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

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

As those teams' GMs, he did the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 9, 1966: A World Series Sweep for Baltimore

Left to right: Brooks Robinson, Andy Etchebarren, Dave McNally

October 9, 1966: Game 4 of the World Series is played at Memorial Stadium. This could be the clincher for the home team.

From 1902 to 1953, the St. Louis Browns were one of the least successful teams in what would become known as Major League Baseball. They won just 1 American League Pennant, in 1944. In only 3 other seasons -- 1902, 1922 and 1945 -- did they even come within 10 games of 1st place at the end of the season.

For the 1954 season, they were sold and moved, becoming the Baltimore Orioles. In 1960, they got into their 1st Pennant race. In 1964, with Hank Bauer managing them, and 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson winning the AL's Most Valuable Player award, they came within 2 games of the Pennant, behind the New York Yankees, with whom Bauer had won 9 Pennants as a right fielder.

In 1966, they obtained right fielder Frank Robinson. Having won the National League's MVP with the Cincinnati Reds in 1961, he was immediately named team Captain, and he led the O's to win the Pennant by 9 games over the defending Champion Minnesota Twins. The clincher came on September 22, a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Athletics, at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Frank won the Triple Crown, and became the 1st player ever to win the MVP in both Leagues. Through the 2021 season, he remains the only one.

To win the World Series, they would have to beat the defending Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and their lefty-righty combination of ace pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. In Game 1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Polish-born reliever Moe Drabowsky had to bail out Dave McNally, and set a Series record for relief pitchers that still stands, with 11 strikeouts. Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson both hit 1st-inning home runs, and the Orioles beat the Dodgers, 5-2.

In Game 2, Dodger center fielder Willie Davis, having trouble seeing a white baseball against the smog-gray L.A. sky, committed 3 errors in 1 inning, enabling the Orioles to win 6-0, and head back to Baltimore with a 2-0 lead. Jim Palmer, 9 days short of his 21st birthday, outdueled Koufax, who struggled with the Oriole bats, Davis' fielding, and the pain in his elbow. Koufax hadn't told very many people yet, but he had already decided that this would be his last major league season, so this was his last game. He was not yet 31. This could be called a "generational hinge" game.

Game 3 was the 1st World Series game played in the State of Maryland. The host Orioles continued their shocking upset, beating the Dodgers, 1-0. Wally Bunker pitched a shutout.

Memorial Stadium, in its 1954-69 configuration

Game 4 was decided by a home run, when Frank Robinson took a Drysdale pitch deep over the left field fence in the 4th inning. The lone run being scored on a homer for only the 5th time in the history of the Fall Classic, and the complete-game shutout thrown by McNally, Baltimore completed the 4-game sweep.

It was the 1st World Championship won by a Baltimore baseball team in 70 years, since the original version of the Orioles won the 1896 National League Pennant. For the Dodgers, 33 consecutive innings without scoring a run is a Series record for futility. Their streak would run to 38 innings before they scored in the 5th inning of Game 1 of the 1974 World Series, and remains a record.

The Orioles went on to win 4 Pennants and the 1970 World Series under manager Earl Weaver, and the 1983 World Series under manager Joe Altobelli. The Dodgers, however, went into rebuilding mode, winning the Pennant again in 1974.

UPDATE: In 2024, Shohei Ohtani, having already won the MVP in the AL, won it in the NL, joining Frank Robinson.

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October 9, 1966 was a Sunday. David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain from 2010 to 2016, now Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton, was born on this day.

The only other scores on this historic day were in pro football. In the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 24-19 at the new Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Washington Redskins beat the expansion Atlanta Falcons, 33-20 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.)

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Detroit Lions, 14-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Baltimore Colts, 27-17 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. For once, Marylanders didn't care much that the Colts had lost.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 56-7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers, 21-20 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

* And the night before, the Cleveland Browns beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, 41-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

And in the American Football League, only one game was played on October 9: The Oakland Raiders beat the expansion Miami Dolphins, 21-10 at the new Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The other 3 games were played the day before. The New York Jets beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-16 at Shea Stadium. The Boston Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-10 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. And the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, 37-10 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Because there were 9 teams in the League that season, one team had to have a bye each week, and, this time, it was the Houston Oilers.

September 17, 1976: Bill Lucas Becomes the 1st Black GM In MLB

September 17, 1976: The Atlanta Braves promote Bill Lucas to the office of general manager. This makes him the 1st black man to hold that position in Major League Baseball. This came 2 years after Frank Robinson was appointed the 1st black manager, 14 years after Buck O'Neil became the 1st black coach, and 29 years after Jackie Robinson became the 1st black player since 1884.

William DeVaughn Lucas was born on January 25, 1936 in Jacksonville, graduated from the historically black Florida A&M University, and signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 -- partly because his sister, Barbara, was married to Braves star Hank Aaron. (They later split up, and Aaron remarried.) An infielder, he never reached the major leagues, although he did miss 2 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He joined the Braves' front office in 1965, as they were preparing their move to Atlanta for the next season.

In 1972, he was named director of their farm system, a common position from which teams have promoted men to the GM position. Atlanta was the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., former Mayor William Hartsfield had billed it as "the City Too Busy to Hate," Maynard Jackson had been elected as its 1st black Mayor in 1973, and Aaron had broken the career home run record at Atlanta Stadium in 1974. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the following year.)

Lucas was in the process of building the team that would become the centerpiece of team owner Ted Turner's national "SuperStation TBS" over the next few years, including Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Brett Butler and Steve Bedrosian.

But Lucas would not live to see his work come to fruition. On May 1, 1979, shortly after congratulating Braves ace Phil Niekro on his 200th career win (by phone, as Lucas was in Atlanta and the game was in Pittsburgh), he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died 4 days later, only 43 years old.

Murphy said, "Bill's dream was for this organization to become a success. It is our sacred honor to be chosen to fulfill his dream." Maybe it would have been fulfilled had he lived. But it didn't happen: They won the National League Western Division title in 1982, and almost won another in 1983, but that's as close as they got. The Braves did not win a Pennant between 1958, when they were still in Milwaukee, and 1991, when a new GM, John Schuerholz, put together the team that dominated the NL in the 1990s.

For his contributions to their organization, the Braves named Lucas to their team Hall of Fame.

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September 17, 1976 was a Friday. These games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The aforementioned Atlanta Braves split a doubleheader with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Stadium. The Braves won the opener, 1-0. The winning run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning, when Ellie Rodriguez committed a passed ball on a pitch from Charlie Hough, after Don Sutton had pitched 11 shutout innings. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 11-7.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Indians won the 1st game, 5-1. The Orioles won the 2nd game, 3-2.

I mentioned Frank Robinson earlier. At this point, he was managing the Indians, but not yet retired as a player. Best remembered as an Oriole, he did not put himself into the 1st game against his former team. He did put former Oriole John "Boog" Powell in, and he hit a home run off Jim Palmer. Frank did put himself in the 2nd game, and pinch-hit an RBI single. It was his 2,808th career game, his 2,943rd hit, and his 1,812th RBI. In each case, it turned out to be his last, as he did not put himself into any more games, and retired as a player after the season. He hit 586 home runs.

Brooks Robinson did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 in the 2nd game. Reggie Jackson, in his only season with the Orioles, went 3-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, but 0-for-4 in the 2nd game.

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Graig Nettles hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 11th inning. Ed Figueroa went 10 innings, and Dick Tidrow pitched the 11th to get the win. In one of his last major league games, Hank Aaron went 0-for-5.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Shea Stadium. George "Doc" Medich outpitched Jon Matlack. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4. 

* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-5 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Lou Brock went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench only appeared as a defensive replacement, at 1st base.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-2 with an RBI, before being replaced by Fred Lynn as a pinch-runner.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Jerry Morales singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Mike Schimdt went 0-for-5.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-3 with 3 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 11-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.

September 13, 1971: The Attica Prison Riot

September 13, 1971: The Attica Prison Riot is put down after 4 days. It was one of those early 1970s events that served as the "hangover on the morning after" for the 1960s.

Central New York has a lot of European city names on their cities. Syracuse was named after Siracusa in Sicily, and next-door is a town named Liverpool. They have a Paris, an Amsterdam, a Rome, a Lisbon, and a Manchester. A Milan is in the Lower Hudson Valley, a Berlin is outside Albany, a Hamburg is outside Buffalo, and a Madrid is considerably further North, on the St. Lawrence River. 

Named for the region of Greece that includes the capital of Athens, Attica is another. It is in Wyoming County, 37 miles east of Buffalo. The Attica Correctional Facility opened in 1931, and has counted among its inmates bank robber Willie Sutton, Black Panther leader H. Rap Brown, 1970s serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, John Lennon's killer Mark Chapman, 1990s serial killer Joel Rifkin, and Long Island Rail Road shooter Colin Ferguson. (Berkowitz, Chapman, Rifkin and Ferguson are all still alive as of September 13, 2022, but each has since been moved to a different prison.)

On September 9, inspired by the various civil rights movements that had been happening over the last 10 years, 1,281 of the 2,200 inmates rioted, and took control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage. Over the next 4 days, authorities agreed to 28 demands. What they would not agree to was complete amnesty for the rioters, or for the removal of the prison's superintendent.

Nelson Rockefeller, beginning his 4th term as Governor of New York, and generally considered to be the national leader of the Republican Party's liberal wing (there was such a thing at the time), decided he had to be as tough a Governor as the rising star of the Party's conservative wing, Ronald Reagan of California. He sent the State Police in. The death toll was 43: 33 inmates, and 10 correctional officers and civilian employees.

In the aftermath, some changes were made to the New York State Prison system, to make life more tolerable, especially for nonviolent offenders. There has not been a major incident in a prison in the State since.

But the excess of killing helped to damage Rockefeller's reputation. He resigned in 1973, a year before his 4th term ended, and a few months after his draconian new drug laws infuriated people further. He served as Vice President in the last 2 years of Gerald Ford's Presidency, but was not nominated for a full term in 1976, and died under scandalous circumstances in 1979.

Three movies have been made about the riot: Attica in 1980, Against the Wall in 1994, and The Killing Yard in 2001. In the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon, a dramatization of a bank robbery gone wrong in Brooklyn in 1972, Al Pacino's character, holding hostages, sees the large police presence outside, and starts chanting, "Attica! Attica! Attica!" and the crowd gathered outside joins in. That scene has been parodied many times.

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September 13, 1971 was a Monday. Fashion designer Stella McCartney, daughter of Paul and Linda, was born. So was Goran Ivanišević, the Croatian tennis player who won Wimbledon in 2001.

It was the off-season for the NBA, the ABA and the NHL. The NFL season started the next week, so there was no Monday Night Football game on the night. But there were Major League Baseball games scheduled:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Stan Bahnsen pitched a 3-hit shutout, and was backed by 3 hits and 2 RBIs by Roy White.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at Shea Stadium, in a game shortened to 5 innings due to rain. Mike Jorgensen hit a home run.

* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener 9-1, and the Detroit Tigers won the nightcap 10-5. In the nightcap, the Orioles' Frank Robinson hit the 500th home run of his career.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 2-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The game was tied in the bottom of the 13th inning. With Johnny Bench up, manager Sparky Anderson called for a double steal. Pete Rose was safe at 3rd base, and Braves 3rd baseman Darrell Evans couldn't handle the throw from catcher Earl Williams, allowing Rose to score. Hank Aaron appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Willie Montanez won it with a home run in the top of the 10th.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Rick Monday drove in the winning run with a single in the top of the 11th.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* A doubleheader was split at Anaheim Stadium in the Los Angeles suburbs. The California Angels won the 1st game 3-2, and the Minnesota Twins won the 2nd game 1-0. Jim Kaat allowed 9 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Dodgers got home runs from Dick Allen (in his only season with them), Willie Davis and Willie Crawford. The Giants got one from Jim Ray Hart. Willie Mays was hit by a pitch in the 1st inning, didn't get a hit, and had to leave the game after 5 innings.

* And the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators got rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Indians won the opener 6-1.

The nightcap made everybody regret the doubleheader idea, especially the Indians. They led 5-2 going into the 9th inning, but the Senators tied it. It went 16 innings before being suspended by the 1:00 AM curfew the American League had at the time. It was completed on September 20, moved to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, but with the Indians still the official home team and batting 2nd.

Sam McDowell was brought into pitch for the top of the 17th, but he lost his control in the top of the 20th inning, and his defense didn't help, as an error helped a 3-run Washington inning. The Indians took a run back in the bottom of the 20th, and had the tying runs on base and the winning run at the plate, but Vada Pinson struck out to end it as an 8-6 Senators win.

The winning pitcher for the Senators was Denny McLain, who, like McDowell, had pitched the entirety of the 4-inning resumption on September 20. It was the 127th win of the former Detroit hero-turned-rogue's career. He would win only 4 more before shoulder miseries ended his career.

Ten days later, the Senators played their last home game, the announcement that they were moving to the Dallas area to become the Texas Rangers already made. Only 14,000 people showed up at the 45,000-seat RFK Stadium, and before the Senators could get the last out of a 7-5 win over the Yankees, some of them stormed the field, and the umpires awarded the game to the Yankees by forfeit. So this 20-inning win over the Indians was the last hurrah for Washington baseball until the Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005.

July 13, 1971: The Shelling of Tiger Stadium

Reggie Jackson

July 13, 1971: Major League Baseball holds its All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. It was a ballpark that strongly favored hitters, but nobody expected the onslaught that came that night.

For the 1st time in All-Star Game history, both starting pitchers were black: For the American League, Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics; for the National League, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The year before, Ellis had pitched a no-hitter, which he later claimed to have done while under the influence of the drug LSD. From September 11, 1970 to August 15, 1971, Blue was 24-4 with an ERA of 1.76. That remains one of the best stretches of starting pitching in the post-1968, 10-Inch Mound Era.

Tiger Stadium was a hitter's park, with a 325-foot right field pole, an overhanging upper deck that made it even closer, and close power alleys on both sides. And, on this night, a strong wind was blowing out to right field.

Tiger Stadium set up for the 1971 All-Star Game.

Note the red, white and blue stars in the outfield.

It got the familiar blue and orange seats in the 1977-78 off-season.

In the top of the 2nd inning, with Ellis' Pirate teammate Willie Stargell on 1st base, Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds, the previous season's (and the next season's) NL Most Valuable Player, hit a 2-run home run to the opposite field, to make the score 2-0 in the NL's favor. In the top of the 3rd, Hank Aaron hit one to the opposite field, also wind-aided. Although he would become the game's all-time home run leader, this was his 1st extra-base hit in an All-Star Game, in his 18th season. It was 3-0 NL.

Luis Aparicio, the former Chicago White Sox shortstop now playing with the Boston Red Sox, singled to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. The AL manager, Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles, sent Reggie Jackson up to pinch-hit for Blue, his Oakland teammate. Reggie was already one of the top sluggers in the game, but nobody expected this: He crushed a drive that looked like it might clear the right-field roof. Instead, it hit the transformer of a light tower. It became Reggie's signature moment -- until the 1977 World Series.

The transformer is the box at the lower right of this light tower.

The AL was not done for the inning. Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins walked. Bobby Murcer of the New York Yankees popped up. Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox hit one against the wind, to left field, and it was held up so that the shortstop, Bud Harrelson of the New York Mets, caught it. That brought up Frank Robinson of the Orioles, and he hit a home run with the wind to right field. The AL led, 4-3.

In the bottom of the 6th, against Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs, Al Kaline of the host Detroit Tigers singled, and Harmon Killebrew of the Twins, like Jackson one of the few sluggers with enough power to beat the kind of wind this game had, did so, into the upper deck in left field. That made it 6-3.

In the top of the 8th, Mickey Lolich of the Tigers came in to pitch, to the delight of the home crowd. He gave up an opposite-field home run to Roberto Clemente of the Pirates. That made the score 6-4 AL, but the NL got no closer. Although previous pitchers have been retroactively credited with saves in All-Star Game competition, Lolich was the 1st one to be credited with one after the stat's official recognition in 1969.

Lolich ended up winning more games that season than Blue, going 25-14 to Blue's 24-8. But Blue edged Lolich in the voting of the AL's Cy Young Award, and also won the AL's MVP. For many years, my schoolmates, knowing I was a baseball trivia whiz, tried to trip me up with a trick question: Who was the last switch-hitter to win the MVP? In the AL, it was a pitcher, Blue. But they tended to forget that Pete Rose was a switch-hitter, and had won it in the NL in 1973, so he was the answer.

Since then, in the NL, it's been won by switch-hitters Willie McGee in 1985, Terry Pendleton in 1991, Ken Caminiti in 1996, Chipper Jones in 1999, and Jimmy Rollins in 2007. But Vida Blue remains the last switch-hitter to win the Most Valuable Player award in the American League.

In 1978, pitching for the San Francisco Giants, Blue was selected as the National League's starting pitcher. This made him the 1st pitcher to start the All-Star Game for both Leagues.

On May 15, 1984, playing for the team then known as the California Angels, on an NBC Game of the Week, Reggie Jackson, 38 years old, finally hit a home run over the roof of Tiger Stadium. It was the 485th homer of his career.

The 6 Hall-of-Famers who hit home runs in the 1971 All-Star Game would finish as follows: Hank Aaron, 755; Frank Robinson, 586; Harmon Killebrew 573, Reggie Jackson, 563; Johnny Bench, 389; Roberto Clemente, 240.

Clemente's total doesn't sound like much, but he played most of his home games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, whose dimensions were similar to those of the pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium: Close in right field, too far everywhere else. In contrast, Aaron and Clemente were the only ones of this group to collect at least 3,000 hits, and Clemente's .317 lifetime batting average was easily higher than any of the others.

Tiger Stadium was the home of the Detroit Tigers from 1912 to 1999, and the NFL's Detroit Lions from 1938 to 1974. It was named Navin Field from 1912 to 1937, and Briggs Stadium from 1938 to 1960. There were over 30 home runs hit over the right field roof, including 4 by the Tigers' Norm Cash, and 2 by the Yankees' Mickey Mantle, as a switch-hitter batting lefthanded.

But only 4 players hit one over the left-field roof: Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, Cecil Fielder and Mark McGwire. Mantle certainly had the power to hit one over the left field roof batting righthanded, having done so twice at Comiskey Park in Chicago and once at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, but he never did that at Tiger Stadium.

Tiger Stadium had also hosted the All-Star Game in 1941 and 1951. Its successor, Comerica Park, hosted its 1st All-Star Game in 2005.

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July 13, 1971 was a Tuesday, as the day of the All-Star Game usually is. There were no other scores on this historic day.

April 29, 1988: "O" Is for "0-21"

April 29, 1988: After starting the season with a record-breaking 21 straight losses, the Baltimore Orioles avoid going 0-for-April, as they beat the Chicago White Sox 9-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

Future Hall-of-Famers Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. – whose father, Cal Ripken Sr., had recently been fired as manager and replaced by Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson – hit home runs in support of Mark Williamson, who pitches 6 innings, and combines with Dave Schmidt for a 4-hit shutout.

The Orioles had been one of the best teams in baseball from 1964 to 1984. But the team that had won the 1979 and 1983 American League Pennants, and the 1983 World Series, got old. In 1987, they fell to 67-95. But with "O" didn't just stand for "Orioles," it stood for "Oh and 21." And this was while they were trying to generate more interest in the team as their new ballpark at Camden Yards had begun construction.

They finished the 1988 season 54-107, meaning they were a terrible 54-86, a 61-101 pace, even after the streak ended. But in 1989, the Orioles' rotten luck nearly evened out, as they went 87-75, and finished only 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. With fans holding up signs reading, "WHY NOT?" with the "O" in the team's script, they remained in the Division race until the next-to-last day of the season.

They left Memorial Stadium after the 1991 season, moved into Orioles Park at Camden Yards, and made the Playoffs again in 1996 and 1997. However, through the 2021 season, they still have not won a Pennant since 1983.

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April 29, 1988 was a Friday. Hockey star Jonathan Toews was born.

These other games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. John Candelaria (better known as a Pittsburgh Pirate) outpitched Charlie Hough (better known as a Los Angeles Dodger). Don Mattingly went 0-for-4, but drove in the winning run on a groundout in the 5th inning. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and a stolen base.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Met manager Davey Johnson pinch-hit for Sid Fernandez after only 3 innings, relieved him with David Cone, normally a starter, then brought Roger McDowell to relieve him in the 8th. McDowell blew a 4-2 lead, but Keith Hernandez singled Tim Teufel home in the top of the 9th to win it.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. In the bottom of the 10th, Dwight Evans flew to right, but Mark Davis dropped the ball, allowing Wade Boggs to score. This made Lee Smith the winning pitcher, in relief of Roger Clemens.

Davis did not start the game in right field for the Twins: He had pinch-run for Kent Hrbek, and Randy Bush was moved from right field to Hrbek's position at 1st base.

* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-5 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. George Brett went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4. So did Robin Yount, and he also had an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 6-4 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-5. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Cleveland Indians and the Oakland Athletics were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a double header on July 5. The Tribe swept, 3-0 and 4-2. Scott Bailes pitched a 5-hit shutout in the opener.

* And the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 18. The Braves won the 1st game, 9-8. The Phillies scored in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra innings. But in the top of the 11th, Jim Morrison (not the already-dead lead singer of The Doors) grounded into what should have been a double play, but 1st baseman Greg Gross dropped the ball, allowing Andres Thomas to score the winning run.

The Phillies won the 2nd game, 4-1. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 3-for-8 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played on this day. There were 4 games played in the NBA Playoffs:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 112-92 at the Boston Garden.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-107 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 126-123 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 122-110 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

April 14, 2005: Major League Baseball Returns to Washington

April 14, 2005: Major League Baseball returns to Washington, D.C. after 33 seasons away. Ironically, the new home team is the Washington Nationals, who had been the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 2004, and played their 1st home game in Montreal exactly 36 years to the day before.

George W. Bush, former owner of the Texas Rangers, recently re-elected but not a particularly popular President, received a decent hand from the 45,596 fans at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium when he performed the usual Presidential duty of throwing out the ceremonial first ball. Presidents had done this in Baltimore, the next-closest MLB city to Washington, since Ronald Reagan restarted the tradition in 1984. William Howard Taft was the 1st President to do it, in 1910, but none had done it in Washington since Richard Nixon in 1969.

Also throwing out a "first ball" was Frank Howard, the former Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators slugger, the Senators' most popular player in their last few years before they were moved to become the Rangers after the 1971 season, and the player who hit the last home in a regular-season game in Washington. (Exhibition games had been played there in the interim.)

When Nationals Park opened in 2008, there would be statues of Howard, early Senators pitching legend Walter Johnson, and Josh Gibson, Negro Leagues legend who had played home games in D.C. with the Homestead Grays (who split their games between D.C. and Pittsburgh).

The Nationals had a built-in Hall-of-Famer from the very start: The Expos' last manager, and thus the Nats' 1st manager, was Frank Robinson. Slugger of 586 home runs, the only player to win the Most Valuable Player award in both Leagues, and the 1st black manager in each League, he was winding down a half-century in professional baseball.

The Nats' opening opponents were the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th. José Vidro led off with a double, José Guillén was hit with a pitch, Ryan Church popped up, Vinny Castilla tripled home Vidro and Guillén, and Brian Schneider hits a sacrifice fly to bring Castilla home. The Nats led, 3-0.

Castilla hit a home run in the bottom of the 6th, driving in Church, to make it 5-0. Liván Hernández pitched very well for 8 innings, but ran out of gas in the 9th, giving up a 3-run homer to Chad Tracy. Robinson brought Chad Cordero on to get the last 3 outs, and the Nats won, 5-3.

Castilla's home run

It would take the Nats until 2012 to make the Playoffs, and 2019 before they won a postseason series -- and then go all the way and win the World Series.

UPDATE: The Nationals have a Ring of Honor at Nationals Park, based in part of the old "Washington Wall of Stars" at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium:

* From the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues, who split their "home games" between Washington and Pittsburgh: 1st baseman Walter "Buck" Leonard, 3rd baseman Ernest Judson "Jud" Wilson, center fielder James "Cool Papa" Bell, catcher Josh Gibson, pitcher Ray Brown; and team owner Cumberland Posey. Gibson, Leonard and Bell have also been elected to the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame, also based on the Wall of Stars.

* From the "old" Washington Senators, 1901-1960: 1910s and '20s pitcher Walter Johnson, 1920s 2nd baseman and manager Stanley "Bucky" Harris, 1920s right fielder Sam Rice, 1920s and '30s left fielder Leon "Goose" Goslin, 1930s shortstop Joe Cronin, 1930s left fielder Henry "Heinie" Manush, 1940s catcher Rick Ferrell, 1940s pitcher Early Wynn, 1950s 3rd baseman Harmon Killebrew, and longtime owner Clark Griffith.

Johnson, Harris, Rice, Goslin, Cronin, Wynn, Killebrew and Griffith were also elected to the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame. So were 1910s and '20s 1st baseman Joe Judge, 1920s pitcher Fred "Firpo" Marberry, 1920s and '30s 2nd baseman Clarence "Buddy" Myer, 1920s and '30s 3rd baseman Oswald "Ossie" Bluege, 1930s and '40s 3rd baseman Cecil Travis, 1940s outfielder George Case, 1940s and '50s 1st baseman Mickey Vernon, 1940s and '50s 3rd baseman Eddie Yost, and 1950s broadcaster Bob Wolff.

* From the "new" Washington Senators, 1961-1971: Bucky Harris, as a scout; and 1st baseman Frank Howard. Howard, outfielder Chuck Hinton, manager Gil Hodges and general manager George Selkirk have been honored in the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame. So has Johnny Holliday, a legendary radio personality in Cleveland, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Washington area, who has worked with the Senators, the Nationals,  the Bullets/Wizards, the Redskins/Commanders and the Capitals.

* From the Nats' previous incarnation, as the Montreal Expos: Catcher Gary Carter, center fielder Andre Dawson, left fielder Tim Raines, and the man who was already a Baseball Hall-of-Famer when he was named manager of the Expos, staying after the move to Washington, Frank Robinson.

* From the Nationals: Robinson and catcher Iván Rodríguez were inducted due to being members of the Baseball Hall of Fame for their service elsewhere. But for their performance with them, the Nationals have honored 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman (whose Number 11 is, so far, their only retired number), right fielder Jayson Werth, and team owner Ted Lerner. So far, Lerner and his son and the team's new owner, Mark Lerner, are the only Nats figures honored in the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame.

The Nationals have also honored Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard with statues outside Nationals Park.

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April 14, 2005 was a Thursday. These other MLB games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-5 at Fenway Park. Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui each got 3 hits, but Randy Johnson did not have a good start, and former Red Sox reliever Tom Gordon blew it in the 8th inning.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Shea Stadium.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 12-7 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-6 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. (It's now named Progressive Field.)

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* And the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Ameriquest Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. (It's now named Choctaw Stadium.)

The NFL was out of season. The NHL team owners canceled the 2004-05 season over greed. There were 3 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-89 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland. (It's now named the Rocket Arena.) LeBron James scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, but in a losing effort.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 126-119 in overtime at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. (It's now named the Wells Fargo Center.) Dwyane Wade scored 48 points for the Heat, but the Sixers got 38 from Allen Iverson, 26 from Marc Jackson, and 20 from Kyle Korver.

* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 102-90 at the Moda Center in Portland.

April 8, 1975: Frank Robinson Becomes Baseball's 1st Black Manager

April 8, 1975: The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees, in their season opener at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Indians are managed for the 1st time by Frank Robinson. This makes Robinson the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball.

In 1961, Frank Robinson led the Cincinnati Reds to the National League's Pennant, and was named its Most Valuable Player. For the 1966 season, they traded him to the Baltimore Orioles. It was a big mistake, and the best thing that ever happened to the Orioles other than their move from being the St. Louis Browns in 1954: Robinson was immediately named team Captain, won the Triple Crown, led them to their 1st American League Pennant and their 1st World Series win, and was named the AL's MVP. He remains the only player to win the MVP in both Leagues. The Orioles won the Pennant again in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and the World Series again in 1970.

(UPDATE: Shohei Ohtani was named the AL's MVP in 2021 and 2023, with the Los Angeles Angels. In 2024, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was named the NL's MVP, making him the 2nd player so honored.)

After the 1973 season, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner saw manager Ralph Houk quit, and he had to scramble to find a new manager. He considered hiring Frank Robinson, who was then playing for the team then named the California Angels. This would have made him the 1st black manager in the major leagues, a little over a year after a dying Jackie Robinson spoke at the 1972 World Series, and said he wanted to "see a black face managing in baseball."

George didn't care about making history: He wanted the best man for the job, and, in the Autumn of 1973, having already been denied the right to hire Dick Williams, winner of the last 2 World Series as manager of the Oakland Athletics, by A's owner Charlie Finley, he thought the best remaining choice that might be available was Frank Robinson.

Gene Autry, the legendary entertainer who owned the Angels, wouldn't let Robinson go. Was it because Autry didn't want a black manager in MLB? No. Was it because he simply didn't want to lose Frank? No, as you'll soon see. It was because he didn't like George, and didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

Nevertheless, Autry could have named Frank the 1st black manager in the major leagues, but on September 12, 1974, he traded Frank to the Cleveland Indians for Ken Suarez, Rusty Torres and cash. (The last part is ironic: The Indians were constantly short on cash, and Autry was one of the richest owners. In another irony, the next manager Autry hired was Dick Williams.) 

After the season, Indians manager Ted Bonda fired manager Ken Aspromonte. Who to hire? Bonda knew that, racial history aside, Frank was qualified for the job. He'd been Captain of a 2-time World Series winner, and had managed in the Caribbean Winter Leagues. Bonda knew that if he didn't hire him as manager, somebody else might, and he didn't want to lose him, either as a still-active player or as a potential manager.

So, on October 3, 1974, he did the right thing for history, as well as the right thing for his team. He signed Frank at a salary of $175,000 to do both jobs. Frank said his only regret was that Jackie, no relation, didn't live to see the day.

I could have done this entry for that day. But it wouldn't have been official until he actually managed a regular-season game. And, besides, that 1st such game makes for a better story.

On April 8, 1975, for the 1st time, a regular-season game in Major League Baseball was played with a black man managing one of the teams. Frank had already posed for the cover of Sport magazine, handing a lineup card to the cameraman. Now, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, in front of 56,715 fans, he did it for real, giving his lineup card to home plate umpire Nestor Chylak, who would join Frank in the Hall of Fame.

Gaylord Perry, also on his way to the Hall, started for the Indians, and George "Doc" Medich did so for the Yankees. In the bottom of the 1st inning, after Oscar Gamble popped up to 3rd base, Frank Robinson, having made himself the Indians' designated hitter and put himself 2nd in the batting order, hit a home run off Medich, the 575th of his career, which would end with 586.

The Yankees took a 3-1 lead in the top of the 2nd, the Indians made it 3-2 in the bottom of the 2nd, and, in the bottom of the 4th, Robinson's former Baltimore teammate John "Boog" Powell -- who said the Indians' all-red uniform made him, rotund as he was, "look like the world's largest Bloody Mary" -- hit a home run to tie the game. Boog broke the tie with an RBI double in the 6th, and the Indians went on to win, 5-3.

Boog had a point.

But the Indians never had enough money to build a contending team. Early in the 1977 season, Frank Robinson became the 1st black manager to get fired -- not because he wasn't as good as most white managers, but because he was as good as most of them, and that wasn't good enough.

In 1981, he achieved another both-leagues distinction: The San Francisco Giants made him the 1st black manager in the NL. The next year, in his 1st year of eligibility, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He would later return to the Orioles, coming within 2 games of managing them to an AL Eastern Division title in 1989. He was also the manager of the Montreal Expos when they moved to become the Washington Nationals in 2004-05. He died in 2019, at age 83.

In 1978, having been the 1st black player in the American League and the 2nd black player in the previously all-white major leagues, Larry Doby became the 2nd black manager in MLB, finishing out the season with the Chicago White Sox.

As of Opening Day of the 2022 MLB season, 11 of the 30 current teams have never had a black manager: The New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Angels, the Miami Marlins, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres.

The the D-backs, Braves, the Red Sox, the Angels, the Marlins, the Cardinals and the Padres have each had a Hispanic manager, but not an African-American one. Dave Roberts was interim manager of the Padres for 1 game, but not a "permanent" manager for them, as he has been for the Los Angeles Dodgers, so the Padres still count as not having hired a black manager.

(UPDATE: In 2024, the Angels hired Ron Washington.)

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April 8, 1975 was a Tuesday. There were 5 other games in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Shea Stadium in New York. Tom Seaver outpitched Steve Carlton for the win, aided by a home run from Dave Kingman. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. For the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4. For the Brewers, Hank Aaron went 0-for-3, and Robin Yount hit a home run.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers, 11-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. For the Twins, Rod Carew went 2-for-6, while Tony Oliva and Larry Hisle hit home runs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 2-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. They did this despite Reggie Jackson going 0-for-4.

Football was out of season. There were 2 NBA Playoff series beginning on the day. The New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets, 99-84 at the Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston. And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 90-77 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There was 1 American Basketball Association Playoff game: The Kentucky Colonels beat the Memphis Tams, 119-105 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

Four Stanley Cup Playoff series began that day: 

* The New York Islanders, in their 1st-ever Playoff game, shocked their established neighbors, the New York Rangers, 3-2 -- at Madison Square Garden no less. An arch-rivalry is born.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 8-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Mike Murphy scored the goal, 8 minutes and 53 seconds into overtime.

And 1 Playoff game was played that day in the World Hockey Association: The Quebec Nordiques beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 5-2 at Le Colisée de Québec.