September 17, 1967: The Kayseri Atatürk Stadium Disaster

September 17, 1967: The Kayseri Atatürk Stadium Disaster occurs, killing 43 people and injuring at least 300 others.

The stadium opened in the city of Kayseri, in central Turkey in 1964, and seated 26,500. Two teams shared it: Kayserispor and Kayseri Erciyesspor. On September 17, 1967, Erciyesspor led Sivasspor, 1-0 at halftime.

During the halftime intermission, supporters of the two teams began to throw rocks at each other. Some fans attempted to get out of the way, causing a stampede in front of the stand exits, leading to a crush similar to what has happened in many other stadium disasters, including Hillsborough in England in 1989. The action spilled into the streets, and there was extensive vandalism.

The stadium was demolished in 2009. Kayserispor then moved into the new, 32,000-seat Kadir Has Stadium, while Erciyesspor moved into a much smaller satadium, and went out of business in 2018.

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September 17, 1967 was a Sunday. This was also the day that The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Who appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, each creating a different kind of controversy. I have a separate entry for that dual event.

A full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at the old Yankee Stadium. Luis Tiant outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. This was a bit of a blow in the Sox' 4-way dogfight for the American League Pennant with Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota. The Birds got home runs from Boog Powell (not surprising), Paul Blair (a little surprising) and Andy Etchebarren (very surprising).

Both pitchers of record would pitch for the Seattle Pilots in 1969, and feature in fellow pitcher Jim Bouton's published diary Ball Four: The winning pitcher for the O's was Gene Brabender, and the losing pitcher for the Sox was Gary Bell.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Forbes Field, in Pittsburgh. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. For the Giants, Jim Ray Hart hit a home run, but Willie Mays only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and didn't get a hit.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Gary Peters pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Atlanta Stadium. (It would be renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1974.) For the Cubs, Billy Williams hit a home run, and Ernie Banks went 2-for-4. For the Braves, the only home run was hit by Charlie Lau, the light-hitting catcher who would go on to become one of the sport's most admired hitting instructors; Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with a double; and Joe Torre went 0-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 4-3 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California. (The ballpark is now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim.) This would be the last month for the A's as a Kansas City team: They moved to Oakland the next season.

And, being a Sunday, there was pro football, both the NFL and the AFL. For the senior league, it was the opening game of the season:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 37-20 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 35-24 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Atlanta Falcons, 38-31 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Chicago Bears, 41-13 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns, 21-14 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions played to a tie, 17-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-21 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-13 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The Saints were an expansion team, and this was the 1st regular-season game they ever played. They lost their 1st 7 games before finally beating the Eagles on November 5 at Tulane.

And in the AFL:

* The Houston Oilers beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-3 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Denver Broncos, 35-21 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Boston Patriots, 35-7 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the New York Jets, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers all had a bye week. In 1966, the Dolphins were an AFL expansion team. Another, the Cincinnati Bengals, was added in 1968. So in 1966 and 1967, the AFL had 9 teams, and there was a bye every week to at least one team.