April 28, 1985: The New York Yankees have had many glorious days in their history. This is one of the darkest days in it.
They lose to the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. They had led, 3-1 going to the bottom of the 7th, but starting pitcher Joe Cowley ran out of gas. He let the ChiSox tie the game. Yogi Berra, the team's legendary catcher and now the manager for the 2nd time, having led them to the American League Pennant in 1964, keeps Cowley in the game, and in the bottom of the 9th, he walks Ozzie Guillén (himself a future Pennant-winning manager) to lose the game.
Carlton Fisk and former Yankee Oscar Gamble hit home runs for the South Siders. For the Yankees, Dave Winfield went 0-for-4, Don Mattingly went 1-for-4, and Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
After the game, team owner George Steinbrenner fires Yogi, and brings Billy Martin back for a 4th tenure in the job. Competitively, this was justified: The Yankees had gotten off to a horrible start, 6-10; and Billy straightened them out, and they won 97 games, and nearly reached the Playoffs.
But the way George did it was inexcusable. If he'd gone down to Yogi's office, or called Yogi up to his, and told him face-to-face, man-to-man, Yogi would have accepted it. After all, that's the way general manager Ralph Houk had handled it when he fired Yogi as manager after losing the 1964 World Series. And that's the way Mets team president M. Donald Grant handled it when he fired Yogi as manager during the 1975 season.
But George sent team executive Clyde King -- himself briefly Yankee manager in 1982, and a former big-league pitcher -- down to Yogi's office to tell him. Not George himself, but, as George himself sometimes put it, one of "my baseball people." A henchman. A flunky.
And Yogi was furious. He swore he would never set foot in Yankee Stadium again as long as George owned the team. He kept that vow for 14 years. George invited Yogi every Old-Timers Day. He wouldn't come. George invited him to special days for former teammates Martin, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard and Roger Maris. He wouldn't come. George offered him a Plaque in Monument Park. He wouldn't come. George invited him to throw out a ceremonial first ball on Opening Days, and for postseason games in 1995, 1996 and 1997. He wouldn't come. George invited him to the Yankees' 1996 World Series parade. Yogi still wouldn't come.
In 1998, when Interleague play began, the Mets invited Yogi, the only man ever to manage both current New York teams to a Pennant, to throw out a first ball before one of the Yanks-Mets games at Shea Stadium. He came, and wore a Mets cap to do it. He got a standing ovation, despite the fact that a lot of Met fans blamed him (and still do) for blowing the 1973 World Series. That must have rankled George. But then, nobody ever won a popularity contest with Yogi Berra.
Finally, in 1999, at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, New Jersey, not far from Yogi's house in Montclair, a public apology was set up, at the behest of a dying Joe DiMaggio and Yankee broadcaster Suzyn Waldman. The friendship was repaired, and lasted for the rest of George's life.
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April 28, 1985 was a Sunday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. The Mets jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 1st inning, and blew it in the 6th. The game lasted until the 18th inning. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Gary Carter drew a walk, and Mookie Wilson pinch-ran for him. Clearly, manager Davey Johnson was going for it, and was willing to remove his best player. Darryl Strawberry singled. Clint Hurdle grounded to 1st base, where Jason Thompson, who had gone 2-for-6 with 2 walks and an RBI, made an error that allowed Wilson to score the winning run.
Oddly, Johnson had made Roger McDowell, usually a reliever, his starting pitcher. The winning pitcher was Tom Gorman, who pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball. Strawberry went 2-for-6 with a home run, 2 walks and 4 RBIs.
* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Charlie Liebrandt outpitched Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd. Frank White hit 2 home runs. George Brett went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Wade Boggs hit a home run for the Red Sox.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The O's scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to come from behind. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Walt Terrell pitched a 2-hit shutout, to outpitch Teddy Higuera. Alan Trammell and Lance Parrish hit home runs. Robin Yount went 0-for-4. Paul Molitor went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Nolan Ryan started, but it would be Dave Smith who became the winning pitcher, when Enos Cabell doubled Alan Ashby home in the bottom of the 9th.
* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Fernando Valenzuela went the distance for the Dodgers, but was outpitched by 4 Padres: Mark Thurmond allowed 8 hits over 6 2/3rds innings, Luis DeLeón pitched to 1 batter and gave up a hit, Craig Lefferts finished the 7th and pitched the 8th, and Goose Gossage pitched the 9th, completing a 9-hit shutout.
The only run of the game came in the top of the 9th, on a home run by Tony Gwynn. At this point, Gwynn getting the winning hit was no longer a surprise, but having it come on a home run was.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. David Green singled Manny Trillo home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Reds player-manager Pete Rose inserted himself as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* And the California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Tommy John was the winning pitcher. Rod Carew went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-5.
There were 3 games in the United States Football League (USFL):
* The Jacksonville Bulls beat the Birmingham Stallions, 27-17 at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
* The Tampa Bay Bandits beat the Baltimore Stallions, 28-14 at Tampa Stadium.
* And the Houston Gamblers beat the San Antonio Gunslingers, 38-29 at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio.
There were 4 games in the NBA Playoffs:
* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 133-99 at the Boston Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 127-105 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena,
a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).
* The Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets, 104-97 at The Summit in Houston. It's now the Central Campus of
televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 126-99 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Alex English led all scorers on the day with 33 points.
There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The New York Islanders lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 1-0 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-4 at the Chicago Stadium. Dennis Maruk scored the winning goal, 1:14 into overtime.
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