What a disaster. No, I don't mean East Brunswick High School's football game last night. They won, 21-9 over Watchung Hills of Warren Township, Somerset County, to advance to 4-1. They will probably make the State Playoffs, for the 1st time in 11 years.
No, I don't mean Rutgers' football game today. They lost 52-13, at home. Okay, it was against Ohio State. Still, you gotta do better than that.
No, I don't mean Arsenal's game today. They barely managed a 0-0 draw, away to Sussex team Brighton & Hove Albion.
I mean the Yankees' game today. A win at home over the Tampa Bay Rays would have all but guaranteed them home-field advantage in the American League Wild Card game. Instead, they lost, ignominiously.
After several starts of pitching well and getting not enough run support, this time, Jordan Montgomery was awful, allowing 7 runs and not even getting out of the 3rd inning. The Rays hit 5 home runs, 3 by Brandon Lowe.
The final score was 12-2. That was already the score in the bottom of the 7th, when Gleyber Torres swung and missed at a horrible pitch, presumably ending the inning. But the ball got away from Rays catcher Mike Zunino (who also hit a homer today), and Torres could have run to 1st base safely. Instead, he sort of stayed in the batter's box for a moment, then began jogging toward 1st. Zunino got the ball, and threw Torres out rather easily.
Bull Durham fans: You know what that makes him? Right: A lollygagger. And it's far from the only time he's lollygagged. This time, Aaron Judge, the unofficial Captain, and Brett Gardner, the seniormost Yankee, gave him a serious talking-to in the dugout.
Sadly, there are still people who think trading 3 months of Aroldis Chapman for 20 years of Gleyber Torres was a good trade -- and some of them aren't even Cub fans.
The Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays both won. The Seattle Mariners play later tonight. The Yankees are now tied with the Red Sox for home-field advantage in the Wild Card Game, and the Red Sox won the head-to-head matchup, so they hold the tiebreaker.
Tomorrow, in the regular-season finale, if the Yanks win, they're in. If the Sox or the Jays lose, the Yanks are in, regardless of what they do. But if the Yanks lose, and the Sox and Jays both win, the Sox will be a game ahead of the Yanks, and the Yanks and Jays will be tied, and the Jays won the head-to-head matchup, so the Yanks would be out.
It is also still possible that the Mariners can win tonight and tomorrow, and the Jays could win, and the Yanks and Sox could both lose, resulting in all 4 teams having 91 wins, and then, I don't know what the tiebreaker would be.
There could very well be a Playoff to get into the Playoffs on Monday night. But if there's a 3-way tie? Or a 4-way tie?
Or, to put it another way: I never imagined that, in 2021, the E.B. Bears would clinch a Playoff berth before the Yankees would, but it's pretty much happened.
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October 2 has frequently been a good day in Yankee history. Not today. The Pinstripes disgraced themselves, playing like garbage.
What I wouldn't give right now for men with guts, who refused to accept losing, who would not accept the lack of effort of Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, and several others. Men like Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Lou Piniella, Graig Nettles... Bucky Dent.
October 2, 1978: The Yankees and Red Sox play that famous one-game Playoff at Fenway Park, the Boston Tie Party. When the top of the 7th begins, the Sox lead 2-0, with Mike Torrez pitching a 2-hit shutout.
Think about it: Today, Torrez would probably have been told he'd pitched a great game, and let the bullpen handle it from here. Although, to be fair, Sox fans generally don't blame Torrez for what happened next. They blame manager Don Zimmer, who leaves Torrez in.
Torrez gets Graig Nettles to fly to right, but allows singles to Chris Chambliss and Roy White. Jim Spencer pinch-hits for Brian Doyle, who was subbing at 2nd base for the injured Willie Randolph. (Fred "Chicken" Stanley took over at 2nd for the rest of the game.) Spencer flies to left.
And then up comes shortstop Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent. Very good fielder. Occasional clutch hitter for contact. Very good bunter. Not much power. He takes ball one. He fouls a pitch off his foot for strike one. He gets tended to by Yankee trainer Gene Monahan.
This being an injury time-out, the pitcher is allowed to make as many warmup throws as he can fit in. Torrez makes none.
Mickey Rivers, the on-deck batter, notices that Bucky's bat is broken. He takes one of his own, given to him by White, and tells the batboy, "Give this bat to Bucky. It has a home run in it."
Bucky gets back into the box. You know what happens next: As Yankee broadcaster Bill White said on WPIX-Channel 11: "Deep to left, Yastrzemski will… not get it! It's a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent, and now, the Yankees lead it by a score of 3-2!"
On July 20, the Sox led the American League Eastern Division by 9 1/2 games. The Yankees were 14 games back. Now, the Sox have won 99 games, and they don't even make the Playoffs.
The Yankees? They go on to win their 22nd World Championship, all since the Sox won their last, 60 years ago.
To this day, even after their team has finally cheated its way to 4 World Series wins, October 2, 1978 still bothers Sox fans. Let it.
As for Bucky, he is approaching his 70th birthday, but no longer runs his baseball school in Florida.
Also on this day, Yankee Fan and Bronx native, but Long Island-raised, Billy Joel gives a concert -- at the Boston Garden. I wonder if he played "New York State of Mind." I wonder if he played "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out On Broadway)." The Boston audience might have cheered about the prospect of New York City being destroyed, but may have booed the line, "They sent the carrier out from Norfolk, and picked the Yankees up for free."
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October 2, 1821, 200 years ago: Alexander Peter Stewart is born in Rogersville, Tennessee. A West Point graduate, he served in the U.S. Army, then taught math and philosophy in colleges in Tennessee, before enlisting in the Confederate Army as the Civil War began.
He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General, was wounded in the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga in northern Georgia, was wounded again in the Battle of Ezra Church outside Atlanta, and became the last Confederate commander to surrender a major division, the Army of Tennessee, to Union General Joseph Johnston, at Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. He went back to teaching, and died in 1908.
October 2, 1851, 170 years ago: Ferdinand Jean Marie Foch is born in Tarbes, Occitanie, France. Having led the French Army through the First Battle of the Marne and the Flanders and Artois campaigns, he was named Allied Commander-in-Chief on March 26, 1918 -- meaning that even America's General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing reported to him. (The American government would never have put up with that after "The Great War," as Britain's Bernard Montgomery found out in World War II.)
He accepted Germany's surrender on November 11, 1918. But as the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, he thought it was not too harsh, as many others thought, but too lenient. And yet, like those who said it was too harsh, he had an ominous prediction that day: "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years." He was off by 64 days. By that point, he had already been dead for over 10 years.
It is interesting that the leading military figures in Germany and France in World War I shared a birthday, albeit 4 years apart.
October 2, 1871, 150 years ago: Cordell Hull (no middle name) is born in Olympus, Tennessee, a town that no longer exists, along the State Line with Kentucky, and grows up in nearby Byrdstown.
He gave his 1st speech on behalf of a political candidate at age 16, in 1887. In 1890, he was elected the Chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party. In 1891, still a teenager, he graduated from Cumberland University School of Law, and was admitted to the Tennessee bar.
He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1892, when he was the minimum age, 21. He later served as a local judge, and then was elected to Congress in 1906, winning that seat every 2 years until 1928, except in the Warren Harding landslide of 1920. This defeat allowed him to become Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1921, a role he held until after he got elected back.
In 1913, after the ratification of the 16th Amendment made a national income tax permissible, he wrote the law allowing for it. He also wrote the law creating the inheritance tax in 1916. In 1930, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but only served 2 years, because President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for whom he was an early supporter, appointed him Secretary of State.
He held that job longer than anyone, 11 1/2 years, from March 4, 1933 to November 30, 1944. With FDR and himself remembering the promise and failure of the League of Nations after World War I, they put together the United Nations, and Hull was awarded the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize.
He might have seemed like an ideal successor to FDR in 1940, but he didn't run, because he didn't have FDR's support. FDR was adept at using radio and newsreels for promotion, and knew Hull couldn't -- not because he had a Southern accent, but because he had a speech impediment. An aide once heard FDR complain, "If I have to hear Cordell say, 'Jesus Chwist!' one more time, I'll scream!"
Hull resigned due to ill health, but he lived until 1955, outliving not only FDR but many of the other major officials of the Administration.
Also on this day, Henry Van Arsdale Porter is born in Manito, Illinois. Usually listed as H.V. Porter, he was a longtime official with the Illinois High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), having particular influence in the development of basketball. It was his idea to have the fan-shaped wooden backboard, later replaced with the rectangular glass model. It was his idea to replace the laced leather ball with the molded rubber version.
And in 1939, he published an essay on high school basketball tournaments, which he described as "March Madness," probably the 1st use of that term. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in the Contributor category in 1960, and lived until 1975.
October 2, 1896, 125 years ago: The Victorian Football League is founded in Melbourne, in the Australian colony of Victoria. Australia gained independence (more or less) in 1901, making Victoria a State. It would take until 1990 for the League to expand enough to rename itself the Australian Football League (AFL).
Australian rules football -- a.k.a. Aussie rules, or footy -- is, like American football, a derivative of rugby, although the players are dressed more like basketball players, including shorts, with no pads. The ball isn't as pointed as an American football, and the field is oval, since most teams started out playing on cricket grounds. Sort of like basketball, the ball must periodically be bounced. Like American football prior to 1906, forward passing is illegal.
The average attendance for a game is usually over 60,000. The season lasts 22 games, from March to September, and ends with an AFL Grand Final, nearly always at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the League's hometown, usually on the last Saturday in September or the 1st Saturday in October, with kickoff at 2:30 PM, or 11:30 PM Friday, New York time.
He gave his 1st speech on behalf of a political candidate at age 16, in 1887. In 1890, he was elected the Chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party. In 1891, still a teenager, he graduated from Cumberland University School of Law, and was admitted to the Tennessee bar.
He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1892, when he was the minimum age, 21. He later served as a local judge, and then was elected to Congress in 1906, winning that seat every 2 years until 1928, except in the Warren Harding landslide of 1920. This defeat allowed him to become Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1921, a role he held until after he got elected back.
In 1913, after the ratification of the 16th Amendment made a national income tax permissible, he wrote the law allowing for it. He also wrote the law creating the inheritance tax in 1916. In 1930, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but only served 2 years, because President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for whom he was an early supporter, appointed him Secretary of State.
He held that job longer than anyone, 11 1/2 years, from March 4, 1933 to November 30, 1944. With FDR and himself remembering the promise and failure of the League of Nations after World War I, they put together the United Nations, and Hull was awarded the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize.
He might have seemed like an ideal successor to FDR in 1940, but he didn't run, because he didn't have FDR's support. FDR was adept at using radio and newsreels for promotion, and knew Hull couldn't -- not because he had a Southern accent, but because he had a speech impediment. An aide once heard FDR complain, "If I have to hear Cordell say, 'Jesus Chwist!' one more time, I'll scream!"
Hull resigned due to ill health, but he lived until 1955, outliving not only FDR but many of the other major officials of the Administration.
October 2, 1891, 130 years ago: For the 1st time, a game in what we would now call Major League Baseball is played in the State of Minnesota. I can find no reason why, since neither team was based in Minnesota. The day was a Friday, so it wasn't due to a team escaping a local "blue law" so it could play on Sunday.
It's one of the last games in the 19th Century American Association, which was considered a major league, not the 20th Century version, which was a minor league. The Milwaukee Brewers (not to be confused with the current team of that name) beat the Columbus Buckeyes 5-0 at Athletic Park in Minneapolis.
It's one of the last games in the 19th Century American Association, which was considered a major league, not the 20th Century version, which was a minor league. The Milwaukee Brewers (not to be confused with the current team of that name) beat the Columbus Buckeyes 5-0 at Athletic Park in Minneapolis.
Also on this day, Henry Van Arsdale Porter is born in Manito, Illinois. Usually listed as H.V. Porter, he was a longtime official with the Illinois High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), having particular influence in the development of basketball. It was his idea to have the fan-shaped wooden backboard, later replaced with the rectangular glass model. It was his idea to replace the laced leather ball with the molded rubber version.
And in 1939, he published an essay on high school basketball tournaments, which he described as "March Madness," probably the 1st use of that term. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in the Contributor category in 1960, and lived until 1975.
October 2, 1896, 125 years ago: The Victorian Football League is founded in Melbourne, in the Australian colony of Victoria. Australia gained independence (more or less) in 1901, making Victoria a State. It would take until 1990 for the League to expand enough to rename itself the Australian Football League (AFL).
Australian rules football -- a.k.a. Aussie rules, or footy -- is, like American football, a derivative of rugby, although the players are dressed more like basketball players, including shorts, with no pads. The ball isn't as pointed as an American football, and the field is oval, since most teams started out playing on cricket grounds. Sort of like basketball, the ball must periodically be bounced. Like American football prior to 1906, forward passing is illegal.
The average attendance for a game is usually over 60,000. The season lasts 22 games, from March to September, and ends with an AFL Grand Final, nearly always at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the League's hometown, usually on the last Saturday in September or the 1st Saturday in October, with kickoff at 2:30 PM, or 11:30 PM Friday, New York time.
This year, due to COVID restrictions in Victoria, the game was held at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia. Even so, a Melbourne team made it, Melbourne Football Club, known as the Demons for their red and black uniforms (not unlike the New Jersey Devils, although that hockey team didn't start out in those colors).
Their opponents were from near Melbourne, in the western suburb of Footscray: The Western Bulldogs. This was only the 2nd Grand Final for Western, as they lost in 1961. Melbourne FC had won 12 Grand Finals, but none since 1964. This time, they took no prisoners, winning by an overwhelming margin, 140-66.
The battle for most premiers is very tight: Essendon, of northwest Melbourne, has won 16, but none since 2000; Carlton, of north Melbourne, has also won 16, but none since 1995; and Collingwood, formerly playing in the north Melbourne suburb of that name but now playing home games at the MCG, has won 15, most recently in 2010. Sydney Swans have won 5, more than any Sydney-based team, the last in 2010, although they had a drought from 1933 to 2005.
The MCG, which has never truly been surpassed by the Sydney Opera House as the most famous building in the country, first opened in 1853, and was the main stadium for the 1956 Olympics. Most of the current stadium opened after a redevelopment in 2006.
With a current seating capacity of 100,024, it is actually home to 4 AFL teams: Richmond FC, Melbourne FC, Collingwood FC and Hawthorn FC. It's also home to Australia's national cricket team, the cricket team of the State of Victoria, and the Melbourne Stars teams in the men's and women's Big Bash League, which plays a form of cricket called Twenty20.
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October 2, 1921, 100 years ago: After playing their 1st season as the Decatur Staleys downstate, the Chicago Staleys play their 1st game as a Chicago team, albeit still at Staley Field in Decatur. They beat the Waukegan Legion (not an NFL team), 35-0. The Staleys will rename themselves the Bears the next season.
October 2, 1932: The Yankees win their 12th consecutive World Series game and sweep the Fall Classic for the 3rd time, for their 4th World Championship overall. At Wrigley Field, the Bronx Bombers (the nickname has now replaced "Murderers' Row") bang out 19 hits as they club the Chicago Cubs, 13-6.
The last survivor of the 1932 Yankees was pitcher Charlie Devens, who lived until 2003 -- insisting to the end that, in Game 3, Babe Ruth did so call his shot.
Also on this day, The Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Boston Braves 14-0 at Braves Field -- in football. It was the 1st game for Boston's new NFL franchise.
The next season, they had to move to Fenway Park, and, not wanting their new tenants associated with the other baseball team in town, the Red Sox insisted that the team change its name. It was cheaper to keep the Indian head logos on the uniforms, so they became the Boston Redskins.
In 1937, they moved to Washington, and, after years of protests, this past year, they finally dropped the name "Washington Redskins," taking on the name that people who didn't like the name have been calling them, "The Washington Football Team." They will choose a permanent name to begin using next season.
Speaking of D.C., also on this day, Maurice Morning Wills is born in Washington, District of Columbia. Maury was a switch-hitting shortstop, mostly for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a 7-time All-Star who, along with his White Sox contemporaries Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio, brought the stolen base back as a major baseball weapon.
In 1962, he stole 104 bases, earning himself the National League Most Valuable Player award, and breaking the established major league record of 96 set by Ty Cobb in 1915. That record would stand for 12 years. Maury helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965. He also won 2 Gold Gloves, and finished his career with a .281 batting average and 586 stolen bases.
After broadcasting, and managing in Mexico, he wrote a book titled How to Steal a Pennant, claiming he could take a last-place club and turn it into champions (world, league or division, he didn't specify) in 4 years. Supposedly, the San Francisco Giants offered him their managing job, but he turned it down. (Ill feelings toward them as a result of their rivalry with the Dodgers, perhaps?)
On August 3, 1980, by which point his son Elliott "Bump" Wills was a 2nd baseman for the Texas Rangers, the Seattle Mariners hired Maury. On May 6, 1981, they fired him, after a series of inexplicable gaffes led to a record of 26-56, a percentage of .317, a pace for 111 losses. He later said he should have taken a minor-league job in organized baseball first, something many players who'd like to manage in the majors have been reluctant to do.
As it turned out, there was an explanation for his behavior: He was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict. He eventually got treatment thanks to the woman who became his 2nd wife. He soon returned to the Dodger organization, played their 3rd base coach in the "present" sequence of the film The Sandlot, and has been a member of the Dodgers Legends Bureau (what some sports teams call a "club ambassador") and a broadcaster for a minor-league team he once managed in Fargo, North Dakota.
Like Roger Maris, who grew up in Fargo, he has a museum there in his honor, even though he's far more associated with D.C. and L.A.
Dodger fans are confident, with the next 3 games heading to Ebbets Field. Much like Met fans will later do, they are talking about "taking over New York." But their team will not win another Series game for exactly 6 years.
October 2, 1946, 75 years ago: Robert Eugene Robertson is born in Frostburg, and grows up in Mount Savage, both in the Maryland Panhandle. The 1st baseman played in the major leagues from 1967 to 1979, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and made the putout for the last out of the 1971 World Series.
Bob Robertson only hit 115 home runs during his career, but he did hit 1 of only 13 to reach the upper deck in the 31-season history of Three Rivers Stadium. Pirate broadcaster Bob "the Gunner" Prince had fun with his hometown, calling him "The Mount Savage Strongboy," and saying, "Robertson could hit a ball out of any park, including Yellowstone." So now you know where that expression came from.
October 2, 1947: Game 3 of the World Series. Yogi Berra hits the 1st pinch-hit home run in Series history. The historic homer comes off Ralph Branca in the 7th inning at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. But the Dodgers win the game anyway, 9-8, and close to within 2 games to 1.
October 2, 1948: Avery Franklin Brooks is born in Evansville, Indiana, and grows up across the State in Gary. He got a master's degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1976, and has lived in New Jersey ever since.
Paul Robeson, who was, among other things, a Rutgers football player in the 1910s, died in 1976, and inspired Brooks to write and star in the play Paul Robeson, which had its premiere at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Brooks starred as "Hawk" -- I can find no other name for the character -- on the ABC series Spenser: For Hire and A Man Called Hawk, based on the mystery novels by Boston-based writer and baseball fan Robert B. Parker.
But because of the reach of Star Trek, he'll be best remembered as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. One of the big problems I have with Star Trek is the canon "future history" that says baseball stopped in 2042, due to a lack of popularity. Sisko almost singlehandedly revives the sport throughout the United Federation of Planets in the 2370s.
In the episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," he tells his crewmates/teammates, "There is more to baseball than physical strength. It's, uh... (thinks for a moment) It's about courage. And it's also about faith. And it is also about heart." He was right.
He says this while wearing a San Francisco Giants cap. The "SF" logo could also stand for "Starfleet," as Starfleet Headquarters, Starfleet Academy, and indeed the United Federation of Planets itself, are all, in Trek canon, based in San Francisco, on the site of the Presidio, a former U.S. Army base that is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including the southern anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge.
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In the show's pilot, he wore a navy blue cap with a gray "G" on it. At first, I thought this referred to Georgetown University, but this was wrong: It was for the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues.
Sisko was the first lead in any Trek series to start out with a rank lower than that of Captain, beginning as a Commander, but was eventually promoted. He was also the only Trek character ever to punch the omnipotent Q (played by John de Lancie), who goaded him into it, and then petulantly said, "You hit me! Picard never hit me!" Sisko: "I'm not Picard." Some fans use this to suggest that Sisko is "the most badass captain" in Trek history.
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October 2, 1949: On the same day that the Yankees dramatically win the Pennant against the Red Sox, Frankie Laine records his most famous song, "Mule Train." He currently has the Number 1 song in America, "That Lucky Old Sun."
Also on this day, Anna-Lou Leibovitz is born in Waterbury, New Haven County, on the New York side of Connecticut. Better known as Annie Leibovitz, she is one of the most renowned photographers of the last 50 years, perhaps best known for her portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken mere hours before Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, and used for the next cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
October 2, 1951, 70 years ago: Game 2 of the National League Playoff. The Dodgers bounce back in a big way, with home runs from Jackie Robinson, Gil Dodgers, Andy Pafko and Rube Walker. (Home runs on the season: Hodges 40, Pafko 30, Robinson 19, Walker... 4.) Clem Labine pitches a 6-hit shutout, and the Dodgers beat the Giants 10-0 at the Polo Grounds.
The Dodgers and their fans will regret manager Charley Dressen having stuck with Labine the whole way, making it next to impossible for him to pitch in the deciding game tomorrow, also at the Polo Grounds. Instead, when Dressen needs to relieve Don Newcombe, he'll have a choice of Carl Erskine and Ralph Branca. The choice he makes turns out to be one still second-guessed today, 70 years later.
The Dodger hurler's performance bests the record of Howard Ehmke, who struck out 13 Cubs for the Philadelphia Athletics in Game 1 of 1929 Fall Classic. Roy Campanella homers in the 8th inning to win it, as "Oisk" outpitches Vic Raschi, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees 3-2. They trail the Series, 2 games to 1.
Only 1 player is still alive from this game, 68 years later: Erskine himself. This is also the case with the game in which Willie Mays made "The Catch." It was also true for Don Larsen's perfect game, until Larsen died at the beginning of this year.
As for the Giants, it is their 5th World Series win. They would not win another for 46 years. No one would have believed that at the time. Nor would they have believed that the Giants would leave New York just 3 years later. Nor would they have believed that center fielder Willie Mays would never win another World Series.
Mays is the last 1954 New York Giant still alive, 67 years later.
October 2, 1961, 60 years ago: Coming out of retirement, former Yankee skipper Casey Stengel agrees to manage the Mets, New York's National League expansion team.
Actually, he goofs, and says, "I'm very pleased to be managing the New York Knickerbockers." I guess nobody told him the real name of the team -- which, since it hadn't played a game yet, was partly understandable.
Also on this day, the TV game show Password premieres. In runs on CBS until 1967, then on ABC until 1975. Allen Ludden hosts, and the game has celebrity panelists, often including Ludden's wife, comic actress Betty White.
Password figured in the December 1, 1972 episode of The Odd Couple. Allen invites sportswriter Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) to appear as one of the celebrity guests, and he brings his roommate, commercial photographer Felix Unger (Tony Randall), as a contestant. Even Allen and Betty agree that the results are "ridiculous."
The show would be revived on NBC as Password Plus from 1979 to 1982, but Ludden died of cancer in 1981, and was replaced by Bill Cullen, and then by Tom Kennedy. NBC brought it back as Super Password from 1984 to 1989, hosted by Bert Convy. Unfortunately, Convy also developed cancer, and it was decided to close the show. He died in 1991. In the 2008-09 season, CBS brought it back as
He left as host in 1993, but continued as executive producer, as new hosts led it until 2006. Its 35-year national run was longer than that of American Bandstand (1957-1989, although it had debuted locally in Philadelphia in 1952, and thus technically lasted longer). Cornelius died in 2012, at age 75.
October 2, 1972: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium, which would decide the AL East. (Only 2 Divisions per League back then.) Whoever wins 2 out of 3 will win the Division.
In the top of the 3rd, Carl Yastrzemski doubles off Mickey Lolich. Tommy Harper, who was on 3rd base, scores easily. Luis Aparicio, the legendary shortstop of the Chicago White Sox, was on 1st for the Red Sox and should score easily. And yet…
If you made a list of the Top 10 players in the history of baseball known for baserunning, Aparicio might be on that list. But he trips rounding 3rd, and has to hold there, and Yaz is thrown out trying to stretch his double to a triple. Reggie Smith then strikes out to end the inning. The game is tied 1-1, but should be at least 2-1 Red Sox. The Tigers end up winning 4-1, and win the next night to win the Division.
Sugar Ray Robinson and Archie Moore had been champion boxers in their 40s, but it was a mistake for Ali to even think about getting back in the ring. It is a mismatch: Holmes wins each of the 1st 10 rounds, and Ali looks like, in boxing terms, a very old man. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, stops the fight. It was the only time in his 61 professional fights that The Greatest neither won nor at least went the distance.
Like the rising Rocky Marciano when he inflicted a similar punishment on the aging former champion Joe Louis in 1951, Holmes was seen crying after his victory. He gained very little from the win, and may even have lost respect from many of Ali's fans. This was unfair: If there's anybody with whom they should have been angry, it should have been Ali, for even trying this fight.
Also on this day, Edith Bunker dies of a stroke at age 53. The season premiere of Archie Bunker's Place aired on November 2, and, following Jean Stapleton leaving the show, the character is killed off, and it is said that she died a month earlier. As with Florida Evans on Good Times (a spinoff of Maude, which was a spinoff of All In the Family) 4 years earlier, the deprived half of the couple seems to hold it together until the end of the episode.
October 2, 1981, 40 years ago: For the 1st time ever, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider all appear together on the same TV show -- not counting All-Star Game broadcasts, of course. The 3 New York center field legends of the 1950s appear on The Warner Wolf Show on New York's WCBS-Channel 2.
October 2, 1989: If the movie Major League had been a true story, this is the day after the regular season ended, and thus was the day that the American League Eastern Division Playoff between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians would have been played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium -- 50 years to the day after the Playoff game in The Natural.
This time, the New York team wasn't so lucky. The Yankees led 2-0 in the bottom of the 7th, when Pedro Cerrano, the big Cuban slugger played by Dennis Haysbert, crushed a game-tying home run. Rookie Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) relieved an exhausted veteran Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross) in the 9th, keeping the score level.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes) singled and stole 2nd. Catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger) stepped to the plate, and pointed toward the left-field seats, calling his shot as Babe Ruth had done in the World Series, 57 years (plus 1 day) earlier. Instead, with Hayes taking off for 3rd (this was prearranged), Taylor bunted. Somehow, bad knees and all, he managed to beat the throw to 1st base, and Hayes took off for the plate. He was correctly ruled safe, and the Indians were AL East Champions.
I suppose it was the will of Jobu.
In real life, the Indians never won the AL East. After winning the Pennant in the single-division AL in 1954, they didn't finish 1st again until 1995, by which point they were in the AL Central.
The last survivor of the 1932 Yankees was pitcher Charlie Devens, who lived until 2003 -- insisting to the end that, in Game 3, Babe Ruth did so call his shot.
Also on this day, The Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Boston Braves 14-0 at Braves Field -- in football. It was the 1st game for Boston's new NFL franchise.
The next season, they had to move to Fenway Park, and, not wanting their new tenants associated with the other baseball team in town, the Red Sox insisted that the team change its name. It was cheaper to keep the Indian head logos on the uniforms, so they became the Boston Redskins.
In 1937, they moved to Washington, and, after years of protests, this past year, they finally dropped the name "Washington Redskins," taking on the name that people who didn't like the name have been calling them, "The Washington Football Team." They will choose a permanent name to begin using next season.
Speaking of D.C., also on this day, Maurice Morning Wills is born in Washington, District of Columbia. Maury was a switch-hitting shortstop, mostly for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a 7-time All-Star who, along with his White Sox contemporaries Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio, brought the stolen base back as a major baseball weapon.
In 1962, he stole 104 bases, earning himself the National League Most Valuable Player award, and breaking the established major league record of 96 set by Ty Cobb in 1915. That record would stand for 12 years. Maury helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965. He also won 2 Gold Gloves, and finished his career with a .281 batting average and 586 stolen bases.
After broadcasting, and managing in Mexico, he wrote a book titled How to Steal a Pennant, claiming he could take a last-place club and turn it into champions (world, league or division, he didn't specify) in 4 years. Supposedly, the San Francisco Giants offered him their managing job, but he turned it down. (Ill feelings toward them as a result of their rivalry with the Dodgers, perhaps?)
On August 3, 1980, by which point his son Elliott "Bump" Wills was a 2nd baseman for the Texas Rangers, the Seattle Mariners hired Maury. On May 6, 1981, they fired him, after a series of inexplicable gaffes led to a record of 26-56, a percentage of .317, a pace for 111 losses. He later said he should have taken a minor-league job in organized baseball first, something many players who'd like to manage in the majors have been reluctant to do.
As it turned out, there was an explanation for his behavior: He was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict. He eventually got treatment thanks to the woman who became his 2nd wife. He soon returned to the Dodger organization, played their 3rd base coach in the "present" sequence of the film The Sandlot, and has been a member of the Dodgers Legends Bureau (what some sports teams call a "club ambassador") and a broadcaster for a minor-league team he once managed in Fargo, North Dakota.
Like Roger Maris, who grew up in Fargo, he has a museum there in his honor, even though he's far more associated with D.C. and L.A.
October 2, 1937: The New York Giants do what every team would like to do, but few ever manage it: They clinch a title away to their arch-rivals. They beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 10-2 at Ebbets Field.
At this point, the Dodgers were in severe financial trouble. The Great Depression had been waning, but the recession of late 1937 and early '38 had hit them hard. Their creditors hired Larry MacPhail, the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, to run them.
He made a lot of changes before the 1938 season, including fixing up Ebbets Field, hiring Red Barber (as he had in Cincinnati) and thus breaking the New York teams' taboo on putting their games on radio (the Yankees and Giants would both start in 1939), and switching the Dodgers from their green color scheme to the navy blue on white that has been one of their trademarks ever since. The Dodgers became more popular, and more profitable, than ever. By 1941, they were Pennant winners.
At this point, the Dodgers were in severe financial trouble. The Great Depression had been waning, but the recession of late 1937 and early '38 had hit them hard. Their creditors hired Larry MacPhail, the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, to run them.
He made a lot of changes before the 1938 season, including fixing up Ebbets Field, hiring Red Barber (as he had in Cincinnati) and thus breaking the New York teams' taboo on putting their games on radio (the Yankees and Giants would both start in 1939), and switching the Dodgers from their green color scheme to the navy blue on white that has been one of their trademarks ever since. The Dodgers became more popular, and more profitable, than ever. By 1941, they were Pennant winners.
October 2, 1941, 80 years ago: Game 2 of the World Series. Dolph Camilli's RBI single in the 6th inning gives the Brooklyn Dodgers a 3-2 win over the Yankees, tying up the Series.
Dodger fans are confident, with the next 3 games heading to Ebbets Field. Much like Met fans will later do, they are talking about "taking over New York." But their team will not win another Series game for exactly 6 years.
Bob Robertson only hit 115 home runs during his career, but he did hit 1 of only 13 to reach the upper deck in the 31-season history of Three Rivers Stadium. Pirate broadcaster Bob "the Gunner" Prince had fun with his hometown, calling him "The Mount Savage Strongboy," and saying, "Robertson could hit a ball out of any park, including Yellowstone." So now you know where that expression came from.
October 2, 1947: Game 3 of the World Series. Yogi Berra hits the 1st pinch-hit home run in Series history. The historic homer comes off Ralph Branca in the 7th inning at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. But the Dodgers win the game anyway, 9-8, and close to within 2 games to 1.
October 2, 1948: Avery Franklin Brooks is born in Evansville, Indiana, and grows up across the State in Gary. He got a master's degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1976, and has lived in New Jersey ever since.
Paul Robeson, who was, among other things, a Rutgers football player in the 1910s, died in 1976, and inspired Brooks to write and star in the play Paul Robeson, which had its premiere at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Brooks starred as "Hawk" -- I can find no other name for the character -- on the ABC series Spenser: For Hire and A Man Called Hawk, based on the mystery novels by Boston-based writer and baseball fan Robert B. Parker.
But because of the reach of Star Trek, he'll be best remembered as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. One of the big problems I have with Star Trek is the canon "future history" that says baseball stopped in 2042, due to a lack of popularity. Sisko almost singlehandedly revives the sport throughout the United Federation of Planets in the 2370s.
In the episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," he tells his crewmates/teammates, "There is more to baseball than physical strength. It's, uh... (thinks for a moment) It's about courage. And it's also about faith. And it is also about heart." He was right.
He says this while wearing a San Francisco Giants cap. The "SF" logo could also stand for "Starfleet," as Starfleet Headquarters, Starfleet Academy, and indeed the United Federation of Planets itself, are all, in Trek canon, based in San Francisco, on the site of the Presidio, a former U.S. Army base that is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including the southern anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sisko was the first lead in any Trek series to start out with a rank lower than that of Captain, beginning as a Commander, but was eventually promoted. He was also the only Trek character ever to punch the omnipotent Q (played by John de Lancie), who goaded him into it, and then petulantly said, "You hit me! Picard never hit me!" Sisko: "I'm not Picard." Some fans use this to suggest that Sisko is "the most badass captain" in Trek history.
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October 2, 1949: On the same day that the Yankees dramatically win the Pennant against the Red Sox, Frankie Laine records his most famous song, "Mule Train." He currently has the Number 1 song in America, "That Lucky Old Sun."
Also on this day, Anna-Lou Leibovitz is born in Waterbury, New Haven County, on the New York side of Connecticut. Better known as Annie Leibovitz, she is one of the most renowned photographers of the last 50 years, perhaps best known for her portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken mere hours before Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, and used for the next cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
October 2, 1951, 70 years ago: Game 2 of the National League Playoff. The Dodgers bounce back in a big way, with home runs from Jackie Robinson, Gil Dodgers, Andy Pafko and Rube Walker. (Home runs on the season: Hodges 40, Pafko 30, Robinson 19, Walker... 4.) Clem Labine pitches a 6-hit shutout, and the Dodgers beat the Giants 10-0 at the Polo Grounds.
The Dodgers and their fans will regret manager Charley Dressen having stuck with Labine the whole way, making it next to impossible for him to pitch in the deciding game tomorrow, also at the Polo Grounds. Instead, when Dressen needs to relieve Don Newcombe, he'll have a choice of Carl Erskine and Ralph Branca. The choice he makes turns out to be one still second-guessed today, 70 years later.
October 2, 1953: Carl Erskine, owner of perhaps the best curveball of his generation, strikes out 14 Yankees in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, to establish a new World Series mark.
The Dodger hurler's performance bests the record of Howard Ehmke, who struck out 13 Cubs for the Philadelphia Athletics in Game 1 of 1929 Fall Classic. Roy Campanella homers in the 8th inning to win it, as "Oisk" outpitches Vic Raschi, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees 3-2. They trail the Series, 2 games to 1.
Only 1 player is still alive from this game, 68 years later: Erskine himself. This is also the case with the game in which Willie Mays made "The Catch." It was also true for Don Larsen's perfect game, until Larsen died at the beginning of this year.
October 2, 1954: The Giants complete the World Series sweep of the Indians, when Don Liddle beats Bob Lemon, 7-4. The Tribe won an AL record 111 games, not losing 4 straight all season. Now they have.
As for the Giants, it is their 5th World Series win. They would not win another for 46 years. No one would have believed that at the time. Nor would they have believed that the Giants would leave New York just 3 years later. Nor would they have believed that center fielder Willie Mays would never win another World Series.
Mays is the last 1954 New York Giant still alive, 67 years later.
*
October 2, 1961, 60 years ago: Coming out of retirement, former Yankee skipper Casey Stengel agrees to manage the Mets, New York's National League expansion team.
Actually, he goofs, and says, "I'm very pleased to be managing the New York Knickerbockers." I guess nobody told him the real name of the team -- which, since it hadn't played a game yet, was partly understandable.
Also on this day, the TV game show Password premieres. In runs on CBS until 1967, then on ABC until 1975. Allen Ludden hosts, and the game has celebrity panelists, often including Ludden's wife, comic actress Betty White.
Password figured in the December 1, 1972 episode of The Odd Couple. Allen invites sportswriter Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) to appear as one of the celebrity guests, and he brings his roommate, commercial photographer Felix Unger (Tony Randall), as a contestant. Even Allen and Betty agree that the results are "ridiculous."
The show would be revived on NBC as Password Plus from 1979 to 1982, but Ludden died of cancer in 1981, and was replaced by Bill Cullen, and then by Tom Kennedy. NBC brought it back as Super Password from 1984 to 1989, hosted by Bert Convy. Unfortunately, Convy also developed cancer, and it was decided to close the show. He died in 1991. In the 2008-09 season, CBS brought it back as
Million Dollar Password.
Also on this day, Ben Casey premieres on ABC. Vince Edwards plays a neurosurgeon. Sam Jaffe plays the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. David Zorba. Every episode began with a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as Jaffe delivers the meaning behind the symbols: "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." The series runs for 5 seasons.
October 2, 1963: Game 1 of the World Series. Ten years to the day after Erskine struck out 14 Yankees for the Brooklyn edition of the Dodgers, Sandy Koufax fans 15 of them for the Los Angeles version, stunning opposing pitcher Whitey Ford and 69,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.
He has a perfect game until the 5th inning, when Elston Howard singles. Tom Tresh hits a 2-run homer in the 8th, but that's all the Yankees get, losing 5-2. "I understand how he won 25 games," Yogi says after the game. "What I don't understand is how he lost 5."
Still alive from this game, 57 years later: From the Dodgers, Koufax, the aforementioned Maury Wills, right fielder Frank Howard, left fielder Tommy Davis and 2nd baseman Dick Tracewski; from the Yankees, pitchers Whitey Ford and Stan Williams, 1st baseman Joe Pepitone, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek, and pinch-hitters Hector Lopez and Phil Linz.
This game would be referenced in the 1975 film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which the head nurse, Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher), won't let the inmates watch it on television, so Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) points them to the unplugged TV, and provides an imaginary broadcast for them. This deviates from the novel by Ken Kesey, because it was published in 1962, before the game in question.
Also on this day, Ben Casey premieres on ABC. Vince Edwards plays a neurosurgeon. Sam Jaffe plays the chief of neurosurgery, Dr. David Zorba. Every episode began with a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as Jaffe delivers the meaning behind the symbols: "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." The series runs for 5 seasons.
October 2, 1963: Game 1 of the World Series. Ten years to the day after Erskine struck out 14 Yankees for the Brooklyn edition of the Dodgers, Sandy Koufax fans 15 of them for the Los Angeles version, stunning opposing pitcher Whitey Ford and 69,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.
He has a perfect game until the 5th inning, when Elston Howard singles. Tom Tresh hits a 2-run homer in the 8th, but that's all the Yankees get, losing 5-2. "I understand how he won 25 games," Yogi says after the game. "What I don't understand is how he lost 5."
Still alive from this game, 57 years later: From the Dodgers, Koufax, the aforementioned Maury Wills, right fielder Frank Howard, left fielder Tommy Davis and 2nd baseman Dick Tracewski; from the Yankees, pitchers Whitey Ford and Stan Williams, 1st baseman Joe Pepitone, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek, and pinch-hitters Hector Lopez and Phil Linz.
This game would be referenced in the 1975 film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which the head nurse, Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher), won't let the inmates watch it on television, so Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) points them to the unplugged TV, and provides an imaginary broadcast for them. This deviates from the novel by Ken Kesey, because it was published in 1962, before the game in question.
October 2, 1969: Only 5,473 fans attend the Seattle Pilots' regular-season finale at Sick's Stadium, as the last-place team is defeated by the Oakland Athletics 3-1, for their 98th loss of the year. The AL expansion franchise attracts only 677,944 fans for the season -- an average of 8,370 per game -- and is bankrupt.
As their manager, Joe Schultz, would say, "Ah, shitfuck." The Pilots never did really follow his advice to "Zitz 'em, and then go pound some Budweiser."
This turns out to be the last Major League Baseball game in Seattle until April 6, 1977, as the Pilots will play in Milwaukee as the Brewers next season.
The last active Seattle Pilot was Fred Stanley. "Chicken," who played for the Yankees from 1973 to 1980, last played in the major leagues for the Oakland Athletics in 1982.
Thanks to their move, pitcher Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, published the following spring, seems more like a novel than a true story. But it was all true.
October 2, 1971, 50 years ago: Soul Train premieres in syndication. Don Cornelius hosts what becomes known as "The Black American Bandstand." For 22 years, he closed the show by wishing the audience, "Peace, love and soul!"
As their manager, Joe Schultz, would say, "Ah, shitfuck." The Pilots never did really follow his advice to "Zitz 'em, and then go pound some Budweiser."
This turns out to be the last Major League Baseball game in Seattle until April 6, 1977, as the Pilots will play in Milwaukee as the Brewers next season.
The last active Seattle Pilot was Fred Stanley. "Chicken," who played for the Yankees from 1973 to 1980, last played in the major leagues for the Oakland Athletics in 1982.
Thanks to their move, pitcher Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, published the following spring, seems more like a novel than a true story. But it was all true.
October 2, 1971, 50 years ago: Soul Train premieres in syndication. Don Cornelius hosts what becomes known as "The Black American Bandstand." For 22 years, he closed the show by wishing the audience, "Peace, love and soul!"
He left as host in 1993, but continued as executive producer, as new hosts led it until 2006. Its 35-year national run was longer than that of American Bandstand (1957-1989, although it had debuted locally in Philadelphia in 1952, and thus technically lasted longer). Cornelius died in 2012, at age 75.
October 2, 1972: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium, which would decide the AL East. (Only 2 Divisions per League back then.) Whoever wins 2 out of 3 will win the Division.
In the top of the 3rd, Carl Yastrzemski doubles off Mickey Lolich. Tommy Harper, who was on 3rd base, scores easily. Luis Aparicio, the legendary shortstop of the Chicago White Sox, was on 1st for the Red Sox and should score easily. And yet…
If you made a list of the Top 10 players in the history of baseball known for baserunning, Aparicio might be on that list. But he trips rounding 3rd, and has to hold there, and Yaz is thrown out trying to stretch his double to a triple. Reggie Smith then strikes out to end the inning. The game is tied 1-1, but should be at least 2-1 Red Sox. The Tigers end up winning 4-1, and win the next night to win the Division.
October 2, 1977: On the last day of baseball's regular season, the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 8-7 at the old Yankee Stadium. They have to score 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to do it, including 2 on a double by Dell Alston. Earlier, they got a home run from Mickey Klutts. Alston and Klutts were both hot prospects who never made it.
Having clinched the American League Eastern Division the day before, while sitting in a rain delay of a game they would lose while Baltimore's defeat of Boston eliminated the Red Sox, they avoid accusations of "backing in" and win their 100th game, a milestone the club reaches for the 1st time in 14 years.
Also on this day, Dusty Baker of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a home run off J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium. This makes the Dodgers, who have already clinched the NL West, the 1st team in MLB history with 4 players hitting 30 or more home runs in the same season: Baker, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Reggie Smith.
When Baker approaches home plate, on-deck hitter Glenn Burke is waiting for him. Instead of offering his hand for a handshake, or holding it out to slap Baker on the back or the rear end (both common post-homer gestures), he holds it high over his head. Baker reaches up and slaps Burke's hand with his own. "It seemed like the thing to do," Baker said. And so, the high five is born. Burke then hits his 1st major league home run. But the Astros win the game, 6-3.
Burke was the 1st MLB player known to be gay, and, with Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda militantly anti-gay -- and refusing to accept that his son Tommy Jr. was gay -- traded him early in 1978. In 1991, Tommy Jr. died of AIDS. Glenn also died of AIDS, in 1995. To the day he died, at the start of this year at age 93, Tommy Sr. insisted that Tommy Jr. was straight and died of pneumonia.
Having clinched the American League Eastern Division the day before, while sitting in a rain delay of a game they would lose while Baltimore's defeat of Boston eliminated the Red Sox, they avoid accusations of "backing in" and win their 100th game, a milestone the club reaches for the 1st time in 14 years.
Also on this day, Dusty Baker of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a home run off J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium. This makes the Dodgers, who have already clinched the NL West, the 1st team in MLB history with 4 players hitting 30 or more home runs in the same season: Baker, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Reggie Smith.
When Baker approaches home plate, on-deck hitter Glenn Burke is waiting for him. Instead of offering his hand for a handshake, or holding it out to slap Baker on the back or the rear end (both common post-homer gestures), he holds it high over his head. Baker reaches up and slaps Burke's hand with his own. "It seemed like the thing to do," Baker said. And so, the high five is born. Burke then hits his 1st major league home run. But the Astros win the game, 6-3.
Burke was the 1st MLB player known to be gay, and, with Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda militantly anti-gay -- and refusing to accept that his son Tommy Jr. was gay -- traded him early in 1978. In 1991, Tommy Jr. died of AIDS. Glenn also died of AIDS, in 1995. To the day he died, at the start of this year at age 93, Tommy Sr. insisted that Tommy Jr. was straight and died of pneumonia.
October 2, 1979: Pope John Paul II delivers Mass at Yankee Stadium. A plaque honoring this Mass would be installed at Monument Park, and has been transferred to the new Yankee Stadium. Later in the week, he will also do so at Shea Stadium and Madison Square Garden.
The Pope went to Yankee Stadium before going to Shea Stadium? Maybe he really is infallible.
The Pope went to Yankee Stadium before going to Shea Stadium? Maybe he really is infallible.
*
October 2, 1980, 40 years ago: Muhammad Ali tries to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World for the 4th time. It is a mistake. He is 38 years old, and already beginning to show signs of Parkinson's disease, from the poundings he had taken in the ring from 1975 to 1978.
October 2, 1980, 40 years ago: Muhammad Ali tries to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World for the 4th time. It is a mistake. He is 38 years old, and already beginning to show signs of Parkinson's disease, from the poundings he had taken in the ring from 1975 to 1978.
He hasn't fought in 2 years. He has gotten his weight down to 217 1/2 pounds, his lowest since he won the title for the 2nd time, from George Foreman in 1974. But, at the same time, he'd lost too much weight too fast, and it had drained him. And he's facing Larry Holmes, who's 30, and 35-0, with 26 knockouts.
Sugar Ray Robinson and Archie Moore had been champion boxers in their 40s, but it was a mistake for Ali to even think about getting back in the ring. It is a mismatch: Holmes wins each of the 1st 10 rounds, and Ali looks like, in boxing terms, a very old man. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, stops the fight. It was the only time in his 61 professional fights that The Greatest neither won nor at least went the distance.
Like the rising Rocky Marciano when he inflicted a similar punishment on the aging former champion Joe Louis in 1951, Holmes was seen crying after his victory. He gained very little from the win, and may even have lost respect from many of Ali's fans. This was unfair: If there's anybody with whom they should have been angry, it should have been Ali, for even trying this fight.
Also on this day, Edith Bunker dies of a stroke at age 53. The season premiere of Archie Bunker's Place aired on November 2, and, following Jean Stapleton leaving the show, the character is killed off, and it is said that she died a month earlier. As with Florida Evans on Good Times (a spinoff of Maude, which was a spinoff of All In the Family) 4 years earlier, the deprived half of the couple seems to hold it together until the end of the episode.
October 2, 1981, 40 years ago: For the 1st time ever, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider all appear together on the same TV show -- not counting All-Star Game broadcasts, of course. The 3 New York center field legends of the 1950s appear on The Warner Wolf Show on New York's WCBS-Channel 2.
October 2, 1989: If the movie Major League had been a true story, this is the day after the regular season ended, and thus was the day that the American League Eastern Division Playoff between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians would have been played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium -- 50 years to the day after the Playoff game in The Natural.
This time, the New York team wasn't so lucky. The Yankees led 2-0 in the bottom of the 7th, when Pedro Cerrano, the big Cuban slugger played by Dennis Haysbert, crushed a game-tying home run. Rookie Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) relieved an exhausted veteran Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross) in the 9th, keeping the score level.
I suppose it was the will of Jobu.
In real life, the Indians never won the AL East. After winning the Pennant in the single-division AL in 1954, they didn't finish 1st again until 1995, by which point they were in the AL Central.
October 2, 1991, 30 years ago: Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira is born in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil. A forward, Roberto Firmino played for Brazilian club Figueirense and German club Hoffenheim, before moving to his current side, Liverpool. He helped them win the UEFA Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020.
Also on this day, Bill Shea dies in New York at age 84. When the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moved to California after the 1957 season, Mayor Robert Wagner asked Shea, already a prominent Brooklyn lawyer, to form a committee designed to get National League baseball back to the Big Apple.
Because he succeeded, the New York Mets started play in 1962, and their new stadium opened in 1964 with his name on it: The William A. Shea Municipal Stadium. Every year, on the field before the game on Opening Day, he would present a horseshoe-shaped floral wreath to the Mets' manager. But the horseshoe, a symbol of good luck, would always point down, so "the luck would run out." He continued this until he died.
The following season, the Mets would wear patches with a block letter S on their sleeves. In 2008, the last season at Shea Stadium, a circle with his name on it was placed on the outfield wall, along with the team's retired numbers. That circle would be moved to Citi Field, and a structure connecting the right field stands with the center field food court would be named Shea Bridge.
October 2, 1995: In a 1-game playoff for the AL West title, Seattle Mariners southpaw Randy Johnson throws a 3-hitter and beats the Angels, 9-1. The Big Unit finishes the season with an 18-2 record to establish a new AL mark for winning percentage by a lefthander, of .900, surpassing the record set of .893 by Ron Guidry in 1978. (Guidry still has the mark for lefty AL pitchers winning at least 20 games.)
Because he succeeded, the New York Mets started play in 1962, and their new stadium opened in 1964 with his name on it: The William A. Shea Municipal Stadium. Every year, on the field before the game on Opening Day, he would present a horseshoe-shaped floral wreath to the Mets' manager. But the horseshoe, a symbol of good luck, would always point down, so "the luck would run out." He continued this until he died.
The following season, the Mets would wear patches with a block letter S on their sleeves. In 2008, the last season at Shea Stadium, a circle with his name on it was placed on the outfield wall, along with the team's retired numbers. That circle would be moved to Citi Field, and a structure connecting the right field stands with the center field food court would be named Shea Bridge.
October 2, 1995: In a 1-game playoff for the AL West title, Seattle Mariners southpaw Randy Johnson throws a 3-hitter and beats the Angels, 9-1. The Big Unit finishes the season with an 18-2 record to establish a new AL mark for winning percentage by a lefthander, of .900, surpassing the record set of .893 by Ron Guidry in 1978. (Guidry still has the mark for lefty AL pitchers winning at least 20 games.)
Tony Philips of the Angels hits the game's only home run. But it's also the only run the Angels score. It's only 1-0 Mariners going to the bottom of the 7th, but Mark Langston collapses, and the Mariners capitalize, led by a 2-run double by Luis Sojo. This was the 1st big postseason hit for the future Yankee. There would be more.
The Angels led the Division by 11 games on August 9, and 6 games on September 12. But a pair of 9-game losing streaks, and a 7-game winning streak by the Mariners, doomed the Halos to one of the worst collapses in major league history.
Also on this day, the Chicago Bulls trade Will Perdue to the San Antonio Spurs for Dennis Rodman. "The Worm" helps the Bulls win the next 3 NBA Championships, as head coach Phil Jackson finds a way to understand the most incomprehensible player in NBA history. But the next title, in 1999, is won by the Spurs, with Perdue as a key reserve.
October 2, 1996, 25 years ago: After losing badly to the Rangers in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, it looks like the Yankees are going to fall behind 2-0 -- at home. Juan Gonzalez hits his 3rd homer of the series, a drive down the left-field line that is pulled into foul territory by a fan reaching across the foul pole. In other words, the fan does the exact opposite of what Jeffrey Maier does a week later.
This yutz is soon caught a by Fox Sports camera, yammering on his mobile phone, about what he did and how he's on TV. I'm surprised he didn't get the crap beaten out of him, right there in the stands.
But the Yankees bounce back, tie it up, and send it to extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Charlie Hayes attempts to bunt Derek Jeter over to 3rd base (and Tim Raines to 2nd). Ranger 3rd baseman Dean Palmer, who had homered in Game 1, throws the ball away, allowing Jeter to score the winning run. Yankees 5, Rangers 4.
The Rangers would not win another game that counted until April 1, 1997, and would not win another postseason game until October 6, 2010.
Also on this day, the 1st season of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars comes to an ignominious conclusion. In the 1st leg of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Semifinals, they played Washington's D.C. United to a 2-2 tie at Giants Stadium, and won 6-5 in a shootout. But DCU won 1-0 in the 2nd leg at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, on a 72nd minute goal by Marco Etcheverry. Had "Metro" held D.C. for another 20 minutes, they would have advanced.
So a tiebreaker was held at RFK Stadium on this night. It was scoreless at the half. Steve Rammel scored in the 67th minute, but Antony de Ávila equalized in the 86th. It looked like there would be another shootout, but referee Brian Hall awarded D.C. a bogus penalty in the 89th, and Raúl Díaz Arce gave D.C. a 2-1 win. D.C. went on to win the 1st-ever MLS Cup.
Ever since, the "Atlantic Cup" rivalry has been the biggest in the Eastern Conference. Ordinarily, a New York or New Jersey team's biggest rival would be another team in the same market (Nets vs. Knicks, Rangers vs. Islanders, Devils vs. Rangers), or a Philadelphia team (Mets vs. Phillies, Giants vs. Eagles), or a New England team (Yankees vs. Red Sox, Jets vs. Patriots, Knicks vs. Celtics). But fans of the MetroStars, who have been the New York Red Bulls since 2006, still look on D.C. as their most hated team, a.k.a. "The DC Scum."
October 2, 1998: The Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 at The Ballpark in Arlington, and complete a sweep of the AL Division Series. Paul O'Neill and rookie sensation Shane Spencer hit home runs in support of David Cone.
Also on this day, Gene Autry dies at age 91. The Singing Cowboy, one of the most beloved entertainers who ever lived, was also the founding owner of the team then known as the Anaheim Angels. They retired their uniform Number 26 for him, as "the 26th Man."
October 2, 1999: The Atlanta Thrashers play their 1st game. They host the New Jersey Devils at Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena). The 1st goal in Thrasher history is scored by Kelly Buchberger, their 1st Captain, and a former Stanley Cup winner with the Edmonton Oilers. But the Devils spoil the lid-lifter, 4-1. Bobby Holik (later to be the Thrashers' Captain) scores 2 goals, and tallies are added by very unlikely sources, Sergei Brylin and Polish enforcer Krzystof Oliwa.
A "thrasher" is a bird native to Georgia, not a tough guy who "thrashes" people, or beats them up -- although, in hockey, such confusion would be understandable. The Thrashers would win just 14 games in their 1st season.
Despite a Southeast Division title in 2007, they never won a Playoff game, getting swept that season by the New York Rangers in the 1st round. That was their only trip to the Playoffs, and in 2011, beset by declining attendance, were moved to become the new Winnipeg Jets. Atlanta's 2nd venture into the NHL lasted 12 seasons, a little longer than its 1st, with the Atlanta Flames (1972-80) moving to Calgary.
Also on this day, the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 3-2 at Tropicana Field, and clinch the AL East title. Mariano Rivera finishes the regular season by recording his 45th save. He had allowed only 43 hits all season.
The Angels led the Division by 11 games on August 9, and 6 games on September 12. But a pair of 9-game losing streaks, and a 7-game winning streak by the Mariners, doomed the Halos to one of the worst collapses in major league history.
Also on this day, the Chicago Bulls trade Will Perdue to the San Antonio Spurs for Dennis Rodman. "The Worm" helps the Bulls win the next 3 NBA Championships, as head coach Phil Jackson finds a way to understand the most incomprehensible player in NBA history. But the next title, in 1999, is won by the Spurs, with Perdue as a key reserve.
October 2, 1996, 25 years ago: After losing badly to the Rangers in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, it looks like the Yankees are going to fall behind 2-0 -- at home. Juan Gonzalez hits his 3rd homer of the series, a drive down the left-field line that is pulled into foul territory by a fan reaching across the foul pole. In other words, the fan does the exact opposite of what Jeffrey Maier does a week later.
This yutz is soon caught a by Fox Sports camera, yammering on his mobile phone, about what he did and how he's on TV. I'm surprised he didn't get the crap beaten out of him, right there in the stands.
But the Yankees bounce back, tie it up, and send it to extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Charlie Hayes attempts to bunt Derek Jeter over to 3rd base (and Tim Raines to 2nd). Ranger 3rd baseman Dean Palmer, who had homered in Game 1, throws the ball away, allowing Jeter to score the winning run. Yankees 5, Rangers 4.
The Rangers would not win another game that counted until April 1, 1997, and would not win another postseason game until October 6, 2010.
Also on this day, the 1st season of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars comes to an ignominious conclusion. In the 1st leg of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Semifinals, they played Washington's D.C. United to a 2-2 tie at Giants Stadium, and won 6-5 in a shootout. But DCU won 1-0 in the 2nd leg at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, on a 72nd minute goal by Marco Etcheverry. Had "Metro" held D.C. for another 20 minutes, they would have advanced.
So a tiebreaker was held at RFK Stadium on this night. It was scoreless at the half. Steve Rammel scored in the 67th minute, but Antony de Ávila equalized in the 86th. It looked like there would be another shootout, but referee Brian Hall awarded D.C. a bogus penalty in the 89th, and Raúl Díaz Arce gave D.C. a 2-1 win. D.C. went on to win the 1st-ever MLS Cup.
Ever since, the "Atlantic Cup" rivalry has been the biggest in the Eastern Conference. Ordinarily, a New York or New Jersey team's biggest rival would be another team in the same market (Nets vs. Knicks, Rangers vs. Islanders, Devils vs. Rangers), or a Philadelphia team (Mets vs. Phillies, Giants vs. Eagles), or a New England team (Yankees vs. Red Sox, Jets vs. Patriots, Knicks vs. Celtics). But fans of the MetroStars, who have been the New York Red Bulls since 2006, still look on D.C. as their most hated team, a.k.a. "The DC Scum."
October 2, 1998: The Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 at The Ballpark in Arlington, and complete a sweep of the AL Division Series. Paul O'Neill and rookie sensation Shane Spencer hit home runs in support of David Cone.
Also on this day, Gene Autry dies at age 91. The Singing Cowboy, one of the most beloved entertainers who ever lived, was also the founding owner of the team then known as the Anaheim Angels. They retired their uniform Number 26 for him, as "the 26th Man."
October 2, 1999: The Atlanta Thrashers play their 1st game. They host the New Jersey Devils at Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena). The 1st goal in Thrasher history is scored by Kelly Buchberger, their 1st Captain, and a former Stanley Cup winner with the Edmonton Oilers. But the Devils spoil the lid-lifter, 4-1. Bobby Holik (later to be the Thrashers' Captain) scores 2 goals, and tallies are added by very unlikely sources, Sergei Brylin and Polish enforcer Krzystof Oliwa.
A "thrasher" is a bird native to Georgia, not a tough guy who "thrashes" people, or beats them up -- although, in hockey, such confusion would be understandable. The Thrashers would win just 14 games in their 1st season.
Despite a Southeast Division title in 2007, they never won a Playoff game, getting swept that season by the New York Rangers in the 1st round. That was their only trip to the Playoffs, and in 2011, beset by declining attendance, were moved to become the new Winnipeg Jets. Atlanta's 2nd venture into the NHL lasted 12 seasons, a little longer than its 1st, with the Atlanta Flames (1972-80) moving to Calgary.
Also on this day, the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 3-2 at Tropicana Field, and clinch the AL East title. Mariano Rivera finishes the regular season by recording his 45th save. He had allowed only 43 hits all season.
October 2, 2001, 20 years ago: Billy Joel releases his album Fantasies and Delusions. It remains his only album since 1993, and it is all classical. Sure, Billy is a great piano player, but the thing he’s known for is his great lyrics, and, here, there are no lyrics. It’s like going to a steakhouse and leaving after the salad.
October 2, 2011, 10 years ago: A North London Derby is played at White Hart Lane, with Tottenham Hotspur hosting Arsenal. In the 40th minute, with the game scoreless, Rafael Van der Vaart, a Dutch midfielder for "Spurs," deflects a ball with his left arm. It drops to his feet, and he scores. Referee Mike Dean, known to favor Spurs and hate Arsenal, ignores the rules and gives the goal. Arsenal equalize on an Aaron Ramsey goal in the 51st minute, but Kyle Walker scores in the 73rd to win it 2-1.
October 2, 2011, 10 years ago: A North London Derby is played at White Hart Lane, with Tottenham Hotspur hosting Arsenal. In the 40th minute, with the game scoreless, Rafael Van der Vaart, a Dutch midfielder for "Spurs," deflects a ball with his left arm. It drops to his feet, and he scores. Referee Mike Dean, known to favor Spurs and hate Arsenal, ignores the rules and gives the goal. Arsenal equalize on an Aaron Ramsey goal in the 51st minute, but Kyle Walker scores in the 73rd to win it 2-1.
The English media, always friendly to Spurs and contemptuous of Arsenal, show the Van der Vaart goal, but make no mention of the obvious handball. Arsenal fans called him "Hand der Vaart" thereafter.
In the return fixture, at the Emirates Stadium on February 26, 2012, Dean was again the referee. This time, Arsenal left no doubt: They came back from a 2-0 deficit, and won 5-2.
In a career that lasted from 2000 to 2018, Van der Vaart won 2 league titles and a national cup with Ajax Amsterdam, 2 Intertoto Cups (a now-defunct minor European trophy) with German team Hamburger SV, a Spanish Supercup with Real Madrid, and a league title in Denmark with FC Midtjylland; and helped the Netherlands national team reach the 2010 World Cup Final. With Tottenham, he won no trophies.