September 17, 1968: “Julia” Premieres

September 17, 1968: Julia premieres on NBC. This sitcom was the 1st weekly series to star an African-American woman in a non-stereotypical role. Previous television series featured African-American lead characters, but the characters were usually servants.

It starred actress-singer Diahann Carroll as Julia Baker, a nurse in a doctor's office at a large aerospace company, in a location that was never specified. Her husband, a U.S. Army Captain, had been killed in Vietnam, one of the first nods to that war on a network TV show. She was left a widow and a single mother, to Corey. Played by Mark Copage, the character was 6 years old when the show began.

The doctor, Morton Chegley, was played by Lloyd Nolan. Corey had barely known his father before he died. His best friend was Earl J. Waggedorn, whom Corey almost always addressed and referred to precisely by his full name, though other characters (particularly his mother) would refer to him simply as Earl. Earl was played by Mark Link. The Waggedorns lived downstairs in the same apartment building, with father, police officer Leonard (Hank Brandt), stay-at-home mother Marie (Betty Beaird), and two sons, Earl and an infant whose first name was never revealed.

The show got good ratings for its 1st 2 seasons, then dropped off in its 3rd, and was canceled. Very few people said the show went too far, but some African-American media said it didn't go far enough. One complaint was that, by putting Julia in the suburbs, it ignored the urban black experience. Another had an objection to the lack of a father in the black family, even as other sources, black and white alike, praised the show for admitting that the Vietnam War existed, something that many other shows seemed to ignore.

Having previously starred in film versions of Carmen (Carmen Jones) and Porgy and Bess, Carroll remained a headline singer in Las Vegas, and later had recurring roles on the shows Dynasty, its spinoff The Colbys, A Different World, Lonesome Dove, The Court, Grey's Anatomy, White Collar, and Diary of a Single Mom. She died in 2019.

Nolan died in 1985, Brandt in 2004. As of September 17, 2022, Beaird. Copage and Link are still alive. Copage hasn't acted much since the 1980s, and Link pretty much gave up acting in the 1970s.

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September 17, 1968 was a Tuesday. Russian hockey player Valeri Zelepukin, Spanish soccer player and manager Tito Vilanova, and American singer Anastacia were born.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Yankees had tied the game in the top of the 9th inning, but in the bottom of the 9th, Don Wert, the Tigers' good-field-poor-hit 3rd baseman, singled Al Kaline, the face of the team, home with the winning run. This clinched the Tigers' 1st American League Pennant in 23 years.

Joe Sparma went the distance for the win. Kaline had entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk before Wert drove him home. In what turned out to be his last 2 weeks as an active player, Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4.

This was only the 3rd time a Pennant had been clinched against the Yankees, following the 1904 Boston Red Sox and the 1944 St. Louis Browns. It has since been done by the 1980 Kansas City Royals, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, the 2010 Texas Rangers, the 2012 Detroit Tigers, and the 2017 and 2019 Houston Astros.

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Jim McAndrew outpitched Ken Holtzman. Ed Charles hit a home run. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5. Willie Stargell struck out as a pinch-hitter.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ray Culp pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Dave McNally. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4. Frank Robinson went 0-for-2 with 2 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 2-1. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 8-2. Reggie Jackson, in his 1st full season, went 2-for-8 with an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Gaylord Perry pitched a no-hitter, outdoing Bob Gibson. You want to know why, despite a record-low 1.12 ERA that season, Bob Gibson only won 22 games and lost 9? Games like this, when the Cards didn't hit. The only run of the game came on a 1st-inning home run by Ron Hunt.

The very next day, Ray Washburn of the Cardinals returned the favor, pitching a no-hitter against the Giants, winning 2-0. This was the 1st time in history that back-to-back no hitters were pitched between the same 2 teams on consecutive days.

* And the California Angels and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Twins won the 1st game, 4-3. Rod Carew went 1-for-4, and Harmon Killebrew did not appear. The Angels won the 2nd game, 4-3. Both Carew, with a strikeout, and Killebrew, with a walk, appeared as pinch-hitters.