October 8, 1972: Campaneris vs. LaGrow

October 8, 1972: Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Bert Campaneris of the Oakland Athletics leads off the bottom of the 1st inning at the Oakland Coliseum with a single, steals 2nd and 3rd bases, and scores on a single. Campaneris would end up getting 3 hits on the day against the Detroit Tigers.

In the 7th, Tiger reliever Lerrin LaGrow -- possibly at the urging of manager Billy Martin, who frequently encouraged such behavior -- purposely hit Campaneris with a pitch, on the ankle. Campaneris responded by throwing his bat at LaGrow, who just barely ducked in time to avoid getting hit with it.

There was a bench-clearing brawl, and Martin had to be restrained from going after Campaneris. Both Campaneris and LaGrow were suspended for the rest of the series. The A's won the game, 5-0, and took a 2-games-to-0 lead in the series. But the Tigers would fight back in Detroit to force a 5th and deciding game.

In 2007, for work, I had to contact a Phoenix-area real estate office. Turned out, it was run by LaGrow. Now, I don't condone what Campaneris did, but I will say that, 35 years later, LaGrow wasn't any nicer.

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October 8, 1972 was a Sunday. Game 2 was also played in the National League Championship Series. The Cincinnati Reds scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium, to tie up the series. Joe Morgan hit a home run. The series went to a deciding 5th game, and the Reds won, before losing the World Series to the A's in 7.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 45-21 at Yankee Stadium.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins 27-17 at Shea Stadium. Yes, the Giants and the Jets were both playing at home, at the same time, kicking off at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Attendance in The Bronx: 65,720. Attendance in Queens: 63,841. Both were officially sellouts, so it's not clear which team would have sold more tickets had they both played in 100,000-seat stadiums, such as the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Rose Bowl could then have held. This was during what turned out to be the Dolphins' undefeated 17-0 season.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Baltimore Colts, 23-20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 14-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons, 26-23 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Steve Owens, winner of the 1969 Heisman Trophy for the University of Oklahoma, scored the winning touchdown as the clock wound down.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots, 38-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cleveland Browns, 31-7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Denver Broncos, 21-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 20-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 19-17 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-13 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 31-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders beat the Houston Oilers, 34-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.