Is This the Year of the Asterisk?

BASE BALL

TO-DAY

POLO GROUNDS

In 1964, hit hard in a game in Pittsburgh, his helmet knocked off, his bald head dripping blood as he knelt on the field, a photograph of this scene won a Pulitzer Prize. Tittle retired after the season. Despite never winning a title, he is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the Giants have retired his Number 14. He died in 2017, shortly before his 91st birthday, after being stricken with Alzheimer's disease.

October 24, 1928: George Donald Bullard is born in the Boston suburb of Lynn, Massachusetts. A shortstop, he played 4 games for the Detroit Tigers at the end of the 1954 season. He died in 2002.

Also on this day, James Patrick Brosnan is born in Cincinnati. A pitcher, he debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 1954. In 1959, he was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to his hometown Cincinnati Reds, and chronicled the season in a diary, published as The Long Season. It was the first autobiographical baseball book to not be excessively sanitized, and he was criticized not so much for specific passages but for "violating the sanctity of the clubhouse." It was, however, tame in comparison to Ball Four, the diary another pitcher, Jim Bouton, kept 10 years later.

In 1961, as Brosnan kept another diary, he had his best season in the major leagues, and the Reds won their only Pennant between 1940 and 1970. This book was titled Pennant Race, and was better received. The Reds traded Brosnan to the White Sox in 1963, and he retired after the season. He later became sportscaster, continued writing, and lived until 2014.

Also on this day, Lim Kwong Yew is born in Calgary. He was known in adult life as Norman Kwong, or Normie Kwong. A running back, he played for both of Alberta's teams in the Canadian Football League.

Like the 1st Asian player in the NHL, Larry Kwong (no relation), he was nicknamed the China Clipper. Unlike Larry, Normie got a fair shot in his league, and made 4 CFL All-Star Teams. Despite being just 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds, he helped the Calgary Stampeders win the Grey Cup, the CFL Championship, in his rookie season of 1948. Then he helped the Edmonton Eskimos win it in 1954, 1955 and 1956. In 1956, he rushed for 1,437 yards, which stood as a record for a Canadian until 2012.

He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Stampeders' Wall of Fame, the Eskimos' Wall of Honour, and the CFL's 50th Anniversary Top 50 Players.

In 1971, he was elected to the Alberta legislature. He later became a part-owner of the Calgary Flames and general manager of the Stampeders. When the Flames won the 1989 Stanley Cup, Norman Kwong became 1 of 3 men with his name on both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup. The other 2, the only actual players to have won both, are Lionel Conacher and Carl Voss (who won his Stanley Cup with the 1933 New York Rangers.)

Kwong was named Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, making him the stand-in for Canada's monarch, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, in the Province. He served from 2005 to 2010, and died in 2016, at age 86.

Also on this day, John Stokeley Fulton is born in Brosville, Virginia. Dropping his first name, Stokeley Fulton played center on the football team at Hampden-Sydney College, an NCAA Division III school in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, and later served as its head coach in football, baseball, tennis and wrestling, and as its athletic director.

He won 10 Conference Championships in football, 4 in baseball, and 2 in tennis. He was still officially the school's head baseball and football coach when he died of cancer in 1985. He was elected to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

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October 24, 1930, 90 years ago: The Revolution of 1930 takes place in Brazil, preventing the inauguration of the rightly-elected President-elect Julio Prestes, installing the dictatorial President Getulio Vargas, and ending Brazil's Old Republic. For most of the next half-century and more, Brazil would be led by militaristic dictatorships, who nonetheless promoted the country's highly-successful soccer team.

Also on this day, Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. is born in Port Arthur, Texas, 13 years before Jimmy Johnson and Janis Joplin were born there. A disc jockey who called himself The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson was one of the many deejays who thought he could record a song as good as the ones he was playing, and one of the few who turned out to be right: His song "Chantilly Lace" was a Top 10 hit in 1958.

Early in 1959, "Jape" wrote "Running Bear," a "teenage lament" song about a boy and a girl from opposing Native American tribes, and gave it to Johnny Preston. Then he went on The Winter Dance Party Tour, headlined by Buddy Holly. But their tour bus' heater broke down, and he caught a nasty cold. When Buddy suggested renting an airplane to fly them from Clear Lake, Iowa to Fargo, North Dakota, the Bopper jumped at the chance. Ritchie Valens also rented a seat. The plane crashed in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959. Richardson was 28, Holly 22, Valens just short of turning 18.

October 24, 1931: The George Washington Bridge opens to traffic, connecting the Washington Heights section of Manhattan with Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Today, it carries U.S. Routes 1 and 9 and Interstate 95 over the Hudson River. Until the Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco 6 years later, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

The GWB is the gateway for Yankee Fans driving from New Jersey into Yankee Stadium, as it was for the old Stadium, and for baseball Giants fans going to the Polo Grounds. Many was the time that Phil Rizzuto, living in Hillside, Union County, New Jersey during his time as a Yankee broadcaster, would talk about leaving a game early by saying, "I gotta get over that bridge!"

October 24, 1933: Ronald Kray and Reginald Kray (neither had a middle name) are born in Hoxton, East London. In the 1950s and '60s, the Kray Twins straddled the divide between respectability and treachery, using their West End nightclubs as fronts for their East End gangster activities, making themselves the most famous crime bosses in British history.

They were finally arrested for murder in 1968 and convicted in 1969, and sentenced to life in prison. Ronnie died in prison in 1995. Reggie, deathly ill, was released in 2000, and died 2 months later.

In 1990, with both brothers still alive, Gary and Martin Kemp, the twin brothers who led the British band Spandau Ballet, played them in the film The Krays. In 2015, Tom Hardy played both brothers in the film Legend.

October 24, 1936: The East Stand opens at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood. It becomes the stadium's main entrance, on the street named Highbury Hill. It is a companion to the West Stand that opened in 1932. Arsenal play Grimsby Town, then in the Football League Division One, to a 0-0 draw.

Its lobby included a bust of Herbert Chapman, who had managed Arsenal from 1925 until his death in 1934, winning the League title in 1931 and 1933, and the FA Cup in 1930. He had previously managed Huddersfield Town to the League title in 1924 and 1925. What he left in place added a 1926 League title for Huddersfield, and the 1934 and 1935 League titles and the 1936 FA Cup for Arsenal. Arsenal would add a League title in 1938 before World War II closed down League and Cup play for the duration.

The bust was commissioned by The Pals of Herbert Chapman, 12 men, some of whom had known him since he was player-manager at Northampton Town in 1907, and had dinner with him in December 1933 just before he fell victim to pneumonia which, in those days before antibiotics, could easily be fatal -- in Chapman's case, at age 55. They were all wealthy men by the standards of the time, and raised a great deal of money (including their own) for local charities in Chapman's name.

Their names were: Harry Bryant, John Hope, William McLean Johnston, Harry Joyner, W. Kendrick, Joe Levi, Mark Mintz, Hugh Stewart, Mark Swears, William Valentine, William Webster and John Whitehall.

The state of medicine to which I referred meant that, at their 1949 ceremony honoring Chapman at his lobby bust, just 15 years after his death, only 4 of them were able to appear. The last survivor was Stewart, who only lived until 1971, 37 years -- but he did live long enough to see the League and Cup "Double" won by The Arsenal, a Bertie Mee-managed team which thus surpassed the 1930s Chapman side in the public memory as the club's defining team.

When The Arsenal moved a few blocks away to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, the bust of Chapman was moved there as well. In 2011, a full-body live-size statue of Chapman was dedicated.

Also on this day, David Oswald Nelson is born in Manhattan, and grows up in Los Angeles. The son of Big Band leader Ozzie Nelson and singer Harriet Nelson, and the older brother of singer Ricky Nelson, he starred with his family on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. After the show was cancelled, he stuck mainly to the production side of Hollywood. Married twice, with 5 children, he was the last survivor of the main cast of his show, living until 2011.

Also on this day, William George Perks Jr. is born in Lewisham, South London. We know him as Bill Wyman. From 1963 until 1993, he was the bass guitarist for The Rolling Stones. Since 1997, he has run his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.

October 24, 1937: John Hardy Goetz is born in Raber Township, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in a section named Goetzville for his family. A pitcher, he appeared in 4 games for the 1960 Cubs. He died in 2008.

Also on this day, Jeanine Ann Roose is born in Los Angeles. She spent much of her childhood playing "Little Alice" Harris, daughter of actress Alice Faye and her husband, bandleader Phil Harris, on various radio shows, including The Jack Benny Program, for which Phil was the musical director. The real Alice Harris did not want to appear.

Jeanine has appeared in only 1 film, but it was It's a Wonderful Life, as the child version of Violet Bick in the film's "past" sequences of the 1946 holiday-season classic. She is 1 of 7 surviving castmembers. She left acting to attend UCLA, and became a practicing psychoanalyst.

Also on this day, Barry George Davies is born in London. Like all British people with the surname, he pronounces it like "Davis." While serving in the British Army, he got into radio, and upon his discharge in 1963, he began working for the BBC and as a sports journalist for The Times of London.

He was hired by ITV, the BBC's rival, to cover the 1966 World Cup on home soil. In 1969, the BBC hired him back, and he was a fixture on their soccer programme (as it's "spelt" over there) Match of the Day. and became known for his broadcasting of European Cup/UEFA Champions League Finals, until his semiretirement began in 2004. He is still occasionally called upon to offer his expertise on live BBC sports shows.

October 24, 1939: James Wickersham dies in Juneau, capital of the Alaska Territory, at age 82. The Territory's non-voting Delegate in Congress, the Illinois native sponsored the 1st Alaska Statehood bill (though the Territory did not gain Statehood until 1959), and founded the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which became the University of Alaska.

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October 24, 1941: Ulis C. Williams -- I can find no record of what the C stands for -- is born in Hollandale, Mississippi, and grows up outside Los Angeles: Like Duke Snider and the tennis-playing Williams sisters, he was straight outta Compton. He was a member of the U.S. team that won the Gold Medal in the 4x400-meter relay at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He later served as President of Compton Community College outside Los Angeles, and is still alive.

Octoer 24, 1942: Corporal Henry Race of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders is killed in action at the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt, which still ends up being a British victory over the Nazis. He was 36 years old. From 1928 to 1930, he was a forward for Liverpool FC.

He held the office until May 9, 1945, a day after V-E Day, when, knowing the game was up, he turned himself in. On V-E Day, he had written:

I know that the Norwegian people have sentenced me to death, and that the easiest course for me would be to take my own life. But I want to let history reach its own verdict. Believe me, in ten years' time I will have become another Saint Olav. 

He was wrong. Even while still in power, "quisling" became a word synonymous with "traitor." He is remembered as a traitor, and a willing sender of Norwegian Jews to die in the Holocaust.

Also on this day, Gene Monahan (as far as I know, his full name) is born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1962, during his senior year in high school, the Yankees began their Spring Training tenure in Fort Lauderdale. Gene ("Geno" to some friends) became a bat boy and clubhouse attendant. After graduating from Indiana University, he was rehired by the Yankees. From 1973 to 2011, he was the team's head trainer, 1 of only 3 people to be a Yankee employee through the entire ownership of George Steinbrenner.

He survived throat cancer in 2009-10, and passed the trainer's job on to his assistant, Steve Donohue, in 2011. While the Yankees had their issues with injuries during his tenure, they have greatly increased since his retirement. He is now a consultant for Hendrick Motorsports in North Carolina, and has returned for every Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium. 

October 24, 1946: The Bihar Riots take place in Bihar, West Bengal, India. They are in response to the Calcutta Killings the previous August 16, and the Noakhali Riots on October 10, both actions by Muslims against Hindus.

Between both sides, up to 10,000 people are killed, as India heads toward independence, which takes place on August 15, 1947, but Muslims get their separate nation of Pakistan. Even this does not stop the violence, and, to this day, with religion being the key, the two nations still hate each other's guts.

October 24, 1947: Derek Smethurst (no middle name) is born in Durban, South Africa. A forward, he played soccer in his homeland until 1968, when he was signed by West London team Chelsea. He did not make enough appearances in their successful 1970 FA Cup run to earn a winner's medal, but he did for their 1971 European Cup Winners' Cup.

In 1975, he came to America, and helped the Tampa Bay Rowdies win the North American Soccer League title, Tampa Bay's 1st "World Championship." (To put this in perspective: The Buccaneers were a year away from debuting, and the Lightning and the Rays were a generation away from doing so.) He continued to play in the U.S. until 1987. He still lives in Florida, and runs a soccer academy there.

October 24, 1948: Phillip Bennett (no middle name) is born in Felinfoel, Wales. A legend of Welsh rugby, Phil Bennett helped his country-within-a-country win the Five Nations Championship (the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy in 2000) in 1969, 1970 (shared with France), 1973 (a 5-way tie), 1975, 1976 and 1978, after which he retired.

As Captain of the Wales side, he told his teammates before a 1977 Five Nations match, "Look what these bastards have done to Wales. They've taken our coal, our water, our steel. They buy our homes and live in them for a fortnight every year. What have they given us? Absolutely nothing. We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English – and that's who you are playing this afternoon." Wales won, 14-9.

He now commentates on the game for Welsh television.

October 24, 1949: Czesław Bolesław Marcol is born in Opole, Poland. He was a soccer player until age 14, when a tragedy forced the family to move to the Detroit suburb of Imlay City, Michigan. There, he was taught how to kick an American-style football.

It paid off. The Green Bay Packers drafted him in 1972, and as a rookie, now using the anglicized name Chester Marcol, he helped them win the NFC Central Division, setting team records that still stand for most field goals attempted (48) and made (33) in a season.

In the opening game of the 1980 season, the Packers played their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears. Marcol attempted a game-winning field goal in overtime, but it was blocked, and the ball came right back to him, and he took it and ran for a 25-yard touchdown, giving the Pack a 12-6 win.

He later overcame alcohol and cocaine addictions, and is now an addiction recovery counselor in Dollar Bay, Michigan, across the Upper Peninsula from the aforementioned Goetzville. He was elected to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

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He now runs office buildings in Boston, and was scheduled to be at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, but was delayed, and avoided injury in the explosions.

Also on this day, Thomas Patck Myers is born outside Albany in Cohoes, New York. A safety, he started for the New Orleans Saints for 10 years, making the Pro Bowl in 1979. He is still alive, and a member of their team Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, Richard Asa Hartford is born in Clydebank Scotland. A midfielder, Asa Hartford starred for West Bromwich Albion, Manchester City, Everton, Norwich City and Bolton Wanderers. He helped Man City win the 1976 League Cup, and he scored the only goal in the 1985 League Cup Final, to give Norwich their most recent major trophy.

He played for Scotland in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and is a member of the Scottish FA International Roll of Honor. He later went into management, and is still alive.

He played for the Yankees from 1983 to 1985, and he and his wife Sandra now run a youth baseball charity in Panama.

Also on this day, Reginald Sherard Walton is born in Kansas City, Missouri. An outfielder, he appeared in 43 games for the Seattle Mariners and 13 for the Pirates in the early 1980s, making him a teammate of Moreno.

Also on this day, Ángel Rafael Torres Ruiz is born in La Ciénaga, Dominican Republic. He pitched in 5 games for the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the 1977 season.

October 24, 1953: Christoph Paul Daum is born in Olesnitz, East Germany. A midfielder, he was signed by 1. FC Köln (usually listed as FC Cologne in English), and thus defected to the West.

But he is better known as a manager, having taken Stuttgart to the 1992 Bundesliga title, winning the Austrian Bundesliga with Austria Wien in 2003, and winning the Turkish Süper Lig with Istanbul clubs Beşiktaş in 1995 (also winning the Turkish Cup in 1994) and Fenerbahçe in 2004 and 2005. He recently managed the national team of Romania.

October 24, 1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges U.S. support to South Vietnam. This is the beginning of a 20-year mistake.

Also on this day, Harold John Snepsts is born in Edmonton. A defenseman, the son of Latvian immigrants played 17 seasons in the NHL, mostly for the Vancouver Canucks, helping them reach their 1st Stanley Cup Finals in 1982. The Canucks have hired him as a scout, and inducted him into their Ring of Honour.

Also on this day, Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. On September 15, 2015, following a no-confidence vote in his party's previous leader, Tony Abbott, the former Rhodes scholar, journalist and merchant banker became his homeland's Prime Minister.

He led the Liberal Party to victory by the slimmest of margins in 2016. (Among the many weird things about Australia: Their conservative party is called the Liberal Party, while their liberal party, like Britain's and Israel's, is called the Labour Party.) But another leadership challenge led him to resign on August 24, 2018, and soon thereafter resign from Parliament altogether.

Unlike Donald Trump, he actually is a self-made tycoon. As far as I know, aside from watching Australia compete at the highest levels in cricket and rugby, he has nothing to do with sports. Through his Scottish mother, he is a cousin of actress Angela Lansbury.

October 24, 1955: Elaine Elliott (no middle name) is born in Lakewood, Washington. She played basketball at Boise State University, and got her master's degree from the University of Utah. She was hired as an assistant coach for Utah's women's team basketball team in 1979, and as head coach in 1983.

From then until 2011, she won 582 games, 7 Conference Coach of the Year awards, and the 2001 National Coach of the Year award. She is still alive, and a member of the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, Amy Ruley (no middle name) is born in Lowell, Indiana. After playing at Purdue University, she coached at North Dakota State University from 1979 to 2008, , and won even more games than Elliott: 671, leading them to 5 NCAA Division II Championships. She is still alive, and a member of the North Dakota Sorts Hall of Fame.

October 24, 1956: Tom Whittaker dies of a heart attack in London, only 58 years old. He is 1 of only 2 men to die in office as manager of North London's Arsenal Football Club, the 1st being his former boss, Herbert Chapman, in 1934.

October 24, 1957: Ronald Clyde Gardenhire is born at a U.S. Army base in Butzbach, Hessen, Germany, and grows up in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. A good-field-no-hit shortstop for the early 1980s Mets, he managed the Minnesota Twins to 6 American League Central Division titles between 2002 and 2010, and was named AL Manager of the Year in 2010. He recently resigned as manager of the Detroit Tigers, to concentrate on his health.

His son Toby was drafted by the Twins, but never made the big club, and is now managing in the Twins' farm system.

October 24, 1959: The greatest player in the history of basketball makes his NBA debut. If you're paying attention to the date, you will notice that Michael Jordan hasn't been born yet, and neither have LeBron James' parents.

The place is the old Madison Square Garden. The home team is the New York Knicks. The visiting team is the Philadelphia Warriors. Unfortunately for the Knicks, it is the Warriors who have the player in question: West Philadelphia native Wilton Norman Chamberlain.

Wilt, at this point a 23-year-old 7-foot-1-inch center, scores 43 points. Kenny Sears scores 35 for the Knicks, but it's nowhere near enough, as the Warriors beat the Knicks, 118-109. Basketball will never be the same again.

A little more than 2 years later, on March 2, 1962, these teams will play at the Hershey Arena outside Harrisburg, and Wilt will score 100 points in a 169-147 Warriors victory.

Also on this day, Michael Quinn Brewer is born in Shreveport, Louisiana. A right fielder, he played 12 games for the Kansas City Royals in 1986.

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October 24, 1960, 60 years ago: Tyrone Keys (no middle name) is born in Jackson, Mississippi. A defensive end, he played for the Chicago Bears in their Super Bowl XX season, and was in their "Super Bowl Shuffle" video.

Also on this day, Ian Michael Baker-Finch is born in Nambour, Queensland, Australia. He won 18 PGA Tour events, including the 1991 British Open. Now living in Florida, he is a golf commentator for CBS.

October 24, 1962: Eugene Thomas Larkin is born in Flushing, Queens. A 1st baseman, he went to Columbia, where he broke several school records set by an earlier 1st baseman from New York, named Lou Gehrig.

He was 1 of 7 players to be a part of both of the Minnesota Twins' World Series titles, in 1987 and 1991. In Game 7 in 1991, he hit the bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning that clinched the title, 1-0 over the Atlanta Braves. He still lives in the Minneapolis suburbs, and runs a baseball school.

Also on this day, Jay McKinley Novacek is born in Martin, South Dakota. The All-Pro tight end from the University of Wyoming (whose teams are also called the Cowboys) helped the Dallas Cowboys win 3 Super Bowls. The 5-time Pro Bowler was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012, but, as yet, has not been elected to the Pro Football Hall. He and his wife Amy star on the reality-TV series Saddle Up With Jay Novacek.

Also on this day, Biggie Mbasela (his real, full name) is born in Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia, the British colony that became the independent nation of Zambia. Better known as Gibby Mbasela, he was a forward who won 2 league titles in his country, and was named Zambian Footballer of the Year in 1990.

He was not among the 18 members of the Zambia national team killed in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon on April 27, 1993. He was, however, among those who took Zambia to the Final of the 1994 African Cup of Nations, losing to Nigeria. Shortly after retiring as an active player, he fell ill, and died on May 1, 2000, only 37 years old.

Also on this day, the film The Manchurian Candidate premieres, based on Richard Condon's 1959 novel. The fact that the Cold War-themed film's scheduled premiere turned out to be during the Cuban Missile Crisis probably brought it more hype than expected.

The film starts with the Red Chinese capturing a platoon of U.S. soldiers during the Korean War, and brainwashing them. Most of them are brainwashed only into believing that one of them, a shy, not particularly combative type played by Laurence Harvey, saved their lives. Another, played by Frank Sinatra, recommends him for the Congressional Medal of Honor, based on this incorrect belief.

The trick is that this "war hero" is being set up for a political rise, as his conniving mother (Angela Lansbury), already a Communist agent, is married to his stepfather (James Gregory, later Barney Miller's Inspector Luger), a U.S. Senator (ironically, a Red-baiter like the late Senator Joseph McCarthy), who is being set up to be nominated for Vice President, and the "hero" will then assassinate the Presidential nominee, setting the stepfather up to be President and the mother as the power behind the throne, aiding the Red cause.

One of the brainwashers is played by Khigh Dhiegh, later to be better known for playing Wo Fat, the villain of the original Hawaii Five-O series. Janet Leigh, then the wife of Tony Curtis, and the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis, also appears.

Sinatra had creative control over the film, and originally wanted Lucille Ball to play the mother -- which would have been as big a shock to 1960s viewers as it was to see Henry Fonda as the villain in the 1969 film Once Upon a Time in the West.

But Sinatra's choice as director, John Frankenheimer, had worked with Lansbury on the film All Fall Down, and insisted that Frank watch that film with him. That convinced Frank to cast Lansbury instead, even though she was only 3 years older than the actor playing her son, Harvey. In a further irony, Harvey died young, while Lansbury, at this writing, is still alive and acting at age 95. (The year before, she had played the mother of Elvis Presley's character in Blue Hawaii, and was only 9 years older than Elvis.)

October 24, 1963: Mark Andrew Grant is born in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois. He was Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year in 1985, but his big-league career never really worked out. He was one of the players the San Francisco Giants traded to the San Diego Padres to get Kevin Mitchell, leading him to miss out on the 1987 and 1989 postseasons. Bad luck befell him again when the Braves traded him before their 1991 Pennant run. He is now a broadcaster for the Padres.

Also on this day, a day after recording "When the Ship Comes In," Bob Dylan records "The Times They Are A-Changin'." That will also be the title of his album that these songs go on, which will be released on January 13, 1964. This is also the dawn of Beatlemania in America. The times were, indeed, changing.

It's been remarked that the best part of Zack Snyder's 2009 film adaptation of the superhero-themed graphic novel Watchmen was the opening credits, with the song backing a summary of the events from the 1940 founding of the Minutemen to the "present" in 1985.

The 54-year-old "Mad Russian" has been married and divorced 3 times, most recently in 2017 from his 3rd wife, Darya "Dasha" Zhukova, 15 years younger, a fashion designer known on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption as "Marat Safin's Girlfriend." While she was dating the Russian tennis star, the show's co-host Tony Kornheiser slobbered over her so much it made my feelings for Catherine Zeta-Jones look mature by comparison. Abramovich and Zhukova are parents of 2 children, and Abramovich has 5 others with his 1st 2 wives.

October 24, 1967: Ian Raphael Bishop is born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. A star bowler for the West Indies cricket team from 1989 until succumbing to injuries in 1998, he is now a TV commentator for the sport, frequently waxing poetic about the decline of his former "national team."

October 24, 1969: Ten years to the day after Wilt Chamberlain made his NBA debut, he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then still using his birth name of Lew Alcindor), the man who would eventually surpass him as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, oppose each other for the 1st time, at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood.

Kareem scores 23 points, but the Milwaukee Bucks are led by Flynn Robinson with 33. Wilt scores 25, but the Los Angeles Lakers aere led by Elgin Baylor with 26. The Lakers won, 123-112.

Also on this day, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid premieres, with Paul Newman as Robert Leroy Parker, Robert Redford as Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, and Katharine Ross as Etta Place. Lessons to be learned from this movie:

1. Nothing lasts forever, not even the Wild West.
2. Use enough dynamite, no more.
3. There are no rules in a knife fight.
4. Life, especially a life of crime, is harder in a foreign country, especially when the dominant language is not your first language.
5. If you got a woman who looks like a young Katharine Ross, and she says we should go home because it's too dangerous to stay where we are, go home.
6. Western movies rarely tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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October 24, 1970, 50 years ago: Lamont Bertrell Hollinquest is born in Los Angeles. A linebacker, he was with the Green Bay Packers when they won Super Bowl XXXI.

Also on this day, Graham Charles Stuart is born in Tooting, South London. A midfielder, he helped Everton win the 1995 FA Cup. He is now a commentator for Sky Sports.

October 24, 1971: After playing their 1st home game of the season at their original home, the Cotton Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys open Texas Stadium in the suburb of Irving, Texas. They beat the New England Patriots 44-21. They will go on to win Super Bowl VI at the end of the season. It will remain their home through the 2008 season, including 7 Super Bowl berths, winning 5.

Also on this day, Don McLean releases his album American Pie. The title track is one of the most analyzed songs ever written, including references to the death of Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan replacing Elvis Presley as America's most important rock and roll performer, the rise of the Beatles, the Woodstock and Altamont rock festivals, and the disillusionment faced as the 1960s gave way to the 1970s. The 4th verse uses a football game as a metaphor.

Also on this day, Caprice Bourret (no middle name) is born in the Hacienda Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the mid-1990s, she moved to London to further her modeling career, and became a star there, using just her first name. In America, she is best known for appearing on VH1's The Surreal Life in 2005. In England, she is best known for being a former girlfriend of Arsenal Captain Tony Adams.

Ironically, while black Hispanics are now the leading presence in the game, very few black Americans are in the major leagues. Jackie would probably be disturbed by that, but not puzzled, as he would surely factor in the rise of pro football and basketball as sports preferred by African-Americans, especially since he played those, in addition to baseball, at UCLA.

Of the 30 current MLB franchises, 5 have never had a manager who was either black or Hispanic: The Yankees, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Los Angeles Angels, and the Philadelphia Phillies -- by an unfortunate coincidence, also the last National League team to have had a black player.

(The Yankees have had black coaches, such as Elston Howard, Willie Randolph and Tony Peña, but no black or Hispanic managers, unless you count Peña on those occasions when Joe Torre or Joe Girardi was thrown out of a game, or took a personal day.)

It took until 2016, with former Red Sox star Dave Roberts, for the Dodgers to have their 1st black manager. Currently, of the 24 MLB teams that don't have vacancies, 5 have a black or Hispanic manager. That's right: More teams have their manager's jobs vacant than have them filled with a nonwhite man.

In 1997, on the 50th Anniversary of Jackie's arrival, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced that Jackie's Number 42 would be retired for all of baseball, as yet a unique honor. All players then wearing it would be allowed to continue to do so for the remainder of their careers, but no new players could wear it, and no current players could switch to it.

Also on October 24, 1972, Patrick Williams (no middle name) is born in Monroe, Louisiana. He was a 3-time Pro Bowler at defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. He is now an assistant coach at a high school in his home State.

October 24, 1982: Joseph Macay McBride is born in Augusta, Georgia. Dropping his first name, Macay McBride pitched for the Atlanta Braves in 2005, '06 and '07, and for the Detroit Tigers in '07, with a 6-2 career record, his career ending due to nagging injuries.

October 24, 1983: Christopher Adrian Colabello is born in the Boston suburb of Framingham, Massachusetts. A 1st baseman, he reached the ALCS with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015 and 2016, and now plays in independent leagues.

October 24, 1985: Richie Evans is killed in a crash while practicing for the Winn-Dixie 500 Modified Feature, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. He was 41, and had won 17 professional races.

Also on this day, Wayne Mark Rooney is born in Liverpool, England. Because England needs to believe that its soccer players are the best in the world, "Wazza" was their great hope in the 2000s, starring at hometown club Everton for 2 seasons, and saying, "I'll always be a Blue."

Then Manchester United shoveled a lot of money at him, and he jumped ship. His name is mud on Merseyside now, not just among the Everton fans whom he betrayed, but also among the Liverpool F.C. fans, who never liked him in the first place because he was an Evertonian, but now despised him for going to the team they really hate the most, Man U. With Rooney, Man U have won the Premier League in 2007, '08, '09, '11 and '13, and the UEFA Champions League in 2008. 

But after a good showing for England in Euro 2004, he's been a total bust for the national side. He lashed out against Portugal in the 2006 World Cup Quarterfinal and got himself sent off, leading to England's defeat on penalties (where his talents really could have been used).

He was a big reason why England didn't even qualify for Euro 2008. England washed out in the Round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup, and Rooney was caught on camera cursing out his own country's fans. England lost in the Quarterfinal to Italy on penalties, and while Rooney made his, he didn't score in regular time or in extra time. England was actually knocked out of the 2014 World Cup after just 2 games of the Group Stage, their 3rd game meaningless. And they got knocked out of Euro 2016 in the Quarterfinal -- by Iceland. He then retired from "international football."

Why has Rooney done so well for club, and so badly for country? Because Man United cheat. Dives, dirty tackles, goals given when they are clearly offside, opposing goals rules offside when they are clearly not. Between them, Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool have made up the bulk of the England side for over 10 years, and -- Liverpool less so than the other 2, but hardly innocent -- they are known cheaters, but their players almost never do well in international tournaments.

October 24, 1989: Eric John Hosmer is born in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Cooper City, Florida. The 1st baseman won 2 Pennants, including the 2015 World Series, has 3 Gold Gloves, for the Kansas City Royals. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2016 All-Star Game. He now plays for the San Diego Padres, and helped them make the Playoffs this season.

Also on this day, Bruce Edward Daniels Jr. is born in Tallahassee. A quarterback at the University of South Florida, B.J. Daniels was converted to a receiver of the Seattle Seahawks, and was with them when they won Super Bowl XLVIII. After playing for the Seattle Dragons of the new version of the XFL, the Seahwks have brought him back for their practice squad.


October 24, 1990, 30 years ago: The Boston Red Sox announce they will not renew the contract of former All-Star Dwight Evans, a.k.a. Dewey. Evans signs a 1-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles, plays the 1991 season for them, and retires with 385 home runs and a reputation as one of the best-fielding right fielders ever.

Also on this day, İlkay Gündoğan is born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. A German of Turkish descent, the midfielder started out in the youth system of Gelsenkirchen club Schalke 04, but would star for their arch-rivals, Borussia Dortmund. He helped them win the German version of the Double, the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, in 2012, and reach the 2013 Champions League Final.

He was selected to play for Germany in Euro 2012, but injuries kept him out of the the 2014 World Cup (which Germany won) and Euro 2016. He now plays for Manchester City, and helped them win the Premier League and the League Cup in 2018, and the 1st-ever "Domestic Treble" -- the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup -- in 2019, and another League Cup in 2020.

October 24, 1991: David Justice, Lonnie Smith and Brian Hunter hit home runs to back Tom Glavine, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota Twins 14-5. The Braves need 1 more win to clinch their 1st title in Atlanta -- but Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7 will be at the Metrodome.

This was the only game of the Series that was not close.

Also on this day, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry dies of a heart attack in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, California. He was 70, and had been dealing with the effects of diabetes and a series of strokes. His use of cocaine and prescription drugs hadn't helped.

Toronto catcher Pat Borders‚ with a .450 BA‚ is named Series MVP. Winfield, derided as "Mister May" by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner for his poor performances in the 1981 World Series and subsequent Pennant races, finally has his ring, in his 20th season in the majors.

Also on this day, Tommylee Lewis -- no middle name, and "Tommylee" is listed as just 1 word -- is born in Palm Beach, Florida. A receiver, the only NCAA FBS (formerly Division I-A) school to offer him a football scholarship was Northern Illinois. And he was not selected in the NFL Draft.

But a recommendation of a friend of his high school coach, a friend named Bill Parcells, convinced the New Orleans Saints to sign him. He has become one of the rising receivers of the NFL. Lewis was the receiver clobbered by Nickell Robey-Coleman of the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 NFC Championship Game, without pass interference correctly being called.

Lewis was then cut by the Saints, and then signed but quickly cut by the Detroit Lions. He has since signed to the practice squad of the Saints.

October 24, 1993: Cloyce Box dies in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. He was 70. A 2-time Pro Bowl end, he helped the Detroit Lions win the NFL Championship in 1952 and 1953. He later opened a ranch, which was the stand-in for the Southfork Ranch on the 1st 5 episodes of Dallas in 1978.

Also on this day, Heinz Kubsch dies at age 63. A goalkeeper for FK Pirmasens, he was the backup goalie on the West German team that won the 1954 World Cup.

October 24, 1994: Jalen Lattrel Ramsey is born outside Nashville in Smyrna, Tennessee. A cornerback, he helped Florida State win the 2013 National Championship, and made 2 Pro Bowls for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He now plays for the Los Angeles Rams, and has made a Pro Bowl for them as well.

October 24, 1995, 25 years ago: Game 3 of the World Series at Jacobs (now Progressive) Field is the 1st World Series game played in Cleveland in 41 years, since Game 4 of 1954 was played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

In 8 career World Series starts, this would prove to be the only early exit for John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves. Nevertheless, after leading 4-1 after 3 innings, and 5-3 after 7, the Cleveland Indians blow it, and trail 6-5 in the bottom of the 8th. But Sandy Alomar Jr. ties the game with an RBI double.

In the bottom of the 11th, the Indians get a double by Carlos Baerga and a single by future Hall-of-Famer Eddie Murray, and win 7-6. It is the Indians' 1st win in a World Series game since Game 6 in 1948 in Boston -- against the team then known as the Boston Braves. The 2 teams used a total of 18 pitchers, a new Series record.

October 24, 1998: In the wake of their World Series win 3 days earlier, Yankees David Cone, Tino Martinez, David Wells, Chili Davis and Graeme Lloyd appear on Saturday Night Live.

* Pitchers: Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Left Grove, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens.

* Catchers: Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench.

* 1st Basemen: Lou Gehrig and Mark McGwire.

* 2nd Basemen: Rogers Hornsby and Jackie Robinson.

* Shortstops: Honus Wagner, Erie Banks and Cal Rikpken Jr.

* 3rd Basemen: Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt.

* Outfielders: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose and Ken Griffey Jr.

The Giants now need to win just 1 of the possible 2 games in Anaheim to take their 1st World Championship in 45 seasons in San Francisco. They, and their long-suffering fans, will have to agonize through the next 2 games, and then wait 8 more years.

Also on this day, the Boston Bruins retire the Number 24 of 1970s star and former Captain Terry O'Reilly, before their home opener at the Fleet Center (now the TD Garden). The game, against the Ottawa Seantors, ends in a 2-2 tie.

Also on this day, Hermán Gaviria and Giovanni Córdoba are struck by lightning in training with Deportivo Cali in Cali, Colombia. Gavriria, a midfielder who had played for Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, dies instantly, at the age of 32. Córdoba dies 3 days later, at 24.

To make matters worse. Córdoba's brother, Hernan Córdoba, a striker for Atlético Huila, was killed in a car crash 7 years later. He was only 19.

October 24, 2003: British Airways retires its supersonic Concorde jet after 27 years of service. Air France had already done so. The service was doomed by the combination of its high cost, the 2000 crash of Air France Flight 4590, and the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

*

United's players, particularly the Neville brothers -- right back Gary and midfielder Phil, not the singing Neville brothers of New Orleans -- were kicking Gunners forward José Antonio Reyes into oblivion, rendering him too timid to shoot -- he is, literally, intimidated.

In addition, United's Dutch striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy -- nicknamed Van Horseface due to an uncanny facial resemblance to Seattle Slew -- has a challenge on Arsenal defender Ashley Cole that is clearly worthy of a straight red card. So the Red Devils should be down to no more than 10 men, possibly as few as 8.

The Sox run away with this game, 13-1, and, after doing spectacularly well for the last month, the Rockies will not win another game that counts until April 1, 2008.

*

October 24, 2011: Game 5 of the World Series. Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre back the veteran Darren Oliver with home runs, and the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2. The Rangers need 1 more win to take their 1st-ever World Championship.

They're still looking for that 1 more win.

October 24, 2012: Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth again, Reggie Jackson, Albert Pujols… Pablo Sandoval? Yes, Pablo Sandoval hits 3 home runs in a World Series game, helping the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 in Game 1. 

Also of note was Gerry Davis becoming the umpire with the most postseason games worked: He would finish the Series, which was swept by the Giants, with 115.

Also on this day, Jeff Blatnick dies -- not from Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he had battled in the early 1980s, but from complications from heart surgery. He was only 55.

After beating cancer, the Albany-area native won America's 1st-ever Olympic Gold Medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, in 1984 in Los Angeles. (Steve Fraser won the 2nd the same day.) Interviewed afterward, through tears of joy, he yelled, "I'm a happy dude!" His cancer returned, but he beat it again, and served as a commentator for NBC at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

From 1994 onward, he was involved in Ultimate Fighting, helping to standardize its rules and broadcasting the sport. When he died, it was for announcing UFC bouts, not his wrestling title, that he was best known.

Also on this day, Margaret Osborne duPont dies in El Paso, Texas. She was 94. The top female tennis player in the world in the late 1940s, she won the U.S. Open 3 times, the French Open twice, and Wimbledon in 1947.

October 24, 2013: Game 2 of the World Series. Despite another steroid-aided home run by David Ortiz, Michael Wacha outpitches John Lackey, and the Cardinals beat the Red Sox 4-2, to tie the Series up heading to St. Louis.

After their sweeps of 2004* and 2007*, this was the 1st World Series game lost by the Sox since... Game 7 in 1986.

October 24, 2014: Game 3 of the World Series. After 11 seasons in the major leagues, Jeremy Guthrie of the Kansas City Royals makes his 1st World Series start. After 16 seasons, so does Tim Hudson of the San Francisco Giants. Guthrie gets the key hits he needs, Hudson doesn't, and the Royals beat the Giants 3-2, and take a 2-1 lead in the Series.

Also on this day, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi dies in a car crash in Witbank, South Africa. He was 34 years old. He won a Silver Medal in the 800 meters at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and Gold Medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2009 World Championships of Track & Field.

October 24, 2017: Game 1 of the World Series, the 1st to be held at Dodger Stadium since Game 2 of 1988, is the hottest Series game ever: The temperature at first pitch was 103 degrees. Clayton Kershaw, until now an underachiever in postseason play, outpitches Dallas Keuchel, and gets home runs from Chris Taylor and Justin Turner. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 3-1.

In their respective histories to this point, in World Series games, the Los Angeles edition of the Dodgers is 25-24. The Astros? 0-5. That would change the next night.

October 24, 2018: Game 2 of the World Series at Fenway Park. The Dodgers load the bases in the top of the 4th, but get only 1 run home, taking a 2-1 lead. They will come to regret this.

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. In the bottom of the 5th, Hyun-Jin Ryu allows singles to Christian Vazquez and Mookie Betts, and walks Andrew Benintendi to load the bases. Dave Roberts -- one of the Sox heroes of 2004, but now managing the Dodgers -- brings in Ryan Madson, a Series winner with the 2008 Phillies and the 2015 Royals, but he walks Steve Pearce home with the tying run, and allows a 2-run single to J.D. Martinez.