December 27, 1975: The Pittsburgh Steelers Introduce the Terrible Towel

December 27, 1975: The Pittsburgh Steelers, the defending NFL Champions, host the Baltimore Colts in an AFC Divisional Playoff at Three Rivers Stadium. In the stands, fans wave yellow dish towels, which became known as "The Terrible Towel."

At the time, the flagship of the Steelers' radio network was WTAE, 1250 on the AM dial. Two weeks before this game, Ted Atkins, the station's general manager, and Larry Garrett, the station's president of sales, went to Myron Cope, the Steelers' main broadcaster, who also had a sports-talk show on the station. They suggested that a "gimmick" -- an unusual device or idea that seems to have little value, but would attract an increased amount of attention -- which would attract sponsors to Cope's show.

Cope, a Pittsburgh native born Myron Sidney Kopelman, was then 46 years old, and had already won awards for writing for Sports Illustrated. He began his talk show on WTAE in 1968, and became the Steelers' main announcer when Three Rivers opened in 1970. At first, he didn't want to do a gimmick, saying, "I'm not a gimmick guy."

It wasn't true: Like other broadcasters in town, including the Pirates' Bob Prince and the Penguins' Mike Lange, he was known for catchphrases. Being Jewish, something good made him yell the Yiddish word, "Yoi!" Sometimes it would be good enough to be a "Double Yoi!" which became the title of his memoir. If something bad happened, he would use the Yiddish word, "Feh!" Instead of, "Okey dokey," he would say, "Okel dokel."

He gave some Steelers nicknames: Hard-hitting linebacker Jack Lambert was "Jack Splat." In the next generation of Steeler players, the big fullback Jerome Bettis became "The Bus," and Kordell Stewart -- said to be a quarterback/running back/receiver -- became "Slash." And he mocked opposing teams: The Cleveland Browns were the Brownies, the Cincinnati Bengals were the Bungles, the Dallas Cowboys were the Cryboys, and so on.

So he wasn't being fully honest when he said, "I'm not a gimmick guy." But Garrett told him that, if the gimmick worked, it would be good leverage when his contract came up for renewal. Hearing, this, Cope said, "I'm a gimmick guy!"

Pictured: A gimmick guy

So Cope, Atkins and Garrett started thinking about what kind of gimmick. Cope said it should be something "lightweight and portable, and already owned by just about every fan." Garrett thought of a small towel. Cope gave it the alliterative name, "The Terrible Towel." It would be in Steeler colors: While black with gold lettering was experimented with, it was correctly decided that gold with black lettering would show up better.

Garrett was enthusiastic. Atkins was not: He thought that, if the Steelers lost the game, the Towel would be seen as the reason why, a jinx. So Cope asked the players what they thought. Linebacker Jack Ham said, "I think your idea stinks." Older linebacker Andy Russell, paralleling what Cope had already said, said, "We're not a gimmick team. We've never been a gimmick team."

But that wasn't true, either. Three years earlier, a group of employees at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh quickly took to Franco Harris, the team's half-black, half-Italian rookie running back, wearing Army-style helmets, and sitting behind a banner reading, "FRANCO'S ITALIAN ARMY." Similar groups copied them. A group of Polish fans honored Ham with "JACK HAM DOBRE SHUNKA FAN CLUB." "Dobre shunka" is Polish for "Good ham." Running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua had Frenchy's Foreign Legion. Lambert had Lambert's Lunatics. Kicker Roy Gerela had Gerela's Gorillas.

Knowing this, Cope went to the most visible player on the team, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, and asked him, "How do you feel about the Terrible Towel?" According to Cope, Bradshaw said, "Huh?" And Cope later said, "I check him off as a 'Yes.'... I reported back to Ted Atkins that the Steelers overwhelmingly approved of the Towel." A little white lie -- or a little black and gold lie.

As the Steelers took the field for their Playoff game against the Colts, the fans whipped out their Towels and waved them around. Cope thought there were 30,000 of them, in a stadium that then seated a little over 50,000.

In the 1st quarter, Ham intercepted a pass from the Colts' Marty Domres. This set up a 34-yard pass from Bradshaw to Frank Lewis, which set up an 8-yard run by Harris, giving the Steelers a 7-0 lead. But the Colts led 10-7 at the half. Early in the 3rd quarter, Mel Blount intercepted a Domres pass, and took it to the Colts' 7-yard line. Rocky Bleier ran it in on the next play, giving the Steelers a lead they would not relinquish.

In the 4th quarter, Colt coach Ted Marchibroda, himself an unsuccessful Steeler quarterback in the 1950s, replaced Domres with Bert Jones. He did no better: He got to the Steelers' 7-yard line, but was hit by Ham, and fumbled. Of all people to pick it up, it was "not-gimmick-guy" Russell, who ran 93 yards, for the longest fumble return in NFL Playoff history. Sports Illustrated called it "the longest, slowest touchdown ever witnessed." It put the cap on a 28-10 Steeler win.

(UPDATE: Russell's record stood until 2023, when Cincinnati Bengals defensive end returned one 98 yards against the Baltimore Ravens. The Bengals won.)

Steeler fan Lisa Benz wrote a poem about the game and the Towels, and sent it to Cope, who read it on the air. It concluded:

He ran ninety-three like a bat out of hell,
And no one could see how he rambled so well.
"It was easy", said Andy, and he flashed a crooked smile:
"I was snapped on the fanny by the Terrible Towel!"

So the gimmick worked. The next week, Gimbel's department stores all over Western Pennsylvania sold out of yellow and gold dish towels. Cope got rich off the idea. In 1996, he gave the rights to The Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School in nearby Coraopolis, which cares for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Cope's son Danny was autistic, and had attended the school. Proceeds from Towel sales have raised over $6 million for the school.

Having won Super Bowl IX the season before, the Steelers went on to win Super Bowl X. After 2 years of near-misses, they won Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XIV. The 2005 season, in which they went on to win Super Bowl XL, was Cope's retirement season. They won Super Bowl XLIII as well. They've also lost Super Bowl XXX and Super Bowl XLV.

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A standard Terrible Towel, now bearing Cope's name, is 16-by-23-inches. It was the original sports-team gimmick, preceding the Cleveland Indians' "Hate the Yankees Hanky" by nearly 2 years, the Minnesota Twins' "Homer Hanky" by nearly 12 years, and the Atlanta Braves' foam Tomahawk by almost 16 years.

Because of their 1970s success, when they were frequently on television, the Steelers gained lots of fans in big cities whose teams weren't doing well at the time, like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. (This is also true of the decade's other successful teams: The Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins, and the then-Oakland Raiders.) As a result, Steeler fans are everywhere.

And as a result of that, Steeler fans have taken their Towels everywhere: The Vatican in Rome, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Great Wall of China, Mount Everest on the China-Nepal border, the South Pole in Antarctica. Soldiers have taken them to war zones, including Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan. Pittsburgh-born rapper Wiz Khalifa put one in a video. Pittsburgh-born astronaut Mike Fincke took one to the International Space Station in 2009.

Making it the most "far out" piece of sports memorabilia ever.

Don't tell me Alan Shepard swung a golf club on the Moon:
He did, but golf is not a sport.

Although the Rooney family, owners of the Steelers since their founding in 1933, is Republican, team president Dan Rooney gave a Towel to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she campaigned in the 2008 Pennsylvania Primary. She won it, though she lost the nomination to Barack Obama.

In the general election, Rooney gave Obama one, and Rooney's ticket-splitting support may have made the difference in Obama winning the State. Obama rewarded him by appointing him U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, a post into which he was sworn in by Obama's Secretary of State -- Hillary Clinton. He served for 3 years.

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But do not mock the Terrible Towel, nor misuse it. There is a Curse of the Terrible Towel. No, I'm not kidding. During player introductions for the Steelers' 1994 Playoff game against the arch-rival Browns, Brentson Buckner came out waving one, and dropped it. The Browns' Earnest Byner stepped on it, saying, "We don't care about your towel! We're going to beat you this time!" They did not, and less than a year later, the original version of the Browns was moved, becoming the Baltimore Ravens.

You would think that opponents would have learned from this, but some didn't. In 2005, T.J. Houshmandzadeh of the Bengals celebrated a touchdown by wiping his feet on one. The Bengals won, but the Steelers went on to beat them in the Playoffs, and the Bengals didn't win another Playoff game for 16 years. They didn't even make the Playoffs again until 4 years later -- after Houshmandzadeh had left the team.

Cope died on February 27, 2008. On September 29, Derrick Mason of the Ravens stepped on a Towel. The Steelers swept their Divisional games against the Ravens, and then beat them in the AFC Championship Game. On October 5, Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville celebrated a Jags touchdown against the Steelers by taking a Towel and scratching his armpits with it. The Steelers came from behind to win, and the Jags lost 8 of their last 11 games.

On December 21, the Tennessee Titans beat the Steelers, and LenDale White and Keith Bulluck celebrated by stomping on a Towel, and they ended up as the top seed in the AFC Playoffs, but lost at home to the Ravens, who then lost to the Steelers.

The Titans ended up losing 8 straight games, including their 2009 season opener against the Steelers and a 59-0 loss to the New England Patriots. NFL teams simply don't lose games by 59 points, but the Titans did. Head coach Jeff Fisher publicly apologized for the desecration of the Towel, bought a new one, had his players autograph it, and donated it to the Allegheny Valley School. Did that generous gesture remove the Curse? Apparently: The Titans won their next 5 games.

And to close the 2008 season, as the Arizona Cardinals prepared to play the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix hosted a pep rally at City Hall, invited Cards mascot Big Red to the stage, and handed him a Towel. Big Red proceeded to use the Towel to scratch his armpits and blow his nose (beak). The Steelers won.

After 4 such incidents in 1 season alone, you'd think people would've learned. Alas, in the closing minutes of a 2009 game in Detroit, the Steelers led by 8 points, but the Lions were marching down the field in the hope of a tying touchdown. Lions mascot Roary found a Towel, stepped on it, and ripped it apart with his teeth. Result: 3 straight sacks of Lion quarterback Daunte Culpepper, and a Steeler win. That same season, the Indianapolis Colts tried to pay tribute, issuing blue and white "Terrific Towels." It almost worked: They did reach Super Bowl XLIV, but lost to the New Orleans Saints. I guess the Saints had too much good karma stored up since Hurricane Katrina.

In 2014, Jaxson de Ville struck again. During a game with the Steelers in Jacksonville, he held up a Towel with one hand and a sign reading "Towels Carry Ebola" with the other. Not only did the Steelers win the game, but the Jags lost 13 of their next 17. In 2016, as the Steelers opened the season against the Washington Redskins, Washington punter Tress Way tweeted a video of his mother burning a Terrible Towel in a voodoo cemetery. The Steelers won.

Even other sports are not immune to the Curse. On February 7, 2016, the Penguins were visiting the Florida Panthers, and trailed 2-0 with about 6 minutes left in regulation. Florida's mascot, Stanley C. Panther, blew his nose into a Terrible Towel. The Pens tied the game and won it in overtime. So, if you don't want horrible things to happen to you, leave the Terrible Towel alone.

Terrible Towels usually cost $10. I once attended a sports memorabilia show at the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Jersey Shore, and saw them for sale. I bought 2, keeping 1, and sending the other to a friend who's a big Steeler fan.

In 2011, some scenes for the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises were filmed in Pittsburgh. Three Rivers' replacement, then named Heinz Field and now named Acrisure Stadium, stood in for Gotham City's football stadium; and the fictional Gotham Rogues wore black and gold uniforms like the Steelers. Several real-life Steelers appeared, and the fans were given yellow towels with black lettering, labeled as "Rogue Rags."

The character of Bane (played by Tom Hardy) proceeded to destroy the stadium's field, and blow up the owner's luxury box, killing the Mayor (Nestor Carbonell). Granted, this was fiction, and it seemed more like the Rag was a tribute to the Towel rather than a parody, but it's still suspicious.

UPDATE: The Jacksonville Jaguars are so dumb! (How dumb are they?) They're so dumb, they are a three-time loser when it comes to messing with the Terrible Towel. On October 29, 2023, they beat the Steelers, 20-10. During the game, several Jacksonville players took fans' Terrible Towels, mockingly waved them around, and dropped them. The team proceeded to finish the season 3-6, which included a loss in their final game against the Tennessee Titans, 28-20. This not only eliminated the Jaguars from playoff contention, but gave the Steelers the final AFC Playoff spot.

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December 27, 1975 was a Saturday. There was 1 other NFL Playoff game that day: The Los Angeles Rams beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 35-23 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

There was 1 college football game played: Number 9 Texas beat Number 10 Colorado, 38-21 at the Astrodome in Houston, in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the New Orleans Jazz, 108-101 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 106-100 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 87-82 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 130-105 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 112-99 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors, 113-110 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Rudy Tomjanovich, later to coach the Rockets to back-to-back NBA Championships, led all scorers on the day with 32 points.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 109-100 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 2 games played in the ABA. The New York Nets lost to the Denver Nuggets, 130-113 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. And the Indiana Pacers beat the Virginia Squires, 97-94 at The Scope in Norfolk.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Atlanta Flames, 3-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Kansas City Scouts, 9-4 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 5 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Toronto Toros, 5-0 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 2-1 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 5-0 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Denver Spurs, 10-0 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat West London team Queens Park Rangers, 2-0 at Highbury in North London.

Also on this day, child actress Heather O'Rourke was born. A congenital back problem led to the death of the star of the Poltergeist trilogy, at the age of 12.

December 23, 1972: The Immaculate Reception

December 23, 1972: The Pittsburgh Steelers play their 1st Playoff game, in their 40th season. And for most of the game, it wasn't looking good.

They began play in 1933, with Art Rooney having founded them. But Art's love of football far exceeded his knowledge of it. In 1947, they finished in a 1st place tie in the NFL Eastern Division with the Philadelphia Eagles, and lost a playoff. To this day, the NFL does not recognize this as an official Playoff game.

Finally, after a 1-13 season in 1969, Art's sons, Dan and Art Jr., told dear old Dad to let them run the team from now on. And in just 3 seasons, they had built the team into AFC Central Division Champions.

The 1972 season wasn't just the one in which the Steelers came of age competitively. It was also the year they became a cultural phenomenon in Western Pennsylvania. A group of employees at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh quickly took to Franco Harris, the team's half-black, half-Italian rookie running back out of Penn State and the Philadelphia suburb of Mount Holly, New Jersey. They went into the stands at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, wearing Army-style helmets, and sitting behind a banner reading, "FRANCO'S ITALIAN ARMY."

Similar groups copied them. A group of Polish fans honored linebacker Jack Ham with "JACK HAM DOBRE SHUNKA FAN CLUB." "Dobre shunka" is Polish for "Good ham." Running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua had Frenchy's Foreign Legion. Kicker Roy Gerela had Gerela's Gorillas. Drafted in 1974, linebacker Jack Lambert, one of the most intense players of the era, had Lambert's Lunatics.

Al Davis ran the Oakland Raiders, and had built them into AFL Champions in 1967. But they lost Super Bowl II, then lost the 1968 AFC Championship Game to the New York Jets. By 1972, they were dominating the AFC Western Division, but hadn't won a Super Bowl yet.

And so, on Saturday afternoon, December 23, 1972, Davis' Silver and Black marched into Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh to face the Rooneys' Black and Gold. For a game with such an epic ending, it was not good theater most of the way. The 1st half ended scoreless. Roy Gerela kicked a field goal early in the 2nd half, but it remained 3-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Gerela kicked another field goal early in the 4th quarter, but the Steelers couldn't put the ball in the end zone, so it remained 6-0 as the clock wound down.

Daryle Lamonica, known as the Mad Bomber, struggled in the 1st half, and coach John Madden replaced him with Ken Stabler, the Alabama lefthander known as the Snake. With 1:17 to go, Stabler ran for 30 yards to get into the end zone. George Blanda, the Raiders' ageless backup quarterback and regular kicker, nailed the extra point, and the Raiders had a 7-6 lead.

The Steelers did not yet have a reputation as the kind of team that could win this kind of game. And Pittsburgh fans, who had seen the Pirates win the World Series the year before, were not used to glory from their football team. The 50,327 fans inside Three Rivers figured the game was lost.

Among them was Art Rooney. "The Chief" left his suite and got into an elevator, to go down to the locker room to congratulate the Raiders and console his team. So he never saw the play that changed the course of his team's history.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who had been the top pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, had a difficult relationship, not just with head coach Chuck Noll, but with the Pittsburgh fans. He hadn't yet lived up to their hopes. Now, he had gotten the Steelers to their own 40 yard line. But it was 4th and 10, and there were only 22 seconds left, and the Steelers had no time-outs left.

Noll's intended play was "66 Circle Option," intended for Barry Pearson, a rookie who had been on the Steelers' bench all season long without being sent into a game. Now, he was -- his 1st professional play.

But just as no battle plan survives the first shot, Noll's play didn't last. Raiders Tony Cline and Horace Jones bore down on Bradshaw, and "the Blonde Bomber" from Louisiana had to scramble. He just got a throw off before getting clobbered by Cline and knocked to Three Rivers' artificial turf.

The ball got to the Raiders' 33-yard line, and it looked like Steeler running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua was going to catch it. But Raider safety Jack Tatum did what he so often did to potential receivers: He leveled Fuqua.

Big mistake: As with so many dirty soccer players, Tatum should have gone for the ball, not the opposing player. He could have intercepted it. Instead, the ball bounced off him, and went backwards to the Raider 43. And it almost hit the ground.

And for 50 years, the Raiders and their fans have insisted that the ball hit Fuqua first, which, under the rules of the time, would have made every Pittsburgh player an ineligible receiver after that. And they have insisted that the ball did hit the ground.

It didn't. Harris saved it, and took off down the left sideline, and scored. It was 3:29 PM -- don't bet any Steeler fan old enough to remember.

Steeler radio announcer Jack Fleming said, with only slight exaggeration, "From out of nowhere came Franco Harris, riding a white stallion, heading up Franco's Italian Army, galloping into the sunset!"

Like Rooney, Bradshaw didn't see the play. He remembered being down on the ground, and hearing a tremendous roar going up: "I knew that this was a good sound. This was the sound of something good happening."

Fans came pouring onto the field, and had to be cleared, because there was still an extra point to kick, which Gerela did, and 5 seconds to play. The Raiders could do nothing with the ensuing kickoff, and the Steelers had won, 13-7.

The surviving '72 Raiders still insist they were robbed. It would take until the 1976 season for them to win a Super Bowl. But the Steelers didn't win immediately, either: This was the season in which the Miami Dolphins went undefeated. Eight days later, they came into Three Rivers -- at the time, home-field advantage for Conference Championships was on a rotating basis, not decided by record -- and beat the Steelers, on their way to winning Super Bowl VII.

But the Steelers would win Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV. Harris was named the Most Valuable Player for IX, receiver Lynn Swann for X, and Bradshaw for XIII and XIV. The Raiders would win Super Bowls XI, XV and, during their Los Angeles sojourn, XVIII. (Their MVPs, respectively: Fred Biletnikoff, Jim Plunkett and Marcus Allen.)

The catch became known as "The Immaculate Reception." What Art Rooney, a devout Irish Catholic, thought about that, only he knew. Others, noting that it was 2 days to Christmas, called it a Christmas Miracle.

But, along with Alan Ameche's overtime plunge to win the 1958 NFL Championship Game for the Baltimore Colts, Bart Starr's quarterback sneak to win the 1967 Championship Game (the Ice Bowl), and Dwight Clark's "The Catch" from Joe Montana to win the 1981 NFC Championship Game, it ranks as perhaps the greatest play in NFL history.

Franco Harris died on December 21, 2022, at the age of 72, 2 days before the 50th Anniversary of the play. On December 24, he was scheduled to be honored at halftime of the Steelers' Sunday night home game against the now-Las Vegas Raiders, with the retirement of his Number 32. At least he knew it was going to be retired.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 13th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

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December 23, 1972 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua, for which Roberto Clemente's doomed flight 8 days later was intended to help provide relief. I have a separate entry for that event.

Another NFL Playoff game was played that day, with the Dallas Cowboys beating the San Francisco 49ers in another classic, 30-28 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The next day, Christmas Eve, the Washington Redskins beat the Green Bay Packers, 16-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. And the Miami Dolphins beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The following week, New Year's Eve, saw the Conference Championships: Dolphins 21, Steelers 17 at Three Rivers; and Redskins 26, Cowboys 3 at RFK Stadium. On January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Dolphins completed their undefeated season, beating the Redskins, 14-7 in Super Bowl VII.

There were 4 games played in the NBA on December 23, 1972:

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 104-97 at the Baltimore Civic Center. While the arena still stands, now known as the CFG Bank Arena, this would be the Bullets' last season in Baltimore, as they moved to the Washington area, and are now named the Washington Wizards.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 124-112 at The Omni in Atlanta. Pistol Pete Maravich scored 42 points, Super Lou Hudson scored 31, and Bob Christian scored 13 and had 25 rebounds.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 104-98 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls, 127-109 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Memphis Tams, 105-103 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 112-107 at The Scope in Norfolk. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 41 points.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Utah Stars, 123-117 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Billy Cunningham scored 34 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 116-105 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

These games were played in the NHL:

* The expansion New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the expansion Atlanta Flames, 3-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The New York Rangers and the California Golden Seals were not scheduled.

And these games were played in the inaugural-season World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 2-1 at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 3-1 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Alberta Oilers (as the Edmonton Oilers were named in that inaugural season alone), 3-2 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* And the Houston Aeros beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 7-3 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

Also: Arsenal played Birmingham City to a 1-1 draw at St. Andrews Stadium in Birmingham.

October 17, 1979: The Pittsburgh Pirates' "Family"

October 17, 1979: As in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series by beating the Baltimore Orioles in Game 7 at Memorial Stadium, winning 4-1 to complete a comeback from 3 games to 1 down.

Willie Stargell, the 1st baseman known as "Pops" not just for his age (39) but because of his playing of Sister Sledge's hit disco song "We Are Family," hits his 3rd home run of the Series, and is named Series MVP, after having also been named MVP of the National League Championship Series.

Despite the group being from Philadelphia, and being about sisters rather than brothers, the song was adopted by the baseball team across Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Pirates, as they made their postseason run. It did not quite hit Number 1, getting stuck in June behind another iconic disco track, “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.

An online friend and fellow Yankee Fan, Paul Louis, once told me, "Part of me has come to suspect it might have been a subtle swipe at the dysfunctional image of the previous two seasons' World Series winning teams."

After the season, it was be announced that there was a tie vote for the regular-season MVP, between Stargell and the NL's batting champion, St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Keith Hernandez. Despite the only tie vote for an MVP in either League, Stargell became the 1st man, and remains the only one, ever to sweep the regular season, LCS and World Series MVPs in a single season.

This was the worst-looking World Series of all time. I don't mean it was poorly-played; that was hardly the case. I mean it looked bad. The Orioles had those bright orange home jerseys with the black lettering, and those dumb black caps with the white front panels and the Oriole head; the all-black caps with that head, which they wore from 1966 to 1974, looked a lot better.

Six of the NL's 12 teams wore 19th Century-style caps to celebrate the League's 100th Anniversary in 1976, and the Pirates were the only team to keep them, and continued to wear them until 1986. I didn't mind that. But their mix-and-match of white, white with yellow pinstripes, gold, and black, sometimes mixing up the jerseys and pants, was atrocious.

The stadiums were little better: I saw 3 games at Memorial Stadium, and liked it, but it had terrible lighting, and a grass field that was already chopped up by Colts games; while Three Rivers Stadium was a concrete ashtray with a hideous pea-green carpet of artificial turf. This was a World Series made for radio, not television.

The 1979 season was an outlier in its era. In the American League Eastern Division, the Yankees won in every season from 1976 to 1981, except 1979, when the Orioles won it. In the Western Division, the Kansas City Royals won in every season, except 1979, when the California Angels won it, for the 1st time in their 19-season history.

In the National League Eastern Division, the Philadelphia Phillies won it every year from 1976 to 1980, except 1979, when the Pirates won it, before giving way to the Montreal Expos in 1981. And in the NL West, the Cincinnati Reds completed their "Big Red Machine" era of dominance in 1976, and then the Los Angeles Dodgers won it in 1977, 1978 and 1981, losing a Playoff for it to the Houston Astros in 1980,  with the Reds winning again in 1979.

In the League Championship Series, the Pirates swept the Reds in 3 straight, gaining revenge for NLCS losses in 1970, 1972, 1974 and 1975, though they'd beaten the San Francisco Giants in the series since 1971; while the Orioles, having won the Pennant in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and lost the ALCS in 1973 and 1974, beat the Angels 3 games to 1.

Stargell, pitcher Bruce Kison and catcher Manny Sanguillen were the only players to have played for the Pirates in both the '71 and the '79 Series, although Sanguillen had left and since returned.

Game 1 of the World Series was supposed to be played in Baltimore on October 9, but was postponed due to rain and snow. The temperature for the postponed Game 1 was 41 degrees, the coldest on record, although there had been snow at a Series game in 1907. The O's won, 5-4, behind the pitching of Mike Flanagan, despite a Stargell home run. The Pirates scored in the 9th to win Game 2, 3-2.

Game 3 in Pittsburgh had a midgame rain delay, and the Pirates blew a 3-0 lead. Scott McGregor outpitched John Candelaria, as the O's won, 8-4. Despite another Stargell homer, the Bucs blew a 4-0 lead in Game 4, and the O's won, 9-6. Coming back from being down 3 games to 1 had only happened 3 times in World Series history to this point -- but the Pirates had done it twice, in 1925 against the Washington Senators, and in 1971 against the Orioles, with a few of the same people involved.

Pirate manager Chuck Tanner had planned to start Jim Rooker on short rest in Game 5, and then go to curveball master Bert Blyleven. That morning, his mother died. According to Kent Tekulve, the Pirates' submarine-pitching reliever, Tanner told the team before the game that his mother "knew we needed some help, so she went to get us some." Whatever the cause, Rooker had a no-hitter for the 1st 4 innings, and Tanner brought Blyleven in for the 6th, with the Orioles leading, 1-0. Then the Pirates got to Flanagan, and won the game, 7-1.

Back in Pittsburgh for Game 6, Candelaria and Jim Palmer traded goose eggs for 6 innings, before the Pirates reached Palmer, and they won, 4-0.

For what turns out to be the only time in his Presidency, Jimmy Carter attends a Major League Baseball game, and he picks a good one. He threw out the ceremonial first ball, saw Stargell homer off McGregor, saw Tekulve get his 3rd save in relief of Grant Jackson, and was among those congratulating the Pirates in the locker room afterward.

And, with the Pittsburgh Steelers having won Super Bowl XIII 9 months earlier, it gave the Steel City a rare MLB-NFL double, and the nickname "City of Champions." This was maintained 3 months later, when the Steelers won Super Bowl XIV. Sports Illustrated named Stargell and Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw "Sportsmen of the Year."

But in the 43 years since -- 2 full generations -- the Pirates have never won another Pennant, though they reached Game 7 of the NLCS in 1991 and '92, losing to the Atlanta Braves both times. The Steelers have since won 3 Super Bowls and appeared in 2 others; the Penguins have reached the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times, winning 5; and the University of Pittsburgh football team has won some bowl games and has usually been a contender for their conference title (formerly the Big East, now the Atlantic Coast Conference).

The Pirates? After 21 years out of the postseason, they made it for 3 straight seasons, 2011 to '13, but, so far, they can't get beyond the NLDS. So they're still waiting for the next generation of the Family to make good.

One more note about the '79 Series: When the Orioles won Game 4, the winning pitcher was Tim Stoddard. By simply appearing in the game, he became the 1st man ever to appear in both a World Series game and an NCAA basketball Final Four game. He was a member of the North Carolina State team that won the 1974 National Championship. He was still with the Orioles when they won the World Series in 1983.

He has since been joined only by Kenny Lofton, who reached the Final Four with Arizona in 1988, and the World Series with 3 different teams, the 1st being the Cleveland Indians in 1995.

Stargell retired after the 1982 season, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. The Pirates retired his Number 8. He threw out the ceremonial first ball before the last game at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000. He was invited to do it again for the first game at the new PNC Park, scheduled for April 9, 2001, with the dedication of a statue of him outside the park 2 days earlier. But his health declined, and he died the morning of the regular-season opener. He was only 61 years old.

Sister Sledge weren't quite "one-hit wonders," also hitting the Top 10 with their follow-up, "He's the Greatest Dancer." But they were one-shot wonders, as later albums failed to make much chart impact.

Nile Rodgers, leader of the disco band Chic, was their main songwriter and producer, and made them the 1st major music act to namecheck different fashion designers in music. He said, "They didn't even know what we were talking about when we wrote the lyric 'Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci'. First time anybody had ever name checked fashion designers." 

From oldest to youngest, the sisters were Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathy. Joni passed away in 2017. As of October 17, 2022, the others are still alive. Debbie's daughters Amber and Camille, and Kim's daughter Julie, have toured with their mother and aunts. Kathy's daughter Kristen has not. Joni was the only sister to have had a son and no daughters.

UPDATE: The Pirates have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1979 World Champions, they have inducted 1st baseman Willie Stargell, catcher Manuel "Manny" Sanguillén, and pitcher Kent Tekulve -- but not yet manager Chuck Tanner, right fielder Dave Parker, or pitcher Bert Blyleven.

*

October 17, 1979 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-88 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey. Julius "Dr. J" Arena scored 22 points against his former team.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 127-108 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 100-97 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Indiana Pacers, 116-112 at The Summit in Houston. Moses Malone had a monster game, 44 points and 29 rebounds. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Denver Nuggets, 125-97 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 107-94 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-110 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

October 8, 1972: Campaneris vs. LaGrow

October 8, 1972: Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Bert Campaneris of the Oakland Athletics leads off the bottom of the 1st inning at the Oakland Coliseum with a single, steals 2nd and 3rd bases, and scores on a single. Campaneris would end up getting 3 hits on the day against the Detroit Tigers.

In the 7th, Tiger reliever Lerrin LaGrow -- possibly at the urging of manager Billy Martin, who frequently encouraged such behavior -- purposely hit Campaneris with a pitch, on the ankle. Campaneris responded by throwing his bat at LaGrow, who just barely ducked in time to avoid getting hit with it.

There was a bench-clearing brawl, and Martin had to be restrained from going after Campaneris. Both Campaneris and LaGrow were suspended for the rest of the series. The A's won the game, 5-0, and took a 2-games-to-0 lead in the series. But the Tigers would fight back in Detroit to force a 5th and deciding game.

In 2007, for work, I had to contact a Phoenix-area real estate office. Turned out, it was run by LaGrow. Now, I don't condone what Campaneris did, but I will say that, 35 years later, LaGrow wasn't any nicer.

*

October 8, 1972 was a Sunday. Game 2 was also played in the National League Championship Series. The Cincinnati Reds scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium, to tie up the series. Joe Morgan hit a home run. The series went to a deciding 5th game, and the Reds won, before losing the World Series to the A's in 7.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 45-21 at Yankee Stadium.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins 27-17 at Shea Stadium. Yes, the Giants and the Jets were both playing at home, at the same time, kicking off at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Attendance in The Bronx: 65,720. Attendance in Queens: 63,841. Both were officially sellouts, so it's not clear which team would have sold more tickets had they both played in 100,000-seat stadiums, such as the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Rose Bowl could then have held. This was during what turned out to be the Dolphins' undefeated 17-0 season.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Baltimore Colts, 23-20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 14-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons, 26-23 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Steve Owens, winner of the 1969 Heisman Trophy for the University of Oklahoma, scored the winning touchdown as the clock wound down.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots, 38-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cleveland Browns, 31-7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Denver Broncos, 21-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 20-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 19-17 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-13 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 31-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders beat the Houston Oilers, 34-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.

October 1, 2000: The Most Consecutive Errorless Games By a 3rd Baseman

October 1, 2000: The Pittsburgh Pirates play their final home game at Three Rivers Stadium. Their greatest living player, Willie Stargell, throws out the ceremonial first ball. The Chicago Cubs spoil the party, 10-9. The Pirates had also closed their previous home, Forbes Field, against the Cubs in 1970, with a doubleheader sweep.

On the 2nd play of the game, Corey Patterson hit a ground ball to 3rd base. John Wehner fielded it, but threw it away. This led to an unearned run, and, given the margin of victory, it may have cost the Pirates the game.

Wehner seemed to make up for it by going 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, including the last home run hit in the stadium's 31 seasons. But he also ended up making the last out. After the game, home plate, which had previously been moved from Forbes Field, was moved to the new ballpark, meaning the Pirates could still be using the same home plate that they were using when Forbes Field opened in 1909.

It ended a streak of 99 consecutive errorless games at 3rd base for Wehner, a major league record. The previous recordholder was Don Money, who played in 86 straight errorless games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1973 and '74.

But Money was a starter. Wehner, a Pittsburgh native, never had a full season of play in a career that lasted from 1991 to 2001. His 897 plate appearances didn't even add up to 2 full seasons. Jeff Cirillo tied the record on April 18, 2002, with the Seattle Mariners, but couldn't break it with a 100th straight game.

Cirillo was an All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1997 and with the Colorado Rockies in 2000. But he only made the postseason once, with the 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks. Wehner was placed on the Pirates' postseason roster in 1992 (but not in 1991); and, playing for the Florida Marlins in between tenures with the Pirates, was a member of the 1997 World Series winners. Interestingly, both men became broadcasters: Wehner with the Pirates, Cirillo with the Brewers.

In that last game at Three Rivers, Sammy Sosa went 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI for the Cubs. He did not hit a home run. He finished the season with 50, leading the National League. He hit 66 in 1998 and 63 in 1999, and would go on to hit 64 in 2001 and 49 in 2002.

The Steelers finished their season at the concrete circle, and it was demolished on February 11, 2001. To its east, PNC Park opened for the Pirates on April 9. (Stargell was asked to throw out the first ball again, but a few days earlier, he sent word that he was too ill to attend, and he died the morning of the opener.) To its west, Heinz Field, now Acrisure Stadium, opened for the Steelers with an exhibition game on August 25.

*

October 1, 2000 was a Sunday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball, on the last day of its regular season:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. José Mercedes, a Dominican who won a grand total of 33 games in the major leagues, was the winning pitcher. The losing pitcher was Orlando "El Duque" Hernández, who won 12 games in postseason play alone.

Chris Richard went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs for the O's. Albert Belle also homered for them, the 381st homer of his career. It was in his last at-bat: Among players who hit a home run in their last major league at-bat, only Ted Williams has more. Belle had to retire at the age of 34, due to osteoarthritis in his hip. I also had that, and I was 3 years younger than he was. But he hit 381 more homers in the major leagues than I did. Then again, I never got caught using a corked bat, and he did. He has not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Derek Jeter went 0-for-2, then was replaced at shortstop by Alfonso Soriano, who went 1-for-2. The Yankees lost their last 7 games of the 2000 regular season, and 15 out of the last 18, nearly blowing the American League Eastern Division title. They made it 8 straight and 16 out of 19 by losing Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. Then they straightened themselves out.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. This game was also decided by an error by the 3rd baseman, in the bottom of the 13th inning, when Jorge Velandia grounded to Geoff Blum, who made a bad throw to 1st base, allowing Benny Agbayani to score. Pat Mahomes, father of later star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was the winning pitcher, in relief of Rick Reed, who lasted only 2 innings.

The Yankees and the Mets were on a collision course, which resulted in what remains New York's only "Subway Series" since 1956.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-5 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Todd Helton went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs, including his 42nd home run of the season, off the man who was then the most hated man in baseball, John Rocker.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Fred McGriff grounded to 2nd base, but the Red Sox could only get a forceout, as McGriff beat out a throw to 1st to avoid the double play, and to allow Jason Tyner to score the winning run.

The Red Sox won 4 of their last 5 before this, to close within 2 1/2 games of the Yankees, but it was too little, too late. With only 1 Wild Card berth in each League, this meant that they missed the Playoffs.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-4 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 12-11 at Comerica Park in Detroit. No, that's not the Detroit Lions beating the Minnesota Vikings, although this was also an NFL Sunday. But there was plenty of hitting. For the Tigers, Bobby Higginson went 3-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs, and Shane Halter went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. And that wasn't the biggest story involving him: He played all 9 positions in the game, becoming only the 4th player ever to do so. (There are now 5.)

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Former Giants 1st baseman Will Clark hit a home run. It was his 2,176th career hit, and his 284th career home run. It was his last of each.

He looked like a future Hall-of-Famer when the Strike of '94 hit, but injuries led him to retire. He was only 36 years old, and it would have stunned fans in 1996 to know that, by 2022, neither Will Clark nor Albert Belle would be elected to the Hall of Fame. But they haven't, and they won't be.

Mark McGwire appeared as a pinch-hitter in this game, and did not hit a home run. He finished the season with 32, having hit 50 in 1996, 58 in 1997, a record 70 in 1998, and 65 in 1999. Injuries caught up with him, and he played just 1 more season, hitting 29.

Ken Griffey Jr. was injured, and unavailable to the Reds in this game. Having hit 56 homers in 1997 and 1998, and 48 in 1999, he finished the 2000 season with 40, and, due to injuries and no longer getting to play in Seattle's homer-happy Kingdome, he never topped 36 again.

* The Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 at Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-4 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix. Barry Bonds only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base. The next season, he broke McGwire's record by hitting 73. Like McGwire and Sosa, he would eventually be exposed as a steroid cheat -- as opposed to Belle, who was exposed as a corked-bat cheat, something Sosa was also exposed as.

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0 at Qualcommm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). How many Padre pitchers does it take to pitch a shutout? This time, 4: Adam Eaton allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, and 3 relievers completed the 7-hit shutout. Ryan Klesko hits a home run. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Anaheim Angels, 5-2 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Alex Rodriguez hit his 41st home run of the season. Edgar Martínez went 2-for-5, until Rickey Henderson pinch-ran for him. Rickey officially remained in the game, replacing Edgar as the designated hitter, but did not come to bat. Troy Glaus went 0-for-3 with a walk, but finished the season as the AL's home run leader with 47.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0 at the Network Associates Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Tim Hudson pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, striking out 10, for his 20th win of the season. Jason Isringhausen allowed 2 hits in the 9th, but kept the shutout.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Tennessee Titans, 28-14 at the Adelphia Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons, 38-10 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-17 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. Michael Husted kicked the winning field goal, 20 yards, with 10:51 left in overtime.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers, 16-13 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte. Tim Seder kicked the winning field goal, 24 yards, with 11:08 left in overtime.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-13 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 18-16 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Baltimore Ravens, the former Cleveland Browns, beat the new Cleveland Browns, 12-0 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-16 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 31-24 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bears beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 27-24 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the San Diego Chargers, 57-31 at the Trans World Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 28-19 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-20 at 3Com Park (as Candlestick Park was then known) in San Francisco.

* The next day, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-17 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* And the New York Jets, the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders had a bye week.

Also on this day, Arsenal F.C. beat Manchester United 1-0 at home at Highbury in North London. Thierry Henry scores one of the most amazing goals you will ever see. And he does it against United's goalie Fabien Barthez, his teammate on the France squad that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

 

September 1, 1971: MLB's 1st All-Minority Starting Lineup

September 1, 1971: The Pittsburgh Pirates make history -- by accident.

They host their cross-State rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, at Three Rivers Stadium. Under normal circumstances, the Pirates, defending Champions of the National League Eastern Division, and entering this game with a 4 1/2-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals -- the hopeless Phillies are 22 1/2 games back -- would take the field with this lineup:

9, 2nd base, Bill Mazeroski

20, 3rd base, Richie Hebner

21, right field, Roberto Clemente

8, left field, Willie Stargell

16, center field, Al Oliver

35, catcher, Manuel "Manny" Sanguillén

7, 1st base, Bob Robertson

2, shortstop, Jacinto "Jackie" Hernández

And that day's starting pitcher.

Clemente, Mazeroski and Stargell have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Oliver and Sanguillén were All-Stars. And Robertson and Hebner had some power: Later in the decade, the Pirates would be nicknamed "The Lumber Company," before an aging but still slugging "Pops" Stargell proclaimed them "The Family." So this was a very effective lineup.

But there were injuries. Hebner did not play between August 21 and September 4; Robertson, between August 30 and September 4. And Mazeroski had gotten hurt the day before, and would be out until September 5.

This was not an "injury crisis." The Pirates had a deep bench. And manager Danny Murtaugh would use it on this Wednesday night, in front of a crowd of 11,278, who had no idea as they filed into Three Rivers, on the north bank of the Ohio River across from downtown Pittsburgh, that they were going to witness history.

Indeed, Murtagh, a 53-year-old white man from Chester, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, who had managed a Pirate team including Clemente and Mazeroski to win the 1960 World Series, didn't realize it himself as he was making out this lineup:

6 2B Reinaldo "Rennie" Stennett

15 CF Gene Clines

21 RF Roberto Clemente

8 LF Willie Stargell

35 C Manny Sanguillén

30 3B Dave Cash

16 1B Al Oliver

2 SS Jackie Hernández

17 P Dock Ellis ("Dock" was his real name, not a nickname)

Still a pretty good lineup, aside from Ellis, who, like most pitchers, was not a good hitter. Hernández was the only weak spot. Each of the top 6 men in the lineup entered the game batting .300 or better.

But as the Pirate players took the field at 8:05 PM, they looked around, and it dawned on them what had happened: They were all minorities. Clemente, the heart and soul of the team, was a dark-skinned Puerto Rican. Sanguillén was a dark-skinned Cuban. Hernández was a comparatively light-skinned Cuban, but still wouldn't have been accepted as "white" before Jackie Robinson. Stennett was a dark-skinned Panamanian. And Stargell, Oliver, Clines, Cash and Ellis were all African-Americans.

Murtaugh, having long since put aside whatever prejudices he had had, and treating his players equally, had put out the 1st all-black-and/or-Hispanic lineup in baseball history. At first, no one was sure whether this was the 1st time it had been done, but no one could remember it happening before. Research later determined that it hadn't.

Did the lineup work? At first, it wasn't clear that it would. The Phils scored 2 runs in the top of the 1st, but the Bucs scored 5 in the bottom of the 1st. In the 2nd, the Phils scored 4, to take a 6-5 lead, but the Pirates came back to take an 8-6 lead, thanks in part to a home run by Sanguillén. And that was just in the 1st 2 innings.

Stennett, Clines, Clemente, Stargell and Sanguillén each got 2 hits. Clemente, Stargell and Sanguillén each had 2 RBIs. Pitching was an issue: Ellis did not have good stuff, and left the game in the 2nd inning. He was replaced by Bob Moose, who was white. In the 3rd, he was replaced by Bob Veale, black. In the 4th, he was replaced by Luke Walker, white, who pitched the rest of the way, and was credited as the winning pitcher. Final score: Pirates 10, Phillies 7. In other words, Murtaugh's unintentionally-historic lineup got the job done.

By September 5, the injured starters had returned. The Pirates won the NL East by 7 games over the Cardinals. In the NL Championship Series, they beat the San Francisco Giants, 3 games to 1, to win their 1st Pennant in 11 years. They fell behind the Baltimore Orioles 3 games to 1, but, with Clemente getting a hit in every game, including 2 home runs, with 4 RBIs, and stellar defensive play, the Pirates came back to win the World Series in 7 games. With this 2nd World Series win, Murtaugh, like Clemente, Mazeroski and Stargell, secured his election to the Hall of Fame.

In 2009, baseball historian Bruce Markusen published The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. He argued that, by being fully-integrated -- at their peak, nearly half the roster, 12 out of 25, was black and/or Hispanic -- the '71 Pirates paved the way for the well-integrated teams that would dominate the decade: The Oakland Athletics, the Cincinnati Reds, and, later, the New York Yankees.

And 2 teams that had long resisted integration would get it done, and have their best periods for a while: The Boston Red Sox were the last team in MLB to integrate, yet the won the American League Pennant in 1975, with near-misses for the AL Eastern Division in 1972, '74, '77 and '78; while the Phillies, the last team in the NL to integrate, won 3 straight NL East titles from 1976 to '78, won the World Series in 1980, made the Playoffs again in '81, and won another Pennant in '83.

Here's why it was a big deal: As pitcher Jim Bouton noted in Ball Four, his diary of the 1969 season, the defending World Champions were the Detroit Tigers, and yet they had only 3 black players on their roster: Willie Horton, one of the top sluggers of that generation; Gates Brown, recognized as the best pinch-hitter in the game; and Earl Wilson, who had been the 1st black pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the AL, and was good enough to be the ace on some teams, but was behind Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich on the Tigers.

Bouton, white, realized that, in order to be black and in the major leagues, you had to be a genuine star. If you were an average player, they weren't going to take a chance on you. But the '68 Tigers had Don Wert as their starting 3rd baseman, and he batted just .200; while Ray Oyler, Bouton's teammate on the 1969 Seattle Pilots, had been the main shortstop for the '68 Tigers, and he batted just .135. Even for "The Year of the Pitcher," that was pathetic. So to take that hole out of their lineup, once the future Hall-of-Famer Al Kaline returned from injury to right field, his replacement, Mickey Stanley, was moved to shortstop. He batted .259. There were black shortstops and 3rd basemen who could hit as well as Stanley, and better than Oyler and Wert, but the Tigers made no effort to acquire them.

But after the '71 Pirates, teams finally accepted that they couldn't win without black talent in numbers, whether their 1st language was English or Spanish.

*

September 1, 1971, as I said, was a Wednesday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Gogolewski pitched a 4-0 hit shutout to beat Steve Kline, who got 1 of the hits. Thurman Munson did not, going 0-for-4. 

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tom Seaver outpitched Bob Gibson. Bud Harrelson went 3-for-5, and Ken Boswell went 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Lou Brock went 0-for-4. Joe Torre went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with a walk. Frank Robinson did not play. Instead, Merv Rettenmund played right field, and hit a home run. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 0-for-4. Johnny Bench went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fergie Jenkins went the distance for the win, and helped his own cause with 2 home runs. Ernie Banks, entering his final month as a major league player, did not play.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Carlos May singled home the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4 with a walk. Rod Carew went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 9-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the California Angels, 7-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Chuck Dobson pitched a 7-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. John Cumberland pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie Mays did not play. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4.