December 17, 1917: Canada's "Khaki Election"

Robert Borden

December 17, 1917: Canada holds its 1st "Khaki Election," in the midst of World War I, allowing servicemen and, for the 1st time, servicewomen to vote.

This move, by Prime Minister Robert Borden, leader of the Conservative Party, was seen by French Canadians and the leader of the Liberal Party, former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, as a slap in the face to the French who opposed the country's 1st military draft.

The Conservatives won overwhelmingly, winning 57 percent of the popular vote, which remains their highest ever, and gaining 21 seats in the House of Commons.

The vast majority of French Canadians opposed conscription, as they felt that they had no particular loyalty to either Britain or France. Led by journalist Henri Bourassa, they felt their only loyalty was to Canada. English Canadians supported the war effort as they felt stronger ties to the British Empire.

On January 1, 1918, the Unionist government began to enforce the Military Service Act. It caused 404,385 men to be liable for military service, from which 385,510 sought exemption. This extended what became known as the Conscription Crisis. The most violent opposition occurred in Quebec, where anti-war attitudes sparked a weekend of rioting between March 28 and April 1, 1918. Five men were killed.

Borden remained Prime Minister for another 3 years, including the end of the war. Having gone 4-2 in federal elections, Laurier remained Liberal Leader for 2 more years, until his death. Both had been knighted by King George V. In 1972, the Bank of Canada placed Laurier is on Canada's $5 bill. In 1975, it placed Borden on its $100 bill.

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December 17, 1917 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. Football was between its regular season and its end-of-season Christmas and New Year's games, not yet called "bowl games." Professional basketball was on a very minor league level. And the 1st season of the NHL began 2 days later. So there were no scores on this historic day.

December 2, 1995: The Curse of St. Patrick

December 2, 1995: In an NHL "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 11-1 at the Montreal Forum. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 4 of those Detroit goals. Mark Recchi had the lone tally for the Habs.

This was the game in which Canadiens' goalie Patrick Roy was infamously hung out to dry by Canadiens management. General manager Réjean Houle told head coach Mario Tremblay to leave Roy in the net. He left Roy there until 11:57 of the 2nd period, after the Canadiens' defense, strong enough to win the Stanley Cup 2 1/2 years earlier, had collapsed to the point where he'd allowed 9 goals in that time.

Roy skated over to where team president Ronald Corey was sitting, and said, "It's my last game in Montreal." Roy was suspended, and, 4 days later, came "Le Trade": Roy and team Captain Mike Keane, a right wing who had also been feuding with Tremblay, were traded to the Colorado Avalanche for goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, left wing Martin Ručinský and right wing Andrei Kovalenko.

Ironically, until the season before, the Avalanche had been the Quebec Nordiques. Roy was from Quebec City, and had grown up loving the Nords and hating the Habs, before winning 3 Vezina Trophies and helping them win 3 Stanley Cups. 

He helped the Avs win the Cup that season, and again in 2001. In addition to the '96 Cup with the Avs, Keane would win the Cup again with the Dallas Stars in 1999. What did the Habs get? Not much, although Kovalenko did score the last goal at the Forum, as the team was preparing to move into the new Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre).

Canadien fans took Roy's side in the dispute. They let their displeasure be known all season long, including into the move, with the new arena having room for an additional 3,300 fans. It took until 2008 for Roy and the team to reconcile enough to get him to come for the retirement of his Number 33.

The winningest team in hockey history took until 2021 to return to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing it to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is known as "The Curse of St. Patrick," even if, as he has proven in his subsequent coaching and management career, Roy is no saint. He had helped them win their 23rd and 24th Stanley Cups. They are still looking for their 25th.

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December 2, 1995 was a Saturday. These 9 other games were played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 2-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at the Edmonton Coliseum (formerly the Northlands Coliseum).

* The Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning were not scheduled.

The University of Texas, America's Number 9-ranked college football team, defeats their arch-rivals, Texas A&M University, ranked Number 16. The score is Longhorns 16, Aggies 6, at A&M's home, Kyle Field in College Station.

Elsewhere in Texas, the University of Houston beat crosstown rival Rice University, 18-17 at Rice Stadium. These would be the last 2 football games ever played in the Southwest Conference. I have a separate entry for the league's end.

These other college football games were played that day:

* Number 2 Florida beat Number 23 Arkansas, 34-3, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Army beat Navy, 14-13 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* And Oklahoma State beat the University of Hawaii, 24-20 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Nebraska won the National Championship defeating Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas lost the Sugar Bowl to Virginia Tech. Texas A&M beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The last Cotton Bowl of the SWC era had no Texas-based team: Colorado beat Oregon, 38-6. Southern California beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, and Florida State beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Baseball was out of season. There were 10 NBA games on this day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 94-85 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 79-78 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 135-107 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 113-98 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Clyde Drexler scored 41 points. 

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 101-93 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. David Robinson scored 37 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-105 at the McNichols Area in Denver.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Michael Jordan scored 37 points.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Orlando Magic, 109-106 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Birmingham, and played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.

November 29, 1924: The Montreal Forum Opens

November 29, 1924: The Montreal Forum opens. The Montreal Canadiens, holders of the Stanley Cup, defeat the Toronto St. Patricks, 7-1. Billy Boucher scored the arena's 1st goal. And its 2nd. And its 3rd. In addition to this hat trick, Aurèle Joliat scored 2, and Sylvio Mantha and Howie Morenz each scored 1.

The only Toronto goal against the Canadiens' Georges Vézina was scored by Jack Adams, later to be the longtime head coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. The St. Patricks wore green, but in 1927, they would be renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs, and switch to blue. They and the Canadiens have been the NHL's greatest rivalry ever since.

Originally, the Forum wasn't meant to be the Canadiens' home. It was meant to be the home of the Montreal Maroons, a newly-founded team, while the Canadiens continued to play home games at the Mount-Royal Arena. The Maroons' 1st game at the Forum came on December 3, but they lost to the Hamilton Tigers, 2-0.

The Maroons won the Stanley Cup in 1926. For the next season, the Canadiens moved in, and the Forum was busier than ever: Its 9,300 seats played host to the Canadiens or the Maroons every Thursday and Saturday, the Quebec Senior Hockey League on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Quebec Junior Hockey League on Mondays, the Bank League on Tuesdays, and the Railways and Telephone League on Fridays.

The Canadiens' famed "CH" logo has confused people for over a century. It is short for the team's official name, le Club de hockey Canadien. Madison Square Garden president George "Tex" Rickard, boxing promoter and founder of the New York Rangers, probably without knowing the truth, told a reporter that the "H" stood for "Habitant," a term used to describe farmers in early Quebec. Ever since, the Canadiens have been known as Les Habitants, or the Habs for short. The chant became, "Go, Habs, go!"

The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1916 and 1924, before the Forum opened. They won it in 1930 and 1931, led by Morenz, the man eventually known as "the Babe Ruth of Hockey." In 1937, Morenz broke his leg during a game, was hospitalized, and died of a heart attack in the hospital. A benefit game was played at the Forum, between a combined team of Canadiens and Maroons against a team made up of players from the rest of the League. A few months later, at the end of the 1937-38 season, the Maroons went out of business due to the Great Depression.

In 1942, Maurice Richard arrived on the Canadiens' roster. "The Rocket" led them to 8 Stanley Cups. In 1953, along came Jean Béliveau, and he led them to 10. Richard's last 5 and Béliveau's 1st 5, from 1956 to 1960, were the only instance ever of 5 straight Cup wins.

They followed the 1955 season, in which an incident in Boston led to Richard's suspension for the Playoffs, which led to a riot inside the Forum that spilled out into the streets. French-Canadians, for whom the Canadiens, and Richard in particular, were a point of pride were angry at Clarence Campbell, the NHL's Anglophone President, suspending him, thinking he was trying to fix the Cup for an Anglophone team. Richard went on radio and told the fans to stop, that he would take his punishment, support the team to win the Cup this time, and play to win it in the future.

They lost the Finals to the Detroit Red Wings, but with Richard joined by his brother Henri, Béliveau, defenseman Doug Harvey and goalie Jacques Plante, won those next 5 Cups. Henri actually topped his brother, and Béliveau, by being a member of 11 Cup-winning teams. In all of North American sports, only Bill Russell of the NBA's Boston Celtics matched Henri Richard's 11 World Championships.

In 1968, the Forum was seriously renovated, and expanded, to a seating capacity of 16,259, plus 1,700 in standing room, for a total of 17,959. The support poles were removed. One thing that was retained: Whereas most arenas used a horn to signal the end of a period, the Forum used a high-pitched siren, which was kept after the move to the Bell Centre.

In 1972, the Forum hosted the 1st game of the 8-game "Summit Series" between Canada and the Soviet Union, which the Soviets won in a 7-3 shocker. Canada would win the series with dramatic wins in Moscow in Games 6, 7 and 8.

From 1976 to 1979, the Canadiens had a run of 4 straight Cups, led by a slew of Hall-of-Famers: Forwards Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Steve Shutt and Jacques Lemaire; defensemen Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe; and goaltender Ken Dryden.

Between them, Morenz, Maurice Richard, Béliveau and Lafleur were, effectively, the Mount Rushmore of hockey. They were a foursome that could only be matched in North American sports by the Yankees' Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. (The Celtics? Bill Russell and Larry Bird, but who are the other two? Bob Cousy and John Havlicek? Not the same. No football team can match it, either.)

From 1956 to 1979, the Canadiens won 15 of the 24 available Stanley Cups. Their 1979 Cup was their 22nd, matching the Yankees for the most World Championships in North American sports. They won a 23rd in 1986 and a 24th in 1993. The Yankees didn't win their 24th World Series until 1998, surpassing them with a 25th in 1999.

In the 1976 Olympics, the Forum hosted basketball, boxing, volleyball, handball, and gymnastics, including Nadia Comaneci registering the 1st perfect 10 in Olympic history -- 7 of them.

The Beatles played the Forum on September 8, 1964. Other notable concerts there included Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975, Bob Marley in 1978, and, all in separate shows in 1981, Rush, Queen, and the Jacksons.

But there was only so much that could be done with a 1924-built arena. So the Molson Centre, now the Bell Centre, was built a mile to the east, in Montreal's downtown (Centre-ville). On March 11, 1996, the Forum's final game was played, a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars. They were chosen as the opponent because their Captain was as former Canadiens' Captain, Guy Carbonneau. Maurice Richard, Béliveau and Lafleur participated in a ceremonial puck-drop with Carbonneau and Canadiens Captain Pierre Turgeon.

In the Canadiens' locker room, replicated at the new arena, the lockers were topped by the faces of the team's members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. On each side, one in English and one in French, are words from Canadian Army doctor John McCrae's World War I poem In Flanders Fields: "To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high." After the game, a symbolic torch was passed from the earliest living Canadiens Captain, Butch Bouchard, to each succeeding Captain, including both Richards, Béliveau and Carbonneau, up to Turgeon.

Over the next 4 years, a construction company owned by 1950s Canadien Hall-of-Famer Dickie Moore converted the building into retail space, including a shopping mall and a movie theater. A small bleacher section, and a bench with a statue of Maurice Richard, are roughly where center ice was. 

UPDATE: The Canadiens do not have a team Hall of Fame, but they have more retired uniform numbers, 15, more players so honored, 19, and more players elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, 71, than any other NHL team. Of those 71, 55 can legitimately be claimed by the Canadiens, for having helped them win at least 1 of their record 24 Stanley Cups:

* From their founding era, 1909 until the 1917 founding of the NHL, including the 1916 Stanley Cup: Founding owner Ambrose O'Brien, defenseman Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette, center Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde, right wing Didier "Cannonball" Pitre, and goaltender Georges Vézina.

* From their 1924 Stanley Cup: Vézina; owners William Northey, Joseph Cattarinich and Léo Dandurand; center "Phantom" Joe Malone and Howie Morenz (Number 7 retired), left wing Aurèle Joliat, and defensemen Sprague Cleghorn and Sylvio Mantha.

* From their 1930 and 1931 Stanley Cups: Northey, Cattarinich, Dandurand, Morenz, Aurèle Joliat, Mantha and goaltender George Hainsworth.

* From their 1944 and 1946 Stanley Cups: Owner Donat Raymond, general manager Tommy Gorman, head coach Dick Irvin Sr.; right wing Maurice "the Rocket" Richard (Number 9 retired), left wing Hector "Toe" Blake, centers Elmer Lach (Number 16 retired) and Herbert "Buddy" O'Connor, defensemen Émile "Butch" Bouchard (Number 3 retired) and Kenny Reardon, and goaltender Bill Durnan.

* From their 1953 Stanley Cup: Raymond, Irvin, Richard, Lach, Bouchard, left wings Dickie Moore (Number 12 retired) and Bert Olmstead, right wing Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion (Number 5 retired), defensemen Doug Harvey (Number 2 retired) and Tom Johnson, and goaltender Jacques Plante (Number 1 retired).

* From their 5 straight Stanley Cups of 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960: Raymond, Maurice Richard, Bouchard (left after 1956), Moore, Olmstead (left after 1958), Geoffrion, Harvey, Tom Johnson, Plante; owner Hartland Molson, general manager Frank Selke, Toe Blake back as head coach, and centers Jean Béliveau (Number 4 retired) and Henri Richard (Maurice's brother, Number 16 retired).

* From their 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969 Stanley Cups: Molson, Blake, Béliveau (hung on until 1971), Henri Richard; general manager Sam Pollock, goaltender Lorne "Gump" Worsley, defenseman Jacques Laperriere, right wing Yvan Cournoyer (Number 12 retired), and left wing Dick Duff.

* From their 1971 and 1973 Stanley Cups: Pollock, Henri Richard, Laperriere, Cournoyer; head coach Scotty Bowman; goaltender Ken Dryden (Number 29 retired); defensemen Guy Lapointe (Number 5 retired), Serge Savard (Number 18 retired) and Larry Robinson (Number 19 retired); left wings Frank Mahovlich (the former Toronto Maple Leafs superstar) and Steve Shutt, center Jacques Lemaire, and right wing Guy Lafleur (Number 10 retired).

* From their 4 straight Stanley Cups of 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979: Pollock, Bowman, Cournoyer, Dryden, Lapointe, Savard, Robinson, Shutt, Lemaire, Lafleur; left wing Bob Gainey (Number 23 retired), and defenseman Rod Langway.

* From their 1986 Stanley Cup: Savard as general manager, Robinson, Gainey, goaltender Patrick Roy (Number 33 retired), defenseman Chris Chelios and center Guy Carbonneau.

* From their 1993 Stanley Cup: Savard, Roy, Cabronneau, and center Denis Savard (no relation to Serge, although, since Number 18 was not yet retired, he received it because of his surname).

Since their last Cup win, the Habs have had only 4 Hall-of-Famers: Center Pierre Turgeon for 1 year, 1995-96, but served as team Captain that season, as they moved from the Forum to what's now named the Bell Centre; right wing Mark Recchi, 4 years, 1995-99; center Doug Gilmour, 2 years, 2001-03; and defenseman Shea Weber, 5 years, 2016-21. The 1999-2000 season was the 1st season in Montreal Canadiens history that the team did not have at least one player on its roster who, through the 2025-26 season, has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In addition, 7 Canadiens broadcasters have received the Hockey Hall of Fame's award for lifetime achievement in broadcasting, the Foster Hewitt award:

* In English: Doug Smith, 1937-1955; Danny Gallivan, 1952-1984; and Dick Irvin Jr., 1966-1997.

* In French: René Lecavalier, 1952-1985; Richard Garneau, 1957-1989; Gilles Trembaly, 1971-1997; and Pierre Houde, 1989-present.

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November 29, 1924 was a Saturday. There was 1 other game in the NHL that night. The Hamilton Tigers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Barton Street Arena in Hamilton.

In the NFL, the Frankford Yellow Jackets beat the Buffalo Bisons, 45-7 at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia. Sunday sports were banned in Pennsylvania until 1933.

Most college football teams had already finished their seasons. But the Army-Navy game was played at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore, and Army won, 12-0. Municipal Stadium was converted into Memorial Stadium, home of the Orioles and Colts, in 1954.

Notre Dame went to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and beat Carnegie Tech, the school now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, 40-19. Baylor beat Rice, 17-9 at Rice Field in Houston. Locally, Fordham beat Georgetown, 9-6 at the Polo Grounds; and NYU, CCNY, Columbia, Rutgers and Princeton were not scheduled.

Also, Arsenal drew with Cardiff City, 1-1 at Ninian Park in Cardiff, Wales.

November 2, 1937: The Howie Morenz Memorial Game

November 2, 1937: A benefit game -- effectively, an all-star game -- is held for the family of the late Montreal Canadiens legend Howie Morenz at the Montreal Forum. Morenz had broken his leg in a game the preceding January, and then died of a heart attack in March, often blamed on the near-party atmosphere his former teammates kept bringing to his hospital room.

The Howie Morenz Memorial Game featured a combined team of the 2 Montreal clubs, the Canadiens and the Maroons. (The Great Depression finally caught up with the Maroons, and they went out of business at the conclusion of the 1937-38 season.) Canadiens Hall-of-Famers in this game included Aurel Joliat, Toe Blake, and Babe Siebert -- who would drown in a boating accident 2 years later, and whose family would be the subject of the next NHL benefit game, also at the Forum. The Maroons included Frank "King" Clancy, at the end of the line after a Hall of Fame career with the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Montreal team played an All-Star team made up of the rest of the NHL, including Hall-of-Famers: From the Leafs, Red Horner, Charlie Conacher and Harvey "Busher" Jackson; from the New York Rangers, Frank Boucher; from the New York Americans, David "Sweeney" Schriner and Leafs legend Clarence "Hap" Day; from the Boston Bruins, Clarence "Tiny" Thompson, Eddie Shore and Aubrey "Dit" Clapper; and from the Detroit Red Wings, Ebenezer "Ebbie" Goodfellow and Marty Barry. The 2 representatives from the Chicago Black Hawks, Johnny Gottselig and Harold "Mush" March, aren't in the Hall, but should be.

The Canadiens retired Morenz's Number 7, and then the Montreal All-Stars lost to the NHL All-Stars 6-5. The attendance was 8,683, a sellout, and $26,595 (Canadian) was raised for the Morenz family. That's about $531,550 in current Canadian dollars, or $408,918 in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate.

Morenz's son, Howie Morenz Jr., was 10 years old at the time, and was presented with his father's jersey. He went on to play professionally, but bad eyes kept him from reaching the NHL, and he became an executive in the food supply industry, before dying in 2015, at age 88.

Howie's daughter Marlene married a later Canadiens Hall-of-Famer, Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion. Their son Dan Geoffrion played for the Canadiens, the Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets. And Dan's son Blake Geoffrion played for the Nashville Predators before coming to the Canadiens, honoring his grandfather Boom-Boom (whose Number 5 is retired) and his great-grandfather the Stratford Streak (number 7) by wearing Number 57. Unfortunately, a head injury ended his playing career in 2013.

Bernie died in 2006. Dan is now a scout for the Leafs. And Blake is now an executive in the Columbus Blue Jackets' organization.

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November 2, 1937 was a Tuesday. There were no other scores on this historic day: The NHL took the day off, the baseball season was over, the football season was in midweek, and the NBA hadn't been founded yet.

October 30, 1995: The Close Call of the Quebec Referendum

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, leading the "Non" side

October 30, 1995: The Quebec sovereignty referendum fails by a razor-thin margin, with 2,362,648 people, or 50.58 percent, voting "Non"; and 2,308360, or 49.42 percent, voting "Oui."

The number of "spoiled ballots," unusable for whatever reason, is said to be greater than the margin of victory. Nevertheless, it is a win not for Quebec nationalism, but Canadian nationalism, and for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who, though a Francophone from Quebec, wanted the Province to stay.

Despite the anger of the separatists, angry over their perception of victimization at the hands of the federal government in Ottawa and the English-speaking establishment – an absolutely ridiculous notion, since the Provincial government has been dominated by the ethnic and linguistic French for most of the last 100 years – the Province will remain a part of Canada, but there is still bitterness on both sides.

The Parti Québécois, dedicated to the Province's independence, held the Provincial government from 1976 to 1985, and lost a referendum in 1980, 60 percent to 40. They held the government again from 1994 to 2003, launching the nearly successful 2nd referendum. After launching the referendum and failing, Jacques Parizeau resigned as Premier and as PQ Leader. He died in 2015.

The PQ held a minority government from 2012 to 2014, and knew they couldn't get a 3rd referendum to pass, so they didn't launch one.

Splits in the party, including defections to new parties on both the left and the right, have dropped the PQ, or "Péquistes," to a mere 7 seats in the 125-seat National Assembly. The current government is led by the conservative Coalition Avenir Québec, and its Leader, Premier François Legault, has said that there will never be a sovereignty referendum launched by his party.

It's just as well: Would you be the one who has to tell the Montreal Canadiens, the greatest cultural institution in Quebec, that they had to change their name?

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October 30, 1995 was a Monday. The baseball season had ended 2 days before, with the Atlanta Braves beating the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. The NBA season wouldn't start for another 4 days. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 14-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars, 6-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

October 29, 1939: The Babe Siebert Memorial Game

October 29, 1939: The Babe Siebert Memorial Game is played at the Montreal Forum. It raised $15,000 for his family -- about $320,000 in today's money.

Charles Albert Siebert grew up in Zurich, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron, about 130 miles west of Toronto and 120 miles northeast of Detroit. He played left wing and won Stanley Cups with the 1926 Montreal Maroons and the 1933 New York Rangers. With Nels Stewart and Hooley Smith on the Maroons, he formed one of the first nicknamed forward lines in hockey, the S-Line.

In 1934, while with for the Boston Bruins, he played in the 1st All-Star benefit game for an NHL player, Ace Bailey of the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose career, and very nearly his life, was ended by a vicious check by Bruin defenseman Eddie Shore. (There had been benefits for players in the pre-NHL era, including in 1908 for the family of Montreal Wanderers star William Hodgson "Hod" Stuart, who had died in a diving accident the year before, only 28.)

Indeed, Bruins general manager Art Ross traded for Siebert specifically to convert him to a defenseman and play in place of the suspended Shore. When Shore returned, they formed a formidable defensive pairing.

But the 2 stars couldn't get along, and, in 1936, the Bruins traded him to the Montreal Canadiens. He was immediately named their Captain, led them to the Canadian Division title (though they got knocked out of the Playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Semifinals), and won the 1937 Hart Trophy as NHL Most Valuable Player.

The following fall, he played in another All-Star benefit game, this time for Canadiens superstar Howie Morenz, who had died in March from complications from leg surgery. The Habs had slumped since his injury, and this, plus the thought that he would never play again, and all the well-wishers coming in and bringing him booze, brought on a heart attack. With today's medicine, Morenz would have had his leg in an immobilizer, been out of the hospital the next day, and would have been back on the ice at the start of the next season, presuming he didn't want to retire. He was only 34, so he should have had several years left if he so chose.

Siebert's wife Bernice was left a paraplegic following complications during the birth of their 2nd child. Babe spent most of his income on her medical bills and various means of making life more convenient for her. Fans at the Forum routinely saw him carry his wife to her seat before every home game, and then carry her out after. This made him immensely popular with fans, especially women.

In 1939, 35 years old and plagued with injuries, he retired. This made him, probably, the last NHL player other than a goaltender to wear Number 1. He was immediately offered the Canadiens' head coaching position.

He never got the chance to coach a game. On August 25, 1939, while vacationing with his family and swimming with his daughters Judy and Joan, then just 11 and 10 years old, at a family cottage on the shore of Lake Huron, he drowned attempting to retrieve an inflatable tire they were playing with.

The league organized an all-star benefit game to aid Siebert's widow and daughters. It was the 3rd such benefit game in NHL history, and, as I said, Siebert had played in the 1st 2. The Canadiens faced an all-star team composed of the best players from the remaining teams. The All-Stars won, 5-2. Though only about 6,000 fans showed up, the organizers met their target of $15,000.

Albert "Babe" Siebert should not be confused with Earl Seibert (note the different spelling), a defenseman who also played in the 1930s, and most of the 1940s. He was a teammate of Babe Siebert on the Cup-winning 1933 Rangers, and also won the Cup with the 1938 Chicago Black Hawks.

Sadly, he was the player who got tangled up along the boards with Morenz, and, until his own death in 1990, blamed himself -- unfairly, since it wasn't the broken leg that killed Morenz. Seibert is also in the Hockey Hall of Fame, as is his father, Oliver Seibert (the 1st father & son in the Hall), and in 1998, as part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations, The Hockey News ranked him Number 72 on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. (Babe Siebert didn't make the list.)

Babe Siebert was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario, outside Hamilton. Kitchener is the hometown of New Jersey Devils Hall-of-Famer Scott Stevens.

*

October 29, 1939 was a Sunday. The NHL's regular season began 4 days later. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Baseball season ended 21 days earlier, with the New York Yankees' sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 7-6 at Ebbets Field. The football version of the Dodgers went out of business after the 1949 season. The most notable thing about them is that they were owned by Yankees co-owner Dan Topping, and, in 1951, Topping brought the football Dodgers' public address announcer to Yankee Stadium. His name was Bob Sheppard, and he would be the Yankees' P.A. announcer until 2007, also doing the football Giants' games from 1956 to 1996.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Rams played to a tie, 14-14 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland would eventually become a great NFL rivalry, but not under those names, and not with both of those teams. The Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers in 1940. The Rams moved to Los Angeles for the 1946 season, and the Browns became Cleveland's new NFL team in 1950, after dominating the All-America Football Conference for 4 years.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, 10-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 24-14 at the Dairy Bowl in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, Wisconsin. The Dairy Bowl was a football stadium built in the infield of a speedway, now known as the Milwaukee Mile, at the Wisconsin State Fair Park.

* And the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals each had a bye week.

October 16, 1970: The War Measures Act Wins Canada's October Crisis

"Just watch me!"

October 16, 1970: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, in an effort to fight what became known as the October Crisis. It is a story that most Americans don't know about. It could have become much bigger.

The War Measures Act became law on August 22, 1914, in the 1st month of World War I, which provides for the types of emergency measures that the Canadian federal government could take in the event of a Declaration of War, an invasion of the country, or an insurrection within the country.

It should be noted that this was less than 30 years after Louis Riel led people of the First Nations (what Canada calls its indigenous peoples, instead of "Indians" or "Native Canadians") in the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which certainly counted as an insurrection, and would have fallen under the grounds of the War Measures Act had it been in place at the time. It was still fresh in Canadians' minds.

As with some American measures during World War I, the Act was questioned for some suspensions of civil liberties. During World War II, the Act was used to do what the American government also regrettably did: Start internment camps for Canada residents of Japanese descent, even if they were native-born citizens. After that war, it was widely believed that the Act would not have to be used again, barring a World War III.

The Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) were leftist Quebec separatists, hoping to use violence to establish a socialist, Francophone-only Republic of Quebec. In 1963, they committed several terrorist attacks in and around Montreal, leading Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to ask, "Is this Ireland?" Arrests were made, but there would be more attacks through the 1960s, though with few deaths.

On October 5, 1970, an FLQ cell kidnapped James Cross, the British trade commissioner in Montreal. The federal government in Ottawa chose not to give in to their demands. On October 10, another cell kidnapped Pierre Laporte, Vice Premier and Minister of Employment and Labour for the Province of Quebec. They allow Laporte to write a letter to the Premier of Quebec (equivalent to an American State's Governor), Robert Bourassa, telling him he was being treated well, and asking him to negotiate for his release.

On October 13, Prime Minister Trudeau, who as Justice Minister under his predecessor, Lester Pearson, had been a champion of civil liberties, was walking into a meeting when he was stopped by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Tim Ralfe. This exchange followed:

Ralfe: What you're talking about to me is choices, and my choice is to live in a society that is free and democratic, which means that you don't have people with guns running around in it.

Trudeau: Correct.

Ralfe: And one of the things I have to give up for that choice is the fact that people like you may be kidnapped.

Trudeau: Sure, but this isn't my choice, obviously. You know, I think it is more important to get rid of those who are committing violence against the total society and those who are trying to run the government through a parallel power by establishing their authority by kidnapping and blackmail.

And I think it is our duty as a government to protect government officials and important people in our society against being used as tools in this blackmail. Now, you don't agree to this, but I am sure that, once again with hindsight, you would probably have found it preferable if Mr. Cross and Mr. Laporte had been protected from kidnapping, which they weren't, because these steps we're taking now weren't taken. But even with your hindsight, I don't see how you can deny that.

Ralfe: No, I still go back to the choice that you have to make in the kind of society that you live in.

Trudeau: Yeah, well there's a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of a soldier's helmet.

Ralfe: At any cost? How far would you go with that? How far would you extend that?

Trudeau: Well, just watch me.

Ralfe: At reducing civil liberties? To that extent?

Trudeau: To what extent?

Ralfe: Well, if you extend this and you say, ok, you're going to do anything to protect them, does this include wire-tapping, reducing other civil liberties in some way?

Trudeau: Yes. I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people I think that power must be stopped and I think it's only, I repeat, weak-kneed bleeding hearts who are afraid to take these measures.

And so, the people of Canada took Trudeau at his word, and just watched him. On October 14, he convened a meeting of his Cabinet, to discuss measures to end the crisis. The Provincial government had received a public statement, signed by 16 prominent Quebec residents, asking them to negotiate the liberation of the hostages, no matter the cost, and no matter what the federal government thought.

On October 15, Bourassa requested that Trudeau send Canadian Armed Forces troops to protect politicians and public buildings, which Trudeau would have had the right to do under the National Defence Act, passed in 1922. Trudeau assented, and by nightfall, they were on the streets of Montreal.

On October 16, at 4:00 AM, North American Eastern Time, the Cabinet proclaimed the existence of an "apprehended insurrection," and issued a decree granting exceptional powers powers to the police and the Canadian Armed Forces under the War Measures Act. 

On October 17, the police found Laporte, in the drunk of a car near the Saint-Hubert airport, south of Montreal. He had been strangled to death. Under a man with less compunction than Trudeau, this could have led to Canada becoming a genuine police state, if only temporarily. Under a man with less wisdom than Trudeau, the terrorists could have escaped with the still-prisoner Cross, over the U.S.-Canadian border, just 40 miles away.

But the presence of the police and the army were enough to stop any more terrorist attacks and kidnappings. On November 6, police raided a cell's hiding place. Bernard Lortie was arrested, and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Laporte.

On December 3, realizing that the game was up, the FLQ released Cross, unharmed. His kidnappers -- Marc Carbonneau, Yves Langlois, Jacques Lanctôt, his sister Louise Lanctôt, her husband Jacques Cossette-Trudel -- were granted safe passage to Cuba by the federal government, approved by Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro.

On December 23, Trudeau announced that all troops stationed in Quebec would be withdrawn on January 5, 1971. On December 28, arrests were made in Saint-Luc, Quebec: Paul Rose, Jacques Rose and Francis Simard.

Ultimately, 497 people were arrested, but 465 were released without being charged with anything. Lortie was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and served 7; Paul Rose and Simard served 10, Jacques Rose 5. Jacques and Louise Lanctôt, and Jacques Cossette-Trudel returned to Canada in 1979, and each served 2 years in prison. Carbonneau returned to Canada in 1981, Langlois in 1982. Neither was imprisoned.

The FLQ did not give up, and, when things settled down, committed more terrorist acts throughout 1971. But the tide of public opinion had turned against them. A few more acts were committed in 1972 and '73, but that would be it.

Three biographies of Trudeau have used the title Just Watch Me: Larry Zolf's, published in 1984 after Trudeau left office; Ron Coleman's 2003 book, subtitled Trudeau's Tragic Legacy; and Volume 2 of John English's 2009 book, the 1st volume going up to 1967, titled Citizen of the World. Director Catherine Annau made a documentary in 1999, titled Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation.

In 1988, the Emergencies Act was passed, repealing the War Measures Act and providing for actions more in line with Canada's wider embrace of civil liberties than America's.

Pierre Trudeau died in 2000. So did Tim Ralfe. Paul Rose died in 2013, Fancis Simard in 2015, James Cross in 2021. As of October 16, 2022, Marc Carbonneau, Yves Langlois, Jacques Lanctôt, Louise Lanctôt, Jacques Cossette-Trudel, Bernard Lortie and Jacques Rose are still alive.

In 2015, Trudeau's son, Justin Trudeau, was elected Prime Minister. As of October 16, 2022, he still holds the post.

*

October 16, 1970 was a Friday. Mehmet Scholl, the German midfielder of Turkish descent who starred for Bayern Munich in the 1990s and 2000s, was born on this day. This was also the day of the concert in Vancouver that launched the environmental organization Greenpeace. I have a separate entry for this event.

The baseball season had ended the day before, when the Baltimore Orioles won Game 5 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

For the most part, football was in midweek. But there was 1 college game that night: The University of Tampa beat the University of Miami, 31-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. At the time, UT was ranked Number 5 among "small colleges," and went 10-1, losing only to the only other major college team they played, and that wasn't exactly a college football power: Vanderbilt. In contrast, Miami, not yet the power it would become in the 1980s, went just 3-8, though they did beat one of their main rivals, Florida. Unwilling to make a commitment to big-time football, UT dropped football after the 1974 season.

There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 127-119 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Elvin Hayes scored 34 for the Rockets, but the Sixers had 6 players score at least 14 points. The Rockets moved to Houston the next year.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 106-102 at the Chicago Stadium. Jerry West scored 29 points, while Wilt Chamberlain had 26 points and 31 rebounds.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the San Francisco Warriors, 120-106 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. Jerry Lucas scored 31 points and had 16 rebounds for the Warriors, to no avail.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers, in the 1st game in franchise history, beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, another expansion team, playing its 2nd game, 115-112 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. Jim Barnett led all scorers with 31 points. A 3rd expansion team, the Buffalo Braves, had debuted 2 days earlier. They are now the Los Angeles Clippers.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The New York Nets beat the Miami Floridians, 105-92 at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, Long Island. And the Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 115-103 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum). Anticipating their acceptance into the NBA, where Houston already had the Rockets, in 1974, the Denver Rockets became the Denver Nuggets.

And there was 1 game in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the California Golden Seals, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Bobby Orr scored 2 goals, while Phil Esposito had a goal and 2 assists.

October 11, 1952: The 1st NHL Game On Television

October 11, 1952: For the 1st time, a National Hockey League game is shown on television.

It is broadcast in French on CBFT, Channel 2 in Montreal. The producer and announcer is René Lecavalier, who would continue broadcasting for the Canadiens until 1985.

The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. Elmer Lach scores for Les Habitantes at 4:39 of the 2nd period. Alex Delvecchio ties it 5 minutes later. With 3:53 left in regulation, Billy Reay scores on a power play to win it for the home team. 

The Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup that season. Reay later coached the Chicago Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1971 and 1973, losing both times -- to the Canadiens.

On November 1, 1952, Hockey Night In Canada would debut nationally on CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Foster Hewitt, who had made the 1st hockey broadcast on radio in 1923, making the transition to TV. He was already known for introducing the phrase, "He shoots, he scores!" Lecavalier, on the French version of HNIC, La Soirée du hockey, would introduce the French version of Hewitt's phrase: "Il lance, et compte!"

*

As all HNIC nights are, October 11, 1952 was a Saturday. There was 1 other NHL game played that day: The Black Hawks beat the Maple Leafs, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The baseball season had ended 4 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2 at Ebbets Field, in Game 7 of the World Series. The NFL played its games the next day. And the NBA season was about to start. But there were college football games played:

* Number 1-ranked Wisconsin lost to Ohio State, 23-14 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 2 Michigan State capitalized by beating Texas A&M, 48-6 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.

* The University of Pittsburgh beat Number 8 Notre Dame, 22-19 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Alabama beat Virginia Tech, 33-0 at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa -- later renamed Bryant-Denny Stadium.

* Penn State beat West Virginia, 35-21 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* Army beat Dartmouth, 37-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

Among New York City teams:

* NYU lost to Holy Cross, 35-0 at Triborough Stadium in Manhattan -- later renamed Downing Stadium.

* Columbia lost to Yale, 35-28 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

* Fordham did not play that week.

Among New Jersey teams:

* Rutgers lost to Colgate, 13-7 at Colgate Athletic Field in Hamilton, New York -- later renamed Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.

* Princeton lost to Penn, 13-7 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

Also, Arsenal drew with Sheffield Wednesday, 2-2 at Highbury in North London. 

September 29, 2004: The End of the Montreal Expos

September 29, 2004: Although the announcement that the Montreal Expos were moving to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals next season was not a surprise, the timing of it was: On the morning of the Expos' last home game ever, turning the season finale into a French-Canadian wake.

The Expos went down quietly, losing 9-1 to, of all teams, the Florida Marlins, the team that Expos owner Jeffrey Loria was allowed to buy, and giving the Expos back to Major League Baseball, having stripped the franchise of pretty much its entire front office, and even its broadcast team, including Hall-of-Famer Dave Van Horne.

To make matters worse still, the winning pitcher for the Marlins was an Ex-Expo, Carl Pavano. The last Expos play was Terrmel Sledge, batting against Rudy Seanez, popping up to 3rd baseman Mike Mordecai. A crowd of 31,395 came to say Au revoir.

Just as the Expos' 1st game, on April 8, 1969, was away to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, an 11-10 win, so, too, were their last 3 games at Shea, winning the 1st 2, but losing the last, 8-1 on October 3, 2004. The last active former Expos was Bartolo Colón, who pitched in the major leagues until 2018.

The Expos began play at Jarry Park, meant to be a temporary stadium only, in 1969. In 1973, despite a 79-83 record, they were only 3 1/2 games out of 1st place in the National League Eastern Division. They moved to the Olympic Stadium in 1977. They had a close call in 1981, losing the clinching Game 5 of the National League Championship Series by 1 run, and staying in the NL East race until the final weekend in 1979, 1980, 1987 and 1993.

They had the best record in MLB when the Strike of '94 hit. But the inadequacy of the Stadium, the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate, and Canada's taxes led (I won't say, "forced") ownership to trade away good players.

As of the 2022 election, there are 9 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame who played, however long, with the Expos. Lee Smith lasted only 1 season; Tony Pérez, 3. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero were traded in their primes; Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez, just as they were getting into theirs. Only Tim Raines could be called anything like an "Expos Hall-of-Famer," and even he was just 31 when he was let go.

Even in 2002 and 2003, despite the administrative nightmare, they were 83-79. But they couldn't hang on. They were basically a lame-duck team for 5 seasons, 2000 to 2004, awaiting the inevitable. And, while the team, as the Nationals, endured 7 bad seasons, they then had 8 good ones, including 5 trips to the Playoffs, ending that run by winning the 2019 World Series.

The Olympic Stadium has since held preseason games, involving Canada's remaining MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics have struggled in their bids to keep their fans and build new ballparks to replace inadequate stadiums. Still, it is unlikely that a new team -- expansion or moved -- will be placed in Montreal until the City, or the Province of Quebec, is will to spend the money to build a new ballpark there. And that's not going to happen anytime soon.

The Expos had a team Hall of Fame. The inductees were:

From their founding era, 1969 to 1980, but not the 1981 Division title: Manager Gene Mauch, 2nd baseman Ron Hunt, right fielder Daniel "Rusty" Staub, pitchers Claude Raymond (a Quebec native) and Bill Stoneman.

From the 1981 National League Eastern Division title: Founding owner Charles Bronfman, catcher Gary Carter, 1st baseman Warren Cromartie, shortstop Chris Speier, 3rd baseman Larry Parrish, left fielder Tim Raines, center fielder Andre Dawson, right fielder Tim Wallach (later mainly a 3rd baseman); pitchers Steve Rogers, Woodie Fryman, Bill Gullickson, Jeff Reardon; manager Jim Fanning, general manager John McHale; and broadcasters Dave Van Horne, Jean-Pierre Roy and Jacques Doucet.

From after that title: 1980s pitcher Tim Burke. They did not honor any players from their 1994 NL Eastern Division Champions, or from after that.

Bronfman, Raymond, Staub, Carter, Dawson, Raines, Rogers, Wallach, Fanning, McHale, Van Horne, Roy, Doucet have also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So have pitchers Dennis Martínez, Rhéal Cormier and Pedro Martínez; and outfielders Larry Walker, Matt Stairs and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Cormier, Walker and Stairs were Canadians.

*

September 29, 2004 was a Wednesday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 and 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks needed a 4-run 7th inning, including a home run by Hideki Matsui, to win the opener, and Paul Quantrill was the winning pitcher, in relief of Mike Mussina. He was followed in the 8th inning by Tom Gordon, and the 9th by Mariano Rivera. Quantrill, Gordon and "Mo" Rivera: This combination became known as "QuanGorMo." Johan Santana started for the Twins, but J.C. Romero was the losing pitcher.

Matsui homered again in the 2nd game, and Alex Rodriguez also homered. Jon Lieber was the winning pitcher. Over the 2 games, Derek Jeter went 4-for-9 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4 and 8-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 and 4-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. In the 2nd game, Rick Bauer -- not to be confused with Rich Dauer, an Oriole 2nd baseman of a previous generation -- pitched 6 innings of 3-hit shutout ball. It took 3 relievers to finish a 4-hit shutout.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The winning pitcher was Doug Waechter, and the losing pitcher was Pedro Martínez. David Ortiz went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Austin Kearns hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 12th inning. Ken Griffey Jr. did not play.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 8-7 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Angels scored a run in the top of the 9th, then scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th, while the Rangers scored only 1 in the bottom half.

* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Minute Mark Park in Houston. Albert Pujols did not play.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Petco Park in San Diego. Mark Loretta drove Kerry Robinson home with a sacrifice fly to win it in the bottom of the 10th. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Colorado Rockies the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).

August 17, 1943: The Quebec Conference

Left to right: WLMK, FDR, WLSC

August 17, 1943: While the provisional, post-Mussolini government of "a disintegrating Italy" declares Rome to be an "open city," the Château Frontenac hotel, atop the famed Citadelle, hosts the Québec Conference.

Hosting are Canada's Governor-General, Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, brother of Britain's Dowager Queen Mary and a great-grandson of King George III; and its Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, and Foreign Minister, Robert Anthony Eden (himself a future Prime Minister), are guests, as is America's President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull.

They meet through August 24, discussing strategy in both the European Theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II. This included both which Japanese-held Pacific installations to attack and how to invade the European Continent to take on the Nazis. FDR and Churchill met one-on-one, as did Hull and Eden, and everybody involved met collectively.

The Citadelle was built in 1690, and was almost immediately the site of the Battle of Quebec in what is usually called King William's War. It was a French victory over the British, and led to the war ending in a stalemate. The British came back in 1759 and, in that Battle of Quebec, took New France and won what North America calls the French and Indian war, and their part in what Europe calls the Seven Years' War. The War of 1812, between the U.S. and Britain, led to a new fort, which was completed in 1850.

The Château Frontenac opened in 1893, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Since 2001, it has been run by Fairmont Hotels, and has officially been named The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. It is said to be the most-photographed hotel in the world, as is generally considered to be Quebec City's most familiar structure.

A second Quebec Conference would be held there from September 12 to 16, 1944.

*

August 17, 1943 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Not yet in the war, left fielder Charlie Keller and 3rd baseman Billy Johnson each had 2 hits. Butch Wensloff was the winning pitcher.

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 10-4 at the Polo Grounds. Giants player-manager Mel Ott went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Ebbets Field.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves, 8-0 and 4-3. In the opener, Hank Gornicki pitched a 6-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Pete Coscarart singled Johnny Podgajny home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.

August 17, 1936: Quebec's "Great Darkness" Begins

August 17, 1936: The Province of Quebec holds a general election. It is won by a conservative party, the Union Nationale. Thus begins a period known, in hindsight, as Le Grande Noirceur: The Great Darkness.

Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis was born on April 20, 1890 -- 1 year to the day after Adolf Hitler -- in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. His father, Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis, served in Quebec's Provincial legislature, the National Assembly. Maurice had 3 sisters who married NA members. He graduated from a school that has since been absorbed by the Université de Montréal, and excelled at languages: His native French, English, and even Latin and Greek.

He began practicing law in his father's firm, until his father was appointed to a judgeship. The son developed a large civil law client base, first ran for the NA in 1923, and won for the 1st time in 1926, shortly after his father's death.

In 1936, he formed the Union Nationale, and led that party to victory in Quebec's Provincial election, making him the Premier of the Province -- the equivalent of the Governor of an American State. He tried to exploit anti-English feeling by making Canada's entry into World War II an issue, and called a snap election in 1939, but lost. He got back in for the 1944 election, and was the closest thing to a true tyrant North America had in the 20th Century.

His policies were intensely conservative, as he was closely linked to the Catholic Church, which in Quebec was conservative enough to make Pat Buchanan look like a Kennedy. He was every bit as anti-Communist as his "Catholic" contemporaries Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco and Joe McCarthy. He even developed a slogan, based on the colors of his party and the rival Liberals: "Le ciel est bleu; l'enfer est rouge." Heaven is blue; Hell is red.

And he let the Anglophone-Montrealer-dominated banks do as they pleased, because they returned the favor: They left him alone. Yet he occasionally governed like an American Democratic-machine-style politician: Towns that voted UN got benefits like new roads, bridges, post offices, power plants and radio stations; towns that voted Liberal got nil.

Conservative and Catholic? He was a lifelong bachelor, who had no qualms about publicly squiring beautiful, even nationally famous, women to events in Montreal and the provincial capital of Quebec City. Was it a front? Did he never marry because he was secretly gay? No historian has seriously suggested this. More likely, his womanizing, which is probably why he decided in college not to become a priest, meant he had commitment issues.

Canadian federal governments, Conservative and Liberal alike, kept his policies penned in, limiting it to the Francophone Province. But the only thing that truly stopped him was a series of strokes, which ended up killing him on September 7, 1959. His 18 years, though not all consecutive, are still the longest Premiership tenure in Quebec history.

But his death began the decline of the Union Nationale, which only elected 1 other Premier, Daniel Johnson Sr. in 1966, before losing power in 1970, and folding in 1989. It also led to the "Quiet Revolution," Quebec's entry into the modern world in the 1960s. Since then, no Premier or would-be Premier of Quebec -- be he Liberal, Conservative or separatist Parti Quebecois -- has dared cite Duplessis as a role model.

*

August 17, 1936 was a Monday. Only 2 baseball games were played. The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 7-5 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Earl Whitehill was the winning pitcher, as the Senators scored 5 runs to knock Lefty Gomez out of the box after 1 inning. Lou Gehrig went 1-for-4, while rookie Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

And the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Lyons outpitched Johnny Allen.