May 30, 1879: The 1st College Football Game in the Midwest

The 1879 University of Michigan football team

May 30, 1879: For the 1st time, a college football game is played in the Midwest. The game is played at the home field of the Chicago White Stockings of baseball's National League, the team that will one day be known as the Chicago Cubs. The facility was variously known as the Union Base-Ball Grounds, White-Stocking Park, Lake-Shore Park, Lake Front Park, or just Lake Park. Like the later home of the New York Giants, the Polo Grounds, this facility had a shape that made it much better suited to football than to baseball.

The University of Michigan met Racine College, of Wisconsin, and won 1-0, on a place-kick by David DeTarr. In modern terms, it was a field goal. Under today's rules, the score of the game would have been 3-0.

Racine College was run by the Episcopal Church between 1852 and 1933, when it had to close due to the Great Depression. The DeKoven Foundation took over the campus, and has run various events there ever since.

The University of Michigan, of course, went on to become the first true college football power in the Midwest. In 1896, it was a founding member of the Western Conference, along with the Universities of Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; and Northwestern and Purdue Universities. Indiana University and the University of Iowa joined in 1899, and it was renamed the Big Nine Conference. Ohio State University joined in 1912, and it was renamed the Big Ten Conference.

The University of Chicago dropped football after the 1940 season, and the league was again known as the Big Nine. Michigan State University joined in 1950, and it was again the Big 10. Despite new arrivals, the Big 10 name has stuck.

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May 30, 1879 was a Friday. These National League baseball games were played that day:

* The Chicago White Stockings beat the Boston Red Stockings, 8-0 at the original South End Grounds in Boston. These teams are known today as the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves.

* The Providence Grays beat the Buffalo Bisons, 4-0 at the Messer Street Grounds in Providence, Rhode Island. The Grays won the NL Pennant in 1879, and did so again in 1884. Yet, after just 1 more season, the Grays went out of business. The Bisons did, too. As it turned out, they played their last game against each other.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Troy Trojans, 4-2 at the Putnam Grounds in Troy, New York, across the Hudson River from the State capital in Albany. Not the same team as the 1st openly professional team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, these Reds were charter members of the NL in 1876, but went out of business after this season. In 1882, the American Association was founded, with a new Cincinnati Reds. That team joined the NL in 1892, after the AA folded, and that is the current team with the name.

The Trojans are often said to have moved in 1883, to become the New York Giants. That's not what happened, although the confusion is understandable: The Trojans folded; the Giants, then known as the New York Gothams, took their place in the NL; and 4 Trojan players joined the Gothams.

* And the Syracuse Stars beat the Cleveland Blues, 4-2 at Newell Park in Syracuse, New York. The Stars folded before the end of the season.

May 22, 1993: The Great Midwest Flood of 1993

May 22, 1993: The Great Midwest Flood of 1993 reaches its peak. It killed 32 people, and caused over $15 billion in damage. It is the most damaging American flood since the Mississippi River flood that struck Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana in 1927.

The preceding Winter featured a snowfall much greater than average, and as it melted, it caused the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and their various tributaries, to flood.

Especially hard-hit were communities along the Mississippi River in Illinois and Iowa. Among these were the Quad Cities: Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Davenport's former Municipal Stadium, built in 1931, by this point known as John O'Donnell Stadium, and now named Modern Woodmen Park, home of the Class A Midwest League's Quad Cities River Bandits, was flooded, as seen in the photo above, next to the Rock Island Centennial Bridge.

May 22 is considered the peak because Sioux Falls, South Dakota received 7 1/2 inches of rain in just 3 hours, swelling the Big Sioux River, which flows into the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi just north of St. Louis, Missouri.

At the same time, the opposite hit the Southeastern U.S.: A drought. In late June, with much of the Midwest still dealing with flooding, I was in South Carolina. The State's largest newspaper, The State, published a political cartoon, showing the State flag, but with a cactus instead of the State Flower, the palmetto.

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May 22, 1993 was a Saturday. A full slate of Major League Baseball games was played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mike Witt outpitched Roger Clemens. Danny Tartabull hit a home run, and Dion James had 3 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-1 at Shea Stadium.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Harold Reynolds drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 14th inning. Cal Ripken hit a home run, while Robin Yount, his predecessor as baseball's best shortstop, drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Florida Marlins, 2-1 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. How many Blue Jays does it take to pitch a 6-hit shutout? Apparently, 5: Todd Stottlemyre left the game in the 3rd inning due to an injury, and was followed by Danny Cox (credited as the winning pitcher), Mark Eichhorn, Mike Timlin and Duane Ward.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. For the A's, Dave Henderson hit a home run, and Rickey Henderson (no relation) went 1-for-4. For the ChiSox, Ozzie Guillen (yes, the future manager) hit a home run, and Frank Thomas went 1-for-5.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI, while Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 9-4 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Ken Caminiti hit 2 home runs, and Jeff Bagwell hit 1. But Tony Gwynn went 3-for-5, and Phil Plantier hit 2 RBI doubles.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Roberto Kelly, Barry Larkin and Chris Sabo hit home runs for the Reds; while Royce Clayton and Robby Thompson hit them for the Giants. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3.

Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA Playoffs that day, and it was a Game 7: The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 103-100 in overtime at the Key Arena in Seattle.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in the Conference Finals. The New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum, in Game 4 of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. But that would be the only game the Isles won in the series, as the Canadiens went on to win the Cup. They beat the Los Angeles Kings, who were on on off-day in their Clarence Campbell Conference Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.