May 17, 1974: The Only European Cup Final Replay

Ramón "Cacho" Heredia, left; and "Der Kaiser," Franz Beckenbauer

May 17, 1974: For the 1st time -- and, as it turns out, the only time -- a replay is required for the Final of the European Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League.

The teams involved were polar opposites. Defying West Germany's image as a dour, colorless, defense-first team -- the national team tended to wear all-white kits when they had the choice -- Bayern Munich had scored 20 goals in the 1st 4 ties (8 games) of the tournament, leading to the Final, and had allowed 14. In contrast, Atlético Madrid had scored only goals, but had allowed only 2. Both teams were in the Final for the 1st time.

On May 15, they played each other in the Final, at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Regular time ended scoreless. Luis Aragonés scored for Atlético on a free kick in extra time, the 114th minute, but Hans-Georg "Katsche" Schwarzenbeck scored for Bayern, from 30 yards out, in the 120th and final minute (minus stoppage time). A replay was in order, and was scheduled for the same venue, 2 nights later.

But the at-the-death goal gave Bayern the momentum. And one day's rest wasn't enough for Atlético: The majority of their side were aged over 30. The replay turned out to be no contest: Uli Hoeneß scored in the 28th and 82nd minutes, and Gerd Müller scored in the 56th and 69th. Bayern won, 4-0.

West Germany's team for the World Cup, on home soil, would include Bayern players Schwarzenbeck, Hoeneß, Müller, Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner and Jupp Kapellman. They won the tournament, beating the Netherlands in the Final, 2-1.

Prior to 1974, the only German team to reach the European Cup Final was Eintracht Frankfurt, in 1960, and they got pounded, 7-3 by Real Madrid. But from this point onward, Bayern would win 3 straight European Cups, and would perennially feature in the tournament; while it would be won by Hamburger SV in 1983, Borussia Dortmund in 1997; and Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen would also reach the Final.

While Real Madrid and Barcelona have been dominant sides in European Cup/Champions League play (the rebrand happened in 1992), other Spanish sides haven't been lucky. Atlético lost in the Final again in 2014 and 2016, both times to their crosstown rivals, Real Madrid. The only other Spanish side to reach the Final has been Valencia CF, and they lost to Real Madrid in 2000 and to Bayern in 2001.

UEFA soon abolished replays for tournament finals, instituting penalty kicks as the decider.

The Final would be held at Heysel again in 1985, with disastrous results, and I don’t mean a poorly-played game, although that did also happen.

*

May 17, 1974 was a Friday. It was a violent day, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and not due to any "football hooligans." In Compton, California, a shootout broke out between members of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist group. The firing of tear gas canisters into the residence was followed by a fire that killed six of the SLA members.

The shootout and fire were broadcast on live television in Los Angeles, preempting national news programming. Three SLA members escaped: William and Emily Harris, and the 20-year-old socialite they had kidnapped, Patty Hearst. She and the Harrises were eventually arrested, convicted of their part in the Hearst kidnapping, and served time in prison.

And the Dublin and Monaghan bombings were carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force, when they explode four car bombs in counties Dublin and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. Their attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300, the highest number of casualties in any single event during "The Troubles." I have a separate entry to cover these 2 events.

Elsewhere in Ireland that day, in Dundalk, County Leith, Andrea Corr was born. She and her siblings formed music group The Corrs, and she was the lead singer.

Game 3 of the World Hockey Association Finals was played. The Houston Aeros, led by Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, beat the Chicago Cougars, 7-4 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. They completed the sweep 2 days later.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 5 and 6. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins in Game 6, to win the Cup. The NBA Finals ended 5 days earlier, with the Boston Celtics beating the Milwaukee Bucks in 7 games. The ABA Finals ended 2 days before that, with the New York Nets beating the Utah Stars in 5 games.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. George "Doc" Medich outpitched Clyde Wright. Rookie Rick Dempsey caught for the Yankees instead of Thurman Munson. Rookie Robin Yount had a single and a sacrifice bunt before being pinch-hit for.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 5-0 at Shea Stadium. Tom Seaver pitched a 5-hit shutout, walking none, striking out 13. Rusty Staub hit a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles led the Boston Red Sox, 6-0 after 6 innings at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, when the umpires called the game due to rain. Mike Cuellar had a 6-hit shutout going. Tommy Davis hit 2 home runs for the O's. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3. For the Sox, Carl Yastrzemski also went 1-for-3.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline, in his last year as a player, went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Reggie Jackson did not play.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew each went 1-for-3 with a walk. Frank Robinson, then with the Angels, did not play in the game.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 9-8 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Rookie George Brett went 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Lum doubled home the winning runs in the top of the 11th inning. Hank Aaron, then with 720 career home runs, went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Nate Colbert hit a grand slam. Rookie Dave Winfield went 0-for-3 with a walk, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. For the Giants, Bobby Bonds went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game was made up 2 days later, as part of a Sunday doubleheader. The Phils won the opener, 3-2. Jim Lonborg outpitched Dock Ellis. The Bucs won the nightcap, 2-1. Jerry Reuss outpitched Dick Ruthven. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 0-for-8, and Willie Stargell went 2-for-8 with an RBI.

May 11, 1977: Ted Turner Manages the Atlanta Braves

May 11, 1977: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. That was not unusual. What was unusual was the Braves' manager, a man who once said, "There's a fine line between being colorful and being an asshole, and I hope I'm still just colorful."

Robert Edward Turner III was born on November 19, 1938 in Cincinnati, and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. Expelled from Ivy League school Brown University for being caught with a woman in his dorm, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, so he wouldn't be drafted to fight in Vietnam during the early phase of that war. He later admitted, "I like boats," and was "deployed to some pretty sweet places -- Charleston and Fort Lauderdale."

How much did he like boats? In 1964, he competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials for yacht racing. In 1974, he entered the defender's trials for the America's Cup. On September 18, 1977,  commanding

Courageous, Ted Turner won the America's Cup, defeating Australia in a 4-race sweep.

His father committed suicide in 1963, and 24-year-old Ted took over his father's business, producing advertising billboards. Like another young man who would become a baseball mogul, George Steinbrenner, he took his father's business and grew it far beyond anything his father had imagined, making it "the largest outdoor advertising company in the Southeast."

He began buying radio stations, and, in 1969, traded them for a struggling Atlanta TV statin, WJRJ-Channel 17. He changed the call sign to WTCG, for Turner Communications Group, although he advertised it as "Watch This Channel Grow."

Initially, the station ran old movies from prior decades, along with theatrical cartoons and bygone sitcoms and drama programs. As a better syndicated product fell off the VHF stations, Turner would acquire it for his station at a very low price. WTCG ran mostly second- and even third-hand programming of the time, including fare such as I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island and Star Trek.

In 1972, he bought the rights to broadcast the games of baseball's Atlanta Braves and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. In 1976, he bought those teams outright, thinking that his broadcast revenue would allow him to buy better players, and the teams would help the station grow further

On May 2, 1976, Turner announced that, instead of their surnames, the Braves players would have their nicknames above their uniform numbers on their backs. Darrell Evans had "HOWDY." Darrel Chaney had "NORT." Jimmy Wynn's nickname, "The Toy Cannon" (because he was short but powerful), was too long to fit, so his was just "CANNON." And pitcher Andy Messersmith had "CHANNEL."

Bowie Kuhn, the Commissioner of Baseball, saw through this blatant attempt by Turner to advertise for his station, and prohibited it thereafter. Turner and Kuhn were now at odds, and would remain so. (Not that he was the only owner with whom Kuhn was at odds.) On January 3, 1977, Kuhn suspended Turner for a year, for his actions in signing free agent outfielder Gary Matthews. Turner appealed the suspension, and it was overturned.

On May 11, 1977, with the team mired in a 16-game losing streak, Turner sent manager Dave Bristol on a 10-day "scouting trip," and installed himself took over as interim manager. This made him the 1st owner/manager in the major leagues since Connie Mack stepped down as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.

That night, the Braves lost 2-1 to the Pirates. Phil Niekro went the distance, and pitched well, but fell to 0-7 on the season. He would end it 16-20. John Candelaria held the Braves to 1 run on 8 hits, 3 of them by rookie outfielder Barry Bonnell, who ended up batting .300 for the season. Dave Parker hit a home run for the Pirates, and that made the difference. Willie Stargell went 1-for- 2 with 2 walks.

The next day, National League President Charles "Chub" Feeney ordered Turner to step down as manager, citing MLB's Rule 20(e), which prohibits managers from owning any stock in the team that employs them, unless specifically granted an exemption by the Commissioner. This rule was put in place in 1927, after a situation regarding Rogers Hornsby. Mack, and also John McGraw of the New York Giants, who owned stock in their teams, were "grandfathered in." Turner appealed to Kuhn, but was never going to get anywhere with him.

The next day, with 3rd base coach Vern Benson running the team, the Braves broke their 17-game losing streak, beating the Pirates, 6-1. Bristol returned for the next game, and the team finished 61-101, in 6th and last place in the NL Western Division, 37 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Turner fired Bristol after the season, and replaced him with New York Yankees coach Bobby Cox. He got nowhere with the Braves, but their next manager, Joe Torre, led them to the NL West title in 1982, and almost did it again in 1983.

That 1982 season was the year that made the Braves a national phenomenon: Not only had Turner changed Channel 17's call letters to WTBS, for "Turner Broadcasting System," but he'd made it a national "SuperStation." Like the Chicago Cubs on WGN, his games were now broadcast nationwide, and they got a national following, not just a regional one. He even billed the Braves as "America's Team," just as football's Dallas Cowboys had done. They lost the NL Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, whose vast radio network had made them something like a national team.

Cox went on to the Toronto Blue Jays, and led them to their 1st Division title in 1985, but they lost the American League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals.

In 1990, Turner lured away the Royals' general manager, John Schuerholz. He brought Cox back to the Braves, and the next year, they began one of the most successful runs in NL history. Not counting the strike-shortened 1994 season, the Braves won their Division -- the NL West through 1993, the NL East thereafter -- every season from 1991 to 2005. They won their 1st Pennant in Atlanta in 1991, and also won in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999. And they won the 1995 World Series, although they lost the others, including in 1996 and 1999 to the Yankees, who were managed by... Joe Torre.

Turner sold the Braves in 2007. As of May 11, 2022, he is still alive, but has had medical issues, and has withdrawn from the public eye.

UPDATE: Turner died on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87.

*

May 11, 1977 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA Playoffs: The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-94 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena would be converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between Games 3 and 4. The Montreal Canadiens would sweep the Boston Bruins in 4 straight. And Game 1 of the World Hockey Association Finals was played. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Quebec Nordiques, 2-1 at the Colisée de Québec. But the Nordiques would win the series in 7 games.

And these other games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 5-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Reggie Jackson hit a home run, but Ken Holtzman, who had been his teammate on the recent Oakland dynasty, did not pitch well. This was the Yankees' 1st visit to that stadium, as the Mariners were a 1st-year expansion team. They ended up losing the next night, too, before salvaging the series finale.

The next year, at the age of 8, I read the The Best Team Money Could Buy, which Steve Jacobson, Newsday's Yankees beat reporter, had written. This was not a book for kids. He quoted left fielder Lou Piniella objecting to the Kingdome and "losing to a horseshit ballclub." Ironically, the 1st 4 times the Mariners ended up making the Playoffs, their manager would be Lou Piniella, and the 1st 2 times would be at the Kingdome, before Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) opened.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the San Diego Padres, 6-3 and 4-3 at Shea Stadium. Dan Spillner outpitched Tom Seaver in the opener, and Randy Jones beat Craig Swan in the nightcap. The Mets got home runs from Mike Phillips and Dave Kingman.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rod Carew went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Pete Rose went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Chet Lemon singled Richie Zisk home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The California Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Frank Tanana pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum.

May 6, 1973: The 1st WHA Championship

May 6, 1973: The World Hockey Association completes its 1st season, with the awarding of the Avco World Trophy, named for its sponsor, a now-defunct defense contractor.

Danny Lawson of the Philadelphia Blazers led the league with 61 goals. The following season, with the Blazers having moved to Vancouver, he scored 50. In the rest of his career, in the NHL and the WHA combined, he scored only 137.

His Blazer teammate, Andre Lacroix, was the leading point-scorer: 50 goals and a league-leading 74 assists made for 124 points. He turned out to be one of the top players in the WHA's history, but did little in the NHL.

The rebel league started with 12 teams, 6 in an Eastern Division and 6 in a Western Division. The top 4 teams in each Division made the Playoffs. In the East, the New York Raiders and the Quebec Nordiques were out; in the West, it was the Chicago Cougars and the Alberta Oilers, who changed their name to the Edmonton Oilers for the following season.

Bobby Hull of the Winnipeg Jets was given the Gary Davidson Award, named for the league's founder, as Most Valuable Player. The next season, another NHL legend joined the WHA, Gordie Howe with the Houston Aeros. Despite being 45 years old, Howe would win the Davidson Award. From then on, it was named the Gordie Howe Award. Gerry Cheevers of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the once and future goaltender of the Boston Bruins, won the Ben Hatskin Trophy, named for the Jets' founder, as the league's top goalie.

In the Quarterfinals, the Boston-based New England Whalers beat the Ottawa Nationals, the Crusaders beat the Blazers, the Jets beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, and the Aeros beat the Los Angeles Sharks. In the Semifinals, the Whalers beat the Crusaders, and the Jets beat the Aeros.

The Whalers were coached by Jack Kelley, longtime coach at Boston University, and father of TV show creator and producer David E. Kelley, who has set many of his shows in Boston. Their Captain was former Bruin defenseman Ted Green, and their roster also included former Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Rick Ley, former Montreal Canadien center Larry Pleau, former Detroit Red Wing right wing Tom Webster, and Al Smith, a goalie for the Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They had to share the Boston Garden with both the Bruins and the NBA's Celtics, making it hard to get favorable playing dates. Many of their games, including all of their Playoff games, were moved to the Boston Arena, now named the Matthews Arena, home ice of Northeastern University.

That's where on May 6, they played Hull's Jets in Game 5 of the Finals on May 6, looking to clinch. With Pleau scoring a hat trick, the Whalers won, 4-1, and also won the series by that margin. Typical of how disorganized the WHA was, the Avco World Trophy wasn't ready. So Green led his team around the ice, holding the trophy they'd won as regular-season champions of the Eastern Conference. Since no fans had yet seen the Avco World Trophy, there was no way for them to know the difference.

The Whalers never got so close to a league title again. They reached the WHA Finals again in 1978, but the Jets got revenge. Along with the Jets, the Oilers and the Nordiques, the renamed Hartford Whalers were the 4 teams that the NHL accepted from the WHA for the 1979-80 season. Except for the 1986 season, they never won a Playoff series in the NHL, before moving in 1997, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes.

The team that had been the Whalers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2002. Finally, in 2006, they won the Stanley Cup. The Oilers have won 5, between 1984 and 1990. The Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche, and have won the Cup in 1996 and 2001. The Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996, becoming the Arizona Coyotes. But in 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets. Through the 2020-21 season, neither the Jets/Coyotes nor the Thrashers/Jets have yet reached the Stanley Cup Finals.

(UPDATE: In 2022, the Avalanche won another Cup. In 2024, the Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City, becoming the Utah Hockey Club.)

*

May 6, 1973 was a Sunday. The NHL was running the Stanley Cup Finals at the time, and Game 4 was played at Chicago Stadium that night. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-0. The Canadiens won the series in 6 games.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals was played at Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 87-83. The Knicks went on to win the series in 5 games. The American Basketball Association was between Games 4 and 5 of its Finals, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Kentucky Colonels in 7 games.

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

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 11-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bobby Murcer, Felipe Alou and Roy White each got 2 hits, to no avail.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 6-1 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Pete Rose went 0-for-5. Johnny Bench hit a home run.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 12-8 at Shea Stadium. Willie Mays grounded into a double play in the 1st inning. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 3rd inning.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Hank Aaron struck out as a pinch-hitter.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Jim Plamer pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Nolan Ryan. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3, but reached base by being hit with a pitch.

* The Oakland Athletics swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 12-0 and 7-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ken Holtzman pitched a 5-hit shutout in the opener. Over the 2 games, Reggie Jackson went 3-for-7 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-3 with a walk.

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

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew and Carl Yastrzemski both went 2-for-4 with a walk. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-0 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Mike Caldwell pitched a 2-hit shutout. Willie Stargell did not play.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Al Downing pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* And the San Francisco Giants swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 11-9 and 4-3. Bobby Bonds won the 1st game with a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

May 3, 1975: The Last All-English Team to Win the FA Cup

May 3, 1975: The FA Cup Final is held at the old Wembley Stadium in London. It's an all-London affair, with West Ham United from the East End taking on West London's Fulham. West Ham had previously won the Cup in 1964. This was Fulham's 1st appearance in any cup final, and it remains their only appearance in the FA Cup Final.

Alan Taylor scores both goals for the Irons, within 4 minutes of each other after the hour. Ironically, West Ham's biggest hero, Bobby Moore, was playing for Fulham, reaching the Final in his 1st season away from his local club. Also ironically, Moore, the only man ever to captain England to a World Cup win, was not Fulham's captain in this game: Alan Mullery was.

Because of their collective age, the Cottagers were nicknamed Dad's Army, after a sitcom then running on British television. It was time for a new generation of Hammer heroes, including Taylor, Captain Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking, and Frank Lampard -- father of the later English soccer star of the same name.

No one knew it at the time, but this West Ham squad was the last all-English team to win the FA Cup. In fact, Ireland-born Jim Conway of Fulham is the only player on either side not from England.

*

May 3, 1975, like all FA Cup Final days, was a Saturday. Actress Christina Hendricks and journalist Willie Geist were born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rudy May started, but Sparky Lyle blew it in the 8th inning. Hank Aaron, running out the string with the Brewers, went 0-for-1, and Robin Yount went 2-for-2, and each had 3 walks.

* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 3-0 at Shea Stadium. Woodie Fryman allowed only 1 hit, a double to John Stearns in the 5th inning, to outpitch Hank Webb. A rookie catcher for the Expos went 1-for-3 with a walk. He would have better days at Shea. His name was Gary Carter.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Wise went the distance for the win. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 and 4-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Tom Underwood outpitched Jim Rooker in the opener. Willie Stargell did not play. In the nightcap, Dave Cash singled Terry Harmon home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Stargell went 1-for-4. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 2-for-9 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Frank Robinson, in his 1st season as MLB's 1st black manager, put himself into the game as a pinch-hitter, and had an RBI single against his former team. Another former Oriole, Boog Powell -- who said the Indians' all-red uniforms made him "look like the world's largest Bloody Mary" -- went 0-for-2, but drew 2 walks, 1 with the bases loaded to give him an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. George Foster hit a home run. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench also went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bill Melton doubled Carlos May home in the bottom of the 10th inning. Melton had homered earlier. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 14-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bert Blyleven went the distance for the win, while Paul Splittorff couldn't get out of the 3rd inning. Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Steve Brye went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs. Eric Soderholm went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 3 RBIs. Twins legend Harmon Killebrew, running out the string with the Royals, did not play.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Jerry Morales went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.For the Cards, Ted Sizemore went 4-for-5, but had no RBIs; and Lou Brock had an RBI single as a pinch-hitter.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Nolan Ryan only pitched 6 innings, but struck out 9, and got the win.

* And the San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In the top of the 15th inning, a Fred Kendall ground ball should have become a double play, but Lee Lacy made an error, allowing Steve Huntz and Johnny Grubb to score. For the Padres, Willie McCovey went 1-for-4, while Dave Winfield went 0-for-6, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

American-style football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Bullets, 101-90 at the Boston Garden. The Bullets would win the series, but got swept in the Finals by the Golden State Warriors.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association's Playoffs: The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Nuggets, 104-96 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. This was a Game 7, so the Pacers advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost to the Kentucky Colonels.

There was 1 game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-2 at the Montreal Forum. But the Sabres won the next 2 games and won the series, before losing the Stanley Cup Finals to the Philadelphia Flyers.

And there was 1 game in the World Hockey Association Playoffs: The Houston Aeros beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-2 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

April 26, 1977: Studio 54 Opens

April 26, 1977: Studio 54 opens, at 254 West 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It became the defining discotheque of the "Disco Period."

Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served as a CBS broadcast studio in the mid-20th Century. Real estate developers Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager opened Studio 54 as a nightclub, retaining much of the former theatrical and broadcasting equipment, at the theater in 1977. 

Writer Truman Capote, not the only older person seeking to recapture a lost youth there, described it as "the nightclub of the future. It's very democratic. Boys with boys, girls with girls, girls with boys, blacks and whites, capitalists and Marxists, Chinese and everything else -- all one big mix."

He spent many nights watching from the D.J.'s crow's nest overlooking the dance floor, "the men running around in diapers, cocktail waiters in satin basketball shorts, often lured away by the customers"; or dancing madly by himself, laughing delightedly every time a giant man in the moon suspended over the dance floor brought a spoonful of white powder to its nose.

The club generally opened at 10:00 PM, with crowds peaking at 12:00 Midnight. The bar closed at 4:00 AM, and the rest of the club stayed open until 6:00 AM. According to Rubell, the vast majority of the club's guests were not celebrities but, rather, members of the public who just wanted to dance.

And yet, to be admitted to Studio 54 was a status symbol, even on nights when the club was open to the public. Admission generally cost $7.00 -- about $34 in 2022 money, so a little stiff, but hardly outrageous -- but guests could pay for an annual membership in exchange for discounted tickets. Tickets were more expensive on weekends, and all ticket prices were increased on nights with performances. Rubell made the final decisions over whether guests were allowed in the club.

Celebrities usually were allowed to enter immediately. According to a 1977 Wall Street Journal article, "very beautiful" members of the public were almost always admitted, while men entering alone were invariably rejected, to prevent predatory behavior. In a November 1977 interview with New York magazine, Rubell bragged about the club's exclusivity: "I turned away 1,400 people last Saturday."

Nobody, but nobody, was guaranteed entry. Spyros Kyprianou, the President of the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, was once rejected because the doormen thought he was the president of Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. One of the sons of King Khalid of Saudi Arabia was rejected, and the Saudi embassy to the United States wrote Rubell a letter, asking that the Prince not be rejected again. He was. Singer Grace Jones was to perform on New Year's Eve 1977, and she had invited the members of the band Chic. This was known beforehand. The band were still denied entry, and wrote the song "Le Freak" about it.

But Bianca Jagger was a frequent guest, both with and without her husband, Mick, the lead singer of The Rolling Stones. So was model Jerry Hall, for whom Mick would eventually leave Bianca. Bianca, a Nicaragua-born socialite and peace activist, once rode onto the dance floor on a white horse.

No, I'm not making that up.

Former First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Betty Ford were accepted; Betty's husband, Jerry, never tried. Margaret Trudeau, then the First Lady of Canada, got in; her husband, Pierre, never tried. The only major New York politicians who got in were Congresswoman Bella Abzug and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton.

It wasn't just for the young and beautiful, like the aforementioned Grace Jones, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jacqueline Bisset, Gia Carangi, Faye Dunaway, Farrah Fawcett, Diane von Fürstenberg, Richard Gere, Anjelica Huston, actress-model sisters Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, Lauren Hutton, the person then known as Bruce Jenner, Gilda Radner, Brooke Shields (who, like Mariel Hemingway, should have been considered too young to get in), and the man who was about to become the King of Disco, John Travolta. Certainly, Woody Allen, John Belushi, Sylvester Stallone, Robin Williams TV reporter Geraldo Rivera and drag queen Divine were not beautiful, but they were let in.

Being a fashion designer helped: Halston, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Karl Lagerfeld were let in. Being a rock star helped: In addition to Mick, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Cher, Elton John, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Rick James, Freddie Mercury of Queen, Bette Midler, Lou Reed, Paul Stanley of Kiss, and country singer Dolly Parton were seen there.

But even such establishment figures (even if they had once been world-shockers) as Capote, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Leonard Bernstein, Roy Cohn, Salvador Dali, Doris Duke, Martha Graham, Earth Kitt, Timothy Leary, Frank Lebowitz, Liza Minnelli and her sister Lorna Luft, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Paloma Picasso, Richard Pryor and Andy Warhol. Warhol described the place as "a dictatorship at the door, but a democracy on the dance floor."

Left to right: Andy Warhol, Calvin Klein, Brooke Shields

(who did commercials for Klein's jeans), Steve Rubell.

Also known to have been there: A young real estate developer who was a client of Cohn's, and his wife at the time: Donald and Ivana Trump. Alec Baldwin, who would later impersonate Trump on Saturday Night Live, worked at Studio 54 as a waiter.

It had been half a century since the Algonquin Hotel, 13 blocks away, with its Algonquin Round Table of writers and journalists, had been the center of New York's social life. Now, the literati had been replaced by a "glitterati."

On December 16, 1978, Rubell and Schrager were arrested by the IRS, for skimming profits. The Manhattan District Attorney's office alleged they had taken $2.5 million (about $12 million in 2022 money), or as much as 60 percent of Studio 54's receipts over the past 2 years.

They hired Cohn to represent them. Threatened with further charges of drug trafficking, obstruction of justice and conspiracy, they pleaded guilty to tax evasion in November 1979. On March 31, 1980, Studio 54 closed. As country singer Willie Nelson (not known to have ever been a guest there) wrote in 1967, "Turn out the lights, the party's over."

Rubell and Schrager were each sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison, and each was released after a year and 3 months. In 1985, they renovated the former Academy of Music on East 14th Street, and turned it into a dance club called Palladium. That year, Rubell, a closeted gay man, discovered that he had contracted AIDS. He died in 1989.

In 1984, Rubell and Schrager went into the hotel business, pioneering the concepts of the small, but very attentive, "boutique hotel" and "urban resort." As of April 26, 2022, Schrager is still alive, and active in the hotel industry.

Speaking of hotels: In 1997, the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas opened a Studio 54 replica. It lasted until 2012.

The Roundabout Theatre Company converted the Studio 54 space into a Broadway theater in 1998, retaining the Studio 54 name. The 1st show staged there was a revival of the musical Cabaret, with Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles and Alan Cumming as the Master of Ceremonies. This was an appropriate choice, given the show's its themes of escape, hiding, reinventing oneself, and impending doom. (Sadly, this proved all too true for Richardson, who died in a skiing accident in 2009.)

The building in 2017, with the infamous red door to the left

Also in 1998, the film 54 was released, filmed onsite, shortly before its conversion into a theater. Mike Myers played Rubell, and Louis Negin played Capote, but they were the only real people portrayed in the film. Lauren Hutton was in the film, playing an older clubgoer rather than pretending to be her then-36-year-old self. Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Breckin Meyer and Neve Campbell also starred, all as fictional characters.

UPDATE: In 2021, the producers of the FX TV series American Crime Story had announced that the show's 4th season would focus on Studio 54, but, as of early 2024, it had not yet begun production. At that point, Schrager was still alive, as was the Queen of Studio 54, Bianca Jagger.

And it took me until around that time to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, including disco; and, at the same time, not enough of it.

*

April 26, 1977 was a Tuesday. Japanese baseball star Kosuke Fukudome was born. So was Tom Welling, who played Clark Kent (but only briefly, in the show's final scene, Superman) on the 2001-11 WB/CW Network series Smallville.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Once-and-future Yankee Rudy May outpitched Ken Holtzman. Eddie Murray, who would be named American League Rookie of the Year, hit the 3rd of what would turn out to be 504 career home runs. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a groundout.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Dan Driessen hit 2 home runs, and Johnny Bench hit 1. Pete Rose went 3-for-5.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. John Candelaria went 7 innings, allowing no runs on 3 hits. Rich Gossage, in his 1 seasons in Pittsburgh after 5 with the White Sox, before signing as a free agent with the Yankees, pitched 2 hitless innings the rest of the way, the Candy Man and the Goose combining on a 3-hit shutout. Willie Stargell appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers led 6-1 after 4 innings, but the White Sox tied the game in the 8th. Each team scored a run in the 13th. Tiger reliever Steve Foucault came in to pitch the top of the 14th, and had nothing, allowing a double and a walk, getting a forceout, then allowing an RBI single to Richie Zisk, allowing an intentional walk, throwing a wild pitch that got a run home, walking another batter, and allowing a 3rd run on a groundout.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bobby Murcer went 1-for-3 with a walk. Lou Brock went 1-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-5, but Carlton Fisk went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Robin Yount went 1-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 0-for-4. That would be a rarity for him that season, as he ended up batting .388 and winning the AL's Most Valuable Player award.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-1 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* The Oakland Athletics beat the California Angels, 7-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). For the A's, Dick Allen hit his 350th career home run. He would only hit one more, playing both halves of a Sunday, doubleheader on June 19, left the A's, and never played again. He was only 35, but he was batting .240 for the season, and was probably done.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Joe Ferguson hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 13th inning.

* The Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up 2 days later, and the Indians won, 4-3.

* And the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Shea Stadium. The game was made up on May 30, as a Memorial Day matinee became a traditional holiday doubleheader. The Expos swept, 5-1 and 3-2.

Football was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA Playoffs:

* The Houston Rockets beat the Washington Bullets, 107-103 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-103 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Of course, the Warriors view the Lakers as their arch-rivals, but it's never been the other way around: The Lakers' rivals are the Boston Celtics. Despite the defeat, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 41 points and had 18 rebounds. This game tied up the series at 2-2, but the Lakers would win it in 7.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets, 105-96 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 2 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The New York Islanders lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia flyers, 5-4 at The Specturm in Philadelphia. Terry O'Reilly scored the winning goal, 10:07 into the 2nd overtime.

And there was 1 game played in the World Hockey Association Playoffs: The Winnipeg Jets beat the Houston Aeros, 4-3 in overtime at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has been converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

April 24, 1975: The Death of Pete Ham of Badfinger

April 24, 1975: Pete Ham, the lead singer of the British rock band Badfinger, commits suicide. Like a few other rock stars, he was dead at the age of 27.

Badfinger were formed in Swansea, Wales in 1961, when the members were in their early teens. They were comprised of Ham, bass guitarist Tom Evans, rhythm guitarist Joey Molland, and drummer Mike Gibbins. Ham and Evans wrote most of the group's hits.

In 1970, Badfinger had their 1st hit, "Come and Get It," which Beatle Paul McCartney had written for the film The Magic Christian." Later in the year, the band released their album No Dice. It contained the hit "No Matter What," and a song that would later be a Number 1 hit for Harry Nilsson, and again 20 years later for Mariah Carey: "Without You."

Their next album, Straight Up, in 1971, produced the big hit ballad "Day After Day." After a dispute with the Beatles' Apple Records, their last album with them, in 1973, was titled Ass, and featured a donkey on the cover. It contained the cheekily-titled single "The Apple of My Eye." The band then signed with Warner Brothers Records.

Depressed over money troubles, Ham hanged himself in his studio in Woking, Surrey, England. He was 3 days short of turning 28, and thus, at the very least, avoiding the "27 Club." Evans, who fell out with Molland over the group's royalties, also hanged himself, in his garden in London in 1983. Gibbins died of a brain aneurysm in 2005. As of April 24, 2022, Molland is the last survivor.

UPDATE: Molland died on March 1, 2025, of diabetes, in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He was 77, and had moved to the Twin Cities after marrying an area native.

*

April 24, 1975 was a Thursday. These 7 games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Jack Billingham outpitched Phil Niekro. Pete Rose went 1-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Steve Stone outpitched Jim Lonborg. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 5-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Jackie Brown pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Nolan Ryan, who struck out 8 and walked 4. In other words, a typical game for Ryan.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 11-6 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield went 4-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harmon Killebrew, playing out the string with the Royals, went 0-for-3 with a walk. George Brett went 1-for-4.

Football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets, 128-115 at the Boston Garden. And the Golden State Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 105-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there was 1 game in the ABA Playoffs: The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Nuggets, 118-112 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. George McGinnis had 33 points and 21 rebounds.

There was one game in the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs: The New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

And there was one game in the World Hockey Association's Playoffs: The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3 at Le Colisée de Québec.

April 20, 1977: "Annie Hall" Premieres

April 20, 1977: Annie Hall Premieres. It is often considered Woody Allen's best film, as both an actor and a director.

This is in spite of the fact that it just missed the record of having the earliest spoiler in film history: While Death of a Salesman gives away the ending in the title, Woody's character, Alvy Singer, says in the 1st minute of the film that he and Annie had already broken up. So you know, going in, that it's being told in flashback, and that the relationship has failed.

The film is basically "Woody's Allen's Greatest Hits": Musings on sex, relationships, pop culture -- bringing the real Marshall McLuhan in to shut up a guy who thinks he knows about McLuhan's work is a classic -- and being Jewish, his own perception of it and other people's perceptions of it.

Annie is played by Diane Keaton, who was born as Diane Hall. Art was imitating life: She and Woody had been an unmarried couple for a few years, but had since broken up, and yet remained friends. She would also stay friends with ex-boyfriends and ex-co-stars Al Pacino (The Godfather) and Warren Beatty (Reds). That would not be the case with Woody and his later partner, actress Mia Farrow, with very nasty results.

Annie Hall won 4 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Allen, Best Actress for Keaton, and Best Original Screenplay for Allen and Marshall Brickman. Allen was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl.

The Best Picture win was over fellow nominees The Goodbye Girl, Julia, the ballet-themed film The Turning Point, and, to the dismay of the film's passionate fans, Star Wars. It reached the point where, when Mad magazine parodied Star Wars, imagining it as a musical, it had Obi-Wan Kenobi say he felt a great disturbance in The Force. When Luke Skywalker asks him if it's over the destruction of Alderaan, he says, no, it's fans of the original film whining over losing Best Picture to Annie Hall.

*

April 20, 1977 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics, 113-101 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets, 101-100 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 115-106 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Of course, the Warriors view the Lakers as their arch-rivals, but it's never been the other way around: The Lakers' rivals are the Boston Celtics. In this game, in defeat for the Warriors, Rick Barry scored 40 points, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers with 27.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled. There were 2 games in the World Hockey Association Playoffs. The Winnipeg Jets beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-0 at the Winnipeg Arena. And the Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

April 12, 1975: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" Premieres

April 12, 1975: Monty Python and the Holy Grail premieres. It is the 1st original feature film made by the Monty Python comedy troupe. They had previously released, in movie theaters, And Now for Something Completely Different, a collection of sketches from their TV show, Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Directing credits are shared by Python members Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. All 6 members are credited as writers: Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric Idle.

Palin said, "It was by no means unanimous that we should do a film after the television series. John, to his credit, was doing Fawlty Towers. Eric was doing Rutland Weekend Television. But the two Terrys wanted to direct a film, and I loved cinema as well, so that was the only way forward, not to make it three Python shows tacked one after the other, but to make it a full cinematic experience. No other television series had, as far as I know, leapt into cinema, but we thought we'd have a go."

He appears to have been right: This was before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the film-fed growth of that franchise: Usually, it was the other way around, with a film being a success, and then a TV show would be based on it. In the last 10 years, in America, this had included Peyton Place, Gidget and M*A*S*H.

"We had to do something that used all six of us," said Palin, "and, of course, the Round Table was the perfect template for that, because we could each play one of the knights. And also because the Holy Grail legend was something that everyone had heard of, but nobody really knew anything about it. You could create any sort of story based around the search for a Grail."

Each member played multiple roles. Chapman didn't direct, but he did play God. Or, at least, the voice of God. He also played the lead role, King Arthur. Cleese played Sir Lancelot the Brave, and a French castle guard who taunts Arthur and his men. And he plays the Black Knight, whom Arthur slowly defeats, but keeps on fighting Arthur anyway: "'Tis but a scratch!" "'Tis but a flesh wound," and so on, until, with no arms and no legs, he still talks trash, and Arthur, having previously saluted the man's bravery, says, "What are you going to do, bleed on me?"

Gilliam played Patsy, Arthur's servant, who follows him around, clapping coconuts together, to simulate the sound of horse's hooves, as was done in pre-television radio programs. You see, there was a small budget, and they couldn't afford horses, so every knight had a squire who walked behind him and carried coconuts, and the knights merely pretended to ride horses.

Idle played "Sir Robin the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir Lancelot," and Lancelot's squire Concorde. He also played the man who drove a cart full of corpses, shouting, "Bring out your dead!" Jones played Sir Bedevere the Wise, whose appellation is ironic, since he seems more a conspiracy theorist. He builds not a Trojan Horse, as in ancient Greece, but a Trojan Rabbit.

And Palin narrates the film, and also plays Sir Galahad the Pure, who ultimately finds the Holy Grail, since he's the only one pure enough. He also plays the leader of the Knights Who Say Ni. According to Arthur, "Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!" Apparently, their speaking the word "Ni" causes great pain. But Arthur inadvertently discovers that the Knights Who Say Ni can't handle the word "It," and he and Bedevere pass through the forest that the Knights Who Say Ni were blocking.

There is also a Three-Headed Giant, played by Jones, Chapman and Palin.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is regarded as one of the funniest films of all time, regardless of country or genre. It lead to two additional Python films: Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life in 1983.

I swear, I am not making this up. I had never seen the film until 1992. I was playing in a softball game with members of my church's youth group, and, an inning after getting a hit, I injured my knee. It didn't seem bad enough to go to the hospital, but, in hindsight, I probably should have. After the game, there was a party at a group member's house. He was a Python fanatic, and showed the film. And every time a Knight said, "Ni!" I felt it in my knee. (I should have had surgery on it, but didn't, and have regretted it ever since.)

So I wasn't in the mood for it, and was already not a Python fan, and so, I didn't "get it." About 20 years later, I was in a British-themed restaurant (now defunct) in Brooklyn, and they showed it. Maybe it was the atmosphere, but I liked it a lot better.

In 2005, Idle reworked the film into a Broadway musical titled Spamalot, using songs from the group's entire repertoire. Tim Curry played King Arthur, Sara Ramirez the Lady of the Lake, Hank Azaria Sir Lancelot, and David Hyde Pierce Sir Robin. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

*

April 12, 1975 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were playing during the renovation of the original Yankee Stadium. Vern Ruhle outpitches Pat Dobson. Lou Piniella got 2 hits, but the rest of the Yankees combined only got 4. Bill Freehan and Nate Colbert hit home runs for the Tigers.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Gibson and former Cardinal Steve Carlton started, but neither was the pitcher of record: Mike Garman was the winning pitcher, Gene Garber the losing pitcher. Ted Simmons singled Ted Sizemore home with the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. 3-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-5. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-6.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount hit a home run. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk. Indians player-manager Frank Robinson did not put himself in the game.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Hal McRae singled Freddie Patek home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. George Brett went 0-for-4. Rod Carew did not play. Nor did Harmon Killebrew, the longtime Twins star playing his last season, with the Royals.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Rangers cored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4. Billy Williams and Sal Band hit home runs for the A's.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench and Dave Winfield each went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Willie McCovey, then with the Padres, went 2-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Leroy Stanton hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And, as it was the day after the Pittsburgh Pirates' home opener, in which they beat the New York Mets, 4-3, those 2 teams had the day off.

Football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets, 118-86 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. And the Seattle Supersonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-93 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association Playoffs. The Denver Nuggets beat their then-rivals, the Utah Stars, 130-119 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-109 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between rounds. There were 3 games in the World Hockey Association Playoffs:

* The Houston Aeros beat the Cleveland Crusdaers, 5-3 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 3-0 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Toronto Toros, 7-6 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

And in English soccer, Yorkshire team Leeds United defeated Arsenal, the team I would one day follow, 2-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.