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Rafer Johnson, 1934-2020
It doesn't seem right to get upset about a great figure dying at age 86. But it also doesn't seem right to live in a world without Rafer Johnson.Rafer Lewis Johnson was born on August 18, 1934 outside...
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Scores On This Historic Day: December 5, 1933, Prohibition Ends
December 5, 1933: The 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited the production, sale, purchase, transport, and possession...
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Scores On This Historic Day: December 7, 1941, The Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941: As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the next day, asking Congress for a Declaration of War against the Empire of Japan, and getting it, it is "a date which will live in infamy."...
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1980: A Bad Year
I've said ever since the Spring, in the 1st wave of the COVID-19 epidemic and the latest wave of protests against police brutality, that a win by Joe Biden in the Presidential election would redeem...
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Dick Allen, 1942-2020
Timing is everything. Yesterday was the scheduled date of the Golden Days Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, to consider players who debuted in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1969. But the...
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Scores On This Historic Day: December 8, 1980, John Lennon is Killed
December 8, 1980, 40 years ago: The New England Patriots are playing the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl in Miami, a game being broadcast on ABC Monday Night Football. As John Smith of the Patriots...
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Happy 100th Birthday, Eddie Robinson!
Believe it or not, there are 4 men named Robinson in the Baseball Hall of Fame:* Jackie Robinson was the man who reintegrated baseball in 1947, and became an all-time great above and beyond his pioneer...
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Just In Case
I haven't been posting much lately. Just once in the last 10 days.It's nothing bad, but there are complications. I'm in the process of moving. Not far, just across town, 2 neighborhoods away from...
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Good Riddance to a Bad Year
Mercifully, calendar year 2020 has finally come to a close. And we are all better off for it. Not everything that happened this year was bad. After waiting 35 years, after my diagnosis, I finally got...
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New Sports Venue Distances After Move
I only went across town, but it still changes things a lot. For one thing, I'm further from my hometown's bus terminal with its New York-bound commuter line, and the New Brunswick train station, making...
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45 vs. 46, 1814 in 2021, But 270 at 25 or 6 to 4
There was a time, early in his term, when it would be remarked by people in the media -- usually by someone who knew that Donald Trump was politically unqualified and mentally unfit for the Presidency,...
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For Those of You Wondering
For those of you wondering why I haven't yet posted an entry to serve as an obituary for Tommy Lasorda:It's not because I didn't like him -- although I didn't. I didn't like Kobe Bryant, either, and...
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Phil Linz, 1939-2020
Gabriel has blown his horn, and now Phil Linz has traded his harmonica for a golden harp.Philip Francis Linz was born on June 4, 1939 in Baltimore. He starred at Calvert Hall, a Catholic high school...
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Paolo Rossi, 1956-2020
Sports is a ruthless endeavor -- and not just because Babe Ruth has been dead since 1948. But it takes a special brand of ruthlessness to be a soccer player and title your autobiography I Made Brazil...
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K.C. Jones, 1932-2020
It's never good to see someone die on Christmas Day. As B.J. Hunnicutt (played by Mike Farrell) said on M*A*S*H, people's Christmas wreaths should be green, not black.K.C. Jones -- as far as both...
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Phil Niekro, 1939-2020
The knuckleball is the oddest pitch in baseball. It is also the hardest to catch, and catchers hate trying. Nobody has thrown a knuckleball in the major leagues longer, and perhaps no one threw it...
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NFL Playoff Berths, 1920-2021
Note: This includes ties to decide Division titles in the pre-merger era (1933-69), and Championships won in the pre-Championship Game era (1920-32).New York combined, 48: 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938,...
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Paul Westphal, 1950-2021
The Phoenix Suns have just begun their 53rd season in the National Basketball Association. The 1st major league sports team in Arizona, they have made the Playoffs in 28 of their 1st 52 seasons. It...
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You Can't Go Home Again
My Atari 5200 SuperSystem. I bought it at Crazy Eddie on Route 18 in East Brunswick on December 22, 1982. It took me 2 years to save up the $197, about $500 in today's money. It was the happiest day of...
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Tommy Lasorda, 1927-2021
Let the record show that Tommy Lasorda was one of the best ambassadors the game of baseball has ever known.Let the record also show that Tommy Lasorda was not a good person.Thomas Charles Lasorda was...
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