October 3, 1976: Only a year and a half after the last episode of The Odd Couple, Jack Klugman returns to series television in the premiere of Quincy, M.E., on NBC. It is one of the many TV shows created or co-created by Glen A. Larson, in this case co-created with Lou Shaw, who also wrote Worse Than Murder, a play about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
The drama enables Klugman to return to drama, which was how he got started. But while Los Angeles County Medical Examiner "Dr. R. Quincy" -- as shown on his office door and on his business card, and in 7 seasons no one ever said what the R. stood for -- was serious about his work, some of the Oscar Madison personality was thankfully included. And, of course, as a medical professional, Quincy had to be every bit as neat as Tony Randall's Felix Unger, not sloppy like Oscar.
Garry Walberg, who had played Felix & Oscar's poker pal Homer "Speed" Deegan, played LAPD Lieutenant Frank Monahan. Joseph Roman played his partner, Sergeant Brill.
Robert Ito played Dr. Sam Fujiyama, at the time one of the few Asian-American TV characters outside of M*A*S*H and Hawaii Five-O. John S. Ragin played Quincy and Sam's boss, Dr. Robert Asten. Jonathan Segal played laboratory technician Jeff Sellers. Eddie Garrett played Eddie the forensic photographer.
Val Bisoglio played Danny Tovo, who ran the bar that Quincy hung out in. John Nolan played John the bartender.
Quincy was a widower, and Anita Gillette played his wife, Helen, in an episode with flashback scenes. Quincy must have "had a type," because Gillette was later cast as Dr. Emily Hanover, whom Quincy ended up marrying near the end of the series.
This series, of which my mother was a big fan, may have inspired her to name a cat Quincy. It was also the first show to focus on a medical examiner venturing into solving the murders of those on whom he did his autopsies, long before NBC's Crossing Jordan and TNT's Rizzoli & Isles (both set in Boston), much less the supporting characters seen on CBS' CSI and NCIS franchises, Fox's Bones and ABC's Castle.
The other half of The Odd Couple had debuted The Tony Randall Show on September 23, 1976. Randall played a widowed judge with teenage daughters, in Philadelphia. It ran on ABC for a season, then on CBS for a season, before being canceled.
From 1981 to 1983, Randall starred in the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney. In 1986, Klugman starred on the NBC sitcom You Again? It ran 2 seasons. In 1997, he played a doctor on an episode of Diagnosis: Murder. And, in 2002, he played a medical examiner on an episode of the aforementioned Crossing Jordan. In 1993, Randall and Klugman reprised their best-known roles in The Odd Couple: Together Again.
Segal died in 1999, Nolan in 2000, Garrett in 2010, Walberg in 2012, Klugman later in 2012, Ragin in 2013, Larson in 2014, Shaw in 2015, Roman in 2017, Bisoglio in 2021. As of October 3, 2022, Ito and Gillette are still alive.
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October 3, 1976 was a Sunday. It was also a big day in baseball, and I have a separate entry for that collection of events:
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron played his last game. In his last at-bat, playing for the Brewers, having previously played in Milwaukee for the Braves, he singled off Dave Roberts.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) The Royals' George Brett and Hal McRae, and the wins' Rod Carew, 3 players, are separated by .001 for the American League batting title -- and their teams are playing each other.
Brett, who goes 3-for-4, edging his Royals teammate for the crown with the deciding hit, an inside-the-park home run, a line drive that outfielder Steve Brye misplayed, leading McRae to believe the lack of effort was intentional, and racist. (Like McRae, Carew was black; unlike McRae, he was also Hispanic. His thoughts on McRae's theory are unrecorded.) The final totals: Brett .333, McRae .332, Carew .331. Or, to take the decimal point one step further: Brett .3333, McRae .3321, Carew .3306.
In case you're wondering about on-base percentage: McRae .407 (to lead the AL), Carew .395, Brett .377. So Brett had the lowest of the 3 in that category.
Both Carew and Brett would win more batting titles, and both would flirt with a .400 batting average: Carew finished at .388 in 1977, while Brett finished at .390 in 1980.
Another former AL batting champion, Tony Oliva, had been battling knee injuries, and last played for the Twins on September 29. He retired, at age 38.
Tommy Davis had been a National League batting champion, in 1962 and '63 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he never fully recovered from a broken ankle in 1965, and over the next 11 seasons, played for 9 teams, including Finley's A's twice. He played his last game for the Royals on October 2, and retired at 37.
* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Nolan Ryan of the Halos and Mike Torrez of the A's each go the distance.
Only 9,155 fans come out to witness what is already expected -- correctly, as it turned out -- to be the end of an era. With the reserve clause having been struck down in the previous off-season, free agency is coming in the upcoming one. Having already lost ace pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter to a legal wrinkle, and having traded away his best player, right fielder Reggie Jackson, A's owner Charlie Finley goes on to refuse to offer new contracts to reliever Rollie Fingers, 3rd baseman and team captain Sal Bando, left fielder Joe Rudi, 1st baseman Gene Tenace, shortstop Bert Campaneris, or even the recently acquired right fielder Don Baylor. He also looks to trade pitcher Vida Blue, this time without the interference of Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
Finley thought that, with the money he saved by not paying them, he could build a new dynasty. In the next 3 seasons, the A's were dreadful. But in the 4th, 1980, they finished 2nd; in the 5th, 1981, they won the AL Western Division. But before the 1980 season ended, he sold the team, and didn't get to enjoy being proven, at least partially, right.
Over the next 3 seasons, the A's would lose 299 games, and play before a total of 1,329,361 home fans -- an average of 5,471 fans per game. Their attendance had never been good, and the Coliseum, even when new and considered suitable, had already been nicknamed the Oakland Mausoleum. Finley's cheapness and stubbornness had blinded him to what needed to be done, and one of the best teams in baseball history became a joke franchise almost overnight.
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton outpitched Craig Swan. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Burleson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning. Carl Yastrzemski did not play. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-6.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals at Three Rivers Stadium, winning both games by a 1-0 score. Jim Rooker pitched a 7-hit shutout in the opener, while Jerry Reuss pitched a 5-hit shutout in the nightcap. Neither the Pirates' Willie Stargell nor the Cardinals' Lou Brock got into either game.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. On June 13 of that season, Pat Darcy, who gave up the game-winning home run to Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the previous year's World Series, was sent down to the minors. At 26, he never appeared in another major league game.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Len Barker pitched a 3-hit shutout. Earlier in the year, on June 19, former Yankee pitcher Fritz Peterson made his last major league appearance, for the Rangers. Injuries convinced him to retire at age 34.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Dave Winfield did not play.
* The New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, the Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants finished their seasons the day before. Frank Robinson, officially still the player-manager of the Indians, had not played since September 18, although he never officially announced his retirement as a player. On September 29, former Twins star César Tovar, now with the Yankees, played his last game.
And these games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-21 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The New York Jets lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 17-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The New England Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders, 48-17 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. But the Raiders would beat the Pats in the Playoffs, en route to winning Super Bowl XI.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 42-17 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons, 14-13 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Miami Dolphins, 31-28 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* The Houston Oilers beat the New Orleans Saints, 31-26 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 50-17 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in Orchard Park, New York.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 45-24 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins, 33-7 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 26-0 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Dallas Cowboys beat the expansion Seattle Seahawks, 28-13 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-6 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
Actor Seann William Scott was born on this day.
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