September 20, 1989: “Doogie Howser, M.D.” Premieres

September 20, 1989: Doogie Howser, M.D. premieres. In the pilot, Dr. Douglas Howser turns 16, kisses his first girl, and loses his first patient. Just another day at the office.

Those of you who only know Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, trust me, Doogie was a better man at 16 than Barney was at twice that age.

The show's opening sequence shows how he got to this point, showing that he was a child genius, graduating from Princeton University at age 10, and getting his medical license at 14. The sub-headline of the article shown read, "KID DOCTOR CAN'T BUY BEER - CAN PRESCRIBE DRUGS."

Max Casella played Doogie's next-door neighbor and best friend, aspiring filmmaker Vinnie Delpino, whom he played as a stereotypical Italian: Loud and girl-crazy, but totally loyal to his guy. He would later play D. Howser – Dick Howser, 3rd base coach, on the ESPN miniseries about the 1977 Yankees, The Bronx Is Burning. I guess the casting director forgot that Dick was a Southerner – but Casella, whose lack of height became a running joke on the show, did eventually grow to be 5-foot-9, an inch taller than Howser.

The series ran for 4 years. In 2008, already into his HIMYM tenure, Harris did a commercial in character as Doogie, for a product one would expect Barney to be more likely to be endorsed: Old Spice.

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September 20, 1989 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Although that's not an especially high score, neither starting pitcher, David Cone of the Mets or Ken Hill of the Cards, got out of the 3rd inning.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-6 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Alex Treviño led off the top of the 14th inning with a home run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-3 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 9-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5 with a stolen base and 2 RBIs.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 4 stolen bases, and an RBI.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. A Reds error led to the Padres' winning runs in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-8 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Yankee Stadium, for the 2nd day in a row. The next day was an off-day for both teams, so both games were made up. The Brewers won the opener, 14-1. Mark Knudson was the winning pitcher, while Greg Cadaret didn't get out of the 3rd inning. The only Yankee run came on a solo home run by Don Mattingly.

The Yankees won the nightcap, 5-4. Rob Deer hit a home run in the top of the 10th. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Alvaro Espinoza led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk, and then Mattingly hit another home run. This made Lee Guetterman a winning pitcher in relief of Andy Hawkins.

Over the 2 games, Mattingly went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs, Robin Yount went 5-for-8 with 2 walks and an RBI, and Paul Molitor went 4-for-9 with a walk and an RBI.