May 1, 1893: The World’s Columbian Exposition

May 1, 1893: The World’s Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago, celebrating -- a year later -- the 400th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus' voyage to "The New World," the incorrectly celebrated "discovery of America."

The site was on the South Side, in Jackson Park, from 56th to 67th Street, from Stony Island Avenue to Lake Michigan. The centerpiece was an artificial lake that represented the Atlantic Ocean that Columbus crossed from August 3 to October 12, 1492. Around it were nearly 200 temporary buildings of neoclassical design, with (as most World's Fairs have) pavilions from countries and their colonies.

Among the surviving buildings is the Art Institute of Chicago, the foremost art museum in America outside New York City. Among the paintings on display is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. In the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the protagonists visit the museum, and Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck) stares at this painting intensely.

Among the others there are, in chronological order: An 1887 self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt, At the Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, Water Lilies by Claude Monet, American Gothic by Grant Wood, and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

Over 27 million people attended from the May 1 opening until the October 30 closing, a record for any World's Fair, due in large part to Chicago already being America's rail center. As the Great Exhibition of 1851 became the announcement of Britain's Victorian era, this fair introduced to the world the idea of "American exceptionalism." It also inspired the "City Beautiful" movement that inspired such structures as New York's 42nd Street Public Library, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal.

It also represented the city's comeback from the Great Fire of 1871, just as the Century of Progress Fair of 1933-34 represented America's rebound from the depth of the Great Depression. Other "comeback fairs" include the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco's comeback from its 1906 earthquake.

There are 4 6-pointed stars on Chicago's city flag, and 1 represents the Columbian Exposition, another the Century of Progress Fair. The others represent the Great Fire and the founding of Fort Dearborn in 1803.

The top blue bar represents Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River, and the bottom blue bar represents the South Branch of the River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The 3 white background areas represent the North South and West Sides.

"Christopher Columbus" is the English name for the explorer, based on the Latin form, Christophorus Columbus. His name in the dialect of his hometown of Genoa, Italy was Cristoffa Corombo. He was born in 1451, became an accomplished sailor early, and, with the Ottoman Empire having made travel to the East problematic following the fall of Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in 1453, he wanted to find a way to reach the East by sailing West.

By this point, pretty much everybody already knew the world was round. What hardly anybody knew, including Columbus, was just how far a man would have to sail to reach the Far East from Europe; and that there were not one, but two continents in the way. He convinced Spain to fund his journey, and, on October 12, 1492, he arrived on what is now named San Salvador, an island of the Bahamas.

He made a total of 4 voyages to "the New World," but the closest he ever came to what is now American soil was Puerto Rico. He never set foot on what is now the U.S. mainland. He introduced slavery and smallpox to the Americas -- named for a different Italian sailor, Amerigo Vespucci, most of whose work was done in South America -- and went to his grave in 1506 still believing he had reached India. Hence, "Native Americans" were called "Indians."

The most familiar image of Columbus,

a posthumous (1519) painting by Sebastiano del Piombo,

although it might not be of Columbus.

Many places in the Americas are named for him, including the capital city of Ohio, Columbus; the capital city of South Carolina, Columbia; Columbus Circle, a major intersection in New York City; and the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, on which the city of Portland, Oregon stands. Columbus Day, a holiday honoring him, and Italian-Americans, is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October, close to the "discovery" date of October 12.

But since it is known that the Vikings reached North America about 500 years earlier, and that there were already people on the North American continent, the idea that "Columbus discovered America" has been completely discredited. And there are many Italian-Americans worthy of a holiday, but Columbus himself is not worthy of it.

In a 2011 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Columbus, against "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Star Trek character Captain James T. Kirk.

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May 1, 1893 was a Monday. Baseball's National League was the only pro sports league running at the time, and these 4 games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-5 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds.

* The Washington Senators beat the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, 15-2 at Boundary Field in Washington.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Louisville Colonels, 11-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Chicago Colts, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Spiders and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled.

The Orioles, the Spiders, the Colonels and the Senators were consolidated out of the NL after the 1899 season. 

The St. Louis Browns became the Cardinals in 1900, and the American League's St. Louis team took on the Browns name. The Chicago Colts became the Cubs in 1903. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms became the Dodgers in 1911. The Boston Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

May 1, 1883: The Birth of the New York Giants

May 1, 1883: The New York Gothams defeat the Boston Beaneaters, 5-3, at a field at the northeast corner of Central Park in New York, 110th Street and 5th Avenue, a former polo field owned by newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. It was nicknamed "The Polo Grounds."

New York, the largest city in America, and Philadelphia, the 2nd-largest city in the East, had been without teams in the National League since the end of the 1876 season, when, struggling financially, the New York Mutuals and the Philadelphia Athletics were unable to pay their travel expenses and complete their schedule. Rather than help them out, William Hulbert, President of the NL, threw them out of the League, which struggled badly without the big cities.

In the 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1882 seasons, a team called the Troy Trojans played in the NL, in Troy, New York, across the Hudson River from the State capital of Albany. That team went out of business, and some of its players were signed by a new team placed in the League, to represent New York City.

To make it clearer: The Troy team did not move to become the New York Gothams. And the Worcester Ruby Legs, who went out of business after the 1882 season, were replaced by, rather than became, another new team, the Philadelphia Quakers. That team, as previous Philadelphia teams had been, was nicknamed the "Phillies," and the name "Philadelphia Phillies" became official in 1890.

In 1885, the Gothams hired Jim Mutrie as their manager. He called his players "my big boys, my giants." And they have been known as the Giants ever since. They won the Pennant in 1888 and 1889.

Due to City politics, they had to move, and found a new home, in Upper Manhattan, with Harlem to the south, Washington Heights to the west, and a curve in the Harlem River to the east and north. It was wedged under a cliff called Coogan's Bluff. Pretty much every sport you could imagine but polo would be played on the site, but it was still called the Polo Grounds.

They won the Pennant in 1904, and the World Series in 1905. In 1911, the Polo Grounds burned down, and a new ballpark was built on the site. In this stadium, originally named Brush Stadium for team owner John T. Brush but eventually renamed the Polo Grounds, the Giants won the Pennant in 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1917, but lost the World Series each time.

They won 4 straight Pennants, beating the New York Yankees in the World Series in 1921 and 1922, and losing to the Yankees in 1923 and the Washington Senators in 1924. They won the World Series in 1933, avenging their earlier loss to the Senators. They won Pennants in 1936, 1937, 1951 and 1954, losing the 1st 3 of these to the Yankees, and, in the last of these, beating the Cleveland Indians.

The changing face of New York City, and the changing economics of baseball, led the team's owner, Horace Stoneham, to move them to San Francisco for the 1958 season. They won a Pennant in 1962, but lost the World Series to the Yankees. though usually in contention, they didn't win another Pennant until 1989, losing the Series to the cross-Bay Oakland Athletics. They won another in 2002, losing the Series to the team now known as the Los Angeles Angels.

Finally, they won the World Series in 2010, beating the Texas Rangers. They also won in 2012 over the Detroit Tigers, and 2014 over the Kansas City Royals.

A football team named the New York Giants began play at the Polo Grounds in 1925. That team now plays a few miles outside the City, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but, unlike the baseball team, retains the New York Giants name.

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May 1, 1883 was a Tuesday. These other games were played in baseball that day:

In the National League:

* The Providence Grays beat the Philadelphia Quakers, 4-3 at Recreation Park in Philadelphia. The Quakers became the Phillies. The Grays, who had won the Pennant in 1879, would do so again in 1884, but only last one more season before going out of business.

* The Cleveland Blues beat the Buffalo Bisons, 7-4 at Kennard Street Park in Cleveland. The Blues only lasted one more season; the Bisons, one more after that.

* The Chicago White Stockings beat the Detroit Wolverines, 7-4 at Recreation Park in Detroit. The White Stockings would become the Cubs. The Wolverines would win the Pennant in 1887, but, like the Grays, find their title-winning players' salary demands too much, and fold after just 1 more season.

In the American Association:

* The New York Metropolitans lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Oriole Park in Baltimore. These "original Mets" also played at the Polo Grounds. In fact, they were the 1st team that Jim Mutrie managed. They won the AA Pennant in 1884, and lost a postseason series to the Providence Grays. But they went out of business after the 1887 season.

The Orioles joined the NL in 1892, after the AA folded. They won Pennants in 1894, 1895 and 1896. But they went out of business after the 1899 season, and bear no relationship to the current American League team of the same name.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, 4-0 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. These Athletics would win the AA Pennant in 1883, but went out of business in 1890, and bear no relationship to the AL team of the same name, now in Oakland. The Alleghenys joined the NL in 1887, and became the Pirates in 1890.

* The Louisville Eclipse beat the Columbus Buckeyes, 6-5 at Recreation Park in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes went out of business after the 1884 season. The Eclipse became the Louisville Colonels in 1885, won the AA Pennant in 1890, joined the NL in 1892, and went out of business after the 1899 season.

* And the Cincinnati Red Stockings beat the St. Louis Browns, 6-5 at League Park in Cincinnati. The Red Stockings were founded in 1880, and bore no connection besides name to the team of the same name that was the 1st openly professional baseball team, in 1869. They won the AA Pennant in 1882. In 1890, they joined the NL, and changed their name to the Reds.

The Browns won the AA Pennant in 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1888. In 1892, they joined the NL. In 1900, they became the Cardinals, and an AL team would be named the St. Louis Browns. That team became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

May 1, 1872: "Whistler's Mother" Goes On Display

May 1, 1872: Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 is put on display at the 104th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art in London. It gets mixed reviews, although it probably didn't help that the artist was an American. But why would anyone give a bad review of someone's mother?

Anna Matilda McNeill was born on September 27, 1804 in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1831, she married civil engineer George Washington Whistler. On July 10, 1834, in Lowell, Massachusetts, she gave birth to her 1st child, James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

Anna Whistler, 1858

James flunked out of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and became a painter, with "art for art's sake" as his motto. He tended to give his paintings musical titles, such as "Arrangement" and "Nocturne." He studied art in Paris, and moved to London permanently in 1858. Soon after, his paintings began to sell. By then widowed, his mother eventually joined him there.

James McNeill Whistler -- usually listed with three names

In 1871, he intended to begin a painting he wanted to call Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1. But the woman he hired as his model failed to show up. So he asked the only woman in the house, his mother, to model for him. Already 66 years old, she got tired of standing, so he brought her a chair. The process proved so tiring, it took 51 sittings.

A year later, the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art. It was poorly received, and did not sell in Anna Whistler's lifetime. She died on January 31, 1881, at age 76. Finally, in 1891, the painting was bought by the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. Whistler was thrilled: "Just think—to go and look at one's own picture hanging on the walls of Luxembourg -- remembering how it had been treated in England -- to be met everywhere with deference and respect... and to know that all this is...  a tremendous slap in the face to the Academy and the rest! Really it is like a dream."

James McNeill Whistler died on July 17, 1903 in London. He was 69 years old. He had married once, and was predeceased by his wife. It is not known how many children he had, but all were illegitimate, and there were at least 1 son and 2 daughters.

The original Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, better known as Whistler's Mother, is now held at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Like many popular paintings, it is often parodied. I've seen one of Mrs. Whistler making her own painting, several with a dog or a cat on her lap, one of her sitting at a computer, one where she's holding a machine gun, one where she's holding a lightsaber like in Star Wars, one with the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, one with Marge Simpson of The Simpsons, one with Queen Elizabeth II of Britain (complete with hat and purse), and, in recognition of its nickname "The Victorian Mona Lisa," one of the Mona Lisa's face on Mrs. Whistler's body.

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May 1, 1872 was a Wednesday. Baseball was the only professional sport in America at the time. There were 2 games that day in the 1st professional baseball league, the National Association:

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Baltimore Canaries, 34-19 at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. Yes, that's a baseball game, not a football game. No, that's not the later Philadelphia Athletics of the American League, who moved to Kansas City in 1955 and Oakland in 1968. Yes, that's Baltimore Canaries, not Orioles. As you might guess, instead of oriole orange, they wore canary yellow.

* And the Boston Red Stockings beat the Washington Olympics, 8-1 at the Olympics Grounds in Washington. The Red Stockings went through several names, including Beaneaters, before becoming the Braves in 1912, moving to Milwaukee in 1953 and Atlanta in 1966.

April 30, 2011: The Law of Unintended Consequences

April 30, 2011: The White House Correspondents' Dinner -- a.k.a. "Nerd Prom" -- is held. A good time was had by all -- except for one man. This led to unintended consequences -- terrible ones.

The White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner, begun in 1921, has become a Washington, D.C. tradition. Starting with Calvin Coolidge in 1924, every President had attended at least one of them. It is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April, at the Washington Hilton.

The event was canceled in 1930, due to the death of Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft; in 1942, due to America's recent entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President Harry Truman called "the uncertainty of the world situation."

In 1962, at the urging of UPI reporter Helen Thomas, President John F. Kennedy announced that he refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women attending was dropped. It was. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the Hilton, and was still recovering at the time of the annual event, but attended in each of the other 7 years of his Presidency.

Since 1983, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a comedy "roast" of the President and his Administration. On occasions, the comedians have been said to go too far, although none has ever been "canceled" as a result.

In 2011, President Barack Obama was preparing to run for re-election, and, despite having ended a recession and winding down the Iraq War, it was far from clear whether he would be able to win.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, host of the NBC "reality show" The Apprentice, had been demanding to see Obama's birth certificate, because a person born outside the United States is ineligible to serve as President. The reason Trump wanted to see it is because Obama is black, and Trump hates black people.

Now, here was a black man as the most respected person in America, something Trump -- or, as his 1st wife, Ivana Trump, called him, "The Donald" -- wanted to be, but could never become, because the image he had projected of being a smart, super-rich, tough businessman was all a lie: He is an idiot, deep in debt, and a very weak man, physically and morally. 

And he couldn't handle the fact that the American people had chosen a black man to lead them. So, in Trump's twisted mind, somehow, Obama had to be illegitimate. Since it was known that his father, also named Barack Obama, had been born in the African nation of Kenya, and that his mother, Ann Dunham, had remarried to a man from Indonesia, Lolo Soetoro, that perhaps the President had been born in either of those countries, making him ineligible to be the President.

Obama had finally released a copy of the certificate, proving that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. The State of Hawaii, with Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican, approving the move, released its own copy. So, from that point forward, anyone who said Obama was born in any country other than the U.S. was a proven liar.

Seth Meyers, a comedian and a former castmember of NBC's Saturday Night Live, was the host. But nobody remembers what he said. They remember what Obama said. He began his speech by lampooning the controversy: He claimed he'd found video of his birth. It was a parody of the Disney cartoon The Lion King. It got a lot of laughs.

He threw a few light jabs at potential competitors in the next year's election: Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a religious nut; former Governor and Representative Tim Pawlenty, also of Minnesota; former Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, whom Obama had appointed U.S. Ambassador to China as a gesture "across the aisle"; and the man who ended up being nominated by the Republicans, former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Then, Obama noted that Trump was in the audience. His remarks about Trump made everybody laugh:

Donald Trump is here tonight! Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the Moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?

But, all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience.

For example -- no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" -- at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so, ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meat Loaf. You fired Gary Busey.

And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.

Did I say everybody laughed? One person didn't: Trump. He sat there, staring at Obama, glaring at him. Trump had called the bluff of the President of the United States, and found out that the President wasn't bluffing: He had the winning hand. And Trump looked like an absolute fool. A very, very angry fool. He was beaten, badly beaten, by someone whose talent he couldn't overcome, and certainly couldn't handle.

It wasn't all fun and games. Obama saluted the American armed forces, the people affected by recent storms in the South, and the journalists who covered everything from those storms to the current "Arab Spring" revolutions in the Middle East.

About 24 hours later, Obama announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin Laden, finally getting justice for the 9/11 attacks, nearly 10 years later. All in all, a pretty good weekend for him.

But what some people call "The Law of Unintended Consequences" reared its head. Trump had been so badly, and so publicly, humiliated. And doing it was not just the President of the United States, but a black man.

And Trump couldn't handle that. It has been suggested that, right there and then, he had decided to run for President. He didn't run in 2012: Even he wasn't stupid enough to run against an incumbent President who'd saved the economy, ended the Iraq War, and killed bin Laden. But in 2015, thinking there was enough combined resentment in the country against the black President, Obama, and the female heir apparent, Hillary Clinton, he announced his campaign, which turned out to be the most bigoted campaign in American history, a record even he couldn't break while running for re-election in 2020.

Trump wanted to do everything the opposite of how Obama did it, right down to, as it turned out, throwing out the pandemic "playbook" the Obama Administration had compiled, in case of an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic that happened on Trump's watch. If Trump had kept that playbook, and followed it, there would still have been thousands of deaths, but he would have been seen as actively trying to stop it, instead of denying it as a "hoax," and there wouldn't have been over 1 million deaths.

If Trump could have reversed Obama's greatest accomplishment, and brought Osama bin Laden back to life, to use to scare Americans, like he did with ISIS, MS-13 and black, Hispanic and Muslim "criminals," he would have. But Trump was no Dr. Frankenstein.

Trump did not attend the 2017, 2018 or 2019 Dinners, because he didn't want to hear people making fun of him. The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021, due to the restrictions connected with the COVID-19 epidemic. Joseph R. Biden Jr. beat Trump in 2020, and attended the 2022 Dinner, because, while he takes the Presidency seriously, he knows enough to not take Joe Biden too seriously.

UPDATE: In 2024, Trump ran an even more bigoted campaign. It worked.

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April 30, 2011 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at the new Yankee Stadium. Derek Jeter went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. A.J. Burnett was the winning pitcher.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Citizens Bank Park. Roy Halladay outpitched Jon Niese. John Mayberry Jr. hit a home run.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals, 2-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. How many Mariner pitchers does it take to pitch a 7-hit shutout? This time, 3: Doug Fister (5 2/3rds innings, winning pitcher), Aaron Laffey (2 1/3rd) and Brandon League (1). David Ortiz went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 2-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Matt Joyce scored on a wild pitch by Fernando Rodney in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Orlando Cabrera singled Michael Brantley home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Florida Marlins, 4-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Édgar Rentería singled Jonny Gomes home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 11-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Overstock Coliseum).

The NBA Playoffs were between rounds. There were 2 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-3 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. The Nashville Predators beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Matthew Halischuk scored the winning goal at 14:51 of the 2nd overtime.

April 30, 1993: The Attack On Monica Seles

April 30, 1993: Tennis star Monica Seles is stabbed at the Citizen Cup tournament in Hamburg, Germany. The stabbing itself was not caught on video, but her scream was caught on audio.

Although her wound was not life-threatening, it cut enough muscle to put her out of action for a few months. It disturbed her enough mentally that she didn't come back for another 2 years after that.

The native of Novi Sad, Serbia, but ethnically Hungarian, was 19 years old, and had already won 8 of the last 10 majors: The 1990, '91 and '92 French Opens; the '91, '92 and '93 Australian Opens; and the '91 and '92 U.S. Opens. Oddly, she hadn't yet won Wimbledon.

Her attacker, Günter Parche, was obsessed with Steffi Graf, a fellow German whom Seles had replaced as the best female tennis player in the world. Prior to Seles' 1st major win, Graff had won the French Open in 1987, '88 and '93; the Australian Open in 1988, '89 and '90; Wimbledon in 1988, '89, '91 and '92; and the U.S. Open in 1988 and '89.

If Parche's goal was to allow Graf to once again dominate women's tennis, it worked -- at first: She won Wimbledon and the U.S. in 1993, and the Australian in '94. After that, though, Graf slowed down a bit. Arantxa Sánchez Vicario won the next French and U.S. Opens, Conchita Martínez the next Wimbledon. Graf took the French, Wimbledon and the U.S. in 1995, and again in '96, but she never won the Australian again. And after the '96 U.S., she was 27, and won just 1 more major, the '99 French.

Parche spent 6 months in prison, with 2 years of probation. As of April 30, 2022, he is believed to be living in a German nursing home, suffering from a long-term illness. Disenchanted by what she thought was a lenient sentence, Seles refused to play in Germany again. After her return, she won only 1 more major, the 1996 Australian Open.

Seles retired from tennis in 2003, and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009. Now 49, she lives in Sarasota, Florida, and is married to Tom Golisano, the Rochester-based payroll billionaire who once owned the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. She has no children, although Golisano has children from previous marriages.

UPDATE: The German magazine Bild revealed on April 22, 2023 that Parche had died the previous August, at the age of 68, confirming that he had spent the last 14 years bedridden in a nursing home in Nordhausen, Germany.

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April 30, 1993 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. Mélido Pérez went 8 innings, while Steve Howe and Steve Farr finished a 4-hit shutout for him. Jim Leyritz hit a home run. He and Mike Gallego each had 3 hits. Don Mattingly went 0-for-3 with a walk. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 7-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Mets led 5-3 going into the bottom of the 7th, but the Padres took a 6-5 lead. The Mets tied it in the 8th, but the Padres took the lead back on an RBI single by Tony Gwynn. The losing pitcher was Anthony Young. It was the 17th straight decision he'd lost, a streak that would reach a major league record of 27.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 12-5 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken Jr. went 0-for-3, but drew 2 walks. George Brett, in his final season, hit a home run.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Damon Berryhill, the Braves' backup catcher, hit a home run to win the game in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Florida Marlins, 6-2 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. The National League's 2 new expansion franchises weren't doing that badly: Counting this game, the Marlins were 10-13, the Rockies 8-14. The Rockies would finish 67-95, the Marlins 64-98. Neither finished last in their Division: The Mets had a horrible season on several fronts, and needed to win their last 5 games just to finish at the bottom of the East at 59-103; while the Padres had a fire sale, and trailed the West at 61-101.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. And Rickey Henderson drew a leadoff walk in the top of the 10th inning, leading to 6 Cleveland runs, including home runs by Rubén Sierra and Terry Steinbach.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. David Wells went 7 innings, and Greg Gohr finished the 4-hit shutout.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. This turned out to be a preview of the American League Championship Series. However, in the interim, the Blue Jays traded for Rickey Henderson, making a huge difference.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled for that day. The NBA Playoffs had just gotten underway, and 4 games were played:

* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-104 at Madison Square Garden, in spite of 32 points from Reggie Miller.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-90 at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 35 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 107-103 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix. Sedale Threatt scored 35 for the Lakers.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 99-85 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

April 30, 1986: The Steve Smith Own Goal

April 30, 1986: Steve Smith turns 23, and has the worst birthday in hockey history.

In 1985, he made his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers. He played 2 regular season games, and was not put on their Playoff roster, as they won their 2nd straight Stanley Cup. But in 1985-86, he was one of the League's top defensive rookies. He looked like he had a good career ahead of him. On April 30, he took the ice with the Oilers against their Provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames, in Game 7 of the NHL Smythe Division Final, at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

The Flames stunned their Alberta rivals by taking a 2-0 lead, early in the 2nd period. But before that period ended, the Oilers tied the game.

At the 5:14 mark of the 3rd period, Smith took the puck near the side of his own net, and tried to pass it up the ice. But he made a mistake, and the puck went off the leg of Oiler goaltender Grant Fuhr, and into the goal.

Perry Berezan was the last Flames player to touch the puck, so he got credit for the goal. In soccer, the rule is different: Smith would have been "credited" with an "own goal."

The Flames' 3-2 lead held, and they won, eliminating the Oilers from the Playoffs. The Flames had lost to the Oilers in the Playoffs in 1983 and 1984, and would again in 1988 and 1991. This remains the only "Battle of Alberta" Playoff series that the Flames have won.

It is the most famous own goal in hockey history, and it produced the most devastating loss in the history of Edmonton sports. Oiler fans were outraged. But, led by Captain and superstar Wayne Gretzky, Smith's teammates stood up for him. The next year, the Oilers rebounded to win the Cup. When taking it from NHL President John Ziegler, Gretzky let Smith be the 2nd Oiler player to lift it, and the crowd at the Coliseum gave him a standing ovation. All was forgiven.

Smith would help the Oilers win the Cup again in 1988 and 1990, remaining with them for 1 more season. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks for the 1991-92 season, and helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He stayed with the Hawks through 1997, then closed his career with, oddly enough, the Flames, playing for them until 2000.

In 804 regular-season NHL games, he had 72 goals and 303 assists. And he reached 4 Stanley Cup Finals, winning 3. A decent playing career, with one awful moment. He has since worked as an assistant coach with the Flames, the Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres, and a scout with the Blackhawks.

But that one awful moment tends to stand out. Is that fair? Did he really cost the Oilers the 1986 Stanley Cup, and prevent them from matching the 1956-60 Montreal Canadiens' run of 5 straight? Probably not. The Flames went on to reach the 1986 Stanley Cup Finals, where the Canadiens beat them in 5 games. They might have beaten the Oilers, too.

The Oilers had Grant Fuhr in goal; and on defense, Paul Coffey and Kevin Lowe. All 3 were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. And they had other good defensemen: Lee Fogolin, Charlie Huddy -- and Steve Smith. That defense allowed 25 goals, including 4 in Game 1, 5 in Game 2 (which the Oilers won anyway), 4 in Game 4 (which the Oilers won anyway), and 4 in Game 5 before allowing the calamitous own goal.

And what about the Oilers' offense? This was a team with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson, all of whom are now in the Hockey Hall of Fame. And yet, they scored only 1 goal at home in Game 1, 2 in Game 3, 1 at home in Game 5, and 2 at home in Game 7. The most potent offense in NHL history, and they didn't get the job done.

And, in a situation like this, it's tempting to say that the side that won was actually better. Certainly, the Flames weren't as talent-laden as the Oilers. But they did sweep their previous Playoff series, against the Winnipeg Jets. They won Games 1 and 5 in Edmonton, before winning this shocking Game 7 in Edmonton. And they won the Conference Final over the St. Louis Blues.

They had Hall-of-Famers Lanny McDonald, Brett Hull, Al MacInnis and Joe Mullen; plus All-Stars Mike Vernon, Joel Otto and Gary Suter; Doug Risebrough, who had won 4 Cups with the Canadiens in the late 1970s; John Tonelli, who had won 4 Cups with the New York Islanders in the early 1980s; and Nick Fotiu, who had reached the Finals with the 1979 New York Rangers.

They did lose the Stanley Cup Finals to the Montreal Canadiens, although 2 of their losses were by 1 goal. And a slightly revamped Flames team beat the Canadiens in the Finals just 3 years later. So it's not like the Oilers lost to an undeserving team.

*

April 30, 1986 was a Wednesday. The other series in the Clarence Campbell Conference also went to a Game 7, at the St. Louis Arena, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1.

One game was played in the NBA Playoffs: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 117-113 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Joe Niekro outpitched Bert Blyleven. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Gary Carter hit a home run. Dwight Gooden went 8 innings for the win, but struck out only 5. This game would be typical of his starts that season: Effective, but not the kind of dazzling performance he'd put on the previous 2 seasons. Everyone could see that something was a little off, but didn't know what. Not that it mattered: He was still winning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Wade Boggs went 1-for-3 with 3 walks and an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. How many Astro pitchers does it take to pitch a 6-hit shutout? This time, 4: Mike Scott, 6 hits and 4 walks over 6 1/3rd innings; Frank DiPino, pitching to only 1 batter and getting him out; Charlie Kerfeld, finishing the 7th and pitching the 8th with no hits; and Dave Smith, pitching a scoreless 9th. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the California Angels, 6-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Reds player-manager Pete Rose put himself into the lineup, and went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eddie Murray went 2-for-3 with a home run, 2 walks and 3 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Mark Thurmond took a perfect game into the 7th inning, when Willie McGee singled with 1 out. He also walked Vince Coleman in the 9th. Those were the only baserunners he allowed. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bob Welch pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Dennis Eckersley.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Chris Brown singled Robby Thompson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

April 30, 1975: The Fall of Saigon

April 30, 1975: The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, representing "the Democratic Republic of Vietnam," a.k.a. North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF, or "Viet Cong") capture the capital of the Republic of Vietnam, a.k.a. South Vietnam, Saigon. The Vietnam War is finally over: Vietnam is united, and it is Communist.

The capture of the city was preceded by Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of almost all American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, more than 2 years after combat operations there had ended; along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians who had been associated with the Republic of Vietnam regime.

The sight of civilians climbing a staircase in a desperate attempt to reach the last helicopter, on the roof of the American Embassy, became a symbol of America's 1st true military defeat. The War of 1812 may have been a stalemate, but tends to get treated like a victory. There was no way to spin the Vietnam War as a win for America, or even a draw.

In 1976, the National Assembly of the united Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in the national capital of Hanoi, which had been the capital of North Vietnam, renamed Saigon for the founder of North Vietnam: Hồ Chí Minh City.

Today, with the country still a corrupt one-party state, but embracing free-market reforms since 1986, and thus Communist in name only, Hồ Chí Minh City is home to 9.4 million people, more than New York or London. And the former U.S. Embassy is home to the country's Oil Ministry.

*

April 30, 1975 was a Wednesday. Actor Johnny Galecki was born.

These games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Shea Stadium, where they were playing while the original Yankee Stadium was renovated in the 1974 and '75 seasons. The Yankees trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the 8th, but won it on a walkoff home run by Bobby Bonds.

Today, following the controversial acquisition of the moody superstar Bonds for the beloved Bobby Murcer in the preceding off-season, we would say, "This was when Bobby Bonds became a real Yankee," or he "earned his Pinstripes."

Who knows: Maybe, under today's conditions, he would have been embraced by Yankee Fans, and he, rather than Reggie Jackson, would have been the complicated superstar in Pinstripes from 1977 to 1981 (and in '75 and '76, too). Reggie might have ended up taking Ray Kroc's burger bucks in San Diego. And maybe, if Bobby Bonds were happy in New York, it would have paved the way for Barry Bonds to be happy there, and he never would have felt the need to artificially inflate his stats, and... But now, we're engaging in counterfactual speculation. So, let's move on:

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. John Stearns hit a home run, and Joe Torre went 1-for-5.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Frank Robinson, completing his 1st month as MLB's 1st black manager, did not put himself into the game. He did put former Oriole star John "Boog" Powell into the game, and he hit a home run. Wearing the Indians' all-red uniforms, Boog, a very large man and a chef, said, "I look like the world's biggest Bloody Mary."

For the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3. Gaylord Perry outpitched Luis Tiant. But it would be the Red Sox who won the American League Pennant.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3, but Steve Carlton went the distance for the win.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Jerry Reuss pitched a 5-hit shutout, and Richie Zisk and Willie Stargell hit home runs off Bob Gibson, who retired late in the season.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. George Scott hit a home run for the Brew Crew. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4, and Robin Yount went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-6 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at San Diego Stadium. (It was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium in 1980, and Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.)

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Pete Rose went 0-for-4, but Tony Perez hit a home run, Joe Morgan went 3-for-5, and Johnny Bench went 1-for-3. 

* The Minnesota Twins and the Oakland Athletics were supposed to play at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, but were rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 12. The A's won the opener, 11-4. The Twins won the nightcap, 7-6. Reggie Jackson went a ghastly 0-for-10 with in the doubleheader, although, in the opener, he had an RBI on a groundout, and reached on 2 errors, scoring both times. Rod Carew went 1-for-8.

The NBA Playoffs featured Game 2 of both Conference Finals. In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 117-92 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. And in the Western Conference, the Chicago Bulls beat the Golden State Warriors, 90-89 at the Chicago Stadium. The Warriors would come back, beat the Bulls, and then sweep the Bullets in the Finals, for their 1st title in the San Francisco Bay Area.

And Game 6 of the ABA Western Conference Finals was played: The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 104-99 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. But the Pacers would win Game 7 in Denver. The Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels had already wrapped up the Eastern Conference Finals, beating the Spirits of St. Louis in 5 games. The Colonels won the title, beating the Pacers in 5 games.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in between games, on the way to a Finals in which the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres in 6 games. The World Hockey Association Playoffs were also between games, on the way to a Finals in which the Houston Aeros beat the Quebec Nordiques in 4 straight.

April 30, 1971: A Title for Oscar Robertson

April 30, 1971: The Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Championship, in only their 3rd season. It remains a record for the NBA.

It took them half a century to win another.

The Bucks and the Phoenix Suns had both come into the NBA as expansion teams for the 1968-69 season. Like most expansion teams, both of them struggled: The Bucks finished last in the Eastern Division with a record of 27 wins and 55 losses, while the Suns finished with the worst record in the entire league, at 16-66. By all rights, they should have had the top pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

But, at the time, a coin flip between the teams with the 2 worst records was held to decide who got the rights to the 1st overall pick. The idea was that a team trying to lose in order to get the top pick -- "tanking" would eventually become the expression -- might end up losing it to the team with the 2nd-worst record.

The Bucks won the coin flip, and, naturally, they picked Lew Alcindor, the center who had led UCLA to the last 3 National Championships. Alcindor had already converted to Islam, and, after the 1971-72 season, he announced that he had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Lew/Kareem immediately turned the Bucks from a 27-55 team into a 56-26 team, and a Division Champion. In the 1970 off-season, the Bucks made a trade with the Seattle SuperSonics, acquiring guard Lucius Allen, Kareem's UCLA teammate.

And they acquired Cincinnati Royals star Oscar Robertson, perhaps the best all-around player the game had ever seen. "The Big O" had come from Indianapolis, and had gotten the University of Cincinnati into what would eventually be called the NCAA Final Four in 1959 and 1960. For 10 years, he starred for the Royals, setting NBA career records for assists and steals (both of them since broken).

In the years to come, having a "triple-double" -- double figures, 10 or more, in points and 2 of 3 other categories, rebounds, assists and steals -- in a single game is considered a big deal. The term wasn't yet in use in 1961-62, but, that season, Robertson averaged a triple-double per game: 30.8 points, 11.4 assists, and 12.5 rebounds. There is no record of how many steals he had, or averaged: He might have averaged a quadruple-double for the season.

But despite having Robertson, rebound specialist Jerry Lucas, and another All-Star, Jack Twyman, the Royals never reached the NBA Finals. In fact, to this day, the franchise, which has been the Sacramento Kings since 1985, has only reached the Finals once, when they won the 1951 NBA Championship as the Rochester Royals.

The closest they got was reaching the Eastern Division Finals, in 1963 and 1964, losing to the Boston Celtics both times. It's also no coincidence that those were the 2 seasons between the move of the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco and the Warriors trading Wilt Chamberlain to the team that replaced them, the Philadelphia 76ers. (The Warriors lost the 1964 NBA Finals to the Celtics.) Indeed, from 1956 to 1969, 14 seasons, the Eastern Division playoff title was won by the Celtics or a Philadelphia team every year.

Finally, before the 1970-71 season, Robertson was traded to the Bucks. Today, we would say that Milwaukee were trying to "build a superteam," with Larry Costello, who played on the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers, coaching Alcindor at center, Bob Boozer and Bob Dandridge at forward, and Robertson and Allen at guard, with good reserves in Jon McGlocklin and McCoy McLemore. Alcindor/Abdul-Jabbar (33), Robertson (1), Dandridge (10) and McGlocklin (14, which had been Robertson's number in Cincinnati) would all get their numbers retired by the Bucks.

The Bucks beat the San Francisco Warriors in the 1st round of the Playoffs, then eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. They would play the Baltimore Bullets, who had beaten the 76ers, and then the defending NBA Champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Coached by Gene Shue, the Bullets were favored. They had Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, the flashiest player in the game. They had Gus Johnson, one of the game's early dunk artists. And they had Wes Unseld, one of the NBA's earliest true power forwards. All 3 would make the Basketball Hall of Fame, as would Bucks Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar.

Game 1 was on April 21, at the at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. (Kareem's thoughts on that nickname -- and on New York's Madison Square Garden being known as "the Mecca of Basketball" and "the Mecca of Boxing" -- are not publicly known.) The Bucks won, 98-88. Game 2 was 4 days later, at the Baltimore Civic Center. In a stunning results, the Bucks won that game in a blowout, 102-83.

Game 3 was 3 days later, in Milwaukee, and the Bucks won, 107-99. Just 2 nights later, in Baltimore, the Bucks finished the job, 118-106. The Bucks seemed to do better in Baltimore than they did in Milwaukee.

For the great Oscar, it was his one and only title. For Kareem, it was his 1st of 6 – but the only one in Milwaukee. In 1974, the Bucks returned to the Finals, losing to the Celtics. Game 7 of that Finals was Robertson's last game, as he retired.

In 1975, thinking that Milwaukee had become too small for him, or perhaps that he was too big for it, Kareem demanded a trade.  For most athletes, this would be considered a very arrogant thing, but he had proved that he was now too big for them. And so, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he would win 5 more Championships, and become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

For the 1973-74 season, the Bullets moved to the next-closest city, becoming the Capital Bullets for 1 season, then the Washington Bullets. In 1997, they moved from the suburbs of Washington to the District of Columbia itself, and became the Washington Wizards. The Baltimore Civic Center still stands, under the name of the CFG Bank Arena.

The Bucks were usually a good team after 1974, at one point winning 7 straight Division titles. But they didn't get back to even the Conference Finals until 2001, and finally won another NBA Championship in 2021. They moved from the MECCA to the Bradley Center, across the street, in 1988; and up one more block to the Fiserv Center in 2018. The MECCA is now home to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and is named the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

*

April 30, 1971 was a Friday. The American Basketball Association was between its Division Finals and its Finals. The Utah Stars went on to beat the Kentucky Colonels in 7 games.

Football was out of season. The NHL was in the Stanley Cup Semifinals, with the Montreal Canadiens beating the Minnesota North Stars, and the Chicago Black Hawks beating the New York Rangers.

The day before this, the Rangers won Game 6 on a goal by Pete Stemkowski in the 3rd overtime. I considered making a separate entry for that event, since it's still considered one of the biggest wins in Ranger history. But the Hawks won Game 7 on May 2, so the Stemkowski goal turned out to be, however dramatic, ultimately meaningless, much like the Carlton Fisk home run 4 years later.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Kline went the distance for the win, and got 2 of the Yankees' 5 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Boswell singled Bud Harrelson home with the winning run in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Rod Carew did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 8-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell each went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Juan Marichal started for the Giants, but Jerry Johnson ended up as the winning pitcher. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench hit 2 home runs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Chris Short pitched a 4-hit shutout. Ernie Banks, in his final season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The O's scored a run in the top of the 9th, but Freddie Patek singled Paul Schaal home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Frank Robinson appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 7-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Vida Blue went the distance for the win. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

April 30, 1970: The Cambodian Incursion

April 30, 1970: President Richard Nixon speaks from the Oval Office of the White House, and announces what became known as the Cambodian Incursion: A brief series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia in 1970 by South Vietnam and the United States, as an extension of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War.

Thirteen major operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam between April 29 and July 22, and by U.S. forces between May 1 and June 30.

Antiwar demonstrations broke out across America, and would reach a shocking climax 4 days later in Kent, Ohio.

Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, who had run a halfhearted campaign for the Democratic nomination for President at the 1968 Convention, and was gearing up for another run in 1972, suggested that Nixon be impeached for this action. On July 31, 1973, Representative Robert Drinan of Massachusetts, 1 of 2 Catholic priests who has ever been elected to Congress, submitted a recommendation for Nixon's impeachment, for various charges, some relating to the Watergate scandal, but the Cambodian incursion was included.

April 30, 1975, 5 years to the day after the Incursion: The last U.S. troops leave Vietnam, and the Vietcong complete their conquest of the country. Thirteen days earlier, the Khmer Rouge had completed their takeover of Cambodia. The resulting genocide, known as the "Killing Fields," lasted almost 4 years, killed nearly 3 million people.

And Nixon still gets lauded for his foreign policy expertise.

*

April 30, 1970 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the California Angels, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. Stan Bahnsen pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching future Yankee Rudy May. Roy White drove in the only run of the game, a sacrifice fly that scored Horace Clarke in the 3rd inning.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Nolan Ryan outpitched Mike McCormick. Tommie Agee hit a home run. Joe Foy went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. For the moment, trading Amos Otis for Foy looked like a good deal. It turned out not to be. Willie Mays did not play.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk, but the Sox got home runs from Rico Petrocelli, George Scott and Billy Conigliaro. Billy's better-known brother, Tony, did not play. For the A's, Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4, but Felipe Alou, Joe Rudi and Frank Fernández homered.

* The Washington Senators beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-2 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). George Stone went the distance for the win, while Ferguson Jenkins was knocked out of the box in the 2nd inning. Hank Aaron hit his 562nd career home run. The Braves also got a home run from Hal King, and 2 from Rico Carty. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. This result was an anomaly: The Orioles went on to win 108 games and the World Series, while the ChiSox went on to lose 106 games, a team record that still stands. (UPDATE: That record was broken in 2024.)

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Luis Tiant was the winning pitcher. Harmon Killebrew hit his 440th career home run. Rod Carew did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Bob Oliver singled Amos Otis home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. 

* The Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on May 3. The Cards won the opener, 7-4. The Astros won the nightcap, 8-1.

* And the Cincinnati Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.

Football was out of season. The NBA Finals were between Games 3 and 4. The New York Knicks went on to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games.

Game 6 of the NHL Western Division Final was played at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The St. Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3, and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. They lost those Finals to the Boston Bruins.