May 5, 1992: A Semifinal of the Coupe de France, between Olympique de Marseille and SC Bastia of the island of Corsica, is abandoned after a stand collapses at Bastia's Stade Armand-Cesari, killing 18 people, and injuring over 2,300 others.
Bastia had built a temporary terrace to expand their 10,000-seat stadium, without paying attention to safety standards. It is known as the Furiani Disaster, for the city in which the stadium sits.
The Semifinal was never played -- AS Monaco had won the other -- and the Coupe was not awarded that season. Marseille did go on to win the title in France's top division, Division 1 (known since 2002 as Ligue 1), and then the UEFA Champions League the next season.
SC Bastia have never won the top flight, although they were 2nd division winners in 1968 and 2012, and won the Coupe de France in 1981, losing in the Final in 1972 and 2002. In European play, they reached the Final of the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League) in 1978, and won the now-defunct Intertoto Cup in 1997. They have spent most of their history in the 2nd division, now known as Ligue 2.
Bastia have played in Furiani since 1932, at what is now named Stade Armand-Cesari. Safety regulations, and a conversion to all-seater, have settled seating capacity at 16,048. It is 1 mile in from a beach on the Mediterranean Sea, and 5 miles south of the ferry terminal in the Corsican capital of Bastia, where ferries can take people to the French cities of Marseille, Toulon and Nice; the Italian cities of Genoa, Livorno and Vado Ligure; and even to the Italian island of Elba, where Corsica's most famous native, Napoleon Bonaparte, was originally exiled in 1814.
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May 5, 1992 was a Wednesday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Dave Fleming outpitched Greg Cadaret. Ken Griffey Jr. did not play. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 5-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mark Portugal outpitched Sid Fernandez. Craig Biggio hit a home run for the Astros, Howard Johnson with the Mets.
* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Tony Gwynn went 3-for-4 with a walk.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken hit a home run off Nolan Ryan.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Rey Sánchez drove Andre Dawson home with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Yes, the Cubs and the White Sox were at home on the same day. Robin Yount went 1-for-3, Paul Molitor went 2-for-3 with a walk, and each of them had 1 of the Brewers' RBIs.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* And the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-5.
Football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 94-89 at the Chicago Stadium. Patrick Ewing scored 34 points, while Michael Jordan scored 31. And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 113-111 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And there were 2 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden. And, in an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum. Peter Douris scored the winning goal, 3:12 into overtime.
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