September 19, 1994: “ER” Premieres

Left to right: Julianna Marguiles, Eriq La Salle, George Clooney,

Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle

September 19, 1994: ER premieres on NBC, created by doctor-turned-novelist Michael Crichton. It restores the career of Revenge of the Nerds star Anthony Edwards. It makes stars of George Clooney, Noah Wyle, and a few others. It also allows British actress Alex Kingston to become an American star.

Edwards plays Dr. Mark Greene, who has a daughter named Rachel. If ER wasn't the 1st TV show with that title set in a Chicago hospital (CBS had tried a sitcom of that title, starring Elliott Gould, in 1982, but it flopped), or the 1st network drama set in a Chicago hospital to premiere that week (CBS' Chicago Hope beat it by 24 hours), it was, by 3 days, the 1st NBC show to have a character named Rachel Green (or Greene, beating Friends' Jennifer Aniston).

The show lasts a whopping 15 seasons, and survives the moving-on of every original actor, including Edwards, whose Dr. Greene died of a brain tumor in 2001. On the show’s last episode, on April 2, 2009, his daughter Rachel begins her internship at the same hospital.

*

September 19, 1994 was a Monday. ER soon took L.A. Law's place in NBC's Thursday night powerhouse "Must See TV" lineup.

Baseball's Strike of '94 was on, so there was only one score on this historic day. And if you were watching ER, you weren't watching the game. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-17 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

September 18, 1994: Ken Burns' "Baseball" Premieres

September 18, 1994: Baseball, a documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns, premieres on PBS. Over each of 9 nights, a 2-hour "inning" airs:

* Sunday, September 18: "First Inning: Our Game," running from the beginnings of the game, whenever you think that might be, to 1899.

* Monday, September 19: "Second Inning: Something Like a War," 1900 to 1909, the title taken from a quote by the top player to debut in the decade, Ty Cobb.

* Tuesday, September 20: "Third Inning: The Faith of Fifty Million People," 1910 to 1919, the title taken from F. Scott Fitzgerald's line in The Great Gatsby, about the fixing of the 1919 World Series.

* Wednesday, September 21: "Fourth Inning, A National Heirloom," 1920 to 1929. The heirloom in question is Babe Ruth, who changed the game irrevocably in "The Roaring Twenties," helping it bounce back from the Black Sox Scandal a lot sooner than it otherwise would have. The companion book to the series, written by Burns and historian Geoffrey C. Ward, titled its 4th chapter "That Big Son of a Bitch," one of Ruth's many nicknames, but that couldn't be used on family-hour television.

* Thursday, September 22: "Fifth Inning: Shadow Ball," 1930 to 1939. The title refers to a pregame ritual of Negro League players, whose league seemed to be at its peak, but, still, no one would let nonwhite players into what came to be known as Major League Baseball.

* Sunday, September 25: "Sixth Inning: The National Pastime," 1939 to 1948. This chapter showed how World War II paved the way for the desegregation of the game under Jackie Robinson.

* Monday, September 26: "Seventh Inning: The Capital of Baseball," 1949 to 1960. The capital, of course, was New York, not that Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley understood, or would have accepted if he had, because there was less money in it than in moving elsewhere.

* Tuesday, September 27: "Eighth Inning: A Whole New Ballgame," 1960 to 1969.

* Wednesday, September 28: "Ninth Inning: Home," 1970 to 1992.

The Strike of '94 was on, and, just 3 days before the premiere, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig canceled the rest of the 1994 regular season, and the postseason. This was a terrible time to be a baseball fan.

Ken Burns saved us. Sure, there were complaints: Too much focus on the Boston Red Sox and labor struggles, not enough on the Chicago teams, going through the 1970s and '80s too fast. But this was baseball history compressed into less than 2 weeks, understandable to all, including ancient film of things we knew had happened, but had never really seen or felt before.

We could actually see Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson pitch. We could see Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, both looking young, shaking hands before the 1909 World Series between their teams. We could see Grover Cleveland Alexander strike out Tony Lazzeri in the 1926 World Series. And we saw more footage of Babe Ruth than ever before. Some of the film that Burns showed hadn't been seen in decades.

Some of the interviewees had already died by the time the miniseries aired, including Babe Ruth’s sister, Mamie Ruth Moberly; former Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler, star 2nd baseman Billy Herman, and broadcaster Red Barber. But there were interviews with members of the Hall of Fame: Chandler, Herman, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Monte Irvin, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, broadcasters Barber and Vin Scully, and sportswriter Shirley Povich. Former Players' Association Director Marvin Miller was finally elected to the Hall of Fame after his death.

On September 28 and 29, 2010, Burns aired a sequel, The Tenth Inning, covering the years from 1992 to 2009. Some of the surviving interviewees from the early 1990s were interviewed again, and so were some new faces, including Joe Torre and Pedro Martinez.

*

September 18, 1994, as I said, was a Sunday. There should have been MLB games, but there weren't. The NBA and the NHL were a few weeks away from starting up again. But there were NFL games: 

* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 31-23 at Giants Stadium.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 28-14 at Joe Robbie Stadium in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers, 13-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts, 31-21 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Arizona Cardinals, 32-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-28 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Atlanta Falcons, 30-10 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-7 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Houston Oilers, 15-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 42-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 48-16 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, 34-19 at Anaheim Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California. It's now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-10 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. The Seahawks were playing at the University of Washington's stadium while repairs were being made to the Kingdome.

* The following night, on Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-17 in overtime at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

Also on September 18, 1994, Arsenal lost to Newcastle United, 3-2 at Highbury in North London. 

September 15, 1994: The Baseball Season Is Canceled

September 15, 1994: A date which lives in infamy. There is no joy in Mudville, or anywhere else.

Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig, a walking conflict-of-interest as the Acting Commissioner of Major League Baseball, cancels the remainder of the regular season, and the postseason, including the World Series, following a vote of the team owners. No Commissioner, in any of the "big four" North American sports, had ever done that before.

The vote is 26-2. Oddly, the 2 who voted to go on with the season and not betray the fans were 2 of the most hated team owners of the era: Peter Angelos of the Baltimore Orioles and Marge Schott of the Cincinnati Reds.

There were 7 games originally scheduled for that Thursday, which was a travel day for the other teams then in the major leagues. All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time:

* 2:05: Cleveland Indians vs. Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* 7:35: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays at SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* 7:35: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* 7:35: Florida Marlins (now the Miami Marlins) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* 8:05: Oakland Athletics vs. Chicago White Sox at the new Comiskey Park (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago.

* 8:05: Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros, at the Astrodome in Houston.

* 10:05: Cincinnati Reds vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* Not scheduled to play: The Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels), the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins, the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.

* Not yet established: The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays.

This was in midweek of the NFL season, and a few weeks before the starts of the NBA and NHL seasons, so those leagues did not play on this day.

*

That strike, lasting from August 12, 1994 to April 25, 1995, was rough. Although President Clinton got the Crime Bill passed, his health care initiative failed, the Republican Party won control of both houses of Congress, and began passing bills slashing social services, which Clinton had to veto. A ferry carrying passengers from Estonia to Sweden sank, killing over 800 people. The Taliban was founded. A religious cult unleashed a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and putting 5,000 in the hospital. Singer Selena (Quintanilla-Perez, not Gomez) was murdered. And, just before baseball started play again, a white "Christian" domestic terrorist blew up the federal government office building in Oklahoma City.

It wasn't all bad. A totalitarian government in Haiti fell. The Channel Tunnel opened, finally linking Britain with the European Continent by road. Sony released the first PlayStation. George Foreman regained the Heavyweight Championship of the World, 20 years after he lost it to Muhammad Ali, by knocking Michael Moorer out, making himself the oldest Heavyweight Champion ever, age 45.

Billy Wright, and Wilma Rudolph, and Howard Cosell died. Halsey, and Carlos Correa, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were born.

August 11, 1994: The Strike of '94 Begins

August 11, 1994: With the Major League Baseball Players Association going on strike at Midnight, what turn out to be the last games of the season are played.

This includes the unintentionally early last baseball game at Mile High Stadium in Denver, which had hosted minor-league baseball from 1948 to 1992. The Colorado Rockies lose to the Atlanta Braves, 13-0. Greg Maddux pitched a 3-hit shutout. David Justice hits the stadium's last home run.

The Rockies moved into the new Coors Field when baseball resumed the following April. Mile High Stadium continued to host the NFL's Denver Broncos, as it had since 1960, through the 2000 season, when its replacement opened next-door, on the site of the McNichols Sports Arena.

The last game to end is at the Oakland Coliseum, with the host Athletics losing, 8-1 to the Seattle Mariners. Randy Johnson, outpitching former Met Ron Darling, closes it out by striking Ernie Young out at 9:45 PM Pacific Time – 12:45 AM on August 12, Eastern Time. Eric Anthony of Seattle hits the last home run… until Raul Mondesi of the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 25, 1995, 257 long days and many broken hearts later.

The A's trailed the Texas Rangers in the American League Western Division by 1 game; the Mariners, by 2. The Rangers actually had a terrible record, 52-62, but it was good enough, at the time, to lead the Division. With the 3-Division setup debuting this season, they could have become the 1st team ever ton win a Division title with a losing record. Through the 2021 season, that still has not happened.

*

August 11, 1994 was a Thursday. These other games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-7 at Yankee Stadium. This game went to extra innings, and I thought at the time that the players looked like they wanted to keep playing, and not go on strike. Each team scored a run in the 12th inning. Ed Sprague hit a home run off Joe Ausanio to lead off the top of the 13th. Danny Tartabull hit a home run for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5 with a walk.

The Yankees had the best record in the American League, 70-43, and were leading the American League Eastern Division by 6 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles. This was probably Mattingly's best chance to win a title, and it was over.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Ricky Jordan singled Billy Hatcher home with the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning. So, between them, the 2 New York teams played 28 innings, and neither won.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins, 8-6 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 4-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Zane Smith pitched a 5-hit shutout. Despite this defeat, at 74-40, the Expos had the best record in MLB, leading National League Eastern Division by 6 games over the Braves.

The only 2 times that franchise ended a season in 1st place under the Montreal Expos name were in 1981 and 1994, both tainted by a strike. During the strike-affected off-season, the Expos would break up their team to save money. Just 10 years later, they moved, becoming the Washington Nationals.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Ramón Martínez pitched a 7-hit shutout. The Dodgers were leading the NL Western Division, while the Reds were leading the NL Central. They would face each other in the Playoffs the next season, with the Reds sweeping, but not this season.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 8-6 at the Astrodome in Houston. Derek Bell went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Tony Gwynn also went 3-for-5. The Astros were only half a game behind the Reds in the NL Central.

* The Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians were among the teams not scheduled. The White Sox, who hadn't won a Pennant since 1959 or a World Series since 1917, were leading the AL Central. The Indians, who hadn't even been in a Pennant race since 1959, hadn't won a Pennant since 1954, and hadn't won a World Series since 1948, were just 1 game behind the ChiSox. Both got screwed by the strike. At the time, the White Sox were the one team that concerned me, as a Yankee Fan, with possibly being a better team.

April 25, 1995: Baseball Resumes After Its Longest Strike

April 25, 1995: For the 1st time since August 11, 1994 -- 247 days -- a regular-season Major League Baseball game is played.

In the interim, football player-turned actor Woody Strode; former Heavyweight Champion Jack Sharkey and former Middleweight Champion Carlos Monzón; soccer legend Billy Wright; runner Wilma Rudolph; tennis legend Fred Perry; sportscaster Howard Cosell; scientist Linus Pauling; authors James Clavell, Robert Bloch, James Herriot; directors Terence Young and George Abbott; actors Patrick O'Neil, Jessica Tandy, Harriet Nelson, Martha Raye, Burt Lancaster, Raúl Juliá, Noah Beery Jr., Sebastian Shaw, Peter Cook, Donald Pleasence, David Wayne, Ed Flanders, Priscilla Lane, Burl Ives and Ginger Rogers; songwriters Jule Styne, Antônio Carlos Jobim; singers Carmen McRae, Cab Calloway, Melvin Franklin of The Temptations, Selena, and rapper Eazy-E; fashion magnate Maurizio Gucci, astronaut Stuart Roosa; former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, former Senator J. William Fulbright, and Kennedy family matriarch Rose Kennedy died.

Basketball player Jabari Parker, soccer players Bruno Fernandes, Takuma Asano, Raheem Sterling, Joshua Kimmich, Naby Keïta, Héctor Bellerín, Divock Origi and Adrien Rabiot; skier Mikaela Shiffrin; actors Zooey Deutch and Jake T. Austin; singer Halsey, rapper Megan Thee Stallion; and model Gigi Hadid were born.

The Strike of '94 began the preceding August 12. When the MLB team owners threatened to use "replacement players" -- essentially, strikebreakers, or "scabs" -- a federal Judge ruled that this was in violation of their contract. With nothing else they can do, the owners settled, and the players "won" the strike. The judge was Sonia Sotomayor, a Yankee Fan from The Bronx. In 2009, she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This was each MLB team's 1st game back:

* April 25: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 8-7 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Marlin pitcher John Burkett restarted the proceedings by getting Delino DeShields to fly out to center fielder Chuck Carr. Raúl Mondesi hit 2 home runs, including the 1st one in restarted baseball, while Terry Pendleton and Jeff Conine homered for the Marlins. The Marlins trailed 8-2 going into the bottom of the 8th inning, and a comeback fell just short.

On April 26:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 8-6 at Yankee Stadium. I was there, setting near the back of the Main Level, behind home plate. Joe DiMaggio threw out a ceremonial first ball. Danny Tartabull and Bernie Williams hit home runs in support of Jimmy Key.

* The New York Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies, 11-9 in the 1st-ever game at Coors Field in Denver. The Mets got home runs from Rico Brogna and Todd Hundley. They trailed 5-1 going into the top of the 6th, then took leads of 7-6 into the top of the 9th, 8-7 in the top of the 13th, and 9-8 into the top of the 14th. But the Rockies just kept on coming, until Dante Bichette hit a 3-run homer off Mike Remlinger to win it for the Rockies in the bottom of the 14th.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Aaron Sele allowed just 1 hit over 5 innings, and 4 relievers helped complete a 2-hit shutout.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 12-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Braves went on to win the National League Pennant.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 13-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Officially, since there was no World Series the year before, the Jays were now beginning their 3rd straight season as defending World Champions.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 12-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. In spite of the strike, the consecutive games played streak of Cal Ripken Jr. was officially still going. He would break Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 straight games on September 6.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 10-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

On April 27:

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Rangers, 11-6 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Indians went on to win the American League Pennant, but the Braves beat them in the World Series.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Tigers, 3-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Randy Johnson allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, and 2 relievers completed the 3-hit shutout.

*

April 25, 1995 was a Tuesday. Football was in the off-season. The NBA was between its regular season and the Playoffs. There were 5 games played in the NHL, whose regular season was pushed back by a strike of its own:

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the United Center. Murray Craven scored the winning goal, 2 minutes into overtime.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars, 8-4 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).