October 18, 1969: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 1st Professional Game

October 18, 1969: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then still using his birth name of Lew Alcindor), the greatest player in the history of college basketball, makes his professional debut. The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons, 119-110 at the Milwaukee Arena.

In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena. Because of its initials, and its status as a gathering place, the arena was nicknamed "The MECCA." I have never heard Kareem, a devout Muslim, give his opinion on that fact. at the Milwaukee Arena. Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

In this game, Kareem led all players with 29 points and 12 rebounds, and he added 6 assists. Teammates Jon McGlocklin and Flynn Robinson each scored 23. Walt Bellamy led the Pistons with 25.

Six days later, Kareem opposed Wilt Chamberlain, the man he would eventually surpass as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, for the 1st time, at The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem scored 23 points, but the Milwaukee Bucks were led by Robinson with 33. Wilt scored 25, but the Los Angeles Lakers were led by Elgin Baylor with 26. The Lakers won, 123-112.

The Bucks entered the NBA for the 1968-69 season, along with the Phoenix Suns. The way the NBA Draft worked in those days, the teams with the 2 worst records faced a coin flip, with the winner getting the 1st pick and the loser getting the 2nd pick, so that it paid to "tank," but not that much. The Bucks won the coin flip, and "Big Lew," who had led UCLA to an 88-2 record and 3 National Championships (keeping in mind that freshmen weren't eligible to play on the varsity until 1972), winning the National Player of the Year and the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player all 3 times, was the easy choice.

With the 2nd pick, the Suns chose Neal Walk, a center from the University of Florida. He played 9 seasons in the NBA, and the fact that he was the next pick after Kareem is by far the most interesting thing about his pro career.

Instead of Walk, the Suns could have chosen Lucius Allen (Kareem's teammate at UCLA, and later in Milwaukee), Bob Dandridge (whom the Bucks also drafted), Bingo Smith, Jo Jo White, Butch Beard, Rick Roberson, Norm Van Lier, Luther Rackley, Steve Mix or Willie Wise, any of whom would have been a noticeably better choice than Walk.

To be fair, the Suns didn't do that badly: Both teams were usually in the Playoffs throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. But the Bucks, led by Kareem, the veteran star Oscar Robertson, McGlocklin, Robinson, Allen and Dandridge, and coached by Larry Costello, won the 1971 NBA Championship, and also reached the Finals in 1974. Through the 2021-22 season, each team has been to the Finals 3 times, but the Bucks have won 2, while the Suns are still looking for their 1st. The Suns are usually a good team, often a really good one, but they've never been NBA Champions.

Kareem would remain with the Bucks until June 16, 1975. He didn't think Milwaukee was a big enough city for him. He wanted to return to New York, where he was from; or Los Angeles, where he went to UCLA. The Bucks traded him to the Lakers, although with Walt Wesley, for Dave Meyers (another UCLA player), Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters and Elmore Smith.

This was not a terrible trade for the Bucks: Bridgeman and Winters helped them win 7 straight Division titles, and both of their numbers have been retired, along with those of Kareem, McGlocklin and Dandridge. But the Lakers still got the better part of the deal: Kareem would lead them to 5 titles in the 1980s.

*

October 18, 1969 was a Saturday. This was also the night that The Jackson Five, including Michael Jackson, made their national television debut, on ABC's The Hollywood Palace. They were introduced by fellow Motown Records star Diana Ross, and her boss -- and, secretly, her boyfriend -- Berry Gordy Jr. falsely told the media that Diana had "discovered" them.

These 6 other games were played in the NBA on that night:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 99-96 at the new Madison Square Garden. Willis Reed scored 25 points, Dick Barnett 21, and Walt Frazier 19. For the Lakers, Jerry West scored 42, Elgin Baylor 18, and Wilt Chamberlain was comparatively quiet with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

This 1st game of the season turned out to be a preview of the last, when the Knicks beat the Lakers at The Garden to win their 1st NBA Championship.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Phoenix Suns, 121-116 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 124-117 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena). Earl "the Pearl" Monroe scored 34.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 134-123 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Billy Cunningham scored 40 points, and Archie Clark added 31. For the Royals, Luther Rackley scored 29, and Oscar Robertson 23.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 131-126 in overtime at the Chicago Stadium. Chet "The Jet" Walker scored 31.

* And the San Diego Rockets beat the San Francisco Warriors, 125-124 in overtime at the Cow Palace in the San Francisco suburb of Daly City, California. For the 1971-72 season, the Rockets moved to Houston, and the Warriors moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, taking the name "Golden State Warriors."

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The Washington Capitols beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 110-104 at the Washington Coliseum.

* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Carolina Cougars, 108-97 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Kentucky Colonels, 110-106 at the Louisville Convention Center.

* And the Los Angeles Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 126-123 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 7-3 at the Montreal Forum. Jean Béliveau and Ivan Cournoyer each scored 2 goals.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 3-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Oakland Seals, 5-0 at The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Former Toronto Maple Leafs star Eddie Shack lived up to his nickname, "Eddie the Entertainer," by scoring a hat trick. This built-in geographic rivalry did not last, as the Seals failed in 1976.

The baseball season had ended 2 days earlier, when the New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles in Game 5 to win the World Series. There was college football on this day, including the following games:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Minnesota, 34-7 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis.

* Number 2 Texas were idle. They were supposed to play Arkansas on this date, but ABC convinced them to move it to the open date of December 6, making it the only game played that day and, as both a rivalry game and the game that could have decided the Southwest Conference title, it would get a huge national audience and be a great advertisement for both schools. Both went for it.

* Number 3 Southern California and Number 11 Notre Dame, played to a tie, 14-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. This turned out to be the only blemish on USC's record, as they won the Pacific-Eight Conference title.

* Number 4 Arkansas rescheduled its game with Baylor for this date, and won, 21-7 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. And after USC's tie with Notre Dame, and Ohio State's upset loss to Michigan, Arkansas were ranked Number 2 when they took the field against Texas on December 6, and Texas were ranked Number 1. It became known as "The Game of the Century," and Texas came from 14-0 down to win, 15-14. Texas then beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, and were awarded the National Championship.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Syracuse, 15-14 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York. Penn State had been offered a berth in the Cotton Bowl, to face the Texas-Arkansas winner, and set up a de facto National Championship Game. But they turned it down, since Ohio State were still undefeated and Number 1 at the time the bid was offered.

* Number 6 Missouri beat Oklahoma State, 31-21 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. Missouri won the Big Eight title, but lost the Orange Bowl to Penn State. As a result of this, Penn State finished undefeated, and ranked Number 2. Their fans still say they would have beaten Texas, given the chance. They were given the chance, and head coach Joe Paterno turned it down. For 40 years, that looked like the biggest mistake that "Saint Joseph" ever made in "Happy Valley." It was not.

* Number 7 Tennessee beat Number 20 Alabama, 41-24 at Legion Field in Birmingham. Tennessee would end up winning the Southeastern Conference title, but a loss to Mississippi caused the Sugar Bowl, which normally invited the SEC Champion, to invite "Ole Miss" instead.

* Number 8 UCLA beat the University of California, 32-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 9 Louisiana State beat Kentucky, 37-10 at McLean Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.

* Number 10 Florida beat North Carolina, 52-2 at Florida Field in Gainesville. Florida went on to beat Tennessee in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.

* Number 13 Michigan were upset by Michigan State, 23-12 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Michigan would rebound, winning the Big Ten title by upsetting Ohio State. But they lost the Rose Bowl to USC.

* Number 16 Wyoming beat Brigham Young, 40-7 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming. They did this despite head coach Lloyd Eaton kicking 14 black players off the team, for wanting to wear black armbands on their sleeves, in protest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which runs BYU, discriminating against black people, including refusing to let black men be priests in their Church. (That policy was struck down in 1978.)

Without those black players, Wyoming won their next game, but lost their last 4 of the season, and went 1-10 the next season. Eaton was fired, not for being a bigot, but for being a loser. He got a front office job with the Green Bay Packers, but that would be the only subsequent job he would hold in football, at any level.

* Number 19 Mississippi beat Southern Mississippi, 69-7 at Hemingway Stadium (now Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) in Oxford. Despite finishing only 5th in the SEC, "Ole Miss" were invited to the Sugar Bowl, and beat former Number 2 Arkansas.

* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Oregon, 60-13 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado; but Army lost to Utah State, 23-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy...

* Among New Jersey teams, Rutgers beat Navy, 20-6 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; and Princeton lost to Colgate, 35-28 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

* And in New York City, Columbia lost to Yale, 41-6 at Baker Field in Manhattan.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to the North-East, and played Sunderland to a 1-1 draw at Roker Park in Sunderland.

October 16, 1968: The Smith-Carlos Salute

October 16, 1968: American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, teammates at San Jose State University, win the Gold and Bronze Medals, respectively, in the 200 meters, at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico. Smith sets a world record, winning the race in 19.83 seconds, the 1st time 20 seconds had been beaten in the race. Peter Norman of Australia wins the Silver Medal.

But when they take the podium to receive their medals, all 3 -- including Norman, a critic of the infamous White Australia Policy (barring non-Europeans from immigrating), accepting Smith and Carlos' request -- are wearing pins of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Smith and Carlos remove their shoes, revealing not bare feet as is usually remembered, but black socks.

This was further complicated by several black athletes boycotting the Games, including the top amateur basketball player in America, UCLA center Lew Alcindor, a.k.a. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Today, Kareem still says he did the right thing. University of Houston forward Elvin Hayes, who went up against Kareem in 2 epic games in the 1967-68 season, also chose not to play. The situation was also complicated by a story most Americans didn't know about: A massacre of protesting students by the Mexican government, just a few days before. The government kept that story quiet.

Smith, born in Clarksville, North Texas on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), and raised in Lemoore, Central California, wears a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos, a black Cuban from Harlem who was a year minus 1 day younger (born on June 5, 1945), had his tracksuit top unzipped, to show solidarity with all blue-collar workers in the U.S., and wore a necklace of beads, which he described as being "for those individuals who were lynched, or killed, and that no one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the Middle Passage." This term referred to the sea voyage taking slaves from Africa to the Americas, North, Central and South.

They had intended to wear black gloves on each hand, but Carlos forgot his pair. Norman suggested that Smith give Carlos his left glove, and that's why Smith raised his right fist in what was then interpreted as "the Black Power Salute" (Smith has always insisted it was "a human rights salute") as "The Star-Spangled Banner" started playing, while Carlos raised his left, which was not the usual Black Power salute. Both men bowed their heads.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were the biggest sports-related story -- of the day, and the year. It would have been the biggest sports-related story of the decade, if not for Muhammad Ali refusing to be drafted the year before, and being stripped of the Heavyweight Title because of it.

The U.S. Olympic Committee kicked Smith and Carlos off the Olympic team immediately. Both received condemnation from the white U.S. media and death threats from anonymous sources. A sportswriter for the Chicago American wrote, "Smith and Carlos looked like a couple of black-skinned storm troopers," and called them "ignoble," "juvenile" and "unimaginative." Even if you believe Smith and Carlos were morally wrong, a rational person could not possibly agree with those 3 adjectives. Especially the last: "Unimaginative"?

That sportswriter's name was Brent Musberger. In 1975, he became the host of CBS' studio show The NFL Today. In 1990, he moved to play-by-play of college football and college basketball for ABC and ESPN, retiring after the January 2017 bowl games. In 1999, he addressed his condemnation from 1968: "I object to using the Olympic awards stand to make a political statement." As if the flying of flags and the playing of the Gold Medalist's National Anthem are not, themselves, political statements.

This protest was just 9 days after Jose Feliciano's performance of the National Anthem during the World Series -- which, unlike "The Silent Gesture," was a totally unintentional controversy. It was 7 weeks after the riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 4 months after the assassination of Robert Kennedy, 6 months after that of Martin Luther King, 15 months after the race riots in Newark and Detroit, 16 months after the one in Boston's Roxbury.

At the time, no white person was willing to stand up and publicly say that Smith and Carlos had a point. Today, nearly everyone, except for the truly delusional, is willing to admit that they had one. In 2005, San Jose State dedicated a statue of the medal podium, with an empty space where Norman would have stood, so that anyone who wants to can stand with Smith and Carlos in a personal re-enactment.

Smith went on to teach at Oberlin College, outside Jesse Owens' hometown of Cleveland. It had been the 1st integrated college in America, starting in 1835. He accepted a peace offering from the USOC, a coaching position the U.S. track team at the 1995 Indoor World Championships. Carlos was accepted as part of the organizing committee for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and became a high school track coach.

Carlos, left, and Smith receiving the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage

at the 2013 ESPY Awards

On October 16, 2022, Smith is now 75. Carlos is 74. Both have become paid public speakers regarding their stories. Norman died in 2006, and Smith and Carlos traveled all the way to Melbourne for his funeral, and served as the front pallbearers.

On September 28, 2016, the 1st black President, Barack Obama, invited Smith and Carlos to the White House, as part of his reception for the 2016 American Olympic athletes. He said, "We're proud of them. Their powerful silent protest in the 1968 Games was controversial, but it woke folks up, and created greater opportunity for those that followed."

Just 4 months later, Donald Trump was sworn into the office of President. Prior to 1865, we had Presidents who were slaveholders. Afterward, we had Presidents who openly made bigoted statements. But no President has ever pandered more to the elements of bigotry in this country.

Trump has actually voiced support for keeping statues of Confederate "heroes," asking if we would next be tearing down statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson because they were slaveholders. No: Whatever else can be said of them, they fought for America, and never against it.

We have had multiple police brutality cases, and the "Black Lives Matter" movement in response. We have gone from the vilification of Smith and Carlos in 1968, to Michael Jordan refusing to endorse Harvey Gantt against race-baiting Senator Jesse Helms in his home State of North Carolina in 1990 because "Republicans buy sneakers, too," to LeBron James taking the court wearing a hoodie in memory of Trayvon Martin and an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt in memory of Eric Garner, both in 2014.

More recently, in response to Golden State Warriors' leader Stephen Curry said the Warriors would refuse the usual NBA Champions' invitation to the White House, Trump insulted Curry and said he wasn't welcome. LeBron tweeted, "U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!"

In 2019, this problem was solved when the NBA Champions turned out to be Canada's team, the Toronto Raptors. With the COVID-19 epidemic interrupting the 2020 NBA season, LeBron and his World Champion Los Angeles Lakers waited until after the election and the Inauguration, and accepted an invitation from President Joe Biden.

And we have gad Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, blacklisted for kneeling instead of standing during the playing of the National Anthem before games in 2016, and bigots ripping him for it, in print, on the air, and online. Obama suggested that Kaepernick reconsider his action, saying that it bothers war veterans. But Smith and Carlos publicly backed Kaepernick. "Don't hate the kid because he stood up for something to change," Smith said. "He stood up for the right to exercise Amendment 1."

Carlos added, "Protest is a good thing, because you're trying to expose certain things through protest... In any protest, I think you make a statement to try and reach the far ends of the Earth. What better way to do it than if you're in a sport." Sounds like something that Ali, Gold Medalist in heavyweight boxing in the 1960 Olympics under his birth name of Cassius Clay, would have said.

But Donald Trump called Colin Kaepernick "that son of a bitch." And Trump's supporters say that "taking a knee" during the National Anthem is "disrespecting the flag." And Brent Musberger piped up. On October 8, 2017, the yutz, by then 78 years old, tweeted, "Yo #49ers Since you instigated protest, 2 wins and 19 losses. How about taking your next knee in the other team's end zone ?" (In the 2019 season, the 49ers won the NFC Championship.)

Trump doesn't get it. Musberger doesn't get it. All the people calling Kaepernick and the other protestors "disrespectful to the flag" are either too stupid to get it, or too evil to tell the truth. It is not

about the flag, you dumb schmucks. It is about the inalienable right to be treated as a human being, equal to all others.

I am not the first person to say that. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, a bomber pilot in World War II, and a former Los Angeles policeman, wrote an episode titled "The Omega Glory," imagining a planet paralleling Earth, down to an America with a Constitution and a Stars & Stripes flag, with the exception that a nuclear war was fought in their equivalent to the late 20th Century.

When Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner, a native of Canada but living in America for over 60 years now) sees that the leader of the society that has replaced America won't give his defeated enemies the same rights he claims for his people, he says that the "holy words" the chief proclaims "must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing!"

That episode aired on March 1, 1968, a month before Dr. King was killed, and 7 months before the Smith & Carlos protest. Roddenberry was a middle-aged white man with some power in his field, and a veteran, whose patriotism could not be questioned by a rational person, and he knew.

The 1st Amendment gave Smith and Carlos, their allies then, and Kaepernick and his compatriots, and their allies now, and me, and you -- whether you are their ally or not -- the right to publicly show their discontent with what is being done to your people, or your people-within-a-people.

It does not give you the right to lie about them and defame them, as Trump and his allies do, as Musberger did then and now. If you cannot respect the First Amendment, then THE FLAG MEANS NOTHING.

There is no place in a modern society for the bigotry that made Trayvon Martin (black, murdered in 2012), Matthew Shepard (gay, murdered in 1998) and Brandon Teena (transgender, murdered in 1993) dead and famous. Or treats Alicia Machado and the parents of Captain Humayun Khan as if they are less than full human beings, less than full Americans. Or puts children in cages -- in concentration camps -- because their parents entered America illegally.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood for something. Not because they could, but because someone had to, and their Gold Medal presentation was a golden opportunity.

We don't need a world without Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Muhammad Ali, LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. We need a world which makes additions to their actions unnecessary.

*

October 16, 1968 was a Wednesday. It was football season, but the middle of the week, so there were no NFL or AFL games. The World Series had ended 10 days earlier, with the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals.

The American Basketball Association opened its season 2 days later. But there were 3 NBA games played, including the Milwaukee Bucks making their NBA debut. They played the team that became their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, and lost 89-84 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).

The Cincinnati Royals beat the Atlanta Hawks, 125-110 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the Hank McCamish Pavilion), on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta. And the Baltimore Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-116 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

Of the 12 teams in the NHL, 10 were in action, all but the Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at the new Madison Square Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 2-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 10-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Oakland Seals, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now the Oracle Arena). 

June 16, 1975: Kareem Invents Player Power In the NBA

June 16, 1975: Giving in to his demand to be traded to either New York, where he is from, or Los Angeles, where he went to college, the Milwaukee Bucks trade their best player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Walt Wesley to the Los Angeles Lakers for Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers and Elmore Smith.

It's not a total wipeout for the Bucks: Bridgeman and Winters kept them a perennial Playoff team for a few years, and they eventually got their uniform numbers retired.

But by forcing the trade, Kareem not only becomes the 1st NBA player to truly exercise "player power," but helps the Lakers begin to build the team that will dominate the league in the 1980s.

It doesn't happen overnight. The Lakers were in rebuilding mode, and didn't make the Playoffs in 1976. They got to the Western Conference Finals in 1977, but were swept by the Portland Trail Blazers. They were eliminated by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1978 and 1979. But in 1980, having drafted Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Michael Cooper and Norm Nixon, and also traded for Spencer Haywood and Jamaal Wilkes, they beat the Sonics in the Conference Finals, and then the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals.

Having gotten what he wanted, Kareem rarely used his player power again. When the Lakers changed head coaches, assistant coaches or general managers, it wasn't because he asked. When a coach changed strategies, or a GM brought in a new player, Kareem may have had some input, but he didn't make demands. He was a quiet leader, "the strong, silent type."

Player power would lead to more players becoming coaches and general managers, and some players being able to go over the coach's head to the owner, and getting him to fire the coach and bring in one the player preferred. Eventually, it would lead to LeBron James being the Lakers' team captain, head coach and general manager, in operational fact if not officially, having more power than any player in any sport in history.

*

June 16, 1975 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-7 at Shea Stadium, where they were groundsharing with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was renovated. Graig Nettles hit a home run. Nettles and Ron Blomberg each had 3 RBIs. Blomberg and Kerry Dineen each had 3 hits. Hank Aaron, playing out the string for the Brewers, went 1-for-4 with a walk. Robin Yount went 2-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell, Rennie Stennett and Al Oliver hit home runs. Bruce Kison was the winning pitcher. Bob Gibson, in his final season, pitched 5 innings of relief.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Jim Palmer outpitched Jim Bibby. Brooks Robinson and Lee May hit home runs for the O's. Tribe player-manager Frank Robinson did not put himself into the game against his former team.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Don Gullett outpitched Phil Niekro. Joe Morgan went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Each team scored a run in the 10th inning, but the Red Sox scored 4 in the top of the 12th. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with 2 walks.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Steve Carlton started for the Phils, but reliever Gene Garber blew the lead. Mike Schmidt appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Reggie Jackson and Gene Tenace hit back-to-back homers in the top of the 8th, to give the A's a 6-4 lead. But Steve Braun led off the bottom of the 9th with a home run. After giving that up, Rollie Fingers gave up 3 straight singles to Tom Kelly (the Twins' future World Series-winning manager), Danny Walton and Dan Ford to tie the game. Jim Todd intentionally walked Rod Carew to set up the double play, but Larry Hisle singled home the winning run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The California Angels and the Kansas City Royals were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 12. The Royals swept, 10-2 and 7-2. Over the 2 games, George Brett went 6-for-9. with 3 RBIs.

* And the New York Mets, the Montreal Expos, the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled.

May 19, 1984: The Islander Dynasty Ends, the Oiler Dynasty Begins

May 19, 1984: The Edmonton Oilers win their 1st Stanley Cup. They beat the New York Islanders, 5-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Wayne Gretzky, the biggest star in the game at the time, already with several scoring records under his belt, scores 2 goals.

The Islanders, winners of the last 4 Stanley Cups, had swept the Oilers in 4 straight the season before. This time, in their "Drive for Five," an attempt to match the 1956-60 Montreal Canadiens for the most consecutive Cups, they won Game 2, 6-1. But the Oilers won the other games: 1-0, 7-2, 7-2 and 5-2.

It was the 1st Cup won by a team west of Chicago since the 1925 Victoria Cougars. Centers Gretzky and Mark Messier, right wings Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson, defensemen Paul Coffey and Kevin Lowe, goaltender Grant Fuhr, and head coach and general manager Glen Sather would all be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Defenseman Lee Fogolin Jr., who was also with the Oilers to win the Cup the next year, was the son of Lee Fogolin Sr., a defenseman who was a member of the Detroit Red Wings when they won the Cup in 1950.

This began a string of 5 Cups in a span of 7 years for the Oilers. They won the Cup again in 1985, beating the Philadelphia Flyers; missed the Finals in 1986; and beat the Flyers in the Finals again in 1987. Coffey was traded, but they won again in 1988, beating the Boston Bruins in the Finals. Gretzky engineered his trade to the Los Angeles Kings, and Andy Moog replaced Fuhr as the starting goalie. They missed the Finals in 1989, and won the Cup again in 1990, again over the Bruins, with Sather still the general manager, but he had hired John Muckler to succeed him as head coach.

It was a great time for hockey in Alberta: In 1986 and 1989, the years in that stretch that the Oilers did not win the NHL Clarence Campbell Conference (forerunner of the Western Conference), the Conference was won by the Calgary Flames, their Provincial arch-rivals. The Flames lost the Finals to the Montreal Canadiens in 1986, then beat the Canadiens in 1989.

The Oilers would not reach the Finals again until 2006, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. Through the 2021-22 season, they have not won the Cup since 1990.

UPDATE: Led by Connor McDavid, the Oilers won the Western Conference title in 2024 and 2025, but lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the Florida Panthers both times.

On September 7, 2022, the Oilers announced the establishment of their own club Hall of Fame. From their WHA years, they have honored defenseman Al Hamilton, retiring his Number 3.

From their 1980s dynasty, they have honored defenseman Kevin Lowe, retiring Number 4; defenseman Paul Coffey, retiring Number 7; right wing Glenn Anderson, retiring Number 9; center Mark Messier, retiring Number 11; right wing Jari Kurri, retiring Number 17; goaltender Grant Fuhr, retiring Number 31; and, of course, center Wayne Gretzky, retiring Number 99.

They also honored defenseman Lee Fogolin, though not retiring his Number 2; center Craig MacTavish, though not retiring his Number 14; defenseman Randy Gregg, though not retiring his Number 21; defenseman Charlie Huddy, though not retiring his Number 22; head coach Glen Sather, although they have not retired the Number 6 he wore as a player for them in their WHA years; and broadcaster Rod Phillips, with a banner bearing the number of games he announced for them: 3,542.

From the 1990s, they have honored center Doug Weight, though they have not retired his Number 39. From their 2006 Stanley Cup Finalists, they have honored left wing Ryan Smyth, though they have not retired either of the numbers he wore, 10 and 94.

*

May 19, 1984 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. Geoff Zahn allowed 9 hits, but completed the shutout, outpitching Phil Niekro. Dave Winfield got 1 of those 9 hits. Don Mattingly did not. For the Angels, Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk, and Rod Carew did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 8-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Mets led 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th, and blew it. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Dave Henderson hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning. Unlike the one he would hit in Shea Stadium 2 1/2 years later, this one didn't just look like it would win the game, it actually did. For the O's, Eddie Murray went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs, while Cal Ripken went 1-for-5.

* The Atlanta Braves were leading the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, when the game was stopped due to rain in the 7th inning. It was not resumed, and the Braves were the winners.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Tom Seaver went the distance, but lost. In contrast, it took 4 Jays pitchers to pitch a 3-hit shutout -- in the 1st Reagan term. Jim Gott went the 1st 6 2/3rds, Roy Lee Jackson got the last out in the 7th and the 1st 2 in the 8th, Bryan Clark got the last out in the 8th, and Dennis Lamp pitched the 9th. The only run came from a Dave Collins RBI single in the 3rd.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jaime Cocanower pitched 7 innings of 1-hit shutout ball, while Rollie Fingers allowed 2 hits over the last 2. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Paul Molitor did not play.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Rose, in his brief tenure with the Expos, went 1-for-4.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI.

This was the 2nd of the 3 seasons of the United States Football League (USFL), and 3 games were played in it that day:

* The Philadelphia Stars beat the Jacksonville Bulls, 45-12 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Arizona Wranglers beat the Denver Gold, 41-6 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* And the Oakland Invaders beat the Memphis Showboats, 29-14 at the Oakland Coliseum.

There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs. The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-100 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. This gave the Celtics a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. They won the series in 5 games, and then beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the title.

And in English soccer, the FA Cup Final was held, at the old Wembley Stadium in West London. Everton FC, of Liverpool, beat Watford FC, of Hertfordshire in the London suburbs, 2-0.

May 12, 1974: The End of the NBA's 1st Great Era

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, guarded by

Dave Cowens (left) and Don Nelson (right)

May 12, 1974: The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-87, at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena (The MECCA). This was the Celtics' 12th title, but their first without Bill Russell.

The Bucks were in their 2nd Finals, having won the title in 1971, but it took 50 years for them to get back, before they won the title in 2021. In between, they'd usually been good, but not Finals good.

This was also the last game for Oscar Robertson, closing out his career with the Bucks. In fact, this game was the end of an era for the NBA, as legends Jerry West, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, and Robertson's former Cincinnati Royals teammate Jerry Lucas announced their retirements. So would Wilt Chamberlain, although he hadn't played this season, due to a contract dispute between the NBA and the ABA.

A year and a half later, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar demanded a trade, and got it, going to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bucks were usually good thereafter, but they would not return to the NBA Finals until 2021.

The 1974 NBA Finals was the end of an era, when men were men, and pretty much only the people in the arena saw the game, because television coverage was so rare. The era of Dr. J, Skywalker, Chocolate Thunder, Magic, Larry, the Human Highlight Film and Air Jordan, an era where substance took a back seat to style, was about to begin. The NBA made a lot more money during that period. But it was not better.

*

May 12, 1974 was a Sunday. The ABA Championship had been won 2 days earlier, by the New York Nets over the Utah Stars.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played that day. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, and went on to win the series in 7 games. The WHA Playoffs were between the Semifinals and the Finals. The Houston Aeros went on to sweep the Chicago Cougars in 4 straight.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees were swept in a doubleheader by the Milwaukee Brewers, at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were groundsharing with the Mets while Yankee Stadium was renvoated. The Brewers won the opener, 7-3. Clyde Wright outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. George "Boomer" Scott went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Lou Piniella hit a home run.

The Brewers won the nightcap, 5-1. Kevin Kobel outpitched Dick Woodson. Dave May homered for the Brewers. Rick Dempsey, later to be traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he would not be available to succeed Thurman Munson as the Yankees' catcher (Munson was the designated hitter in this game, after catching the opener.)

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. George Mitterwald singled Matt Alexander home, off Tom Seaver, in the bottom of the 9th. José Cardenal hit a home run for the Cubs, Rusty Staub for the Mets.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk. Mike Anderson hit a home run. For the Pirates, Willie Stargell went 0-for-4 with a walk, but Richie Zisk went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and Al Oliver went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the next season.) The Atlanta Braves won the 1st game, 5-1. Hank Aaron went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 721st career home run, before being taken out of the lineup. He did not play in the 2nd game, which the San Francisco Giants won, 6-2.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept the Houston Astros, 5-0 and 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Fred Norman pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game. Merv Rettenmund hit home runs in both games. Over the 2 games, Pete Rose went 2-for-7 with a walk and an RBI, while Johnny Bench went 2-for-7 with a home run, a walk and an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Dick McAuliffe, the Tigers' long-time 2nd baseman, doubled Carl Yastrzemski home in the top of the 10th inning, to win the game for the Red Sox. Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with a walk. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 15-9 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The Padre bullpen melted down in the top of the 13th inning, so if new team owner Ray Kroc thought Opening Day was "the most stupid ballplaying I've ever seen," then he hadn't seen anything yet.

* The Kansas City Royals swept a doubleheader from the California Angels, 3-2 and 5-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Hal McRae singled Amos Otis home in the top of the 9th to win the 1st game. The Royals scored all 5 runs of the 2nd game in the 8th inning. George Brett did not play in the 1st game, and went 0-for-2 in the 2nd game before being replaced. He may have been injured.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson did not play. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-2 with a walk. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 25. The Indians swept, 8-7 and 5-4. They won the 2nd game when Tommy McCraw singled John Ellis home in the bottom of the 13th inning.

* And the Montreal Expos and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Cards swept, 5-4 and 9-4.

April 30, 1971: A Title for Oscar Robertson

April 30, 1971: The Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Championship, in only their 3rd season. It remains a record for the NBA.

It took them half a century to win another.

The Bucks and the Phoenix Suns had both come into the NBA as expansion teams for the 1968-69 season. Like most expansion teams, both of them struggled: The Bucks finished last in the Eastern Division with a record of 27 wins and 55 losses, while the Suns finished with the worst record in the entire league, at 16-66. By all rights, they should have had the top pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

But, at the time, a coin flip between the teams with the 2 worst records was held to decide who got the rights to the 1st overall pick. The idea was that a team trying to lose in order to get the top pick -- "tanking" would eventually become the expression -- might end up losing it to the team with the 2nd-worst record.

The Bucks won the coin flip, and, naturally, they picked Lew Alcindor, the center who had led UCLA to the last 3 National Championships. Alcindor had already converted to Islam, and, after the 1971-72 season, he announced that he had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Lew/Kareem immediately turned the Bucks from a 27-55 team into a 56-26 team, and a Division Champion. In the 1970 off-season, the Bucks made a trade with the Seattle SuperSonics, acquiring guard Lucius Allen, Kareem's UCLA teammate.

And they acquired Cincinnati Royals star Oscar Robertson, perhaps the best all-around player the game had ever seen. "The Big O" had come from Indianapolis, and had gotten the University of Cincinnati into what would eventually be called the NCAA Final Four in 1959 and 1960. For 10 years, he starred for the Royals, setting NBA career records for assists and steals (both of them since broken).

In the years to come, having a "triple-double" -- double figures, 10 or more, in points and 2 of 3 other categories, rebounds, assists and steals -- in a single game is considered a big deal. The term wasn't yet in use in 1961-62, but, that season, Robertson averaged a triple-double per game: 30.8 points, 11.4 assists, and 12.5 rebounds. There is no record of how many steals he had, or averaged: He might have averaged a quadruple-double for the season.

But despite having Robertson, rebound specialist Jerry Lucas, and another All-Star, Jack Twyman, the Royals never reached the NBA Finals. In fact, to this day, the franchise, which has been the Sacramento Kings since 1985, has only reached the Finals once, when they won the 1951 NBA Championship as the Rochester Royals.

The closest they got was reaching the Eastern Division Finals, in 1963 and 1964, losing to the Boston Celtics both times. It's also no coincidence that those were the 2 seasons between the move of the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco and the Warriors trading Wilt Chamberlain to the team that replaced them, the Philadelphia 76ers. (The Warriors lost the 1964 NBA Finals to the Celtics.) Indeed, from 1956 to 1969, 14 seasons, the Eastern Division playoff title was won by the Celtics or a Philadelphia team every year.

Finally, before the 1970-71 season, Robertson was traded to the Bucks. Today, we would say that Milwaukee were trying to "build a superteam," with Larry Costello, who played on the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers, coaching Alcindor at center, Bob Boozer and Bob Dandridge at forward, and Robertson and Allen at guard, with good reserves in Jon McGlocklin and McCoy McLemore. Alcindor/Abdul-Jabbar (33), Robertson (1), Dandridge (10) and McGlocklin (14, which had been Robertson's number in Cincinnati) would all get their numbers retired by the Bucks.

The Bucks beat the San Francisco Warriors in the 1st round of the Playoffs, then eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. They would play the Baltimore Bullets, who had beaten the 76ers, and then the defending NBA Champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Coached by Gene Shue, the Bullets were favored. They had Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, the flashiest player in the game. They had Gus Johnson, one of the game's early dunk artists. And they had Wes Unseld, one of the NBA's earliest true power forwards. All 3 would make the Basketball Hall of Fame, as would Bucks Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar.

Game 1 was on April 21, at the at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. (Kareem's thoughts on that nickname -- and on New York's Madison Square Garden being known as "the Mecca of Basketball" and "the Mecca of Boxing" -- are not publicly known.) The Bucks won, 98-88. Game 2 was 4 days later, at the Baltimore Civic Center. In a stunning results, the Bucks won that game in a blowout, 102-83.

Game 3 was 3 days later, in Milwaukee, and the Bucks won, 107-99. Just 2 nights later, in Baltimore, the Bucks finished the job, 118-106. The Bucks seemed to do better in Baltimore than they did in Milwaukee.

For the great Oscar, it was his one and only title. For Kareem, it was his 1st of 6 – but the only one in Milwaukee. In 1974, the Bucks returned to the Finals, losing to the Celtics. Game 7 of that Finals was Robertson's last game, as he retired.

In 1975, thinking that Milwaukee had become too small for him, or perhaps that he was too big for it, Kareem demanded a trade.  For most athletes, this would be considered a very arrogant thing, but he had proved that he was now too big for them. And so, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he would win 5 more Championships, and become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

For the 1973-74 season, the Bullets moved to the next-closest city, becoming the Capital Bullets for 1 season, then the Washington Bullets. In 1997, they moved from the suburbs of Washington to the District of Columbia itself, and became the Washington Wizards. The Baltimore Civic Center still stands, under the name of the CFG Bank Arena.

The Bucks were usually a good team after 1974, at one point winning 7 straight Division titles. But they didn't get back to even the Conference Finals until 2001, and finally won another NBA Championship in 2021. They moved from the MECCA to the Bradley Center, across the street, in 1988; and up one more block to the Fiserv Center in 2018. The MECCA is now home to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and is named the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Oscar and Kareem were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. So were Bullets Monroe and Unseld.

*

April 30, 1971 was a Friday. The American Basketball Association was between its Division Finals and its Finals. The Utah Stars went on to beat the Kentucky Colonels in 7 games.

Football was out of season. The NHL was in the Stanley Cup Semifinals, with the Montreal Canadiens beating the Minnesota North Stars, and the Chicago Black Hawks beating the New York Rangers.

The day before this, the Rangers won Game 6 on a goal by Pete Stemkowski in the 3rd overtime. I considered making a separate entry for that event, since it's still considered one of the biggest wins in Ranger history. But the Hawks won Game 7 on May 2, so the Stemkowski goal turned out to be, however dramatic, ultimately meaningless, much like the Carlton Fisk home run 4 years later.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Kline went the distance for the win, and got 2 of the Yankees' 5 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Boswell singled Bud Harrelson home with the winning run in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Rod Carew did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 8-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell each went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Juan Marichal started for the Giants, but Jerry Johnson ended up as the winning pitcher. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench hit 2 home runs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Chris Short pitched a 4-hit shutout. Ernie Banks, in his final season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The O's scored a run in the top of the 9th, but Freddie Patek singled Paul Schaal home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Frank Robinson appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 7-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Vida Blue went the distance for the win. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

March 19, 1969: The Kareem Coin Flip

March 19, 1969: For much of its early history, the National Basketball Association didn't exactly do things in a major league way. Why would you decide the top pick in your league's draft with a coin flip?

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns had both come into the NBA as expansion teams for the 1968-69 season. Like most expansion teams, both of them struggled: The Bucks finished last in the Eastern Division with a record of 27 wins and 55 losses, while the Suns finished with the worst record in the entire league, at 16-66. By all rights, they should have had the top pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

And everyone knew who that top draft pick was going to be: Lew Alcindor. The center had led UCLA to a record of 88-2, and winning the National Championship all 3 seasons (freshmen were not eligible until the 1972-73 season), and winning the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament all 3 times. He was 7-foot-2, his "skyhook" was an unstoppable shot, and the NCAA had outlawed the dunk solely because of him. It would be reinstated a few years later. He was, and remains, the greatest player in the history of college basketball.

From 1956 through 1965, NBA teams could use a "territorial pick," in which they forfeited their 1st Round selection in order to choose a player from their immediate area. The player presumably had a strong local following to boost fan interest. Territorial picks were eliminated in 1966, replaced by a coin flip for the rights to the 1st overall pick. The idea was that a team trying to lose in order to get the top pick might end up losing it to the team with the 2nd-worst record.

And so, on March 16, 1969, with the Bucks and the Suns having the 2 worst records, Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy picked up the telephone, and held a conference call with the general managers. The Suns' GM was Jerry Colangelo, who was only 29 years old, but was now with his 2nd expansion team: In 1966, he became the 1st marketing director of the Chicago Bulls. The Bucks' GM was Ray Patterson, and he was older, having played professional basketball in the 1940s.

Kennedy had the coin ready. He flipped it. Colangelo called, "Heads!" It came up "Tails." The Bucks would get the 1st pick, the Suns the 2nd. Naturally, the Bucks picked Alcindor. The Suns picked another center, Neal Walk of the University of Florida.

Younger fans might not be familiar with either name. Alcindor had already converted to Islam, and, after the 1971-72 season, he announced that he had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Walk's name would be unfamiliar because he didn't have much of a pro career, playing 5 seasons in Phoenix, becoming an original member of the New Orleans Jazz (now the Utah Jazz) in 1974, and playing 1 more season with the New York Knicks, before playing a season in Italy and, being Jewish, playing 3 seasons in Israel's league.

Lew/Kareem immediately turned the Bucks from a 27-55 team into a 56-26 team, and a Division Champion. In the 1970 off-season, the Bucks made a trade with the Seattle SuperSonics, acquiring guard Lucius Allen, Kareem's UCLA teammate, whom the Sonics had made the 3rd pick in the '69 Draft. Now, the Bucks had 2 of the top 3 picks. And they acquired Cincinnati Royals star Oscar Robertson, perhaps the best all-around player the game had ever seen. They went 66-16, and won the NBA Championship, in only their 3rd season, beating the Baltimore Bullets in the Finals. They returned to the Finals in 1974, losing to the Boston Celtics.

In 1975, thinking that Milwaukee had become too small for him, or perhaps that he was too big for it, Kareem demanded a trade.  For most athletes, this would be considered a very arrogant thing, but he had proved that he was now too big for them. And so, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he would win 5 more Championships, and become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

The thing is, while the Suns missed out on Kareem, they didn't suffer much. They made the Playoffs in 1970, anyway. The NBA then had a realignment, and despite winning 48 games in 1971 and 49 in 1972, they didn't make the Playoffs either time. They had 3 losing seasons, and the loss of the coin flip was looking like the kind of moment people could point to, years later, and say, "This team is cursed, and that was where it started."

And yet, in 1976, the Bucks' 1st season without Kareem, the Suns made the NBA Finals for the 1st time. Into the late 1970s, and through the 1980s and 1990s, and up until 2001, when the Suns won 51 games and the Bucks reached the Eastern Conference Finals, both teams were usually good enough to make the Playoffs. And yet, another trip to the Finals by the Suns in 1993, losing to the Bulls, was the only Finals berth for either team after 1974.

It would take until 2021 for the Bucks to win another Championship, and who did they beat in the Finals? The Suns. To this day, the Suns have never won an NBA Championship. They've usually been a good team, but they haven't gone all the way.

Colangelo briefly served as the Suns' head coach, and, in 1987, he led a group that bought the Suns. In 1995, he was awarded another expansion team, for baseball: The Arizona Diamondbacks. Their stadium was built 2 blocks from the Suns' new downtown arena, and in 2001, they did something the Suns hadn't done: They won a World Championship. He sold both teams in 2004.

Kennedy died in 1977, Patterson in 2011, Walk in 2015. As of March 19, 2022, Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson, Allen and Colangelo are still alive.

UPDATE: In 2023, LeBron James surpassed Kareem on the NBA's all-time points scored list. 

The Suns have a Ring of Honor. It includes Colangelo, Dick Van Arsdale, Connie Hawkins, Alvan Adams, Paul Westphal, Walter Davis, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Tom Chambers, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire; head coaches Cottom Fitzsimmons, John MacLeod and Westphal; team trainer Joe Proski; and broadcaster Al McCoy.

The Suns have retired the uniform numbers of Van Arsdale, 5; Davis, 6; Johnson, 7; Majerle, 9; Nash, 13; Chambers, 24; Marion, 31; Stoudemire, 32; Adams, 33; Barkley, 34; Hawkins, 42; and Westphal, 44. And Van Arsdale, Adams, Colangelo, McCoy, Barkley, Fitzsimmons, MacLeod, Majerle, Chambers and Westphal have been elected to the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.

The Bucks do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have retired numbers 1 for Oscar Robertson, 2 for Junior Bridgeman, 4 for Sidney Moncrief, 8 for Marques Johnson, 10 for Bob Dandridge, 14 for Jon McGlocklin, 16 for Bob Lanier, 32 for Brian Winters, and 33 for Kareem. Robertson, Bridgeman, Moncrief, Johnson, McGlocklin and former owner and U.S. Senator Herb Kohl have been elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. Kareem has not.

*

March 19, 1969 was a Wednesday. 

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

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 130-120 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena) in Baltimore.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 93-92 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The San Diego Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 128-108 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

* And the Atlanta Hawks beat the San Francisco Warriors, 128-115 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 143-114 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Indiana Farmers Coliseum) in Indianapolis. Mel Daniels scored 56 points and had 31 rebounds. In case you're wondering, the ABA record for points in a game turned out to be 67, by Larry Miller of the Carolina Cougars, against the Memphis Pros on March 18, 1972.

* The Denver Rockets beat the Miami Floridians, 123-119 at the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida.

* And the Dallas Chaparrals beat the Oakland Oaks, 117-112 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-5 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 1-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Oakland Seals played to a tie, 4-4 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Kings were not scheduled.