April 7, 1974: The National Hockey League's regular season comes to an end. And, for the 1st time, the League awards a Coach of the Year award. It is named the Jack Adams Award. I have a separate entry for this event.
Among the season-ending games was the Atlanta Flames' 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at The Omni in Atlanta. In goal for the Pens, Andy Brown faced 31 shots and stopped 25 of them. In so doing, he became the last goaltender in the NHL to play without a facemask.
The son of Adam Brown, a left wing who helped the Detroit Red Wings win the 1943 Stanley Cup, Brown played 10 games for the Wings in 1972, and 7 in 1973, before being traded to the Penguins. He played 9 games for them 1973, and 36 in 1974. He played 3 more seasons with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association all without a mask, earning him the nickname "Fearless Brown." As of April 7, 2022, Brown is still alive.
In 1930, Clint Benedict, trying to protect a broken nose, became the 1st NHL goalie to wear a mask in a game, a rudimentary one of leather. In 1959, Jacques Plante became the 1st one to regularly wear a mask, a fiberglass one that covered his entire face. Soon, most goalies were wearing them: They figured, Plante was, along with Terry Sawchuk, 1 of the 2 best goalies in the game, so if he can wear one, anyone can.
By the late 1960s, most goalies were wearing masks. In 1967, Gerry Cheevers of the Boston Bruins was hit in the mask in practice, and drew a line of stitches on it. After that, other goalies started to decorate their masks.
Lorne "Gump" Worsley, who starred for the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens, refused to wear one, saying, "My face is my mask." Finally, in the last 6 games of his career, with the Minnesota North Stars, shortly before his 45th birthday, he wore one.
Because he also made it to the end of that season, last playing on April 2, 1974, was famously resistant, and was a lot better-known than Brown, "the Gumper" is often mistakenly thought of as the last NHL goalie to refuse to wear a mask.
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April 7, 1974 was a Sunday. There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden. Steve Vickers, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle each scored 2 goals.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-4 at the Boston Garden. Bobby Orr was involved in all of the Bruins' goals, scoring 2 and assisting on the other 4.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Bill Barber scored a hat trick, and also had an assist. Fern Rivard, rather than Gump Worsley, was in goal for the Stars in this game.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Chicago Stadium.
The World Hockey Association was already into its Playoffs, with 3 games:
* The New England Whalers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 in overtime at the Eastern States Coliseum (now the Big E Coliseum) in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
* The Toronto Toros beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at Varsity Arena in Toronto.
* And the Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:
* The New York Knicks beat the Capital Bullets, 106-105 at Madison Square Garden. Walt Frazier scored 38 points. This was the Bullet's 1st season in the Washington, D.C. area after 10 years as the Baltimore Bullets. The next season, they adopted the name "Washington Bullets."
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Bulls, 102-87 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.
* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).
And there was 1 game in the ABA's Playoffs: The New York Nets beat the Virginia Squires, 116-88 at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virignia.
And these games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4 at Shea Stadium. The Yankees had just begun a 2-year exile, groundsharing with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated.
Thurman Munson hit a home run. Chris Chambliss went 1-for-4. Pat Dobson outpitched Dick Tidrow. Just 19 days later, the Yankees would acquire Chambliss, Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw from the Indians for 4 pitchers.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Jon Matlack outpitched Jim Lonborg. Jerry Grote went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Cleon Jones and John Milner each also had 3 hits for the Mets. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 5-1. Ross Grimsley Jr. nearly went the distance, while Woodie Fryman didn't get out of the 1st inning, giving up all the Baltimore runs.
The Detroit Tigers won the nightcap, 8-4. Mike Cuellar and Lerrin LaGrow started, but neither factored in the decision. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Al Kaline, in his final season and playing in his hometown, led off the top of the 10th inning with a walk, and this was followed by singles by Willie Horton, Ron Cash, Bill Freehan and Ed Brinkman. (Ron Cash was no relation to Tiger star Norm Cash, but was an uncle of future player and manager Kevin Cash.) Horton and Mickey Stanley hit home runs for the Tigers, Bobby Grich for the O's.
Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 4-for-9 with an RBI, while Kaline went 2-for-8 with that walk.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Phil Niekro outpitched Clay Kirby. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk. With manager and former slugging partner Eddie Mathews ordered by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to play him, despite his having hit the record-tying 714th home run and everyone but Kuhn wanting him to hit the record-breaking 715th at home, Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts, before Mathews decided he'd carried out Kuhn's order, and replaced him in the field and the lineup.
* The California Angels and the Chicago White Sox were tied 4-4 after 10 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when the game was called due to rain.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 8-4, at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 9-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Andy Messersmith went the distance for the win, while Jim McAndrew didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Ron Cey went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs, and Steve Garvey and Jimmy Wynn hit home runs. For the Padres, Willie McCovey went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Dave Winfield did not play.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates 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 June 24. The Cards swept, 3-1 and 4-0. Lou Brock did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in the 2nd game. Bob Gibson pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 2nd game, striking out 11. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 1-for-8.
* The Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Sox swept, 6-3 and 6-0. Reggie Cleveland outpitched Jim Slaton in the 1st game. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk, while rookie Robin Yount went 0-for-3.
Neither Yaz nor Yount played in the 2nd game. Juan Marichal, running out the string in Boston, pitched 7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, outpitching Clyde Wright, and Diego Seguí finished the 3-hit shutout.
* The Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 7. The Royals swept, 7-6 and 5-1. Harmon Killebrew only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game. Rookie George Brett did not appear in that game. In the 2nd game, Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Killebrew went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Over the 2 games, Rod Carew went 3-for-10 with 3 RBIs.
* The Chicago Cubs and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 11. The Expos swept, 6-1 and 13-4.
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