May 12, 1974: The End of the NBA's 1st Great Era

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, guarded by

Dave Cowens (left) and Don Nelson (right)

May 12, 1974: The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-87, at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena (The MECCA). This was the Celtics' 12th title, but their first without Bill Russell.

The Bucks were in their 2nd Finals, having won the title in 1971, but it took 50 years for them to get back, before they won the title in 2021. In between, they'd usually been good, but not Finals good.

This was also the last game for Oscar Robertson, closing out his career with the Bucks. In fact, this game was the end of an era for the NBA, as legends Jerry West, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, and Robertson's former Cincinnati Royals teammate Jerry Lucas announced their retirements. So would Wilt Chamberlain, although he hadn't played this season, due to a contract dispute between the NBA and the ABA.

A year and a half later, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar demanded a trade, and got it, going to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bucks were usually good thereafter, but they would not return to the NBA Finals until 2021.

The 1974 NBA Finals was the end of an era, when men were men, and pretty much only the people in the arena saw the game, because television coverage was so rare. The era of Dr. J, Skywalker, Chocolate Thunder, Magic, Larry, the Human Highlight Film and Air Jordan, an era where substance took a back seat to style, was about to begin. The NBA made a lot more money during that period. But it was not better.

*

May 12, 1974 was a Sunday. The ABA Championship had been won 2 days earlier, by the New York Nets over the Utah Stars.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played that day. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, and went on to win the series in 7 games. The WHA Playoffs were between the Semifinals and the Finals. The Houston Aeros went on to sweep the Chicago Cougars in 4 straight.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees were swept in a doubleheader by the Milwaukee Brewers, at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were groundsharing with the Mets while Yankee Stadium was renvoated. The Brewers won the opener, 7-3. Clyde Wright outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. George "Boomer" Scott went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Lou Piniella hit a home run.

The Brewers won the nightcap, 5-1. Kevin Kobel outpitched Dick Woodson. Dave May homered for the Brewers. Rick Dempsey, later to be traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he would not be available to succeed Thurman Munson as the Yankees' catcher (Munson was the designated hitter in this game, after catching the opener.)

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. George Mitterwald singled Matt Alexander home, off Tom Seaver, in the bottom of the 9th. José Cardenal hit a home run for the Cubs, Rusty Staub for the Mets.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk. Mike Anderson hit a home run. For the Pirates, Willie Stargell went 0-for-4 with a walk, but Richie Zisk went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and Al Oliver went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the next season.) The Atlanta Braves won the 1st game, 5-1. Hank Aaron went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 721st career home run, before being taken out of the lineup. He did not play in the 2nd game, which the San Francisco Giants won, 6-2.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept the Houston Astros, 5-0 and 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Fred Norman pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game. Merv Rettenmund hit home runs in both games. Over the 2 games, Pete Rose went 2-for-7 with a walk and an RBI, while Johnny Bench went 2-for-7 with a home run, a walk and an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Dick McAuliffe, the Tigers' long-time 2nd baseman, doubled Carl Yastrzemski home in the top of the 10th inning, to win the game for the Red Sox. Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with a walk. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 15-9 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The Padre bullpen melted down in the top of the 13th inning, so if new team owner Ray Kroc thought Opening Day was "the most stupid ballplaying I've ever seen," then he hadn't seen anything yet.

* The Kansas City Royals swept a doubleheader from the California Angels, 3-2 and 5-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Hal McRae singled Amos Otis home in the top of the 9th to win the 1st game. The Royals scored all 5 runs of the 2nd game in the 8th inning. George Brett did not play in the 1st game, and went 0-for-2 in the 2nd game before being replaced. He may have been injured.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson did not play. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-2 with a walk. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 25. The Indians swept, 8-7 and 5-4. They won the 2nd game when Tommy McCraw singled John Ellis home in the bottom of the 13th inning.

* And the Montreal Expos and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Cards swept, 5-4 and 9-4.

May 8, 1970: The Knicks Triumphant

May 8, 1970: The moment that New York Knickerbockers fans had been waiting for finally arrived. Although, given what was seen the year before, with the New York Jets winning Super Bowl III and the New York Mets winning the World Series, it was far closer to a "miracle" than "guaranteed."

The Knicks (almost nobody calls them by their full name) were founded in 1946, as a charter franchise in the Basketball Association of America, which became the National Basketball Association in 1949. They and the Boston Celtics are the only 2 charter franchises still playing in their original cities. The only other charter franchise still playing is the Philadelphia Warriors, who moved to San Francisco in 1962, and have been known as the Golden State Warriors since 1971.

The Knicks reached the NBA Finals in 1951, but lost in 7 games to the Rochester Royals, who are now the Sacramento Kings. They reached the Finals again in 1952, losing to the Minneapolis Lakers in 7. They reached the Finals again in 1953, losing to the Lakers in 5. They had not reached the Finals since.

The Lakers, on the other hand, won the 1948 National Basketball League title, and were admitted into the NBA, where they then won 5 of the next 6 titles. In 1959, they lost the Finals to the Celtics. After the 1960 season, they were moved to Los Angeles, where they won the Western Division title in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969 -- and lost to the Celtics every single time, including in 7 games in '62, '66 and '69.

By this point, the Knicks had been rebuilt under head coach William "Red" Holzman (who had played for the '51 Royals), chief scout Dick McGuire (who had been a star on those early 1950s teams), and general manager Eddie Donovan. Playing at the new Madison Square Garden that had opened in 1968 were future Hall-of-Famers Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley.

Red Holzman

In 1969, the Knicks got to the Eastern Division Finals, losing to the Celtics. The 1969-70 season was when it all seemed to be coming together. They had an 18-game winning streak, an NBA record (but for only 2 more years).

In the Playoffs, despite the presence of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, one of the few players who could match "Clyde" Frazier for flashiness, the Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets in 7 games. Then, despite the presence of Alcindor and already-all-time great Oscar Robertson, the Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, to reach their 1st NBA Finals in 17 years.

Clyde. 'Nuff said.

Let's put this in perspective. At this point, the Yankees had won 20 World Series. The Giants had won 4 NFL Championships. The Rangers had won 3 Stanley Cups. And in the preceding 16 months, the Jets had won the Super Bowl, and then the Mets had won the World Series. The Jets had only been in existence since 1960, the Mets since 1962. The Knicks had been a founding franchise of the NBA, in 1946, and in 24 years, they had gone 0-3 in Finals, and had never won a Championship. They needed one.

In their way were the Lakers, who had 3 of the defining figures of the NBA's 1st quarter-century: Wilt Chamberlain, the best player the game has ever known; Elgin Baylor, the 1st man to really make the game stylish; and Jerry West, the best shooter the sport had yet seen and a really good defensive player, too. The Knicks would have home-court advantage, but they were huge underdogs. The Lakers seemed to have both talent and hunger on their side.

Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West

*

April 24, 1970. Game 1 at The Garden. It was surprisingly easy for the Knicks, as they won, 124-112.

April 27, 1970, Game 2 at The Garden. So much for easy: The Lakers struck back, and won 105-103.

April 29, 1970, Game 3 at The Forum, in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. The Knicks thought they had the game won when DeBusschere made a basket with 3 seconds left. But then came the first true "buzzer-beater" in NBA history: West fired a shot from behind half-court, and it went in. No 3-point field goals in those days (although the American Basketball Association used it), so this sent the game to overtime.

Instead of being stunned by West's shot, the Knicks showed their professionalism, shook it off, and got the job done, winning anyway 112-108.

May 1, 1970, Game 4 at The Forum. The Lakers had already shown the Knicks that they weren't going to give up without a fight, and they tied the series up again, winning this game 121-115 in overtime.

May 4, 1970, Game 5 at The Garden. A surreal day. Earlier, on the campus of Kent State University in the Cleveland suburb of Kent, Ohio, a demonstration was held, protesting President Richard Nixon's decision to expand the Vietnam War to Cambodia. This would have disastrous consequences for Southeast Asia, both short-term and long-term. Ohio National Guardsmen shot 13 students, resulting in 4 deaths and 1 permanent paralysis.

Al Albert was a student at Kent State at the time. His brother, Marv Albert, was a broadcaster for the Knicks, the Jets, and the New York Rangers. Marv had heard of the massacre, and, not knowing the names of the dead and the wounded, had made some calls to find out if his brother was all right. He got no answer. He had to broadcast the 1st half of the game not knowing if his brother was alive and well, alive but in a hospital, or dead. Finally, during halftime, he was handed a note saying that Al had been reached, and was fine, that he was nowhere near the demonstration.

In the middle of Game 5, Knick Captain Reed went down with a torn thigh muscle. Up until then, he had been keeping Chamberlain in check. But without Reed, their biggest physical presence and their emotional leader, the Knicks were in trouble. 

DeBusschere stepped up, and kept Chamberlain from running riot across the Garden floor, although he finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds. The Knicks won, 107-100.

May 6, 1970, Game 6 at The Forum. Without Reed available, this was the least close game of the series. Chamberlain ran riot across the Forum floor, and DeBusschere couldn't stop him: 45 points and 27 rebounds. West couldn't be stopped, either: 33 points and 13 assists. The Lakers won, 135-113. To put that in perspective, until this point, the highest point total in the series was the Knicks' 124 in Game 1; the Lakers' highest, 121 in Game 4.

Wilt Chamberlain and Walt Frazier

It meant that the Knicks needed Reed for Game 7. And the nature of his injury made it look like he wouldn't be available. At this point, pretty much everybody expected the Lakers to win the game easily, and thus win the title.

*

There were 19,500 paying customers at The Garden that Friday afternoon. Among them, Woody Allen was sitting courtside. Also from Brooklyn, but sitting up at the very top, in what were then known as the Blue Seats, was 13-year-old Shelton "Spike" Lee, who would also later become a renowned film director, and would also eventually be sitting courtside. And the one thing on the minds of Woody, Spike, and everybody in between was, "Will Willis play?"

On radio station WHN, 1050 AM (now WEPN, the flagship of ESPN Radio), Marv Albert himself asked, "The big question is, 'Will Willis Reed play tonight?'" Shortly, he got his answer, "And here comes Willis! The crowd is going wild!"

Reed limped out onto the court for warmups, and hit a few shots. The Lakers stopped and watched. It was over: He was in their heads. They were already beaten.

The game tipped off at 4:00 PM. Willis dragged his bad leg around the court, took the Knicks' 1st 2 shots, and made them both. It was effectively over. Willis played only 27 of the 48 minutes. That was more than enough.

Everyone remembers it as The Willis Reed Game. But Frazier had his best game: 36 points to lead all players, 19 assists to lead all players, 7 rebounds. Barnett had 21 points. DeBusschere had 18 points and 17 rebounds. Bradley had 17, Nate Bowman 6, Mike Riordan 5, Dave Stallworth 4, Cazzie Russell 2.

Despite 28 points from West, 21 points and 24 rebounds from Chamberlain, and 19 points from Baylor, the Knicks won, 113-99, and were World Champions for the 1st time. It became a particular point of pride for the Knicks that they held the Lakers to under 100 points in that Game 7.

Nationally, the game was broadcast on ABC. In the locker room afterward, Howard Cosell told Reed, "You exemplify the very best that the human spirit can offer."

Cosell (before his infamous toupee, but dripping with champagne),

Reed and Holzman

The Knicks finally had their title, and this game has only grown in New York sports legend. It's one of those games where a person who doesn't remember it must think that the venue must have held a million people, because that's how many people have said they were there that day.

In 1997, NBC had a promo for their sitcom Mad About You, with the following exchange:

Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt): "What was the most amazing moment of your life?"

Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser): "Okay, you ready? 1970, NBA Finals, Game 7, Willis Reed limps onto the court, scores 4 points, Knicks win. I was there."

Jamie: "For me, it was our wedding."

Paul: "Okay, ask me that same question again." (Too late, fool. I don't know if the real Paul Reiser was there. He was 14 years old at the time, and lived on the East Side of Manhattan.)

That same year, as part of the league's 50th Anniversary celebrations, the NBA named Reed, Frazier and DeBusschere to its 50 Greatest Players. In 2021, as part of their 75th Anniversary celebrations, they were named to the 75 Greatest Players. Bradley was not named to either list.

In 2006, as part of their 60th Anniversary celebrations, the NBA took an online poll to determine "The NBA's 60 Greatest Playoff Moments." Willis Reed taking the court on May 8, 1970 came in 3rd, behind Michael Jordan's last shot to clinch the 1998 title for the Chicago Bulls, and Magic Johnson switching to center for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win the 1980 title for the Lakers.

The moment is still there. Willis limping up the court is up there with the fans storming the field at Shea 7 months earlier, and Joe Namath waving that "We're Number 1" finger 14 months earlier. There have been huge moments since: The Yankees and Mets having many, the Giants having their Super Bowl wins, the Islanders winning 4 Stanley Cups, the Devils 3, and the Rangers the 1 that "will last a lifetime!"

But the Knicks have won just 1 title since, and that 1972-73 title just didn't have a signature moment that everybody remembers. Ask the average Knick fan how many games the Finals took, or if the title was clinched at home or on the road, or who the leading scorer was in the clincher, and they might not even know. (It was Game 5, at The Forum, and Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, obtained from Baltimore early in the 1971-72 season, scored 23. It was May 10, and the Knicks won 102-93.)

With the Mets having won the World Series the preceding October 16, this title by the Knicks made New York the 1st city ever to have an MLB-NBA "double." The San Francisco Bay Area (in 1975) and Los Angeles (3 times: in 1988-89, 1990-91, and 2002-03) are the only other cities to do this.

UPDATE: The Knicks finally won another NBA Championship in 2026.

*

May 8, 1970 was a Friday. This was also the day of "The Hard Hat Demonstration" or "The Hard Hat Riot" in New York. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was an off-day in the American Basketball Association Playoffs, which would be won 17 days later by the Indiana Pacers over the Los Angeles Stars. It was also an off-day in the Stanley Cup Finals, which would be won 2 days later by the Boston Bruins over the St. Louis Blues. And football was out of season.

These Major League Baseball games were played that night:

* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edison International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.) Clyde Wright outpitched Ron Klimkowski. Former Yankee Roger Repoz and future Yankee Jim Spencer hit home runs for the Halos, while Ron Woods hit one for the Bronx Bombers.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 7-1 at Shea Stadium. Ken Boswell hit a home run for the Mets, but Willie Mays hit 2 and Bobby Bonds 1 for the Giants.

Somehow, I don't think either Yankee fans or Met fans cared that much. They were overjoyed about the Knicks.

* A doubleheader was split at Jarry Park in Montreal. The San Diego Padres won the opener, 11-1. The Montreal Expos won the nightcap, 7-6. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Jimmy Qualls scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Gary Ross with Bobby Wine at bat.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-4 at Connie Mack Stadium. The Phils' bullpen collapsed in the top of the 12th inning, including allowing a home run to Bill Sudakis.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Boog Powell hit a home run, Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4, and Frank Robinson went 1-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) For the Cards, Dick Allen went 2-for-5, but no RBIs. Lou Brock went 0-for-5, Joe Torre 0-for-3. For the Braves, Hank Aaron hit his 566th career home run, and Hal King his 2nd. Aaron would finish his career with 755, King with 24.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. Roberto Clemente only entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run, and Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Dalton Jones and Bill Freehan hit homers for the Tigers, but it wasn't enough. Al Kaline did not play.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 0-for-5, but hit his 500th career home run 4 days later. Billy Williams hit 2 home runs. Pete Rose went 0-for-4, Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Hal McRae and Tony Perez each hit 2 home runs for the Big Red Machine, but it wasn't enough.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. The only Boston run came on a home run by Carl Yastrzemski. Reggie Jackson did not play for Oakland.

* And the game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Washington Senators at Milwaukee County Stadium was rained out. It was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader 2 days later. The Brewers won the opener, 6-5. In the bottom of the 9th, Ted Kubiak led off with a game-tying home run, followed by a walk by Ted Savage (not quite a leadoff walk, but every bit as deadly, as it turned out), a double by Danny Walton, an intentional walk by Jerry McNertney, and a single by Wayne Comer.

The Brewers also won the nightcap in walkoff fashion, 7-6, with McNertney singling home the winning run.

May 6, 1995: Classic Sports Network Goes On the Air

May 6, 1995: This was one of the best days of my life, although I wouldn't know it for over a year. Because this was the day that Classic Sports Network debuted.

New York City established WUHF on Channel 31 as an experiment to determine the viability of UHF broadcasts within an urban environment. Some of the early programming on WUHF included simulcasts of New York's existing commercial VHF stations; educational films produced by the Television Film Unit, established in 1949, of WNYC, which since 1924 had broadcast on 820 AM, and since 1943 at 93.9 FM, as the City's municipal radio station; college-level distance education telecourses; and, reportedly, a nightly rundown of the New York Police Department's "wanted" criminals list.

The experiment was carried out through the installation of UHF receivers in several hundred test homes, public schools and businesses, with reception monitored by FCC and City engineers. This was successful, and on November 5, 1962, the call letters of New York's Channel 31 were changed to WNYC, to match those of the radio stations.

But in 1995, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, seeing the growth of cable television, and noting that WNYC, both AM and FM, were still successful, decided to sell the station. On June 30, 1996, WNYC-Channel 31 was sold to ITT-Dow Jones. It was replaced by WBIS, showing what was then named Classic Sports Network. Within days, while "flipping channels," I discovered it by accident. I didn't have cable TV at the time, so the picture was fuzzy. But what it showed was a feast for the sports fan's heart.

Classic Sports Network was run by Steve Greenberg, son of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Han Greenberg. I was worried that, given a Baby Boom target audience, it would be one long tribute to Mickey Mantle, the 1969 New York Mets, Joe Namath, the early 1970s New York Knicks, and Muhammad Ali. Indeed, when it debuted on May 6, 1995, it did so with a 15-hour documentary: Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, hosted by sportswriter Dick Schaap.

And there was a lot of content around Mantle, Namath, the '69 Mets and the Willis Reed and Walt "Clyde" Frazier 1970s Knicks. This included a block of programming centered around "The Miracle of '69," including the '70 Knicks title with Namath leading the Jets to the great upset victory in Super Bowl III and the Mets' run to, and performance in, the 1969 World Series.

But they also showed a lot of special things, including World Series highlight films that hadn't been widely seen in years, and weren't yet available on video; legendary prizefights, including some on The Main Event, a half-hour show hosted by Rocky Marciano, with the 1950s Heavyweight Champion hosting, interviewing guests, and narrating the fights, lasting 14 episodes in 1961; the entire library of the TV shows Greatest Sports Legends and Curt Gowdy's 1974-77 PBS show The Way It Was. They also made a deal with NFL Films to broadcast a lot of vintage stuff. I videotaped as much of it as I could, and those tapes took up a lot of space.

In 1997, ESPN decided it didn't want the competition, but it did want the content: They bought Classic Sports Network from Steve Greenberg and his investors, and rebranded it as ESPN Classic. They kept the logo of an athlete with fists raised, known as "Vic" for "Victory," inside a letter C.

But the beginning of the end was already there, even before the beginning. (Yes, I know: That sounds like a Yogi Berra line.) The Golf Channel began broadcasting on January 17, 1995, nearly 4 months before Classic Sport Network. Speed, a network devoted to auto racing, debuted at the end of that year. The NBA Network was launched in 1999, the NFL Network and The Tennis Channel in 2003, the NHL Network in 2007, the MLB Network in 2009.

By the 2010s, due to the increasing number of sport-, league-, and college conference-specific networks that had assumed rights to the archival and live content that was historically aired by ESPN Classic, a larger amount of programming was devoted to archive content whose rights were owned by ESPN outright, reruns of recent events from ESPN's networks, as well as ESPN original documentaries and overflow coverage of events from other ESPN networks. And much of the footage was also now available on YouTube, so a fan wanting to see a specific broadcast no longer had to wait for ESPN to show it.

So ESPN folded ESPN Classic on December 31, 2021. It's funny: I didn't know it was "born" at the time that it was, and I didn't know that it "died" at the time that it did. But I'm still glad it was "alive."

*

May 6, 1995 was a Friday. Football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs that day: The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 110-94 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. David Robinson scored 33 points.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs began, with 2 games. The New York Rangers lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 5-4 at the Colisée de Québec. And the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. Ricky Bones outpitched Jimmy Key. Greg Vaughn hit a home run for the Brew Crew. Jim Leyritz, playing 1st base in place of the idle Don Mattingly, hit one for the Bronx Bombers. Wade Boggs went 3-for-4. But the rest of the Yankees combined only got 4 hits.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 13-11 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. This was a game that could have been shown on Classic Sports: The Mets led 11-2 going into the bottom of the 8th inning, but the Reds scored 6 in the 8th and 3 in the 9th to win it. The winning runs came on a home run by Hal Morris. Deion Sanders, Ron Gant and Jerome Walton also homered for this later edition of the Big Red Machine. For the Mets, Rico Brogna and Edgardo Alfonzo each had 3 hits including a home run.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Montreal Expos, 10-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 17-11 at Coors Field in Denver. This was also a game that could have been shown on Classic Sports. Being in "the Mile High City," Coors Field, like the facility it had just replaced as the Rockies' home, Mile High Stadium, was a hitter's haven. Tom Candiotti started for Los Angeles, and Juan Acevedo for Colorado, and both only lasted 2 innings.

For the Dodgers: Mike Piazza went 3-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBIs; Mitch Webster entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and went 1-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBI; Henry Rodríguez went 4-for-6 with 2 RBI, and Gary Ingram pinch-hit for him, and went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI; and Eric Karros went 3-for-5 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

For the Rockies: Dante Bichette went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs; Roberto Mejía went 1-for-4 with a solo homer; Jorge Brito went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs; Larry Walker, Walt Weiss and Jason Bates also had 2 hits each; and, pinch-hitting for pitchers, John Vander Wal hit a 3-run homer; and Mike Kingery hit a solo homer.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 13-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Glenallen Hill went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and 2 walks. Jeff Reed went 4-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Royce Clayton went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Barry Bonds went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. For the Padres, Ken Caminiti went 3-for-5 with a solo homer, and Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martínez and Luis Sojo homered for the M's. J.T. Snow and Greg Myers did so for the Halos.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson was with the A's at the time, but did not play in this game.