September 18, 1999: The Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-1 at The Ballpark in Arlington, in the Dallas suburbs. (It's now named Choctaw Stadium.) The game is unremarkable, except for one thing: Jim Morris, a 35-year-old pitcher who had tried out for the Rays to keep a promise to the West Texas high school baseball team he coached if they won a championship, makes his major league debut. He faces 1 batter in the 8th inning, shortstop Royce Clayton, and strikes him out.
Morris ended up pitching 21 games for the Rays in 1999 and 2000, with no decisions and a 4.80 ERA. His last at-bat was walking Paul O'Neill with the bases loaded to give the Yankees a win. Had his brief career happened when he was 25 instead of 35, hardly anybody would remember him now.
He is now a motivational speaker, earning a lot more money than he did as a teacher. Disney would make a film about him in 2002, The Rookie. Dennis Quaid played Morris, who had a cameo as an umpire.
Clayton had a much better overall career than Morris: He was a 17-year veteran and a 1997 All-Star, reached the postseason with the Rangers twice and the St. Louis Cardinals once, and retired with a World Series ring with the 2007 Boston Red Sox. Ironically, he is now what Morris was then, a high school baseball coach, in his case in the Los Angeles suburbs.
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September 18, 1999 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Charles Nagy outpitched Orlando "El Duque" Hernández. Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Ricky Ledée all hit home runs for the Yankees, but it wasn't enough.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-1 at Shea Stadium. Masato Yoshii was the winning pitcher. Darryl Hamilton, Rey Ordóñez and Benny Agbayani hit home runs.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-4 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Steve Parris pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Brewers scored 3 runs in the top of the 14th inning, including a home run by Ronnie Belliard. Sammy Sosa hit his 60th home run of the season. He would finish with 63.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 13-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. He would finish the season with 65 home runs.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-1 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins, 8-6 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix. Luis Gonzalez won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-5 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Barry Bonds went 2-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Anaheim Angels, 6-3 at Edison International Field (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Cal Ripken went 0-for-5.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum).
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-0 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Gil Meche (6 1/3rd innings) and Paul Abbott combined on a 2-hit shutout. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4.
And among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Florida State beat Number 20 North Carolina State, 42-21 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida State won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
* Number 2 Tennessee lost to Number 4 Florida, 23-21 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. But Florida lost regular-season games to Alabama, and arch-rival Florida State, and then lost the Southeastern Conference Championship Game to Alabama. They ended up more or less staying home, losing the Citrus Bowl to Michigan State.
* Number 3 Penn State beat Number 8 Miami, 27-23 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* Number 5 Nebraska beat Southern Mississippi, 20-13 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska's only regular-season loss would be to Texas, but they avenged that defeat in the Big 12 Conference Championship Game. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl.
* Number 6 Michigan beat Syracuse, 18-13 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.
* Number 7 Texas A&M beat the University of Tulsa, 62-13 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. A&M went 8-3, and lost the Alamo Bowl to Penn State.
* Number 9 Wisconsin were upset by the University of Cincinnati, 17-12 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. Wisconsin rebounded, and won the Big Ten Conference title.
* Number 10 Virginia Tech were idle. Led by quarterback Michael Vick, they won the Big East Conference title, and an undefeated regular season. They were ranked Number 2, and faced Number 1 Florida State in a Sugar Bowl that served as the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game. Florida State won.
* Number 18 Alabama were upset by Louisiana Tech, 29-28 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. 'Bama rebounded, including a win over Florida, to win the SEC Championship Game, beating Florida. They were ranked invited to the Orange Bowl, and lost to Michigan.
* Number 19 Arizona were not merely upset, but clobbered by Stanford, 50-22 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson. Stanford went on to win the Pacific-12 Conference title, and were beaten by Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
* Number 24 Notre Dame lost to Michigan State, 23-13 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
* Arkansas beat Louisiana-Monroe, 44-6 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas went 7-4, and were invited to the Cotton Bowl, as they sometimes were at Champions of the now-defunct Southwest Conference.
* Texas, then unranked, beat Rice University, 18-13 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Texas went on to win the Big 12 Conference South Division, but lost the Conference Championship Game to Nebraska. But they did go to their usual New Year's Day haunt, the Cotton Bowl, against former SWC rivals Arkansas, who beat them.
* Among the service academies, Army lost to Tulane, 48-28 at the Superdome in New Orleans; Navy lost to Boston College, 14-10 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force beat the University of Washington, 31-21 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* And New Jersey's team, Rutgers, had the week off.
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