June 18, 1984: The Assassination of Alan Berg

June 18, 1984: Radio talk-show host Alan Berg is shot and killed in the driveway of his Denver home. He was 50.

Born in Chicago in 1934, he moved to Denver because it was his wife Judith's hometown. He went to the University of Denver, but returned to Chicago to practice law. He hated it, and went into radio broadcasting. He developed a brain tumor, and while it was removed, he fixed his hair to give himself bangs to hide the scar.

He and his wife split up, but his star rose in Denver radio. In 1981, he began hosting a late-night talk show on KOA, 850 AM. Its 50,000-watt signal allowed his show to be heard in 30 States. And he was confrontational: In addition to mocking the conservatives who would call into to his show, he would invite bigots, even white supremacists, onto his show, and take them on, and demolish them.

At about 9:30 p.m. on June 18, 1984, Berg returned to his Adams Street townhouse after a dinner date with Judith, with whom he was attempting reconciliation. Berg stepped out of his black Volkswagen Beetle, and was shot 12 times. He was officially pronounced dead at the scene at 9:45 p.m.

The murder weapon, a semi-automatic Ingram MAC-10, which had been illegally converted to an automatic weapon, was later traced to the home of one of the neo-Nazi group The Order's members by the FBI. Two members of The Order were convicted, killing him because he was Jewish and he challenged on the air the beliefs of an author who wrote that Jews were from the family line of the devil. Both died in prison: David Lane in 2007, and Bruce Pierce in 2010.

Berg was assassinated at the height of the Reagan era, and liberal radio was going into decline. By 1988, Rush Limbaugh would be nationally syndicated out of WABC in New York.

Berg's life and death have inspired a number of productions, including Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio. Bogosian would also star in a film version, directed by Oliver Stone.

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June 18, 1984 was a Monday. It was a travel day for most Major League Baseball teams, and only 4 games were played, 3 of them on the West Coast:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Aging knuckleballer Phil Niekro outpitched Milt Wilcox. Dave Winfield went 2-for-4. Don Mattingly went 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 6-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Former Angel Frank Tanana outpitched Tommy John. Gary Ward homered for the Rangers. For the Angels, Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew each appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and neither reached base.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Dave Kingman, Rickey Henderson and Davey Lopes hit home runs for the A's. George Brett did not play for the Royals.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Harold Baines went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.