December 31, 1967: The 1st Oakland Championship

Daryle Lamonica (3) back to pass. Blocking for him

are Jim Otto (00), Dan Archer (78) and Jim Harvey (70).

Note the infield dirt, left over for baseball.

December 31, 1967: The American Football League Championship Game is played at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on this New Year's Eve. The Oakland Raiders hosted the Houston Oilers.

The Oilers had played in the 1st 3 AFL Championship Games, winning in 1960 and 1961, but losing in 1962. Their starting quarterback was George Blanda. Pete Beathard was now the Oilers' quarterback. This would be the Raiders' 1st title game. Blanda was now playing for them.

But while he was their main placekicker, he was not their starting quarterback. That would be Daryle Lamonica, who threw the ball so often, and so far, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." Raider coach John Rauch, having been a quarterback himself, knew he had two good ones. Lamonica would not be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Blanda would, along with receiver Fred Biletnikoff, center Jim Otto, guard Gene Upshaw, and cornerback Willie Brown.

The game kicked off at 2:00 Pacific Standard Time (5:00 Eastern), and the temperature was 47 degrees. Just a few minutes earlier, the NFL Championship Game had ended in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and, to those inside Lambeau Field, 47 degrees would have seemed like beach weather in comparison.

The only scoring in the 1st quarter was a 37-yard field goal by Blanda. But the Raiders pulled away in the 2nd quarter, with Hewritt Dixon scoring on a 69-yard run, and Lamonica throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Dave Kocourek. It was 17-0 Raiders at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Lamonica scored on a quarterback sneak, and Blanda kicked a 40-yard field goal. Blanda kicked one from 42 yards, giving the Raiders a 30-0 lead early in the 4th quarter. The Oilers finally scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Beathard to Charley Frazier. But the Raiders put it away with another field goal from Blanda, this one 36 yards, and a 12-yard touchdown pass from Lamonica to Bill Miller. The final was Oakland 40, Houston 7.

This was the 1st league championship for Raiders owner Al Davis. There would be more. Moreover, while Oakland had been the much-maligned "little brother" to cosmopolitan San Francisco across the Bay, this game was the beginning of a shift.

The San Francisco Giants had won the National League Pennant in 1962, and just missed Pennants in 1964, '65 and '66. But the Raiders were now AFL Champions, and Oakland had just become home to the NHL's Seals and the ABA's Oaks, and were about to become home to baseball's Athletics. Oakland would soon have 4 teams, to San Francisco's 3 -- and when the San Francisco Warriors moved in 1971, taking the name "Golden State Warriors," taking the place of the Oaks who had moved, Oakland would, briefly, have 4 teams to San Francisco's 2.

From this game until 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. And that doesn't even count the Oakland Clippers, earlier in 1967, winning the title in the National Professional Soccer League, which could hardly have been called "major league." But it did happen.

For a few years, sports-wise, Oakland was the place to be. It was a golden age -- or, as A's and Seals owner Charlie Finley might have put it, a Green and Golden Age.

*

December 31, 1967 was a Sunday. The 1967 NFL Championship Game was played the same day. While the Oakland Coliseum has been known for chilly conditions, there was no issue with the weather there on that day. That would not be the case for the NFL title game: It was well below zero at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in a game that became known as the Ice Bowl. I have a separate entry for that event. The Packers went on to beat the Raiders, 33-14 in Super Bowl II, in a much-warmer Orange Bowl in Miami.

There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the expansion San Diego Rockets, 147-118. It was the 1st game the Lakers played at their new arena, The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And the San Francisco Warriors beat the other expansion team, the Seattle SuperSonics, 126-124 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. For the Warriors, Nate Thurmond had 34 points and 25 rebounds.

There was 1 game played in the American Basketball Association, which was in its 1st season: The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Indiana Pacers, 121-106 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Pipers would go on to win the 1st ABA Championship. But before the 1972-73 season, they were out of business. The Pacers would win the ABA title in 1970, '72 and '73, and were 1 of the 4 teams absorbed from the ABA into the NBA in 1976.

There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0, in one of the last events at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 9-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Oakland Seals, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars were not scheduled. 

December 20, 1968: The Zodiac Killings Begin

December 20, 1968: The Zodiac killings begin in the San Francisco Bay Area. Murders claimed over the next year: 37. Confirmed by the San Francisco Police Department: 5. The killer: Officially, still unknown.

The Zodiac's known attacks took place in the City and County of San Francisco proper (the City and the County are contiguous); Benicia and Vallejo, in the East Bay region; and unincorporated Napa County, to the north of the city. He attacked three young couples and a lone male cab driver. Two of these victims survived.

The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. He also said that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. He included four cryptograms or ciphers in his correspondence. Two were solved in 1969 and 2020, and two remain unsolved.

In 1974, the Zodiac claimed 37 victims in his last confirmed letter. This tally included victims in Southern California, such as Cheri Jo Bates, who was murdered in Riverside in 1966. Despite many theories about the Zodiac's identity, the only suspect authorities ever named was Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender, who died in 1992.

Detective Dave Toschi, the lead investigator on the case, told Mark Ruffalo, who played him in the 2007 film Zodiac, about Allen, "As soon as that guy walked in the door, I knew it was him." Ruffalo told an interviewer, "He was sure he had him, but he never had a solid piece of evidence. So he had to keep investigating every other lead." And the evidence against Allen was only circumstantial. But the letters did stop after Allen was convicted and sent to prison on a separate charge.

Toschi served as the model for 2 fictional San Francisco lawmen: Steve McQueen as Lieutenant Frank Bullitt in the 1968 film Bullitt; and Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan, starting in the 1971 film Dirty Harry. In that film, Callahan faces a serial killer who calls himself "Scorpio," one of the signs of the zodiac. The real Toschi died in 2018.

The unusual nature of the case led to international interest that has been sustained throughout the years. The SFPD marked the case "inactive" in 2004 but re-opened it prior to 2007. The case also remains open in the California Department of Justice, the FBI, the City of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County.

The last message the killer sent to the police and the newspapers was in 1974. He may even still be alive.

*

December 20, 1968 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 135-87 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Chicago Bulls, 125-102 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (It's now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.)

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 116-109 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Francisco Warriors, 133-101 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Minnesota Pipers beat the Houston Mavericks, 123-103 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. Connie Hawkins of the Pipers led all scorers in both leagues on the day, with 35 points.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The St. Louis Blues beat the Oakland Seals, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Tim Ecclestone scored the only goal, with 2:43 left in the 2nd period.

December 6, 1969: The Altamont Disaster

Mick Jagger in cape. Note the Hell's Angel behind him.

December 6, 1969: The Altamont Free Concert is held at the Altamont Speedway in Tracy, California. After seeing the 500,000 or so people who had come to the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in New York's Catskill Mountains in August, with several West Coast acts performing, including Jefferson Airplane, that band's drummer, Spencer Dryden, suggested a "Woodstock West."

As with Woodstock, the hard part turned out to be securing a location. Finally, Altamont was suggested. The concert's poster says it's in Livermore, but current sources say it's in Tracy. Regardless, it's at the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay region. Opened in 1966, the facility last known as Altamont Raceway Park hosted auto racing until it was closed in 2008. The 7,500-seat main structure still stands, 56 miles east of San Francisco, 45 miles east of Oakland, 49 miles northeast of San Jose, and 78 miles south of Sacramento.

The initial plan was to have the Airplane, their San Francisco and Woodstock compatriots The Grateful Dead, and the band that, with The Beatles having retreated from live performing, were now the biggest live rock and roll band in the world, The Rolling Stones. Anybody else they could get would have been considered gravy.

Well, 5 bands performed, but The Dead wouldn't be one of them. In order of their taking the stage: Santana, also San Franciscans who had been at Woodstock; The Jefferson Airplane; The Flying Burrito Brothers, based in Los Angeles, including former members of The Byrds Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman; David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash & Neil Young, who had also been at Woodstock, and Crosby had also been a Byrd; and The Rolling Stones.

The day before, The Stones had released a new album, titled Let It Bleed. Lead singer Mick Jagger would later call it his favorite Stones album. But on December 6, he got the title's wish -- which contradicted a line from the album's closing song: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need." What everybody got at Altamont, nobody wanted or needed.

Airplane lead singer Grace Slick was interviewed for Rolling Stone magazine 20 years later. (While the band was named for "Rollin' Stone," a blues song by Muddy Waters, the magazine was named for Bob Dylan's song "Like a Rolling Stone.") She was one of several performers who said that Woodstock was the worst performance of her career, and added that the music was better at Altamont.

But everything else was wrong. She said, "The vibes were bad. Something was very peculiar, not particularly bad, just real peculiar. It was that kind of hazy, abrasive and unsure day. I had expected the loving vibes of Woodstock, but that wasn't coming at me. This was a whole different thing."

On July 5, the Stones had given a concert at Hyde Park in London, in memory of bandmate Brian Jones, who had died of a drug-related drowning 2 days earlier. (After being kicked out of the band for his drug use, something no other member of that famously druggy band was.) Like Woodstock, it was said to have attracted 500,000 fans.

The security at that concert was run by the London chapter of the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. There were no security issues there. So Stones lead singer Mick Jagger suggested the Hell's Angels as security for Altamont. Unfortunately, no one counted on the fact that the Hell's Angels weren't just a motorcycle club: They were a gang, involved in organized crime, a Mafia on two wheels. And they would be operating out of the East Bay, their home territory.

At Woodstock, out of 500,000 people, there were 3 deaths, all accidental: A drug overdose, a burst appendix, and a kid who made the mistake of trying to sleep under a tractor on a hill. At Altamont, out of 300,000 people, there were 4 deaths. Three were accidental: Two in a hit-and-run car accident, and one kid high on LSD who fell into an irrigation canal and drowned.

One death at Altamont was no accident. As can be seen in Gimme Shelter, the documentary film made by Albert and David Maysles, during the performance of "Sympathy for the Devil," the Stones had to stop, because there were fights near the stage. While playing "Under My Thumb," they had to stop for a medical emergency.

Just as The Who, 10 years later to the week, didn't know until they had finished a concert in Cincinnati that 11 fans had been killed in an accident before the show, the Stones didn't know what the emergency was. If they did, they might have stopped the show entirely. Certainly, they would've closed with a song other than "Street Fighting Man," their song inspired by the Paris demonstrations of the year before.

The Hell's Angels guarding the stage were mean, and they were drunk. Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old black man from Alameda, climbed onto a speaker. He had been told that, the further east you got from Oakland and Berkeley, the worse the racism got. This was a reasonable claim: Inland, California can be just as hicky as The South, just as New York State is the further you get from the City, and Pennsylvania is the further you get from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Hunter had heard this, so he packed a gun. He wasn't using it when he stood on the speaker. But the Angels grabbed him, started punching him, and, discovering the gun, stabbed him. The Angel who did the stabbing would be charged with murder, but was acquitted on self-defense grounds.

Afterward, the Maysles Brothers showed Jagger their footage of what happened, and filmed him watching it. Mick, who has so often embraced his devilish image -- before taking the title role in "Sympathy for the Devil," he titled a Stones album Their Satanic Majesties Request -- is not a man known for attacks of conscience. On the film, he appears genuinely shocked and scared.

Not enough to change his ways, though. He was still 26 years old, and the leader of what was already being called "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band." He thought he could do anything, and get away with it. And he has gotten away with a lot. The shock is not that Jagger's excesses of the 1960s led to the disaster at Altamont, 25 days before the decade's end. It's that he, or the Stones as a whole, haven't had another incident like Altamont -- or worse.

Rolling Stone soon called Altamont "Rock and roll's all-time worst day, December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong." Shades of Franklin Roosevelt calling December 7th, 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, "a date which will live in infamy." And in 1990, writer A.E. Hotchner would publish a book about the Stones, Jones' death, and Altamont, titled Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties.

Of course, worse was to come: The rest of December 1969 -- I was born 12 days after Altamont -- and the 1st half of 1970 would see the breakup of The Beatles, Diana Ross leaving the Supremes, President Richard Nixon extending the Vietnam War into Cambodia, the Kent State Massacre, and the Hard Hat Demonstration that essentially supported the 2 previous occurrences.

As the poet William Butler Yeats wrote half a century earlier, "Things fall apart. The center cannot hold."

*

December 6, 1969 was a Saturday. "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," by the "studio group" Steam, hit Number 1. I have a separate entry for this event.

It was the off-season for baseball. There was 1 game played in the NFL that day, and it was also in the Bay Area: The San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears, 42-21 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. And there was 1 game played in the AFL: The New York Jets beat the Houston Oilers, 34-26 at the Astrodome in Houston.

The big story in America that day was not expected to be Altamont. It was expected to be a college football game that was moved to the Saturday after the intended last week of the regular season, because it looked like the teams involved would be ranked the top two in the nation. In this "Game of the Century," Number 1 Texas beat Number 2 Arkansas, 15-14 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I have a separate entry for this event.

There was 1 other college football game played that day: The Pasadena Bowl, held at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena. San Diego State beat Boston University, 28-7.

Also that day, there were 5 games played in the NBA: 

* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 124-99 at what was still being called "The New Madison Square Garden Center." Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley each scored 29 points for the Knickerbockers, who advanced to 26-2 on the season that would end with their 1st NBA title. In a losing cause, Lew Alcindor (he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972) scored 26, and Len Chappell scored 24.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 120-102 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Baltimore Bullets, 132-129 in overtime at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 116-114 in overtime at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Diego Rockets, 128-115 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Wilt Chamberlain did not play for L.A., but Jerry West scored 30, and Elgin Baylor 25. Elvin Hayes scored 40 in a losing effort. The Rockets moved to Houston in 1971, and the arena is now named the Pechanga Arena.

Two games were played in the American Basketball Association:

* The Denver Rockets beat the Washington Caps, 108-97 at the Washington Coliseum. The Rockets would become the Denver Nuggets in 1974, renaming themselves for the city's 1st NBA team, which were founded in 1935, joined the NBA in 1948, and folded in 1950. After the 1969-70 season, the Caps moved to Norfolk, and became the Virginia Squires. The Nuggets, the New York Nets, the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs were merged from the crumbling ABA into the NBA in 1976. The Squires were not.

* And the New Orleans Buccaneers beat the Miami Floridians, 112-104 at the Miami Beach Convention Hall.

* Five games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers, the only NHL team in the Tri-State Area at the time, were not involved in any of them:

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Oakland Seals, 5-3 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

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

October 25, 1991: The Crash of Bill Graham

October 25, 1991: Bill Graham, the king of rock music promoters, is killed in a helicopter crash outside Vallejo, in the East Bay region of California, while returning home from a Huey Lewis and the News concert at the Concord Pavilion. He had just talked the band into performing at a benefit concert he wanted to stage for the victims of the recent Oakland Hills Firestorm.

Also killed were the pilot, Graham's advance man Steve "Killer" Kahn; and Graham's girlfriend, Melissa Gold -- not to be confused with actress Melissa "Missy" Gold.

Born Wulf Wolodia Grajonca in Berlin in 1931, he was taken out of Germany by his Jewish family during World War II. He made his name promoting concerts in San Francisco in the 1960s. He had opened concert venues such as the Fillmore West and Winterland in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York, all of which he outlived. He also promoted the S.N.A.C.K. concert at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium in 1975, and the U.S. edition of Live Aid at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia in 1985.

He should not be confused with Dr. Billy Graham, America's foremost evangelist; Billy's son, William Franklin Graham III, who goes by "Franklin"; Franklin's son, William Franklin Graham IV, who goes by "Will"; or Eldridge Wayne Coleman Jr., the "professional wrestler" who went by "Superstar" Billy Graham.

*

October 25, 1991 was a Friday. It was a travel day between Games 5 and 6 of the World Series. There was 1 college football game played that night, and it was for a trophy, the Little Brown Jug. It was no contest: Michigan, ranked Number 4 in the country, beat Minnesota, 52-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

The NBA season started 7 days later. There were 3 games in the NHL:

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the expansion San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0 at the Winnipeg Arena.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, defeated John P. Stevens of Edison, 16-14 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

October 16, 1909: Johnson vs. Ketchel

Jack Johnson

October 16, 1909: Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson fights Middleweight Champion Stanley Ketchel, at the Mission Street Arena in the San Francisco suburb of Colma, California. Talk about "punching above your weight": Ketchel was one of the best middleweights ever, but, absent a lucky punch, there's no way he should have had a chance against Johnson.

Stanley Ketchel

And, at first, he knew it. He and Johnson agreed to make it look good, but let it end in a draw, which, under the rules of the time, would be the case if neither fighter quit or was knocked out. That way, Johnson, the 1st black man ever to win the heavyweight crown, would keep it -- Ketchel's crown was not officially up for grabs -- and the big black man from Texas, known as the Galveston Giant (at the time, 6 feet, one-half inch was considered tall), and the wiry Pole, born Stanisław Kiecal in Grand Rapids, and known as the Michigan Assassin, would split the film distribution rights 50-50. It was a good deal.

The problem was, Ketchel was nuts. Boxing historian Bert Sugar once referred to him as "Stanley Ketchel, who was half animal, anyway." After 11 rounds, he must have seen a weakness in Johnson (which no one else saw), and decided he could take him. He knocked Johnson down in the 12th -- and may have thought that he'd gotten the lucky punch he needed.

As with later heavyweight champs Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano, knocking Johnson down was the worst thing you could have done with him, because, instead of stopping him, it only made him mad. Jack hit Stanley so hard, he not only went down, but a couple of his teeth became embedded in Johnson's glove. I've seen the film, and the legend is true: Johnson brushed the teeth out of one glove with the other.

Both men came to sad ends: Ketchel was murdered a year later, only 24 years old; while Johnson lost his title in 1915, after 3 years on the run from American authorities, forcing him to fight in other countries, and served a year in prison, eventually being killed in a car crash in 1946, at the age of 68.

*

October 16, 1909 was a Saturday. This was also the day that the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Honus Wagner, won Game 7 of the World Series over the Detroit Tigers, with Ty Cobb. I have a separate entry for that event.

These notable games were played in college football:

* In a match of unbeatens, at the original Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania beat Brown University, 13-5.

* In another match of unbeatens, on "The Plain" at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, Yale beat Army, 17-0.

* At Worden Field on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Villanova upset Navy, 11-6.

* Michigan beat Ohio State, 33-6 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* Alabama beat Clemson, 3-0 at the Birmingham Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama.

* At the Polo Grounds in New York, Carlisle beat Syracuse, 14-11.

* In New Jersey, in another battle of unbeatens, Princeton beat Sewanee, of Sewanee, Tennessee, 20-0.

* And Rutgers lost to Franklin & Marshall, 15-0 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Also, Woolwich Arsenal lost 6-2 to Sunderland, at Roker Park in Sunderland, in the North-East of England.

October 5, 1991: The NHL Is Restored to the Bay Area

Top row: The Captains for the 1st game,

Doug Wilson and Trevor Linden.

Bottom: The Cow Palace.

October 5, 1991: For the 1st time since April 4, 1976, an NHL regular-season game is played in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Gund family had been partners in the Oakland Seals franchise, part of the NHL's "Great Expansion" of 1967. But the Seals, later known as the California Golden Seals, only made the Playoffs once, in 1969, and struggled at the box office as well.

The brothers George and Gordon Gund had ties to the Bay Area, but they were from Cleveland. In 1976, they moved the team to become the Cleveland Barons, but failed there, too. In 1978, this franchise was merged with the Minnesota North Stars, and the Gunds became partners in that franchise.

The brothers wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area, and asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s, but were vetoed by the league. At the same time, a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Harold Baldwin was pushing the NHL to bring a team to San Jose, where a new arena was being built.

Eventually a compromise was struck by the league, where the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group, with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the 1991-92 season. In return, the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in an expansion draft with the new Bay Area team, despite the fact that, as it turned out, the North Stars went on an unlikely run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1991. Neither team retains the history of the Seals/Barons franchise.

On May 5, 1990, the Gunds officially sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin, and were awarded a new team in the Bay Area, based in San Jose. Over 5m000 potential names were submitted by mail for the new team. While the 1st-place finisher was "Blades,", the Gunds were concerned about the name's negative connotations (thinking of inner-city crime) and went with the runner-up, "Sharks."

The name was said to have been inspired by the large number of sharks living in the Pacific Ocean. Seven different varieties live there, and one area of water near the Bay Area is known as the Red Triangle because of its shark population. The team's first marketing head, Matt Levine, said of the new name, "Sharks are relentless, determined, swift, agile, bright and fearless. We plan to build an organization that has all those qualities."

The team's colors were chosen as black, white and teal. The logo, of a shark coming through a triangle (representing either the Red Triangle, or perhaps the three main Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), biting through a hockey stick and breaking it, quickly became popular.

On a personal note: In the Summer of 1990, a friend of my sister's came to the house, wearing one of the brand-new Sharks jackets from Starter, Inc. We lived all the way across the country, and as far as I knew, he had no connection to the Bay Area or the team's organization. He didn't root for any of the other Bay Area sports teams. And their 1st game wasn't going to be for almost a year and a half. So I asked him why he was wearing it. He said it was because it looked cool.

I guess, when you're a teenage boy, looking cool is more important than winning, clean play, or anything else.

The North American Soccer League had had the San Jose Earthquakes -- and Major League Soccer would, as well, although that team was originally known as the San Jose Clash -- but the Sharks would be the first true major league team to have San Jose, rather than "San Francisco," "Oakland," "California," or "Golden State" as its geographic identifier.

The 1st head coach was George Kingston, whose playing career ended in college due to injury, and had coached at the college and international levels. The 1st general manager was Jack Ferreira, a goaltender at Boston University, who had worked in the front offices of the New York Rangers and the North Stars, which is how he knew the Gunds, and had gained their confidence. The 1st Captain was Doug Wilson, a former All-Star defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks.

With the San Jose Arena -- now named the SAP Center -- not expected to be ready until the 1993-94 season, the Sharks played their 1st 2 seasons at the Cow Palace, just over the San Francisco city line in Daly City. It was already a 50-year-old arena, and its seating capacity for hockey was less than 11,000. Despite going 17-58-5 and 11-71-2 in their 1st 2 seasons, every one of those seats was filled for every home game.

The Sharks had debuted on October 4, 1991, losing away to the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3. The 1st home game, on October 5, also against the Canucks, was a great celebration, as the Bay Area once again had teams in all four major North American sports. The pregame featured the introduction of the giant Shark head, with the players skating onto the ice through its mouth. But the Canucks spoiled the party, 5-2. Wayne Pressley scored the Sharks' 1st goal. The next game, on October 8, also at the Cow Palace, was the Sharks' 1st regular-season win, 4-3 over the Calgary Flames.

With the new arena opening, the Sharks got a lot better, nearly reaching .500 at 33-35-16. They made the Playoffs for the 1st time, upset the Detroit Red Wings in the 1st round, and took the Toronto Maple Leafs to 7 games before losing.

The SAP Center

Since then, they have made the Playoffs more often than not, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2016; and the Western Conference Finals in 2004, 2010, 2011 and 2019.

UPDATE: As of the 2025-26 season, the Sharks do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have retired 2 uniform numbers: 12, for 1997-2021 center Patrick Marleau; and 19, for 2005-20 center Joe Thornton.

Thornton has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. So have defenseman Doug Wilson, their Captain in the 1st 2 seasons, 1991-92 and 1992-93; center Igor Larionov and right wing Sergei Makarov, who together played the 1st 2 seasons in San Jose, 1993-94 and 1994-95; goaltender Ed Belfour, who played 16 games for them in 1996; goaltender Mike Vernon, who played for them from 1997 to 2000; right wing Teemu Selanne, who played for them in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons; center Jeremy Roenick, who played for them in his last 2 seasons, 2007-08 and 2008-09; and defenseman Rob Blake, who played for them in his last 2 seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10.

(Vladimir Krutov, who formed the famed KLM Line with Larionov and Makarov in the Soviet Union, played just 1 season in the NHL, 1990-91 with the Vancouver Canucks.)

Right wing Owen Nolan, who played for the Sharks from 1995 to 2003, is, so far, the only hockey player, for any team, inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

*

October 5, 1991 was a Saturday. These other games were played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. Sergei Nemchinov scored the winning goal with 3:18 left in overtime.

* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* In another "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 8-5 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Wendel Clark had 3 goals and 2 assists.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

These games were played in Major League Baseball, on the next-to-last day of the regular season:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 7-5 at Yankee Stadium. Luis Lopez and Mark Lewis hit doubles in the top of the 12th inning, or Darren Chapin in relief of Eric Plunk. The winning pitcher was Steve Olin in relief of Eric King. Don Mattingly went 3-for-5 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Terry Mulholland pitched an 8-hit shutout, outpitching Anthony Young. The only run of the game came in the bottom of the 5th inning, when Braulio Castillo doubled home Dale Murphy.

The next day, David Cone struck out 19 batters, but the Mets let him go after the season.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Paul Molitor went 3-for-5 with a walk and an RBI. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 in the next-to-last game the O's played at Memorial Stadium. I was at this game. Before it, they introduced the Orioles' all-time team, as voted by the fans. Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson were in attendance. Jim Palmer was not, as he was broadcasting elsewhere. The catcher chosen, Rick Dempsey, was also unavailable, playing out the string with the Milwaukee Brewers. Cal Ripken Jr., of course, was playing in the game, and went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Before the game, the public address announcer, former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Rex Barney, asked the fans to sing the National Anthem a cappella. It was nice, except for the traditional shout of "O!" at "O, say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave?"

The next day, the Tigers won the last game, and the O's had a postgame ceremony. This, I had to watch on television, back home. They invited 85 former Orioles to take the field in the uniform of their era and run out to their old position. Brooks was the 1st player, Cal the last, followed by manager Earl Weaver. This time, Palmer and Dempsey were permitted by their employers to attend.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. John Smoltz went the distance for the win, while Mark Portugal couldn't get an out in the 3rd inning.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 and 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. This turned out to be a preview of the American League Championship Series, which the Twins won.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 12-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Rickey Henderson went 4-for-4 with a home run, 2 walks, 4 stolen bases and 3 RBIs.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-7 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brett did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Trevor Wilson pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Bill Krueger allowed 7 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings, but no runs. Gene Harris pitched the rest of the way, for a 9-hit shutout. Pete O'Brien hit 2 homers for the M's. Ken Griffey Jr. grounded out in the 1st inning, then left the game with an injury. 

The NBA season started on November 1. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Florida State beat Number 10 Syracuse, 46-14 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

* Number 2 Miami beat Oklahoma State, 40-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* Number 3 Washington beat Arizona, 54-0 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 4 Tennessee were idle.

* Number 5 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 29-8 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

* Number 6 Clemson were upset by Georgia, 27-12 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 7 Michigan beat Number 9 Iowa, 43-24 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Stanford, 42-26 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.

* Number 16 Auburn were upset by Southern Mississippi, 10-9 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.

* Number 18 University of California at Berkeley beat Number 24 University of California at Los Angeles: Cal 27, UCLA 24 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.

* Number 19 North Carolina State beat Number 21 Georgia Tech, 28-21 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* Rivalry: Virginia Tech beat West Virginia, 20-14 at Mountaineer Field (now Milan Puskar Stadium) in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* And among the service academies, Army lost to Rutgers, 14-12 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands; Air Force beat Wyoming, 51-28 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Navy were idle.

And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated West London team Chelsea, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its North London neighborhood.

September 26, 2024: The End of the Oakland Athletics

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

September 26, 2024: The Oakland Athletics play their final home game. They beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Former A's pitcher Barry Zito sang the National Anthem, and Dave Stewart and Rickey Henderson, both Oakland natives and A's legends, threw out the cereominal first balls.

All game long, there were chants of "Sell the team!" and vulgar chants directed at team owner John Fisher. In the 9th inning, 2 fans ran onto the field, and were tackled by security. The game was delayed again by a smoke bomb thrown onto the field.

J.T. Ginn was the winning pitcher. The last play was Travis Jankowski, batting against Mason Miller, grounding out to 3rd baseman Max Scheumann.

The day before, Adolis García of the Rangers hit the Coliseum's last home run. The 1st game was on April 17, 1968, a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Boog Powell hit the 1st home run, and Rick Monday hit the 1st for the A's.

Attendance at the finale was 46,889, pretty much every seat that was open to the public, without a tarp being put over a section. It was the largest crowd ever for a team moving away, although not the largest for a stadium finale: The Cleveland Indians got 72,390 for their last game at Municipal Stadium in 1993, before the now-Guardians moved to Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field.

Because the A's were a "lame duck" franchise, and had a 69-93 finish, attendance for the season was just 922,286, an average of just 11,386, worst in the major leagues.

Over 57 seasons, the A's played home games in Oakland. In that time, they reached the Playoffs 21 times, won the AL West 17 times, won the American League Pennant 6 times, and won 4 World Series: 3 straight, 1972, 1973 and 1974; and 1989.

They produced Hall of Fame players Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley; and many other baseball legends, including Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, Vida Blue, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Stewart, Jason Giambi, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder.

But cheap ownership broke up good or even great A's teams in 1976, 1982, 1993, 2007, 2015 and 2022. Deals to build a new stadium at the Oakland Coliseum complex, at Howard Terminal closer to downtown Oakland, near the campus of Laney College (where the Raiders played from 1962 to 1965, before the Coliseum opened in 1966), in suburban Fremont, and in San Jose all fell apart.

After previous owner Charlie Finley threatened to move them to Denver in 1978 and New Orleans in 1979, current owner Fisher, who had no respect for the City of Oakland or for baseball, decided to move the team to Sacramento for the next 3 or 4 seasons, while a new ballpark was built in Las Vegas.

The "Swingin' A's" were dead. Cause of death: Greed. Fisher released an open letter, saying to fans, "We tried." Former A's pitcher Trevor May called him on his lie: "You love owning stuff, just not your actions." 

Oakland has now lost teams in all 4 sports. The Oakland Seals, a.k.a. the California Golden Seals, only lasted from 1967 to 1976. Finley owned them for a while, too, dooming them. The Oakland Raiders played in Oakland from 1962 to 1981, moved to Los Angeles, moved back in 1995, and moved again, to Las Vegas, after the 2019 season. And the Golden State Warriors, who arrived in San Francisco in 1962, and moved to Oakland in 1971, moved back across the Bay in 2019.

The A's will spend the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons -- and possibly also 2028, depending on how the building of their Las Vegas stadium goes -- at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, across the Sacramento River from downtown, before joining their fellow former Coliseum renters, the Raiders, in Vegas.

It took until 2018 for the A's to start a team Hall of Fame, and they continued to induct players until 2024, their last season in Oakland.

From their 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Champions, they've inducted right fielder Reggie Jackson, left fielder Joe Rudi, 1st baseman Gene Tenace, shortstop Bert Campaneris, 3rd baseman Sal Bando, catcher Ray Fosse; pitchers Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers; and manager Dick Williams.

From their 1989 World Champions, they've inducted left fielder Rickey Henderson (who remains the only player elected from their 1981 American League Western Division title), right fielder Jose Canseco, 1st baseman Mark McGwire, 3rd baseman Carney Lansford, catcher Terry Steinbach; pitchers Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley; and manager  Tony La Russa.

From their Playoff teams of the early 2000s, they've inducted 1st baseman Jason Giambi, shortstop Miguel Tejada and 3rd baseman Eric Chavez. Had they lasted longer in Oakland, I suspect they would have inducted each of that team's "Big Three" pitchers: Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder.

In addition, they've inducted Charlie Finley; Walter Haas, owner from 1980 to 1995; Roy Steele, public address announcer from 1968 to 2008; Steve Vucinich, the clubhouse manager for their entire tenure in Oakland; Keith Lieppman, director of player development from 1971 to 2024; and Bill King, broadcaster from 1981 to 2005. Fosse was also an A's broadcaster, from 1986 to 2021.

Jackson, Hunter, Blue, Fingers, Campaneris, Henderson, Stewart, Eckersley, La Russa and Haas have been inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (BASHOF). So has Billy Martin, the Berkeley native who managed the "Billy Ball" A's from 1980 to 1982, including the 1981 Division title.

*

September 26, 2024 was a Thursday. These 8 other games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-1 at Yankee Stadium II. This game clinched the American League Eastern Division for the Bronx Bombers. It was a battle of aces: Gerrit Cole beat Corbin Burnes. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Alex Verdugo each hit home runs -- their 58th, 27th and 13th, respectively, on the season.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Washington Nationals, 7-4 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-0 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. The South Siders scored all 7 runs in the 5th inning. Chris Flexen (5 hits over 6 1/3rd innings), Gus Varland (2/3rds without a baserunner) and Jairo Tirarte (1 hit over 2) combined on a 6-hit shutout.

It was the Pale Hose's 39th win of the season, against 120 losses. They had already broken the American League record for losses in a season, and would finish 41-121, setting a new standard for the most losses by a major league team since 1899.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-6 at Target Field in Minneapolis. In the top of the 13th inning, a double by Otto Lopez and a 2-run single by Griffin Conine gave the Marlins the lead. The Twins could only get 1 run back in the bottom of the 13th.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-8 at Coors Field in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

There was 1 college football game: Army beat Temple University, 42-14 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where Temple groundshares with the Philadelphia Eagles.

And there was 1 NFL game: The Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants, 20-15 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands.

September 18, 1966: The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Opens

September 18, 1966: The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum opens. The host Oakland Raiders finally have a home field after 6 American Football League seasons, after playing in San Francisco in the 1960 and 1961 seasons, and at the 22,000-seat Frank Youell Field from 1962 to 1965. But they are beaten by the Kansas City Chiefs, 32-10.

The Raiders would win the AFL Championship Game at the Coliseum on December 31, 1967, beating the Houston Oilers, 40-7. Despite the Coliseum having a reputation for being cold, it was considerably warmer than it was that day for the NFL Championship Game, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the game that became known as the Ice Bowl.

The Raiders also hosted the AFC Championship Game for the seasons of 1974, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers; 1976, beating the Steelers; and, after moving to Los Angeles in 1982 and then moving back to Oakland in 1995, hosting again for 2000, losing to the Baltimore Ravens; and 2002, beating the Tennessee Titans. They won the AFC Championship in the seasons of 1976, 1980 and 2002, winning Super Bowls XI and XV, and losing Super Bowls II and XXXVII.

The Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland on October 22, 1967, and made their home debut on April 17, 1968. Governor Ronald Reagan of California, a former broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs, threw out the ceremonial first ball. It was 2 days after April 15, and Reagan made a short speech, saying, "One thing I'm sure of is that you've all paid your taxes." He got booed. He was never particularly popular in the East Bay. The A's lost that opener, 4-1 to the Baltimore Orioles, whose 1st baseman, John "Boog" Powell, hit the stadium's 1st home run.

The A's reached the Playoffs while playing at the Coliseum in 5 straight seasons, 1971 to 1975, winning 3 straight World Series, 1972, 1973 and 1974. But A's owner Charlie Finley was never happy in Oakland, and he kept trying to move the team, nearly getting a deal to go to Denver for 1978. Attendance was never good, and it dropped so law, the stadium became known as the Mausoleum. New ownership in 1980 kept the team in Oakland, building a new run of 3 straight Pennant winners in 1988, 1989 and 1990, but only winning the World Series in 1989.

Al Davis moving the Raiders back to Oakland for 1995 led to the building of a new east stand, which became known as "Mount Davis." It blocked the nice view of the Oakland hills, and made the Coliseum feel like just another round, soulless multipurpose facility.

The A's had Hall-of-Famers like Reggie Jackson, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley -- but also Mark McGwire, José Canseco and Jason Giambi, players whose achievements were tainted by steroid use.

The Raiders had Hall-of-Famers like Jim Otto, Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Ray Guy, Dave Casper, Ted Hendricks, Tim Brown and Charles Woodson. (This doesn't count Hall-of-Famers who played with them entirely or mainly in Los Angeles: Howie Long, Marcus Allen and Mike Haynes.)

Besides the A's and the Raiders, the Coliseum was home to the Oakland Clippers of the National Professional Soccer League in 1967, moving to the North American Soccer League in 1968, and then folding; the Oakland Stompers of the NASL in 1978; the Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League from 1983 to 1985; and for occasional games for Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes in the 2008 and 2009 season.

In 2017, the playing surface was renamed Rickey Henderson Field, for the speedster who grew up in Oakland. This made the Coliseum the only MLB stadium with a playing field named for someone.

Speaking of names, the naming rights to the building were sold many times: It was the Network Associates Coliseum from 1998 to 2004, then the McAfee Coliseum until 2008, operated under its original name again until 2011, was briefly the Overstock.com Coliseum, then Overstock rebranded and that included making the stadium the O.com Coliseum until 2016, back to its original name until 2019, then the RingCentral Coliseum, which it remains as of September 18, 2022.

The A's made the Playoffs many more times, but the upkeep on the Coliseum was not maintained in the 21st Century, and it was ripped as one of the worst stadiums in MLB. The move of the Raiders to Las Vegas in 2020 made the Coliseum the last stadium to be home to both a Major League Baseball team and a professional football team.

The A's have been trying to get a new ballpark built, in or near Oakland. They tried San Jose, but the San Francisco Giants exercised their territorial option, and refused to let them build there.

UPDATE: The building reverted to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum name in 2023. A's ownership stopped trying to look for a nearby ballpark in 2024, and announced a move to Las Vegas. Because their stadium won't be ready until at least the 2028 season, they will play at least the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

In 2025, the Coliseum began to be used by the Oakland Roots of the United Soccer League Championship (USLC), the 2nd tier of American professional men's soccer; the Oakland Soul of the USL W League (USLW), the women's equivalent of the preceding; and the San Francisco Unicorns of Major League Cricket (MLC). Prior to writing this entry in December 2025, I did not know that the USLW and MLC even existed.

*

September 18, 1966 was a Sunday. Tom Chorske, who played on the New Jersey Devils' 1995 Stanley Cup winners, was born.

There were 3 other games were played in the AFL:

* The New York Jets beat the Houston Oilers, 52-13 at Shea Stadium.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, 58-24 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* The Boston Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 24-10 at Bears Stadium in Denver. The stadium was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1968.

* And the San Diego Chargers had a bye.

In the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 52-7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-10 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 17-3 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Cleveland Browns, 21-20 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Minnesota Vikings, 38-23 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 23-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Chicago Bears, 31-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Bob Allison hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 10th inning. Billy Bryan hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 10th, but it wasn't enough. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-5. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-2 with an RBI before leaving the game to relieve his bad legs. Roger Maris singled as a pinch-hitter.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the Houston Astros, 9-2 and 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. In the opener, Bob Bruce went the distance for the win, advancing to 3-13 on the season. That's what pitching against the pre-1969 Mets could do for a guy. The losing pitcher, in only his 2nd major league game, didn't get out of the 2nd inning. His name was Nolan Ryan.

In the nightcap, Dave Giusti outpitched Frank "Tug" McGraw. In 1969, the Mets converted McGraw into a reliever, and that's one of the reasons the franchise turned around that year.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Tony Conigliaro went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Former White Sox star Luis Aparicio went 1-for-3 with 2 walks for the O's.

* The Washington Senators beat the Kansas City Athletics, 1-0 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Phil Ortega pitched a 2-hit shutout, outpitching John "Blue Moon" Odom. The game ended when Fred Valentine tripled Ken Harrelson home in the bottom of the 9th.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-4 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Eddie Mathews went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Joe Torre went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. Pete Rose went 2-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Max Alvis singled Vic Davalillo home in the top of the 10th inning. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks hit a home run. Lou Brock went 1-for-4. Bob Gibson appeared not as a pitcher, but as a pinch-runner.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Larry Jackson pitched a 7-hit shutout, outpitching Claude Osteen.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-3 with a walk. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Woodie Fryman outpitched Gaylord Perry. Willie Mays went 0-for-2 before leaving the game. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4.

September 3, 1995: The Raiders Return to Oakland -- But…

September 3, 1995: The Oakland Raiders, playing their 1st game back in their former city after 13 seasons in Los Angeles, beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-7 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

At first, it looks like the righting of a great wrong. But it turns out to be a temporary return, and those who drank a toast to it would discover that, metaphorically, they were drinking from a poisoned chalice. Sports fans in the East Bay region of Northern California would have been better off if the Raiders hadn't gone back.

Team owner Al Davis originally left after the 1981 season because he wanted improvements to the Coliseum, including luxury boxes. When he was told he wouldn't get them, he decided to move to Los Angeles, as the Rams had left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play in Anaheim.

But he wasn't happy in L.A., either. He wanted improvements to the L.A. Coliseum. He didn't get them. He threatened to move the team to Irwindale, 20 miles east of downtown L.A., where the City Council was ready to build a stadium for him.

But Oakland decided to renovate their Coliseum, including building the bleacher section that would be nicknamed "Mount Davis," ruining the nice view of the foothills as seen from the infield seats. So, for the 1995 season, the Raiders moved back.

The construction carried over into the start of the 1996 Major League Baseball regular season, forcing the Oakland Athletics to move their 1st 6 home games. As it turned out, they moved to Cashman Field, the 9,300-seat home of the Class AAA team in Las Vegas, Nevada. It turned out to be foreshadowing.

The Oakland Coliseum, once considered a good home for baseball in spite of his vast infield foul territory, and with the East Bay hills giving it one of the nicest views of any MLB stadium, now felt like just another multipurpose sports stadium. The County of Alameda couldn't keep up the maintenance, and by the 2010s, it was in bad shape. Both the A's and the Raiders wanted out, and looked at various options.

And neither team saw much success. The A's won 3 straight Pennants, including the 1989 World Series, but never won a Pennant after 1990. That same year, in Los Angeles, the Raiders reached the AFC Championship Game. But after returning to Oakland, in 25 seasons, they made the Playoffs only 4 times, reaching Super Bowl XXXVII in the 2002 season, and making 1 other AFC Championship Game, for 2000. Davis' slogan of "Just win, baby" became hopeless; while his other slogan, "Commitment to Excellence," became a joke.

With the Rams also vacating the L.A. area for 1995, and other big cities without NFL teams jockeying for position, there was always the threat that Davis would move the Raiders out of Oakland again, possibly back to Los Angeles. He never did, dying in 2011. But his son Mark Davis moved the team to Las Vegas in 2020. With the Warriors having moved back to San Francisco in 2019, and the A's threatening to leave for Las Vegas themselves, Oakland's day in the Sun was coming to a close.

UPDATE: The A's, too, decided to move to a new stadium in Las Vegas, which wouldn't be ready until the 2028 season at the earliest. In the interim, they will be playing at the Class AAA ballpark for the team representing the California State capital of Sacramento.

*

September 3, 1995 was a Sunday. This day also marked the regular-season debut of 2 new expansion teams. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Houston Oilers, 10-3 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Field). And the Carolina Panthers lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 23-20 in overtime at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. I have a separate entry for those events.

It was also the St. Louis Rams' 1st game representing St. Louis, after 48 seasons representing Los Angeles. They beat the Green Bay Packers, 17-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 52-14 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-14 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-7 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 23-20 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-21 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 31-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-22 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills, 22-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, 34-10 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants, 35-0 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Oakland Athletics, 10-9 at Yankee Stadium. So both outdoor Oakland teams won on this day. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-6 with the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th inning, a stolen base, and 2 RBIs. David Cone started for the Yankees, but John Wetteland gave up the homer. Tony Fernández went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 3-for-6.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Carl Everett went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs for the Mets. Barry Bonds and Deion Sanders each hit home runs for the Giants.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 8-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ken Griffey Jr. only appeared as a late defensive replacement, and did not come to bat. Alex Rodriguez, then a rookie, did not appear at all. Cal Ripken Jr. went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Jason Schmidt pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Mark Wohlers completed the 6-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Omar Vizquel singled Wayne Kirby home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Joe Girardi singled Andrés Galarraga home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 8-5 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Houston Astros, 8-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Marlins scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th, and the Astros only 1 in the bottom of the 11th.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.