October 20, 1973: The Saturday Night Massacre

October 20, 1973: The Sydney Opera House, Australia's most famous structure, opens. The Rolling Stones hit Number 1 on the U.S. singles charts with "Angie." The Six Million Dollar Man premieres on ABC, starring Lee Majors as astronaut-turned-bionic-federal-agent Steve Austin. (Definitely not to be confused with the Stone Cold "professional wrestler" using the same name.)

But the big story of the day is political, in the growing scandal known as Watergate, which began on June 17, 1972, with a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, perpetrated by 5 men working for the committee working to re-elect President Richard Nixon.

Whether Nixon knew about the break-in beforehand and authorized it has never been established, but he worked like crazy to cover it up. On July 16, 1973, it was revealed that there was a tape-recording system in the Oval Office at the White House, and that these tapes could prove Nixon guilty -- or, perhaps, prove him innocent; or, at least, provide enough reasonable doubt as to get him acquitted of any criminal charges.

On August 29, John Sirica, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered Nixon to turn the tapes over. Time magazine would name Sirica its Man of the Year for 1973.

On October 19, in an effort to get away with whatever he did that was recorded on those tapes, Nixon offered Congress a compromise: He would allow Senator John Stennis to review the tapes, and present Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox with summaries.

On this day, Cox publicly refuses to accept this compromise. He knows that Stennis is not only a conservative from Mississippi and a supporter of Nixon's -- he's a conservative Southern Democrat, a.k.a. a "Dixiecrat," and no friend of mainstream Democrats -- but also 72 years old and hard of hearing. If those tapes reveal that Nixon committed an impeachable offense, Stennis might not hear it properly. And even if he does, he might refuse to admit it to Cox, and claim his poor hearing caused him to miss it. Cox isn't buying it, and has enough guts to press onward.

Nixon decides that, in order to survive as President, he has to fire Cox -- whom he had never fully trusted, as Cox had been Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and an old friend of JFK's, and thus a partisan Democrat.

So he instructs his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson (in the photo on the right on that Daily News front page), the man who had hired Cox and had the power to fire him, to fire him. Richardson refuses, because he thinks it will spark a Constitutional crisis. Nixon says do it or you're fired. Richardson does the honorable thing, and resigns his post.

So Nixon goes to the next man in line, Richardson's Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus.  He tells Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. He refuses. Nixon says do it or you're fired. Ruckelshaus still refuses, but does not resign. Nixon fires him.

So with the top 2 men in the U.S. Department of Justice now gone, Nixon goes to the Number 3 man, the Solicitor General, and tells him to fire Cox. He does, because he values Nixon more than he values the Constitution.

Word quickly gets out, and the Washington press corps quickly dubs these events "The Saturday Night Massacre." People wake up the next morning to bold headlines in their Sunday papers. The Sunday morning news shows, NBC's Meet the Press, CBS' Face the Nation, and ABC's Issues and Answers (the predecessor program to This Week), can talk about nothing else.

The pressure on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Nixon vastly increases. And, with the Vice Presidency vacant, as Spiro Agnew has resigned and Gerald Ford has not yet been confirmed by either house of Congress as the new VP, the next man in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Carl Albert -- a Democrat, and, while from a Southern State, Oklahoma, considerably more liberal than Stennis.

Carl Albert

If Nixon had died, were impeached by the House and removed by the Senate, or were pressured into resigning, or had the 25th Amendment invoked by his Cabinet and removed that way, and Albert were still next in line at the time, it would have been a political earthquake, much bigger than the end of Nixon's Presidency actually turned out to be.

Within days, Nixon realizes what a blunder he has committed, and tells the Acting Attorney General to appoint a new Special Prosecutor. That man would be Leon Jaworski. By December 6, Ford would be confirmed by both houses and sworn in as Vice President, and the danger of Nixon being impeached and removed, and replaced by a President of the other party, was gone, and things calmed down in Watergate -- for a while.

There would be ramifications, of course -- some lasting much longer than the Nixon Administration itself. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed that same former Acting Attorney General to the U.S. Supreme Court, as his judicial views fit the archconservative vision that Reagan had for the country. But his role in the Saturday Night Massacre was held against him -- although it's possible that he might have been rejected by the Senate anyway. His name was Robert Bork. (That's him, in the photo on the left.)

On April 26, 1974, the Yankees traded 4 pitchers to the Cleveland Indians: Fritz Peterson, Fred Beene, Steve Kline and Tom Buskey. Essentially sending away half their pitching staff, this became known as the Friday Night Massacre.

But the trade was necessary: It got rid of 4 pitchers who didn't take the game as seriously as they did their social lives, and it brought in 2 players who would be essential in the Yankees' 1976, '77 and '78 Pennants: 1st baseman Chris Chambliss and pitcher Dick Tidrow. (They also got pitcher Cecil Upshaw, but he was injured, turned out to be a nonfactor, and was traded after the season.)

And on November 2, 1975, Ford, trailing in the polls for the '76 election to both Reagan in the race for the Republican nomination and to a generic Democrat in the general election, "reshuffled" his Cabinet, letting some men go, and moving others to new posts. Among these, he asked Henry Kissinger, who had been both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor for 2 years, to stay at State but resign as NSA. It was 2 days after Halloween, and the media dubbed this the Halloween Massacre.

UPDATE: After campaigning to return to the Presidency in 2024, partly on the lie that the Administration of President Joe Biden had "weaponized the Department of Justice," Donald Trump weaponized it, ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after his political opponents, while giving special treatment to those public figures who went along with him.

He ordered the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (which includes Manhattan, The Bronx, and the Counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange and Sullivan), Danielle Sassoon, to drop the office's corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York. This was done because Adams, despite being black and a Democrat, had agreed to work with Trump on the "migrant crisis." It was a blatant quid pro quo that, in the past, would have forced both men to resign their offices.

Sassoon, a conservative who had clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, followed the path of Elliot Richardson, and chose to resign rather than carry out Trump's order. She said, in a letter to Bondi, "It is a breathtaking and dangerous precedent to reward Adams's opportunistic and shifting commitments on immigration and other policy matters with dismissal of a criminal indictment." 

Also resigning was the lead prosecutor on the case, Hagan Scotten, who wrote to Emil Bove, the Acting Deputy Attorney General, Bove, saying of the motion to dismiss the charges against Adams, "I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to me."

*

As Nixon himself would have said, I have made it perfectly clear: October 20, 1973 was a Saturday. Among the major college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Indiana, 37-7 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* Rivalry: Number 2 Alabama beat Number 10 Tennessee, 42-21 at Legion Field in Birmingham.

* Number 3 Oklahoma beat Number 16 Colorado, 34-7 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 35-6 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Syracuse, 49-6 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York.

* Number 6 University of Southern California (USC) beat Oregon, 31-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 7 Missouri beat Oklahoma State, 13-9 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Army, 62-3 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Number 9 Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Kentucky, 28-21 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* Number 11 Nebraska beat Number 18 Kansas, 10-9 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* One ranked team lost to an unranked team: Number 19 Arizona lost to Texas Tech, 31-17 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.

* Rivalry: Virginia Tech beat Virginia, 27-15 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

* Rivalry: Minnesota beat Iowa, 31-23 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

* Rivalry: Texas beat Arkansas, 34-6 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Navy beat Air Force, 42-6 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Yale beat Columbia, 29-0 at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan.

* Rutgers beat Delaware, 24-7 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

* Princeton beat Colgate, 37-21 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

There were no NFL games played that day. But a very big baseball game was played at the Oakland Coliseum: Game 6 of the World Series.

The New York Mets just need to win 1 of the last 2 games against the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, and they will have their 2nd World Championship in 5 seasons -- it has been 11 years since the Yankees went all the way. And Tom Seaver, "The Franchise," is on the mound. What can go wrong?

This can go wrong: Met manager Yogi Berra has sent Seaver out on just 3 days' rest, hoping that "Tom Terrific" can close out the defending World Champions on their own patch, so that no Game 7 will be necessary.

But Reggie Jackson, not yet a New York baseball legend, hits 2 doubles, scores 1 run and knocks in 2. Jim "Catfish" Hunter, also a future Hall-of-Famer and a future New York baseball legend, pitches brilliantly. The A's beat the Mets 3-1. So there will be a Game 7 tomorrow.

To this day, many Met fans are angry at Yogi for starting Seaver on short rest. I'm sure some of them thought of Yogi as a Yankee and hated him for that reason alone. They shouldn't: There are only 5 human beings who have managed the Mets to a Pennant: Yogi, Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine and Terry Collins. And only Johnson, Valentine and Collins are still alive.

There are 8 National Basketball Association games played on this day:

* The New York Knicks do not play like defending World Champions, losing to the Chicago Bulls, 85-69 at Madison Square Garden. Indeed, in the other 7 NBA games played that day, only 1 other team scored fewer than the Bulls' 85, but that 85 was enough to win this game.

* The Capital Bullets play their 1st home game after 10 years in Baltimore, at the Cole Field House on the campus of the University of Maryland, in College Park, just inside the Capital Beltway. At this point, the Bullets are one of the better teams in the NBA, and they prove it, beating the Boston Celtics 96-87. Phil Chenier leads all scorers with 26 points.

It will take until December 2 for their new arena, the Capital Centre in Landover, on the other side of the Beltway, to be ready for the Bullets to play there. They then changed their name to the Washington Bullets. The following season, it also became home to an NHL expansion team, the Washington Capitals. In 1997, both teams would move into a new arena in the District of Columbia, now known as the Capital One Arena, and the Bullets would change their name to the Washington Wizards.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 116-100 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks, 118-108 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 101-88 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 100-81 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now the Oracle Arena).

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Houston Rockets, 107-104 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat their regional rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 123-108 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

There were 3 games played in the American Basketball Association:

The Virginia Squires beat the Utah Stars, 106-95 at The Scope in Norfolk.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 105-102 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 92-66 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 6 games played in the National Hockey League:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the California Golden Seals, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars played to a 4-4 tie, at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

There were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The New York Golden Blades lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 8-1 at Le Colisee de Quebec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Toronto Toros, 6-4 at the Cleveland Arena, which also hosted a Cavs game that day.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

In notable college football games played that day:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Indiana, 37-7 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* In their traditional 3rd Saturday in October meeting, Number 2 Alabama beat Number 10 Tennessee, 42-21 at Legion Field in Birmingham.

* Number 3 Oklahoma also beat a ranked opponent, Number 16 Colorado, 34-7 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 35-6 at Michigan Stadium in the Detroit suburb of Ann Arbor.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Syracuse, 49-6 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse.

* Number 11 Notre Dame beat Army, 62-3 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. Army hadn't beaten Notre Dame since 1958, and still hasn't, losing 15 games over those 63 years.

* In New Jersey, Rutgers beat the University of Delaware, 24-7 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

* Princeton beat Colgate, 37-21 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And New York City's only major team of the time, Columbia University, lost to Yale, 29-0 at Baker Field.

Also, what would become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat New Brunswick, 41-0 at Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick.

And Arsenal drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town at Highbury.

October 9, 1973: Gladys Knight Uses Her "Imagination"

October 9, 1973: Gladys Knight & The Pips -- Gladys, and 3 of her cousins: Merald "Bubba" Knight (also the group's manager), Edward Patten and William Guest -- release their album Imagination. They recorded it at Venture Sound in Somerville, New Jersey. It was their 1st album on Buddah Records, after leaving Motown Records, where, in 1967, they'd hit Number 2 with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," a year before Marvin Gaye hit Number 1 with it.

The "title track," "I've Got to Use My Imagination," was written by Gerry Goffin, ex-husband and ex-songwriting partner of Carole King, and Barry Goldberg. It also included covers of Johnny Nash's 1972 Number 1 hit "I Can See Clearly Now," with Bubba singing lead; and of "Perfect Love" by Paul Williams -- the diminutive white singer-songwriter, not the former Temptations singer who had recently taken his own life. And the group members shared in the credit for writing "Window Raisin' Granny."

The other songs were written by Jim Weatherly, who had been a quarterback at the University of Mississippi, backing up future New York Yankees catcher Jake Gibbs on their 1962 National Championship team. He wrote "Storms of Troubled Times," "Once in a Lifetime Thing," "Where Peaceful Waters Flow," and the Top 10 hit "The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me."

But it was the 1st song on the album that became the signature song for Gladys Knight, and for Jim Weatherly. The idea for the song was that he hadn't made it in the NFL, so he had to start over. He did so in the music business, and was doing all right.

He kept playing football in a city recreation league, and one of his teammates was actor Lee Majors, who had begun starring in The Six Million Dollar Man, and had recently married actress Farrah Fawcett. One night, Jim called Lee, and Farrah answered. Jim asked her what she was doing, and she said she was heading for her hometown: "Taking the midnight plane to Houston." He thought that was a great title for a song, and wrote it. He recalled:

I wrote it as a kind of a country song. Then we sent the song to a guy named Sonny Limbo in Atlanta, and he wanted to cut it with Cissy Houston... He asked if I minded if he changed the title to "Midnight Train to Georgia." And I said, "I don't mind. Just don't change the rest of the song."

Cissy recorded it, and her version was sent to Gladys, since she and the Pips were also from Atlanta. The call-and-response with the Pips made it a better version, but what really makes it is Gladys giving the effect that she feels her man's shattered dream as much as he does, to the point where she realizes that even going home won't help him much without her by his side: "I've got to go! I've got to go... "

On October 27, 1973, Billboard magazine had the song ranked at Number 1 on their Hot 100, Gladys' only chart-topper, except for her being 1 of the 4 lead singers on Dionne Warwick's 1986 AIDS fundraiser "That's What Friends Are For."

The song has been used in several movies and TV shows. In the 2013 Modern Family episode "The Late Show," the grownups struggled to meet a restaurant reservation, and the teenagers sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" together while babysitting infant Joe. At the end of the show, Jay (Ed O'Neill) leads the grownups in a rendition of it, calling it his favorite song -- but also saying that the midnight train to Georgia was "a train I'd never make unless I told Gloria it left at 11."

Edward Patten died in 2005, which brought an end to the Pips as a touring group. William Guest died  

in 2015. Jim Weatherly died in 2021. As of October 9, 2022, Gladys and Bubba Knight are still alive, and Bubba still manages Gladys.

*

October 9, 1973 was a Tuesday. Game 4 was played in the National League Championship Series, at Shea Stadium in New York. Pete Rose rebounded from the previous day's fight with Bud Harrelson, and the hatred of the New York Mets' fans --  a banner in left field read, "A Rose by any other name still stinks" -- and hit a home run in the top of the 12th inning, to give the Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 win, sending the NLCS will go to a 5th and deciding game.

Game 3 was played in the American League Championship Series, and it, too, featured an extra-inning home run. Bert Campaneris hit a walkoff homer in the 11th inning, and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, which was also now the A's' lead in the ALCS.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season began, and the Capital Bullets debuted, having been the Baltimore Bullets for the preceding 10 years. They didn't quite move into the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., instead opening the new saddle-roofed Capital Centre in the suburb of Landover, Maryland, just 33 miles from the Baltimore Civic Center.

To put that in perspective: The San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium is 46 miles from downtown San Francisco, and only 9 miles from downtown San Jose, but they have kept the "San Francisco" name.

The Bullets played their 1st game on the road, against the Atlanta Hawks at the Omni, and lost, 128-114. Mike Riordan led the Bullets with 26 points, but Super Lou Hudson scored for 41 for the hosts.

The Bullets changed their name to the Washington Bullets the next season, and in 1997 to the Washington Wizards, to help offset the District of Columbia's image as "the murder capital of America." That same year, they will leave the suburbs for the District, opening the arena now known as the Verizon Center. The Cap Centre was demolished in 2002, and was replaced with a mall.

Amazingly, the Baltimore Civic Center still stands, under the name of the CFG Bank Arena. The city is finally working on a plan to replace it with a more modern arena, in the hopes of attracting an NBA or NHL team.

There were 3 other games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 101-100 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Houston Rockets, 107-105 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 117-97 at the Chicago Stadium.

No games were played in the NHL, or in the American Basketball Association, but there were 2 in the World Hockey Association. The New York Golden Blades and the Toronto Toros played to a tie, 3-3 at the Varsity Arena in Toronto. And the New England Whalers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

On the same day, ill-fated Mets pitcher Bill Pulsipher and Super Bowl-winning St. Louis Rams safety Dexter McCleon were born. And gospel-singing, guitar-slinging legend Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of the founding mothers of rock and roll, died of a diabetes-aided stroke, at the age of 58.

June 7, 1978: The Fat Lady Sings for the Washington Bullets

Wes Unseld (left) and Elvin Hayes

June 7, 1978: Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Washington Bullets, losers in the Finals in 1971 (as the Baltimore Bullets) and 1975, finally get the job done, 105-98 over the Seattle SuperSonics at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

The Bullets, who began as (yes, a team with this name existed) the Chicago Packers in 1961, were led by coach Dick Motta and future Hall-of-Famers Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. Bobby Dandrige wins a title after having done so with the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. Mitch Kupchak would win 2 more titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and is now the general manager of the Charlotte Hornets.

The Bullets' close calls finally ending led to their fans taking up the slogan "The Fat Lady is singing." The expression "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" dates to the close of composer Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (or "Ring Cycle"): At the end of the 4th and final opera, Götterdämmerung (meaning "Twilight of the Gods"), the valkyrie Brünnhilde sings a 20-minute aria, and since the opera's 1876 debut, when she was played by Austrian soprano Amalie Materna, she has traditionally been played by a large woman.

So when the Bullets made another Playoff run the next season, 1978-79, T-shirts with a cartoon image of a fat valkyrie were sold, with the caption, "THE FAT LADY WILL SING AGAIN." But she didn't -- at least, not for the Bullets: This time, while they got back to the Finals, again playing the Sonics, the Sonics won in 5 games.

And that was it: The Bullets got old fast. Unseld, already 33, played just 2 more seasons, and retired. Hayes was the same age, and left at the same time, going back to his hometown team, the Houston Rockets. Through the 1987-88 season, the Bullets remained a Playoff perennial, but from 1980 to 2004, 25 seasons, they won just 9 Playoff games. From 1980 to 2013, 34 seasons, they won only 2 Playoff series. 

The Bullets became the Washington Wizards in 1997, in response to gun violence in D.C., at the same time they moved from the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland to the downtown arena now known as the Capital One Arena. (The name “Baltimore Bullets” had been used for a previous franchise, named for a product the city was producing in big numbers in World War II.)

Those 2 Finals matchups with the Sonics, and the 1949 loss by the old Washington Capitols to the Minneapolis Lakers, remain the only NBA Finals appearances for Washington teams: They are 1-3 in 72 years. Given the rich heritage of high school and college basketball in the D.C. area, including Georgetown University and the University of Maryland, it could be argued that the area is perhaps the most underachieving in pro basketball.

The Washington Capitals would win their 1st Stanley Cup 4 years later to the day: June 7, 2018.

UPDATE: In both 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Wizards had the worst record in the NBA. At least they still exist in the same metro area, albeit under a different name and in a different arena. The Seattle SuperSonics, who usually kept making the Playoffs, and returned to the NBA Finals in 1996, were moved in 2008, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. They reached the Finals under that name in 2012, and won the title in 2025. The Sonics' name, colors and history is being held by the NBA in case of an expansion team, or a team moving to Seattle, which has a new arena.

The Wizards do not have a team Hall of Fame, but they do retire numbers. From their previous incarnation as the Baltimore Bullets: 10, for guard Earl "the Pearl" Monroe; and 15, for forward Gus Johnson. From their 1978 title as the Washington Bullets: 11, for forward Elvin Hayes; 41, for center Wes Unseld; and 45, for guard, later broadcaster, Phil Chenier.

All of those, except Chenier, have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. It says something about what the Bullets/Wizards have done from 1980 onward that the only members of that Hall who have played at least 5 seasons for them have been Bernard King. (Bob Dandridge and Chris Webber played 4 seasons for them; Mitch Richmond and Ben Wallace, 3; Moses Malone, Spencer Haywood and Michael Jordan, 2; Ralph Sampson and Paul Pierce, 1.)

Hayes and Unseld were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. Hayes, Unseld and Chenier have been elected to the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame. So has Steve Buckhantz, Chenier's former broadcast partner. So has Johnny Holliday, a legendary radio personality in Cleveland, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Washington area, who has worked with the Bullets/Wizards, the Senators, the Nationals, the Redskins/Commanders and the Capitals.

So has Abe Pollin, the owner who moved the Bullets to Washington, built the Capital Centre and then the arena now known as the Capital One Arena, and changed their name to the Wizards. So has Dick Motta, who coached the Bullets to the 1978 NBA Championship. So has Bob Ferry, former Baltimore Bullets forward, who was the general manager who built the '78 title team. So has his son, Danny Ferry, who starred at nearby DeMatha Catholic High School, before moving on to Duke University and playing in the NBA, although not for the Washington franchise.

*

June 7, 1978 was a Wednesday. The World Cup was underway in Argentina, and these games were played:

* Brazil and Spain played to a draw, 0-0 at Estadio José María Minella in Mar del Plata.

* The Netherlands and Peru played to a draw, 0-0 at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza.

* Scotland and Iran played to a draw, 1-1 at Estadio Olimpico in Córdoba.

* Austria beat Sweden, 1-0 at Estadio José Amalfitani in Buenos Aires.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ron Guidry advanced to 9-0 on the season, striking out 10 batters. Reggie Jackson, Roy White and Bucky Dent hit home runs.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles dodgers, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Ron Hodges grounded into a double play in the 8th inning, but it scored Steve Henderson with what turned out to be the winning run, making Charlie Hough a losing pitcher in relief of Burt Hooton. Pat Zachry went the distance for the win. Joel Youngblood hit a home run.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 8-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Dave Winfield went 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. With the Giants leading 4-3 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, Randy Moffitt, brother of tennis legend Billie Jean King, allowed 3 straight singles, to Bake McBride, Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt, to tie the game. Greg Luzinski, who had homered earlier, was walked to set up the double play at any base (or, at least, a force play at home), but reliever Gary Lavelle gave up a game-winning single to José Cardenal. This made Tug McGraw a winning pitcher in relief of Jim Lonborg.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rusty Staub went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Robin Yount went 1-for-5.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Unusually, Rod Carew went 0-for-4, dropping his batting average to .366.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Phil Niekro knuckleballed his way to a 4-hit shutout, backed by a home run from Biff Pocoroba.

* A doubleheader was split at the Oakland Coliseum. The California Angels won the opener, 4-1. Ken Brett outpitched Alan Wirth. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 1-0. Matt Keough pitched 7 1/3rd innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and Bob Lacey and Elias Sosa finished the 5-hit shutout, outpitching Tom Griffin.

* The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers were rained out at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Rangers swept, 5-4 and 3-2.

In the 2nd game, Bobby Bonds hit a sacrifice fly to score Bump Wills with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Oddly, while Bonds would be surpassed by his son, Barry, Wills would never match the achievements of his father, Maury. Over the 2 games, George Brett went 2-for-11 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 25. The Jays won the 1st game, 2-1. The Indians won the 2nd game, 3-2.

* The Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 17. The Pirates swept, 5-1 and 3-2. Willie Stargell went 0-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, and then sat out the 2nd.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox were not scheduled.

June 1, 1979: The Sonics Were Super

June 1, 1979: The Seattle SuperSonics defeat the Washington Bullets, 97-93 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland, in Game 5, to take the NBA Finals 4 games to 1, and win their 1st NBA Championship. This avenged their defeat to the Bullets in the previous season's Finals.

Dennis Johnson is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Gus Williams probably should be. But the Sonics are the only NBA Champions between 1951 and 2022 not to have a single player in the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. But their head coach was one of those 75, as he had been for the 50 selected for the 50th Anniversary: Lenny Wilkens. His 1,332 wins as an NBA head coach once were the most in history, but he has since been surpassed by Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson.

Neither of these teams uses its 1979 name anymore. The Sonics reached the Finals again in 1996, but were moved in 2008, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. An agreement is in place where, if Seattle gets a new team, the Thunder will forfeit all legal rights associated with the Sonics. The 1979 Sonics title was Seattle's only World Championship, in any sport, between 1917 and 2014.

The Sonics were the only team after the 1951 Rochester Royals to win the NBA title and not have any players named to the league's 50th Anniversary Team, although Wilkens was named as one of the Top 10 Coaches. This would hold true for the 75th Anniversary Team.

The Bullets, wanting to get away from D.C.'s crime-ridden image, changed their name to the Washington Wizards in 1997, the same year they moved into the District, to the building now known as the Capital One Arena. They have not made the Finals since.

*

June 1, 1979 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry, still looking like the pitcher he was the season before, allowed only 2 hits, singles to Chet Lemon and Alan Bannister. He struck out 10. Lou Piniella hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Frank Taveras singled Doug Flynn home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. Joel Youngblood hit a home run.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 9-8 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Dave Parker hit a home run. Willie Stargell went 1-for-5. Phil Garner went 4-for-5. For the Padres, Dave Winfield hit 2 home runs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Steve Carlton was betrayed by an 8th-inning error by 2nd baseman Ramón Avilés that allowed 2 runs to score. Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Against his once-and-former team, Pete Rose went 0-for-4. So did Mike Schmidt. Del Unser and Garry Maddox hit home runs.

An inability to find a 2nd baseman who could hit (unlike Avilés and Ted Sizemore), field (unlike Avilés) and stay healthy (unlike Dave Cash) was a big reason why the Phillies reached 3 straight National League Championship Series, but lost them all. Later in the year, the Phillies acquired Manny Trillo. He became a big reason why they won the 1980 World Series.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The Dodgers scored a run in the 8th and a run in the 9th to tie it, and took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 11th. But in the bottom of the 11th, the Cards got singles by Keith Hernandez, Ted Simmons and Tony Scott to tie the game. After a strikeout, and an intentional walk to Ken Reitz, Dane Iorg singled Simmons home with the winning run.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Milwaukee. Robin Yount hit a home run. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with a walk. George Brett went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 7-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rod Carew went 2-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Seattle Mariners, under circumstances considerably less important than their basketball neighbors, matched the SuperSonics with a win, beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

May 25, 1975: The Warriors Are Golden

May 25, 1975: The most stunning upset in the history of the NBA Finals is completed.

The Baltimore Bullets had made the NBA Finals in 1971, but got swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. They moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Washington in 1973. Well, not quite: After playing a few home games at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House while waiting for their new arena to be finished, they settled at that new arena, the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland, just outside the Capital Beltway.

They played the 1973-74 season as the Capital Bullets, before changing their name to the Washington Bullets. And, in 1974-75, led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, they reached the NBA Finals again. Their opponents would be another team that went through more name changes than was necessary. The Philadelphia Warriors were a charter franchise in the NBA in 1946, but moved to San Francisco in 1962. In 1971, they moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, but took on the name "Golden State Warriors."

Much like baseball's California Angels, who tried to draw fans Statewide in an effort to draw more fans than the nearby Los Angeles Dodgers, the Warriors weren't fooling anybody with their Statewide name. At least, unlike the Angels, they no longer had to compete with another team: The ABA's Oakland Oaks had moved in 1969, becoming the Washington Caps, and then the Virginia Squires in 1970.

Coached by former Boston Celtics star K.C. Jones, the Bullets went 60-22, and won the Central Division. They beat the Buffalo Braves in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the defending Champion Celtics in the Conference Finals.

Coached by former Warriors player Al Attles, Golden State went 48-34, and won the Pacific Division. They beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference Semifinals, and the Chicago Bulls in the Conference Finals.

In spite of having won 12 fewer games than the Bullets, and having lost 3 out of 4 regular-season games against them, the Warriors were the top seed in the West, while the Bullets were the 2nd seed in the East. Still, the Bullets were heavily favored, with many observers predicting a sweep.

They got a sweep, all right, but not in the direction they expected. Game 1 was played at the Cap Centre, and Phil Smith came off the bench to score 20 points in 31 minutes, and the Warriors won, 101-95.

The odds seemed to be against the Warriors, because the Oakland Coliseum Arena was unavailable, as they were hosting the Ice Follies. Games 2 and 3 were moved to the Warriors' former home, the Grand National Livestock Pavilion, a.k.a. the Cow Palace, across the City Line in Daly City, California. Not on their usual home court, could the Warriors possibly win?

Yes, they could; and, yes, they did. They erased an early 13-point Washington lead thanks to 36 points from Rick Barry, and won Game 2, 92-91. Barry, probably best known as one of the greatest free-throw shooters ever, scored 38 points in Game 3, and the Warriors won, 109-101.

Keith Wilkes, later to change his name to Jamaal Wilkes and help the Lakers win titles in the 1980s, held Hayes to just 29 points in the 1st 3 games. Over that stretch, the Warriors' bench outscored the Bullets' bench, 115-53.

Game 4 was played back in Landover, and featured a fight that was started when the Bullets' Mike Riordan fouled Barry hard. Attles, a former guard known as The Destroyer, ran onto the court to defend his fellow New Jerseyan -- Attles was from Newark, Barry from 2 towns away in Roselle Park -- and "took one for the team," getting physical with Riordan and getting thrown out of the game, so Barry wouldn't be. Assistant coach Joe Roberts coached the Warriors the rest of the way.

The fight seemed to take the fight out of the Bullets, as they blew a 14-point lead, and the Warriors won, 96-95. The San Francisco Bay Area had its 1st NBA Championship.

The District of Columbia would have to wait until 1978, when the Bullets beat the SuperSonics. The Sonics reversed that result the following year. The capital team, which renamed itself the Washington Wizards in 1997, the year they moved into the District proper, into what's now named the Capital One Arena, haven't been to the Eastern Conference Finals since.

The Warriors also struggled a lot, until the Stephen Curry era began, and they won 4 titles and made 2 other Finals. Indeed, given how much basketball talent came out of the D.C. and Bay areas, great high school players and great college programs, the pro team in D.C. has seriously-under-achieved, and so did the pro team in the Bay Area until 2015.

From May 25 to October 22, 1975, 150 days, not just the San Francisco Bay Area, but specifically the City of Oakland, held the World Championships of baseball and basketball at the same time. It was part of an extraordinary 10-year run from December 31, 1967 to January 1, 1978, that saw Oakland win 5 American League Western Division titles; win 10 AFC Western Division titles, and reach the AFL or AFC Championship Game 9 times, including 2 Championships; reach the NBA Western Conference Finals 4 times, winning once; culminating in winning 3 World Series, a Super Bowl, an NBA Championship, an ABA Championship, and a National Professional Soccer League Championship:

* Oakland Clippers, 1967 NPSL Champions.

* Oakland Raiders, 1967 AFL Champions, 1976 NFL Champions.

* Oakland Oaks, 1969 ABA Champions.

* Oakland Athletics, 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Champions.

* Golden State Warriors, 1975 NBA Champions.

All this, while, across the Bay, San Francisco lost the Warriors to Oakland, saw the Giants and the 49ers continually let their city down, and nearly lost the Giants to Toronto.

However, by the time that 10-year period ended, the City of Oakland would lose its NHL team, its ABA team, and its NPSL team; and set in motion the process that would eventually cause it to see its NBA team move back across San Francisco Bay, and lose its MLB team, and lose its NFL team, gain it back, and lose it again.

UPDATE: The Warriors do not have a team Hall of Fame. They have retired some numbers. One is a holdover from their move from Philadelphia to San Francisco: 13, for center Wilt Chamberlain. From their 1967 NBA Finalists: 14, forward Tom Meschery; 16, guard Al Attles; 24, forward Rick Barry; and 42, center Nate Thurmond.

From their 1975 World Champions, coached by Attles: So far, only Barry. From the 1980s and 1990s: 17, for guard Chis Mullin. Through the 2025-26 season, their only honoree from their 2015-22 dynasty has been 9, for guard Andre Iguodala. Presumably, there will be others once those players retire.

There are 8 Warriors figures in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame: Attles, Meschery, Thurmond, Barry, Mullin, Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway Sr., and Franklin Meuli, who bought the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962, moved them to the Bay Area, and owned them until 1986. Barry, Chamberlain and Thurmond were named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.

*

May 25, 1975 was a Sunday. Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals was also played on this day. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Flyers completed their run of back-to-back Cups 2 days later.

The Kentucky Colonels had won the American Basketball Association Championship 3 days before, beating the Indiana Pacers in 5 games. The Houston Aeros had made it back-to-back titles in the World Hockey Association on May 12, sweeping the Quebec Nordiques in 4 straight games.

Football was out of season. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Shea Stadium, during their 2-year exile while the original Yankee Stadium was renovated. Pat Dobson outpitched Jim Bibby. Roy White went 3-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Buzz Capra outpitched Jerry Koosman. Earl Williams hit a home run.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 6-0. Dennis Eckersley pitched a 3-hit shutout, beating Jim Perry. Frank Robinson, now the 1st black manager in baseball, went 1-for-4. Rico Carty went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 6-3. Dick Bosman outpitched Jim Kern. Robinson went 1-for-4 again. Over the 2 games, Reggie Jackson went 1-for-9 with an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 0-for-5, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-4, but George Foster hit a home run, and César Gerónimo went 3-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Hank Aaron, playing out the string with the Brewers, went 0-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harmon Killebrew, playing out the string with the Royals, went 0-for-5. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 8-7 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Expos scored 6 runs in the 2nd inning, and led 6-3 going to the bottom of the 8th. But the Astros scored 2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th, sending the game to extra innings. The Expos scored a run in the top of the 12th, but an Enos Cabell double and a Milt May single won it in the bottom of the 12th.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 6-5 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Ed Kirkpatrick hit a home run in the top of the 11th inning. Willie Stargell went 0-for-5, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Dave Winfield also went 0-for-5.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Dodger Stadium.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

April 8, 1973: The End of the Baltimore Bullets

April 8, 1973: The New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 109-99 at the new Madison Square Garden, and eliminate the Bullets from the Playoffs.

For the Knicks, on their way to their 2nd NBA Championship and 3rd trip to the Finals in 4 seasons: Former Bullets star Earl "The Pearl" Monroe scored 26 points, Dave DeBusschere 21, Walt Frazier 20, Willis Reed 12, and Bill Bradley 9. Among substitutes, Phil Jackson had 13, Dean Meminger 6 and Jerry Lucas 2.

For the Bullets: Archie Clark scored 30 points, Elvin Hayes and Phil Chenier each added 20, Mike Riordan (who played on the Knicks' 1970 title team) had 17, and Wes Unseld had 12. These starters played nearly the entire game. John Tresvant played 4 minutes and Kevin Porter 2, each without a shot, a rebound or an assist.

This would be the last game the Bullets played as a Baltimore team. They were a 1961 expansion team, playing the 1961-62 season as the Chicago Packers, then the 1962-63 season as the Chicago Zephyrs, then played at the Baltimore Civic Center from 1963 to 1973.

In 1971, they nearly gave Baltimore a very rare treble of titles: The Orioles had won the 1970 World Series, the Colts had won Super Bowl V, and the Bullets reached the 1971 NBA Finals. Coached by Gene Shue, They had a starting lineup of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe and Fred "Mad Dog" Carter, both from Philadelphia, as guards; Jack Marin and John Tresvant at forward; and Wes Unseld at center; with former All-Star forward Gus Johnson and guard Kevin Loughery as key reserves. But they were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Left: Wes Unseld, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar watching.

Right: Earl Monroe.

Washington-based construction magnate Abe Pollin bought the Bullets in 1964, but wasn't happy with the Civic Center having only 13,000 seats. So he built the Capital Centre, just outside the Capital Beltway in Landover, Prince George's County, Maryland -- 34 miles southwest of downtown Baltimore, and 11 miles east of downtown Washington. He also established the NHL's Washington Capitals, to begin play there in 1974. The saddle-roofed arena was intended to be easily reachable for people from both cities to drive to it, but the Washington Metro didn't open a station for it until 1978.

Under his ownership, his teams reached their sports' Finals 5 times, but he won only in 1978 with the Bullets, with Shue still coaching them, and Unseld still leading the team, with the addition of forward Elvin Hayes.

In 1997, Pollin built a new arena in downtown Washington, now named the Capital One Arena, and changed the NBA team's name to the Washington Wizards, to help remove the stigma of gun violence from his hometown.

The Wizards have honored 5 players with the retirement of their uniform numbers, with 3 of them contributing significantly to the Baltimore Bullets: Monroe, 10; Johnson, 25; and Unseld, 41. Walt Bellamny, Bailey Howell, and Hayes (the final season, 1972-73, only) joined those 3 as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame who played for the Baltimore Bullets.

Abe Pollin died in 2009, and his 45 years with the Bullets/Wizards makes him the longest-tenured owner in NBA history. But in spite of his long ownerships, neither the Basketball nor the Hockey Hall of Fame's voters have seen fit to elect him.

The Bullets played 35 regular season "home" games at the Civic Center, by then having taken a series of new names as one corporation after another bought naming rights, from January 1989 through March 1997. As of April 8, 2022, the building is named the Royal Farms Arena, and has been renovated, but the wider seats have reduced seating capacity to 11,614. Adding modern luxury boxes would basically eliminate the upper deck, reducing capacity further. Baltimore has looked at plans for a new arena, but hasn't selected one. Until they do, and it can open, Baltimore will remain the largest metropolitan area in the Northeastern U.S. without an NBA team.

The Baltimore Civic Center, now the CFG Bank Arena.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards can be seen in the background.

UPDATE: In 2023, the name of the former Baltimore Civic Center was changed again, to the CFG Bank Arena.

The Washington Wizards have retired the numbers of Baltimore Bullets Earl Monroe, 10; Gus Johnson, 25; and Wes Unseld, 41.

*

April 8, 1973 was a Sunday. Actress Emma Caulfield was born. And painter Pablo Picasso died.

There were 2 other games in the NBA Playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 97-94 at The Omni in Atlanta. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 37 points for the Hawks. And that wasn't the highest point total of the day: In the Chicago Bulls' 98-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Chicago Stadium, Bob Love of the Bulls scored 38.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Utah Stars beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 120-98 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 4 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-0 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-0 in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the St. Louis Arena.

And there were 3 games in the inaugural World Hockey Association Playoffs:

* The New England Whalers beat the Ottawa Nationals, 4-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 3-1 at the Philadelphia Arena.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 5-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Yankees tied the game in the top of the 9th inning, but, in a rare moment when the Sox' 1972 trade of Sparky Lyle to the Yankees looked good for them, Sparky gave up what would now be called a walkoff home run to Orlando Cepeda.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The Houston Astros won the opener, beating the Atlanta Braves, 10-3. The Asros scored 8 runs in the top of the 6th inning. César Cedeño went 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk. The Braves won the nightcap, 4-3. Mike Lum singled Darrell Evans home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Aaron only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 and 5-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Bob Robertson won the 1st game with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Lou Brock went 0-for-4. Despite the loss in the 2nd game, Brock rebounded to go 5-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 3-for-8 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Joe Coleman pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Lerrin LaGrow completed the 3-hit shutout. Norm Cash hit a home run, and Al Kaline went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Tommy John allowed 7 hits over 7 1/3rd innings, and George Culver finished the 8-hit shutout.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Jim Kaat outpitched Ken Holtzman. Harmon Killebrew did not play. Rod Carew went 1-for-3. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Shea Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 27. The Mets won the 1st game, 7-6, scoring all 7 runs in the 1st inning. Barry Lersch survived the onslaught -- probably because manager wanted to save the bullpen for a still-winnable 2nd game -- and lasted 7 innings. In contrast, George Stone went only 5 innings for the Mets, but was the winning pitcher.

The Phils won the 2nd game, 7-1. Mike Wallace (not the CBS newscaster) outpitched Harry Parker. After not appearing in the 1st game, Willie Mays, in his final season, went 2-for-4 in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt, in his 1st full season, went 3-for-8 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 5 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers were rained out at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The game was made up as part of a 4th of July doubleheader. The ChiSox swept, 2-0 and 6-2. Jim Geddes had to leave the 1st game in the 5th inning, due to injury, and Cy Acosta pitched the rest of the way. Each of them allowed only 2 hits in a combined 4-hit shutout.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 12. The O's swept, 4-1 and 5-3. In the 1st game, Jim Palmer outpitched Skip Lockwood for his 20th win of the season. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 1-for-6 with 2 walks.