October 5, 1991: The NHL Is Restored to the Bay Area

Top row: The Captains for the 1st game,

Doug Wilson and Trevor Linden.

Bottom: The Cow Palace.

October 5, 1991: For the 1st time since April 4, 1976, an NHL regular-season game is played in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Gund family had been partners in the Oakland Seals franchise, part of the NHL's "Great Expansion" of 1967. But the Seals, later known as the California Golden Seals, only made the Playoffs once, in 1969, and struggled at the box office as well.

The brothers George and Gordon Gund had ties to the Bay Area, but they were from Cleveland. In 1976, they moved the team to become the Cleveland Barons, but failed there, too. In 1978, this franchise was merged with the Minnesota North Stars, and the Gunds became partners in that franchise.

The brothers wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area, and asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s, but were vetoed by the league. At the same time, a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Harold Baldwin was pushing the NHL to bring a team to San Jose, where a new arena was being built.

Eventually a compromise was struck by the league, where the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group, with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the 1991-92 season. In return, the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in an expansion draft with the new Bay Area team, despite the fact that, as it turned out, the North Stars went on an unlikely run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1991. Neither team retains the history of the Seals/Barons franchise.

On May 5, 1990, the Gunds officially sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin, and were awarded a new team in the Bay Area, based in San Jose. Over 5m000 potential names were submitted by mail for the new team. While the 1st-place finisher was "Blades,", the Gunds were concerned about the name's negative connotations (thinking of inner-city crime) and went with the runner-up, "Sharks."

The name was said to have been inspired by the large number of sharks living in the Pacific Ocean. Seven different varieties live there, and one area of water near the Bay Area is known as the Red Triangle because of its shark population. The team's first marketing head, Matt Levine, said of the new name, "Sharks are relentless, determined, swift, agile, bright and fearless. We plan to build an organization that has all those qualities."

The team's colors were chosen as black, white and teal. The logo, of a shark coming through a triangle (representing either the Red Triangle, or perhaps the three main Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), biting through a hockey stick and breaking it, quickly became popular.

On a personal note: In the Summer of 1990, a friend of my sister's came to the house, wearing one of the brand-new Sharks jackets from Starter, Inc. We lived all the way across the country, and as far as I knew, he had no connection to the Bay Area or the team's organization. He didn't root for any of the other Bay Area sports teams. And their 1st game wasn't going to be for almost a year and a half. So I asked him why he was wearing it. He said it was because it looked cool.

I guess, when you're a teenage boy, looking cool is more important than winning, clean play, or anything else.

The North American Soccer League had had the San Jose Earthquakes -- and Major League Soccer would, as well, although that team was originally known as the San Jose Clash -- but the Sharks would be the first true major league team to have San Jose, rather than "San Francisco," "Oakland," "California," or "Golden State" as its geographic identifier.

The 1st head coach was George Kingston, whose playing career ended in college due to injury, and had coached at the college and international levels. The 1st general manager was Jack Ferreira, a goaltender at Boston University, who had worked in the front offices of the New York Rangers and the North Stars, which is how he knew the Gunds, and had gained their confidence. The 1st Captain was Doug Wilson, a former All-Star defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks.

With the San Jose Arena -- now named the SAP Center -- not expected to be ready until the 1993-94 season, the Sharks played their 1st 2 seasons at the Cow Palace, just over the San Francisco city line in Daly City. It was already a 50-year-old arena, and its seating capacity for hockey was less than 11,000. Despite going 17-58-5 and 11-71-2 in their 1st 2 seasons, every one of those seats was filled for every home game.

The Sharks had debuted on October 4, 1991, losing away to the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3. The 1st home game, on October 5, also against the Canucks, was a great celebration, as the Bay Area once again had teams in all four major North American sports. The pregame featured the introduction of the giant Shark head, with the players skating onto the ice through its mouth. But the Canucks spoiled the party, 5-2. Wayne Pressley scored the Sharks' 1st goal. The next game, on October 8, also at the Cow Palace, was the Sharks' 1st regular-season win, 4-3 over the Calgary Flames.

With the new arena opening, the Sharks got a lot better, nearly reaching .500 at 33-35-16. They made the Playoffs for the 1st time, upset the Detroit Red Wings in the 1st round, and took the Toronto Maple Leafs to 7 games before losing.

The SAP Center

Since then, they have made the Playoffs more often than not, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2016; and the Western Conference Finals in 2004, 2010, 2011 and 2019.

UPDATE: As of the 2025-26 season, the Sharks do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have retired 2 uniform numbers: 12, for 1997-2021 center Patrick Marleau; and 19, for 2005-20 center Joe Thornton.

Thornton has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. So have defenseman Doug Wilson, their Captain in the 1st 2 seasons, 1991-92 and 1992-93; center Igor Larionov and right wing Sergei Makarov, who together played the 1st 2 seasons in San Jose, 1993-94 and 1994-95; goaltender Ed Belfour, who played 16 games for them in 1996; goaltender Mike Vernon, who played for them from 1997 to 2000; right wing Teemu Selanne, who played for them in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons; center Jeremy Roenick, who played for them in his last 2 seasons, 2007-08 and 2008-09; and defenseman Rob Blake, who played for them in his last 2 seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10.

(Vladimir Krutov, who formed the famed KLM Line with Larionov and Makarov in the Soviet Union, played just 1 season in the NHL, 1990-91 with the Vancouver Canucks.)

Right wing Owen Nolan, who played for the Sharks from 1995 to 2003, is, so far, the only hockey player, for any team, inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

*

October 5, 1991 was a Saturday. These other games were played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. Sergei Nemchinov scored the winning goal with 3:18 left in overtime.

* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* In another "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 8-5 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Wendel Clark had 3 goals and 2 assists.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

These games were played in Major League Baseball, on the next-to-last day of the regular season:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 7-5 at Yankee Stadium. Luis Lopez and Mark Lewis hit doubles in the top of the 12th inning, or Darren Chapin in relief of Eric Plunk. The winning pitcher was Steve Olin in relief of Eric King. Don Mattingly went 3-for-5 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Terry Mulholland pitched an 8-hit shutout, outpitching Anthony Young. The only run of the game came in the bottom of the 5th inning, when Braulio Castillo doubled home Dale Murphy.

The next day, David Cone struck out 19 batters, but the Mets let him go after the season.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Paul Molitor went 3-for-5 with a walk and an RBI. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 in the next-to-last game the O's played at Memorial Stadium. I was at this game. Before it, they introduced the Orioles' all-time team, as voted by the fans. Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson were in attendance. Jim Palmer was not, as he was broadcasting elsewhere. The catcher chosen, Rick Dempsey, was also unavailable, playing out the string with the Milwaukee Brewers. Cal Ripken Jr., of course, was playing in the game, and went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Before the game, the public address announcer, former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Rex Barney, asked the fans to sing the National Anthem a cappella. It was nice, except for the traditional shout of "O!" at "O, say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave?"

The next day, the Tigers won the last game, and the O's had a postgame ceremony. This, I had to watch on television, back home. They invited 85 former Orioles to take the field in the uniform of their era and run out to their old position. Brooks was the 1st player, Cal the last, followed by manager Earl Weaver. This time, Palmer and Dempsey were permitted by their employers to attend.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. John Smoltz went the distance for the win, while Mark Portugal couldn't get an out in the 3rd inning.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 and 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. This turned out to be a preview of the American League Championship Series, which the Twins won.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 12-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Rickey Henderson went 4-for-4 with a home run, 2 walks, 4 stolen bases and 3 RBIs.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-7 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brett did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Trevor Wilson pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Bill Krueger allowed 7 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings, but no runs. Gene Harris pitched the rest of the way, for a 9-hit shutout. Pete O'Brien hit 2 homers for the M's. Ken Griffey Jr. grounded out in the 1st inning, then left the game with an injury. 

The NBA season started on November 1. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Florida State beat Number 10 Syracuse, 46-14 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

* Number 2 Miami beat Oklahoma State, 40-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* Number 3 Washington beat Arizona, 54-0 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 4 Tennessee were idle.

* Number 5 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 29-8 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

* Number 6 Clemson were upset by Georgia, 27-12 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 7 Michigan beat Number 9 Iowa, 43-24 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Stanford, 42-26 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.

* Number 16 Auburn were upset by Southern Mississippi, 10-9 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.

* Number 18 University of California at Berkeley beat Number 24 University of California at Los Angeles: Cal 27, UCLA 24 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

* Number 19 North Carolina State beat Number 21 Georgia Tech, 28-21 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* Rivalry: Virginia Tech beat West Virginia, 20-14 at Mountaineer Field (now Milan Puskar Stadium) in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* And among the service academies, Army lost to Rutgers, 14-12 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands; Air Force beat Wyoming, 51-28 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Navy were idle.

And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated West London team Chelsea, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood.

July 16, 1964: Extremism In the Defense of Liberty

July 16, 1964: Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona accepts the Republican Party's nomination for President, at their National Convention, at the Grand National Livestock Pavilion, a.k.a. the Cow Palace, just outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.

The site of the 1964 Republican National Convention may surprise people who know San Francisco as the most liberal city in America, which might not even be accurate. But, like all cities, San Francisco has its "old money" conservative elite. And this was the 2nd time the Grand Old Party had held its convention at the Cow Palace, built in 1940 for rodeo shows but later adapted for professional sports and concerts. They had previously nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower for a 2nd term there in 1956.

Then 55 years old, Goldwater was a Presbyterian, but had a Jewish grandfather, as the family name was originally Goldwasser. This makes the 1964 Republican Convention the closest either major party has ever come to nominating a Jewish person for President.

He was also very Western, living on a ranch outside Phoenix, with a solar-powered flagpole: Every morning, when the Sun came up, it raised the Stars & Stripes; every evening, when the Sun went down, the mechanism lowered the flag into a box.

A bomber pilot in World War II, Goldwater had been elected to the Phoenix City Council, and in 1952 defeated an incumbent Democrat for the U.S. Senate. Re-elected in 1958, he thought he could be the conservative alternative in 1960 to Vice President Richard Nixon, once considered the anti-Communist hard right's man, but now widely seen as more moderate -- the very thing that gave him a legitimate chance of election.

What is a conservative? According to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who knew difficulty walking, "A conservative is a man who, despite having two good legs, has never learned to walk forward." Comedian Mort Sahl said, "A conservative is someone who believes in reform -- but not now." Educator John Holt said, "Conservatism is the worship of dead radicals -- emphasis on the 'dead.'" (That quote is one of many that has been misattributed to Mark Twain.) Years later, Robert Orban would say, "A conservative is someone who wants the rules changed so that no one can make a pile the way he did."

No true conservative had been elected President since 1928, and that was Herbert Hoover, on whose watch the Great Depression began, and whose policies were seen as having made it worse, leading to his landslide loss to FDR in 1932. Every Republican nominee since had basically said, "We accept the New Deal, but we can do it better, and more efficiently, and with fewer Communists."

But there was another alternative to Nixon in 1960: Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, who had replaced a previous holder of his office, 1944 and 1948 Presidential nominee Thomas Dewey, as the leader of the moderate-to-liberal Eastern wing of the GOP. He wanted to be President, too. But he also wanted to win. So he invited Nixon to his apartment, and made a deal where he would endorse Nixon to hold off any conservative challenge. It became known as "The Compact of Fifth Avenue."

So, at the 1960 Republican Convention in Chicago, Goldwater told his supporters that they could take their party back, if they were properly organized: "Let's grow up, conservatives!"

Whether the conservative movement, as it came to be known, "grew up" is debatable: Conservatism has often listed from side to side, from old and stuffy to very childish. But they were very well organized, and, on the morning of November 22, 1963, with Nixon branded as a "loser," Goldwater and Rockefeller were the 2 leaders for the Party's nomination in 1964.

That day, John F. Kennedy, who had beaten Nixon in 1960, was assassinated. In his memoir, Goldwater admitted that his chance of winning had died with Kennedy. The 2 men had been friendly rivals, and Goldwater had really looked forward to a clash of ideas with JFK.

But with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson now President, and sure to be the Democratic nominee in 1964, any chance for a real clash of ideas was doomed: LBJ would do anything to win, including "making Kennedy's ghost his running mate." His actual Vice Presidential nominee turned out to be Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, but he essentially "ran with JFK" every bit as much as Harry Truman ran with Franklin Roosevelt in 1948.

Goldwater told his advisers that he didn't want to run against Johnson. They told him that he had to do it, anyway, as the best way to continue the building of the conservative takeover of the Republican Party. To use a sports analogy, they were asking him to sacrifice himself, to "take one for the team."

And so he ran. He ran his campaign as a moral crusade, to bring down government spending, to end welfare programs that encouraged "immoral behavior," and to stand up to the Communist world better than the Democrats had.

His supporters took the "morality" thing even further, citing the fact that Rockefeller had divorced his first wife and quickly remarried -- as if that had anything to do with his qualifications for the job. When Goldwater refused to campaign in the Oregon Primary, and Rockefeller went, accompanied by signs saying, "He cared enough to come," Goldwater knew that the California Primary was it: Win it, or you're out.

And when Margaretta "Happy" Rockefeller gave birth to Nelson Rockefeller Jr. just 3 days before the Primary, it bolstered the "morality" argument by reminding voters of Rocky's divorce and remarriage --and the fact that Happy gave up custody of the children she already had, in order to more quickly gain the divorce, in order to more quickly marry the Governor. Goldwater won California, and clinched the nomination.

But right after that came the Senate's vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Most of those voting against it were Southern Democrats. A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats voted for it, because the Senate Minority Leader, Everett Dirksen of Illinois, was for it, and all but the most conservative of Republican Senators followed his lead.

But Goldwater voted against it -- on constitutional grounds, he said. But the vote tarred him as a racist, even though he wasn't one. He had gone out of his way to appeal to black, Hispanic, and Native American voters in Arizona. But most people outside that State didn't know that. There was no social media for people from Arizona to tell the other 49 States, "Hey, he's not like that! Let me show you what he's doing here!"

The fact that Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the "States' Rights" Presidential nominee of 1948, switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party after LBJ signed the bill, and then endorsed Goldwater, didn't help Goldwater at all -- at least, not outside the Deep South.

Jackie Robinson, the 1st black player in modern baseball, had been a Republican because he believed their favoring of "self-reliance" would be good for African-Americans. He had worked with Rockefeller on civil rights-friendly initiatives, all over New York State, and that had helped Rockefeller win black voters over.

Starting with his role as a Delegate from New York to the 1964 Republican National Convention, Robinson never voted for another Republican nominee for President. He told journalist Roger Kahn, who once covered Robinson's team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, for the New York Herald Tribune, "It would make everything I've worked for meaningless if baseball were integrated, but America's political parties were segregated."

That 1964 Convention set the standard for future ugly GOP Conventions to come in 1992, 2004 and 2016. Goldwater chose Representative William E. Miller of Western New York, then also the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, as his Vice Presidential nominee, "Because he drives Lyndon Johnson nuts."

The Cow Palace during the Convention

There was a proposed plank for the Party platform denouncing "extremist groups," specifically mentioning, on the left, the Communist Party; and, on the right, the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society. They did not specifically mention liberal groups like Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The Black Panther Party had not yet been founded, so they couldn't be mentioned.

The problem was, many of Goldwater's supporters were in the Birch Society, including Fred Koch, an oil baron whose sons Charles and David followed in his footsteps as major conservative/libertarian donors, hated by liberals as "The Koch Brothers."

When Rockefeller came on to speak in favor of the plank, Goldwater supporters in the seats tried to boo him off the stage. It was a disgraceful spectacle, but Rocky stood up to them, and finished his speech. The plank was easily voted down, making the GOP look like extremists.

Three Delegates from New York. Left to right: Senator Jacob Javits,

Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and Jackie Robinson.

So, to use another sports analogy, Goldwater knew he needed a home run for his speech. He started off well: "This Party, with its every action, every word, every breath, and every heartbeat, has but a single resolve, and that is freedom. Freedom made orderly for this nation by our constitutional government. Freedom under a government limited by laws of nature and of nature's God. Freedom, balanced, so that order, lacking liberty, will not become the slavery of the prison cell; balanced, so that liberty, lacking order, will not become the license of the mob and of the jungle."

He knew that if he attacked the late President Kennedy and his policies, he had no chance. So he attacked the Democratic way in general: "During four futile years, the administration which we shall replace has distorted and lost that faith. It has talked and talked and talked and talked the words of freedom. Now, failures cement the wall of shame in Berlin. Failures blot the sands of shame at the Bay of Pigs. Failures mark the slow death of freedom in Laos. Failures infest the jungles of Vietnam."

This was a few days before what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. At the time, Berlin and Cuba were more familiar to Americans than Vietnam. At the time JFK took office, even Laos was more familiar.

Goldwater gave a few more platitudes about freedom, and fired a few more potshots at the Democrats. If he had then gone into his summation, it would have been a terrific speech. Instead, he addressed the need for unity within the Party's own ranks, and threw the Democrats a bone that they chewed on the rest of the way:

Anyone who joins us in all sincerity, we welcome. Those who do not care for our cause, we don't expect to enter our ranks in any case.

And let our Republicanism, so focused and so dedicated, not be made fuzzy and futile by unthinking and stupid labels.

I would remind you, my fellow Republicans, that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Johnson would not go on to say it, but I can imagine a still-living Kennedy responding to this by saying, "I would remind you, my fellow Americans, that extremism in the defense of liberty is no defense of liberty."

What Johnson did go on to say was, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is an unpardonable vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is the highest virtue."

The Goldwater campaign produced buttons saying, "In your heart, you know he's right." The Johnson campaign produced buttons countering this, saying, "In your guts, you know he's nuts." And it produced other suggestions that he was too extreme to be President, including an ad known as the Daisy Spot.

Goldwater ended up winning only 6 States: His home State of Arizona, barely, and 5 Southern States who liked his apparent stance on civil rights, and may have been swayed by the Thurmond endorsement. In a few other Western States, embracing the idea of a Westerner becoming President, he came close.

But in most States, extremism was rejected as a defense of liberty. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes learned from this campaign, and put a human face on conservative policies.

*

July 16, 1964 was a Thursday. Miguel Induráin, the Spanish (Basque) cyclist who won 5 straight Tours de France from 1991 to 1995, was born on this day.)

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Barber outpitched Jim Bouton, and helped his own cause with a home run. To counter the quote that Barber had in Bouton's later book Ball Four, Barber's arm wasn't sore, and it wasn't even a little stiff. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Roger Maris went 0-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 11-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. The winning pitcher was Ernie Broglio, recently acquired for Curt Flood. For the rest of his tenure with the Cubs -- and in the major leagues -- he would go 9-15.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-3 at Fenway Park. Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro both went 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-5.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Colt .45s, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4, and Pete Rose went 1-for-4. The Colt .45s became the Houston Astros the next year.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Fischer outpitches Gaylord Perry. Hank Aaron, Joe Torre and Denis Menke hit home runs for the Braves. Willie Mays went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The only Twin runs came on solo homers by Bob Allison and Tony Oliva. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-2 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 2-for-4 in defeat.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Athletics, 12-9 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Woody Held won it with a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* And the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels were not scheduled to play.

May 25, 1975: The Warriors Are Golden

May 25, 1975: The most stunning upset in the history of the NBA Finals is completed.

The Baltimore Bullets had made the NBA Finals in 1971, but got swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. They moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Washington in 1973. Well, not quite: After playing a few home games at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House while waiting for their new arena to be finished, they settled at that new arena, the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, just outside the Capital Beltway.

They played the 1973-74 season as the Capital Bullets, before changing their name to the Washington Bullets. And, in 1974-75, led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, they reached the NBA Finals again. Their opponents would be another team that went through more name changes than was necessary. The Philadelphia Warriors were a charter franchise in the NBA in 1946, but moved to San Francisco in 1962. In 1971, they moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, but took on the name "Golden State Warriors."

Much like baseball's California Angels, who tried to draw fans Statewide in an effort to draw more fans than the nearby Los Angeles Dodgers, the Warriors weren't fooling anybody with their Statewide name. At least, unlike the Angels, they no longer had to compete with another team: The ABA's Oakland Oaks had moved in 1969, becoming the Washington Caps, and then the Virginia Squires in 1970.

Coached by former Boston Celtics star K.C. Jones, the Bullets went 60-22, and won the Central Division. They beat the Buffalo Braves in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the defending Champion Celtics in the Conference Finals.

Coached by former Warriors player Al Attles, Golden State went 48-34, and won the Pacific Division. They beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference Semifinals, and the Chicago Bulls in the Conference Finals.

In spite of having won 12 fewer games than the Bullets, and having lost 3 out of 4 regular-season games against them, the Warriors were the top seed in the West, while the Bullets were the 2nd seed in the East. Still, the Bullets were heavily favored, with many observers predicting a sweep.

They got a sweep, all right, but not in the direction they expected. Game 1 was played at the Cap Centre, and Phil Smith came off the bench to score 20 points in 31 minutes, and the Warriors won, 101-95.

The odds seemed to be against the Warriors, because the Oakland Coliseum Arena was unavailable, as they were hosting the Ice Follies. Games 2 and 3 were moved to the Warriors' former home, the Grand National Livestock Pavilion, a.k.a. the Cow Palace, across the City Line in Daly City, California. Not on their usual home court, could the Warriors possibly win?

Yes, they could; and, yes, they did. They erased an early 13-point Washington lead thanks to 36 points from Rick Barry, and won Game 2, 92-91. Barry, probably best known as one of the greatest free-throw shooters ever, scored 38 points in Game 3, and the Warriors won, 109-101.

Keith Wilkes, later to change his name to Jamaal Wilkes and help the Lakers win titles in the 1980s, held Hayes to just 29 points in the 1st 3 games. Over that stretch, the Warriors' bench outscored the Bullets' bench, 115-53.

Game 4 was played back in Landover, and featured a fight that was started when the Bullets' Mike Riordan fouled Barry hard. Attles, a former guard known as The Destroyer, ran onto the court to defend his fellow New Jerseyan -- Attles was from Newark, Barry from 2 towns away in Roselle Park -- and "took one for the team," getting physical with Riordan and getting thrown out of the game, so Barry wouldn't be. Assistant coach Joe Roberts coached the Warriors the rest of the way.

The fight seemed to take the fight out of the Bullets, as they blew a 14-point lead, and the Warriors won, 96-95. The San Francisco Bay Area had its 1st NBA Championship.

The District of Columbia would have to wait until 1978, when the Bullets beat the SuperSonics. The Sonics reversed that result the following year. The capital team, which renamed itself the Washington Wizards in 1997, the year they moved into the District proper, into what's now named the Capital One Arena, haven't been to the Eastern Conference Finals since.

The Warriors also struggled a lot, until the Stephen Curry era began, and they won 4 titles and made 2 other Finals. Indeed, given how much basketball talent came out of the D.C. and Bay areas, great high school players and great college programs, the pro team in D.C. has seriously-under-achieved, and so did the pro team in the Bay Area until 2015.

From May 25 to October 22, 1975, 150 days, not just the San Francisco Bay Area, but specifically the City of Oakland, held the World Championships of baseball and basketball at the same time. It was part of an extraordinary 10-year run from December 31, 1967 to January 1, 1978, that saw Oakland win 5 American League Western Division titles; win 10 AFC Western Division titles, and reach the AFL or AFC Championship Game 9 times, including 2 Championships; reach the NBA Western Conference Finals 4 times, winning once; culminating in winning 3 World Series, a Super Bowl, an NBA Championship, an ABA Championship, and a National Professional Soccer League Championship:

* Oakland Clippers, 1967 NPSL Champions.

* Oakland Raiders, 1967 AFL Champions, 1976 NFL Champions.

* Oakland Oaks, 1969 ABA Champions.

* Oakland Athletics, 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Champions.

* Golden State Warriors, 1975 NBA Champions.

All this, while, across the Bay, San Francisco lost the Warriors to Oakland, saw the Giants and the 49ers continually let their city down, and nearly lost the Giants to Toronto.

However, by the time that 10-year period ended, the City of Oakland would lose its NHL team, its ABA team, and its NPSL team; and set in motion the process that would eventually cause it to see its NBA team move back across San Francisco Bay, and lose its MLB team, and lose its NFL team, gain it back, and lose it again.

UPDATE: The Warriors do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have retired some numbers. One is a holdover from their move from Philadelphia to San Francisco: 13, for center Wilt Chamberlain. From their 1967 NBA Finalists: 14, forward Tom Meschery; 16, guard Al Attles; 24, forward Rick Barry; and 42, center Nate Thurmond.

From their 1975 World Champions, coached by Attles: So far, only Barry. From the 1980s and 1990s: 17, for guard Chis Mullin. Through the 2025-26 season, their only honoree from their 2015-22 dynasty has been 9, for guard Andre Iguodala. Presumably, there will be others once those players retire.

There are 8 Warriors figures in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame: Attles, Meschery, Thurmond, Barry, Mullin, Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway Sr., and Franklin Meuli, who bought the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962, moved them to the Bay Area, and owned them until 1986. Barry, Chamberlain and Thurmond were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.

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May 25, 1975 was a Sunday. Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals was also played on this day. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Flyers completed their run of back-to-back Cups 2 days later.

The Kentucky Colonels had won the American Basketball Association Championship 3 days before, beating the Indiana Pacers in 5 games. The Houston Aeros had made it back-to-back titles in the World Hockey Association on May 12, sweeping the Quebec Nordiques in 4 straight games.

Football was out of season. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Shea Stadium, during their 2-year exile while the original Yankee Stadium was renovated. Pat Dobson outpitched Jim Bibby. Roy White went 3-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Buzz Capra outpitched Jerry Koosman. Earl Williams hit a home run.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 6-0. Dennis Eckersley pitched a 3-hit shutout, beating Jim Perry. Frank Robinson, now the 1st black manager in baseball, went 1-for-4. Rico Carty went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 6-3. Dick Bosman outpitched Jim Kern. Robinson went 1-for-4 again. Over the 2 games, Reggie Jackson went 1-for-9 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 0-for-5, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-4, but George Foster hit a home run, and César Gerónimo went 3-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Hank Aaron, playing out the string with the Brewers, went 0-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harmon Killebrew, playing out the string with the Royals, went 0-for-5. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 8-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Expos scored 6 runs in the 2nd inning, and led 6-3 going to the bottom of the 8th. But the Astros scored 2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th, sending the game to extra innings. The Expos scored a run in the top of the 12th, but an Enos Cabell double and a Milt May single won it in the bottom of the 12th.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 6-5 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Ed Kirkpatrick hit a home run in the top of the 11th inning. Willie Stargell went 0-for-5, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Dave Winfield also went 0-for-5.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Dodger Stadium.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

April 24, 1967: The 76ers' Vengeance

April 24, 1967: The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Francisco Warriors, the former Philadelphia team, 125-122 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco. This was Game 6 of the Finals, and it capped one of the greatest seasons in NBA history.  It is their 1st title since moving to Philadelphia 4 years ago, the 3rd NBA title for the city (the Warriors had won it in 1947 and 1956), and the 1st World Championship for Wilt Chamberlain.

The 76ers, who started out 41-3 on their way to a then-NBA record 68 wins, had Hall-of-Famers Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet "the Jet" Walker, Larry Costello and rookie Billy Cunningham. They also had Wally Jones, whom fellow Overbrook High of West Philly graduate Wilt called "the first man in space" because of his jumping ability. Jones later converted to Islam, and slightly altered his name to Wali Jones. ; Bill Melchionni, later to win ABA titles with the New York Nets; and another rookie, Matt Guokas, whose father, Matt Sr., had played on the '47 Warriors and became a great broadcaster for the Philadelphia Eagles.

They were coached by Alex Hannum, who had also led the 1958 St. Louis Hawks to the title, and would lead the 1969 Oakland Oaks to the ABA title. Their general manager was Jack Ramsay, who would coach the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA title in 1977.

Wilt celebrated all summer long. And now you know why 1967 was known as the Summer of Love.

Cunningham would coach their 1983 NBA Champions. Matt Guokas Jr., whose father Matt Sr. was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles' 1948 and '49 NFL Champions, was a reserve on the '67 76ers, and a broadcaster for the '83 76ers. The team has never won an NBA title without Cunningham and Gukoas being involved.

The Warriors had won the NBA Championship in 1947 and 1956, while playing in Philadelphia. Chamberlain played for them from 1959 to 1965, including their 1962 move to San Francisco. The Syracuse Nationals, who had won the NBA Championship in 1955, moved to become the 76ers in 1963. The Warriors changed their name to the Golden State Warriors in 1971, and have won the Championship in 1975, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. So the Warriors have won 7 titles, the 76ers have won 3, and Philadelphia has won 4 -- but none since 1983.

The 76ers retired Chamberlain's Number 13, Greer's Number 15 and Cunningham's Number 32. Those men, along with Wali Jones, Chet Walker, Bill Melchionni, head coach Jack Ramsay, statistician Harvey Pollack, public address announcer Dave Zinkoff and broadcaster Bill Campbell, have been elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. Chamberlain, Greer and Cunningham were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.

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April 24, 1967 was a Monday. Croatian basketball star Dino Rađa (his name usually written in English as Dino Rajda) was born on this day. This was also the day that Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the space race's 1st in-flight fatality. I have a separate entry for this event.

The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 2 and 3. The series was tied, 1-1, and the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up beating the Montreal Canadiens in 6 games.

And there were 3 games played in baseball:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 7-4 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 2-for-2 with 2 walks.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Lou Johnson singled Wes Parker home in the bottom of the 13th inning. Lou Brock went 3-for-6 with a walk, 3 stolen bases, and 2 RBIs.