May 7, 1969: The Oakland Oaks Win the ABA Championship

May 7, 1969: The Oakland Oaks, named for the city's former baseball team in the Pacific Coast League, win the Championship of the American Basketball Association. They beat the Indiana Pacers, 135-131, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, and win the Finals, 4 games to 1.

The Oaks were owned by S. Kenneth Davidson; Dennis A. Murphy, who would later co-found the World Hockey Association with Davidson's brother, Gary Davidson; and singer Pat Boone. Boone was basically just there to have his name on the letterhead: Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he had no involvement with the team, and rarely even went to Oakland to attend games.

They were coached by Alex Hannum, who had won NBA Championships as head coach of the St. Louis (now Atlanta) Hawks in 1958 and the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967. He and Bill Sharman would be the only coaches to win titles in both leagues.

The Oaks' players included Rick Barry, Warren Armstrong (he would later rename himself Warren Jabali), and future coaching legends Larry Brown and Doug Moe. Hannum, Barry and Brown are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

But the owners mismanaged them like crazy, they never proved as popular as the NBA’s San Francisco (soon to be renamed “Golden State”) Warriors, and moved: They became the Washington Caps in 1970, and the Virginia Squires in 1971.

The Pacers would be back, and would win the ABA Championship in 1970, ’72 and ’73. They, the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs would be admitted to the NBA in 1976. The Squires, the former Oaks, were not admitted, and folded.

But it is noteworthy that, from the Giants' Pennant of October 3, 1962 to the 49ers' NFC Championship of January 10, 1982, the City of San Francisco had no league champions in any sport, while the City of Oakland had 8: The 1967 AFL Champion Raiders; the 1969 ABA Champion Oaks; the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series Champion Athletics; the 1975 NBA Champion Warriors; and the 1976 and 1980 NFL Champion Raiders.

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May 7, 1969 was a Sunday. Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry was born.

The NBA season had ended 2 days earlier, with the Boston Celtics winning Game 7 of the Finals over the Los Angeles Lakers. The NHL season had ended the day before that, with the Montreal Canadiens completing a 4-game Stanley Cup Finals sweep of the St. Louis Blues. Football was out of season.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 4-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Tom Murphy outpitched Stan Bahnsen. Jay Johnstone went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs, well before becoming a Yankee. Bobby Murcer hit a home run.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Shea Stadium. Jim Merritt allowed 3 hits over 7 1/3rd shutout innings, and Clay Carroll completed the 3-hit shutout, outpitching Gary Gentry. Pete Rose went 0-for-2 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Jimmy Wynn went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Gary Peters outpitched Mike Cuellar. Carlos May went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. Frank Robinson went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI. This game was an anomaly: The O's went 109-53, and the Pale Hose went 68-94.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 2-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Bob Veale allowed 8 hits and 2 walks, but still took a shutout into the 9th inning, having struck out 13. Chuck Hartenstein got the last 2 outs. Roberto Clemente did not play. Willie Stargell went 3-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Jim Kaat, a man with almost no windup, beat Luis Tiant, who had perhaps the most exaggerated windup in baseball history. Harmon Killebrew hit 2 home runs. Rod Carew went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mickey Lolich outpitched Jim Rooker. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Dodgers scored 3 runs in the top of the 12th inning, including 2 on a home run by Willie Davis. The Cubs only scored 1 in the bottom of the 12th. Jim Brewer was the winning pitcher, in relief of Claude Osteen. Fergie Jenkins went all 12 innings for the loss. Ernie Banks went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Gaylord Perry outpitched Nelson Briles. Willie Mays entered the game late as a defensive replacement, and didn't get to bat. Willie McCovey didn't play at all. Lou Brock went 1-for-4 with a stolen base.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Sal Bando hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Pilots, 5-4 at Sick's Stadium in Seattle. Sonny Siebert outpitched Gary Bell. Rico Petrocelli hit a home run. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Tony Conigliaro continued his comeback, going 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. I guess Bell didn't smoke them inside.

January 27, 1967: The Apollo 1 Fire

Left to right: Ed White, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee

January 27, 1967: America experiences its 1st space program tragedy.

Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, one of the original "Mercury 7"; Edward H. White II, the 1st American to make a spacewalk; and Roger B. Chaffee, a Navy pilot and engineer who was preparing for his 1st spaceflight, were undergoing a rehearsal for the launch of Apollo 1, meant to launch on February 21. An electrical fire spread through the capsule, killing them.

Grissom was 40 years old, White 36, Chaffee 31.

The tragedy set the U.S. space program back. The 1st manned Apollo flight, Apollo 7, wouldn't get off the ground until October 11, 1968 -- almost 2 years later, and putting President John F. Kennedy's end-of-decade (December 31, 1969) goal in serious jeopardy.

Apollo 8 broke Earth orbit, and orbited the Moon on December 21, 1968. Apollo 9 demonstrated the use of the lunar module on March 7, 1969. Apollo 10 was the "dress rehearsal," as the lunar module got to within 50,000 feet of the Moon's surface on May 22, 1969.

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong took his walk, and then Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin took his.

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January 27, 1967 was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. And no NHL games were scheduled. But there were 3 games played in the NBA that night:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 112-106 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 110-107 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. This game featured possibly the two greatest players in the sport's history. For the Royals, Oscar Robertson had 39 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. But, for the Sixers, Wilt Chamberlain had 17 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Hal Greer scored 25 for the Sixers.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Baltimore Bullets, 143-116 at the Cow Palace in the San Francisco suburb of Daly City, California. Rick Barry scored 39 for the Warriors.

January 23, 1975: “Barney Miller” Premieres

The opening cast. Top row, left to right:

Ron Glass, Jack Soo, Gregory Sierra.

Bottom row, left to right: Max Gail, Hal Linden, Abe Vigoda.

January 23, 1975: Barney Miller premieres on ABC, created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. The show's minimalist set, rarely leaving the squad room, made it look like a stage play, and it was probably the funniest police show in TV history.

Moreover, with its tedium, bureaucracy, and comparative lack of actual violence, many real policemen said it was the most realistic cop show ever. And it had one of the best theme songs of all time, composed by Jack Elliott (a veteran TV arranger, and not to be confused with folksinger Ramblin' Jack Elliott) and Allyn Ferguson, featuring an opening bass guitar line by Chuck Berghofer, before moving into electric guitar and then closing with horns taking the lead.

Barney Miller (played by Hal Linden) commands the Detectives in the New York Police Department's 12th Precinct, which has never actually existed in New York. He is respected, but informal, to the point where his subordinates call him "Barney" or "Barn."

As with such later sitcoms Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond, however, the title character is the least interesting member of the main cast. This is reflected in the fact that, after 2 seasons, his wife, Liz (Barbara Barrie) was phased out. The Millers had a son and a daughter.

There were 5 Detectives under Barney at the start. Philip K. Fish was nearing retirement, and looked like a very old man (even though Abe Vigoda, then best known for playing Sal Tessio in The Godfather, was only 54 years old). Nick Yemana (Jack Soo) was a weird guy, who made the Precinct's horrible coffee, and was a compulsive gambler. But he was a good cop, and, as a Japanese-American, proud of his service in the U.S. Army.

Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Max Gail) was proud of his service in the U.S. Marine Corps, and of his Polish heritage, and was an enthusiastic cop. He was not, however, very bright: Half the time, he didn't understand what Barney was telling him, and it took him 4 tries to pass the Sergeant's exam.

Ron Harris (Ron Glass) was very bright, and proud of being black. But he was a bit snippy, and, when he wasn't writing the novel that would become Blood On the Badge, often acted like he would rather be in the Fashion Police. And, so that they would fill out the Bingo card -- Fish was Jewish -- there was a Hispanic detective, Miguel "Chano" Amanguale (Gregory Sierra).

Sierra left after 2 seasons, and was replaced by Detective Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg), a hyper-intellectual. Also brought in was the diminutive Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who desperately wanted to go from uniform to plainclothes, sucked up to Barney every chance he could, and resented anybody who seemed to be getting ahead more than he was.

Vigoda left in Season 4 as Fish retired, and the "old man" role was taken by Deputy Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory), technically the commanding officer for the entire precinct. Luger was behind the times, not knowing how to handle young, especially nonwhite detectives, and frequently sat on the couch in Barney's office, lamenting the passing of the old days and the old ways of policing -- showing that "the good old days" weren't so good.

Soo's death in 1979 led to a Season 5 finale that was a clip-show tribute. It also led to more use of the Luger and Levitt characters, because the various short-term detectives that were brought in to replace Nick (to Levitt's dismay) never caught on with viewers. The show lost some steam, and it was decided to wrap it up after 8 seasons, despite the ratings still being good.

The surviving cast's coffee-cup salute to Soo. Left to right:

Max Gail, Steve Landesberg, Hal Linden, Ron Carey, Ron Glass, James Gregory.

The premise of the 3-part finale was that the NYPD was closing the Precinct and selling the famously crumbling building. The crew was broken up, sent to other precincts, and Barney was promoted to Deputy Inspector, having been denied that twice before. Levitt didn't get his Detective's shield, but he did get his Sergeant's stripes.

Linda Lavin briefty guest-starred as a detective, and that helped her get her own sitcom on CBS, Alice. Vigoda starred in the spinoff Fish, but it didn't last long. A "backdoor pilot" for a sitcom about Wojo didn't go over well.

In 2009, ABC premiered Castle, set in a revived 12th Precinct, albeit in a modern building. In what may have been an inside joke, the cops there started out with lousy coffee, until Castle got them an espresso machine, and starting bringing Beckett coffee every morning.

As I said, Jack Soo died in 1979. Danny Arnold in 1995, Jack Elliott in 2001, James Gregory in 2002, Ron Carey in 2007, Steve Landesberg and Allyn Ferguson in 2010, Theodore J. Flicker in 2014, Abe Vigoda and Ron Glass in 2016, and Gregory Sierra in 2021. As of January 23, 2022, Hal Linden, Barbara Barrie, Max Gail, Linda Lavin and Chuck Berghofer are still alive. (UPDATE: Lavin died in 2024.)

Linden, Vigoda, Gail, Glass, Sierra and Barbara Barrie (who played Barney's wife in the 1st season only) are still alive; Soo, Landesberg, Ron Carey and James Gregory have died.

*

January 23, 1975 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks bet the Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-89 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 96-95 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* And the Golden State Warriors, who used to play in Philadelphia, beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-100. Rick Barry scored 55 points for the Warriors.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Kentucky Colonels beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 113-109 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. And the Denver Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-117 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Atlanta Flames, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden. This was a stunning road win by a bad expansion team away to a returning Stanley Cup Finalist.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-0 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Juha Widing had a hat trick.

And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-2 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Vancouver Blazers, 6-1 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).