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 Portland Memorial Coliseum.

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.

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.

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.