September 11, 1960: The New York Titans (Jets) Debut

This is the Titans playing at the Polo Grounds,

in color, but it's not the first game.

The opponent here is the Denver Broncos.

September 11, 1960: The New York Titans play their 1st regular-season game. The New York entry in the brand-new American Football League takes the field at the Polo Grounds, at 155th Street and 8th Avenue, where Harlem meets Washington Heights, and beats the Buffalo Bills, 27-3.

The Bills scored first, on a 35-yard field goal by Darrell Harper. In the 2nd quarter, Bill Shockley scored the franchise's 1st points with a game-tying 15-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Al Dorow rushed for 2 touchdowns. Shockley kicked a 39-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter. In the 4th, Dick Jamieson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Art Powell. On all 3 Titan touchdowns, Shockley converted the extra point.

Despite good weather -- 65 degrees, with an 18-mile-per-hour wind -- the attendance was only 10,250. Not good. For comparison's sake, when the NFL's New York Giants played their 1st home game of the season, they brought 60,625 people to the old Yankee Stadium.

The Titans finished 7-7 in 1960. On March 28, 1963, to match baseball's Mets, with whom they were sharing the ancient Polo Grounds, they changed their name to the New York Jets. They also changed their colors from navy blue and gold to green and white. This made some sense, as blue was a common color in pro football, while the only other team wearing green was the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1964, the Mets and the Jets both moved into Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens. In calendar year 1969, both teams improbably won their respective sports' World Championships.

The Jets joined the NFL with the 1970 merger with the AFL, and continued to play at Shea until 1983. The following season, they moved to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey, sharing Giants Stadium with the Giants. In 2010, both teams moved next-door to the new MetLife Stadium.

UPDATE: The Jets have a Ring of Honor:

* From the team that won Super Bowl III in 1969, the inductees are: Team owner Leon Hess, head coach Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank, quarterback Joe Namath, running backs Matt Snell and Emerson Boozer, receiver Don Maynard, offensive tackle Winston Hill, defensive end Larry Grantham and linebacker Larry Grantham. Ewbank, Namath, Maynard and Hill have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

* From the 1970s: Although running back John Riggins has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he has not been inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor.

* From the team that reached the 1982 AFC Championship Game: Hess, running back Freeman McNeil, receiver Wesley Walker, and three-quarters of the defensive line known as "the New York Sack Exchange": tackles Joe Klecko and Marty Lyons, and end Mark Gastineau. The other end, Abdul Salaam, and quarterback Richard Todd have not been inducted. Nor has kicker Pat Leahy, who remains the Jets' all-time leading scorer. Klecko has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

* From later in the 1980s: Receiver Al Toon.

* From the team that reached the 1998 AFC Championship Game: Hess, running back Curtis Martin and receiver Wayne Chrebet. Head coach Bill Parcells and center Kevin Mawae have not yet been inducted, although they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Nor has quarterback Vinny Testaverde.

* From the team that readched the 2010 and 2011 AFC Championship Gmaes: Center Nick Mangold, offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and cornerback Darrelle Revis. Head coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez have not yet been inducted. Revis has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

* The Jets have retired Number 12 for Namath, 13 for Maynard, 28 for Martin, 73 for Klecko, and 90 for defensive end Dennis Byrd, whose career ended with his temporary paralysis on a play in 1992. They have also withdrawn from circulation, though not yet officially retired, 24 for Revis and 80 for Chrebet. Before the move from Giants Stadium to MetLife Stadium, depictions of the jerseys of Namath and Maynard were placed on the wall, as well as the equivalent honor for Ewbank, a green coach's jacket.

*

September 11, 1960, as you might guess, was a Sunday. The rest of the inaugural week of AFL regular-season play went as follows: 

* The 1st game was 2 days before, on the 9th, a Friday night at Boston University's Nickerson Field. The Denver Broncos beat the Boston Patriots 13-10. The Patriots changed their name to "New England" in 1971, when they moved out to suburban Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* On the 10th, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Dallas Texans, 21-20 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961, and back to Los Angeles in 2017. The Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.

* The only other game played on the 11th was the Houston Oilers beating the Oakland Raiders, 37-22 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The Raiders wouldn't actually play a game in Oakland until the 1962 season. They moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and to Las Vegas in 2019. The Oilers moved in 1997, becoming the Tennessee Oilers, and became the Tennessee Titans in 1999. Hey, the Jets weren't using the Titans name.

The NFL didn't open its regular season for another 2 weeks. And it was the off-season for the NBA and the NHL. But the Major League Baseball season was still going. Since it was Sunday, there were a coule of doubleheaders:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ralph Terry pitched brilliantly in the opener, a 5-hit shutout. Hector Lopez and Roger Maris took Jim Perry deep, and the Yankees won 5-0. In the nightcap, Mickey Mantle hit a home run in the 11th inning, to make a winning pitcher out of Eli Grba, in relief of Jim Coates, a 3-2 Yankee win.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium the next year. The Tigers won the 1st game 8-3, and the 2nd game 8-5.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Reds won the opener 2-1, but the San Francisco Giants won the nightcap 3-2.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Pale Hose won the 1st game 5-3, and the 2nd game 1-0. At age 40, Early Wynn pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 2-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Don Drysdale pitched a 2-hit shutout, outdueling Lew Burdette.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 4-0 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Steve Barber nearly pitched a 5-hit shutout, but needed Chuck Estrada to get the last out. (Maybe Barber's arm was sore, or maybe it was just a little stiff. Ball Four reference.)

* The Chicago Cubs were supposed to play a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but it got rained out. It was rescheduled for September 22, and the Pirates swept. They won the opener 3-2 in 11 innings, and the nightcap 6-1.

And actress Anne Ramsay, who played Lisa Stemple on the sitcom Mad About You, was born.