December 9, 1965: The Frank Robinson-Milt Pappas Trade

December 9, 1965: Branch Rickey, baseball's greatest executive ever, dies at age 84. A mediocre catcher in the major leagues from 1905 to 1914, he wasn't much of a field manager, either, from 1913 to 1925. But he served as general manager of the St. Louis Browns from 1913 to 1919, then of the St. Louis Cardinals until 1942, then of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1950, and finally of the Pittsburgh Pirates until 1955.

As those teams' GMs, he did the following:

* He  practically (if not completely) invented the farm system, revolutionizing baseball.

* He brought Grover Cleveland Alexander to the Cardinals, setting up the most dramatic moment of the 1926 World Series.

* He traded Rogers Hornsby for Frankie Frisch, one future Hall-of-Famer for another.

* He built the team known as "The Gashouse Gang," the 1934 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

* He built the team led by Stan Musial that would dominate the National League in the World War II years.

* He built on the success of his Brooklyn predecessor Larry MacPhail, and built the team that became known as "The Boys of Summer."

* He revolutionized baseball, a 2nd time by racially integrating the Dodgers by signing Jackie Robinson.

* And he rebuilt the Pirates by signing Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski, though he was no longer there by the time they won a World Series.

The teams he built won 16 Pennants and 8 World Series, the 1st in 1926 and the last in 1960.

He was what country singer Kris Kristofferson would have called "a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction." He was a devout Methodist who would not work on Sundays, and thus would not even go to the ballpark on Sundays, letting a coach manage for him while he was the manager. Yet he would still accept the gate receipts from Sunday, the most lucrative day of the week.

It was said that he had money and he had players, and he didn't like to see them mix. He would be forced out of the Dodgers by Walter O'Malley. The two men had these things in common: They were cheap, they loved cigars, and they were Republicans. That was it: On important matters -- human dignity, racial sensitivity, and the Borough of Brooklyn -- they were incredibly different men.

On November 13, 1965, he was making his acceptance speech for his induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Columbia, when he suffered a stroke. He never regained consciousness, and died on December 9, at the age of 84.

He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, 5 years after Robinson was elected. Oddly, while Rickey's plaque at the Hall in Cooperstown, New York mentions his signing of Robinson, Robinson's original plaque made no mention of the fact that he was the 1st black player in modern baseball. A new plaque, cast in 2008, mentions it.

*

Frank Robinson, no relation to Jackie, was rising through the Cincinnati Reds' minor-league system during Rickey's final days as GM of the Pirates. Rickey was so desperate to improve the team, he offered the Reds $1 million -- about $10.3 million in today's money -- for a man who had yet to reach the majors. Gabe Paul was the GM of the Reds, in his 1st major league job, and told Rickey, "I wouldn't give you Frank Robinson for your entire team."

Paul was fired after the 1960 season, and his replacement, Bill DeWitt Sr., father of the man who now owns the Cardinals, was hired, and got the credit for the Reds' 1961 National League Pennant, a year in which Robinson was named the NL's Most Valuable Player. Robinson continued to be one of the best players in baseball over the next 4 seasons.

But on December 9, 1965, DeWitt traded Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson. Baldschun and Simpson were throw-ins, designed to make the trade a 3-for-1, so it didn't look like the Reds were trading Robinson even-up for a single pitcher.

This looked like a bad trade rather quickly, as, in the very next season, 1966, Robinson led the Orioles to their 1st American League Pennant and their 1st World Championship, winning the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award for himself, thus becoming the 1st man to win the MVP in both Leagues. (He's still the only one. Six pitchers have won the Cy Young Award in both Leagues: Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.)

As for the Reds, they wouldn't win another Pennant until 1970, and another World Series until 1975. To make matters worse, when the Reds did win the Pennant in 1970, who beat them in the World Series? Robinson and the Orioles, although Brooks Robinson (no relation, of course) was a bigger reason than Frank on that occasion.

So why did they trade Robinson? Because he was "an old 30." Or maybe it was "not a young 30." The wording varies, depending on who tells the story.

Pappas was making $32,500, Baldschun $24,000, and Simpson $8,000; total, $64,500. Robinson, all by himself? $57,000. Robinson wanted $64,000 for 1966, and DeWitt decided he couldn't throw that kind of money around for just 1 player.

Orioles owner Jerry Hoffberger gave Frank his $64,000. He made it $100,000 after the Triple Crown/MVP/World Series season. The most he ever made? $160,000 in 1973 and '74. He actually took a pay cut in '75, to $105,000, even though he was both playing and managing. (He was the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball. By 1971, that was predictable; in 1965, it wasn't.)

The Reds needed pitching, and Pappas was a very good pitcher. He was then 26 years old, and had already won 110 games in the major leagues, against just 74 losses. In 1965, for an Oriole team that finished a distant 2nd to the Minnesota Twins, he went 13-9, with a 2.60 ERA -- an ERA+ of 133, so he wasn't just taking advantage of a pitching-friendly period in baseball history. His WHIP was a nifty 1.102.

He had made the All-Star Team for the 2nd time in 4 seasons. He'd won 16 games in '63 and did it again in '64, and had just won 13 in '65. That's 45 wins over the preceding 3 seasons. Not great, but very good. And he was reliable: He'd never had a significant injury.

His career record turned out to be 209-164 -- by 1 win in the National League, he missed winning at least 100 games in each League. Ten pitchers have done that: Cy Young, Al Orth, Jim Bunning, Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Dennis Martinez, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. (UPDATE: As of the end of the 2025 season, Max Scherzer is 7 AL wins away from turning the trick.)

Does this sound like a failed pitcher to you? Hardly. The problem wasn't that the Reds acquired him, it was that they let him go too soon. He had a down year in 1966, just 12-11, 4.29. But, even then, he won just 1 fewer game than he did the season before. In 1967, he went 16-13, 3.35. Much better. And then, in 1968, they traded him to the Atlanta Braves, in a 3-for-3 deal.

The names that mattered in that trade turned out to be Pappas and Clay Carroll. Carroll did turn out to be a key cog in the Big Red Machine bullpen of the 1970s. Then again, you wouldn't trade Frank Robinson and Milt Pappas for Clay Carroll, would you?

In 1970, between the Braves and the Chicago Cubs, Pappas went 12-10, 3.34. If he'd been available for the Reds against the Orioles during the 1970 World Series, it might have been a very different story.

*

December 9, 1965 was a Thursday. This was also the day that A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Only 1 NBA game was played that night. The San Francisco Warriors beat the Cincinnati Royals, 110-109 -- in Dayton, Ohio, at the University of Dayton Fieldhouse, now known as the Thomas J. Frericks Center, 45 miles northeast of the Royals' usual home court, the Cincinnati Gardens.

And only 1 NHL game was played that night. The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 7-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Wings pulled off a rare feat, one which might even be worthy of a "Scores On This Historic Day" post all by itself: 7 different goalscorers. Floyd Smith and Doug Barkley scored in the 1st period; Norm Ullman, Gordie Howe and Ab McDonald in the 2nd; and Alex Delvecchio and former Ranger star Andy Bathgate in the 3rd. 

December 1, 1954: The Biggest Trade In Baseball History

Don Larsen

December 1, 1954: The biggest trade in baseball history is completed: 17 players.

The Baltimore Orioles get: Outfielders Gene Woodling and Theodore Del Guercio; infielders Willy Miranda, Kal Segrist and Don Leppert; catchers Hal Smith and Gus Triandos; 1st baseman Dick Kryhoski; outfielder Jim Fridley; and pitchers Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald and Bill Miller.

The New York Yankees get: Pitchers Bob Turley, Don Larsen, Mike Blyzka; catcher Darrell Johnson; and infielder Billy Hunter.

Most of the players involved never amounted to much. Woodling helped the Yankees win 5 straight World Series from 1949 to 1953, but was in decline. Triandos became an All-Star. Smith would come back to haunt the Yankees, hitting a home run for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, setting up the bigger homer by Bill Mazeroski.

But Larsen would pitch the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956, and Turley would become the 1st Yankee to win the Cy Young Award, in 1958, winning 3 games in that year’s World Series. So this trade was a net win for the Yankees.

Johnson would manage the Boston Red Sox to the 1975 American League Pennant, and was named the 1st manager of the Seattle Mariners. Hunter, who went on to become the 3rd base coach in the Orioles’ 1966-74 dynasty, and later the manager of the Texas Rangers, is the only one of these players still alive as of December 1, 2022.

*

December 1, 1954 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA, including a doubleheader at the Philadelphia Civic Center. The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 88-86. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 91-88.

The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 101-90, in a game played on neutral ground at the St. Louis Arena. The following season, the Hawks moved to St. Louis, but played instead at the Kiel Auditorium.

And the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Rochester Royals, 101-96 in overtime at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York. Larry Foust of the Pistons led all scorers on the day with 37 points.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers, 6-1 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 6-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Montreal Canadiens and the chicaog blakc Hawks did not play.

November 20, 1976: The Tragedy of Wayne Garland

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.

*

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. 

October 23, 1923: Babe Ruth of the New York... Giants?

Babe Ruth (left) and John McGraw

October 23, 1923: Babe Ruth plays for the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.

No, this is not an "alternate history" or "counterfactual" story, where he was signed by a different team. Or chose another sport and played football. It is one of the many quirks of actual baseball history.

McGraw had tried to get Ruth in 1914. He had seen Ruth pitch for his hometown team, the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, against the Newark Indians. McGraw called Orioles owner Jack Dunn, and offered $5,000. Dunn turned him down, later accepting $8,500 from the Boston Red Sox.

In the meantime, Ruth had helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 1915, 1916 and 1918, move to the New York Yankees, and help them win American League Pennants in 1921 and 1922. But the way Ruth revolutionized the home run was taken by McGraw as a personal affront.

Like the man Ruth had replaced as baseball's greatest player, Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers, McGraw preferred what had come to be called "inside baseball" or "scientific baseball," what would be known today as "small ball": Get your runs any way you can, instead of getting somebody on base and then waiting for a home run.

McGraw made his point when the Giants won the National League Pennant in 1921 and 1922, by having his pitchers through Ruth nothing by off-speed pitches in the World Series. It was successful enough that the Giants won, both times. But the Yankees gained their revenge in the 1923 World Series, for their 1st World Championship, clinching in Game 6 at the Polo Grounds on October 15.

Just 8 days later, a benefit game was held at the Polo Grounds, for 2 destitute men who had been at the founding of the Giants, as the New York Gothams, in 1883: Original owner John B. Day, a tobacco magnate who had lost his fortune in the Players' League war of 1890; and original manager Jim Mutrie, who gave the team its permanent name in 1886, when he referred to his players as, "my big boys, my giants."

Ruth and McGraw swallowed their differences, despite being about to have their teams play each other in the World Series for the 3rd straight season. Ruth's Yankee teammates Aaron Ward and Elmer Smith also suited up for the Giants. The opponents were the champions of the International League, the Baltimore Orioles -- not just Ruth's 1st professional team, but the namesake of the National League team for whom McGraw played, winning Pennants in 1894, 1895 and 1896, and made his reputation as a rough but smart baseball man.

Ruth was 1 of 4 Giants who hit home runs, in his case a 5th-inning blast that soared over the right-field roof, as the Giants won, 9-3. It's not clear how much money was raised. Day, already ill with cancer, died a little over a year later, in early 1925. Mutrie lasted until 1938.

McGraw died in 1934, just before Ruth began his last season with the Yankees. Between playing and managing, McGraw was involved with 13 Pennant winners and won 3 World Series. Ruth died in 1948, having been with 10 Pennant winners and 7 World Series winners. Ruth was 1 of the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1936. The following year, McGraw and Connie Mack were the 1st 2 managers elected.

*

October 23, 1923 was a Thursday. There were no other scores on this day: The baseball season was over, no football games were scheduled, professional basketball was strictly minor-league at this point, and the NHL season would not begin until December 15.

October 17, 1979: The Pittsburgh Pirates' "Family"

October 17, 1979: As in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series by beating the Baltimore Orioles in Game 7 at Memorial Stadium, winning 4-1 to complete a comeback from 3 games to 1 down.

Willie Stargell, the 1st baseman known as "Pops" not just for his age (39) but because of his playing of Sister Sledge's hit disco song "We Are Family," hits his 3rd home run of the Series, and is named Series MVP, after having also been named MVP of the National League Championship Series.

Despite the group being from Philadelphia, and being about sisters rather than brothers, the song was adopted by the baseball team across Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Pirates, as they made their postseason run. It did not quite hit Number 1, getting stuck in June behind another iconic disco track, “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.

An online friend and fellow Yankee Fan, Paul Louis, once told me, "Part of me has come to suspect it might have been a subtle swipe at the dysfunctional image of the previous two seasons' World Series winning teams."

After the season, it was be announced that there was a tie vote for the regular-season MVP, between Stargell and the NL's batting champion, St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Keith Hernandez. Despite the only tie vote for an MVP in either League, Stargell became the 1st man, and remains the only one, ever to sweep the regular season, LCS and World Series MVPs in a single season.

This was the worst-looking World Series of all time. I don't mean it was poorly-played; that was hardly the case. I mean it looked bad. The Orioles had those bright orange home jerseys with the black lettering, and those dumb black caps with the white front panels and the Oriole head; the all-black caps with that head, which they wore from 1966 to 1974, looked a lot better.

Six of the NL's 12 teams wore 19th Century-style caps to celebrate the League's 100th Anniversary in 1976, and the Pirates were the only team to keep them, and continued to wear them until 1986. I didn't mind that. But their mix-and-match of white, white with yellow pinstripes, gold, and black, sometimes mixing up the jerseys and pants, was atrocious.

The stadiums were little better: I saw 3 games at Memorial Stadium, and liked it, but it had terrible lighting, and a grass field that was already chopped up by Colts games; while Three Rivers Stadium was a concrete ashtray with a hideous pea-green carpet of artificial turf. This was a World Series made for radio, not television.

The 1979 season was an outlier in its era. In the American League Eastern Division, the Yankees won in every season from 1976 to 1981, except 1979, when the Orioles won it. In the Western Division, the Kansas City Royals won in every season, except 1979, when the California Angels won it, for the 1st time in their 19-season history.

In the National League Eastern Division, the Philadelphia Phillies won it every year from 1976 to 1980, except 1979, when the Pirates won it, before giving way to the Montreal Expos in 1981. And in the NL West, the Cincinnati Reds completed their "Big Red Machine" era of dominance in 1976, and then the Los Angeles Dodgers won it in 1977, 1978 and 1981, losing a Playoff for it to the Houston Astros in 1980,  with the Reds winning again in 1979.

In the League Championship Series, the Pirates swept the Reds in 3 straight, gaining revenge for NLCS losses in 1970, 1972, 1974 and 1975, though they'd beaten the San Francisco Giants in the series since 1971; while the Orioles, having won the Pennant in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and lost the ALCS in 1973 and 1974, beat the Angels 3 games to 1.

Stargell, pitcher Bruce Kison and catcher Manny Sanguillen were the only players to have played for the Pirates in both the '71 and the '79 Series, although Sanguillen had left and since returned.

Game 1 of the World Series was supposed to be played in Baltimore on October 9, but was postponed due to rain and snow. The temperature for the postponed Game 1 was 41 degrees, the coldest on record, although there had been snow at a Series game in 1907. The O's won, 5-4, behind the pitching of Mike Flanagan, despite a Stargell home run. The Pirates scored in the 9th to win Game 2, 3-2.

Game 3 in Pittsburgh had a midgame rain delay, and the Pirates blew a 3-0 lead. Scott McGregor outpitched John Candelaria, as the O's won, 8-4. Despite another Stargell homer, the Bucs blew a 4-0 lead in Game 4, and the O's won, 9-6. Coming back from being down 3 games to 1 had only happened 3 times in World Series history to this point -- but the Pirates had done it twice, in 1925 against the Washington Senators, and in 1971 against the Orioles, with a few of the same people involved.

Pirate manager Chuck Tanner had planned to start Jim Rooker on short rest in Game 5, and then go to curveball master Bert Blyleven. That morning, his mother died. According to Kent Tekulve, the Pirates' submarine-pitching reliever, Tanner told the team before the game that his mother "knew we needed some help, so she went to get us some." Whatever the cause, Rooker had a no-hitter for the 1st 4 innings, and Tanner brought Blyleven in for the 6th, with the Orioles leading, 1-0. Then the Pirates got to Flanagan, and won the game, 7-1.

Back in Pittsburgh for Game 6, Candelaria and Jim Palmer traded goose eggs for 6 innings, before the Pirates reached Palmer, and they won, 4-0.

For what turns out to be the only time in his Presidency, Jimmy Carter attends a Major League Baseball game, and he picks a good one. He threw out the ceremonial first ball, saw Stargell homer off McGregor, saw Tekulve get his 3rd save in relief of Grant Jackson, and was among those congratulating the Pirates in the locker room afterward.

And, with the Pittsburgh Steelers having won Super Bowl XIII 9 months earlier, it gave the Steel City a rare MLB-NFL double, and the nickname "City of Champions." This was maintained 3 months later, when the Steelers won Super Bowl XIV. Sports Illustrated named Stargell and Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw "Sportsmen of the Year."

Stargell hit 475 home runs in his career, some of the very long. He hit the longest home runs in the histories of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal -- but not, oddly, either Forbes Field or Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. His 296 home runs in the 1970s were the most in the decade. In comparison, Reggie Jackson hit 290, Johnny Bench 281, and Mike Schmidt 195 (though he didn't start until '72).

But in the 43 years since this title -- 2 full generations -- the Pirates have never won another Pennant, though they reached Game 7 of the NLCS in 1991 and '92, losing to the Atlanta Braves both times. The Steelers have since won 3 Super Bowls and appeared in 2 others; the Penguins have reached the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times, winning 5; and the University of Pittsburgh football team has won some bowl games and has usually been a contender for their conference title (formerly the Big East, now the Atlantic Coast Conference).

The Pirates? After 21 years out of the postseason, they made it for 3 straight seasons, 2011 to '13, but, so far, they can't get beyond the NLDS. So they're still waiting for the next generation of the Family to make good.

One more note about the '79 Series: When the Orioles won Game 4, the winning pitcher was Tim Stoddard. By simply appearing in the game, he became the 1st man ever to appear in both a World Series game and an NCAA basketball Final Four game. He was a member of the North Carolina State team that won the 1974 National Championship. He was still with the Orioles when they won the World Series in 1983.

He has since been joined only by Kenny Lofton, who reached the Final Four with Arizona in 1988, and the World Series with 3 different teams, the 1st being the Cleveland Indians in 1995.

Stargell retired after the 1982 season, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. The Pirates retired his Number 8. He threw out the ceremonial first ball before the last game at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000. He was invited to do it again for the first game at the new PNC Park, scheduled for April 9, 2001, with the dedication of a statue of him outside the park 2 days earlier. But his health declined, and he died the morning of the regular-season opener. He was only 61 years old.

Sister Sledge weren't quite "one-hit wonders," also hitting the Top 10 with their follow-up, "He's the Greatest Dancer." But they were one-shot wonders, as later albums failed to make much chart impact.

Nile Rodgers, leader of the disco band Chic, was their main songwriter and producer, and made them the 1st major music act to namecheck different fashion designers in music. He said, "They didn't even know what we were talking about when we wrote the lyric 'Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci'. First time anybody had ever name checked fashion designers." 

From oldest to youngest, the sisters were Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathy. Joni passed away in 2017. As of October 17, 2022, the others are still alive. Debbie's daughters Amber and Camille, and Kim's daughter Julie, have toured with their mother and aunts. Kathy's daughter Kristen has not. Joni was the only sister to have had a son and no daughters.

UPDATE: The Pirates have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1979 World Champions, they have inducted 1st baseman Willie Stargell, catcher Manuel "Manny" Sanguillén, and pitcher Kent Tekulve -- but not yet manager Chuck Tanner, right fielder Dave Parker, or pitcher Bert Blyleven.

*

October 17, 1979 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-88 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey. Julius "Dr. J" Arena scored 22 points against his former team.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 127-108 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 100-97 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Indiana Pacers, 116-112 at The Summit in Houston. Moses Malone had a monster game, 44 points and 29 rebounds. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Denver Nuggets, 125-97 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 107-94 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-110 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

October 17, 1971: A Stadium Called "Hell" In Iran

October 17, 1971: Aryamehr Stadium opens in Tehran, the capital of Iran. It became the home of Iran's national soccer team, and of the 2 biggest teams in the city, and in the country: Persepolis, a.k.a. the Red Army; and Taj, meaning "Crown," a.k.a. the Loving Blues and the Giants of Asia.

Among the other changes brought about by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the name of the stadium was changed to Azadi Stadium (ironically, "Azadi" means "Freedom"); and the name of Taj, to rid them of its connection to the deposed Shah and his royal/imperial family, was changed to Esteghlal (meaning "Independence").

Persepolis, founded in 1967, have won Iran's national league 14 times. (UPDATE: They have won again in 2023 and 2024, so that's 16.) Esteghlal, founded in 1945, have won it 9 times. However, they have won the AFC Champions League, Asia's continental club championship, twice, in 1970 and 1991; Persepolis have never won it.

A Tehran Derby. Persepolis red on one side, Esteghlal blue on the other.

The Azadi hosted the Asian Games in 1974, and a Frank Sinatra concert in 1975. From a record crowd of 128,000 for a 1998 World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Australia, the stadium's conversion to all-seater has dropped capacity to 78,116. Still, when split down the middle between 39,000 "Red Army" fans and 39,000 "Loving Blues" fans, it is as wild a sporting venue as any in the world. It is called "Johonam" -- the Farsi word for "Hell."

*

October 17, 1971 was a Sunday. Byron Chamberlain, a Super Bow-winning linebacker with the Denver Broncos and a Pro Bowl selection with the Minnesota Vikings, was born on this day.

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, in Game 7, to win the World Series. I have a separate entry for that event.

These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Baltimore Colts, 31-7 at Yankee Stadium.

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 28-17 at Shea Stadium. Both New York teams being at home on the same day could have been due to the baseball teams having scheduling priority at the stadiums, thus compressing each football team's home schedule to being from mid-October to late December.

* The Washington Redskins beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-16 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

* The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 41-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Dallas Cowboys, 24-14 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. This was an outlier: The Saints, as they usually did in their early days, finished below .500; while the Cowboys went on to win their 1st Super Bowl.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Houston Oilers, 31-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-24 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 24-13 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Of course, the Packers consider their arch-rivals to be the Chicago Bears, not the Vikings.

* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-16 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears, 13-0 in San Francisco. It turns out to be the last game for inured Bears star Gale Sayers. So, like the Beatles, Sayers' last paid performance was at Candlestick Park. Injuries limited Sayers to only enough games that it amounted to 4 full seasons. But he was still great enough to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 34-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the following day, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 38-16 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

There were no games in the American Basketball Association that day, but there were 3 in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 121-120 in overtime at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Houston Rockets, 112-99 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-94 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 2-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the California Golden Seals, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

October 17, 1971: Roberto Clemente Deja Claro Su Punto

October 17, 1971: Game 7 of the World Series is played at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles were set to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Orioles were the defending World Champions. The Pirates last won in 1960, and 2 players from that team were left: 2nd baseman Bill Mazeroski, whose home run won that Series; and right fielder Roberto Clemente. Danny Murtaugh managed them in both, and 1960 player Bill Virdon was one of Murtaugh's 1971 coaches.

Earlier in the season, the Pirates had become the 1st team ever to field an all-black-and/or-Hispanic starting lineup, leading author Bruce Markusen to title his book about the '71 Bucs The Team That Changed Baseball.

Clemente was 37, the most popular Hispanic player in baseball, and the Pirates' greatest player since Honus Wagner. But English-speaking baseball fans -- especially white ones -- weren't as interested in him as they were in some others. To a racist, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson might be black, but at least they spoke English.

Of course, Clemente spoke English, too, even though it was his 2nd language. And he dared to insist upon being called "Roberto." His Topps baseball cards usually listed him as "Bob Clemente." And Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince, a.k.a. "The Gunner," called him "Bobby."

What's more, he played in Pittsburgh. He had never played in New York, like Mays and Mickey Mantle. He wasn't playing in Los Angeles, like Sandy Koufax and Maury Wills had. He wasn't playing in Chicago, like the newly-retired Ernie Banks. He wasn't playing in San Francisco, like Mays. He wasn't playing in the nation's capital, Washington, like Frank Howard. He wasn't playing in the strong-media city of Boston, like Carl Yastrzemski. And he wasn't playing in the baseball-beloved city of St. Louis, like Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. So he wasn't celebrated in the media as those men were. He had to deal with both the ignorance of racism and simply being ignored.

But the World Series is a national showcase. Every baseball fans watches. It helped launch Koufax to superstardom in 1963, Gibson and Brock in 1964, Frank Robinson in 1966, Al Kaline in 1968, and Brooks Robinson in 1970. In 1971, Roberto Clemente, already with 14 All-Star Game berths, 10 Gold Gloves, 4 National League batting titles, and a regular-season Most Valuable Player award, but without stardom outside Western Pennsylvania, wanted to show the country that he was as good as any of them.

But to do it, he and the Pirates would have to go through the Orioles, the defending World Champions, with Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, John "Boog" Powell, and pitchers Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally. And, being an odd-numbered year, the O's, as AL Champions, would have the home-field advantage for Games 1 and 2, and, if necessary, Games 6 and 7.

The Orioles won Game 1, 5-3, McNally outpitching Dock Ellis. They also won Game 2, 11-3, Palmer outpitching Bob Johnson. But when the Series went to Pittsburgh, the Pirates won Game 3, 5-4, with Steve Blass outpitching Cuellar; and Game 4, 4-3, Bruce Kison outpitching Eddie Watt. And in Game 5, Nelson Briles pitched a 2-hit shutout, beating McNally, and the Pirates won, 4-0. But, back at Memorial Stadium, the Orioles won Game 6, 3-2. Clemente hit a home run, but Brooks Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to score Frank Robinson with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Hank Bauer of the Yankees still holds the record for the longest hitting streak in World Series play, 17 games. Clemente had gotten a hit in all 7 games in 1960, and had now gotten hits in all 6 games in 1971, for 13, the 2nd-longest such streak. But the Pirates had to win Game 7 on the road.

Prior to Game 7, Briles did something that no active player had ever done before: He sang the National Anthem before a competitive Major League Baseball game, and a Game 7 of the World Series, no less. It would not happen again until 2019, when another Pirates pitcher, Steven Brault, sang the Anthem before a regular-season game.

Blass started against Cuellar, the lefthanded screwball specialist from Cuba. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th, when Clemente hit a home run off Cuellar. The teams exchanged runs in the 8th, but Blass went the distance. The outcome was still in doubt on the final play: Merv Rettenmund hit a bouncer that ricocheted off the pitcher's mound. Pirate shortstop Jacinto "Jackie" Hernández handled it, and threw Rettenmund out.

The Pirates had become World Champions for the 4th time, previously doing so in 1909, 1925 and 1960. In 1901 and 1902, they won the NL Pennant, and had a better record than the AL Champions both times, but there was no World Series until 1903, which they reached, losing to the team soon to be known as the Boston Red Sox.

Clemente played in all 7 games in '60 and in all 7 games in '71, and got hits in all 14 World Series games in which he played. In fact, all 5 of the Pirates' World Series wins, including the 1979 win that was yet to come, have been in 7 games.

Interviewed for Sports Illustrated, Pirate general manager Joe Brown said, "People said to me, 'My God, does he always play like that?' And I said, 'Yes. Always. You're not seeing anything that we don't see day in and day out.'" Clemente had shown the world what he not only could do, but had always done.

After the game‚ 40‚000 people rioted in celebration in downtown Pittsburgh. At least 100 people wre injured‚ some seriously, although no deaths were reported.

Immediately after the Game 7 victory, rookie hurler Bruce Kison and his champagne-soaked best man Bob Moose were whisked away from Memorial Stadium by helicopter to a waiting Lear Jet, to attend the 21 year-old Kison's 6:30 PM wedding in Pittsburgh, for which the groom arrived 33 minutes late.

Also after the game, NBC did what it usually did when covering the World Series, and not only hired the leading announcer for each participating team -- in this case, Prince for the Pirates and Chuck Thompson for the Orioles -- but sent the announcer for the winning team into the locker room to interview the victorious.

Clemente had become the 1st Spanish-speaking player to be named the World Series MVP. Prince called him over to the TV camera, and called him "Bobby." Roberto was 37 years old. He told Prince that he had something he wanted to say, in Spanish. He said: << En el día más orgulloso de mi vida, a mis hijos, les doy mi bendición. Y a mis padres pido su bendición desde Puerto Rico. >> 

They were the first words ever spoken in Spanish live on national television in America. In English, "In the proudest day in my life, to my children, I give my blessing. And from my parents, I ask their blessing from Puerto Rico."

At that point, with Honus Wagner dead, the Steelers yet to rise to dynasty status, and Mario Lemieux having just turned 6, Bob Prince might have been the one living person connected with Pittsburgh sports more popular than Roberto Clemente. But in that moment, Clemente transcended not just Pittsburgh, but his entire sport. He had shown the world how he always played. And he had shown Prince, and the world, that he was a human being, an adult, an American, a Puerto Rican, and a Spanish speaker, as well as a great baseball player, and that each status deserved respect.

He had made his point -- Había dejado claro su punto.

The following year, he collected his 3,000th career hit. Two months later, trying to fly relief supplies to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua, he was killed in a plane crash. In a span of 14 months, he had gone from local star to baseball icon to secular saint.

UPDATE: The Pirates have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1971 World Champions, they have inducted right fielder Roberto Clemente, 2nd baseman Bill Mazeroski, center fielder Al Oliver, catcher Manuel "Manny" Sanguillén, pitcher Steve Blass, and manager Danny Murtaugh.

*

October 17, 1971 was a Sunday. Byron Chamberlain, a Super Bowl-winning linebacker with the Denver Broncos and a Pro Bowl selection with the Minnesota Vikings, was born on this day. And this was the day what's now named the Azadi Stadium opened in Tehran, Iran. I have a separate entry for that event.

These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Baltimore Colts, 31-7 at Yankee Stadium.

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 28-17 at Shea Stadium. Both New York teams being at home on the same day could have been due to the baseball teams having scheduling priority at the stadiums, thus compressing each football team's home schedule to being from mid-October to late December.

* The Washington Redskins beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-16 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

* The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 41-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Dallas Cowboys, 24-14 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. This was an outlier: The Saints, as they usually did in their early days, finished below .500; while the Cowboys went on to win their 1st Super Bowl.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Houston Oilers, 31-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-24 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 24-13 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Of course, the Packers consider their arch-rivals to be the Chicago Bears, not the Vikings.

* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-16 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears, 13-0 in San Francisco. It turns out to be the last game for inured Bears star Gale Sayers. So, like the Beatles, Sayers' last paid performance was at Candlestick Park. Injuries limited Sayers to only enough games that it amounted to 4 full seasons. But he was still great enough to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 34-10 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the following day, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 38-16 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

There were no games in the American Basketball Association that day, but there were 3 in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 121-120 in overtime at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Houston Rockets, 112-99 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-94 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 2-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the California Golden Seals, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled. 

October 16, 1983: Edward Bennett Williams' Unique Double

October 16, 1983: Eddie Murray slams a pair of home runs and Scott McGregor pitches a 5-hitter, as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and win the World Series 4-1. Baltimore catcher Rick Dempsey‚ who hit .385 with 4 doubles and a home run‚ is named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

The Orioles win their 3rd World Series, marking a unique double: Edward Bennett Williams, famed trial lawyer, majority owner of the Orioles, and minority owner and former majority owner of the NFL's Washington Redskins, becomes the only man ever to be an owner of the current World Series winners and the current Super Bowl champions at the same time.

This caps a period where the Orioles have finished 1st 8 times in 18 years, and have at least been competitive almost continuously since 1960. But, due to their core players getting old and later mismanagement by owner Peter Angelos, they have not played a World Series game since.

The last out is a line shot to shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., son and namesake of the Orioles' longtime 3rd base coach. He becomes the only player ever to win either League's Rookie of the Year in his 1st full season, and then the League's MVP in his 2nd, defying what had come to be known as "the sophomore jinx." He will play another 18 seasons, but never appear in another World Series.

Edward Bennett Williams is born on May 31, 1920 in Hartford, Connecticut. Setting up practice in Washington, D.C., he became known as a "superlawyer," representing people on the left, the right, and those who switched. He represented singer-actor Frank Sinatra, Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa, cult leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and, at the end of his life, "junk bond" trader Michael Milken.

In 1965, he bought a controlling interest in the Redskins from the conservators of founding owner George Preston Marshall, who had been rendered incompetent for ownership by a stroke. Williams rebuilt the long-dormant team, seeing them reach 3 Super Bowls.

In 1980, he bought the Orioles. At the time, NFL rules prohibited a majority owner from being a majority owner in another sport, so, in preparation for buying the Orioles, Williams sold some of his stake in the Redskins to Jack Kent Cooke, former owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, the builder of the Forum arena outside L.A., and the last owner of the minor-league baseball team that gave its name to an NHL powerhouse, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On January 30, 1983, the Redskins won Super Bowl XVII. Eight and a half months later, the Orioles won the World Series. Williams remains the only person to be an owner of the holder of the MLB and NFL championships at the same time. In 1985, he sold the rest of his Redskins stock to Cooke. Not long before his death in 1988, he negotiated the deal to build a new ballpark for the Orioles, ending Baltimore's fears that he would move the team down the Parkway to his beloved Washington.

As of the 2022 NFL season, Williams' "double" has not be repeated, and cannot be, as no majority owner of an MLB team has a noticeable share of ownership of an NFL team, and vice versa.

One other note: The day before, October 15, 1983, Game 4 was played in daylight: Orioles 5, Phillies 4. Through the 2022 MLB season, it remains the last World Series game played under the Sun. Game 4 in 1984 was played in daylight, but under overcast skies. Game 6 in 1987 began in daylight, but was played in a dome.

Also on this day, Kelso died at age 26. A grandson of 1943 Triple Crown winner Count Fleet, he was eligible to run in the Triple Crown races in 1960, but did not do so. But from ages 3 to 8 (8 is not old for a horse, but it's old for a horse to be racing), he won many big races, including 5 straight Jockey Club Gold Cups from 1960 to 1964 and 3 straight Woodward Stakes from 1961 to 1963.

He won the Daily Racing Form Horse of the Year award 5 times. No other horse has even won it 4 times. He was retired in 1966, having won just under $2 million, a record that would stand until 1979. He died just 1 day after being paraded around the track at Belmont Park, prior to the running of the race that was his trademark, the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Perhaps it was too much for him.

Horse racing writer Joe Hirsch wrote, "Once upon a time there was a horse named Kelso. But only once."

*

October 16, 1983 was a Sunday. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-17 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 32-14 at Shea Stadium.

* The New England Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers, 37-21 at Sullivan Stadium (formerly Schafer Stadium, later Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxboro, Massachusetts.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Colts, 30-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-27 at Tampa Stadium.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 32-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 44-17 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, 31-17 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Houston Oilers, 34-14 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 37-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-17 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 27-21 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 38-36 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And the next night, the highest-scoring game in the history of ABC Monday Night Football was played: The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 48-47 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The NBA season hadn't started yet. There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat their "Battle of Alberta" arch-rivals, the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Flames' new home, the Olympic Saddledome, which opens on this night. The next night, the same teams played at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, and the Oilers won again, 5-1.