November 20, 2021: The UBS Arena Opens

November 20, 2021: The UBS Arena opens in the Belmont Park complex, in Elmont, Long Island, New York, just over the City Line from Queens. It becomes the home of the New York Islanders.

The Islanders had played at the Nassau Coliseum, in the Town of Hempstead but with a Uniondale mailing address, from their 1972 inception until 2015, by which point the Coliseum had become obsolete. They played the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, groundsharing with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

The players, the organization and the fans all hated it: The building was designed for basketball and concerts, and, in order to fit a regulation-size NHL rink in the place, about 2,000 seats had to be removed, thus giving them an even smaller seating capacity than they had at the Coliseum. The Coliseum was renovated, and they played a few home games there in the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, and the even smaller seating capacity didn't matter, since they weren't selling out, anyway.

But, after years of trying to get a new arena approved at the Coliseum site, a deal was finally struck to build one next-door to Belmont Park, one of America's greatest horse-racing tracks. This led to the UBS Arena being nicknamed "The Stable." Lucky for them, the Islanders have been good since moving in, so there are few jokes about them being "horseshit."

Major League Soccer's New York City FC had wanted the site, and, backed with the money of their owners -- 80 percent the royal family of Abu Dhabi, and 20 percent the New York Yankees -- they could certainly afford it. But the State of New York, owner of Belmont Park and its operator through the New York Racing Association, chose the Islanders, who are more established than NYCFC, and, unlike the royal family of Abu Dhabi, don't have the taint of anti-Semitism, which is an issue in New York City and Long Island.

Ground was broken on September 23, 2019. UBS, the United Bank of Switzerland, bought the naming rights on July 22, 2020. The arena seats 17,255 for hockey and 19,000 for concerts. It opened on November 20, 2021. The Islanders did not live up to the occasion, losing 5-2 to the Calgary Flames. Brad Richardson of the Flames scored the 1st goal, while Brock Nelson scored the 1st Islander goal. The Islanders lost their 1st 7 games in the arena, finally getting their 1st win on December 11 -- unfortunately for me, over the New Jersey Devils.

On November 28, 2021, former One Direction singer Harry Styles hosted the Arena's 1st concert. Queens-based St. John's University, which uses Madison Square Garden for home games too big for its on-campus Carnesecca Arena, were a natural to host the 1st basketball game at the Arena. On December 3, 2021, they played the University of Kansas, and lost, 95-75. The loss didn't look so bad at the end of the season: Kansas won the National Championship.

*

November 20, 2021 was a Saturday. There were 11 other NHL games played that day:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Nashville Predators, 6-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-4 at the FLA Live Arena (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Clayton Keller scored the winning goal, 25 seconds into overtime.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

* The Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-0 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres, the Vancouver Canucks, the Winnipeg Jets, the Colorado Avalanche, the Ottawa Senators, and the Anaheim Ducks were not scheduled.

There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 106-99 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-105 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat, 103-100 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 115-105 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Saints, 111-94 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic, 117-108 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and had 20 rebounds, a pretty big rebounding number for his generation.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 138-95 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings, 123-105 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-111 at the Moda Center in Portland. Damian Lillard led all scorers on the night with 39 points.

This was the start of the 8-day rivalry week in college football. The games played on this day included:

* Number 1 Georgia warmed up for their rivalry with Georgia Tech by beating Charleston Southern, 56-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 2 Alabama warmed up for their rivalry with Auburn by beating Number 21 Arkansas, 42-35 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Alabama beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, but Georgia qualified for the National Championship Playoff anyway, and won a rematch against Alabama at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the title.

* Number 3 Cincinnati beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 48-14 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. Cincy won the American Athletic Conference Championship, and became a rare school from outside the "Power Five" conferences to qualify for the National Championship Playoff. But in their Semifinal, which also served as the Cotton Bowl, they lost to Alabama.

* Number 4 Oregon were upset by Number 24 Utah, 38-7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The schools had a rematch in the Pacific-Twelve Conference Championship Game, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and Utah won again, to go to the Rose Bowl. Oregon lost the Alamo Bowl to Oklahoma.

* Number 5 Ohio State warmed up for their rivalry with Michigan by beating Number 7 Michigan State, 56-7 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 6 Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech, 55-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (In odd-numbered years, due to the weather, Notre Dame and USC play each other in South Bend in the middle of the season. In even-numbered years, they play in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving weekend.)

* Number 8 Michigan warmed up for their rivalry with Ohio State by beating Maryland 59-18 at Maryland Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland. Michigan beat Ohio State for the 1st time in 10 years, beat Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, and lost the Orange Bowl to Georgia as the National Championship Playoff Semifinal. For once, the Rose Bowl was a consolation prize for the Michigan-Ohio State loser, and Ohio State beat Utah.

* Number 9 Oklahoma State warmed up for their rivalry with Oklahoma by beating Texas Tech, 23-0 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.

* Number 10 Mississippi warmed up for its rivalry with Mississippi State by beating Vanderbilt, 31-17 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. Despite not being SEC Champions, with the top 2 teams in the SEC invited to the Playoff, "Ole Miss" were invited to the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 11 Baylor beat Kansas State, 20-10 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, Baylor beat Oklahoma State in the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game in Arlington, Texas, then beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 13 Wake Forest were upset by Clemson, 48-27 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 18 University of Pittsburgh beat Virginia, 48-38 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh. Pitt won the Atlantic Coast Conference title, but lost to Michigan State in the Peach Bowl.

* Rivalry: The University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA, beat the University of Southern California, USC, 62-33 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Rivalry: Harvard beat Yale, 34-31 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

* Rivalry: Princeton beat the University of Pennsylvania, 34-14 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Technically, Princeton had won a share of the Ivy League title, but it was with Dartmouth, who had the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.

* Not a rivalry, but a novelty: Purdue beat Northwester, 32-14 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* Among the service academies, Army beat the University of Massachusetts, 33-17 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy lost to East Carolina, 38-35 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force had played the night before, beating Nevada 41-39 at Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada.

* And New Jersey's team, Rutgers, lost to their arch-rivals, Penn State, 28-0 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

And, in English soccer, Liverpool FC beat North London team Arsenal FC, 4-0 at Anfield in Liverpool. Much to my dismay.

October 20, 1923: Zev vs. Papyrus

October 20, 1923: One of the biggest match races in American history is held at Belmont Park.

It's easy to ask, "If Man o' War was the most famous thoroughbred race horse of the era, how come he didn't win the Triple Crown?" Well, at the time, the Triple Crown had been won only once, by Sir Barton in 1919, and it was not the big deal that it would later become. Man o' War won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in 1920, but did not even enter the Kentucky Derby.

Zev had been the leading 2-year-old horse in America in 1922. In 1923, the Preakness was run before the Kentucky Derby, and Zev, ridden by Earl Sande, ran a bad race. But he came back to win the Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

In England, which still thought of itself as the worldwide capital of horse racing -- "The Sport of Kings," partly because the British royal family had owned champion horses, and still does -- Papyrus had been doing much the same thing as Zev. Ridden by Steve Donoghue, he was his country's leading 2-year-old racehorse, and, the next year, won the country's leading race, The Derby (and, unlike in America, that's pronounced "DAR-bee," not "DER-bee") at Epsom Race Course in Surrey.

On August 19, 1923, a deal was struck to have Papyrus race against Zev, to determine the best racehorse in the world. The winning horse would win $100,000 (about $1.7 million in 2022 money), with the losing horse getting just $2,000. But Papyrus would be running at something of a disadvantage: In 2 warmup races, he was bumped by another horse, the one in the 2nd race actually drawing blood.

But he was determined to be fit enough to sail to America and race against Zev. Accompanying him on the voyage were Donoghue, trainer Basil Jarvis, 2 stable boys, his stablemate Bargold, a cat with whom Papyrus had bonded, and a special feed mix. But the British media, normally so jingoistic, was actually pessimistic, thinking the effects of the voyage and the change in environment -- normally racing on grass, this would be his 1st time running on a dirt track -- would work against Papyrus.

A crowd of 70,000 people filed into Belmont Park, just outside New York City in Elmont, Nassau County, New York. The track was muddy, and while Papyrus held his own for the first half of the race, Zev pulled away, and won by 5 lengths. Although noting the conditions, Jarvis acknowledged that he had been fairly beaten by a better horse.

Papyrus was never the same horse. He ran 4 races as a 4-year-old, didn't win any of them, and was retired to stud. He lived until 1941. In contrast, Zev won races as a 4-year-old, and broke Man o' War's record as horse racing's all-time leading money-winner. He was less successful at stud than Papyrus, and lived until 1943.

*

October 20, 1923 was a Saturday. Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, now named Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, opened on this day in Norman, Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma beat Washington University of St. Louis, 62-7. I have a separate entry for this event. These other notable college football games were played that day:

* In an unusual North vs. South matchup, Army beat Auburn, 28-6 on The Plain at West Point, New York.

* Navy lost to Penn State, 21-3 at Beaver Field (not to be confused with the later Beaver Stadium) in State College, Pennsylvania.

* Fordham lost to Lehigh, 7-0 at Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

* Columbia lost to the University of Pennsylvania, 19-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. This was only the 4th game at the new Franklin Field, which had replaced the one that had stood there since 1895.

* Rutgers beat New York University (NYU), 7-3 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

* Princeton lost to Notre Dame, 25-2 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

* Syracuse beat the University of Pittsburgh, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. It was the 1st college football game played there.

* Harvard beat Holy Cross, 6-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* In what would later become an arch-rivalry, Michigan beat Ohio State, 23-0 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* The University of Chicago beat nearby Northwester University, 13-0 at Stagg Field in Chicago.

* The University of Missouri and Saint Louis University played to a 0-0 tie at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

Also on this day, "Beat Generation" writer Philip Whalen was born. 

July 6, 1975: The Tragedy of Ruffian

Ruffian, before an earlier race at Belmont Park

July 6, 1975: Another sport has set up an equivalent to the "Battle of the Sexes" that tennis had 2 years earlier. Only this time, it didn't seem so ridiculous, mainly because the male competitor wasn't running his mouth.

He couldn't: Like his female opponent, he was a horse.

Of course, when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs, there was a chance that Riggs, then 55 years old, could have had a heart attack and dropped dead. But he didn't.

This time, the competition did end in tragedy.

*

Every now and then, there is a racehorse about whom the sport's observers say loves to run, was born for it. Ruffian was the 1st filly about whom it was said. Foaled on April 17, 1972 at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, she was a granddaughter of 1957 Preakness Stakes winner Bold Ruler, making her a niece to 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. Her other grandfather was 1953 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Native Dancer. (This was not surprising: Both grandfathers can count dozens of winning horses among their descendants.) She was large for a filly, and ran 5 races as a 2-year-old, winning them all.

As a 3-year-old, she ran 5 races, and won them all. This included the Triple Tiara, the fillies' version of colts' Triple Crown: The Acorn Stakes, at Belmont Park, just outside New York City in Elmont, Long Island, New York; the Mother Goose Stakes, also at Belmont; and the Coaching Club American Oaks, at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State.

An "oaks" is the female version of a "derby." The Mother Goose Stakes has since been dropped from the Triple Tiara. Now, it's the Acorn Stakes, the Coaching Club, and the Alabama Stakes, which is run at Saratoga. The Kentucky Oaks, run annually the day before the Kentucky Derby, is a prestigious race for fillies, but is not part of the Triple Tiara, which is probably why Ruffian was not entered into it. And while fillies are eligible for the Triple Crown races, very few run in them: The Kentucky Derby has had just 3 female winners in 148 races, the Preakness Stakes 6 out of 147, and the Belmont Stakes 3 out of 154.

Ruffian had been working her way up in length, as young racehorses tend to have done for them. Until her 8th race, the Acorn Stakes on May 10, 1975, she had never run as long as a full mile. But in winning the Coaching Club and taking the Triple Tiara on June 22, she had run a mile and a half -- the same length as the Belmont Stakes, whose length has given it the name "the true test of champions."

It wasn't just that she was undefeated: She won big. Her 10 races were won by an average distance of 8.3 lengths. She won the Mother Goose by 13 1/2. And in every stakes race she ran, she set a new record for that race. This was the closest thing that fillies had ever had to Secretariat, who had blown away the competing colts to win the Triple Crown 2 years earlier.

The question was asked: Could the best filly in the country defeat the best colt in a match race?

Match races are rare. There had been 4 big ones in the 20th Century:

* 1920: Belmont Stakes winner Man o' War over the previous year's Triple Crown winner Sir Barton, at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit.

* 1923: Preakness and Belmont winner Zev over Epsom Derby winner Papyrus, at Belmont Park.

* 1938: West Coast champion Seabiscuit over the previous year's Triple Crown winner War Admiral (a son of Man o' War), at Pimlico in Baltimore.

* 1955: Preakness and Belmont winner Nashua over Kentucky Derby winner Swaps, at Washington Park in Chicago in 1955.

So a match race between Ruffian and a leading colt would be the first major match race will full television coverage.

Her trainer, Frank Whiteley, had preferred to take her up to Saratoga, and run her against colts in the Travers Stakes, America's leading Summer thoroughbred race. "Prove the point one time, and that'll be it," he said. But her owners, Stuart and Barbara Janney, overruled him, because the money from a match race against the top colt in the country was too good to pass up. Stuart did insist that it take place on her usual home track, Belmont.

So it was set up for Sunday, July 6: Ruffian, wearing Number 2, would take on Foolish Pleasure, wearing Number 1. Foolish Pleasure, bred, foaled and trained in Florida, was a first cousin of Ruffian: Each was a grandchild of Bold Ruler.

Foolish Pleasure won the Kentucky Derby by making a late charge to beat Avatar, finished 2nd to the not-quite-aptly-named Master Derby in the Preakness, and finished 2nd to Avatar in the Belmont. Given this record, he was probably the best 3-year-old thoroughbred colt in the country, but it was hardly definitive.

Foolish Pleasure

There was another issue: Both horses had the same jockey, Jacinto Vásquez, a 31-year-old native of Panama. He had to make a choice, and he chose Ruffian, which spoke volumes. After all, he probably knew each horse as well as its owners and trainers, and he was certainly the only person who knew the tendencies, and the emotional makeups, of both horses.

So Braulio Baeza, 35 and also from Panama, was hired to ride Foolish Pleasure. He had won the 1961 Belmont Stakes aboard Sherluck, both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont in 1963 aboard Chateaugay, and the 1969 Belmont aboard Arts and Letters. So he was certainly familiar with Belmont, its track and its atmosphere. His win aboard Chateaugay made him the 1st Hispanic jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. If he wasn't the best possible choice, he was certainly a very good one.

Belmont Park, which originally opened in 1905, had been rebuilt, and reopened in 1968 with a 33,000-seat grandstand, and, with infield seating, necessary for the Belmont Stakes, could seat over 100,000 people. The infield seating was needed again, as over 50,000 people came to see "The Great Match." Another 20 million watched on ABC, obliterating the record for TV viewership of a horse race set at the 1973 Belmont Stakes won by Secretariat.

The odds on Ruffian were 20-1. Horse racing oddsmakers are usually older men, and they seemed sure that there was no way any filly could beat a champion colt. But Vásquez knew better than anyone, because he had ridden both horses, and he chose Ruffian because he genuinely believed she was the better horse. The winner-take-all prize: $350,000. (About $1.93 million in 2022 money.)

The horses broke from the starting gate. But Ruffian did not do so straight, bumping her shoulder on the gate before straightening out. If that had been the worst of it, it would have been a footnote: Even if she had run the race to its conclusion and lost, that probably wouldn't have been considered the reason.

The 1st quarter-mile was run in 22 1/5th seconds, and Ruffian was ahead by a nose. A furlong later, she had a lead of half a length. It was too soon to tell if she would hold the lead the whole way.

Just then, both jockeys heard a sound that they described as a crack. A bird had flown across the infield, distracting Ruffian, and she took a bad step. She had broken both of the sesamoid bones in her right foreleg.

Vásquez, not possessed of X-ray vision, didn't know exactly what was wrong, but he knew horses well enough to know that this was a devastating injury. He tried to pull her up, to get her to stop. But this horse that loved to run, apparently not yet feeling the pain, kept going. This further damaged the leg's bones, and tore its ligaments. Vásquez finally got her to stop, and Baeza guided Foolish Pleasure to a win in what amounted to a walkover.

Ruffian was loaded onto an ambulance, and taken to Belmont Park's veterinary clinic. Surgery on her leg took 12 hours, and she had to be revived twice. The next day's first edition of the New York Daily News, sent to press while Ruffian was still alive, printed a hopeful, if tasteless, secondary headline.

But in her padded recovery stall, she kept flailing her legs, knocking the plaster cast against the wall, until it came loose. Her continued flailing undid all the surgery. The doctors concluded that she could not survive another operation. She was euthanized in the middle of the night. Later editions of newspapers had to print the awful truth. 

This was something relatively new in American sports. There had been deaths on the field of play before, but most of them happened before television came along (as with baseball player Ray Chapman in 1920), or had only happened on local TV, with the footage not preserved due to the high cost of videotape (such as happened to hockey player Bill Masterton in 1968, and a few football players in the 1960s and early '70s). Ruffian didn't die during the race, but she died as a result of it, and the announcers let the audience know that it could happen.

Some of the 20 million people watching on TV were women who had never watched a horse race before, not even with Secretariat, but were watching because Ruffian was a girl going up against the best of the boys. Many of the viewers, men and women alike, swore they would never watch another horse race.

Sure enough, in spite of 2 more Triple Crown winners in the decade -- Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978, and the dramatic story of the 1980 Kentucky Derby (more about that in a moment), TV viewership of horse racing severely declined. So did live attendance, as the growth of cable TV led to more sports viewing opportunities without having to leave your house.

Up until the dawn of the TV era, horse racing was the 3rd-most popular sport in America, behind baseball and boxing. Even in 1975, with football having surpassed everything, horse racing was still more popular than basketball and hockey. Now, despite 2 Triple Crown winners in the 2010s, it might not even be one of the top 10 sports.

Ruffian was buried in the infield at Belmont, with her nose pointing toward the finish line. She is the only horse laid to rest there. The following year, the Ruffian Handicap was founded, and was run annually at Belmont until 2009. In 2010, it was moved to Saratoga. In 2014, it was moved back to Belmont. The veterinary clinic at Belmont, where Ruffian died, is now named Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists, run by Weill Cornell Medicine, of Cornell University.

Foolish Pleasure, forever to be remembered for a race that, officially, never took place, raced as a 4-year-old, and was retired to stud. He died of a stomach ailment at a ranch in Wyoming in 1994.

In 1980, Jacinto Vásquez accomplished something that he hadn't done even with Ruffian: He won the Kentucky Derby aboard a filly, Genuine Risk. The 2 Kentucky Derbies he won would be the only Triple Crown races he won.

In 1976, Baeza rode Honest Pleasure, another first cousin of Foolish Pleasure, to a 2nd-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. After finishing 5th in the Preakness with Honest Pleasure, he finished the season, and retired with 3,140 wins.

That year, he was elected to the National Racing Hall of Fame. So was Ruffian. Vásquez kept racing until 1996 -- racing into one's 50s is not unusual for a jockey -- and retired with 5,231 wins. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998. As of July 6, 2022, Baeza is 82, and Vásquez is 78.

The racing magazine The Blood-Horse ranked Ruffian as the top female thoroughbred racehorse of the 20th Century -- but only 35th overall on their list of the top 100 thoroughbreds. Foolish Pleasure was ranked 97th.

A film titled Ruffian was made in 2007. Sam Shepard played Whiteley, Nicholas Pryor played Stuart Janney, Christine Belford played Barbara Janney, Vladimir Diaz played Vásquez, Francisco Torres played Baeza, Frank Whaley played Sports Illustrated racing writer William Nack, and original track announcer Dave Johnson, needing only to provide a repeat of his announcing, not needing to show his older face, played himself.

There would not be another match race in America until July 23, 1988, at Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack in Omaha, Nebraska. (Ak-Sar-Ben, also the name of an adjacent sports arena, is "Nebraska" spelled backwards. Both the arena and the track have since been demolished.) Again, it was a "Battle of the Sexes," but neither horse had won any Triple Crown races. The colt Who Doctor Who beat the filly Explosive Girl by 3 1/2 lengths.

*

July 6, 1975 was a Sunday. Elsewhere in Queens that day, Curtis Jackson was born. He went on to become the rapper 50 Cent.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at Shea Stadium, where they played "home games" while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3. Ken Singleton, later a Yankee broadcaster, provided the Orioles' only run with a solo home run. No Yankee homered, but Graig Nettles went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Pat Dobson outpitched Mike Cuellar. Both men went the distance.

In 1971, while with the Orioles, Dobson was part of a unique achievement: He, Cuellar, Jim Palmer and Dave McNally all won 20 games that season, the only time a single team has had 4 20-game winners in the same year. The Orioles won the American League Pennant, but lost the World Series.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Rusty Staub and Mike Phillips hit home runs for the Metropolitans, and Dick Allen hit one for the Phils.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Boston Red Sox won the opener, 5-3, despite Carl Yastrzemski going 0-for-5. The Cleveland Indians won the nightcap, 11-10. Yaz was held out of it. Indians manager Frank Robinson, not yet retired as a player, did not enter either game.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, 7-5 and 11-2. Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 3-for-9 with an RBI, but no home runs.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 18-12 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The wind must have been blowing out that day. The Pirates got homers from Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Rennie Stennett and Bob Robertson. The Cubs got them from Jerry Morales and Rick Monday.

* The Texas Rangers swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, 4-2 and 7-0. Gaylord Perry pitched a 7-hit shutout in the nightcap. (Cough-spitball-cough.) Rod Carew went 3-for-8 with an RBI in the twinbill, and Toby Harrah homered in each game for the Rangers.

* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 13-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The Big Red Machine, on their way to winning the World Series, hit no home runs on this day, but got 3 hits each from Pete Rose and Joe Morgan, and 2 each from Ken Griffey Sr., George Foster and Bill Plummer, who was substituting at catcher for Johnny Bench.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Dick Lange and Don Kirkwood combined on a 6-hit shutout, beating Vida Blue. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.

June 11, 1919: The 1st Thoroughbred Triple Crown

June 11, 1919: For the 1st time, a horse wins American thoroughbred racing's "Triple Crown." Except it barely gets noticed at the time.

It used to be that the 3 biggest sports in America were baseball, boxing, and horse racing, "the Sport of Kings." And its 3 biggest races became known as the "Triple Crown." Those races are the Kentucky Derby, traditionally run on the 1st Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky, a mile and one-quarter; the Preakness Stakes, usually run 2 Saturdays later at Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, a mile and three-sixteenths; and the Belmont Stakes, usually run on the 1st Saturday in June at Belmont Park, just outside the New York City Line in Elmont, Long Island, New York, a race known due to its distance, a mile and a half, as "the true test of champions."

The Belmont was founded in 1867, the Preakness in 1873, and the Kentucky Derby in 1875, so it's been since 1875 that the achievement has been possible. Winning 2 of the 3 had happened 5 times:

* In 1877, Cloverbrook won the Preakness and the Belmont, but Baden-Baden won the Derby.

* In 1878, Duke of Magenta won the Preakness and the Belmont, but Day Star won the Derby.

* In 1880, Grenada won the Preakness and the Belmont, but Fonso won the Derby.

* In 1881, Saunterer won the Preakness and the Belmont, but Hindoo won the Derby.

* In 1895, Belmar won the Preakness and the Belmont, but Halma won the Derby.

Sir Barton was a chestnut colt, foaled on April 26, 1916 in Kentucky. One of his grandfathers was Isinglass, which, in 1893, had won the English version of the Triple Crown: The 2,000 Guineas Stakes, 1 mile, at Newmarket Racecourse in Newmarket, Suffolk, East Anglia; The Derby, a.k.a. the Epsom Derby, 1 mile 4 furlongs and 10 yards, at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Epsom, Surrey; and the St Leger Stakes, 1 mile 6 furlongs and 132 yards, at Town Moor in Doncaster, Yorkshire.

Sir Barton ran only 5 races as a 2-year-old, and didn't win any of them, although he finished 2nd in his last. His 1st race as a 3-year-old was the Kentucky Derby, on May 10, 1919, with Johnny Loftus, a 24-year-old Chicagoan, aboard. He led the race from start to finish, and won by 5 lengths. The Preakness Stakes would be only 4 days later, on May 14, rather than the modern 2-week difference. (This may have been a reason why no horse had ever won both in the same year -- until now.) Again, he led the whole way, and won by 4 lengths.

In the modern era, letting a horse race in the 2 weeks between the Derby and the Preakness, or in the 3 weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont, would be considered lunacy, too great a risk to the horse. But Sir Barton was run in the Withers Stakes, a 1-mile race at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, and he won it. (The Withers is still run at Aqueduct, but has been lengthened to a mile and 1/16th.)

The Belmont was on June 11. At the time, it was shorter than now: 1 and 3/8ths miles. He still managed to win it. That was 4 wins, including all 3 Triple Crown races, in 32 days. That has never been matched.

It took a while for the Triple Crown to become a big deal: Man o' War, considered the greatest racehorse of all time when he ran in 1920, and while he won both the Preakness and the Belmont, his owner thought it was too soon too risk running him in the Derby. (Man o' War ran 21 races, and won 20. The horse that beat him was named Upset, but the term "upset" for an unexpected win in sport was already in common use, so it wasn't named after the horse.)

The Triple Crown was won again by Gallant Fox in 1930, Omaha in 1935, War Admiral in 1937, Whirlaway in 1941, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946, and Citation in 1948. Citation, in particular, had been so dominant, that when racing fans were asked to name the greatest thoroughbred of all time, he was the 1st one to seriously challenge Man o' War for the title.

From 1949 to 1972, there were 7 horses that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but not the Belmont: Tim Tam in 1958, Carry Back in 1961, Northern Dancer in 1964, Kauai King in 1966, Forward Pass in 1968, Majestic Prince in 1969, and Cañonero II in 1971. But the 1970s saw 3 horses take all 3: Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, and Affirmed in 1978. There was another long drought, before American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015, and Justify did it in 2018.

In 1920, Sir Barton ran 12 races, winning 5. On October 12, a match race was set between him and Man o' War at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, across the river from Detroit. Kenilworth had a hard surface, harder than Sir Barton was used to, and Man o' War beat him by 7 lengths.

Sir Barton was retired to stud at a farm in Berryville, Virginia, and lived until October 30, 1937, at age 20. Loftus lived until 1976, age 80.

*

June 11, 1919 was a Wednesday. This would seem odd to modern readers, who are used to the Triple Crown races being held on Saturdays. These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-0 at the Polo Grounds. Jack Quinn pitched a 5-hit shutout. He would still be with the Yankees to help them win their 1st American League Pennant in 1921, although he was traded after the season. He would finally pitch on a World Series winner in 1929 -- at the age of 46. And he threw his last major league pitch on July 7, 1933, 6 days after his 50th birthday. He went 247-218 over his career.

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Redland Field (later Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while they were managed by Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931) lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Claude "Lefty" Williams pitched a 6-hit shutout, beating Carl Mays. By the end of September 1920, each of those men's reputations would be ruined. Babe Ruth did not appear in the game. His reputation would be just fine.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. George Sisler went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-3 at American League Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Tris Speaker went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2 at Weeghman Park (later Wrigley Field) in Chicago.

* And the Boston Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Robison Field in St. Louis.

June 9, 1973: Secretariat Wins the Triple Crown

June 9, 1973: The Belmont Stakes is held at Belmont Park, just over the New York City line in Elmont, Nassau County, New York. The big story: Secretariat is going for the Triple Crown.

Secretariat was born on March 30, 1970, at Meadow Stud in Caroline County, Virginia, the son of Something Royal and Bold Ruler, winner of the 1957 Preakness Stakes. (Being a son of Bold Ruler also made Secretariat an uncle of Kentucky Derby winners Dust Commander, Cannonade, Foolish Pleasure, Bold Forbes, Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid; and of Ruffian, the leading filly of the 1970s.) He was born with a "star" with a narrow stripe on his nose, and 3 of his 4 legs had "white socks."

Meadow Stud's owner, Penny Chenery, asked her secretary, Elizabeth Ham, for suggestions for a name. Mrs. Ham was an old lady who had worked at the Secretariat of the League of Nations -- the failed attempt at a peacekeeping organization after World War I, which led to the United Nations being founded after World War II, and it has its own Secretariat -- and she suggested "Secretariat." So that's what was chosen.

But Secretariat grew to be a big horse, with a gorgeous dark brown coat that looked red from a distance. So "Big Red" was an obvious nickname.

He made his 1st race on July 4, 1972 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York City, and finished 4th. But 11 days later, he ran at Aqueduct again, and won. After 2 races with Paul Feliciano aboard, he was given a new jockey, a 31-year-old French-Canadian named Ron Turcotte. He wore the colors of Meadow Stud: Blue and white checks on the body, blue and white stripes down the sleeves.

Secretariat ran 7 more races as a 2-year-old, winning all but 1, missing that 1 by just 2 lengths. He entered 1973 as the leading 3-year-old horse in the country, a favorite to win the "Triple Crown" races.

Those races are the Kentucky Derby, traditionally run on the 1st Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky, a mile and one-quarter; the Preakness Stakes, usually run 2 Saturdays later at Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, a mile and three-sixteenths; and the Belmont Stakes, usually run on the 1st Saturday in June at Belmont Park, known due to its distance, a mile and a half, as "the true test of champions."

In 1919, Sir Barton became the 1st horse to win all 3 in a single year, and it became known as "the Triple Crown of American thoroughbred racing." For fillies, each of those tracks hosts a race the day before, known as the Triple Tiara: The Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, and the Acorn Stakes.

Secretariat began his 3-year-old season at Aqueduct, winning the Bay Shore Stakes on March 17 and the Gotham Stakes on April 7, but only finished 3rd, 4 lengths back, at the Wood Memorial on April 21. Along with the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park outside Miami, and the Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park outside Los Angeles, the Wood is considered one of the major warmups for the Triple Crown races. Each of the 3 is a mile and one-eighth, a little shorter than the Kentucky Derby, but slightly longer than the Preakness. And Secretariat hadn't won it.

So, on May 5, 1973, he went into the paddock at Churchill Downs, wearing Number 1A, as a joint entry with another Meadow Stud horse, Angle Light, as the favorite with odds of 3-2 (or one and a half to one). He won the race in 1 minute, 59 and 2/5ths seconds. Each quarter-mile was faster than the last: Secretariat was running faster at the end. Runner-up Sham was 2 1/2 lengths back.

It wasn't just a record: It was the 1st time the Kentucky Derby, the most famous American horse race, billing itself as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports," had been run in under 2 minutes since its mile-and-a-quarter length was set. It would take until 2001 before another horse ran the Derby in under 2 minutes, Monarchos. Secretariat's record still stands.

On May 19, Secretariat went into the Preakness as a 3-10 favorite, wearing Number 3. He won it in 1:53, a new record. Again, Sham was 2 1/2 lengths behind, and also broke the previous record.

Horse racing had been in a bit of a slump. It used to be that the 3 biggest sports in America were baseball, boxing, and horse racing, "the Sport of Kings." It helped that there had been 6 Triple Crown winners in 19 years between 1930 and 1948. But there hadn't been any since.

It took a while for the Triple Crown to become a big deal: Man o' War was considered the greatest racehorse of all time when he ran in 1920, and while he won both the Preakness and the Belmont, his owner thought it was too soon too risk running him in the Derby. (Man o' War ran 21 races, and won 20. The horse that beat him was named Upset, but the term "upset" for an unexpected win in sport was already in common use, so it wasn't named after the horse.)

The Triple Crown was won again by Gallant Fox in 1930, Omaha in 1935, War Admiral in 1937, Whirlaway in 1941, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946, and Citation in 1948. Citation, in particular, had been so dominant, that when racing fans were asked to name the greatest thoroughbred of all time, he was the 1st one to seriously challenge Man o' War for the title.

From 1949 to 1972, there were 7 horses that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but not the Belmont: Tim Tam in 1958, Carry Back in 1961, Northern Dancer in 1964, Kauai King in 1966, Forward Pass in 1968, Majestic Prince in 1969, and Cañonero II in 1971.

It had been 25 years since Citation did it. Could it be done again? Secretariat was big, and he was fast, and he loved to run. But he had never run a mile and a half before. (Then again, most Derby and Preakness contenders, let alone winners, don't run that far until they get to the Belmont. And somebody has to win the mile-and-a-half race.) The story got huge, made bigger by the fact that Belmont Park is just outside New York City, so the New York media got involved.

The national media got involved: Secretariat's bid for the Triple Crown became a nice distraction from the growing national scandal of Watergate, and the unsatisfying end to the Vietnam War. An emotionally weary nation had found a hero who wasn't even human. But could he finish the job?

On June 9, 1973, wearing Number 2 -- an omen that he would finish 2nd, not 1st? -- Ron Turcotte mounted Secretariat, and guided him into the paddock at Belmont. There were only 5 horses in the field. The odds were 1-10: Secretariat was considered so likely to win the race, a 10-dollar bet would win you only 1 dollar.

A crowd of 69,138 packed into the stands. Millions more watched on CBS. The weather was warm, but not hot. The Sun was out. The track was fast. The conditions could not have been better for a good race.

The gates were opened, and, as expected, Secretariat and Sham were the fastest, Secretariat on the inside. The 1st quarter-mile was run in 23 and 3/5th seconds; the 2nd, in 22 and 3/5ths. Together, they were 10 lengths ahead of the other horses.

In the 3rd quarter-mile, Sham began to lag, and would finish last. Secretariat, on the other hand, picked up speed. Charles "Chic" Anderson, describing the race for CBS, delivered the most famous commentary in the history of any race, be it man, animal or automobile:

They're on the turn, and Secretariat is blazing along! The first three-quarters of a mile are 1:09 and 4/5ths! Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine! Secretariat by 12! Secretariat by 14 lengths on the turn!

Secretariat broke the Belmont Stakes 1st-mile record set by his father, Bold Ruler, in 1957: 1 minute, 34 and 1/5th second. Except Bold Ruler ran out of gas, and finished 3rd. Secretariat did not: Anderson yelled, "Secretariat is all alone! He's out there, almost a sixteenth of a mile away from the other horses!"

Looking at the footage now, from a 21st Century perspective, following some racing tragedies, including that of Barbaro in the 2004 Preakness -- and having seen enough TV shows and movies featuring time travel -- even though I knew it was settled history, it was easy to think, "Don't break down. You're doing this magnificent thing, don't ruin it by breaking down. Please, God, don't let him break down."

But, as Doctor Who would say, it was a fixed point in time. Secretariat did not break down. He kept going and going. When he crossed the finish line, Anderson said he'd won by 25 lengths. That would have matched the record set by Triple Crown winner Count Fleet in 1943. In fact, it was 31 lengths. The time was 2 minutes, 24 seconds even. That's an average speed of 37.5 miles per hour. The greatest race any horse has ever run.

The performance was so spectacular, the fact that he'd just won the 1st Triple Crown in a quarter of a century became secondary. It's like asking someone who remembers the 1956 World Series, "Who won it?" and being told about Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5, before being told the Yankees won it in 7.

Did I say, "perfect"? That night, Jack Whitaker, part of CBS' broadcast team, received a phone call from Jack Nicklaus, who was preparing to defend his title at golf's U.S. Open the following weekend, at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh. (Johnny Miller ended up winning it.)

Nicklaus: "Jack, I gotta tell you, when I saw Secretariat running, I had tears in my eyes."

Whitaker: "That's because you've been pursuing perfection your whole life, and you finally saw it."

How can you follow up something like that? You couldn't. Not then: There would be no Breeders' Cup until 1984. Secretariat ran 6 more races, before retiring at the end of that season. He won 4 of them: The Arlington Invitational outside Chicago, the Marlboro Cup and the Man o' War Stakes back at Belmont, and the Canadian International at Woodbine in Toronto. His career record: 21 races, 1st in 16, 2nd in 3, 3rd in 1, 4th in 1. Earnings: $1,316,808 -- about $8.6 million in 2022 money.

The Triple Crown was subsequently won by Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978. Another long drought with several near-misses (horses winning the Derby and the Preakness, but not the Belmont) followed, until the Triple Crown was again won, by American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018.

Unlike his father, Bold Ruler, Secretariat did not have many champion descendants. His grandson, A.P. Indy, won the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1992; Indy's son Rags to Riches won the Belmont in 2007; and Indy's great-grandson California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 2014.

Secretariat had been retired to stud at Claiborne Farm, outside Paris, Kentucky. He developed a hoof infection called laminitis, and did not respond to a month's worth of treatment. He was euthanized on October 4, 1989, at the age of 17. He was buried at Claiborne.

(Barring such infections, an average lifespan for a racehorse is between 25 and 28. Silver Charm, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 1997, is the oldest living winner of either of those races, at 28. The oldest living winner of any of the 3 is Editor's Note, 29, winner of the 1996 Belmont.)

In 2005, ESPN ranked the Top 20 greatest individual sports performances ever. Secretariat's Belmont win came in 2nd, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. ESPN also estimates that Secretariat has had more streets in the United States named after him than any other athlete: 263. (There are probably more streets named Ruth, but most of them are not named for Babe Ruth. Many real estate developers name streets after their children.)

Statues of Secretariat now stand outside the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga, New York; the Kentucky Horse Park and Keeneland Race Course, both in Lexington, Kentucky; and, with Turcotte aboard, in Turcotte's hometown of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada.

Unfortunately, Turcotte himself had a grand fall: During a 1978 race at Belmont, he fell from his mount, and was paralyzed. As of June 9, 2022, he is 80 years old, still lives in Grand Falls, and is an advocate for disability research.

Turcotte at Secretariat's statue at the Kentucky Horse Park

In 1975, Sports Illustrated horse racing writer William Nack, who covered every race "Big Red" ever ran, published Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. In 2010, it served as the basis for the film Secretariat. Diane Lane starred as Penny Chenery, real-life jockey Otto Thorwarth played Turcotte, Kevin Connolly played Nack, and the horse that played Secretariat was not identified.

*

June 9, 1973 was a Saturday. Football was out of season. Both the NBA and the NHL awarded their titles a month earlier. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-4 at the new Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) The Yankees scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th to win it.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. The inning began with Roy White drawing a walk. Matty Alou grounded to 1st, advancing White. Bobby Murcer drew a walk. Ron Blomberg singled White home. Jim Ray Hart drew a walk to load the bases. Graig Nettles drew the 4th walk of the inning, forcing Murcer home. Thurman Munson grounded to 3rd, and Blomberg was out at home, but the bases were still loaded. A 5th walk was drawn by Gene Michael, forcing home Alou. And Horace Clarke singled home Nettles and Munson. Pat Dobson was the winning pitcher, in relief of Fred Beene.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at Shea Stadium. Jon Matlack outpitched Al Downing. Willie Mays hit the 655th home run of his career.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-6 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 4-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Ken Brett was the winning pitcher, and hit a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4. So did Harmon Killebrew. Rod Carew went 2-for-5.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-2 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Hank Aaron hit the 687th and 688th home runs of his career. Joe Torre went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Lou Brock went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk. The Cards couldn't win despite having players named Mike Tyson (a white shortstop) and Spinks (Scipio Spinks, a black pitcher from Chicago, no relation to Leon and Michael, who were from St. Louis.)

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Tony Pérez hit a home run. Pete Rose went 0-for-5, but did have an RBI on a groundout. Joe Morgan went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 12-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with an RBI. He did not hit a home run for the Red Sox, but Carlton Fisk, Tommy Harper and Orlando Cepeda did.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 4-1. Willie Stargell went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 1-0 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edison International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.) Jim Colborn and Frank Linzy combined on a 4-hit shutout. Rudy May allowed only 2 hits, but lost because 1 of them was a home run by Ollie Brown. Frank Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk for the Angels.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Ken Holtzman pitched a 2-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Al Kaline went 0-for-3.

And Tedy Bruschi, a linebacker who would win 3 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, was born on this day. So was Keesha Sharp, who played Monica Charles Brooks on the sitcom Girlfriends.

June 8, 1935: Omaha Wins the Triple Crown

June 8, 1935: Omaha becomes the 3rd horse to win American thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. The 2nd was his father, Gallant Fox. They remain the only father and son to win the Triple Crown.

Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Omaha was trained by "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, just as Gallant Fox was. He was ridden by William "Smokey" Saunders, who would become the 1st Canadian jockey to win the Triple Crown. (Ron Turcotte, aboard Secretariat in 1973, would become the 2nd.) He won only 1 race as a 2-year-old, but finished 2nd in a few, suggesting hope for his 3-year-old season.

Despite a weak finish in the Wood Memorial, and a sloppy track at Churchill Downs, Omaha won the Kentucky Derby by a length and a half over Roman Soldier. The Preakness Stakes was run only 1 week later, and Omaha won it by 6 lengths over Firehorn. Famously, Omaha wouldn't stay still for the victory photo.

Between the Preakness and the Belmont, Omaha was run in the Withers Stakes, at Aqueduct in Queens, and lost to Rosemont by a length and a half. The Belmont was 12 days later, 7 miles to the east. Rosemont and Firethorn were both entered. But it rained, and the track was muddy, just like in the Derby, just the way Omaha liked it. He started slow, but put on a stretch run, and beat Firethorn by a length and a half, with Rosemont further back. The Triple Crown was won.

In 1936, as a 4-year-old, he was put on a ship to England, and, running on grass for the 1st time, and running clockwise for the 1st time, won his 1st 2 races, and finished 2nd in the next 2, after which he was retired to stud.

His sons never won any major races, but his later descendants have included 3 Kentucky Derby winners -- which, of course, are also counted among the descendants of Gallant Fox. Omaha died in 1959, Fitzsimmons in 1966, and Saunders in 1986.

*

June 8, 1935 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The New York Yankees won the opener, 12-6. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 4-2. Over the 2 games, Lou Gehrig went 4-for-5 with a home run, 3 walks and 5 RBIs.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were leading the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 after 5 innings at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, when the game was called due to rain.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 4-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 14-8 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Hank Greenberg hit a home run, and the Tigers went on to win the World Series, anyway.

* The St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader from their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 and 6-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. In the bottom of the 9th of the 1st game, Jack Rothrock singled, and Johnny "Pepper" Martin scored on a subsequent error. James "Ripper" Collins won the 2nd game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Jay "Dizzy" Dean did not pitch in either game. His brother, Paul Dean, who hated being called "Daffy," started the 1st game, was relieved, didn't get to be the winning pitcher, then got to be the winning pitcher in relief in the 2nd game.

* And the New York Giants and the Boston Braves were supposed to play at the Polo Grounds, but got rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 4. The Giants swept, 9-2 and 3-1. Hal Schumacher won the opener, Carl Hubbell the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Giant player-manager Bill Terry went 2-for-8 with 2 RBIs, and Mel Ott went 2-for-7 with 2 walks. Travis Jackson went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs in the 1st game, before Terry gave him the 2nd game off.

June 7, 1941: Whirlaway Wins the Triple Crown

June 7, 1941: The Belmont Stakes is run at Belmont Stakes in Elmont, Long Island, New York. The Triple Crown is on the line.

Whirlaway was one of many champion thoroughbred racehorses bred at Calumet Farm, outside Lexington, Kentucky. His sire was Blenheim, who won the 1930 Epsom Derby in England. Trained by Ben A. Jones, and ridden by Eddie Arcaro, he won 4 stakes races as a 2-year-old, and was named the American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.

On May 3, 1941, he entered the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, and won it in 2 minutes, 1 and 2/5ths seconds, a record at the time. He won the race by 8 lengths, tying a record which still stands. Two weeks later, on May 17, he won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

He was considered such a favorite in the Belmont that only 3 other horses entered: Robert Morris, Yankee Chance, and Itabo. At post time, the odds on "Mr. Longtail" (his tail was exceptionally long for a thoroughbred) were 1-4. That's not a typographical error: One to four. He won in 2 minutes and 31 seconds, by 2 1/2 lengths over Robert Morris.

He had become the 5th horse to win the Triple Crown. Then, he did something not done before or since: He went up to Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York, and won the Travers Stakes. No other horse has won all 4 races, although the feat was called "The Superfecta" rather than "The Grand Slam" like in tennis or golf.

Arcaro was suspended for the 1942 racing season, for racing infractions. George Woolf, who had previously stepped in for the injured Red Pollard to ride Seabiscuit to some big wins, became Whirlaway's rider.

Alsab was also a Kentucky-bred horse. He was the 2-year-old champion in 1941, and in 1942, ridden by Basil James, he won the Preakness, finishing 2nd Shut Out in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont.

It might have made sense, in an era when match races, races between 2 major thoroughbred horses, were occasionally done, to match up Whirlaway and Shut Out, winners of 5 of the last 6 Triple Crown races. Instead, one was set up for September 19, 1942, at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island -- 6 miles northeast of downtown Providence, and 41 miles southwest of Boston -- between Whirlaway and Alsab, who, despite being only 2, finished 2nd to Whirlaway for Turf and Sport Digest magazine's Horse of the Year award the year before. Alsab won in a photo finish.

Nevertheless, the horses opposed each other in one more race before the year was out, and Whirlaway won. It may have made a difference, as Whirlaway, having won 12 races on the year to Alsab's 9, was named Horse of the Year again. Whirlaway lived until 1953, Alsab until 1963.

In 1948, Eddie Arcaro rode Citation, making him the only jockey ever to ride 2 Triple Crown winners. He lived until 1997.

*

June 7, 1941 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Yankees led 6-4 going to the bottom of the 8th inning, but the Browns scored 3 runs off Spud Chandler, in relief of Lefty Gomez, to take a 7-6 lead. Then the Yankees scored 5 in the top of the 9th. Charley Stanceu was the winning pitcher. The losing pitcher was former Yankee Johnny Allen.

Charlie Keller went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 4 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-5 with an RBI. This was the 22nd game of his hitting streak, and people were beginning to notice. It would reach a record 56.

* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-3 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3 at Ebbets Field. Pete Reiser hit a home run.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 5-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Cy Blanton allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-2 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 10-6 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. The Tigers' Hank Greenberg had recently become the 1st big star in baseball to enlist in the U.S. armed forces.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Williams went 1-for-4 with a walk. He was batting .431. Then he went into a slump, finishing at .406.

June 7, 1930: Gallant Fox Wins the Triple Crown

June 7, 1930: Gallant Fox becomes the 2nd horse to win American thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.

Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Gallant Fox was trained by "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, and ridden by Earl Sande. He won 2 races as a 2-year-old, and won the Wood Memorial as a warmup to the Triple Crown races.

In 1930, the Preakness Stakes was run first, and Gallant Fox won it by 3/4ers of a length over Crack Brigade. Two weeks later, the Kentucky Derby was held in a driving rain, and Gallant Fox won it by 2 lengths over Gallant Knight, his half-brother. (Both were sons of Sir Galahad III, whose wins did not include any Triple Crown races, but he became the leading sire of champion racehorses in his time.) It was Sande's 3rd Derby win, having won aboard Zev in 1923 and Flying Ebony in 1925.

Three weeks later, at Belmont Park, Gallant Fox was actually not the favorite at the Belmont, despite having won the Wood Memorial at nearby Jamaica Race Course. (It was moved to Aqueduct, also in Queens, in 1960.) The favorite was Whichone, the Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of the year before. Injured and unable to compete at Pimlico and Churchill Downs, he had won the Withers Stakes at Belmont, and so was considered to have the "home-field advantage." Gallant Fox won the race by 3 lengths.

In July, Gallant Fox raced against Gallant Knight again, in the Arlington Classic at Arlington Park outside Chicago, and won by a neck. He was beaten by Jim Dandy by 8 lengths in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August, but won his last 3 races of the year, the last being the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont.

He was retired thereafter, and in 1935, his son, Omaha, won the Triple Crown. They remain the only father and son to do so. Gallant Fox died in 1954, Fitzsimmons in 1966, and Sande in 1968.

*

June 7, 1930 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 12-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Yankees scored 7 runs in the 1st inning, and never looked back. Ed Wells went the distance for the win. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig both hit home runs.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-7 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott had 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. Bill Terry went 1-for-5.

* The Brooklyn Robins beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-9 at Ebbets Field. (The Dodgers were known as the Robins when Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931.)

* The Boston Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 at Braves Field in Detroit. Paul Waner went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Lloyd Waner did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-0 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. George Uhle pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. Mickey Cochrane went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 12. The Reds swept, 9-5 and 6-1.

* And the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators were rained out at League Park in Cleveland. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 16. The Senators won the 1st game, 10-4. The Indians won the 2nd game, 13-6.

June 5, 2004: Smarty Jones: Choker, Or Cursed?

June 5, 2004: Even a horse was not immune to one of sports' most difficult "curses."

In 1894, a 37-foot-high statue of Pennsylvania founder William Penn was placed atop Philadelphia City Hall. At 548 feet high, this made the Hall the tallest building in the world until 1908. While many American cities embraced the concept of the skyscraper, a "gentlemen's agreement" forbade any structure in Philadelphia from rising above the hat on the Penn statue. The idea was that Penn could look out over his city, in any direction, without his view being blocked. (The statue, of course, is in a fixed position, facing northeast.)

With that agreement in place, the various Philadelphia teams won 16 World Championships between 1910 and 1983. On May 27, 1987, One Liberty Place broke the gentleman's agreement, rising to 945 feet. For the first time, something in the city could "block Billy Penn's view." Between then and October 29, 2008, 31 years, each Philadelphia team went to just 1 final, and lost them all. The city didn't even see one of its "Big 5" college basketball teams make the NCAA Final Four.

On June 5, 2004, the curse even extended to horse racing. Smarty Jones, a horse bred and trained in suburban Chester County, Pennsylvania, won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, with Canadian jockey Stewart Elliott aboard.

He was a rare horse who excited the country, and briefly brought thoroughbred horse racing back into the first tier of American sports fans' consciousness. And, because Philadelphia fans love their own, even if they're suburban, the entire Delaware Valley was behind him as he headed to Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, New York for the Belmont Stakes, in search of the Triple Crown, which hadn't been won since Affirmed did it 26 years earlier.

However, he fell short. He led most of the way, including at the start, and with about a quarter of a mile to go in the mile-and-a-half "True Test of Champions," led by 4 lengths. But Birdstone came up on the outside, made a tremendous run, and Smarty Jones couldn't keep it going, losing by 1 length.

Smarty Jones (9) and Birdstone (4)

Birdstone was a grandson of Unbridled, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1990. Birdstone and Smarty Jones were 2nd cousins, as both horses were great-grandsons of Mr. Prospector. He didn't win too many big races -- he was the same age as Secretariat, and didn't enter any of the 1973 Triple Crown races -- but became one of the leading sires of racehorses, and his descendants have won many of those races.

Also 2nd cousins of Smarty Jones and Birdstone were 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, and 2005 Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex.

Having watched the 2004 Belmont again, for the sake of writing this post, I have to give Birdstone, jockey Edgar Prado, and trainer Nick Zito a lot of credit. The horse ran a fantastic race. Smarty Jones may have "run out of gas," but he didn't "choke." He simply got beat.

Someone must have decided that enough was enough. On June 18, 2007, ironworkers helped raise the final beam in the construction of the 974-foot Comcast Center. In addition to the Philadelphia tradition of finishing a building with an American flag and a small evergreen tree, they attached a statue of William Penn. Now, atop the new tallest building in town, his view was, again, unblocked. A little more than a year later, on October 29, 2008, the Phillies won the World Series.

In 2018, a few months after the Philadelphia Eagles finally won a Super Bowl, a new tallest building in the city opened: The Comcast Technology Center, at 1,121 feet, making it the tallest building in America not in either New York City or Chicago. As with its predecessor and sort-of namesake, a small statue of William Penn was put on top, just in case.

As of June 5, 2022, Smarty Jones is alive, and living at Equistar Farm outside Annville, Pennsylvania.

*

June 5, 2004 was a Saturday. Former President Ronald Reagan died on this day, at the age of 93. At that point, he was the longest-living President of the United States.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played that day. The Calgary Flames led the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3 games to 2, and Game 6 was at the Saddledome in Calgary. With just under 7 minutes to play in regulation, and the score tied, 2-2, Martin Gelinas, who already had 3 game-winning goals in the Playoffs, put the puck over the goal line before Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin pushed it out with his stick. The officials did not give the goal, and the game went to overtime. Martin St. Louis scored 33 seconds into the 2nd overtime, and the Lightning won, 3-2. The Lightning won Game 7 and the Cup 2 nights later.

Game 1 was played in the NBA Finals, and it was also a shocker, but for very different, and totally legitimate, reasons. The Detroit Pistons beat a Los Angeles Lakers "superteam" of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, 87-75 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. It was one of those finals where Game 1 set the tone, and the Pistons won in 5.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Jon Lieber had a bad start. The only Yankee run came off a home run by former Ranger Rubén Sierra. Derek Jeter did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. The Mets led 5-2 after 6 innings, with 2 home runs from Mike Piazza, but blew it. A 9th-inning comeback fell short.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. 

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Adam Dunn hit a home run to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Gary Knotts pitched shutout ball for 7 2/3rds innings, allowing only 3 hits. Two relievers didn't add any more.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 10-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City royals, 8-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Barry Bonds went 1-for-1 with 3 walks, 2 of them intentional.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Ismael Valdéz pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Anaheim Angels, 3-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum). Tim Hudson allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were rained out at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 5. The O's swept, 4-2 and 8-2.