December 25, 1991: Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns, the End of the Soviet Union

December 25, 1991: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union. The next day, the Supreme Soviet dissolved, its last act being to dissolve the Soviet Union itself after 74 years.

Gorbachev had been named President in 1985, after the death of Konstantin Chernenko, the last of the old-line Communists. Born in 1931, Gorbachev was the 1st Soviet leader who did not remember the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. So he was uniquely poised to lead reforms, which he called "perestroika" (reconstruction) for domestic change, and "glasnost" (openness) for foreign relations.

That gave the West a chance to make peaceful overtures to a changing adversary. Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, said in an interview, "I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together." The equally conservative American President, Ronald Reagan, met with him in 5 summits: In Geneva, Switzerland in 1985; in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1986; in Washington in 1987, signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty; in Moscow in the Summer of 1988; and in New York toward the end of the year, including President-elect George H.W. Bush.

In 1987, Time magazine named Gorbachev its Man of the Year, recognizing him as the person who had most affected the news during the calendar year. (Remember: It's not an "award" that a person "wins.") In 1989, suggesting that he deserved it again, and then som, Time named him Man of the Decade. In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

But the hardline Communists of Gorbachev's generation didn't like the changes he was making to what those of their forefathers had done. In August 1991, he was overthrown in a coup. But Boris Yeltsin, already President of the substate the Russian Federation, rallied the country, getting the Red Army on his side. With several of the Soviet "republics" having already declared their independence, the plotters could not expect help from elsewhere, and the coup collapsed. After 4 days, Gorbachev was back in power.

But he had very little support. The country had still rallied around Yeltsin, who was seen as even more of a reformer. Gorbachev become the opposite of "a man without a country": He was, in effect, a one-man country. On Christmas Day, he bowed to the inevitable, and resigned his office.

Gorbachev continued to advocate for social-democratic reform, was a critic of current Russian President Vladimir Putin, and died on August 30, 2022, at the age of 91.

The sad part is, the end of the Soviet Union was not the end of tyranny in its former lands. Putin ruled the Russian Federation with an iron fist from 2000 until 2008, when the country's Constitution term-limited him out. So his Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, became President, while Putin became Prime Minister. Before Medvedev's term ran out in 2012, the Constitution was amended to allow Putin to return in 2012, and to have no limits.

Meanwhile, some of the other former Soviet "republics" had their own dictators: Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan, 1990-2006; Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan, 1991-2016; Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan, 1991-2019; Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, since 1994; Emomali Rahmon, Tajikistan, since 1994; and Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan, since 2003.

It's as if these countries decided, "We don't want to be a part of the Soviet Union, but we do like what the Soviets do, we just want to do it ourselves."

Following viewer demands for a battle with a Russian, a 2013 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, featured a five-man "battle royale": "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Rasputin, Vladimir Lenin and Vladimir Putin; while "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Gorbachev.

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December 25, 1991 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in midseason. There was 1 college football game: Georgia Tech beat Stanford, 18-17, in the Aloha Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The NHL, as usual, did not play on Christmas Day. The NBA usually does, and there were 2 games. The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 121-99 at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 14 points; on his own team, he was outscored by Scottie Pippen (27), B.J. Armstrong (18) and Horace Grant (17). But the Celtics were crumbling, and this would be the last season for Larry Bird.

And the Los Angeles Lakers went back to their 1st home in L.A., the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 85-75.

December 7, 1941: The Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941: As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the next day, asking Congress for a Declaration of War against the Empire of Japan, and getting it, it is "a date which will live in infamy." Japanese planes attack the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.

American casualties and losses: 2 battleships totally lost, 2 battleships sunk and recovered, 3 battleships damaged, 1 battleship grounded, 2 other ships sunk, 3 cruisers damaged, 3 destroyers damaged, 3 other ships damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed, 159 aircraft damaged, 2,403 people killed, 1,178 wounded.

To put that in perspective: In 1941, the U.S. had about 130 million people, and we lost 2,400 in Honolulu that day. In 2001, we had about 300 million, and lost 3,000 on 9/11. Proportionately, we lost about twice as many people at Pearl Harbor as we did at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon combined 60 years later.

The 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! -- named for the code given that the attack was on -- is usually still considered the best film about the attack, more so than From Here to Eternity (1953, in which the attack is secondary to the story), The Final Countdown (1980, ditto), and Pearl Harbor (2001, in which the acting has been heavily criticized). Playing the Japanese commander, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese actor Sō Yamamura said, "I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve." Yamamoto may have believed this, but there is no record of him actually saying it.

But it was true: For Japan, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a "Pyrrhic victory." The phrase originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum, in what is now Southern Italy, in 279 BC destroyed much of his forces, forcing the end of his campaign. According to legend, he said, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." The more common translation is, "Another such victory, and I am undone."

About 18,000 people were stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time. In 2013, 2,000 to 2,500 survivors were thought to be still alive, according to Eileen Martinez, chief of interpretation for the USS Arizona Memorial. But I can find no definitive number of how many people who were there who are still alive, only that there are believed to be 3 still alive who served on the Arizona.

UPDATE: An obituary for Lou Conter, the 102-year-old last survivor of the Arizona, who died on April 1, 2024, said that there were only 21 overall survivors left. A CNN report on December 6, 2024 said that 16 were left. A report the next day by Voice of America confirmed that total, and said that only 2 of them made it to a memorial service at the site, 83 years after the attack. One was 104 years old; the other, 102.

A CNN story about the memorial ceremony held at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 2025 said that there were only 12 survivors left, and, for the 1st time, 84 years after the attack, none was able to attend.

*

December 7, 1941 was a Sunday, and 3 games were played in the National Football League. The most notable was at the Polo Grounds in New York, between 2 teams that were named for established baseball teams: The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Giants had won the NFL's Eastern Division title, as they had previously done in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938 and 1939, winning the NFL Championship Game in 1934 and 1938 -- Super Bowl -XXXIII and Super Bowl -XXIX, if you prefer. But before they could face the Chicago Bears in the 1941 edition (having beaten them in 1934 and lost to them in 1933), they had to face the football Dodgers, who, like their baseball namesakes, played home games at Ebbets Field.

It was Tuffy Leemans Day at the Polo Grounds. Alphonse Emil Leemans (1912-1979) was a native of Superior, Wisconsin, and had been an All-American back (offensive and defensive) at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Giants would later retire his Number 4, and he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Dodgers didn't care. They were going for a season sweep of the Giants, and they got it, winning 21-7. The Giants may have been the official Division Champions, but the Dodgers were the unofficial City Champions.

The Brooklyn Eagle, December 8, 1941

The attack started at 7:48 AM Hawaii time, which was 1:48 PM East Coast time. During the 2nd half, word got to the press box, and announcements began to come over the public address system. In those days, it was rare for someone to get paged at a sporting event. Usually, it was a doctor, who had to go and attend to a medical emergency.

This time, with the draft already in place, and enlistments already well underway as well, military officers attending the game were paged, and told to report to their various bases in and around New York City.

At Comiskey Park in Chicago, home to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center on Lake Michigan, another crosstown battle was held. The Bears beat the host Cardinals 34-24. And at Griffith Stadium in Washington, in the capital so the number of government officials and military officers present was considerably larger than in New York and Chicago, the host Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14.

When the game in New York ended, Dodger fans could not openly celebrate, and Giant fans didn't care, either, because it was then announced to the crowd that Pearl Harbor had been attacked.

The NFL Championship Game was played as scheduled, at Wrigley Field in Chicago on December 21, and, despite a 9-9 deadlock in the 3rd quarter, the Bears went on to beat the Giants 37-9.

This was during Major League Baseball's offseason, so none of their games were played. This was 5 years before the founding of the NBA, so none of their games were played. There were 3 National Hockey League games played on the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked:

* At the old Madison Square Garden, the host New York Rangers beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins, 5-4. Alex Shibicky scored 2 goals.

* At the Olympia Stadium, the host Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2.

* And at the Chicago Stadium, the host Chicago Blackhawks beat the Brooklyn Americans, 5-4. Only in this, what turned out to be their last season, were the former New York Americans, or "Amerks," using the Brooklyn name, even though they still played all their home games at The Garden. A plan for a new arena in Brooklyn was proposed for after The War, but it never happened, and the franchise suspended at the conclusion of the 1941-42 season, was officially folded in 1946.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled to play that day.

Time magazine named Roosevelt its Man of the Year for the 3rd time, due to his efforts to aid Britain, France and the Soviet Union without getting Congress to declare war on the Axis Powers, until Pearl Harbor made it unavoidable.

September 20, 1968: "Hawaii Five-O" Premieres

Left to right: Gilbert "Zulu" Kauhi, Jack Lord,

Kam Fong and James MacArthur

September 20, 1968: Hawaii Five-O premieres on CBS. It runs for 12 seasons, and becomes one of the most popular crimefighting dramas in television history.

The timing was problematic. It had been 3 weeks since the "police riot" at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Fortunately, at this point, the number of people who wanted to see the police as good guys -- either presuming they always were, or wanting to see good examples rather than the bad ones in Chicago -- far outnumbered the people who saw the police as bad guys, and the show was a hit.

The show was shot nearly entirely on location in Hawaii, the 50th and most recent State to enter the Union, hence, "Five-Oh." Jack Lord -- previously the 1st actor to play CIA Agent Felix Leiter in the James Bond films, and an early choice to play Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek before William Shatner was cast -- played Captain Steve McGarrett, a former U.S. Navy officer who is appointed by Governor Paul Jameson, played by Richard Denning, to lead a special task force of the State Police, answerable only to him, headquartered at the ʻIolani Palace, the former royal residence of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. (In real life, it is now a public museum, and the only former royal palace on American soil. Also in real life, the Governor at that time, John A. Burns, cooperated with filming.)

James MacArthur, son of Helen Hayes, "The First Lady of the American Theater," and ex-husband of actress Joyce Bulifant, played Steve's young second-in-command, Danny Williams, often called "Danno" by Steve. Often, at the show's end, Steve would tell Danny to book the perpetrator with the appropriate charge. Example: "Book 'em, Danno. Murder one." (Murder in the first degree.)

Kam Tong Chung, a Hawaiian native who was a witness to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and later served 16 years with the real-life Honolulu Police Department, appeared on the show under his stage name Kam Fong (the result of a school's clerical error), and played Detective Chin Ho Kelly, the most veteran member of Steve's team. In 1978, when Fong got tired of the show, the character was killed off on an undercover assignment, soon avenged by the team.

Another native, Gilbert Lani Kauhi, using the stage name "Zulu" -- making him sound African instead of Hawaiian -- played Detective Kono Kalakaua. He was the team's muscle: If Steve was equivalent to Bonanza's Ben Cartwright, Danny to Little Joe, and Chin Ho (though the oldest actor and character) to Adam, then Kono was Hoss. After 4 seasons, Kauhi got tired of being treated like the dumb tough guy, saying little more than, "Yes, boss," and quit.

Chin Ho was named for Chinn Ho, the Hawaii real-estate developer who got the Ilikai Hotel built in Honolulu. It was the State's 1st luxury high-rise hotel. The show's opening sequence, perhaps the best-remembered feature from the show, opened with a huge wave, and showed various Hawaii landmarks, including the Aloha Tower, and zoomed in on Lord as Steve, standing on the balcony of the Ilikai. The theme song was one of the most memorable instrumental songs of the era, and a rocked-up version became a Top 10 hit for the instrumental band The Ventures.

From 1969 to 1975, Tausau Ta'a, a Samoan actor using the stage name Al Harrington (after his stepfather), played Detective Ben Kokua. From 1972 until the show ended in 1980, Herman Wedemeyer played Detective Sergeant Duke Lukela, a character apparently named for the legendary king of Hawaiian surfers, Duke Kahanamoku.

Both Harrington and Wedemeyer had played college football in the San Francisco Bay Area: Harrington at Stanford, but he turned down a lowball offer to play for the Baltimore Colts; and "Squirmin' Herman," nicknamed for his ability to break tackles, at St. Mary's College in the East Bay, and he did play for the Colts. Before being cast on the show, Wedemeyer had been elected to the Honolulu City Council as a Democrat in 1968, and then to the Hawaii House of Representatives as a Republican in 1970 and 1972. I can't find a reason for his switch of parties.

From 1974 to 1976, Douglas Kinilau Mossman played Detective Frank Kamana. From 1977 until the series ended, Sharon Farrell played Detective Lori Wilson. In 1979, for what turned out to be the show's last season, MacArthur left the cast, and William Smith joined as Detective James "Kimo" Carew, and Wilfred Nalani "Moe" Keale, one of Hawaii's leading native musicians (and the uncle of another, Israel "Brother Iz" Kamakawiwoʻole), joined as Detective "Truck" Kealoha.

Danny Kamekona appeared in 33 different episodes, in 23 different roles, including 4 different doctors. In 3, all of them in 1969, he played Che Fong, the team's forensic specialist. In 8, 6 of them in 1974, he played Chief Nick of the Honolulu Police Department. From 1969 to 1977, Harry Endo replaced Kamekona as the forensic specialist, though the character's name of Che Fong was kept. Al Eben played Doc Bergman (his first name was never mentioned), the team's coroner.

While the Five-O team took on all kinds of criminals, including organized crime, the show's main villain was Wo Fat, played by Kenneth Dickerson, who cited his part-Chinese ancestry and used the stage name Khigh Dheigh.

The character appeared in the pilot, as a Chinese intelligence agent, and became a recurring character. By 1976, he was depicted as the head of the Chinese Mafia (a branch of the nationalist Tongs in Hong Kong, not the Communists in Beijing). In the series finale, airing on April 5, 1980, after trying for nearly 12 years, getting only the little fish around him, Steve McGarrett finally defeated and arrested Wo Fat.

The term "five-oh" has become a slang term for police, and "Book 'em, Danno" has also entered the lexicon. Jack Lord loved being in Hawaii so much, he made it his permanent home. He closed every episode by narrating a preview of the next week's episode, saying, "Be there. Aloha!" (Like the Hebrew "Shalom," "Aloha" can mean many things, including "Hello," "Goodbye" and "Peace.")

Leonard Freeman died in 1974, when the show was still near its peak. Khigh Dheigh died in 1991, Danny Kamekona in 1996, Jack Lord and Richard Denning in 1998, Herman Wedemeyer in 1999, Kam Fong and Moe Keale in 2002, Al Eben in 2003, Gilbert Kauhi in 2004, Harry Endo in 2009, and James MacArthur in 2010.

From 2010 to 2020, CBS aired a rebooted version of the show, with the slightly altered title of Hawaii Five-0, the last character being a zero instead of a capital letter O. The dynamic of the 2 lead characters was changed: Steve (played by Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin) and Danny (Scott Caan, son of James) were no longer 17 years apart in age, with a father-son or mentor-protegé relationship; they were the same age, and acted more like partners but bickering brothers. (The same age? In fact, Caan was born on August 23, 1976, just before the original show began its 9th season, and O'Loughlin was born the very next day.)

Lost veteran Daniel Dae Kim played Chin Ho Kelly as a much younger character, who succeeded Steve as the quarterback for their high school's football team, breaking all his records. (Video footage showed quarterback Steve wearing, naturally, uniform number 50.) And Kono Kalakaua was completely different in this version: As played by Grace Park, Kono was female, thin, a surfing champion, and Chin Ho's cousin. This was the 2nd time Park had played a gender-bent character in a rebooted classic: She played Boomer on the 2000s version of Battlestar Galactica.

Al Harrington appeared on the new H50, although not as Ben Kokua. Doug Mossman also appeared on it, but not as Frank Kamana. Both of them died in 2021. So did William Smith, although he did not appear in the reboot series. As of September 20, 2022, Sharon Farrell is the only notable actor from the original series still alive.

*

September 20, 1968 was a Friday. Author and political commentator Van Jones was born that day.

These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. In the 3rd inning, Mickey Mantle hit a home run off Jim Lonborg. It was the Mick's 18th of the season, and the 536th, and last, of his career. Bill Robinson also hit a home run for the Yankees. Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run for the Red Sox.

* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, 3-2 and 5-4. Tom Seaver won the opener. For the nightcap, the Mets went with what would now be called "an opener game" or "starter by committee": 2 innings each by Don Cardwell, Nolan Ryan and Don Shaw, and 3 by Cal Koonce, who was credited as the winning pitcher.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 6-3 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the next season.) Jim Northrup hit 2 home runs, and Al Kaline went 4-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Steve Blass pitched a 2-hit shutout. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4. Willie Stargell did not play. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4, but Frank Robinson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Johnny Bench went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4. Rod Carew, uncharacteristically, went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Lou Brock went 3-for-5 with a solo home run.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Hank Aaron goes 0-for-2, and is replaced by his brother Tommie Aaron, who also goes 0-for-2. They hold the career record for most home runs by a pair of brothers: 768. Hank hit 755, and Tommie hit 13. By a weird coincidence, Willie Mays also went 0-for-2 before being replaced.

Juan Marichal was not replaced: He went the distance to win his 26th game of the year. But with the pitching achievements of Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson in his own League, of Denny McLain in the other, and Gibson and Mickey Lolich in the upcoming World Series, hardly anybody remembers Marichal's great season.

* And the California Angels and the Cleveland Indians were not scheduled.

August 21, 1959: Hawaii Is Admitted As the 50th State

August 21, 1959: Hawaii -- or "Hawai'i," as its natives write its name -- is admitted to the Union as the 50th State. It remains the most-recently-added State.

The 1st 48 States are known as the "Contiguous States." But Alaska and Hawaii, the 2 newest States, are separated from them, and neither borders any other State.

Because new States mean new stars added to the American Flag on the following July 4, the addition of a 50th Star on July 4, 1960 produced the American Flag that has flown ever since. On July 5, 2007, it surpassed the 48-Star Flag of July 4, 1912 to 1959 as the longest-lasting American Flag.

Hawaii's State Flag is a combination of the American Stars & Stripes and the British Union Jack. It is a legacy of the British Royal Navy's historical relations with the Kingdom of Hawai'i, and, in particular, the pro-British sentiment of the 1st ruler of a united Hawaiian Islands, King Kamehameha I. This flag was retained after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, after U.S. annexation in 1898, and after Statehood in 1959. The original State Capitol building, replaced by the current one in 1969, was the Royal Palace, and is the only royal palace on what is now American soil.

Hawaii is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean. There are 8 main islands. From west to east, they are: Ni'ihau, The Forbidden Isle (population just 84); Kaua'i, The Garden Isle; O'ahu, The Gathering Place; Moloka'i, The Friendly Isle; Lānaʻi, The Pineapple Isle; Kaho'olawe, The Target Isle (no permanent residents); Maui, The Valley Isle; and Hawai'i, The Big Island. Ka Lae, on the Big Island, is the southernmost point in the United States.

Hawaii is known for each beach resorts, its flowers, its volcanoes, and its U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, whose attack by Japanese airplanes on December 7, 1941 brought America into World War II.

Hawaii has the lowest percentage of white residents of any State, just 21 percent; and 57 percent as Asian and/or "Pacific Islander." Because of this multicultural background Hawaii tends to be liberal politically. Since its 1st Presidential election in 1960 -- when a recount turned it from Richard Nixon to John F. Kennedy -- it has only voted for the Republican nominee for President twice: Nixon in 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1984, the 2 elections where 49 of the 50 States were won.

Hawaii has about 1.4 million people, with O'ahu having the vast majority of them, just over 1 million people. It is home to Honolulu, the State's capital and, at 350,000, its largest city. The State's size, and its distance from the American mainland -- 2,556 air miles from Honolulu to Los Angeles, almost as much as from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast -- and its time zones, 3 hours behind Pacific Time and 6 hours behind Eastern Time, make major league sports there almost impossible.

The Hawaii Islanders played in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League from 1961 to 1987. A team known simply as "The Hawaiians" played in the World Football League in 1974 and '75. The State has hosted college football bowl games and early-season college basketball tournaments. The University of Hawaii has had a prominent football program.

It is unlikely that there will be a 51st State anytime soon. Potential candidates tend to include the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, but the former has Republicans in Congress standing in its way, since they don't want a majority-black State electing 1 liberal to the U.S. House of Representatives and 2 to the Senate; and the latter has voted to remain a "commonwealth," instead of for Statehood or independence, every time the subject has come up.

*

August 21, 1959 was a Friday. Jim McMahon, the only quarterback ever to lead the Chicago Bears to victory in a Super Bowl, was born.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics, 9-7 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Duke Maas was the winning pitcher. Héctor López hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Yogi Berra went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. For the A's, future major league manager Dick Williams hit a home run, and Roger Maris drew a walk as a pinch-hitter. After the season, the Yankees traded for Maris.

* The San Francisco Giants swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-0 and 10-6 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. In the opener, Johnny Antonelli allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout to beat Robin Roberts, and even hit a home run in his own cause. Over the 2 games, Willie Mays went 1-for-10, and Willie McCovey went 2-for-9 with 2 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Jack Harshman pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk. Stan Musial appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-0 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Paul Foytack pitched a 4-hit shutout. Al Kaline hit a home run. Ted Williams appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Braves were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Braves swept, 7-0 and 3-2. Carl Willey pitched a 6-hit shutout in the 1st game. In the 2nd game, with Stan Lopata batting in the bottom of the 9th, Bill Henry threw a wild pitch, allowing Bobby Ávila to score the winning run.

Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 0-for-8 with a walk, Eddie Mathews went 4-for-8 with a walk and 2 RBIs, and Ernie Banks went 0-for-8.

April 19, 1989: The USS Iowa Explosion

April 19, 1989: An explosion onboard the USS Iowa kills 47 crewmen, during a fleet exercise in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla. This hastened the ship's retirement, and that of the other remaining World War II-Korean War era battleships.

The NIS (Naval Investigative Service), the precursor to the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), determined that it was caused by a sailor's suicide attempt.

Battleships BB-65, USS Illinois, and BB-66, USS Kentucky, were still under construction when World War II ended, were never completed, and were ultimately scrapped, never joining the Iowa-class battleships that actually did sail. Those 4 have all become "museum ships":

* BB-61, USS Iowa, "The Grey Ghost." Decommissioned October 26, 1990. It is berthed at the Pacific Battleship Center, Port of Los Angeles.

* BB-62, USS New Jersey, "The Big J" or "The Black Dragon," it saw more battles than the other 3 combined. Decommissioned February 8, 1991. It is berthed at the Home Port Alliance in Camden, New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.

* BB-63, USS Missouri, "The Mighty Mo," the ship on which the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the Allies. Decommissioned March 31, 1992, making it America's last battleship. It is berthed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The place where, for America, World War II began seems an appropriate place for the ship where it formally ended.

* BB-64, USS Wisconsin, "The Big Wisky." Decommissioned September 30, 1991. It is berthed at Nauticus, a museum at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia.

*

April 19, 1989 was a Wednesday. Actor Simu Liu was born. This was also the day the "Central Park Jogger" case began. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. John Candelaria outpitched future Yankee Jimmy Key. Steve Sax, Bob Brower and Álvaro Espinoza each had 2 hits for the Yankees. Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson each went 1-for-5.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Shea Stadium. Lee Mazzilli hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning, to make Randy Myers a winning pitcher in relief of David Cone. Mike Schmidt, entering his final season, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4. George Brett and Bo Jackson hit home runs for the Royals.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. How many Dodgers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? On this night, 4: Mike Morgan, 4 over 5 2/3rds innings; Tim Crews, 1 before getting the last out in the 6th; Ray Searage, a perfect 7th; and Jay Howell, a perfect 8th and 9th.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4.

Football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Miami Heat, 117-91 at the Miami Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-105 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 100-92 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* And the Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 99-84 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both in Game 2 of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum, in Game 2 of their series. Bobby Smith scored the winner, at 12:24 of the 1st overtime. And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

January 14, 1973: Elvis Says Aloha

January 14, 1973: NBC had the rights to cover Super Bowl VII. They also had the rights to air Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite. This concert was broadcast all over the world from the Honolulu International Center, now named the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, after the Mayor who got it built. The one major country on Earth that did not broadcast it live was America, because NBC thought it would be too much to ask of their viewers to watch 2 epic events in one day. So they held it back, and broadcast it on April 4, 1973.

Elvis Presley had just turned 38, and had also just finalized his divorce from his wife Priscilla. He came onstage wearing a white jumpsuit with an eagle on the front, an eagle on the back, and a big belt with a double-eagle buckle.

He sang hits from all phases of his career: The early "Memphis Flash" days, his Hollywood exile, and his Las Vegas comeback. As usual, he closed with "Can't Help Falling In Love," which was certainly appropriate on this occasion, because it was used in his 1961 film Blue Hawaii.

It was not one of his better performances. Certainly, he wasn't as into it was he was for his "Comeback Special" in 1968 (also on NBC), or for the Vegas show he did that was included in the 1970 documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is. He was tired, and the emotional stress of the divorce was weighing on him. He looked like he was still in good shape, but the prescription drugs he was taking had already begun to take their toll. Within 5 years, the King of Rock and Roll was dead.

UPDATE: It took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

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January 14, 1973 was a Sunday. In Super Bowl VII -- obviously, the only football game played that day -- the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Redskins, 14-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, completing their unique undefeated season. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 86-84 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 102-100 at The Omni in Atlanta. Jerry Wes scored 37 points for the Lakers.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls, 100-95 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 35 points and 17 rebounds.

* And the Baltimore Bullets beat the Phoenix Suns, 95-94 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The Carolina Cougars beat the Memphis Tams, 104-100 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. And the Kentucky Colonels beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 100-97 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 7 games played in the NHL that day: 

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders, in their 1st year of play, lost to the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-0 at the Boston Garden.

* The other expansion team, the Atlanta Flames, beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at The Omni in Atlanta. This building, in its 1st season, hosted both the NBA and the NHL on this day.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks and the California Golden Seals played to a tie, 6-6 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota North Stars were not scheduled.

And the World Hockey Association, in its 1st season, played 2 games that day. The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Ottawa Nationals, 3-2 in overtime at the St. Paul Civic Center. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 3-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.