June 25, 1992: The Death of Jerome Brown

June 25, 1992: Jerome Brown, defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, is killed in a car crash.

In 1991, Brown leveled up, going from potentially elite player to elite player.

That crash meant that we only got to see the 1st one-third of Jerome Brown's career, instead of seeing him play it out, and make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Eagles retired his Number 99, and named him to their team Hall of Fame.

The crash not only ended a life, it changed the history of the NFL. Over the next 4 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East all 4 times, made the NFC Championship Game all 4 times, won it 3 times, and won the Super Bowl all 3 of those times.

If Brown had lived, the Eagles might have won the NFC East in 1992, gotten the home Playoff game with the Cowboys, and certainly wouldn't have lost it 34-10. Maybe then, White would've stayed with the Eagles, instead of signing as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers. Between them, from 1992 to 1997, the Cowboys and the Packers won 5 of the 6 NFC Championships. But an Eagles team that still had both Brown and White might have changed that tremendously.

Then again, the Eagles would still have been coached by Rich Kotite, so, who knows?

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June 25, 1992 was a Thursday. Football was out of season. The NBA Championship and the Stanley Cup had been decided earlier that month. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-3 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium the next year.) Kevin Maas hit a home run, in support of Scott Sanderson.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 9-2 at Shea Stadium.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ricky Bones pitched 8 innings of 5-hit ball, with Doug Henry finishing the shutout, outpitching Rick Sutcliffe. Robin Yount went 0-for-2, but drove in the game's only run with a sacrifice fly. Paul Molitor went 1-for-2 with a walk. For the Orioles, Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Bruce Hurst pitched a 7-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 8-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Mark McGwire hit a home run. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 2 stolen bases and an RBI.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the California Angels, 13-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The M's got home runs from Ken Griffey Jr., Tino Martinez, Edgar Martinez and Dave Valle.

* And the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Montreal Expos, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Toronto Blue Jays were not scheduled.