September 1, 1972: Boris Spassky resigns his match against Bobby Fischer, in Reykjavik, Iceland, and forfeits the World Championship of Chess. This makes Fischer America's 1st World Champion in the game. It's a mildly interesting footnote in the Cold War.
Fischer had been a child prodigy at the game, but even during his competition with Spassky, he was a problematic representative for America. In 1975, as he had in 1972, he insisted upon some ridiculous conditions for his defense of his title, against Soviet champion Anatoli Karpov. This time, FIDE, the world governing body for chess, refused to give in, and Fischer flat-out refused to play Karpov. FIDE stripped him of the title and awarded it to Karpov, who held it for the next 10 years.
Fischer became a recluse, and probably should have stayed that way, because when he did venture out into public, he said some disgusting things. He died in 2008.
Since 2013, the title has been held by Magnus Carlsen of Norway. At 22, he was the youngest champion in the game's history.
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September 1, 1972 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. Mel Stottlemyre pitched a 4-hit shutout. Thurman Munson went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 8-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Dave Roberts pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Tom Seaver. Willie Mays went 1-for-4.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Marty Pattin, who would later pitch for the Royals, pitched a 7-hit shutout. The only run came in the bottom of the 4th, when Rico Petrocelli singled Carl Yastrzemski home.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bobby Darwin hit 2 home runs for the Twins, but it was Rod Carew, after getting his only hit of the day, who won the game by stealing home plate with Jim Nettles (whose brother Graig was at 3rd base for the Indians) at bat in the bottom of the 10th inning. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jim Colborn pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Dave McNally outpitched Clyde Wright. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Joe Rudi hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4. Al Kaline went 2-for-3 with an RBI. This turned out to be a preview of the American League Championship Series, which the A's also won.
* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 11-1. Ken Reynolds went the distance, for his 1st win of the season. He was now 1-12. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk, then got the nightcap off. The Atlanta Braves won that game, 11-5.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-6 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-2, but had 2 walks, and an RBI on sacrifice fly. Willie Stargell went 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench singled Pete Rose home in the bottom of the 12th inning, to beat Bill Stoneman, who had gone the distance. Clay Carroll was the winning pitcher, pitching 3 innings on top of the 9 of starter Ross Grimsley Jr.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 14-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* And a doubleheader was split at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 5-1. Rick Wise outpitched Don Sutton. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2nd game, 2-1. Al Downing outpitched Al Santorini.
Over the 2 games, Lou Brock went 0-for-7, but drew a walk and stole a base; Joe Torre went 1-for-7, with a hit-by-pitch and 2 RBIs; and Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers, was injured, and did not play in either game.
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