Last night, the Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-0 at Minute Maid Park, to win the American League Pennant, taking the AL Championship Series in 6 games.
And all the Red Sox fans online, not understanding the concept of irony, called the Astros "cheaters."
And all the Astros fans online, not understanding the concept of "This goes on your permanent record," insisted that their team wasn't cheating this time.
And all the Yankee Fans online were hoping, all through this ALCS, that whoever won the National League Championship Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers would clobber the ALCS winners in the World Series.
As it stands, the Braves lead, 3 games to 2, and have to be favored, due to the Dodgers' pitching injuries.
This, in spite of the multiple bottlejobs that teams from Atlanta have performed over the years. Talk about a permanent record. (Curse of Mark Wohlers, anyone? See the 1996 entry.)
Meanwhile, the Yankees are firing coaches, but not the field manager or the general manager, and have made no player moves since their elimination.
Like the old saying goes: Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting a different result.
Hey, Brian Cashman: This goes on your permanent record.
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October 23, 1832: William Ambrose Hulbert is born in Burlington Flats, New York -- in Otsego County, which is where Cooperstown is located. He is the only native of Otsego County in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and even that took way too long, possibly because of an oversight. Maybe it was generally presumed that he was already in -- that, based on what he had done, he couldn't not be in, until people realized that he wasn't.
When he was 2 years old, the family moved to Chicago, and he later said, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Chicago than a millionaire in any other city." He became a coal magnate, and in 1871 was a founding officer of the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association. In 1876, now in full control of the team we know today as the Chicago Cubs, he gathered some other team owners together, and founded the National League.
He also signed the best pitcher in the game at the time, Al Spalding, and the best hitter, Roscoe "Ross" Barnes, and won the 1st NL Pennant in 1876. In 1877, after Morgan Bulkeley left after a year as, for all intents and purposes, a figurehead, the NL owners voted to make official what was already true in practice: They elected Hulbert NL President. He soon squashed the game's 1st scandal, the Louisville gambling scandal of 1877, essentially ending "player power" for nearly the next 100 years.
The White Stockings won the Pennant again in 1880 and 1881. He died on the eve of the 1882 season, of a heart attack, only 49 years old. Under the operation of Spalding, now retired as a player, the team would win Pennants again in 1882, 1885 and 1886. Hulbert was finally elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, 113 years after his death and 59 years after its establishment.
October 23, 1881, 140 years ago: Christopher O'Brien (no middle name) is born in Chicago. In 1898, in his hometown, he organized the Morgan Athletic Club, which had a football team that included himself and his brother Pat. They played on the South Side of Chicago, at Normal Park, and changed the team's name to the Normal Athletic Club.
That name didn't last long, either. They bought their first uniforms from the nearby University of Chicago. Expecting them to be maroon, since UC's teams were called the Maroons, he saw that they'd faded to a lighter shade of red, cardinal. So he changed the team's name to the Racine Cardinals, because Normal Park was on Racine Avenue between 61st & 62nd Streets, with Throop Avenue being the other border street.
Due to the difficulty in finding professional opponents in this era, O'Brien folded the team in 1906. He restarted it in 1913, but suspended operations again in 1918 due to World War I. They started again in 1919, and in 1920 he was one of the founding owners of the National Football League. Since another founding team, based in Racine, Wisconsin, was called the Racine Legion, he changed the name to the Chicago Cardinals.
In 1922, the Cardinals began groundsharing with the White Sox at Comiskey Park, still on the South Side, as the Chicago Bears played at Wrigley Field on the North Side. (Housing now stands on the site of Normal Park.) In 1925, the Cardinals won the NFL Championship. But, needing cash, O'Brien sold the team in 1929. He lived long enough to see them win another title in 1947, dying in 1951. Oddly, he is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In 1960, the Cardinals moved to St. Louis; in 1988, to Phoenix, where they are now known as the Arizona Cardinals. In 1998, they wore 100th Anniversary uniform patches, and they continue to advertise themselves as the oldest team in professional football. Even if they hadn't suspended operations twice, it would be a ridiculous statement: They've moved twice, ruining their original Chicago identity; and 2 Canadian Football League teams, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts, were playing in the 1870s.
October 23, 1886: The American Association Champion St. Louis Browns win the World Championship by beating the National League Champion Chicago White Stockings, 4-3 in 10 innings. This is the beginning of the rivalry between the teams now known as the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, often (but hardly universally) considered the greatest in the National League.
Pitching his 4th game in 6 days‚ John Clarkson holds St. Louis hitless for 6 innings as Chicago builds a 3-0 lead. The Browns tie the game in the 8th‚ and Curt Welch scores "the $15‚000 run" on a wild pitch by Clarkson in the 10th. St. Louis wins the entire gate receipts from the series ($13‚920)‚ with each of 12 players getting about $580 -- about $16,000 in today's money, exceeding the original amount.
Walter Arlington Latham, a.k.a. Arlie or "The Freshest Man On Earth," was the last survivor of the 1886 St. Louis Browns, living until 1952.
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October 23, 1903: Samuel Harold Lacy is born in Mystic, Connecticut, and grows up in Washington, D.C. In 1948, Sam Lacy became the 1st black member of the Baseball Writers Association of America. In 1997, he was given the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, the sportswriters' equivalent of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He lived long enough to accept it, falling just short of a 100th birthday in 2003.
October 23, 1910: The Philadelphia Athletics win the World Series for the 1st time, defeating the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs finish a streak of 4 Pennants in 5 seasons, and the A's have just begun an equal streak.
Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown comes back to face Jack Coombs‚ who takes a 2-1 lead into the 7th. The A's get to Brown for 5 runs and a 7-2 win. The crowd of 27‚374 at Shibe Park is the largest in World Series history to this point. The A's' .316 batting average is a World Series record.
For this Series‚ cork-center balls were secretly used for the first time‚ and will be used in the majors starting next year. Previously‚ rubber-center balls were used. And yet, it would be another 10 years before what we now call "The Lively Ball Era" began.
The A's already have 3rd baseman Frank Baker, shortstop Jack Barry and 2nd baseman Eddie Collins. But 1st baseman John "Stuffy" McInnis is still a year away from becoming a starter. When he does, those 4 will become known as "The $100,000 Infield." My, how quaint the figure now sounds -- about $2.89 million in today's money, combined, for those 4.
Baker is also a year away from the achievement that will get him nicknamed "Home Run" Baker. Collins, Baker, pitcher Albert "Chief" Bender, and manager/part-owner Connie Mack will be elected to the Hall of Fame.
The last survivor of the Philadelphia A's teams that won the 1910, '11, '13 and '14 American League Pennants was center fielder Amos Strunk, who lived until 1979. The Phillies, discovering that he was the last living player who'd played at the 1st game at Shibe Park on April 12, 1909, invited him to attend the last game at what had been renamed Connie Mack Stadium on October 1, 1970.
He angrily refused, even though he lived just outside Philadelphia in Drexel Hill, still angry with Mack after 60 years, and not willing to be associated with him in any way, even though Mack himself had been dead for 14 years, and the Mack family had never had anything to do with the Phillies, besides being their landlords from 1938 to 1954.
October 23, 1911, 110 years ago: Martha Jane Rountree is born in Gainesville, Florida. One of the 1st major women in American broadcasting, she created a radio show called The American Mercury, which began broadcasting on NBC on June 24, 1945. On November 6, 1947, it began on television, under a new name: Meet the Press.
It has been on the air ever since, nearly 74 years. She was the 1st moderator, a stunning thing for a woman in American life at the time. She left the show in 1953 to pursue other ventures, and it hasn't had a permanent female moderator since. (Substitutes such as Jane Pauley, Gwen Ifill and Andrea Mitchell have sat in, but rarely for consecutive Sundays.) Martha Rountree died in 1999.
October 23, 1921, 100 years ago: The Green Bay Packers, in their 3rd season of play but their 1st in the NFL, play their 1st game against an NFL team. They beat the Minneapolis Marines 7-6 at Hagemeister Park in Green Bay.
The Marines, later known as the Minneapolis Red Jackets, played from 1905 until 1930, when they folded due to the Great Depression. It would be 1961 before the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry was restored in pro football.
Also on this day, Charles William Sandman Jr. is born in Philadelphia, and grows up in Middle Township, Cape May, New Jersey, where, like his father before him, he opened a law practice in the Township, which includes the seat of Cape May County, a locality also known as "Cape May Court House." His sons Robert, Charles III and Richard also went on to practice law there.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (forerunner of the U.S. Air Force) in World War II, and was shot down by the Nazis and taken as a prisoner of war. Upon his release, he went to law school, began his practice, and was elected as a Republican to the State Senate in 1955. In 1964 and '65, he served as its Majority Leader. In 1966, he was elected to Congress, representing Cape May and Atlantic Counties, including Atlantic City.
In 1973, he challenged the incumbent Governor, William T. Cahill, in the Republican Primary, as the candidate of people angry that Cahill had proposed -- only proposed, not enacted -- the State's 1st income tax. He won the nomination, but lost the general election to Brendan Byrne, who actually did get the tax passed, and faced an even bigger tax-whiner revolt, getting him nicknamed "One-Term Byrne" -- and got re-elected in 1977 anyway.
By that point, Sandman's political career was over. The "hill he chose to die on" was defending Richard Nixon in Watergate. He was on the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by another New Jerseyan, Peter Rodino of Newark. Sandman was 1 of the 11 Republicans who refused to approve any of the 3 Articles of Impeachment that were drawn up on July 27, 1974, making a fool of himself during the televised hearings. When "the Smoking Gun Tape" was released 9 days later, Sandman knew both he and Nixon were doomed. He was defeated for re-election by William J. Hughes, who served 20 years.
In 1982, Byrne's successor as Governor, Tom Kean, appointed Charlie Sandman to the State Superior Court, and he died in office in 1985. In spite of his connection to Tricky Dick and his pandering to the whiniest part of New Jersey's electorate, the stretch of U.S. Route 9 from the southern terminus of the Garden State Parkway to the Cape May Ferry Terminal is named Charles W. Sandman Boulevard.
October 23, 1923: A benefit game is played at the Polo Grounds for 2 founders of the New York Giants, now destitute: Original owner John B. Day, a tobacco magnate whose fortune was wiped out in the Players' League revolt of 1890; and original manager Jim Mutrie, the man who gave the team originally known as the New York Gothams their long-term name by calling his players, "My big boys, my giants,"
The Giants play the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, and win, 9-0. Day, already ill with cancer, died in 1925, age 77. Mutrie died in 1938, age 86.
October 23, 1925: John William Carson is born in Corning, Iowa, and grows up in Norfolk, Nebraska. Or, as Ed McMahon would later say, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, heeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"
Host of The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson made his share of sports jokes. For example: "Well, it's fall again, and now, we here in Los Angeles can forget about the Dodgers, and concentrate on forgetting the Rams."
Every year, around Christmastime, Johnny would break out the ideal toy: Dickie the Stick! Dickie the Stick was a very versatile toy. One time, Johnny demonstrated that, "With Dickie the Stick, you can hit a baseball like Reggie Jackson! Or scratch like Pete Rose!"
Also on this day, Frederick Alexander Shero is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Freddie the Fog" played 145 games as a defenseman for the New York Rangers between 1947 and 1950, but is much better known as a coach. He led the Philadelphia Flyers to the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cups – the only ones that franchise has ever won. He also coached the Rangers to the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals, their only trip there between 1972 and 1994.
His philosophy of hockey was simple: "Take the shortest route to the puck, and arrive in ill humor." Before the clinching Game 6 on May 19, 1974, he told his Flyer players, "We will win together now, and we will walk together forever." He was right. When the Flyers were building their new arena in 1995 and '96, they named their "buy a brick" program "Walk Together Forever."
He did not live to see the replacement for The Spectrum, dying in 1990. His son, Ray Shero, was general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the 2009 Stanley Cup, and was GM of the Devils from 2015 to 2020.
October 23, 1931, 90 years ago: The Brooklyn Baseball Club of the National League announces that Wilbert Robinson has been fired as manager, and the club will be called the Robins only in the past tense. Max Carey‚ a no-nonsense sort who had been a star outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates‚ will take over next year. The team reverts to the name it used from 1911 to 1913, before Robinson was hired: The Brooklyn Dodgers.
Robinson was not yet done, though. He was named the president of the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association, and held that post until his death. He had been involved in professional baseball in one form or another in 50 seasons. And, not long before both men died in 1934, he made peace with his arch-rival, former friend and teammate, John McGraw.
Also on this day, James Paul David Bunning is born in Southgate, Kentucky, outside Cincinnati. He is one of the few pitchers to win at least 100 games in both Leagues, and one of the few to pitch no-hitters in both Leagues, including a perfect game against the Mets at Shea Stadium in 1964. It was on Father's Day, and he had 6 children. He would go on to have 9.
He served his native Kentucky in both houses of Congress, but in the last few years, the very conservative Republican was one of the Senate's nuttier voices. Then again, pitching for the Phillies prior to 2007 (except for 1980) could do that to you. He was, however, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. The Phillies have retired his Number 14. He died in 2017, at age 85.
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October 23, 1941, 80 years ago: Winston Hill (no middle name) is bornin Joaquin, Texas. An offensive tackle, he made 4 AFL All-Star Games and 4 Pro Bowls with the New York Jets, and was a member of their Super Bowl III winners. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the AFL All-Time Team, and the Jets' Ring of Honor. He died in 2016.
October 23, 1945: Brooklyn Dodger president Branch Rickey announces the signing of Jackie Robinson by the Dodger organization, at the Dodger offices at 215 Montague Street in downtown Brooklyn. (In those days, most teams did not have their offices at the ballpark.) Robinson signs a contract for 1946 for the Dodgers' top farm team, the Montreal Royals of the International League.
Rickey also signs Negro League pitcher Johnny Wright on this day. But after playing with Montreal in 1946 -- as much to be a roommate and companion for Robinson as for any talent he might have had -- Rickey realized (as did Robinson) that, unlike Robinson, Wright did not have the temperament to make it in white pro ball. He returned to the Negro Leagues with the Homestead Grays for 1947, retired after the 1948 season, worked in a gypsum plant, and died in 1990, at the age of 73.
Jackie played for the Royals in 1946, and helped them win the International League Pennant. He was promoted to the dodgers for the 1947 season. In 10 years, they won 6 Pennants and just missed 2 others, winning the 1955 World Series.
It would be 1955 before the Yankees fielded a black player, Elston Howard. To this day, the Yankees have never had a nonwhite field manager. But they have had a black general manager: See the 1995 entry.
October 23, 1946, 75 years ago: A ticker-tape parade is held in New York, for the Delegates to the 1st session of the United Nations.
October 23, 1947: Kazimierz Deyna is born in Starogard Gdański, Poland. An attacking midfielder, he starred for his country's greatest soccer club, Legia Warsaw. With him, they won the national league, the Ekstraklasa, in 1969 and 1970, and getting them to the Semifinal of the European Cup in 1970, the best performance any Polish club has had in the tournament now named the UEFA Champions League. He also played on the Poland team that reached 3rd Place at the 1974 World Cup, the nation's best performance.
He also played for Poland in the 1978 World Cup, and later played in England for Manchester City, and in America with the San Diego Sockers. He was killed in a car crash in San Diego in 1989. He was only 41. Legia retired his Number 10, and he was voted Poland's greatest player ever.
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October 23, 1951, 70 years ago: David Edward Johnson is born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. One of many soccer players who grew up rooting for one Merseyside team but ended up playing for another, he was with Everton when they won the League title in 1970, but didn't make his senior debut for them until the next season.
Liverpool manager Bill Shankly offered Everton manager Harry Catterick a lot of money for Johnson, but Catterick wouldn't sell to Shankly. Finally, he sold Johnson to Suffolk club Ipswich Town, where he became a star, helping them win the 1973 Texaco Cup. In 1977, Shankly finally got his man, and Johnson helped Liverpool win the League in 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1982; the League Cup in 1981 and 1982; and the European Cup in 1977, 1978 and 1981.
He was too young to play for England before the 1974 World Cup, and England didn't qualify for it, anyway -- or for Euro 76, or for the 1978 World Cup. His only tournament for England was Euro 80.
Near the end of his career, in 1984, he played for the Tulsa Roughnecks of the old North American Soccer League. He now hosts in the corporate lounges at Liverpool's stadium, Anfield, and is a contributor to soccer programming on BBC Radio Merseyside.
Near the end of his career, in 1984, he played for the Tulsa Roughnecks of the old North American Soccer League. He now hosts in the corporate lounges at Liverpool's stadium, Anfield, and is a contributor to soccer programming on BBC Radio Merseyside.
October 23, 1957: The Detroit Pistons play their 1st game after moving from Fort Wayne. They lose 104-95 to the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. They will play at the Olympia until 1961, Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit until 1978, the Silverdome in suburban Pontiac until 1988 and the Palace in suburban Auburn Hills until the end of the 2016-17 season. They have now moved into the Little Caesars Arena, sharing it with the NHL's Red Wings.
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October 23, 1961, 60 years ago: Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta is born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. A Basque goalkeeper, he helped the leading soccer team in the Basque Country of Spain, Athletic Bilbao, win La Liga in 1983 and 1984, also winning the 1984 Copa del Rey for a Double.
He moved on to Barcelona, winning the Copa del Rey in 1988 and 1990; the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989; La Liga in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994; and Barcelona's most cherished prize, their 1st European Cup, in 1992. He played for Spain in the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, and later worked in Barcelona's front office.
October 23, 1962: The Baltimore Civic Center opens. It was home to the NBA's Baltimore Bullets from 1963 to 1973, hosting the NBA Finals in 1971, though the Bullets got swept by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Various minor-league hockey teams have played there, but the closest Baltimore has ever come to a major league one is the short-lived Baltimore Blades of the World Hockey Association in 1974-75. The Beatles performed there in 1964, and Elvis Presley did so in 1971 and 1977.
Now named the Royal Farms Arena, after a 7-Eleven-type store chain native to Maryland, the arena's only current tenant is an indoor soccer team called the Baltimore Blast. It seats 11,286 people (down from a peak of 14,000 thanks to now having wider seats) in a horseshoe pattern, and with a stage at one end, much like Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and the Convention Hall of the now-gone Philadelphia Civic Center. The chance of increasing seating capacity is minimal. There are plans to build a new arena in downtown Baltimore, but none has moved forward.
October 23, 1967: The franchise known today as the Brooklyn Nets plays its 1st game. As the New Jersey Americans, they host the Pittsburgh Pipers at the Teaneck Armory. The Pipers, led by future Hall-of-Famer Connie Hawkins, win, 110-107, and will go on to win the 1st American Basketball Association title.
It is the 1st game for a major league team (or even one pretending to be major league) in New Jersey since the 1915 Newark Peppers of baseball's Federal League, and the 1st one ever for a team using "New Jersey" as their locality instead of a city name.
The Americans would move to Long Island after just 1 season, becoming the New York Nets; back to New Jersey, to the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, in 1977, becoming the New Jersey Nets; to the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford in 1981; to the Prudential Center in Newark in 2010; and to the Barclays Center in 2012, becoming the Brooklyn Nets.
They won the ABA Championship in 1974 and 1976 -- making them still the most recent pro basketball team in the New York Tri-State Area to win a league title. But the move to the NBA meant paying an expansion fee to the NBA and a territorial indemnification fee to the Knicks. This forced them to sell off their best player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, and they immediately went from the best of the 6 teams that closed the ABA to the worst of the 22 teams in the NBA.
From their arrival in 1976 until 2001, their 1st 25 NBA seasons, they won exactly 1 Playoff series, against the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984. In 2001, they traded for Jason Kidd, and won the Eastern Conference Title in 2002 and 2003, losing the NBA Finals both times. They won Atlantic Division titles in 2004 and 2006.
From their arrival in 1976 until 2001, their 1st 25 NBA seasons, they won exactly 1 Playoff series, against the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984. In 2001, they traded for Jason Kidd, and won the Eastern Conference Title in 2002 and 2003, losing the NBA Finals both times. They won Atlantic Division titles in 2004 and 2006.
But the long process of moving to Brooklyn essentially left them a lame duck, and crowds dried up. As the Brooklyn Nets, they have remained terrible, a joke franchise despite their early-2000s success. Only the colossal ineptitude of Knick management has saved them from the glare of the spotlight. Having acquired Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is unlikely to help.
Built in 1936, the Teaneck Armory still stands, at 1799 Teaneck Road. John F. Kennedy has a campaign rally there on November 6, 1960, 2 days before the Presidential election -- and also had one at the Nets' next arena, the Long Island Arena in Commack, later that day. It was also used as a filming location for the movies Sweet and Lowdown, You've Got Mail, Bogus and Stonewall. It now hosts youth soccer, under the name of the Soccer Coliseum.
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October 23, 1971, 50 years ago: Las Vegas Stadium opens. The 15,000-seat stadium is the home of the football team at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). In 1978, it was expanded to a north-pointing horseshoe of 32,000 seats, and renamed the Silver Bowl. It was renamed Sam Boyd Stadium in 1984. It was expanded to 36,800 seats in 1999, but a renovation reduced capacity to 35,500 in 2015.
It hosted the Las Vegas Quicksilvers of the original North American Soccer League in 1977, the Las Vegas Posse of the Canadian Football League's ill-fated American experiment in 1994, the Las Vegas Outlaws of the iller-fated XFL in 2001, and the Las Vegas Bowl beginning in 1992.
The Oakland Raiders announced their move to Las Vegas in 2018, but decided to wait for the 2020 season, because this stadium, too small by NFL standards, would have had to be their stopgap home until the new retractable-roof stadium they were planning opened. Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020, and both the Raiders and UNLV moved in. Because UNLV's contract with Allegiant Stadium prohibits them from holding any events at Sam Boyd Stadium, their former home's future is in doubt. There are, however, no plans to demolish it at present.
October 23, 1981, 40 years ago: Despite an uncharacteristic poor performance (9 hits‚ 7 walks), Los Angeles' sensational Mexican rookie Fernando Valenzuela goes the distance in the Dodgers' 5-4 come-from-behind win in Game 3 of the World Series over the Yankees. The deciding run scores on a double play.
Yankee starter Dave Righetti lasts just 2 innings‚ walking 2 and allowing 5 hits‚ but it is reliever George Frazier who takes the loss. Ron Cey hits a 3-run homer for the Dodgers. Starters Valenzuela and Righetti are the 1st 2 Rookies of the Year, of any position, to oppose each other in the World Series since Willie Mays and Gil McDougald in 1951.
October 23, 1983: A suicide bomber blows up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 servicemen. This remains is the largest-single day loss of life for the U.S. armed forces since World War II. Also killed were 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians, for a death toll of 305.
President Ronald Reagan realizes that putting our troops there was a mistake, and pulls them out. It was the right thing to do. Had he kept them there, they would have been at further risk, and further attacks might have made Lebanon his "Vietnam," and he might have been defeated in 1984. It was the right thing to do both morally and politically.
But 20 years later, George W. Bush would have accused him of "cutting and running." And so, Iraq became his "Vietnam" -- the only "Vietnam" we've had since the Vietnam War.
October 23, 1986: Game 5 of the World Series. Bruce Hurst outduels Dwight Gooden, and the Red Sox beat the Mets, 4-2. The Series goes back to Shea, and the Sox only have to win 1 of the last 2 to win their 1st World Championship in 68 years. The Mets are 1 loss away from one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of baseball.
October 23, 1991, 30 years ago: The Atlanta Braves even the Series at 2 games apiece with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins in Game 4 at Fulton County Stadium. Journeyman catcher Jerry Willard's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th is the deciding blow. Terry Pendleton and Lonnie Smith stroke solo homers for the Braves‚ while Mike Pagliarulo does the same for the Twins.
October 23, 1994: Had there been a 1994 World Series, Game 2 would have been played on this day, at the National League Champions' home park.
October 23, 1995: The Yankees name Bob Watson their new General Manager‚ replacing Gene Michael, who becomes Director of Scouting. Now, they just need a new manager, to replace the recently resigned Buck Showalter. It turns out to be Joe Torre.
Watson was a former 1st baseman for the Yankees, helping them win the 1981 American League Pennant. He had also been the GM for the Houston Astros, and had played for them before coming to the Yankees as a player.
Michael, known as "Stick" because he was so thin, had served the Yankees as player, major league coach, minor-league manager, major-league manager and general manager.
Torre had played for the Milwaukee Braves, was with them when they moved to Atlanta in 1966, and also played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. He began his career as a catcher in 1960, and later moved to 3rd base, and finally to 1st base. He won the National League batting title and Most Valuable Player award as a Cardinal in 1971.
A Brooklyn native, he was briefly player-manager for the Mets in 1977, before retiring as a player. He remained manager until he was fired in 1981. The Braves brought him back as manager, and he led them to the NL Western Division title in 1982, and almost did it again in 1983. He later managed the Cardinals, but was fired in the middle of the 1995 season. He had done some broadcasting between the Braves and Cardinals jobs, and presumed that would be what he would do for the rest of his baseball life: "I had managed every team I played for. I had run out of teams."
But Yankee owner George Steinbrenner took a chance on him. The New York Daily News thought he had no idea of what he was getting himself into, given the way notonly the New York media, but Steinbrenner himself, treated Yankee managers: They had the headline "CLUELESS JOE."
Yeah, well, just as the New York media of 1949 called newly-hired Yankee manager Casey Stengel a "clown," Torre did well. With a team assembled by Watson and Michael, Torre managed them for 12 seasons, led them to the Playoffs every year, won 10 AL Eastern Division titles, 6 Pennants and 4 World Series.
We were the ones who didn't have a clue: We had no clue that such success was coming. But we sure did enjoy it.
October 23, 1996, 25 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series. The Braves rock Yankee starter Kenny Rogers, and lead 6-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. They close to within 6-3, but in the top of the 8th, they are 4 outs away from being down 3 games to 1 in the Series, their great season coming to a very disappointing close.
But they get 2 runners on, and backup catcher Jim Leyritz comes to bat against Braves closer Mark Wohlers. After throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs that Leyritz can only foul off, Wohlers hangs an 86-mile-per-hour slider. Leyritz, a postseason hero for the Yankees a year earlier with his 15th-inning walkoff homer in the Division Series against Seattle, knocks it over the left-field fence to tie the game.
The Yankees load the bases in the 10th, and 3rd baseman Wade Boggs, whom Torre had benched in favor of Charlie Hayes due to his usual magnificent hitting having failed him, is sent up to pinch-hit. Boggs draws one of the most important walks in baseball history, and it's 7-6 Yanks. An error makes the final score 8-6 Yanks.
Not since the 1929 Cubs, going from 8-0 up to 10-8 down in the 7th inning of Game 4, had a team blown a 6-run lead in a Series game. The Yankees were in serious trouble, but now the Series is tied, and anything can happen. In this 1996 season, lots of anythings have already happened for the Yankees.
The Yankees traded him in 1997. He helped the San Diego Padres reach the World Series in 1998 -- against the Yankees. In 1999, the Yankees reacquired him, and he helped them with another World Series, hitting what turned out to be the last home run of the 20th Century in Game 4. This led NBC's Bob Costas to say, "You could send this guy to a resort in the spring and summer, as long as he comes back for October." His career ended in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Leyritz has had his ups and downs since. In 2006, he admitted that he'd used amphetamines while playing -- legal at the time, and not nearly as performance-enhancing as steroids. (So if you want to invalidate the Yankees' 1996 and 1999 World Championships because of this, you can't.) In 2007, he killed another driver in a drunken crash. He ended up serving 10 days in jail and a year's probation. In 2009, he was charged with domestic violence for hitting his wife, although she later dropped the charges (but also dropped him through divorce -- they had 4 children).
In 2011, he was a coach for the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. In 2012, he worked for the Yankee front office. He is about to turn 56 years old, and lives in the Orange County suburbs of Los Angeles, with his new wife, Michelle, his 3 kids and her 2. He co-hosts a radio show in Los Angeles for SB Nation Radio.
But they get 2 runners on, and backup catcher Jim Leyritz comes to bat against Braves closer Mark Wohlers. After throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs that Leyritz can only foul off, Wohlers hangs an 86-mile-per-hour slider. Leyritz, a postseason hero for the Yankees a year earlier with his 15th-inning walkoff homer in the Division Series against Seattle, knocks it over the left-field fence to tie the game.
The Yankees load the bases in the 10th, and 3rd baseman Wade Boggs, whom Torre had benched in favor of Charlie Hayes due to his usual magnificent hitting having failed him, is sent up to pinch-hit. Boggs draws one of the most important walks in baseball history, and it's 7-6 Yanks. An error makes the final score 8-6 Yanks.
Not since the 1929 Cubs, going from 8-0 up to 10-8 down in the 7th inning of Game 4, had a team blown a 6-run lead in a Series game. The Yankees were in serious trouble, but now the Series is tied, and anything can happen. In this 1996 season, lots of anythings have already happened for the Yankees.
The Yankees traded him in 1997. He helped the San Diego Padres reach the World Series in 1998 -- against the Yankees. In 1999, the Yankees reacquired him, and he helped them with another World Series, hitting what turned out to be the last home run of the 20th Century in Game 4. This led NBC's Bob Costas to say, "You could send this guy to a resort in the spring and summer, as long as he comes back for October." His career ended in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Leyritz has had his ups and downs since. In 2006, he admitted that he'd used amphetamines while playing -- legal at the time, and not nearly as performance-enhancing as steroids. (So if you want to invalidate the Yankees' 1996 and 1999 World Championships because of this, you can't.) In 2007, he killed another driver in a drunken crash. He ended up serving 10 days in jail and a year's probation. In 2009, he was charged with domestic violence for hitting his wife, although she later dropped the charges (but also dropped him through divorce -- they had 4 children).
In 2011, he was a coach for the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. In 2012, he worked for the Yankee front office. He is about to turn 56 years old, and lives in the Orange County suburbs of Los Angeles, with his new wife, Michelle, his 3 kids and her 2. He co-hosts a radio show in Los Angeles for SB Nation Radio.
October 23, 1999: The Yankees beat the Braves‚ 4-1‚ to take the opening game of the World Series. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez holds Atlanta to 1 hit in 7 innings for the victory. The Braves' only run comes on a 4th inning homer by Chipper Jones.
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October 23, 2001, 20 years ago: Apple unveils the iPod.
October 23, 2003: The Florida Marlins move to 1 game away from a World Championship as they defeat the Yankees‚ 6-4‚ to take a 3-games-to-2 lead in the World Series. Winning pitcher Brad Penny's 2-run single gives Florida a lead they never surrender. Jason Giambi hits a pinch-hit homer in the 9th to bring the Yankees within 2 runs‚ but Bernie Williams' attempt for a game-tying homer falls short at the warning track in center field.
This turned out to be David Wells' last game as a Yankee. He puts up one of the most abominable starts in Yankee postseason pitching history: Boomer gets the Fish out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 1st, then tells Joe Torre his back hurts and he can't pitch anymore. Maybe his back wouldn't hurt so much if his front wasn't so big. José Contreras, not prepared to pitch, and gets shelled.
The Yankees were a run away from going up 3 games to 1 last night, before Jeff Weaver screwed up. Now, the Yankees are in deep trouble.
October 23, 2004: The Boston Red Sox take the opener of the World Series with an 11-9 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at a joyously hapy Fenway Park. Mark Bellhorn's 2-run 8th inning homer is the deciding blow, as Boston bounces back after blowing an early 7-2 lead. David Ortiz also homered for the Sox‚ while Larry Walker connected for St. Louis.
October 23, 2005: Scott Podsednik's walkoff home run in the bottom of the 9th inning off Brad Lidge gives the Chicago White Sox a 7-6 victory over the Houston Astros, and a 2-games-to-0 lead in the World Series. Paul Konerko's grand slam in the 7th puts Chicago in a short-lived lead, before Morgan Ensberg hits a solo homer for Houston.
Lidge had already given up a game-losing homer to Albert Pujols in the NLCS before the Astros won the Pennant in the next game. Lidge would recover -- but not with the Astros.
October 23, 2008: Game 2 of the World Series. James Shields and the bullpen hold off the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Tampa Bay Rays win a World Series game for the 1st time, 4-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
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October 23, 2011, 10 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series. Derek Holland takes a 2-hit shutout into the 9th inning, backed by a home run by Mike Napoli, and Neftali Perez shut the door. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0, and tie up the Series.
October 23, 2011, 10 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series. Derek Holland takes a 2-hit shutout into the 9th inning, backed by a home run by Mike Napoli, and Neftali Perez shut the door. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0, and tie up the Series.
The game was played at the Rangers' ballpark in Arlington, about halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. By a weird coincidence, the Dallas Cowboys were playing at home to the St. Louis Rams earlier in the day, about a mile away. Josh Hamilton of the Rangers and Lance Berkman of the Cardinals, in their baseball uniforms, served as honorary captains for the pregame coin toss. The Cowboys won, 34-7.