John Sebastian. Although I'm a fan of his,
I chose this photo more for the panorama of the crowd.
August 16, 1969: The Woodstock Music & Art Fair resumes on Max Yasgur's dairy farm outside Bethel, Sullivan County, New York.
This is the day everybody remembers, but hardly anybody remembers the act that began the day's proceedings at 12:30 PM: Quill. The group had 5 members, and if you can name 1 of them, then you're 1 up on me.
Santana, the San Francisco-based psychedelic band led by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana, had trouble getting their equipment together, so Joe McDonald, lead singer of Country Joe & The Fish, also from San Francisco, and scheduled for the next day, went on in their place.
He did "The Fish Cheer," asking the 500,000 or so people on hand, "Gimme an F!" They all yelled out, "F!" He then asked them for a U, a C, and a K, and they obliged. When he asked them, over and over again, "What's that spell?" they answered enthusiastically, every time. And then he launched into the one Fish song that everybody remembers, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," with its chorus:
And it's one, two, three, what are we fightin' for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn.
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven, open up the Pearly Gates.
Well, ain't got time to wonder why.
Whoopee! We're all gonna die!
The last 2 lines were an homage to Alfred Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade": "Theirs not to wonder why, theirs but to do and die."
At 2:00, Santana were ready, and made themselves legends. But several acts that were scheduled weren't ready: The traffic jam caused by the festival meant that Arlo Guthrie was right: The New York State Thruway was closed, man. Good thing it wasn't Induction Weekend for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, or a lot of baseball fans would have been really pissed at the Hippies.
John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful was there, and at 3:30, someone handed him a guitar, and he started singing. He later said that it was the worst performance of his career, and on the film, he does both look and sound stoned.
The Keef Hartley Band went on at 4:45. The seriously-delayed Incredible String Band finally took the stage at 6:00. Canned Heat did so at 7:30, Mountain at 9:00, and The Grateful Dead at 10:30. They played for 1 hour and 35 minutes, the last half of which was one song, "Turn On Your Love Light."
It was now after midnight, Sunday, August 17.
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Major League Baseball games played on Saturday, August 16:
* Chicago White Sox 5, New York Yankees 4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bill Melton hit a home run off Jack Aker in the 8th inning, to win it for the Pale Hose. Horace Clarke hit a home run for the Yankees.
* Doubleheader at Shea Stadium. 1st game: New York Mets 2, San Diego Padres 0. Tom Seaver pitched 8 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, and Rod Taylor pitched a perfect 9th. Bobby Pfeil went 3-for-4 with an RBI. 2nd game: Mets 2, Padres 1. Cleon Jones hit a home run in support of Jim McAndrew.
* Philadelphia Phillies 7, Houston Astros 0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Rick Wise pitched a 4-hit shutout and hit a home run, foreshadowing the day 2 years later when he hit 2 home runs and pitched a no-hitter for the Phils. Dick Allen also hit a home run in this game.
* Washington Senators 6, Minnesota Twins 5 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. Graig Nettles and Rich Reese hit home runs for the Twins, Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Rod Carew did not play. Frank Howard hit a home run for the Senators.
* Los Angeles Dodgers 9, Montreal Expos 3 at Jarry Park in Montreal.
* St. Louis Cardinals 8, Atlanta Braves 1 at Atlanta (-Fulton County) Stadium. Joe Torre hit a home run, and Lou Brock went 1-for-4, in support of Bob Gibson. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* Cincinnati Reds 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. For the Reds, Lee May hit a home run, Pete Rose went 2-for-4, and Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with an RBI. For the Pirates, Willie Stargell hit a home run, and Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4.
* California Angels 4, Cleveland Indians 0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Andy Messersmith pitched a 5-hit shutout, beating Luis Tiant.
* Doubleheader at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. 1st game: Boston Red Sox 10, Kansas City Royals 1. 2nd game: Royals 8, Red Sox 7. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-9 with a home run over the 2 games.
* Oakland Athletics 4, Detroit Tigers 3 at the Oakland Coliseum. For the Tigers, Norm Cash and Don Wert hit home runs, but Al Kaline didn't play. For the A's, Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4, and John "Blue Moon" Odom pitched 9 innings and hit a home run himself, but it went to extra innings. Rollie Fingers gave up Wert's homer in the top of the 10th. But in the bottom of the 10th, Reggie drew a walk, was singled over to 2nd by Sal Bando, and Danny Cater drove them both in with a walkoff double.
* Chicago Cubs 3, San Francisco Giants 0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. In a battle of Hall of Fame starters, Fergie Jenkins pitched a 3-hit shutout to defeat Gaylord Perry, who got 1 of the 3 hits. Willie Mays did not. Ernie Banks did not play.
* Baltimore Orioles 15, Seattle Pilots 3 at Sick's Stadium in Seattle. At different points in Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, Pilot pitcher Fred Talbot said, "We got no business scheduling these guys. This Baltimore outfit can sure fluff up your ERA," and somebody else tells the Pilots, "You guys are going to get killed in Baltimore." Apparently, it didn't matter whether the Pilots played the O's home or away.
In this game, Chico Salmon hit 2 homers for the O's, while 1 each was hit by Paul Blair and Boog Powell. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk. Brooks Robinson did the same. Tommy Davis had 2 hits for the Pilots. Dave McNally was the winning pitcher, Diego Seguí the loser. Bouton pitched the 7th and 8th innings for the Pilots, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits, walking 2 batters and hitting another.
