No, the tragedy wasn't the Indians' uniforms.
They weren't a tragedy, they were a farce.
November 20, 1976: Before the New York Mets signed Mo Vaughn, before the Boston Red Sox signed Carl Crawford and Pablo Sandoval, before the New York Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury, before the Colorado Rockies signed Mike Hampton, before the Baltimore Orioles signed Chris Davis, before the Los Angeles Angels signed Josh Hamilton or Anthony Rendon, before the Chicago White Sox signed Adam Dunn...
The Cleveland Indians signed Wayne Garland.
Marcus Wayne Garland was born on October 26, 1950 in Nashville. Maybe he should have gone into his hometown's main industry, and become a country singer. Certainly, the career he did choose had plenty of heartbreak.
The lefthander debuted with the Orioles in 1973, but didn't crack the starting rotation until 1976. But what a crack it was: He went 20-7, with a 2.67 ERA. He was just 26 years old. And with free agency coming after the season, he would be one of the most sought-after pitchers.
The Cleveland Indians thought he could join Dennis Eckersley, Pat Dobson and Jim Bibby to form a great rotation, and build on a rare winning season in '76, 81-78. So they shoveled the money at him: $2.3 million over 10 years, making for an annual salary of $230,000. It sounds quaint now, but the average MLB salary in 1976 was $51,501.
Result: Garland pitched 283 innings, got little run support, and went 13-19 with a not-so-bad-for-the-time 3.60 ERA. The Indians went 71-90 in 1977. Late in the season, he reported feeling pain in his pitching arm. By Opening Day 1978, Dobson had retired, Eckersley was in Boston (traded for non-competitive reasons), Bibby was in Pittsburgh, and Garland was ruined. He was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, and missed most of the 1978 season. He won only 15 more games, and threw his last big-league pitch before turning 31.
He later served as a pitching coach in the organizations of the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates. But a bad back, perhaps aggravated by his pitching, led to several surgeries, and he was unable to continue coaching. In 1995, the doctor who was about to perform his 1st back surgery told him he had the back of a 75-year-old man. He was 44.
In 2007, an interviewer asked him when he fully recovered from his 1978 rotator cuff surgery. He said, "I'm still waiting for that." In 2020, he was reported as living in Las Vegas with his 2nd wife -- he had 3 children with his 1st -- and was subsisting on disability insurance.
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November 20, 1976 was a Saturday. Olympic Gold Medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes was born. This was also the day that Rupert Murdoch bought the New York Post, and the film Rocky premiered. I have separate entries for those events.
Baseball was out of season. It was a college football day. Among the games played that day were these:
* Number 1 University of Pittsburgh and Number 16 Penn State had the week off, to prepare for each other as arch-rivals the next week. Pitt won, 24-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* Rivalry: Number 2 UCLA lost to Number 3 USC, 24-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC thus clinched the Pacific-Eight Conference title. They ended up beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl, then waited to see if Pitt lost the Sugar Bowl, which would have given USC the National Championship.
* Rivalry: Number 4 Michigan beat Number 8 Ohio State, 22-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, to clinch the Big Ten Conference title.
* Number 5 Texas Tech were upset by Number 9 University of Houston, 27-19 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. This gave UH the Southwest Conference title.
* Rivalry: Number 6 Maryland beat Virginia, 28-0 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. This clinched the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Maryland received a bid to the Cotton Bowl, where Houston beat them.
* Number 7 Georgia had the week off, to prepare for arch-rival Georgia Tech the next week. They won, 13-10 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Having already won the Southeastern Conference title, they advanced to the Sugar Bowl, but lost to Pitt, who clinched an undefeated season and the National Championship.
* Number 11 Texas A&M beat Texas Christian University (TCU), 59-10 at Kyle Field in College Station.
* Number 13 Notre Dame beat the University of Miami, 40-27 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. This was not one of the more memorable games between those schools.
* Number 15 Colorado beat Kansas State, 35-28 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. This clinched the Big Eight Conference title, and a berth in the Orange Bowl. This was the 1st season in which the Big 10 allowed any of its schools to go to a bowl game other than the Rose, and Ohio State beat Colorado.
* Number 16 Oklahoma State beat Number 14 Iowa State, 42-21 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
* Rivalry: Kansas upset Number 19 Missouri, 41-14 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.
* Army and Navy had the week off, preparing for each other as arch-rivals the next week (Navy won, 38-10 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia); while Air Force beat Wyoming 41-21 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* Rutgers also had the week off. Five days later, on Thanksgiving, they beat Colgate, 17-9 at the new Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, and completed an undefeated season, 11-0.
* Rivalry: Villanova beat Temple, 24-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* Rivalry: The University of Richmond beat William & Mary, 21-10 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
* Rivalry: North Carolina beat Duke, 39-38 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Rivalry: Clemson beat South Carolina, 28-9 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Rivalry: Kentucky beat Tennessee, 7-0 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
* Rivalry: Mississippi State beat Mississippi (Ole Miss), 28-11 at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in Jackson.
* Rivalry: Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Tulane, 17-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Rivalry: Indiana beat Purdue, 20-14 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, to win the Old Oaken Bucket.
* Rivalry: Illinois beat Northwestern, 48-6 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
* Rivalry: Wisconsin beat Minnesota, 26-17 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
* Rivalry: Brigham Young University (BYU) beat Utah, 34-12 at Rice Stadium (later Rice-Eccles Stadium) in Salt Lake City, to win the Beehive Boot.
* Rivalry: Stanford beat the University of California, 27-24 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
* Rivalry: Oregon beat Oregon State, 23-14 at Parker Stadium (now Reser Stadium) in Corvallis, Arkansas.
* Rivalry: Washington beat Washington State, 51-32 at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington.
There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets, 120-115 at Madison Square Garden. David Thompson scored 35 points in defeat.
* The Washington Bullets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 109-103 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 123-106 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 116-110 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Bob Lanier scored 40 points.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Kansas City Kings, 127-126 in overtime at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Ron Boone scored 37 points in defeat.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Buffalo Braves, 130-93 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 8-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Darryl Sittler, Dave "Tiger" Williams and Jack Valiquette each scored 2 goals.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* And the Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* The New England Whalers and the Minnesota Fighting Saints played to a tie, 3-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 8-4 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* And the Houston Aeros beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 5-2 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
And in English soccer, Arsenal and Liverpool played to a 1-1 draw at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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