December 15, 1900: The Rusie-Mathewson Trade

December 15, 1900: The New York Giants trade Amos Rusie to the Cincinnati Reds for Christy Mathewson.

Known as the Hoosier Thunderbolt, for his Indiana origin and the best fastball in the game at the time, Rusie was 28 years old, and had already won 246 games in the major leagues, striking out 1,944 batters, then the all-time record. He had led the National League in strikeouts 5 times, wins twice, and earned run average once. In 1894, he led in all 3, "the Triple Crown of Pitching."

"It took a lot of pitching to strike a man out in those days," Rusie explained years later. "The foul strike rule hadn't come in. A guy had to miss three of 'em clean before he was out."

Not only had he continued to pitch well following the 1893 move of the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches -- some pitchers did not, and dropped off dramatically -- but it didn't seem to have any effect on him at all. Indeed, some observers thought that his speed was the reason for the move: 50 feet was too close for a batter to get out of the way of a pitch that might hit him. Maybe Rusie realized he didn't have to worry as much, and gained some confidence.

Connie Mack, who played in the major leagues from 1886 to 1896, and then managed in them until 1950, saw every great fastball pitcher in that time. He batted against Cy Young, managed Rube Waddell and Lefty Grove, and managed against Walter Johnson and Bob Feller. "Rusie was the fastest, without a doubt," he said. "They looked like peas as they sailed by me. All I saw of them was what I heard when they went into the catcher’s mitt."

So why would the Giants trade the man who, along with Cy Young and Kid Nichols, was probably the best pitcher in baseball at the time, and at what should have been his physical peak? Because he was a headache for them. After the 1895 season, he got into a contract dispute with Giants owner Andrew Freedman. He ended up holding out for the entire 1896 season.

Freedman settled just before the 1897 started, because Rusie threatened to take the National League to court and get the reserve clause overturned. Keeping the reserve clause was more important than the money, because there's one thing a rich person values more than money, and that's control.

Rusie was once again a great pitcher in 1897 and most of 1898. But on August 12, he injured his shoulder making a pickoff throw against the team that would, in 1903, be renamed the Chicago Cubs. "My arm felt dead," he said. "I finished the game throwing floating curves. The following day saw the start of a parade of doctors. Each examined my arm. Each had a different diagnosis. The X-ray was unknown then, so their job wasn't an easy one."

He took a month off, and was fine after that: "For the rest of the season, everything was fine. But the following spring, when I tried to pitch, my arm felt dead." On top of that, he and his wife May split up, and he tried to patch things up with her. Between his arm and his personal issues, he didn't pitch at all in the 1899 and 1900 regular seasons.

So, in spite of his earlier greatness, Rusie was now a liability, from the neck up and from the neck down. So Freedman, having had enough of him, traded him to the Reds. It's not that the Reds didn't know about his issues. The Giants didn't put one over on him. They were willing to take a risk on him coming back, and trading away a 20-year-old pitcher who'd appeared in all of 6 major league games, winning exactly none of them.

That pitcher's name was Christy Mathewson. The Giants had bought his contract the preceding July, from the Norfolk team in the Virginia-North Carolina League. They loaned him back to Norfolk, and then he was chosen by the Reds in the 1900 Rule 5 Draft. They decided they didn't want him, anyway, and traded him back to the Giants.

Over the next 16 years, Mathewson became the best pitcher that baseball had ever seen to that point, winning 373 games against 188 losses, with a career ERA of 2.13, an ERA+ of 136, and a WHIP of 1.058. In 1916, he was traded back to the Reds, along with Bill McKechnie and Edd Roush, for Buck Herzog and Red Killefer. This trade was a bit more even: Mathewson was done, but Roush became a Hall-of-Famer. So do McKechnie, but as a manager. And Herzog helped the Giants win the Pennant in 1917.

Mathewson died of lung problems in 1925. In 1936, he was one of the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Having reconciled with May, Rusie tried pitching for the Reds in 1901, but could only manage 3 appearances, 22 innings, and an 0-1 record. He was done at 30. Interviewed late in life, he said, "Even today, I'm often bothered by twinges of pain." He died in 1942. In 1977, he, too, was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Despite their long history, which includes 14 postseason appearances, 10 Pennants and 5 World Series wins, the Reds have only 9 players who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame mainly due to their performance with them. Only 1 is a pitcher, Eppa Rixey, and if the Hall ever had to remove 10 players from its ranks, he might be 1 of them.

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December 15, 1900 was a Saturday. Baseball was in the off-season. The college football season had ended. Basketball was in its infancy, and while there was hockey, it was all-amateur.

There were scores on this historic day, if you count England's Football League. In one of their games, Leicester Fosse beat Woolwich Arsenal, 1-0 at Filbert Street. Woolwich Arsenal moved from Plumstead, then in Kent but now in Southeast London, to North London, in 1913, and dropped the locality from their name, becoming simply "Arsenal." In 1919, Leicester Fosse changed their named to Leicester City, although they are still nicknamed the Foxes.

October 24, 2002: Gary Lineker Saves Leicester City

October 24, 2002: Leicester City Football Club, going into administration as the result of the costs of moving into a new stadium and a larger wage bill for players, are saved by one of their greatest players.

Gary Winston Lineker was born on November 30, 1960 in Leicester, East Midlands, England. A forward, he played for hometown soccer team Leicester City from 1978 to 1985, and helped them gain promotion to the top flight in 1980. He played 1 season, 1985-86, for Liverpool team Everton -- a year after and a year before they won the League, but he did win the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year.

Lineker playing for Leicester City

He went to F.C. Barcelona, helping them win the Copa del Rey (Spain's version of the FA Cup) in 1988 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989. He returned to England, and helped North London team Tottenham Hotspur win the 1991 FA Cup -- and they haven't won a major trophy since. (UPDATE: They won the League Cup in 1999 and 2008, but those are not major trophies. Whether the 2025 UEFA Europa League counts as a "major trophy" is a matter of opinion.)

But his time at "Spurs," including helping England reach the 1990 World Cup Semifinal, made him a beloved figure in his homeland. He was the Football League's leading scorer in 1985, 1986 and 1990.

He then started a media career, mostly with the BBC, and since 1999 has anchored the network’s most popular program (or, as they would spell it, "programme"): Match of the Day. He leads the pundits in promoting classically English teams like Spurs, Everton, Leicester, West Ham United, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and, of course, the two biggies, Liverpool and Manchester United; and trashing Arsenal, the North London team known for its foreign influence.

When Leicester City went into administration (what the British call the legal form of bankruptcy) in 2002, as a result of moving from their Filbert Street ground to the new Walkers Stadium (now the King Power Stadium), he personally bailed them out, leading a consortium that contributed £5 million (at the time, about $3.5 million), with "six figures" of it (at least £100,000) being his own money. He described his involvement as "charity" rather than an "ego trip."

He met with fans' groups to persuade them to try and raise money to rescue the club, and it was eventually saved from liquidation. He was named the club's honorary Vice President.

He has donated heavily to leukemia charities (one of his sons is a survivor) and, in 2020, £140,000 (about $187,000 at the current exchange rate) to the British Red Cross for COVID-19 research.

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October 24, 2002 was a Thursday. This was also the day that the "Beltway Snipers," who killed 7 people in the Washington, D.C. area, were arrested. I have a separate entry for that event.

Game 5 of the World Series was played. The San Francisco Giants beat the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, 16-4. Jeff Kent hit 2 home runs. The most well-known moment in this game occurred in the bottom of the 7th inning, when Giants 1st baseman J.T. Snow scored off a Kenny Lofton triple. Three-year-old batboy Darren Baker, son of Giants manager Dusty Baker, ran to home plate to collect Lofton's bat before the play was completed, and was quickly lifted by the jacket by Snow with one hand as he crossed the plate, with David Bell close on his heels. Had Snow not acted quickly, Darren could have been seriously injured in a play at home plate.

The Giants were now 1 win away from winning the World Series for the 1st time in 1954, when they were still in New York. They would have to wait. Darren Baker was later drafted by the Washington Nationals as a 2nd baseman.

(UPDATE: In 2024, he played 9 games for the Nationals. These were his only major league games through the 2025 season.)

The NFL was in midweek. Two games were played in college football. Number 12 North Carolina State beat Clemson, 38-6 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. And Colorado State beat Brigham Young University, 37-10 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The NBA season started 5 days later. There were 9 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Florida Panthers, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators played to a tie, 2-2 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 at the American West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Dallas Stars and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 3-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 at the Skyreach Center (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 2-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.)

May 25, 1963: Manchester United's Recovery

May 25, 1963: Manchester United win their first trophy since the Munich Air Disaster 5 years earlier, beating Leicester City in the FA Cup Final. This was the beginning of a run that would culminate in the 1968 European Cup. This was also the first event at the old Wembley Stadium with the iconic roof completely surrounding.

Leicester finished 4th in the Football League Division One, 9 points behind the Champions, Liverpool-based Everton. (It would have been 14 points under the current format.) United finished 19th, only 3 points out of the relegation zone.

It might have made all that United manager Matt Busby had worked for during the last 5 years meaningless if the team had gotten relegated. Fortunately for him, 3 teams were worse, including crosstown Manchester City and East London team Leyton Orient, who were relegated; and Birmingham City, who also avoided it.

There was a heavy Scottish presence in this Final, including both managers, Busby and Leicester's Matt Gillies. United had 5 Englishmen: Goalkeeper David Gaskell, center half Bill Foulkes, left half Maurice Setters, inside right Albert Quixall, and outside left Bobby Charlton; 3 Scots: Right half Pat Crerand, center forward David Herd, and inside left Denis Law; and 3 Irishmen: Left back and Captain Noel Cantwell, right back Tony Dunne, and outside right Johnny Giles, who would later star for Leeds United.

Gillies called on 4 Scots: Right back John Sjoberg, center half Ian King, inside left Dave Gibson, and right half Frank McLintock, who would Captain the Arsenal team that won the Double in 1971. The rest of his team was English, foremost among them the man who was quickly being recognized as one of the best goalies in the world, Gordon Banks.

The referee was Ken Aston, famous (or infamous) for his officiating at the Chile vs. Italy match in the 1962 World Cup, known as the "Battle of Santiago." He also introduced the idea of a yellow card for a warning and a red card for a sending-off, based on traffic lights. His other innovation was referees wearing black: Previously, they wore tweed jackets over white shirts, but, because he liked the look and the many pockets of a black bomber jacket, he began wearing one during games, convincing the FA, and later FIFA, to adopt it in full.

Three times in the 1st 15 minutes, Gaskell made bad moves that gave Leicester an open net. All 3 times, the Foxes missed their shots. At the half-hour mark, a Charlton shot was saved comfortably by Banks, who then bowled the ball out to Gibson. Crerand read the throw, and raced in to intercept the ball 25 yards from the Leicester goal before passing to Law, who turned and fired past Banks and 2 defenders to open the scoring. It should have been 3-0 Leicester; instead, it was 1-0 Man United.

Gaskell gave Leicester another golden opportunity, early in the 2nd half, but they couldn't capitalize. Herd scored in the 57th minute. Center forward Ken Keyworth got Leicester to within 2-1 in the 80th, but Herd scored again in the 85th to end it. Captain Crerand received the Cup from Queen Elizabeth II.

BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme speculated that United's victory was as a result of the team's greater match sharpness, having had to play to avoid relegation right to the end of the season, while Leicester had lost their sharpness with nothing to play for in the closing weeks of the season.

This game launched a new era of glory for United. They won the League in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968. Their success, and their style, getting them on television and in football magazines, made them the most visible team in the country. Their Scottish and Irish presence, aided by the 1964 addition of Northern Ireland's George Best, made them the most popular team in the United Kingdom. However, the hooligan element among their fans frittered away much of the goodwill, including the leftover sympathy from 1958, that many had for them.

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May 25, 1963 was a Saturday. Actor-comedian Mike Myers was born. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4. Joe Pepitone hit a home run. Yogi Berra, in his final season as a player, and Roger Maris did not play. Ralph Terry went the distance for the win.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. The Mets only got 3 hits, 2 of them by 18-year-old Ed Kranepool. Stan Musial, in his last season as a player, drew a walk as a pinch-hitter.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Daryl Spencer went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk. Rookie Pete Rose went 2-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 0-for-4 with a walk. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-5.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Colt .45s, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks hit a home run. The Colt .45s became the Houston Astros in 1965.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bob Shaw pitched a 4-hit shutout. Hank Aaron went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Joe Torre hit a home run. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Cuba's Camilo Pascual allowed only 2 hits, to defeat Puerto Rico's Juan Pizarro. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 9-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels were groundsharing with the Dodgers until their stadium in Anaheim could be built.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 1-for-4. Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey and Ed Bailey hit home runs. Tommy Davis went 3-for-4 with an RBI, but the rest of the Dodgers only got 4 hits.

May 6, 1961: Tottenham Win The Double

May 6, 1961: Tottenham Hotspur, of Middlesex, defeat Leicester City, of the East Midlands, 2-0 in the FA Cup Final at the original Wembley Stadium in West London. "Spurs" had already won the Football League Division One title, so this meant that they had won "The Double" -- or "done The Double."

It was the 1st time it had been done in the 20th Century. The only previous Double winners were Preston North End of Lancashire, in the 1st Football League season of 1888-89; and Birmingham side Aston Villa, in 1897.

It was Spurs' 2nd League title. The 1st came in 1951, with 2 of their players going on to become legendary managers. One was Alf Ramsey, who led Ipswich Town of Suffolk to the League title in 1962, and the England national team to win the World Cup on home soil. The other was Bill Nicholson, who managed this '61 Spurs team, captained by Northern Ireland's Danny Blanchflower, playing a style that became known as "champagne football."

The game was scoreless at the half, thanks in part to the skill of Leicester goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who would be the starting goalie on that 1966 England team. But Bobby Smith scored in the 66th minute, and Terry Dyson iced it in the 75th. Blanchflower received the Cup from Katharine, Duchess of Kent, substituting for her husband Edward's 1st cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. 

This would be the 1st soccer game shown on ABC Wide World of Sports -- but it would be broadcast 2 weeks later, on May 20. Soccer was never truly a priority for American TV networks, until the 21st Century, when they began to see how much money they could make on it.

Early the next season, Tottenham acquired perhaps their greatest player ever, forward Jimmy Greaves, and finished 2nd in the League, and successfully defended the Cup, They won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963, becoming the 1st team from anywhere in the British Isles to win a European trophy. (Such competitions had only begun in 1955.) They won another FA Cup in 1967. By that point, the Double team had already begun to break up, including through tragedy: Midfielder John White was struck by lightning on a golf course in 1964, dying at age 27.

Spurs fans like to say that they were the 1st London team to win the Double. This is not true: It would take the London Government Act 1963, taking effect on January 1, 1965, for Tottenham, both the neighborhood and the team, to be brought within the city limits of London.

In 1971, the team that had been in North London since 1913, Arsenal, would win both the League and the Cup, with their Captain, Frank McLintock, having played on the '61 Leicester team that lost this Final. For Arsenal, it was the 1st of, now, 3 "Doubles," the others coming in 1998 and 2002.

Because of their relationship with Arsenal, 4.7 miles away, Spurs fans have both a superiority complex (the "real" team in North London, the "champagne football" tag, '61 coming before '71) and an inferiority complex (no League titles since '61, to Arsenal's 6, including 2 clinched at White Hart Lane; no FA Cup wins since '91, to Arsenal's 9; no trophies at all since the 2008 League Cup, to Arsenal's 4; and Arsenal being far more popular, not just in London, but worldwide).

Since then, the Double has also been won by Liverpool in 1986; Manchester United in 1994, 1996 and 1999, with the UEFA Champions League added in 1999, making it England's only "European Treble"); West London team Chelsea in 2010; and Manchester City in 2019, with the League Cup added, making it England's only "Domestic Treble."

Tottenham fans also have a "The year ends in one" complex: 1901, FA Cup; 1921, FA Cup; 1951, League title; 1961, The Double; 1971, League Cup; 1981, FA Cup, 1991, FA Cup. Well, it doesn't always work out: Domestic football was put on hold during World War II, including 1941; and they won nothing in 1911, 1931, 2001 (including a loss to Arsenal in an FA Cup Semifinal), 2011 (including a late-season collapse that dropped them to 5th, out of the Champions League places) and 2021 (losing the League Cup Final).

UPDATE: In 2023, Manchester City won England's 2nd European Treble.

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May 6, 1961 was a Saturday. Actor George Clooney was born.

American-style football was out of season. Basketball and hockey had ended their seasons the previous month. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. You read that right: The American League's Angels were named for a team of the same name in the Pacific Coast League, a Cubs farm team from 1925 to 1957. Cubs owner William Wrigley Jr. built them a ballpark that resembled Cubs Park in Chicago, and named both of them Wrigley Field.

Roger Maris hit his 3rd home run of the year, but Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra both went 0-for-3. Leon Wagner hit 2 homers for the Halos, Albie Pearson 1, as Art Ditmar started and didn't have it.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente reached base 5 times: 4-for-4 with a walk, and an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-8 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Kaline went 2-for-6 with an RBI.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 6-1 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 for the Cubs, and Stan Musial did not play for the Cards.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-0 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple, and Jackie Brandt hit a home run, in support of Steve Barber, who pitched a 5-hit shutout, striking out 10. That day, his arm was neither sore nor a little stiff. (Ball Four reference.)

* The Milwaukee Braves and the Cincinnati Reds got rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Braves led the opener 4-0 going into the 8th inning, but the Reds scored 3 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to win it, 5-4. Frank Robinson hit a home run off Warren Spahn. The Reds then won the nightcap, 4-0, as Jim O'Toole pitched a 5-hit shutout. Hank Aaron went 0-for-7 with a walk in the twinbill.

* The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins got rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The Twins swept, 6-5 and 6-3. Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-7 in the 2 games, while rookie Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-9. Yaz sure didn't look like a future Hall-of-Famer that night.

* The Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators got rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 28. The Indians won the 1st game, 3-2; and the Senators won the 2nd game, 5-2.

* The Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants got rained out at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 29. The Giants won the 1st game, 8-7, on a home run in the top of the 10th by Willie Mays, his 3rd homer of the game. The Giants completed the sweep, 4-1.