December 4, 1921: The Staley Swindle

December 4, 1921: The Chicago Staleys beat the Buffalo All-Americans, 10-7 at Cubs Park in Chicago. The Staleys thus win an NFL Championship that the All-Americans thought they had already won. It becomes known as the Staley Swindle.

The Buffalo All-Stars were a professional football team founded in 1915. They became the Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, and the Buffalo All-Americans in 1920, as charter members of the American Professional Football Association.

The APFA was founded by the owners of the member teams, including George Halas, a former University of Illinois end who was now the head coach, general manager, and starting end on both offense and defense, for the Decatur Staleys, as they were a "company team" (in English sport, they would say "works side") for the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Illinois, makers of starchers and sweeteners. And Halas was then employed by them.

After playing the 1920 season in Decatur, Halas got permission to move the team to Chicago for 1921, signing actual football players, not just Staley employees who had once played football. Company owner Gene Staley offered to sell the team to Halas, on the condition that it keep the Staleys name for 1 more season. He agreed.

At the time, not every team played by an APFA team was another APFA team. Nevertheless, the Staleys won their 1st 7 games of 1921, beating non-APFA team the Waukegan Legion (of Illinois) in their opener, and then APFA teams the Rock Island Independents (Illinois) twice, the Rochester Jeffersons (New York State), the Dayton Triangles (Ohio), the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians (those last 2 named for the baseball teams in their cities).

In contrast, all of the All-Americans' games that season were against APFA teams, and they won their 1st 6, beating the Hammond Pros (Indiana), the Columbus Panhandles (Ohio), the New York Brickley Giants (led by former Harvard star Charley Brickley and failing to get many fans into the Polo Grounds), the Jeffersons, the Tigers and the Indians. This was followed by ties against teams from outside Cleveland, the defending Champion Akron Pros and the Canton Bulldogs.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not permit professional sports to be played on Sundays, making it difficult for teams from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to get into the new league while still playing on Saturday, when college football soaked up the market.

So, to make more money -- and, remember, in those days, most football players weren't the 300-pound behemoths of today, or even the 250-pounders of the 1950s -- some men played pro games on Saturdays and Sundays, to make more money. Some were playing for the Philadelphia Quakers on Saturday, then taking a train to Buffalo, where they played for the All-Americans on Sunday.

But in mid-November, the APFA found out about this. It violated league policy, and forced the players to decide. And 5 of the Quakers/All-Americans decided to stick with Philadelphia. Fortunately, the league permitted the All-Americans to hire players from a team that folded in midseason, the Detroit Tigers, so they could have a full roster the rest of the way.

On November 24, Thanksgiving Day, the All-Americans played the Staleys at Cubs Park on the North Side of Chicago. Buffalo emerged victorious, 7-6. Three days later, they beat the Triangles, and had just 1 more game to go, home to Akron. They were 8-0-2. Their fullback, Elmer Oliphant, ended up leading the league in these categories: Field goals (5), points-after-touchdown (26), overall scoring (47 points) and touchdown passes (7 -- it was mostly a running game then).

Elmer Oliphant

Three days after Thanksgiving, the Staleys played a team founded in 1919, but making their league debut in 1921: The Green Bay Packers. Chicago won, 7-0. Now, they were 8-1. And Halas challenged the All-Americans to a rematch.

George Halas. Yes, old "Papa Bear" was a player,

and, by the standards of his time, a very good one.

The All-Americans agreed to play them on December 4, again at Cubs Park, on one condition: That the game would be considered an exhibition game, designed solely to generate gate receipts for the teams, and wouldn't count in the standings. Halas told them that he accepted this.

There was a problem, and, as would happen with Buffalo sports teams in the future, the All-Americans had no one to blame but themselves: They played a game that did count the day before, December 3. They beat Akron again, 14-0 at Buffalo Baseball Park. Then they got on a train to Chicago, to play again the very next day.

They did so knowing that they wouldn't have the former Detroit Tigers players they had signed. Because the Tigers were allowed to reassemble for one last game, to make up some of the money they owed, by playing the Detroit Maroons. That game ended in a 0-0 tie.

So the All-Americans, depleted in terms of manpower and physical energy, took the field at Clark and Addison Streets on the North Side of Chicago, and played the Chicago Staleys in front of a crowd estimated at 12,000. Chicago scored a touchdown in the 1st quarter, when Guy Chamberlin intercepted a pass from Oliphant, and returned the ball 75 yards for a touchdown. Buffalo equalized in the 3rd, when they blocked a punt, and Clarence "Steamer" Horning recovered it in the end zone.

But, later in the 3rd quarter, Dutch Sternaman -- at that point, Halas' co-owner, and brother of another teammate, Joey Sternaman -- kicked a 20-yard field goal to give the Staleys a 10-7 lead, and that lead held to the end of the game.

And then, the other shoe dropped: Halas got in touch with the other team owners, and gained their support, and contacted the league office, arguing that the game should count in the standings. After all, in pro football leagues to that point, the season usually extended past December 4. To make his point further, Halas risked his standing by scheduling 2 more games. They beat the Canton Bulldogs on December 11, then played the Chicago Cardinals on December 18, only gaining a 0-0 tie. So this plan could have backfired on him.

Now, the season was over. Chicago were 9-1-2, and Buffalo were 9-1-1. Each team's only loss was to the other. At the time, ties were not computed as part of winning percentage: Only wins and losses mattered. If ties had been counted, as half a win and half a loss, it would have been Buffalo .864, Chicago .833, and Buffalo would have been declared the Champions.

Frank McNeil, owner of the All-Americans, pointed out the agreement between him and Halas that the game was an exhibition and didn't count in the standings. Halas broke the agreement, telling the league that, under league rules, there was no such thing as an "exhibition game." This was a half-truth: While the league rules did not recognize exhibition games as a thing that could be played, they didn't rule such a thing out.

And then, Halas invoked the tiebreaker which was part of league rules at the time: The 2nd game between a pair of teams counted more than the 1st did. Had the APFA not bought this argument, he was prepared to argue aggregate points, which favored the Staleys, 16-14. But the league did buy the 2nd-game argument, and recognized the Staleys as Champions.

Football historians are split on this. On the one hand, Halas did break his word, and the December 4 game should have been accepted as an exhibition. On the other hand, Halas didn't break the rules: Instead, he used the rules as they then stood, regardless of whether they were fair then, or seem fair now. Halas was perfectly willing to be seen as a smart businessman, even if it affected his reputation as a sportsman.

Jeffrey J. Miller, a Buffalo-based historian who has written several books on Buffalo and pro football -- including a few books about Buffalo-based football -- wasn't born until 40 years later. But the subject bothered him enough to coin a phrase that did not exist at the time: "The Staley Swindle." In 2004, he published a book about the All-Americans: Buffalo's Forgotten Champions.

One way in which Halas did keep his word was to keep the Staley name for the 1921 season -- but no longer: The Staleys became known as the Chicago Bears in 1922. The APFA became the National Football League that year as well. And Cubs Park was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.

The All-Americans? They became known as the Buffalo Bisons in 1924, the Buffalo Rangers in 1926, the Buffalo Bisons again in 1927, and a team out of business in 1930. Ironically, in their last season, 1929, they avoided a winless season by beating the Bears. The NFL would not return to Buffalo until the merger with the AFL in 1970, admitting the Buffalo Bills.

The Staley company remained in business, long after everybody but people who knew NFL history had forgotten they had anything to do with the Bears, until 2005, when they were bought out by Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas, LLC.

In 2019, in connection with their 100th Season (not their 100th Anniversary, which was the next year), the Bears did fan balloting for their 100 Greatest Players. From these 1921 NFL Champions, they included end, head coach, general manager and founding owner George Halas; center George Trafton, and tackle Ed Healey. Not on this team, or on their next title team in 1932, but selected for the 100 Greatest Bears, were quarterback Joey Sternaman and halfback John "Paddy" Driscoll.

*

December 4, 1921 was, of course, a Sunday. These other APFA games were played that day, all previously scheduled, thus unwittingly deepening the case for the Staleys:

* The Akron Pros beat the Chicago Cardinals, 7-0 at Normal Field on the South Side of Chicago.

* As mentioned, the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Maroons (not an APFA team) played to a tie, 0-0 at Navin Field, which would be renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961.

* The Columbus Panhandles beat the Louisville Brecks, 6-0 at Eclipse Park in Louisville, Kentucky. What the heck is a "Breck"? The team was founded by the Louisville Breckenridge club, named after (though misspelling) John C. Breckinridge, who served Kentucky in both houses of Congress before becoming President James Buchanan's Vice President -- and, near the end of the Civil War, the Confederate Secretary of War.

* The Evansville Crimson Giants beat the Indianapolis Football Club (not an APFA team), 17-0 at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana.

* The Minneapolis Marines played away to Sioux City Football Club (not an APFA team) in Iowa, and lost 10-0.

* And the Green Bay Packers played fellow Wisconsans the Racine Legion to a 3-3 tie, at Hagemeister Park in Green Bay.

Baseball was out of season. The NHL started its season a few days later. And there would be no NBA for another 25 years.

Also on this day, Canadian singer and actress Deanna Durbin was born.

June 5, 2004: The Calgary Screwjob

This photograph proves it: The puck was clearly over the goal line.

June 5, 2004: Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals is played. The Cup should have been awarded that night. It wasn't.

The Calgary Flames won the Cup in 1989. In 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning began play. The NHL had never had a team based in Florida before. Nor had the World Hockey Association. They made their 1st Playoffs in 1996.

The "Bolts" went into the 2004 Playoffs with some previous Cup winners: Tim Taylor of the 1997 Detroit Red Wings, Darryl Sydor and Brad Lukowich of the 1999 Dallas Stars, and Chris Dingman and Nolan Pratt of the 2001 Colorado Avalanche.

However, their best players -- Russian goalkeeper Nikolai "Bulin Wall" Khabibulin, centers Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards, right wing Martin St. Louis, and left wing Dave Andreychuk had never won, or even been to the Finals before. And Andreychuk, who had scored 634 goals for Buffalo, Toronto, New Jersey and Tampa Bay, and was now 40 years old, had to be thinking this was his last chance.

John Tortorella had coached them to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. In the Playoffs, they beat the New York Islanders, the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers, making the Finals for the 1st time ever.

But to win the Cup, they would have to beat the Flames, coached by Darryl Sutter, a former star left with with the Chicago Blackhawks. Martin Gélinas had won the Cup with the 1990 Edmonton Oilers, and had been to 2 other Finals. Chris Simon had done it with the 1996 Avalanche. Roman Turek had been goalie Ed Belfour's backup on the 1999 Cup-winning Dallas Stars. Krzyzstof Oliwa had won it with the 2000 New Jersey Devils, beating the Stars of Sydor, Lukowich and Turek. Mike Commodore and Ville Niemenen had been teammates of Dingman and Pratt on the '01 Avs. Stephane Yelle had won with the Avs in '96 and '01.

Turek would be backing up Mikka Kiprusoff, a star goalie from Finland. But the Flames' biggest star was right wing Jarome Iginla, the son of a father from Nigeria and a mother from Oregon. Ironically, he was born in Edmonton, home of the Flames' Provincial arch-rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, and grew up idolizing their goalie, Grant Fuhr, who became the 1st black player in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Iginla would become the 4th, following Willie O'Ree, the 1st black player in the NHL, and women's hockey pioneer Angela James.

To reach the Finals, the Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks (losing Game 6 at home in 3 overtimes but then winning Game 7 away in 1 overtime), the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings, and the San Jose Sharks. The Canucks had beaten the Flames in 3 overtimes in Game 6, but Gélinas scored in the 1st overtime to win Game 7. He scored in overtime again to win Game 6 to clinch against the Wings, and scored the go-ahead goal in Game 6 against the Sharks. He had scored the winning goal, or what amounted to it, in all 3 series.

The 1st 2 games were in Tampa, at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Amalie Arena). The Flames won Game 1, 4-1. The Lightning won Game 2, by the same score. Calgary's "Red Mile" leading to the Saddledome and the "C of Red" inside it had become one of the most intimidating home-ice advantages in the NHL. The Flame defense shone, limiting the Lightning to 21 shots, all stopped by Kiprussoff, and the Flames won, 3-0. But Richards scored only 2:48 into Game 4, and that 1-0 lead held up all the way, tying the series.

Back in Tampa, Game 5 went to overtime, and at 14:40, Oleg Saprykin scored to give the Flames a 3-2 win, and a 3-2 lead. Game 6 would be at the Saddledome, and the C of Red would be in full voice.

With just under 7 minutes to play in regulation, and the score tied, 2-2, Gélinas appeared to have made it 4-for-4, and a 2nd Cup for the Flames, when, it appeared, he put the puck over the goal line before Khabibulin pushed it out with his stick. The officials did not give the goal. There was no instant replay provision in the NHL at the time. The TV cameras showed the puck over the line. The goal should have counted, ending the game and the season, and fulfilling the dream for Calgary.

It didn't, and the game went to overtime. Martin St. Louis scored 33 seconds into the 2nd overtime, and the Lightning won, 3-2. There would be a Game 7 in Tampa, 2 nights later.

That night, before the game, ABC showed a computer simulation of Gélinas' shot, showing that it hadn't fully crossed the goal line. Except their own replay cameras proved that it had. ABC lied. The on-ice officials could be excused for having blown the biggest call of the season in the heat of the moment. But ABC had time to make a choice. Instead of telling the truth, they chose to tell a lie that justified the revenue that they, and the NHL, would receive from a Game 7 being played and broadcast.

Apparently, people will come out for hockey in Florida in June if they think their team is going to win. The Tampa Game 7 crowd wasn't as loud as Calgary's in Game 6, but they gave it their best. Ukrainian left wing Ruslan Fedotenko scored in the 1st period, and again in the 2nd. The Flames were never really in it, and even when Craig Conroy scored midway through the 3rd period, it never felt like the Flames would find an equalizer.

It ended 2-1, and a team from Florida had won the Stanley Cup. Commissioner Gary Bettman, always favoring the Sun Belt over Canada and other cold-weather places, was happy to present the Cup to the Bolts' Captain, Andreychuk. He finally won one.

Also winning one was Bill Davidson, owner of the Lightning from 1999 to 2007. Just 8 days later, for the 3rd time, the Detroit Pistons made him the owner of the NBA Champions. No other person, or group, has owned the NBA Champions and the NHL Champions at the same time.

Jarome Iginla never returned to the Stanley Cup Finals. He did, however, play on the Canada team that won the Gold Medal on home ice at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He retired after the 2017 season, with 625 NHL goals.

Through the 2021-22 season, the Calgary Flames have never been back to the Stanley Cup Finals. It wouldn't have been as bad had they simply been outplayed. They were not outplayed. They got screwed.

UPDATE: The Lightning have a team Hall of Fame. Their 1st inductee was Phil Esposito, already a hockey legend, who led the founding ownership group, served as the team's 1st general manager, and has remained a broadcaster. Also from their founding era, before their 1st Stanley Cup, they have inducted their 1st team Captain, center Brian Bradley.

From their 2004 Stanley Cup, they have inducted centers Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards, left with Dave Andreychuk, right wing Martin St. Louis, and broadcaster Rick Peckham. They have not yet inducted any players from their 2015 Stanley Cup Finalists.

Esposito, Lecavalier and Andreychuk have been elected to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.

*

June 5, 2004 was a Saturday. Former President Ronald Reagan died on this day, at the age of 93. At that point, he was the longest-living President of the United States.

Game 1 was played in the NBA Finals, and it was also a shocker, but for very different, and totally legitimate, reasons. The Detroit Pistons beat a Los Angeles Lakers "superteam" of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, 87-75 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. It was one of those finals where Game 1 set the tone, and the Pistons won in 5.

The Belmont Stakes was also held on this day. Smarty Jones, having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, led this 3rd, last, longest and toughest leg of American thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, but fell short in the end. I have a separate entry for this event. But he just lost. He wasn't humiliated like the Lakers -- or screwed like the Flames.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Jon Lieber had a bad start. The only Yankee run came off a home run by former Ranger Rubén Sierra. Derek Jeter did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. The Mets led 5-2 after 6 innings, with 2 home runs from Mike Piazza, but blew it. A 9th-inning comeback fell short.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. 

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Adam Dunn hit a home run to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Gary Knotts pitched shutout ball for 7 2/3rds innings, allowing only 3 hits. Two relievers didn't add any more.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 10-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City royals, 8-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Barry Bonds went 1-for-1 with 3 walks, 2 of them intentional.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Ismael Valdéz pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Anaheim Angels, 3-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum). Tim Hudson allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were rained out at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 5. The O's swept, 4-2 and 8-2.

May 31, 2002: The Sacramento Swindle

May 31, 2002: Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals is played at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings, 106-102. Shaquille O'Neal scored 41 points and had 17 rebounds. Kobe Bryant added 31 points in support.

Almost immediately, there were allegations that this game was fixed by the referees. In 2008, as part of the scandal that involved him betting on games he had officiated, fired NBA referee Tim Donaghy said that two of the referees in this game were told to fix it so the NBA and televising network NBC could make more money on a Game 7.

The officials for this game were Dick Bavetta, Ted Bernhardt and Bob Delaney. Bavetta holds the record for most NBA games officiated, with 2,635, having never missed a game from his 1975 hiring until his 2014 retirement. Early in his career, he was considered one of the worst refs in the game. He decided to do something about it, and practiced with Summer league games, such as in New York City's Rucker League. By 1986, when he was assigned to officiate a Playoff game for the first time, he had begun to be regarded as one of the best referees.

And yet, in a 2002 article for ESPN, Bill Simmons named the worst officiated games of the prior four years, alleging that the games involved either extending a series so it did not end quickly or advancing a large market team for the NBA's benefit. All seven games named had been officiated by Bavetta. It should be noted that Simmons is a Boston Celtics fan, and is usually full of... highly questionable opinions.

Bernhardt was best known for a 1996 game where he called a foul on Dennis Rodman, who then head-butted him and was suspended for it. Delaney seems an unlikely candidate for corruption: He was a New Jersey State Trooper who successfully infiltrated the Mob, and worked his way all the way from high school games to the NBA Playoffs.

In this Game 6, the awarding of fouls resulted in the Lakers shooting 40 free throws overall, a whopping 27 in the fourth quarter alone, and the Kings' big men were plagued with foul trouble: Between them, Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Scot Pollard, and Lawrence Funderburke were called for 20 fouls, Divac and Pollard both fouling out.

Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post, already co-hosting Pardon the Interruption on ESPN with fellow Post columnist Tony Kornheiser, wrote, "I wrote down in my notebook six calls that were stunningly incorrect, all against Sacramento, all in the fourth quarter when the Lakers made five baskets and 21 foul shots to hold on to their championship." Wilbon pointed out that Kobe Bryant did not get a foul called on him after elbowing Mike Bibby in front of an official.

Two nights later, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, the Lakers won Game 7, 112-106 in overtime.

Also on May 31, 2002, the NBA's Eastern Conference Championship was won. The New Jersey Nets defeated the Boston Celtics, 96-88, to win Game 6 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, and win their first NBA Eastern Conference Championship. After 26 years of trying, they were in their first NBA Finals. They did this despite none of their players scoring more than Kenyon Martin’s 16 points, and former Net Kenny Anderson scoring 18 for Boston.

What guard Jason Kidd did with this team in 1 season, taking them from one of the worst teams in the league to a Finalist, is one of the greatest achievements any NBA player has ever had.

Given the Nets' history to this point -- they had won just 1 Playoff series between 1977 and 2001 -- this should have been the most remarkable NBA story of the night. But it wasn't, because of the perceived Sacramento Swindle.

Was the Lakers-Kings Game 6 fixed? Did NBA Commissioner David Stern, and NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol, want the Lakers in the Finals rather than the Kings? It would be easy to say, "You do the math": There are 13 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and only 2.5 million in Sacramento's.

But that theory doesn't hold up for the East: There are 13.2 million in New England, and, while the Nets are part of the New York Tri-State Area, the New York Knicks have always held the vast majority of those fans. So if it was fixed for the Lakers, why not for the Celtics?

The Kings, previously the Rochester Seagrams (1923-43), the Rochester Pros (1943-45), the Rochester Royals (1945-57), the Cincinnati Royals (1957-72) and the Kansas City Kings (1972-85), still have not been to the NBA Finals since 1951. From 2002 to 2021, the Lakers made it 6 more times.

When the NBA named its 50th Anniversary Team in 1996, the only man named to it to have played for the Kings, either in Kansas City or Sacramento, was Kansas City star Nate "Tiny" Archibald, although Cincinnati players Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas were named. Shaquille O'Neal, then in his 1st season with the Lakers after 4 years with the Orlando Magic, was a controversial selection.

When the NBA named its 75th Anniversary Team in 2021, there was no controversy around Shaq being named, or with Phil Jackson again being named one of the top coaches, as he was in 1996 as well, when he was still running the Chicago Bulls. Kobe Bryant was added: His crime in Colorado had already been chosen to be forgotten before his death. And no player on the Kings franchise, not even Hall-of-Famer Chris Webber, was added.

*

May 31, 2002 was a Friday. Football was out of season. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings pretty much settled their "rivalry" with the Colorado Avalanche by winning Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, 7-0 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. Derek Lowe outpitched David Wells. Jorge Posada had 2 hits, including driving in both Yankee runs with a home run, but the rest of the team only had 4 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 6-5 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Rey Ordóñez, not known for his power, hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-7 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Gerónimo Gil hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Roberts with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 13-9 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-0 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Bartolo Colón allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. How many Braves pitchers does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? Apparently, 4: Greg Maddux, 2 hits over 5 innings; Kevin Gryboski, none over an inning and 2/3rds; Kerry Lightenberg, 2 over an inning and 1/3rd; and Chris Hammond, striking out the side in a perfect 9th.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 10-7 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Royals got 3 straight home runs in the top of the 11th inning, from Carlos Beltrán, Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Diego Padres, 12-1 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.