October 3, 1962: The Flight of Wally Schirra

October 3, 1962: Wally Schirra flies into space as one of the "Mercury Seven" astronauts.

Walter Marty Schirra was born on March 12, 1923 in Hackensack, New Jersey, and grew up in Oradell, also in Bergen County. He went to the Newark College of Engineering, and, after America's entry into World War II, he was accepted into the U.S. Navy Academy, graduating in time to serve in the final days of the Pacific Theater of the War.

(A personal note: My father was also from North Jersey, from Newark, and also attended NCE, and was always fascinated by space travel, real and imagined. And he did serve during wartime, in the Army during the Vietnam era. But he never became a pilot, military or civilian. In 1975, NCE merged with the New Jersey College of Architecture to form the New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJIT.)

Schirra flew fighter jets in the Korean War, was accepted as 1 of America's 1st 7 astronauts, and had the rank of Captain when he flew aboard the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, named Sigma 7 in connection with his engineering background. He completed 6 orbits, in a flight that lasted a little over 9 hours.

He was the 1st person to go into space 3 times, and was the only astronaut to serve on each of NASA's 1st 3 Projects: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. He flew on Gemini 6A with Thomas P. Stafford on December 15, 1965; and commanded Apollo 7, with Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham, on October 11, 1968.

He became a consultant for CBS News, sitting at the anchor desk with Walter Cronkite for all subsequent Apollo missions, including Apollo 11. In the 1983 film The Right Stuff, he was played by Lance Henriksen. He died on May 3, 2007, at the age of 84.

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October 3, 1962 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that the Giants beat the Dodgers in a Playoff for the National League Pennant again -- this time on the West Coast, and at the Dodgers' home. At Dodger Stadium, San Francisco wins the rubber game, beating Los Angeles, 6-4. I have a separate entry for this event.

Football was in midweek. The NHL season wouldn't start for another 7 days, the NBA season for another 13 days. 

And Tommy Lee, the drummer for heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, was born. 

July 21, 1961: The Unsinkable Gus Grissom

July 21, 1961: Project Mercury launches America's 2nd manned space mission, a capsule called Liberty Bell 7. Aboard is Lieutenant Colonel Gus Grissom of the U.S. Air Force.

Born in 1926 in Indiana, he was an aviation cadet in World War II and a fighter pilot in the Korean War. He was chosen as one of America's original astronauts, "The Mercury Seven," all of whom -- except for Donald "Deke" Slayton, who was initially grounded for a medical reason -- would fly aboard Mercury capsules with the number 7 on their missions.

Some people at NASA weren't happy that Grissom went by his nickname, Gus. But his real first name was Virgil, and that seemed a big too nerdy. So they asked him what his middle name was. It was Ivan. That wasn't going to work at the height of the Cold War. So they allowed Virgil Ivan Grissom to be listed as "Gus Grissom."

Like his only American predecessor, Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7, Grissom's flight was only meant to be suborbital: Up, then down, taking about 15 minutes. The flight went as expected until just after splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, when the hatch cover, designed to release explosively in the event of an emergency, accidentally blew. Grissom was at risk of drowning, but was recovered safely via a U.S. Navy helicopter. The spacecraft sank into the Atlantic and was not recovered until 1999.

Before airplane flights that crossed the "Karman Line" were retroactively listed as "spaceflights," Grissom was the 1st American astronaut to be given a 2nd spaceflight. It was aboard Gemini 3, the 1st manned flight of Project Gemini, so named because it would have 2 men aboard.

On March 23, 1965, Grissom and John Young made 3 orbits of the Earth aboard a capsule that was nicknamed Molly Brown, after the heroic socialite who saved some of the Titanic's passengers in 1912, and lived to be called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." The idea was, this capsule wouldn't sink after splashdown, and it didn't. The mission was a complete success. (In another odd connection with Grissom, "Molly" was a nickname: Her real name was Margaret.)

Grissom was meant to fly a 3rd time, aboard the 1st Apollo mission. But in 1967, he, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed during an engine test for Apollo 1. It was the world's 1st space program tragedy. Grissom was 40 years old, and died not by water, as had once been feared, but by fire.

In the 1983 film The Right Stuff, he was played by Fred Ward.

*

July 21, 1961 was a Friday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-8 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Yankees scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning to win it, including a grand slam by Johnny Blanchard, making Luis Arroyo a winning pitcher in relief of Whitey Ford. Ford went 25-4 that season, winning the Cy Young Award, but, on this day, allowing 7 runs in 4 innings, this may have been his worst start of the season.

Roger Maris hit his 36th home run of the season, Mickey Mantle his 37th, and Yogi Berra his 12th. Blanchard's slam was his 10th homer. Maris would end the season with 61, Mantle with 54, Berra with 22 and Blanchard with 21.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Tony González hit a home run to win it in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ernie Banks did not play for the Cubs, but Billy Williams hit a home run.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Hank Aaron hit 2 home runs. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-1 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Washington Senators, 16-5 at the Los Angeles version of Wrigley Field.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The White Sox swept, 7-4 and 11-4. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-5 in each game.

* And the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants were rained out at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 22. The Giants swept, 12-2 and 5-3. Over the 2 games, Willie Mays went 6-for-10 with a home run and 4 RBIs, and Willie McCovey went 5-for-10 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk in the opener, and appeared only as a pinch-hitter in the nightcap, not reaching base.

May 15, 1963: The Flight of Gordon Cooper

May 15, 1963: Gordon Cooper is launched into space aboard Faith 7. It is the last mission of Project Mercury.

Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Like his father before him, "Gordo" rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He did not see action in either World War II or the Korean War, but he became one of the USAF's top test pilots, enabling him to be chosen as one of the Mercury 7, the 1st 7 American astronauts, in 1959.

On May 15, 1963, he was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard Mercury 9, the mission also known as Faith 7. He circled the Earth 22 times, and reached a height of 166 miles. This makes him, to this day, the human being who has traveled the furthest from the surface of the Earth alone. (The Apollo missions to the Moon had 3 men each.)

He later flew on Gemini 5, and later helped the Walt Disney Company design the EPCOT Center. He was also one of the few astronauts to have claimed to have seen what he thought was an alien spacecraft. In the 1983 film The Right Stuff, he was played by Dennis Quaid. He died on October 4, 2004, at the age of 77.

*

May 15, 1963 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to come from behind, making Bill Stafford a winning pitcher in relief of Ralph Terry. Mickey Mantle went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Yogi Berra and Roger Maris did not play. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4. Four months later, on September 15, in Minnesota, the Yankees would beat the Twins again, to clinch the American League Pennant.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Colt .45s, 7-4 at Colt Stadium in Houston. The Colts became the Astros in 1965. Ron Hunt went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Mets. Al Jackson went the distance for the win.

* The Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, 9-3 and 7-6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dick Stuart hit home runs in each game, but the 1st baseman so bad a fielder than he was known as "Dr. Strangeglove" and "Stonefingers" also made an error in each game. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-9 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 7-1 at District of Columbia Stadium (later renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Athletics, 1-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 10-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day. Frank Robinson went 3-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIsl Rookie Pete Rose went 3-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk. Stan Musial, in his final season as a player, did not get into the game.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ron Fairly singled Jim Gilliam home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Sandy Koufax pitched all 12 innings and got the win.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 1-for-4. So did Roberto Clemente, and he also had an RBI.

May 5, 1961: The 1st American In Space

May 5, 1961: Captain Alan Shepard, U.S. Navy, becomes the 1st American in space. It was a suborbital flight, and he had been beaten to it by a Soviet, but he was the 1st American to make it.

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was born on November 18, 1923 in Derry, New Hampshire. Yes, he was from New Hampshire and had "Bartlett" in his name. He was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger and a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served during World War II and the Korean War, but saw no combat in either. He was selected as one of the original American astronauts in Project Mercury, the "Mercury 7."

On May 5, 1961, 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the 1st human in space, Shepard became the first American in space. His mission was designated Mercury-Redstone 3, for Project Mercury and the Redstone rocket; and the capsule was named Freedom 7, as all the Mercury capsules had the number 7 designation in honor of the astronauts.

Shepard was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:34 PM, reached a height of 116 miles -- 54 miles, or the "Kármán Line," being the definition of "being in space" -- and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, 15 minutes, 28 seconds after launch.

He was followed into space by Gus Grissom later in the year. It would take until early 1962 for an American to make an orbital flight: John Glenn.

In 1963, Shepard was grounded by an inner ear issue. In 1969, he had corrective surgery, and was cleared for spaceflight again. In 1971 he commanded Apollo 14, and got to walk on the Moon. At the age of 47, he remains the oldest Moonwalker. He even hit a golf ball there. However, since golf is not a sport, the title of "First Athlete On the Moon" is still up for grabs. Unless one of the six pairs of Moonwalkers had a footrace.

In 1979, Tom Wolfe published a book about the Mercury program, The Right Stuff. In 1983, a film version was released, written and directed by Philip Kaufman. Shepard was played by Scott Glenn. Shepard harshly criticized both the movie and the book: "Neither Tom Wolfe nor Kaufman had talked to any of the original seven guys, at any time... The Right Stuff is fiction." Sam Shepard, who played Chuck Yeager, the 1st man to break the speed of sound, was not related to Alan Shepard. 

Shepard retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral (two stars, equivalent to Major General), and died on July 21, 1998, at the age of 74.

*

May 5, 1961 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, home of the Pacific Coast League team that had borne the Los Angeles Angels name from 1925 to 1957, a farm team of the Chicago Cubs, hence the name of the ballpark, which was built as a copy of the one in Chicago, but had the Wrigley name on it first.

This was the Yankees' 1st regular-season game west of Kansas City. Ralph Terry started, but the Yankees needed to score 2 runs in the top of the 9th, on a leadoff walk by Roger Maris and a home run by Clete Boyer. This made a winning pitcher out of Danny McDevitt. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-4 with a walk. Maris went 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Yogi Berra appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-0 at Forbes field in Pittsburgh. Johnny Podres pitched 6 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Turk Farrell completed the 7-hit shutout. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Reds scored 4 runs to take the lead in the top of the 9th, but the Braves tied it in the bottom of the 9th. Leo Cárdenas drove Gene Freese in with the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th. Frank Robinson went 2-for-6. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Rookie Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs and their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, were rained out at the 1st Busch Stadium, formerly the last Sportsman's Park, in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 6. The Cards won the opener, 6-2. The nightcap was 3-3 after 10 innings, when it was rained out again. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 1-for-6 with 3 walks, and Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, only appearing as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Athletics were rained out at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The O's swept, 5-3 and 7-2. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 2-for-9 with a walk.

February 20, 1962: John Glenn In Orbit

February 20, 1962: Mercury-Atlas 6 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Aboard the capsule Friendship 7 is Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn Jr., U.S. Marine Corps. A 39-year-old native of New Concord, in southeastern Ohio, he becomes the 5th human being in space, the 3rd American; the 3rd human being to orbit the Earth, and the 1st American.

The mission lasts 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds, and the capsule makes 3 orbits of the Earth. Like all the capsules of Project Mercury, it had the number 7 as part of its name, after the first seven astronauts chosen by America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Glenn had been a fighter pilot in the Korean War, a squadron-mate of baseball legend Ted Williams. After the war, he set a speed record flying from coast to coast. Of the "Mercury 7" -- who called him "Mr. Clean the Marine" -- he was the oldest, and the one with the most flying experience.

Because Glenn was the 1st American in orbit, he ended up being celebrated far more than Alan Shepard, whose Mercury-Redstone 3 launch in 1961 made him the 1st American in space, because his capsule, Freedom 7, never got into orbit.

Following his return to Earth, Glenn received a ticker-tape parade in New York, and a welcome to the White House from President John F. Kennedy. He became so useful as an example of American excellence that they didn't let him fly in space again. This might not have been fair, but it became more logical in 1968, when Soviet astronaut (they used the term "cosmonaut") Yuri Gagarin, the 1st person in space and the 1st person to orbit the Earth, was killed in a test flight.

In 1964, he ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio, but dropped out when an injury interfered with his ability to campaign. He tried again in 1970, narrowly losing the primary. He tried again in 1974, and won, the 1st of 4 terms he would win. His opponents liked to say, "John, what on Earth have you done for us?" The voters of Ohio seemed to think he was doing enough. He ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1984, but didn't get far. This was in spite of his being perhaps the lead character of the 1983 film The Right Stuff, in which he was played by Ed Harris.

On October 25, 1998, as he was retiring from the Senate, he finally returned to space, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. He was 77, at the time the oldest person ever to travel in space. He died in 2016, the last survivor of the Mercury 7.

*

February 20, 1962 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. And no NHL games were scheduled for the day. But there were 4 games played in the NBA that night, 2 of them in a doubleheader at the old Madison Square Garden:

* In the opener at The Garden, The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Chicago Packers, 112-107. Yes, you read that right: "Chicago Packers." They were an expansion team. For 1962-63, bowing to the fact that no Chicago Bear fan wanted to root for a team called the Packers, they became the Chicago Zephyrs. But they flopped, and for 1963-64, they moved, becoming the Baltimore Bullets, the Washington Bullets in 1973 and the Washington Wizards in 1997.

The Warriors would move to San Francisco after this season. In this game, Wilt Chamberlain scored 48 points.

* In the nightcap, the New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-103.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the St. Louis Hawks, 129-109 at the Cincinnati Gardens. The Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968. The Royals moved in 1972 to become the Kansas City Kings, and in 1985 for Sacramento.

* And the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-96 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.