December 15, 1939: "Gone With the Wind" Premieres

December 15, 1939: The film Gone With the Wind premieres at the Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, the city where most of the film's action takes place.

Until July 1940, the film played only advance-ticket engagements at a limited number of theaters, with a ticket price of $1.00, more than twice the price of regular features in those days -- $20.06 in 2022 money, so a bit more than most movie prices now.

Counting promotion costs, it took $7 million to make the movie -- about $140 million today. It has made over $390 million. It would remain the highest-grossing movie of all time until 1975, surpassed by Jaws. But, with inflation factored in, it's still the highest-grossing movie ever, at $7.8 billion. In comparison, Avengers: Endgame has generated $2.8 billion; Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) has made $776 million, so with inflation from 1977, that's $3.6 billion, still not half as much as Gone With the Wind.

It was the most popular movie of its era because the novel on which it was based, published by Margaret Mitchell in 1936, was the most popular book of the era. It was a story of the Southern aristocracy before, during, and after the American Civil War, and it totally idealizes that culture. It aided the myth of the “Lost Cause,” suggesting that the Confederacy was honorable, just, and heroic. It also indulged in the stereotypes of Southern black people of the era, and does nothing to suggest that slavery was bad. It was. And it does nothing to suggest that the South deserved to lose the war. It did.

And let's say it: There is no hero in this movie: Scarlett O'Hara is a spoiled bitch, and Rhett Butler is an ass -- who ultimately decides that she is too much even for him. It's easy to take his side when he leaves Scarlett, and responds to her question about what she'll do without him by saying, in a line the producers fought the Hays Code to keep in the film, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." (The line, minus the word "Frankly," was in the book.)

The screenwriter, Sidney Howard, died before the premiere. On August 23, 1939, he was working on his farm in Tyringham, Massachusetts. He had turned his tractor on in his garage, but had neglected to put the brake on, and after he got out, it lurched back, and pinned him against the wall. He was only 48 years old. Having already received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted, he received a posthumous Oscar.

Leslie Howard (no relation to Sidney), who played Ashley Wilkes -- both "Leslie" and "Ashley" were considered masculine names in 1860s America, when and where the story was set, and in 1890s Britain, when and where he was born -- was killed in action in 1943, when his plane was shot down by the Nazis.

Mitchell was killed in 1949, hit by a car in Atlanta. Also dying that year was director Victor Fleming, who also directed The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy, died in 1952. George Reeves, who played Stuart Tarleton, and would go on to play Superman on television, died of a gunshot wound in 1959, officially a suicide, but this is widely doubted. Clark Gable, who played Butler, died in 1960. Producer David O. Selznick died in 1965. Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett, battled mental illness and alcoholism, and died in 1967.

Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen, who played Prissy, lived until 1995. Cammie King, who played Scarlett and Rhett's daughter, Bonnie Butler, lived until 2010. Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie Wilkes Hamilton, lived to be 104 years old, dying in 2020 (not of COVID).

The last surviving castmembers? Mickey Kuhn, who died on November 20, 2022, at 90, was the last credited one. He played Beau Wilkes, son of Melanie and Ashley. Patrick Curtis died 4 days later, at 83. He played Beau Wilkes as a baby, but was not credited. He went on to become a film producer, and was, for 5 years, the 2nd of the 4 husbands of actress Raquel Welch. Caren Marsh Doll, 102, was an uncredited extra. Earlier in the year, she was Judy Garland's dance stand-in for The Wizard of Oz, making her the last surviving castmember of that film.

*

December 15, 1939 was a Friday. Singer Cindy Birdsong was born on this day. She sang with Patti LaBelle's Bluebelles from 1961 to 1966, then replaced replaced Florence Ballard in The Supremes, singing with them until 1977.

It was the off-season for baseball. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were no NHL games played that day. And the pro football season had just ended 5 days earlier, with the NFL Championship Game. The Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants, 27-0, at the Dairy Bowl in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, Wisconsin. The stadium has since been converted into an auto racing track called the Milwaukee Mile. So there were no scores on this historic day.

December 9, 2023: The Oldest Singer to Hit Number 1

Brenda Lee in 1958, and in 2023

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

December 9, 2023: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee hits Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart.

The song was recorded on October 19, 1958, when she was just 13 years old, going on 14. It wasn't the 1st rock and roll song about Christmas, having been preceded by Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" by 1 year. Elvis Presley also recorded "Blue Christmas" in 1957, but, even in his voice, it was hardly rock and roll.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" didn't reach the charts in 1958 or 1959, but hit Number 14 in 1960. It had a few comebacks after being occasionally featured in Christmas-themed movies. But in the 2010s, Billboard changed its rules to include streaming services as "sales." The increase in streaming led to Christmas songs being "bought" more as Christmas approaches.

In its December 21, 2019 issue, Billboard listed "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey as Number 1 on its Hot 100, setting a new record for longest time from original release to chart-top: 25 years. It's gotten there again every year since. In its December 9, 2023 issue, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was listed at Number 1, temporarily breaking Mariah's Christmastime hold on the chart. Lee was 2 days short of her 79th birthday.

Billboard's Hot 100 for its December 21, 2024 issue has "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at Number 1, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" at Number 2, "Jingle Bell Rock" at Number 3, Wham!'s "Last Christmas" at Number 4, and Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" at Number 5. The highest-ranking non-Christmas song is at Number 6: "Die With a Smile," a duet by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.

Brenda Mae Tarpley is born on December 11, 1944 in Atlanta. We know her as Brenda Lee. At 4-foot-9, and a star having moved to Nashville at age 14, she was once known as Little Miss Dynamite. She began writing songs with Ronnie Self, and her 1st Top 40 hit, in 1959, was "Sweet Nothin's." With a much deeper voice that one would expect from such a tiny teenage girl, it sounded a lot sexier than it should have.

Her facial expressions and dancing probably would have gotten a lot more scrutiny had she been a grown woman. But because she was so young and so small, it was considered cute, and she got away with it. Britney Spears wasn't the first Southern chick who looked way too young to be singin' the lyrics she was singin'. But at least Brenda was fully dressed, and, by the standards of the time, well-dressed.

In 1960, Lee and singer, with Self as writers, had 2 Number 1 hits: "I'm Sorry" and "I Want to Be Wanted." More big hits followed, including "Fool #1" and "Break It To Me Gently." After that, The Beatles arrived, and changed things. She hadn't gotten much taller, but was grown up, and began to turn from rock and roll to country, and became a star in that genre.

She's still at it, and she might be the shortest person in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the 1st woman to be elected to both that and the Country Music Hall of Fame: The Country Hall in 1997, the Rock Hall in 2002.

At 79, she became the oldest singer ever to have a Number 1 hit – although Louis Armstrong was 62 when “Hello, Dolly!” hit Number 1 in 1964, and he remains the oldest to hit Number 1 with a new release.

The youngest singer ever to hit Number 1 is Stevie Wonder, who did so at age 13 in 1963, with his live recording of "Fingertips -- Part 2." He was the same age that Brenda Lee was, give or take a few months, when she recorded of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." She is just 5 1/2 years older than Stevie, despite the fact that they currently hold the opposite poles of this particular record.

*

December 9, 2023 was a Saturday. There was 1 game in the NBA: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers, 123-109 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Anthony Davis had 41 points and 20 rebounds. This was the Final of the 1st-ever NBA Cup. I have a separate entry for this event.

Baseball was in the off-season, although this was the day on which the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to the biggest contract in North American sports history to that point, $700 million over 10 years.

One game was played in college football, and it was the format's greatest rivalry: Army beat Navy, 17-11 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

To make up for how few games there were in the other sports, there were 12 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-0 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the UBS Arena. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the winning goal, only 13 seconds into overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-3 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Nashville Predators, 4-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the United Center in Chicago. While the Blues consider the Blackhawks their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks' arch-rivals are the Detroit Red Wings.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Dallas Stars, 6-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Seattle Kraken, 4-3 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with 1:48 left in overtime.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers, the San Jose Sharks, the Anaheim Ducks, the Florida Panthers, the Winnipeg Jets, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild were not scheduled.

In American soccer, the MLS Cup Final was played: The Columbus Crew beat Los Angeles F.C., 2-1 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio. And in English soccer, Arsenal F.C., the North London team I support, lost to Aston Villa, 1-0 at Villa Park in Birmingham, West Midlands.

December 7, 1946: The Winecoff Hotel Fire

December 7, 1946: The Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta catches fire, resulting in the deadliest hotel fire in American history.

The Winecoff Hotel, 15 floors, opened in 1913, at 176 Peachtree Street at Ellis Street. It was touted in advertisements and on its stationery as "absolutely fireproof." That turned out not to be true at 3:15 AM on December 7, 1946, when a bellboy saw a fire on the 5th floor, and alerted the night manager. Instead of sounding the building's fire alarm, the manager called as many rooms as he could before calling the fire department at 3:42. The Atlanta Fire Department later determined that the cause was dropped cigarette on the 3rd floor.

There were 119 deaths, including the hotel's builder and namesake, William Fleming Winecoff, and his wife, Grace Smith Winecoff. They were both 76 years old, and lived in Suite 1011-1012. He was found in the hall, while she was found on the sidewalk, apparently having jumped.

She was one of several victims who jumped to their deaths. A photograph of the fall of one survivor, Daisy McCumber, was taken by Arnold Hardy, a graduate student at nearby Georgia Tech. He sent it to the Associated Press, and it won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

Daisy McCumber sustained serious injuries,
including the loss of a leg, but survived, and lived until 1992.
Arnold Hardy lived until 2007.

It was a bad year for hotel fires: 61 died in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago on June 5, 19 in the Canfield Hotel on June 9. This spurred significant changes in North American building codes, most significantly requiring multiple protected means of egress and self-closing fire-resistant doors for guest rooms in hotels.

The Winecoff Hotel reopened, with the name of the Peachtree Hotel on Peachtree and the latest in fire safety technology. In 1967, it became public housing for the elderly, but was left vacant in the 1980s. In 2007, after a renovation, it was reopened as the Ellis Hotel. A historical marker paying tribute to the fire victims stands across the street.

*

December 7, 1946 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games in college football.

Utah State beat the University of Denver, 28-14 at Hilltop Stadium in Denver. And Nevada beat Hawaii, 26-7 at Honolulu Stadium.

There were 5 games played in the league that would become the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 90-65 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Huskies beat the Providence Steam Rollers, 68-59 at the Rhode Island Arena in Providence.

* The Washington Capitols beat the Detroit Falcons, 75-64 at the Uline Arena (now the Washington Coliseum).

* The Chicago Stags beat the Cleveland Rebels, 86-78 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Philadelphia Warriors beat the St. Louis Bombers, 57-47 at the St. Louis Arena.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went up to North Yorkshire, and lost to Middlesbrough, 2-0 at Ayresome Park. 

October 28, 2011: The "Watch the Throne" Tour Begins

Kanye West (left) and Jay-Z

October 28, 2011: The Watch the Throne Tour begins, at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. It remains the highest-grossing tour in hip-hop history.

It was in support of Watch the Throne, a collaborative effort between what were already two of the biggest names in rap history: Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) and Kanye West. It was released on August 8, and it was practically a rap Justice League, also featuring Jay-Z's wife Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, The-Dream (Terius Nash), Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi), Seal (Seal Samuel) and others. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, known as The Neptunes when they worked together, produced it, with assistance from Q-Tip (Kamaal Fareed) and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean -- whose wife, singer Alicia Keys, was not involved with the album).

The 1st single, "H-A-M," introduced the expression "Go HAM" into the lexicon, meaning "Hard As a Motherfucker." It only reached Number 32. The 2nd single, "Otis," reached Number 12. A later single, titled "Niggas In Paris," reached Number 5.

The tour came to the New York Tri-Stare Area a week in, playing the Meadowlands Arena (then named the Izod Center) on November 5 and 6, and Madison Square Garden on November 7 and 8. Later in the month, it moved on to Canada, playing the Bell Centre in Montreal on November 22, and the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto on November 23 and 24. As the tour moved west, it went back into Canada on December 17 and 18, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

After that 2nd Vancouver show, the tour took a break, then headed across the Atlantic Ocean. Between May 18 and June 22, it played the British Isles cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Sheffield; and also played in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Despite Kanye's difficult personality, both already-established and later on, there was no indication of friction between him and Jay-Z, or any of the other performers. The tour did so well that comedian Chris Rock said, "This might be the greatest show I ever saw. It's the equivalent of the Billy Joel-Elton John tour, but if they did it in 1979, when the songs were hot!"

For perspective: When the tour began, Jay-Z was about to turn 42, and Kanye was 34; whereas, when they began their 1st Face to Face Tour, Elton John was 47, and Billy Joel was 45. But Elton and Billy had already been having hits for 20 years. Jay-Z's 1st Top 10 hit, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," came in 1998, 13 years earlier; while Kanye's, "All Falls Down," came in 2004, just 7 years earlier. So while Rock was a little off on the ages, he was pretty close to where each of the 4 men was in his career at the respective times.

*

October 28, 2011 was a Wednesday. Game 7 of the World Series was played. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season was delayed, due to the team owners locking the players out, and the season did not begin until Christmas Day. There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-0 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Joe Louis Arena.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

October 26, 1960: The Kennedys Save Dr. King -- and Their Own Election

October 26, 1960: There are 13 days left before the Presidential election. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested for protesting at a whites-only snack bar in his hometown of Atlanta.

Terrified that he might be beaten, or even killed, while in a Southern jail, his wife, Coretta Scott King, calls the campaign of the Republican nominee for President, Vice President Richard Nixon, for help. She gets none.

So she calls the campaign of the Democratic nominee for President, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Whoever she reached got word to JFK. He calls his brother and campaign manager, Robert F. Kennedy, and asks him to see what he can do. RFK calls Governor Ernest Vandiver of Georgia. Together, they work on Oscar Mitchell, the judge who had ordered MLK's arrest. He is released.

Prior to this, the King family (not to be confused with the soon-to-be-popular white singing family of the same name) were Republicans, because the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln; while, being Southern blacks, they knew the Democratic Party not as the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but as the party of slavery and segregation.

After this, MLK's father, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., told people, "If I had a million votes, I would give them to Jack Kennedy."

For all we know, the Kennedy brothers' action to free MLK may just have swayed 1 million black votes to JFK, who had not previously been seen as noticeably friendly to civil rights. On Election Day, November 8, JFK won New Jersey (with Newark) by 22,000 votes, Missouri (with St. Louis and Kansas City) by 10,000, and Illinois (with Chicago) by 9,000.

Had Nixon won those States, Nixon would have won the Electoral Vote, even if he had still lost the popular vote, and would have won the election. So if you're a Republican, and are looking for a reason why Nixon lost, don't look at Mayor Richard J. Daley and any shenanigans he might have pulled in Chicago: Look at Nixon himself. He could have saved Dr. King, and, in so doing, saved his campaign. He chose not to. JFK chose to help himself by helping Dr. King.

*

October 26, 1960 was a Wednesday. Baseball season ended 13 days earlier, with Bill Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 giving the Pittsburgh Pirates the World Series over the New York Yankees. Football was in midweek.

There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Detroit Pistons beat the Cincinnati Royals, 131-117 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. For the Pistons, Gene Shue (later to coach the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA Championship) scored 30 points, and Bailey Howell scored 23. For the Royals, Jack Twyman scored 33, and Oscar Robertson scored 25.

And there was 1 game in the NHL: The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 at the old Madison Square Garden. Andy Hebenton scored 2 goals for the Broadway Blueshirts.

October 7, 1916: Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0

John Heisman

October 7, 1916: Game 1 of the World Series, played at Braves Field in Boston. Since the Red Sox had lent the use of Fenway Park to the Braves in the 1914 World Series, since it had a larger capacity than the antiquated South End Grounds, the Braves, having now opened the larger Braves Field, let the Sox use it in the 1915, '16 and '18 World Series. Bill Carrigan becomes the 1st man to manage the Red Sox in back-to-back World Series, and he remains the only one. (Jimmy Collins was denied the chance to do so when the Giants wouldn’t play in one in 1904.)

Ernie Shore is in control until the 9th, but melts down, allowing 4 runs and loading the bases before Collins has to call on Carl Mays to bail him out. Mays does so, and the Sox have a hard-earned 6-5 win over the Brooklyn Robins. (The Dodgers were then named for their manager, Wilbert Robinson.)

But that's not the biggest sports story of the day. At Grant Field in Atlanta, Georgia Tech wins the biggest blowout in the history of college football, defeating Cumberland College, 222-0. No, that's not a typo: Tech won by a score of two hundred and twenty-two to zero.

John Heisman, for whom the national player of the year trophy would be named, was Tech's coach, and would lead them to the National Championship the next year. Cumberland, a small Presbyterian school in Lebanon, Tennessee, now in NCAA Division III, should never have been on a big school's schedule, but needed the money, and Tech was willing to pay them to come to Atlanta and play the big boys.

Why the big score? Indeed, why that many points? Because, earlier in the year, Cumberland had beaten Tech's baseball team, of which Heisman was also the coach, 22-0. In those days, sportswriters also tended to rank teams based on how many points they scored, which Heisman thought was ridiculous. He may have wanted to prove his point, as later sportscaster Warner Wolf tended to do when mocking gamblers and their obsession with point spreads. Had Warner been around in 1916, he would have said, "If you had Cumberland and 221 points, you lost!"

Also on this day, Lance Corporal Leigh Richmond Roose is killed at the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Dick Roose was a Welsh soccer player, a goalkeeper for several teams, including Stoke City, Everton, Sunderland, Celtic of Glasgow, Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa, and, in the 1911-12 season, Woolwich Arsenal, the team that would move to North London in 1913.

*

October 7, 1916 was a Saturday. Some other college football games of note that day:

* The University of Tennessee beat Maryville College, of Maryville, Tennessee, 32-0 at Waite Field in Knoxville, Tennessee. Like Georgia Tech, they would finish 8-0-1, and be declared Co-Champions of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a precursor to the Southeastern Conference.

* Ohio State beat Ohio Wesleyan, 12-0 at Ohio Field in Columbus. A week later, they beat Oberlin College, 128-0. Georgia Tech fans must have thought, "Big deal."

* Oregon, probably the best team on the West Coast, beat cross-State opponents Willamette University, 97-0 at Kincaid Field in Eugene. Georgia Tech fans probably weren't impressed by this, either.

* Notre Dame beat Western Reserve, 48-0 at League Park in Cleveland.

* Army beat Washington & Lee, 14-7 on The Plain at West Point, New York.

* Navy beat Georgetown, 13-7 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland.

* The University of Pittsburgh, along with Army probably the best team in the East, beat fellow Western Pennsylvanians Westminster College, 57-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* Tufts stunned Harvard, 7-3 at Harvard Stadium in Boston. That probably would have gotten a lot more notice if Georgia Tech had only won by 22 points, instead of by 222.

* Yale beat Virginia, 61-3 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

* Fordham beat Western Maryland, 20-0 at Fordham Field in The Bronx.

* New York University beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute -- NYU over RPI -- 22-0 at Ohio Field in The Bronx.

* Princeton beat North Carolina, 29-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And Rutgers beat Villanova, 33-0 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

September 27, 1930: Bobby Jones Wins the Grand Slam

September 27, 1930: Bobby Jones completes what was then considered the Grand Slam of golf.

NOTE: For a long time, with this project, I resisted putting in references to golf, because of the kind of people who tend to play it. I finally caved in, although I haven't included as many references as I would if it were a real sport, which it is not.

Robert Tyre Jones Jr. was born on March 17, 1902 in Atlanta, the son of a prominent lawyer, and he became a lawyer himself. He battled health issues as a boy, and golf was recommended as a way of getting out into the open and breathing fresh air. He won his 1st tournament at the age of 14.

In the amateur age of golf, he won the U.S. Open in 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927 and 1928; the U.S. Amateur in 1924, 1925, 1927 and 1928; and The Open Championship, more commonly called the British Open, in 1926 and 1927.

Even at the time, the 1920s was called "The Golden Age of Sports." It was Babe Ruth in baseball, Red Grange in football, Howie Morenz in hockey, Jack Dempsey in boxing, Paavo Nurmi in track, Bill Tilden in tennis, and Man o' War in horse racing. In golf, it was Bobby Jones.

But Jones' best year would be after the Twenties stopped, Roaring and otherwise. In the Spring of 1930, while the world was falling into the Great Depression, he took a cruise to Britain. On May 31, at the place where golf is said to have been invented, the Old Course at St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, he won The Amateur Championship, a.k.a. the British Amateur. He stayed, and, on June 20, he won The Open Championship, a.k.a. the British Open, at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

He came home to America, and, facing amateurs and professionals, without having given up his amateur status -- it must have been nice having a rich father -- he won the U.S. Open at Interlachen Country Club in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, Minnesota on July 12. On September 27, at Merion Golf Club in the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford, Pennsylvania, he won the U.S. Amateur. At this point, this was considered "The Grand Slam" of golf.

Jones then retired, without ever having turned professional. Which means he never entered the PGA Championship, because PGA stands for "Professional Golfers' Association." In 1932, in Augusta, Georgia, he and investment banker Clifford Roberts founded Augusta National Golf Club on the site of a former plantation. Jones and Alister MacKenzie, a Scot who had designed courses all over the world, designed the golf course at the Club.

In 1934, Jones founded the Masters Tournament there. Still effectively an amateur, he entered the 1st edition of his own tournament... and finished in a tie for 13th. Horton Smith won it. By retiring from golf at the age of 28, the game's fans were spared from seeing the decline of Bobby Jones.

In 1953, Ben Hogan won the Masters and the U.S. and British Opens, becoming the 1st to win 3 of what became known as the 4 majors in a single year. However, the schedules for the British Open and the PGA Championship overlapped, making the winning of all 4 in 1 year impossible.

In 1960, Arnold Palmer won the Masters in April and the U.S. Open in June. According to his autobiography, A Golfer's Life, he and his friend Bob Drum of the Pittsburgh Press, while on the trans-Atlantic flight to the British Open at St. Andrews, came up with the idea that adding it and the PGA titles that July would constitute a modern "Grand Slam." Drum spread the notion among the gathered media and it caught on. Palmer couldn't hold up his end of the bargain, finishing 2nd at the British Open, to Kel Nagle.

Jack Nicklaus won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 1972, but, like Hogan, finished 2nd in the British, to Lee Trevino. In 2000, Tiger Woods did not win the Masters, but won the next 4 majors: The 2000 U.S. Open, the 2000 British Open, the 2000 PGA Championship, and the 2001 Masters. Winning all 4 in a row became known as "The Tiger Slam."

But that's not the Grand Slam, because it wasn't all done in the same year. Indeed, while someone wins each of the majors in every year, winning all 4 is tough: Hogan, Nicklaus, Woods, Gene Sarazen and Gary Player are the only 5 golfers ever to have won "The Career Grand Slam." Famously, Sam Snead won 3 Masters, 3 PGA titles, and the 1946 British Open, but never won the U.S. Open, finishing 2nd 4 times. Phil Mickleson has had even more trouble at the U.S. Open, finishing 2nd 6 times, despite winning the Masters 3 times, the PGA twice and the British once. Trevino won the U.S., the British and the PGA twice each, but his best performance at the Masters was 10th place.

Bobby Jones died on December 18, 1971. He was not related to Robert Trent Jones and his son Robert Trent Jones Jr., also designers of golf courses.

*

September 27, 1930 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 10-8 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Roy Sheird outpitched George Earnshaw. Babe Ruth had 2 home runs and 5 RBIs, while Lou Gehrig went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. For the A's, Jimmie Foxx went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

Despite this Yankee win, the A's had already wrapped up the American League Pennant. Indeed, from 1926 to 1932, either the Yanks or the A's had won the Pennant every year.

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at the Polo Grounds. Bill Terry went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Mel Ott went 2-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Ebbets Field. The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known when Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931) won the opener, 8-2. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 7-1.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-7 at League Park in Cleveland.

* A doubleheader was split at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 6-5. The Chicago White Sox won the 2nd game, 10-5.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-8 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-8 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Paul Waner went 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI. Lloyd Waner did not play.

Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Alabama beat Howard College, 43-0 at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Alabama went on to win the Southern Conference. The Southeastern Conference wasn't founded until 1933. Denny Stadium was renamed Bryant-Denny Stadium in 1975. Definitely not to be confused with the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., the then-all-white Howard College became Samford University in 1965.

* Michigan beat Michigan State Normal, 7-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Not to be confused with Michigan State, Michigan State Normal became Eastern Michigan University in 1956.

* Washington State beat Albertson, 47-12 at Rogers Field in Pullman, Washington. "Wazzu" went on to win the Pacific Coast Conference. Albertson became the College of Idaho.

* In what will eventually be recognized as a major rivalry, the University of Southern California, USC, beat the University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA, 52-0 at at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Both teams played home games there, but, officially, this was a home game for UCLA.

* Army beat Boston University, 39-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Among New York City teams, Columbia beat Middlebury, 48-0 at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan. Fordham beat the University of Baltimore, 73-0 at Fordham Field in The Bronx. New York University beat Hobart College, 35-0 at Ohio Field in Upper Manhattan. City College of New York beat Long Island University, 44-0 at Lewisohn Stadium in Upper Manhattan. Manhattan College lost to Rider College (now Rider University) of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 14-7 at Innisfall Park in The Bronx. And St. John's University opened their season the next week.

* In addition to Rider beating Manhattan, one other New Jersey team was in action: Rutgers lost to Providence College, 12-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick. Princeton and Seton Hall opened their season the next week. Seton Hall dropped football after the 1932 season, due to the Great Depression. Providence dropped football after 1941, due to World War II.

* Texas played the next day, beating Texas Mines, the school now known as Texas-El Paso or UTEP, 28-0 at Memorial Stadium in Austin. Texas went on to win the Southwest Conference title.

* Notre Dame, who would go on to be awarded the National Championship, opened their season the following week. So did Kansas, who would go on to win the Big Six Conference title. Navy also opened the next week.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to St. Andrews Stadium, and beat Birmingham City, 4-2.

September 22, 1906: The Atlanta Race Massacre

September 22, 1906: One day, Atlanta, the capital city of Georgia, would be labeled "The City Too Busy to Hate." This would not be that day.

Newspapers published several unsubstantiated and luridly detailed reports of the alleged rapes of 4 local women by black men. White mobs ran through Atlanta, beating, stabbing and lynching black people, destroying their homes and businesses.

The violence lasted 3 nights, before Governor Joseph M. Terrell called in the Georgia National Guard. Because, like other such incidents, including the one in Tulsa in 1921, the white supremacists managed to hide it from history for decades, the full death toll can never be known. Officially, the toll is 25 blacks and 2 whites, but the black death toll could have been over 100.

Not until 2006, the 100th Anniversary, did the State of Georgia place a public historic marker on the site of one of the violent acts. The next year, the Atlanta Race Massacre was made part of the State's curriculum for public schools.

*

September 22, 1906 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Highlanders lost to the Chicago White Sox, 7-1 at South Side Park in Chicago. The Highlanders, who became the Yankees in 1913, would finish 2nd to the White Sox, who won the World Series. Fielder Jones, the White Sox' manager and center fielder, went 3-for-3 with a home run.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Boston Americans, 7-0 at League Park in Cleveland. Bill Bernhard pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Cleveland team was named for their manager and 2nd baseman, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie. When he left after the 1914 season, they became the Cleveland Indians. The Americans became the Red Sox in 1908.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 5-3 and 4-3 at Bennett Park in Detroit. Ty Cobb, 19 years old and in his 1st full season, went 3-for-8 with an RBI.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at National League Park (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs were rained out at the Polo Grounds. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on the following Monday. The Cubs swept, 6-2 and 10-5. Ed Reulbach outpitched Christy Mathewson in the nightcap.

* The Brooklyn Superbas and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on the following Monday. The Superbas won the opener, 6-5 in 11 innings. The nightcap was tied 1-1 after 7 innings, when it was called due to darkness. The Superbas became the Dodgers in 1911.

* And the Boston Beaneaters and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at the South End Grounds in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on the following Monday. The Pirates won the 1st game, 6-5. They were leading the 2nd game, 6-0 after 7 innings, when the game was called due to darkness. Honus Wagner went 1-for-9 with an RBI. The Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

There were 8 games played on this day on which the college football season began. But only 2 featured teams that are now in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Penn State beat Lebanon Valley, 24-0 at Beaver Field (not the later Beaver Stadium) in State College, Pennsylvania. Lebanon Valley, in Annville, eastern Pennsylvania, is now an NCAA Division III school.

And Kansas beat William Jewell College, 18-0 at McCook Field in Lawrence, Kansas. WJC, in Liberty, Missouri, now plays in NCAA Division II.

And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal beat Newcastle United, 2-0 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South-East London.

September 17, 1976: Bill Lucas Becomes the 1st Black GM In MLB

September 17, 1976: The Atlanta Braves promote Bill Lucas to the office of general manager. This makes him the 1st black man to hold that position in Major League Baseball. This came 2 years after Frank Robinson was appointed the 1st black manager, 14 years after Buck O'Neil became the 1st black coach, and 29 years after Jackie Robinson became the 1st black player since 1884.

Lucas was born in 1936 in Jacksonville, graduated from the historically black Florida A&M University, and signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 -- partly because his sister, Barbara, was married to Braves star Hank Aaron. (They later split up, and Aaron remarried.) He never reached the major leagues, although he did miss 2 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He joined the Braves' front office in 1965, as they were preparing their move to Atlanta for the next season.

In 1972, he was named director of their farm system, a common position from which teams have promoted men to the GM position. Atlanta was the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., former Mayor William Hartsfield had billed it as "the City Too Busy to Hate," Maynard Jackson had been elected as its 1st black Mayor in 1973, and Aaron had broken the career home run record at Atlanta Stadium in 1974. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the following year.)

Lucas was in the process of building the team that would become the centerpiece of team owner Ted Turner's national "SuperStation TBS" over the next few years, including Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Brett Butler and Steve Bedrosian.

But Lucas would not live to see his work come to fruition. On May 1, 1979, shortly after congratulating Braves ac Phil Niekro on his 200th career win, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died 3 days later, only 43 years old.

Murphy said, "Bill's dream was for this organization to become a success. It is our sacred honor to be chosen to fulfill his dream." Maybe it would have been fulfilled had he lived. But it didn't happen: They won the National League Western Division title in 1982, almost won another in 1983, but that's as close as they got. The Braves did not win a Pennant between 1958, when they were still in Milwaukee, and 1991, when a new GM, John Schuerholz, put together the team that dominated the NL in the 1990s.

*

September 17, 1976 was a Friday. These games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The aforementioned Atlanta Braves split a doubleheader with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Stadium. The Braves won the opener, 1-0. The winning run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning, when Ellie Rodriguez committed a passed ball on a pitch from Charlie Hough, after Don Sutton had pitched 11 shutout innings. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 11-7.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Indians won the 1st game, 5-1. The Orioles won the 2nd game, 3-2.

I mentioned Frank Robinson earlier. At this point, he was managing the Indians, but not yet retired as a player. Best remembered as an Oriole, he did not put himself into the 1st game against his former team. He did put former Oriole John "Boog" Powell in, and he hit a home run off Jim Palmer. Frank did put himself in the 2nd game, and pinch-hit an RBI single. It was his 2,808th career game, his 2,943rd hit, and his 1,812th RBI. In each case, it turned out to be his last, as he did not put himself into any more games, and retired as a player after the season. He hit 586 home runs.

Brooks Robinson did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 in the 2nd game. Reggie Jackson, in his only season with the Orioles, went 3-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, but 0-for-4 in the 2nd game.

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Graig Nettles hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 11th inning. Ed Figueroa went 10 innings, and Dick Tidrow pitched the 11th to get the win. In one of his last major league games, Hank Aaron went 0-for-5.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Shea Stadium. George "Doc" Medich outpitched Jon Matlack. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4. 

* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-5 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Lou Brock went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench only appeared as a defensive replacement, at 1st base.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-2 with an RBI, before being replaced by Fred Lynn as a pinch-runner.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Jerry Morales singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Mike Schimdt went 0-for-5.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-3 with 3 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 11-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.

September 9, 1972: The SEC's 1st Black Starting Quarterback

September 9, 1972: For the 1st time, a black man starts at quarterback for a Southeastern Conference team: Condredge Holloway of Tennessee, then ranked Number 15. For the 1st time, a college football game with both starting quarterbacks being black is nationally broadcast: It’s on ABC, and Eddie McAshan plays for unranked Georgia Tech, then an independent, now in the Atlanta Coast Conference. Tennessee wins, 34-3 at Grant Field in Atlanta.

Holloway had also been a high school baseball star in his native Huntsville, Alabama, and played baseball at Tennessee as well. He still holds the school record with a 27-game hitting streak.

He led Tennessee to win the 1972 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, lost the 1973 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, and won the 1974 Liberty Bowl in Memphis. He never played in the NFL, but starred in the Canadian Football League, winning the 1976 Grey Cup with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and the 1983 Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts. Now 68, he owns a sports training company in Huntsville, and is an assistant athletic director at Tennessee.

McAshan played for the New England Patriots in 1973, backing up Jim Plunkett, and the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League in 1974. He went back to Tech, got his degree, and is now 71 and retired from a career in industrial management in his native Gainesville, Florida.

*

September 9, 1972 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the scandalous Olympic basketball Final in Munich. I have a separate entry for that event. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids premiered on CBS on this day. And All-Star baseball pitcher Mike Hampton and Croatian actor Goran Višnjić, best known in America for his role as Dr. Luka Kovac on the TV show ER, were born.

These other notable college football games were played that day:

* Number 1 Nebraska were upset by UCLA, 20-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Nebraska rebounded to share the Big Eight Conference title.

* Number 2 Colorado beat the University of California, 20-10 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado. They went on to lose the Gator Bowl to Auburn.

* Number 3 Ohio State opened their season the following week. They went on to win the Big Ten

Conference, but lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, and that made USC the National Champions.

* Number 4 Arkansas were upset by Number 8 USC, 31-10 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. USC went on to win the Pacific-8 Conference.

* Number 5 Penn State opened their season the following week.

* Number 6 Oklahoma opened their season the following week. They went on to beat Nebraska to win a share of the Big Eight Conference title, and the tiebreaker. They went on to face Penn State in the Sugar Bowl, and Oklahoma won.

* Number 7 Alabama beat Duke, 35-12 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They went on to win the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 9 University of Washington beat the University of the Pacific, 13-6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 10 Michigan opened their season the following week. They went undefeated until losing to Ohio State. Under the Big 10 rules of the time, only the league champion could go to a bowl game, so that was the end of their season.

* Number 13 Notre Dame opened their season 2 weeks later. They went on to lose to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 14 Texas opened their season 2 weeks later. They won the Southwest Conference, and beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

* Among the service academies, Navy and Air Force started their seasons a week after this one, while Army started theirs the following week.

* So did Rutgers.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rob Gardner outpitched Joe Coleman Jr. Bernie Allen hit a home run. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.

* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 and 8-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Terry Crowley hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win the opener, off Jim Lonborg, to make a winning pitcher out of Eddie Watt in relief of Dave McNally. Doyle Alexander pitched a 2-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 1-for-8 with 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Graig Nettles, in what turned out to be his last full month with Cleveland, hit a home run of Gary Peters, to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning. Gaylord Perry went the distance, and gained his 20th win of the season.

At the time, the American League Eastern Division was really tight: The Red Sox led the Tigers by half a game, the Orioles by 1, and the Yankees by 2. Because of the strike canceling the 1st week of the season, whose games were never rescheduled, the Tigers ended up winning the Division by half a game over the Red Sox, with the O's 5 back and the Yanks 6 1/2.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Shea Stadium. Gary Gentry outpitched Bob Gibson. Willie Mays was on the Mets' roster, but did not entre the game.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 8-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Roberto Clemente appeared only as a late defensive replacement. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Three days later, Mike Schmidt made his major league debut with the Phillies.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Danny Thompson doubled Jim Nettles, Graig's brother, home with the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rod Carew went 1-for-3.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Claude Osteen pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching future Dodger Jerry Reuss.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Dave Kingman won the game with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th. Pete Rose went 0-for-3 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4.

July 27, 1996: The Olympic Park Bombing

July 27, 1996: The Olympic Park in Atlanta is bombed during a concert to celebrate the Olympic Games. One person was killed, 111 injured. While the Olympics have had plenty of controversies, rarely have the troubles of the outside world intruded on the Games. The 1972 Summer Games in Munich were touched by terrorism. So were the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

At first, the FBI investigated Richard Jewell, the security guard who found the backpack containing the 3 pipe bombs. He had also helped to evacuate the area, keeping the deaths and injuries lower than they could have been. But, based on "psychological profiling," the FBI decided that he could have been the bomber, much as some people, including firemen, start fires so they can report them and be heroes.

It took nearly 3 months to clear his name, and he never recovered emotionally. The stress took a toll on his health, and, combined with diabetes and heart disease, led to his death in 2007. He was only 44 years old.

Finally, the FBI determined that this was the work of a man who'd committed 3 other bombings, in protest of America's abortion and gay rights policies. Eric Rudolph, a member of the radical "Christian Identity" movement, was finally caught in 2003, and pled guilty.

As of July 27, 2022, Rudolph is 55 years old, and remains incarcerated at the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Colorado. He is serving 2 consecutive life terms, and will never get out of prison except in a coffin. He has since written a letter from prison saying he now prefers the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche to the Bible.

*

July 27, 1996 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The Atlanta Braves, the defending World Champions, were on an extended roadtrip from July 18 to August 4, to accommodate the Olympics. They lost to the San Francisco Giants, 10-3 at Candlestick Park (then known as 3Com Park) in San Francisco. Shawn Estes outpitched John Smoltz. Barry Bonds hit a home run for the Giants, while Chipper Jones hit one for the Braves.

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. The Yankees trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, but after a fine start by Kevin Appier, Jason Jacome started the inning by walking Tino Martinez, and Darryl Strawberry hit a home run. This made a winning pitcher of John Wetteland in relief of Dwight Gooden.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Bobby Jones went the distance for the win. Todd Hundley hit a home run.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Jim Thome hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 13th inning. Eddie Murray went 0-for-5 for the O's, and Cal Ripken went 1-for-6. But the Orioles would beat the Indians in the Playoffs, before losing to the Yankees, who beat the Braves in the World Series.

* The Florida Marlins beat the San Diego Padres, 8-2 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Tony Gwynn did not play for the Padres in this game, but another eventual member of the 3,000 Hit Club did: Rickey Henderson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks, but was caught stealing in his only attempt.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-8 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-8 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 6-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-5 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Jesse Levis singled Jeff Cirillo home with the winning run in the top of the 13th inning.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Pat Hentgen pitched a 3-hit shutout, to outpitch Ariel Prieto. The only run of the game came on a 6th-inning home run by Carlos Delgado.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 14-6 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Cecil Fielder went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. Soon, he would be traded to the Yankees. Ken Griffey Jr., who allegedly said he would rather retire than play for the Yankees, went 1-for-3. Alex Rodriguez, who did go on to play for the Yankees, went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

July 4, 1985: The Rick Camp Game

July 4, 1985: For anybody who watched this baseball game, it was a 4th of July that will never, ever be forgot.

The Atlanta Braves were hosting the New York Mets at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, and Braves owner Ted Turner, showman that he was, scheduled a postgame 4th of July fireworks show. Paid attendance at the 52,007-seat concrete ashtray just south of downtown Atlanta was 44,947.

But the game was delayed by rain, and didn't start until 9:04 PM. Rick Mahler started for the Braves, and the Mets hit him hard, and he didn't get out of the 4th inning. Dwight Gooden started for the Mets, and, in a year when he seemed to be touched by God, he was no better. A second rain delay came in the bottom of the 3rd inning, lasting 41 minutes. When it ended, Met manager Davey Johnson -- who hit 41 home runs as a 2nd baseman for the Braves in 1973 -- didn't take any chances, and he took Doctor K out.

Did I say Davey didn't take any chances? When they came back from the rain delay, he let Roger McDowell, normally a late-inning reliever, finish the bottom of the 3rd. Terry Leach pitched the 4th through the 8th, but Davey brought in Doug Sisk, and he let the Braves score 4 runs in that inning to take the lead, 8-7. This included a Keith Hernandez home run. But future Hall-of-Famer Bruce Sutter blew it in the 9th, and the game went to extra innings. At one point, Davey got thrown out of the game.

The Braves got 2 men on with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th, but the Mets got out of it with a double play. In the top of the 13th, with 2 out, Ray Knight singled, and Howard Johnson hit a home run. 10-8 Mets. But in the bottom of the 13th, Tom Gorman -- the only reliever the Mets had left -- allowed a leadoff single to Rafael Ramirez. He struck out Dale Murphy and Gerald Perry, but then gave up a home run to Terry Harper. 10-10. More "free baseball."

Gene Garber walked Lenny Dykstra and Hernandez in the top of the 14th, but got out of it. Knight singled for the Mets in the top of the 15th, but got no farther than 1st base. With 2 out in the bottom of the 16th, Ken Oberkfell singled off Gorman, and Bruce Benedict drew a walk. But Gorman got out of it.

Rick Camp, the Braves' last remaining reliever, came into the game in the top of the 17th, and walked Gary Carter, but then struck out Darryl Strawberry and Gorman, and got Knight to ground into a force play. Ramirez singled with 2 outs in the bottom of the 17th, but Gorman got out of it.

Top of the 18th. HoJo led off with a single. Danny Heep bunted, and Camp rushed it, and threw it away. 1st and 3rd, nobody out. Dykstra hit a sacrifice fly, and it was 11-10 Mets. There was nothing that Braves manager Eddie Haas could do, as Camp was it: The only pitchers he had left were starters, the same as the Mets.

Bottom of the 18th. Perry and Harper grounded out. That brought up Camp, as Haas couldn't pinch-hit for him. He had nobody left to bat or pitch. This pudgy bearded guy, wearing Number 37 for his home-State team, came up to bat. He came into that game 10-for-168 for his career -- a lifetime batting average of .060. He was 0-for-his-last-13. He hadn't gotten a hit since September 1, 1984, 10 months earlier.

John Sterling, who became the main voice for the New York Yankees in 1989, but then doing games for the Braves -- and celebrating his 47th birthday -- turned to his broadcast partner, Ernie Johnson, who had pitched for the Braves in Milwaukee, and was the father of basketball announcer Ernie Johnson Jr., and said, "I'll tell you, Ernie: If hits a home run to tie this game, this game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball."

What do you think happened? Have you ever heard 8,000 people make as much noise as 50,000? You did if you were watching TBS -- or WOR-Channel 9 -- that middle-of-the-night. I was watching on WOR, but, because of Sterling's call, it's the TBS version that seems to have been preserved for posterity and shown on highlights.

The time was 3:30 AM, and here is what Sterling said:

And he hits it to deep left! Heep goes back! It is... GONE! Holy cow! Oh my goodness! I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Rick Camp! Rick Camp! I told you Ernie, if he hits it out... That certifies this game as the wildest, wackiest, most improbable game in history!

Mets 11, Braves 11. And to make matters worse, Gorman walked the next batter, Benedict. But he got Paul Runge to ground into a force play, and we went to the 19th inning. (This Paul Runge is not related to the umpire of the same name, whose father Ed and son Brian have also been MLB umpires.)

The Mets play a game this long every few years. In 1964, they went 23 innings in a loss to the San Francisco Giants -- in the 2nd game of a doubleheader. In 1965, they went 18 innings in Philadelphia against the Phillies, before the game was called due to a curfew, and it was replayed. In 1968, they went 24 innings in a loss to the Houston Astros. In 1974, they went 25 innings in a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 1986, they played what was then the longest game in NLCS history, going 16 innings in beating Houston to clinch the Pennant. They went 20 innings in a 2010 win in St. Louis, 20 in a 2013 loss to the Miami Marlins, 18 in a 2015 loss in St. Louis, and 18 in a 2019 loss in Milwaukee to the Brewers. The 2020 introduction of the "ghost runner" rule makes another such marathon unlikely.

At some point in all this, Ralph Kiner, the great Pittsburgh Pirates slugger who'd been broadcasting for the Mets since the franchise began in 1962 (and still did one game a week until he died in 2014), left the stadium, returned to his hotel, and turned on the TV. He saw the game, and during the next Met broadcast, said that he thought that what he was watching was a recap. Nope, the game was still going on.

Finally, at about 3:40 in the morning, with only about 8,000 people left in the stands, the Mets decided enough was enough, that they'd had it with these mother-freaking Braves in this mother-freaking game. They pounded Camp, who could not be relieved. Carter led off with a single. John Christensen, who'd pinch-hit for Strawberry, bunted him over to 2nd.

Whoever was managing the Mets at that point -- it might have been 1st base coach Bill Robinson -- decided to let the next day's starter, Ron Darling, pitch the bottom of the 19th, and a few innings thereafter if necessary, since who knew if this game had another 9 innings in it, and sent Rusty Staub, playing one of his last games, up to pinch-hit for the exhausted Gorman.

Haas ordered Camp to walk Staub intentionally to set up a double play, but it didn't work: Knight doubled home Carter and sent Staub to 3rd.  (Daniel Joseph Staub was known as Rusty for his hair, and Montreal Expos fans called him "Le Grand Orange." He wasn't fast even before he turned into a flame-haired Fat Elvis -- or, as Sterling called him in this game, "Babe Ruth.") HoJo was intentionally walked, and that didn't work, either: Heep singled home Staub and Knight, and the throw from the outfield was mishandled, and HoJo scored, too. Dykstra flew out, getting Heep to 3rd, and Wally Backman singled Heep home, before Camp finally got Hernandez to ground out.

Hernandez had doubled and scored in the 1st inning, flown out to center in the 3rd, tripled home a run and scored in the 4th, lined out to center in the 6th, homered in the 8th, flown out to left in the 9th, singled in the 12th to complete "hitting for the cycle," was intentionally walked in the 14th (I don't think there's a term for hitting for the cycle and drawing a walk in the same game), grounded to 2nd in the 16th, flew to center in the 18th, and grounded to 2nd again in the 19th. Total: 4-for-10 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs. Wally Backman also had 4 hits for the Mets, while Terry Harper had 5 hits and 4 RBIs for the Braves.

So, going to the bottom of the 19th inning, the score was Mets 16, Braves 11. This was the mid-1980s Mets. Surely, these Mets could hold a 5-run lead. Surely, the Braves wouldn't score 6 runs and win it in the bottom of the 19th. Or, potentially worse, score 5 runs and send the game to a 20th inning!

They were determined to give it a good shot. Darling came out, and got the 1st out, a groundout by Paul Zuvella. But Claudell Washington hit a bouncer to 1st that Hernandez mishandled. (No, Kramer and Newman from Seinfeld were not in the stands to yell, "Nice game, pretty boy!") Claudell and his long neck got to 2nd.

No problem, Darling would get out of it, right? Sure enough, he got Ramirez to pop up. One more out. That left only the dangerous Murphy, the 1982 & '83 National League Most Valuable Player, and still one of the most dangerous hitters in the game. But what could he do? A home run would only make it 16-13.

But Darling walked him. And then he walked Perry. And now the bases were loaded for Harper, who had already homered. And Harper singled. Washington and Murphy scored. Perry was on 3rd. It was 16-13 Mets. Men on 1st and 3rd. A home run would tie the game. Again.

And who was up? Rick Camp. Surely, he wouldn't do it again...

He didn't: Darling struck him out on a high fastball. Finally, mercifully, at long last, ballgame over.

Camp was the losing pitcher, but he won something more important than a single baseball game. He won a place in baseball lore. After all these years, we're still talking about this mind-boggling game, and not about any other game in which he ever pitched.

Oh yeah: Although the game was over, the night wasn't. The game ended at 3:55 AM. At 4:01, Ted Turner kept his promise: The fireworks went off. The 8,000 or so fans who hadn't left cheered.

People living near the stadium did not. They heard booms and saw flashes of light, and they called the police, thinking that Atlanta was under attack.

Incredibly, Camp got 2 more hits that season, for a batting average of .231. He closed his career 13-for-175, .074. On-base percentage, .109. Slugging percentage, .114. OPS, .224. OPS+, -39. RBIs, 7. Home runs, 1.

After leaving baseball, Camp became a lobbyist. He got into legal trouble in 2005, indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to steal over $2 million from a mental health agency. He was convicted, and served 3 years in prison. But everyone who met him seemed to say he was a wonderful guy. Is it possible that, like Denny McLain, a pitcher who went to prison on a similar charge, he simply got in with the wrong people?

Camp died in 2013. He was 59 years old. He gave baseball fans a memory they might cherish, or they might not, but it is one that they will never, ever forget.

*

July 4, 1985 was a Thursday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry went the distance. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-4. So did Don Mattingly, adding an RBI.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. For the Phils, Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4, and home runs were hit by Juan Samuel, Von Hayes and Ozzie Virgil Jr. For the Reds, manager Pete Rose put 1st baseman Pete Rose into the game, but he went 0-for-3.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Britt Burns pitched a 4-hit shutout. It was the 60th win of his career, and he was only 26. He would win 10 more that season, finishing at 18-11. But, due to injury, he never pitched again.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) Cal Ripken went 1-for-4. So did Eddie Murray, with 2 RBIs. George Brett went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Houston Astros, 9-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. This was the only other extra-inning game of the day: With 1 out in the top of the 12th, the Expos got a single from Sal Butera, a flyout from Jim Wohlford, a single from Tim Raines, an RBI double from Vance Law, a walk from Andre Dawson, a 2-RBI single from Hubie Brooks, and a 3-run home run from Tim Wallach.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edison International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.) Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew both went 0-for-4, but Jerry Narron, best known as Thurman Munson's immediate emergency replacement as Yankee catcher, hit a home run for the Halos, 1 of only 21 he would hit in his career. Wade Boggs went 1-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Robin Yount and Paul Molitor both went 0-for-4.