August 17, 1969: Jets vs. Giants, the 1st Time

August 17, 1969: The New York Jets and the New York Giants play each other for the 1st time.

It's an exhibition game, part of the merger process between the Giants' National Football League and the Jets' American Football League. It's played nearly 80 miles from Midtown Manhattan, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, as the Albie Booth Memorial Game. Booth was a football and basketball star at Yale University, and died in 1959.

The Jets had won Super Bowl III, 7 months earlier, making them the World Champions of pro football, and stunning the NFL. But the Giants and their fans refused to accept them as champions. Why? “Giants fans still don’t feel we’re on a parity with their team and we feel we’ve got to prove it,” Jets linebacker Larry Grantham said, early in training camp in 1969. “A lot of people, NFL fans, still regard the Super Bowl as a fluke.” They bought into the propaganda that, if the Jets had played the Baltimore Colts 10 times, the Colts would have won 9? Apparently.

So the Jets realized that the only way to convince the New York media that they were the best team in the world was to prove they were the best team in New York. To make the point, Jet coach Weeb Ewbank appointed Grantham, Don Maynard and Bill Mathis, all original 1960 New York Titans who became Jets and had played through the entire history of the AFL, as team Captains for the day. Three Jet players had retired after the Super Bowl, and actually came out of retirement, just to play in this 1 game. 

John Mara, son of Giants owner Wellington Mara, and later the team's owner himself, was interviewed in 2019, for the 50th Anniversary of the game. He recalled: “Players were talking about this being the biggest game they had ever played in. The tension was unreal. The build-up to that game was unlike anything I had ever experienced, almost like a modern playoff game.”

As with the Woodstock festival, 131 miles to the west, traffic was an issue, jamming the Connecticut Turnpike and the Merritt Parkway, although, unlike the New York State Thruway, neither was closed, man. It was 86 degrees and muggy, but they managed to avoid the rain that drenched the festival. The crowd was 70,874, about evenly split between Big Blue and Gang Green, and there were fights in the already-old Ivy League football plant.

The Jets removed all doubts. Joe Namath, who was named Most Valuable Player of the Super Bowl despite not having an especially good game, was considerably better. He completed 16 of 18 passes, for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns, including 1 to Mathis.

John Mara was 14, and remembered, just before halftime, the Giants' Dave Lewis punting: “The one play I remember was Mike Battle returning a punt for a touchdown, and leaping over our punter. The rest I have managed to successfully block out.”

That made the score 24-0 Jets, and they cruised to win, 37-14. “Today, we proved we have the best team in New York, a team that can compete on any field with any team at any time,” Grantham said.

Wellington Mara fired head coach Allie Sherman, replaced him with former Giant running back Alex Webster, and he finished the 1969 season 6-8. The Jets went 10-4, won the AFL Western Division, and lost in the Divisional Playoffs.

The 1st regular-season game between the teams was played on November 1, 1970, at Shea Stadium. In a game with considerably less hype, even though it actually counted for something, the Giants won, 6-1.

As it turned out, between the Giants' moving around due to the renovation of Yankee Stadium, the Jets' injuries, and dumb management decisions by both teams, neither team made the Playoffs again until 1981.

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August 17, 1969 was a Sunday. It was also the day the Woodstock festival ended, and the day that Hurricane Camille crashed into America's Gulf Coast. I have separate entries for those events. Also, basketball star Christian Laettner and New Kids On The Block singer turned actor Donnie Wahlberg were born on this day.

And these Major League Baseball games played:

* New York Yankees 5, Chicago White Sox 2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Jimmie Hall hit a home run for the Bronx Bombers. Stan Bahnsen started, and Mike Kekich won it in relief.

* Another doubleheader at Shea Stadium: The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 in each game. Duffy Dyer hit a home run in support of Jerry Koosman in the opener, and Ed Kranepool and Bud Harrelson each got 2 hits in support of Don Cardwell in the nightcap.

* Houston Astros 3, Philadelphia Phillies 2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* Minnesota Twins 4, Washington Senators 3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Tony Oliva's RBI single won it in the top of the 13th inning.

* Los Angeles Dodgers 9, Montreal Expos 3 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* St. Louis Cardinals 5, Atlanta Braves 3 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron, Bob Tillman and Rico Carty hit home runs for the Braves, but all were solo blasts, and Steve Carlton was the winning pitcher for the Cards, as Lou Brock went 2-for-5, and Joe Torre went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* Pittsburgh Pirates 8, Cincinnati Reds 5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Gene Alley, Al Oliver and Willie Stargell hit home runs. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-5. The Reds got homers from Pete Rose, Bobby Tolan, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez, but it wasn't enough.

* Boston Red Sox 1, Kansas City Royals 0 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4, but Vicente Romo, Sparky Lyle and Sonny Siebert combined for a 4-hit shutout.

* California Angels 7, Cleveland Indians 6 at Anaheim (now Angel) Stadium.

* Detroit Tigers 9, Oakland Athletics 4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Catfish Hunter was knocked out of the box in the 4th inning, as the Tigers got 2 homers from Al Kaline, and 1 each from Jim Northrup, Don Wert, former Yankee Tom Tresh and Mickey Stanley. Denny McLain went the distance, despite giving up a home run to Reggie Jackson.

* Doubleheader at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. 1st game: San Francisco Giants 5, Chicago Cubs 3. 2nd game, Cubs 3, Giants 1. Over the 2 games, Willie Mays went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Ernie Banks only appeared in this game as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* Baltimore Orioles 4, Seattle Pilots 1 at Sick's Stadium in Seattle. Dave May (filling in at right field for Frank Robinson, who got the day off), Don Buford and Brooks Robinson homered for the O's, while Don Mincher hit one for the Pilots. Tom Phoebus won it, Fred Talbot lost it. Jim Bouton did not get into the game. A sweep for the Birds over the Pilots.

As Pilot manager Joe Schultz no doubt said, "Ah, shitfuck. Let's get 'em tomorrow, and then go pound some Budweiser." If Jim Bouton and his book Ball Four are to be believed, Joe Schultz would not have fit in well at Woodstock.