November 3, 2020, 1 year ago: I wrote, "This may turn out to be the most important day in American history. Vote like the whole world depends on it. Because it might."
Joe Biden was elected the 46th President of the United States, defeating Donald Trump. It wasn't called for 4 days, because several key States were close. It wasn't certified by Congress until January 6, 2021 -- which was supposed to happen, anyway, but this was one of the few times that it was ever in doubt. And there was an unprecedented attempt to prevent it. That attempt failed. It was finally made official on January 20, Inauguration Day, when Biden was sworn in as President.
Biden won 81,268,924 votes, to Trump's 74,216,154. Biden won 51.3 percent of the popular vote, to Trump's 46.9. Each candidate won 25 States, with Biden also winning the District of Columbia and 1 Electoral Vote in Nebraska; while Trump also won 1 Electoral Vote in Maine. (Maine and Nebraska allow their Congressional Districts to vote separately from the State as a whole.) Biden won 306 Electoral Votes, to Trump's 232.
Biden won nearly all the close States: Arizona by 10,457 votes, Georgia by 11,779, Wisconsin by 20,682, Nevada by 33,596,New Hampshire by 59,277, and Pennsylvania by 80,555. However, if Trump had won all of those States except Pennsylvania, with its 20 Electoral Votes, Biden still would have won.
Kamala Harris became the 1st female, the 1st African-American, and the 1st Asian-American Vice President of the United States. The Democrats kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and gained a 50-50 split in the U.S. Senate, which becomes a 51-50 majority in the Democrats' favor -- except 2 Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kirsten Sinema of Arizona, have often stood in President Biden's way when it came to his agenda.
In the end, Biden didn't win because 250,000 Americans had died from COVID-19 -- a total since tripled, and it will increase further, though Biden's efforts will hold it down to less than it would have been if Trump had stayed in office. He won due to the get-out-the-vote effort in the key States, whose apparatus was already in place before COVID.
Biden won because he was the opposite of Trump. Because, while Trump appealed to bigotry and anger, Biden appealed to what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." Because he wanted to bring America healing, which is what America wanted. Because he spoke to "the soul of America." As he, a Catholic and a student of St. Francis of Assisi, is believed to have said:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, union.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.
Conservatism, still led by Trump, is a darkness. Liberalism, currently led by Biden, is a light. And, for now, America wants light.
November 3, 2020, like all modern American Election Days, was a Tuesday. The baseball season had ended. Football was in midweek. And, due to COVID pushing things back, both the NBA and the NHL were still closer to the finish of their 2019-20 seasons than they were to the start of their 2020-21 seasons. So there were no scores on that historic day.
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November 3, 1836: Vice President Martin Van Buren is elected the 8th President of the United States. He essentially rode the coattails of his friend and boss, President Andrew Jackson, to victory. It also helped that the Whig Party was regionally split: Van Buren won 170 Electoral Votes, William Henry Harrison 73, Hugh White 26, Daniel Webster 14, and Willie P. Mangum 11. So it was MVB 170, Whigs United 122.
Mangum won only South Carolina, Webster only his native Massachusetts, and White only Georgia and his native Tennessee -- which probably ticked fellow Tennesseean Jackson off.
In the popular vote, Van Buren won almost 51 percent, Harrison 36, White a little under 10, Webster less than 3, and Mangum wasn't actually on the ballot anywhere, but won South Carolina's Electoral Votes anyway.
November 3, 1868: Ulysses Simpson Grant, U.S. Secretary of War and the leading General of the Union during the American Civil War, is elected the 18th President of the United States. He defeats Horatio Seymour, a former Governor of New York. Grant won nearly 53 percent of the vote, Seymour 47. The Electoral Vote was not nearly as close, 214 to 80 in Grant's favor.
November 3, 1869: The Hamilton Football Club is founded in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This is the forerunner of the Hamilton Tigers, who in 1950 merged with the Hamilton Wildcats to become the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. This could, if you choose to define it this way, make the "Ticats" the oldest continuously operating professional sports team in North America.
Before the merger, the Tigers won 5 Grey Cups, the championship of Canadian football: 1913, 1915, 1928, 1929 and 1932. Since the merger, they've won 8: 1953, 1957, 1963, 1965, the Canadian Centennial Cup in 1967, 1972, 1986 and 1999. This is a total of 13. (The 1943 Grey Cup won by the Hamilton Flying Wildcats, as they were known during World War II since they were sponsored by the Royal Canadian Air Force, is generally not counted in the total.)
November 3, 1896, 125 years ago: Governor William McKinley of Ohio is elected the 25th President of the United States, defeating Congressman William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska. McKinley won 51 percent of the popular vote, and Bryan nearly 47. McKinley won 23 States to Bryan's 22. Those figures make the election sound close. But McKinley won bigger States than Bryan did, so he won the Electoral Vote 271-176.
The Panic of 1893, and the resulting depression, the nastiest the nation had yet suffered, doomed President Grover Cleveland's hopes of winning a 3rd term. But Bryan, at 36 the youngest major-party nominee ever, favored the free coinage of silver, as a means of ending the depression, rather than sticking to the gold standard.
At the Democratic Convention at the Chicago Coliseum, he said, "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." Effectively, he was the Bernie Sanders of his time.
But that scared a lot of people, including a lot of Democrats. Cleveland refused to use whatever political capital he had left to endorse him, and a lot of "Gold Democrats" supported McKinley, who promised "a return to the full dinner pail." (The expression "a chicken in every pot" had been in existence for about 300 years.)
In addition, in the inner cities, and in smaller mill and mining towns, where lots of Catholics, many of them the sons of immigrants, worked in factories, many of them were told by their bosses, "If Bryan wins on Tuesday, don't come in on Wednesday" -- not that they would be fired, but that the factory would have to close.
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November 3, 1901, 120 years ago: Frederick Lionel Hitchman is born in Toronto. After winning the 1923 Stanley Cup with the Ottawa Senators, Lionel Hitchman joined the Boston Bruins, and formed a great defensive pairing with Eddie Shore, captaining the team that won the 1929 Stanley Cup.
He served with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the off-season, and did so full-time after his 1934 retirement from hockey. Like a later Boston sports legend, Ted Williams, he became an accomplished fisherman, setting a record for largest salmon caught. He died in 1969. Although the Bruins retired his Number 3, and he was elected to the Ontario Sports hall of Fame, he has never been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
November 3, 1908: William Howard Taft, Secretary of War, is elected the 27th President of the United States, defeating Bryan. Taft gets 51.6 percent of the popular vote, and wins the Electoral Vote 321 to 162.
Theodore Roosevelt chose not to run for what would have been a 3rd term, and chose Taft, who would really have preferred to have been named Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. TR warned Taft to not let the press take his picture on the golf course. Despite this warning, and his weight, which made him look ridiculous on the golf course, it happened, and TR called him onto the carpet.
Taft was a physical heavyweight, over 330 pounds, our heaviest President. He was no lightweight intellectually, either: A graduate of Yale, including of its law school. He stood up for himself, and said, "Mr. President, you play tennis. That's a more elitist sport than golf!" TR said, "Yes, but I don't let the press take my picture while I do it!"
Taft won anyway, mainly because Bryan was running for the 3rd time, and the issue that had first vaulted him to prominence, the free coinage of silver, was no longer as effective when there wasn't a depression on, as there was when he first ran in 1896. One of the Taft slogans was, "Vote for Taft this time. You can vote for Bryan anytime."
Taft would run his Presidency far from what TR had intended, and TR tried to regain it in 1912. But, as the incumbent, Taft controlled the party machinery. TR ran as a 3rd party candidate, and finished 2nd. They split the Republican vote, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson got elected as a plurality candidate. Wilson appointed Bryan his Secretary of State, but Bryan resigned in 1915, because he was a pacifist, Wilson seemed to be inching too closely to going to war.
Roosevelt and Taft patched things up, and Wilson's successor, Warren Harding, appointed Taft to be Chief Justice -- the only President to also have served on the Supreme Court. Today, "Teddy 26" and "Bill 27" are part of the Washington Nationals'"Racing Presidents."
Also on this day, Bronislau Nagurski is born in Rainy River, Ontario, and grows up in International Falls, Minnesota. "Bronko" wasn't big by today's standards, but, at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, he was enormous for his era. He could do it all: Block, run, catch, tackle, even throw every once in a while. He helped the Chicago Bears win the NFL Championship in 1932 and 1933, and, during the manpower shortage of World War II, came out of retirement to help them do it again in 1943.
He was a charter inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. The University of Minnesota retired his Number 72, the Bears his Number 3. He was named to the NFL's 1930s All-Decade Team and its 75th Anniversary Team. As part of their 100th Season celebrations, the Bears named him to their 100 Greatest Players.
When John Madden named his "All-Madden All-Millennium Team" in 1999, the 1st 3 names he chose were Jim Thorpe, and the 1932 and '33 Chicago running tandem of Red Grange and Nagurski -- the prototypes, respectively, of the modern speedy halfback and the big, bruising fullback.
He was also heavyweight wrestling champion in the 1930s. Think of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sticking with football, and wrestling in the off-season. Although Bronko never became an actor, unless you count "professional wrestling" as acting, but Bronko was dead serious about it: He made more money at that than he did at football.
In a 1984 interview with Sports Illustrated writer Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman, when asked what position he would play if he were coming up in the present day, he said, "I would probably be a linebacker today. I wouldn't be carrying the ball 20 or 25 times a game."
The definitive Nagurski story tells of a touchdown he scored against the Washington Redskins at Wrigley Field. The Redskins didn't move to Washington until 1937, Nagurski's last season (not counting his war-induced 1943 comeback), and the teams didn't play at Wrigley in the regular season, only in the NFL Championship Game, and this story is not mentioned in connection with the title game, which leads me to think it's apocryphal: He brushed off 2 linebackers and practically ran through a cornerback and a safety, then bounced off a goalpost and, head still down, ran right through the end zone, headfirst into the brick wall of Wrigley's outfield. He got back to the huddle for the extra point, and said, "That last guy gave me a pretty good lick."
After his retirement from wrestling, he returned home to International Falls, and opened a service station. A local legend claims that Nagurski had the best repeat business in town because he would screw customers' gas caps down so tight after filling their tanks that no one else in town could unscrew them.
In spite of the roughness of his era, and how much he contributed to it (although he was never accused of playing dirty), he lived until 1990, age 81. His son, Bronko Nagurski Jr., played at Notre Dame, and won the 1963 and 1965 Grey Cups with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Also on this day, soccer team Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys -- having an English name to attract some of the British sailors who had docked in Argentina, found the climate to their liking, and stayed there -- is founded in Rosario, in the province of Sante Fe. They have won 6 national league titles: In 1974, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2003.
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November 3, 1911, 110 years ago: John Joseph Keane is born in St. Louis. A shortstop, he was beaned in the minor leagues, and never reached the majors. Offered a chance to manage in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system in 1938, he retired as a player. By 1959, he was a major league coach for them, and was named their manager in 1961. He led them to the World Championship in 1964.
But he feuded with management, and he came to believe that they were going to fire him after the season, no matter what. That is exactly what happened to the manager of the team he beat, Yogi Berra of the Yankees: Even if the Yankees had won, he was going to be fired. And they offered the job to Keane, who accepted and quit the Cardinals.
Keane was not well-suited to running the Yankees. The fall of the Dynasty was hardly his fault, as former general manager George Weiss had executed many trades sending multiple players to teams for a single player who could help the team win the Pennant that season. As a result, the farm system was nearly dry: Essentially, it was Bobby Murcer, Roy White, Mel Stottlemyre, and 100 guys named Steve Whitaker.
But Keane played his lousy hand badly, alienating veterans like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Roger Maris, but also upsetting younger players like Joe Pepitone and Jim Bouton. The Yankees finished 6th in 1965, and started the 1966 season just 4-16. He became the 1st Yankee manager fired in midseason in 56 years. He accepting a scouting post with the California Angels, but died at the start of 1967, before he could start the job. He was only 55, and the stress of his last 3 seasons as a manager, in St. Louis and New York, was what killed him.
Also on this day, the Chevrolet Motor Company is founded in Detroit. One founder, Louis Chevrolet, was a Swiss auto racing pioneer. The other, William C. Durant, had founded General Motors in 1908, but had been cast out of its management in 1910.
The two men had creative differences, and Chevrolet sold out to Durant in 1914, the year the company's familiar "bowtie" logo was introduced. Durant kept Chevrolet's name on the company, by 1917 had made so much money that he could also buy GM out and regain control. "Chevy" has been a GM brand ever since.
November 3, 1918: Robert William Andrew Feller is born in Van Meter, Iowa. "Rapid Robert" debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1936, right after high school graduation. He soon struck out 17 batters in a game, tying the major league record. He struck out 17 at age 17. In 1938, just before turning 20, he struck out 18, which would remain a major league record for a 9-inning game until 1969.
He stayed through 1956, except for spending the entire 1942, '43 and '44 seasons, and most of '45, in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a "gun captain," and rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Although he was in the Navy, the Army later named him an honorary Green Beret. As he put it, "Anybody who says sports is war has never been in a war."
Like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, Bob Feller may have lost his best seasons in The War. These were the seasons when he was 23, 24, 25 and 26. In his last 3 seasons before, 1939 to '41, he went 76-33. In 9 games in his '45 return plus '46 and '47, he went 51-29. Even missing prime seasons, he won 266 games, losing just 162, and struck out 2,581 batters. He said he had no regrets about missing bigger numbers. The War was more important.
He pitched 3 no-hitters, in 1940, 1946 (against the Yankees) and 1951. In 1946, he struck out 348 batters, which was believed to be a major league record until someone discovered that Rube Waddell's 1904 count of 343 was wrong, and it was actually 349. He helped the Indians win the 1948 World Series, and another Pennant in 1954. The Indians also fell just short in 1940 and 1952 while he was there.
Williams, noted hater of pitchers (he liked to say, "All pitchers are dumb"), said Feller was "the fastest and best pitcher I saw during my career." Stan Musial said he was "probably the greatest pitcher of our era." He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 36th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, 11th among pitchers, trailing Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Cy Young, Satchel Paige, Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver. Only Spahn and Paige, the Negro League sensation who was his opponent on that 1945 tour and his teammate on the 1948 Indians, were in his generation. His Number 19 was the 1st one retired in all of Cleveland sports. A statue of him stands outside Progressive Field. He lived until 2010, 92 years old.
Theodore Roosevelt chose not to run for what would have been a 3rd term, and chose Taft, who would really have preferred to have been named Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. TR warned Taft to not let the press take his picture on the golf course. Despite this warning, and his weight, which made him look ridiculous on the golf course, it happened, and TR called him onto the carpet.
Taft was a physical heavyweight, over 330 pounds, our heaviest President. He was no lightweight intellectually, either: A graduate of Yale, including of its law school. He stood up for himself, and said, "Mr. President, you play tennis. That's a more elitist sport than golf!" TR said, "Yes, but I don't let the press take my picture while I do it!"
Taft won anyway, mainly because Bryan was running for the 3rd time, and the issue that had first vaulted him to prominence, the free coinage of silver, was no longer as effective when there wasn't a depression on, as there was when he first ran in 1896. One of the Taft slogans was, "Vote for Taft this time. You can vote for Bryan anytime."
Taft would run his Presidency far from what TR had intended, and TR tried to regain it in 1912. But, as the incumbent, Taft controlled the party machinery. TR ran as a 3rd party candidate, and finished 2nd. They split the Republican vote, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson got elected as a plurality candidate. Wilson appointed Bryan his Secretary of State, but Bryan resigned in 1915, because he was a pacifist, Wilson seemed to be inching too closely to going to war.
Roosevelt and Taft patched things up, and Wilson's successor, Warren Harding, appointed Taft to be Chief Justice -- the only President to also have served on the Supreme Court. Today, "Teddy 26" and "Bill 27" are part of the Washington Nationals'"Racing Presidents."
Also on this day, Bronislau Nagurski is born in Rainy River, Ontario, and grows up in International Falls, Minnesota. "Bronko" wasn't big by today's standards, but, at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, he was enormous for his era. He could do it all: Block, run, catch, tackle, even throw every once in a while. He helped the Chicago Bears win the NFL Championship in 1932 and 1933, and, during the manpower shortage of World War II, came out of retirement to help them do it again in 1943.
He was a charter inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. The University of Minnesota retired his Number 72, the Bears his Number 3. He was named to the NFL's 1930s All-Decade Team and its 75th Anniversary Team. As part of their 100th Season celebrations, the Bears named him to their 100 Greatest Players.
When John Madden named his "All-Madden All-Millennium Team" in 1999, the 1st 3 names he chose were Jim Thorpe, and the 1932 and '33 Chicago running tandem of Red Grange and Nagurski -- the prototypes, respectively, of the modern speedy halfback and the big, bruising fullback.
He was also heavyweight wrestling champion in the 1930s. Think of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sticking with football, and wrestling in the off-season. Although Bronko never became an actor, unless you count "professional wrestling" as acting, but Bronko was dead serious about it: He made more money at that than he did at football.
In a 1984 interview with Sports Illustrated writer Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman, when asked what position he would play if he were coming up in the present day, he said, "I would probably be a linebacker today. I wouldn't be carrying the ball 20 or 25 times a game."
The definitive Nagurski story tells of a touchdown he scored against the Washington Redskins at Wrigley Field. The Redskins didn't move to Washington until 1937, Nagurski's last season (not counting his war-induced 1943 comeback), and the teams didn't play at Wrigley in the regular season, only in the NFL Championship Game, and this story is not mentioned in connection with the title game, which leads me to think it's apocryphal: He brushed off 2 linebackers and practically ran through a cornerback and a safety, then bounced off a goalpost and, head still down, ran right through the end zone, headfirst into the brick wall of Wrigley's outfield. He got back to the huddle for the extra point, and said, "That last guy gave me a pretty good lick."
After his retirement from wrestling, he returned home to International Falls, and opened a service station. A local legend claims that Nagurski had the best repeat business in town because he would screw customers' gas caps down so tight after filling their tanks that no one else in town could unscrew them.
In spite of the roughness of his era, and how much he contributed to it (although he was never accused of playing dirty), he lived until 1990, age 81. His son, Bronko Nagurski Jr., played at Notre Dame, and won the 1963 and 1965 Grey Cups with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Also on this day, soccer team Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys -- having an English name to attract some of the British sailors who had docked in Argentina, found the climate to their liking, and stayed there -- is founded in Rosario, in the province of Sante Fe. They have won 6 national league titles: In 1974, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2003.
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November 3, 1911, 110 years ago: John Joseph Keane is born in St. Louis. A shortstop, he was beaned in the minor leagues, and never reached the majors. Offered a chance to manage in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system in 1938, he retired as a player. By 1959, he was a major league coach for them, and was named their manager in 1961. He led them to the World Championship in 1964.
But he feuded with management, and he came to believe that they were going to fire him after the season, no matter what. That is exactly what happened to the manager of the team he beat, Yogi Berra of the Yankees: Even if the Yankees had won, he was going to be fired. And they offered the job to Keane, who accepted and quit the Cardinals.
Keane was not well-suited to running the Yankees. The fall of the Dynasty was hardly his fault, as former general manager George Weiss had executed many trades sending multiple players to teams for a single player who could help the team win the Pennant that season. As a result, the farm system was nearly dry: Essentially, it was Bobby Murcer, Roy White, Mel Stottlemyre, and 100 guys named Steve Whitaker.
But Keane played his lousy hand badly, alienating veterans like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Roger Maris, but also upsetting younger players like Joe Pepitone and Jim Bouton. The Yankees finished 6th in 1965, and started the 1966 season just 4-16. He became the 1st Yankee manager fired in midseason in 56 years. He accepting a scouting post with the California Angels, but died at the start of 1967, before he could start the job. He was only 55, and the stress of his last 3 seasons as a manager, in St. Louis and New York, was what killed him.
Also on this day, the Chevrolet Motor Company is founded in Detroit. One founder, Louis Chevrolet, was a Swiss auto racing pioneer. The other, William C. Durant, had founded General Motors in 1908, but had been cast out of its management in 1910.
The two men had creative differences, and Chevrolet sold out to Durant in 1914, the year the company's familiar "bowtie" logo was introduced. Durant kept Chevrolet's name on the company, by 1917 had made so much money that he could also buy GM out and regain control. "Chevy" has been a GM brand ever since.
November 3, 1918: Robert William Andrew Feller is born in Van Meter, Iowa. "Rapid Robert" debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1936, right after high school graduation. He soon struck out 17 batters in a game, tying the major league record. He struck out 17 at age 17. In 1938, just before turning 20, he struck out 18, which would remain a major league record for a 9-inning game until 1969.
He stayed through 1956, except for spending the entire 1942, '43 and '44 seasons, and most of '45, in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a "gun captain," and rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Although he was in the Navy, the Army later named him an honorary Green Beret. As he put it, "Anybody who says sports is war has never been in a war."
Like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, Bob Feller may have lost his best seasons in The War. These were the seasons when he was 23, 24, 25 and 26. In his last 3 seasons before, 1939 to '41, he went 76-33. In 9 games in his '45 return plus '46 and '47, he went 51-29. Even missing prime seasons, he won 266 games, losing just 162, and struck out 2,581 batters. He said he had no regrets about missing bigger numbers. The War was more important.
He pitched 3 no-hitters, in 1940, 1946 (against the Yankees) and 1951. In 1946, he struck out 348 batters, which was believed to be a major league record until someone discovered that Rube Waddell's 1904 count of 343 was wrong, and it was actually 349. He helped the Indians win the 1948 World Series, and another Pennant in 1954. The Indians also fell just short in 1940 and 1952 while he was there.
Williams, noted hater of pitchers (he liked to say, "All pitchers are dumb"), said Feller was "the fastest and best pitcher I saw during my career." Stan Musial said he was "probably the greatest pitcher of our era." He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 36th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, 11th among pitchers, trailing Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Cy Young, Satchel Paige, Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver. Only Spahn and Paige, the Negro League sensation who was his opponent on that 1945 tour and his teammate on the 1948 Indians, were in his generation. His Number 19 was the 1st one retired in all of Cleveland sports. A statue of him stands outside Progressive Field. He lived until 2010, 92 years old.
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November 3, 1921, 100 years ago: Charles Dennis Buchinsky is born in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a tiny town east of Pittsburgh. We knew him as Charles Bronson. A Purple Heart recipient as a B-29 gunner in World War II, he had enough of being a tough guy, and spent the rest of his life only playing them. When his name came up in a question on the July 6, 1978 episode of Match Game, panelist Richard Dawson called him "one of the most gentle men I have ever met. And he plays such an animal. And he's a darling man."
"Animal"? He played the title 1930s gangster in Machine-Gun Kelly, Wild West gunman Bernardo O'Reilly in The Magnificent Seven, Lieutenant Danny Velinski in The Great Escape, Private Joseph Wladislaw in The Dirty Dozen, "Harmonica" in Once Upon a Time In the West, beans-spilling mobster Joseph Valachi in The Valachi Papers, Wild West gambler and gunman Wild Bill Hickok in The White Buffalo, and, most notably, urban vigilante Paul Kersey in the Death Wish films.
But he also played Francis Church, editor of the New York Sun, who in 1897 answered a child's letter with an editorial, in the 1991 film Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus. Maybe Dawson was right. Long married to actress Jill Ireland, and an activist against cancer during her illness and after her death, Bronson died in 2003.
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November 3, 1933: Michael Stanley Dukakis is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He played baseball, basketball and tennis, and ran cross-country, at Brookline High School. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1974, lost his bid for re-election in 1978, regained the office in 1982, and won again in 1986.
In 1988, the Democratic Party nominated him for President. It looked like he was going to win. At their Convention at the Omni arena in Atlanta, he said, "This election is not about ideology. This election is about competence!"
And then he ran one of the most incompetent general election campaigns ever, and Vice President George H.W. Bush made it about ideology, and Dukakis got just 45.6 percent of the popular vote, and 111 Electoral Votes -- no Democratic nominee has done nearly so poorly since. (Four years later, Bill Clinton would get 43 percent of the vote in a 3-way race, but every Democratic nominee since has gotten at least 227 EVs.)
"The Duke" did not run for Governor again in 1990. Now 88 years old, he has since been a college professor and an advocate for improved public transportation. He was the 1st person I ever cast a vote for President for, and I remain proud of that vote.
November 3, 1933: Michael Stanley Dukakis is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He played baseball, basketball and tennis, and ran cross-country, at Brookline High School. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1974, lost his bid for re-election in 1978, regained the office in 1982, and won again in 1986.
In 1988, the Democratic Party nominated him for President. It looked like he was going to win. At their Convention at the Omni arena in Atlanta, he said, "This election is not about ideology. This election is about competence!"
And then he ran one of the most incompetent general election campaigns ever, and Vice President George H.W. Bush made it about ideology, and Dukakis got just 45.6 percent of the popular vote, and 111 Electoral Votes -- no Democratic nominee has done nearly so poorly since. (Four years later, Bill Clinton would get 43 percent of the vote in a 3-way race, but every Democratic nominee since has gotten at least 227 EVs.)
"The Duke" did not run for Governor again in 1990. Now 88 years old, he has since been a college professor and an advocate for improved public transportation. He was the 1st person I ever cast a vote for President for, and I remain proud of that vote.
He didn't become the new Koufax, but he did go 174-150 in his career -- more wins than Koufax, although Koufax's career ended early due to elbow trouble. Included were 2 no-hitters (half as many as Koufax), in 1969 and 1971. He still holds the record for most games won by a Jewish pitcher.
He was a 2-time All-Star. With the Oakland Athletics, he won the World Series in 1972, '73 and '74. In the 1974 Series, he hit a home run, something only 1 pitcher has done in Series play since (Joe Blanton of the 2008 Phillies). He also won a Pennant with the Yankees in 1976 and another World Series with them in 1977. He later became an insurance salesman, and is still alive.
November 3, 1946, 75 years ago: Thomas Kenneth Heintzelman is born outside St. Louis in St. Charles, Missouri. The son of pitcher Ken Heintzelman, one of the oldest players on the 1950 Phillies "Whiz Kids," he was an infielder who layed for the Cardinals and the Giants from 1973 to 1978. His major league career had been delayed due to serving in the Vietnam War. He is still alive.
Also on this day, Garry Alton Hill is born in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, and grows up in nearby Charlotte. He itched in the minor leagues from 1967 to 1973, but only appeared in 1 major league game. On June 12, 1969, he started for the Atlanta Braves gainst the Chicago Cubs, didn't get out of the 3rd inning, and left with a 15.43 earned run average. He died in 2017.
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November 3, 1951, 70 years ago: Dwight Michael Evans is born in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, California. No, he's no relation to the preceding Michael Evans. The right fielder won 8 Gold Gloves for the Boston Red Sox, tied for the American League home run lead in the strike-shortened season of 1981, was a 3-time All-Star, and was a key member of the Sox' 1975 and 1986 Pennant winners.
Unfortunately for them, a beaning in 1978 left him with post-concussion syndrome, and he tried to come back too soon, and was practically useless down the stretch, to the point where the question of who would play left field, Carl Yastrzemski or Jim Rice, and who would play 1st base, Yaz or George Scott, was settled when Rice was moved over to right. In the Playoff game against the Yankees, "Dewey" only appeared as a pinch-hitter for Frank Duffy, flying to left for the 1st out in the 9th inning. (Jim Evans, no relation, was the 1st base umpire in that game.)
He hit 385 home runs in his career -- 3 more than Rice, who's in the Hall of Fame, and was not known as a good fielder. So why isn't Evans in the Hall of Fame?
You want to hear something even dumber than that? When I first visited Boston, I came out of South Station, and saw a sign for "Dewey Square." Not realizing it was named for George Dewey, the naval hero of the Spanish-American War, my first thought was, "Wow, this city is so crazy about its baseball team, they named a square after Dwight Evans."
November 3, 1953: Baseball's rules committee restores the pre-1939 rule which says that a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat.
Also‚ the committee votes for the "no gloves on the field rule." Hank Greenberg‚ the Hall of Fame-to-be slugger who is now general manager of the Cleveland Indians, had proposed the change‚ saying, "Aside from the possibility of hindering the play‚ gloves on the field look sloppy." It also made it easy for opposing players to sneak creepy-crawly or otherwise disgusting things into the glove of an easily scared player, such as the Yankees' Phil Rizzuto.
The committee also makes a rule that any runner will be called out for deliberately running the bases backwards or even taking a lead off the base in the wrong direction.
A new balk rule is instituted which gives the batter an option: If he gets a hit after a balk is called‚ he has the option of accepting the outcome of the pitch‚ instead of being limited to the advance of the runner(s). This is the baseball equivalent of a football team that is the beneficiary of a penalty having the option to decline it, if the outcome of such is more advantageous to them than the outcome of the penalty.
Rule suggestions that are rejected include the re-legalization of the spitball‚ 2 bases for an intentional walk‚ and the option of declining ball 4.
November 3, 1954: The Yankees tour Japan, and draw a record crowd of 64‚000 when they play the 1st game against the All-Japan Stars at Nippon Life Stadium in Osaka. Andy Carey slugs 13 home runs‚ and catching prospect Elston Howard bats .468 on the 25-game tour. Each has thoroughly impressed the Yankee brass, and both get promoted to the Yankees for 1955 -- in Howard's case, making him the 1st black player for the Yankees in a regular-season game.
November 3, 1955: Phillip Martin Simms is born in Springfield, Kentucky, and grows up in nearby Louisville. His first few years as the Giants' quarterback were as rough -- with results and the fans' reactions -- as Terry Bradshaw's with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, like that earlier "Blond Bomber," he led his team to a Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXI, he threw 25 passes and completed 22 of them, an 88 percent completion percentage that remains a record for the NFL championship game under any name.
He got the Giants to the 1990 NFC Championship Game, but was injured in it, and it was Jeff Hostetler who led them to victory there and in Super Bowl XXV -- an injury that did not cost him a 2nd ring, but may well have cost him, thus far, election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He is now a color commentator of CBS' NFL broadcasts. His son Chris Simms went into both family businesses, quarterbacking for the University of Texas and the Denver Broncos, and analyzing for CBS; and his son Matt Simms was a quarterback at the University of Tennessee and played last season for the Atlanta Falcons.
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November 3, 1961, 60 years ago: The Blue Horizon opens, at 1314 North Broad Street, where Center City begins to turn into the North Philadelphia ghetto. The Ring magazine chose the 1,346-seat gym as the greatest boxing venue in the world. Philly boxers like Matthew Saad Muhammad, Tim Witherspoon and Bernard Hopkins trained there on the way to becoming champions. It was closed in 2010, but still stands.
Also on this day, The Twilight Zone airs the episode "It's a Good Life," adapted from a 1953 novel of the same title by Jerome Bixby. Charles William Mumy Jr., then billed as Billy Mumy, plays Anthony Fremont, a 6-year-old monster. Cloris Leachman, later a legend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, plays his mother.
Bill Mumy, as he's been billed as an adult, is now best known for playing Will Robinson on Lost In Space. He also played Lennier, a Minbari Ambassador, on a later science fiction series, Babylon 5. In the 1983 film version of The Twilight Zone, "It's a Good Life" was 1 of the 4 segments produced, with Jeremy Licht as Anthony and Kathleen Quinlan as a teacher who helps to provide a considerably lighter, though not really "happy," ending.
In 2002, a revival of the show featured "It's Still a Good Life." Mumy and Leachman reprised their roles. Anthony is now middle-aged, having banished his father and his wife to the cornfield, and has a daughter named Audrey, played by Bill's daughter, Liliana Mumy, then 8. And not only has she inherited his powers, but she brings things he has banished back from the cornfield.
Jerome Bixby co-wrote the script for the 1966 science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, and 4 episodes of the original Star Trek series: "Mirror, Mirror,""By Any Other Name,""Day of the Dove" and "Requiem for Methuselah." He died in 1998, at age 74.
November 3, 1963: Ian Edward Wright is born in Woolwich, Southeast London. A son of Jamaican immigrants, he got off to a late start in his soccer career, not debuting in the Football League until 1985 with local club Crystal Palace. But he became one of the best strikers in England, and led them into the 1990 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Manchester United.
That got the attention of George Graham, the manager of Arsenal -- which also got their start in Woolwich, in 1886, before moving to Islington in North London in 1913. Wrighty helped Arsenal win the FA Cup and the League Cup in 1993 (England's 1st-ever "Cup Double"), the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1994 (although he missed the Final due to yellow card accumulation), and the Double of the Premier League and the FA Cup in 1998 (again missing the Final, though he was in decline by this point).
He was one of the first English footballers to dance in celebration of his goals. He scored 185 of them for Arsenal, breaking the club record set by 1930s star Cliff Bastin, and has since been surpassed only by Thierry Henry.
He is now a pundit on BBC soccer broadcasts, but takes every opportunity to talk trash about the current Arsenal team. His sons Bradley Wright-Phillips and Shaun Wright-Phillips both played for the New York Red Bulls, and Bradley has become one of the biggest stars in Major League Soccer.
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November 3, 1971, 50 years ago: Dwight Eversley Yorke is born in Canaan, Tobago. He helped Trinidad & Tobago win the 1989 Caribbean Cup at age 17, and played for his country in the 2006 World Cup at age 34. He won the League Cup with Birmingham-based Aston Villa in 1994 and 1996.
With Manchester United, he won the Premier League in 1999, 2000 and 2001, also winning the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 1999, England's only "European Treble." With Sydney FC, he won the 2006 A-League title.
His brother Clint Yorke was a renowned cricket player in the West Indies. Dwight famously had a contentious relationship with model Katie Price, a.k.a. Jordan, and they have a son, Harvey, a special-needs child.
Also on this day, Unai Emery Extegoien is born in Hondarribia, in northeastern Spain's Basque Country, near the border with France. The son, nephew and grandson of pro soccer players, his own playing career didn't amount to much more than theirs. But as a manager, he won 3 straight UEFA Europa League titles with Sevilla.
This led to his being hired by Paris Saint-Germain, where he won the Coupe de France in 2017, and both the Coupe and Ligue 1 (the French league) for "The Double" in 2018. But PSG, desperate to win the UEFA Champions League, didn't get it, and when the manager's job at Arsenal opened up, they didn't lift a finger to try to keep him.
A small and stupid minority of Arsenal fans were glad to finally be rid of Arsène Wenger after 22 mostly successful years, and talked about the wonderful change at the club. In fact, things got worse: Emery alienated 2 of the key figures at Arsenal in recent years, centreback Laurent Koscielny and midfielder Aaron Ramsey, and both left after the 2019 season. He bought midfielders Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi, and proved he didn't have a clue as to how to use either one.
And he frequently refused to play Mesut Özil, Arsenal's best player, because "He doesn't fit the system." He never figured it out: If Mesut Özil doesn't fit your system, you need to change your system.
Emery had 5 chances to get Arsenal into the 2019-20 Champions League: The last 4 Premier League games of the 2019 season and the Europa League Final. Winning any one of those games would have done it. He won none of them. When Özil was substituted off in that Final, an embarrassing loss to Chelsea, he yelled at Emery, according to lip-readers, "Wallahi, you are no coach!" (A German-born Muslim of Turkish descent, Özil was using an Arabic word, essentially meaning, "I swear to God!")
Emery got Arsenal off to a horrendous start the next season. On November 29, 2019, following a run of 7 games without a win in all competetions, including a home loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in his beloved Europa League, he was fired.
Emery took Wenger's team, and built a side that finished 8th in 2020. Mikel Arteta, also Spanish but one of Wenger's players, took Emery's team, and won the 2020 FA Cup. Emery has gone back to Spain, hired as the manager of Villareal -- and, once again, won the Europa League.
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November 3, 1981, 40 years ago: Jermaine Junior Jones is born in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. The son of a German mother and a U.S. Army soldier stationed in Frankfurt, he grew up in his father's hometown of Chicago, before his parents divorced, and his mother took him back to Frankfurt.
A midfielder, he played in Germany for hometown club Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke; in England for Blackburn Rovers; and in America for the New England Revolution and the Colorado Rapids. He retired this year.
In 2009, having not yet chosen to play for Germany or America, he was eligible to play for either. He chose the U.S., and FIFA cleared him, opening the door for him to play for us in the 2010 World Cup. But an injury ruled him out, and he didn't make his senior U.S. debut until October 2010. He eventually played for the U.S. in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Copa América.
November 3, 1989: The NBA's expansion Minnesota Timberwolves play their 1st game. They lose 104-96 to the Seattle SuperSonics at Seattle Center Coliseum. Tyrone Corbin leads the T-Wolves with 20 points, while Dale Ellis of the Sonics leads all scorers with 33.
Also on this day, the Portland Trail Blazers retire the Number 32 of 1974-79 center Bill Walton. They beat the Sacramento Kings, 114-96 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
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November 3, 1991, 30 years ago: The Vancouver Canucks retire the Number 12 of Stan Smyl, a.k.a. the Stanley Steamer. They beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-2 at the Pacific Coliseum.
November 3, 1992: The Yankees trade center fielder Roberto Kelly and 1st baseman Joe DeBerry to the Cincinnati Reds, in exchange for right fielder Paul O'Neill.
At the time, I thought this was a great trade for both teams. O'Neill was a good hitter and a good fielder, who had done well in Cincinnati, playing for an equally fiery right fielder, his manager, Yankee Legend Lou Piniella. (Sweet Lou doesn't have his Number 14 retired or a Plaque in Monument Park, but he helped the Yankees win 4 Pennants and the YES Network gave him a Yankeeography, so I'm calling him a Yankee Legend -- capital Y, capital L.) Playing in Yankee Stadium, with the short porch in right field, I figured O'Neill would hit more home runs than in the more neutral confines of Riverfront Stadium, and that Yankee Fans would love his intense personality.
I was right on both counts, as Paulie was our right fielder for the next 9 years, effectively taking the spot that many fans thought that Jay Buhner should have still had. In those 9 years, the Yankees made the Playoffs 7 times, winning 5 Pennants and 4 World Series. (He also won the Series with the Reds in 1990.) Although his Number 21 hasn't been officially retired, it's hardly been given out since. Last season, he got his Monument Park Plaque.
Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps has been mocked as a lousy trade. Think of it, instead, as Jay Buhner for Paul O'Neill: 5 Pennants for New York, none for Seattle.
I also figured that Kelly, a native of Panama and an All-Star in 1992, would find the Reds a better fit. He'd been held back by being a righthanded hitter in Yankee Stadium, where left-center and center fields, while not as pronounced as in the pre-renovation era, was known as Death Valley. Riverfront was not only friendlier to righthanders, but had artificial turf, accommodating his speed. I thought the Reds were getting a great player.
As it turned out, I was wrong on this count. Although he made another All-Star Team with the Reds in 1993, injuries plagued him, and while he was on postseason teams with the 1995 Los Angeles Dodgers, the 1997 Seattle Mariners, and the 1998 and 1999 Texas Rangers, he never played on a Pennant winner. In 2000, the Yankees brought him back, but released him in April, and he never played in the majors again.
A sad story? Not so fast. He managed in the minor leagues, and from 2008 to 2016 he was the 1st base coach and hitting instructor for the San Francisco Giants. With them, he won 3 World Series rings, only 2 fewer than O'Neill. Also on manager Bruce Bochy's staff were former Yankees Dave Righetti Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens and Joe Lefebvre. How about that? Kelly now manages in the Mexican League.
Not that this gives the Reds any comfort: They still haven't won a Pennant, or even a National League Championship Series game, since 1990. "Curse of Paul O'Neill," Ohio Valley?
November 3, 1995: The NBA's expansion Toronto Raptors play their 1st game. Unlike the Timberwolves, their debut is at home, at the SkyDome (now named the Rogers Centre), and a win. They beat the New Jersey Nets, 94-79. Alvin Robertson scores 30 for the Raps, the only major league sports team ever named for a dinosaur.
Also on this day, after 48 seasons at the Boston Garden -- and a few games, early in their history, at what's now named the Matthews Arena -- the Boston Celtics play their 1st game at the FleetCenter, now named the TD Garden. They lose to the Milwaukee Bucks 101-100.
Also on this day, Kendall Nicole Jenner is born in Los Angeles, the daughter of former Olympic decathlon champion Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner and his wife Kris, and sister of Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian. She will be joined by sister Kylie Jenner 2 years later.
She is currently the world's highest-paid model. She is also the only one of the 5 Kardashian-Jenner sisters who has not yet had a child. She is also the only one who tends to keep her lovelife out of the spotlight. It would be unfair to say that the last 2 of these facts are connected, but it is interesting.
November 3, 1996, 25 years ago: Kobe Bryant makes his NBA debut at The Forum in Inglewood, California. He is just 18 years old, and the 2nd-youngest player in NBA history to that point. The son of former Philadelphia 76er Joe "Jellybean" Bryant plays just 6 minutes and does not score, nor does he record any assists, and grabs just 1 rebound.
He does, however, play on the winning side: Shaquille O'Neal, the former Orlando Magic star also playing his 1st game for the Lakers, drops 35 points on the Timberwolves, and the Lakers win 91-85.
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November 3, 2001, 20 years ago: The Arizona Diamondbacks even the World Series at 3 games apiece with a 15-2 win over the Yankees in Game 6. Randy Johnson gets the win for Arizona, while Danny Bautista drives in 5 runs. Arizona knocks out a Series-record 22 hits‚ and scores 8 runs in the 3rd inning, knocking Andy Pettitte out of the box.
November 3, 2007: Having coached 1,499 NHL games, including 4 straight Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders from 1980 to 1983, Al Arbour returns to coach his 1,500th game, at the request of Islanders coach Ted Nolan, At age 75, he became the oldest man ever to coach an NHL game. The Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2, giving Arbour his 740th win.
The 739-win banner honoring him was brought down from the Nassau Coliseum rafters, and was replaced with one with the number 1500.
Also on this day, a thriller of a football game is played in South Bend, Indiana. Navy beats host Notre Dame 46-44. It is the Midshipmen's 1st win over the Fighting Irish in 44 years. In the ensuing 43 games, only 7 times did Navy come within 8 points of winning.
Also on this day, a thriller of a football game is played in South Bend, Indiana. Navy beats host Notre Dame 46-44. It is the Midshipmen's 1st win over the Fighting Irish in 44 years. In the ensuing 43 games, only 7 times did Navy come within 8 points of winning.
November 3, 2009: Chris Christie, former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, is elected Governor of New Jersey as a Republican, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine. I had hoped that he would be defeated in 2013, rendering my nickname for him, "The Four-Year Blimp," accurate. He wasn't.
Also on this day, having changed the law to allow him to run for one, Michael Bloomberg is elected to a 3rd term as Mayor of New York. I don't remember the troubled tenures of John Lindsay and Abe Beame, but I remember the Administrations of Ed Koch, David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani, and now observe that of Bill de Blasio. I can say with full confidence that Mike Bloomberg is the worst Mayor of New York that I can remember.
Indeed, Bloomberg stands as the Republican proof that businessmen don't know anything about governing. Unfortunately for New Jersey, Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs executive who was a decent Senator before becoming a surprisingly weak Governor, stands as the Democratic proof.
November 3, 2012: The Nets make their Brooklyn debut, a little delayed due to Hurricane Sandy. The opponents are the Toronto Raptors, who played their 1st game at home to the Nets, 17 years to the day before.
This time, the Nets announce their freakin' presence with authority. Despite 28 points from the Raps' Kyle Lowry, the Nets win 107-100, led by 27 points from Brook Lopez. Attendance at the Barclays Center: 17,732.