December 27, 2001: The Mets Trade Kevin Appier for Mo Vaughn

December 27, 2001: The New York Mets trade pitcher Kevin Appier to the Anaheim Angels (as the team was then known) for 1st baseman Mo Vaughn.

With the Boston Red Sox, Vaughn had been a good slugger and, despite his weight, a good fielder. But with the Angels, he was plagued with injuries, including missing the entire 2001 season. He had just turned 34: He should have had at least a couple of good years left. But, between his age, his weight, and his injury, he was already a big question mark.

When the trade was made, the Angels' closer, Troy Percival, took an unnecessary shot at him: "We may miss Mo's bat, but we won't miss his leadership. Darin Erstad is our leader." Mo lost his cool, and launched a foul-mouthed fusillade against the Angels: "They ain't done shit in this game... They ain't got no flags hanging at friggin' Edison Field, so the hell with them."

Mo always hit well against the Yankees, and you'd think his game-winning home run against them in an Interleague game on June 16, 2002 would have endeared him to the Flushing Faithful. But his rising weight and his injuries kept him from being productive, and Met fans booed him. 2002 turned out to be the Mets' 1st losing season since 1996, and their never-finished Mike Piazza Era renaissance was over.

Vaughn last played for them, or for anybody else, on May 2, 2003. He was also later outed as a steroid user. However, he has done good work since retiring, rehabilitating urban housing in New York and Boston.

Appier? In his 1st season with the Angels, he helped them win the World Series. Now, there was "a friggin' flag at Edison Field," or Angel Stadium of Anaheim as it's now known.

Just 16 days before this trade, the Mets made one with the Cleveland Indians to get Roberto Alomar. He got old in a hurry, and was terribly booed at Shea in 2002 and 2003. But the Mets weren't going anywhere anyway, and they didn't give much up to get him, so I can't make a separate entry for that bad trade.

*

December 27, 2001 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 98-88 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 105-89 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 87-78 at the TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Miami Heat, 91-86 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 93-90 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver. Allen Iverson scored 38 points for the Sixers, Nick Van Exel 33 for the Nugs.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 89-86 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors, 100-93 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland).

* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 125-111 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and their metro-area rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, played to a 2-2 tie at the Staples Center. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day. On a Thursday.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

December 12, 1975: The Staub-Lolich Trade

Staub wore Number 4 in his first tenure with the Mets.

I decided this photo, from his second tenure with them,

was the best picture I had of him.

December 12, 1975: The New York Mets trade right fielder Rusty Staub and pitcher Bill Laxton to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Mickey Lolich and outfielder Billy Baldwin.

Laxton and Baldwin (no relation to the Long Island acting family that includes a Billy Baldwin) are footnotes in baseball history. The Mets needed pitching, and thought that Lolich, a hero of 2 postseason runs for the Tigers, had something left, so they were willing to give up Le Grand Orange in his prime.

Lolich went 8-13 for a decent (82-80) Mets team in 1976, but feuded with team management, and retired after the season. After sitting out the entire 1977 season, he was granted free agency, and pitched 2 more seasons as a reliever for the San Diego Padres. He finished with a career record of 217-191, and more strikeouts than any lefthanded pitcher in history, 2,832. (A few lefties have since surpassed that total.)

As for Staub, maybe he wouldn't have hit as well in Shea's dimensions and wind as he did toward Tiger Stadium's short right field porch. But the Mets missed his bat: He averaged 19 home runs and 106 RBIs over the next 3 seasons. This was one of the trades that made the Tom Seaver trade of 1977 a confirmation of the already-present collapse, not the start of one.

By the time the Mets got Staub back, he was fat and slow, and little more than an occasionally-good pinch hitter. He finished in 1985 with a .279 lifetime batting average, and 2,716 hits including 292 home runs. He is the only player to collect at least 500 hits with 4 different teams: The Houston Astros, then the Montreal Expos, then the Mets, then the Tigers. Along with Ty Cobb, Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez, he is 1 of 4 players in the major leagues to hit a home run before his 20th birthday and hit one after his 40th birthday.

And yet, both Lolich and Staub fall a little short of consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

*

December 12, 1975 was a Friday. Actress and scientist Mayim Bialik was born on this day.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Buffalo Braves, 123-110 at the Buffalo memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo scored 39 points for the Braves, leading all professional scorers on the night.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Bullets, 130-108 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-91 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Chicago Bulls, 109-99 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-102 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 34 points and 21 rebounds.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 97-95 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 106-98 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Kentucky Colonels, 107-100 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Virginia Squires, 110-107 at The Scope in Norfolk.

There were 3 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames played to a tie, 3-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* And the California Golden Seals beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 5 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Toronto Toros beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 1-0 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Indianapolis Racers, 4-2 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Cowboys, 4-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Cincinnati Stingers beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 4-2 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

December 11, 1986: The Kevin Mitchell Trade Dooms The Mets

December 11, 1986: The Mets trade one left fielder for another: Kevin Mitchell to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds.

McReynolds got booed because the Mets weren't winning anymore, and, as someone who was not a member of their 1986 World Champions, he was a convenient target. His career stats and Mitchell's were very close, and he certainly didn't deserve the poor treatment he got. There were far worse players the Mets could have acquired.

But they shouldn't have gotten rid of Mitchell. The Padres soon traded him to the San Francisco Giants, and he became an All-Star, helping them reach the Playoffs in 1987 and the World Series in his Most Valuable Player year of 1989. He batted .326 as a regular with the 1994 Cincinnati Reds, and was still productive as late as 1996. The Mets could have used him in their close-call seasons of 1987, '88, '89 and '90.

I have called the Mets' failure to win another World Series for 36 years (through the 2022 season) "The Curse of Kevin Mitchell." The trade isn't the biggest reason they didn't win another Pennant until 2000. (There were injuries, and there was substance abuse, and some guys just dropped off without a rational explanation.) But, like McReynolds, it is a convenient symbol.

*

December 11, 1986 was a Thursday. Football star turned sportscaster Ahmad Rashad and his then-wife, actress Phylicia Rashad, became the parents of future actress Condola Rashad.

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

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-94 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets, 111-104 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Utah Jazz beat the Dallas Mavericks, 103-99 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Antonio Spurs, 113-107 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 8-4 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands. Bryant Trottier and Mikko Mäkelä each scored 2 goals and an assist. Pat LaFontaine also scored 2 goals.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Calgary Flames, 5-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* And the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Twins played to a tie, 6-6 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

December 10, 1971: Mets Trade Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi

December 10, 1971: The New York Mets trade pitchers Nolan Ryan and Don Rose, catcher Frank Estrada, and right fielder Leroy Stanton to the California Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi.

Estrada was a backup catcher who'd played 1 big-league game, for the Mets in '71, and never appeared in another. No loss there. Rose had also reached the majors for 1 game with the '71 Mets, put up a 1-4 record for the '72 Angels, and by April 1974 had appeared in the majors for the last time. No loss there.

Stanton turned out to be a good player, putting up OPS+ seasons of 110, 116 and 123, before slumping a bit in 1976, and being left unprotected in the expansion draft. Taken by the Seattle Mariners, he put up an OPS+ of 130 in 1977, before an injury ended his career the next season at just 32 years old.

We all know what happened to Ryan: He found his control with the Angels in 1972. He set records for strikeouts in a game (19, since broken), a season (383 in 1973, still stands) and a career (5,714, still stands). He pitched 7 no-hitters. He won 324 games, 295 of them after leaving the Mets. And we know what happened to Fregosi: He got hurt, was never the same player again, and is now better known as a manager, having gone back to the Angels and leading them to their 1st postseason appearance, in 1979 -- he was only 37, and could still have been a productive player -- and then leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a Pennant in 1993.

This was just 8 days after the New York Yankees traded Stan Bahnsen to the Chicago White Sox for Rich McKinney. That remains one of the worst trades in Yankee history, but it turned out to not be even the worst New York baseball trade of the month.

Why did the Mets do something so stupid? If you know your baseball history, then you've heard the case for the prosecution. Can there possibly be a case for the defense?

Maybe. At this point, there was nothing wrong with wanting a healthy Jim Fregosi on your team. He would be just 30 years old on Opening Day 1972, had been an American League All-Star 6 times, won a Gold Glove in 1967, and, until slumping to 89 in 1971, had never had an OPS+ (on-base percentage + slugging percentage, in relation to the league average) lower than 108 in his first 8 full seasons in the majors, peaking at 141 in 1964.

His highest batting average had been .290, in 1967; peak home runs, 22, and peak runs batted in, 82, both in 1970. In 1968, he led the AL in triples with 13. The franchise was just 11 seasons old at that point, but Fregosi was, without a doubt, the greatest player the Angels had yet had.

Certainly, Fregosi was a better player than the Mets' incumbent starting shortstop, Derrel McKinley "Bud" Harrelson. Although Harrelson had helped the Mets win the 1969 World Series, and had won the '71 season's National League Gold Glove for shortstops and was selected for the last 2 All-Star Games, Harrelson couldn't hit a lick. His highest single-season OPS+ was 82, well below Fregosi's slump season. His peak batting average thus far was .254, and he would top that only twice; his peak RBI year was 42, and his peak home run year was... 1 -- in each case, it would remain so.

Clearly, what the Mets needed to do was make Harrelson a backup, a "defensive replacement." Or maybe the Mets could move him to 3rd base, where 1969 starter Wayne Garrett had badly tailed off, and incumbent starter Bob Aspromonte was at the end of the line. (Bob was a Brooklyn native, now best known as the last active player who had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the brother of the somewhat better Ken Aspromonte.)

Instead, the Mets kept Harrelson at short, and moved Fregosi to 3rd. At first, it seemed to work, but then Fregosi got hurt. He appeared in only 101 games that season, finishing the season with only 32 RBIs and an OPS+ of just 89, and was never the same again. His 382 plate appearances that season would be far and away more than he'd ever have again.

Between the ages of 21 and 28, Jim Fregosi was, statistically speaking, similar to Alan Trammell, the longtime Detroit Tiger shortstop who is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But between the ages of 29 and 36, Fregosi was just another broken-down player.

Another problem was Joan Payson, the owner of the Mets. She trusted her team chairman, M. Donald Grant, to make the team's personnel decisions. After the 1973 World Series, Grant began breaking up their "dynasty." Keep in mind, this man not only traded Seaver and Dave Kingman away on the same day, but he used Ryan (and his wife! and Seaver's wife, too) as an excuse to lowball Seaver on contract talks.

Mrs. Payson offered little oversight over Grant's decisions. In contrast to Dan Topping and Del Webb, who would occasionally overrule George Weiss' decisions with the Yankees in the 1950s, she let Grant do whatever he wanted. After she died in 1975, her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, continued this policy, until she finally fired him in 1978.

So, chances are, keeping Nolan Ryan beyond the 1971 season would have meant giving him up well before 1984. 

At the time of the trade, Ryan was a month and a half short of his 25th birthday. He had a career won-lost record of 29-38. Not good, especially when you consider that the Mets had won 100 games in 1969, 83 in 1970 and 83 again in 1971.

He struck out a lot of batters, but also walked a lot, giving him a WHIP (Walks and Hits, divided by Innings Pitched) of almost 1.6 in '71. His ERA was nearly 4, not good in the NL of the time, which was pitching-friendly with a lot of concrete multipurpose oval stadiums (3 new ones in the preceding season and a half), and, of course, no designated hitter.

With Ryan having been disappointing thus far, and with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry and a somewhat-still-effective Ray Sadecki in their rotation, the Mets could afford to let Ryan go. He was expendable. Trade bait. Or so it seemed at the time.

And keeping Ryan might not have mattered in the short term. The 2 biggest questions in Met history are, "What if Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry hadn't fallen victim to drugs?" and, "What if the Mets had never traded Nolan Ryan?"

The answers to both questions are uncomfortable. After all, Doc and Darryl had injuries that cut their careers shorter than they should have been, and those would probably have happened even without substance abuse. And having Ryan might not have helped the Mets much.

Met fans see a rotation with Ryan and Tom Seaver as being unbeatable from 1972 onward. But would it have been? From 1972 until 1983, the Mets only got close to a National League Eastern Division title once, in 1973. They actually did win it, although with the worst record any Division title winner has ever had, 82-79. Then they won the NL Championship Series over the Cincinnati Reds. They didn't need Ryan to do that.

The key is the World Series, against the defending World Champion Oakland Athletics. The Mets took a 3-2 lead, with Games 6 and (if necessary) 7 still to play in Oakland. Yogi Berra, then the Mets' manager, gambled by starting Seaver in Game 6, on 3 days' rest. It didn't work: The A's won. That left him with Jon Matlack as his best available Game 7 starter, and he had 1 bad inning (the 3rd), and the A's won.

If the Mets still had Ryan, they could have started him in Game 7. Or, depending on how Yogi set up the rotation, Ryan in Game 6 and, if necessary, Seaver in Game 7.

But let's look at Ryan's postseason record. It's mixed. He saved the Mets' bacon in Game 3 of the '69 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, and did so again in Game 3 of the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles -- all this before he became NOLAN RYAN.

After that, he next appeared in postseason play in 1979, and while he pitched well for the Angels, it wasn't enough, as they lost the game and the Pennant to the Orioles.

In 1980, now with his hometown Houston Astros, he blew the Pennant-clinching Game 5 of the NLCS, at the Astrodome no less, enabling the Phillies to win their 1st Pennant in 30 years, and then their 1st World Championship in 98 years of trying. At that point in their history, blowing a Pennant to the Phillies was like losing to Suzanne Somers on Jeopardy! (This was when she was playing Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, well before she proved her smarts as a fitness expert and a businesswoman. She wasn't a dumb blonde, she just played one on TV.)

In the strike-forced Division Series of 1981, Ryan pitched well for the Astros, but in the process, he only got a split of 2 decisions against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And he made just one other postseason appearance, in the 1986 NLCS with the Astros, losing Game 2, and pitching well but not getting the decision in a Game 5 his team lost... to the Mets.

And even in 1973, the year the Mets won the Pennant and Ryan fanned a still-standing record of 383, he also led the AL in walks with 162. In fact, he led the League in walks 8 times (6 in the AL, 2 in the NL). He also gave up 18 homers. He was hard to hit, but when he got hit, he got hit. (Which sounds like something Yogi might say.)

Having a 2nd World Series win since the Yankees' last one in 1962 would have been a huge bragging point for Met fans until the Yankees started winning again in 1977. Until 1996, they could say that, since 1962, we've won just as many titles as you have (2). But, if you'll pardon my mixing of my sports metaphors, but having Ryan in the 1973 World Series to pitch to "The Swingin' A's" of Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace and Deron Johnson was no slam dunk.

But there would be other chances, right? Having Ryan would certainly improve those chances, right? Maybe not: From 1974 to 1983, the Mets were not in one single Pennant race, and it's hard to say how much difference Ryan would have made then.

Then there's the Mets' glory years from 1984 to 1990. Then again, for all their talk, there wasn't a whole lot of glory. Could Ryan, who pitched remarkably well even until he was 44 in 1991, have made a difference there? The Mets finished 6 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in 1984, so Ryan wouldn't have made the difference there.

In 1985, the Mets finished 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, but Ryan was 10-12 with a 3.80 ERA. If he makes 3 games' difference, do the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS? Maybe, the Dodgers had Tom Niedenfuer in their pen; Jack Clark hitting a Pennant-clincher in the top of the 9th in Game 6 wasn't a surprise, but Ozzie Smith hitting a walkoff in the bottom of the 9th of Game 5 was. I can certainly imagine Niedenfuer giving up homers to Lenny Dykstra in Game 5 (or maybe Lenny still hits his in Game 3) and Gary Carter in Game 6.

The Series, against the Kansas City Royals? I don't know, because the Cards did lose, and if Cardinal fans still curse the name of umpire Don Denkinger over a quarter of a century later, what would Met fans say if that same call were made? I think the Mets win the '85 Pennant, but lose the Series.

Ryan would have made no difference in 1986. How could he? The Mets won the World Series. The only difference is that the Mets beat the Reds in the NLCS, since the Astros don't have Ryan. (Then again, the Astros won the NL West by 10, so maybe they win it anyway.)

In 1987, at age 40, Ryan led the NL in ERA and strikeouts, but had an 8-16 record, because the Astros remembered that they are the Houston Astros: Great pitching, good defense, couldn't hit the ground if they fell off a ladder.

The Mets finished 2nd to the Cards again, 3 games back. Ryan definitely would have made a difference here, and the Mets would probably have beaten the San Francisco Giants for the Pennant. But the Minnesota Twins were not going to lose any World Series games in the Metrodome. Nobody beat the Twins in the Dome in October. Nobody. (Except, as it turned out, the 2003, '04 and '09 Yankees, who clinched 3 ALDS in that disgraceful facility.) So the Mets reach their 3rd straight Series, but win only 1.

In 1988, the Mets lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in Game 7... or, rather, they lost it in Game 4, when Mike Scioscia took Gooden deep in the 9th. The Mets started, in the 7 games, Gooden, David Cone, Ron Darling, Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Coney, Darling. Ryan had a good year, but I'm not sure where he starts. In all honesty, I can't say with any certainty that he makes a difference in this series.

In 1989, his 1st season with the Texas Rangers, Ryan had his last big season in terms of wins, 16, for an 83-win team. The Mets finished 2nd to the Cubs again, 6 games back. Maybe with Ryan, now 42 but still effective, the Mets don't make that dumb trade for Frank Viola, and win the Division.

But I don't think they win the Pennant, unless there's another dumb trade they don't make, Kevin Mitchell to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds. Mitchell's trade, soon after, from the Padres to the Giants made the Giants a postseason team in '87 and '89, and they beat the Cubs soundly in the NLCS; they would have done the same to the Mets.

In 1990, the Mets finished 2nd, 4 games behind the Pirates. Ryan had a pretty good season, and if he'd been in the rotation instead of the sinking-fast El Sid, they might have won the Division. On the other hand, as I said, if they still had Ryan, they wouldn't have traded for Viola, who won 20 in his one good season for the Mets. No, having Ryan at this point probably hurts them.

In 1991, Ryan's last effective season -- as a fastball pitcher at age 44! How come no one ever tested him for steroids? -- the Mets collapsed, finishing 20 1/2 back of the Pirates. Having Ryan wouldn't have helped. Having him in the disastrous '92 and '93 seasons, Ryan's last 2, wouldn't have helped, either.

So Ryan might have helped them win 3 more Division titles (1985, '87 and '89), and 2 more Pennants (1985 and '87), but it's hard to see how he wins them any more World Series (unless you count 1973, and you can't count on that).

M. Donald Grant made a lot of bad decisions as the Mets' de facto owner, and trading Ryan for Fregosi is the one that sticks out the most. But, just as Harry Frazee had reasons to let Babe Ruth go from the Boston Red Sox in 1919, there was more to the move than meets the eye. It would be fairer to say that both Frazee in the early 1920s and Grant in the 1970s broke up their winning teams, each with many bad decisions, too soon.

*

December 10, 1971 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football was played the next 3 days, but not on this day. But there were 8 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-106 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Buffalo Braves, 101-100 in overtime at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 112-111 at the Cleveland Arena. Bob Lanier scored 35 points for the Pistons, but it was in a losing effort.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 118-102 at the Chicago Stadium. 

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 120-104 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 Abdul-Jabbar scored 55 points, and had 18 rebounds. John Havlicek scored 32 for the Celtics, but it didn't get them close to the defending NBA Champions.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 95-88 at the Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 126-117 in overtime at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Gail Goodrich scored 32, Jim McMillian had 31, Jerry West had 28k and Wilt Chamberlain had 14 points and 28 rebounds. This was during the Lakers' record 33-game winning streak. For the Suns, Dick Van Arsdale scored 31, and Connie Hawkins scored 28.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Golden State Warriors, 105-94 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 5 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Memphis Pros, 103-101 at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, Long Island, New York. The Nassau Coliseum opened 2 months later, on February 11, 1972, and the Nets moved in. Bill Melchionni scored 36 for the Nets on this night.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-114 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Squires. Adding 19 for them was a rookie, Julius Erving.

* The Pittsburgh Condors beat the Carolina Cougars, 144-138 at the Greensboro Coliseum. No, that wasn't in overtime: That was in a regulation 48 minutes, making for a typical ABA barnburner. For the Condors, George Thompson scored 41, John Brisker 34, and George Carter 28. For the Cougars, Jim McDaniels scored 45, and Larry Miller (not the later Utah Jazz owner) 33.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Miami Floridians, 116-100 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the Utah Stars beat the Denver Rockets, 110-102 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Ralph Simpson (not Sampson) scored 43 in a losing effort for the Rockets, who became the Denver Nuggets in 1974.

Only 1 NHL game was played that day. The St. Louis Blues and the California Golden Seals played to a 4-4 tie at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

December 3, 1969: The Mets Trade Amos Otis for Joe Foy

December 3, 1969: The New York Mets trade outfielder Amos Otis and pitcher Bob Johnson to the Kansas City Royals for 3rd baseman Joe Foy.

Otis was a center fielder. The Mets had Tommie Agee in center. They didn't need another center fielder. Johnson was a pitcher. The Mets had plenty of pitching. What they did need, perennially, was a 3rd baseman. So they traded Otis, 22 and with 168 major league plate appearances under his belt, and Johnson (who you don't need to consider) for Foy, a 26-year-old New York native with power and speed, who'd helped the Boston Red Sox win the 1967 American League Pennant.

On paper, this looked like a great trade. But baseball is not played on paper, it's played on grass. Or plastic.

In Kansas City, Otis became a 5-time All-Star, a 3-time Gold Glove winner, a 2-time .300 hitter, an AL leader in doubles twice and in stolen bases once, and a 4-time postseason performer. In New York, Foy decreased his hitting, and increased a drug problem that the Mets didn't know about before the trade. After the 1970 season, they left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. 

He was taken by the Washington Senators, whose 1971 edition was one of the most dysfunctional teams in baseball history, with Foy, Denny McLain and Curt Flood all playing well below their previously established standards. Foy played his last game for them, or any other team, on May 27. He was sent down to the minors, and released on July 16. He never played in the major leagues again. He eventually beat his addictions, but the damage was done: He died of a heart attack in 1989, only 46 years old.

Johnson only pitched 1 season for the Royals. They traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and helped them win the 1971 World Series.

If the Boston Red Sox had finished the job in the 1986 World Series, as they very nearly did -- or the Houston Astros had done so in the National League Championship Series, and 1 more run in Game 6 would have meant the Mets would have faced Mike Scott in the Astrodome in a Game 7 -- we would now be talking about a 53-year title drought for the Mets, and The Curse of Amos Otis.

*

December 3, 1969 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Baltimore Bullets, 113-105 at the Boston Garden.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 118-117 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 36 points.

* The San Diego Rockets beat the Chicago Bulls, 146-131 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Don Kojis led all pro basketball players on the night with 40 points.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the San Francisco Warriors, 106-102 at the Cow Palace, outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Los Angeles Stars, 108-97 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* The Washington Capitols beat the Denver Rockets, 99-87 at the Washington Coliseum.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Floridians, 126-117 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 123-109 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at what was then being called the New Madison Square Garden Center.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 5-5 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Oakland Seals, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins were not scheduled.

November 4, 1969: John Lindsay's Upset Win

November 4, 1969: John Lindsay, denied renomination by the Republican Party, and running as the nominee of the Liberal Party, is re-elected Mayor of New York City.

The opposition to him had fragmented: The Democratic nominee was Mario Procaccino, a conservative serving as City Comptroller, and widely viewed as a racist; while the nominee of the Republican and Conservative Parties was John Marchi, a State Senator from Staten Island, who was so conservative, he made Barry Goldwater look like Bobby Kennedy.

When Lindsay was denied renomination, he looked finished. The fact that he had presided over race riots and municipal strikes while calling New York "Fun City" didn't help. He may have been the 1st major politician to run having used the expression "Mistakes were made" -- used many times by many people since, without specifically saying, "I have made mistakes" -- and used an expression that would later be used by some of his successors, calling the job of Mayor of New York "the second-toughest job in America."

On this day, Lindsay got 42.4 percent of the vote -- not a majority, but a plurality, and over the 40 percent threshold for a runoff -- while Procaccino got 34.8 percent and Marchi got 22.7 percent. The Borough tallies were as follows:

* Manhattan: Lindsay 67 percent, Procaccino 20, March 12.

* Bronx: Procaccino 41, Lindsay 40, Marchi 19.

* Brooklyn: Procaccino 42, Lindsay 36, Marchi 25.

* Queens: Lindsay 36.3, Procaccino 35.8, March 28.

* Staten Island: March 62, Procaccino 20, Lindsay 17.

What saved Lindsay? It wasn't just liberals and minorities, afraid of what Procaccino or Marchi would do. It was the New York Mets. Their run to a World Series win allowed him to identify with them, and he was in the locker room when they won the Series at Shea Stadium on October 16, 19 days before the election. He then gave them a ticker-tape parade and a big ceremony at City Hall. (He gave the Super Bowl-winning Jets a ceremony, too, but not a parade.)

Lindsay in the Mets' locker room, October 16, 1969

Lindsay's 1st term was hard. His 2nd term was a bit more peaceful in terms of civil strife, but harder in terms of holding the City's government and economy together. He might have wished he had lost. He did not run for a 3rd term in 1973 -- he wouldn't have had a chance -- and he died in 2000.

Procaccino never won another election, and died in 1995. Marchi won the Republican and Conservative nominations for Mayor in 1973, but lost to Abe Beame, the Comptroller that Lindsay had beaten for Mayor in 1965. Marchi set a record that has never been surpassed in any State: 50 years in the State Legislature, January 1, 1957 to December 31, 2006. He died in 2009.

Also on this day, William T. Cahill, a Republican Congressman representing Camden County, is elected Governor of New Jersey. After 16 years of Democratic Governors, under Robert Meyner and, since a Governor of New Jersey can't serve 3 consecutive terms, Richard J. Hughes, people wanted something different, and when Meyner was nominated to regain the office, he couldn't get any traction.

Cahill got the State legislature to pass the bill creating the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which built the Meadowlands Sports Complex. But he raised taxes, and 3 major Republican officials were convicted of crimes. He was denied renomination by his own Party in 1973. He went on to teach at Princeton University, and died in 1996. Meyner died in 1990.

Also on this day, The Allman Brothers Band release their self-titled debut album. It includes the song "Whipping Post."

Also on this day, Matthew McConaughey (no middle name) is born in Uvalde, Texas. Admit it: After playing a stoner in Dazed and Confused, a lawyer in A Time to Kill, winning an Oscar as an AIDS patient in Dallas Buyers Club, and apparently playing another stoner in some Cadillac commercials, you forgot he was in a baseball movie, playing left fielder Ben Williams in the 1994 remake of Angels In the Outfield.

Also on this day, Sean John Combs is born in Manhattan, and grows up in nearby Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York. The rapper, music producer, and fashion designer is known by many names: Sean John, Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, or just Diddy. Personally, I will always think of him as The Guy Who Got Jennifer Lopez Arrested.

*

November 4, 1969, like all modern American Election Days, was a Tuesday. Actor Matthew McConaughey and hip-hip mogul Sean Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy) were born on this day.

The baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Phoenix Suns, 116-99 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Despite the Suns' defeat, Connie Hawkins led all scorers on the night with 39 points.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the San Francisco Warriors, 124-105 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena). This was actually part of a doubleheader that also included this game:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls, 113-109.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-102 at Cobo Hall (now the Huntington Center) in Detroit.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Washington Capitols beat the Carolina Cougars, 117-107 at the Washington Coliseum.

Only 1 game was played in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Oakland Seals, 5-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

November 1, 2015: The Mets: Blow-for-Five

Left to right: Manager Terry Collins, Matt Harvey, David Wright

November 1, 2015: Game 5 of the World Series is played at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, New York City. Curtis Granderson hits a home run in the bottom of the 1st inning, giving the New York Mets a 1-0 lead over the Kansas City Royals. The Mets make it 2-0 in the 6th, and Matt Harvey holds that lead into the top of the 9th.

But the Mets pull off a unique feat: They blow leads in every single game of a World Series. This includes Game 3, which they came back to win, anyway. Only the Mets, right?

Harvey convinces manager Terry Collins to leave him in, and he walks the leadoff hitter, Lorenzo Cain. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Eric Hosmer doubles Cain home, and Collins now pulls Harvey for Jeurys Familia. A groundout gets Hosmer to 3rd, and a fielding blunder by the Mets (another Cliché Alert) results in the tying run coming home.

Familia's 8 blown saves in a single postseason ties the record set by Robb Nen of the 2002 San Francisco Giants. Unlike Familia, Nen does have a World Series ring, with the 1997 Florida Marlins.

The game goes to the 12th inning. Royals catcher Salvador Pérez singles off Addison Reed. Royals manager Ned Yost sends Jarrod Dyson in to pinch-run for him. Christian Colón singles him home, and then Collins brings in the unrelated Bartolo Colón, and the 42-year-old corpulent proven steroid cheat melts down. It remains the worst extra-inning performance in the 119-year history of the World Series. The Royals win the game, 7-2, and win their 2nd World Series, their 1st in 30 years.

Here's the tale of woe: 

* Game 1, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City: Mets 4, Royals 3, going to the bottom of the 9th; Royals win, 5-4 in 14 innings.

* Game 2, at Kauffman Stadium: Mets 1, Royals 0, going to the bottom of the 5th; Royals 7, Mets 1. 

* Game 3, the 1st World Series game ever played at Citi Field: Mets 2, Royals 1 after 1 inning; Royals 3, Mets 2 after 2 innings; Mets 9, Royals 3 for a final score. So they did blow the lead, but still came from behind to win.

* Game 4, at Citi Field: Mets 3, Royals 2, going to the top of the 8th; Royals 5, Mets 3.

* Game 5, at Citi Field: Mets 2, Royals 0, going to the top of the 9th: Royals 7, Mets 2 in 15 innings.

The Royals proved what the New York Yankees had proven in the regular season, what Chase Utley of the Los Angeles Dodgers proved in the National League Division Series, and what nobody else, not the other Dodgers, nor the Chicago Cubs in the NL Championship Series, seemed willing to prove: Stand up to the Mets, and they will fold. This pattern held in 2016, as the Mets reached the NL Wild Card game, but lost it.

In the 1995 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Past Tense, Part II," partly set in the year 2024, Commander (later Captain) Benjamin Sisko, a baseball fan despite living in the 24th Century, gave his opinion that the greatest baseball team of all time was the 2015 London Kings, pointing out that it was the rookie season of Japanese-American shortstop Harmon "Buck" Bokai. This suggests that the Kings won the 2015 World Series. Another person in the scene says the greatest team ever was the 1999 Yankees.

The scene came closer to getting it right than anyone could have expected: The Yankees did go on to win the World Series in 1999, going 11-1 in the postseason, following their 114-48 regular season and 11-2 postseason of the year before; and the 2015 World Series was won by a team with a regal name. But "Royals" is not "Kings," and Kansas City is not London. (They do call themselves "The Paris of the Plains," though.)

Other Trek episodes had the Yankees beating the London Kings in the World Series in 2032, and losing to them in 2042, after which -- possibly due to World War III being fought in the show's timeline -- baseball had so badly dropped in popularity that it was stopped, a major problem I have with Star Trek.

However, despite the Yankees' real-life 2 regular-season games with the Boston Red Sox in London in 2019, and future London Series games planned, I seriously doubt that MLB will put a team in London by 2032, or even 2042. But at least the sport should remain popular well beyond then.

Another piece of science fiction, Back to the Future Part II, released in 1989, said that the Chicago Cubs won the 2015 World Series, a 4-game sweep over a Miami team not named, but with an alligator as its logo. The Cubs did reach the NLCS in 2015, but got swept by the Mets, then won the World Series the next year. But when a Miami team was created, the Florida Marlins, in 1993, it was in the NL, and it ended up embarrassing the Cubs in the 2003 NLCS.

In World Series play, the Mets are 0-5 in Game 1s, 2-3 in Game 2s, 5-0 in Game 3s, 2-3 in Game 4s, 2-3 in Game 5s, 1-1 in Game 6s, and 1-1 in Game 7s. Since October 27, 1986, when they beat the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the World Series, they have gone just 2-8 in World Series play, their only wins coming in Game 3s at home. And, since November 1, 2015, they have never played another World Series game.

*

November 1, 2015 was a Sunday. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lose to the New Orleans Saints, 52-49 at the Superdome in New Orleans. It's the most points the Giants have ever scored and still lost, and it ties the Saints record for most points in a game.

* The New York Jets lost to the Oakland Raiders, 34-20 at the O.co Coliseum (as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was then known).

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Diego Chargers, 29-26 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Justin Tucker kicked a 39-yard field goal on the last play of the game.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-20 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Connor Barth kicked a 31-yard field goal with 7:52 left in overtime.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Dallas Cowboys, 13-12 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Texans beat the Tennessee Titans -- formerly the Houston Oilers -- 20-6 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-10 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Cleveland Browns, 34-20 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 23-20 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Blair Walsh kicked a 36-yard field goal on the last play of the game.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers, 27-6 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Detroit Lions, 45-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 29-10 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

* The next night, on Monday Night Football, the Carolina Panthers beat the Indianapolis Colts, 29-26 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Graham Gano kicked a 52-yard field goal with 5:22 left in overtime.

* The preceding Thursday, the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 36-7 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* And the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins had the week off.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Boston Celtics, 95-87 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 94-92 at the Time Warner Cable Arena (now the Spectrum Center) in Charlotte.

* The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets, 109-89 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 106-87 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic, 92-87 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets, 117-93 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma city.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 103-93 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the Barclays Center.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

October 30, 2015: An MLB Debut In the World Series

October 30, 2015: Game 3 of the World Series is the 1st World Series game ever played at Citi Field in Flushing Meadow, Queens, the new home of the New York Mets.

This game includes one of the great oddities in baseball history. In the top of the 5th inning, Raúl A. Mondesí, a 20-year-old 2nd baseman, pinch-hits for pitcher Danny Duffy. He was the 1st player to make his major league debut in the World Series: Although he had not played in the major leagues during the regular season, the NLDS or the NLCS, Royals manager Ned Yost included him on the World Series roster. That's very odd, but it is legal. Noah Syndergaard strikes him out.

Now calling himself Adalberto Mondesí, to avoid confusion, he is still with the Royals, and led the American League in stolen bases in 2020, but has seen his career riddled with injuries. He is the son of Raúl R. Mondesí, a former All-Star outfielder, who was elected to a 6-year term as the Mayor of San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, in 2010; and is now serving an 8-year term in prison, for corruption while in office.

The Royals score a run in the top of the 1st. David Wright hits his 1st World Series home run in the bottom of the 1st, but the Royals take a 3-2 lead in the top of the 2nd -- meaning the Mets have now blown leads in all 3 games of the Series so far, and in their last 4 Series games (dating to 2000).

But the Mets take the lead back in the 3rd, as Curtis Granderson hits a home run. They add a run in the 4th, and 4 more in the 6th, and win 9-3. The Mets close the Series gap to 2-1 -- just like they did in 2000. But, just as they did in 2000, they will lose in 5.

*

October 30, 2015 was a Friday. There were 3 college football games played that night:

* The University of Louisville beat Wake Forest, 20-19 at Truist Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

* Louisiana Tech beat Rice, 42-17 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

* And Utah State beat Wyoming, 58-27 at Maverik Stadium in Logan, Utah.

There were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 102-75 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Boston Celtics, 113-103 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-71 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 97-94 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Orlando Magic, 139-136 in double overtime at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.) Russell Westbrook had 48 points for the Thunder.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets, 112-92 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat, 102-92 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 98-94 in overtime at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 118-113 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets, 95-78 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 110-92 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Sacramento Kings beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, 132-114 at the Sleep Train Arena (formerly the ARCO Arena) in Sacramento. The Golden State Warriors are the closest team to the Kings, but after the early 2000s, who's kidding who about who the Kings' arch-rivals are?

There were 9 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers, 3-1 at the BB&T Center (now the FLA Live Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Wild beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Arizona Coyotes, 4-3 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Center) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Calgary Flames, 6-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, lost to Sayreville, 33-13 at War Memorial Stadium in Sayreville.

October 27, 2015: The Alcides Escobar Game

October 27, 2015: Game 1 of the World Series is played at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Kansas City Royals played in the World Series just last year. The Mets? Not since October 26, 2000, 15 years earlier.

Matt Harvey started for the Mets. The 1st pitch thrown by "The Dark Knight" was hit by Alcides Escobar for an inside-the-park home run, the 1st in Series play since Mule Haas of the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, 86 years earlier. Curtis Granderson hit a home run off Royals starter Edinson Vólquez, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. But the Royals tied it in the bottom of the 6th, taking Vólquez off the hook. Only then was he told that his father died earlier in the day.

The Mets took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 8th, and were just 2 outs away from taking Game 1, when Jeurys Familia blew a save opportunity for the 1st time since July 30, by giving up a home run to Alex Gordon. He became the 5th player, the 1st since Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius of the 2001 Yankees, to hit a game-tying 9th inning home run in World Series play.

The game went into extra innings, and Granderson made a sensational catch of a Jarrod Dyson drive in the 11th. But in the bottom of the 14th, David Wright, the Mets' 3rd baseman and Captain -- and, to hear Met fans tell it, "the face of New York baseball" now that Derek Jeter had retired -- made a throwing error that lets Escobar reach 1st. Ben Zobrist singled him over to 3rd, and Eric Hosmer flew out to center, a sacrifice fly that brought home the winning run. Royals 5, Mets 4.

This was the 1st time in World Series history that the same player scored both the 1st run of the game on the 1st pitch, and the last run of the game on the last pitch. The game tied the record for the longest game by innings in World Series history, shared with Game 2 in 1916 and Game 3 in 2005. The loss made 42-year-old Bartolo Colón the oldest player ever to lose a World Series game.

It was also the 7th time in the Mets' 25 World Series games to that point in which they had a lead and blew it. That ratio would get worse.

It was the Mets' 5th World Series. They are 0-5 in Game 1, 2-3 in Game 2, 4-1 in Game 3, 3-2 in Game 4, 2-3 in Game 5, 1-1 in Game 6, and 1-1 in Game 7. So, a typical World Series for the Mets would be: Fall behind 2-0, tie up the Series, lose Game 5, and then, because they've split both Game 6s and Game 7s, it's anybody's guess.

*

October 27, 2015 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 106-94 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 97-95 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 111-95 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena). Steph Curry scored 40 points.

There were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Columbus Blew Jackets, 3-1 at the Prudential Center.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes, 6-0 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Zemgus Girgensons scored the winning goal, with 2:31 left in overtime.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-1 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-0 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at Bell MTS Place (now the Canada Life Centre) in Winnipeg.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.