December 7, 1993: The Long Island Rail Road Massacre

December 7, 1993: A crazed gunman shoots 25 passengers on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing 6 of them. It was the worst crime ever committed on an American train, and remains so.

Armed with a Ruger P89 semi-automatic pistol, Colin Ferguson, a 35-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, boarded an eastbound train at New York's Jamaica, the neighborhood in Queens, heading for Hicksville, Nassau County. As the train pulled into Merillon Avenue station in Garden City Park, he pulled his weapon, and started firing. Several passengers managed to subdue him until an LIRR policeman was able to board the train and arrest him.

At first, Ferguson had a public defender, then fired him, and tried to represent himself. William Kunstler and Ron Kuby volunteered to represent him, but Ferguson fired them, too. Kunstler had previously represented the Chicago Seven at their conspiracy trial in 1969-70, and Doors singer Jim Morrison at his 1970 obscenity trial. Kuby, like Kunstler described as a "radical lawyer," was the left half of a politically-opposite talk show on radio station WABC, with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa on the right.

When Ferguson was ruled competent to stand trial,  Kuby told the media, "Without a psychiatric defense, Ferguson has no defense. There was no doubt that he was there, that he fired the weapon, that he would have fired it more had he not been wrestled to the ground. There is no doubt that Colin Ferguson, if sane, was guilty."

He was convicted, on February 17, 1995. Like another infamous New York killer, David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, he has been attacked by fellow inmates, including yet another New York murderer, serial killer Joel Rifkin. Allegedly, the fight started when Ferguson told Rifkin, "I wiped out six devils, and you only killed women." Rifkin responded, "Yeah, but I had more victims," and then, Ferguson punched Rifkin. Guards broke the fight up before a result could be determined.

One of Ferguson's victims was Dennis McCarthy. His widow, Carolyn McCarthy, ran for Congress the next year, on a gun control platform. In spite of a nationwide conservative tide, including the defeat of anti-gun Governor Mario Cuomo by George Pataki in New York State, she won, and served in Congress for 18 years.

A memorial to the victims was erected in Mineola, on Long Island. As of December 7, 2022, Ferguson is at Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, Franklin County, New York, close to the Canadian border.

*

December 7, 1993 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-78 at The Forum outside Los Angeles  in Inglewood, California.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 117-90 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 91-89 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 109-100 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings, 105-87 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 115-111 at the Chicago Stadium. The Clippers' Danny Manning led all scorers on the night with 43 points.

* The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks, 106-101 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 121-102 at The Summit in Houston. Otis Thorpe scored 40 points. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 95-90 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders played the Edmonton Oilers to a tie, 4-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Calgary Flames played the Quebec Nordiques to a tie, 4-4 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Washington Capitals, 6-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Florida Panthers beat the season's other expansion team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).

* And the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose, 3-1 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

November 20, 2021: The UBS Arena Opens

November 20, 2021: The UBS Arena opens in the Belmont Park complex, in Elmont, Long Island, New York, just over the City Line from Queens. It becomes the home of the New York Islanders.

The Islanders had played at the Nassau Coliseum, in the Town of Hempstead but with a Uniondale mailing address, from their 1972 inception until 2015, by which point the Coliseum had become obsolete. They played the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, groundsharing with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

The players, the organization and the fans all hated it: The building was designed for basketball and concerts, and, in order to fit a regulation-size NHL rink in the place, about 2,000 seats had to be removed, thus giving them an even smaller seating capacity than they had at the Coliseum. The Coliseum was renovated, and they played a few home games there in the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, and the even smaller seating capacity didn't matter, since they weren't selling out, anyway.

But, after years of trying to get a new arena approved at the Coliseum site, a deal was finally struck to build one next-door to Belmont Park, one of America's greatest horse-racing tracks. This led to the UBS Arena being nicknamed "The Stable." Lucky for them, the Islanders have been good since moving in, so there are few jokes about them being "horseshit."

Major League Soccer's New York City FC had wanted the site, and, backed with the money of their owners -- 80 percent the royal family of Abu Dhabi, and 20 percent the New York Yankees -- they could certainly afford it. But the State of New York, owner of Belmont Park and its operator through the New York Racing Association, chose the Islanders, who are more established than NYCFC, and, unlike the royal family of Abu Dhabi, don't have the taint of anti-Semitism, which is an issue in New York City and Long Island.

Ground was broken on September 23, 2019. UBS, the United Bank of Switzerland, bought the naming rights on July 22, 2020. The arena seats 17,255 for hockey and 19,000 for concerts. It opened on November 20, 2021. The Islanders did not live up to the occasion, losing 5-2 to the Calgary Flames. Brad Richardson of the Flames scored the 1st goal, while Brock Nelson scored the 1st Islander goal. The Islanders lost their 1st 7 games in the arena, finally getting their 1st win on December 11 -- unfortunately for me, over the New Jersey Devils.

On November 28, 2021, former One Direction singer Harry Styles hosted the Arena's 1st concert. Queens-based St. John's University, which uses Madison Square Garden for home games too big for its on-campus Carnesecca Arena, were a natural to host the 1st basketball game at the Arena. On December 3, 2021, they played the University of Kansas, and lost, 95-75. The loss didn't look so bad at the end of the season: Kansas won the National Championship.

*

November 20, 2021 was a Saturday. There were 11 other NHL games played that day:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3 at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Nashville Predators, 6-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-4 at the FLA Live Arena (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Clayton Keller scored the winning goal, 25 seconds into overtime.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

* The Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-0 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres, the Vancouver Canucks, the Winnipeg Jets, the Colorado Avalanche, the Ottawa Senators, and the Anaheim Ducks were not scheduled.

There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 106-99 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-105 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat, 103-100 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 115-105 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Saints, 111-94 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic, 117-108 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and had 20 rebounds, a pretty big rebounding number for his generation.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 138-95 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings, 123-105 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-111 at the Moda Center in Portland. Damian Lillard led all scorers on the night with 39 points.

This was the start of the 8-day rivalry week in college football. The games played on this day included:

* Number 1 Georgia warmed up for their rivalry with Georgia Tech by beating Charleston Southern, 56-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 2 Alabama warmed up for their rivalry with Auburn by beating Number 21 Arkansas, 42-35 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Alabama beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, but Georgia qualified for the National Championship Playoff anyway, and won a rematch against Alabama at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the title.

* Number 3 Cincinnati beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 48-14 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. Cincy won the American Athletic Conference Championship, and became a rare school from outside the "Power Five" conferences to qualify for the National Championship Playoff. But in their Semifinal, which also served as the Cotton Bowl, they lost to Alabama.

* Number 4 Oregon were upset by Number 24 Utah, 38-7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The schools had a rematch in the Pacific-Twelve Conference Championship Game, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and Utah won again, to go to the Rose Bowl. Oregon lost the Alamo Bowl to Oklahoma.

* Number 5 Ohio State warmed up for their rivalry with Michigan by beating Number 7 Michigan State, 56-7 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 6 Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech, 55-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (In odd-numbered years, due to the weather, Notre Dame and USC play each other in South Bend in the middle of the season. In even-numbered years, they play in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving weekend.)

* Number 8 Michigan warmed up for their rivalry with Ohio State by beating Maryland 59-18 at Maryland Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland. Michigan beat Ohio State for the 1st time in 10 years, beat Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, and lost the Orange Bowl to Georgia as the National Championship Playoff Semifinal. For once, the Rose Bowl was a consolation prize for the Michigan-Ohio State loser, and Ohio State beat Utah.

* Number 9 Oklahoma State warmed up for their rivalry with Oklahoma by beating Texas Tech, 23-0 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.

* Number 10 Mississippi warmed up for its rivalry with Mississippi State by beating Vanderbilt, 31-17 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. Despite not being SEC Champions, with the top 2 teams in the SEC invited to the Playoff, "Ole Miss" were invited to the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 11 Baylor beat Kansas State, 20-10 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, Baylor beat Oklahoma State in the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game in Arlington, Texas, then beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 13 Wake Forest were upset by Clemson, 48-27 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 18 University of Pittsburgh beat Virginia, 48-38 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh. Pitt won the Atlantic Coast Conference title, but lost to Michigan State in the Peach Bowl.

* Rivalry: The University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA, beat the University of Southern California, USC, 62-33 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Rivalry: Harvard beat Yale, 34-31 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

* Rivalry: Princeton beat the University of Pennsylvania, 34-14 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Technically, Princeton had won a share of the Ivy League title, but it was with Dartmouth, who had the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.

* Not a rivalry, but a novelty: Purdue beat Northwester, 32-14 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* Among the service academies, Army beat the University of Massachusetts, 33-17 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy lost to East Carolina, 38-35 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force had played the night before, beating Nevada 41-39 at Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada.

* And New Jersey's team, Rutgers, lost to their arch-rivals, Penn State, 28-0 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

And, in English soccer, Liverpool FC beat North London team Arsenal FC, 4-0 at Anfield in Liverpool. Much to my dismay.

November 13, 1974: The Amityville Horror Murders

November 13, 1974: Ronald DeFeo Jr. shoots and kills 6 members of his family at their home in Amityville, on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. It inspires a story that turns into the horror film franchise known as "The Amityville Horror."

DeFeo was 21. The victims were his father, Ronald DeFeo Sr., 43; his mother, Louise, also 43; and his 4 siblings: Dawn, 18; Allison, 13; Marc, 12; and John, 9. He had shot them all with a .35 caliber lever action Marlin 336C rifle.

He gave conflicting stories. At one point, he tried an insanity defense, saying he did not remember the murders. At another, he said he was covering up for Dawn, who had killed their father, and then their mother had killed her and the others. He also claimed that his father's father and uncle were involved with organized crime. (Ronald Sr.'s uncle, Peter DeFeo, was a caporegime in the Genovese crime family, but there is no evidence that the killings were a Mob hit.)

He was convicted of second-degree murder a year later, and sentenced to 6 separate terms of 25 years to life in prison. He was taken to the Sullivan Correction Facility in Fallsburg, in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, and was held there until his death in 2021.

The house was at 112 Ocean Avenue, about 33 miles east of Midtown Manhattan. The DeFeo family had purchased it in 1965. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their 3 children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes fled the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. This inspired Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, the film based on it in 1979, and various sequels and reboots.

The Town of Babylon has changed the address of the house, to discourage tourists. Subsequent owners have claimed they have never seen any unusual phenomena there.

*

November 13, 1974 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Karen Silkwood died under suspicious circumstances, and the day of Yassir Arafat's lie-filled speech before the United Nations. I have separate entries for those events.

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

* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 118-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Bob Lanier had 40 points and 24 rebounds.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Suns.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 132-129 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 44 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as Louie Dampier led the Colonels with 32.

* The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Memphis Sounds, 97-92 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 31.

* The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-103 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 132-108. Travis Grant scored 35 in defeat.

There were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-6 at the Montreal Forum. René Robert scored 3 goals and an assist. Guy Lapointe had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Canadiens.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the team that was meant to be their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. But the Scouts went just 2-8 against the Blues, failed after just 2 seasons, and the Blues' arch-rivals remained the Chicago Black Hawks. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976, and the New Jersey Devils in 1982.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 10-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was only the 2nd game the Oilers played there, following their November 10 opener, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Crusaders. They had played their 1st 2 seasons, and the start of this, their 3rd, at the Edmonton Gardens.

* And the Toronto Toros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

October 30, 2002: Herman Edwards Plays to Win the Game

October 30, 2002: New York Jets coach Herman Edwards holds his usual midweek press conference at the team's headquarters at the time, Weeb Ewbank Hall, on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, across the street from the Nassau Coliseum.

The Jets had gotten off to a 2-5 start. Teams that get off to a 2-5 start usually don't make the Playoffs. Judy Battista of The New York Times asked him, "Do you have to talk to your team about not giving up on the season?"

Herm's answer became legend. He said, "This is what's great about sports. This is what the greatest thing about sports is." And he leaned into the microphone, and said, "You play to win the game!" He pulled himself upright, pauses, waved his hands, and said, "Hello? You play to win the game! You don't play it just to play it! That's the great thing about sports: You play to win! And I don't care if you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start telling me it doesn't matter, then retire! Get out! 'Cause it matters!"

At this point, he seemed to be on the verge of tears. And if the season had continued the way it had been going, with a final total that is frequently familiar to Jet fans, then Herm, once a very good cornerback who helped the Philadelphia Eagles reach Super Bowl XV, and whose fumble recovery beat the New York Giants in a 1978 game that became known as "The Miracle of the Meadowlands," would have gone down in history as a coach who melted down and couldn't handle the pressure of New York.

But a funny thing happened on the way to a nervous breakdown: Herm's rant worked. In their next game, the Jets clobbered the San Diego Chargers, starting a 4-game winning streak, and allowing them to finish 9-7, and make the Playoffs with a home game. Then they beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card round of the Playoffs, before going to Oakland and losing to the Raiders.

So instead of being a guy who couldn't handle coaching in New York, Herm became known as a coaching genius and a master motivator. It didn't last long, but he'll always be remembered for this success, not for his failures. He later served as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and Arizona State, and an NFL studio pundit.

This was also the day that rap legend Jam Master Jay was murdered. I have a separate entry for that event.

*

October 30, 2002 was a Wednesday. Baseball season had ended 3 days earlier, with the team then known as the Anaheim Angels beating the San Francisco Giants, in Game 7 of the World Series. Football was in midweek.

Every NBA team then in operation, except for the Sacramento Kings, played that night:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Detroit Pistons, 86-77 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, New York.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-94 at the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands. Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson scored 34 points for the Hawks, but it wasn't enough.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-95 at the First Union Center (now the Wachovia Center) in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 99-96 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Miami Heat, 100-86 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 119-108 at The Pyramid in Memphis.

* The New Orleans Hornets make their debut, after 14 seasons as the original Charlotte Hornets. Ironically, it's against the last team to represent New Orleans in the NBA, the Utah Jazz, who left in 1979. The Hornets win, 100-75 at the New Orleans Arena (now named the Smoothie King Center). Karl Malone scores 20 points for the visitors, and John Stockton 14. But Baron Davis of the Hornets leads all scorers with 21 points, while Courtney Alexander scores 19 off the bench.

In 2004, Charlotte got a new NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats. In 2013, the NBA made a deal but which the New Orleans franchise gave up the Hornets name, and became the New Orleans Pelicans. In 2014, the Bobcats reclaimed their city's old name, and became the Charlotte Hornets.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards, 74-68 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets, 91-82 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Steve Francis scored 39 points for the Rockets, but it wasn't enough. It was the NBA debut for Yao Ming. I have a separate entry for that event.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets, 83-77 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 98-96 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-98 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland). Antawn Jamison scored 36 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102-90 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Phoenix Suns, 86-73 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-0 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals, 7-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. The Bruin goals came from 7 different scorers: P.J. Axelsson, Rob Zamuner, Jozef Stümpel, Brian Rolston, Bryan Berard, Joe Thornton and Glenn Murray.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Corel Center (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators, 7-0 at the Savvis Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis. Like the Bruins, the Blues got 7 goals from 7 different players on this night: Reed Lowe, Al MacInnis, Keith Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra, Petr Čajánek, Shjon Podein and Dallas Drake.

* And the Florida Panthers beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Valeri Bure scored the winning goal with 1:39 left in overtime. Bure was the younger, less successful brother of Hall-of-Famer Pavel Bure, but he's probably better remembered for his wife, actress Candace Cameron Bure. Attendance at this game: 18,532, matching the title of the sitcom starring his wife: Full House.

October 10, 1908: The 1st Highway

October 10, 1908: The Long Island Motor Parkway opens. It is the world's 1st highway, the first road designed exclusively for automobile use, the first concrete highway in the United States, and the first to use overpasses and bridges to eliminate intersections.

It was funded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of ferry and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, and an auto racing enthusiast who created the Vanderbilt cup race in 1904.

The road was originally planned to stretch for 70 miles, in and out of New York City, as far as Riverhead, the seat of Suffolk County, and the point of division for the north and south forks of Long Island. Only 45 miles were constructed, and on October 10, 1908, a 10-mile-long section opened as far as modern Bethpage.

It hosted races in 1908 and on the full road in 1909 and 1910, but an accident in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup, killing two riding mechanics, led the New York State legislature to ban racing except on race tracks, ending its career as a racing road.

By 1911, the road was extended as far east as Lake Ronkonkoma. Its western stretch was also extended from Great Neck, Nassau County to what is now the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of Queens.

Roadway design advances of the 1920s rendered the road obsolete less than 20 years after construction. At the same time, Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway. In 1929, the owners and some Long Island officials proposed that New York State should buy the road, and integrate it into the state parkway system, despite its narrow roadway (varying from 16 to 22 feet wide) and steep bridges not meeting new standards. Moses opposed the idea, stating that the Long Island Motor Parkway had been "a white elephant for the last twenty years."

The completion of the Northern State Parkway signaled the end for the road. In 1937, the portion of the Long Island Motor Parkway in Suffolk County was donated to Suffolk County. In July 1938, the remainder of the parkway's land was given to Nassau County and the Long Island State Parks Commission.

Most of the road in Queens is a bicycle trail from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park. The Nassau County roadway has been redeveloped, or turned into a right of way for Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) transmission lines.

Pretty much all of what's left looks something like this. 

*

October 10, 1908 was a Saturday. Game 1 of the World Series was played at Bennett Park in Detroit. The Chicago Cubs led 5-1 going to the bottom of the 7th, the Detroit Tigers took a 6-5 lead into the 9th, then the Cubs scored 5 in the 9th to win, 10-6. Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown was the winning pitcher. The Cubs won the Series in 5 games.

Professional basketball barely existed. It was too early for a new hockey season to begin. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Army beat Trinity College of Hartford, Connecticut, 33-0 on The Plain at West Point, New York.

* The Carlisle Indian School beat Syracuse, 12-0 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York.

* Rutgers lost to Lehigh, 12-0 at Lehigh Field in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

* Princeton and Lafyette played to a tie, 0-0 at University Field in Princeton, New Jersey.

* The University of Pennsylvania beat Pennsylvania State University: Penn 6, Penn State 0 at the original Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* Navy beat Dickinson College, 22-0 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland. Like the Carlisle Indian School, Dickinson was based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

* In a Washington vs. Baltimore matchup, Georgetown beat Johns Hopkins, 22-4 at Georgetown Field in Washington.

* In what would later become a major rivalry, the University of Michigan and Michigan State Agricultural College played to a tie, 0-0 at College Field in East Lansing. MSAC became Michigan Agricultural College in 1909, Michigan State College in 1925, and Michigan State University in 1955.

* The University of Chicago beat Indiana, 29-6 at Stagg Field in Chicago.

* And in an intra-State rivalry, Kansas beat Kansas State, 12-6 at McCook Field in Lawrence, Kansas.

And in English soccer, South-East London team Woolwich Arsenal, later to be Arsenal F.C., the North London team I would one day support, beat Manchester City, 3-0 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead.

October 7, 1972: The New York Islanders Debut

October 7, 1972: The NHL's 2 new expansion teams, the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames, play their 1st regular-season games, against each other, at the Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 30 miles east of Midtown Manhattan.

Original Captain Ed Westfall scores the Islanders' 1st goal, and Morris Stefaniw scores the 1st for the Flames, who win, 3-2. Stefaniw's goal is the 1st in the Coliseum's history, and it turns out to be the only one he scores in the NHL: Aside from 13 games with the Flames that season, he turns out to be a career minor leaguer.

The Isles' 1st season will be very rough, giving no indication as to the consistent excellence they will produce from 1975 to 1987, and the 4 straight Stanley Cups they will win from 1980 to 1983.

UPDATE: The Islanders have a team Hall of Fame. Through the 2025-26 season, defenseman Ed Westfall, their 1st Captain, is the only player in it who did not last until the 4 straight Stanley Cups began in 1980. "The Pats," center Pat LaFontaine and right wing Patrick Flatley, are the only players from after those Cup wins to be inducted.

Everyone else in it was a member of at least 2 of the Cup winners. Center Brent Sutter won the last 2, and defenseman Ken Morrow, also a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won the Gold Medal in 1980, won all 4.

General manager Bill Torrey was honored with a banner with a picture of his signature bow tie, and the words "The Architect." Head coach Al Arbour was honored with a banner bearing the number 739, for his coaching wins, until someone discovered that he'd coached 1,499 games, and, with the NHL's permission, was brought back to coach one more game in 2007. He won it, and, instead of a new banner with the number 740, it had the number 1500 (no comma).

The other honorees have had their uniform numbers retired: 5, defenseman and Captain Denis Potvin; 9, left wing Clark Gillies; 19, center Bryan Trottier; 22, right wing Mike Bossy, 23, right wing Bobby Nystrom; 27, left wing, John Tonelli; 31, goaltender Billy Smith; and 91, Butch Goring, who had worn 19 with the Los Angeles Kings, and reversed the digits out of respect to Trottier.

*

October 7, 1972 was a Saturday. There were 6 other games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 4-4 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the California Golden Seals, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

The World Hockey Association played its 1st games 4 days later. The NBA and the ABA were a few more days away from debuting. In baseball, both Leagues' Championship Series began:

* In the American League, the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Al Kaline and Norm Cash hit home runs off Catfish Hunter, and Mickey Lolich went the distance, but ran out of gas in the 11th inning, as Gonzalo Marquez got the winning hit for the A's. The A's would win the Pennant in 5 games.

* In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Al Oliver homered for the Pirates, Joe Morgan for the Reds. In spite of this loss, the Reds would win the Pennant in 5 games. Game 5 would be the last game for Roberto Clemente of the Pirates, who was killed in a plane crash the following New Year's Eve.

The NFL played the next day, but there were big college football games played on this Saturday:

* The Number 1-ranked University of Southern California beat Stanford, 30-21 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. This was the closest that USC came to losing a game that season.

* Number 4 Alabama beat Georgia, 25-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 7 Notre Dame beat Michigan State, 16-0 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.

* Number 10 Penn State beat Illinois, 35-17 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

* Princeton and New York's Columbia played to a 0-0 tie at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And Rutgers lost to Cornell, 36-22 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.

Also, what would become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Woodbridge, 19-13 at Woodbridge Stadium (now Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium) in Woodbridge.

And Arsenal lost to Sheffield United, 1-0 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, Yorkshire. 

September 29, 1977: Billy Joel Releases "The Stranger"

September 29, 1977: Billy Joel releases his album The Stranger, one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history. It was recorded for Columbia Records at A&R Recording, the A&R standing for partners Jack Arnold and Phil Ramone. They had bought Columbia's former Studio A at 799 7th Avenue at 52nd Street. (Joel's next album was titled 52nd Street.) Ramone produced every Joel album for Columbia through The Bridge in 1986.

With Cold Spring Harbor in 1971, Piano Man in 1973, Streetlife Serenade in 1974, and Turnstiles in 1976, Joel had built a following that wasn't very wide, but was rather deep.

He closed Turnstiles with a song titled "I've Loved These Days." But what he was writing in those days wasn't what was paying the bills, and hearing him close that chapter of his life was almost prophetic.

Joel knew he needed to leave that sound behind, saying, "I was recognizing that I was at the end of a certain point in my life. I didn't know it was going to be such a quantum leap with The Stranger album."

As a hardcore Beatles fan, he knew it was time for him to record "his Sgt. Pepper." He did so in 3 weeks of July and August 1977, as New York City went through a nasty heat wave that included a blackout and subsequent looting, and a crime wave that included the apprehension of David Berkowitz as the killer calling himself "The Son of Sam."

Billy recorded it with his touring band, which had settled as Hiram Bullock, Steve Khan and Hugh McCracken on guitars; Doug Stegmeyer on bass guitar, Liberty DeVitto on drums, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, Richie Cannata on saxophone, and Dominic Cortese the organ on "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant." Together, they produced a 42-minute, 34-second masterpiece.

Side One begins with "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" -- or, if ya gotta N'Yawk accent, "Antny's Song." It's a critique of consumer culture.

Then comes the title track, which opens with Billy whistling, and then the band kicks in. To me, this opening sounds like a New York taxicab, with a lit-up cigarette ad on the roof as many cabs had in those days, driving over a steaming manhole cover, with the lights of Times Square behind it. The song is about how we are never our true selves in front of others, especially in love, but the last verse suggests that it might be worth it to find out what the other's true self is.

"Just the Way You Are" was Billy's breakthrough single, reaching Number 3, a nice little love song that would have been a hit in any era. It's been covered by R&B singer Regina Belle and jazz singer Diana Krall.

Side One closes with "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant." Lots of people think it's his best song, and he agrees. It seems to be 3 songs in 1, with the opening and closing being 2 people meeting after not having seen each other in a while. The second part, lyrically, might be connected to the first, but the music behind it is a complete switch, and is a segue into the bulk of the song, known to fans as "The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie" -- or "Brender an' Eddie," if you want to use the N'Yawk accent.

Some people believe the restaurant in question was on Joel's native Long Island. It wasn't: It was Fontana di Trevi (named for a landmark in Rome), at 151 West 57th Street, across from Carnegie Hall. It was where he met Ramone to discuss his vision for the album. It's not there anymore: The site is now occupied by the 1,004-foot residential skyscraper named One57, with the restaurant's space taken up by an art gallery. (It could be a lot worse. It could be a McDonald's. Or, worse, a bank. Much of the ground floor of the building where the studio was is now occupied by a Starbucks.)

Brenda and Eddie seemed like a great couple in high school, but they "had had it already by the Summer of '75." And yet, after the divorce, "they parted the closest of friends." So, before the marriage, great; after it, okay; during, not so much. With Billy, this was art imitating life, and eventually, life would imitate art.

(UPDATE: In 2025, someone made a "retro video," an animated version of the story, full of imagery of the City, and Long Island, in the 1970s. This video, which Billy approved, putting it on his YouTube channel, makes it clear that the 2 people meeting at the beginning are, in fact, an older Brenda and Eddie, each having found happiness, just not with each other, and they're okay with that.)

Side Two begins with "Vienna," which Billy called a metaphor for old age. Then he goes in the other direction with "Only the Good Die Young," about a teenage guy of unidentified religion trying to tempt a teenage Catholic girl into sex. This song was roundly condemned by priests and other conservatives, but Billy has said, "It's not anti-religion. It's pro-lust." It includes some of the best piano-playing and saxophone-playing in the post-doo-wop, after-The-Beatles-arrived 1964-present era. 

"She's Always a Woman" sounds like a warning about an ex-girlfriend, with the kind of lines Bob Dylan would have enjoyed. "Get It Right the First Time" is about the uncertainty of new love, and "Everybody Has a Dream" is about the need for love amongst the uncertainty of life.

This album wouldn't seem to have anything to do with sports, but the cover does show a pair of boxing gloves hanging from a nail on the wall. Billy was an amateur boxer, but discovered that music did less damage to his face.

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.

*

September 29, 1977 was a Friday. That night, at Madison Square Garden, a building Billy now owns as much as Willis Reed or Mark Messier ever would, Muhammad Ali barely hung onto the Heavyweight Championship of the World, needing to win the 15th and final round to win by a close decision over Earnie Shavers.

And there were 8 games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Yankee Stadium. Free-agent miscalculation Wayne Garland struggled to outpitch Ed Figueroa, and raised his record for a bad Indians team to 13-19. Rick Manning hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Terry Forster, better known as a reliever, went 8 1/3rd innings for the win, beating George "Doc" Medich. Willie Stargell did not play. Phil Garner went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3, but Jim Rice hit his 39th home run of the season, edging the Yankees' Graig Nettles with 37 as the American League home run leader. (Nettles had hit 32 the year before, but that was enough to lead the AL that time.) The Red Sox were barely hanging on in the AL Eastern Division race.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray, who would be named AL Rookie of the Year, went 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs. The O's were also barely hanging on, but would be eliminated when the Red Sox beat them the next day. The day after that, the Orioles beat the Red Sox to eliminate them, and give the Yankees the Division title.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk, and the Phils' runs came on solo homers by Greg Luzinski and Richie Hebner. They had already clinched the National League Eastern Division title.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 6-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett got the day off. The Royals had won the AL West, but the Yankees beat them for the Pennant.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. For a 1st-year expansion team, the Mariners did all right, going 64-98, and finishing tied with the Oakland Athletics for last place in the AL West, 64-98. Contrast that with the other AL expansion team, the Toronto Blue Jays, who went 54-107.

* And the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dogers had already clinched the NL West, and would beat the Phillies for the Pennant, but the Yankees would beat them in the World Series.

September 29, 1959: The Long Island Expressway Opens

September 29, 1959: The Long Island Expressway opens, running 71 miles from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in New York City to Calverton, in Riverhead, Sussex County. Bannered as Interstate 495, it is the most important east-west traffic artery on Long Island, consisting of Nassau County to the west and Suffolk County in the east. Although Suffolk County is far larger in area, they have roughly the same population.

The LIE -- and reports of traffic moving well on it are often a lie -- helped to make possible the Island's tremendous growth after World War II.

Other noteworthy east-west highways on Long Island are New York State Routes 25 (the Jericho Turnpike), 25A (known as Northern Boulevard in Queens) and 27 (the Sunrise Highway and, further east, the Montauk Highway); and the Southern State Parkway, which is not bannered as a New York State Route.

The LIE's exits start with 13, in the Hunters Point section of Queens, for the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn. Exits 13 to 32 are in Queens, 33 to 48 are in Nassau, and 49 to 73 are in Suffolk. Exits 22A (the Grand Central Parkway) and 22B (the Van Wyck Expressway) can be used to access the New York Mets' Citi Field and La Guardia Airport. Exit 22B can also be used to access John F. Kennedy International Airport, which is the southern terminus of the Van Wyck.

Exit 31 can be used for the Cross Island Parkway, leading to Belmont Park Racetrack and the New York Islanders' new UBS Arena. Exit 39 can be used for the Northern State Parkway, which flows into the Meadowbrook Parkway and leads to the Nassau Coliseum and Hofstra University. However, the LIE stops before the forking of Long Island, and well short of the resort towns known as "The Hamptons."

There have been plans for crossings of Long Island Sound that would have involved the LIE:

* Oyster Bay in Nassau County with Rye in Westchester County.
* Glen Cove in Nassau with Rye.

* Asharoken in Suffolk County with Norwalk, Connecticut.

* Shoreham in Suffolk with New Haven, Connecticut.

* East Marion in Suffolk with Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

* A long bridge from Orient Point, the tip of the North Fork, across Plum Island to Little Gull Island, to Fishers Island, to Napatree Point in Rhode Island.

* Most ambitious of all, a really long bridge from Montauk Point, the tip of the South Fork, across Block Island in Rhode Island, to Point Judith on the Rhode Island mainland.

For now, the only crossings of the Sound are the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry, and the Cross Sound Ferry from Orient to New London, Connecticut.

*

September 29, 1959 was a Tuesday. There was only one score on this historic day, but it was a significant one. It was Game 2 of the National League Playoff, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I have a separate entry for this event.

Only 36,528 fans came out to the 93,000-seat bowl on the edge of South Central, by the campus of the University of Southern California. Like in 1946, but not in 1951, the Los Angeles Dodgers made sure the Playoff series didn't go to a Game 3. Unlike both of those times, it ended in their favor. They scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra innings. With 2 outs in the 12th, 1st baseman Gil Hodges drew a walk, catcher Joe Pignatano singled, and right fielder Carl Furillo singled home Hodges with the Pennant-winning run, 6-5.

September 21, 1938: The New England Hurricane of 1938

September 21, 1938: The Northeastern United States is hit by one of the most damaging hurricanes in the nation's history. Hurricanes didn't start to be identified with girls' names until 1953, and with boys' names until 1979. This one was the 5th of the Atlantic hurricane season, so its name would have started with an E.

For the New York Tri-State Area, it's known as the Long Island Express Hurricane. When New York newscasters warn about coming hurricanes, they're not nearly as concerned about them hitting the New Jersey shore, which runs north-to-south. They're much more concerned with east-to-west shorelines: The South Shore of Staten Island, Coney Island in Brooklyn, the Rockaways in Queens, and the shores of Long Island Sound, less the North Shore of Long Island than its South Shore and the Sound Shore of Connecticut.

It was an Autumnal Equinox, resulting in higher tides than usual even without the storm. Having gained strength on the morning of September 21, by passing over only water, no land, as it passed Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and the Chesapeake Region, this hurricane ripped up the Jersey Shore, putting Wildwood under 3 feet of water, wrecking much of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, destroying the Brigantine Bridge, and ripping up the boardwalks in Bay Head and Point Pleasant Beach.

At 3:45 PM, it made landfall at Bellport, Suffolk County, and it quickly laid waste to both Long Island and Connecticut. The East River overflowed and flooded a Consolidated Edison plant at 133rd Street, producing New York City's biggest blackout between the Blizzard of 1888 and "The Night the Lights Went Out" in 1965. A Staten Island Ferry boat got stuck in a terminal. All the bridges and tunnels were shut down.

Long Island lost all power, although that had nothing to do with Con Ed's issues. Montauk Point, at the eastern tip of Long Island, was turned into an island by flooding. Long Island's fishing industry and its apple crop were ruined for the year.

The hurricane turned east, and the danger topped out in Rhode Island, as it moved into Narragansett Bay. Houses on the bay were swept out to see. A school bus was blown into Mackerel Cove in Jamestown, killing 7 children. The Whale Rock Lighthouse was torn off its base, causing it to fall into the sea, and it has never been replaced. The body of lighthouse keeper Walter Eberle was never found. Downtown Providence, the State capital, was flooded, and some people drowned in their cars.

Massachusetts, especially the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, was hit hard as well. The Connecticut River flooded in Springfield. New Bedford was left under 8 feet of water, and 2/3rds of its harbor's boats were lost. The foundations of houses swept away in Fall River can still be seen on the beach. Gloucester got the tallest wave of the storm, 50 feet.

We may never know how many people died as a result of the storm: Estimates range from 600 to 800, but it is generally believed that 100 of them were outside Rhode Island. Over 4,500 homes and 26,000 cars were destroyed, and 20,000 electrical poles were torn down. Over 2 billion trees were uprooted in New York State and New England, as New England lost 35 percent of its total forest area.

This hurricane stands out partly because it hit 2 major media centers, New York and Boston; but also because it struck at a setback period in the Great Depression, and at a time when news of war clouds was coming over from Europe, as Adolf Hitler had his designs on Czechoslovakia. It was news that, literally, hit home for thousands of people, on top of the seemingly endless bad news they already had.

*

September 21, 1938 was a Wednesday. There were 5 baseball games played that day. Somehow, one of them was at National League Park, formerly and soon again to be Braves Field, in Boston, and they got all 9 innings in before the storm arrived. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Bees, the once-and-future Braves, 4-0. Paul "Daffy" Dean pitched a 7-hit shutout, backed by a home run by Joe Medwick.

The Boston Red Sox were not affected, as they were playing the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Jimmie Foxx hit his 47th home run of the season, and ended it with 50. When the Sox got home, they found that Fenway Park had been spared major damage.

No games were played in New York City. The storm didn't affect the New York Yankees, as they were playing the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The White Sox won, 5-2, as Thornton Lee, later to be a 2-time All-Star, outpitched eventual Hall-of-Famer Lefty Gomez. Lou Gehrig went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, while Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk.

New York's National League teams weren't so lucky. The New York Giants had already home games on September 13 and 16 pushed back a day by rain. Their games with the Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds on the 20th and the 21st were turned into a doubleheader on the 22nd, which the Giants swept, 6-1 and 2-1. Then they had to go to Boston to play the Bees, and while their ballpark wasn't damaged, they got rained out on the 23rd. They played a doubleheader on the 24th (the Giants swept) and another on the 25th (the Bees swept).

The Brooklyn Dodgers were also rained out at Ebbets Field on September 13 and 16, and made up an earlier rainout as part of a doubleheader on the 18th, and were scheduled to do so again on the 22nd. They were able to do that. They got rained out with the Pittsburgh Pirates on the 21st, but their schedule got backed up anyway. The Giants were supposed to play the Dodgers at Ebbets Field on the 26th, and got rained out again, forcing a doubleheader for the 27th, which was split.

The Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to play at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on the 21st and the 22nd. Both games got pushed back, as the field was still too wet to play on for the 22nd. They played a doubleheader on the 23rd, and the Cubs swept, 3-2 and 7-6. This was crucial: While the Yankees were running away with the American League Pennant, the National League went to the wire. When dawn came on the 21st, the Pirates led the Cubs by 3 1/2 games, the Reds by 5, and the Giants by 6 1/2. The Cubs went on a tear, and taking 2 of 3 against the Pirates late in the month helped them to win the Pennant by 2 games over the Pirates, 5 over the Giants, and 6 over the Giants.

Also on the 21st, the Detroit Tigers played a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium). The Tigers won the 1st game, 8-6, and were winning the 2nd game, 3-0, when it was called due to darkness after 5 innings. Hank Greenberg went 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs in the 1st game, including his 54th of what turned out to be 58 home runs, but was 0-for-3 in the 2nd game when it was called.

The Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.

July 16, 1981: Harry Chapin's Last Story

July 16, 1981: Harry Chapin dies on the Long Island Expressway. He was 38 years old.

Harry Forster Chapin was born on December 7, 1942 in Manhattan, and grew up in Brooklyn Heights. He started as a documentary filmmaker, and directed Legendary Champions, a boxing film that was nominated for an Academy Award for 1968.

But his first love was music, and in 1971, he was playing New York nightclubs, with the one man who would remain in his band all the way through, bass guitarist John Wallace, whose amazing range could produce deep bass notes, but also notes as high as those in the "Baby's so high... " bridge in "Taxi."

In 1972, joined by his brother Steve Chapin on keyboards, and a cellist, Tim Scott, he released his 1st album, Heads & Tales. The cover showed him framed by a black-and-white checkerboard, on a yellow field, suggesting the title of the album's single, the 6-minute-44-second "Taxi." He tells of a cabdriver in San Francisco picking up a woman he takes a while to recognize, and vice versa, and finally realizes she's an old flame. The song closes on a down note, showing their dreams did not come true:

She was gonna be an actress

and I was gonna learn to fly.

She took off to find the footlights.

I took off for the sky.

And here, she's acting happy

inside her handsome home

and me, I'm flyin' in my taxi

takin' tips and gettin' stoned.

I go flyin' so high when I'm stoned.

His status as a writer and singer of "story-songs" was set, and at the beginning of concerts, he would tell the audience, "Got a lot o' stories to tell you tonight."

Later in 1972, he released Sniper and Other Love Songs. Perhaps borrowing from Randy Newman -- and either could have inspired Warren Zevon -- "Sniper," running just under 10 minutes, was about Charles Whitman, and his rampage from the clock tower at the University of Texas in 1966.

It also contained "A Better Place to Be," an 8:36 story-within-a-story where a night watchman tells a diner waitress about this one-night-stand he'd had, and how she left him just as lonely as he was before. It became a must for Harry's concerts: He would say, "I always get in trouble when I don't do it." Sniper also included what became his theme song and concert finale: "Circle." And in, "All my life's a... " 

In 1973, he released Short Stories, and he sort-of meant it, as the longest song was the 5:15 "W.O.L.D.," about a disc jockey who's "Feelin' all of 45, goin' on 15." It also included "Mr. Tanner," about a Dayton drycleaner who keeps getting told he's a good singer, until he goes to New York, rents Town Hall, and finds out from a reviewer that "his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards." It includes Wallace, apparently in the title role, singing the refrain from the Christmas carol "O Holy Night."

In 1974, he released Verities & Balderdash. It was his biggest album ever, with his biggest hit ever, "Cat's in the Cradle," an idea suggested to him by his wife Sandy, telling him that, because of all his touring, he wasn't around enough for the kids. It resonated with people in those days immediately after Watergate and the Vietnam War, and it hit Number 1.

The album also included "Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas," an allegory about Vietnam. Harry is basically reciting the cold hard facts about a crash, including the statistics of the things the driver hit before he stopped,

While he based it on a real crash in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1965, he based it on the way the story was told to him, not on how it actually happened. The driver, 33-year-old Eugene Sesky, was not only not "a young driver, just out on his second job," he was actually a hero: Knowing that he was doomed, he hung out of his truck cab and yelled and waved for people to get out of the way, much like train engineer Casey Jones in Mississippi in 1900. As a result, as in Jones' crash, he was the only person to die.

This was followed by the live album Portrait Gallery in 1975, On the Road to Kingdom Come in 1976, Dance Band on the Titanic in 1977, and Living Room Suite in 1978. This last one included "Flowers Are Red," based on a story that a secretary had told him about her son's school artwork, and the teacher's lack of appreciation for it. Harry later said that, when they played it on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, they got more mail for that one song than for all their previous appearances combined. (He came along too late to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, but he made 11 appearances on Carson.)

He released another live album in 1979, and released Sequel in 1980. This one included, as you might guess, a sequel, to "Taxi." It's an indeterminate number of years later, and Harry the cabdriver has made it big in music. Before a show in San Francisco, he decides to look up ex-girlfriend Sue. Turns out, she's left her loveless marriage, and she's doing okay, too. Sandy Chapin suggested completing the trilogy with "Hearse."

In the Summer of 1981, Harry was working on an album that would eventually be titled The Last Protest Singer, and was increasing his efforts at raising money for hunger relief. He may have been the least pretentious star in music, still driving a blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit. A good car if you want to save gasoline or give off a "man of the people" image, but not a good car if you want to survive a traffic accident.

On July 16, he was scheduled to give a benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Long Island, New York. At 12:27 PM, his Rabbit crashed into a truck on the Long Island Expressway. He was taken by helicopter to Nassau County Medical Center in Huntington, but was pronounced dead at 1:05. It was determined that he'd suffered a heart attack, although it wasn't clear whether it was after the crash, or before it, possibly causing it.

He was buried at Huntington Rural Cemetery. In 1987, for his anti-hunger efforts, he was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

*

July 16, 1981 was a Thursday. Baseball's Strike of '81 was ongoing. And the other major sports were in their off-seasons. I can't even find any North American Soccer League games played for that day. So there were no scores on this historic day.

July 6, 1988:"Hypodermics On the Shore"

July 6, 1988: The first reported medical waste on beaches in the Greater New York area, including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus, washes ashore on Long Island.

Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island, Brooklyn and in Monmouth County, New Jersey forced the closure of numerous area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast. New England was also hit hard by this phenomenon.

Dumping dirty needles into the ocean was typical of how people treated the seas before the environmental movement, discouraged into dormancy by the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, got going again after the old bastard left office.

It got so bad, Long Islander Billy Joel worked it into his song "We Didn't Start the Fire": "Hypodermics on the shore." In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1990, following the successful revolutions in Eastern Europe and the failed one in China, he said, "I almost added, 'Poison apples in the store,' because that whole 'Alar' thing was happening. Then Tienanmen Square happened, and it became 'China's under martial law.' Think what I'd have to write about Eastern Europe now."

*

July 6, 1988 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jeff Russell outpitched Ron Guidry, who was nearing the end of the line. Pete Incaviglia hit a home run for the Rangers. For the Yankees, Dave Winfield went 2-for-4 with a walk. Don Mattingly went 3-for-5. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Ron Darling was the winning pitcher. Darryl Strawberry hit a home run.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Mike Schmidt appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Chili Davis hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Robin Yount went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4 with a walk. George Brett went 1-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

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

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Former Cub Rick Reuschel pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, but needed Craig Lefferts and Scott Garrelts to finish the 7-hit shutout.

It was the 176th out of the 218 wins Reuschel would have in his career, that began in 1972. The losing pitcher was Jamie Moyer, who then had 24 of the 269 wins he would have in his career, that ended in 2012, 50 years after Reuschel's began.

* And, despite playing each other at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego both the day before and the day after, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres did not play. Baseball-Reference.com gives no explanation, nor suggests that a game was postponed and made up later in the year.