June 22, 1974: The Sears Tower Opens

June 22, 1974: The Sears Tower opens in Chicago. At 1,450 feet from street to roof, it becomes the tallest building in the world. It surpasses the World Trade Center, which opened in New York a little more than a year earlier, but nearly 100 feet; and the Empire State Building, which opened in New York in 1931, by nearly 200 feet.

From the street to the top of its TV and radio antenna, it's 1,729 feet. This will be slightly topped the following year by the CN Tower in Toronto, at 1,815 feet. However, the governing body for tall buildings points out that the CN Tower is not occupiable at a higher point than the highest on the Sears Tower.

Its designer is Fazlur Rahman Khan, a 45-year-old native of Bangladesh, who did not see his 1st skyscraper until he was 21, and came to America on a Fulbright scholarship and never left. He had already designed the previous tallest building in Chicago, the 1,128-foot John Hancock Center, which opened in 1969. He died in 1982, with his Sears Tower still top of the world.

The address is 233 South Wacker Drive, outside of Chicago's elevated-rail "Loop," overlooking the fork in the Chicago River. Officially, it has 110 floors, and its 103rd floor includes the Skydeck observation facility.

I went there on my first visit to Chicago in 1990, and while the views were spectacular, it was strange: Having previously been to the observatories at the Empire State and the World Trade Center, and recognizing most of the landmarks, I knew very few of the buildings that I could see from the Sears Tower Skydeck. I knew the sports venues, the John Hancock Center, the Tribune Tower, and the Wrigley Building, but that was about it.

The Tower served as the headquarters for department store company Sears from its opening until 1994. Sears' financial troubles led to its loss of the building. In 2009, the naming rights were sold to the aptly-named British insurance advisor, Willis Towers Watson, and it has officially been the Willis Tower ever since. However, few Chicagoans use the new name.

It was surpassed as the world's tallest building in 1998, by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- which, like the original World Trade Center, are a "Twin Towers" complex. In 2013, the new World Trade Center surpassed the Sears/Willis Tower as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. It remains the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere outside of New York City.

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June 22, 1974 was a Saturday. Actor Donald Faison was born.

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Shea Stadium, where they were playing the 1974 and '75 seasons while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated. It was 1-1 going into the 9th inning, but Dick Tidrow, unusually starting the game, ran out of gas and walked 2 batters, and a rare error by Graig Nettles sealed the Yankees' doom.

Thurman Munson went 4-for-4 in the losing cause. Al Kaline, in his last season, went 0-for-4 as the Tiger designated hitter, getting no closer to 3,000 career hits. He did make it by the end of the season, though.

* The New York Mets were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, 5-2 and 8-5. Rusty Staub homered in the 1st game. In the 2nd game, Ken Boswell and John Milner hit home runs, but it wasn't enough. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-6 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. The most amazing fact about this twinbill is that the Phillies swept it without Steve Carlton throwing a single pitch. Nor did Tom Seaver appear.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 11-0. The winning pitcher was Gaylord Perry, pitching a 4-hit shutout; and the losing pitcher was Bill Lee. Buddy Bell, Oscar Gamble and Dave Duncan each got 3 hits for the Tribe; and Frank Duffy went 4-for-5 with 5 RBIs.

The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 8-3. The winning pitcher was Reggie Cleveland, pitching against Cleveland for Boston; and the losing pitcher was Jim Perry, Gaylord's brother. George Hendrick got 3 hits for the Indians, while Juan Beniquez and Mario Guerrero each got 3 for the Sox. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-6 over the doubleheader.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4 with an RBI, but did not hit a home run for the Braves. Darrell Evans did. Fred Norman went the distance for the win, outpitching Phil Niekro. For the Reds, Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with a walk, Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 with 2 walks, Joe Morgan went 1-for-2 with a walk, a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ken Brett pitched an 8-hit shutout. Willie Stargell went 1-for-5.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4. Rookie Robin Yount hit a home run.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4, and Rod Carew went 1-for-4. Jorge Orta won it with a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 7-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Nolan Ryan went the distance, striking out 10. Frank Robinson, on the Angels' roster, did not get into the game.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 6-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jimmy Wynn sent the game to extra innings with a home run in the 9th, and Joe Ferguson won it with a home run in the 10th.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4. George Brett went 0-for-4.

The 1974 World Cup was also underway, in West Germany. Indeed, the biggest win any Warsaw Pact nation ever had in international soccer happened on that day, almost worthy of an entry all by itself: East Germany beat West Germany, 1-0 at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. But this was the Group Stage, and West Germany still ended up advancing. I have a separate entry for this event.

Also, defending Champions Brazil beat Zaire, 3-0 at the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen. Scotland and Yugoslavia played to a 1-1 draw at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt. And Australia and Chile played to a 0-0 draw at the Olympiastadion in West Berlin.

The format used at the time had a Second Group Stage. Out of that, East Germany did not advance, and West Germany did. The hosts reached the Final at the Olympiastadion in Munich, winning 1-0 over the Netherlands team that had won the world's admiration, but not the World Cup itself.