November 29, 1971: The Trade That Made the Big Red Machine

November 29, 1971: The Cincinnati Reds trade 1st baseman Lee May, 2nd baseman Tommy Helms and utility player Jimmy Stewart to the Houston Astros for 2nd baseman Joe Morgan, center fielder César Gerónimo, outfielder Ed Armbrister, utility player Denis Menke and pitcher Jack Billingham.

May was a power-hitting All-Star, and gave the Astros 3 strong seasons before they foolishly traded him to the Baltimore Orioles. Helms, a former National League Rookie of the Year, a 2-time All-Star and a 2-time Gold Glove, gave the Astros 3 decent seasons, but stopped hitting in his 4th. Stewart stopped hitting, and only played 2 more seasons in the major leagues. Still, getting May in the trade meant that the Astros were not exactly robbed.

If Morgan had gotten hurt and done nothing for the Reds, this would still have been a good trade for them. Menke didn't do much for them, but Billingham was a good starting pitcher, Gerónimo won 4 straight Gold Gloves as their center fielder and even batted .307 in 1976, and Armbrister was a key reserve, famously involved in the play that won Game 3 of the 1975 World Series.

But Morgan became perhaps the best all-around player in baseball, the sparkplug of what had already been known since the 1970 season as "The Big Red Machine." In 1972, he led the NL in walks, on-base percentage and runs scored, and helped the Reds win the Pennant. In 1975 and 1976, he helped them win the World Series, and was named the NL Most Valuable Player both times. In the top of the 9th inning of Game 7, his RBI single was the Series' winning run. He stole 689 bases in his career, 406 of them in his 8 seasons with Cincinnati. He also surpassed Helms by winning 5 straight Gold Gloves.

Unfortunately for Reds fans, their team had a cheap organization, and when his contract ran out after the 1979 season, they didn't try to re-sign him. He went back to the Astros, and helped them win the 1980 NL Western Division title. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility.

On this same day, another big trade was made: The San Francisco Giants, coming of a season in which they beat the Reds out for the NL West title, traded their best pitcher, Gaylord Perry, to the Cleveland Indians for their best pitcher, Sam McDowell.

Sam McDowell

It would be a huge mistake: "Sudden Sam" had succeeded Sandy Koufax as baseball's top strikeout artist, but his drinking was out of control, and he was out of the major leagues 3 1/2 years later, only 32 years old. He beat his problem to become one of baseball's foremost substance-abuse counselors.

Gaylord Perry

Perry won the American League's Cy Young Award in 1972, but the Indians made the trade less consequential than it could have been by letting him go too soon, probably for the same reason they traded McDowell: Salary concerns, as the Indians were always short on cash. In 1978, with the San Diego Padres, Perry won the NL's Cy Young Award, becoming the 1st man to win it in both Leagues. McDowell had been considered a possibility to join the 300 Wins and 3,000 Strikeouts Clubs, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Perry actually did join them.

Two dumb trades in one day. Do I hear three? The Chicago Cubs traded pitcher Ken Holtzman to the Oakland Athletics for center fielder Rick Monday. Holtzman helped the A’s win 3 straight World Series, and Monday did little for the Cubs, until they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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November 29, 1971 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. No NBA, ABA or NHL games were scheduled. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Chicago Bears, 34-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

October 19, 1981: A Dodger Blue Monday

October 19, 1981: Game 5 of the National League Championship Series is played at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Rick Monday hits a solo home run with 2 out in the top of the 9th against Montreal's Steve Rogers, to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Expos, and a trip to the World Series.

The loss becomes known as Blue Monday, due to having been played in bitterly cold conditions in Montreal (the roof hadn't been finished yet), the Dodgers' uniforms being blue, and the day being a very sad (a.k.a. "blue") one for baseball fans in Quebec.

The Expos were within 1 run of reaching the World Series. They would never find that run. In fact, they would never play another postseason game before being moved out of town after the 2004 season. The story of that team is one of dashed hopes and awful losses, including, ultimately, the loss to the fans of the team itself.

In 2019, the Expos franchise beat the Dodgers to win the NL Division Series, and went on to appear in the World Series for the 1st time, and win it. But by this point, they were the Washington Nationals, so it did Montreal no good.

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October 19, 1981, as I said, was a Monday. The New York Yankees had already clinched the American League Pennant, sweeping the Oakland Athletics in 3 games straight.

On ABC Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, 48-17 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

The NBA season started 11 days later. There was 1 game played in the NHL: The Quebec Nordiques beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

April 25, 1976: Rick Monday Saves an American Flag from Being Burned

April 25, 1976: Rick Monday, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War era, is playing center field for the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He notices two people in left-centerfield, preparing to burn the American flag. He ran over and grabbed the flag from them.

"I was angry when I saw them start to do something like that to the flag," he said.

Later in 1976, Dodgers executive Al Campanis gave the flag to Monday. He still has it. "I know the people were very pleased to see Monday take the flag away from those guys," Manny Mota, who played with Monday, said. "I know Rick has done a lot of good things as a player and as a person. But what he did for his country, he will be remembered for the rest of his life as an American hero."

The actual flag has faded. The story has not.

Rick Monday didn't do a damn thing for his country by saving that flag. If anything, he interfered with two people who, however misguided and offensive, were exercising their constitutional rights. It was, literally, the least American thing he could have done. But, it was a flag moment in the Bicentennial year, so it was celebrated.

This was 20 days after the event that became known as "the Soiling of Old Glory," in which a racist taunted a black man with a flag at City Hall in Boston. Has anybody ever asked Monday about that?

As for the game: The Dodgers beat the Cubs, 5-4. Ron Cey singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The Dodgers acquired Monday before the next season, fitting in with their heavily-promoted All-American image. Actually, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the quintessential American sports team: They abandoned the people from whence they came, not for a better life but for more money, and stole land from the people who were already at their destination.

Then they issued lies and platitudes about themselves, all the while hiding some great evils. Sure, their Brooklyn forebears had ended baseball's segregation, but Campanis himself exposed his own racial bigotry, and manager Tommy Lasorda was exposed as homophobic. And then there was their paragon of virtue, Steve Garvey...

A 2-time All-Star, Monday reached the postseason with the Oakland Athletics before being traded to the Cubs, and won the 1981 World Series with the Dodgers, having hit a Pennant-clinching home run in the National League Championship Series against the Montreal Expos. He retired after the 1984 season, with a .264 lifetime batting average and 241 home runs.

He became a broadcaster for the Dodgers, and still has the flag. He claims he has been offered $1 million for it, but won't sell it. 

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April 25, 1976 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 7-0 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Johnny Bench and Dave Concepción hit home runs. Pete Rose went 3-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 2-for-4. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1 at San Diego Stadium.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. John Candelaria pitched a 2-hit shutout. Willie Stargell hit a home run.

* The New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 6. The Royals won the opener, 3-1. Doug Bird outpitched Ed Figueroa, although Roy White hit a home run. The Yankees won the nightcap, 7-4. A 5-run 8th inning, including a home run by Chris Chambliss, gave the Yankees the win. Sparky Lyle was the winning pitcher, in relief of Dick Tidrow, over Steve Busby. Graig Nettles also hit a home run.

* The California Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 19. The Angels swept, 4-2 and 6-1.

* The Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers were rained out at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 10. The Tigers won the 1st game, 7-5. The Rangers won the 2nd game, 3-0.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up on August 19. The White Sox won, 4-2. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

There were 2 NBA Playoff games played. The Buffalo Braves beat the Boston Celtics, 98-93 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Phoenix Suns, 114-108 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. But the Celtics and the Suns would win these series, and face each other in the NBA Finals. The Celtics won in 6 games.

One game was played in the American Basketball Association Playoffs: The Kentucky Colonels beat the Denver Nuggets, 119-115 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville. But the Nuggets would win the series, before losing the ABA Finals to the New York Nets.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between rounds, and so no games were scheduled. There were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association Playoffs. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Cowboys, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena. And the Houston Aeros beat the San Diego Mariners, 8-4 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

Also, Basketball Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan was born.