In 1894, a 37-foot-high statue of Pennsylvania founder William Penn was placed atop Philadelphia City Hall. At 548 feet high, this made the Hall the tallest building in the world until 1908. While many American cities embraced the concept of the skyscraper, a "gentlemen's agreement" forbade any structure in Philadelphia from rising above the hat on the Penn statue. The idea was that Penn could look out over his city, in any direction, without his view being blocked. (The statue, of course, is in a fixed position, facing northeast.)
With that agreement in place, the various Philadelphia teams won 16 World Championships between 1910 and 1983. On May 27, 1987, One Liberty Place broke the gentleman's agreement, rising to 945 feet. For the first time, something in the city could "block Billy Penn's view." Between then and October 29, 2008, 31 years, each Philadelphia team went to just 1 final, and lost them all. The city didn't even see one of its "Big 5" college basketball teams make the NCAA Final Four.
On June 5, 2004, the curse even extended to horse racing. Smarty Jones, a horse bred and trained in suburban Chester County, Pennsylvania, won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, with Canadian jockey Stewart Elliott aboard.
He was a rare horse who excited the country, and briefly brought thoroughbred horse racing back into the first tier of American sports fans' consciousness. And, because Philadelphia fans love their own, even if they're suburban, the entire Delaware Valley was behind him as he headed to Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, New York for the Belmont Stakes, in search of the Triple Crown, which hadn't been won since Affirmed did it 26 years earlier.
However, he fell short. He led most of the way, including at the start, and with about a quarter of a mile to go in the mile-and-a-half "True Test of Champions," led by 4 lengths. But Birdstone came up on the outside, made a tremendous run, and Smarty Jones couldn't keep it going, losing by 1 length.
Smarty Jones (9) and Birdstone (4)
Birdstone was a grandson of Unbridled, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1990. Birdstone and Smarty Jones were 2nd cousins, as both horses were great-grandsons of Mr. Prospector. He didn't win too many big races -- he was the same age as Secretariat, and didn't enter any of the 1973 Triple Crown races -- but became one of the leading sires of racehorses, and his descendants have won many of those races.
Also 2nd cousins of Smarty Jones and Birdstone were 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, and 2005 Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex.
Having watched the 2004 Belmont again, for the sake of writing this post, I have to give Birdstone, jockey Edgar Prado, and trainer Nick Zito a lot of credit. The horse ran a fantastic race. Smarty Jones may have "run out of gas," but he didn't "choke." He simply got beat.
Someone must have decided that enough was enough. On June 18, 2007, ironworkers helped raise the final beam in the construction of the 974-foot Comcast Center. In addition to the Philadelphia tradition of finishing a building with an American flag and a small evergreen tree, they attached a statue of William Penn. Now, atop the new tallest building in town, his view was, again, unblocked. A little more than a year later, on October 29, 2008, the Phillies won the World Series.
In 2018, a few months after the Philadelphia Eagles finally won a Super Bowl, a new tallest building in the city opened: The Comcast Technology Center, at 1,121 feet, making it the tallest building in America not in either New York City or Chicago. As with its predecessor and sort-of namesake, a small statue of William Penn was put on top, just in case.
As of June 5, 2022, Smarty Jones is alive, and living at Equistar Farm outside Annville, Pennsylvania.
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June 5, 2004 was a Saturday. Former President Ronald Reagan died on this day, at the age of 93. At that point, he was the longest-living President of the United States.
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played that day. The Calgary Flames led the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3 games to 2, and Game 6 was at the Saddledome in Calgary. With just under 7 minutes to play in regulation, and the score tied, 2-2, Martin Gelinas, who already had 3 game-winning goals in the Playoffs, put the puck over the goal line before Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin pushed it out with his stick. The officials did not give the goal, and the game went to overtime. Martin St. Louis scored 33 seconds into the 2nd overtime, and the Lightning won, 3-2. The Lightning won Game 7 and the Cup 2 nights later.
Game 1 was played in the NBA Finals, and it was also a shocker, but for very different, and totally legitimate, reasons. The Detroit Pistons beat a Los Angeles Lakers "superteam" of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, 87-75 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. It was one of those finals where Game 1 set the tone, and the Pistons won in 5.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Jon Lieber had a bad start. The only Yankee run came off a home run by former Ranger Rubén Sierra. Derek Jeter did not play.
* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. The Mets led 5-2 after 6 innings, with 2 home runs from Mike Piazza, but blew it. A 9th-inning comeback fell short.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Adam Dunn hit a home run to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Gary Knotts pitched shutout ball for 7 2/3rds innings, allowing only 3 hits. Two relievers didn't add any more.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 10-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City royals, 8-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Barry Bonds went 1-for-1 with 3 walks, 2 of them intentional.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Ismael Valdéz pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Anaheim Angels, 3-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum). Tim Hudson allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were rained out at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 5. The O's swept, 4-2 and 8-2.
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