October 25, 1983: NBC's "Bay City Blues" Strikes Out

October 25, 1983: Bay City Blues premieres on NBC, about a minor-league baseball team.

Unfortunately, the TV season and the baseball season do not match up well, and this is one of many TV shows about a baseball team that failed. It is possible that news of the Grenada invasion helped distract people from the premiere, thus killing any of its momentum. It lasted only 8 episodes.

It was set in fictional Bay City, California -- not in the real Bay City, Michigan, whose name, found randomly by throwing a dart at a map of the United States, led to the naming of a Scottish band as the Bay City Rollers. Game scenes were filmed at Bluebird Field, a specially built baseball stadium located at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's (LADWP) Valley Generating Station, in Sun Valley, California, in the San Fernando Valley.

The series was created by Stephen Bochco, and featured many performers who had previously acted for him, and would again on shows like Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue: Dennis Franz, Ken Olin and Michele Greene. Established actors included Bernie Casey, Pat Corley and Sheree North. Also on the show was Kelly Harmon, sister of actor Mark and daughter of football star Tommy; and Patrick Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones, brother of Shaun Cassidy, and half-brother of David Cassidy.

The performer on the show who would become the biggest star did not, however, do so through a Bochco vehicle: Sharon Stone. Michael Nouri played aging veteran Joe Rohner, and would later play Joe DiMaggio in Billy Crystal's film about the 1961 Yankees, 61*. Perry Lang and Larry "Flash" Jenkins went on to become renowned directors.

*

October 25, 1983 was a Tuesday. This was also the day that Microsoft introduced Microsoft Word, which became the most popular word processing program ever; and the day that the U.S. invaded Grenada. I have separate entries for those events.

It was the middle of the week, so there were no football games. The baseball season had ended 9 days earlier, when the Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series. The NBA season began 3 days later. The NHL season had gotten underway, and 7 games were played that day:

* The New York Islanders were the only team in the New York Tri-State Area in action, and lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-2 at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 8-5 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.