October 1, 1988: Steffi Graf, as I mentioned earlier, had already won the Grand Slam. She goes one better: In the first Olympics in which tennis was a medal sport, she wins the Gold Medal -- making what remains, for either men or women, the only "Golden Slam."
Going into 1988, the native of Mannheim, Germany was 18, and had one major to her name, the 1987 French Open. She won the Australian Open on January 23, beating veteran Chris Evert, 6-1, 7-6. On June 4, she repeated as French Open champion, not losing a game in the Final, against Soviet player Natalia Zvereva.
Wimbledon would be a harder nut to crack. She got to the Final, and was up against the best woman Wimbledon had yet seen, Martina Navratilova. Martina took the 1st set, 7-5. But Steffi came back strong, winning the next 2 sets, 6-2 and 6-1.
On September 10, she went into Flushing Meadow, and took the court for the Final of the U.S. Open, against Argentine star Gabriela Sabatini. Graf won the 1st set, 6-3. Sabatini won the 2nd set, 6-3. Suddenly, the Steffi Slam was in doubt. But she removed all down, beating Gabby, 6-1, and finishing the Slam. She matched Maureen Connolly in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970.
But neither Connolly nor Court had a chance to achieve a "Golden Slam." Off to the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, where tennis was a competitive sport for the 1st time since 1924. As with the U.S. and Australian Opens, it was on a hard court, as opposed to the grass of Wimbledon and the clay of the French Open. Miloslav Mečíř of Czechoslovakia won the Gold Medal in men's singles, defeating American Tim Mayotte. Graf played Sabatini in the Final again, and won, 6-3, 6-3. The 1st Golden Slam was done.
Graf won 3 out of 4 majors 4 more times, missing in the French in 1989 and 1993, and the Australian in 1995 and 1996. When her career was over, she had won 22 majors: Wimbledon 7 times, the French Open 6 times, the U.S. Open 5 times, and the Australian Open 4 times.
She topped the Golden Slam in 1999, by joining with President Jed Bartlet to win a mixed doubles match against White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler and Press Secretary C.J. Cregg. Sadly, this match took place prior to the pilot episode of The West Wing, and was only alluded to early in the first season, so we never got to see it.
In 2001, she married Andre Agassi, winner of 4 Australian Opens, 2 U.S. Opens, Wimbledon in 1992, the French Open in 1999, and a 1996 Olympic Gold Medal, for a career Golden Slam. They have a son and a daughter, and live in the suburbs of Agassi's hometown of Las Vegas.
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October 1, 1988 was a Saturday. I'm originally from Bloomfield, New Jersey, but the family moved before I could go to Bloomfield High School. That day, BHS broke a 40-game football winless streak, 39 losses and a tie going back 1983, beating Paramus Catholic, 7-0. I was there, my 1st game at Bloomfield's Foley Field. The night before, I saw my actual Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School, beat Edison, 29-18.
Among the major college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Miami beat Missouri, 55-0 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* Number 2 University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) beat Number 16 University of Washington, 24-17 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Number 3 University of Southern California beat Arizona, 38-15 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. USC won the Pacific-Ten Conference title.
* Number 4 Auburn beat North Carolina, 47-21 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title.
* Number 5 Notre Dame beat Stanford, 42-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame went on to beat Miami in this season's "Game of the Century."
* Number 6 Florida State beat Tulane, 48-28 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Florida State were invited to the Sugar Bowl, and beat Auburn.
* Number 7 West Virginia beat Virginia Tech, 22-10 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. There was no Big East Conference for football at this point, but West Virginia would have won it. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl, to play what amounted to a National Championship decider against Notre Dame, but lost.
* Number 8 South Carolina beat Appalachian State, 35-9 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
* Number 9 Nebraska beat the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV), 48-6 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska won the Big Eight Conference title, but lost the Orange Bowl to Miami, for whom the Orange Bowl stadium was their home field. This was not the first time this happened to Nebraska.
* Number 10 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 35-7 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.
* Number 17 Florida upset Number 14 Louisiana State University (LSU), 19-6 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
* Number 19 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 62-14 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Michigan won the Big Ten Conference title, but lost the Rose Bowl to USC.
* Arkansas, not ranked at the time, beat Texas Christian University (TCU), 53-10 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Arkansas won the Southwest Conference title, but lost to UCLA in the Cotton Bowl.
* Among the service academies, Army beat Bucknell, 58-10 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat Yale, 41-7 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force beat New Mexico, 63-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* And Rutgers beat the University of Cincinnati, 38-9 at the original Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The regular season of Major League Baseball was winding up. These games were played on the next-to-last day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Old warhorses Tommy John and Doyle Alexander started, neither of them making it through 6 innings. The Yankees got home runs from Claudell Washington, Randy Velarde and, yes, Ken Phelps. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5. Rickey Henderson went 3-for-5. Dave Winfield was injured. Chet Lemon's home run off Neil Allen in the bottom of the 8th made the difference.
* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3 at Shea Stadium. Lenny Dykstra hit a home run, in support of Sid Fernandez. The Mets had won the National League Eastern Division title, and were probably the most talented team in baseball. But they blew it in the NL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Mike Schmidt, in what turned out to be his last full season, did not play.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. John Farrell pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Doug Jones pitched a perfect 9th. Sox starter Jeff Sellers allowed only 1 hit in 7 1/3rd innings, but it was a home run by Luis Medina in the bottom of the 8th.
The 1988 American League Eastern Division race was a wild ride. The Red Sox won the Division with a record of 89-73, the Detroit Tigers were 1 game back, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays 2 each, and the Yankees 3 1/2. Five teams within three and a half games. Injuries and needing 1 more quality starting pitcher did the Yankees in. The Indians were 11 back, and the Baltimore Orioles, who got off to the worst start in MLB history, 21 straight losses to open the season, were 34 1/2 back, 54-107.
And yet, the Red Sox lost the AL Championship Series to the Oakland Athletics, getting swept in 4 straight.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3 at Exhibition Stadium. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Barry Bonds did not play.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 10-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Mélido Turpen Gross Pérez pitched a 2-hit shutout, no walks, 10 strikeouts, outpitching Mark Gubicza, who had won 20 games. Steve Lyons and Mike Diaz each got 3 hits. George Brett went 0-for-4.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers went on to upset the Mets in the NLCS, and upset the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The M's blew a 3-0 lead after 7 innings, but won the game in the 11th, on a home run by Scott Bradley.
And in English soccer, Arsenal crossed from North London to East London, and beat West Ham United, 4-1 at Upton Park. Arsenal went on to win the Football League title the following May.
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