Long Island-based New York Nets are in trouble. Having to pay the NBA $3 million as an entry fee from the ABA, and having to pay the Knicks a $4.8 million "territorial indemnification fee," the Nets owe $7.8 million -- about $34 million in today's money.
The Nets offered their biggest star, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, to the Knicks in exchange for the Knicks waiving the territorial indemnification fee. This would have dropped the Nets' fees to $3 million. But the Knicks refused: They wanted the money more than the superstar. This was a tremendous mistake, as they had already fallen far from their 1970 and '73 NBA titles with the retirements of Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere and Jerry Lucas, while Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley were clearly in decline, although Earl Monroe was still good. The Knicks went on to crash and burn.
But so did the Nets: They sold Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million, leaving them with only the territorial indemnification fee of $4.8 million. Despite having picked up future Hall-of-Famer Nate "Tiny" Archibald, the Nets instantly went from the ABA Championship to the worst record in the NBA. It would take until 1981-82 to recover, by which point the Knicks had also begun to do so.
October 20, 1977, 40 years ago: A Convair CV-300 plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray.
Also on board, surviving but badly hurt, were guitarists Allen Collins and Gary Rossington, bass guitarist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell, drummer Artimus Pyle, backing vocalist Leslie Hawkins, road crew member Steve Lawler, band security manager Gene Odom, and road crew members Ken Peden and Marc Frank. Collins was, however, paralyzed. Odom was badly burned.
An engine malfunction caused the pilots to mistakenly dump the plane's extra fuel, instead of transferring it to another engine like they intended. That's right, the plane crashed because it ran out of gas. Maybe Neil Young was right after all, albeit in an incredibly different context: "Southern Man, better use your head."
An engine malfunction caused the pilots to mistakenly dump the plane's extra fuel, instead of transferring it to another engine like they intended. That's right, the plane crashed because it ran out of gas. Maybe Neil Young was right after all, albeit in an incredibly different context: "Southern Man, better use your head."
To make matters worse, in a case of "Timing is everything," just 3 days earlier, Skynyrd had released a new album, titled Street Survivors. The cover shows them standing in the middle of a fire. One of the more familiar tracks on the album is titled "That Smell." The lyrics include the words, "Tomorrow might not be here for you," and, "The smell of death surrounds you."
The album would be repackaged, showing the band in front of a black background, and the original cover, much like the "Butcher Sleeve" of the 1966 Beatles compilation album Yesterday and Today, and the original cover of Electric Ladyland showing Jimmy Hendrix surrounded by naked women, has become a collector's item.
The band would regroup, with Ronnie's brother Johnny Van Zant singing lead. He had previously led the unimaginatively-titled Johnny Van Zant Band. Another brother, Donnie Van Zant, was the lead singer of another "Southern rock" band, .38 Special.
Collins was in another crash, of his car, in 1986, never fully recovered, and died in 1990. Wilkeson died in 2001, from lung and liver diseases. Powell died of natural causes in 2009. Rossington, Pyle, Hawkins, Odom, Peden and Frank are still alive. I can find no information on whether Lawler is.
October 20, 1978, 40 years ago: Swedish auto racer Gunnar Nilsson dies, a month short of his 30th birthday -- not in a crash, but from cancer. He had won the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix.
Also on this day, Virender Sehwag is born in Delhi, Indian. I don't know what makes a cricketer great, but his Wikipedia entry says he is "often considered as the most destructive batsman of the game." He holds the record for the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket, 319 against South Africa at Chennai (the city formerly known as Madras) in 2008.
He played for India in 3 Cricket World Cups, including their 2011 win. Having starred for the Delhi club for 17 years, he is now retired.
He played for India in 3 Cricket World Cups, including their 2011 win. Having starred for the Delhi club for 17 years, he is now retired.
October 20, 1979: Paul Jeremiah O'Connell is born in Limerick, Ireland. He played 14 seasons for Munster Rugby, and in 4 Rugby World Cups for Ireland. He has captained both, and also the every-four-years-touring "British and Irish Lions." In 2009, 2014 and 2015, he was a member of the Ireland team that won the Six Nations.
October 20, 1980: José Enger Veras Romero is born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The pitcher was a Yankee from 2006 to 2009, but was designated for assignment before he could pitch in that great postseason. He pitched for the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS, and is now retired.
October 20, 1981: Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. A banner is hung from the upper deck:
October 20, 1981: Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. A banner is hung from the upper deck:
DON'T THE
DODGERS
EVER LEARN
Not yet, they don't, as Bob Watson's 1st-inning homer and the pitching of Ron Guidry and Goose Gossage shut the Bums down, 5-3.
Also on this day, Dimitris Papadopoulos is born in Gagarin, Uzbekistan. His parents were Greek, and the forward has played mostly in Greece. He led Athens-based Panathinaikos to the Double, the Superleague Greece and the Greek Cup, in 2004. He then led Greece to victory at Euro 2004, and was named Greek Footballer of the Year. He won that award again in 2013 and 2014, and led Dinamo Zagreb to the Croatian First League title in 2010. He is now retired.
October 20, 1982: Game 7 of the World Series at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals, including birthday boy Keith Hernandez, rally for 3 runs in the 6th to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3.
October 20, 1982: Game 7 of the World Series at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals, including birthday boy Keith Hernandez, rally for 3 runs in the 6th to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3.
The Cardinals win their 9th World Series, a total surpassed only by the Yankees. (Since then, if you combine their Philadelphia and Oakland titles, it has been matched by the A’s, although the Cards have now made it 11.)
The Cardinals will win 2 more Pennants in the decade, and have remained more or less competitive ever since. The Brewers have never played another World Series game, and did not even play another postseason game for 26 years.
But this is a dark day in the history of sports on planet Earth, for reasons that have nothing to do with the World Series. A UEFA Cup match was scheduled for the Grand Sports Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium, now named the Luzhniki Stadium. Spartak Moscow, the most popular sports team in the Soviet Union, hosted Dutch club HFC Haarlem.
Unlike some other soccer disasters, including the Hillsborough Disaster in Sheffield, England in 1989, the problem this time wasn't too many tickets being sold. Even by Russian standards, this was a cold day for October: 14 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. As a result, a stadium that could then hold as many as 102,000 sold only 16,643 tickets.
It is believed that only 100 fans had come from the Netherlands to support Haarlem, despite having a young Ruud Gullit in their ranks. They won the Dutch league, the Eredivisie, in 1946 and had won promotion back into it in 1981 and qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1982. But they were relegated in 1990, and went bankrupt in 2010, and have had to start all over; the new club, named Haarlem Kennemerland, now plays in the Netherlands' 9th division.
Edgar Gess, a Tajik midfielder, scored in the 16th minute. The score remained 1-0 to Spartak nearly the rest of the way, and, not anticipating the poorly-supported visitors to get a late equalizer, hundreds of fans in the East Stand left their seats to leave the stadium and get to the Metro (Moscow's subway).
But in stoppage time, Georgian defender Sergei Shvetsov scored to make it 2-0. The fans leaving heard the remaining fans cheer, and, in the same setup as the Ibrox Disaster in Glasgow, Scotland in 1971, many of them turned around to head back and see what happened. This led to fans bumping into each other on the stairwell and falling like dominoes.
There is an alternate theory that the reaction to Shvetsov's goal had nothing to do with it: Rather, it was a young woman losing a shoe, going back to pick it up, getting trampled, and a few fans stopping to help her, thus, in trying to make a bad situation better, instead making it far worse: Good Samaritanism gone horribly wrong.
Initially, the Soviet government announced that the number of fatalities was a mere 3. Some had speculated that it was as high as 340. It wasn't until the fall of the Soviet Union, and the declassification of many documents, that the true number of deaths was revealed: 66 -- oddly, the exact same number as the similar Ibrox Disaster. It remains the greatest sporting disaster ever to happen on the European continent.
Four stadium officials, including the stadium's director and its top police officer, were charged. Two of them were never tried due to illness. The other two were imprisoned for 3 years.
On November 3, the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup tie was played in Haarlem. Despite Haarlem taking a 1-0 lead, Spartak won the game 3-1, including another goal by Shvetsov, won the tie 5-1, and advanced. On October 20, 2007, the 25th Anniversary, the players gathered at Luzhniki Stadium again, playing a memorial match for charity.
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October 20, 1983: Michel Armand Vorm is born in IJsselstein, the Netherlands. (That's not a misspelling: It is written with both the I and the J capitalied.) The goalkeeper starred in his homeland for Utrecht and in the English Premier League for Welsh club Swansea City.
He is now Hugo Lloris' backup on North London club Tottenham Hotspur, where his mistakes have led to the pun, "Vorm is temporary, class is permanent."
October 20, 1984: East Brunswick High School plays neighboring Sayreville in football. I was a sophomore at EBHS at the time. At halftime, the score was EB 40, Sayreville 6. Oddly, the Sayreville band performed at halftime. Usually, the home team's band does, while the visitors' band does so before the game.
The Sayreville band, then as always terrible, and in spite of their Bombers trailing the Bears by 5 touchdowns, brought out a sign that read, "BURY THE BEAR." The chant went up from the home stands at Jay Doyle Field: "Scorrrrrrrre-boarrrrrrrrd!"
The Sayreville band, then as always terrible, and in spite of their Bombers trailing the Bears by 5 touchdowns, brought out a sign that read, "BURY THE BEAR." The chant went up from the home stands at Jay Doyle Field: "Scorrrrrrrre-boarrrrrrrrd!"
The Bombers held the Bears to only a safety in the 2nd half, but it was hardly enough, as EB won 42-13.
Also on this day, Florent Stéphane Sinama Pongolle is born in Saint-Pierre, Réunion, an "overseas department" of France, off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The forward was a backup on the Liverpool team that won the 2005 UEFA Champions League and the 2006 FA Cup. He won the Russian Cup with Rostov in 2014, then played in America for the Chicago Fire, and now plays in Thailand's league.
Also on this day, Andrew Trimble (no middle name) is born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He played for Ulster Rugby, and for the combined Ireland team, doing so in the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, and winning the Six Nations Championship 2009, 2014 and 2015. He is now retired.
Also on this day, on Saturday Night Live, Billy Crystal debuts his character of old-time comedian Buddy Young Jr., later to be the focus of his film Mr. Saturday Night. He and Christopher Guest debut Willie & Frankie, the "I hate when that happens!" guys.
October 20, 1986: Tommy Walker dies. No, not the title character from "Tommy." This is a more important figure in the history of music. Both a placekicker on the University of Southern California football team and a trumpeter in their marching band in 1946, he composed, "Da da da DAT da DA! Charge!"
He later became an events producer, putting together the Opening Ceremony of the 1984 Olympics (like his home football games, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum) and the 1986 Centennial of the Statue of Liberty. He was just short of turning 63 when he died.
October 20, 1987: Game 3 of the World Series. After losing the 1st 2 games to the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome, the St. Louis Cardinals bounce back. A 2-run double by Vince Coleman backs up John Tudor, and the Cards win 3-1.
October 20, 1989: Colin Wilson (no middle name) is born in Greenwich, Connecticut, near New York, where his father Carey Wilson is playing for the Rangers. His grandfather Jerry Wilson had briefly played for the Montreal Canadiens, and, as a scout for the Winnipeg Jets, had brought the 1st Swedish players to North American hockey. Having helped the Nashville Predators reach last season's Stanley Cup Finals, Colin is now a center for the Colorado Avalanche.
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October 20, 1990: North London soccer team Arsenal defeats Manchester United, at United's ground of Old Trafford, 1-0, on a goal by Arsenal's new Swedish winger, Anders Limpar.
But late in the game, United's dirty left back Denis Irwin starts a fight that brings nearly every player on both teams into it. The Football Association deducted a point from United, and 2 from Arsenal. This had never happened before, and has not happened since.
This did not faze George Graham's Arsenal. Instead, it bred a siege mentality in them. They lost only 1 game the entire League season, and the following May 6, a Liverpool loss earlier in the day clinched the title for Arsenal. And who were they playing that night? Man United, of course, in the return fixture at Highbury. Alan Smith scored a hat trick to clinch the Golden Boot as the League's leading scorer. And, all game long, the Arsenal fans chanted, "You can shove yer fookin' two points up yer arse!"
On this same day, the talk of an Oakland dynasty is proven premature‚ as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Athletics 2-1, to complete one of the most stunning sweeps in World Series history. Series MVP Jose Rijo (2-0‚ 0.59 ERA) retires the last 20 batters he faces to give the Reds their 1st World Championship since 1976, their 5th overall. However, the Reds have not won a Pennant since – in fact, they haven’t even won an NLCS game in the quarter of a century since.
Not joining the celebration at the end is Eric Davis‚ who ruptures his kidney diving for a ball during the game, and is taken to the hospital. This is the 1st of several injuries that ended up derailing what could have been a great career, although he did play on until 2001 and hit 282 home runs. He and Rickey Henderson are the only players to hit 25 home runs and steal 80 bases in a season, and he and Barry Bonds (before the steroids) are the only players to hit 30 homers and steal 50 bases in a season. He's now a roving instructor for the Reds, and they have elected him to their Hall of Fame. One of his teammates called him "the best hitter, best runner, best outfielder, best everything I've ever seen."
That teammate was Paul O'Neill. The Reds' manager was former Yankee great Lou Piniella. An intense right fielder who came up big in big moments, O'Neill reminded me even then of a lefthanded version of Sweet Lou, and I was thrilled when the Yankees traded for him. He would go on to win 4 more World Series with the Yankees, for a total of 5.
Also on this day, Saturday Night Live is hosted by George Steinbrenner, recently suspended by Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent over the Howard Spira scandal. He announces that he's bought the Reds. He also plays the manager of a store, who is told by his division manager to fire an employee who's been goofing off, and, contrary to his real life, he says he can't bring himself to do it, that a man would have to be really rotten to be constantly firing people.
October 20, 1991: Game 2 of the World Series. The Minnesota Twins don't lose at home in the postseason. Chili Davis and Scott Leius hit home runs, and the Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2, to take a 2-0 lead in the Series.
October 20, 1992: For the 1st time, a World Series game is played outside the United States of America, as Game 3 is played at the SkyDome (now known as the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. The Blue Jays take a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Candy Maldonado's bases-loaded single in the 9th inning. Duane Ward gets credit for the victory in relief of Juan Guzman‚ and Joe Carter and Kelly Gruber homer for Toronto.
October 20, 1992: For the 1st time, a World Series game is played outside the United States of America, as Game 3 is played at the SkyDome (now known as the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. The Blue Jays take a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Candy Maldonado's bases-loaded single in the 9th inning. Duane Ward gets credit for the victory in relief of Juan Guzman‚ and Joe Carter and Kelly Gruber homer for Toronto.
By starting in right field‚ Toronto's Joe Carter becomes the 1st player to start the 1st 3 games of a World Series at 3 different positions. He started Game 1 at 1st base and Game 2 in left field. Little did he know that a bigger distinction was yet to come: Catching the last out of the Series. And an even bigger one the following season.
In the 4th inning‚ Jays center fielder Devon White's sensational catch nearly results in a triple play. Deion Sanders was ruled safe on the play‚ but replays show he should have been the 3rd out. It would have been only the 2nd triple play in Series history, after Bill Wambsganss' unassisted feat in 1920.
Braves manager Bobby Cox is ejected from the game in the 9th, for arguing a check-swing call. He would also be thrown out of a Series game in 1996, and he remains the only manager facing this punishment since 1985.
By a weird turn of events, the last player thrown out of a Series game was the unrelated Danny Cox, of the 1987 Cardinals. Only 2 men from New York teams have ever been thrown out of a World Series game, both in clinchers: Ralph Branca of the Dodgers, for bench-jockeying against the Yankees in Game 7 in 1952; and Yankee manager Billy Martin, for throwing a ball from the dugout onto the field in Game 4 in 1976.
October 20, 1993, 25 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series at a rainy Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Charlie Williams becomes the 1st black man to serve as a home plate umpire in a World Series game.
The Phillies blow a 14-9 lead over the Blue Jays in the 8th inning, capped by a Devon White triple (he seems to like playing on October 20), and lose 15-14, the highest-scoring game in Series history, breaking the record of Game 2 of the 1936 Series, the Yankees beating the Giants 18-4.
If you're a Phillies fan, this is when the Series was lost, not when Mitch Williams came in to relieve in Game 6. But then, if you're a Phillies fan, the 2007-11 quasi-dynasty may have helped you get over it.
October 20, 1994: Burt Lancaster dies from the lingering effects of a stroke. The great actor had played football players and boxers, and might be best remembered for the title role in Jim Thorpe, All-American. His last film was as baseball player-turned-doctor Archie "Moonlight" Graham in Field of Dreams. He was 80.
October 20, 1996: Game 1 of the World Series, the 1st Series game at Yankee Stadium in 15 years. The Atlanta Braves spoil the party with a 12-1 shellacking of Andy Pettitte and the Yankee bullpen. Andruw Jones, the Braves' 19-year-old sensation from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, becomes the youngest player ever to hit a home run in a World Series game – in fact, he hits 2, joining Gene Tenace of the '72 A's as the only 2 players ever to homer in their 1st 2 Series at-bats.
After the game, George Steinbrenner barges into manager Joe Torre's office. George yells about how the Yankees were embarrassed -- which, if we're being honest, they were. But Torre, who formerly managed the Braves to a postseason berth, and had just been clobbered in the 1st World Series game of his life at age 56, is unfazed. He tells George that they'll probably lose Game 2 as well. "But we're heading down to Atlanta," he says, "and that's my hometown, and we'll win 3 straight there, and come back here and win it."
Joe later says, "He looked at me like I had 2 heads." (Well, Joe's head is rather large.) George later says he thought Joe was nuts, but he appreciated the confidence. That confidence will be rewarded.
And, as it turns out, Jones was no one-shot wonder: He would go on to hit 434 home runs and win 10 Gold Gloves in a career that, interestingly enough, ended with the 2011 and 2012 Yankees. He will thus be eligible for the Hall of Fame in its next election.
Also on this day, the 1st MLS Cup Final is played. This is not a spectacular miscalculation on Major League Soccer's part: This was supposed to be the day of Game 2 of the World Series, but rain pushed things back a day.
Unfortunately for MLS, the weather was still bad, as Hurricane Lili drenched the proceedings at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburbs, the neutral site chosen for the 1st Final. Washington-based D.C. United fall behind the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0, thanks to a 4th minute goal by Ecuadorean forward Eduardo Hurtado and a 56th minute goal by American midfielder Chris Armas. It looks like Cobi Jones and company will cruise to victory.
But, as they sing in England, "Two-nil, and you fucked it up!" Tony Sanneh comes on as a substitute in the 59th, and Shawn Medved does so in the 70th. Sanneh scores in the 72nd, and Medved does so in the 81st, and, with defenders Eddie Pope and Jeff Agoos and goalkeeper Mark Simpson holding the Gals off, the game goes to extra time.
At the time, the MLS Cup had a "golden goal" rule: First team to score in overtime wins. But it wasn't their Kearny, New Jersey-born midfielder and Captain John Harkes who scored the winning goal for DCU. Nor was it either of their Bolivian stars, Marco Etcheverry or Jamie Moreno. Instead, in the 94th minute, it is Pope who proves infallible.
DCU would win the League's 1st 2 titles, 3 of the 1st 4, and 4 of the 1st 9 (1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004). It has been argued that the 1st decade of MLS was the DC Era, and the 2nd decade was the LA Era, as the Gals would end up winning 5 Cups (2002, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014).
Also on this day, the Ice Palace opens in downtown Tampa, with a performance by the Royal Hanneford Circus. The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning soon moved in, and remain there. The building's name was changed to the St. Pete Times Forum in 2002, the Tampa Bay Times Forum when the newspaper's name changed in 2012, and the Amalie Arena in 2014.
October 20, 1998, 20 years ago: Game 3 of the World Series, in front of 64,667 at Jack Murphy – excuse me, Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Having hosted Super Bowl XXXII in January, this becomes the 1st time the Super Bowl and the World Series have been played in the same stadium -- or even in the same metropolitan area -- in the same calendar year.
The Metrodome in Minneapolis hosted the World Series in October 1991, Super Bowl XXVI in January 1992, and the NCAA Final Four in April 1992. But no stadium has hosted a Super Bowl and a World Series in the same calendar year since. Detroit in 2006, Dallas in 2011 and Houston in 2017 have hosted both in the same metro area in the same calendar year, but not in the same stadium.
In the pre-Super Bowl era, World Series and NFL Championship Games had been played in the same city in the same calendar year as follows: New York in 1936, 1938, 1956 and 1962; Detroit in 1935; and Cleveland in 1954.
The San Diego Padres take a 3-0 lead on the Yankees, but 3rd baseman Scott Brosius, having the season of his life, hits a home run to make it 3-2. In the top of the 8th, with the Yankees threatening with 2 men on, the Padres bring in their closer, Trevor Hoffman.
The Padre fans, believing him to be the world's greatest relief pitcher, wave their white towels and cheer wildly. The words, "IT'S TREVOR TIME" appear on the scoreboard. The public-address system blasts the song "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC.
Steinbrenner, not familiar with the hard rock music of the Seventies and Eighties, tells the New York beat writers, "When they played that death march, it sounded like the WWF, when The Undertaker comes in. That's who I thought they were bringing in!"
Certainly, for NL batters that season, Hoffman might as well have been an undertaker. The whole production had become one of the most intimidating scenes in baseball.
But these are not NL batters, these are the New York Yankees, and they fear nobody. Brosius takes him over the center field wall for a 5-3 Yankee lead, soon to be a 5-4 Yankee victory. The actual best closer in the game, Mariano Rivera, finishes it off, and the Yankees can wrap up the Series with a sweep tomorrow.
October 20, 1999: Calvin Griffith dies at age 87 – 40 years to the day after he announced he wouldn’t move the Washington Senators, before actually doing so a year after that. The nephew and adopted son of Hall-of-Fame pitcher and executive Clark Griffith, he inherited control of the Senators in 1955, and moved them to Minnesota to become the Twins in 1961.
In 1978, he told a Lions Club dinner why he took the Senators out of D.C., which was on its way to becoming a majority-black city: "I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota: It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring, and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here."
Although the Twins came within 1 win of the 1965 World Championship, later decisions left the team mediocre through most of the Seventies. Griffith was so cheap and shortsighted that he was said to have engaged in one of Minnesota’s great outdoor pastimes, hunting for a type of fish known as walleyes, caught his legal limit, brought them to the supermarket, and traded them for a box of Mrs. Paul's fish sticks. He sold the Twins in 1984 to Carl Pohlad, a billionaire who, ironically, turned out to be nearly as cheap as Griffith.
Also on this day, The West Wing airs the episode "The Crackpots and These Women." It starts with a basketball game, the President's staff against him and some Secret Service agents. Losing, the President decides to bring in a ringer: Rodney Grant, whom he calls "an associate director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness."
White House Press Secretary Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) thinks he recognizes the name, and asks Grant if he'd ever played. Yes, at Duke University. Toby: "This guy was in the Final Four!" Ironically, Grant is played by Juwan Howard, then playing for the Washington Wizards, and thus available for the location shot. Howard was a member of the University of Michigan "Fab Five," so (despite it having been stricken from the record for reasons that had nothing to do with him) he did play in the NCAA Final Four -- losing the 1992 Final to Duke, and the 1993 Final to North Carolina.
The episode also introduces "Big Block of Cheese Day," invented by White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), in honor of President Andrew Jackson opening up the White House to the people following his 1829 Inauguration, including the eponymous cheddar, telling them to interact with people they wouldn't ordinarily interact with, just because it's good public relations -- the "crackpots" of the title.
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October 20, 2001: The New York Islanders retire the Number 19 of Hall-of-Fame center Bryan Trottier. This was a bit late: He'd played his last NHL game 7 years earlier, and his last game for the team 11 years earlier. The team had already retired 5 for Denis Potvin, 9 for Clark Gillies, 22 for Mike Bossy, 23 for Bobby Nystrom and 31 for Billy Smith.
Their game that night, at the Nassau Coliseum, against the San Jose Sharks, ends in a 2-2 tie. (No shootouts yet.)
October 20, 2002: Francisco Rodriguez, a 20-year-old righthanded reliever from Venezuela, becomes the youngest pitcher ever to win a World Series game. With just 15 days of major league experience, "K-Rod" throws 37 pitches, retiring 9 consecutive batters in 3 innings, to pick up the victory when the Angels outslug the Giants in Game 2 of the Fall Classic, 11-10.
He breaks the record of Jim Palmer, who was just short of turning 21 when he outpitched Sandy Koufax in Game 2 of the 1966 World Series -- Koufax' last game, as it turned out.
Also on this day, the Los Angeles Galaxy win their 1st MLS Cup, defeating the New England Revolution 1-0, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, 6 years to the day after the Galaxy lost the 1st MLS Cup Final at the old stadium that had been next-door.
Another match for that 1st Final was that the Gals won on a "golden goal," in the 113th minute, not by a superstar such as Cobi Jones or Alexi Lalas, but by Guatemalan striker Carlos Ruíz, known as Pescado (The Fish).
The Gals would also beat the Revs in the Final in 2014. The Revs are no longer the Buffalo Bills or the Minnesota Vikings of MLS: They have surpassed both of them, playing in 5 MLS Cup Finals, and losing them all.
October 20, 2004: The Red Sox ruin the anniversary of Mickey's birth. Unlike the 2003-13 Red Sox, Mickey didn't need no steroids to win baseball games. The chemicals he ingested were, most definitely, not performance-enhancing.
Having dropped 3 straight to the Sox to force a Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees had nothing left, at least not emotionally. The Red Sox led 6-0 after 2 innings. It was 8-1 after 4. The final was 10-3.
This was not the kind of loss that crushes you because you had it won at the end, and blew it. We got beat early. From the 1st inning onward, we knew the Red Sox were going to win the game. We knew it, and their fans knew it. There was nothing that could be done. And we had to stick it out, all 9 innings, and hear those Red Sox fans give us the business in our house for, as it turned out, 3 hours and 31 minutes. Never mind what the clock said: This was the longest game in Yankee history.
It was 12:01 AM, October 21, when Ruben Sierra grounded to 2nd for the final out. So not only had the Sox ended the Curse of the Bambino, they had ruined the birthdays of both Mickey Mantle (dead since 1995) and Whitey Ford (then, as now, still alive).
Finally, after losing the Pennant to the Yankees on the final day in 1949, blowing the Division title to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978, losing the ALCS to the Yankees in 1999, and the shock of 2003, the Red Sox and their fans had their revenge over the Yankees.
On July 30, 2009, it was revealed that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the 2 biggest reasons the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and again in 2007, had failed steroid tests. They hadn't earned a fucking thing. They'd cheated. Ortiz was still there when they won it all again in 2013. Those 3 titles are fake, and they goddamned well know it. 1918 * Forever.
They would say the Yankees "cheated" to win their titles. Really? The evidence against the 1996-2003 Yankees is incredibly flimsy. The evidence against the 2003-2013 Red Sox is overwhelming.
The baseball media, of course, will never give the Yankees the same benefit of the doubt that they give the Red Sox. Well, to hell with them. The world knows the truth, whether they accept it or not.
Lost in the excitement of the Red Sox' revenge over the Yankees, Jim Edmonds hits a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning, to give the Cardinals a 6-4 win over the Astros, and send the NLCS to a decisive Game 7.
Also on this day, Chuck Hiller dies in St. Petersburgh Beach, Florida at age 70. He was the Giants' starting 2nd baseman for their 1962 Pennant, and in Game 4 of the World Series he became the 1st NL player to hit a grand slam in Series play. He spent the 1965, '66 and '67 seasons with the Mets, and served as Whitey Herzog's 3rd base coach in Texas, Kansas City and St. Louis, finally winning a World Series ring with the '82 Cardinals. He was also the Mets' 3rd base coach in 1990.
Also on this day, Chuck Hiller dies in St. Petersburgh Beach, Florida at age 70. He was the Giants' starting 2nd baseman for their 1962 Pennant, and in Game 4 of the World Series he became the 1st NL player to hit a grand slam in Series play. He spent the 1965, '66 and '67 seasons with the Mets, and served as Whitey Herzog's 3rd base coach in Texas, Kansas City and St. Louis, finally winning a World Series ring with the '82 Cardinals. He was also the Mets' 3rd base coach in 1990.
October 20, 2007: The Prudential Center in Newark, about to become the home of the NHL's New Jersey Devils and the basketball team at South Orange's Seton Hall University, has what's known as a "soft opening." Essentially, it's a dress rehearsal: A concert by the Newark Boys Chorus.
Also on this day, Max McGee, trying to blow leaves off the roof of his Deephaven, Minnesota house with a leafblower, falls off, and is killed on impact. Why he was doing that himself at age 75, instead of hiring somebody to do it, is a secret he took to the grave. He could certainly afford to hire a professional: The North Texas native made millions as a co-founder of the Mexican restaurant chain Chi-Chi's.
But he's best known as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, making the Pro Bowl for the 1961 season, and winning 5 NFL Championships: 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967. In the 1st AFL-NFL World Championship Game, retroactively renamed Super Bowl I, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, he caught the 1st touchdown pass in Super Bowl history, from Bart Starr, helping the Pack beat the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
He caught 345 passes for 6,346 yards by the time he retired after Super Bowl II -- putting him among the all-time leaders at the time. The Packers elected him to their team Hall of Fame, and he later served as one of their broadcasters.
October 20, 2008, 10 years ago: Gene Hickerson dies in Cleveland at age 73. The 6-time Pro Bowl guard and member of the Cleveland Browns' 1964 NFL Championship team lived long enough to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
Already suffering from the kind of ailments all too common among old football players -- he had dementia and was confined to a wheelchair due to injuries -- he was pushed onto the podium by 3 Browns running backs who were already Hall members, and the master of ceremonies said, "One last time, Gene Hickerson leads Bobby Mitchell, Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly."
October 20, 2009: Game 4 of the ALCS in Anaheim. The Yankees not only are not affected by last night's 11th-inning loss to the Los Angeles Angels, but bounce back from it in a big way. Alex Rodriguez hits his 3rd home run of the series, tying a postseason record with RBIs in 8 straight games. Johnny Damon homers. Melky Cabrera has 4 RBIs.
Aside from a Kendry Morales homer in the 5th inning, CC Sabathia was nearly untouchable, going 8 innings on 3 days' rest, putting up a performance which, along with his win in Game 1, earned him the ALCS MVP. The Yankees win 10-1, and can wrap up the Pennant in Game 5 in 2 days.
October 20, 2012: Dave May dies of the combined effect of diabetes and cancer in Bear, Delaware. He was 68. An outfielder, he won a Pennant with the 1969 Baltimore Orioles, but was traded before their 1970 World Championship. He was named to the 1973 All-Star Game, though -- but that was because every team has to have at least 1 All-Star, and he was then the best player on the Milwaukee Brewers.
After the 1974 season, the Brewers traded him to the Atlanta Braves, so they could bring aging legend Hank Aaron back to Milwaukee, where the Braves played from 1953 to 1965. May closed his career with the 1978 Pittsburgh Pirates, but was released before they could win the 1979 World Series. His son Derrick May was also a major league outfielder, and is now the Cardinals' minor-league hitting instructor. Another son, David May Jr., is a scout for the Toronto Blue Jays.
October 20, 2013: Don James dies of pancreatic cancer at his home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Washington. He was 80. He was a quarterback at the University of Miami long before Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde and Gino Torretta made that cool. But he enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduation, and never played in the NFL.
In 1956, he became an assistant coach at the University of Kansas, and worked his way up to his 1st head coaching position, at Kent State University outside Cleveland, in 1971, only a year and a half after the National Guard massacre there. He led them to the Mid-American Conference title and the Tangerine Bowl in 1972, their 1st title and 1st bowl game of any kind. He coached future Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker Jack Lambert and future LSU and Alabama coach Nick Saban there. Comedian Arsenio Hall was a student there at the time, and would be followed a few years later by another comedian, Drew Carey.
In 1977, James was named head coach at the University of Washington. He won 6 Pacific-Ten Conference titles. He was named national Coach of the Year in 1977, 1984 and 1991. In 1984, he led them to an 11-1 season and a win over Number 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, but a loss to USC cost them not just the National but the Pac-10 Championship.
With their purple uniforms and the recent Prince album and film in mind, the Huskies became known as the Purple Reign. Sports Illustrated published a cartoon in one of their annual College Football Preview issues, saying that James' Huskies "don't rebuild, they reload," and showing a husky in a gold helmet with a black W on it being fired out of a cannon, with others waiting to go.
In 1990, the team began a 22-game winning streak that included an undefeated season and a long-awaited National Championship in 1991. But in 1992, allegations of improprieties came to light. Although neither James himself nor anyone on his coaching staff was cited for doing anything wrong, the team was put on probation. James retired after the season, citing a betrayal by the University administration that he thought had hung him out to dry. His career record was 178-76-3. He lived long enough to see his election to the College Football Hall of Fame.
October 20, 2017: Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The Yankees could have clinched the Pennant on Mickey's Mantle's birthday. Before the game, on Twitter, somebody asked, given the Yankees'"rebuilding" project, did we, in our wildest dreams, imagine that we would be 1 win from a Pennant this season?
In my wildest dreams, yes. I always dream of the Yankees winning the Pennant. And the World Series. The Yankees getting this close with Joe Girardi running the games and Brian Cashman the transactions? I never could have dreamed that combination.
But the Yankees couldn't finish messing with Texas, as the Astros won 7-1. Unlike Cashman, Astro general manager Jeff Luhnow was willing to trade prospects to the Detroit Tigers for pitching ace Justin Verlander, and he pitched 7 shutout innings. In this series, in games started by Verlander, the Yankees were 0-2; in games started by other Houston pitchers, the Yankees were 3-2. Verlander made all the difference in the World (Series).