September 10, 2016: American Football's Biggest Crowd

September 10, 2016: The biggest crowd in the history of American football, at any level, is recorded. And not at a place known for hosting the sport.

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a.k.a. Virginia Tech, is in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their stadiums are 237 miles apart, separated by Interstates 81 and 40. However, they are not rivals, because they are in different leagues: Tennessee are in the Southeastern Conference (the SEC), Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the ACC).

Perhaps the fact that they are not rivals made this neutral-site game easier to set up. Tech's Lane Stadium seats 65,632. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium seats 101,915. But they set up a game against each other at a racetrack, the Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, 110 miles from Neyland Stadium, 138 miles from Lane Stadium, and 7 miles from the Virginia/Tennessee State Line that Bristol straddles. (Bristol, Virginia is home to 17,000 people; Bristol, Tennessee, to 26,000.)

The Speedway opened in 1961, is a regular on the NASCAR "short track" circuit, and is known as "The World's Fastest Half Mile." Officially, it seats 153,000. But when the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies played each other there on September 10, 2016, the attendance was a new record for a game of the sport the rest of the world calls "American football": 156,990.

The current NFL record is 112,376, for an exhibition game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 1994. The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0. The biggest crowd for a regular-season game was 105,121 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 20, 2009. The Cowboys lost this one, too, to the New York Giants, 33-31.

Here's what the 156,990 at "The Battle at Bristol" saw. Tech scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter, for a 14-0 lead. The Volunteers took over from there, scoring 31 unanswered points: 4 touchdowns and a field goal, making it 31-14. The Hokies added a field goal to close it to within 31-17 at the end of 3 quarters.

The Vols scored 2 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter. The Hokies added a touchdown, but that would be it: Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 24. Tech football is known for 2 things: Michael Vick and good defense. On this night, they had neither.

Tennessee went 9-4, staying at home for the postseason, winning the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Virginia Tech went 10-4, winning the Coastal Division of the ACC, losing the ACC Championship Game to Clemson, and winning the Belk Bowl (now the Duke's Mayo Bowl) in Charlotte.

*

September 10, 2016 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played that day:

* Number 1 Alabama beat Western Kentucky, 38-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Number 2 Clemson beat Troy, 30-24 at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 3 Florida State beat Charleston Southern at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat the University of Tulsa, 48-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

* Number 5 Michigan beat Central Florida, 51-14 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 6 University of Houston beat Lamar University, 42-0 at TDECU Stadium in Houston.

* Number 8 University of Washington beat Idaho, 59-14 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 9 Georgia beat Nicholls State, 26-24 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 10 Wisconsin beat the University of Akron, 54-1 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Number 15 Texas Christian (TCU) were upset by Arkansas at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

* Number 22 Oklahoma State were upset by Central Michigan, 30-27 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

* In a major rivalry, the University of Pittsburgh beat Penn State, 42-39 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* Among the service academies, Army beat Rice, 31-14 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat the University of Connecticut, 28-24 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force beat Georgia State, 48-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* And Rutgers beat Howard University, 52-14 at High Points Solutions Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

It was a little early for the NBA and NHL seasons to start. But these baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Masahiro Tanaka was the winning pitcher, and home runs were hit by two men who became pariahs among Yankee Fans, Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sánchez.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Adonis Garcia singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0 at Nationals Park in Washington. How many Nats pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? This time, 4: Max Scherzer, 6 2/3rds innings; Marc Rzepczynski, 1 inning; Shawn Kelley, 1/3rd of an inning, faced only one batter, but, because he was their pitcher when the Nats took the lead, on a 3-run home run by Bryce Harper in the bottom of the 8th, he was credited as the winning pitcher; and Mark Melancon, who got the save.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 5-0 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami. How many Dodger pitchers does it take to pitch a 2-hit shutout? Also 4. At least this time, the starter got the win: Rich Hill pitched 7 no-hit innings, before manager Dave Roberts replaced him with Joe Blanton, who allowed a hit in the 8th; Grant Dayton allowed a hit in the 9th, and Kenley Jansen got the last out.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at U.S. Cellular Field (soon to be renamed Guaranteed Rate Field, and now named just Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Joe Mauer singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-5 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics, 14-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Hampshire team Southampton, 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

September 7, 1979: ESPN Goes On the Air

September 7, 1979: ESPN, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, goes on the air, from a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, 20 miles southwest of Hartford, 120 miles southwest of Boston, and 103 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan.

The location was chosen for its proximity to its founders: Bill Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. Rasmussen had recently been fired as the communications manager of the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers -- who, in the interim, would become the NHL's Hartford Whalers. Eagan, then an eye doctor and an insurance agent, had the idea for a monthly cable TV show covering Connecticut sports, and asked Rasmussen if the Whalers would be interested in involvement.

After his firing, Rasmussen went back to Eagan and they decided to make the idea bigger. At first, they would cover the most popular teams in the State of Connecticut: The Whalers, minor-league baseball's Bristol Red Sox, and the teams of the University of Connecticut. Al Parinello, who was working on cable-TV technology with RCA, parent company of NBC, that they were still thinking too small: With the growth expected in cable in the 1980s, they could go national from the get-go.

They originally wanted to build their studio in Plainville, just to the east of Bristol, but the town had a law prohibiting satellite dishes. Neighboring Bristol had no such law, and it had a parcel of land available for a mere $18,000 -- about $74,000 in 2022 money.

On September 7, 1979, at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, the 1st ESPN program aired. It was what remains their signature show, the video-highlight show SportsCenter, anchored by Lee Leonard and George Grande. Leonard began: "If you're fan, if you're a fan, what you'll see in the next minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you you've gone to Sports Heaven." That may have been an exaggeration, but the 30,000 people who tuned in loved it. That audience grew significantly in the coming years.

Their timing was great: Not only was the rising technology in their favor, but so was sports. In March, the NCAA Final between Magic Johnson's Michigan State and Larry Bird's Indiana State was the most-watched college basketball game of all time, and it still is. It sparked interest in the college game, and ESPN was able to take advantage of that.

On December 5, 1979, ESPN broadcast its 1st college basketball game. DePaul University beat the University of Wisconsin, 90-77 at DePaul's Alumni Hall in Chicago. Calling it were veteran announcer Joe Boyle and recently-fired Detroit Pistons and former University of Detroit coach Dick Vitale. Vitale soon became synonymous with ESPN, with his many catchphrases and his infectious enthusiasm for college hoops. You couldn't talk about ESPN without mentioning Dickie V, baby!

A 1982 Supreme Court ruling made it easier to broadcast college football games, and ESPN was able to take advantage of that. The growing popularity of the NFL meant that, at first ESPN couldn't broadcast their games, but they could broadcast shows about the NFL, including with former players as panelists.

ESPN broadcast its 1st NHL game in 1980, its 1st NBA game in 1982, its 1st NFL game in 1987, its 1st Major League Baseball game in 1990, and Major League Soccer from its 1996 inception.

In 1984, ABC bought ESPN. In 1996, the Walt Disney Company bought ABC, and thus ESPN. Disney began the process of eliminating the redundancy of having ABC Sports and ESPN, completing it in 2006, when Monday Night Football was moved from ABC to ESPN.

*

September 7, 1979 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played that night:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 6-0 at Tiger Stadium. Bruce Robbins left the game with an injury in the 3rd inning, and Jack Billingham went the rest of the way, completing a 6-hit shutout. Bucky Dent had 2 of those hits. Ken Clay was the losing pitcher.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 at Shea Stadium. Willie "Pops" Stargell, on the way to leading his "Family" to the World Championship, went 1-for-4. Craig Swan pitched 10 innings, outdoing Pirate starter John Candelaria. But Dave Parker won the game with an RBI single in the top of the 14th inning.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jim Palmer left the game after 5 innings, with Sammy Stewart becoming the winning pitcher. All the runs were scored on solo home runs, by Eddie Murray, Gary Roenicke and Jim Rice.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Gene Tenace and Dave Winfield hit home runs. Eric Rasmussen pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-8 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. So did Mike Schmidt, who added an RBI.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock, in his final month as an active player, went 2-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 2-for-5, in support of Nolan Ryan. This would be their only season as teammates. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 9-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. An error by Greg Pryor gave the South Siders the win in the bottom of the 10th inning. Only 4,136 people paid to see it, as the A's were nearing the end of a 108-loss season.

* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

August 3, 2025: Baseball at the Speedway

August 3, 2025: Major League Baseball hosted the Speedway Classic, an attempt to set a new record for the largest crowd in the history of the sport.

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

The game was set for the night before, a Saturday night, and they got one inning in, before rain came, and the umpires suspended the game, for resumption the next day.

Before the game was delayed, there was a concert that featured musical performances from country superstar Tim McGraw (son of legendary relief pitcher Tug McGraw) along with pop artist Pitbull and country music star Jake Owen.

To celebrate its upcoming 250th birthday in October, the U.S. Navy was placed front and center, with MU1 Kathryn Dobyns performing the National Anthem, with the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard providing the colors. The flyover was four Navy F/A 18 Super Hornet jets from VFA-103 of the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

Prior to the first rain delay, there was a Hall of Fame and NASCAR-themed ceremonial first pitch. Former Braves 3rd baseman Chipper Jones threw a first pitch to Chase Elliot, while Big Red Machine catching great Johnny Bench caught Kyle Busch's first pitch.

The Braves did not score in the top of the 1st. In the bottom of the 1st, the Reds got 3 straight singles, from Matt McLain, Elly de la Cruz and Austin Hays, to take a 1-0 lead. That's when the rain came, and the umpires decided to suspend the game.

When play resumed on August 3, neither manager, Brian Snitker of the Braves with Austin Cox, nor Terry Francona of the Reds with Chase Burns, was willing to risk his starting pitcher any further, and essentially made this a "bullpen game": Each team ended up using 6 pitchers.

A 3-run home run by Eli White off Brent Suter in the top of the 2nd gave the Braves a 3-1 lead. (With a name like Brent Suter, he sounded more like one of hockey's famed Sutter brothers from Viking, Alberta, or its Suter family from Madison, Wisconsin, than Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter, who did pitch for the Braves.)

The Reds pulled a run back in the bottom of the 2nd, but the score remained 3-2 Atlanta until White hit his 2nd homer of the game to lead off the top of the 7th. The Braves won, 4-2. Hunter Waldrep pitched 5 2/3rds innings of relief to be the winning pitcher, while Suter was the losing pitcher.

The attendance was 91,032. That made this the best-attended competitive regular-season game in Major League Baseball history, breaking the record set of 84,587, when the Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the New York Yankees at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on September 12, 1954.

But it did not break the record for highest attendance of any competitive game. That remains 92,706, for Game 5 of the World Series on October 6, 1959, when the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Nor did it come close to the all-time record for any baseball game, an exhibition game the Dodgers set up at the Coliseum to celebrate their 50th Anniversary in Los Angeles, on March 29, 2008: 115,300. As you can see in the photo above, temporary seats were built around the infield, but the permanent seats behind the 3rd-base line were not sold.

It remains to be seen if MLB will try another racetrack game. Somehow, I doubt that Churchill Downs will host Louisville's 1st major-league game since 1899 anytime soon.

*

August 3, 2025 was a Sunday. These other MLB games were played, keeping in mind that the Braves and the Reds officially had the day off, just in case a postponement was necessary, as turned out to be the case:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Miami Marlins, 7-3 at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Edward Cabrera outpitched Luis Gil, the previous season's American League Rookie of the Year, who was making his 1st start of the season due to an injury, and really needed at least one more minor-league tuneup. Kyle Stowers hit a home run for the Marlins, while Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm hit them for the Yankees.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 12-4 at Citi Field. Frankie Montas barely made it into the 5th inning. Francisco Lindor hit a home run for the Mets, to no avail.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Houston Astros, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Cristopher Sánchez pitched 8 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Jhoan Durán pitched a perfect 9th.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals, 14-3 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-0 at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, where the Rays played the season due to hurricane damage at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. How many Dodgers does it take to pitch a 7-hit shutout? This time, 5, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowing 5 hits over 5 2/3rd, and the bullpen allowing 2 hits the rest of the way.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Royals scored 5 runs in the top of the 10th, and the Jays could only pull 2 back.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Guardians, 5-4 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-5 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-5 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Sacramento Athletics, 6-4 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

June 26, 2013: The Indictment of Aaron Hernandez

June 26, 2013: New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is arrested for murder in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, ending what had been a promising pro football career.

Aaron Josef Hernandez was born on November 6, 1989, in Bristol, Connecticut -- also the hometown of ESPN, which certainly gave him lots of coverage. To paraphrase baseball star Mickey Rivers, he had a Hebrew first name, a German middle name, and a Spanish last name, so it's no wonder he was all mixed up.

An All-American tight end at the University of Florida, he helped them win the 2009 National Championship. He became one of the few New England natives to play well for the New England Patriots. In 3 seasons, 2010 to 2012, he caught 175 passes for 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns, and scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI, although the Giants beat the Patriots. The following season, he helped the Pats reach the AFC Championship Game.

He had achieved all this before his 24th birthday. At the time, he seemed like he was on his way to a really good career.

He never played another game. What few people knew was, he already had a criminal history. Both of his parents had run-ins with the law. He had already gotten into a bar fight at Florida. On June 17, 2013, he shot and killed his friend Odin Lloyd in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, the town about halfway between Foxboro and Providence where they both lived. Hernandez was arrested on June 26, and, as soon as Patriots management found out, they released him, regardless of his performance or his talent.

He was convicted 2 years later. He was then charged with another murder, but was acquitted with all charges from that case except a gun charge. This happened with a 3rd shooting, although this time the victim survived. He was sentenced to life in prison.

On April 19, 2017, Hernandez hanged himself in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Leominster, Massachusetts. An autopsy showed his brain to have injuries consistent with CTE, stage 3 out of 4, "associated with aggressiveness, explosiveness, impulsivity, depression, memory loss and other cognitive changes." All of this matched what others had observed about him, including "keen insight and observational skills," but "gaps in memory that were highly unusual for a young person." He was said to have the kind of CTE symptoms one would expect to find in a former football player in his 60s. Aaron Hernandez was 27 years old.

*

June 26, 2013 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 8-5 at Yankee Stadium II. Andy Pettitte did not have a good start. Lyle Overbay and Ichiro Suzuki hit home runs. Derek Jeter did not play.

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Shawn Marcum pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Camden Yards, in Baltimore.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. R.A. Dickey pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Alex Gordon singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 7-5 at Petco Park in San Diego. An error in the top of the 13th inning gave the Phillies the win.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). A.J. Griffin pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

May 13, 1952: The Rise and Fall of Ron Necciai

May 13, 1952: The Bristol Twins, of Bristol, Virginia -- so named because it's adjacent to Bristol, Tennessee -- defeat the Welch Miners, of Welch, West Virginia, 7-0 at Shaw Stadium. This was in the Appalachian League, in Class D, equivalent to today's "Rookie Leagues," the lowest level of baseball's minor leagues.

Ron Necciai (pronounced "Neh-CHIGH") pitched a no-hitter, and struck out 27 batters. It is not a perfect game: He walked a batter, hit another, another reached on an error, and another reached on a 3rd-strike passed ball.

He had already struck out 20 in his professional debut. In his next game after the 27, he struck out 24. That's 65 strikeouts in 3 games. Clearly, at the age of 19, he was already too good for Class D.

But the Twins' parent club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, en route to the worst season in their history, were desperate. They promoted him to Class B, and then, on August 10, to the major leagues.

The Pirates retired his Number 21. Not for him, but for a player who started wearing in it in 1955: Roberto Clemente. Necciai made 9 major league appearances, going 1-6 with a 7.08 ERA. Clearly, he wasn't ready for the majors.

He was then drafted into the Korean War. But he'd already had ulcers, and got a medical discharge. He never regained his Spring 1952 form, and was just 23 when he threw his last professional pitch. He became a successful sporting goods salesman in the Pittsburgh area, where he was from. As of May 13, 2022, he is still alive, approaching his 90th birthday.

The 1952 Pirates finished 42-112, 54 1/2 games behind the Pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers. Despite having Branch Rickey as general manager, and Bing Crosby as a part-owner, it was the most losses of any National League team between the 1935 Boston Braves and the 1962 New York Mets.

From April 19 to May 6, they went 1-17. From May 13 to 22, they went 0-8. They were 20 1/2 games out of 1st place by Memorial Day, and 31 1/2 games out by the 4th of July. From July 12 to 23, they went 2-11. And from September 3 to 28, they closed the season by going 3-17. On the last play of the game, they won 6 times, but lost 11.

Their pitching was especially bad, losing 4 in which they scored 7 runs, and 7 in which they scored at least 6. In 43 games, they gave up at least 7 runs, going 1-42. Murry Dickson had a 3.57 ERA, but went just 14-21. No other Pirate pitcher had more than 7 wins.

The same night Necciai had his 27 strikeouts, the Pirates lost to the Boston Braves, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston. Vern Bickford outpitched Howie Pollet, one of several players that Rickey had signed for the St. Louis Cardinals, and had now brought to the Pirates.

For the Braves, a rookie named Eddie Mathews hit his 7th career home run. For the Pirates, Ralph Kiner, the National League's leading slugger the last few years, went 0-for-3. Mathews would retire with 512 career home runs, while a back injury would force Kiner out 3 years later, at the age of 33, with 369. 

That year, making the film The Road to Bali, Crosby's character was asked by one played by Dorothy Lamour, "Do you still have pirates in America?" And Bing said, "Yes, but they're usually in the basement." The film's other star, Bob Hope, was a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians. (Hope grew up in Cleveland. Crosby was from Spokane, Washington, but was a friend of Dan Galbreath, the majority owner of the Pirates.)

Necciai was part of a youth movement, mocked as "Rickey's Rinky Dinks" and "Operation Peach Fuzz." Also part of it was a 20-year-old outfielder from Queens, who had starred at St. John's University, and got into 81 games for the Pirates' other Class D team, the Brunswick Pirates in the Georgia-Florida League. But he was hit in the head with a pitch, missed the rest of the season, and decided to give up baseball, and go back to St. John's for law school. His name was Mario Cuomo.

Once, as Governor of New York, Cuomo and Mickey Mantle attended a sports awards banquet. Mantle mentioned that, when he was signed by the New York Yankees in 1949, he got a bonus of $1,100, while Cuomo's singing bonus 3 years later was $2,000. That got a big laugh. But Cuomo was able to spend his bonus money on an engagement ring, and he and his wife Matilda were married for 60 years.

The next season, Rickey traded Kiner. In hindsight, given his later injury, it may have been for the best. At the time, Kiner was making $90,000 for the season, Rickey was famously cheap, and the team wasn't going anywhere. Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, was filthy rich, so Rickey traded Kiner to the Cubs, telling him, "We finished 8th with you, and we can finish 8th without you." They did.

Joe Garagiola, who had been the backup catcher on a World Series winner, the 1946 St. Louis Cardinals (a team built by Rickey, who by then was building the Dodgers)), was the starting catcher on the 1952 Pirates. Along with his Cardinal teammate Stan Musial, and his St. Louis neighbor Yogi Berra, stories about the '52 Pirates helped build his broadcasting career. He said, "In an 8-team league, we should have finished 9th."

In 1955, health problems forced Rickey to step aside from full-time baseball activity. But he had already signed the prospects that would make the Pirates World Champions in 1960, including Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat, Dick Stuart and Vernon Law.

The Bristol Twins played from 1940 to 1955, winning Appalachian League Pennants in 1942 and 1950. In that 1952 season, they reached the Playoffs, but lost in the 1st round. Previously, from 1921 to 1925, the city was home to the Bristol State Liners.

In 1969, DeVault Memorial Stadium was built. From then to 1994, again in the Appalachian League, the city was home to the Bristol Tigers, Pennant winners in 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1985; from the 1995 to 2013, to the Bristol White Sox, Pennant winners in 1998 and 2002; and from 2014 to 2020, to the Bristol Pirates, who won no Pennants.

*

May 13, 1952 was a Tuesday. John Kasich, Congressman and Governor of Ohio who ran for President in 2016, was born on this day.

These other baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 10-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Steve Gromek was the winning pitcher, while Yankee starter Bill Miller didn't get out of the 3rd inning. (Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat were both injured at the time, Allie Reynolds had pitched just 2 days earlier, and Whitey Ford was serving in the Korean War.)

Larry Doby, Dale Mitchell and Ray Boone (father of Bob, grandfather of Bret and Aaron) hit home runs for the Tribe. Gil McDougald hit a home run. Yogi Berra went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Mickey Mantle did not start, but replaced an injury Bobby Brown at 3rd base, and went 2-for-2. It was the only game he ever played at 3rd base, and he ended up making 2 errors, although no runs scored as a result. (He played 1,742 games in center field, 147 in right field, 129 in left field, 262 at 1st base, 7 at shortstop, and 1 at 2nd base.)

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at the Polo Grounds. Larry Jansen went the distance for the win. Willie Mays, Bobby Thomson and Bob Elliott hit home runs.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-8 at Ebbets Field. Ben Wade was the winning pitcher, in relief of Preacher Roe. Wade and Gil Hodges both hit home runs. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4 with 2 walks. Roy Campanella went 3-for-5 with a walk, a stolen base, and 3 RBIs. Duke Snider went 2-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Stan Musial went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. 

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Billy Pierce pitched a 7-hit shutout. Minnie Miñoso went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Ted Williams was unavailable, serving in the Korean War.

* And the Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

CHC	0	Final
PHI	6

 

 

March 31, 2007: Niall Quinn's Taxi Cabs

Quinn, suited up for the Republic of Ireland's game with Portugal,

Lisbon, October 7, 2000. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

This was also the day Germany beat England

in the last event at the 1923 version of Wembley Stadium.

March 31, 2007: Fans of English soccer team Sunderland Association Football Club are stranded, about as far from home as you can get and still be in England. The team's owner gets them home on his own dime. Or, should I say, his own tuppence.

Niall John Quinn was born in 1966 in what is now administered as South Dublin, Ireland. He was a forward, and, with his height and skill, was thought of as the next chapter in the "Irish Connection," a successor to several players from Dublin, and also from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had helped North London team Arsenal win the 1979 FA Cup. He played on Arsenal’s 1987 League Cup-winning team. But he wasn't ready, and when Alan Smith was brought in from Leicester City shortly thereafter, he became an afterthought, a reserve on their 1989 League Championship team.

In 1990, he was sold to Manchester City, where he became a star, and even performed admirably in an emergency stint as their goalkeeper. One of his new teammates was Steve McMahon, who had been on the other side when Arsenal beat Liverpool in the season finale that decided that 1989 League title. McMahon looked like a fool that night, signaling to his teammates that there would be just 1 minute of injury time, when there turned out to be 2, with Michael Thomas scoring the winning goal in said 92nd minute. But Quinn didn't play in that game. Nor were they national teammates: Despite his Irish heritage, McMahon was born and raised in England, and played 17 times for England, including in the 1990 World Cup.

Quinn has described Man City, then managed by former Everton star Peter Reid, as having a "happy-go-lucky atmosphere," into which McMahon never fit. On their 1992 preseason tour in Italy, they got into an altercation. Afterward, Quinn headed for a dance club, and was denied entry, due to the blood on his shirt. So he took it off, and was let in, wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans and sneakers. A Man City fan who had followed the team to Italy saw Quinn, and he sang, to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes Forever":

Niall Quinn's disco pants are the best!

They go up from his arse to his chest!

They are better than Adam and the Ants!

Niall Quinn's disco pants!

Quinn woke up the next morning with a hangover, remembering nothing, and still wearing those cutoffs and those sneakers. He cleaned up, got dressed, and went down to the hotel restaurant, where his teammates were eating breakfast. So was the fan, who had booked the same hotel. Upon seeing Quinn, he belted out the song again. Suddenly, it all came back to him.

Quinn, who called it "the song that will follow me to the end of my career," admits that he no longer has those pants. However, they can't possibly fail to be better than Adam and the Ants. They sucked.

Quinn finished his playing career for Sunderland A.F.C., in the North-East of England, saying, "I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland." The song followed him, and, in 1999, a Sunderland-based rock band named Love Supreme recorded a full-length song around the chant, and it reached Number 56 on the British music charts.

Quinn playing for Sunderland in 1999,

wearing regular shorts, not "disco pants."

Quinn retired after playing for the Republic of Ireland national team at the 2002 World Cup, having previously played in the 1990 edition (but not '94, despite Ireland's qualification for it). He played 92 games for them, scoring 21 goals, a national record, and still 2nd behind Robbie Keane with 68. He then went into management, eventually buying a part-ownership of the Sunderland team, known as the Black Cats for the black lions on their club crest, and being made its chairman.

They badly needed a new direction. In the 2002-03 season, they finished dead last in the Premier League. Out of 38 games, they only won 4 and drew 7, for a total of 19 points, and were relegated to the 2nd division of English football, then named "Division 1."

After 2 seasons, which included the renaming of that division as "The Championship," they gained promotion back to the Premier League for 2005-06. But it was a disaster: They won only 3, and drew 6, for 15 points, a new record for the fewest points in a top-flight season since a win was made 3 points in 1982. (That record has been broken by the 2007-08 Derby County team, which only had 11.)

On July 25, 2006, Sunderland owner Bob Murray, who couldn't afford to keep the team, sold the team to a consortium led by Quinn. That consortium spent enough money on good players to suggest they could win promotion back to the Premier League, and hired recently retired Manchester United captain Roy Keane, Quinn's former teammate on the ROI national team, as manager. They got off to a great start in the 2006-07 season.

Outside Sunderland's home, the Stadium of Light

On March 31, 2007, Sunderland, then in English football's 2nd division, were playing away at Cardiff City, along with Swansea City one of two teams from Wales in the 92-team English Football League. Sunderland won, 1-0, at Ninian Park, with substitute Ross Wallace scoring in the 72nd minute.

For a reason that I haven't been able to determine, the Sunderland players and fans weren't going to fly home out of Cardiff's airport. They had to go 50 miles to the east, getting across the Severn Bridge, over the River Severn, which separated Wales from the West Country of England, to the airport in Bristol, still 300 miles from Sunderland in the North-East.

The players flew out of Bristol to Sunderland, no problem. But Quinn decided to fly back with the fans on an airline called EasyJet. Recognized by some of them, after they'd already had the chance to have a few drinks that night, they started singing "Niall Quinn's Disco Pants." At the top of their lungs.

A few of the other passengers complained, and the pilot had 80 people thrown off the plane. An EasyJet employee told them they could have seats on the first plane out the next morning, at no extra charge -- but the airline wouldn't give them a place to spend the night. They were really in a bind.

Quinn pulled out the club checkbook -- since it's Britain, I should say "chequebook" -- and hired taxis. He paid £8,000, about $15,000 at the time (about $21,000 in 2022 money), to take them up Britain's M5 Motorway, from Bristol in the South-West to Sunderland in the North-East. Again, that's about 300 miles. To put that in perspective, it's roughly the distance from New York to Portland, Maine. Or from New York to Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In 2007, £8,000 would have been chump change for a big club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United (or, now, Manchester City). But for Sunderland, a team trying to get back into the Premier League, it was a pretty penny.

People from Sunderland are called "Mackems," a holdover from the city's past as a shipyard: "We make them, and you take them" becomes, in their accent, "We mack 'em an' you tack 'em." The Mackems have never forgotten Quinn's act of generosity, and one of them adapted the "Disco Pants" song, including taking a pot-shot at Freddy Shepherd, then owner of their arch-rivals, Newcastle United F.C., a.k.a. the Magpies or Mags for their black and white shirts:

Niall Quinn’s taxi cabs are the best!

So go shove it up your arse, EasyJet!

Fat Freddy wouldn’t do it for the Mags!

Niall Quinn’s taxi cabs!

When Shepherd sold NUFC to Mike Ashley, "Fat Freddy" was replaced with "Fat Ashley."

That win in Cardiff turned out to be the 14th game in a 17-game unbeaten run for the Black Cats, as they finished 1st in the Championship, earning promotion to the Premier League, where they stayed for the next 10 seasons.

Quinn sold his stake in the team in 2011, although he has remained a fan of theirs. He has returned to color commentary on soccer games -- or, should I say, "colour commentary on football matches."

Sunderland developed a reputation as a team that played dirty, especially against Arsenal, the North London team I support. I don't like Sunderland, but, using the U.K. vernacular, Niall Quinn is a top man.

*

March 31, 2007 was a Saturday. Elsewhere in British soccer, Liverpool beat Arsenal, 4-1 at Anfield in Liverpool. Peter Crouch scored 3 goals.

Baseball was in Spring Training. American-style football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 103-94 in overtime at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. This was the 2nd and last season of the Hornets' temporary part-time relocation to Oklahoma City, necessarily contractually even though the New Orleans arena now known as the Smoothie King Center had been fully restored. That season, the Hornets played 6 games in New Orleans, and their remaining 35 "home games" at the Ford Center, which is now named the Paycom Center.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 86-82 at the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 112-108 in overtime at the United Center in Chicago. LeBron James scored 39 points.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 99-86 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-4 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Gaylord International Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Andy McDonald scored the winning goal, only 25 seconds into overtime.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.