Guts Found In Nick of Time

Last night was Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium II. It was win or go home for the Yankees against the Houston Astros. We needed the hitters to hit, and we needed James Paxton to be the Big Maple of the 2nd half of the regular season, not the guy who couldn't get out of the 3rd inning in Game 2.

The Astros scored in the 1st inning, and all hope seemed to be lost. Then the Yankees struck back. DJ LeMahieu led off the home side of the game with a home run. Aaron Judge singled. Gleyber Torres doubled. Up came Giancarlo Stanton, after missing the last 3 games with an injury. With the go-ahead run on 3rd and another run on 2nd he... struck out. But Aaron Hicks hit one off the right-field pole for a 3-run homer.

From that point on, Big Maple turned over a new leaf. He ended up pitching 6 innings, allowing just the 1 run on 4 hits and 4 walks, with 9 strikeouts. He threw 112 pitches, not an especially high number for a pitcher who is treated like a man, but the highest total any Yankee had thrown this season.

Tommy Kahnle got into trouble in the 7th, but Zack Britton got out of it, and pitched a perfect 8th. Aroldis Chapman, not seen since Game 1, pitched maybe his best inning as a Yankee: 9 pitches, 7 strikes, no baserunners.

The Yankees didn't score again on Justin Verlander, but didn't need to. For the 2nd time in this series, the man who made all the difference in the World (Series) in 2017 when Brian Cashman didn't get him and Jeff Luhnow did, pitched well but failed to get the win.

Yankees 4, Astros 1. The Yankees survive, and now trail 3-2. Whatever happens in Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7, at least the Astros won't be clinching on our field.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this was the 1st time in Major League Baseball's 1,609-game postseason history in which both teams scored in the 1st inning, and then didn't score the rest of the way.

Game 6 is tomorrow night, at Minute Maid Park in Houston (no day off for travel, due to the rainout that pushed Games 4 and 5 back), with a first pitch set for 8:08 PM. At this writing, it appears that both teams will go with "bullpen games," holding Luis Severino and Gerrit Cole back for a potential Game 7 -- or, if the Astros win Game 6, holding Cole back for Game 1 of the World Series against the Washington Nationals. Whichever team wins the AL Pennant will host Game 1 on Tuesday night.

Before yesterday's game, I brought the "gutless wonders" tag back out. Maybe the Yankees have found their guts just in the nick of time.

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October 19, 202 BC: The Battle of Zama is fought outside Carthage, present-day Tunis, Tunisia. Publius Cornelius Scipio leads a Roman army to defeat the larger Carthaginian army, led by Hannibal and his 80 "war elephants." This ends the Second Punic Wars, and ends the threat of Hannibal, once known as the Scourge of Rome.

The victorious Roman general, having won this battle on the African continent, becomes known as Scipio Africanus. However, he resists the call to kill Hannibal and level Carthage to the ground, and allows Hannibal to remain in civilian charge of the city.

This leads other Roman leaders to smear Scipio, and he eventually died in an unfair disgrace. Hannibal himself would eventually lose power, be betrayed, and be murdered by Romans -- though he may have outlived Scipio, as both men are said to have died in 183 BC, 19 years after Zama. A Third Punic War finished the job -- "Cartago delenda est," was the Roman cry: "Carthage must be destroyed!" -- in 146 BC.

The Punic Wars may have been the beginning of the racism of the white Europeans against black Africans, as many of Hannibal's soldiers were black, although it's not clear that Hannibal himself was.

October 19, 1216: King John of England dies in Newark. No, he wasn't carjacked. This was Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, not Newark-on-Passaic in New Jersey. He died of dysentery, and was not quite 50 years old. One of the least effective and most-hated English monarchs, he is succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Henry (later remembered as King Henry III).

October 19, 1453: In Champions League action, Bordeaux defeats Arsenal, and manager Harry Lancaster is sacked.

Actually, no. The French army retakes Bordeaux, meaning that the only part of France still under English control is the port of Calais.

The Hundred Years War is over, after 115 years. But by no means should England, and King Henry VI in particular, feel relief: Soon, the Wars of the Roses will begin.

October 19, 1469, 550 years ago: King Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Queen Isabella I of Castile, uniting Spain. This allows them to complete the Reconquista of Spanish lands from Muslim rulers, reform the Spanish government, reduce crime more than any rulers in Europe, and begin the Age of Exploration.

Unfortunately, it also leads to something no one expected: The Spanish Inquisition. And also the conquest of North and South America, and the enslavement and disease-aided slaughter of their peoples.

October 19, 1752: In his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, Benjamin Franklin publishes an account of an experiment. In the account, he and his son William flew a kite in an electrical storm, to determine whether lightning was electricity.

According to the account, Ben kept the silk string of the kite dry at his son's end to insulate him while the hemp string to the kite was allowed to get wet in the rain to provide conductivity. A house key belonging to Benjamin Loxley was attached to the hemp string and connected to a Leyden Jar. A silk string was attached to this, held by William, who flew the kite while standing inside a doorway to keep himself and the silk string dry. Ben assumed that the Leyden jar would accumulate electricity from the lightning.

Ben never claimed that the kite was struck by visible lightning. Had that happened, Ben and William would almost certainly have been killed. But Ben did notice that loose threads of the kite string were repelling each other and deduced that the Leyden jar was being charged. He moved his hand near the key and observed an electric spark, proving the electric nature of lightning.

It has been alleged that the experiment never actually happened, and that Ben only proposed it. If he did try it, and it went wrong, he would have been dead at age 46, the career of a man who was already one of the world's leading scientists ending in a very stupid way. And, without his contributions, it's likely that the American Revolution would have failed, and America would have remained part of the British Empire well into the 19th Century, and possibly even still part of the Commonwealth today.

Whatever happened, Ben Franklin lived to make his contributions to American independence. In 2010, the Philadelphia Union began play in Major League Soccer. Their leading fan group calls itself the Sons of Ben, in memory of Philly's greatest citizen, and their logo is centered by a skull, with Ben Franklin's hairstyle, Ben's invention bifocals, a Liberty Bell-style crack in his skull, a key, and 2 lightning bolts.


The War of the American Revolution is not over, but this is the battle that ends what would, today, be called "major combat operations." The British had the best navy in the world, and along with France 1 of the 2 best armies. But they fought this war as if their commander-in-chief was Harry Redknapp, having some notable successes, but also some major blunders, and running out of money, men and excuses.

Cornwallis himself, later 1st Marquess Cornwallis, got a bum rap because he lost the climactic battle. He shouldn't have: Before the war, he argued against the Stamp Act in the House of Lords; during it, he won battles at Bound Brook, New Jersey and Brandywine and Germantown (now part of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. After the war, he served as Governor-General of India, and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland argued for Catholic emancipation there. So he was actually a pretty good general, and not at all a bad guy.

October 19, 1790: Lyman Hall dies in Waynesboro, Georgia at age 66. The physician and clergyman had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and dies 6 months after fellow signer Ben Franklin, and 5 days after fellow signer William Hooper.

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October 19, 1810: Cassius Marcellus Clay is born in Madison County, Kentucky. A State legislator, and a cousin of legendary Kentucky legislator and 3-time Presidential candidate Henry Clay, he became one of America’s foremost abolitionists and public speakers in the pre-Civil War years.

He would tell his audience, "For those of you who believe in the laws of God, I have this," and reach into a pocket and pull out a Bible. "For those of you who believe in the laws of man, I have this," and reach into a pocket and pull out a booklet containing the text of the Constitution. "And for those of you who believe in neither, I have these," and reach into his pocket and pull out a pair of dueling pistols.

Abraham Lincoln appointed him Ambassador to Russia, gaining support for the Union from Czar Alexander II, and he soon came home and commanded a regiment in the Civil War. He lived until 1903.

The irony is that, when he is remembered at all today, he is remembered as the namesake of someone whose great-grandfather, an emancipated slave, grew up on land owned by Clay. His name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., but he changed it, calling it, of all things, "a slave name." I wonder how much Muhammad Ali actually knew about the original Cassius Clay at the time?

October 19, 1812: CSKA Moscow, the club of the Red Army, defeats Paris Saint-Germain under gaffeur Napoleon Bonaparte.

Actually, Emperor Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow, establishing the First Rule of European Warfare: Don’t try to invade Moscow if you know it's going to get cold soon.

October 19, 1846: Robert Leckie (no middle name) is born in Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland. One of the founders of Glasgow soccer team Queen's Park in 1867, he played for their side that stood as the 1st Scotland national team, playing England in the 1st international match, at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Glasgow on November 30, 1872. He also helped them win the 1st Scottish Cup in 1874.

He died in 1887, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I can find no record of what he was doing there, or the cause of his death at age 38. But, given the state of medicine in the late Victorian Age, it could have been one of many things now curable, or at least treatable.

October 19, 1873: Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers draft the 1st code of American football rules. At the time, however, "American football" still looked a lot more like soccer than the derivation of rugby it would soon become.

Also on this day, John Barton King is born in Philadelphia. If any American cricket player could have been called great, Bart King was perhaps the last one. From 1893 to 1912, he bowled (pitched) for the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, composed of players from the 4 leading cricket clubs in the Delaware Valley: Germantown, Merion, Belmont and Philadelphia. College players were also invited.

King helped the Philadelphians defeat the Australia national team in Philly in 1893, and toured England with them in 1897, 1903 and 1908. He continued to play until 1916, and lived until 1965. English cricket legend Plum Warner said he would have been far more famous if he had been British or Australian, since, by his era, American had pretty much given up on their interest in cricket.

October 19, 1876: Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown is born in Nyesville, Indiana. "Centennial" because 1876 was the nation's 100th Anniversary. A farm accident as a boy left him with one finger missing and another one mangled and useless.

But that disability became a benefit, as it enabled him to grip a baseball in such a way that he had one of the best curveballs of all time. "Three-Finger" Brown became a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, helping them to 4 Pennants and the 1907 and 1908 World Series, the only 2 they've ever won.

He pitched from 1903 to 1916, and finished with a career record of 239-130, and the lowest career ERA in National League history, 2.06 He lived until 1948, and was elected to the Hall of Fame the next year.

October 19, 1894, 125 years ago: The 1st college football game in Texas is played, on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. The home team beats Texas A&M 38-0. The rivalry would be played every year, usually on Thanksgiving weekend, sometimes on Thanksgiving Day, until A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference in 2012. UT leads, 76-37-5.

October 19, 1896: Robert Arthur O'Farrell is born in Waukegan, Illinois. A fine defensive catcher, Bob O'Farrell won the 1926 World Series with the Cardinals, catching Babe Ruth stealing on the final play. (No, the last play was not Grover Cleveland Alexander striking out Tony Lazzeri. That happened in the 7th inning.) He managed them the next year, and also the Reds in 1934, and ran a bowling alley in Waukegan until he died in 1988.

Also on this day, Nat Holman -- I don't have a full name for him -- is born in Manhattan. One of the earliest great pro basketball players, he starred at New York University and then with the New York-based "Original Celtics." But it's as a coach that he's best remembered, at NYU's arch-rivals, City College of New York.

He coached at CCNY from 1919 to 1959, including through his playing career, which ended in 1930. He got the Beavers into the NCAA Final Four in 1947, and then, in 1950, they won both the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitational Tournament, a pivotal event in establishing the NCAA as the preeminent postseason tournament.

Unfortunately, the next year, the point-shaving scandal hit, and CCNY was implicated, and New York college basketball has never been the same, partly because the NIT, then conducted entirely at Madison Square Garden, was considered tainted, and that's the other reason the NCAA overtook it. As a result, the NCAA passed a rule saying that teams could no longer play in both. Ever since, the NIT has been the secondary tournament.

Nat Holman wrote the book on basketball. Literally: In 1922, while still one of the best players in the game, he wrote a book titled Scientific Basketball. With the center jump after every basket eliminated, never mind shot clocks and 3-pointers and 7-footers playing, it became obsolete quickly.

He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964, and died in 1995, age 98.

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October 19, 1900: Roy Worters (no middle name) is born in Toronto. A star with the New York Americans, he was probably the best goaltender the New York Tri-State Area ever saw, at least until Billy Smith. Yes, that includes Ranger Hall-of-Famers Chuck Rayner, Gump Worsley and Eddie Giacomin.

He won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1929 – but not the Vezina Trophy as best goalie. That went to George Hainsworth of Montreal. Worters did win the Vezina in 1931. Known as “Shrimp” because he was just 5-foot-3, he came up big many times for the Amerks.

He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with teammates Red Dutton, Lionel Conacher, Billy Burch, Sweeney Schriner and Bullet Joe Simpson – quite a haul of honors for a franchise that only existed for 17 seasons, and made the Playoffs 5 times and never reached the Stanley Cup Finals. They did reach the Semifinals in 1936, and again in '38 after a hernia had ended Worters’ career. He died of throat cancer in 1957.

Also on this day, William Harold Ponsford is born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North, Victoria, Australia. Playing cricket from 1916 to 1939, Bill Ponsford would form a strong partnership for Australia with with Bill Woodfull, and later with the young Don Bradman. He lived until 1991.

October 19, 1905: Virgil Earp, Deputy Sheriff of Esmerelda County, Nevada, dies of pneumonia in Goldfield. He was 62, and this leaves his brother Wyatt as the last survivor of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, 24 years minus 7 days earlier.

October 19, 1910: John Mills Jr. is born in Piqua, Ohio, outside Dayton. He (bass) and his younger brothers Donald (lead tenor), Herbert (tenor) and Harry (baritone) formed the singing group The Mills Brothers.

From 1931 to 1935, they had several hits, mostly standards, including "Tiger Rag" (a.k.a. "Hold That Tiger"), "Dinah,""I Ain't Got Nobody,""Rockin' Chair,""Up a Lazy River,""St. Louis Blues,""Bye Bye, Blackbird" and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." On "Dinah," they had backed Bing Crosby, and Bing featured them on his CBS radio show.

But John fell ill in 1935, and, with antibiotics unavailable at the time, died on January 23, 1936. For a time, their father, John Mills Sr., who had sung in barbershop quartets, filled in, but the remaining brothers continued as a trio. Their later hits included "Paper Doll,""You Always Hurt the One You Love,""Till Then," and "The Glow-Worm." Rock and roll pretty much doomed them as hitmakers, but its doo-wop branch would not have been possible without them. And they did hit with a cover of The Silhouettes "Get a Job" in 1958, and once more in 1968 with "Cab Driver."

Herbert, Harry and Donald continued together, even recording an American Express "Do you know me?" (or, rather, "us?") commercial in 1980, until Harry died in 1982. Herbert died in 1989. At that point, Donald brought in the next generation of the family, until his own death in 1999. John Mills II, Donald's son, now leads the group.

October 19, 1921: Nils Gunnar Nordahl is born in Hörnefors, Sweden. A striker who dropped his first name, Gunnar Nordahl starred for IFK Norrköping, winning the Swedish league, the Allsvenskan, 4 straight times, 1945 to 1948, including also winning the Swedish Cup -- what the English call "doing The Double" -- in 1945. (Because Sweden was neutral during World War II, the Nazis did not invade, and their league was able to continue.) With his brothers Bertil and Knut, and also Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm, he helped Sweden win the Gold Medal at the 1948 Olympics in London.

Italian giants A.C. Milan, bought Gunnar Nordahl, Gren and Liedholm. The 3 Swedes become known as the Gre-No-Li trio, and helped the Rossoneri win Italy's Serie A in 1951 and 1955, plus 4 Coppa Italia, and the Latin Cup -- the closest thing Europe had to the European Cup before 1955 -- in 1951 and 1956. Nordahl was not, however, a member of the Sweden team that reached the Final of the 1958 World Cup on home soil.

He was top scorer in Sweden's league 4 times and in Italy's 5 times. He later managed Italian club AS Roma and several Swedish clubs, and died in 1995, at the age of 73.

Also on this day, George Kennedy dies. No, not the Oscar-winning actor: He wouldn't be born until 1925. This one was a former wrestler who, with others in 1909, founded Club Athlétique Canadien, which soon became Club de hockey Canadien, better known as the Montreal Canadiens. He owned the team until his death, including the 1916 Stanley Cup and their 1917 entry as founding members of the National Hockey League.

He was stricken in the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-19, and never really recovered from it. Despite his influence, he has never been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, General Armando Diaz, commander of Italian troops in World War I, is given a ticker-tape parade in New York.

Also on this day, Herbert Warren Kalmbach is born in Port Huron, Michigan. A real estate lawyer, he raised money for the Presidential campaign of his fellow Southern Californian, Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960. It lost, but Nixon never forgot Kalmbach's efforts. When Nixon tried again in 1968, and won, Kalmbach became his personal lawyer -- not the White House Counsel.

He got involved in the 1972 re-election campaign, and was caught in the crimes that fell under the umbrella term "Watergate," including raising hush money for the burglars. He plea-bargained, and served 6 months in jail, and was disbarred. His license to practice law was later reinstated, and he returned to practice. He died in 2017.

October 19, 1923: Citing the unsavory characters associated with the sport‚ American League President Ban Johnson persuades AL owners to prohibit boxing matches in their parks. The National League declines to go along with it. A month earlier, Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo had their wild heavyweight title fight at the Polo Grounds, an NL park.

But the Yankees had already hosted the 1st pro prizefight at Yankee Stadium, with Benny Leonard successfully defending the lightweight title in a unanimous decision against Lew Tendler on July 24.

In July 1927, with Johnson having been forced out of his office due to illness, the Yankees broke his taboo by staging former heavyweight champ Dempsey against future heavyweight champ Jack Sharkey, in between Dempsey's 2 fights against Gene Tunney. The Yankees were not punished, and the ban was lifted. This was the last significant fight that Dempsey would win.

October 19, 1924: Louis Zborowski, Count de Montsaulvain, an English-born Polish great-grandson of an Astor who owned a lot of Manhattan real estate and was one of the top early auto racers, is killed when his Mercedes crashes into a tree during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He was just 29 years old.

His father, William Zborowski, the previous Count de Montsaulvain despite having been born in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey, was one of the earliest auto racers to be killed in a race crash, at Nice, France in 1903.

October 19, 1927: Billy Joe McCombs is born in Spur, in the Texas Panhandle. Known as Red McCombs, he played football in college and in the U.S. Army, and got rich in the energy and communications industries.

In 1972, having settled in San Antonio, he bought the ABA's Dallas Chaparrals, and moved them the next year, to become the San Antonio Spurs, owning them until 1975. He then bought the Denver Nuggets, and owned them until 1985. In 1998, he bought the Minnesota Vikings, and, when it became clear that he wouldn't be able to replace the Metrodome, the rumor began to run that he would move them. "The San Antonio Vikings" wouldn't have made sense. Instead, in 2005, he sold them to Zygi Wilf, who still owns them, and got U.S. Bank Stadium built. Red is still alive.

Also on this day, Hans Schäfer is born in Cologne, Germany. A left wing, he starred for hometown club 1. FC Köln, helping them win 5 Oberliga West titles, the 1962 German Football Championship, and the title in the 1st season of the Bundesliga, 1963-64.

In the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, he scored 4 goals for West Germany, leading to their win over heavily-favored Hungary in the Final, known as the Miracle of Bern. He also played for West Germany in the 1958 and 1962 World Cups. He died in 2017, leaving Horst Eckel as the last surviving player from the 1st German World Cup winners.

Also on this day, Bedford Alfred George Jezzard is born in Clerkenwell, London. A forward, Bedford Jezzard scored 38 goals for West London team Fulham in 1954, the most for any player at the team since World War II. He was selected for the England team at the 1954 World Cup, but didn't get into a game, only making 2 appearances for England, both the following season.

His career ended with an injury in 1957, and he became Fulham's manager from 1958 to 1964, getting them promoted to the First Division. He lived until 2005.

Also on this day, Pan American World Airways begins operation. It becomes the most famous of all American-based airlines, but goes out of business in 1991.

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October 19, 1930: Ronald Vaughan Joyce is born in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Korean War, then moved to Hamilton, Ontario and served in its police department. In 1963, he bought a Dairy Queen franchise there. In 1964, he and Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tim Horton bought a coffee shop, named it Tim Horton's, and a legend was born.

Horton died while still an active player, in a 1974 car crash, and Joyce bought full control of the doughnuts and coffee empire. His son, Ron Joyce Jr., married Tim's daughter, Jeri-Lyn Horton. In 1995, there was another marriage, between Tim Hortons (the apostrophe was dropped due to Quebec's language laws and Joyce's desire to have the same official name from Atlantic to Pacific) and Wendy's, with Joyce having more stock in the combined company than even Wendy's founder Dave Thomas.

The companies would later split, but Tim Hortons broke into the U.S. market, mostly in cities with NHL teams: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, and Thomas' hometown of Columbus. There are 3 in New Jersey: Inside the Prudential Center, the Devils' arena in Newark; at the traffic circle formed by U.S. Routes 202 and 206 and N.J. Route 28, in Raritan, Somerset County; and on N.J. Route 23 in Hardyston, Sussex County.

Ron Joyce also founded the Tim Horton Children's Foundation, which is effectively Canada's answer to Ronald McDonald House. He died on January 31, 2019.

October 19, 1933: Earl Lunsford (no middle name) is born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the seat of what was then known as Oklahoma A&M University. He was a running back at that school, which became Oklahoma State in 1958, and was a 2-time Canadian Football League All-Star for the Calgary Stampeders, known as Earl the Pearl before either Earl Morrall or Earl Monroe was.

He later served as general manager of the Stamps and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He died in 2008.

Also on this day, George Dixon (also, no middle name) is born in New Haven, Connecticut. A running back, he also didn't want to take the chance of being a black player in an NFL full of Southern players, and went north to Canada. Playing for the Montreal Alouettes, he was named CFL Most Outstanding Player in 1962, and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

He later served as head coach at Loyola University in Montreal, leading them to the Canadian University Championship in 1972. In 1974, the school was merged with Sir George Williams University, to become Concordia University. Dixon died in 1990.

October 19, 1934: Donald David Guard is born in San Francisco, and grows up in Honolulu, where he meets Bob Shane. They went back to San Francisco, where they met Nick Reynolds, and formed The Kingston Trio, who sparked a revival of folk music in 1958 that would last until the arrival of The Beatles in America in 1964.

The Trio recorded the 1948 Boston political song "M.T.A." in 1959, and between the 4th and 5th verses, Shane can be heard saying, "Pick it, Davey!" Davey Guard then played his banjo so fast that he could be heard saying, "Kinda hurts my fingers!" In 1961, he left the group, and John Stewart was hired as his replacement. Stewart is better known as the writer of "Daydream Believer," a Number 1 hit for The Monkees in 1967.

Guard died of cancer in 1991, only 56 years old. Stewart and Reynolds continued to perform with Shane as The Kingston Trio. Stewart and Reynolds lived until 2008, ages 68 and 75, respectively. Shane is the last survivor, now 85 and still performing.

October 19, 1936: George Matthewson Thomson is born in Edinburg, Scotland. A left back, he helped hometown team Heart of Midlothian -- a.k.a. "Hearts," or, in rhyming slang, the "Jam Tarts" or the "Jambos" -- win the Scottish League in 1958, the Scottish League Cup in 1959, and both of those trophies in 1960.

He moved south to Liverpool, and helped Everton win England's Football League title in 1963. He died in 2007.

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October 19, 1940: Michael John Gambon is born in Dublin. After the death of fellow Irishman Richard Harris, he was handed the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films.

October 19, 1941: South America's greatest sports rivalry takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. River Plate, at home at the stadium known as El Monumental, defeats Boca Juniors 5-1, dethroning the defending League Champions and all but wrapping up the title for themselves. It is considered the beginning of a team known as La Máquina, "the Machine."

They are led by a 5-man forward line of Juan Carlos Muñoz, José Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera,
Ángel Amadeo Labruna and Félix Loustau. They would win the title in 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947.
Muñoz was the last survivor of La Máquina, living until 2009.

Also on this day, Hector Cowan dies at age 78, on his farm near Stamford, New York, in the Catskill Mountains. "Hec" Cowan played offensive and defensive tackle at Princeton University, and was named to the 1st College Football All-America Team in 1889. He also served as head coach at North Carolina and Kansas, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and became an ordained minister.

October 19, 1943: Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Rutgers has had a lot of victories in the laboratory. On athletic fields, uh, let me get back to you.

Also on this day, Santos Alomar Conde is born in Salinas, Puerto Rico. Sandy Alomar was a middle infielder who wore Number 2 for the Yankees, but he was no Derek Jeter.

He made his major league debut in 1964 with the Milwaukee Braves, moved with them to Atlanta in 1966, and was briefly a Met in 1967. He spent the bulk of his career with the team then known as the California Angels, and was an All-Star with them in 1970. He was with the Yankees when they won the 1976 American League Pennant, but the arrival of Willie Randolph made him expendable. After the season, he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Brian Doyle, and retired after the 1978 season, with a lifetime batting average of just .245.

His greatest contributions to baseball were still on their way. He has coached for the San Diego Padres, the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies and the Mets. With the Padres, he coached his sons, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Roberto Alomar, both of whom became All-Stars. He returned to the postseason with the 2006 Mets. He is now retired from baseball.

October 19, 1944, 75 years ago: William P. Melchionni -- I can find no reference to what the P stands for -- is born in Philadelphia, and grows up across the Delaware River in Pennsauken, Camden County, New Jersey. He attended Bishop Eustace Prep School in his hometown, and played guard at nearby Villanova University.

In his rookie season, 1966-67, he won an NBA Championship with his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers. He was never an All-Star in the NBA, but was one 3 times in the ABA, where he helped the New York Nets win the 1974 and 1976 league Championships. He did not make it back into the NBA when the Nets were admitted after the 1976 title. But the Nets, later in New Jersey and now in Brooklyn, retired his Number 25. So did Villanova.

He is still alive. His brother Gary Melchionni captained Duke University. Gary's son Lee Melchionni also played at Duke.

October 19, 1945: One heck of a day to be born. John Arthur Lithgow in Rochester, New York. Great actor, and author of children's books.

Patricia Ireland (no middle name), in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. She was the President of the National Organization for Women from 1991 to 2001.

Jeannie Carolyn Stephenson in Stamford, Texas. Better known as Jeannie C. Riley, she is the singer of "Harper Valley P.T.A."

Gloria Richetta Jones in Cincinnati. She recorded the original and still best version of "Tainted Love" in 1965, wrote Gladys Knight's "If I Were Your Woman," and became the girlfriend of English glam-rock singer Marc Bolan, singing backup for his band T-Rex. Unfortunately, she was driving the car when it crashed, killing him on Septembe 16, 1977. She is still alive and performing, as is their son, Rolan Bolan, now 42.

And, in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland, drag queen/actor Harris Glenn Milstead, a.k.a. Divine. As far as I know, though, none had anything to do with sports.

I often find days where 2 famous people were born, or even 3. 4 is very rare. But 5, and I've heard of all of them? That doesn't happen very often.

Also on this day, Alan Mitchell Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher is born in San Francisco. His name was long, but his major league career was short: The 3rd baseman played for his hometown San Francisco Giants from 1970 to 1973, and for the California Angels in 1973, finishing with a batting average of .263. "Dirty Al" later served as a longtime minor-league coach. He died on December 6, 2018.

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Also on this day, Arsenal defeat Staffordshire team Stoke City 1-0 at Highbury. Kevin O'Flanagan scores the goal. Soccer was not his best sport: He was renowned as a rugby player for Ireland, and excelled in sprint races and the long jump. He was also a noted amateur golfer and tennis player, and played Gaelic football as a boy.

But he's not the most notable player in this game. That would be Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson. Although this is the 1st of only 2 League matches he plays for Arsenal, it makes him the 1st native of Iceland ever to play professional soccer. He later served his country as Minister of Finance.

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October 19, 1949, 70 years ago: Three weeks after acquiring shortstop Chico Carrasquel from the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for cash and 2 minor leaguers‚ the Chicago White Sox all but steal 2nd baseman Nellie Fox from the Philadelphia Athletics for catcher Joe Tipton.

Carrasquel was not the 1st good shortstop to get stuck behind Pee Wee Reese in Brooklyn, nor the last, but he might have been the best. But the Mack family's financial situation meant that even if they had hung onto Fox, they would not have been the team that stayed in Philly, while the Phillies would have been the team that moved.

Also on this day, Clifford Lynn Dickey is born in Osawotamie, Kansas. He would have sounded a lot better playing football as "Cliff Dickey." Instead, he went by "Lynn Dickey." Still, he is probably still the best-known player in Kansas State's football history, and was named the all-time quarterback in Big Eight history when that league evolved into the Big Twelve. He and his successor at KSU, Steve Grogan, are the only KSU players to have their number retired – both wore Number 11.

He went on to play for the Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers, helping the Packers to the 1982 NFC Central Division Title; famously outdueling Joe Theismann of the Washington Redskins in the highest-scoring Monday Night Football game ever, a 48-47 win in 1983; and steering the Pack through the biggest snowfall in NFL history, 15 inches, in a 21-0 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1985. He now hosts a sports-talk show on a Kansas City radio station.

October 19, 1950: Michael Dale Tallon is born in Noranda, Quebec. Although he won the 1969 Canadian Junior Golf Championship, his best sport turned out to be hockey. A defenseman, he was an original 1970-71 Vancouver Canuck, and he closed his career in 1980 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dale Tallon is best remembered for his time with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canucks traded him there in 1973, and he was given Number 9. Not only is this far more often a uniform number for a forward, but it had been worn by the Hawks' greatest player, Bobby Hull. Giving it out only a year after Hull left for the World Hockey Association was an indirect insult. Tallon took it in stride: "The only thing is, they forgot the decimal point."

Tallon finished his career with 98 goals and 238 assists. In 1983, the Hawks and Hull patched things up, and 9 was retired for Hull. By that point, Tallon was broadcasting for the Hawks. He later served as assistant general manager, and helped build their 2010, '13 and '15 Stanley Cup winners. After winning the 2010 Cup, and getting his ring, he was hired by the Florid Panthers as general manager, and remains in their front office.

Also on this day, Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Napoléon Bonaparte is born in Boulogne, France. Known as Prince Napoléon, he is a great-great-grandson of a brother of the original Napoléon
Bonaparte, and is the current Bonapartist claimant to the throne of France. He maintains his role as head of the royal house, but is under no illusion that he will ever re-establish the French monarchy and become Emperor Napoléon VII.

Unlike every other member of the European branch of the family, he has run for and won elective office, to the City Council in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, the French island on which his most famous ancestor was born.

October 19, 1951: Angels in the Outfield premieres. Janet Leigh plays a reporter covering the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates, who begin to get help from above. It would be remade in 1994, with the California Angels as the team in question, but the focus moves from a young lady reporter to a boy stuck in the foster care system.

October 19, 1953: On his morning CBS radio show, Arthur Godfrey Time, host Godfrey fires his best-known performer, Julius La Rosa, saying, "That was Julie's swan song with us." On the radio show, and on the evening TV show Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, Godfrey had made La Rosa a singing star in late 1951, but justified the firing by saying he had "no humility."

Well, La Rosa was certainly humiliated, very publicly, as few people in that era had been. As it turned out, the real reason was that La Rosa was getting more fan mail than Godfrey, so maybe a lack of humility was warranted.

Comedians began working the phrase "no humility" into their routines. Cabaret singer Ruth Wallis, who normally couldn't get on the radio because she worked sex-related double-entendres into her songs, had the only Top 40 hit of her career with a song titled "Dear Mr. Godfrey."

Frank Stanton, then president of CBS, said, "Maybe it was a mistake," that Godfrey shouldn't have fired La Rosa on the air. Godfrey compounded the mistake by firing his bandleader, Archie Bleyer, who had founded Cadence Records and made La Rosa his 1st signing. Bleyer had produced records by Don McNeill, whose ABC radio show was Godfrey's competitor -- not a very successful one, but close enough to bruise Godfrey's apparently fragile ego. Losing Bleyer's production talents hurt Godfrey even more, as the show's quality went downhill.

Almost immediately, Ed Sullivan booked La Rosa onto his own CBS show, Toast of the Town. (It was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955.) This led Godfrey to end his friendship with Sullivan. La Rosa had more and bigger hit records without Godfrey than with him, and had his own TV show (albeit only as a Summer replacement series) in 1955, '56 and '57. In the 1970s, he became a disc hockey on New York station WNEW, AM 1130, which specialized in the Big Band era, of which La Rosa was one of the last big stars.

In 1981, Godfrey's manager tried to put together a TV special, a reunion of the "Little Godfreys." La Rosa was willing to appear, but Godfrey insulted him during the preparations, and he walked off, and the special never happened. When Godfrey died in 1983, pretty much all anybody wanted to talk about was how he treated La Rosa.

Bleyer is now probably best known for producing records for The Chordettes, a vocal quartet that included his wife, Janet Ertel. On their best-known song, the 1955 Number 1 hit "Mr. Sandman," Bleyer provided the percussion by slapping his legs, and also played the "Sandman," by answering, "Yeeees?" He died in 1989, a year after Janet.

In 2003, Bob Murphy, knowing that he was dying of cancer, retired as Mets broadcaster. I was at his last game, and La Rosa, his favorite singer, was invited to sing the National Anthem. At age 73, the Brooklyn native still had a fine voice. He lived until 2016.

Also on this day, Lionel Eugene Hollins is born in Arkansas City, Kansas. A dazzling guard with the Portland Trail Blazers, he helped them win the 1977 NBA Championship. They have retired his Number 14. He later served as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies and the Brooklyn Nets, and is now an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers.

His son Austin Hollins played for the University of Minnesota, and has played in the national leagues of France, Finland, Germany, and now Russia.

October 19, 1954: Hugh Duffy dies of heart trouble in Boston. He was 87, and the last survivor of the Boston Beaneaters teams that won 5 National League Pennants in the 1890s, the last 4 with him, first as a center fielder, then a left fielder. A .325 lifetime hitter, his .440 average in 1894 remains the single-season record.

A native of nearby Cranston, Rhode Island, he later served the Boston Red Sox in several capacities, including manager, coach, scout, and was working until a year before his death.

Also on this day, Joseph Washington Bryant is born in Philadelphia. Joe was an All-Star with his hometown 76ers, known as "Jellybean." He went on to coach the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and has also coached pro teams in Japan and Thailand.

He married Pam Cox, sister of fellow Philadelphian and former Washington Bullet John "Chubby" Cox. The Bryants are still together, and had 2 daughters, Sharia and Shaya, and a son, Kobe -- so named because Joe had played in the Japanese city with that name. Most people would argue that Jellybean Bryant's greatest contribution to basketball is Kobe Bryant.

Also on this day, Samuel Allardyce (no middle name) is born in Dudley, West Midlands, England. Big Sam – or Fat Sam, as those of us who don't like him, those of us with taste, call him – is best known for both playing for, and later managing, Bolton Wanderers in the English Football League.

A centreback, he played for Bolton, Sunderland, Millwall, in the North American Soccer League for the 1983 Tampa Bay Rowdies, Coventry City, Huddersfield Town, Bolton again, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion, Limerick in Ireland, and Preston again. In 21 years as a player, he won the 2nd division with Bolton in 1978, and promotion from the 4th to the 3rd division with Preston in 1987. That's it.

He's managed Limerick (player-manager), Preston (player-manager), Blackpool, Notts County, Bolton, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, and Sunderland. In 26 years as a manager, he's won the League of Ireland First Division with Limerick in 1992, the Football League Third Division (then the name of England's 4th division) in 1998, promotion with Bolton in 2001, and promotion with West Ham in 2012. But in 46 years of playing and managing in England, his number of major trophies won is exactly zero.

And yet, he's the greatest manager the England national team has ever had. He had a perfect record. He won 1, drew none, and lost none. He was hired on July 22, 2016, managed his 1st game on September 4, seemed doomed to a 0-0 draw with considerably weaker Slovakia in a 2018 World Cup Qualifier before Liverpool's Adam Lallana scored in stoppage time... and was fired on September 27, when he was caught on tape admitting to corruption, something he'd been investigated for before.

He was England manager for 67 days, and is currently unemployed -- perhaps unemployable. The truth is, he was completely unqualified to be England manager in the first place. His only qualifications seemed to be that he is English, and the English media and fans loved him.

It remains to be seen if he will be forgiven, but he has since been hired and fired at South London club Crystal Palace and Liverpool team Everton. His son Craig Allardyce also played and managed in England, and is now a players' agent.

October 19, 1955: Jean Kambanda (no middle name) is born in Butare, Rwanda. His country's Prime Minister from April 9 to July 19, 1994, and a member of the Hutu tribe, he led the government's genocide against the Tutsi tribe, leading to the deaths of as many as 1 million people.

When the Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a coup, he fled the country, was arrested in Kenya, and was taken to an International Criminal Tribunal in Tanzania, where he became the 1st head of government, of any country in the world, to plead guilty to genocide. He remains imprisoned in the African nation of Mali.

October 19, 1956: Bruce Weber is born in Milwaukee. He coached the basketball team at -- no, not Weber State -- the University of Southern Illinois into the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, and led the University of Illinois to 2 Big Ten Championships and a trip to the 2005 National Championship Game, being named National Coach of the Year. He is now the head coach at Kansas State.

Ironically, as an athlete, he played baseball at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but was cut from their basketball team.

October 19, 1957: Brian Stein (no middle name) is born in Cape Town, South Africa, and grows up in North London. He and his brother Mark Stein were forwards who helped Bedfordshire club Luton Town win the 1988 League Cup. Their brother Ed Stein played for North London club Barnet.

*

October 19, 1960: Two of the biggest stars in college basketball play their professional debuts, against each other, at the Cincinnati Gardens, launching 2 of the greatest careers in NBA history. Oddly, both are outshone by established teammates.

Jerry West of Cabin Creek, West Virginia and West Virginia University scores 20 points, but his teammate Elgin Baylor leads all players with 35. Oscar Robertson of Indianapolis and the University of Cincinnati scores 21 points, but Jack Twyman scores 30. Robertson's Cincinnati Royals defeat West's Los Angeles Lakers, 140-123.

This is also the Lakers' 1st game representing Los Angeles, after spending 13 seasons in Minneapolis, where they won 5 NBA Championships. They will make their home debut 5 nights later.

Also on this day, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Democratic Party's nominee for President, is given a ticker-tape parade in New York. The Republican Party's nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon, would also receive one before the election.

While major-party nominees have often held rallies at Madison Square Garden right before the election, and each has had Conventions at buildings with the name, this is the only time either party's nominee has been given a ticker-tape parade.

(Others have gotten them in other cities. After losing this race, Nixon would go to Chicago in 1968, right after the disastrous Democratic Convention there, and it went off without a hitch, showing people, especially in Illinois, then a close State, that he was the more reliable candidate.)

October 19, 1962: Evander Holyfield (no middle name) is born in Atmore, Alabama. He's hardly without his flaws, but this Heavyweight Champion of the World did boxing a huge favor by exposing Mike Tyson as what he is: A punk and a coward who could dish it out (as well as anybody ever has) but couldn't take it.

He's the only man to win the Heavyweight Title 5 times. He's also the only man to knock down, let alone the only one ever to defeat, Riddick Bowe, although he only won 1 of their 3 fights.

October 19, 1963: After 14 seasons as the Syracuse Nationals, the Philadelphia 76ers make their home debut, taking the place of the Warriors, who moved to San Francisco the year before. It doesn't go so well: Despite 31 points from Lee Shaffer and 24 from Chet "the Jet" Walker, they lose to the Detroit Pistons, 124-121 at the Convention Hall of the Philadelphia Civic Center.

Also on this day, James Matthew Dombrowski is born in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville, New York. An offensive tackle, he starred at the University of Virginia, who retired his Number 73. He later starred for the New Orleans Saints, and was named to their all-time team. He is in the College Football, Great Buffalo Sports, and National Polish-American Sports Halls of Fame. He has remained in the New Orleans area, and works as a financial planner.

Also on this day, Harold Macmillan resigns as Prime Minister of Britain after 6 years, unable to keep his moral authority after a scandal connected to him only because he had hired the man responsible, the sex-shamed Minister of Defence, John Profumo. Sir Alec-Douglas Home is named Leader of the Conservative Party, and thus Prime Minister, but will lose the office in an election a year later.

October 19, 1964: Fred Hutchinson dies of cancer. The manager of the Cincinnati Reds was only 45. The team had made a great run down the stretch to try to win him a Pennant, but fell 1 game short of the Cardinals.

Hutch and the Reds had won the Pennant in 1961, beating out the Milwaukee Braves, before falling to the Yankees in the World Series, the only one Cincinnati hosted in a 30-year stretch. Ironically, the last time the Reds had won the Pennant, in 1940, they beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, a team which featured Hutch as a pitcher. He had a 95-71 career record, a 3.73 ERA, a 113 ERA+, a 1.281 WHIP, and was an All-Star in 1951.

The Reds retired his Number 1. The next season, Major League Baseball began presenting the Hutch Award, to the active player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire of Fred Hutchinson by persevering through adversity." The inaugural winner was Mickey Mantle. Other winners connected with the Yankees have been Joe Torre, Tommy John, Jim Abbott, David Cone, Jason Giambi, John Olerud and Raul Ibanez -- but only Mantle and Cone were Yankee players when they received the award. No player then with the Mets has ever received it, although it has been awarded to Torre, Olerud and Ray Knight while with other teams. The current holder is Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals.

October 19, 1965: The Mets purchase Jerry Grote from the Houston Astros. He will be the starting catcher on their 1969 World Championship and 1973 Pennant teams. Late in the 1977 season, he will be traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and win the 1977 and 1978 Pennants with them.

Only 4 men have been starting catchers on Met teams that reached the World Series: Grote, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza and Travis d'Arnaud; and only Grote and Carter have helped them go all the way. Grote is the only one who got them into 2 World Series.

In fact, from 1969 to 1977, both starting catchers for New York’s baseball teams, Grote and Thurman Munson, wore Number 15. And, between Elston Howard's 32 in 1962 and Carter's 8 in 1986, no New York team won a World Series without a Number 15 behind the plate.

Also on this day, Bradley Lee Daugherty is born in Black Mountain, North Carolina. A star at the University of North Carolina, Brad Daugherty was widely expected to be the top pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. The Philadelphia 76ers held that pick. Then, in one of the biggest bonehead trades in NBA history, Sixers owner Harold Katz traded that pick, and thus Daugherty, to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Roy Hinson and cash.

Hinson is one of the best basketball players ever to come out of Central Jersey (Somerset County's Franklin High School), and was a star at Rutgers. At the time, there was nothing wrong with wanting a healthy Roy Hinson on your team. Indeed, he'd just had his best season. But giving up Daugherty was too high a price to pay, and the Sixers only kept Hinson for another 2 years anyway, sending him to his home-State New Jersey Nets, for whom he played 3 seasons before retiring in 1991.

The Sixers also traded Moses Malone that day, so they traded a Hall of Fame center, who had gotten them the 1 NBA Championship the franchise has now won in the last 52 seasons, and a guy who would have been an ideal successor as Malone aged.

Daugherty became the Cavs' all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder, distinctions he held until 2008, when those totals were surpassed, respectively, by LeBron James and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas. They never won a title with him, though, only getting as far as the 1992 Eastern Conference Finals.

A back injury cut short his career, but he was a 5-time All-Star, the Cavs retired his Number 43, and he was a unanimous choice among fans as the center on the Cavs' 25th, 30th and 40th Anniversary All-Time Teams. He would also be named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team in 2002 and inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

He has run several businesses, made a fortune above and beyond his basketball salaries, and works for ESPN as an analyst for college basketball and NASCAR. Yes, a black man announcing for NASCAR. He loves it. He may be black, but he's also from North Carolina. He even sponsored a racing team before joining the ESPN NASCAR broadcast crew. (He had to sell the team to avoid a conflict of interest.) The reason he wore 43 was in tribute to the number on the car of the man he calls "my favorite sportsman," North Carolina’s own Richard Petty.

October 19, 1966: Bobby Orr makes his NHL debut. He wears Number 27 and a crew cut, before receiving his more familiar Number 4 the next season and letting his hair grow out into the more familiar hairstyle. He collects an assist, and the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the Boston Garden.

Also on this day, a nasty fight breaks out in the 3rd quarter of a game between the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers, at what is now usually called "the old Madison Square Garden." As a free throw is missed, the Lakers' Rudy LaRusso believes the Knicks' Willis Reed has thrown an elbow at his head. LaRusso throws a punch, and misses. Reed punches back, and LaRusso later said, "Reed hit me a couple good ones." The Lakers' Darrall Imhoff gets in there, and Reed socks him in the eye. John Block gets in there, and Reed breaks his nose.

Reed and LaRusso are both ejected, and fined $50 -- about $390 in today's money. Neither is suspended. I guess this was one time that the NBA having hardly any national attention was a blessing rather than a curse, with no ESPN to show the fight over and over and over.

Oh, yes: The Knicks won the game, 122-119.
October 19, 1967: Four years to the day after Philadelphia's current basketball team made its home debut, its hockey team does the same. There are notable differences: With the 76ers, it was at the classic Civic Center, and they lost; with the Flyers, it was at the brand-new Spectrum, and despite being an expansion team, they won.

At 2:59 into the 3rd period, Bill Sutherland puts the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Les Binkley, and the Flyers have a 1-0 win over their fellow "Second Six" Pennsylvanians, in the 1st regular-season game between them. When they won their 1st Stanley Cup, on May 19, 1974, it would also be at The Spectrum, and it would also be 1-0, over the Boston Bruins.

October 19, 1968: It is the 3rd Saturday in October, which means a college football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama.

In 1962, Richmond Flowers ran for the office of State Attorney General, and won -- in the same election in which George Wallace was first elected Governor. Unlike Wallace, whose inaugural address promised, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!" Flowers was a genuine 1960s-style liberal.

He argued a landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which established the concept now known as "One person, one vote." He also fought to aid the application of the federal law requiring public school desegregation, and successfully prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan, which was previously considered legally untouchable. Unused to challenges to their authority, they threw bricks through his house's windows, and burned crosses on his lawn on multiple occasions. He became known as "the most hated white man in Alabama."

After the 1966 election, in which he ran for Governor and lost, the Klan's allies, no longer facing a State Department of Justice controlled by Flowers, got their revenge. He was indicted for extortion, trying to get payments from companies seeking licenses to do business in Alabama while he was Attorney General. To the end of his life, he insisted he was innocent.

His son, Richmond Flowers Jr., was a high school football and track star. Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant wanted him at Alabama. Lots of people wanted him at Alabama. He refused, because of the way his home State treated his father. He went to the University of Tennessee, because his preferred sport was track, and while Alabama then had a decisive edge in football, Tennessee had an even more pronounced one in track. An injury ruined his chances of making the 1968 Olympics.

Tennessee coach Doug Dickey welcomed Richmond Jr. back onto the football team. Every year, "The Third Saturday In October," is when Tennessee plays neighboring Alabama. That will include this afternoon, when they will meet at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Alabama leads the series 56-38-7.

On October 19, 1968, they played in Knoxville. Awaiting trial, Richmond Sr. was escorted by FBI agents, and wearing handcuffs, into Neyland Stadium, to watch his son play. Richmond Jr., a receiver, caught a pass for the game's only touchdown. Tennessee won, 10-9.

The following year, Richmond Sr. was convicted -- as if there was any doubt that a jury of 12 white Alabamians would put him away. He was sentenced to 8 years, but was paroled after 16 months. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter, former Governor of Georgia, pardoned him. He returned to his hometown of Dothan, and taught history and criminal justice at a community college there. He died in 2007, at age 89.

Richmond Flowers Jr. was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1969, and was used as a safety and a kick returner. In 1971, he became a New York Giant, and intercepted 4 passes in the 1972 season. He got hurt in 1973, and played in the World Football League in 1974 before retiring. He finally went to the University of Alabama, getting his law degree there as his father did before him. He practiced law, got involved in commodities trading, and is now retired. Sadly, he supports Donald Trump, thus betraying everything his father stood for.

His son, Richmond Flowers III, followed his father into hurdling, college football, and the Cowboys. He became an assistant coach, and is now an agent for football coaches.

Also on this day, Greg Briggs (apparently, his full name) is born in Meadville, Mississippi. A safety, he won Super Bowl XXVII as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys, was loaned out to NFL Europe, thus missing out on their Super Bowl XXVIII win, and returned to them to win Super Bowl XXX. He just missed another Super Bowl, closing his career with the 15-1 1998 Minnesota Vikings. He has since gone into the ministry.

October 19, 1969, 50 years ago: Just 3 days after winning their "Miracle" World Series, the Mets appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, singing "You Gotta Have Heart" from the Broadway musical Damn Yankees.

Each player is identified with the primitive graphics of the time, and using their full names. Thus, Tom Terrific is "G. Thomas Seaver," the Express is "L. Nolan Ryan," and Tug is "Frank E. McGraw."

*

October 19, 1970: Christopher Lee Kattan is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, California. The son of cartoon voice actor Kip King, Chris Kattan is best remembered for his 1996-2003 work on Saturday Night Live.

His impersonations included Bill Gates, CNN announcer Christiane Amanpour, Steve Irwin, Ricky Martin, Elian Gonzalez, and the slightly taller Kerri Strug. His fictional characters included male stripper Mango; Todd Henderson, a.k.a. Azrael Abyss of Goth Talk, alongside Molly Shannon's Circe Nightshade; and, most notably, Steve Butabi, alongside Will Ferrell's Doug Butabi, a.k.a. The Roxbury Guys.

In 2001, while doing a Golden Girls-themed sketch, he fell from a chair, injuring his neck. This was more than 2 years after the last Roxbury Guys sketch, and he has had considerable trouble doing their famous head-bob ever since. It also interfered with his 2014 run on Dancing With the Stars.

October 19, 1971: Matthew Alan Jackson is born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. A right back, Matt Jackson helped Merseyside club Everton win the 1995 FA Cup, and Manchester-area club Wigan Athletic reach the 2006 League Cup Final. He is now Wigan's head of football operations.

October 19, 1972: Keith Charles Foulke is born at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, South Dakota, and grows up in Huffman, Texas, outside Houston. He was the closer who got the final out of the 2004 World Series * for the Boston Red Sox, a bouncer up the middle from Edgar Renteria of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Foulke caught and tossed to 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.

He previously reached the postseason with the Chicago White Sox in 2000 and the Oakland Athletics in 2003, that time losing an ALDS to the Red Sox. Knowing how their bullpen had failed them that year, the Red Sox signed him. He is now retired.

Also on this day, Prakazrel Samuel Michel is born in Brooklyn. "Pras" is one of the founding members of The Fugees.

October 19, 1973: Okan Buruk is born in Istanbul, Turkey. Despite being only 5-foot-6 1/2 inches, the midfielder won the Turkish Süper Lig 7 times with hometown club Galatasaray between 1993 and 2008. He also won the UEFA Cup (the tournament now known as the UEFA Europa League) with them in 2000, defeating Arsenal on penalty kicks after a scoreless match. (He did not take any of their penalties.)

It was the 1st time a Turkish club had won a European trophy, and with the Süper Lig and the Turkish Cup, it made for a European Treble for Gala. (But not the European Treble: That would have required the League, the Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.) That team also featured Brazilian goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel, who almost singlehandedly kept Gala in the game; and Romanian star Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popsecu.

He helped Turkey reach the Quarterfinal of Euro 2000 and 3rd place at the 2002 World Cup. He now manages Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir.

October 19, 1974: Leonard Antonio Little is born in Asheville, North Carolina. A defensive end, he played 12 seasons 14 the St. Louis Rams, winning Super Bowl XXXIV, losing Super Bowl XXXVI, and making the 2003 All-Pro Team. He was named to the St. Louis Rams 10th Anniversary Team. Unfortunately, he has twice been convicted of drunk driving.

October 19, 1975: During a break in the World Series, The Boston Globe uses aerial photography to measure the exact distance from home plate to the foul pole at the left-field wall at Fenway Park, a.k.a. the Green Monster.

Since the 1934 renovation, the distance has been posted as a perilously close 315 feet. The recent trend of posting fence distances in the metric system led to a second posting of 96 meters. But hardly anybody believes the 315/96 figure: Most fans think it's closer, maybe even considerably closer.

A man who'd studied aerial photos taken from World War II reconnaissance planes, to prepare for missions bombing the photographed targets later, decides that the distance is exactly 304.779 feet. That's 304 feet, 9.3 inches. That's more than 10 feet shorter than it has been officially alleged to be. Art Keefe and writer George Sullivan measure it later in the month at 309 feet‚ 4 inches, still over 5 feet shorter than alleged.

In 1990, the Red Sox finally conceded that the distance wasn't 315 feet. The Wall was relabeled as 310 feet, or 94.5 meters -- roughly matching the Keefe-Sullivan measurement, but still over 5 feet longer than what the reconnaissance man said.

I wonder who Ted Williams believed. After all, he not only had to play that Wall as the Sox' longtime left fielder, but had been, himself, a pilot in World War II (and the Korean War), and was noted for his fine eyesight. I'll bet he didn't buy the 315 figure or the 310 one.