September 11, 1977: The Atari VCS – Video Computer System – hits stores. The home video game revolution is underway. The machine becomes the most famous video game system of all time, selling over 30 million units. It was renamed the Atari 2600 in 1982, once its successor, the Atari 5200 SuperSystem, was released.
Its controller, with its single red button, introduced the word "joystick" to American lingo.
I wanted it. I begged my parents to buy it for me. They wouldn't do it. They said I had to save up my own money to get it. By the time I got close, the 5200 was coming, so I decided to go for that. On December 23, 1982, the happiest day of my childhood, Dad took me to Crazy Eddie in East Brunswick, and I plunked down $197 -- $597 in 2022 money -- and got it. It was a lot better than the 2600, but it didn't sell well. Within 10 years, it, too, would be considered an anachronism.
I played the 5200 every day for 5 years, wearing out a set of controllers, before real life intervened and I could no longer play it as often. Eventually, a 2nd set of controllers wore out, and I put the console away.
Those of you who weren't around then: You have no idea how big a deal the PAUSE button was to us, the OG "gamers." Today, people take it for granted, to the point where, in 2022, my mother was reading to a 6-year-old granddaughter, who got distracted, and she said, "Nana, can you pause the book?"
In 2020, I had to move, and get rid of a lot of things. I didn't have a place for the console, and I had no idea of how to hook it up to a modern flat-screen TV. So I had to say goodbye to an old friend. But the loss of 2020 (one of many) cannot erase the joy of 1982, which remains my happiest Christmas season.
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September 11, 1977 was a Sunday. Christopher Brian Bridges, the rapper known as Ludacris, was born.
The NFL season opened the following weekend. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* A doubleheader was split at Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees won the opener, 4-3. Dick Tidrow, who alternated between starting and relieving, started and went 7 innings for the win. Reggie Jackson, heating up with Billy Martin following George Steinbrenner's ultimatum to bat him 4th or he's fired, hit a home run.
The Toronto Blue Jays won the nightcap, 6-4. Tom Murphy outpitched Don Gullett. Though they were a 1st-year expansion team that would lose 107 games, even then, the Jays gave the Yankees trouble. The following May 27, I saw my 1st live major league game, and the Jays beat the Yankees. Then came the 1985 American League Eastern Division race, and the 1993 Division race, and ever since then, I've called them "the pesky Blue Jays," or sometimes "the Peskies."
* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Joel Youngblood went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jim Rice went 2-for-3 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Greg Luzinski hit a home run. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Doug DeCinces, with the unenviable task of succeeding the retiring Brooks Robinson as the Orioles' 3rd baseman, hit a home run. Ken Singleton went 2-for- 4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Eddie Murray, soon to be named AL Rookie of the Year, went 1-for-5.
Robinson played his last game on August 21. A week after this, September 18, "Thanks, Brooks Day" was held at Memorial Stadium.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 10-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell did not play, but Bill Robinson and Dave Parker hit home runs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Despite this win for the Reds, the Dodgers, who had previously done so in 1974, prevented the Big Red Machine from winning a 3rd straight National League Western Division title.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. George Brett went 0-for-3 with a walk, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rod Carew went 1-for-5.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* A doubleheader was split at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 6-2. The California Angels won the 2nd game, 5-4.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with a walk.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 6-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
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